Chapter Text
"Hey Lance! Come taste this for me!" The yellow paladin called out to his friend. Lance walked over from where he'd been investigating another space plant, taking the mysterious fruit and bit into without hesitation. It tasted.. Like a mango? "This is pretty good, like a space mango! The colors are pretty cool.." Hunk smiled knowing fully well what Lance had just taken a bite of. It's a rare fruit that forces you to tell the truth, and tell your secrets to anyone. Hunk planned to have Lance confess to eating his left overs, though it wouldn't go as planned.
"Pidge!" Lance said happily turning to the green paladin after swallowing a few bites, "Y'know, you were hotter when I thought you were a boy-" He cut himself off and blushed a dark red. Where did that come from?? Pidge blushed a little not knowing weather to be mad or possibly flattered? Hunk couldn't help but laugh, only Hunk knew Lance was bisexual. Since those three were the only ones out, he hoped Pidge would keep her mouth shut since he hadn't planned on telling anyone..
It was quiet the whole way back to the ship.
.
.
.
All the paladins were eating dinner later that night with some of the plants they'd collected when, "So, how did the mission go guys?" Shiro asked, looking across the table to the three who'd all perked up, unsure how to answer.
"I accidentally confessed to Pidge I'm bi-" Lance blurted, realizing what he had just said he covered his mouth. Keith dropped his spoon and Hunk tried to keep from laughing. "Well.." Keith started to make it less awkward, "At least you didn't say something worse right? It shouldn't matter anyway it's not like we care-"
"Worse?" Lance repeated. "Keith no what did you do!?" Hunk and Pidge glared at him, though Keith was unaware of the fruit.. Pidge had found out already being as smart as she was but no one else had been made aware yet.
"My dad tried to kill me when I came out to him-" His eyes widened and he couldn't help but shake at his own words. Why was he confessing everything all of a sudden? He got up looking at Keith's frightened expression and rushed out of the room before anyone could say anything.
"Where did that come from..?" Keith asked looking over at Hunk, still shocked. "It.. It might have been the, um... Space mango? That kinda sorta forces you to confess everything-" He looked at the looks on everyone face, "I-I just wanted him to confess to eating my leftovers I didn't think he had anything like that going on I swear! But I'm sure he doesn't have anything else like that- I mean he tells me everything and I've never heard anything like that-"
"How long do the effects last?" Keith asked. Hunk counted on his fingers, "About four to six quintants?"
"Three to five days???" Keith asked surprised. Hunk slowly nodded. Everyone sighed and Shiro stood up after thinking it over for a moment, "Well let's just not asked him anything then? Just go about your business and say nothing about this till the effects wear off ok?" He said looking to everyone, who all nodded in agreement. The room was silent again as everyone had their own thoughts, thinking about what Lance had said, and now seeing with Hunks confirmation that what he said had in fact been truthful.. It was a lot to think about.
Lance ran into his room and locked the door after spouting one of his closest kept secrets. Keith got up after Shiro's talk, he felt bad for prompting him to confess. He didn't know Lance even had anything to say like that, he never came off as a person who'd seen hardships..
He rushed after Lance and knocked on the door to his room, "Lance? Lance I'm- I'm sorry, I had no idea-" He knocked on the door again when there was no response. "Lance..? Are you in there? What are you doing?" He had to tell the truth... "I-" Lance covered his mouth, shaking and trying to hold it in. But it came out anyway, "I'm hurting myself again-" He teared up leaning against the wall sliding to the ground. Why couldn't he keep anything in? Why was he confessing? Why was Keith the one to hear it? He hated not being able to lie.. Keith heard him slide down and dropped to his knees at the door. "Lance.. Let me in"
"No."
"Lance, please."
"No."
"Lance, do you hate me?"
"Of course not-"
"Then let me in.."
"I won't"
"Why?"
"I don't want you to see me like this." He said a little louder, a clear tone of fear in his voice. "I don't want you to pity me or think I'm weak. I care about you too much and I care about what you think of me-"
"I'm coming in." Keith used one of Pidges devices to overwrite Lances set password. When the door opened Lance was standing there, his jacket on and a annoyed but tired look on his face. Lance wiped his eyes and winced, "You saw me, now get out. I don't need this-"
"Lance shut up for a second." He door closed as he walked in gently pinning Lance to the wall, his hands on his shoulder "You wanna know what I really think of you?" He asked.
"Yes."
Lance answered immediately, blushing a little hearing himself sound so desperate. Keith leaned in close, hesitating for a moment and giving Lance the chance to push him away before closing the distance and kissing him. Pulling away after a second or two not wanting to overdo it. Lance blushed even darker and looked at him a little confused. This whole time all they had done was fight and argue, rarely getting along, and Keith.. Liked him? It made no sense..
Keith gently took Lances arm moving the sleeve up. Lance winced as the scars were revealed. All older and faded but clearly there. Keith looked up at him before moving Lances hand and kissing the back of it, moving down and leaving a last kiss on his wrist over the scars before pulling away. He wasn't good with people, he could never really see what they were thinking, or what they really wanted. He never knew what to do when someone was upset so he just copied what he saw on tv and in movies.. But normally it worked for the best. He looked back up to Lance, hoping he'd made things at least a little better.. "Did you like it when I kissed you?"
"Yes.."
"Do you want me to kiss you again?"
"Yes..." Keith smiled a little kissing his cheek, "I care about you Lance. A lot. I know I don't show it, and I'm not really a good friend either but.. Till that weird space fruit wears off I'll do my best to keep your secrets safe-"
"Wait.. You mean the mango? That's what did this??" Keith nodded, "Don't be mad at Hunk though he.. Uhh... He didn't think it was going to do anything to you.." Keith knew he shouldn't lie, but Lance and Hunk were best friends and he didn't wanna cause a fight between them, once it was all over they could come clean.
"So.." Lance started, glancing down to Keith's hand still holding onto his, "What does this make us?"
Keith thought a moment, as long as Lance was being honest now would be a good time to ask. "What do you want it to make us?"
"Boyfriends" He answered blushing a bit more, "I-I mean-"
"Well if that's how you feel" He said with a little chuckle, "Hope you don't mind me calling you something like sweetheart~" Lance bit his lip at the word, he wouldn't mind Keith calling him that at all. And hearing the faint accent made his heart feel something he hadn't even thought about in a long time.. Keith laughed a little letting go of Lances hand to give his a little space, "The team knows about you now, but not me. So I'll find a way to tell them."
"Keith. You don't have to-"
"I know, but I don't want to hide, not to mention you'll probably say something haha"
Lance smiled a little, just a moment ago he felt so lost and frustrated, but it was nice to have Keith be there for him.. And hear how he felt too without taking advantage of the situation.. He could ask anything, and Lance had no choice but to tell him. But he didn't even seem to be interested, he could find out so much to use against him.. It was a lot of worry off his mind to see Keith didn't even have that kind of thing on his mind.
"Everyone please report back to the deck for team bonding exercises" Shiro's voice was cast over the speakers, maybe an hour after the whole.. Breakfast ordeal. Soon everyone was gathered together again, Keith and Lance sitting closer together then usual which no one decided to question. Lance looked over to Hunk giving him a look that told him everything. "Alright, since Lance is forced to share I want all of us to share something as well. Something we don't tell many people and we don't have to answer questions if we don't want to. I'll go first." Shiro stood up, "English isn't my first language. I'm Japanese born and raised in Tokoyama for most of my childhood. I came to the US after I finished school but I mainly left because.. It was my mothers dying wish."
Next was Hunk, the order having be decided by Shiro before they began. "Ok so I tell Lance everything, but, I'm afraid of monkeys- There I said it! The creep me out and are crazy strong it makes no sense why they have the muscle mass to overthrow a city but the brain only smart enough for coloring books-"
Then Pidge, "So a while ago I confessed I was a girl. But honestly, I couldn't' care less what I'm called or what I'm referred to as. I've been Pidge for so long I don't really consider myself just a girl y'know..? I mean obviously I'm not gonna change anything like my pronouns I'm still like.. Y'know, a girl, I just don't care if there's add ons"
Everyone looked to Keith. He thought a moment, glancing at Lance for a moment before he stood up. "Well, I'm part Galra on my moms side as you guys knew, but I can't ask her anything because she left me when I was young and we never really talk, she left before my dad.. Disappeared. I honestly don't really remember him that much, I think he kept his distance because he was worried I might be.. Bad? I don't really know what he was thinking."
No one said anything for a little while.
"That's not it- Don't get up just yet." Shiro said, causing Hunk to look a little embarrassed and sit back down. "We have one more thing to do. To feel how everyone else feels. Not emotions though. But physical marks. For example, Pidge got a bruise a few days ago, now you'll have that bruise. But you won't have you arm being torn off like mine was. And you won't feel anything either, that might be too painful. You'll just see that marks, to get to know your team better. It'll also be color coded thanks to Pidges help. "
"Shiro-!" Lance and Keith said at the same time, they looked to each other but Keith spoke first, "Shiro please let's not do this ok? This is really a ba-"
"Keith, I know you very well, and as a team I'm positive we won't judge anything. I know it might seem a little unfair but I talked this over with Allura, we had planned this for last week but then the whole explosives incident happened so we're doing it now. I personally have a minor cut somewhere I'm not to please about everyone seeing but I'm putting that aside for this exercise." Without another word he pressed the button and marks soon appeared on the paladins. A few green busies. Yellow burn marks from cooking. Red training marks, a few cuts and bruises. White marks from Shrio that.. Were embarrassing alright.. And blue.. There were blue cuts, bruises and burns spotting his entire body. He didn't realize there were so many till they were on someone else. Everyone looked to him, wide eyed and practically speechless. "Lance.. I-I'm sorry" Shiro finally said, turning off the machine as soon as he snapped back to reality. "I-It's fine."
"Is it?" Shiro asked, taking half a step closer wanting to comfort him but not knowing how.
"No.." He said back a little too quickly, "It's a bad, bad habit and I hate myself for not being able to stop. It's been going on for years and I don't know what to do-" His eyes went wide as he confessed. Soon after he rushed off again with tears pricking at his eyes.
Everyone looked back to Hunk again, for some sort of answer, some kind of excuse to help them understand that it wasn't what they were thinking. But it was. And he didn't have an answer for them.