Chapter Text
Keith was a shit leader.
This was made obvious by the time he had nearly gotten them killed by Lotor, but it was even more prominent as time went on. Sure, he had his few redeeming moments, but overall he wasn't confident and was too haughty. He was hoping that since Shiro was back, his bond with the Black Lion would kick back in and he could take over, but that hadn't exactly happened. And Keith was a little worried, but he was sure that Shiro was more hurt by it than he could have ever been.
At any rate, Keith was glad that Shiro was back.
Keith sat with Shiro and Lance, who he had been working with for many hours, coming up with strategies for attacks. He was growing more and more frustrated due to a change of topic, which was exactly what he had been thinking about--his leadership abilities. The group of three had come up with multiple war plans that they were waiting to discuss with the group, so, they were now focused on Keith and leadership. And Keith hated focusing on himself. But he hated even more focusing on his flaws—especially with Lance in the room.
Shiro was doing his best to remain composed and lead the conversation despite the arguing that was going on. “Keith, you had the red lion originally because you relied more on instinct than battle intelligence- “
“Cause he’s a hothead,” Lance broke in, his laugh breaking some of the tension in the room. Keith glared at him, meeting his eyes with an angry heat. Shiro gave Lance an almost fatherly look that made him surrender into a slumped position on the table.
“You just need to think more like a leader now.” Shiro was taking notes of all that they talked about, and had gotten out a new sheet for Keith. Keith notes. Enthralling.
Keith practically growled, “But that’s the thing! I’m not you, Shiro, you know what you’re doing. I’ve made too many mistakes as the leader. Ones that put us in danger.”
“You're fine at giving pep talks,” Lance droned, looking a little solemn, probably from being told to stop. That wasn’t his thing. Stopping, that is. “You know, you've done it a few times. Just like, think like you're thinking when you hype us up. Always.”
“That's in a relaxed setting! In the heat of battle--well, you’ve seen.” Keith crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair like the angry teenager he was.
Lance snorted.
Shiro didn’t miss a beat before saying, “There will be more opportunities for you to take on harder responsibilities. I’ll be here for help if you’re struggling, and eventually you’ll be able to do it on your own.”
“Okay guys! How about this,” Lance said, finally perking back up into a sitting position. “You guys keep going. Great work, we're making awesome progress,” he continued (definitely sucking up). “But you guys talk through this and I’m going to go get some rest. You woke me up really early, and your boy here didn’t get much time to even think for himself. And I don't really need to think for Keith.”
Shiro sighed, and for a moment Keith thought that he would stop Lance. He kind of wanted him to. Even though his jokes were annoying as ever, and the distraction wasn’t good for the mission, he wanted him to stay. “Go ahead, Lance. Keith and I can have a one-on-one for now, and we’ll get back together later.”
Lance snuck a quick, smug look in Keith’s direction. “Enjoy.” Well, so much for that.
Keith rolled his eyes and looked back to Shiro, opening his mouth to speak before he heard Coran shout, “What are you doing? You’re supposed to be- “
“Shiro said that I could take a break. He and Keith need to have a conversation, because I was suggesting too many good ideas and they felt bad.”
They heard Coran groan as Lance’s footsteps sounded out further and further away.
About an hour later, when Keith was drained of the energy he had for that conversation, Shiro stopped talking about it.
“Alright, I want to talk to Coran and Allura about that thing they said about Lotor earlier. Go rest a little, Keith.” He gave a reassuring look. “You are doing better.”
“Are you sure?” Keith asked. He did really want to go walk around and think about something else for as long as he was allowed, but like everyone else, he didn’t want to rest while Lotor was planning on demolishing them. “Because we should- “
“Go,” Shiro said in a gentler voice. He squeezed the top of Keith's arm. “We’ve discussed everything imaginable without more information. You’re not off the hook, I just need to get more for us to work with.” He patted Keith’s shoulder, which finally prompted him to leave the room.
Well, Keith was frustrated. He was angry that he couldn’t just have Shiro’s senses implanted in his brain, though that was probably the most ridiculous idea he had ever had. But he was mad because he knew that it would take a long time for him to retrain his brain to think more clearly during battle. To think more clearly, and to be able to relay what he needed to to his partners. To think for more than a second before doing, just because it felt right. Turns out that didn’t work for a team.
He didn’t want Shiro to see any of that, though. He let it slip occasionally, but he wanted Shiro more than any of it to know that he was relieved that he was back. Keith had been terrified that he’d lost his brother. And though he was frustrated that he had to step up and be leader, he knew it wasn’t in Shiro’s control. And that Shiro wanted Keith in that position if not himself.
So, he tried to be more grateful. More hopeful.
But he wasn’t always, and he missed Red. He missed their bond. And he could only hope Lance was treating her right.
Keith usually opted to go to the training deck when he had this feeling. Fighting out the bad feelings with his bayard in hand helped release some of his energy. Instead, though, thoughts of the Red Lion brought him to Lance's door. And sometimes, occasionally, he was good for Keith to talk to when he was anxious.
He only took a second after knocking to punch in Lance's room key. And there was Lance, laying down flat on his bed. His eyes were covered with some sort of eye mask, and his ears with what seemed to be large headphones. Lance was humming to some gentle tune, which sounded unusual to Keith, in a nice way. Rarely did he hear Lance do something relaxing that was for his own pleasure.
“Lance?” He said loudly, trying to make his voice louder than headphones. When he didn’t respond, Keith scowled, and crossed the room to smack Lance’s ankle.
Lance jumped before Keith could get his name out again, sliding the eye mask off his eyes. “Huh? Dude! What are you doing in here?”
“I want to talk,” Keith said, looking down from Lance’s face for a minute. He’d changed into something more relaxed, hanging off his collarbone. Keith fumbled over a word for a moment and blinked away, cursing what was clearly a side effect of his anger. When Lance squinted at him, confused, he rolled his eyes and pointed at his own ears and tried to make a hand signal for headphones, picking them off Lance's ears when he didn’t follow.
“Oh, sorry,” Lance mumbled, laughing a little. “Wait a minute, I shouldn’t be sorry—it’s your fault! I was startled by you rudely entering my room without my permission, and then I—“
“Sorry! But you wouldn’t have heard me anyways-- “
“I could have been naked, Keith, which would have been a privilege for you, but I don’t think you want to deal with that.”
Keith's face heated at his words, oddly, but he rolled his eyes. “Okay, you know what? This isn’t worth it, you don’t listen to anyone but yourself.”
“Oh, no, no, you already ruined my peace. Might as well keep it up,” Lance said, mildly irritated, basically insinuating he could stay.
Keith could feel his eyes on his back, as he’d started to walk away, but he turned back around. “Okay.” He sat down on the edge of Lance’s bed, nervous thoughts coursing through his mind as he opened his mouth to speak again.
“I don’t know how to do this,” Keith admitted quietly, more seriously. “I’ve tried giving advice, and taking some on how to be better, but I’m not--I don’t know, I’m not catching on.”
Lance furrowed his brow and sat up a little bit to look at Keith better. “Keith, you’ve screwed up a lot in action, yeah, but I'm serious about your little speeches. You actually sound, I don't know, responsible, when you're giving them.”
Surprised by Lance’s maturity, Keith pulled back a little. He thought for a tick before saying, “Well yeah, that’s the problem. If I can think for a few minutes then I can help the whole team. In action, I’m only helping myself.”
Lance shook his head. “No, that’s not true.” Keith raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been with the team all along. If you were only there for yourself, we’d be gone. I’d be dead. You do suck a lot of the time, yes, but I’m still here.”
For a moment Keith didn’t know how to respond. Mostly because Lance was hardly ever serious; he was still getting used to that side of him.
“Right,” he finally nodded. “Obviously we’re fighting for a greater good, and we’re all working together. But that worked best when Shiro was leader. When I had to lead we fell apart.”
Lance licked his lips and squinted off into the distance, looking concentrated--for once in his life, Keith might add. His tongue poked out of his mouth as he thought. “Well,” he patted his thighs and took a moment before he kept talking, “you’re still not alone in this Keith. It feels lonely for all of us sometimes, but in combat? We’re all together. We obviously have good chemistry, and even if at present you’re terrible under pressure, Shiro probably was when he was beginning too. You’re much younger, Keith. He had time to grow into that position. You were thrown into it, so like, go a little easy on yourself.”
Keith felt a small weight lift off his shoulders. Lance had made him feel better, rather than making fun of him (too much). Impressive.
“Thanks, Lance,” he muttered, not quite used to those words coming out his mouth.
Lance smiled arrogantly at him. “Yeah, I might actually be a better pep talker than you, now that I think about it. So take notes." He quirked an eyebrow. "At least I won’t tell you to leave the math to Pidge, right about now in the conversation, leaving you useless.” He chuckled a little as Keith’s jaw dropped.
“Hey!” he said. “That was a moment of leadership, it totally made you feel better.” He frowned, hoping that the one moment he held onto as being a good one wasn't actually the Worst. “Right?”
“Well, I have a steady place on the team this way, correct?” Lance commented vaguely, though a smile was still present on his lips.
And Keith couldn’t tell if he was going to have to talk Lance through this again—though he was totally willing to, because he was supposed to be a leader or whatever—or if it was an attempt at a joke. An inside joke.
“Whatever,” Keith shrugged decidedly. “I mean, I thought you were the sharpshooter or something, but whatever you’re calling yourself now will work too.”
Then Lance smiled. It wasn’t really a smug smile, like Keith was used to, like one he would roll his eyes at. He just looked proud, or maybe simply pleased. “Well thanks, Samurai.”
Keith looked anywhere but Lance’s face--it was…distracting? He just nodded. “Sure thing.” He knew he was probably supposed to leave then, but something was pulling at him to stay. “Lance?”
“Yeah?”
“How’s Red doing?”
Lance groaned, leaning back on his hands. “I mean--good, you know? But it’s so hard to like, get used to the controls. It’s like she doesn’t want me to.”
“No,” Keith held back a laugh, “I’m just a better pilot than you.”
Lance frowned at him. “No! I was just fine with Blue. I could totally beat your quiznack with her.” He sighed. Keith wondered if Lance was using that word correctly again. “We have a connection, clearly, but I guess she probably misses you. Maybe she’s giving me hell for it, just like you do.”
Though Lance was joking, Keith felt his heart ache. Red had mattered to him, and he was sad to say goodbye, no matter how honored he was to fly the Black Lion. “Probably,” he decided to poke fun at him. “She learned something good from me.”
“Do you think she trusts me?” Lance asked him. Suddenly he scowled at Keith and pointed at him accusingly. “Did you tell her that I was your enemy or something?”
Keith froze. At first, Red probably picked up on his competitive nature against Lance. But there had been several moments where she would have had to have noticed that he relied on him, and that he didn’t actually hate his guts. “No, I mean, she’d have to trust you,” he said. “She chose you to replace me. And you’re my second in command, right?”
Lance was squinting at him, seemingly distrustful. Then finally he sighed. “Well, that’s good. She is hard to pilot though.”
Snapping back to his senses, Keith shrugged. “You’ll get used to it, she’s just fast. It’s actually helpful most of the time.”
Lance nodded. “I miss Blue, though,” he said, letting his head fall back, his Adam’s apple sticking out prominently. Keith found himself staring for a moment. “She just understood me, man. We had a good bond.”
Keith tore his eyes away from Lance as he looked back at him. “That took a while though,” he pointed out. He was a little defensive of Red, and he didn’t want anyone taking advantage of her. “You’ll bond with Red. Don’t you remember when we both crashed? We were trying to race a nose dive?”
“Which I won,” Lance said, looking up playfully at him.
Keith blinked, an astounded look coming over his face. “No, I definitely did. Red’s quicker!”
“Doesn’t mean you two had a better bond then.”
“Whatever,” Keith snapped. “Anyways, just keep practicing. Maybe you should visit her. I know you miss Blue, but you need to take care of Red for me.”
“I know,” Lance said a little more seriously. “She’s in good hands, Keith, I’ll make sure she’s doing fine.”
With all the trust that he could muster, Keith agreed. “You better.” He stood up. “Well, good talk, but I should probably get back to Shiro.” He frowned. “And so should you, soon.”
“Hey, I will!” Lance said indignantly. “I just need a minute, you sort of interrupted a moment.”
Keith rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Thanks anyways.”
“Yeah, just, get out now please. And close the door on your way out.” Lance was leaning back on his bed, picking up the eye mask and the headphones. This made Keith scoff a little, but he chuckled a little as he walked away.
Because he practiced any time he wasn’t technically busy, Keith had moved up several levels in combat training. The workout was good to relieve stress, and he knew that he’d need to be at his peak fitness for any big battle.
The movement, the amount of focus he needed to summon, it all usually helped him to clear his mind. But now, Keith could only think about was why he was fighting. Why was he even training? As he moved his body swiftly to dodge hits and throw his own at the training bot, his mind raced to match.
Keith never had anyone but Shiro on earth for him. He had lost his family, wherever they were, far before the Garrison. There were never people that took up a place in his heart, so all he focused on was being a good pilot. A good student. And he did, he excelled.
But now he had the other Paladins. Shiro was back, thank god. There was Coran. And with the fast movements he made, he realized that that’s what he was fighting for.
It was the innocent people, the ones who were helpless. Their hope lied within Voltron. All they wanted was to live their lives in peace, with their families and friends. To survive, but they were already doing that. The Galra didn’t give them an option to do anything but survive under their control. But that’s what they were there for, to fight so that these people could finally have control of their own lives, their own destinies.
It was Pidge. The youngest, and probably the smartest Paladin. She had saved their asses from being taken over by the Galra long ago, and she worked hard to prove her worth. With one look, an outsider might question why she was there. What she offered for the team. But Keith knew, she was a core part of it--that was why he was scared when she claimed to be running away. And underneath all of her strength and capability, she was still a kid, as they all were, and he wanted to protect that.
It was Hunk. He was lighthearted and caring, committed to his friends. Of course, he was probably the most terrified of everything they did, but even so, he would quickly take a beating for his friends. Sometimes it seemed like all he talked about was food, but that wasn’t all he was there for—though he was an excellent cook. Hunk was special because he was intelligent, and he could be serious, but above everything, he was kind. His smile could warm a village. And in the middle of a war, you need someone that can fight, but can also make you smile.
It was Allura. In her life, she had lost so much. She had to go through her father dying and her planet being destroyed. This could have made her bitter towards everything, towards the universe—and that would be justifiable. But she chose to be kind, to accept those that needed help, and she was a badass fighter. No amount of apologizing would make Keith feel better about what he was biologically a part of, but they had talked it out. And he knew that Allura would always question him at the back of her mind, but that was okay. And he was glad that she was fighting with them now.
It was Coran. The guy was always trying to keep everything together, and he was messy. His shrill voice kept them on edge at times, but he was good at making them laugh. He could be clueless. But he was excellent at motivating the paladins to work together, even in the times where they had felt hopeless.
It was Shiro. His rock. The man he looked up to as a brother, for most things in life. Shiro was his world for longest time, as the only family he had, and when he was lost the first time, Keith did everything he could to find him. The second time, it nearly broke him. Because Shiro was gone once but they got him back, and he was convinced he would be around forever. When he had to replace him as a leader, he was more than discouraged, because there was no replacing Shiro. There was too much there to replace, even if he knew that’s what Shiro wanted. But he was back, and even if he couldn’t lead the team anymore, Keith wanted to make him truly proud. He wanted to use everything he’d been told, everything he’d been training for, to prove himself.
And surprisingly, it was Lance. Keith stumbled for a bit on that one, nearly falling out of line in his extensive battle with the bot. But he pushed through. Lance had been less of a dick lately. When he first saw the guy again, insisting that they were sworn enemies, Keith was confused. He’d never seen him as a threat, even if they had fought at the Garrison. But he did make himself into someone that Keith argued with all the time, because he was just so cocky. Past all of that, there was something softer deep down. The boy wasn’t shallow, he thought of everyone. His smile was bright and he wanted to show that he deserved a spot with everyone on the team. And Keith believed he did, he didn’t want Lance to leave. It was Lance that had kept him together when he tore the team apart, and it was Lance that had managed to give him good advice. And it was Lance that he was fighting for, with all the others.
Why was Lance sticking in his brain?
Keith stopped, panting for a few moments before he said, “Stop training.” He strode off the mat to grab some water and wiped his forehead, his hand slick with sweat.
Something felt wrong. Maybe not wrong, but weird. He used to be dismissive of Lance, he tried not to focus on the boy or his words. But then he came to Keith that day when he was losing his trademark confidence. He decided that he wanted to talk to Keith for help. And since then Keith couldn’t just push him away as an afterthought.
And the more he thought about it, he never did.
Lance was his rival. For sure. But there was something in that that he didn’t want to lose. There was something in their banter that he didn’t have with anyone else on the ship. It wasn’t malicious, it just pushed him to be better than he thought he could be. Lance drew that out of him. Once Keith started thinking of it that way, he realized that it had always been that way, and that Lance meant something to him. And Lance started confiding him, and Keith found that if he did the same, the boy listened. He opened up and accepted him. And Keith trusted him.
Keith threw his water bottle down and wiped his mouth, starting up the exercise again. He grunted, dodging and stabbing at the dummy, trying to clear his mind.
“Keith, what the heck?” came a voice. Lance’s. Keith called off the training again and swiveled to look at him in the doorway. His face was a bit red, and he took a step back. Keith brushed that off and grabbed his water, throwing a small hand towel around his neck.
“What?”
Lance blinked incredulously. “You kinda looked like you were about to kill someone—or maybe yourself. Are you, like, okay?”
Keith nodded. God, that overly considerate prick. “Y-yeah, I’m fine, it’s called training. You have put in effort.”
This made Lance stand up a little straighter and cross his arms. “Well, I do train! But you’ve been hogging the training room all day, or at least that’s what I heard. So, I went to the pool instead.”
“You do know that more than one person can use the room at a time?” Keith offered, a smirk on his face. “I mean, it’s big enough. Or you can practice with each other.”
“Yeah, I know that,” Lance said in a mocking tone. Then he raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute, was that a challenge?"
Keith barked out a laugh. “Yeah, ‘challenge’. It wouldn’t be very difficult to beat you.”
The boy across the room tapped his foot on the ground, considering him. “Alright, well I guess I could do some combat training. Not that I’ll need it, with my impeccable shooting skills.” He walked closer to Keith and looked him up and down. Keith could feel his face going red. "Although, Keith, I don't do this 24/7, so, I guess I don't have your--" he gestured to one of his arms.
Keith bit back a grin. "My what?" Lance gave him a dirty, pointed look, so he just rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Fine. I’ll go easy on you.”
“Don’t worry about it, I pick up on things pretty easily."
Right.
Keith rolled his eyes at him and grabbed a pole, throwing one to Lance.
“No swords?”
“No, we’re not trying to kill each other.”
Lance let out a giggle, at which Keith looked up and immediately moved his eyes to the floor, confused by the blush that threatened to spread across his cheeks. Could his face not do that for five minutes? “That’s new.”
“Let’s just start, okay?” Keith said, trying to get Lance to focus.
After a moment, they smacked their poles together to initiate a start. Though this was clear to him far before they started, Keith was far more skilled. Lance did his best to put up a fight, but the first time at least, Keith had him on the ground in moments, the pole to his chest.
“I win.” He quirked an eyebrow.
Lance quickly sprung up, muttering something involving ‘unfair’. “Best two out of three, okay?”
Keith just shrugged and stood back to let him stand. “If it makes you feel better.” He got into position again.
“1, 2, 3,” they both chanted before starting, and this time, Lance lasted more than a minute. Most of this came from him being quick enough to dodge Keith’s hits, rather than actually trying to knock him to the ground. However, he didn’t have much stamina in that sense, Keith could tell. He was strong, and he could keep running for a long time, but this he wasn’t used to. Lance would have to make a move.
And that he did. After a moment of looking to the ground, where Keith thought he might surrender, he stepped back and quickly swept Keith’s legs out from under him. While Keith laid there, taken aback, the breath knocked out of him, he felt the tip of Lance’s pole on his chest.
“I win.”
Keith’s jaw jutted out for a moment. He figured he’d easily win the second out of three, and Lance would somehow call for another round. But he’d managed to win—kind of.
“That’s technically cheating,” he muttered in a breathy voice.
“Who cares if it’s cheating?!” Lance said loudly, holding his pole up straight. “That wouldn’t matter if you were an actual Galra soldier.”
"You wouldn't get close enough to trip a Galra soldier," Keith answered. "Focus on your actual combat abilities."
Lance chuckled to himself. "Apparently I can get close enough to trip you."
Keith huffed and stood up. “Alright, fine, one more go. This time, though, don’t try to just trip me right off the bat. Improve your skills.”
Once more, they started, and without his loophole, Lance wasn’t doing as well. Keith would admit, he held a pretty good fight, but it was easy for him to maneuver around Lance and make him fall once more. This time, in a bout of arrogance, he hovered over Lance, holding the pole across his chest, leaning down over him.
“I win.” Lance’s rapid breath hit his face, and that’s when Keith realized how close he was. He was close enough to see small freckles dotting across Lance’s cheeks, and to see his eyes taking him in. After a moment, he was just surprised Lance hadn’t pushed him away. “What were you down here for in the first place?”
Lance’s face was red—Keith presumed he was flushed from the workout. “Hunk made lunch, I thought you might be hungry. Plus, I hadn’t really seen you all day.”
And Keith was pissed that something in that sentence made his face fall of all cockiness, replaced with surprise. “Oh,” he said simply. Lance’s breath was finally evening out, but he still hadn’t shoved Keith off his waist. He was just sort of looking at his face, seeming a little confused. “Did I hit your head?” he asked, suddenly worried.
“No,” Lance said, coming back to his senses. He tried to move Keith, with less anger than Keith would have expected. Maybe his arms were just weak. Keith made it easier for him and stood up, offering a hand to help him up. Lance took it. “No, I’m just hungry. I’ve now swam and worked on hand-to-hand combat, Keith, you wouldn’t understand how much that takes out of you.”
Keith rolled his eyes once again. “Okay, Lance, whatever you say.”
“Oh, good, then let’s get lunch,” he said. He dropped Keith's hand and had a spring in his step as he walked down the corridor to the kitchen.
“Hey, dude!” came Hunk’s voice before Keith could even see him. Lance ran ahead and sat in front of him, about to speak before Hunk said, “Oh, Keith! Haven’t seen you all morning, man. You hungry?”
Keith nodded, hopping up into a seat in front of him. “Yeah, what did you make for lunch?”
“Not much, considering it’s space goo,” Pidge said from the doorway, crossing the room to sit next to Keith. She sounded like she was joking, but Hunk was defensive anyways.
“Hey! I think this is gonna be kinda like a mac and cheese sort of deal. Just try it!” He splattered something that was blue and had the same texture as the space goo into bowls for everyone, sliding each one in front of someone. “Voila.” He sat down and started eating it himself, humming happily. "It's pretty good guys!"
Keith munched quietly on his bowl as everyone did the same, discussing little things about their day. He couldn’t get the image of Lance’s face that close to his own out of his mind. There were probably many things that he never addressed about Lance since they never came in close contact, but that was something different. For a moment, Keith had liked being there, so close to him. And Lance hadn’t pushed him away.
What the hell?
However, Lance apparently wasn't overthinking it, as he was back to his typical self. “Guess what guys? I totally beat Keith at his own game today. I beat him at hand-to-hand combat!” came Lance’s voice in the present. Keith’s head snapped in his direction.
“I highly doubt that,” Pidge said through a mouthful of their sort-of-mac-and-cheese lunch. She snickered at Lance's expression.
“It’s true!”
Pidge looked to Keith for confirmation, a skeptical look on her face. It was pretty well-known that Lance preferred to stand back and shoot, rather than act in close combat. “Really?"
“Yeah, one out of three,” he said, rolling his eyes. “And by cheating.”
Lance scowled at him defensively. “Who cares, Keith? I swept you off your feet! I think that it counts, you said it yourself. One out of three.” He angrily took another bite of his lunch.
Keith looked up from his bowl at Lance, raising his eyebrows at his words. He was surprised by the bluntness of them, but was sure he had just used the wrong phrase. He was looking for, ‘tripped.’
Hunk and Pidge both chuckled and looked between the two. “Oh, did you?” Hunk said, setting his spoon in his bowl for a moment. “Wow, who knew fighting could be so romantic?”
“Huh?” Lance spat out.
“’I swept you off your feet, Keith!’” Pidge imitated in a high-pitched voice, meeting Lance’s indignant tone. Hunk laughed at her and offered his fist for a fist bump, and she made an explosion sound as they collided.
“That’s not what I meant!” Lance exclaimed loudly, his face red.
Keith could feel his own cheeks going pink as he butt in, “Yeah, what he meant was that he cheated by tripping me.” Right, so Lance had just stumbled over his words.
Lance stood, pointing at Keith. “If it were a real battle- “
“It wasn’t—!“
“Hey, what are we arguing about?” asked Shiro, and they both turned to look. He came into the kitchen, walking to get a bowl for himself. He seemed surprised at their arguing. “I could hear you down the hall. Anything worthwhile?”
“Well, I won a competition in training, and Keith is totally butthurt about it.” Lance looked pleased with himself finally, as though getting his side of the story out first validated it, and he sat to start eating again.
Keith groaned. “And all I’m saying is that the one time he won, it was by cheating.”
Before Lance could respond, Shiro chuckled and shook his head at their bickering. “Well, I’m glad you guys were at least doing something productive.” He took a seat on the other side of Pidge and changed the subject. “So, Allura found another distress signal, and we’re gonna need to send somebody to answer it by tomorrow.”
Everyone looked amongst each other, sharing nervous looks.
“Is it bad? Will it weaken our defenses?” Keith asked Shiro once he finished his bowl of goo.
Shiro hardly glanced up. “No, not really. And besides, we’re here to help as many people as we can escape the Galra. This will be a good moment for you to lead, Keith.”
“Are we sending everyone down?” Pidge asked.
“No,” Shiro answered. “We have reason to believe that it isn’t too dangerous at present. It’s a small planet, so there aren’t many Galra soldiers down there, from what we're understanding.”
It was silent for a moment. “So, what is it that they need?” Keith asked.
Shiro looked up finally, a contemplative look on his face. “Well, Allura could probably answer that better right now,” he began, “but we think they’re low on resources. They’ve lost access because of some sort of binding the Galra set up. They’re limiting even though they’re not there. We need to destroy that so the people will survive.”
Keith nodded. “And we’re going tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yeah, we’re not close enough yet. And you should probably get a little rest before going. You look a bit…disheveled.” Shiro cracked a smile, twiddling a messy lock of hair on Keith's side.
Both Lance and Pidge giggled a little bit at that.
“Fine, who’s going with me?” Keith asked, after glaring at them both. Pidge was on a roll of being a little shit that day.
“Up to you,” Shiro said.
“I want to go!” Lance said excitedly, pushing his bowl away. “I haven’t done anything—“
“We’ve noticed,” Pidge muttered.
“-exciting,” Lance finished, shooting a dirty look in Pidge’s direction. “In a while. I think I should go.”
Great. While Keith was confused by whatever it was that had happened between them, he was supposed to take him on a serious mission. Didn’t sound completely appealing. “No, Lance, you need to stay behind,” he said. “Talk to Shiro about what they’ve found out so you can tell me later. I’ll take Allura.”
Lance sputtered indignantly for a moment. "Shiro can tell you himself!" He looked confused, and Keith felt bad. Lance technically was supposed to be his right-hand man, and who knew if they'd need a sharpshooter. Well, they probably wouldn't, if these people were nonviolent and there were no Galra there. Either way, he needed time to clear his mind.
"It'll be easier to multitask, Lance." He shook the guilt from his conscience and went on, “Pidge, do you want to go as well?”
Pidge straightened up and stopped laughing at a joke Hunk had made to her, then fixed her glasses on her face. “Definitely.”
“Good, you have your team,” Shiro concluded for Keith. “I’ll let Allura know as soon as I’m done. For now, though, finish your lunch and go clean up. We’re sending you guys down tomorrow.”
Keith nodded. He stood to put his bowl away and felt eyes on him. It was obviously Lance, and Keith tried to avoid his gaze as he walked out of the kitchen.