Chapter Text
For once, Hunk doesn't wake up sore. It's strange, too. Not that he's complaining, but ever since becoming the yellow paladin he's never not felt some part of him being sore. Well no, there was that one time after being in a healing pod. Hunk doesn't think he had been in a pod though.
Hunk can feel the wind coming in through his open window, the smell of it reminds him of earth. Birds chirp happily in the distance. Hunk would prefer to hear the trills and coos of other bird species, but anything that sounds like home brings a nostalgia to Hunk's mind. His eyes mist up a little. He's not sure how he got onto whatever planet they're currently on, but it reminds him of home.
Eventually Hunk opens his eyes. The sky is a beautiful blue that Hunk hasn't seen since going out into space. The plants look like ones that belong to Earth too. His room even looks like the one back at his parent's house. And this is too weird for Hunk right now. God, when he buries his tearful face into his pillow to muffle his crying, it smells like home.
Hunk can't hear his parents puttering about the kitchen, but that doesn't worry Hunk too much. What does worry Hunk is that he seems to be on Earth, and he has no recollection of how he got there. Hunk decides it doesn't matter. He's not going to waste a single second of his borrowed time. For it is borrowed, he's sure.
His phone chimes from his nightstand. The date isn't important, but the day is Saturday, and the first thing he sees are three unread text messages. Hunk is suddenly hit with the realization he hasn't seen a cell phone in a very long time. He has to guess what his password is, and he gets it wrong twice.
The first message is from Lance, and reads as a good-morning text. It's weird, even for Lance, but Hunk lets it go in favor of checking the three other messages.
The next is from Keith. That in itself is weird. Keith might have gotten better at the whole teamwork thing since joining the Blade, but as far as Hunk knew the man would never send a text when he could talk. And the text was pretty confusing too. It was a reminder to meet up with the other members of Voltron at a park. At least, Hunk figured it was a park after doing a quick google search.
The third text is from Shay. Also kind of weird since he's not sure he'd even given Shay a way to contact him in the aftermath of Balmera's liberation, but you know whatever. She wanted confirmation on meeting up later that day. Hunk decides with a heavy heart that he has no idea what's going on and should thus excuse himself from the meet up.
But oh, Hunk is such a bad liar. And lying to anyone feels completely awful, especially since he hasn't seen Shay in a very long time. So he tells her he's probably suffering from some major amnesia. And he's sure he is. The last thing he remembered was being on the Castle of Lions. So it's not a lie. It still makes Shay worry about him though, considering she instantly texts to ask if she should come over. Hunk tells her about his supposed plan to meet up with the other paladins.
Shay calls him. And isn't that just the most inexplicable thing. Shay's voice still sounds right, but she sounds more sure of herself than Hunk remembers. And it's not a bad thing. Hunk loves that she speaks more confidently on the phone. He just wishes it wasn't about how he really ought to go to a hospital because there's no such things as paladins anymore, and she's never heard Hunk refer to his group as being 'Paladins.' And when Hunk tries to remind her they are paladins, all she can say is something about a children's cartoon. And Hunk decides that maybe he should invite everyone over to his place.
So he does. The worst thing that could happen is his friends taking him to a psychiatric ward. Or a hospital. Neither ideas seem particularly awful at the moment. And, infact, Hunk thinks maybe he really should go see someone about his temporary insanity. Or maybe his sudden lack of clarity. It's just that Hunk knows he's supposed to be doing something important, but just like when he lost his mind eating that sea gunk when he and Lance got separated from the others, he can't determine what that something is.
Lance is the first to show up. Hunk, as it turns out, lives alone, and so has to let Lance in himself. He was kind of hoping his parents would be there, but honestly it's just good to be taking in Earth again. Every room he goes into he opens a window to let the air and sounds of nature come in. And yes, there's still the sound of traffic and one of his neighbors has a lot of children, but overall it sounds like home. Lance wants him to close the window though, and Hunk can understand why that might be necessary. After all, he's going to want to focus on what's going on.
“You must be really out of it,” Lance makes sure Hunk is settled nicely onto a couch, “You didn't even offer me anything to eat or drink.”
“Oh,” Hunk feels a flush rising to his face, “I'm sorry. Let me-”
“Nah, nope, no, no, no,” Lance gently pushes Hunk back into the couch, “If I want something I can just get it myself. You should be resting.”
The rest of the team slowly filtered in. At some point Allura and Coran called to apologize for not being able to show up. They said they had to man the bakery. Hunk has no idea what that means, aside from the most obvious, so he chooses not to think to hard about it. And Shay shows up. Hunk feels a tightness in his chest at the sight of her. He's so used to thinking of her as this pretty rock alien that seeing a human version of her startles him. And he knows it's Shay, just by looking at her. She might not be gray-ish green anymore, and she might look more human, but Hunk would know the face of Shay anywhere.
Hunk tells them about his last memory. And it comes to him the more he looks at both Keith and Shiro. The castle going haywire, fighting Lotor, losing the Castle. It all comes back to him. They only thing he isn't clear on is how they got back to Earth so quickly. It is at this point his friends give him a concerned look.
“Hunk,” Lance drapes himself around Hunk, and really it's just the sort of thing Lance would do, “It sounds like you had a crazy nightmare.”
Hunk hates lying to his friends, but they don't believe him and he's not going to offer himself up for a vote of no confidence, so instead of insisting it was real, Hunk says, “Yeah. It must have been a nightmare.”
“No more sugar before bed,” Shay sounds concerned, but something in her form relaxes.
“Maybe I should go back to sleep,” Hunk offers weakly.
“I'll stay,” Shay volunteers, “I don't like the idea of leaving you alone right now, baby.”
Hunk can't hide his shock. Yes, he was very much attracted to Shay, and yes he had contemplated the idea of dating her, but saving the Galaxy had won out for him. He had hoped that someday he might see her again, ask her out properly, maybe fall in love someday. But those had been nothing more than dreams. He really must have been missing something because wow, Shay using pet names sounded amazing.
“Eww,” Pidge vacated the armchair quickly, “Get your gooey eyes away from me.”
“I didn't go gooey eyed,” Hunk argues for the sake of distracting himself.
Eventually the only person left is Shay. She leads him by the hand to his bedroom, where they lay down together. Hunk thinks that this is what heaven must feel like. Wrapped up in soft, warm sheets, holding his beautiful girlfriend, and wanting nothing more than to whisper sweet nothings with her. When sleep tugs at him, Hunk falls into it's loving arms willingly. He hopes when he wakes up again, he'll remember this moment.