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Their house on the farm is always full in the summertime.
Lance stands on the porch steps, their front door wedged open with an oversized bag of towels and sunscreen. "Last call before you're all missing the ride to the beach and you’re gonna have to walk there!"
"We're coming!" yells a small human girl in a bright yellow sundress with dark skin, her hair braided back away from her face and hearing aids tucked behind both ears. On her face is a pair of pink heart-shaped plastic sunglasses. Her flip-flops squeak against the floor as she drags her oversized backpack out the front door.
Lance considers the girl and the bag with a frown. "What is all this?"
She shrugs. "Light beach reading Auntie Allura gave me!"
"Light reading?" he repeats, staring at the pink sparkly bookbag that was twice the size of his eight-year-old. "That's like a wing of the New Galtean Citadel! You're not bringing all that to the beach!"
"Why not?" she argues, pointing to the backpack. "I can carry it!"
"You think so?"
Threading her tiny arms through the straps, she grits her teeth as she leans forward, stumbling as the weight of the bag nearly overpowers her. Smiling through her perseverance, she glances up through her sunglasses. "See? Piece...of...cake!"
Lance raises an eyebrow unimpressed and is about to dispute her claims when his son, Nax, bursts through the front door dressed in swim trunks and a t-shirt too long for his thin frame, nearly taking out his younger sister in the process. "I'M READY!"
The ten-year-old sees the bookbag and gasps, scandalized.
"Here we go..." Lance groans, pinching the bridge of his nose to hopefully deter the impending headache.
"Ewwww, Lizzie! Are those BOOKS?" His face twists in disgust, tiny fangs visible between his lips. "It's summer vacation!"
"It's summer reading !"
"Auntie Allura has a castle full of cool junk like swords, blasters, more swords," Nax explains, listing each item on a clawed finger. "And you asked for books!"
"And if you ever read a book, you'd know that all those blades have meaning and that's what makes them cool, dummy!" Lizzie argues, attempting to weaponize her backpack by twirling in place in hopes of knocking her brother off the porch.
Their son is the eldest of their children, part-Galra, with curly dark purple hair that's impossible to tame tucked under a backward baseball hat. Lance spins the cap around, so it actually serves some purpose in keeping him from getting sunburnt.
"Let your sister enjoy her looming back pain," he scolds, looking back into the house. "Where's Cadie?"
Nax and Lizzie exchange looks and then shrug. Lance sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. "Put your stuff in the car - Nax, help your sister with her personal library until I get back."
"Okay, Papá!" he says, before glaring at the bookbag as if it had personally insulted him. "Lizzie, seriously, this is too many books."
"No such thing," she huffs, taking off the bag and adjusting her sunglasses so her brother can take a side. "Now help me!"
They waddle to the truck, and Lance re-enters the house quickly spotting his youngest, Arcadia, sitting on the bottom step of their stairs. She's a three-year-old Altean girl in a bathing suit, tiny jelly sandals, holding a stuffed dog that's nearly a perfect replica of Kosmo (Hunk's talents), with a vibrant brown complexion and blue marks under her pale pink eyes. Her curly, violet hair flows around her plump cheeks. She watches her siblings bicker as they try to heave the backpack into the car.
Lance takes a seat next to her on the stairs, pushing her hair out of her eyes affectionately. "Hey babydoll, what's wrong? Aren't you excited to go to the beach with everyone?"
Cadie shrugs, holding the dog tighter. It takes Lance less than a second to realize what's really going on.
"I'm sorry Daddy couldn't make it this time," he tells her softly, rubbing tiny circles on her back as she snuggles deeper into her mini-Kosmo. "His mission is taking a little longer than he thought, but he'll be home in a few days."
When she doesn't answer, Lance tries a different approach. "Do you want me to carry you to the car?"
She extends her tiny hands, making a grabby motion and he lets out a breathy laugh. "Alright, kiddo, let's get you to the beach mobile!"
He gathers her up in his arms, and he feels her nuzzle against his neck. Leaning her on his hip, he opens his phone out of view as he walks to the car to send a quick text.
Lance: Hey babe - kids miss you
Lance: Time for a quick vid chat?
Lance: We're going to the beach!
Even with a toddler in his arms, Lance can send a string of obnoxious beach-themed emojis to his husband without glancing at the keyboard.
Once they're all settled into the car, finally buckled in and situated, Lance hears the ping of the text reply.
Keith: Calling now
Lance smiles, turning to the backseat as his phone rings for a video call. "Dad's calling!"
Their children cheer, scrambling to see his phone as Lance answers with a flick of his thumb and faces the camera to the four of them in the car. When it connects, Keith seems almost surprised to see them all in one place. "Hey, hon - we're all in the car!"
"DAD!" the kids yell and instantly begin talking over each other to tell their father how much they miss him, to ask him questions or demand to see Kosmo. Keith laughs, eyes wrinkling in the corner.
"I miss you too - are you being good for Papá?"
"Yes!" they answer.
"No!" Lance adds and sticks his tongue out at their children who pretend to be insulted. "They took three vargas to get into the car for the beach."
"Because Lizzie has a gazillion ton bag full of a gazillion books!" Nax argues, pointing to his sister and turning to his father in the video call. "Dad, what's cooler: books or swords?"
"They're both cool, Nax," Keith explains. "You need the books to know why the swords are cool."
Lizzie pushes her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose. "Thank you, Daddy."
"Favorite child," Nax grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest as his sister preens. On his other side, Cadie leans forward in her car seat.
"Daddy, where's Kosmo?" she asks, her voice tiny as she pushes her stuff Kosmo doll into the view of the call in case Keith needs clarification.
"Outside helping the villagers, sweetheart," he answers, brows knitted together with worry. "Why? Do you miss them?"
Cadie bites her lip, a nervous habit Lance definitely knows she picked up from him and shakes her head sending her curls flying. "No, but can you tell Kosmo a message for me?"
"Sure, what's the message?"
"It's...bark bark woof barky woof!" she mimics, holding up her plushie as she translates. "Okay?"
"You got it," Keith promises and Lance feels his heart melt. "I gotta get back to work now, but I'll be home soon. I love you guys!"
"LOVE YOU TOO, DAD!" they yell, and Lance laughs when Keith winces at the volume coming through his headphones.
"Love you, handsome! Stay safe!" Lance purses his lips like a fish and makes obnoxious kissing noises. Keith rolls his eyes, pretending that the tactic won't work but eventually gives Lance an air kiss through the camera, making the kids fake gag and complain about them being gross.
When they get to their favorite spot on Varadero Beach, they're still early enough to avoid the tourist and seasonal travelers. Reaching into his bag, Lance lathers up three different sunscreen types for his three very different kids.
"I can do this myself, Papá!" Nax whines, squinting his eyes as Lance makes him take off his hat to make sure he gets behind his pointed ears.
"When you do it, you always miss spots, and you end up burnt," he reasons, putting the hat back on his son before giving him a loud kiss on the forehead that makes him groan. "There! You're free."
"Finally!" he huffs, turning to Lizzie who has begun making herself comfortable with her mountain of books, freshly lotioned. "Liz, you wanna go wave jumping with me?"
"Okay!" she leaps to her feet. Lance gives her a look, but she beats him to it, pointing behind her ears.
"Don't worry, Papá! I'm wearing the waterproof aids Auntie Pidge made!" she beams, kicking off her flip flops and turning to her sister. "Cadie, do you wanna come keep score?"
She shakes her head. "No thanks."
Lizzie shrugs. "Okay, then watch my sunglasses!"
Cadie takes the heart-shaped frames and places them on her face. They're too big and barely fit on her nose. Lance clears his throat, resting his elbows on his knees and gaining Lizzie’s attention.
"Please, can I go with Nax, Papá?" she begs. "I promise we won't go too far!"
She pouts, putting her hands in front of her and trying to make a sad face. Realizing it wasn't working, she elbows her brother to get him in on the pouting. He catches her drift but instead gives Lance a full grin of teeth.
"Don't you want us to play together and not fight?" he offers as a bargaining chip. He wiggles his eyebrows and Lance hates that it works because any time Nax and Lizzie aren't fighting makes him incredibly happy.
"Ugh, fine!" Lance relents, turning to Nax. "Don't jump any waves taller than you and if I see you two even go a little bit too far out, I'm bringing you both back here myself. ¿Comprenden? "
"Yay! Okay!" Lizzie cheers, pulling her brother by the elbow. "Let's go before he changes his mind!"
"You better not make me change it!" he calls, and the kids roar with laughter, rushing into the surf and squealing when the water touches their ankles. Noticing Cadie was still on the blanket, holding her Kosmo doll tightly with her thumb in her mouth, he leans over. "Sure you don't wanna play with Lizzie and Nax by the waves?"
Cadie nods her head, nearly sending the sunglasses soaring off her face. Lance frowns, looking down at the blanket. "Do you want a snack?"
She shakes her head, and Lance sighs leaning his chin in his hand.
They watch the waves, Lizzie and Nax jumping between them as the water lifts them up. They're holding hands so as not to lose the other in the current, which Lance knows is safe because he knows this beach like it's a part of himself.
It's the first place he had brought Allura after they had won the war, while she was still recovering from her near-death experience after mending all realities. It was also where Allura had broken up with him a month later, hand cupping both his cheeks and resting her thumbs against the blue marks she had left him when she hadn’t been sure she'd survive the end. It's where she had told him that her heart lied elsewhere, and Lance's did too.
He didn't know what she had meant by that until the summer Keith had stayed with him in his oversized farmhouse while taking a break from the whole space reconstruction thing. He had shown him Varadero Beach and had seen the way his eyes glimmered at the sight of the ocean.
"I've never seen so much water before," Keith had confessed, nervously. "I grew up in the desert."
"Then we definitely need to get you closer!" Lance had grinned manically, dragging him towards the waves.
It's where he had first kissed Keith under the stars on a ratty old blanket covered in garlic knot crumbs and sand. It's where they had held their wedding and later where they had decided to start a family.
It's always been home.
"What's bothering you?" he asks his daughter after a few moments, tilting his head at the ocean and tucking a stray curl hair behind her ear. "You usually love following those two around, even if they're just doing homework in the kitchen."
She fidgets with the fabric of the toy in her hand, a nervous habit she picked up from Keith. He always fidgets when he's not sure what to say, and the words seem too much. Knowing that small tell had helped Lance support him as his right-hand man when they had been a part of Voltron, and now it keeps him from letting Keith wear out their throw pillows.
Her nose scrunches. "The waves are loud...and scary."
Lance's eyes soften.
Arcadia has always been anxious. When they had first brought her home, their house was filled with her loud crying as she struggled to sleep through the night. It had gotten so bad that one morning Keith found that Nax and Lizzie had taken refuge in the laundry room, saying the sound of the dryer was the only thing louder than Cadie's cries.
At their wit's end, (and convinced their first two children were total flukes and they had no idea what they were doing as parents) Lance and Keith had called Allura in a desperate attempt to figure out how to soothe their newborn.
Luckily enough, she had been up late nursing her own son when they had called.
"Altean children are incredibly sensitive to emotional energy," she explained over the video call, small tufts of white hair visible on the screen barely out of view. "Arcadia is feeling overwhelmed by something you’re both feeling - do you have any idea what it could be?"
Lance and Keith had exchanged a guilty look, knowing at the time Keith's job was beginning to get more demanding and requiring more travel. It was a conversation they had needed to have but were ignoring.
They spoke about it in the living room, taking turns rocking Cadie as they had negotiated Keith's schedule for one that felt like a better balance for their family. When they had finished, they noticed their daughter had finally fallen asleep, soundly on Keith's chest.
Lance has learned more about himself and Keith through their children's eyes than he ever thought possible. Kids are like mirrors, and small things like habits are echoed back through the tiny people who you're raising to hopefully be better versions than yourself. You love them unconditionally, even when they drive you crazy or try to outsmart you - which never happens, Lance knows every trick in the book.
He wrote the book.
But then there are moments when your child sees the world differently than you. They may not love the same things the same way as you do - if at all.
And when that happens, all Lance can do is share his love.
"It is a little scary, but the waves can carry a lot," he explains softly like he's sharing a secret. Cadie listens with intention, always enjoying knowing things without her older siblings.
"Really?"
"Yeah," Lance smiles, marks crinkling in the corners of his eyes. "Do you want me to show you?"
She nods quickly, sending her sister's sunglasses sliding off her face and onto the blanket. It makes Lance laugh as he folds them, gently placing them behind one of her many books. Climbing over a towel, he unbuckles Cadie's sandals freeing her tiny feet from her shoes. She's still clinging to her toy Kosmo but gently leaves it next to Lizzie's glasses on the blanket.
"He can keep watch," she says as she climbs up on shaky legs, and reaches up for Lance's hand. He takes it, and they walk down to the shoreline, feet sinking into the warm sand.
Nax and Lizzie pass them, as they race back up to the blankets for snacks. It makes Cadie hesitate, and she looks up at Lance.
He raises an eyebrow. "Do you want to go back?"
Her tiny brows furrow and she shakes her head, pulling new found determination from somewhere inside. She continues forward, almost dragging Lance behind her now. When they reach the waves, she stops when the foam barely grazes her foot.
Soft skies above, soft sand underfoot and the clouds caress the sea with light reflected from above them. The lazy waves are a drumbeat that echoes in Lance's heart, the breeze blowing around his daughter's hair and the tension right out of his bones.
"Papá?"
He glances down and sees her hands outstretched toward him, making the same grabby motions as earlier. "Do you wanna go in together?"
She nods, and he bends down to pick her up, adjusting her against him, so she's secure. Her arms are tight around his neck, her face pressed into his shoulder.
The salty water brings a brief flurry of sand. Every few steps they see a shell left behind, a treasure of the aquatic world just out of reach and the footprints they leave behind are soon erased. The waves aren't nearly as rough now as the tide turns over.
Lance wades in up to his waist, as the gentle waves roll in with a soothing sound. When the water tickles Cadie's toes, she lets out a mix of squeals and giggles. He leaves a kiss on her temple.
"The ocean has been around for a long time, kiddo," he explains, reaching out and letting the waves brush against his free hand. "It can hold stuff we need it to like bad feelings or things we're scared about."
"Will the ocean get mad?" she asks in a whisper, worried the ocean will hear her.
"Nope," he replies, just as softly. "It'll just accept it."
She looks up and sees the birds arc above, masters of the salty updrafts. “Daddy will come home soon, right?”
“He always does,” Lance says softly. It’s a vow they made to each other on this beach that they haven’t broken yet. Keith may have to help far-flung planets and Lance may need to support the Garrison on long diplomatic missions, but they always come back to each other. To their family.
This answer appeases Cadie. She closes her eyes, extending her little legs out so her feet are submerged in the salt water. Lance watches her closely. He's not exactly sure what she's doing but figures it's best to let her do her thing.
When Lance was a child, he remembers asking his mother which one of his siblings was her favorite. She had smiled and answered, "All of you."
At the time, he had thought it was a cop-out answer because obviously between the five of them, there had to be a favorite. But now Lance understands what she meant.
He loves all his children equally and for their own specific reasons. Nax's fierce protectiveness, Lizzie's love of knowledge and Cadie's sensitivity made them all his favorites. He loves his children with every fiber of his being.
When Cadie's eyes flutter open, she takes a deep breath and turns to Lance.
"Feel better?" he asks and small hands come up to his face, tiny fingers brushing against his marks. Cadie nods.
For months after his relationship had ended with Allura, he had hated his blue Altean markings. It reminded him of a love he had lost, and for so long he thought he would never be worthy of anything more than walking around with the brand of his ex-girlfriend on his face.
Now, years later, it's a small way for his daughter to see herself in him, and that’s enough to make those months of pain worth it.
The water is almost still now, small waves occasionally hitting the beach with little force. Lance twirls them around the swells, making tiny shapes in the water with his fingers that make Cadie laugh loudly. He isn't sure how long they bob along with the waves, but he feels his toes starting to prune and soon Nax and Lizzie are jumping back into the water to join them.
And Lance's heart feels full in the summertime.