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“You need to work on your stance,”
“You’ve told me that already.”
“That just means you’re doing it terribly,”
“We’ve been at this for hours, Keith. I’m not getting any better,” Lance groaned, letting his bayard shift back from the Altean broadsword to it’s default shape before it disappeared into his armour. “I should just stick to guns. I’m the sharpshooter of Voltron for a reason, you know,”
“It’s good to have multiple weapons,” Keith protested, but headed back towards the small bench where a couple water pouches were sitting. “Like my knife can switch to a sword. And Pidge’s bayard is a grappling hook as well as a weapon,”
“A grappling hook isn’t a weapon,” Lance argued. “It’s a tool.”
“Maybe. They can still knock out people with it though,” Keith sipped at his water pouch, Lance imitating his movement. “What time is it?”
“Dunno. Space is weird, dude. They don’t have normal time.” Lance crumpled his drink after he finished, throwing the ball at Keith.
Keith dodged. “How can you claim to be the team’s sharpshooter when you can't even hit a person a foot away from you,” His tone was teasing, so Lance wasn’t offended.
“Says the supposed Samurai who can’t even teach a guy how to stand correctly,”
“Ha, ha. Bit rich coming from you,”
“What’s that supposed to mean, huh?” Lance crossed his arms, sticking his head out so it was closer to the other’s. “Can’t admit I’m way better than you?”
“Do you even know how to hold a sword correctly?” Keith lurched back, nearly knocking the water off the table.
The blue paladin shook his head. “‘Course I do. Stupid of you to ask,”
“So you won’t mind me challenging you to a duel, right?”
Lance opened one eye. “Huh?”
“Sword Fight. C’mon. If you’re so much better than me,” Keith stood up, unsheathing his knife. It disappeared in a flash of purple light and was replaced by a longer version of it. “Show me what you got, Loverboy,”
The tips of Lance’s ears went red at the nickname. “Fine, Mullet. Just be prepared for me to beat your ass,”
As soon as Lance stood up, the lights in the room dimmed, before going out completely. As a result, the only lights in the room were the red emergency lights that resided near the doors and on the floor, as well as the blue lights on both the paladin’s armour.
“What the hell?” Lance frowned, the same time Keith let out a string out curse words anyone’s mother would be appalled to hear.
“We should find Allura, see what’s going on. “It’s probably nothing,” Lance shrugged. Keith gripped his arm, the other hand gripping his knife. “Probably nothing...but you should get your bayard out. Just in case.”
“Think you’re cutting off my arm’s circulation, man,” Lance muttered as he activated his bayard, transforming into a small pistol-like gun. Keith moved his vice like grip from Lance’s forearm to his wrist, before finally settling in his hand. “For safety. Don’t want to get separated or anything,” his voice was tight.
“Yep! Yep. Safety,” Lance choked, eyes darting between their interlocked hands and the door. Get it together, Lance!
The two moved out of the training room, turning left to the Castle’s main rooms. The hallway seemed to stretch out for eons, the darkness more threatening than ever.
“Was the hallway always this long?”
“Your eyes are probably just playing tricks on you,” Keith had to admit the hallway did seem longer than usual. The paladins emerged into the living room-esque space, which was as empty as the hallway had been.
“Dude, this is getting downright creepy,” Lance squeezed Keith’s hand without meaning to, surprised when he squeezed back. He didn’t view Keith as the whole touchy comforting person, but hell, he wasn’t complaining.
“They’re probably in the main room.”
“Hopefully,”
It only took a couple of minutes to find their way to the main room, but to the two it felt like hours. To their relief, Allura was standing at the console, with the rest of the paladins standing around her.
“What’s going on?” Keith asked, walking forward and, the Lance’s disappointment, separating their hands. “Is it the Galra?”
“Fortunately not. On the other side, we seem to have lost power in most of the ship. Even the background generators aren’t operating. The crystal seems fine, but for some reason it isn’t sending power to the ship,” Allura explained, inspecting the underside of the console. “I’ve even had Hunk and Pidge look at it, who’ve found nothing wrong,”
“Yeah, dude, it’s totally strange. Everything should be running completely fine!” Hunk joined the conversation.
“It’s just power loss, right? It’ll come back on later,” Lance shrugged. “It could be worse.”
“That’s not all. Apparently the heating and air cycles are both malfunctioning,”
“What does that mean?”
“It’ll get really cold and the air will get stale. Also, it may impose possible viruses and bacteria to the air. That’s why none of us ever get sick, the Castle automatically filters out anything like that. Well, almost everything,” Pidge was tapping away at her tablet, the screen highlighting her glasses and casting an eerie glow on her face. “Remember that one time Keith got a cold? that's because it isn't defended against human illnesses."
“I didn’t get a cold. I was just worn out,” Keith snapped, sending a death threat at Lance, who was hiding his laugh.
“Well, there’s some pretty dangerous stuff out there. Human immune systems are so incredibly shit compared to other aliens,”
“Pidge, watch your language. Anyway, it basically just means we’re more at risk for sicknesses and that. As long as you keep your helmets on, you’ll be fine.” Shiro was already in his armour, helmet making his voice slightly muffled.
“But the castle’s been down for at least ten minutes, and you're the only one who’s had their helmet on.” Lance pointed out. “We could’ve already contracted something,”
“Oh, man, we’re gonna get sick with space flu or something, aren’t we?” Hunk bit his nails, hand tapping his side.
“Dude, relax. It’s incredibly unlikely.” Pidge rolled his eyes. “And if we did, Coran probably has something to fix it. Or we could use a pod,”
“Pods don’t usually help with sicknesses, only physical injuries,” Allura put in before the conversation could continue. “Like, for example, the time where Lance got an allergic reaction to the flower on the planet with the waterfalls. That had to heal naturally, the pod only healed his injuries,”
“Let’s not talk about that time,” Lance cut her off, face red. Allergic reaction was a mild way to put it.
Allura laughed softly, tucking her hair out of her face. “It should hopefully only last until tomorrow, or as maximum two to three days. I suggest you all head back to your rooms, as it’s getting late and team bonding starts early tomorrow,”
“You got it, princess!” the team give murmured agreement, separating to their rooms.
“Wanna walk back to your rooms together?” Lance walked next to Keith, hands in his jacket pockets. He was bunched up, arms stuck to his sides.
“For starters, our rooms are next to each other, so we always walk back with each other. Also, why do you look like you’re about to freeze to death already? It hasn’t even begun to feel cold,” Keith raised an eyebrow.
“We don’t always walk back together! Half the time you just leave me alone and walk ahead. It’s like you don’t like walking with me,” Lance pouted.
‘I don’t like walking with you. You’re too talkative,” Keith bumped Lance’s shoulder, crossing his arms and fighting a smile. He would never tell the blue paladin he liked walking with him or he would never hear the end of it.
Lance huffed. “Whatever, loner. Your choice,” They stopped in front his door. “Well, I’m off. Gotta get my beauty rest,”
“You definitely need it,” Keith smiled, looking to the side for a split second. “Goodnight, Lance.”
“Night, Mullet,” The door slid shut, leaving Keith to go back to his own room with only the empty hallway for company.
Lance shot awake, gasping for air and getting tangled in his blankets. He almost thought he was having an anxiety attack, something he hadn’t had for years, before the fact that the Castle’s air filtering systems were off hit him like a truck. He wheezed, feeling absolutely horrible. His room was freezing, the cold seeping into his skin and leaving him shivering. He couldn’t go back to sleep like this, otherwise he would freeze to death!
Getting up, he bundled himself in his blankets to the best of his ability before making his way out of his room. Someone else would have a blanket he could borrow. The blanket dragged on the floor behind him.
Knocking on the first door he saw, he was surprised when it opened immediately. “Hey Keith,” He choked, entering the room before the other could even mutter a word. “Do you have any extra blankets?”
“Lance, it’s the middle of the night! You couldn’t’ve gotten your own?!” Keith hissed, arms hugged around his shoulders. He was feeling the cold too.
“I’m just really cold,” Lance whined, staggering a little as he turned to face Keith, who’s anger dissipated. “Are you okay? You look really pale,”
“Fine, fine,” He managed a smile, teeth chattering. “Just need blankets…” Keith barely lurched forward in time to catch the blue paladin as he collapsed, surprise nearly causing him to drop Lance. “Woah! Shit, uh-” He held a hand to Lance’s forehead. Despite the freezing temperature Lance’s skin was burning to the touch, the heat making Keith whip his hand away. “Fuck, shit, what do I…” He deposited Lance on his bed, hands shaking. “I thought it was unlikely to happen, Pidge!: He whisper screamed at himself, before grabbing the blankets off the floor and throwing them over Lance haphazardly and neatening them up. Were you meant to keep sick people warm or cool? His brain was working overdrive.
There were tea towels in the bathroom. Keith opened the door, grabbing one and running it under cool water. Cooling him down while also keeping him warm was step number one. He closed the door behind him, folding the tea towel in halves and laying it on Lance’s forehead.
“Keith, ‘m cold,” Lance murmured, making Keith almost scream and jump away. He didn’t know Lance was awake. “Uh, I don’t have any more blankets,” He said softly, flattening the tea towel on Lance’s forehead. His hair was damp, and Keith brushed it away from his eyes.
Lance’s hand found its way to Keith’s face, and smushed his cheek. “You’re so warm,” he slurred. Keith was not warm. Keith was freezing and had no blankets because of a certain paladin fucking stealing them all. Speaking of, where was he supposed to sleep? Lance had all the blankets and the floor would probably be colder than anything. He sighed, moving Lance’s hand away from his face. “Move over,” He pushed Lance slightly before climbing into bed, hugging himself to stop his body from shivering. He was probably going to get sick as well, considering the close proximity the two were in. Speaking of, Keith really should’ve turned the other way or rolled Lance over.
The other was staring at him through half lidded eyes, the usual ocean blue glazed over and unfocused. Lance’s breath tickled his nose, and even though he was sweaty and gross he still smelled slightly of the stupid shampoo only he uses. How he did, Keith could not work out for the life of him.
Lance sighed contently, hand reaching out to land on Keith’s face again. It hurt. “So warm,”
“Alright, weirdo, go to sleep,” Keith stared at Lance, moving his hand from his cheek. “You’re lucky I’m nice,”
“Nice ‘n pretty,” Lance mumbled, closing his eyes.
Keith’s brain stuttered. “What did you just say?”
But Lance was already asleep, mouth slightly open and drooling on Keith’s pillow. Keith made a face of disgust, though Lance’s words were ringing in his brain. He put a hand to his face, smiling softly. Lance thought he was pretty.
Maybe it was just the sickness talking, but Keith would definitely think about it for a while. And maybe tease him about it too. That’s why Keith cared so much, it was just blackmail. Right?
He closed his eyes, hand still resting on his face as he drifted off.