Chapter Text
Blue spreads of for miles, the end nowhere in sight, only the horizon, the sky a strange shade of red.
Lance topples out of his lion, stumbling over his feet and lands on his back. The red sky spins as he tries to catch his breath. He had been whirling in circles in his lion, it refusing to turn on and let him steady himself.
A faint shout of his name makes Lance turn his head, eyes squinted. His vision is blurry, not letting him identity the red and white blob running towards him.
He blinks a few times and the blob looks more like a figure. Specially, Keith. And he'd know Keith's stupid mullet anywhere, the ends poking out of his helmet.
"Lance!"
He groans, rolling to his side to try and push himself up, but his arms feel like jelly and he falls back onto the ground.
Keith appears a second later, throwing his helmet to the side, his hands reaching out and ghosting over Lance's face, his arms. He makes sure nothing is broken, his eyes then finding his and he sighs.
"You're alive."
"Yeah." Keith moves to take off Lance's helmet when he winces. "I need to check if you have a concussion-"
"I don't have a concussion," Lance huffs indignantly. "You have a concussion."
"Actually, I don't." Keith smacks away his hands and tugs off his helmet without much gentleness. "Hold still, stop moving- Lance, I swear to god I will knock you out."
He glares as Keith removes his gloves, hesitantly placing them on Lance's head.
"What? Too afraid to-"
Keith presses down on a bump on the side of his head and he jolts from the pain, shutting him up immediately.
"That's a pretty nasty bump."
Lance struggles to lift his arm, suddenly too weak to even open his eyes. Everything feels too heavy with everything breath he takes, his armor suffocating.
"Hey! Lance... Hold.... Don't!.."
____
"Not to say I told you so." Keith bites into a ration of food goo. "But I told you so."
"Shut up." Lance wants to grab the nearest thing and throw it at Keith, but he refrains from doing it because one, he most likely would miss and two, Keith would throw it right back, concussion or not. "Yes, I have a concussion. Good job, Keith."
Silence settles in their small camp. And by camp, Lance means the side of a mountain Red crashed beside. Keith is leaning against his lion, Lance against the mountain, facing each other.
A small fire crackles between them and Lance jumps. He blinks, looking over to Keith and finds that he's watching him closely.
"Do you need something?"
"I said, does your head hurt?"
Lance shifts against the rock uncomfortably, his back aching. "I mean, yeah, but it's better than before."
Keith nods. "If you feel nauseous-"
"I know, I know. Tell you?"
"No." His lip twitches. "Aim for the bushes."
Lance rolls his eyes. "Wow. And here I thought you cared about me."
"I do." Lance raises a brow and Keith clears his throat. "Care about you, I mean."
"Aww, Keith." Lance places a hand over his heart dramatically. "You're so kind."
"I just.. You're my teammate. Without you, we wouldn't be able to form Voltron, right? So.. you're important."
"Oh." He frowns, because of course that's what Keith meant. "Okay."
"No, wait. Lance-" Keith shakes his head and stands. "I'm going to get more fire wood."
Lance sucks in a breath and suddenly realizes that he doesn't have his helmet on. It's been hours and breathing this planets air doesn't seem to be doing anything. And besides, knowing Keith, he probably checked if the water was drinkable, too.
The thought of sleeping was tempting as he stated up at the sky. The strange red color is now a light pink, reminding Lance of the marks on Allura's skin.
The thought of Allura triggers the memory of being sucked into the wormhole, feeling like his body was being torn apart, his head slamming violently into the seat.
Lance pushes himself up, grabbing at the mountain for support as he shuffles for Red. The lion is badly damaged, worse than Blue, and if Lance is honest, he's surprised that Keith isn't injured.
A loud snap makes Lance spin around. Pain blooms behind his eyes at the sudden movement and he has to lean against Red to steady himself.
"Lance? What are you- hey!"
A hand grabs at his shoulder and he flinches. He slides down to the ground, weakly swatting at Keith's wrist.
"You're so mean," Lance whines, unable to stop himself from talking. "And so.. so.."
"Yeah?"
Lance makes a gesture that only he understands and Keith frowns in confusion. With a breath, he tugs on a strand of Keith's hair.
"Pretty."
Keith blinks, then again, and again. His face turns red with every second and soon enough it's spread down his neck and to his ears.
"L-Lance!" Keith sputters. "You can't say stuff like that!"
"Um. I believe I just did."
"Well uh, th-thank you? I guess, I mean. You're pretty too..?"
Lance holds up a peace sign and closes an eye. "I know, I'm gorgeous."
"Oh my god, Lance. You absolute dipshit."
Lance giggles as Keith gathers the firewood he had dropped and throws it into the fire. He watches as the pieces are swallowed up by the flames. It's mesmerizing and Lance falls asleep to the sound of the wood cracking and his head on Keith's shoulder.