"Man I'm so tired," lance walked with Ryan down the halls.

"I'll trade you teams, griffins been busting my neck for the training lately, said I'm distracted," Ryan smiled down at him. They haven't even seen each other since the morning.

"Deal, Allura still is in the head space of when we were in space and I'm a lost puppy without being in love with her," lance rolled his eyes as he walked with his hands behind his back.

"Aw and what changed since?" He teased as lance pushed him away laughing a little.

"Found some other dumb ass to act like a lost puppy around," lance flipped him off as Ryan blew him a dramatic kiss.

"Nah but I always jokingly hit on Allura cause i thought it was funny but I started to notice no one would take me seriously so I stopped, it's once in a while now but it's more... I don't know, it's not even fun to talk to her cause she looks down on me," he smiled sadly a little. He wished they had a friendship, he really did, but if this is how she really was then what was the point in trying.

"So now I can just start hitting on you," Lance perked up again.

"Not as a joke?" Ryan hummed.

"Some of them," lance giggled holding his hand gently.

"I'm going to cook us dinner tonight, I wanna hear about your day," Ryan squeezed his hand. Lance looked at him in a way no one else has, like he was the only one in the world, he would give anything for lance to look at him like that. Like he made the world stop spinning.

"You would do that?" Lance whispered in amazement.

"Why wouldn't i? Just because we're secret boyfriends doesn't mean I can't treat you like a real one, plus I think it would be nice for our first date to be homemade food by us," Ryan kissed his forehead gently and lance covered his face nodding.

"Your the best," lance mumbled in his hands as Ryan smiled.

"Your not going to cry are you?" He raised a brow.

"No! I'm not crying, it's just stuffy," lance sniffled turning away.

"I'm going to shower then will meet you at the kitchen, cool?" Ryan asked.

"Aw I can't come with the shower?" Lance turned back mischievously.

"Aha uh no, my team is in the same room," he backed away slowly as lance groaned.

"Your no fun," the Paladin stuck his tongue out.

"See you in an hour?" Ryan smiled back.

"Make it a date," lance snorted going to his cabin to shower off the training struggles.

Lance had a goofy grin on his face thinking about his boyfriend, he couldn't help it, Ryan made him smile. Just everything he did, he has such a serious face but when it was just them he was open and was so kind. He's a gentle soul that made lance feel... like he deserved to be happy with him, they were comfortable with each other.

"Man I'm so gay for him," lance laughed to himself in the empty cabin and headed to the bathroom.

——

"You cleaned up well," lance teased finding Ryan again in the kitchen. He was already starting to cook.

"And you don't stink," Ryan chuckled keeping his eyes down on the knife that was cutting tomatoes.

"I never stink," lance hummed kissing his cheek  as he passed him. Ryan turned his head to kiss his lips instead with a smile.

"You got me, your right," Ryan whispered against his lips as lance kissed him once more and let him continue.

"So what's the menu?" Lance wrapped an arm around Ryan's shoulders as he watched him with the knife.

"Pasta al pomodoro," Ryan told him calmly.

"Need help with any of it? I can start boiling," lance offered slipping off him.

"That would be great if you could start the water, also check the oven for me?" He asked going back to cutting his cherry tomatoes.

Lance opened the oven and gasped clapping excitedly.

"You made garlic knots!" Lance squealed.

"I tried," Ryan chuckled.

"Awww mi Amor me estas tratando bien," lance cooed hugging his arm as Ryan blinked confused.

"I'm guessing you're happy then? I don't understand any Spanish," he laughed awkwardly.

"Very, thank you, I'm sure they're delicious," lance kissed his nose gently with a smile and went to go do the tasks he promised to do earlier.

"So this is our first date officially? Kind of funny," lance took the garlic knots out of the oven and started to put water in the pot to boil.

"How so?" Ryan asked with a calm smile while he put the tomatoes in a separate bowl.

"Just cause this is how the night almost started when we kissed for the first time, but like we also always hang out so it's just feels natural," lance waited for the water to start boiling and stole one garlic knots before leaning against the counter next to him.

"And how does that make you feel?" Ryan grabbed the green onion to chop next.

"Confident," lance offered him some of the garlic knot.

"I'm not scared to be myself around you, I like being around you," he chuckled as Ryan ate the bread from his fingers since his hands were full.

"Did you do a good job?" Lance smiled.

"I did a great job those are so good," Ryan laughed as lance gave it a try and moaned in delight of the taste.

"You Ryan kinkade, have a gift," lance smiled brightly as he jumped up to sit on the counter.

"Just for you," Ryan stole one of his tomatoes from the bowl before getting some oils and seasonings.

"I'm honored," he pursed his lips to keep his smile down, he couldn't help it, he always felt like he was smiling with him.

"There's still so much more I wanna know about you, I think a date is a great idea," lance grabbed some plates and put noodles in the boiling water as Ryan glanced over at him.

"You know I have nothing to hide, except my secret girlfriend but she said I have to be back by 9," he said sarcastically and lance snorted shaking his head.

"Sucks, mine said 10," lance teased back as he stirred the spaghetti noodles in the pot.

"Then we better hurry up," Ryan finished up the vegetables and they both finished dinner while Lance went to get silverware and Ryan made them both plates, sprinkling Parmesan cheese on top of both.

"You did great with dinner, thank you," lance kissed his cheek gently before going to the counters since there was no dining tables for them, Lance stole some more garlic knots for the pasta.

"I'm happy you could make it," he nodded setting them plates in front of them as they sat down together.

"It's to bad I couldn't have grabbed flowers for you, I tried looking," lance sighed crossing his ankles under the counter.

"You we're going to bring me flowers?" Ryan squeaked.

"Of course, you made dinner it was fair for me to treat you something nice, but the garrisons, no flowers in sight," he laughed a little and tried the pasta.

"Geez amor your skills are just mmmmhmm, blessing," lance laid his head back as ryan laughed at him.

"I've never had anyone bring me flowers, the thought was enough," he nodded and ate some as well.

"No no no no, I'm getting you flowers as soon as I find some, I swear it," lance judged him a little.

"You'd be the first, I'll look forward to it," he grinned softly at his boyfriend.

"So tell me about your family, I know you have two little sisters and your close with your parents but like, where did you grow up? So and so?" Lance asked curiously and Ryan looked at him kindly.

"I grew up more in the city, biking around mostly but I kept to myself in school, never been much of a talker but a lot of kids seemed to like me still," Ryan shrugged. "Nothing really special, we moved eventually outside the city when my sisters came into the family, bigger house, a yard, but nothing exciting happened as a kid, fairly normal,"

"Did you have any pets?" Lance asked again.

"I had my own hamster, his name was ham, and we had a dog, her name was star, kinda cliche," he chuckled.

"Ham is the perfect name," lance agreed.

"Your sisters and my niece and nephew should have a play date! That would be so nice for them to be around kids their own age," he gasped excitedly.

"Aha.. not for a little while, my family still isn't at the garrisons," Ryan looked away pursing his lips.

"What? I thought you said they were," lances eyes widen.

"No, no I have no idea where they are," he gulped a little.

"I'm sure they're okay, they're going to be okay," the Cuban touched his hand gently and Ryan gripped it back nodding.

"I know, I know they're at least safe, it just worries me since they're not with me here," he agreed.

"That's understandable, I would be too, I'm sorry they aren't still, it's a horrible feeling," lance inhaled deeply nodding.

"Did you feel like this in space?" He asked.

"Sort of, I was more home sick, that I might not see them for a long long time, miss my niece and nephew growing up, especially with space and time are different there," lance rubbed the back of his neck. "Or that I might not come back and they would never know,"

"Veronica talked about you a lot, she would've known," Ryan smiled back.

"I'm so glad I ran into you in the desert, who knew," lance changed the topic and rubbed Ryan's leg with his foot.

"What a funny way to say I appreciate you," Ryan leaned forward making both of them smile hiding their laughter.