Artificial Rain // Langst One-Shot

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"lance," coran called through the door of lance's room. without another warning, the door slid open to reveal the gingered man, who looked absolutely stoked. lance turned his attention from the family photo he was holding to coran, and smiled softly. "hey, coran," lance greeted. he sat up with a soft grunt and coran stepped closer. "what's up?"

coran practically bounced on his toes in excitement like a toddler as he grabbed lance's bicep and dragged him out of his room. "so i know how much you miss earth," coran started as the two men walked quickly through the castle halls. "and i've been doing this side project, just playing with it when i had the free time." lance furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at coran, who smiled widely at him, babbling on about how hard he'd worked on it. soon enough, coran and lance stopped in front of a door lance hadn't recognized. "wait, when did we have a door here?"

coran winked at him and tapped his temple, whatever that meant, and he reached for the button next to the door that slid it open, revealing a large dark room. it was empty, except for a single drain in the middle of the floor and a control system next to the door. coran tapped the control system, causing the room to flood with light and the machine to glow the signature baby blue.

as coran messed with the controls, lance looked around, confused. "does the room make robots come out of the walls or somethin'?" lance asked, tapping and knocking on the walls. coran turned to face lance and shook his head, the big grin still planted on his face.

and in a push of a button from coran, blue pixels glitched through the ground, startling lance, and pushed their way across the floor as it turned the sleek white into a flowing green with blooming flowers and to the walls, stretching all the way to the ceiling which seemed to never end. the atmosphere turned humid and dark, gray clouds forming in the high ceiling. rain clouds?

lance whipped around quickly to face coran as a roll of thunder shook the ground below both of them. the first drop of rain hit the top of lance's brown head, and then another. coran's grin turned sad as lance's face slid between surprise and bittersweet melancholy. as the rain picked up to more than a drizzle, lance let tears run down his face with the raindrops. he kept his gaze on coran with his eyes wide. in the next second, he'd leaped from where he was standing and threw his lanky arms around coran, who was choking back tears of his own, wrapping lance in his arms and squeezing.

"thank you, coran," lance whispered, his voice squeaking from the tightness in his throat. coran nodded into his shoulder as he felt lance's body shudder from sobbing. after a while, lance let go of coran and wiped his face. every inch of both of them was drenched with the rain, the thunder still rumbling, reaching to lance's tight chest.

"i'll leave you to it," coran patted lance's shoulder and held out his hand, revealing a key. "here's the key for the room, for whenever you miss home." and without another word, coran left lance in the rain. the sweet, sweet artificial rain.

lance clutched the key in his hand and for a second stared at the door in front of him. it wasn't long before he let his tears spill silently as he ran his hands through his hair, the soaked feeling making lance feel euphoric. a normal person would feel like a fool, dancing alone in the rain, sobbing to no tomorrow. not lance. he danced as if he were back on earth in a field. bending down to feel the mud under the grass, smelling the freshness, feeling the rain plummeting down on him and seeping through every pore.

"where's lance?" allura asked coran in the lounging area. everyone was gathered for a meeting, and the only person they were missing was the sharpshooter. coran smiled softly and replied, "he's using the artificial rain."

shiro sat up straighter, as well as pidge, and they both gaped. they'd known and even helped with the whole thing, elated for such a sentimental gift for him. they'd known how much he missed home.

"why didn't you tell us! we want to see his reaction!" pidge hollered. a smile still played on their face, despite the disappointment in their voice, and coran apologized. "i just couldn't wait." pidge stood up and ran over to the hallway that led to the rain room and motioned for everyone to follow. "we have to see the finished product!" without hesitation, the whole group was slinking through the hall and stood in front of the door. coran pushed gently through the group and pushed the button. the door slid open a crack and everyone piled on top of one another to get a peek.

keith saw him first and pointed, whispering, "right there." and there lance was, gazing up at the artificial sky, in the artificial rain, but his eyes were closed. everyone excepted a smile wiped across his face, but he was frowning. no, he was sobbing. his mouth open and gasping, his hands gripping the sides of his arms as if he were hugging himself and he suddenly dropped to the ground, the water around him splashing upwards around him as if in slow motion.

keith heard a sniffle from above him and saw hunk and allura with tears in their eyes, and he glanced at shiro and pidge, who were both sadly smiling, looking accomplished. keith turned his gaze back at lance and he too, started to smile.

lance opened his eyes after a while and breathed deeply once more. in the corner of his eye, he saw a sliver of light and he turned his head to see the paladins along with coran piled on top of each other as they looked through the door. a laugh bubbled in his chest, embarrassment starting to creep up. lance simply smiled and motioned for them to join. without another second gone by, the group let the door slide wide open and they all ran into the humid room, crying and wrapping lance in a warm, wet, hug.

"thank you," lance sobbed uncontrollably. he felt a hand touch his cheek and followed the hand to see that allura was the one touching his face. she was sobbing too, a bright smile lighting up her face. he smiled back and uttered to her, "it's all i have of home. it's artificial," lance stopped to look at shiro, then hunk, then pidge, then keith, and finally coran.

"but it's all i have, and i love it."