Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Matt made the first move, carefully planing out ways to “bump” into the mysterious blue eyed angle but constantly failing or getting overwhelmed by the way his heart was always beating too fast around him. Until one day they found themselves in the garrison bathroom together. Matt entered seeing the boy washing his tan, smooth, perfect hands, looking up once hearing the door slide open to stare at each other for what felt like hours, but Matt couldn’t take it anymore and quickly went up to him sticking out his hand awkwardly, the other boy still saying nothing his eyes widening in curiousity.

The boy looked so shocked and confused, not understanding why this beautiful person was trying to be kind to him. Thinking he was mistaken for someone else he slowly muttered an: “I’m sorry-“

“I’m Matt.”

Their eyes finally met again, Matt realizing what he had done and they both burst out laughing like they never truly knew joy before they met.

~

“Your sure you have everything?” Lance whispered, gently tucking a strand of dirty blonde hair behind Matt’s ear.

“Baby, we’ve gone over this six time now, you need to stop stressing for me ok?” He smiled gently at Lance, trying to reassure him. It worked, it was Matt so of course it worked.

Lance sighed, “I’m just scared somethings going to go wrong, and you won’t come back to me, and my family will never learn to love me, and I’ll be alone again, and you’ll be gone and-“

Matt gripped either side of Lances face gently, “then let’s tell them! As soon as I get back we can finally let everyone know! So you have no regrets!”

Lance smiled gently kissing Matt on his soft lips, “I think I’m ready.”

“That’s great love,” He pecked Lances soft hair, “I promise we’ll do it, as soon as I get back.”

Matt never did get back.

~

“C’mon Lance, step it up! You’re falling behind!”

“Sorry Shiro!”

He knew he was falling behind, really what could be expected from the most useless member of the team. Lance always told himself that someone had to be the weakest link, so it may as well be him so no one had to go through the same stuff that he did. Matt would probably kill him if he knew Lance was thinking these things again.

He hated hiding himself from the team. The blue paladin just couldn’t do it without his other half. Other than him not having enough courage, it would be like a betrayal, it was always something they were going to do together.

He tried way too hard to hide his previous relationship (was it previous if it never really ended?) by flirting with any alien girls that happened to cross his path, he even went along with Pidge pretending to be a guy. He felt ridiculous when the team thought he was the only one who didn’t “catch on”.

Useless Lance.

He swung his sniper at the training bot just as it ducked down and hit at Lance’s lower legs knocking him to the ground.

“Pick it up Lance!” frustration and disappointment rang loud and clear through Shiro’s voice. Really, what else did Lance expect?

~

“Hey Pidge, how are you feeling?” Lance walked into Pidge’s unofficial tech room seeing her pack up for her solo Matt mission to try gather more information on his whereabouts.

Lance was always debating on a least telling Pidge about his secret rendezvous. In some ways she really deserves to know but she already has so much to think about, that this would just be unfair, cruel and the cherry on top of the teens stress.

She gave a little shrug, clearly focused on one of her gadgets and didn’t have time for the nervous cuban boy behind her.

He fidgeted his hands, he wished Pidge knew how much he was rooting for her. How badly he wanted Matt too.

“Ok…” He said nervously approaching her a bit more. She was still ignoring him and Lance felt like sprinting out the room and hiding under his covers. He could hear Matt’s voice telling him to stay strong in social situations, “So, I was wondering…”

Pidge turned around sighing, “What is it Lance?” Her face was mixed with annoyance and exhaustion.

He took a deep breath in, his mind telling him to do it for Matt, “I really want to come on the mission with you.” The green Paladins eyes widened and her brows furrowed, “And I know this is a bid deal for you but-”

“What the FUCK Lance!”

He wasn’t expecting this.

“Out of all your fucking selfish desires you want to come with me on the most IMPORTANT mission of my life!”

Lances blue eyes dulled, Matt would have told him that he wanted his bright night sky back, always making him smile a little more for his boyfriend, feeling content because Matt was the only one who would love his eyes.

“I-I didn’t mean tha-”

“Do you think I’m not capable! The rest of the team needs you to be here, and you think that asking this of me is appropriate?!”

“No That’s…That’s not what I-”

“I can’t believe you Lance!”

She looked so hurt, Lance hated it so much, he really meant no harm. Alas, his selfish desire of looking for lost love hurt the sister he loved that was present. A love that didn’t leave him.

“I’m sorry.” His voice rang out in pain and sincerity trying not to let tears fall out of his eyes.

“Get out.” He stood frozen. Lance wasn’t prepared for this. He felt his chest get heavy and his heart even heavier. The blue paladin stood more helpless then ever, searching for anything to say.

“Lance, get OUT!”

Useless Lance.

Chapter Text

Pidge already left, Lance heard everyone else wishing the gremlin goodbye as he hid in his dark room, ashamed and trying to hard not to think about what just happened as his body trembled and tears fell down his soft cheeks.

A loud powerful metal clang hit against the door making the fragile boy jump, then he receded back into himself realizing it was only Shiro.

He tried to ignore it, the lights were off so hopefully Shiro would leave. Lance couldn’t put up his happy facade right now.

“Lance, we need to talk, I know you’re in there.”

Shiro sounded so pissed it just made Lance want to cry even more. He sat up, straightening his jacket and going towards his door. He took in a deep breath and tried to put on the most believable goofy smile.

So he thought of the first time Matt spoke to him, he was so cute and Lance was full of so much joy around him, that just thinking of his dirty blonde haired boyfriend made his heart soar and sore.

His door opened with a swish and he leaned against the frame, “Hey Shiro! What can I do for you?”

His arms were crossed with the most disappointed and cross look on his face, “Lance, out of all the stupid things you’ve done so far, this was just cruel.”

His heart dropped. All the stupid things he’s done? He knew he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed but was he that disappointing as a paladin?

“I-I know Shiro, I apologized, but I don’t think that-”

“Lance I don’t want your excuses!” The balck paladin look like he was going to loose it and Lance was terrified, he took a step back. Shiro didn’t even notice how threatened and afraid he was.

“You’re on cleaning duty this week, you’ll wake up in the morning when your called and until I come get you you’ll make yourself useful. Don’t bother with the lions, talking to them and getting distracted is out of the question.”

Lance didn’t know what to say, he just hung his head low. Sure, he’s gone through worse, and Shiro was hurt too, with Keith at the blade he felt like he lost a family member. Lance understood.

“Do you understand?” Lance thought he was going to clutch his head in agony, that voice was driving him crazy. Was he really such a failure?

“Lance?” His tone was warning him and for a second it sounded as if he was ready to pounce on the blue paladin and kick his ass senseless.

“Yeah, yeah ok.” But it wasn’t ok, but of course, Lance didn’t care enough about himself to let that be known.

~

The green lion let out a satisfied rumble in the distance, and the team (minus Lance) excitedly went to the hanger waiting for Pidge’s arrival and hopefully good news.

What they didn’t expect was a second person to come out of the green lions open mouth.

Matt had finally returned, and the team was full of joy, and Matt was so happy to be back with his sister, see his best friend, meet hunk and the two Alteans but he felt so guilty being happy without his angel by his side. But he couldn’t go home now, he’d been gone for so long Lance might not even be there, or still love him. It hurt to think about but what could he do?

His hand rested on Pidge’s shoulder as he look at the rest of her team, “Hey Pidge, aren’t there suppose to be five paladins?”

He felt his sister tense and he face go a little cold, the rest of the team cast nervous glances to each other, “I don’t want to talk about him right now.”

And that was that, Matt was left with thinking he was some kind of asshole, but they moved on and sat around a huge dinning room table eating Hunks amazing food before settling in for the night. Now whoever the other team mate was, is a hungry asshole.

And Matt couldn’t brush that out of his head.

~

Lance was cleaning the cyropod, feeling an erie chill thinking about being trapped, frozen and cold. He’s been working for what felt like hours, was Shiro going to come and get him?

Lance didn’t know how long he’d been working for, but he knew he shouldn’t complain. It would make him look like he wasn’t sorry, and weak. It’s probably only been a couple hours.

But the blue paladin couldn’t handle it anymore, his legs were shaking, his hands were bruised, he was starving and he felt like throwing up every time he looked at a pod.

So feeling anxious, knowing he could get caught, Lance slowly made his way towards the dinning room. He heard voices on the other side of the big doors, probably celebrating Pidge’s arrival, she probably arrived halfway through Lance’s cleaning.

His head hung low, not really wanting to face the whole team at once but he couldn’t handle his pain at the moment.

With his head still down the door slid open and Lance started speaking, not really knowing if they would listen or not, “I’m sorry Shiro..but I’m really hungry a-and I know that I-I’m weak a-and selfish but I c-can’t handle this right n-now, a-and-”

Lance didn’t mean to cry but fat ugly tears were rolling down his face and he sniffled slightly hiding his face in his sleeve. Lance was feeling faint, and his skin was pale, he could feel his legs about to give way under him.

The team was silent for a couple seconds before he heard a chair scrape against the ground and and all too familiar voice call out for him.

“Lance?”

Chapter Text

“Lance!”

And with the little strength and hope the blue paladin had left, he lifted his head up to meet the gaze of the love he thought would never return to him.

Lance leant against the door frame still frozen in shock as a pair of legs quickly sprinted towards him. The distance between them seemed to large.

Was he going crazy? Lance reached out in front of him, trying to shorten the length between the two lovers as he whispered out a quiet, “Matt?”

Before Lance could question his sanity any further a weight came crashing into him. It was real, he was real. For the first time ever the blue paladin felt safe and grounded.

Lance clung onto Matt like he never had before, as they sunk to the ground him perfectly in his loves lap. He felt his face being peppered in soft loving kisses almost as if Matt was trying to tell him this was all real. His face was wet, crying probably, tears of joy mixed with tears of relief.

But the blue paladins lack of energy hit him like a truck, he sunk into his boyfriends arms a little more smiling up at him before closing his eyes and passing out.

“Lance! Lance whats wrong?” He brushed boy’s soft cheek while he was in his lap gently trying to find out what on earth was going on. But realization was like a harsh slap to the face.

Lance was the hungry asshole.

But before he could question what was going on an angry voice called out behind him, “What the fuck is going on?”

Matt stood up a troubled look on his face, picking up his angel with him. his first thought was, “Oh shit they just outed each other” followed by, “Why in the fucking HELL was Lance pale, unconscious, crying, and not being taken care of like he should be? Did the team know what he had gone through?!”

But he wanted to confront the team together. He turned around, a hard cold look on his face. He could imagine Lance gently brushing over the creased skin between his eyebrows telling him he looked prettier when relaxed, which honestly made Matt even more pissed.

He could imagine that Lance probably wanted to help with something, and the team probably took it the wrong way because they didn’t listen to him, because Lance took so much time trying to make everyone happy that it’s assumed he can take everyones shit without it hurting.

Pidge had never seen Matt look so distressed and angry in her life, he seemed to be a stranger. He was a stranger. There Lance was, in his arms like they had somehow known each other forever. They fit perfectly and Pidge was mad, she was so upset because she didn’t know what was going on.

“No.” Was all he said, walking towards the exit of the dinning room.

The rest of the team were all standing looking onto what was happening in shock as the green paladin quickly rushed over blocking the door.

“What the hell do you mean ‘NO!?” She gestured wildly between her brother and Lance, which made him clutch Lance tighter, “Don’t you think I deserve an explanation!?”

This felt a little out of hand, the two Alteans watched in confusion not really understanding anything about the situation, or why Lance was here in the first place and not cleaning. Shiro on the other hand, had never seen the Holts fight like this ever, which is why he needed to step in, as started towards them.

“Ok guys calm down-”

“NO.” Matt turned around, his face red and deadly, his body shaking with his visible anger, “No one, NO ONE, is getting any explanation until we get Lance someone comfortable and make sure he eats some FUCKING food-” everyone flinched, “And someone tells me why the FUCKING HELL He is passed out in my fucking arms!”

~

Matt sat on the strange space couch, his arms crossed and leg bouncing nervously. Lance use to try and help him with this bad habit by sitting on his almost vibrating leg, and burying his head in Matt’s neck giving him soft little calming kisses that would always help him relax a little more. It also usually ended in a hormonal make out session because Lance was so perfect and venerable on his lap, it made Matt far too horny for him to keep his hands to himself.

Shiro sat at the other end of the sofa and Pidge was pacing between the two. There was complete silence, the rest if the team had left the three together. Matt didn’t want them all ganging up on him or his boyfriend.

“Matt-”

“No…” He closed his eyes and held up a hand, almost like he was trying to rid a headache, “You’re telling me, that you forgot to feed your teammate? What on earth were you thinking! He was cleaning and working hard! He could hardly stand up!” He looked like he was about to cry.

Shiro spoke up, still filled with guilt, “Matt, it was never our intention to-”

Matt stood up in rage, “NEVER YOUR INTENTION! LIKE THAT MAKES IT ANY BETTER! HE CAME INTO THE ROOM WITH TEARS STREAMING DOWN HIS FACE! HE THOUGHT THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH HIM!” He stormed over to where Shiro was, grabbing his shirt in his clenched fists, “HE WAS SCARED OF YOU SHIROGANE! WHY THE FUCK WAS HE SCARED OF YOU?!” angry tears were rolling down his face as Matt desperately tried to find some reasoning behind what happened to his love.

“I-” But Shiro was at a loss for words. Before he could respond, the door opened with a swish and Hunk stepped into the room.

“He’s out.”

As soon as those words were spoken Matt’s face softened. He nodded and let go of Shiro, wiping his tears. Him and Pidge stared at Matt in wonder at how the mention of someone could cause such an effect on him.

But as he walked out the room, the green paladin couldn’t wrap her head around why her brother cared so much for Lance. And it made her angry because she didn’t know her brother anymore.

And it was Lance to blame.

Chapter Text

Lance was laying on his bed in the late afternoon, not the best way to spend his birthday, but certainly not the worst experience on his least favourite day of the year. Hunk was out for the day, and the quiet was nice for him. There was a lot of energy that goes into faking attitude and perkiness. 

Lance rolled onto his side, closing his eyes tightly. The only present he had gotten today was the blessing that it was Saturday and there wasn’t any class. His body ached from the hours training last night, and drifting off seemed like a lovely idea, but was quickly an unobtainable option when a soft knock came from the door. 

Grumbling, thinking Hunk had forgotten his key again and had come back early he hopped onto his feet and walked over to open up. 

“Surprise!!!!” 

There stood Matt holding a small bouquet of blue flowers and a small navy box with silver stars and a shiny little poof of ribbons on top of it.

With a gasp and a small smile, he quickly pulled his boyfriend into the small dorm room.

“Matt!!!” He giggled lightly as Matt’s eye’s shone under his glasses and smiled at Lance’s playful greeting. Suddenly, he gripped his boyfriends arms tightly, his eyes going wide, “No one saw you right? When you came in? You know what will happen if-”

“Jeez, Lance chill.” Matt gave the panicked boy a soft caring look, “The hall was empty, everyone is out at the town for some band playing nearby.”

Lance sighed muttering a quick apology as Matt gave a quick kiss to his forehead as his boyfriend held out his two gifts.

“You remembered?”

“Of course!” Matt replied cheerfully, then added with sarcasm, “How could I forget our four month anniversary?”

The soon to be blue paladin chuckled lightly rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. Suddenly, he was pulled into the tight embrace of his boyfriends arms.

“I’m just messing with you, love.” He quickly gave a peck to his dark chocolatey brown locks, “Happy birthday. How could I reallyforget?”

Lance tensed in his arms before slightly pulling away and sitting on the bed. He looked away from his boyfriend, feeling guilty about ruining the moment and for creating the awkward silence.

Matt went to sit next to him, resting a reasuring hand on his shoulder, “They forgot again. Didn’t they?”

Lance nodded his head before reaching to scratch the end of his left eyebrow, an old nervous habit, “I think the last time they remembered my birthday was when I was literally exerted from my mothers vagina.” 

Lance snickered into his hand, not meaning to sound so crude and cheering himself up a little.

“LANCE! EW GROSS! NO!” 

He let out a full laugh this time, “What? Why not?”

“Well, first of all I don’t want to be thinking about…”

“About?”

“Oh-psh, you know what.”

“That’s pretty gay of you.”

Matt couldn’t help but snort at that, “Hmmm, I wonder why.” His words were most defiantly feign.

“What’s the other reason?”

He turned towards his boyfriend, taking both hands in his own, “That you shouldn’t joke about things like that. I know our families are kind of messed up. but we both deserve to feel love with them.”

His boyfriend shyly looked away, not having anything to say before being quickly pulled to his feet.

“C’mon, love, the night is still young and we have places to be.”

And the two lovebirds left the small dorm room hand in hand, momentarily forgetting their fear of coming out.

They’d been driving on a bus for the past hour or so, until the sun had started to set in the sky and all other people had gotten off. 

an announcement was played from from a speaker overhead stating that this was the last stop. And Matt gently shook a sleeping Lance awake, taking his hand and leading them off the bus.

They nodded to the driver, mumbling a quick ‘thank you’ before Matt guided his boyfriend off the vehicle and nudged him to open his eyes.

Lance let out a little gasp at the sight before him. The Sun had barely began to set over the large cliff the two lovers stood on. The large waves crashed creating sounds that left peace once they passed through Lance’s ears.

Lance rested his head gently on his boyfriends shoulder. 

“Thank you” he smiled softly closing his eyes feeling utterly content within his heart.

Matt let out a hum in response, quickly placing a lingering kiss onto Lance’s tuft of soft brown hair. They both walk forward a bit, sitting on a patch of grass overlooking the paradise before them.

They reminisce silently of the lovely months they’ve spent together before Matt slowly speaks up.

“Lance, I…” He stopped, sighing, then snuggling into his boyfriend a little more.

“Yeah?” his voice was soft and encouraging as he looked over to see his boyfriend rummaging in his pocket.

He gently placed the small navy box into Lances open palm, holding it there for a moment, Lance could almost feel the hesitation radiating of of Matt as he pulled his hand away.

“Thanks, Love.” Lance whispered softly before opening up his present with great care.

Inside, was a perfectly hand crafted locket, Flat and silver with the engraved words: ‘To my angel’ and a little button on top.

When he pressed it, it was impossible for Lance to keep back his tears. on the left side, there was a hand painted picture of the night sky filled with stars, constellations and the words ‘I’m with you, forever’ in perfect calligraphy. The other side, was a blue gemstone, apatite perhaps, that fit perfectly into the round grove of the beautiful gift.

“Matt-this is…” It lay in his palm, still and beautiful as the last drops of sunlight hit it. He wiped away a tear, staring down not being able to form any sentence of gratitude. 

Cautiously, Matt lifted the neckless and clasped it around his lovers neck. He kissed his nape slowly before resting his head on the cool metal of the chain. 

Lance had never felt as content before he felt this comforting weight hanging right next to his heart and shuddered at the feeling of his boyfriends warmth. Although warmth was suddenly replaced with cool tears as pale arms slid around his waist and held him close.

“Matt, babe, are you alright?” He tried twisting around resulting in his boyfriend gripping him tighter, and soft sobs were slowly coming out.

“Lance I-” Matts voice cracked and Lance reached a hand back to gently caress a hand through his soft locks of hair.

“Yeah?” he consoled.

“I….I’m leaving earth.”

everything stopped.

“I’m l-leaving you.”

Lance played with his locket, twisting it around his fingers and opening and closing it, almost grounding him taking away the lingering pain from falling out of the healing pod.

Matt had made Lance two promises that night on his birthday. That he’d be leaving Lance for now and that once he returned, he would never leave Lance again.

And as the sliding door opened, his boyfriend rushing into his arms and crying into his neck just as he did that lifetime ago, Lance had no doubt Matt would keep to his promise.

They were with each other, forever.

Chapter Text

The most incredible thing about having Matt back was how Lance’s world suddenly changed.

It was as if without his boyfriend, there was a total eclipse over the sun that he had grown accustomed to. As if he forgot how bright the world can be, as if a world with a shining sun was just an illusion, a dream. 

Matt too, felt his world fall into place once he returned, however he also had this raging anger inside of him. 

While it was understandable for someone to be upset over a loved one being mistreated, each moment with the other paladins added to his searing rage that just couldn’t be pushed down. 

And this terrified him.

Matt wasn’t an angry person, he didn’t yell or feel jealousy, and was constantly aware of the many ways to keep emotions in check. Except for his ever-budding affections for Lance, of course.

He had a wonderful time catching up with Lance, the two of them constantly being found cuddling on the sofa or milking Kaltenecker while recounting their space adventures. They spent hours exploring the castle and the little nooks and crannies they found were used to cuddle during sleepless nights. And the nights they did sleep would be spent in Lances room that Matt inconveniently snuck his way to as someone placed his room suspiciously far from his boyfriends.

It was one of these nights that Matt knew he had to express the concerns about his change of character. He didn’t want to disturb the peace he and Lance had found, especially seeing Lances relaxed state as he lay quietly on Matt’s chest.

“Hey Lance?” Matt spoke with caution

Lance peered up at his boyfriend pushing his bangs out of the way.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well,” Matt paused for a moment, pushing himself and Lance upright so he could look at his angel while breaking the news, “I think I need to finish up some things with the rebel forces.”

Lance, who had drawn his attention to playing with the frayed ends boyfriends grown out hair paused. He was a bit confused and let out a quiet “oh”.

“I mean-! I really don’t want to!! I just- I have responsibilities and I want to make sure they’ll be fine without me so I can be with you. In peace.”

Lance smiled at that, he understood. He looked up from his long bangs, almost shyly and let out an, “I’ll miss you”

The hot sensations of tears slowly begging to fall overtook them both. Matt knew the separation anxiety that would slowly overtake Lance, that things were tense, and that they needed each other; however, Matt knew something inside him wasn’t right.

Gently, Matt slid his hand that rested in his boyfriends hair towards his cheek, slowly brushing over his jawline, and finally resting beneath his chin. Without question, Lance knew to look up towards the older boy.

He didn’t realize how much Matt had changed. His hair had grown out, a scar lined his all-too-perfect cheek, his eyebrows were thicker too. But his eyes, although colder from the horrors of space and war, well, they held all the love that Lance needed.

Slowly he pulled Lance towards him and kissed him soft. Their long hair tickled the frame of each other’s faces, their noses brushed, and their hands left reassurance with each touch.

For the first time in weeks, Matt’s rage began to cease.

~

For the first time in weeks, Lance was cold.

And he thought the first day away from his boyfriend was hard. Without the comfort of being held, of being safe, sleep seemed like an impossibility to the Blue Paladin.

When he had Matt- he wasn’t scared of night terrors, he wasn’t scared of any lack of validation, he had no reason to fear his lack of worth. He knew why Matt had to leave, they talked, Lance understood, but loneliness was quite the toxic friend.

He missed Keith, his friend, who just left him, as if their relationship hadn’t meant a single thing. He missed Hunk, who felt so far away nowadays, always too busy for him. He missed his team, who no longer listened, who no longer had patience. He missed the boy he loved above all else.

The locket around Lances neck felt heavier. He clutched it tight. It’s all he has.

~

There was a shift in Lances world.

It had been shifting a lot, with loosing Matt and the whole lions making big robot to fight aliens in space war, then the getting him back and letting his beautiful boyfriend go again. It was reasonable his emotions were all over the place but suddenly he had to worry about his place in Voltron.

Shiro had been off for a while now, robotic and cold, less of a leader and more of a dictator. No one else seemed to notice, Keith probably would, Matt definitely did when he was here, but it left Lance feeling lonely and quite useless. His ideas were passed over, his jokes were scolded, his acts of kindness ignored completely.

And he was ok with it.

Weirdly enough, the lack of attention didn’t get to Lance nearly as much as he thought it did. He knew it was tense and they were all doing their best. He knew Matt would come home soon, that he had someone to fight for.

He wasn’t, however, ok with Shiro snapping at him. He was trying to be helpful, to be present, to be his right hand. Nothing was enough anymore.

As Shiro clearly stated: “shut up Lance, this isn’t about you. You’d be more helpful if you let us concentrate for once.”

Lance went to bed cold and shaking.

~

He was strong, he grew accustomed to it.

Like any part of a routine, Shiro’s tendency to shut Lance down was just a new addition to their day. No one else had said anything about his attitude, it couldn’t be that bad.

So he decided to utilize silence as a friend, speaking only when needed and doing his very, very best not to take his leaders words personally.

It was ok, really, he was ok.

Until it wasn’t.

It would be one thing to tell Matt about his best friend hurting him, but he couldn’t bare to break the news about his little sister.

He was just watching out for her. She seemed so tired, so overworked. This was someone he wanted to call family one day and Lance was proud Pidge could be in his life as more than a team mate.

So when gently telling Pidge she should really take a break, only to be returned with a:

“Shut up Lance! You don’t have any right to question my morals!”

All he could think about was, the love of his life’s younger sister. His sister. She hates him she hates him she hates him.

Lance doesn’t know when this shift, this rift, this huge, terrible divide happened. But he sees it clear as day.

He falls asleep absolutely freezing. No tears would dare to spill.

~

Somewhere, seemingly across the universe, a rebel felt something odd.

Anger greeted him viciously.

Matt felt a grumble begin to rise inside his throat.

Something wasn’t right.