Celebratory Reunion (Happy New Year)

Happy New Year

Lance let out a breath of.. not quite relief, but.. content. It'd been four years since making his way back to Earth, since the war had been won. He remembered the fateful day clearly. Six years later, and tears still welled in his eyes at the memory of Allura's leave.

Four years, and Lance still loved her so much. His heart stilled clenched almost painfully knowing that he'd never see her again.

The man had to take a slow breath, a hand to his heart as he did so. His marks must have begun to glow, something he didn't realize could happen until Veronica had pointed it out, because Keith's hand squeezed his. It was gentle squeeze, followed by a more insistent one, questioning, Lance knew.

Lance nodded, squeezing back as he came to. He just missed her. They all did, he knew. Lance just had a hard time coping with the thought. He turned to Keith, wearing a soft smile before leaning in. Keith met him halfway, his hand wrapping gently around Lance's bicep to ground himself.

A loud cough pulled them apart, Lance startled more than anything. Looking, he could see a little more color in Keith's cheeks. It elicited another smile from Lance. Along with a soft chuckle.

"Could you please not? Some people here are actually trying to eat and catch up." Pidge's voice sounded from across the table, never having lost her condescending tone, her voice hosting a more mature tone. From fifteen to twenty-one, Pidge had grown into herself. A wonderful woman with her life ahead of her.

She would always be a gremlin in Lance's eyes regardless.

So, in retaliation, Lance looked Pidge dead in the eye as he released Keith's hand, shifting over and seating himself in Keith's lap. As per usual, Keith wrapped his arms around Lance's middle, his head settled on Lance's shoulder. Instead of being petty, like he'd planned, Lance just melted into the touch with a breath of relief.

The woman sighed softly, but Lance was positive that he'd see a little smile on her face if he opened his eyes. "You two are so gross." She scoffed and Lance could imagine her rolling her eyes.

"You say that about any couple." Hunk sounded, bringing Lance out of it enough to look to the man. At first glance, he just looked like a big man, but Lance had a tendency closer, having lived as a Paladin for a few years. He could see that the bulges under his shirt were solid muscle, finding irony in how still stuck to the color yellow after the past years.

The previous green Paladin raised both eyebrows, taking her time with eating her greens. Slow and deliberate with her chewing. At least she was chewing with her mouth closed for once, the heathen.

"You say that about Shiro and Curtis . C'mon, you can't tell me that you don't do it."

"Actually, I-"

"Some things never change," Shiro chuckled, adjusting his newer set of glasses. Nothing fancy, just different. Lance liked them. He wondered if Shiro was writing a book, though.

Lance smiled as he looked between the bunch, relaxing further into Keith still. Yeah, this was great. Bickering ensued at the table and Shiro looked somewhat exasperated, but everyone looked happy. Lance could still catch sight of Shiro's smirk and Coran ended up joining the chaos with a battle cry. It almost felt like they were back on the Castle. Another thought that made him ache.

"Hey!"

Lance jumped with a start (Keith had jumped under Lance, not that he'd admit it to anyone else), chuckling softly as he caught sight of a small crowd. They were.. family.

Kolivan and Krolia stood side-by-side, Krolia smiling softly toward Keith and Lance. Lance's whole family - niece, nephew, sisters, brothers (his mother couldn't make it, having passed a year previous) - stood alongside them, the two younger eagerly shifting their weight as young teens. Curtis was smiling in the direction of Shiro, hands resting in his jacket pockets. Matt, Colleen, and Sam stood side-by side with Matt in the middle. Despite him reaching the point of being the tallest. Shay stood alongside Hunk's mom, dad, uncle, niece, and nephew.