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"Lance, Allura told me to tell you that trai-" Kieth cut himself off. He stared at the slightly trembling lump of blanket on Lance's bed, soft sobs emitting from the mound. Keith quickly realized that the sad lump was Lance, and made his way over to it.
"Lance..? Are you... um, what's up, man?" He asked, carefully placing a hand on the lump. Keith was never very good at trying to console somebody, especially when dealing with such raw emotions.
The Sad Lump sniffs sharply and starts rapidly thrashing around, looking for the source of contact. Keith assumed that it hadn't heard him, and he'd startled him. Soon, Keith was met with the red face of Lance, cheeks wet with moister and eyes swollen from crying.
After a beat of silence that both paladins used to comprehend the situation, Lance quickly threw the blanket over his face and curled up into a tight ball.
"G-Go away!" He screeched, and Keith didn't even have to see Lance to know his face was furiously burning up.
Keith cocked his head, not sure of why he was suddenly so flustered. "Lance, hey, what's up?" He asked quietly.
With no response from the Sad Lump, Keith gently shook Lance again. "Hey, come on, man. I'm not going to leave until you tell me why you're crying."
Lance sniffed, finally giving Keith some sort of indication that he was still there. He pulled the blanket from his face, but kept his back to the shorter paladin, not wanting to face his assumed torment toward his feelings. "N... no. Get out of my room," he mumbled, voice shaking.
Keith sighed, leaning back on the wall, rubbing his hand on the lump in comforting circles. Or, he was at least trying to be comforting. He wasn't actually sure how he was doing with that. "Lance, I told you. I'm not leaving 'till you tell me what's going on." Keith thought a minute, realizing what Lance was afraid of.
"Oh, and, I'm not going to make fun of you, or, whatever. I... I just want to help," he breathed.
Lance finally turned to him, eyes glossy and tears running down his cheeks. "Y-You... you promise?" He whispered, almost inaudible. Keith nodded, patiently waiting for Lance to calm down. Eventually he did, but it took a few minutes. He gazed up at Keith, sniffing and wiping his tears with the blanket.
"I just- I miss my family. A-And Earth in general, but mostly my family."
Oh.
Oh.
Keith shifted awkwardly, sitting up a little straiter. He swallowed, and his hands grasped the back of his neck. "..oh. Um, Lance-" he began, but was cut off.
"I know, I know. I should be over this by now. We've spent a year in space, a whole fucking year! But... b-but I just can't stop thinking about them. I miss them, Keith. I really miss them, so, so much. A-And... and they probably hate me, because I just.. left. And... and I never even said goodbye..." He sniffed, but continued on. "Sorry, I know-" he choked through a wave of emotions, "-it's stupid."
Keith stared back at Lance, face scrunching in confusion. He probably wasn't the best person to try and talk about this with. But there was no way he was about to leave Lance in a crying heap on his bed, even he wasn't that heartless.
"Lance... Lance, no, it's not stupid. Missing your family is completely normal. You don't have to be embarrassed about that, everyone on this ship misses their family."
Almost everyone.
"Hunk misses his mom and dad and sister, and Allura and Coran miss the king and their entire race, and even Shiro misses his parents. Pidge has spent who knows how long trying to find her brother and dad. It's not just you. And... and you have such a big family, it must be hard trying to miss all of them, but I know that you do, and they miss you. They would never hate you, Lance. They're your family. They probably just really, really miss you," Keith said, trying to sound more sympathetic than he was.
It's not like he wanted to not feel any sympathy for Lance- he knew he was upset right now and that sucked. But not having a family of his own, he wasn't quite sure of what he was saying was the right thing to say. See, if Lance had been upset because he found out he was part alien, then Keith would know exactly what to say. But that wasn't exactly the case, and Keith was pretty sure he couldn't really relate to anyone with that whole ordeal.
Setting his attention back on Lance, Keith noticed that he was crying even more now. Keith's gaze quickly averted down, and he could feel his own cheeks flare as he held his arms open for the blue paladin. He quickly accepted, practically throwing himself at Keith and hiding his face away in the crook of his neck. Keith, on the other hand, was just left to try and understand what was happening. He was holding a crying Lance in his arms, and... he kind of liked it.
Not the whole "crying Lance" thing, the "holding Lance in my arms, who just so happens to be crying" part.
Keith quickly realized that he should be thinking about things that he shouldn't, and his cheeks flared even more on response. This was about helping Lance, not ogling over him. He needed a distraction- and quickly, at that, to get his mind back on track.
"Um, do you want to tell me about them?" He asked quietly. "Your family, I mean."
Lance shifted onto Keith's lap and wrapped his legs around the boys waist, which made Keith happy that Lance couldn't see his face now, or more the shade of red it was. Lance really only did this for comfort reasons, he had bigger things on his mind then trying to cuddle up to Keith. Which was kind of weird to think about, mainly because it didn't sound so bad.
Lance slowly nodded before taking a deep breath. "My mamá, she was the best mother I could ever wish for. She always made time for all of us, even if she did work every day. She'd make us our meals and always spend time with everyone individually, and would read us all something before bed when we were little. Since I'm one of the oldest, I thought I would be forgotten about. But I never was." He had to stop for a moment to fight back the tears that were threatening to come back any moment.
"My padre, he was a strong man. He'd always be carrying someone around, playing with them, or doing some sort of job. Both my parents worked long day jobs, so me and my older brother were in charge of everyone a lot. My older brother, Lucas, was also really nice. He'd spend a lot of time with me, because we were the caretakers, for the most part, and we learned a lot about each other.
Then my little siblings... I have four of them. There are Lilly, the youngest, Donny and Mary, the twins, and Leo. Leo always loved lions, and I hope I can show him Blue one day, because he'd freak out," Lance let out a small chuckle. "We were a really close family, all eight of us. Sometimes our abuela and abuelo would come live with us for a few weeks, and those were the best times. They'd tell us all sorts of stories, about our parents when they first fell in love, and about us, and even about them. The food was always really good, too. My abuelo sure can make a mean dinner."
Lance fell silent, and Keith heard a sniffle behind his head. He knew Lance was crying again, but had absolutely no idea of what to do. So he kept quiet.
That is, until Lance decided to speak.
"H-Hey, Keith-" he started, "-what about you? Tell me about your family."
The simple request made Keith way more nervous then he should've been. Lance had his own things to worry about, he didn't really need to know that he was an orphan that never really had a home to begin with. But, if he lied, there would be no doubt that Lance would go and tell everyone, and Keith would have to deal with those consequences, along with telling him the truth anyways. So, he chose the path of least resistance.
"Lance..." Keith pulled Lance from the hug, so he could see his face. He needed to get this point across. Lance didn't seem to be picking up anything, and he cocked his head to the side, giving him a confused look. Keith bit his lip and gazed down at his hands, which were clutching into each other tightly. "Lance, I don't have a family."
Lance didn't feel anything at first. He was just staring back at the red paladin, a blank expression painted on his face. After a moment to comprehend, Lance could feel his whole chest become tight.
That's when it hit Lance like a ton of bricks. This one conversation had been leading up to his moment, the moment that Lance began to see Keith in a whole new light. It made him feel horrible about almost everything he'd ever said to Keith or about him behind his back. He'd never thought about why Keith was the way he was, just that that was how he is, and that Lance never liked it.
Because what Lance had never considered was that, yeah, he was homesick. Really, really homesick. He missed his family with all of his heart, and wanted nothing more then to return to them. But Keith wasn't homesick, because he had nothing to be homesick about. He was alone, no friends, no family, no nothing. And the only person he'd ever gotten to know - Shiro, - had went missing in space for a year, leaving him all alone in a shack in the desert.
Sure, Lance missed his family. But what was worse then missing your family?
Well, simple.
Not having a family to miss.
Lance felt as he threw his arms around Keith once more, which by the flinch, he could tell had taken him off guard. He felt his eyes burn once again, but through the tears that began to stream down his face, Lance managed to croak out, "It's okay, Keith. Don't worry. We're your family now, us, the paladins and Allura and Coran. We're your family. Maybe not by blood, but we'll always be here for you, okay? Don't worry. We all love you and if you leave us we'll never stop missing you, because that's what family does."
And, for the first time in months, Keith's eyes became glossy as he squeaked out a final,
"Thank you..."