Chapter Text
So. Keith was Galra. Somehow, it was one of those things that just... made sense.
Lance closed his eyes, music filtering into his ears. It just made sense that Keith ended up being an alien. Like, wasn’t that his dream or something? He huffed out a short laugh. It would be, wouldn’t it. He’d be totally in love with the fact he was an alien.
Or maybe that he just had... family. Lance rolled over, trying not to think of that. Trying not to think about his own family, back on Earth, and what they would be thinking. What they would have been told after he left in Blue. Did they even think he was still alive?
His heart seized up at the thought of his mother hearing he was MIA, thinking he was dead... Lance took a deep breath, curling up slightly. He needed to go home. He needed to see his family again. Hear her speak again, liquid Spanish against his ear as she hugged him tightly-
Lance reached over, turning his music up higher. Nope. Time to drown out those thoughts. Make his teeth vibrate with this music.
It didn’t stop his thoughts, though. Didn’t stop the circling thought about how he missed his family, how he needed to go home-
Okay. Maybe if he went and bugged Hunk he’d feel better. If anything, he just knew that Hunk also missed his family. They could talk about that and maybe Lance would feel a little better, hearing he wasn’t alone. Yeah. And Hunk should be in the kitchen. Poor guy was nervously baking after all that, and probably wouldn’t get much sleep. Maybe if he talked to Hunk, he would also calm him down enough so he could get some sleep. Dude needed to rest.
So Lance pulled off the headphone and started down to the kitchen, ready to talk to Hunk and gently remind him to go to bed. He could do at least that.
As he reached the kitchen, he frowned. That wasn’t Hunk he heard. Hunk would be muttering to himself. No, that was just... someone absently munching on something. Probably leftovers from Hunk’s baking, which meant he had actually gone to bed. Which meant someone else was in there.
Lance hoped it was Pidge. That would be preferable. Like, he could deal with Shiro, and Allura would be great, but Pidge he would just kind of... be able to get out of with just getting food, nodding at her, and leaving. Coran would want to talk, and Keith-
He didn’t know what he would do if it was Keith.
Which mean it was Keith, he just knew it.
When he entered the kitchen and it was Keith, he just felt sad. He hated being right like this.
It wasn’t really he... actually, he didn’t know where he was going with that. He just didn’t know what he was going to say to Keith now. ‘Hey, so you’re Galra now, what’s that like?’ That was just lame. He wasn’t just Galra; he was always Galra. And he would be kind of sensitive about that. Lance didn’t want to piss Keith off about that.
So he just really... didn’t want to piss Keith off. It was kind of one of those things. What if Lance just found out he was Galra? He would be totally upset! So he wanted to not bring that up. But what would he say?
He needed to say something because staring at Keith, who had one of Hunk’s muffins in his mouth, was starting to get awkward.
”So... uh... Hunk’s muffins. Amazing what he can do with alien ingredients, right?”
Keith swallowed his mouthful. “Uh. Yeah.”
Awkward.
”So uh...”
”You can mention the Galra thing,” Keith snapped. “I know. I’m Galra. Don’t dance around the subject.”
”Oh!” Lance laughed, rubbing the back of his head. “I just... yeah. Thought you didn’t want to talk about that.”
Keith sighed. “Yeah, well, it pisses me off more than you’re trying not to acknowledge it. Go ahead. Ask me all the Galra questions you want to.”
Now that Keith said it, Lance’s mind went blank. He didn’t think of anything to say. Lance shrugged helplessly. “I don’t really have anything to say, dude. Like, you’re Galra. That’s cool. I don’t even know what the hell to say. Just... you’re Galra.”
Keith relaxed at the words, smiling a little. “You’re the first person not to have questions about it. Thank you.” He took another bite of muffin, closing his eyes slightly.
”Hey, even at the end of the day, we’re still Paladins. No matter what, I still got your back.”
That earned him another smile. “Yeah.”
Lance cautiously smiled back. It was pretty weird being this nice to Keith. Yeah, he could get along with him, but this... this was weird. “Yeah,” he echoed. “So uh... there still muffins left?”
Keith reached behind him, throwing one to him. Lance caught it, crowing in delight. He bit in, happy. Hunk really did make the best pastries.
”Hey.” Keith’s voice made Lance slow in his eating. “So if you found out you were an alien, secretly... what would you do?”
Lance swallowed. “Like if I was part Galra? Well, I’d want to find out more about myself. I’d be asking the Blade of Marmora guys about as much as possible.” But he was totally human, so it was kind of a moot point. “What are you going to do?”
Keith took a moment, thinking. “I... don’t really know. I mean, I could... do what you said. I kind of also want to know who my mother was. Who she... what she did.”
Lance nodded. “Yeah. And I mean, you might have more Galra family out there! Totally would be looking as well.”
”Hm.” Keith looked down at his mostly eaten muffin. “That sounds... yeah. I guess I’d do that.”
”You totally should! I mean, there’s probably a sweet Galra mother out there wondering where her little boy is. She’d probably love meeting you. And you’d get to know more about your family! I totally would be asking the Blade of Marmora guys about the Galra and who your mom could be.”
Keith nodded and looked up at Lance. “You’re right.”
Lance preened. He liked being told that.
”I hope you get to go home soon. Get to see your family.”
Aaaaand there it was. Lance wilted slightly. “Yeah. Me too.”
Keith fell silent. “Hey. I didn’t mean-”
”I know.” Lance smiled at him. “Hey, you gonna finish that?”
”Don’t try to deflect this,” Keith snapped at him. “I know you miss home too.”
Lance shrugged. “It’s okay.”
”It’s not!” Keith stood, his eyes burning. “We all miss home, okay? I miss being in the Garrison at times. And I miss the desert. I miss Earth. Me being Galra doesn’t mean I don’t miss being home. So you saying ‘it’s okay’ that you miss your own home just-” He gestured, helplessly. “We all miss home! It’s not okay to miss home!”
”Yeah, but we’re far away,” Lance said quietly. “So we’re not going home any time soon.”
”You can still miss home!”
This was why he didn’t want to talk to Shiro. He knew Shiro would have this exact kind of insight that would make him want to curl up. “It’s going to have to be okay. You know that, right? I mean, like, you know we have to do this.”
Keith fell silent. “Yeah,” he finally said. “I do.”
Lance sighed, and took another bite of muffin. “It’ll have to be okay,” he said after he swallowed. “I’m okay with this. Really.”
After a moment, Keith sighed. “Yeah. I guess so.” He started out of the kitchen, having finished his muffin. “Thanks for not asking me about the Galra thing.”
”No problem.” He wouldn’t want anyone talking to him about the alien thing if he turned out not human anyway. “See ya later.”
But when Keith left, Lance sighed. He didn’t want to think about how much he missed home. But... if they beat Zarkon, he would go home. He’d see his mother again. See everyone again. They just needed to beat Zarkon and everything would be okay again.
Yeah.
Just beat Zarkon.