Chapter Text
Talking about his missions wasn't easy, with all the protocols Kolivan had imposed upon them. Blades weren't allowed to discuss the details of their missions with anyone other than their fellow operatives or superiors.
In the end, he fed Lance bits of the watered-down versions of missions, still, Lance seemed a little bit spooked out by all the stuff they did.
Over the past 15 minutes, they had settled by resting their backs against the wall and having their feet dangle over the side of the bed.
"Wow jeez, you guys get all the tough stuff," Lance smiled, and Keith's heart did a somersault.
This was one of Lance's rarer smiles, Keith noted. Lance smiled often enough, but most of them weren't exactly genuine. The usual ones were the flirty ones and the sarcastic smirking type which Keith was frequently on the receiving end of.
But this one reminded Keith of the soft smile Lance gave him when he said, "We did it. We are a good team." It felt like the summer sun, not scorching, but warm and pleasant.
(And nope, just because Lance had forgotten about The Bonding Moment didn't mean Keith would ever forget about it.)
"You were on Kral Zera, right? Prince I-Have-Awesome-Hair told us you saved him," Lance didn't sound all too happy about it.
"Huh, what?" Keith was caught off guard. "Prince who?!"
"Lotor, duh, who else pretends he has awesome hair?" Lance pretended to flip non-existent long hair over his shoulder, like one of those shampoo commercials Keith used to see all the time on television.
"I'm guessing you don't like him much," Keith remarked.
Lance wrinkled his nose, "Of course! I don't like him. There's something dodgy going on with him."
"Is it because he's always with Allura?" Keith asked, a squirming feeling twisting inside his chest. That wasn't an unfamiliar feeling - he always felt like this whenever he spotted Lance flirting with someone.
His mind chided, you feel annoyed, because whenever Lance flirts, he gets distracted from the mission, which is supposed to be the most important thing. You are just pissed that he's goofing around and not doing his job.
That sounded highly justifiable, and Keith went with it.
(Jealousy, thy name is Keith, Lance once said.)
To his surprise, Lance frowned mightily, "Nonononono. No. Just, no. Why do all of you people assume I hate Prince L'Oreal ad solely because he spends time with Allura? Like, how? What have I done?"
"Um, because you talk about how much you like Allura and want to date her? Like... All the time? So it's hard not to come to that conclusion," Keith offered, and the words came out harsher than he had intended.
Lance said daintily, "I've recently come to terms that... Allura is waaaaaay out of my league. So no, we're not like that."
"Oh," Keith said, feeling oddly satisfied. Keith from one year ago would never imagine that Lance could go a single day without making pickup lines at Allura.
"Allura and I are now training buddies," Lance said. "Even though she beats me most of the time."
"Wait a sec. You train?!" Keith goggled at him.
"Yeah?" Lance raised an eyebrow.
One-Year-Ago-Keith also wouldn't be able to see this coming. The very same guy, who often made excuses to skip training, was actually training.
How much had Lance changed? Frankly, someone could tell him that Lance could suddenly sword fight and Keith wouldn't be surprised.
(Seriously though, Lance getting a sword would be amazing even though Keith knew it would never happen - where would he even get one?)
"Oh right, you don't know it," Lance smirked.
"Know what?!"
Lance crossed his arms stubbornly, "Nope, not telling you. You will know eventually, when you get back. But be prepared to be amazed."
"Oookay?" Keith said.
Suddenly, Lance's smile faltered, "Wait. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy you're coming back to us, but what about your family? I know you joined the Marmorites because you want to learn more about your Galran side and I totally understand this, but if you come back, you won't be able-"
"That's okay," Keith grimaced. He had been hoping this wouldn't come up.
"That's NOT okay!" Lance fretted. "Oh god, I'm sorry, Keith, I know how important your family is to you."
"Lance, shut up for a sec," Keith said. "I found my mother."
"Great, I messed up- wait," Lance paused abruptly and stared at Keith, "You found your WHAT?!"
"My mother," Keith repeated wearily.
"Oh my gosh," Lance said excitedly. "What's her name?!"
"Her name is Krolia."
"COOL. IS SHE PURPLE? DOES SHE HAVE A MULLET? DOES SHE LOOK LIKE YOU? IS SHE A BADASS?"
"Lance," Keith said sharply.
Lance's eyes widened, sensing how uncomfortable Keith felt, "Sorry, Keith. But... Wow, you found your mom and that's so cool! Isn't that what you wanted all this time? Wait. Don't tell me you went NOOOOO THAT'S NOT TRUE THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE on her."
"No," Keith whispered. "I froze up when I saw her. I know I should be happy, but I'm not. I'm mad."
"So... Are you telling me you didn't say anything to her?" Lance watched him closely.
"I..." Keith furrowed his eyebrows, struggling to muster out the right words. "Left...? We... Parted ways?"
Lance gawked at him, "What?! You just left her? Dude, you could have let her explain!"
"You don't understand!!!" Keith growled. "You don't understand how I feel right now - what it is like for your mom to show up all of a sudden! Where has she been all this time?! Couldn't she have visited me once, huh? She's the reason why I've been tossed from one foster home to another and she's exactly why I have trouble trusting anyone!"
Lance held up his hands to appease him, "Calm the heck down, man! I'm sorry to hear about this, and I'm probably not the best person to talk to about this type of things, but I know that your mom probably has a good reason for leaving you."
"Right." Keith glowered at him.
"Okay, okay, don't look at me like that, jeez! Maybe your mom is wrong for leaving you, but you will have to give her a chance to, I don't know, explain herself and make up for it? Who knows, she might turn out to be a Darth Vader, or ooh, she might be How To Train Your Dragon's Valka! That works," Lance snapped his fingers.
"Dragons," The word was unfamiliar on Keith's tongue. When was the last time he read fairy tales?
"How To Train Your Dragon 2. The film. Dreamworks. You haven't seen it?! It's a gorgeous film! How could you?!" Lance yelped, outraged.
"Cartoons are not my thing," Keith said warily.
"Okay. I'm trying not to spoil the good bits.There's this Viking village and they're mortal enemies with dragons-"
"Dragon stories."
"It's a Viking story, Keith! Shush!" Lance cried.
"Sorry," Keith said meekly.
"It turns out dragons are not as evil as the Vikings think, yada yada yada. So the main character is a guy called Hiccup and he's the son of the Chief. His mother is thought to be killed by dragons when he was a baby, but boom, it turns out she's actually gone off to live with the dragons because she knows there's good in them and can't bring herself to fight them," Lance said animatedly. "Hiccup is considered to be the runt of the tribe and he's basically shunted by everyone. After much difficulty, he befriends a Night Fury dragon and unites the dragons and Vikings."
Keith nodded along.
His mind provided unhelpfully, he's so adorable when he rants about TV shows. Look at the way his eyes light up.
Shut up, he told himself.
"Fast forward to 19 years later, Hiccup reunites with his mom, and since he understands that she has a good reason for not living with the Vikings, he's cool with it. He becomes the Chief and then... The third movie hasn't come out yet, so I don't know what happens next. I hope we'll be back to Earth before it premiers, ha."
Even though Keith knew Lance's point of bringing up this entire story, he gave him a sour look, "What are you implying?"
"You really need to talk to your mom. Stat. Whether she has a good reason for leaving... or whether she's actually a terrible mom, which I honestly think she isn't, you have to talk to her to know for sure," Lance said softly. "There's a solid chance she has tried to come back for you but she didn't succeed. Really, I'm not surprised if that's the case, with Zarkon running around. She can't risk bringing more Galra to Earth."
"I..." Keith bit his lip. "I don't know how. I'm terrible at this."
"Tell her how you feel, and try not to yell too much. Ya know, you always shout or grab your bayard when you get too worked up over something," Lance suggested, expertly dodging Keith's attempt of a smack to his head. "Hey! You know it's true. If you think that she is good after all, accept her. Or... I can go with you and see if she's worthy of my stamp of approval."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Keith shuddered, having a mental image of Lance talking to Krolia. It would be a nightmare.
"What?! I get along well with everyone!" Lance sounded highly offended.
"Right, so apparently you get along with everyone except for me," Keith pursed his lips resentfully, pissed at the fact that Lance got along well with literally everyone except for him.
When he said that he couldn't remember Lance back at the Garrison, it was a downright lie, and not to mention, a really weak one too.
It was impossible for someone to not notice Lance. He was a social butterfly, and could make friends wherever he went.
Keith only shared two classes with Lance, and from that, he could tell Lance was the fun type of guy, loud and expressive. Lance was good at opening up to people, whereas Keith shut people out like a clam. In other words, Lance was everything Keith Kogane wasn't - funny, witty and sociable.
It had been barely two weeks since the first official school day at the Garrison, Keith had gotten himself suspended from fighting with another classmate and Lance seemed to have decided that he disliked Keith and always gave him dirty looks whenever he passed by him in the classroom.
At this, Lance bristled, "Well, that's because you were a super rude jerk?
Keith blinked.
"Ugh you probably won't remember this if you can't even remember who I am."
What?
***
Garrison, First Year
Everyone was leaning out of the classroom doorways, clamouring and shoving at each other to get a better view of the corridor.
Keith was too busy whacking at the boy on the ground to care about them.
It was sort of a blur. The kid was jeering about how Keith was 'an unwanted kid', and the next thing he knew, he had lunged for him.
"Someone get Commander Iverson!" One of the girls shrieked fearfully, hiding from behind her classmate. "Or Mr. Shirogane!"
Mr. Shirogane, or known as Shiro, was Keith's homeroom instructor, and he was the one who recommended Keith's application to the Garrison.
Shiro had always said he had high hopes for Keith. Shame he was probably going to get suspended after this.
The students started to quiet down when thumping footsteps approached the fighting pair, and everyone watched with the scene unfold with bated breaths.
"Mr. Kogane!" The astrophysics instructor, Ms Kendricks seized him by his arm. "Let Mr. Evans go and stop this childish fight!"
Keith tried to break free from her grasp, but the woman was stronger than he was. She kept hold of him and the other boy, and said coldly, "It is only the second day of school and you two are already fighting! This appalling behaviour is unbecoming for a Garrison student and I'm very disappointed with the both of you. Especially you, Mr. Kogane, you were here on Mr. Shirogane's recommendation, and I expected so much more from you."
The other boy complained, "Kogane started it!"
"Argh!" Keith jerked and tried to kick him in his shins.
"STOP!" Ms Kendricks's manicured fingernails dug into his shoulder painfully. "I don't care who started the fight first. You are both going to the principal's office!" She took note of the scratches on the other boy's face, and added sternly, "Before that, you're going to the infirmary, Mr. Evans."
Keith kept his head down the entire time, tears of rage gathering in his eyes and fists clenched even though his fingers were throbbing. He felt like he was submerged into the ocean, everything was like a haze and his ears were ringing.
"I will be taking Mr. Evans to the infirmary, and-"
There was a startled yelp, and from the corner of Keith's eye, he saw that Ms Kendricks had shoved a rather tall boy towards him.
"You will be escorting Mr. Kogane to the principal's office. Understood?"
"O-okay," The tall boy stuttered nervously.
Afterwards, Ms Kendricks shooed away all the nosy students and made them return to their classrooms. She then left with Evans, who was probably still glaring at Keith over his shoulder.
"Um," The boy cleared his throat awkwardly. "Shall we get moving? Gee, you're scrawny, but you can pack one hell of a punch."
He spoke with a faint accent which indicated that English wasn't his first language.
Keith ignored him, and started to move, all while keeping his eyes on the floor because he didn't want anyone to see him tearing up. He hated showing his weakness to anyone else.
"Oh, you're gonna stare at the ground the entire time? That's cool, as long as you don't bump into stuff," The boy said, "but I want you to know that I'm way more handsome than the tiles."
What's wrong with him?!
"So you're Shiro's protege? No wonder. I saw your flight simulations, you're a natural at it."
I'm not a prodigy. I'm nobody.
"Being Takashi Shirogane's protege, how awesome is that? Man, I'm so jealous of you. Shiro's like my hero. I've been looking up to him for years! I hope I can be like him someday."
I'm nothing about Shiro's disappointment.
"Cheer up, man! Think about all the cool junk you can do at the Garrison! Things like flying into asteroid field and black holes..." He launched into a tirade of the entire Garrison's curriculum.
Shut up shut up shut up-
By then, Keith was almost jumping in rage. He was in no mood of being enthusiastic about things.
"SHUT UP!" Keith closed his eyes and yelled. "CAN YOU SHUT UP FOR A MOMENT?! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? JUST SHUT UP AND DON'T TALK TO ME AGAIN!!!"
There was a long, uncomfortable pause.
The boy's voice turned as cold as ice, "Huh. I really wonder what Shiro sees in you."
They turned around the corner towards the corridor leading to the principal's office.
He dropped Keith off at the secretary's desk and left without another word.
Keith never saw his face. He couldn't even remember his voice.
In the end, he was suspended for one whole week by the principal.
Shiro kept checking up on him worriedly, as if he might run away from the Garrison and bringing in meals. Keith assured him he was fine and he wasn't going to quit anymore.
A week later, he showed up to class, his dirty uniform cleaned up already. He settled down at his seat with his history textbook, ignoring the curious and slightly fearful stares from his classmates. He had cooled down already - he couldn't afford to sit into the principal's office again.
"Look who's here," Someone said sarcastically behind him. "The star himself."
Keith turned slowly. The voice had belonged to a boy with caramel coloured hair and ocean blue eyes, glaring at him with a rather disdainful expression.
"Sorry, do I know you?" Keith frowned.
The boy's eyes widened in annoyance, "Nice going with that attitude, Kogane. Yeah right, you're a genius and you got in here on Shiro's recommendations. But just because I'm a normal boy from Cuba doesn't mean that you can look down on me."
Keith was super confused. What on earth was he talking about? Have they talked to each other before?
"The name's Lance," The boy pointed at himself with a scowl. "And I'm so going to beat you with my flight scores."
That was probably how the entire Lance slash Keith rivalry started, and Keith had no inkling of how it started in the first place.
***
"That was YOU?!" Keith exclaimed. "How did you even get there?!"
"How am I supposed to know?! Ask Ms Kendricks," Lance said with righteous anger, and stared at Keith as if he had grown a second head, "Wait a tick. You didn't know it was me?"
Keith shook his head, feeling much like an idiot. That explained why Lance hated him so much in the past.
"HOW THE QUIZNAK IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!" Lance shouted, flinging himself sideways and flopped onto the bed. "IT WAS MY QUIZNAKING VOICE!!! HOW CAN YOU NOT NOTICE? SO WHO HAS A MEMORY THE SIZE OF A PAPER AIRPLANE NOW, HUH?"
"I had enough on my mind! I was questioning my place at the Garrison! Besides, you were being super annoying. You can't blame me for snapping," Keith said, still horribly mortified.
Lance groaned, "Yeah, I probably should have noticed how you were feeling before I ran my mouth. We were incredibly immature back then, who could blame us?"
"So that was why you hated me this whole time?" Keith asked tentatively. "Because I shouted at you?"
Lance mumbled, "Gosh. I didn't hate you - I was jealous of you."
"Me?" Keith squinted at him.
Lance rolled onto his back, "You were super cool. You managed to nail a complicated flight simulation on your first try when everyone was just flopping around with the controls. You obviously are an academic genius to get into the Garrison and to be noticed by The Takashi Shirogane at the age of 14 years old. I wanted to be friends with you, because I was expecting you to be like Shiro, cool and charismatic. And tada, turns out The Keith Kogane is actually an emo kid who yells a lot and treats everyone like dirt."
"I have always been afraid of being looked down upon and being the third kid in a gigantic family doesn't help much. I had to fight for people's attention. I wasn't as smart as my older brother and I definitely wasn't as adorable as my younger siblings. So naturally, I felt like you deserved to be knocked down a few pegs for being a nasty jerk," Lance finished. "And in a way, I was protecting myself from being bullied because I had the impression you hated me."
"Oh." Keith wondered if it was possible to get even more embarrassed.
Lance directed his voice towards the ceiling, "I'm still trying to grasp the reality. So we became rivals because of a huge misunderstanding... and because you were emo."
"And you ran your mouth too much at the worst timing," Keith said drily. "Can you believe that?"
"We could have been friends," Lance said in a daze. "What the quiznak."
"I'm sorry."
Lance flipped over, and slid back up against the wall, "Are we friends now, though? Yeah, we have to be friends. How else are we gonna be co-pilots if we are enemies? So are we putting our past behind and... chum it up?"
"I guess?" Keith said, his heart hammering against his chest.
Lance grinned and hugged him. Keith snuggled into the warmth of Lance's shoulder, and bathed in the scent of the ocean which Lance always carried around him, even though he hadn't been near one in ages.
He could hold onto Lance for hours.
***
Keith took Lance back to the main room, before he returned on Red.
Kolivan was hunched over a war diagram, with his back to them.
Before Keith could say anything to him, Kolivan grunted, "Are you leaving?"
"Huh, what?"
"I'm assuming you want to return to Team Voltron, and you are going to talk to me about it," Kolivan turned around to face them. He didn't seem perturbed by the idea at all.
"How did you know?!" Lance said doubtingly, taking a karate stance.
"Why else would you be here?" Kolivan said, sending Lance one of his more imposing deadpans.
"You're not going to stop me from going back?" Keith asked.
"Your work with the Blade of Marmora is done. Your real path is with Voltron and I'm willing to accept it," Kolivan said. "It has been my pleasure to work with you, young Keith."
"I won't be leaving yet. I want to talk to Krolia. Face to face," Keith said.
Kolivan nodded with understanding, "She's currently stationed at one of our outposts, but I'll have it arranged before she departs for her next mission. Red Paladin, you can come and get Keith in 3 quintents."
"No problem! Red knows the way," Lance said flippantly. "Or I can have Allura open a wormhole so I can get here faster."
"You may leave now," Kolivan waved his hand, clearly dismissing him.
Lance did another mock salute, and he followed Keith to the creepy Marmorite elevator.
***
You're back.
Red's faint voice brushed the back of Keith's mind the moment they arrived at the surface of the asteroid.
"Hiya, buddy. Keith, you wanna say hello to your Lion?" Lance gestured towards the towering Lion.
"Hello Red," Keith said, staring up.
He didn't know if Red thought he was worthy to be a paladin of Voltron again.
He was expecting Red to reject him.
But Red lifted his head and roared loudly to the sky, strengthening their fragile bond until it blazed red hot, like how it had been when Keith first bonded with him.
The Red Lion was claiming him as the Red Paladin, once again.
Welcome back, Keith, Red roared again in Keith's mind, his voice stronger than ever. I hope Lance has... talked to you about his problems.
"Yes I did. Thank you, Red," Lance said. The Lion was probably speaking in his mind at the same time.
No problem, Red chuckled. I was starting to get a little bit tired of your complaining.
"What?! Red! How could you!" Lance huffed.
"You complain to Red?" Keith asked.
"Don't judge! I used to talk to Blue all the time!"
Yeah, and Lance finally has a companion, so he doesn't have to feel lonely anymore. Red paused and added as an afterthought, He misses you-
"LA LA LA, RED THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH," Lance shouted, hoping that the volume of his voice could distract Keith from hearing the final bit.
"What was that all about?"
Oh? The Lion made an effort to tilt his head. Ah. I understand now.
"What?!" Lance and Keith yelled at the same time.
Nothing. I'm glad you're coming back, Keith.
"I'm not going to come back immediately though, Red. You see, I've found my mom and I need to talk to her," Keith explained.
Understood. Lance and I will be getting you here, I assume?
"Right you are!" Lance said, doing a happy little dance.
Let's go then, Lance. The Princess has commed in, the castleship will be arriving shortly to pick you up.
Lance turned to Keith, "I guess I have to go now. See you soon?"
"Yeah. Thank you for coming to me, Lance," Keith said. "Without you... I really don't know how I'm going to cope."
"No problem man, we are a good team. I said that, didn't I?" Lance winked. "See you in three quintents! Good luck with your mom and tell me about it when you get back." He gave Keith a quick, encouraging squeeze on the shoulder.
Keith watched as Lance boarded the ramp of the Lion, and Red took off with an energetic roar, into the blue.
***
"Hello Princess, thanks for picking me up," Lance accepted the transmission from the castleship.
"So what happened at the base? Tell us!" Pidge elbowed at Hunk and moved into the view of the giant screen, with Matt following closely behind her.
"Did you piss Kolivan off?" Hunk added.
"Oh, a lot has happened," Lance stifled a laugh. "Guess what? Keith is coming back!"
The bridge descended into pandemonium, as everyone shrieked at the good news. Coran was actually sobbing and hugging an extremely dazed Matt.
Keith was wrong about them - everyone had missed him and would be more than willing to welcome him back to the team.
Lance clicked off the transmission with a smile and relaxed in his seat.
With Keith back on the team, everything would be fine again.
Not even Prince Purple Draco Malfoy would be able to make him down.
***
"No problem man, we are a good team. I said that, didn't I?"
Keith sat up abruptly from the seat of the Marmorite fighter (he was en route to Krolia's outpost).
"LANCE!!!!!!!!"