"Are you sure about this?" Lance asked sweating heavily. He looked over the tall cliff, down at the barely visible ground beneath them. They had dragged Lance out of the Castle and found the highest point on the planet. He looked distrustfully back at his friends and hunched his shoulders slightly. He imagined they were just going to toss him off the cliff and decide that was that.

"First, let's see your wingspan," Shiro said stepping closer behind Lance. With a sigh, he obeyed and spread his wings out as far as he could. There were some gasps from the others when they saw the newly groomed feathers in the sunlight. At this everyone spread out their wings. Hunk had the largest wings, followed by Shiro, and now Lance, Keith, than Pidge. Keith sent a pout Lance's way, making him laugh and give him a wide grin.

"Are you sore anywhere?" Shiro asked smoothing his hands down the tops of his first set of wings. He blushed and looked over the tops of them to watch the leader. Shiro glanced up and raised a brow waiting for an answer. He cleared his throat and looked over the horizon.

"No, they feel pretty good just being out again," he admitted flexing them slightly. Shiro hummed and kept grooming the wings absentmindedly.

"How was your flying before you stopped?" He asked this time. Lance's feathers immediately puffed up in pride and he put his hands on his hips.

"Best flyer out of everyone in my family," he said proudly with a grin, "and some of them went on to become aerial performers," he bragged. Shiro looked back at Hunk, Keith, and Pidge with a little smile and gestured to his back and then the cliff. He got nods and thumbs up in response and he turned back to Lance. He clapped a hand down on his shoulder grabbing Lance's attention.

"Well, it seems like you'll be fine," he said with a smile. Lance raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked behind himself to see the other three standing trying to look innocent.

"What do you me-ACK!" he started only to be cut off by Shiro grabbing him by the waist in the crook of his arm and jumping off the side of the cliff. With a cheer Hunk, Keith, and Pidge dove off the side of the cliff after them. Lance clawed at Shiro's arm with a scream and felt tears falling from his eyes as the wind rushed passed them.

"I'm going to let you go now," Shiro yelled calmly over the sound of air. Lance shook his head frantically and dug his fingernails into Shiro's arm.

"SHIRO I SWEAR TO GOD!" He screamed. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU IF YOU LET GO, I WASN'T READY!" With a deadpanned face, Shiro took his arm away from the blue paladin.

"Oops, she wasn't ready," he muttered snapping his wings open and leaving Lance to flail through the air.

"SHIRO YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" He shrieked. He looked down at the ground ignoring the tears that were flowing up his cheeks into his ears. He closed his eyes and tried to remember before he left home and was immediately greeted with memories of his family and flying with them. He peeked his eyes open and looked to the side, seeing his friends diving alongside him. It was time that he flew with his new family. He didn't have anything to fear anymore, they were his family and he could trust them. He opened his wings open wide, the air immediately caught on them and his fall came to a stop leaving the other paladins to shoot past him. He laughed and flapped his wings to climb higher up.

"Lance you did it!" Pidge said happily as she flew up to meet him. Lance gave her a little pout and crossed his arms.

"You doubted me?" He asked. Pidge rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm. He yelped and pretended to fall again, gaining a startled yelp from her. She fell after him with her arms open as if to catch him. He grinned and shot up again, grabbing her in his arms and falling to Hunk, Keith, and Shiro. When they got there, she batted his arms away from him and clawed her way out of his arms.

"Don't do that, I thought you were going to die," she mumbled crossly. Lance chuckled and circled around her.

"Sorry Pidge, I used to do that with my little sister back on Earth," he explained twisting around in the sky. Her eyes widened and she cooed slightly.

"I guess it wasn't that bad then," she admitted with a small grin. Lance gave her a blinding smile back. He grunted when suddenly he pushed from behind, he righted himself quickly and looked behind his back to see Keith smirking slightly. Before he could realize what was happening, Keith dropped away and dove down to the ground. With a start, he realized that Keith wanted to play. He quickly dove after him and quickly caught up with him.

"Good try Keith," he said and grabbed his leg stopping him in his motion. Keith yelped as he was knocked off course and Lance shot up into the sky. He let out a loud laugh and chased after him. Lance looked back at Keith and the happy, determined expression on his face. He led him around for a few minutes and laughed when he shot past him without a problem.

"ACK!" He grunted when smacked into a solid chest. He clung to it when his wings stopped moving and he looked up to look into Shiro's face. He blushed and quickly righted himself so he could jump off of his chest.

"Sorry Shiro, I didn't see you there," he admitted rubbing the back of his neck.

"That's fine Lance, it was kind of the point," he laughed. Lance squinted his eyes in confusion but they widened when he felt a hand land a stinging slap between his wings.

"Traitor," Lance whispered at Shiro. He stared into Shiro's eyes with wide eyes as he slapped Shiro right on the pec and flew away.

"I'll accept that," he said to himself before he took off towards where Pidge and Hunk were leisurely flying around. At the focused frown on his face, they paused before Pidge screamed.

"ABORT!" She shouted and she and Hunk fell away from the paladin. He laughed and chased after them, after a few minutes he flew away hoping that Lance and Keith let their guards down. Luckily it seemed like that's just what happened to Keith and he was able to slap him on his lower back. He groaned but smirked when he noticed Hunk and Pidge still flying away from them. He quickly took chase away from him after the two. Shiro took the opportunity to fly over to Lance who seemed to be doing simple manoeuvres through the air.

"I've come to apologize for my betrayal," he said overlapping his right wing over Lance's left ones slightly. Lance's regarded him slightly before nodding with mock approval.

"I guess you're forgiven," he said with a small smile. Shiro smiled back and whiffled to fly underneath Lance.

"Thank goodness, I don't know what I would have done," he said. He twisted and came up on Lance's right side. Lance blushed and looked away at the horizon again. Without a second thought, Lance dove again and Shiro didn't hesitate in following him. They folded in their wings and suddenly they were grasping each other's arms and corkscrewing to the ground. They laughed and flew away from each other back into the sky and met up again. They flew around each other, ignoring the smirks they were getting from the others, enraptured instead with each other. The sun was setting before Keith interrupted them.

"I know you guys are in love but we should really head back," he said with a playful smirk. Immediately they started sputtering out embarrassed excuses and denials.

"Keep telling yourselves that guys," he chuckled before turning serious and pointing a sharp finger at Shiro threateningly, "I better be your best man," he growled and flew to meet back up with Hunk and Pidge. Shiro and Lance glanced at each other with hot faces and quickly turned away again to fly back to the hangers.

"Anyone else hungry?" Keith asked sitting back in the nest. There were various sounds of approval and agreement. Lance yawned and bundled his wings around him to cover him in warmth.

"I'm good, I'm just going to go to sleep now," he responded closing his eyes. At the complete silence that greeted him, he peeked his eye open. Shiro, Hunk, Keith, and Pidge all stood with wide eyes and limp wings.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" He asked worriedly.

"You're going to sleep here with us?" Pidge asked softly.

"Oh um yes I was going to. I don't have to though, I can go back to my room!" He said waving his hands around nervously and struggled to stand, trying to untangle himself from his wings to stand.

"No!" Shiro cried making the others flinch. He walked forward with a nervous chirp and tried to get Lance to sit back down.

"We're just happy that you want to spend the night here," he explained frantically smoothing down Lance's hair and feathers. Lance trilled and closed his eyes again, shortly slipping into a comfortable slumber.

______________________________________________________

At first, Lance didn't know where he was. He was flying through dense fog and he wasn't able to see anything at all. Slowly though, he began to see sparkling blue waters beneath him, familiar blue waters. With a start, he realized that he was flying over the private stretch of beach his family owned. He landed on one of the cliffs that overlooked the white sand beach with wide eyes.

"You looked spooked," A voice said on his right. He flinched back and looked over to see his mamá looking back at him.

"Mamá," he whispered tears coming to his eyes. She gave him a heartwarming smile and pulled him into a hug. He clutched to her shoulders and cried into her chest. "I miss you Mamá," he sniffled. She pet his hair and pulled back his head to kiss him on the forehead.

"I know baby but I know that you are doing something incredible out there," she said comforting him. She gestured back down to the beach where he could now see his family splashing around in the water and playing on the beach. He watched them soar out of the water into the air and dive back in without hesitation. He laughed when one of his cousins came splashing out with a large fish in his hands and he brought it to his uncle to skin and cook for them. With a hand on his jaw, she brought his attention back to her.

"Lance, honey, you don't need to worry about us," she said with a concerned expression, "and yes we miss you. We miss you so so much but we are okay," she said, her voice breaking slightly in the middle.

Lance bit his lip and looked back down at them with a heavy heart. Space certainly wasn't as horrible as he initially thought it would be. He found the freedom he wanted on Earth here. He found another group of people to call family. He might have even found love.

"I'm so proud of you, and I'm happy you could find people who love you as much as we do," his mamá said suddenly drawing his attention back to her. She was looking down at the beach now and he followed her gaze. The paladins were landing on the beach and mingling with his family. Pidge and Hunk were playing with his younger cousins, providing a sort of entertainment for them. Keith stood with his uncle as he showed him how to skin the fish that was just caught. Shiro though, he looked lost. He twisted around as if looking for someone.

'As if he was looking for me,' Lance thought with a happy grin. Little did he know that's exactly what he was doing. Shiro looked up at the cliff and his face brightened exponentially when he caught sight of the Rowan.

"Lance!" He called happily with a wave. Lance gulped and looked over at his mamá. She grinned broadly and gestured for his to go. Lance glanced back at him uncertainly and wrung his hands in front of him. His mamá huffed gaining his attention again.

"Lance, I know how long you've had a crush on that boy, go after him," she said bluntly like always. Lance blushed and pouted at his mamá but obediently glided down to meet the black paladin.

"Um, hey Shiro," he said with a smile.

"Lance?" He asked with a smile. Lance looked at him in confusion and looked around him.

"Uh, yes? What do you mean?" He asked looking at Shiro warily now. Shiro came forward and brushed his hand down Lance's cheek softly. Lance gave him a shy smile and leaned slightly into the hand.

"Lance?" Shiro asked again quieter than before. Lance sighed and looked into Shiro's eyes.

"Why do you keep asking me that?" he said. Shiro leaned forward and gently kissed his forehead. When he backed up, Lance's face was once again covered in a blush and he was looking at Shiro with fond eyes.

"Lance, can you wake up?"

______________________________________________________

Lance blinked his eyes open coming face to face with Shiro. He shrieked and whipped his head forward connecting their heads with a loud crack. Shiro yelled and pressed a hand to his eye.

"OH FU-IDDLESTICKS!" He yelled in pain.

"Just say fuck Shiro," Pidge muttered looking at him blankly.

"Fuck," he grumbled rubbing his eye. Lance jumped forward with a cry.

"Oh Shiro, I am so sorry," he said with tears in his eyes. Part of it from the pain of the hit, the other from the despair that he already lost his chance with Shiro.

"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have startled you like that!" He said, he gasped when he looked at Lance.

"Lance, your head, it's bruised already," he said gently touching the skin around it.

"Talk for yourself, you have a black eye," he said with concern. After a moment the two of them burst out laughing and clutched on to each other's arms to keep from falling over. Hunk leaned over to both Keith and Pidge.

"Do you think they have concussions or something?" He asked with a raised brow directed at the giggling paladins.

"Probably," Keith replied.

"They're probably fine," Pidge said sitting down and covering herself in preparation to go to sleep. Keith did the same, leaving Hunk standing alone to look at them.

"What about Lance's food?" He asked the two of them.

"Do you want to go over there and try to give it to him?" Pidge asked gesturing at the marks on both Shiro and Lance's heads. Hunk quickly shook his head and sat down, abandoning the bowl of food goo just outside of the nest. Soon enough the only sounds that were heard were the quiet conversation between Lance and Shiro. Lance fell forward cuddled in Shiro's wings and looked carefully over the bruise on his face. Shiro suddenly swiped his finger over it and then his own.

"Weird, black and blue, just like us," Shiro said.

"A bruise, really?" He asked blandly. Shiro shrugged his shoulders.

"It could be nice," He pouted. Lance raised his eyebrows and put on a disbelieving face.

"Yeah? How so?" He asked leaning back down on Shiro's arm. Shiro thought for a moment with a hum.

"No matter how bad we're beaten, we'll always be together?" He suggested. Lance sighed and cuddled closer.

"Okay, that was pretty good,"