Langst: Lost Under The Waves

6- All bottled up

Lance sighed as he entered the kitchen alerting Hunk to his presence.

"Hey Lance, you okay?" Hunk asked suddenly worried. He didn't think he was ment to be out of the pod yet, they were all planning on being there when he woke up.

"Yeah, I'm just tired and hungry so you know." Lance shrugged biting his lip.

"Lance I know you too well now." Hunk admitted shaking his head. "Don't bottle it all up, come on tell me what's going on."

"I messed up Hunk, I wasn't paying attention and nearly got Keith and myself killed." Lance admitted quietly refusing to look up from the floor. "This is all my fault."

"No it's not, and it never has been." Hunk said wiping his hands on his apron before taking it off. "It's okay to make a mistake."

"Some times I just wish I didn't exist." Lance mumbled bearly audible but Hunk heard it.

Hunk didn't know what to do at first, he wanted to scream.

How did he never realise what was going on in Lance's head? All he wanted to do was protect him and yet here he was having to listen to his best friend saying that he didn't deserve to live.

No that wasn't happening and Hunk refused to stand for it.

"Lance you're my best friend, I couldn't live a day without you!" Hunk yelled making Lance's eyes go wide as he jumped his gaze snapping to meet his. "Without you I wouldn't be here! None of us would! We all need you and you can't see that, why?!"

"Because I'm not good enough." Lance responded his voice cracking slightly.

"Not good enough?! Lance you are the bravest, the most awesome person I know, you'd risk your life just to protect us! How could you even say that you're not good enough?!" Hunk asked his anger still burning bright, what was Lance thinking? "You're more then good enough for this!"

"You're yelling nice things at me." Lance stated his eyebrows coming together. "It's very confusing."

"I'm trying to be a good friend and be there for you emotionally and I'm trying to make you happy!" Hunk responded shaking Lance by the shoulders. "Why didn't you ever tell me you were feeling so bad?!"

"Cause I didn't want to worry you?" Lance said but it sounded almost like a question.

"Worry?! This has made me so anxious for you that I have been cooking since 3 this morning!" Hunk said. "You're my best friend! Tell me next time! I want to help you!"

"I know you do, but I didn't want to dump my problems on you." Lance said lowering his head.

"Lance you have helped me since the first day I met you, you have made me more confident, helped me to be better around people I don't really know." Hunk said with a smile as he gently patted Lance's shoulders. "I owe you so much for being there for me that... That it hurt to know that I didn't see it and that I didn't help you."

"Hunk it's not your fault." Lance immediately said making Hunk sigh.

"But it is Lance, I should have noticed." Hunk whispered shaking his head.

"Hunk I hid it from you, I didn't want you to see it so I pretended all was fine... But being with you distracted me, I felt more at home with you." Lance explained looking at his shoes his eyes filling with tears. "I just didn't want to ruin the nice times we had by trying to fix something that I knew was too far gone, I'm sorry."

When Lance dared to look up he could see Hunk almost crying, Lance froze up suddenly worried. He had caused this.

"Hunk, I am so sorry." He said as Hunk dried his eyes.

"You idiot." Hunk chuckled pulling Lance into a tight hug. "You could never ruin anything, you are my best friend and... And you have made life so much more fun and I love you for it."

Lance chuckled but Hunk could hear he was on the verge of crying.

"It's okay, you know." Hunk said with a small smile as he tried to coax Lance to at least let it out.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Lance mumbled his voice shaking with tears that started to fall.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Hunk smiled rubbing Lance's back while the other hand messed gently with his hair.

Hunk then looked up to see Keith smiling in the doorway.

He mouthed the words 'you good?' getting a nod in response. Keith smiled and then headed off leaving Hunk alone with his best friend.

"I lied to you, I'm such a bad friend, I'm so sorry." Lance mumbled as Hunk continued to rub his back effectively holding him up.

"You could never be a bad friend Lance, not to me." Hunk whispered making Lance sob a bit more.

"Are you okay?" Hunk asked after Lance's sobs had died down. He still refused to let him go, Lance needed all the hugs Hunk had and he was more then happy to supply them.

"I don't know." Lance mumbled with a heavy sigh. "I just want things to go back to the good old days."

"Me too, but we still have eachother, we have Pidge, Shiro, Keith, Coran and Allura now." Hunk pointed out making Lance chuckled softly. "We're all here for you Lance, and we always will be."