Here's a little background info. (Note: for more, see Heroes.)

Things have been rather tense in the VF lately, especially between Pidge and Hunk, and it's affecting morale. Only yesterday Hunk flew Yellow Lion into an asteroid field, disrupting lion practice, forcing Keith to threaten to ground him for good. The night just prior to this excerpt, Pidge kicked Hunk's ass in the rec room, Hunk stormed off in a huff to the maintenance bay, Keith confided to Lance that the team was losing its touch, and when Sven went down to talk to Hunk, he nearly got a wrench to the noggin for his trouble. But later on, Hunk and Pidge met in Hunk's room to... work things out.

Heh, heh, heh.

"Right. Now that everyone is here, we can start." Keith glared over the table at his two latecomers. Pidge and Hunk came slinking in, looking sheepishly at their annoyed comrades. Pidge's hair stood out in all directions, and Hunk looked… sweaty. More so than usual. "You two know that our breakfast meetings begin at eight o'clock, sharp." Keith hated to act like a schmuck, but there was important business to attend to.

"What's wrong, guys?" asked Sven. He picked up an orange and rolled it absently in his fingers. "Up late playing video games?" The twinkle of mischief in Sven's eyes told Hunk he knew exactly what was up, even if Keith was oblivious. And judging from the sly looks that Lance and Sven were exchanging between themselves, Keith was the only member of the force that had remained ignorant of their late- night rendezvous.

Sven smiled at Lance and dug his thumbnails into the skin of the plump orange, splitting it apart, tearing it in half with a sharp ripping sound that sounded almost like a sigh. The innards of the ripe fruit bulged out of the rind in a quivering, shiny mass, dripping red fluid over Sven's hands. It was a blood orange.

Hunk blushed deeply, his bronze skin hiding most, but not all, of the flush of crimson. He had never been turned on by the violation of fruit, but there was a first time for everything. It seemed appropriate for the situation, though, considering the events of the previous night. The flesh of the orange was moist, shiny, enticing; the wedges bursting with juicy pulp. Even the way Sven pressed it in his fingers as he handed it to Hunk was oddly arousing. Hunk took the mangled wedge, slipping it between his lips, almost seductively. He pressed it against the roof of his mouth with his tongue, letting the juice run down his throat. Finally he chewed slowly, without expression, looking steadily into Sven's dark eyes, and placed his own fingertips into his mouth, sucking the last of the juice from them.

Now it was Sven's turn to blush. His unspoken question had been answered.

"That's not how you eat an orange, dumbass." Lance, oblivious to the overture, was busy peeling and sectioning his own breakfast in the proper way. "You're getting juice all over the place."

"I want cereal," piped up Pidge, also oblivious. "Where's the milk?"

"We're out of milk. If you guys hadn't been tardy, you'd have a better chance at getting a proper breakfast." Keith tapped an impatient finger at the somewhat distracted Voltron Force. All of them looked as if they were sharing some huge secret. "You know, people, something happened last night, and I plan to get to the bottom of this," growled Keith.

Pidge, Hunk, Lance, and Sven all froze in horror. Pidge's spoon clattered to the table.

"You heard me right. Our security probes intercepted and recorded a mysterious subspace transmission coming from the planet Doom."

The four men relaxed visibly, exchanging relieved looks. Pidge picked up his spoon and resumed eating his dry cereal. Hunk reached for a banana and got his hand slapped. Sven, the source of the slap, folded his hands neatly in front of him and nodded for Keith to go on.

"Whatever. Look, people, something ugly is going on. Zarkon's moving on this one. I can feel it."

"Zarkon hasn't done anything since Lotor disappeared," said Lance. "It's been downright peaceful for the past eight months or so."

"And if you ask me, the picture of Lotor on all the milk cartons was a nice touch," added Hunk. "How did you swing that one, Pidge?"

Pidge grinned between mouthfuls of freeze-dried marshmallows. "Fear the hacker."

"Lance, I'd like for you to listen to this transmission, if you'd be so inclined-" Keith dodged a hurtling object which ricocheted off the wall behind his head and back into Lance's hands- "and for the last time, put that Hi-Bounce Ball away!"

"Why?" asked Lance, maddening in his usual impish manner. "Does it bother you?"

"Lance." Sven's quiet voice arrested the flight of the Hi- Bounce Ball. "I think we've all been too relaxed lately. Keith's right. We should examine this signal."

"Thank you, Commander." Keith nodded to Sven. "After breakfast, we'll have to check it out. As for Pidge- Hunk, what are you doing?"

"Eating a banana," said Hunk.

"That's disgusting. Hunk, eat that thing like a normal human being, ok?"

Keith then narrowed his eyes at Pidge, who had been dawdling over his cereal, running his tongue over and around the bowl of the spoon, his green eyes sparkling with mirth as he gazed across the table at Lance.

"You know, I never knew a spoon could be used that way," said Keith.

Lance exploded, the suppressed laughter causing the last of the milk to shoot out of his nose. Even Sven's face contorted in mirth.

Keith couldn't help but smile. Whatever game the VF felt like playing was fine with him, as long as they were on speaking terms again. He felt like he finally had the old team back, and just in time.

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