[C][AU][Future AU] Home

Home.

He remembered, those years ago, that he'd been so desperate to get home, back in those first few months. He wanted earth beneath his feet, family at his elbows.

Now this planet was more alien to him than any planet he'd been on in the ten years he'd lived aboard the Altean ship.

A month back on Earth and he hated it.

Give him the Galra war over having to deal with ignorant humans any day of the week.

Fleck gave a weary sigh as his hand rested on the handle of the front door of his house. The house he'd lived in up until that one camping trip that had changed his life for good. He didn't want to leave the house. He didn't want to deal with the stares and whispers and every flinch and blunder he made every time a car backfired.

Squaring his shoulders, Fleck yanked open the door and called out a goodbye to Chrys. He stepped out onto the street and marched down the road. His hands stuffed in the pockets of his loose jacket. It felt so strange wearing such loose clothing again after years of wearing his paladin armour.

Despite his loose clothing, he still kept some of his space-time mannerisms and appearances. His hair, grown out now to his hips and all a deep brown, was tied up in a thick bun - the same one that Dick kept his in during battle. Bar two small wisps that hung down in front of his ears, in Alrean fashion. He had a deep and jagged scar high on his left cheekbone, from a particularly vicious battle he'd had with a Galra soldier six years ago. And, despite it probably being illegal, he had his bayard in his pocket, ready for the attack that was never going to come.

It was a short walk into town, to the coffee shop that he'd arranged to meet Lucas in. Their return to Earth had been hard on the both of them, and meeting up was a small reprieve in the midst of this mess. Of the four humans that had gone up into space, he and Lucas were the only two to return home. Amr had chosen to stay with his alien boyfriend. He didn't blame him. Their third child was on the way. He wouldn't leave a growing family. Tik had found a little planet during their exploration that he'd felt at home in, and had chosen to stay there.

Lucas was already in the coffee shop, sitting at a table, waiting with his back to Fleck

"On your six, Red," he spoke as he approached him. Even his voice had changed in the past decade. It was slightly deeper than it was, marred with an Altean accent. Even speaking his native tongue he sounded like a foreigner.

Lucas turned and inclined his head at the approaching man.

He was sat in the corner of the coffee shop with the wall to his back. There was a cup of steaming black tea between his hands, untouched. There was another mug in front of him.

"Got your usual. It's on me its time."

Since he had left earth he had turned from a gangly nineteen-year-old to a sturdy thirty-year-old. There were days he went without shaving and ended up with more than a sparse moustache. Like that day, he was sporting a stubble.

"Thanks."

Fleck took a seat, shifting his char around so he had his back to the adjacent wall to Lucas'. He, too, felt uncomfortable with his back exposed.

He cupped his mug and took a sip, wincing at the taste. He still wasn't used to Earths food and drink. "It's sweet." He'd once needed sweet drinks to survive. Now, though, he was so used to the scarce rations and availability of luxuries and sweet foods that he'd grown used to bitter alien coffee-like drinks. Earth coffee was sweet in comparison, no matter how strongly it was brewed.

"How have you been this past week?" The two of them met up once a week, though when they were feeling particularly vulnerable, they tended to gravitate together.

More than once he'd found himself walking to Lucas' apartment for comfort after mentally reliving a two-month-long stint as a Galran war prisoner.

Lucas was the only person on Earth that could even vaguely relate or help in that situation.

Lucas hummed and tapped the mug.

"There was a job offering," he started, "thought it would get me out of the house. Bar work. A few shifts a week, nothing too stressful, but..."

He shrugged, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"Got an interview and I just... didn't go. Got up, showered, dressed and I then I didn't even leave the house. All I could think of is; what's the point?"

Last year he'd stormed a Galra ship, made demands to a Galra thrice his size with confidence and authority. Now he couldn't meet an old man half his size for a job he was bound to get.

"The idea of going into a nine to five job, pretending nothing happened, and pretending that nothing is still going on up there is, well, you know."

He shrugged again.

"What about yourself?"

"The war was our lives. You've been fighting since you were a teenager. Assimilating back into... mundanity-" Mundanity and absolute ignorance "-won't be easy, Red."

Fleck sipped at his too-sweet coffee again, then set it down. "You've managed more than I have. I can't... I can't. Every day I'm reminded of the war, the fighting and the struggles and rallies."

His gaze focused on a crumb on the table between them.

"Chrys is trying to help me get over it. Like you can just get over all this. He finally qualified for his space trip in the time I was gone. And, even with what happened to Maria, he went. There was a problem with the landing, they crashed on descent. He thinks that's enough. His trials and tribulations in space give him the ability to judge and help with Voltron."

His shoulders hunched and he exhaled deeply. "I know... This was for the best. Returning home, rebuilding our lives. But I just... I miss it. I miss Voltron, and Yellow and Black, and I miss him."

Even now he ached to have Dick settled into the crook of his arm, passing of his royal judgements on everything. Teasing him about his peasantry, ambushing him in Black when they both needed a moment to relax.

There was a long pause as Fleck contemplated his next words.

"I want to enlist."

Lucas glanced up at Fleck, not surprised by his declaration, but surprised it was so soon. He took a sip from he tea.

"I can't believe that I'm the one saying this, but that sounds like a terrible idea."

He turned a little in his seat to face Fleck, considering him.

"It's only been a month. Give it at least - I don't know - six? A year? Before considering enlisting. Give it time. We have to at least try to assimilate back into," he waved his hand, "this. Otherwise, what was the point in coming back?"

Seeing his sister, happy and married and moved on from his disappearance, it was difficult for him at the moment to see the point. Earth wasn't the only place they had family.

"Enlisting will mean you will not only be separated from your family, but also the ones here on earth. And me. We wouldn't be able to meet for a coffee every week."

He tried to crack a smile.

He was being selfish here, he knew. But the idea of being separated to the one thing that understood Voltron was difficult to swallow.

Fleck sighed heavily and slumped in his chair.

"I just... need something. A drive. What am I doing here, fearing my own shadow and trying to reinstate my life as an artist? I haven't drawn in years!"

He took one last sip of his coffee before setting it on the table and scooting it across its surface. That was enough of that. The sweetness was offending him now.

"At least if I'm enlisted, I'd have a drive. If I remember anything of Earth, there's always a war to fight. What do we know better than war?"

Dick's smiling face came to mindseye.

He buried his tense face into his hands, trying to force himself to relax.

"Do you still have your communicator?" he questioned, drawing his hands from his face. "I turn it on every night and broadcast, hoping one of them will reply."

Lucas simply shook his head.

His was still in the jacket he wore when he arrived back on earth. Currently hanging in the corner wardrobe, untouched.

"Look, Fleck," his voice broke into a sigh, "you need to get over this. We need to get over this. Get a nine to five job, pick up old hobbies and be there for the people we ultimately chose. What exactly do you think that is going to happen if we can reach them?"

He tried not think think on what he would do if he managed to contact them. He didn't want to give himself the hope.

"Get over this." Fleck sounded as close to genuinely angry he'd been for years.

"What do you want me to get over, Lucas? Do you want me to forget the past eleven years? The war? Dick and Belen and Giacinto and Amr? How about Anna?" He hadn't once raised his voice, but his tone was getting more and more agitated and upset the more he spoke.

Did Lucas really want him to forget everything from his life in the past eleven years? They'd done so much. Lifetimes worth. How could he forget any of it?

The last question had him setting his jaw.

His face was tensed for a long moment before he looked away, shoulders slumping and anger draining from him.

"I don't know. Maybe... Maybe they'll call us back. Maybe he'll realise how wrong he-" His elbow rested on the table and he gripped his forehead, hiding his eyes. "I miss him, Lucas. How could he believe sending us back to Earth was for the best?"

Lucas clenched his own jaw as Fleck became more and more agitated, holding back his tongue. A couple on the table next to them looked over, picking up at Fleck's tone, but he ignored them.

"Probably because he is an alien that is going to outlive you five times over," he said bluntly.

It was bitchy, but there was no point sugar coating it.

"Besides, he knew that you - we - wanted to see our families again." God, he was starting to sound like a broken record. "If we stayed, there probably wouldn't be another chance to come home. This is for the best."

Fleck flinched.

That didn't stop Amr and Ti, he wanted to say. Tibor's species lived for hundreds of years. Yet those two were happy, married and together and making a family.

What was so different about Amr and himself?

No, that wasn't really the question to be asked. What was the difference between Ti and Dick? Ti was sweet, but inherently quite a selfish creature. Ti would fight the entire Galra force by himself to keep Amr with him.

Dick fought for the greater good. He was a strong man, but sometimes misguided in his lack of selfishness. Selflessness wasn't always a good thing.

"Is it? The way I see it, we're both miserable down here. We've melted into the sea of people. We can't make a difference here. We can't do anything. I want to be up there, helping disband the resistance and strengthen alliances."

Lucas wanted so much to agree with Fleck. He was miserable. They were useless down here. What was it that Fleck mentioned earlier? They lacked drive.

He missed being able to do something.

But if he agreed now then everything he was arguing for would be for nothing.

"It's been a month." And what a long ass month it has been. "We need to start thinking of the smaller picture."

Fleck gave a bitter laugh.

"We're the defenders of the fucking universe, Lucas. We stopped being allowed to look at the smaller picture the moment you caught me by the garrison."

Defenders of the universe, and the two of them were sat in a coffee shop on a planet that was so removed that they'd never encountered alien life, discussing fucking job interviews.

Fleck sucked on his teeth loudly and looked around the coffee shop before he pulled his communicator out of his pocket. It was sleek and white and ovular, with the blue glowing details that made it so obviously Altean.

"I'm done with Earth, Red. Are you?"

He pressed a button on the side and held it to his mouth. "Black to Castle, Black to Castle." His eyes met Lucas', and he began speaking in Altean. "Come on, Dick. Answer me. Please. I miss you. I'm- I can;t do this any more, Dick. I can't."

We were, he wanted to correct.

His eyes turned down to the communicator in Fleck's hand. Did he take that thing everywhere? His brows dipped into a frown.

Silence was what Fleck was greeted with.

Lucas stood and placed his hand on Fleck's shoulder.

"Let's do this at my place, at least. It is only a block away."

The table next to them was looking again. He didn't want to cause a scene. They deserved privacy at for this.

Fleck heaved a deep sigh.

"It's not like he's going to reply."

He ever did. Every day for the past month he had tried. Every day, and he hadn't had a single answer, from Dick or anyone else in the castle. Hell, he'd be happy to listen to one of the kids getting hold of the communicator.

Still, he shoved the communicator into his pocket and stood, letting Lucas lead the way out of the little coffee shop.

Lucas patted him on the shoulder. He now had to look down.

He shoved his hands in his jacket and made his way outside, leading the way to his apartment. Which really was no less than a couple of minutes away.

It was tiny. The kitchen and lounge counted at one. The bathroom was dinky. He could barely fit a double bed in his room.

The small space suited him. It wasn't like he had a load of stuff to fill it with.

It also seemed his sister had been round to clean. The takeaway boxes and bags were gone. There was probably a fresh meal waiting for him in the fridge.

"Drink?" He asked, pulling out a bottle of whisky.

"Don't suppose you have any tea?" he asked, taking a seat on the little couch.

Tibor's tea was certainly something that helped them out when they didn't have any human alcohol left.

He pulled the communicator from his pocket and set it down next to his thigh on the couch.

Lucas snorted before finding a couple of mismatched glasses that his sister had given to him.

He sat down on the couch and kicked off his boots. then poured them both a generous amount. He had ice somewhere, but if Fleck wanted to be a prissy bitch he could get it himself.

"To being primitive humans that thought it would be better on earth."

He lifted his glass in cheers.

Fleck snorted and lifted his glass to the toast.

He hadn't thought that. The only reason he had come back to Earth was because Dick had thought it was for the best. Dick wanted this. Not him.

He downed half the glass in one sip and leaned back.

"How did Nico take you leaving?"

Lucas knocked back a fair amount before licking his top lip in thought.

"Why does it matter? We're here now. No point dwelling the past. I'm trying to get on with my life. A normal, mundane human life. Thinking about ex-alien-boyfriends and Voltron and everything with it isn't going to help with that. It isn't like he can just... I don't know... "

He looked off to the side.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Shit."

His heart ached.

Fleck gave a humourless laugh.

"We're both fucking messes. Quiznak. I should have fought him. I should have..."

He downed the last of the whiskey in his glass.

"As I said no point dwelling on it."

Lucas shook his head and followed suit, downing the rest of his own drink.

"We just gotta look at this like... We moved from a big ass city to the middle of fucking nowhere with no way out, having a big midlife crisis. We both broke up from our long-term exes and it may take a while but we will move on."

He refilled both of their glasses as he spoke.

He set his glass down.

"I don't want to move on, Lucas."

He wanted to be back on the ship, back in his Prince's arms. He didn't want to be here, out in the middle of nowhere with just one friend.

Lucas sighed, shoulders sagging.

There was only so much he could say to convince Fleck that this was the right decision. Especially when he barely believed himself.

He took a sip of his drink and let it sit in his mouth for a moment before swallowing.

"Do you truly want to go back? Because if you do... I don't think I can stay here."

Not by himself.

"We're paladins, Red."

His lips curled upwards in a crooked smirk. "We don't leave our own behind, ever."

It was a philosophy they'd all stuck to. One that had gotten one of them killed, but one they kept close to their hearts.

Had kept close to their hearts.

The paladins were all separated now.