Two and a half years later...

Lance slipped on a light jacket, rolling his eyes at Hunk's fussing. His best friend was nervous, so he let it slide. He was meeting Hunk's friends after all. The Hawaiian hadn't shut up about them for a few months, and evidently when they found out that he had a roommate he'd known since he was little, they insisted on meeting him.

'Are you sure about this?' Hunk signed, second-guessing all of his life decisions. Lance smiled reassuringly, dragging Hunk out of their apartment.

"Of course, it's been forever since I've been 'out of the house' like this, and you know I hate being cooped up." He flashed a grin, and Hunk relaxed slightly. "Come on big guy, where'd you say that coffee shop was again?" It took them ten minutes to get there, and all of Lance's strength of will to not smack the living daylights out of Hunk for being ridiculous. He took the hint when Lance covered his eyes, refusing to watch what Hunk was saying.

Lance remembered when Hunk had first asked if he wanted to meet the infamous "college buddies" Hunk was always talking about. The larger male had come home all nervous-excited, practically vibrating, similar to the way he approached new mechanical designs. Lance had recognized the signs immediately, and had been extremely direct in asking what Hunk was all worked up about. It had surprised him that he was invited to one of their hangouts, but it had not been an unwelcome surprise.

He was almost 22, practically at the prime of his life, and sitting around doing nothing. Like hell he was going to miss out on a chance to have some fun for a change.

Hunk had helped him learn names ahead of time, to make things easier, and he made sure to memorize how the vibrations felt on his throat. Hunk also told him that they would both be meeting a guy for the first time; Allura's boyfriend would be joining them.

When they stepped into the cozy little cafe, Hunk immediately dragged him towards a table in the back, waving. Lance saw their lips moving, keeping his face neutral, managing to identify a few greetings, before Hunk turned back to him.

"Guys, this is Lance," Hunk gestured to him, signing as he talked, so all parties could understand him. Lance waved a little, an easy grin on his face.

He immediately recognized two of the three sitting there as classmates from high school, as he politely shook hands. He let them introduce themselves, and recognized the way Keith and Pidge's names looked on their lips from when Hunk had "taught" him how to say them. He nodded to them, before turning to the new face, a really pretty girl. She shook Lance's hand politely as he gave her a cheesy, good-natured pickup line, winking to let her know he was just teasing.

She rolled her eyes, but smiled all the same. "Allura, right?" He asked, hoping that he had pronounced it right. When she nodded, he smiled, just a bit proud of himself. They sat down, Lance making sure to sit where he could easily see Hunk, which was easier than expected due to the round table. He noticed Keith and Pidge giving him strange looks every so often, but he brushed it off.

Another guy joined them after a couple minutes, rushing in with a few apologies. From what Lance managed to gather from the chaos that ensued, this guy was the boyfriend Hunk had told him about, which he picked up on after the guy gave Allura a peck on the cheek. He recognized the look on Keith's face, assuming that they were probably brothers, as he'd seen that look on his younger siblings, and even himself sometimes, when they looked at his older brother. A look of familial respect. Almost, but not quite fatherly. The guy ruffled Pidge's hair, and shook Hunk's hand, before turning to Lance.

The smile he gave was warm, and it really reminded Lance of his older brother. "Nice to meet you," he told the guy, and saw what Lance assumed was a name form on the guy's lips, but he couldn't make it out. He immediately looked to Hunk, who signed the individual letters back to him.

"Shiro?" He tried, unsure, and got wide eyes and a nod in return.

Shiro raised tentative hands, and surprised Lance by carefully signing out, 'Are you deaf?' Lance nodded with a sad smile and was pulled into a hug. He slowly wrapped his own arms around the taller male, unsure about what was happening but appreciative of the hug. When Shiro pulled back, he was signing again, with a smile. 'You talk really well.'

'Thanks,' he signed back, grinning proudly. 'Lots of practice,'

'I'm a bit rusty with signing,' Shiro gave him an apologetic look. 'It's been a while, plus I'm still adjusting to this...' Shiro appeared to be searching for the sign he was looking for, frowning in concentration. 'New arm,' Shiro signed, not knowing the sign for prosthetic.

Both Hunk and Lance's eyes widened, while the others watched the exchanges in silence. Allura seemed relaxed, but Keith and Pidge seemed to have found the facial expression for "wtf"; having no idea what was even going on.

"Can I?" Hunk leaned forward, his eyes sparkling with the excitement of a child at Christmas. Lance knew that Hunk was dying to check out the mechanics behind a prosthetic that moved like a real arm, as the engineer's gaze flittered eagerly between Shiro and his arm.

Shiro nodded his consent, and Hunk immediately took that as his chance to examine the new technology.

"...What just happened?" Pidge asked, as Keith's gaze flittered between Shiro, Lance, and Hunk.

"I was just signing with Lance," Shiro answered nonchalantly, before returning to answering Hunk's rapid-fire questions, deeming his response sufficient. Used to Hunk's antics, Lance shifted his focus to Keith's lips, as they formed tentative words.

"Wait, so," Keith spoke slowly, with frequent pauses, trying to voice his train of thought. "You're... deaf?" His question was exceptionally blunt, and Hunk winced as he paused to interpret, but Keith was oblivious. Lance carefully studied him, mildly surprised at what he found. He didn't see the usual discomfort or disgust, he just saw genuine curiosity in Keith's body language, along with the slightest hint of... guilt?

"Yes," Lance answered after a moment, nodding, aware of Hunk avidly gauging his reactions. Ever the cinnamon roll, bless him.

"How long?" Pidge asked, leaning forward, a scientist's curiosity putting a little sparkle in her intense gaze, both Allura and Hunk balking at the question.

"Pidge!" They exclaimed as Lance let out a breathy laugh, relieving any remaining tension.

"It's alright," he reassured, leaning back and relaxing into his chair, humoring them and answering their questions. "Officially, I've been deaf for close to three and a half years."

"Unofficially?" Keith prodded.

"It started going downhill when I was fifteen."

"You can still talk well though." When Pidge asked it, it wasn't really a question, and Lance nodded in response.

"It's the vibrations, I've worked to memorize how words feel on my throat when I say them, and the deterioration was slow enough that I had plenty of time to work on it while I could still faintly hear myself."

"That's amazing!" Allura smiled at him, and Lance beamed proudly.

"Thanks, though I couldn't have done it without Hunk. He was so awesome through everything, and stuck with me through thick and thin." Lance nudged Hunk playfully, and they shared a quick grin between themselves.

"But wait, how do you know how to sign Shiro?" The slightly embarrassed and vulnerable look Hunk got in response to his question, followed by the telltale movement of Allura's hand presumably gripping Shiro's, told Lance that the answer was probably incredibly personal.

"You don't have to tell us," Lance immediately reassured, trying to stop any triggers before they could affect the comfortable mood that had settled over the group, but Shiro immediately waved him off.

"No, it's alright. It started because of my anxiety. Sometimes I'd lock up so bad that I couldn't speak, so a therapist suggested learning a little bit of sign to help my friends and family figure out how to help me when I had attacks. I guess I just got hooked on the language, though the accident was a big setback for me," Shiro gestured to his prosthetic arm, and Lance nodded in understanding.

"Still, it's cool that sign was able to help you. It's nice to see it applied in nontraditional ways. I know I was shocked when Hunk and my whole family started learning sign with me, trying to be as supportive as possible while I was seriously struggling, but I appreciated it so much," Lance smiled nostalgically, looking down at his hands, and for a moment the table was quiet.

After a moment Lance snapped out of his reverie, glancing up and blushing, before looking down again and quickly apologizing for making things awkward. He was immediately silenced when he gained the courage to peek up again, shocked to be met with a few teary smiles.

"That's so cool Lance," Shiro spoke softly and smiled at him, and Hunk gave him a side-hug, crying like the big baby he was.

"Ugh I love you man," Hunk bumbled, and Lance laughed, wiping away a stray tear himself."

"I love you too, buddy," Both guys completely missed the pointed look Allura, Pidge, and Shiro shared.

"Anyone going to question how quickly Shiro and Lance just settled into our group, like they just... belong here?" Keith asked, a smirk on his face.

"Nope!" Multiple voices chorused.

"What are you talking about Keith? They do belong," Hunk grinned from ear to ear, a happiness that everyone at the table couldn't help but match, as they settled in for a few more hours of comfortable conversation.

Lance was in a good mood when they got home. It was the kind of mood that was just contagious, you took one look at the literally bouncing man and you had to smile. And Hunk didn't fight it, he was glad Lance enjoyed spending time with his friends. Even though he had been the one who suggested Lance meet them, he had immediately started to worry about everything that could've gone wrong.

He'd been so worried, so anxious, that it was a complete shock when Lance fit right into their group, without any fuss. And looking back, Hunk realized that there was no reason to think that Lance wouldn't.

Hunk jolted back to reality when Lance started tapping insistently on his shoulder to get his attention. He looked just in time to see Lance signing, a mile a minute. An hour and a half into their get-together, Lance's vocal chords had been exhausted from all the use, so he'd switched back to signing, with Hunk interpreting. Hunk couldn't remember the last time Lance had spoken so much, and from the look on Lance's face, he couldn't either.

They ended up chatting for a while longer before Lance declared that he was off to bed, though not without a bit of a dramatic flair. Hunk indulged him, smiling fondly and watching Lance retreat to his room.

He remained on the couch, thinking about the night's activities, when his phone rang.

"Mrs. McClain!" He picked up his phone, answering it immediately. The familiar voice traveled through the phone, and he couldn't keep the smile off his face. Lance's mother was practically a second mother to him after all. "I've been meaning to call you, we still need to figure out what we're doing for Lance's birthday..."

"That's what I was just calling about!" Hunk had to hold back a laugh. If Lance was bubbly and extroverted, his mother was twice as outgoing. And she never called at normally acceptable times either. Hunk glanced at the clock; 11:06 pm. "You know how Zoe started volunteering at that animal shelter?"

"Oh yeah! Last time we visited she couldn't stop talking about it," Hunk grinned at the mention of his almost-sister. He had two siblings of his own, but it was nothing like the chaos of the McClain family. They had six children, and nieces, nephews, cousins, and grandchildren coming out of their ears. Lance was a middle child, with two older brothers and three younger sisters.

Lance was a middle child, with two older brothers and three younger sisters. His oldest sister was 17 and wanted to be a veterinarian. So she started volunteering at the nearest animal shelter, and occasionally shadowed one of the local vets, who just so happened to be their aunt. In Lance and Hunk's hometown, it seemed like everyone was related to the McClain family. Which was almost true.

"Well, she was telling me that they got a new dog in today, whose owner died. It's about three years old and evidently was unofficially trained as a hearing ear dog. I guess the family got the dog as a gift for their grandfather, who'd just lost his hearing ear dog, but he died before they could get the dog registered. Anyways, we were thinking that we should get him for Lance!" Hunk's eyes widened further and further throughout the story. By the time she was done, his smile was so wide he thought his face was going to crack.

"Yes! That's so awesome! He's going to love that! Oh wow, that's so perfect!" Hunk was practically vibrating with excitement, and Lance's mother laughed at his enthusiasm.

"Alright, so we're going to work that out and get him registered, and we're planning to come and visit for Lance's birthday this year. So you need to make sure that your landlord will allow the dog, and get things ready for us to come!" She instructed, and Hunk forced himself to pay attention.

"Alright Mrs. McClain, I'll see you soon. Bye!" Hunk headed to bed not long after he got off the phone, but with the adrenaline burst from his excitement, it took him longer than usual to fall asleep. He couldn't wait to see the look on Lance's face; he knew that his friend had been wanting a service dog for years, but they all knew that it was unrealistic. They were so expensive to train, and Lance's family wasn't particularly rich, so he'd had to bench that idea. Now though, one had fallen into their laps. And they certainly wouldn't refuse it.

Yes, Hunk was excited.

Alright, so I've mentioned that this is loosely based on Mandy Harvey's story, but I must again stress the 'loosely' part. You guys will understand as the story progresses, but yeah. I really am only using a few details from her life, relating to her deafness and talent, but everything else is based around Lance. I don't own anything but the order of the words that I've used.