Chapter Text
There was a soft hiss, and Lance squinted into the bright light of the infirmary. Recognizing several of the forms in front of him, he exhaled in relief. “Keith?” he asked hoarsely.
“Lance you-“ Keith shuffled in to support him as Lance’s legs wobbled. He ended up pulling Lance into a tight hug, one hand wrapped securely around his waist as his fingers wove into the back of his mop of hair, pulling him closer. “You idiot,” he muttered, but there was no real malice in his tone, only pain and gratitude.
Lance squeezed just as tightly, burying his head in Keith’s neck. “Keith-please-I- I’m not imagining this am I?”
He needed to know. They had figured out early on that Lance’s rare hallucinations were nothing like Keith’s frequent ones, and this had been the best way they had of determining if something was real or not.
“What? No, no, Lance, I see what you see. This is real. For once, absolutely everything is real.”
Lance shivered with relief.
“But don’t you dare do that again.” Keith muttered
Lance’s brain supplied the images to match Keith’s words, and he nodded hurriedly to make them go away, somehow pulling Keith even closer to him in the same action. “Yeah, I’d like that.” Dying- or at least believing that he was dying; that hadn’t been fun for him either. “I’m sorry,” he choked out.
Keith sighed, and tilted his head to rest his cheek on Lance’s mop of hair for a moment. “Yeah,” he whispered, “me too.”
Lance inhaled and smiled sadly. There was a general ache-iness to his whole body, but he knew from previous experience with the pods that it would go away in a few hours.
All of a sudden Lance felt a familiar tug, and a warmth in the back of his mind that he hadn’t felt in weeks. He hadn’t realized how much he missed it, or needed it, and if Keith hadn’t still been holding him up he most certainly would have collapsed with overwhelming joy.
“Whoa- Lance?” Keith asked, alarmed by the sudden weight in his arms.
Lance chuckled, but stood again under his own power, pulling away. “S’all good. Just- Blue.” He said dreamily. “I missed her so much- but I didn’t realize just how much until she was back.”
From the smiles on the faces around him, he knew they could all relate. “Hey guys,” he grinned hesitantly, “Miss me?”
Keith reluctantly stepped back, and Hunk swooped in to give Lance his next hug.
“Ohh it is so good to have you back and not broken!” Hunk cried, wrapping Lance in a teddy bear hug, lifting him off the ground in his excitement. Lance chuckled, and when his feet touched the ground again he wouldn’t let his best friend go. He hadn’t had a ‘Hunk hug’ in way too long, and Hunk didn’t seem to mind at all. They stood there in each others arms for a considerable amount of time. “Of course I missed you buddy,” Hunk said softly, as though he knew it was exactly what Lance needed to hear. “I missed you so much. And just you wait until you see what I’ve come up with for dinner, my man, are going to LOVE it.” Hunk slowly released Lance from the hug, not completely pulling away until he knew Lance was okay with it; then he took a step back, unabashedly wiping happy tears from his eyes.
Lance laughed, then looked around, and bit his lip in confusion as the next Paladin he expected to see wasn’t there. “Where’s Pidge?” he asked, his voice small. “She’s not hurt is she?”
Hunk’s smile faltered- “Oh no, not hurt, but I’m not sure where-“
“She’s meeting us for dinner,” Keith suddenly supplied, his expression distant.
Lance nodded as he reached out a hand to grab Keith’s. True, he was little disappointed, but that was all right. He’d see her soon.
“Ok, that makes sense-“ Hunk said, then frowned. “Wait, how do you know, Keith? She hasn’t been down here- actually, I haven't seen her in a couple of days.”
Lance’s heart dropped at the idea that Pidge hadn’t come to visit him even once. Not that she needed to of course, but it would have been nice. Keith gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
“No she’s been here,” Keith informed them, and Lance smiled. “Said she was working on something big, might not be here, but she’ll see us at dinner.”
“Okay!-“ Lance froze, and a cheeky grin spread across his face. “Wait- what time is it?”
Keith shrugged.
“Well, time is relative, my boy-“ Coran said playfully from the outskirts of the group, “but somewhere close to 9 in the evening, of your earth time.”
“Okay,” Lance grinned. “That’s fine then.”
“Lance?” Hunk queried, and Keith’s brow furrowed in the same confusion.
“Well, we just don’t want to be feeding the gremlin after midnight, if you know what I mean?”
There was a chorus of groans and chuckles, and as Shiro ducked down to explain to Allura and Coran what he’d meant, Lance felt the atmosphere around him slide a little bit back to what he was used to. That was better.
“Actually- I’m gonna go get that set up- okay?” Hunk said shyly, as if he didn’t want to leave. “I’ve got the mice on pot duty and I don’t trust them in my kitchen for that long...”
Lance smiled wide again and shooed him out. “Little thieves!” he chuckled, “I want to help, but I’ll be right behind you, okay? Go, save our dinner!” He smirked as he turned, then bit his lip as he looked over at Shiro, his expression almost nervous.
Even though deep down he knew better, some part of him was worried that a hug was too much to ask for
“Come on.” Shiro smiled gently, his arms open and inviting, and Lance dropped Keith’s hand and launched himself at their tireless leader. Wrapping his arms around Shiro’s sturdy frame, Lance inhaled deeply, and instantly felt as though everything had been made better; all fear and pain melted away. Shiro could fix everything, and to Lance, his hugs worked the exact same way.
Shiro put a gentle, even hesitant hand on his head, and Lance relaxed eagerly into the Black Paladin’s comforting embrace.
“I’m so glad we’ve got you back,” Shiro’s voice was quiet.
Lance nodded into Shiro’s chest. “Yeah. Me too.”
There was a long moment, then Lance felt Shiro wave at something behind him. Shiro shifted his position slightly to accommodate for the arrival of Keith, lifting his prosthetic arm around the Red Paladin as Keith wrapped his arms around them both, and Lance sighed in content.
In the arms of the person who had become something in between a best friend and a brother, and his hero, he finally felt safe.
“It’s really good to be home,” Lance whispered.