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It was just another boring day for Lance. Team Voltron was still stuck in their separate lions since the Castle was destroyed. The coms were mainly quiet, aside from Hunk’s occasional, “Are we there yet?” Lance was humming his favorite childhood lullaby to Kaltenecker to keep her calm throughout the trip. Despite there being an enormous amount of distance between him and his family at the moment, he was practically bursting at the seams to get back and hug his momma.
“Lance, please, enough with the humming.” Pidge’s annoyed voice disturbed Lance’s peace in Red, although he did immediately quiet the soothing rhythm. “Sorry.” Lance was short with the coms, not wanting to bug anyone else with his seemingly annoying sounds.
“I, uh, actually thought it was quite nice.” Keith’s voice was soft like velvet, a contrast to Pidge’s rude snappy tone. Lance immediately was thankful that they had their face cameras turned off because he had no excuse as to why his face was warming up.
“Paladins, why don’t we stop at the next planet we see and all take a break? We’ve been traveling for almost a quintant.” Allura’s voice instantly caused everyone to perk up and Lance’s face to return to the normal tanned shade.
About a varga or so passed; the Paladins slowly started losing hope in ever finding a rest stop. “Hey, uh, guys…I think Kaltenecker has to pee. Can we please try and find a place soon? I do not want to smell like cow pee.” Lance unsteadily asked over the coms.
“Look! Over there! That’s a planet right? Or at least a moon? Something? Anything?” Hunk’s plea was desperate as a small speck started to grow the closer they got.
“Wait a tick, that’s planet Xuberios! The Paladins will love this planet; it bares quite the resemblance to Earth! My grandfather taught me all about Xuberios when I was just a lad.” Coran’s words had everyone’s lions racing through space towards the beautiful malachite colored planet.
Finally, everyone landed safely and exited their lions. Keith and Krolia moved Shiro’s body off with them, meeting up with Coran, Allura, and Romelle who were assessing the surrounding area. Hunk and Pidge were gawking at the beautiful two suns that were visible from the ground, mentally taking notes on how two suns is better than one. And, well, Lance was alone with Kaltenecker, leading her to the nearby creek. Lance, although taken away by the immense beauty of this planet, honestly believed he has never felt more alone in his life. He has sorted his space family into things the groups have in common: The Alteans, The Brains, and the ‘Ganes.
Lance was none of the above.
He sighed and rested his head against Kaltenecker’s leg, longing immensely to fit in with anyone besides a cow. He subconsciously started humming the lullaby again, while staring out across the lake, the two suns now setting. When Kaltenecker finished her drinking, she huffed as a way to signal Lance she was going to lie down. Lance guessed she must have gotten exhausted from travelling too. He continued the lullaby on a loop while imagining his mother was there, combing her fingers through his long, now slightly curly hair. He sighed.
“That really is beautiful.” A voice sounded from behind Lance, startling him and causing the images of his mother to fade away with his hums.
“Oh, yeah. The scenery really is beautiful.” Lance’s alarm diminished at the sight of Keith. They locked eyes, Keith silently asking if he could sit down by Lance. When Lance gave him the ‘okay’, Keith planted himself against Lance’s right side and pulled his knees up to his chest, letting out a sigh as he did so.
“I wasn’t talking about the scenery.” His voice was quiet as he gazed out across the water.
“What?” Lance asked.
“I said I wasn’t talking about the scenery.” This time when he spoke, Keith’s voice rang with confidence that Lance did not recognize.
“Oh, then what were you talking about?” Lance also pulled his knees in to chest, mimicking Keith.
“That lullaby. The way you hum it. It’s beautiful. Do you sing?” Lance was taken aback by everything Keith said, especially the compliment. Lance wondered if Keith just got tired of their acclaimed rivalry, and so Lance decided that maybe the whole thing was stupid after all. He sighed.
“Yeah. I do. My momma used to sing it to me when I had nightmares or when I was sick. It’s comforting.” Lance was unsure how to feel about being so open with Keith, flinching when he remembered what happened last time they got too close. Keith left him. And Lance still has yet to recover. Lance began to tear up before he whipped his face out of the view of Keith.
Keith let out a long breath and placed his hand on Lance's shoulder, causing Lance's mind to completely stop functioning and the breath to escape his lungs.
"Hey man," Keith pauses before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Lance's face begins to heat up, Keith's hand still quite noticeably resting on his shoulder. "I am worried about you, Lance. You're not yourself anymore. You're quiet. You rarely hang out with the rest of the team, Hunk told me you constantly train by yourself. That isn't the Lance I know...and...well..." He trailed off silently, peheraps feeling embarassed for admitting he has been noticing Lance and asking around about him. Lance was speechless. "What I am trying to say is, what happened when I left? Can you tell me? Please?" Keith's large hand gently squeezed Lance's shoulder, jerking him back to life. Keith really was worried about him, huh? The thought brought a slight smile to Lance's face; the first real one in a long time.
"You really wanna know?" Lance's voice was shakey, unsure if Keith was really interested or just bored. Lance kept his head slightly looking down, but still looked up at Keith, Lance's wavy fringe blocking half of the view. Keith moved his hand to wipe away Lance's brown hair that was hiding his face so Keith could give him an incouraging smile. Both boys' face's were tinted pink, and not just from the sunsets.
"Well," Lance stretched out his legs again and leaned back on the palms of his hands. "Once you left, I think it was really hard on all of us. I mean, Shiro definetly changed...which I guess we figured out why now." A sad chuckle escaped Lance's lips. "He was always so hard on us. Allura barely could hold him together. Sometimes he would scream at one of us if we intervened in a meeting; That happened to me a few times." Lance ended abruptly, sensing Keith stiffen up beside him. "That's actually the reason I started training more. Maybe if I was a better paladin, a better right hand man to Shiro he wouldn't yell so bad. But no." Keith's fists were balled up and his breathing was uneven.
"Lance, what are you talking about? You're already an outstanding paladin. You're our super cool ninja sharpshooter, right?" Keith smiled, a smile that Lance couldn't resist returning with a chuckle. "And a swordsman too."
Keith gasped and sat up straight. "WHAT? No way! How'd you do it? You already have different types of guns, and now a sword too? Goodness, Lance, that's amazing." Keith's words made Lance's cheeks and ears burn, causing him to hide his face in his hands. "I was training one day. A lot of bots. A flash of blue later and I'm slicing one in half. Allura came in afterwards and told me the sword was an Altean Broadsword, the same sword Alfor used. I thought that was pretty cool.." Lance removed his hands from his face, finding Keith staring wide eyes at Lance like he was looking at a precious crystal.
"Lance, I cannot believe this! That is awesome!" Keith spoke with his hands, snapping through the air around them as if what he was saying wasn't expressing what he was feeling. Lance was still burning up. "What else?" Keith placed his chin in his hands and stared intently at Lance, waiting on him to continue.
"Well, you know. It's all really just the same after that. The team kinda split up in seperate groups. Shiro, Allura, Coran, and Lotor did their thing...Hunk and Pidge forged 'Team Punk'... and then me and Kaltenecker. Just her and I against the world." Lance paused. Keith was filled with sorrow and regret. He wanted to reach out and hug Lance. Hold him. Tell him everything was okay, that he was okay. That Keith was not going anywhere anytime soon.
"You know, it was kinda nice, me and Kaltenecker. She always listens to me. She never tells me to stop goofing off or tries to pretend like I am okay when deep down, I think we both know I'm not. Missing home, dying and then being resurrected by Allura-"
"Wait...WHAT?!" Keith's angry voice interrupted Lance's rant. Lance's eyes widened. Crap. He forgot no one knew about that besides them two. Oops.
"Yeah, uh, we were on a mission. Allura was about to get shocked in her lion and I pushed her and Blue out of the way. I guess it electricuted me? I wasn't out for too long, a few minutes at most. But somehow Allura brought me back, and now I just have to prove to her that I was worth that." Tears overwhelmed Lance as he finally broke down. Sob after sob broke out of his walls as everything around him went crumbling down. His hands wrapped around the back of his head and his knees shot up to his chest, his eyes squeezed shut, tears never ceasing their flow. Lance was letting go for the first time in months, and for once he didn't feel like he was going to be made fun off. He didn't feel awkward or ashamed. And maybe he liked that.
"Oh, Lance," Keith couldn't help it anymore. He wrapped his arms around Lance and brought him into him, stroking his back with one hand and cradling his head with the other. Keith never thought he'd see Lance like this; as if Lance was just a vulnerable shell of emotions, barely being held together by his fake ego. Keith's heart ached for Lance. He wished he could've been there for Lance. So Lance wouldn't have been alone all that time. So he would've had someone to talk to. After a few more minutes of calming strokes of Keith's fingers up and down Lance's back, the tears finally calmed their flood and Lance began to sit up, yet still remaining closer to Keith than what they started with.
"Again with the cradling me in your arms. Some things never change." Lance was full blown beaming now, wet trails shining in the light of the stars. "Hey! I thought you didn't remember that!" Keith clucthed his heart, a look of slight betreyal in his eyes.
"Sometimes, you need to be a little but more sure of things before you admit to something..." Lance trailed off, reaching a hand up to caress Keith's cheek. Keith's eyes widened, cheeks reddened, and he gulped.
"Keith, can I kiss you?"
"...Yes."
Lance leaned in while slowly closing his eyes, both boys' faces burning a bright red when their lips finally touched. It wasn't much at all. A proper first kiss.
Lance sat back with a pleased smile, burshing some of his curly brown hair behind his ear. Keith was still starstruck, his head spinning about a million times a second. Goodness, this boy would give him whiplash.
"Now, it's your turn. What did I miss in the world of the best fighter pilot Keith Kogane?"