Chapter Text
“Can you pass me that please?”
There’s something unusual about the McClain’s dinners… which is that they eat together at all. It’s a noisy affair, with several different conversations happening at once and plates being passed around the table. Alice is talking to Luis about getting a new car, while Rachel and Antonio discuss the new shop that opened downtown.
No one is silent beside Lance. They all talk to each other, and ask about their days- even when they were with that person all day. And Lance… is not used to this at all.
Dinner back home was just… in Lance’s room. Someone would bring him dinner, he’d say thank you, and then he’d go back to studying, or writing, or caring for his weapons. He’d sit in silence and think to himself.
The only time before this that Lance somewhat got to see what a full dinner table was like was when he passed by soldiers during the night, when everyone else was eating. Lance never got to join them because he was busy. Sometimes Malan and Pirou would sit with him while they ate, but Lance never really spoke while they talked. And Adalin and Edith were always so busy, there was never a time where Lance really sat down like this.
There was a period of time, when Lance was young, when his father made Lance sit down to eat with him every night. Adriel never ate, his plate remaining untouched, but he’d observe Lance the entire time. Lance never spoke, letting Adriel say his piece. He remembers only once where he spilled a drink, and Adriel had shouted. They didn’t have dinner after that.
But the McClains do it every single night, even when Lance had first arrived. The first two weeks that Lance was there, he chose to sit outside and eat because he wasn’t used to the noise, the laughter. He did, however, enjoy Alice and Antonio’s company the most, so eventually he sat with them for dinner instead of outside.
They all have assigned-but-not assigned seats. Lance had once stuck to the end, a little far from everyone. But now, a month later, Lance was in between Rachel and Luis, sitting across from Veronica and Marco. At the head of either side was Alice and Antonio.
He got rather used to sitting and observing them. It was the most that he could do, considering he did not know how to interact with them. Usually, Lance could manage to be friendly, to be a happy face that someone needed. But it was as though that ability didn’t translate here.
He’s awkward, is what he means.
He likes to listen to them, but they like to hear him talk. They ask him questions a lot of the time, but currently… it was Marco who really took it upon himself to break Lance out of his shell. By telling jokes. He’s a comedian, and it seems to bother him a bit that he can’t get Lance to laugh.
“Alright, Lance. I have one for you,” Marco points his fork at Lance, entirely ignoring Veronica.
“Marco, your dumb jokes are just that: dumb jokes. You can’t even get a little kid to laugh with them.” Veronica huffs and reaches right over Marco to grab the plate she wanted. She starts shovelling food onto her plate, then Lance’s. Though, Lance was sticking to drinking his juice.
“They’re not all bad.” Marco smiles at Lance. Lance takes a sip of his juice and looks around the table.
He doesn’t really know what to say to Marco sometimes. Lance was used to being the “buzzkill” when it came to social situations. At least, that’s what Malan used to say.
“I know deep down you’re laughing.” Malan would say when he told a joke. And yeah, sometimes it was funny. But Lance had more important things to worry about… and if his father thought Lance was goofing around…
“They’re predictable!” Veronica argues. “Everyone’s heard them before!”
“Not Lance!” Marco argues back. He turns to Lance. “What do you call an alligator detective?”
“An investi-gator.” Veronica finished for him. Marco shoots her a dirty look.
“You ruin all my fun.” He sticks his tongue out at her and continues. “What kind of ghost has the best hearing?” Marco tries. Veronica crosses her arms.
“The eeriest.” She smirks. Marco elbows her side and Lance sort of smiles behind his glass. That one was kind of funny.
He then points at Lance, but is mostly distracted by Veronica, and says, “What is a fish without eyes called?”
Veronica starts to say “Myxine circifron-” But Marco interrupts her, and loudly proclaims, “FSH!”
Lance chokes on his juice, sputtering for air. He claps a hand over his mouth to stop his laughter, juice spilling over his hand and down his shirt. Rachel’s eyes widen next to him and she grabs a napkin as fast as she can.
Lance’s body goes cold when he realizes he made a mess, and he tenses waiting for someone to yell at him for it. But nothing like that comes.
“Lance, are you good?” Rachel asks in concern, touching his arm and dabbing a napkin on his shirt. Lance is bent over his hand as more people notice his struggle, taking one of the napkins from her and wiping his hand with his head ducked low.
“Lance, are you okay?” Veronica sounds worried. Lance sets the glass on the table, coughing up juice and his face turning red.
“Juice went down the wrong pipe I bet.” Antonio laughs. Luis pats Lance’s back to help him out, chuckling and nodding to Antonio.
“Are you choking?” Alice stands up from her chair, but Luis has her sit back down.
“He’s fine, Mama, it just went down the wrong pipe.” Luis says in amusement. Lance was wiping down the table with one hand, head still ducked down, trying to get the rest of the juice up.
“Lance, you’re getting juice everywhere, are you okay?” Veronica hands him another napkin. That’s when Marco speaks up.
“Wait a minute… is he laughing?” Marco sounds way too delighted by this. Luis’s pats stop for a moment and Rachel starts to chuckle next to him. “Are you laughing?”
“ That’s what gets you to laugh?” Rachel nudges him. Lance covers his face with one hand, hoping his face doesn’t show how embarrassed he is.
“Sorry,” He says quietly. Rachel’s smile drops a bit, but no one else seemed to have heard him.
“‘FSH’ is what made him laugh? Out of all the jokes Earth has to offer?” Veronica sighs, but she has a grin on her face underneath her hand.
Luis leans back in his chair. “I really thought it would be the ‘toddlers falling’ video that got him…” He says. Rachel scoffs at this.
“You’re evil, what about that is funny?” She shakes her head at him like she was disappointed.
“You don’t know comedy, Ronnie.” Marco shrugs. He winks at Lance and says, “But apparently Lance can laugh after all. It took some work, but I’ve finally done it. Everyone can thank me for breaking down his walls!”
Lance clears his throat. “I’m not stone-hearted.” He says quietly, drying the outside of his cup and putting it back on the coaster.
Marco’s smile falls a tad bit. “I know that, bud. It’s just nice to see you laugh. Hey, uh,” his voice picks right back up. “Do you have any jokes from your planet?”
A couple of them fall silent at this, awkwardly checking out their plates and drinks, but all of them are curious. Lance’s heart sinks a tiny bit, and he smiles awkwardly.
“I wouldn’t know,” He says, hoping it doesn’t disappoint them. “Not a lot of time to joke.”
Marco scoffs. “There’s always time for a good joke. Spend more time with me and I’ll get you to be the best comedian Candosia has ever seen. Earth is mine, obviously. But what are you so busy with that you can’t jok- OW!”
Veronica appears to have just stomped on Marco’s foot under the table. He glares at her, but it falls after a moment and he turns to Lance in a panic. “I meant- uh- you know-”
“If you’re worried I’m going to cry about the Galra or something then you don’t have to.” Lance interrupts, looking at his plate. “I didn’t have time to joke because I wasn’t allowed to have friends.”
There’s a tense silence as Lance takes a sip of his juice, and Marco looks a little downtrodden. Lance smiles as he sets down his cup. There’s an easy solution here to bring the mood back up. Lie.
“Why did the vircken cross the road?” Lance asks, raising a brow slightly at Marco.
Marco’s smile at the familiar sound of the joke is something Lance will never forget. All he had to do was replace one word, pretend it wasn’t all bad back on Candosia, and get back to the noise and chatter from before. Lance likes it better that way, he thinks. Where they’re all talking to each other, passing plates, and laughing together. After this, Lance thinks he might include himself a bit more in their conversations.