Chapter Text
While you were excited to be spending your day off with your boyfriend, this wasn’t quite how you believed it would go down. Currently you were situated in an IKEA store in the back ass of NOWHERE, because evidently IKEA was an intergalactic thing. Who would have guessed? Rows and rows of space furniture, home improvement ideas, and crafts created a labyrinth that, if one was to explore, would quickly find themselves lost in. For more than 13 hours, that’s for sure.
“Hunk, babe, if it is making you this uncomfortable, why don’t we just go find some stuff elsewhere?” Voltron’s yellow paladin had been glaring at the assembly of kitchen appliances with very poorly concealed rage. When Lance had spotted the IKEA logo on a sign in one of the off-the-beaten-path trading outposts, the team had thought it would be good to reminisce about Earth, maybe find some things like another functional gaming system! It would appear IKEA was just as alien as they remembered…
Rubbing the back of his head while leaning his hand on his hip, Hunk sighed. “It’s just a hard decision, you know? Like,” he turned with a sad smile. “I thought I could make the kitchen in the castle ship feel a little more like home.” Turning back to the collection of spice racks, he frowned. “I remember my mom always had her spice rack sitting on the corner of our kitchen bar, under the cabinets. She would always say, “No meal is complete without spices!””
It was no secret Hunk Garrett missed his family. Though it was rare he would talk about it to anyone, you could see it in the way he looked at the people they saved. Families reunited, laughing to the point of tears because they never thought they would see each other again.
“Hey,” you grinned after a few minutes of contemplating, nudging him with your hip. “What about this one?” His eyes rose from a gunmetal grey set to the white set you were nodding to. It was small enough to look like it was there the whole time, almost like it belonged in the Altean kitchen with it's pearl and aqua design. A grin overtook his face as he reached up to grab it, extending onto his toes to lift it off the shelf.
“It’s perfect!”
As with all things IKEA, the perfection seemed to wear off as time went on.
Presently you were sitting cross legged on one of the countertops in the Castle’s kitchen. Hunk had long past situated himself on the floor, picking up tiny washers and bolts in frustration before comparing their size with the wrench provided in the box.
“You know what I just don’t get?” He said for the fiftieth time. You rolled your eyes at his antics, trying to translate more recipes for him. “I just, I don’t get it. This is IKEA. IKEA!” His pinched fingers began to delicately put things together, just to have them fit wrong. “ARGH!”
Suppressing a smile, you hopped off the counter, sitting behind him and draping your arms over his olive vest clad shoulders. He supported your extra weight as if it were nothing, like he didn’t even realize you had done it. To be honest, when he gets into a tangent like this, he generally doesn’t notice much around him till he’s said his part, so maybe he didn’t notice.
“I have rebooted and reprogrammed robots. ALIEN. ROBOTS. With alien tools I didn’t even know how to USE. I just kinda wing it, you know? And it works for me, but this? This is IKEA!” He was acting like a toddler, his mouth twisting as his hair seemed to frizz from the invisible steam climbing from his ears.
Reaching down with calm hands, you grabbed his fidgeting larger ones, pulling them closer to the both of you. “It’s okay, Hunk,” you said with a breathless laugh. “Just breathe for a second.” He seemed stunned into silence as you pulled his headband off and ran your fingers through his soft, dark hair. “This is an easy fix, we just have to MacGyver it.”
His body dropped from tense to mush in 2 seconds flat, and he turned his head to look at you. A small smile picked up at the left side of his mouth. “So, what, like duct tape? Screwdrivers?”
“Of the sonic variety?” You leaned in and pressed a swift kiss on the corner of that smile. “Sure, I’ll be right back with those, and we’ll see what we can do.” Grinning, you walked off to the lion’s bay to get a tool box.
Hunk watched with reddening cheeks as you sashayed out of the room, his hand playing with the corner of his lips. How did he ever get so lucky?
Extra~
“I still can’t believe you got us kicked out of space IKEA,” Keith muttered while glaring at his blue counterpart.
“Oh, c’mon Keith, you can’t blame me for that!” Lance sounded incredulous, but Pidge was nodding sagely, listening to the conversation beyond her headphones.
“Lance,” she admonished. “You climbed to the top of a 30 foot shelf and jumped into a giant rubber ball stand. Which proceeded to knock over a series of strategically placed promotional gear.”
“And tried to stab me with an umbrella, while coming after me on a rolling chair.”
Lance looked quite offended. “I wasn’t coming after you, Pidge was the one pushing me!”
“It was a DESK CHAIR!” Keith yelled, a vein popping on his forehead.
“YOU’RE A DESK CHAIR!” Lance rebutted, leaning in closer.
“Good one, Lance!” Hunk yelled from the kitchen.
“Could have done better!” Y/N called from the same room.
“Can you all- just for one minute- not?” Shiro muttered, walking by the room dejectedly.
Pidge chuckled, turning up her volume. Her family was strange, and dysfunctional at the best of times, but she loved them anyway.