Hunk had been a simple child. He ate, he played, he slept, and that was pretty much his life. He wasn't one to disobey, and he certainly wasn't one to get sucked into big adventures.

So even going to the Garrison was…a lot to handle. It was the first time he had been to a school that wasn't in Samoa.

Nobody had told him Arizona was so big. And, wow, that was a lot of sand.

Then Lance showed up. Lance. What an interesting name. Like the weapon. The dangerous weapon that stabbed you at a long range. The weapon that Knights used. He soon learned that, contrary to his name, Lance was a peace-loving boy, much like Hunk.

And so they became best friends. Like brothers. Hunk saw him through everything, like his rivalry with Keith Akira Kogane.

Keith was emo, and was a real jerk. But Hunk got used to him quickly and learned that Keith pushed people away to protect himself. He also heard from someone that Keith meant 'out of the battlefield'. Judging by his actions, he could've once served in a war.

And then Pidge Gunderson came along, and Hunk took an immediate interest to him. Despite the sass and the rudeness and his strange custom to avoid them unless it was a simulation test or something, Hunk took it into his own accord to protect the small child.

Finally they met Shiro, a missing pilot who crashed into the planet a year after being marked as dead. Because, Aliens, DUDE.

Shiro was a respectful man, who did his best not to let his amnesia problems show. What the aliens did to his brain…sometimes scarred Hunk.

Then came the Lions. The Lions. Wow. Voltron. Time flew by so quickly after that, and Hunk could hardly keep track of the days.

Alteans. Training. Arusians are so CUTE! Shay. Shay. Shay. Shay. Shay is captured. Wait, Pidge is a Female? Uh…I mean, yeah, he had predicted that a long time ago. (He must stay cool.) Go back to the Balmera, save Shay. Laser EYES. The Yalex quest was a training exercise? I mean, com'n! Corrupted AI. Allura gets captured. Save the Princess. Mermaids. Ulaz. Girl Power. Zarkon is everywhere! Taujeer. Space Mall. Keith is a Galra. Wait, Keith is a GALRA?! Travel to the Weblum with GALRA Keith. Fight the second robeast again.

Then, according to Lance, Christmas slipped by. The very next day, they fought Zarkon. And Shiro disappeared. And, suddenly, it was Hunk's favorite holiday. New Year.

What an adventure. Spending the best holiday away from those he loved…it hurt.

Hunk hummed to himself, cooking a mixture which evened out to be the alien equivalent of popcorn. Lance was sitting on the counter, threatening to scoop out a bit of batter with his pointer finger when Hunk let his guard down.

"Listen, Hunk," Lance was trying to divert his attention. Luckily, Hunk was like a rock. He would not be swayed. "I get New Year's is a big deal, but it'll only be you and I celebrating it."

"Yeah, but that's only because Pidge was asleep when I went to ask her and Keith locked me out when I tried to pry open his doors."

"What, do you think they would have agreed if they had just heard you out?" Lance made an aimless effort to snatch away Hunk's bowl, but the bigger Paladin took a few steps backward just in time.

"Maybe." Hunk sighed, stirring the batter.

"Maybe what?" Keith entered the room, his tired eyes displaying that he had lost sleep. He took a moment to grab a water bottle, and studied them as a placed the straw in the slot.

"Maybe you'll want join us for New Year's Eve! We're staying up 'till midnight! Because, you know, it's New Year's Eve." Hunk grinned happily, avoiding Lance's finger.

"What's New Year's Eve?" Keith expression highlighted the fact that he was drawing a blank.

"What?" Hunk was astounded. "First you don't know what Christmas is, and now you don't care for New Year's Eve?"

"It's really fun!" Lance smiled.

"Wait, you care about it?" Keith rolled his eyes.

"Uh-huh."

"Okay. This is now literally too dumb for me to care about." Keith pivoted, and left the room, still slurping his water bottle.

"Stupid." Lance muttered. "Doesn't care just because I care…he's just a big Mullet-head!"

"Woah, dial back, Lance. That insult was deep." Hunk knew that 'Mullet-head' was probably the lightest insult that anyone could be given, it was just fun to exaggerate.

For some reason, they both cracked up at Hunk's false statement, and Lance used the moment to scoop up a finger-dipped portion of alien popcorn dough. Hunk grabbed Lance's hair, pulling.

"Thief."


"I don't understand Earthlings." Allura sighed. "New Year's Eve? You have such strange traditions."

"Alteans have Hump day." Lance countered.

"Oh! That's a day to celebrate the ancient Aflarans taking over Altea!"

"Aflarans…?"

"Yes." Allura lifted her head proudly. "In fact, I am the great-great-granddaughter of Anaco Alfaran himself!"

"Anaco Alfaran." Lance blankly stared at her. "Is it tradition for all Alfarans to have their first names begin with A?"

He was being sarcastic, but Allura wasn't aware of this. "Indeed. A royal usually had the first letter of their name 'A'. It resembled great leader traits. Alfor, Asami, Myself, Araka, Akira, Alorm. All wonderful leaders. Also there was Ashim and Aramben, Ako and Awtum. Wait, forget Awtum. Poor, unfortunate woman."

"Uh…"

"Akarm, Abcdef, Aform, Ackool, Am, Allamb-"

"Okay," Hunk interrupted, and was immediately ashamed by his attitude. "I'm sorry Allura, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to point out that we understand that there's a lot of 'A' great leaders, save Awtum, but we aren't good at keeping up with this…Altean talk, you know?"

"Apologizes. I forgot that you were Earthlings, and not my subjects." Allura frowned thoughtfully, as if thinking about something. "So, New Year's Eve?"

"Yeah. It's officially turning from 2342 to 2343! We stay up until midnight to celebrate."

"Midnight? When is that?"

"Twelve o'clock. At night."

"Intriguing. And what time is it currently?" Allura inquired, tapping her chin.

"10 o'clock." Hunk replied.

"So only two o'clock left to go."

"What?" Lance was surprised, not quite realizing what Allura meant.

"Yes." Hunk ignored Lance; he had to treat Allura kindly even if she didn't understand 'the basics'. "But instead of o'clock in math, we say 'hours'."

"Oh, I see. So two more hours." Allura nodded, proud that she had newfound knowledge in her possession, so she could baffle Coran. "How long is an hour?"

"I don't know how to explain it." Hunk sighed, trying to calculate how many ticks went into a hour.

"It's basically a varga."

"I see." Allura nodded. "And why do you say 'twelve o'clock?' When is a twelve o'clock? What is a ten o'clock?"

"Uh, okay, so a day is divided into twenty-four hours, and-"


"December 31 2342 11:39 PM. Hunk is still fighting, but he's slowly giving in. It's only a matter of time before he perishes." Lance whispered into the orange phone that Pidge had given him for Christmas. "Allura has agreed to stay up with us and is currently lounging in her chair; still awake with no signs of exhaustion. Idea; Alteans don't need sleep, the only thing it does is help them regain strength. This is just an accusation."

"Lance, whom are you talking to?" Allura turned to face him, her eyes slightly tired.

Lance stared at her like she was crazy. "Uh, My phone. Obviously."

"What in the Universe is a 'phone'?"

"A phone is a communication device. But, depending on what model you have, it can do all sorts of other cool things. I was just recording my thoughts on Alteans."

"Such as?"

"Such as do Alteans need sleep?" Hunk asked from his place next to Lance, (he had heard everything Lance had said,) ending his question with a loud yawn.

"Yes, we do, but we can usually go ten quintents without it before we need to recharge. However, we can survive for triple that time before we die." Allura explained, draping her arm across the back of the chair.

Hunk and Lance let out a chorus of "I see"s, and the room fell silent.

Suddenly a small figure appeared behind the sleepy Hunk, and Lance did his best not to burst out laughing as the lithe shape reached out a hand slowly towards the huge boy, shaping itself into a claw-like position.

Lance could tell by Allura's muffled giggle that she saw it too.

The hand touched Hunk's shoulder in a disturbing way, and the person who owned it croaked out in a gravelly tone, "Paladin, come with me."

Hunk was suddenly wide awake, and he pulled out his Bayard, firing several lasers into the shadows. "Die! Die! Die!" He screamed in a very…unkind way.

"Hunk!" Allura grabbed Hunk's gun and pointed it at the ground as the Yellow Paladin tried to struggle from her grip. "It's fine. That was Pidge."

"Ooh…wait, Pidge are you okay?" Hunk approached where the Paladin should've been, but upon not seeing her, panicked. "Oh…if I could swear I would! Where'd she go?"

"I'm dead." Pidge responded from somewhere on the ground. "Let me rest in peace in my metal grave."

"Quiznak! Ruggle! Guys, Pidge is dead and it's all my fault!" Hunk wept, oblivious.

"Earthlings can still talk once they die? How queer." Allura mused.

"You're both…guys, Pidge talked, she's obviously fine." Lance pried himself from Hunk's grip. "You didn't kill her."

"No. I'm dead!" Pidge groaned. "Leave me be."

"Are you even hurt?" Lance made his way over to her body.

"Of course not. Why are you even up this late?" Pidge, inquired, standing up and laughing.

"You're alive!" Hunk sobbed, hugging a perplexed Allura.

"Wait, Earthlings can stand while they're dead too?" Was the Princess's only reaction.


"Ten…nine…" Lance counted down dramatically. "…eight…seven…six…"

"Why are you counting down until 11:58?" Pidge glanced up from her computer at Lance.

"It's fun. Let him enjoy it." Hunk ordered, blinking with exhaustion.

"Three…two…one…" Lance pumped his fist excitedly. "Yay, It's 11:58! Yay! Fifty-five second's until 11:59…fifty four…"

"Earthlings are so peculiar." Allura mumbled, drowsily blinking. She had already gone six days without sleeping, so naturally she was slightly tired.

Hunk wondered if it was a mistake on her part, but Allura's head was rested comfortably on Lance's lap, as the Blue Paladin stroked her hair happily. Allura was smiling happily as Lance fiddled with her hair, and Lance wasn't looking at her dreamily, so Hunk wondered if they were both over-exhausted. He decided not to bring it up.

Unfortunately, Pidge had no regards for other people's privacy. "Are you guys a couple?" She asked as her fingers typed on her computer keys. Hunk clasped a hand on her mouth, but it was too late. Allura sat up straight, sending Lance a disgusted look, and Lance was staring at her in surprise, as if he hadn't realized she had been resting on his lap.

"Uh…sorry." Lance apologized sullenly. (He knew he would probably never get the girl. Stupid Pidge.)

"I was over exhausted." Allura quickly explained, showing her embarrassment visibly.

"What an embarrassing way to start the new year." Pidge snorting. "I'm blackmailing you guys."

"Uh…" Hunk hastily changed the subject. "What are the changes you're going to have in your life this year, guys?"

Pidge bought it. "I'm going to find Matt. He'll help me with my science things. And he'll be crushing on Allura."

"Oh!" Allura blushed slightly and looked at her hands. "I suppose I could give up being on your backs all the time."

"I'll try to create nachos." Hunk decided.

"I like who I am, I'm not changing." Lance grinned, and everyone shot him an agitated look. "Fine. I suppose I could be more mature."

"Agreed." Pidge muttered, smoothing back her hair.

"You look good without your glasses." Hunk realized, staring at Pidge with a interest.

"What? Hunk, I look exactly the same but without glasses. Besides, the only reason I don't have them on is because I forgot them in my room.

"I just think-"

"Guys, ten seconds 'till midnight!" Lance trumpeted. "Nine…eight…"

"Seven…" Allura joined in.

"Six…" Pidge added.

"Sev-er, five." Hunk stammered.

"Four…three…two…" All four counted down.

"Why do we do this?" Allura asked suddenly.

"Allura, you just ruined it!" Lance screamed as the clock turned to midnight, and resorted to pulling at his hair.

"What? I just was curious. Why do you count down the minutes until midnight?"

"…"

-Gravtron1

I know it's like, two days early, but I had to. I love you guys! And HAPPY NEW YEAR! God Bless!

"The New Year can mean so much when you spend it with Friends, Family, your internet friends, or anyone you else you love." -Me. Gravtron1.

BTW…in China I'm a year older now! Yay! Cartwheels! Summersaults! Yay! Woah! Wo-ho!yeah…! I'm exhausted.