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Keith was worried that Lance didn't actually trust him, he knew that Lance was his boyfriend but Lance hadn't shown him his wings. Keith knew that it was a possibility that Lance didn't have wings but it was rare to not have wings, not that Keith is saying that Lance doesn't have wings because he's not trying to insult him, he's just thinking it's a possibility. Well it's better than thinking that his own boyfriend didn't trust him so that's the scenario his mind has agreed to believe.

And to point it out everyone else has shown their wings. Shiro has black and white swirls on his, Pidge has a beautiful chocolate brown, Hunk has yellow wings that are so bright that they almost look gold in the light and Keith has black wings but in the light they looked like a dark shiny purple. And Allura and Coran don't have wings so yeah, everyone but Lance had shown their wings.

He didn't have to but showing your wings to someone is a big deal. It means you trust them and it allows others to get a better view into who the person is and their feelings. Your wings were the essence of your soul and allowed others a look into your soul. So Keith was trying not to feel bad about Lance not showing anyone his wings but it was hard because it felt like Lance didn't trust him. And if Lance didn't trust him then why would Lance be dating him? Is Lance using him? Keith hoped not but he couldn't tell and it was frustrating him.

He loved Lance but he also had to remember that Lance still hasn't shown him his wings. He knew that they still had time and Lance didn't have to but they fought together in life or death situations everyday so why couldn't Lance trust him!? Keith just couldn't under- the warning alarm blared loud and bright red fighting for Keith's attention, ripping him away from his thoughts.

Jumping up off his bed he headed for the door, grabbing his jacket on the way out. The door slid closed behind him as he ran straight for the observation deck. Bursting through the observation door he noticed he was the 4th one there, Allura, Coran and Shiro were already there. Taking a breath he calmly walked and stood there waiting for everyone else to show up. Pidge came in next with Hunk and Lance right behind her. They all gathered in a half circle, looking at Allura, Coran and Shiro.

“Paladins, we received an emergency beacon on the planet Opsheh, you need to go down there and figure out what is happening.” Allura said as she stared at the planet before turning to look at them. “What are you still doing here, get to your lions and get down there!”

The paladins all nodded and rushed out of the deck and toward their lines. Keith broke off from everyone else to get to his line. Getting a running start he jumped and grabbed the zipline riding it all the way down to Red.

Powering on his lion he pulled her out of the hanger and was quickly joined by the other lions. Everyone's faces popped up on screen as Shiro took the lead, headed straight for the planet. Everyone else quickly followed behind in formation.

“Okay paladins stay alert and stay close, we don't know what is happening on Opsheh.” Shiro said, looking at all of them on the screen.

“Dont worry, no matter what's happening we'll win! We have too, we're the good guys!” Lance said grinning back at Shiro.

“We still have to be careful, we don't know if it's another trap.” Hunk said nervously looking at everyone, Lance in particular.

“Hunk's right, we don't want anyone hurt, stay focused Lance.” Shiro said, nodding in agreement with Hunk.

“Come on, I want to know what's on Opsheh, they must have new technologies I could look at!” Pidge said excitedly, pushing Green to move a bit faster.

Shiro sighed but sped Black up anyway and the rest of them followed, racing toward Opsheh.

“We never should have been here in the first place!” Keith yelled at the other paladins as he ducked behind a wall to dodge some of the beams.

“We can't do anything about it now, can we Keith!” Lance yelled back as he ducked behind a metal box just a little ways from Keith.

“Guys, don't start fighting now! We have to get out of here and to do that we need to work together!” Shiro yelled from where he was hiding in a doorway. “Pidge, how are the comms coming along!?”

“I can't figure out what they are using to jam them so it's not great!!” Pidge yelled back as she was typing furiously behind Hunk.

“Don't worry, I got your back, just figure it out!” Hunk yelled as he let a shot off before ducking back behind the wall across from Keith.

“Lance!” Keith yelled waiting for Lance to look at him before he gestured for Lance to join him behind the wall so he wasn't in the middle of the street with little cover. Lance shook his head looking nervous. “Come on, it's a better cover than the box!”

Lance took a breath before he grabbed his shield, pulling it up and booking it across the street, beams hitting the shield. When he was close enough he took a diving roll coming up behind the wall.

Keith smiled at him. “That was a cool diving roll.”

“Thanks!” Lance said through his laughs. Lance moved over to the wall returning a couple shots before pulling back and hiding behind the wall. “Shiro!” Lance yelled, waiting for Shiro to look at him. “What should we do!?”

“We need to be together for one!” Shiro yelled before a beam hit the wall next to him, a little too close for comfort. Pulling himself even closer to the wall he looked at where Hunk was hiding. “Hunk! Pidge! You guys need to get to the otherside!”

Lance stifled a laugh remembering the otherside jokes. As the hubnam started to walk down the street closer to them. Lance looked around the wall and started to shoot at them to stall so that they couldn’t reach Shiro who was a lot closer than everyone else.

Hunk and Pidge both booked it across the street using their shields for cover. “I never want to do that again.” Hunk said as he leaned on the wall for breath.

Lance had to duck so that he wasn’t hit. “Hunk, help Lance cover Shiro.” Keith said as he stood over Pidge as she got back to work on the comms.

Hunk nodded as he and Lance started to shoot at the hubnam hoping to give Shiro more time to get to them. Shiro saw them and some silent communication passed between them, grabbing his shield and covering himself before running across the street trying not to get hit. As he was coming behind the wall a beam grazed his arm and his legs buckled as he let out a grunt of pain.

Keith stepped forward fast grabbing Shiro before he could hit the ground. “Are you okay?” Keith asked worriedly as he carefully lowered Shiro to the ground.

“I will be okay, it just hurts more than I thought it would.” Shiro grunted again as he reached for his arm before Keith grabbed it and stopped him.

“Don’t it will hurt even more if you touch it.” Keith said worriedly. “What do we do? We are pinned down.” Keith said, looking to Shiro for guidance.

Lance and Hunk ducked back behind the wall and Hunk looked worried and scared at the same time. “They are getting closer. If we don’t move now then we won’t be able to get out.” Hunk said, looking from Keith to Shiro to Pidge.

“What’s the brilliant plan to get out of this Shiro?” Lance asked, looking at Shiro on the ground.

“We need to find another place out of this street so that we can get to the lions.” Shiro said as he moved to stand with Keith’s help. “Pidge, pause on the comms, find a way out of this street and to the lions.”

“But I’m close!” Pidge said, sounding so frustrated.

“Pidge do as Shiro is asking, we can get the comms working later! But we need to get out of here and we can’t do that without you!” Keith said yelling at Pidge trying to knock some sense into her.

“Fine!” Pidge yelled as she started to pull up a map for the planet. “No time to wait!” Lance yelled, interrupting Pidge. “They are getting too close for comfort, run!” Lance started to run grabbing Pidge and pulling her with him before she was on her feet and stable enough to let go of her.

 “I’m sorry! I think the map was an old one but I can’t find another one! I don’t know how to get to the lions!” Pidge yelled as they were all running down the streets that made no sense on the map.

 Keith grit his teeth as he ran carrying Shiro from when he collapsed a couple streets down. “Pidge, it's okay! We can find another way!” Keith yelled trying to comfort her.

 “What should we do Keith?” Hunk asked before he had to duck to avoid getting hit by a beam that blew up the stall in front of them.

 “We need to lose these guys in the street. So that we can come up with a proper plan.” Keith said breathing hard, having to carry Shiro and run from the hubnam.

 “Yes but how!?” Pidge asked as she jumped over a fallen cart. “We don’t have a working map and don’t know the area like they do!”

 “She has a good point!” Lance yelled having to swerve when a pillar fell in front of him and shattered.

 “We can’t fly either! We don’t want our wings in the open with all of this fire!” Hunk yelled as he turned a corner, almost slipping on the dirt.

 Keith didn’t know what to do, Shiro usually took the lead but he’s out like a light. Which is strange in itself because the beam only grazed his arm and it shouldn’t have taken him out like it did. In fact it seemed to be getting worse he wond- a beam hit the wall he was running next to slamming his thoughts back to the escape.

 Looking around desperately he spotted a small side street ahead of them and relief filled him. “Guys turn left!” Keith yelled turning left, almost dropping Shiro with the momentum of the turn.

 Ahead of them was another right turn and the paladins ran for it, turning right, hoping that they could lose the hubnam in the back streets they seemed to be in. They couldn’t hear the hubnam anymore and Keith assumed that they had lost them in the back streets.

 “Come on guys, let's take the left up there and stop for a bit.” Keith said panting heavily, sweat dripping down him.

 The paladins all slowed down and took the next left. Keith dropped Shiro gently on the ground before leaning on the wall, trying to get his breath back.

 “Is it safe to stop here?” Hunk asked through his own gasps of breath.

 “It has to be, I can’t go any further.” Pidge said from where she was laying on the ground breathing hard.

 “Yeah and I haven’t heard any of the hubnam in a while.” Keith said as he slid down the wall with exhaustion.

 “What do we do? Shiro seems to be getting worse and we have no idea where we are and where the lions are.” Lance asked as a general question as he sank to his knees for rest.

 “We need to rest before we do anything and then we find a way to get to our lions without being shot at from their beams.” Keith said tiredly looking at all of the paladins resting on the ground.

 “Great idea. I don’t think I can go any farther either. I don’t know how you did that while holding Shiro.” Lance said before melting to the ground to rest.

 “Okay, Pidge, how are the comms coming along? We need to reach the Castle of Lions.” Keith asked, looking at her from where he was kneeing next to Shiro.

 “Still not great. I have no idea what they are using to block our comms so I can’t unblock the comms until I can figure it out but I think I am getting close.” Pidge said absent mindedly as she typed trying to figure out what was jamming the comms.

 Keith sighed before looking at Hunk. “Did you manage to figure out where we are?”

 “Kinda, I don’t know what it's called because I can’t read whatever their language is but I know where we are from the lions.” Hunk said looking apologetic even though he knew it wasn’t his fault.

 “It's fine Hunk, thank you for looking, you weren’t spotted were you?”

 “No, I was careful. I promise.”

 “Okay.” Keith shifted his gaze to the end of the street, spotting Lance as he walked back over casually and sat down next to them. “Did you figure out what the hubnam are doing?”

 “I couldn’t understand them, I think they switched to their language and our communicators are probably jammed like with the comms. However I did see them walking around with their blasters so I can assume they are still looking for us.”

 “Okay, that's not good. It takes away any advantage we might have had. Did you see if they were in the back streets?”

 “I didn’t see anyone but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t.” Lance said, glancing around to check on everyone.

 Keith sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. “Lance, did you see a good place where we can ambush them?”

 “Yeah it’s that way.” Lance said, pointing behind him diagonally.

 “Hey, that's the direction of the lions. That definitely gives us the advantage because we have to go in that direction anyway” Hunk said, smiling at them triumphantly.

 “Well Shiro did get hurt and now we have to carry him so I don’t know about that.” Pidge said, looking up briefly from her hacking before returning to it.

 Hunk frowned at Pidge's pessimisticness and opened his mouth to rebuttal her answer but Keith shook his head knowing that they needed to get a move on or else his plan wouldn’t work.

 “Okay so here’s what we are going to do. Pidge you and Hunk start for the lions, take Shiro with you. Hunk you will have to carry Shiro and watch Pidge’s back so that she can hopefully get the comms working before we need to ambush them. Lance you and me will ambush them and draw their attention to us so that Pidge, Hunk and Shiro can get to the lions. Then we will lose them in the back streets and make our way to the lions. How does that sound?”

 “Its surprisingly simple, I think it will work.” Pidge said looking up, getting ready to move. “Hunk grab Shiro, we probably want to start walking.”

 “Okay, I’m coming.” Hunk bent down and picked Shiro up, adjusting so that he could still use his bayard if needed. “Okay we better get going now. We will see you guys at the lions.”

 “Okay, see ya there. Also Pigeon don’t think that this is your fault, the map was faulty not your skills.” Lance said, looking at Pidge seriously.

 “Thanks Lance but I know that.” Pidge said, rolling her eyes.

 “Lance is right, Pidge, but you have to get going if the plan is going to work.” Keith said motioning for them to start walking.

 “Yeah, yeah, we’re going, let's go Hunk.”

 “I’m coming, but don’t be mean to me, I’m carrying Shiro, I am watching your back and I am directing us to the lions.” Hunk said, looking pointedly at Pidge for her tone.

 “Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry, let's get going before Keith chastises us again.”

 “Hey I didn’t chas-” Keith started but stopped when neither Pidge or Hunk acknowledged him talking to them and started to leave.

 “You tried Samuri, let's get going so we can buy them sometime.” Lance said, laughing quietly to not be heard by any of the hubnam around.

 Keith grumbled unhappily but stood with Lance and followed him as he led the way. “How far is it from the lions?”

 “It's not too far but I only really know the direction, Hunk was the one that found the most efficient path to the lions so I don’t really know.”

 “Thats fine.”

 “You know the plan, right?” Keith asked, already worried for Lance because the plan was risky, if he got hit then the whole plan fails and they lose him.

 “Yes, I do.” Lance said, smiling at Keith. “I promise I will be okay, I can outrun those guys any day.”

 “I know but I sti-” Lance stepped forward and kissed him, he immediately kissed back, wrapping an arm around his waist to pull him closer.

 Lance pulled back smiling at him. “I will be okay, but you have to trust me. I know you are worried but you can’t do your part if you're worried about me the whole time. Promise me you will trust me to do this for us okay?”

 Keith sighed, bringing a hand up to Lance’s cheek to rub it with his thumb. “Fine, I promise to focus on my part, as long as you promise to be safe.”

 “Then I promise. Now I have to go. Be safe Keith.” Lance smiled at Keith before he pulled away and disappeared into the street.

 Keith’s mind was a whirl wind. He was worried about Lance, he knew that Lance was capable but he is still worried because how could he not be worried, Lance is his boyfriend. If he had a choice Lance wouldn’t be doing anything dangerous but they needed him right now. They had to escape and then they had to defeat the galra for good and Lance was essential to all of it.

 Keith doesn’t know how they would survive without Lance, he’s like the heart and soul of the team. Well at least Keith sees him as the heart and soul. Lance is just there whenever anyone needs him. It's honestly like Lance can read minds. And with all the crazy alien stuff it could be possible and that would explain why Lance hasn’t shown Keith his wings yet. But then again, Keith would think that if Lance was an alien then he would tell him.

 Keith sighed quietly, repositioning himself so that he was better hidden at the entrance of the street. Glancing around the street quickly before he heard Lance’s voice getting closer. Feet hitting the ground fast and incoherent yelling. He really wishes they could understand the hubnam, it would make this a lot easier.

 Keith saw Lance run into the street at full speed dodging the beams that came a little too close. You would think that they would be a better shot, but at least that's something in their favor. They would be impossible to escape from if they were actually good shots so Keith can’t be too mad that they are terrible. Well he can be a little mad because it’s not like they are hard to hit! They take up space!

 Lance disappeared down the street and Keith waited for a second before the caro fell blocking off the path Lance just took. Keith waited for his moment because if he was a second too soon then everything would fall apart. His timing needed to be perfect. Exhaling slowly he quietly crept closer to his caro and when no more hubnam came through the street entrance he sliced through the amifon. The caro fell loud and hard to the left of him. Some of the hubnam turned quickly before saying something that he didn’t understand.

 Quickly he retreated and hid to the right of all of the caro blocking the street. Some of the hubnam slowly started waking toward the caro with their blasters held up ready to shoot their beams at anything that moved. Keith’s muscles tensed before he relaxed them knowing that it would be better for dodging the beams and getting out of the street.

 When the hubanm got close enough to his hiding spot he carefully looked around and noticed none of the other hubnam were looking his way, they were all over the rest of the street looking for what he assumed was a way out, or an explanation. Looking back on the group that came toward him he waited till they passed him and then quietly stepped out from his hiding spot and quickly took down the hubanm in the back.

 Letting the hubnam’s body fall most of the way he carefully lowered it to the ground to avoid being noticed yet. Swiftly he leapt forward and took out the next two hubnam letting them hit the ground, not bothering to muffle the noise. Instead he quickly turned toward the street that Lance had run down and started for it.

 The hubnam quickly realized where he was and some of them started for him, thinking they could take him while others stayed back and fired at him with their blasters. He had to dodge some of the beams letting them hit the ground harmlessly. Other beams he purposefully led to another hubnam and let them take the hit, dropping them in seconds, unlike what happened to Shiro.

 Keith was trying to get to the other wall so that he could get out and they could make for the lions but there were more hubnam then they had thought. Keith killed a hubnam with his bayard and looked up to see a shot hit one of the hubnam aiming for him. He smiled knowing that Lance was in position and had his back. It had him feel safer even though he was doing okay before Lance showed up.

 Keith started forward with renewed vigor and was getting close to the wall when a beam shot right in front of his face, missing him by inches. He would have been hit if he was moving any faster than he was going. Turning fast to the origin of the shot he saw a hubanm moving toward him fast, shooting beams at him in short bursts.

Keith ducked to avoid the first couple of beams but then had to do a flip backward to avoid the next couple of shots. Landing he tripped backward on the body of a killed hubnam, grasping at the hubanm closest to him and using them as a shield for the beams he couldn’t manage to dodge. Grunting he found his footing and held the hubnam up to avoid getting hit by the beams from the hubnam running for him and he turned to slice through the hubnam coming up behind him.

Killing the hubnam he turned to see where the hubnam was running at him but he didn’t see anything as the hubnam rammed into him. Hitting the floor hard his head started to spin as he tried to get his bearings back and fast, he didn’t need the hubnam getting the jump on him twice.

Blinking rapidly he tightened his hold on his bayard and went to bring it up to kill the hubnam but instead his bayard and arm was met with a dead body. Shoving it off of him and jumping to his feet fast, the world spinned for a second before he blinked rapidly and the world stopped spinning. Just in time too, a beam was racing for him and he barely managed to duck to allow the beam to hit the wall behind him.

Wait… when did he reach the wall? Shaking his head he pushed the thought away, never mind, he needed to get out of here. Reaching for the amifon they had laid there he began to pull himself up fast hoping that Lance would be able to cover him so that he could get out of the street.

What felt like forever in the open, which was probably only half a minute or even less in real time, he reached the top of the roofs and pulled himself up and over the roof. Dropping to the roof in relief that he didn’t get hit by a beam he rolled over to slice through the amifon so that none of the hubnam could follow him. He heard a shrill shriek and assumed it was a hubnam falling when he cut the amifon, glad that he was able to cut it when he did he smiled. Sitting up he crouched and carefully started for the meet up spot with Lance. When he crawled up to the spot he saw Lance there waiting for him already.

“I saw you. You were amazing.” Lance said, smiling at him from where he was crouched to not be seen by the hubnam.

“Thanks, you were great too, you had my back and saved me from a couple close calls.” Keith said, smiling back, gesturing for Lance to follow him as they started across the roof to get to the other side. Yes imaginary Lance in his head, he just used the otherside joke and no it wasn’t intended.

“Awe Keith you flatter me.” Lance whispered, as he followed Keith across the roof. Dropping down on the other side Keith landed in a crouch before rising to his feet.

“Lance, come on, I’ll catch you.” Keith said, looking up at Lance from where he was on the ground.

“Fine but you better not drop me Mullet.” Lance said, giving Keith a warning glare.

“I won’t drop you I promise.”

“I don’t know about that, you hit your head pretty hard when you went down with the hubnam, that I had to kill.”

“That doesn’t mean that I will drop you.”

“If you say so.” Lance said, looking suspiciously at Keith before dropping off of the roof and straight into Keith’s arms. “Wow, I guess you were right, you didn’t drop me.”

“I told you.” Keith said smugly as he carefully set Lance down before he started to jog toward the lions, Lance joining him. “Do you think that we drawed enough attention to the street?” Keith asked Lance, briefly looking at him before looking ahead again. Taking a right to avoid the wall before taking a sharp left.

“I think we did, but we will have to wait and see.” Lance shrugged as he jogged to keep up with Keith’s jogging.

“Hopefulley we did, we don’t want anymore trouble, if we could just get to the lions without anymore problems I would be so grateful." Keith said, glancing briefly at the sky like a quick little prayer to some god or goddess up there.

Lance stifled a laugh, knowing that it would be too loud and draw attention to where they were. “I didn’t know you were religious, also, I don’t think we will have that great of luck but there’s always hoping for it.”

Keith rolled his eyes but smiled fondly at Lance all the same. “I am not religious but any help we could get would be nice, it seems as if we can't go on one mission without a problem.”

“That is true, we need all the luck we can get.”

“Yeah and more.” Keith said exasperated, thinking of all of the missions where it went wrong and they only pulled them off by the skin of their teeth.

“How did this go so wrong!” Lance screamed as a crate next to him exploded, pieces going everywhere, one hitting him in the face and giving him a cut. “That hurt you know! Watch where you are shooting!” Lance yelled at the hubnam running after them.

“Lance! That's not how that works! Keep running! We have to loop back around, we can’t lead them to the others!”

“Okay, then take a left here!” Lance yelled back pointing at the next left, Keith turned left, losing his footing and hitting the wall hard, shaking it off he pushed off the wall with all his momentum, pushing off of the wall he kept sprinting. “If we weren’t running for our lives I would totally have laughed at you!” Lance yelled to let Keith know what he thought of his little crash.

“Lance, now is not the time!” Keith yelled back, annoyed at himself for running into the wall. And it hurt too, it felt like bricks so that was just great. Now his body hurts along with his head just what he needed. Keith rolled his eyes.

“Turn right now.” Lance said shortly as he ducked to avoid a beam. Keith followed Lance around the corner.

“Where is a good place to lose them?”

“I don’t know, all I know is that running is the only option right now unless you wanna be skewered by a beam.”

“I don’t know how much longer we can run from them though. They know the streets better than us and it appears that they can’t get tired because they aren’t breaking a sweat.”

“Its a good thing that their shots aren’t as good as their stamina then we’d be toast.” Lance joked as he pointed to the right again, Keith and him both turning down the right street.

“Well then I guess we are lucky.” Keith said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He saw Lance point to the left and he followed him around the turn. Thankfully he didn’t lose his footing and hit the wall again, that would be the worst, and really embarrassing. Lance turned left and Keith followed before running into Lance and sending them both to the ground with the force of it. Keith grunted. “Why did you sto-” Keith looked up and was faced with a blaster pointed right at his head.

“Thats why.” Lance said, staring at the blaster pointed at them. Keith heard noise behind them and instinctively covered Lance as best as he could, turning to look at what made the noise. The other hubnam they had been running from were behind them. Well that's not good Keith thought.

The hubnam made a weird rocks on gravel sound, that Keith had to assume was them trying to talk to them. Too bad he thought, we don’t understand whatever that language is. Feeling a little smug that for once the hubnam didn’t think of something and that maybe they might be a little stupid for forgetting it in the first place. It’s not like Keith or the other paladins forgot.

Keith smiled and tried for sympathetic but he doesn’t think it worked when the hubanm waved their blasters around haphazardly, making more of that weird rocks on gravel sound. “We can’t understand your rocks and gravel voice.” Keith said simply, his gaze going back and forth from the hubnam in front of them and the hubnam behind them.

The hubnam seemed frustrated and poked Keith with their blaster motioning for him to stand with it. Keith stood slowly and then another hubnam did the same with Lance and Keith was immediately pissed, what right did they have threatening Lance and him with blasters. They were the ones who betrayed them, not the other way around.

“Keith, we should probably do something, we don’t exactly want to find out how fast the galra can get here once we get back to the palace.” Lance said, and Keith would think he was calm right now if he didn’t know better. Lance was scared, but whether Lance was scared for Keith or himself, Keith didn’t know.

“I know but what? We can’t exactly make a run for it or do anything. We are trapped on the street with the hubnam in front of us and behind us. Not to mention they have blasters.” Keith was suddenly grateful that they couldn’t understand the hubnam and the hubnam couldn’t understand them because it made speaking to each other so much easier. They didn’t have to make sure no one could hear them which Keith guessed was an advantage.

Before Lance could respond or before Keith could think of something the hubnam shoved him forward, making him trip and almost eat it. Thankfully he didn’t and started forwards with the none too gentle pushes from the hubnam. Keith was out of plans, he didn’t know what to do or if they could do anything.

“Keith, when I tell you to duck, you duck okay?” Lance asked calmly from where he was somewhere behind him.

“Okay, but what are you doing?”

“It doesn’t matter, you only need to duck okay?”

“I can help you if you tell me what you need.” Keith said moving his head to give Lance a look when the hubnam suddenly hit the back of his head with his blaster, the rocks on gravel sound coming out again. Keith immediately stilled and turned his head back so that it was facing forward.

“Keith duck!” Lance yelled and Keith immediately ducked trusting Lance. Keith hit the ground hard and just in time to because whatever Lance did, made a bunch of the hubnam screech loud and high pitched, it hurt his eyes but he tried to push it to the back of his mind and he glanced up to find out what happened.

Lance was there flying with his wings out but that wasn’t what surprised Keith, what surprised him the most was that Lance’s wings were silver. Lance wasn’t an alien and he wasn’t wingless, he had silver wings.

Keith didn’t understand how Lance was at the garrison then? People with silver wings were usually pulled from their families and trained to protect someone of high profile, but they always answered to the president and the president only.

Glancing at his boyfriend in the air he watched as Lance practically waved away the beams with his wings, redirecting them back at the hubnam. Staring in awe at the site Keith didn’t realize a hubnam was trying to sneak up on him. Lance’s wings made a forward motion and a silver feather came shooting out at him, Keith flinched away from the feather but the feather moved past him and instead he heard a hubnam’s screech from behind him.

Whipping around he came face to face with the hubnam, a feather sticking out of their hand, their blaster on the ground next to them. Keith blinked before forcing his brain back online, lunging for the blaster. Grabbing it and shooting the hubnam with it, watching as they dropped like a rock.

Standing up fast he turned in a circle and saw that the hubnam closest to him were either on the ground crying over their wounds with the feather sticking out. Which did look painful. Or they were just laying on the ground, making Keith think that they were hit with the beams from the blasters they carried.

Keith went to look for Lance but before he could get him into his line of sight, arms wrapped around him and he was flying all of a sudden. Looking over his shoulder Keith saw Lance flying with him.

“You… you have sil-” Keith started to ask but Lance shook his head giving him a pleading look. “Fine, but I am questioning you later.” Keith said hotly, giving Lance a look to make sure he really understood that Keith would be following through with it.

Lance swooped down, dodging a beam before swooping to the right, toward the lions. Lance flew fast and Keith was a little awkward because it felt like getting help walking when you could walk. Keith can fly himself with his own wings so it was weird having someone carry him while they flew but it was too dangerous to have them out so he understood and allowed it begrudgingly.

Lance dipped down into the streets and flew around corners and over low buildings toward the lions. When Keith could see the lions over the houses Lance landed.

“We aren’t going straight to the lions?” Keith asked confused as to why Lance landed when the lions were only minutes away by flight.

“I don’t want them to know that I have silver wings.” Lance said, looking at Keith. Keith paused looking at Lance for a second before shrugging and starting to walk to the lions. “You're not going to question me?” Lance asked jogging to catch up with Keith.

Keith smiled at him. “No, I'm not, it's not my secret and I trust you.”

Lance gave Keith a weird look. “You trust me? Even when I didn’t tell you about my wings?”

“I do, for a while I thought you didn’t trust me because you didn’t show me your wings but I trust you. Obviously we are talking about this later when we are alone but I’m not going to force you to tell anyone you don’t want to.”

Lance smiled at him, reaching for his hand. “Thank you Keith, this means a lot to me.”

“What can I say, I’m a good boyfriend.”

Lance laughed. “You are.”

Keith’s mind was running wild, he was grateful that Lance was pulling him along the streets and keeping him from hitting anything else. Because it all makes sense now. Lance did trust him, he was just scared because he had silver wings, he would be scared to show people his wings if they were silver too.

On earth people with silver wings are taken from their families and put in training as soon as their wings turn silver which is the second you were born on your 4th birthday. It's not slow, it's a sudden thing and as soon as it happens you have to call the government or else your whole family could face consequences. And at 4 you would do anything to keep your family safe, after all they had raised you.

He can see how that would be trauma filled. Your family was forced to give you up and you were forced to train all day. Well he doesn’t know if it was all day after all, the government is very secretive about their silver winged people. They “treasure” them. He remembers that the government spent thousands on them and brought the whole country into debt. Which honestly pissed him off but he can’t do anything about it, it's not like he has any power in the government. Imagine him having a spot in the govern-

A crackle came from his headset before he heard Pidge. “Hey, can you guys hear me?”

He smiled and Lance shot him a smile responding for the both of them. “We hear you Pidge loud and clear. I’m impressed you got them running so fast.”

“Well technically it's been a while. I should have been able to do it faster.” Pidge said frustrated with herself at how incompetent she felt.

“Pidge it’s fine you did great. How are you guys, are you at the lions?”

“I just feel like I could have done it faster.”

“You worked as fast as you could, I saw you.” Hunk said, sympathetically. “And yes, we are in the lions right now.”

“Good, where is Shiro?”

“He is okay, we put him in Green with Pidge.” Hunk said.

“Are we sure that Black will follow?” Lance asked worriedly, not wanting to accidentally leave a lion behind on this horrid planet with its horrid hubnam.

“I am positive, Black is bonded to Shiro and knows that he is in danger and will follow because it's her job as his lion to protect him to the best of her ability.” Pidge said confidently before hesitating. “Well at least I think so, I’m hoping so.” Pidge said a lot less confident than before.

“Hey, it's the best shot we got right now.” Hunk said sticking up for Pidge and her reasoning even if no one had said anything against it.

“Woah hey, no Hunk my man, I agree, I just wanted to see what our lion expert thought about it.” Lance said, winking at Pidge through the screen. Pidge rolled her eyes at Lance but smiled at him.

“Well now that we have that sorted out, let's get out of here.” Keith said, forcing his mind on the situation at hand.

“Agreed!” Everyone else shouted. Keith powered up his lion and took off, the other lions following seconds after. Black being the last lion up, but luckily she did follow the other lions and Shiro.

Keith took the front position leading the lions up and out towards space. As they were flying, Pidge cried out in surprise. “Guys! They are raising a barrier around the planet! We need to go faster or else we will be trapped in the atmosphere!”

Keith swore under his breath, “Everyone push your lions faster we need more speed!”

Everyone immediately increased their speed, going as fast as the lions would take them. Keith could see the edges of the barrier rapidly closing in and he knew that it would be close. Keith and his lion burst through the atmosphere, making it to the other side of the barrier, slowing Red he flipped around, to see if everyone else had made it out. Keith watched as Yellow barely made it out, seconds before the barrier closed around the planet.

He sighed in relief that everyone made it out okay saying through the comms, “Come on guys lets get back to the Castle before they decide to come after us.”

There were murmured agreements from Hunk and Pidge but Lance being the loudest, whooped delight. “Did you guys just see that! We are totally awesome! We just out flew a barrier! Can you believe it!?”

“We are pretty awesome.” Keith said, humoring his boyfriend.

“Yeah we are!” Lance yelled back grinning at everyone.

“I just can’t believe that they were so stupid that he didn’t put it up earlier.” Pidge said, shaking her head in disappointment.

“Um, I’m glad that they are stupid then, I wouldn’t want to be stuck with them.” Hunk said, not understanding why Pidge was disappointed at their stupidity.

“I know but honestly it was a good plan and they had the resources to pull it off if only they put the barrier up.”

“Pidgeotto, lets just take the win okay?” Lance said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I agree with Lance Pidge, we did good today.” Keith said.

“So who agrees that the word hubnam is really stupid?” Hunk asked, laughing softly to himself at just the mention of the word Hubnam.

“I agree! I mean there are so many better things to call yourself than hubnam!” Lance cried in outrage throwing his hands up to make a point.

“Like what?” Keith asked drily.

“Well for starters, anything other than hubnam.” Pidge said, seriously pushing her glasses up. Keith did a double take, when had Pidge taken off her helmet?

“Why do you agree?” Keith asked surprised that Pidge didn’t agree with what they called themselves.

“For multiple reasons, both scientific and my personal opinion.” Pidge said not explaining any further.

“Hunk, what about you? Why do you hate the name?” Keith asked.

“Do you not hate the name?” Lance asked, looking at Keith with a judgemental expression.

“I mean, I don’t have to have an opinion and plus I had no time to think about it before we were running for our lives and escaping.” Keith deadpanned, giving Lance the are you stupid face.

Lance looked offended, opening his mouth to say something when a crackle came through their comms making everyone wince. Allura’s voice filtered in, cutting in and out before the crackling stopped and they could understand Allura.

“Paladins! Can you hear me!” Allura yelled, the panic clear in her voice.

“We hear you loud and clear Princess.” Lance said, rubbing his ears.

Allura sighed in relief. “I’m glad that we made contact, we lost contact with you guys, it's almost been a day. I was worried.”

“We are all okay except for Shiro, he took a hit and keeps on getting worse.” Pidge said, glancing behind her looking at Shiro lying on the cot in Green.

Allura frowned, looking worried for Shiro. “What do you mean worse?”

“Well when he got hit, he was walking and talking just fine but as the more time passed that he had gotten hit, he started to get faint and then he passed out. He is getting paler by the minute and Keith had to carry him while we ran away from the hubnam.” Hunk said, glancing at Pidge to make sure that he isn’t missing anything. Pidge shook her head letting Hunk know that he didn’t miss anything.

“That is worrisome, I will have Coran prepare a pod for him immediately, as soon as you land, get him to the med bay. Fly safe paladins.” Allura said before cutting the communications to the castle.

“Well you heard the princess, let's get back to the castle.” Lance said, grinning at everyone else.

When Keith finally landed Red in her hanger, he was out of the cockpit in seconds sprinting towards Green’s hanger, hoping to be there when Pidge landed to carry Shiro to the med bay.

After sprinting all the way to Green’s hanger, he burst in panting with exhaustion however relief filled him because he managed to beat Pidge back to the hangers.

Keith didn’t know what to do while he waited for Pidge and Green to land with Shiro and his mind was running wild with the events of the day. Shiro getting hurt and him having to lead everyone, then finding out that Lance has SILVER wings. Not to mention the exhaustion pulling at his mind from all of the activities of the day.

“Keith!” Lance yelled, breaking Keith out of his thoughts and stopping his pacing. Wait, when did he start pacing? Wow he must be really tired to not even notice himself pacing and… “Keith, are you with me?” Lance asked, waving his hand in front of Keith’s face. Keith blinked at his boyfriend and Lance sighed. “You need to rest, you're exhausted. There is nothing you can do for Shiro until Pidge lands okay?”

Keith nodded and with the acknowledgement the exhaustion seeped into his bones making him sway a little bit before his wings automatically burst out of his back to balance him. Lance smiled at him and leaned in to give him a peck on the lips. Keith smiled and then the Pidge hanger door opened.

Keith whipped around to watch Green land, not even noticing his wings automatically right themselves to help him keep his balance. As soon as Green landed he was immediately flying toward Green, Green just barely able to settle down and open her mouth for Keith to get in before he was bursting into Pidge’s cockpit.

Pidge narrowed her eyes at Keith as she watched Keith go straight for Shiro’s cot.

“He’s so much paler, he needs a pod immediately." Keith said worriedly, landing on the ground softly. Reaching for Shiro he bent and picked Shiro up, grunting with the effort.

“Are you sure that you should be doing that?” Pidge asked suspiciously because usually Keith didn’t have any problems picking Shiro up.

“It's fine.” Keith said dismissing her worry. Pidge rolled her eyes as her wings unfurled, stretching them before flying after Keith’s receding back.

Keith flew with Shiro in his arms, down the ramp and toward Lance and Hunk. Hunk looked at Keith for a second before motioning for Keith to hand Shiro over.

Keith raised a brow at Hunk. “You look exhausted and you carried Shiro for hours while we ran from the hubnam Keith, let Hunk carry Shiro for you.” Lance said, looking at his boyfriend with clear worry.

“It's okay I got him.” Keith said, continuing to fly out of the hanger before Hunk flew in front of him, stopping him from going any further.

“That is a total lie.” Pidge said, giving Keith a scathing glare. “You had a hard time picking Shiro up.”

“Just let me carry Shiro.” Hunk said, still reaching to take Shiro from Keith. “Please, I want to help.”

Keith frowned at Hunk but he relented as he realized that Hunk wasn’t going to move and that Shiro was getting worse, his breathing getting more shallow. Grunting, he passed Shiro’s limp body over to Hunk. Hunk smiled and accepted Shiro.

Together without any more words passed between them they all flew toward the med bay with Hunk in the lead, holding Shiro.

When they arrived they saw Allura and Coran standing next to the pod. The pod was open and Allura had the pod suit in her hand.

Keith flew forward and grabbed the pod suit, turning back to Shiro, to notice that Lance had already started to undress Shiro for the pod suit. Keith smiled gratefully at his boyfriend, even if he didn’t notice. Keith flew the small distance back to Lance, Hunk and Shiro. Keith carefully but quickly pulled the pod suit onto Shiro.

“He’s ready to go in.” Allura said, as soon as Keith and Lance were done changing Shiro out of his clothes and into the pod suit.

Hunk flew to the pod and landed before putting Shiro in the pod and taking a step back. Everyone watched as the pod closed around Shiro.

“Well now we just have to wait.” Pidge said, from where she was hovering next to Coran by the control panel.

“How long will he be in there?” Keith asked, looking at Shiro through the glass door of the pod.

“Well number 4, it depends on if the pod can work faster than whatever is making number 1 worse. If it can’t then it will only stabilize number 1 and we will have to find another method to heal number 1 but if it can work faster than whatever is making him worse then according to my calculations it will take a quintant.” Coran said, as he stroked his mustache thoughtfully.

“Only a day, not that bad.” Pidge said simply. “It could have been worse.”

“It would have been better if I had come up with a plan faster and we got back faster.” Keith said, clenching his fists as he blamed himself for how long Shiro would be in the pod for.

“Hey you did everything you could!” Hunk said, furiously not liking Keith’s train of thought.

“He’s right, I know I wasn’t there but I know you Keith, you would do everything you could to help your team.” Allura said, comforting Keith.

Keith sighed, running a hand through his hair, never once taking his eyes off of Shiro in his pod. “Why don’t we postpone the mission debrief so that you guys can get cleaned up, and we can even wait for Shiro.” Allura said softly, looking at her paladins and seeing how exhausted they all were.

“That's a great idea, thanks Princess.” Lance said, smiling tiredly at Allura.

Allura smiled back before turning to leave, Coran following Allura out of the med bay. Pidge and Hunk shared a glance with Lance before they too left the med bay silently.

“Keith, you heard Allura, let's go get cleaned up.” Lance said, resting his hand on Keith’s shoulder.

Keith blinked at Shiro and didn’t stop staring but he made no move to stop Lance as he slowly guided him away from the pod and out the door. Keith walked in a haze as Lance guided him back to his room.

“Are you okay to get cleaned up by yourself or do you want me to stay?” Lance asked nervously, hating both of the options.

Keith blink furiously before looking at Lance. “Stay please.”

“Okay, I will stay.” Lance said going to sit on the bed. “Are you going to shower first or should I shower first?”

“Love you Lance.” Keith said, completely ignoring the question, moving to embrace Lance in a tight hug.

“Whats this for?” Lance asked but his confusion didn’t stop him from immediately wrapping his arms around Keith.

“Felt like you should know.” Keith said, sounding muffled as he buried his head in Lance’s shoulder.

“Keith, I know that you love me.” Lance said exasperated.

“Then why didn’t you tell me about your wings. Do you not trust me, is that it?” Keith asked, pulling away to look at Lance’s face.

Lance paled but shook his head. He scooted back on the bed pulling Keith with him until they were leaning against the wall of the bed. “Thats not why I didn’t tell you.” Lance said meekly, pulling Keith back into a hug. Keith let him and hugged Lance back.

“Then why? I knew you were hiding something from me, but nothing this big.” Keith said and you could hear the sadness in his tone.

“Keith… I hid it because on Earth I would have been taken back and punished so badly and I guess I just never got rid of the habit to hide once I got away from them.”

“I still thought you could trust me.”

“I do! It's just I was treated as a tool… a weapon for the government all of my life and when I finally got away and felt the freedom of not being controlled I got scared and paranoid that the government would find me again. That they would drag me back and everything would be even worse than it was before I escaped and I didn’t want that. I want to be free and I just couldn’t take the risk. But that doesn’t mean I don’t trust you or love you. I do! I have wanted to tell you for so long but staying hidden has just become a habit now. It's not something that I even have to think about anymore. Keith… I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I trust you, it wasn’t you it was me the whole time so please don’t think I was hiding this was because of you.”

Keith pulled away from the hug to look Lance in the eyes, trying to find anything that would tell him Lance was lying to him. Keith didn’t find anything and tears filled his eyes. “Lance, you can’t just say stuff like that!” Keith cried before laying his head back on Lance’s shoulder, his tears falling onto the paladin armor.

After a couple of seconds of silence Lance spoke again, his confusion clear as he asked, “Are you not going to say anything else?”

“Lance I will later but I need time to process everything and we still have a lot to talk about.”

“You.. you need to process my declaration of love and me saying that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Lance asked, tears filling his eyes at the thought that Keith might not feel the same.

Keith gasped horrified, pulling away from Lance’s shoulder grabbing Lance’s face in his palms. “No! Not that! Never that! I love you so much Lance. I want the same as you, I want to spend the rest of my life by your side.”

Lance sniffed, wailing, “So why did you say that you needed time to process it!?”

“Lance, I didn’t mean that I meant everything else that you said. I would never need to process my feelings for you, I know exactly how much I love you. I don’t need to think about it. I’m sorry, my communication could have been clearer.”

“Oh..” Lance sniffed.

Keith smiled, “Lance McClain, would you marry me?” Keith asked impulsively.

Lance’s eyes widened and he let out a sobbing laugh. “Are you seriously asking me right now!? It’s not romantic at all, we are all sweaty and gross! Not to mention I don’t think you asked my Papa for permission!” Lance cried, tears streaming down his face.

“You forgot that I don’t have a ring.” Keith said, looking at Lance expectantly.

“And the ring!” Lance cried, Keith was starting to get nervous, he thought that Lance would have said yes by now, did he make a mistake? No he couldn’t have Lance himself said that he wants to spend the rest of his life with him… hopefully he didn’t misinterpret what Lance said to him, he thought that it was very clear.

“I would marry you without any of that Lance.” Keith said, confidently, trying to shake off his doubt, even though he didn’t feel confident at all, in fact he was thinking that Zarkon might like a little present right about now, and he was starting to feel very generous.

“Of course I will marry you! I don’t need any of that either to convince me to marry you!” Lance yelled in joy leaning up to kiss Keith. Keith smiled and leaned forward to kiss Lance back.

As Keith kissed Lance he knew that everything would work out. Shiro would be healed by the pod and he and Lance would talk about Lance’s wings and figure everything out together and the fact that he just proposed would hit him later and he would deal with it later, Lance by his side.