Work Text:
It wasn't like he cared. The seventh wheel wasn't that important anyway, right?
Lance's thoughts continued along these lines as he lay idly in the common room. His legs hanging over the end of the couch as he blankly gazed up at the ceiling. The rest of team voltron was not to be found, having left on a mission a few hours ago under the pretense they didn't need the whole team.
Even Allura and Coran had joined them, leaving only Lance and the mice to watch over the castle ship in their absence.
Sighing, the blue paladin stood and streached his back, reaching his arms high above his head before they returned limp at his sides. May as well try to find something useful to do with himself. If he recalled correctly, Hunk had cooked up a storm not that long ago; there must be a mountain of dishes to rival Mt Everest in there. After rounding the corner Lance spotted the immaculate presentation of the kitchen, bursting his hope of doing something to help his buddy and prove he had at least some usefulness.
That out of the option, there wasn't much else he could do. He didn't have a super smart brain like Pidge or Hunk to updrage any of the Castle's technology. There was no way he could take on a bot in the training room alone like Keith or Shrio could. The only thing Lance really could do was help Coran with the pods and any other odd job that arose. Unfortunately, Coran had reached out to Shiro in aid of cleaning the cyro pods instead of Lance last time, obviously Lance's joking complaints had been taken seriously. An ache built in Lance's chest, he liked his time cleaning with Coran. It reminded him of home when he would wash the dishes with his mumma. He wasn't even good enough to clean now it seemed.
Heart heavy with negative thoughts, Lance turned in direction of his room. If he couldn't help, what was the point of hanging around? As the door retracted to enter his room a sudden rumble struck Lance. It came from deep in his chest and warmed him like a hug from his family would after a bad day. Blue was calling to him, her purrs rumbling insistently uring him to come to her.
Ever the one to please, Lance rushed to her, a mixture of longing and understanding flowing through their bond as he approached. Blue was standing tall as he entered the hanger, Lance's signature smile in place as he called to her, "Hey Blue, you missing me?" Hope dawned in his chest, he might not be able to help around the Castle, but he was always up for bonding with his lion.
Blue rumbled, leaning down and opening for her Paladin who promptly entered. Inside Lance took his seat as Blue mentally curled around him in their bond. Love, protection and compassion flooded through the link, causing Lance to laugh lightly. Blue always knew how to cheer him up.
Curling up on the seat Lance shut his eyes, relaxing into the gentle hum and purr of Blue as she shared visions of flying with the team, Plaxum and her ocean planet, the fall when Voltron failed kicking a robeast. All the positive emotions and laughter of his team seeped through the vivid images as Lance finally let himself feel at peace.
It was with these memories running through his mind that Lance fell asleep. All corrosive thoughts of letting the team down and not being good enough faded into nothing. Snuggled and protected within Blue, everything was perefect and he was fine. There was no seventh wheel within Blue. Only Lance and his Lion.