Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lance watched as the Galra fighter lined up to dock with the castle ship.

“There you are beautiful.” He crooned gently. “Almost home.”

He heard a sigh next to him but didn’t take his eyes off the ship.

“Just go to the hangar and welcome him back, you’re going to be useless here.”

Lance let his eyes flick to the large Samoan boy at his side then back to the screen. He nodded at Hunk. “Tell Shiro I’m gonna be a bit late for the meeting.” Then he took off running. Outside the hangar doors he caught his breath and calmed down his heart rate.

He could do this, no sweat.

Easy peasy.

He moved close enough that door sensor activated then walked into the room.

The Galra fighter sat parked in the bay, but it’s pilot had yet to disembark. The doors opened and a short boy with pale skin and an unfortunate black mullet came stumbling out. Lance let out a relieved breath as silently as he could and tried to turn his grin of absolute joy into a more subdued smirk. He’d always been good at hiding his emotions and Keith wasn’t exactly observant. The smirk quickly left his face as he really took in Keith. He was paler than normal, especially around the mouth and looked like he was sweating heavily. His eyes were glazed and his hands were obviously shaking. How the hell had he managed to fly in that state?

Keith wobbled and Lance was there supporting him. “Dude! You alright?”

Dull, twilight colored eyes looked up at him. He’d never seen those stunning eyes look so flat.

“Not really, trying not to pull a Hunk.” He did look kind of green…

“C’mon. Let’s get you somewhere you can hurl.”

Lance supported as much of Keith’s weight as the other boy would allow, even in this state he was surprisingly stubborn, and headed to the nearest space bathroom. They were more like locker rooms in this part of the ship but they had waste disposal so Keith would be able to blow chunks with easy clean up. He wasn’t surprised when Keith proceeded to do just that the tic they got to a waste disposal unit. That internal willpower had always been a driving force for Voltron. Lance still tried to find that missing sense of drive when they formed Voltron. Don’t get him wrong, Allura was determined, it just wasn’t the same knife's edge focus Keith had projected and it left him unbalanced sometimes.

Lance kept Keith’s hair out of his face and rubbed his back soothingly as his stomach emptied itself. When Keith was paused between bouts of dry heaving, Lance stepped away and used the coms to call the bridge. Shiro picked up.

“Hey Shiro it’s Lance, we private?”

There was a clicking and Shiro’s measured dealing with a crisis voice responded. “Go ahead Lance.”

“I went to the hangar to meet Keith and found him suffering from shock or a panic attack or something. He’s not injured physically but he’s not going to be up to a meeting. I’m going to take him to my room and keep an eye on him.”

He heard Shiro sigh and crisis voice changed to trying not to worry voice. “Okay, thanks for taking care of him, I have to be here…” There was another sigh then Shiro continued “Matt said he almost kamikazed Haggar’s ship to save us. Lotor is the only reason he’s alive.”

Lance swallowed hard “Shit… No wonder he’s breaking down… Feh, still leaves a bad taste in my mouth that we might be allying with Lotor…”

Shiro made a noise of agreement. “I have to go, take care of him Lance.”

“Will do Shiro.”

Lance moved to crouch down by Keith again. “Hey buddy, feeling stable yet?”

Keith groaned and his head fell back, glazed eyes staring in Lance’s general direction.

“Yeah, don’t think there’s anything left to come up…”

Lance supported Keith back to his room, they made a pit stop in Lance’s bathroom where he was able to brush his teeth and drink a bit of water.

Keith’s own room had been stripped bare by the boy himself before he’d left. He hadn’t left a single trace of himself behind. Lance, Hunk and Pidge had been shocked and distressed but Shiro had just grimaced in a way that said he wasn't surprised by Keith’s actions.

Now Keith had returned and Lance wasn’t about to make the shaking, shocky boy wait while he made up a bed for him. He convinced Keith to sit on the edge of his bed and remove his boots and the hard bits of armor that were part of his Blade uniform.

Lance eyed what was left of the suit and sighed. It looked like there were hard bits integrated into the lining unlike the Paladin armor. “Nope. That’s not gonna work. Take it all off, you can borrow some of my space-pjs.”

Keith stood mechanically and started to remove the suit. Lance made a noise that was decidedly higher pitched than usual as pale, smooth skin began to emerge. He quickly turned to his drawers and pulled out the pjs and threw them in Keith’s direction. Now he just had to hope Keith would let him know when he’d finished changing… which considering his zombieish actions… Lance stole a quick peek over his shoulder then returned his eyes to the wall blushing. Holy fuck, the other boy had somehow gained more muscle with the Blade...

Lance looked down at his own armor and decided he might as well change too. The castle closets contained more than one set of pjs, but he should probably wear his civilian clothes just in case he had to go do something… He pulled his clothes out and proceeded to change, keeping his back to Keith the entire time. When he was done he snuck another peek over his shoulder, Keith had finished his own change and was just standing there staring blankly at his hands. He was still trembling.

Lance walked over to him and threw the blankets on the bed back. “C’mon samurai, nap time.”

Keith looked up, eyes still unfocused, but he followed Lance’s instructions. Lance made a show of tucking the other boy in, wrapping him up the way he did his niblings, tucked so tight he couldn’t even wiggle. As Lance pulled away with a satisfied smile, Keith’s eyes focused for the first time and his arm escaped the blanket burrito to grasp Lance’s wrist, keeping him in place. Lance froze, pierced through by that violet stare and the grip like iron on his wrist.

“Please.” Keith’s voice was a mere whisper “You can make fun of me for it later but… please I can’t be alone right now…” the tremble in Keith’s cold clammy hands increased and Lance could see some moisture gathering at the edges of his eyes.

Lance nodded and Keith released his hold, blushing as he rolled to face the wall. Lance undid all his work with the blanket burrito and crawled under. He held his breath as he inched closer to the other boy. Gathering all of his courage he wrapped an arm around Keith’s waist and pulled him close enough to feel his heat. Keith initially stiffened, but slowly relaxed, moving so his back actually touched Lance.

“I won’t make fun of you for this, Shiro told me what Matt said you did. It’s probably a bit muddled but I’ve got the jist of it.”

Keith tensed again but when Lance didn’t press him further he spoke up. “I was in a Galra ship, there was a chance that it could make it through Haggar’s barrier, then the coalition could’ve stopped her and y’all would’ve been safe… If it didn’t work… I’d never have to know…” There was a gulping sound and Keith’s voice was cracking. “You’re my team, my family, I wasn’t about to lose you.” His shoulders shook and Lance didn’t doubt he was crying. He wrapped his arms tighter around Keith, affirming they were both alive.

Keith shook his head. “Coming into the hangar, realizing that somehow I was still alive when I’d known with every fiber of my being I was dead? It was…disorienting. I couldn’t handle it…”

Lance chuckled “I was lucky when I jumped in front of that explosion to protect Coran, I didn’t have time to think about the possibility of dying. Still, it gave me some pretty intense nightmares…”

Keith rolled until Lance could see his face in the dim light, not well enough to make out his features, but his general face shape was there. “We’re just going to keep adding to the nightmares. I thought my one of floating alone through endless space until I suffocated was bad, this is going to be an unpleasant addition to that one…”

Lance shook his head “How many times have you been thrown through space? I don’t blame you for that one at all… Well, I’ll protect you from nightmares tonight, so go to sleep already.”

Keith’s head bobbed and he rolled back onto his side. Lance lay there thinking about the last battle, about how close to death they’d all been. At how Keith had called them family. The warmth nestled safely against him. With these thoughts swirling in his head and the gentle sound of steady breathing, Lance fell asleep.

Waking was a slow, languorous event. Lance lay in that lovely half awake state where his mind was completely blank but he could feel just how warm and comfortable he was. He felt the heat source next to him shift slightly and reflexively pulled it closer, stroking soothing along smooth skin. He lowered his head until his face was buried in soft hair and inhaled deeply. A warm smokey scent with a hint of spice made him feel even more like melting. The hair tickled his face and he reluctantly pulled away, eyes blinking slowly awake as awareness made its way like molasses into his brain. In the dim lighting of the room he could just barely make out the contrasting pale skin of the face that pressed itself into his chest.

Lance smiled as languidly as he’d done everything this… morning? They’d fallen asleep sometime in the afternoon, god only knew what the actual ship-time was. Whatever, not important. What was important was the boy with his hands clinging to Lance’s shirtfront, his legs tangled with Lance’s and, oh , oops, Lance’s hand stroking his side underneath his shirt. He should probably stop that. He eventually remembered he was a gentleman and pulled his hand out from underneath Keith’s shirt. Lance sighed in quiet discontent, the smooth silky fabric of the Altean pajamas was nothing on the smooth warm skin he’d been stroking.

An indistinct murmur came from the level of his clavicle and a nose nuzzled deeper into the fabric there. Lance raised his hand to Keith’s hair and began winding his fingers through it. Much better than Altean fabric. A happy humming noise came from the other boy and his head pressed lightly back into Lance’s hand. Lance closed his eyes as warmth bloomed inside his chest. Mierda , it would be way too easy to get used to this, to think that this was a sight, a sensation, that only he would get. His smile faded. It wasn’t though. Keith wasn’t his. Still, he decided to enjoy it while it lasted. A guilty voice in the back of his head called him a slime ball, that he was taking advantage, but he was letting his selfish side win, letting himself have this moment.

Lance wasn’t sure how long he lay there staring at his sleeping friend, selfishly playing with his hair, before Keith began to stir. He woke slowly. Lance’s eyes could barely make out his dark lashes fluttering against pale skin. Then the eyes blinked and were open.

“Hey there hotshot, sleep well?”

Lance cursed the darkness that refused to let him make out the other boy’s expression as he looked up at Lance.

“Mmm… Slept like the dead.”

Lance stiffened, suddenly all the warm languor was gone and he was filled with an icy chill. His breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened in surprise.

“That’s not funny Keith.” Lance’s voice was broken, choking on the words. His friend had come very close to death yesterday and the only reason Lance hadn’t freaked out about it was because he’d had to be strong for Keith.

They all knew how short their lives were likely to be out here. Especially since most of them had a sacrificial streak in them. They all knew they could die, that their sacrifice should mean something was important, saving someone else… It was instinctive. He’d done it, Allura had done it and Keith had done it. They’d been lucky so far but the odds wouldn’t always be in their favor. Lance had done a lot of introspection and knew he would regret all the people his death would hurt, but it wouldn’t stop him doing his absolute damndest to save as many people as he could before his time came. He’d make his death worth it, just like Keith had tried to do yesterday.

As much as Keith’s death would’ve devastated him, he couldn’t blame him for his actions.

Keith reached up and callused fingers brushed his cheek lightly, coming away damp.

“Sorry. I know it’s not funny. Shiro’s macabre sense of humor is contagious.”

Lance snorted. “You both need to leave the jokes to me. Hunk does too, all he does are terrible puns and science jokes no one else gets.”

Keith made a noise of amusement. “I like his puns.”

Lance scowled down at the other boy. “ Madre de Dios … You would like puns… Why am I stranded in space with a bunch of people with warped senses of humor?”

He felt Keith shrug “Guess you just got lucky.”

Lance chuckled. He noted that he was still playing with Keith’s hair and felt his face heat up in embarrassment. He should probably stop that now… He reluctantly pulled his hand away and wondered what he should do with the arm now. Keith made a protesting noise as Lance’s fingers left his hair and Lance blinked. Maybe?

Keith made a happy noise as Lance’s fingers returned to his hair. Lance smiled and let his amusement show in his voice “Y’know I never took you for the cuddly type.”

“That’s funny, I’m not in the least surprised you’re a cuddler.”

Ahhh, there was that sarcasm, he was definitely feeling better. Keith’s face was still turned up to him, pointy chin digging into his chest. It was uncomfortable but Lance was happy to have that pain for as long as possible. His numb arm under Keith was a more pressing problem… That was going to hurt like a bitch when he got circulation back. Lance nearly missed it when Keith continued in a soft voice. “I never really had anyone to cuddle with before.”

Lance quickly refocused all of his attention back on Keith. Somehow, despite the dark, Keith felt the change in focus and squirmed uncomfortably. His face turned away from Lance and back into his chest, sharp little chin no longer digging into him. Lance tugged a strand of hair lightly, and said in a falsely casual voice “Well, you’ve got people now. Hunk is a dream to cuddle and the gremlin can be surprisingly tactile depending on her mood. She’s got boney elbows though and will dig them into you with no mercy. You should’ve joined our cuddle puddles long ago. We just thought you were touch adverse, so we gave you space.”

Keith sighed, body going loose again. “I’m just awkward, not really adverse. There’s probably only so much I could stand at a time though.”

Lance grinned “Oh believe me mullet, we know you’re awkward.”

One of the hands that had been pressed between them pulled out and jabbed him sharply in his side. Lance’s whole body spasmed and he yelped “ Hijo de puta! Fuck Keith! See if I invite you to cuddle ever again!”

Lance could imagine the level stare on the other boy’s face as he said in a flat voice “That’s unconvincing considering what you just said about Pidge.”

“Dude, you said you were awkward first! I was just agreeing! We think the awkward is adorable.” Lance felt Keith’s arm move and quickly grabbed it. “Nope. None of that. You’re part of a family, we get to embarrass you with impunity.”

Keith grumbled but Lance could tell it was half hearted at best. His hand relaxed in Lance’s and holy shit… they were holding hands. Lance couldn’t make himself let go.

They lay there for a long time, just listening to each other breath when Keith broke the silence and asked “What time is it?”

Lance made a moue of disappointment but released Keith and rolled onto his back, the most he could move with Keith trapping his left arm, and turned his head to glance at the clock by his bedside.

“Huh. We actually didn’t sleep that long. We have time to change and shower before dinner.” Lance paused “Assuming dinners at it’s normal time…”

“We’ll go on that assumption.” Keith said lightly.

“Ugh… This means we have to move doesn’t it?”

There was a grin in Keith’s voice as he said “Well I suppose you don’t have to.” Then he scrambled over Lance, miraculously managing not to accidentally jab Lance somewhere soft and sensitive. “I call first shower!”

“Hey!” Lance yelped “It’s my bathroom!”

The door whooshed open and closed cutting off Keith’s laughter. Lance grumbled as he sat up. He adjusted the lights so they were on and looked at the scattered armor on his floor. Lance felt musty after sleeping in his clothes, but he didn’t really have anything else to wear… He didn’t want to eat dinner in his armor or potentially meet important people in his pjs… He could change into a pair of pj bottoms and clean his clothes quick, the Altean laundry was efficient and it would probably be done before Keith was out of the bathroom. Lance grinned, problem solved.

Keith was done in a surprisingly short amount of time. He emerged from the bathroom with steam billowing around him making him look soft and warm dressed in Lance’s pajamas. He hadn’t exactly had any other clothes to change into in the bathroom. Yeah. Everything Keith was doing was making Lance feel all gooey inside. He should really get that under control before interacting with his teammates… So instead of walking over to the boy who was rubbing his hair dry with a towel and kissing him senseless, he said “Quiznark, no wonder your hair is always a mess. That’s so bad for it.”

Keith cast him an amused glance and waved at the open door. “Go worry about your own hair, mine's fine the way it is.”

“There’s nothing fine about a mullet, Keith.” Lance stated in utter seriousness, then grabbed his clothes and made his way into the bathroom. He heard Keith snort behind him and smiled. Damn, he’d missed this. His friendship with Keith had always been complicated but so much fun once they’d hit an equilibrium. As crippling as his feelings for the other boy could be, the friendship itself was so much more important. He wouldn’t risk that.

Lance almost felt guilty about his nap when he saw how exhausted all of his friends looked. The meeting had only broken up a varga or so ago and the Paladins plus Coran and Matt were drained. They’d all had a chance to change out of their armor though. Lance was relieved to hear that they would have dinner as a family instead as another diplomatic thing .

Most of the ambassadors had returned to their own spacecrafts. Those that came from planets without space capabilities had access to a different wing of the palace and had food-goo delivered to their rooms. Access for them was restricted to common areas. As much as they’d like to trust everyone, Lotor was on board (his ship was not meant to be lived in) and there was no way anyone wanted him to have access to things like the control systems. Lance wasn’t particularly sure he wanted the ex-prince to have access to the hall that held their rooms.

Keith had changed back into his Mamoran suit despite Lance’s protests and so was the only one in uniform for dinner. Lance wondered idly if the armor had helped any when Hunk had lifted him off his feet in a crushing bearhug. Shiro’s hug was probably just as bad. Everyone became impatient at that point and Keith was once again the epicenter of a group hug as Pidge, Allura and Coran rushed the two of them. Lance joined in and Hunk swooped in for a second hug.

They were all laughing and crying like maniacs, even Lance who’d had Keith all to himself for several vargas already, was enveloped by the feeling of finally having their family back together.

Dinner was goo, Hunk hadn’t had time or energy to try and make something for them but he was promising Keith that he was going to make something spectacular for breakfast to celebrate his return.

Shiro casually mentioned he’d asked Kolivan to bring Keith’s things back and they were in his room. They weren’t sure how long Keith would be needed and there was no point in him jumping back and forth between the Mamoran base and the castle. Lance grinned, Shiro had arraigned that one nicely!

Pidge was sulking because Keith had already met and worked with Matt and she hadn’t been able to proudly display her brother to her absentee adoptive-brother.

Matt and Keith had apparently known each other a little bit from Garrison and Keith seemed to easily accept him into the family even if they weren’t to the hugging stage yet. Lance had a moment of darkness when he heard that, of course Keith remembered someone as special as Matthew Holt. Lance on the other hand… he shook his head and forced himself to shove down his jealousy and resentment. This was a happy moment he was not going to spoil it by pouting! Besides, Lance was on Keith’s radar now. They were partners!

Coran was bubbling over with stories interspersed with moments of him having to hold back tears. He didn’t try very hard and tears would intermittently course down his face as he talked about places and things only he could remember.

Allura’s eyes were flickering from face to face, as if doing a headcount. When her eyes met Lance’s there was a content smile there and a lot of the tension that was usually there was gone. Yes, their task was incomplete and made harder by Zarkon’s return, but she was letting herself have this moment. As their eyes met Lance smiled back in a this is nice way and she nodded.

Lance himself was quieter than usual, enjoying that for once he wasn’t the one having to fill the void of silence, that noise was just happening. Just like back home. Unlike back home though he let himself just bask, with no need to make himself stand out.

When dinner was done he caught up to Keith who was beginning to look a little lost. All their friends were going to go crash, something they deserved after the day they’d had, but thanks to their nap he and Keith needed something to bring them back down.

“So samurai, wanna hit up the training room and get your ass handed to you by yours truly?”

Immediately the lost look disappeared and Keith was grinning at him. “Volunteering to train? I’d suspect an alien replaced you but, well, no one can fake your levels of annoying.”

Lance put a dramatic hand to his chest “Annoying? Me? Never! Hmmm… I didn’t hear a rebuttal in there, guess you’ve finally acknowledged my superior skills!” Lance pretended to preen keeping an eye on Keith for his reaction.

Keith rolled his eyes “I was politely ignoring your obvious idiocy, Paladin training was nothing compared to what the Blade put me through.”

They started toward the training deck and Lance nudged Keith in the side. “Bet it would be a breeze for me, too bad you just aren’t at my level Keithy. Don’t worry though I’ll go easy on you.”

They continued in that manner all the way to the training room, Lance getting more and more ridiculous in his boasts and Keith laughing and poking at his ego. They both knew Keith could kick his ass easily in hand to hand, but the joking made the last couple months of Keith being gone feel like a bad dream. The dream became reality again when the doors whooshed open and they saw someone already occupying the room.

That someone happened to be the ex-Galran Prince and both Keith and Lance immediately tensed up. Prince Lotor took out the gladiator with an easy swing of his blade, then turned to inspect the intruders. It was Lance’s first time meeting the man they’d raced around the universe trying to thwart his plans. They were about equal on being manipulated into doing what Lotor wanted and in the thwarting. Lance really wished that scale was more tilted in their favor…

The tall, lilac skinned man was elegant and for some reason reminded Lance of Allura. Maybe it was just the cloud of white hair that swirled behind him, lord knew Lance felt no urge to go flirt with him, no matter how attractive he was objectively speaking. (What? He could totally admit someone he disliked was pretty! And he could be petty about that fact!)

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt your work out.” Lance was surprised at Keith being the first one to speak. And that his words weren’t as confrontational as his body language.

“I’d nearly finished for the night, it is of no matter.” Lotor’s eyes were steady on Keith but Lance doubted the prince was unaware of every move he was making.

Keith smiled, and it was all sharp and deadly, a dangerous expression. “Robots can become predictable after too long, would you like to switch it up for a round?”

A slight crease formed between Lotor’s eyebrows and Lance got the impression Keith was being truly appraised now. He couldn’t help compare the two. Lotor was a good head, maybe head and a half taller than Keith. They were both leanly muscled, lithe and graceful types that Lance with his sometimes awkward ganglyness pretended he didn’t envy. The prince looked like he had more developed muscles in his upper body in addition to the height and reach advantage. They knew nothing about the prince's fighting style, this would be… interesting… and wasn’t it just like Keith to find a way of fighting Lotor the second they met face to face?

“That would be appreciated. A living thinking being is always preferable to an algorithm.” Lotor’s voice was smooth, his eyes calculating. “I’ve heard stories about the Blade it would be an honor to spar with one.”

Keith frowned as he moved to stand opposite Lotor on the deck floor unsheathing his dagger. “I haven’t been a Blade long, I’m afraid you can’t use me as the standard.”

Lance blinked. Was Keith worried about something? It wasn’t like him to deflect like that. To downplay his abilities. He knew he was good, and he may not brag like Lance but he acknowledged his own competence. Plus it was weird to see him so… polite. Keith was always blunt with little patience for diplomatic pandering or talking around a subject.

“It will still be an honor.” Lotor bowed slightly never breaking eye contact with Keith.

Lance let himself lean against the wall, body tense as with some unspoken signal, they ran towards each other swords meeting with a loud clash of alien metals.

Lotor obviously had the advantage in size and strength, his hand-and-a-half sword would be a claymore for Keith, but Keith was all fluidity and speed. Instead of clashing and taking the punishing blow, the swords slid along each other.

Half the time Keith moved himself rather than his sword, managing to always be where Lotor’s blade wasn’t. As always Keith was beautiful in combat but Lance reluctantly admitted that Lotor was an equal partner in this dance. His style was less fluid and took advantage of his strengths against his smaller opponent, Keith was working hard for every opening he created. Lance was almost positive Keith kicked Lotor in the leg at one point. Not what he expected from a sword fight, but this was Keith after all. Predictability was not his middle name.

They went at it for a varga and a half before, at another unspoken signal close-ranged fighters all seemed to have an inherent knowledge of, they disengaged. Both were breathing heavily and trying not to pant outright (showing weakness after all). Lotor saluted Keith with his sword before sheathing it, then made another tiny bow to him.

“I must thank you, that was most satisfactory. If all Blades are as well trained as you my father truly has much to fear.”

Keith nodded slightly in acknowledgement as he moved aside allowing Lotor to leave the room. Lance noted that the prince was trying very hard not to limp. He wasn’t succeeding very well. So that had been a kick, Lance grinned wolfishly. Take that.

The door closed and Keith spun, throwing his blade at the door with an angry shout that made Lance jump and stare at the former Paladin in shock.

“What did that poor door do to you?” He asked in a reflexively jovial tone. Keith’s eyes were burning with that beautiful indigo passion (in this case rage, lots and lots of rage) as he spun on Lance.

“That fucker was toying with me the entire fucking time! He was holding back, and he has the audacity ! Ugh!” Keith threw his hands up in rage and spun on his heel to go collect his dagger. Lance couldn’t help where his eyes lingered, Keith had an extra sway to his stride when he was angry, it was a little distracting…

“He might’ve been holding back, but it’s not like you were showing all you had. We don’t trust each other so it’s best to play our cards close to our chest. And I doubt he was toying with you, if he was he wouldn’t’ve had to try so hard to hide that limp.” Lance’s knew his smile was on the vicious side, that had been a tiny revenge for those months chasing the crafty Galran.

Keith had turned back and was approaching Lance, sheathing his dagger. His anger had turned into a pout that made his lips almost as distracting as his hips had been. Lance was glad he had lots of practice suppressing his thoughts about pretty people.

“Still, I owe Lotor.”

Keith blinked in shock at those words. “What did he ever do for you?”

Lance grinned crookedly “He made it so I’ll only get half the bruises I was expecting to get tonight. He wore you down a bit at least.”

Keith smiled up at him “Hmmm… we’ll just have to see about that .”

God Lance loved that smile.

Chapter Text

Lance could feel his focus slipping, frankly, with his attention span he was lucky he’d lasted as long as he had through the interplanetary negotiations that were going on. Don’t get him wrong, Lance knew he was good at the interpersonal relationship aspect of negotiating. He found it interesting and enjoyed finding ways to benefit various parties on whatever issues were important to them. He enjoyed it more when they were doing the schmoozing and buttering people up part of it, he was damn good at getting people to relax, but these meetings had been going all day ! Even lunch had been a diplomatic thing . The way things were shaping up he could only pray dinner wouldn’t be.

The last two Vargas had been a test of endurance though and Lance noticed that even Allura was flagging.

His eyes flicked over to where Keith was standing with the Blade of Mamora. His posture was “at ease”, he’d never really left the military training of the Garrison behind, amusing considering his “discipline issues”. Lance had wondered over and over how exactly Keith had been booted. He wasn’t good at taking orders, the only person who he easily deferred to was Shiro. But what did he actually do ? Mouth off one too many times? Punch a commanding officer? He could see that happening easily… Lance wondered if Kolivan had been able to tame the smouldering fires that fueled the former Paladin. Judging by yesterday… probably not. Well, despite where Keith stood, he was back with them now. The Blade could just deal.

“-and we could easily trade the ore for more medical supplies we are running dangerously low-“

His gaze was caught be a form shifting. Prince Lotor had yet to say anything, he seemed to be mostly forgotten by the assemblage of aliens, but every time he moved Lance felt himself tense. He had been observing the entire time, taking everything in with calculating eyes that made Lance want to shiver. Occasionally his eyes flicked to the Blade members, to Keith , and Lance wanted to bristle and growl. He told himself his reaction was the same when Lotor examined any of his space family, but his interest in Keith felt… different… More intense. Lance didn’t like it one little bit.

He let his eyes return to Keith and barely held back a smile. This was not an area the other boy excelled in. His expression was glazed and had been since ten minutes in. Pidge and Hunk could be as bad but there were points on interest, mainly technical, that could draw them out of their glaze. Nothing said so far had really related to strategy against Zarkon or future fighting beyond continued assurances of mutual assistance against the Empire, the kinds of things that would draw Keith’s interest.

They’d only managed to liberate a third of the Empire so far. They still had a loooooong way to go, though everyone felt more hopeful now. It had been a huge blow dealt to the empire and he shouldn’t be feeling so pessimistic.

Lance was broken out of his reverie (damn he’d really zoned out there he’d have to get a transcript of what he’d missed) by Allura’s clear regal voice that demanded the attention of all in the room.

“It has been a long day and we’ve made remarkable progress, might I suggest we break for the day and continue again refreshed tomorrow? The castle will be open for mingling and refreshments in the main entrance for a few Vargas for those who wish it.” Allura sure had a way of phrasing requests in way that you didn’t even consider refusing. You just went with it. And everyone did, there was shuffling and polite noises as dozens of people made their way out of the room.

Lance was always amazed at the sheer variety of alien life. And yet surprisingly evolution made some things pretty standard, bilateral symmetry was almost a constant and bipedalism surprisingly common.

Allura turned to them and said in a low voice that was mostly covered by the alien shuffling “I know you all must be tired, but two Vargas of mingling is all I ask, then we can have a family dinner.”

The Paladins all nodded, Pidge with the most reluctance. Lance stood and scanned the crowd, the familiar mullet sticking out like a sore thumb. Keith was pretty far away but Lance was a Paladin and the ambassadors made way for him easily. He caught up and threw an arm around the others shoulders and grinned. Keith didn’t tense and smiled slightly back. Progress. “Allura says two Vargas then we can boogie.”

Keith raised an eyebrow at that. “Well, as a lowly grunt of the Blade, I don’t have to play diplomat.”

Lance pouted “Oh, come on man! You can’t just leave us hanging like that! You should know better, teammates get to suffer together too.”

Was he imagining that Keith was leaning into him slightly? He wasn’t imagining the widening of the playful grin on his face. Keith tried to put in his usual brooding face as he rolled his eyes “I suppose I can mingle a bit without it killing me. But you get to deflect anyone that starts to annoy me or Allura will kill us both.”

Lance cocked his head to the side “Why would she kill me too? I’ve got nothing to do with your lack of people skills.”

Keith’s grin was smug “I’ll tell her it’s your fault I was there instead of safely away from almost certain diplomatic disasters.”

Lance gasped and clutched his chest “Betrayal! How could you throw a former teammate under the bus like that! I thought we bonded!”

Keith snorted and shoved Lance in the side. “God you’re an ass. C’mon let’s go see if anything Coran made is edible.”

Lance sighed “Too bad Hunk had to be in the meeting all day. We’d know something was edible then…”

Luckily for their taste buds Coran hadn’t been the only one cooking. Many of the delegates had spaceships with full crews that including cooks. They had luckily contributed to the canipés available. They grazed, not wanting to be too full, but dinner was likely to be goo and it was nice to have anything else.

Keith did remarkably well at not losing his temper, many of the delegates were still suspicious of the BOM, but with Lance there didn’t make any snide remarks. Lance was animatedly chatting with the Hrathog of Menis Torr, apparently a military advisor, and Keith was adding an occasional comment obviously fully engaged in the conversation. It was the best he’d done all night in actually interacting with people other than team members and Lance felt a warm sort of pride about that.

He didn’t notice Kolivan join them until he actually spoke. Lance was the only one to visibly startle and he glowered slightly at a smug looking Keith who mouthed “situational awareness” at him. Lance stuck his tongue out and noticed that Hrathog was bowing and making his excuses.

“It was most enervating talking with you, come find me if you have time tonight, I’d like to hear more about the battle for the ion cannons.”

Then he was gone and Kolivan was staring at them. Lance had to fight not to shift in front of Keith, he had no problems with Kolivan. Dude was awesome, he just was also Keith’s current leader and could take him away again. A rare smile appeared on his normally stoic face.

“Your belongings have all been transferred, until we have need of you for a mission you are to stay with the Paladins. We’ll let you know our training schedule but you may train with your friends if you wish.”

Lance felt a wave of relief wash through him. Kolivan really was a cool dude. Keith’s lips quirked in a half smirk “Thanks. I’ll probably take you up on that, can’t afford to get rusty just because I’m home.”

Lance eyed the boy. “Hey Kolivan? Make sure you let us know when he’s with you. Knowing this idiot he’ll try and train with both of us AND on his own. We needa keep him from overworking himself.”

“Of course Lance, a Blade should respect their limits.”

Keith scowled at the both of them and Lance bit back his laugh. Best not poke the sleeping bear too much.

Lance was the first one to see Lotor approaching them with purpose in his stride. Keith noticed his frown and followed his gaze to the prince. Both of them were stiff and Kolivan didn’t seem at all surprised when Lotor’s voice called out.

“Greetings Kolivan, I was hoping to get a moment of your time in private. Princess Allura has already agreed to listen to my plan but I feel Blade assistance would be invaluable.” Those cold eyes flicked to Keith for a moment before returning to Kolivan. Lance had to hold back a growl. The prince’s continuing interest in Keith was not making him comfortable. Kolivan acquiesced to the request and made his goodbyes to Keith.

Lance was so intent on glaring at the ex-prince’s back that he didn’t notice how close Keith had moved until he spoke in a low voice practically in Lance’s ear.

“He’s planning something. If we can trust him… It might be something worth doing.”

Lance gaped at his friend, mouth hanging open in his shock. On his third attempt of mouth opening he finally managed to get words out in a strangled voice. “You have GOT to be kidding me! We can’t trust that.. that…” he couldn’t think of an insult bad enough to describe the prince.

Keith’s eyebrows had a worrying furrow between them. That was the thinking furrow, as opposed to his confused or angry furrows. That face scared Lance, when Keith actually thought instead of just reacting… Well, he was normally stubborn but this meant he’d be stubborn and give them enough time to see the train wreck he was causing. Lance groaned and covered his eyes.

“ Please , don’t just go with whatever idea he proposes!” Lance knew he was begging but Keith probably wouldn’t catch that. Judging by his huff and rolled eyes, nope, he probably thought Lance was insulting him.

“I’m not an idiot, but if he gets the green light from Kolivan and Allura it might be worthwhile.” He reaches out and poked Lance on the forehead. “Don’t close your mind just because you dislike him. That’s a bad habit of yours.”

Lance raised both eyebrows “Wait, what?”

Keith smirked and with the slight height difference (was Keith shorter or was his memory playing tricks on him?) the angle was so, so tempting … stupid hormones.

“Me stupid. You hated me at first and fought everything that had to do with me every step of the way. Now look at us.”

Hooo-boy… Keith really had no clue… He sighed. “It wasn’t really hate dude, not even dislike, it was jealousy. I felt I had to prove myself better than you. I know now I don’t, we’re different people with different strengths and we help make the team stronger with those differences. That being said, competing with you is just about the best way of relieving boredom out here so suck it.”

Keith blinked rapidly processing that. A weak “Oh.” was all the reply he got. Well he was okay with dropping that subject forever, Keith already knew waaaaay too much about his feelings of inadequacy that he wasn’t really completely over… he probably shouldn’t’ve implied that he was… whatever. Problem for Future Lance.

“C’mon mullet-man lets go see if Hunk’s got anymore recommendations, I’m getting hungry again.” Keith nodded and followed him.

A week of meetings that went from breakfast to just before dinner made Keith bored and restless. Training only did so much, there wasn’t time in the day to get much in. He could’ve spent more time there but it would’ve cut into his time with everyone and for once Keith didn’t want to be alone. Even if he felt like there was excess energy crawling under his skin dying to be released.

The political crap was finally done, last night had been the final celebratory party. He would finally be able to truly work off his excess energy. He’d spent a lot of time hiding, despite Lance’s attempts to drag him everywhere again. Most of the castle’s guests had been returned to their planets and the castle was finally starting to feel normal again. It was amazing how, despite the castle’s size, Keith had felt claustrophobic when there was the potential to run into a stranger in the halls.

He wasn’t feeling that now though. Now he was taking a long overdue break with Shiro. He was cuddled under his adoptive brother’s arm. Keith had finished telling Shiro about his missions with the Blade, his close encounters with death and his agony at watching his fellow Blades die, his feelings that there should’ve been something he could’ve done to save them. Shiro’s eyes were dark with worry and pain.

“Sometimes there is nothing we can do. We can try to save everyone but we will fail, we can only do our best and save those we can. The blade members at least are prepared, they know the odds and are willing to sacrifice for gain…” he sighed “It’s easy to judge and say they should try harder to save each other but… they’re the ones that have been fighting this war for 10,000 years, certain things have been ingrained for a reason. Hopefully the change Voltron is creating can make that sacrifice less…”

“I know, and you guys are helping us. It’s just hard after Voltron, it’s a completely different way of thinking and Coran did a good job installing Paladin instincts in me.” He smiled wryly and Shiro ruffled his hair.

Shiro opened his mouth to continue but he was interrupted by a voice screeching “Hey no fair!”

Keith was startled out of the confidential mood he’d had going with Shiro by that unmistakable voice.

“Hunk! Pidge! Keith and Shiro are cuddling without us! Come on!”

Then Lance was moving towards them with a mischievous look in his eyes. Something about that glint always managed to fire Keith up and his response this time was to leap off the sofa, accidentally managing to hit Shiro in the side in the process. Shiro doubled over wheezing as Keith darted around Lance, who tried awkwardly to grab Keith as he passed by. His startled half response was too slow, Keith was through the door in seconds.

“Hunk! Grab him!”

He could go down the other hallway and avoid the bigger boy entirely but where was the fun in that? Hunk’s face was startled but his attempt at grabbing Keith was more aware and coordinated than Lance’s had been. It availed him not one bit as Keith dove into a roll that brought him back to his feet behind the other boy. Without a backward glance he took off running.

The shriek he heard from Lance made him throw his head back in the first unbridled laugh he could remember since he’d joined the Blade.

He chose his directions randomly, only slowing down when he felt himself a safe distance away from the common rooms. He tried to figure out where he was and what to do now. He didn’t really know what to do now, he seemed to have escaped. It had been kind of silly but he couldn’t deny the thrill of mischievous enjoyment he’d gotten. Lance’s face and that scream! Priceless!

Now though he was starting to get bored with his aimless wandering…

~Coran, Allura, Matt and Keith, report to the commons for bonding time. Keith if you aren’t here in half a varga the team bonding exercise will change!~

Keith grinned, boredom gone at Lance’s voice over the castle speakers. Oh, it was on !

Shiro was biting back a grin as he watched Lance pace furiously back and forth. Lance had explained the cuddle puddle team bonding to Allura and Coran, Matt had grinned at the plan, Keith however hadn’t shown up and his half a varga was almost up. Shiro knew he wasn’t likely too. He’d been challenged .

Lance spun on his heel and pointed at the team which had arraigned themselves on the couch in various forms of overlapped. Pidge’s legs were on Shiro’s lap and her head was on her brother’s. Matt and Hunk had been chatting quietly with the girl about something they’d taken apart. Coran was listening and interjecting into the conversation occasionally. Allura was curled up into the older Altean, much like Keith had been to Shiro earlier. Sometimes he forgot the alien princess was just a teenager too.

“Okay team! New bonding activity is hunting down our missing mullet and forcing him to cuddle!” His pointing finger jabbed at Pidge “You can track his movements right?”

Pidge snorted “Who do you think I am?” She demanded and rolled inelegantly off the couch. She sauntered over to where she’d dropped her bag and pulled out her laptop. She then plunked herself and it down on the floor between Matt and Hunk’s legs. They both leaned down to watch her as her fingers danced across the keys.

“Alright. Got the security system up.” Shiro shifted closer to Matt wanting in on the action. He watched as Keith rolled under Hunk’s grab and sprinted down the hall. Pidge bounced from camera to camera following the boy’s movements. He eventually slowed down into a saunter and just wandered not seeming to be going anywhere. Then they saw him cock his head obviously listening to something. He threw his head back in a silent laugh and took off running again.

Shiro grinned and leaned back. Yup, Lance had managed to trip Keith’s switch. There was no way they’d find him.

“What the?” Pidge’s voice was absent like she wasn’t really aware of what she was saying. It caught Lance’s attention though.

“What?” He demanded.

“He went to Lotor’s room.” There was silence as everyone’s mind reeled from that.

“Why the hell would he do that?” Lance sounded confused, not as outraged as he had been up to now.

“Dunno. Looks like they talked for a bit then Lotor closed his door and Keith took off running again.”

Shiro shook his head, knowing everyone in the room was curious about the exchange. It wasn’t really in character, every time he’d met with the Prince there had been a seething anger poorly concealed.

Pidge continued to follow Keith’s movements a frown appearing on her face.

“THAT ABSOLUTE SON OF A FUCK!” Pidge’s scream of pure outrage was enough to make everyone in the room jump.

Matt swatted her on the head and said in a shocked voice “Katherine Lucille Holt! What would Mom and Dad say to hear you use such language!” Shiro saw a glint in the older Holts eye though that said louder than words he enjoyed his siblings descent into foul language.

Pidge was seething “Oh this little bastard! Who the hell taught him that???”

“What???” Chorused Lance, Allura and Coran.

“He went to the room where the monitor banks are stored and he physically disconnected them !” She practically hissed. “He left ones to critical areas on, and the ones around Lotor’s rooms, but I’m essentially blind to most of the castle! THE LITTLE SHIT WAVED AT THE CAMERA AS HE LEFT!!!” She glared around the room and hissed menacingly “Who the hell taught him this?”

Coran shifted uncomfortably “Well… he was the one that helped me when I was checking the systems in there after the castle was infected.”

Shiro couldn’t stop the low chuckle that escaped him. Suddenly every eye in the room was focused on him, Pidge and Lance glaring, the rest just confused. Shiro knew there was probably a sappy looking grin on his face but he couldn’t help the fond memories that were flooding him “Sorry, that wasn’t at you Pidge, it’s just Keith. He always did enjoy…” hmm… how to put this… “Hide and seek.” He decided on as the least complicated end to Keith’s odd upbringing.

“Hide. And. Seek.” Lance’s voice and face were flat, it was unnerving from the usually expressive boy. “He is going down.” Pidge shared a vicious grin with Lance and Shiro felt a shiver run down his spine. He’d better try and moderate this before it blew out of control. The last thing they needed was Keith ghosting them for a week or something because the game went too far.

“Alright, let’s set a time limit on this or else Keith won’t emerge for quintents.” Pidge was typing furiously in her laptop doing god knows what. “How about two vargas? We can announce it over the speaker system so Keith will know.”

Lance was pouting “It won’t be that hard. Hunk and Coran can go get our eyes back online and Pidge will find him again.”

“I think a time limit is a good idea.” Hunk was a nervous voice of reason as he eyed Lance and Pidge’s determined expressions. Allura nodded in agreement and Shiro breathed out in relief, good this wasn’t going to get too unreasonable. He shook his head though, Lance was underestimating Keith. To be fair he hadn’t exactly shown off this skill before.

Lance was frowning down at the floor. “Fine, we’ll announce the time limit. But we should find out what he said to Lotor.”

Shiro nodded “Sounds like a plan Lance. Why don’t you take point on this mission? I’ll go see what the Prince has to say.”

Lance’s face went slack with shock and disbelief. He seemed to gather himself together and nodded decisively, determination clear in his eyes. Shiro felt a twinge of guilt and disappointment in himself, he really needed to encourage the boy more. He had a good head on his shoulders when he wasn’t acting outrageously. Shiro shouldn’t let his flippant attitude make him dismiss Lance. There were layers to the boy.

He felt the beginnings of a headache growing, had his teachers found him this hard to mould into a pilot and leader? Between Keith and Lance, Shiro felt completely out of his depth. One had run away even though he showed talent at making snap decisions, the other apparently was used to being dismissed when he had good ideas. Well, Shiro would do better now. Try to let them gain the leadership experience they needed. At least in some of the lower risk missions. Listen more to the others. God his head hurt .

He pushed off the couch and clasped Lance on the shoulder in an encouraging way. “Don’t underestimate Keith. But if someone can catch him, I’d bet on you.”

Lance flushed with embarrassment and Shiro decided he’d done enough damage. He turned and left the room to head towards Lotor’s room.

His mind, not surprisingly, dwelled on Keith. They were cousins, once removed. Keith’s father was Shiro’s mothers cousin. Shiro had once looked up to the man with awe. His current feelings were more murky, a dark futile rage lurking in the depths. He’d been a career soldier, had been a pilot and a spy. He’d been an intense man and paranoid as all hell. Shiro now wondered if it was because of Keith’s mother. She had to be at least part Galra.

Keith had not had a normal life growing up. His father had moved constantly, homeschooling Keith, teaching him an eclectic set of skills with no regard to what a child of Keith’s age would normally be learning. Then when Keith had been six both of them vanished. He hadn’t seen Keith again until the boy was fourteen. It was a chance meeting and Shiro had hardly recognized the bright mischievous child in the sullen distrustful teenager. He’d found out that Keith had been in the foster system since he was nine.

Shiro’s parents had been furious. At Keith’s father for disappearing, at the system that hadn’t contacted the next of kin, at the countless foster families that had almost destroyed Keith. They’d snatched him out of the system and started the paperwork for adopting him. Keith had remained suspicious and guarded, it took a lot of time to break through his defenses. He got in trouble frequently but Shiro’s parents always made sure to listen to his side. He still had a good heart, but it was hidden behind strong walls built of distrust, anger and loneliness.

Shiro didn’t know what made Keith decide to apply for Garrison. It could’ve been the fact that Shiro was there, it could’ve been a longing in him for space, it could’ve been a memory of his father. Once he’d decided though there was no stopping him. His education had been unusual, first with his father teaching him advanced theories but skipping basic things everyone else learned, then with the years he spent on the streets when he was a runaway. He’d been at public school for maybe three of the five years he was in the system and it hadn’t been very consistent. He’d fought hard to get into Garrison, they’d been so proud when he’d been accepted when he was 16. Then, Kerberos had happened and… Shiro’s headache intensified and he felt a bit woozy.

He blinked and found himself in front of Lotor’s door. He could’ve sworn he’d still been a few corridors away? He shook his head and knocked on the door.

It opened and a mildly startled looking Lotor stood before him. “Two visitors in one night? I am honored.”

Shiro felt his headache fade and some of his tension went with it. “I’m here to ask about your previous visitor. We wanted to know why he sought you out.”

Lotor’s eyebrows raised further but Shiro got the feeling the shock was feigned and was covering a faint amusement. “The young Blade informed me that you were about to begin a training exercise and that if I left my rooms I would be considered a real enemy combatant and he would not hesitate to kill me.”

Oh fucking Christ Keith… Shiro felt cold metal against his face as he dragged his hand down it. That boy had nothing even resembling tact.

“I apologize.” Shiro groaned “He shouldn’t have said that. We would consider it a hostile gesture but killing you over it isn’t likely.”

Lotor had a half smile, letting some of that faint amusement show. “And why should the leader of Voltron apologize for a Blade member? I noticed his other half is the same as yours, human correct?” Shiro nodded shortly lips tight in a hard line.

“And that announcement… His name is Keith?” Again Shiro nodded, he wasn’t sure he liked Lotor knowing anything more than he had to about Keith… But the Prince seemed to be putting puzzle pieces together, Shiro couldn’t tell what pieces were important.

Lotor hummed “I saw some recordings of the coalition recruitment shows. Allura was introduced as “Keith” and did not act as herself.” Sharp eyes focused on Shiro. “He was a Paladin before he was a Blade.” It was a statement but Shiro found himself nodding curtly again.

Lotor’s eyes gained a new expression, one Shiro couldn’t quite decipher. “Was he perhaps the one that flew the black lion that chased me across the cosmos?”

Shiro felt himself bristle and his eyes hardened, he wasn’t about to let Keith become a target. Abruptly his headache flared sharp and he had to blink stars away from his vision. He found himself nodding.

Lotor’s eyes still held that indecipherable look as he hummed softly. “I grew to respect him, despite his obvious inexperience he proved a worthy foe. I hope he’s as impressive an ally.” Lotor’s eye’s lost that look, back to a careful blank, giving nothing away that he didn’t let them. “I hold nothing against him or any of you, as I told him, I will remain in my room the rest of the night.”

Shiro couldn’t quite lose the worry for his little brother who constantly had to throw himself into the jaws of danger but he managed to respond “I appreciate your cooperation and apologize for the inconvenience.”

They nodded at each other and Lotor closed his door as Shiro pivoted to return to the commons.

Halfway back Lance made his announcement.

~Alright mullet you asked for it! The game lasts two Vargas, if we can’t find you you win. When we do find you though, we win.~

Shiro shook his head, oh Lance. The competitive nature of the two boys made things interesting. Shiro wished most of the time things weren’t as interesting as they tended to make it. Tonight should be fun though, a good game to decompress after battles and meetings.

When he walked back into the commons all eyes turned to him. It was Lance of course that asked the question everyone was dying to know. “Well? What did mullet talk to L’Oréal about?”

Shiro burst out laughing. God, the ex-prince was a walking shampoo ad! Lance crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently as Shiro collected himself. Pidge and Hunk were grinning, so they must’ve already been exposed to Lance’s nickname for Lotor. “Never call him that to his face, I don’t care that he won’t get it.” Shiro’s voice wasn’t convincing as he wiped tears away. “Between you and Keith I swear…”

A long whine emitted from Lance and Pidge spoke up impatiently “What did he say ?”

“He threatened to kill Lotor if he left his room during the exercise”

Allura groaned and slapped her forehead. Shiro wondered if that was an Altean gesture or one she’d picked up from him. Lord knew he’d used it enough. “Surprisingly he didn’t seem offended by the death threat and assured me he wasn’t planning on leaving his room tonight.”

“Hmm… Keith must’ve planned to take out the cameras but didn’t want to expose us to danger of Lotor using the blackout to do something sneaky…” Pidge mused. She shook her head “Well, it’s official, Keith isn’t Lance.”

Lance glared at her “Why do I get the feeling that’s going to end up as an insult to me?” He asked petulantly.

Pidge flashed her teeth in a grin “Because when we talk to you about anything remotely related to technology it’s like talking into a void, there’s nothing there and it’s more like talking to ourselves as we work on something. Keith apparently picks up some of what we’re talking about-“ her face screwed up in annoyance “-and weaponizes it. Glad he’s usually on our side, those Mamorans apparently don’t mess around when it comes to sabotage.”

Shiro smiled softly in memory “Some of that he learned from his father.” Then he froze. Keith was not going to appreciate him dropping that little tidbit. Even if the memory of five year old Keith listening with a serious expression on his face as his father taught him how to disappear, break line of sight with trackers, and leave no trace to be followed, was a weirdly soft memory in Shiro’s head. It probably should’ve been chilling. He rushed on hoping no one would pay attention to that remark. “Lance have you decided on a plan of attack?”

The red Paladin nodded. “Hunk and Coran are going to try and get our eyes back. Allura, Matt, you and me are going to be systematically searching the castle. Pidge will be directing us from here and let us know when she’s got eyes on the mullet and how to ambush him.” Lance gestured to a pile of their Paladin helmets, he’d apparently grabbed them while Shiro was talking to the Prince. Matt was fiddling with Keith’s red helmet looking awkward. He grimaced as he put it on.

Shiro smiled warmly, catching the helmet that was thrown at him and putting it on. “Sounds good. Ready to move on your command.”

Two vargas later the team lay sprawled in the common room in various poses of defeat. Lance was lying on the couch with his feet kicked up over the back and his head hanging off staring vaguely across at the other side of the u-shaped couch.

He hadn’t felt this frustrated in a long time, he couldn’t help the little niggling voice in the back of his head that told him it was his fault they’d failed. Because Shiro had made him team leader. He’d made the wrong calls, Shiro would’ve been able to do it. Shiro was now disappointed with him and would never trust him to lead again, especially if there was anything risky. He would ignore Lance even more when he put his opinion forward. He raised a hand and rubbed his forehead.

Okay, Hunk would tell him he was being dramatic about an impromptu game. Shiro had said from the start that this was yet another thing Keith was unfairly good at. If anyone could’ve found the ex-Paladin Shiro had said it would be him. He wasn’t really disappointed in Lance. God, fighting that voice was hard… He felt exhausted.

Well, time to redirect.

He looked at his friends, they all looked frustrated except for Coran and Shiro who looked amused. Hunk and Coran had a sticky, stringy material still stuck to parts of their clothes. Keith had managed to booby trap the main door and somehow managed to wedge the lock to block the door. Lance had no clue how he’d done it but it had slowed Hunk and Coran down a lot. Most of the first varga was devoted to getting into the server rooms.

Lance supposed they were lucky Keith was avoiding doing anything that would permanently damage the castle because once they’d gotten in it didn’t take them long to reattach the wires he’d disconnected. If he was a real saboteur he’d have cut the wires making them impossible to reattach. Or maybe just used a bomb… Lance shuddered, his memories of being blown up weren’t clear, he had fuzzy flashes and the memory of a lot of pain and that was it.

Meanwhile Lance, Allura, Shiro and Matt had done a systematic search of the corridors following the schematic Pidge had pulled up and directed them through.

They’d had no luck. When Pidge had her eyes back she’d been able to determine he wasn’t in any corridors so they concentrated on rooms that didn’t have cameras. Unoccupied bedrooms and bathrooms mostly. Some small closets that Lance wasn’t quite sure what their purpose was.

Nothing.

Lance had wracked his brain but couldn’t think of where Keith could be. He’d even checked Red and had Shiro check Black. Red had seemed amused by that. He got the feeling she was hiding something from him. Shiro had said Black was feeling smug but wouldn’t elaborate either. So he ended up here, frustrated. Nobody had any ideas.

Then Lance had a rather horrible thought.

“Did you check and see if any of the bay doors were opened? That would set off some sort of alarm you could see right? We would know if Keith had actually left the castle somehow right?”

There was a moment of silence in the room then a small “shit” from Pidge as she typed away furiously on her laptop. There was a tension in the air as everyone thought of Keith alone outside the castle with no one knowing. His Mamoran suit was space worthy but so much could go wrong…

Pidge sighed in relief “None of the doors opened while we were in black out and all of the doors passed a quick scan, so they weren’t sabotaged.”

“Oh thank God.” Hunk breathed out. He was sitting next to Lance’s inverted form and patted him on the stomach. “That was a chilling thought, he could’ve been out there unable to get back in, or some space debris could’ve hit him and punctured his suit, he could’ve accidentally lost his grip and floated away without us knowing!”

“Hunk, breathe.” Shiro’s firm voice cut off Hunk’s semi-panicked babble. Lance flopped his arm awkwardly to pat Hunk’s thigh, reassuring him as he’d been reassured. Hunk took a deep breath. “None of that happened. Keith is still somewhere on the ship and he knows he’s won so he’ll turn up eventually.”

“We checked all the ships that aren’t our lions right?”

Everyone looked at Lance. Again.

“No we didn’t.” Allura said slowly “The decks all have camera surveillance on them so we didn’t bother to search them once we got eyes back.”

They all looked to Pidge who rubbed her temples but started searching back through videos. She was grumbling to herself and everyone had returned to staring at nothing when the rooms doors swished open and Keith strode in. Lance had to lift his head awkwardly to see the door around Hunk’s leg but he managed it and a weak glare. Then he let his head fall back against the front of the couch letting the blood rush back into his brain. Fuck it.

It was Hunk who asked the question “So where were you hiding? We were pretty thorough I thought, well, until Lance was like ‘did we check the ships that aren’t lions?’ and we realized we hadn’t checked those…”

Keith didn’t respond but Lance heard his footsteps as he moved closer. And closer. And then he was in Lance’s direct line of vision smirking down at him. It wasn’t an especially attractive angle and he was the wrong way up and yet that smirk made something inside Lance melt. He groaned. “Yeah, yeah mullet, you won. Now tell us how you did it.”

He managed to keep his tone appropriately huffy despite what Keith did to his insides. Keith’s grin widened and he flopped down onto the couch curling up on the side of Lance that didn’t have Hunk, resting his head on Lance’s stomach. “I was in the vents, we use them all the time when infiltrating Galra ships, but the ships would’ve been a good place.”

Lance froze despite his initial reaction to jackknife in surprise at the weight on his stomach. He held his breath until he was sure he wouldn’t choke, and lifted his head slowly to look at the smug dark haired boy.

“All that effort-” he hissed eyes narrowed “-and you just casually join in the cuddling!” Lance’s voice was close to a shout by the end of his sentence. He threw his arm that wasn’t pinned to his side by Keith, out and waved it dramatically. Keith just blinked innocently at him and radiated the kind of content smugness Lance had only thought possible in cats. He let his head drop again and banged it lightly against the couch.

He heard Shiro chuckle as he moved over to slide Keith’s feet onto his lap. “Well now we’re all here we should do the second phase of our team bonding exercise.”

Lance could barely make out Pidge settling in next to Hunk, and Allura against Pidge. Matt seemed to waver before settling next to the princess. Lance glowered at that but kept himself to himself for once. He’d made a fool of himself with her, Matt would probably do the same. Coran moved, presumably to sit next to Shiro but that side of the couch didn’t curve so Lance couldn’t tell how cuddled their space-uncle and space-Dad were.

Still, everyone else was pretty casually cuddled. Keith felt a little more… intimate… The blood rushing to his brain was starting to make him feel light headed. He hated to move but he really couldn’t stay like this long. Plus Keith’s head on his stomach made him overly conscious of his breathing and the rise and fall of his belly.

He tapped Keith on the head and said “Up for a tick.” He felt the weight disappear. He pulled himself up into a v-shape and looked around. Keith had pulled back enough… he should have enough room…

He swung his legs toward the other boy, it took some flexibility to avoid kicking him in the face but Lance managed. His legs now bracketing Keith, he let himself fall back so his head was propped on Hunk’s thigh. He made grabby hands. “Alright, back down.”

Keith’s eyes were wide and he was bright red. Lance noticed the red extended down his neck too and tried not to think how attractive he thought a full body blush would be.

“Come on mullet.” He tried to keep his tone casual, just two bro’s being bro’s doing bro things like cuddling. Keith swallowed but crawled forward until he was lying on Lance’s chest, head turned towards the couch and resting on crossed forearms. All Lance could see when he looked down was that mop of black hair.

Once the other boy was settled Lance threw his legs up to rest on Shiro’s lap and grinned at their leader. Shiro glanced down at Keith then back up at Lance raising an eyebrow. Lance hoped he controlled his impending blush, and tried to shrug casually, like this was totally a normal thing. Shiro shook his head but didn’t make any more nonverbal commentary on the even more intimate position he’d created with Keith.

Lance was beginning to wonder if he was some kind of masochist as he wrapped his arms around Keith’s waist and sighed contentedly.

Lance knew he was scowling worse than Keith at his broodiest but nothing Prince Lotor had said made him trust the Galran any more than he could throw him. He didn’t understand why Allura AND Kolivan seemed to think this plan was a good one.

Yes, the ships Lotor had made from the meteor he’d stolen were powerful weapons that in the wrong hands (like for instance powerful half-Galran super babes that were loyal to the empire and wanted back in despite being declared traitors) could do a LOT of damage but… why did they need such an elaborate plan to retrieve it? Couldn’t they just go in as Voltron, kick some ass and recover the second ship? Hell, destroying the thing wouldn’t be a bad backup plan since it would thwart whatever plan Lotor had for the ships in the first place. And if you didn’t think Lotor had a plan for alternate dimension crossing spaceships, you had to be the biggest idiot ever.

Lance however seemed to be the only one on his team that wasn’t an idiot. Pidge and Hunk had been seduced by the ships and Lotor’s promise to let them examine them thoroughly. Allura, Kolivan and Shiro had been consulted before proposing it to the team and seemed to at least tentatively approving his plan. Keith…

His eyes flicked to the other boy who was staring determinedly with a fire in those dark eyes. Keith saw a mission and he was burning to take action. Just like when he’d been obsessed with tracking Lotor and the odd super powerful Quintessence… Lance squeezed his eyes shut. Fuck. Just… Fuck… They’d barely had him back a week...

Keith had told him again before the meeting to keep an open mind but everything inside him was screaming that this was BAD. He opened his eyes and compartmentalized, removing his emotions and looking at the plan logically. It was obvious that it was going to happen so how could he make it safer?

It was a pretty basic outline, Lotor would go undercover with one or two others to track down his generals who were still on the run from the empire. The ship was unique and should be easy to track. Voltron would be a loud distraction as they attacked strategic targets Lotor had outlined to them. He gave over a dozen places with in depth knowledge of their inner workings meaning disabling them and sowing chaos should be a cakewalk. If he could be trusted.

Dammit, why wasn’t Allura more wary of the HALF-GALRAN PRINCE? She’d been a frozen bitch to Keith (understandably since, you know, trauma.) and she’d known him before she’d known his heritage. Now all of a sudden it was “accept former enemies like trusting them isn’t dangerous”! Ugh…

He took a deep breath and shoved the feelings away again. Focus. The mission would take days-to-weeks because they wouldn’t be able to use the castle ship to wormhole around. They’d be relying on the warpdrive thing that seemed to be everyone else’s way of traversing galaxies. Keith would need an emergency beacon to summon the castle if things got out of control. He would need someone he could trust to have his back either against Lotor or against his three ex-generals. An idea of someone began to form in his head and his eyes flicked to Pidge.

That would give Lotor two hostages against their hearts… But Matt was a strong fighter, brilliant hacker/scientist like his sister and could improvise both plans and tech. Keith could also trust him. He was a good choice of partner for the former Paladin. Lance closed his eyes, clenched his fists and jaw in bitter anger and sorrow. Keith was supposed to be his space ranger partner. Yet another place where Lance was replaceable.

When he opened his eyes again worried purple eyes met his, a question obvious in them. He shook his head slightly and tried to tune back in. He barely heard the slight huff of annoyance Keith let out in response to his dismissal.

“-as for those who will go with me, obviously it can’t be any members of Voltron as you are needed as a distraction. This is why I requested Kolivan’s presence. I was hoping you could lend me a few Blade members to watch my back, assist in gathering intel and fighting my former generals when the time comes.” Lotor’s eyes swept the room making eye contact briefly with everyone, Lance made sure he was glaring, before focusing on Keith. “I have seen first-hand the skill of the former Paladin, he would be my first choice of companions in this endeavor.”

Lance closed his eyes briefly in defeat. He’d hoped if left to Kolivan it would be anyone but Keith going since he’d told Keith to spend time with them. Lotor had apparently been assessing Keith for this mission since they met though, and Lance knew that fire in Keith’s eyes. He was going. Lance shifted uncomfortably.

Pidge was going to kill him.

He cleared his throat and spoke “I have a non-blade suggestion for the third member.” With everyone’s eyes on him he turned to Pidge “Think Matt would be interested?”

Pidge’s eyes went wide and her face paled, quiznark, he hated doing this to her, but she nodded unsteadily. “Yeah.” Her voice wavered but she was resolute. “He’s a good third member. He can keep our hot head out of trouble.” Her eyes cut to Keith and she grinned wobbly, he was an adoptive brother, she wanted him safe as much as Lance did.

Lotor cocked his head “I’ll admit I don’t remember meeting this Matt. I’d like to assess him, and any other potential candidates before any decisions are made. We need to all be able to work together as much as possible for a cobbled together team.”

Allura looked between Lance and Pidge then focused on Lotor. “Matt is a rebel member and brother to Pidge. He is clever and adaptable. He can fight, though he isn’t as skilled in close combat as Keith. He would make a good choice for any infiltration team as he knows how to hack into systems without leaving a trace. The choice is, of course, yours. But I believe you’ll be satisfied with him.”

“He can at least shoot better than the mullet.” Lance muttered sourly. Keith stuck his tongue out at Lance then looked horrified at his childish action, eyes cutting to Kolivan, a slight blush on his cheeks. God he was cute.

Kolivan nodded “Matt is a good candidate but I will create a small list of Blade members for assessment. Keith, of course, is already on it but you may find another you prefer.”

Lotor was talking about the capabilities of the ship he did have and a thought occurred to Lance. These ships were important, maybe they’d be a fair hostage against the Prince’s good behavior.

“Sorry to interrupt, but you are an exile of the empire correct?” Lance knew his tone was bordering on rude judging by Shiro and Allura’s glares, but couldn’t find it in himself to care.

“Yes…” Lotor said slowly as if Lance was an idiot.

“And your ships are both unique designs known to the empire and associated with you?”

Lotor nodded, understanding where Lance was going with this. Lance really didn’t appreciate how smart the other man was, it was dangerous.

“I see what you are saying. Taking my ship would make us more noticeable and paint a target on us. An alternative method of transportation would be advisable.”

Lance cocked an eyebrow “Also, you said that ship wasn’t really meant to be lived on. If you all are going to be gone multiple quintents you need something you can live in. If you have to confront your generals ship to ship the mission is probably bust and you’re screwed anyway.”

Lance had been so focused on Lotor he hadn’t realized the rest of his friends were staring shocked at him. Shiro’s expression morphed into a proud little smile and he nodded “Those are all excellent points Lance. Perhaps one of the rebellions ships would do. They aren’t as fast but they have living quarters and still have firepower. I’m sure Pidge, Hunk and Matt can add a few surprises and upgrades to increase the odds.”

Lance nodded, then remembered he wasn’t in charge here, not even close and flushed. He stared at his feet and tried to focus on thinking of any other ways of making things safer for his friends. Well, there was threatening Lotor, but he probably shouldn’t do it around everyone. His leadership would probably frown upon threats as “unprofessional”.

“Lotor, ” Allura’s voice was regal as ever and all eyes turned to her. “I hope I need not emphasize the importance of your teammates. If anything happens to either of them, whomever they end up being, I fear our alliance will become untenable and we would react accordingly.” Her glare was frosty and Lance fought the wild grin that pulled at his lips. Damn! Go Allura! He really had expected everyone to avoid threatening Lotor since they’d been walking on eggshells around him. He should’ve known their Princess was more than ready to threaten anyone that put them in danger.

Lotor gave the princess a tight smile “Of course. When trust is fragile we must do everything we can to bolster it. I’ll keep them safe.”

Allura nodded, the sharp look in her eye fading. “Then as soon as we have the potential members assembled, we should be ready to go.”

Shiro cleared his throat “And the substitute ship.”

Allura blushed slightly “Yes. We should contact the rebels.” She turned to Pidge “Will you take care of that?”

Pidge grinned and nodded.

“I’ll have the blades I believe suitable here tomorrow and you can choose your companions.” Kolivan addressed Lotor. The prince nodded in acknowledgment, and with that the meeting was over.

Chapter Text

Matt sighed and tried to rub his headache away. Three days. Three days of being on a very confined ship with Keith and Prince Lotor. He felt like fleeing every time the two were in the same room the tension was so high… They kept trying to do that alpha male sizing each other up thing that Matt had never understood.

He was going to have to do something to break the deadlock so they’d be able to work as a team when they needed to… Thus his current plan: Operation Movie Night! Taking a deep breath he tried to saunter casually into the cockpit where Keith was currently piloting. Technically things were mainly on autopilot, only needing a pilot if something were to go wrong and nowhere on the ship was that far away from the cockpit. Matt got the impression that Keith was bored though and this was his way of coping.

“Hey dude, movie night in twenty.”

Keith turned in his seat, dark brows lowered ominously. Or maybe he was just confused, Keith’s expressions were hard to read. He nodded hesitantly though so Matt called it a win.

Finding Lotor was easy, there really wasn’t much space on the ship. Matt knocked on the door to his cabin and entered when bid. He leaned on the door frame and smiled pleasantly when the prince looked his way.

“I’ve got a movie night planned to help us bond. It’ll be starting in twenty dobashes. I hope you’ll join us.” He didn’t wait for a response, just nodded and left.

He’d already prepared the tiny commons area for his movie night. One of the castle’s tablets his sister had sent with him was set up to project the movies she’d had on her laptop, or any of the weird alien movies she’d found while in space. He was so proud of his sister! She’d been so brave in pursuing him and their father all the way to space!

He plopped himself down on one end of the couch and waited. Shortly after Keith padded in, it was kind of freaky how quiet the boy could be. He needed to wear a bell or something when he wasn’t on a mission. Still, the ex-Paladin gracefully sat down next to him with little to no fuss. Lotor arrived a couple minutes later. He hesitated when he saw the two of them curled up on the couch. Well, curled was a loose term, Keith wasn’t exactly touching him though he'd been relaxed until the prince had entered the room…

Lotor settled gingerly on the other end of the couch, next to a suddenly stiff Keith.

Well, that had worked out.

“Alright, so, vote time! Earth or Space movie? You get no choice other than that though.”

Keith snorted. “You’re definitely related to Pidge.”

Matt grinned and winked at the other boy. Lotor seemed to relax into the couch muscle by muscle.

“I would enjoy seeing a movie from your home.”

Keith side eyed Lotor and Matt noticed he’d shifted, pressing himself against Matt, creating an obvious gap between himself and the prince. He nudged the boy with his elbow. “What about you?”

“Whatever works, I’m not picky.”

His voice seemed indifferent. Matt sighed internally, well time to force the issue.

“Well I was hoping for a space movie so you have to break the tie.”

Keith scrunched up his nose. It was really kind of adorable, he got his sister’s stories now. There was a long pause as Keith seemed to be weighing his options. He sighed and slumped down.

“Earth.” The one word held a world of reluctance. Matt had to bite back a smile. He hadn’t expected Keith to side with the prince. He must’ve actually wanted an earth movie but not wanted to have to agree with the Prince. Bonding started.

Earth movie then. Matt grinned wickedly and selected. This was going to be fun.

What are you smiling about?” Lance asked idly. Pidge looked up from the tablet she’d been grinning at. They were in the control room on standby after destroying a Galra research facility. They weren’t quite in safe space yet and were ready to return to their lions if needed as Allura made ready to teladove them out. Pidge was sitting cross legged in her chair and had been positively beaming at and occasionally giggling.

She looked up, that grin making her look so young and mischievous. “Matt sent me a letter and some pictures. He got some pretty funny ones.”

Lance perked up and practically threw himself at Pidge. “Oooooh!!! Share! Share! Share! Share!” He made grabby hands at her. She rolled her eyes but obliged moving the screen so he could see as well. She scrolled back to the start and Lance grinned and laughed at improbable selfies and candid shots of Lotor and Keith that were not flattering (who was he kidding he always found Keith cute even at awkward angles and with bed head. Especially with bedhead).

Near the end though, there was a pic that made Pidge gape and Lance choke on air. Lotor and Keith were asleep and cuddling on a couch! The caption next to it said “They fell asleep during our third movie, I got up to go to the bathroom and found them like this. Hopefully bonding has been achieved because the tension has been killing me!”

Lance looked at Pidge “There’s no way that’s an actual thing that happened. It’s a fake somehow.”

Pidge shook her head “There’s evidence and yet I still don’t believe. Matt’s some kind of miracle worker if he gets Keith to relax around Lotor…”

Lance nodded but his gut was turning uncomfortably. That bad feeling he had about this mission intensified.

 Matt typed frantically bypassing security measure after security measure, hacking to the best of his ability and cursing under his breath.

He heard the clash of weapons and harsh breathing through his communicator, either Lotor or Keith had forgotten to turn it off when they’d last contacted him telling him their plan had gone to hell. Why was that so common out here? Couldn’t he have one mission that went right?

“How much longer Matt?” Keith’s voice was hoarse and he was obviously grinding his teeth. He heard another clash as Keith fended something off.

“Two dobashes. Hopefully. Most of the data’s downloaded but the system is still fighting me and I know the most sensitive data’s behind the security I’m still working on.”

“Got it. Lotor is there anything here we can blow as we leave?”

“I believe I can manage something. Matt let me know when you’ve got thirty ticks, I’ll need a little time to rig it. Keith will you be able to guard me for a dobash?” Lotor’s voice was strained as well and he grunted as something impacted him.

“No Problem.” Somehow Matt could see the wild grin the black haired boy's voice expressed. For some reason he imagined fangs.

Both of them remembered to cut their outgoing coms this time and Matt felt his stomach turn in anxiety. It was somehow worse now he couldn’t hear them. His leg bounced impatiently as he counted down, his hands flying.

“Thirty ticks! Get ready to run!”

He heard an absolutely feral laugh from Keith as he shouted “Lotor, let’s blow this place!”

Lotor didn’t respond verbally.

“Ten-nine-eight”

His fingers twitched brushing the data chip, not taking it but ready to grab.

“Seven-six-five-four”

His throat was dry with fear but, now it was almost time for action again, the adrenaline was pumping and he was ready to move.

“Three-two-one!”

He pulled the chip free and took off sprinting.

“I’m on my way out! Meet you back at the shuttle!”

Keith’s “Rodger” was more a grunt than anything but Matt took it as a good sign. His sister would be pissed if he got her friend killed. The whole reason he was here was to give Keith backup he could trust. And he was split off immediately to gather information while the other two played decoy…

He lost traction and skidded as he rounded a corner and nearly wiped out. He swore and paid attention to his feet.

Crap how long had it been? He hadn’t heard any explosions, or either of the other two for a while.

“You guys still alive? I’m at the shuttle!”

“There was a complication with our improvised bomb,” Lotor’s voice wasn’t its usual smooth tone anymore. He was almost as hoarse as Keith. He coughed and continued. “I’ve almost… There! Keith! Disengage, we need to get out of here now !”

Matt bounded over to the shuttle controls and started the systems up. He knew there was no way he could fly it, but he knew the systems well enough to have them ready to go the second everyone was onboard.

God he hated his tapping foot. It made him too aware of the ticks, ticking away.

When the Prince’s IED went off it shook the shuttle and Matt lost his balance toppling to the floor in an inelegant sprawl. He swore and scrambled back to his feet, the system was ready and though the shuttle had rocked, it didn’t look like anything was damaged. He breathed out in relief at that. One stroke of good luck in this mess.

The doors to the hangar whooshed open and Matt readied his staff, ready to hold his ground until his team was back safe. He needn’t have worried. Keith was barreling towards him, hood up and the mask of his Mamora suit active. Lotor was slightly further behind. Apparently the Blade was faster than the prince despite Lotor’s height advantage.

Keith didn’t slow down as he neared the shuttle and Matt had to dive out of the way as he barreled through the door. He slid into the pilot’s seat and immediately began to do piloty things. Like he said, Matt had no clue what exactly the pilot’s did, he just knew the preflight shit. Lotor slammed the button to close the shuttle doors as soon as he was inside. Keith started the shuttle moving forward before the hatch doors had fully closed. Matt scrambled to his feet and activated his holopad. The second the shuttle doors were closed he opened the hangar doors remotely. Keith didn’t wait for him and Lotor to secure themselves before he took off.

Gravity shoved Matt and Lotor to the back of the shuttle harshly. Matt groaned.

That was going to bruise.

Lotor grabbed his arm, face grim, and yanked him over to some safety straps attached to the wall. He eagerly grabbed onto them and fastened them to the harness he was wearing. Just as he snapped the first buckle Keith made an abrupt turn so they were flying sideways. He hadn’t tightened the straps yet so he was yanked to the end of the strap and swung around back into the wall when Keith banked the other direction. He heard Lotor growl next to him and he had to agree. But Keith was keeping them alive, bruises were a small price to pay. He grabbed the strap and pulled it tight, then finished buckling himself to the wall.

“Matt, as soon as you can, activate the invisibility.” Keith’s voice was calm and focused.

“On it!” He activated the holopad again and typed one handed. “There, you should be able to lose them now! We’ve only got five dobashes so make it count!”

Keith’s response was to somehow accelerate . Matt had thought he’d already been going at top speed. There was nothing more he could do except trust Keith to get them out of there.

Keith was as good as his reputation made him out to be. Matt was pretty sure Shiro wouldn’t’ve been able to pull off some of the stunts Keith had managed. Still it left him feeling nauseous by the time they made it back to the Rebel ship.

He sighed in relief as they docked. The adrenaline had faded from his system halfway back and he was exhausted . But no rest for the wicked, he had data to decrypt. He groaned feelingly as he unbuckled and stood up. They’d been able to move to the shuttle’s chairs when Keith had deemed them out of danger and stopped his headlong dash.

He’d already started to go stiff and he tried to stretch his muscles out. Not that it would help with bruising, but he couldn’t help that his response to the aching was to prod at it. He trudged his way out of the shuttle, leaving the docking to the other two as he made his way to the ships main console. He’d created a sandbox on the journey and downloaded the data into that to isolate it and keep anything malignant that might be in there from infecting their systems. He’d have to run through it with a fine toothed comb but until then he had some time as the data transferred.

He stretched again, yup still ached, then stood and padded to the common area where their kitchenette was. He was going to need a stimulant if he was going to survive another ten minutes much less the time he’d need to decrypt everything. He was musing sadly on the glorious memory of coffee, the hot stimulant drink was nothing compared to the bean juice from heaven, when he entered the room and froze.

He could not believe this.

Keith murdering Lotor? That was plausible.

This?

No way.

Impossible.

He rubbed his eyes wondering if he was hallucinating but when he opened his eyes the same tableau was before him unchanged.

Keith and Lotor were locked in an embrace. Lotor’s arms circled Keith’s waist, one of his hands groping at the dark haired boy’s ass. Lotor’s face was buried in the pale boy’s neck, and he was growling again, though this time the tone was quite different. Keith’s hands were clenched against Lotor’s chest, arms trapped between their bodies. The boy’s dark eyes were glazed, lips parted as he made a sort of... mewling noise?

“What. The. Fuck?”

Matt didn’t realize he’d spoken until the two seemed to snap out of it. Keith’s eyes gained awareness and then widened in horror. He shoved Lotor away. Matt finally got a good look at the Prince’s face and saw the same hazy look turn to horror. He stumbled back, practically throwing himself to the other side of the room.

“What,” Matt said with patience instead of the confusion that was coursing through him. “the fuck ?”

Keith’s face flushed and Matt could see a dark splotch on his neck as he twisted his hair nervously. “It’s… it's a Galra thing. I’ll explain later.”

Matt wanted to protest but Keith’s horror and embarrassment made him hold his tongue. For now at least. Keith took a deep breath, obviously forcing himself to calm down, then turned to Lotor. He didn’t quite meet the other Galran’s eyes as he spoke “For future reference, I do not consent.”

Lotor nodded. “I don’t either. One cannot in that state.” Keith nodded shortly and practically evaporated he left the room so fast.

Matt moved over to the kitchenette counter and began pushing the buttons to create his space “coffee”. He leaned against the counter and raised a brow at the prince.

Lotor averted his eyes and was still trying to get his ragged breath under control.

“Soooo,” Matt drawled “That looked... intimate.”

Huh, who knew the Prince could blush? He was not the cool, composed man Matt had known the past week. He was embarrassed. Which, he should be. Matt had caught him giving Keith a hickey! Still, seeing the prince fidget like that was a treat.

“I... believe it best to leave it to Keith to explain.” The Prince’s voice was stiff. “We will take measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

With that cryptic remark he evaporated as well. Matt just shook his head and grimaced down at the sludge that was no substitute for coffee. Well he had work to do, whatever that was could wait.

A hand on his shoulder shook him awake and he peered up groggily to see Keith. He groaned and rubbed his head which was pounding horribly.

“How long was I out?” He mumbled, only semi coherent. Keith seemed to get it though.

He shrugged “I think four or five Vargas.

Matt gaped “Why’d you let me sleep that long!” He demanded sharply.

Keith just shrugged again “You needed it. You needed to recharge your brain. You were up thirty-two Vargas straight at least. I brought food and more of that sludge you’ve been drinking.”

Both of them grimaced.

“I would kill for a cup of coffee.” Matt muttered. Sighing he stretched. He was stiff as a board now and everything ached. He grimaced. He probably was a patchwork of bruises now.

Keith was eyeing his stiff movements. “Did you get hurt?”

Matt grimaced slightly. “Not really, just bruises from the escape.”

Keith’s face twisted slightly in guilt “Sorry.”

Matt waved a hand dismissively “Don’t be. We got out safely. I can live with some bruising.” Now he was awake and his body had made itself known to him his stomach decided to join in complaining. He pulled the plate towards him and looked at the rehydrated goo. Even less appetizing than normal goo. Fun. Still he began to eat methodically, trying not to think about what he was eating. It was slightly better than the bug things he'd been forced to eat on Raleigh at least...

“I think there’s an ointment in the medical supplies that will speed up healing your bruises. I can go find it for you, the sooner we get it on you the better.”

Matt sighed. There were definitely bruises he wouldn’t be able to reach on his own. Lovely.

“That would be great. Thanks dude.”

The other boy returned around the time Matt was done eating. There was no way he was undressing all the way, he had some dignity to preserve, but he removed his shirt, glad he’d removed his armor before starting to work. He hadn’t been as stiff then. Keith assessed them whistling low when he looked at Matt’s back.

“That bad huh?”

“You’re quite… colorful.” Keith stated.

Matt grunted. “Lucky me. Let’s see how well that ointment works.” He couldn’t see Keith but his words were heeded because immediately cold ointment slathered his back causing him to yelp.

“Sorry.” There was a wince in Keith’s voice and the next smear of ointment wasn’t as cold. When Keith had finished he handed the tube to Matt. He looked down and saw his chest wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d expected. He spot treated the bruises there, then pocketed the tube. “I’ll get the rest later.”

Keith nodded. “Let me know when you need it reapplied to your back.”

“Thanks dude.” Matt rubbed his chin in thought as he examined the other boy. “Pidge was right. You’re nicer than you try to let on.”

Keith flushed and rubbed his neck. That reminded Matt. He raised an eyebrow. “So did you use any of that ointment on the present Lotor left you?”

Keith blushed darker, it spread down his neck and to his ears. He was practically as red as the red lion. But he also looked confused. “Present?” He asked hesitantly.

Matt smirked and tapped the side of his neck. “Nice little love bite.”

Keith’s eyes went wide and he slapped a hand to the side of his neck, failing to cover the actual mark. His mouth opened and closed a few times but only strangled noises came out. Matt took pity on him.

“Come here and I’ll put some of that ointment on it.” Keith obeyed him and the task was soon complete.

Keith wouldn’t look him in the eye, his blush still there, if fainter than before.

“Galra are a bit different than humans. Battle is intoxicating in a way. There’s a reason they conquered the known universe… It’s… addicting. It makes us feel good. ” The flush deepened and Matt got the idea. It made them feel more than good. “It can sometimes trigger a... reaction... When two Galra with a certain… compatibility, are near each other after battle things can… get a little out of control. It's more common for only one Galra to react and the other is able to reject their advances. When both react...”

Keith rubbed the spot in his neck “I’ve had Blade members approach me after a battle but I never… responded before. I wasn’t prepared and neither was he. Now we know, we’ll be prepared and it won’t happen again.”

Matt nodded, the explanation didn’t answer all his questions but he wasn’t going to push Keith more. Maybe he’d corner Lotor. He patted the dark haired boy on the shoulder, trying to channel Shiro in the comforting gesture. “Guess being part alien means having weird shit happen unexpectedly. We’ll just have to roll with it.”

Keith nodded jerkily and, still unable to meet Matt’s eyes, fled the room.

Huh. So he’d never reacted to a Blade before. But he had some sort of compatibility with the Prince. He eyed his now cool mug of sludge and sighed. He had more than enough on his plate right now. Keith could manage Keith.

It was almost scary how smooth their missions of sabotage were going. Lotor’s information had been on point and they’d been surgical in their precision and execution. Lance wasn’t sure when he’d gotten used to things falling apart but things never went this smoothly and it made him nervous. He tried his best to hide it behind jokes and a false confidence and seemed to succeed.

Still he spent more time than he should brooding about it. He wasn’t supposed to be the brooding type and yet here he was… Sitting alone in the living room in his favorite upside down position, worrying about when the hammer would fall and everything would go wrong.

He felt the cosmic irony that it was at that moment the castle alarms went off.

He flailed his way ungracefully off the couch and stumbled into a run as he headed for the bridge. He arrived shortly before Pidge and Hunk to find Allura, Shiro and Coran already there. Allura and Shiro were both in full armor but Pidge, Hunk and himself were in half armor, the chest, arm and helm pieces stacked by their command chairs. They all bee-lined to their chairs to finish getting ready as Allura turned to a screen that Lance hadn’t noticed before she’d turned to it.

“Continue if you please, we are all here.”

“Thanks Princess.” Matt grinned back from the screen.

“Matt!” Pidge dropped her gauntlet and ran towards the screen, she’d gotten two letters from Matt full of stories and pictures but the second had been weeks ago and she’d begun to worry.

“Hey Pidge, glad to see you still in one piece.”

“Right back at ya.” Pidge’s calm was obviously forced and worry was tight on her face. “Hope the face to face means you aren’t about to be in multiple pieces.”

Matt waved a hand dismissively. “No worries there. Keith’s taking care of that with his new toy. Figured I’d call and let you guys know though since we no longer need to be on blackout and I thought Voltron might enjoy coming out to play.”

Allura nodded “I’ve received the coordinates, we will be there shortly.”

Matt’s grin was more serious “Good, Lotor was hurt and will need a pod. He’s still capable of flying for now, which is good cause I’ve got no clue how to fly this tub.”

Coran snapped to attention “Understood! I’ll have one ready for him!”

Lance turned back to his armor. Sounded like the faster this was over the better. And despite his bad feelings, everyone he cared about was okay, so maybe that bad feeling was just a bit of jealousy. Or worry about the whole “Lotor being super interested in Keith” thing…

Lance didn’t remember much of the battle from the moment he’d announced “Hey mullet, you call for the cavalry?” And Keith's response of “Yeah, where is it? Cause I don’t see it yet.”

After that everything had been motion, noise, lights and trying to keep his friends and himself alive.

There was one clear moment in the mayhem. One perfect shot that seemed to last minutes but had lasted less than a second as he took out a vital system in the Galra command ship. That moment had been almost peaceful. Then someone had slammed into him knocking him out of the way of the final blast the dying ship was able to get off.

Then back to the blur until he made it safe and exhausted back to the hangar. He patted one of the giant claws after Red deposited him on the hangar floor.

“Good girl. Thanks for keeping me safe. You were spectacular as always.” He heard her rumbling purr in his mind and a wash of affection.

He had been surprised at how hot her emotions burned, with her being called the most temperamental lion, he’d expected her to be not as responsive to him as Blue had been. Once she’d given her approval though, she was fiercely loyal and despite her hot temper, her love was just as fierce and her protectiveness was insane! He was used to Blue’s deep calm and abiding affection. She was more even-keeled in her emotions. Calm and thinking before reacting and molding herself to the situation. Red’s affection ran just as strong, but in the opposite direction, not thinking just reacting, trusting instinct to lead her.

Lance managed to make his way out of the hangar, exhaustion pulling at his limbs. It hadn’t been a terribly long battle but he felt as drained as if he’d been fighting for hours. Instead of making his way to his shower he headed to the bridge. He needed to see Keith, make sure he was really okay. He could survive the debriefing for that.

When he arrived on the bridge Pidge had Matt in a tight embrace. Lance smiled, relieved Matt hadn’t gotten hurt following Lance’s plan. He would never have forgiven himself. Allura was smiling at the siblings and when she saw Lance waved. They were the only ones on the bridge. Lance wandered over to Allura and asked in a low voice “Where is everyone?”

Allura kept her voice low as well, as reluctant as he to interrupt the sibling's reunion. “Shiro and Keith went to med bay to check on Lotor and Coran. Hunk should be along shortly.”

Lance nodded, then went to fall into his chair. He crossed his arms on the back of the chair and rested his head on them, bouncing the leg that wasn’t crossed between him and the chair nervously.

He stared intently at the door, willing it to open. If anyone tried to talk to him, he didn’t notice. He was so keyed up he nearly had a heart attack when the door finally opened. He did jump slightly, only to slump back down when it revealed Hunk. He wasn’t exactly disappointed to see his best friend, he’d just really wanted to see Keith was alive.

Hunk raised an eyebrow and walked over.

“Hoping for someone else?” Hunks grin was sly but luckily he kept his voice low. Lance glared at him.

“I can’t help it. I need to see he’s okay. The idiot ignores things that are too trivial to be worth mentioning, like broken ribs!”

Hunk patted him soothingly on the back smile turning less teasing and more reassuring. “Shiro is with him. He knows Keith and won’t let him get away with that… Well, not again at least…”

Lance groaned and let his forehead fall on his arms.

“Oh good.” Matt’s voice had Lance looking up. “Shiro promised to keep Keith away for a while so I could warn everyone.”

The sandy haired older boy was looking at Hunk, Pidge sitting on his shoulders resting her head on his. Lance wished he had a head to rest on instead of just the back of his chair. He missed his siblings.

“Warn us about what? And why can’t Keith be here?” Hunk was fidgeting nervously eyes worried.

Matt ran his fingers through his hair and smiled apologetically. “It’s nothing bad, but it would embarrass him. I think you all need to know though.” He took a quick breath then continued. “So… the tension between Lotor and Keith kinda changed partway through the mission. I’m pretty sure Lotor is like, courting Keith, or something.”

Jaws dropped throughout the room, Lance was no exception as his mind reeled.

“I don’t think Keith is really umm… receptive, but he doesn’t really seem to know how to handle it… Sometimes it feels like he’s responding, others he seems ready to stab the Prince.” Matt shrugged “I don’t really know what’s going on and I haven’t wanted to pry, but Keith isn’t going to tell you guys and I don’t want it to blindside you.”

“Th-Thanks for the warning.” Allura’s voice was remote, like she couldn’t really believe what she’d just been told.

Pidge began to giggle. “Oh my god. I can’t believe this is real! This is really our lives?”

Lance didn’t find it amusing, his stomach had dropped and he was feeling kind of sick. He dropped his head down onto his arms and stared blankly ahead. The first thing Keith had done was gone to check on the injured prince… Lance didn’t know how good Matt was at reading people, much less half aliens with emotional constipation. Keith could be more interested than he was letting on. Lance swallowed bile as raw jealousy rose up in his throat. He would never be good enough…

They weren’t allowed anymore processing time as the doors swished open again and Shiro and Keith entered the room. Keith blinked startled as all eyes focused on him. Lance drank him in for one long moment, beautiful and alive , then looked away as an amorphous rage mixed with the jealousy roiling inside him. He wanted to lash out at the other boy, just as he’d done early in their relationship. He tried to suppress the bad feelings but knew talking to Keith right now would be bad.

Shiro gave everyone a tired smile. “The Prince will survive his injury, he should be up in a varga or two.”

“Pity.” Lance muttered low enough only Hunk heard him. His friend gave him a long examining look that Lance couldn’t return. He scowled at the floor.

“So we might as well get the debriefing from the two that are conscious and go back to our business. That fight wasn’t bad but I think I’d rather we put off attacking today’s Galran base until tomorrow.”

Allura nodded “I hate to throw off our schedule but I’d rather nobody get hurt due to carelessness. Plus we need to keep a certain amount in reserve in case we get an emergency transmission.”

Shiro nodded then gestures to Matt and Keith. “Who wants to start?”

Matt made an “after you” gesture to Keith who rolled his eyes but began.

“We started with infiltrating an information hub. Didn’t quite go as smooth as we’d hoped for.” Matt snorted and Keith flashed him a toothy smile.

Lance didn’t hear the rest of the brief. He was too preoccupied with the dark thoughts and feelings swirling inside him. He alternated staring at the floor and glancing at Keith. Keith never seemed to notice Lance, focused on Shiro and Allura as he spoke. His feelings festered the longer he stayed. His foot tapped impatiently until the briefing was finally over. Lance bolted to his feet and started to make his way hurriedly toward the door.

A touch on his arm stopped him and he looked down into eyes that were more indigo today. Keith smiled at him.

“Nice shooting out there, you're connection with Red is noticeably stronger than last time I saw you two together.”

The roiling feelings inside Lance were not soothed by the smile and kind words. Instead they swirled more viciously and before Lance knew it his mouth was open and lashing out. “Of course I have,” Lance snapped “You've been gone long enough even I managed to improve my connection.”

Keith flinched back from the pure venom in Lance's voice, eyes wide before his expression shut down into neutrality. Then anger rapidly rose to the surface and he was biting back. “Good. Red doesn't deserve a second rate pilot. You'd better not disappoint her or she'll eject you into space!”

Lance’s eyes narrowed as his emotions found the outlet he'd been looking for. “As I recall the only one that's happened to is you, so who's the second rater?”

Keith snarled and Lance was ready for it to come to blows between the two of them but Shiro grabbed Keith just as he lunged forward and Hunk began to pull Lance away and towards the door. He was babbling something trying to calm Lance down, but all of Lance’s focus was on angry eyes that swirled indigo and steel. The door closing cut off that focus and he angrily shrugged off Hunk’s hands, turning and stalking down the hall.

Lance wasn't surprised when he heard Keith had immediately left for the Blade without saying goodbye. It didn't stop him from punching the wall hard enough to injure his fist.

Chapter Text

Lance was beginning to get frustrated. Scratch that, he'd been frustrated for weeks now. The blade of Mamora was a sneaky group that didn't exactly welcome communication with outsiders, but Voltron was an ally dammit! He'd been trying for a month to get in contact with Keith and all he'd managed was this blank faced alien communications officer. Seriously, it had been this same guy the entire time! Lance wondered if the poor bastard ever got any time off.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Look, is there any way you can get a message to him? I really need to talk to him as soon as possible. “

“Yes Paladin Lance, you've made that quite clear. That does not change the fact that blade member Keith is unavailable for the foreseeable future. As soon as he is in communication with us again I promise he will be informed of your need to speak to him. Until then I'm afraid you’ll just have to be patient.” The Blade member spread his arms in a “what can you do?“ gesture.

Lance tried not to take his frustration out on this guy but it had been a month! Just what kind of missions were the Blade sending his friend on? He sighed. “Thank you. Just… as soon as you can please.”

He thought there was sympathy in the alien’s eyes as he nodded and cut the channel, but it was hard to tell with that stoic face. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. He couldn't help but wonder if Keith was actually on a mission or if he'd just told the communications officer to stonewall calls from the Castle of Lions.

Lance had really fucked up this time.

Keith had done nothing to deserve Lance’s abuse. He'd come to talk to Lance first thing after the brief and Lance had just exploded in him for no reason Keith could see. He knew he'd just taken out his bad feelings on the other boy and hated himself for it. Keith probably would've been able to take the rest of his vacation from the Blade with them if Lance hadn't managed to chase him off.

Hunk had spent the next day giving him that disappointed look. Shiro hadn't been able to look at him, he'd maintained a professional demeanor other than that. Lance could tell he was disappointed his brother had left so soon. Pidge had rolled her eyes at him and been snarkier than usual for a week. Coran had shot him worried looks almost as bad as Hunk’s disappointment. Allura’s looks had been thoughtful, eyes examining him, making him beyond nervous.

Everyone had gotten over it pretty quickly though and they'd soon been back to their routine, only Lance seemed to be lingering on his feelings about Keith’s absence. He hadn’t felt any resentment in the Paladin bond after that first week.

“Princess, incoming call from the Blades.”

Allura turned to look at Coran, he showed the same surprise she felt. They rarely got calls from the Blade outside of their scheduled briefs. This did not bode well.

“Put them through Coran.” Her voice was tense with worry. Kolivan’s image appeared on the screen and Allura’s bad feeling intensified. The normally stoic leader of the Mamorans was visibly upset, the first time she’d ever seen him disheveled. A burn ran across his temple, probably from a laser, and his braid was falling out. He still wore his armor and it too was battle scarred.  

“Kolivan! What’s wrong?” Her hands clenched and she had to take a steadying breath.

“Princess Allura, I apologize but Keith was severely injured on his mission. He’s stable at the moment but the healers are pessimistic about his chances. I thought your healing methods...”

Allura’s breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened. Then her training kicked in and she forced herself into a false calm, to just deal with it .

“Of course, can you give me coordinates to his position?”

“I’m sending them now. I’ll let them know you’re on the way. Good luck Princess.” There was sympathy in his eyes as he cut the communication.

Icy cold fear ran through Allura’s veins. She glanced around the room. Lance was the only other person besides Coran in here. His face was ashen and he seemed dazed, she could sympathize but she needed him functioning.

“Lance,” his face snapped towards her, eyes suddenly focused and burning . “-Go to Red and standby.” He nodded and stood, racing for his lion. Allura hit the intercom button “Shiro, Hunk please meet Lance at Red’s hangar. Everyone else prepare for a wormhole jump, brace yourselves, this might be a rough one.” She cut the comm and turned to Coran. He’d displayed the coordinates. “Please prepare a pod.”

He nodded and gripped her shoulder reassuringly “All will be fine Allura.”

She felt the tears gathering in her eyes at his words, god she couldn’t lose another family member! She just couldn’t! Still, she couldn’t afford to break down yet. If she did she would lose him. She gave Coran a watery smile and turned. She hit the comm button again “Wormhole in three - two -” she activated her powers.

Lance jumped to his feet as soon as Red had touched down. Shiro shoved him back into his seat. “Stay put and be ready to take off!” He practically snarled, then he and Hunk were gone. Lance growled. He needed to see Keith dammit! But he knew Shiro was right, they needed to be fast about this. He fidgeted, eyes locked on his screen, frantic for a glimpse of the boy.

It felt like he sat there forever with a white knuckle grip on Red’s controls. At last, Shiro and Hunk came dashing in with a hovering gurney and another hovering machine being tugged along next to it with various tubes connecting it to the gurney. The figure in the gurney was strapped in and covered with a cloth. At first Lance thought they’d covered him in a red blanket or something but as they drew closer he realized the red was on it in splotches and that was Keith’s blood! His mind reeled from that thought and he felt his stomach roll, rebelling at the thought. But he couldn’t be sick, Shiro and Hunk barreled into the cockpit and began to secure the gurney and accoutrements so they wouldn’t jostle during the flight.

Lance begrudged every necessary second.

Finally Shiro gave him the signal and they were off, flying faster than Red had ever managed before and still it wasn’t fast enough.

It was both an eternity and mere seconds between the Mamora base and the castle dock. Shiro and Hunk immediately jumped into action, racing the gurney and equipment out of Red, Lance was on his feet and chasing after them without a seconds thought. Why was the castle so damn big? It was going to take forever to get to the med bay… they ran the whole way, the red on the white cloth steadily spreading.

Coran stood outside the doors and opened them. His eyes raked their faces and he held up a hand. “Hunk, Lance stay out. Bring him in Shiro.”

Lance opened his mouth to protest but Coran’s eyes snapped to him “Don’t argue my boy. The fewer people, the better his chances.”

Lance slumped watching mournfully as Shiro and Coran whisked Keith away. He felt a strong grip on his shoulder and looked up at Hunk. The other boy was staring at the closed door a haunted look on his face.

“He’ll be okay.” Hunk’s voice was uncertain “He’s Keith.”

Hunk shouldn’t be upset. Lance put on his best smile and gripped the other boy’s shoulder in return. “Of course man. He’s Keith, nothing-” his voice cracked and he cleared his throat “-nothing would make him stop fighting. The grim reaper would just throw up his hands and leave when confronted with that boy.”

They exchanged wobbly smiles and turned back to stare at the blank door in front of them.

Pidge pacing in front of the door was going to drive him mad. He should be sympathetic, since movement was his go to when dealing with waiting, but it was kinda hard as he was currently paralyzed by his fear. He was on edge, anything could make him snap right now. And her pacing. Wasn’t. Helping.

He was wound so tight that even Lotor’s presence didn’t seem important. He was at least an unobtrusive presence, if not a comforting one the way Hunk was with his occasional squeeze of Lance’s shoulder.

The door opened.

The three waiting Paladins and half Galran Prince surged forward mobbing a tired looking Shiro. He smiled wanly but gestured them all to enter the room. Lance’s long legs propelled him out in front of even the super fucking tall prince.

Keith, in a white cryosuit with no red stains, was held suspended looking like he’d somehow managed to fall asleep standing up. Coran was bustling around the control panels but Lance only noticed him peripherally. He searched that too calm face, Keith was never this peaceful looking. But it was an induced coma calm, not the calm of death. Lance let out a shaky breath and his legs gave out from under him dumping him on his ass.

Coran gave him a sympathetic smile. Then all eyes focused on him and he cleared his throat “Don’t worry, he’ll be up and spitting qunarian flames again soon enough! Shouldn’t have a mark on him for all the trouble he caused!” Coran chuckled. There was an audible sigh of relief from the four that had been stuck outside. Allura was bustling around cleaning up and putting away equipment that looked like nothing Lance had seen before.

Shiro put his flesh hand on the pod closed his eyes and let out a long breath. His eyes opened and he turned back to the Paladins and Prince. “He should be out in a day. Coran set up a timer, until then we’ll be suspending our planned operations. I don’t think any of us are up for it.”

A chorus of approval brought a smile, a real one, to Shiro’s face.

Lance couldn’t sleep. He’d managed to distract himself all day but as soon as they’d all split up to go to bed, he’d known he was in for a sleepless night. He’d given up quickly and made his way to the cryochamber. Now he sat in front of Keith’s pod just staring off at nothing, his brain was thankfully doing the equivalent of white noise. No bad thoughts swirling hopeless circles. He could feel the emotions, strong and there, but separated from him for the moment.

He watched idly as the cryopod lights blinked, turning from red to blue. There was a whirring and a fog cloud billowed from the opening door. Lance stood up, certain he was dreaming this, he was that desperate to see Keith aware again, and walked forward. Just as he hoped, an unsteady Keith stumbled forward into his arms.

Lance felt his eyes widen, the other boy was freezing! Had he been this cold coming out? He felt more awake and bit his lip. He felt the pain and decided, no, this wasn’t a dream. He was glad he was out of his daze because Keith seemed barely conscious as he blinked those great dark eyes up at Lance.

“Wha- Where? Lance? How?” Keith’s voice was a slow confused mumble, the boy obviously wasn’t processing well.

Lance chuckled and his voice came out choked and breathy, almost a sob. “Hey Mullet, welcome back to the land of the living.” He reached a hand up to stroke the boy’s cold cheek. “What do you remember?”

Keith's brows furrowed as he made an obvious attempt to remember. “I was… on a mission… It went bad… there was a…” here he looked bewildered “-lime green moose? With fangs?” He shook his head and mumbled “That can't be right… Pretty sure I was surrounded by Galra at some point too, but everything's pretty confused…”

Keith leaned forward his forehead pressing against Lance’s chest. His hands clenched into fists Lance could feel tugging at the fabric of his shirt.

“Hey now, it’s alright, I promise you didn’t forget any bonding moments.” Lance smiled down at the top of Keith’s head wrapping his arms around the other boy and pressing him close. Fucking hell, he had to get Keith warmed up! It was ridiculous how cold he was, he was even shivering slightly! Lance was positive he’d just been hungry, not this bone chillingly cold.

Keith’s head tilted lazily so his cheek was still pressed against Lance’s chest and he could look up into his face, eyelids heavy, destroying the effect of the glare he was trying to level at Lance. He just looked sleepy and grumpy. Lance breathed out slowly to resist any and all impulses.

The silence stretched for a time, the two of them just standing there in a comfortable embrace. Lance cleared his throat. “Umm… So…”

“Mm?” Keith sounded mostly asleep, he should just leave this for tomorrow... But he’d nearly lost the chance permanently…

“I need to apologize for snapping at you. I was in a bad mood and I lashed out at you and you didn’t deserve it.” His traitorous hand tucked a strand of hair behind Keith’s ear. “Then you disappeared and I couldn’t get ahold of you to apologize…”

“Mmm…” Keith’s eyes examined him sleepily, his eyes, as honest as ever, bore no hostility.  He seemed to lean into Lance’s hand his eyes slipping shut. Lance’s breath caught in his throat, this felt… intimate. That feeling rose in his chest as hope seemed to swell inside him.  “I’ll accept your apology on one condition.”

Lance nodded eagerly. A slow, sleepy smirk made its way onto the other boy’s face. “Carry me to your room, you’re going to be my personal heater.”

Keith.

In his bed.

Deep breath.

Lance choked.

Yeah, okay, he could totally handle a repeat of their cuddle session. Even if his heart felt like it would explode…

He scooped the other boy up all too easily. Yes he’d been gaining muscle but the injury and healing had taken a toll on Keith and he was alarmingly light in Lance’s arms. He frowned down at the boy who’s surprised expression turned content as he wrapped his arms around Lance, that chill still clinging to his skin. Maybe he should get Coran, Keith was out early, something could be wrong… The little sigh Keith gave and the way he snuggled into Lance made him weak. Well, no one ever claimed he made smart decisions...

He started out the door towards his room.

He was pretty sure Keith fell asleep before he was more than a few paces down the hall, and Lance was able to indulge in watching the other boy breathe and know it wasn’t a dream. This was becoming an obsession of Lance’s. Keith’s breathing should not be this fascinating.

He was glad nobody could see the dopey expression he was wearing. However running off with Keith might cause some consternation when the others woke up… He looked down at his sleeping burden then at the hall that housed their patchwork family. He gave his door a longing look, then went over to Hunk’s. With no free hands he kicked the door. He did it in a mostly steady rhythm until the door whooshed open and Hunk stood there blinking blearily. His eyes widened as he saw Lance’s burden and he rubbed his eyes as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing.

“What did you do ?” Hunk demanded accusation and disbelief evident in his voice. Which, fair, Lance did get into trouble a lot but...

“I didn’t do anything! He popped out early on his own!” This time it wasn’t Lance’s fault!

Hunk shook his head “That shouldn’t be possible… We should bring him to Coran.”

Lance pouted. “It can wait 'til morning. I just didn’t want everyone wake up and think Keith disappeared.”

Hunk gave Lance a disapproving look. “We don’t know if he’s healed completely. He could be in danger still!”

That made Lance pause. “It wouldn’t‘ve let him out if he was still in any danger.” He wasn’t certain though and looked back up at Hunk “Right? C’mon, he’s exhausted, let him have a nice rest before Coran starts poking at him?” He was wheedling, and probably doing puppy dog eyes but Lance was really weak. If Keith was woken up and prodded by Coran he might ask Shi- er- someone else to keep him warm... Lance wanted to clutch Keith to him and selfishly have him there .

Breathing.

Hunk frowned thoughtfully then sighed, running his hand through his hair in defeat. “I think it’s a bad idea dude, but fine. I’ll tell everyone in the morning, but I’m going to make it very clear this is on you and any consequences are on your head. So no taking advantage of Shiro’s little brother in his sleep.”

Lance’s face burned with embarrassment “I would never!”

Hunk raised a judgmental eyebrow and looked pointedly at the arm under Keith’s thighs supporting a lot of his weight.

“I’m not anywhere near his ass you jerk!” Lance hissed his face still flushed and hot.

Hunk grinned and winked at him. “Go put him to bed already. You need some sleep too.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go back to bed and leave me alone already.”

“Oh, I’m leaving you alone huh?” Hunk waggled his eyebrows. Lance rolled his eyes and turned around.

“Goodnight asshole.”

“Love you too Lance! Don’t do anything I wouldn't do!”

Hunk’s chuckles ended abruptly as his door slid closed. Lance moved on to his room and stepped inside.

Keith didn’t even twitch as Lance laid him down. He took a moment to memorize the sight before sliding in next to him after kicking his slippers off. Keith immediately moved towards his warmth and he found himself with an armful of boy. Keith’s cold nose made its way into his neck and Lance thought he would stop breathing. Never had something cold pressed somewhere warm been so comforting. Dios he was pathetic...

He fell asleep near instantly.

Lance woke abruptly with the vague feeling something was off. He tried to sit up to find what was wrong, but was halted by an unexpected weight on his chest. He saw the dark head resting there and his heart rate sped up. It wasn’t a dream! His wonder was replaced by that feeling of unease when the form clinging to him shuddered.

“Hey buddy, how’re you doing?” Lance reached out to check the boy’s forehead. His hand was slapped away and Keith groaned, his head thrashing back and forth. Thoroughly alarmed now, Lance rolled them over so Keith was pinned under him. He was able to get a hand to the other boy’s pale forehead despite the thrashing and his heart sank. It was cold and clammy.

“Mierda .”

He’d made the wrong call.

He rolled out of bed and ran to his door. It opened automatically and he ran across the hall and frantically pounded on Hunk’s door. The boy looked annoyed as well as groggy when he answered his door this time, but the fear in Lance’s face had the same effect as a splash of cold water.

“What’s wrong?” Hunk’s eyes began to mirror Lance’s own, a wild fear in them.

“It’s Keith. You were right. Get Coran and bring him to the med bay, I’ll bring Keith.”

Hunk’s eyes widened but he nodded and took off down the hallway. Lance turned around and ran back into his room. Keith was lying still again but he’d obviously been thrashing, the blankets were tangled around his limbs. Lance ripped them off, hesitated, then wrapped them around Keith’s still shuddering form and scooped the boy up. He was completely limp in Lance’s arms and he hated the litany of “dead weight” running over and over in his mind as he carried the other boy out of his room rushing as much as he could.

He arrived at the med bay breathless and shaking, realizing that if he’d been thinking clearly he’d have run to get Coran and asked Hunk to carry Keith. He couldn’t regret it though, he needed to be in the boy’s presence, that obsession with Keith’s breathing once again rearing its ugly head.

He’d still managed to beat them there, so he lowered Keith onto one of the examination tables and pulled the blankets tight around him. He brushed the hair out of Keith’s eyes fingers lingering on his cold cheek.

“Please. Por favor, don’t do this to me Corazón .” He bowed his head. Quiznark, nothing has ever been more his fault. He’d chased Keith off, making him go on a dangerous mission that he’d gotten seriously injured on. Then, when he’d come out of the pod early Lance had ignored both his first thoughts on getting Coran and Hunk’s advice. Instead he’d indulged in his craving and now something was wrong with Keith…

Coran and Hunk burst through the door almost before they opened enough to allow them through. Coran made his way to the pod Keith had been in and Hunk came over, looking down at Keith and wringing his hands, worry clear in his eyes. Coran was making odd noises over what he was reading occasionally tapping the screen and Lance couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing. Lance felt as taught as a wire about to snap, waiting to hear his friends fate.

“Number Two.” Both boys jumped at Coran’s voice, heads whipping towards the Altean. “Grab the Kerinossat from that shelf.”

Hunk scrambled toward the shelf but paused. “Ummmm… what’s the Kerinossat look like?” He said weakly.

“‘Bout as long as your arm, with an orange handle, kind of flattened looking thing. Number Three, go wake the Princess.” He cut Lance off as he opened his mouth to protest. “Please my boy. Tell her I need her to prepare a Doralian Kinseth soak. She’ll know what to do, but you’ll have to help her regulate the temperature, it needs to be as hot as one of you earthlings can stand.” Coran chuckled and stroked his mustache “Hardly want to keep him from freezing just to boil him alive!”

Coran’s humor, although not exactly appropriate, helped make Lance feel like maybe things weren’t as bad as they could be. Huh. Someone else using his diffusing techniques… Still it helped. He cast one last look at Keith, looking small curled up under Lance’s blankets. He gulped and ran.

He was glad for his long legs that ate up the distance with ease now he wasn’t carrying somewhere near 80 kilos of boy. He was also glad for the training he’d grumbled about for near two years now. He might resent his lost free time but boy howdy did it make situations like this easier!

He pounded on Allura’s door with the same adrenaline and panic fueled frenzy he’d used on Hunk’s door. When the door swooshed open he nearly banged his fist into the started princess. He checked his motion in time though.

“Lance? What are you-?”

“Coran told me to tell you to prepare a Dorian kismith soak.” The words came out of him in a rush cutting her off. He’d feel bad about that later.

Her pale brows furrowed. “You mean a Doralian Kinseth soak?”

Lance snapped his fingers and pointed at her. “Yeah. That.”

Allura nodded and pulled her robe tight around her body. “Come on then.”

She lead the way back towards the med bay. Lance longed to run again, but he didn’t know where he was going and she was moving quickly. It was just nothing could be fast enough for him at the moment. She stopped in front of a room in the same hall as the med bay that he’d never seen used before.

The door opened and a small room was revealed. It had a sunken recess in the middle of the floor. Allura pulled up a panel and began typing and Lance’s eyes widened as the floor began to change shape . Part of it sunk lower and it became less circular more oblong.

“There. Try that for me.”

Lance whipped his head towards Allura, eyes wide. Surely she wasn’t serious? Looking at her Lance decided yes, yes she was, and made his way cautiously toward the shape changing hole.

Looking at it this way kind of reminded him of those beds that moved to let people sit up. Curious now he slid into the thing. Yeah, it cradled him like one of those mattresses, allowing him to sit reclined without any effort. The sides were rounded and he felt cocooned and safe. He felt the sides wonderingly. It didn’t give under his prodding but it didn’t feel hard , just… supportive?

“How does that feel?” Allura’s voice snapped him out of it and he let himself relax back.

“The neck area could have a better angle.”

She hummed and typed something and he felt it shift under him. “Yeah. That’s better.” She nodded and gestured him to get out. He scrambled out, expecting it to be like a tub and slippery but he had no trouble leaving. He was definitely getting hot tub vibes now.

“I’m only going to fill it partway until Coran gets here. Did he tell you a temperature? And what’s going on?”

“As hot as humans can stand it.” Lance was barefoot, but he began to roll his pajama bottoms up. “Keith popped early. There’s something still going on, Coran’s trying to figure out what.”

Allura nodded and Lance sat down dangling his feet over the edge. “Has Pidge programmed earth standard measurements for temperature?”

Allura typed something “Yes, there’s a converter here for something called Celsius?”

“Start at 40 degrees Celsius. We may have to make it hotter later…”

Allura nodded and an orange gel began to fill the tub. It seriously reminded him of the slime he used to make out of borax and glue as a kid. Maybe a bit more viscous, but not much. The gel began to creep over his feet and he resisted the urge to shudder. Despite their talk of temperatures he’d been expecting a cool gel like aloe or something. It was warm, well hot actually, and a lot goopier feeling than aloe. He pulled his feet out as the gel continued to creep its way up the sides of the tub. When it was halfway it stopped.

“The Doralian gel’s temperature can be reprogrammed at will and will remain a constant temperature so there’s no need to worry if we need to adjust it.” Allura was biting her lip, obviously worried but trying to project calm.

“It was created by Almariana Kinseth originally as a form of beauty treatment. It didn’t exactly do as they expected and ended up being of more use in them medical sector. It was a well proven way of stabilizing those that cannot regulate their own body temperature for whatever reason. The gel can also be infused with nutrients to be absorbed through the skin, which is a remnant if it’s cosmetic origins but is still useful for those who need to be immersed for long periods of time.”

She opened her mouth to continue but Lance cut her off “Allura, you’re rambling.” He smiled wanly “What’s with everyone? First Pidge and her pacing, then Coran and his jokes, now you’re rambling. It’s like you’re all becoming me.” The joke was flat and he wasn’t surprised her answering smile was forced.

“Maybe were just taking up your slack.” She frowned thoughtfully “You’ve been… off lately. Are you okay?”

Lance opened his mouth to deflect her, but the door swooshed open saving him. Both of them snapped to attention as Hunk entered maneuvering a floating gurney where Keith lay still covered in Lance’s blankets. Coran came bustling in after, looking professional. It was… reassuring to not see him worried.

“Ah good. Number Two, if you’ll just lift him and Number Three can help you get him into the soak. Princess, you can finish filling it once he’s in. Good good.”

Keith’s pale skin looked washed out against the white suit he was still wearing. Still he and Hunk managed to lower the boy into the orange gel with little trouble. The gel began creeping up the sides again until it was just below his chin. The gel was completely clear, like jello. Keith just looked… orange.

“Hmm… that temperature seems to be a bit low… Allura bring it up three more Gorips. There, that seems to be doing the trick! Good thing the suits can stand immersion! It would’ve been hard trying to find a way to monitor his vitals in there otherwise!”

“Coran.” Lances voice was low and tense but it drew the Altean attention away from the readouts on his tablet. “What’s… what’s wrong with him?”

Coran smiled soft and reassuringly. “Why don’t you go wake Number One and Five? They should hear this as well. I promise, he’ll be fine for now.”

Lance drooped but nodded. Hunk gave him a sympathetic nod and smile as he left the room.

Finding Shiro was easier than finding Pidge. He was in his room where he was supposed to be. He was still fully dressed and had dark circles under his eyes but he was there. Lance gave him a brief account of what had happened, unable to maintain eye contact, then directed him to the room where Keith was. Shiro didn’t say anything but he looked like he'd aged another ten years. Lance’s guilt only grew.

Finding the gremlin was a harder task. She wasn’t in her room, the kitchen, the main lounge or anywhere else obvious. Frustrated he reached out to Red. A warmth filled his mind along with her welcoming purr. He flinched away and a questioning feeling entered his mind. He braced himself and let her know what happened.

Shock followed by rage. A mighty roar rang from the hangar and Lance didn’t doubt it could be heard throughout the castle. There was a tinge of hurt, more a stubborn pouty feeling that amounted to “why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Lance sighed “I’m sorry girl, you deserved to know, I just haven’t been thinking… I need to know where Pidge is, I promise you can listen in when Coran tells us what’s wrong with him.”

There was a grumble and a silence. Then an image in his mind. Lance felt himself slump, then he headed back toward the med bay. Sure enough, tucked away in a corner behind a bunch of shelving, slumped against a wall was Pidge. Her laptop still open, glasses askew and hair a mess. He was amazed all the commotion earlier hadn’t woken her. Granted it was a large room and she was on the far end, but still. He shook her gently.

Amber eyes blinked open slowly and a hand came up to rub them, knocking her glasses off completely. She grimaced then squinted up at Lance. “S’it time?” She mumbled.

“Not exactly.”

“Her eyes abruptly became more focused and she gave him a piercing look, demanding an explication.

“He came out early and something went wrong. Coran’s called everyone to hear what’s up.”

Multiple emotions flashed in those eyes fear, worry, sympathy, pain, then she clamped down on her reaction and carefully closed her laptop, putting it to the side. She stood up deliberately, every movement controlled precisely. “Well. Lead the way.”

Shiro was seated cross legged by Keith’s head, slowly stroking his hair, eyes not leaving his face and murmuring softly. Hunk was against a wall doing that thing where he tried to make himself small. Pidge gasped and stopped when she entered the room causing Lance to bump into her. She stumbled a bit and looked back to glare at him.

She’d been around Keith too much as a young teenager, she’d picked up a lot of his mannerisms when she was grumpy or stressed. Thankfully she wasn’t as closed off as the Mullet was… She moved to go sit against Hunk, leaning into him. Lance hesitated, eyes darting to where Shiro was intent on Keith, then to his friends. He’d better not interrupt that…

He moved to settle next to Pidge, she was trying not to show it but she obviously needed the comfort. Allura moved and sat next to him, a comforting hand patting his. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes and wasn’t reassured. She was looking between him and Keith with that thoughtful expression she'd had lately. He gulped hoping she wasn’t catching on. He needed to do some deflection. He really didn’t want anyone other than Hunk to know about his real feelings.

Coran smiled beatifically over them. “I’m sure you’re all wondering about our boy Number Four here!” He gestured at the tub. Shiro’s head had shot up and his eyes were laser focused on the orange haired alien.

“Number Four managed to pick up a parasite of some sort, that’s why the decontamination protocol is so important Paladins! Anyways, it was dormant in his system until his body temperature reached a certain level, it would’ve remained inert and harmless if not for the cryopod.”

Coran grimaced. “The pod had to engage in a sort of arms race, healing the physical damage enough that he would survive outside of it, and not letting the parasite, or virus, it has a lot of similarities to those tricky buggers and nothing of this sort has come through our system before so the machine doesn’t exactly know what it is, though it will figure it out now that it has a sample, just not quickly.” There was a pause and a cough. “Err… Where was I?”

“Not letting the parasite?” Shiro prodded voice and body tense. Lance had dug his fingers into his legs during Coran’s rant, wanting to scream at the man to get to the point! But he didn't deserve that. This was all Shiro’s call, his brother in danger.

“Right, right!” Coran clapped his hands and continued. “It had to decide the tipping point of Number Four’s body being repaired enough and the parasite or virus spreading to the point that his body wouldn’t be able to fight it off. The, hmmm… parasrus? Virasite? Yes, the virasite prefers colder conditions and was actively sabotaging Keith's ability to self regulate his temperature. Heat will kill it off now that it’s no longer dormant, but it takes a lot more heat than Number Four could create in his own or the environment could transfer to him, even with Number Three’s help.” Lance blushed.

“His injuries are not yet fully healed either.” Coran frowned. “They are lightly patched over but too much of a jostle could rupture something. We have to hope we can kill off the virasite quickly and get him back in the pod to finish healing. We can kill the active version of the virasite easily enough, but the dormant state will be an issue, we’ll need to flush it out of his system completely before we can re-pod him.”

“We’ll have to contact our coalition allies and see if any of their databases have information on this thing and a way of getting rid of the dormant version.” Allura’s tone was firm, no nonsense and helped bring Lance out of his whirling thoughts. There was something he could do to fix his mistake.

“I’m going to stay here and watch Keith.” Shiro’s voice was quiet and his eyes were back on Keith’s face, eyes haunted. “Coran, show me what I should be monitoring.” The orange haired man walked over and began to display the various pages and explain their meanings to the black Paladin.

“Everyone else, we should get ready for a long day ahead of us. Lance, start with the Blade of Marmora. Pidge start with Olkarion, and Hunk you take Gyna-4. If they don’t have the specific information we want, they might at least know where we should look.” Allura grimaced “We need to avoid causing a panic, reassure anyone that needs it that Voltron is in full fighting condition. But first, take care of yourselves. I’m afraid we can’t take anymore time to rest, but shower and get a good meal before you begin making the calls. I’ll have a more extensive list ready for us to continue down.”

They all nodded and began to rise. Lance held back as the others left the room. “Shiro?”

Pained grey eyes looked up at him. Lance gulped nervously “I’m sorry, I should’ve woken Coran immediately when Keith came out.” He braced himself, surely Shiro would give him the tongue lashing of the century for his irresponsibility.

A sigh. “Lance, I’m glad you were there. This could’ve ended a lot worse if you hadn’t been or if you had left him alone after.” Lance gaped wide eyed at Shiro whose eyes had refocused on Keith’s face. “Something malfunctioned. Coran should’ve been alerted that the pod had released him. He could’ve ended up alone and cold on the floor. The virasite could’ve killed him by the time one of us came to check on him.”

A shudder ran through Shiro’s powerful form and he seemed to curl protectively over Keith’s form. “My little brother nearly died twice in the past ten hours.” Shiro’s voice was exhausted. “The only reason he’s not is because of you. He’s still alive. We’ll keep him that way.”

Lance looked at the man with awe. When he’d hero worshiped Shiro back in Garrison it had been because he was the best pilot and so young. Now, now he felt an almost superstitious awe. He forgot what a fighter Shiro was, what he survived and how he continued to push forward no matter the obstacles in his path. He wouldn’t be surprised to die out here but Shiro… There was something about Shiro that said he was going to survive and he was going to keep those he loved alive as well if he had to fight Death itself to do it.

“Yeah.” Lance’s voice was soft. He saluted Shiro in his vigil over Keith’s form. The man didn’t seem to notice but Lance was okay with that. He then left to shower and grab a bite to eat, a new determination settling in him to somehow find something to cure Keith.

Chapter Text

Lance was able to get ahold of Kolivan a thousand times easier than he had Keith. The comms officer, again that same poor alien, patched him through within moments and the stern looking Blade leader was staring back at him. He looked tense.

“Paladin Lance. I hope all is well.”

Lance took a quick breath. “Not as well as things could be. Keith is stabilized, but he apparently picked something a virus or parasite up sometime and it attacked him while he was vulnerable. Again, he’s pretty much stable but we’re trying to find out what the thing is and how to fully get rid of it so he can finish healing.”

Kolivan nodded. “Send me the data you have on this thing, I’ll get back to you if our healers find anything in our records.”

“Thank you Kolivan.” Lance sighed in relief.

“Not at all Paladin. He’s one of ours .”

With that Kolivan was gone and Lance‘s jaw clenched. Keith wasn’t the Blade’s. He was Voltron’s. They needed him. They were his family and home not the Blade of Marmora! He sent the data package along with a forceful jab and glared down at the next contact on his list. This was going to be a looooong day.

They took their meals that day sitting on the floor by Keith watching him occasionally murmur incomprehensibly to himself, expressions flickering across his face, then gone. The most unnerving thing was when his eyes would open and his head would swivel and he’d stare at nothing as far as the rest of the team could tell. Allura insisted that Shiro leave and go to bed after the midday meal. She only convinced him by saying he couldn’t take the night shift if he didn’t have at least five vargas of sleep. He’d seen her point and gone, whether he slept was debatable.

Coran had taken over for Shiro as mother hen. Lance wanted more than anything to be there but… he couldn’t make himself speak up when no one else did. And what he was doing was important. So he continued. They began receiving data packets shortly after dinner. Pidge was relegated to help Coran sort through the information and see if they had a match. Allura eventually called it and told them sternly to go to bed. She went to wake Shiro and sent Coran and Pidge to bed. Lance smiled wanly at Hunk as he entered his own room. He didn’t think sleep would come easily and he was right.

The next day wasn’t any better. Keith apparently had suffered a fit during the night. He’d started thrashing and screaming and Shiro had to haul him out of the soak for fear he’d drown in the gel. It hadn’t lasted long but had been violent enough to restart some internal bleeding and Shiro and Coran had worked feverishly to stop it without the use of the pods.

They ran out of people to contact and only had half a dozen leads on possible things the virasite could be. The only one not on edge was Coran. Lance didn’t know how the other man managed, he was dealing with most of the medical side of things despite the rest of the teams attempts to help him shoulder the responsibility, they just didn’t know enough to be truly helpful. The Paladins spent a lot of their time cycling through the room where Keith was soaking. He was never alone, more often two or three of them were there, sometimes working on something else, sometimes just trying to take comfort in each other’s presence.

Later that day the castle was being hailed by a familiar ship, one that made Lance frown.

Allura answered the call and Lotor’s face appeared on the screen. “Sincline-1 ready to dock.”

Allura tapped a sequence “Hangar 3 is open for you. I’ll gather everyone for the briefing.”

Lotor nodded and the screen went blank. Allura sighed. “This is not ideal timing… I don’t know that Shiro will be willing to leave Keith.”

Lance grimaced. “Maybe. It would be a good distraction, we can’t do anything right now…”

Allura sighed again. “Do you mind gathering everyone? Coran can watch Keith if you can get Shiro to leave.”

When Lance arrived he saw Coran, Pidge and Shiro. Hunk was probably in the kitchen stress cooking his giant heart out.

“Lotor’s back.” Lance announced. Pidge immediately perked up and scrambled to her feet.

“That means Matt’s back!” And she raced from the room.

“They’re heading toward the bridge!” Lance called after her. He looked back down at Shiro. “Do you want to come?”

Shiro closed his eyes and let out a breath then looked up at Coran. “Looks like I’ll be out of your hair for a while.”

Coran smiled gently back at him “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of Number Four.”

“Thanks.” Shiro ruffled Keith’s hair gently one last time. Lance followed a silent Shiro out of the room. He split off at the corridor to the Paladins common areas and Shiro gave him a questioning look.

“Hunk.”

Shiro nodded and continued on while Lance made his way to the kitchen. He began smelling something delicious halfway there and so knew he’d figured correctly in Hunk’s whereabouts.

His friend was busy stirring something bright purple in a bowl. The kitchen smelled good even if the finished dishes looked… odd.

“Hey buddy.”

Hunk looked up at Lance’s voice and smiled, some of the worry in his eyes faded. “Lance! Want to play guinea pig?”

Lance’s mouth crooked in a half smile “I’m always up for that, but we just had Matt and Prince douche arrive. We’re all meeting in the bridge.”

Hunk frowned and his eyes scanned the kitchen. “Okay, tell them I’ll be up soon, I’ve got to get a couple things straightened up if I don’t want the kitchen to burn down or the food to go bad.”

“‘Kay. I’ll let them know.” Lance gave a little salute and left his friend. He wished they all had more of an appetite, Hunk had been making some truly amazing dishes.

He slouched his way into the main bridge and over to Allura, murmuring to her that Hunk would be here shortly. She nodded in acknowledgement.

His arrival didn’t cause much of a stir to the rest of the room, most of the focus was on Pidge and Matt as they babbled techno-gibberish at each other. Or they might’ve been regular greetings and catching up, they were talking so quickly it was honestly hard to tell for sure. It was touching though, especially after the last couple of days they’d had. Shiro had that soft look in his eyes and Lance reminded himself that Shiro had pretty much adopted the Holts just as much as he had Keith.

Prince Foetor was standing off to the side, looking disinterested. Lance regretted thinking Garrison Keith had been stuck up, now he truly knew what someone who thought they were superior to you was like. And they had lilac skin, white hair AND WAS STANDING RIGHT OVER THERE LIKE AN ASSHOLE!

Okay, maybe he was trying to distract himself from Keith with this dislike thing, but it had worked for him before okay?

Thankfully Hunk arrived quickly, bursting in, then looking sheepish when all eyes turned to him.

“Sorry, Sorry.” He muttered sidling in next to Lance who elbowed him and winked.

“Now that we are all here, would you care to debrief us?” Allura’s regal voice caught the attention of everyone in the room and faces turned serious as they got down to business.

Lotor raised an eyebrow. “Has Keith returned to the Blade so soon?”

Aaaaaand there went the atmosphere, not just because of Lance’s response to the assholes continued interest in Keith. Shiro was the one to break the tense silence in a clipped tone. “He hasn’t. There were… complications. We can discuss that after.”

Lotor’s eyes searched Shiro’s face but he nodded slowly. “Very well.”

He settled in his professional facade indistinguishable from his usual face as far as Lance was concerned. “The information the Blade was able to collect was accurate, we were successful in receiving my mother’s diary and some of the artifacts she had accumulated over the years. I wasn’t able to retrieve it all, but I hope it will be of some use to you Princess. Honerva wasn’t truly an alchemist herself, not the way Alfor was, but she had an incredible mind and spent many years researching how alchemy worked.” Lotor frowned “From what I can tell going through it myself, she had the capabilities of an alchemist and was able to do similar things but didn’t have the title because she hadn’t gone through a specific ritual, involving going to a mystical place called Oriande. Hopefully there will be some clues in her notes on how we can get Allura there.” He looked Allura directly in the eyes “I’m afraid you may be our only hope against the witch Haggar.”

Allura nodded. “Thank you Lotor. I’ll start researching this immediately.”

Lotor ran a hand through his hair. “Hopefully the Blades will be successful with their attempts on raiding the witch’s databases. Despite Zarkon’s return I still believe her to be the true threat, my father is but a shell of his former self and only kept alive through her machinations.”

Matt gave a lazy smile and began his portion of the briefing “My end went quite well. The team managed to drop plenty of little presents around various Galra bases and ships for me to play with. I was able to get remote access to seven different systems and have been sending the info I drag out on to both Blade and Resistance analysts. Hopefully it’ll open up a way to get into Haggar’s personal databases the way Lotor wants. It’s been pretty low risk so far, though they might eventually notice the added hardware.” Matt shrugged nonchalantly.

Pidge pouted “No fair! You’d better share with your favorite little sib!”

Matt’s grin turned genuine and he ruffled his sister’s hair. “‘Course Pidgeroo! Wasn’t half as fun without someone to share the idiocy of Galra tech security with.”

Allura sighed “It’s good to hear that things went well and that we are in the position to gain valuable information. I’m sure the Rebels and Blade will let us know if there’s anything we can help with… We’re all spread so thin…”

“We should start cashing in on those alliances we forged.” Lance pointed out. “With this influx of data we’re going to need more eyes to sort through what might be significant anyways. The Blades and Rebels are going to be needed to continue on missions they can’t just sort through that massive amount of data…”

Allura frowned “That is a good point Lance, but probably not something we’ll be able to affect too directly.”

Matt shrugged “Call a meeting and suggest it, if anyone needs Voltron they’ll let you know.”

Allura smiled softly at the older boy “Thank you. That relieves my mind a bit, Lance is correct that they need more people to help, but we aren’t really part of the various organizations… We are our own entity and I’d like to avoid replacing the Galran Empire with a Voltron dictatorship.”

“There’s no chance of that with you leading it Princess.” There was nothing but sincerity in Matt’s voice. Lance would’ve said the line with a wink and a flirt, Matt was genuine and… intense. Allura seemed to color slightly, though the pink of her markings made it hard to tell.

Lotor cleared his throat “Now that that is out of the way, you said there were complications with Keith’s recovery?”

Shiro shifted and looked at Allura. She nodded. “Go ahead, I’ll explain things.”

Shiro gave a relieved smile “Thank you Princess.” Then stood, bowed, and made his exit. Lance watched him enviously, then turned back to the Prince who looked surprised and slightly worried. Ugh… why couldn’t the guy just stay an emotionless ass… Lance didn’t want him to care about Keith dammit!

“Keith was released early from the cryopod when an as of yet unidentified pathogen started attacking his system. Coran believes all the active pathogens will be out of his system in the next few Vargas, but he won’t be able to return to a cryopod to finish healing until we can be sure all the dormant ones are out of his system.”

Matt whistled “Shit.”

Lotor stiffened and looked a little paler. His voice was careful and controlled. “Ah. I assume you have a full medical report?”

Allura blinked “Of course.”

Lotor seemed to hesitate but then asked “Might I have a copy? It might be something I’ve seen or heard of before.”

He instantly had the full attention of the entire room. Allura almost fumbled with how quickly she pulled up the holo that presumably had Keith’s medical record. Lotor scanned it with an urgency that was making Lance give in. How could he resent the man if he could do anything to help Keith? And if Keith one day chose the Prince…

“Matt, I need you to open some medical files for me. You should have access to those from the device planted on the Tethari Draun. ”

“On it.” Matt was focused and typing on a specialized tablet that wasn’t connected to the castle system. “What am I looking for?”

Lotor closed his eyes. “Look for Poulus-925. P-o-u-l-u-s as well as Migshad Ardu M-i-g-s-h-a-d A-r-d-u.”

There were several minutes of tense silence as Matt worked. Everyone in the room was staring intently and Lance at least was holding his breath. Hunk had grabbed his hand and was currently crushing it, but Lance couldn’t care. If this worked… well Lance would have to reassess his view of the Prince. A little.

“Try those.” Matt continued typing but Lotor was already reading the files the boy had sent him. Lance wasn’t sure he could take the tension anymore. He stood abruptly causing the rest of his friends to jump and stare at him.

“Gonna go check on Keith, Shiro and Coran. Shiro might want to know.”

Allura nodded and Lance made his way out of the room as fast as his lanky legs let him. Moving helped ease his tension at least. He was useless there and though he may be useless with Keith too, at least he’d be able to look at the boy in question.

Shiro looked up from his pretty much permanent spot by Keith’s head. “Is something wrong?”

Lance realized his rushing probably didn’t help Shiro’s mental state and winced. “Nothing wrong, Lotor might have something on what’s up with Keith.”

Shiro was on his feet and out the door so fast it nearly gave Lance whiplash. Coran smiled from where he was seated on a couch that they had shaped in the malleable material that made up the room. “That’s good news my boy! Good news indeed!”

Lance let out a shaky breath and combed his fingers through his already disheveled hair. “It might still be nothing but…”

Coran nodded. “It brings us hope.” The older Altean studied him for a while, then smiled sunnily. “I don’t suppose you would be willing to watch Number Four for me? If Lotor has something that could help I should be there, and Shiro has run off, so as you can see m'boy I’m in a bit of a bind.”

Lance felt his heart lurch and he nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, I can do that.” He tried to sound calm but wasn’t sure how well he succeeded.

“Excellent!” Coran clapped his hands together then stood, bringing a holo-pad that had been sitting next to him over to Lance.

Coran gave him a brief rundown on what to look for and what he’d need to call Coran for if they changed.

“I don’t expect any problems, the active varacites are pretty much flushed from his system now. I expect to take him out of there in a few dobashes. But it never hurts to be careful. He’s woken up a couple of times now and though he’s still out of it, we haven’t had a repeat of that first night.” With that Coran clapped Lance in the back “I’m counting on you m'boy! Hopefully we’re only dobashes away from having our spitfire Paladin back with us!”

Lance smiled weakly as Coran left the room. He could only hope… He felt guilty as he shuffled over to Keith’s head settling into Shiro’s spot. He stared down at Keith, still pale but his cheeks were pink and flushed showing that the soak was doing its job in keeping his temperature up. He checked the pad and was relieved to see it consistently at 37.5 degrees Celsius. A bit of a fever, but nothing that would endanger his brain.

He puzzled his way through the charts, trying to make sense of them for maybe half an hour before he gave up and stared at Keith. It was one of his favorite hobbies and he was rarely given the chance to do so at any length without being caught. So he indulged himself taking in the other boy’s features.

He wasn’t sure how long he was staring but it felt almost surreal when those long lashes fluttered and Keith’s eyes opened languorously. Hooded eyes stared back at Lance but didn’t seem to register his presence until after a long blink.

“L’nsss?” His voice was thick and slow. Lance wondered if it was the illness or the medication. His brows drew together slowly “Wher'm I?”

Lance reached down and stroked some of the sweaty hair plastered to his forehead aside. “You’re home. Back on the Castle.” Seems like karma had just come home to roost. Keith and Lance were both destined to forget bonding moments thanks to medical reasons.

A long pause and then “M’mad atchu.”

Lance felt himself slump his eyes falling away from Keith’s face. “Yeah. I deserve that. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, all of this is my fault.”

He chanced a quick glance at the other boy only to find Keith’s eyes closed and his face relaxed back into unconsciousness. Lance sighed “Why is nothing ever easy with you?”

Nothing could've kept Lance from being on this mission. Thankfully when Shiro had been making the assignments his name was the first added to Shiro's own. Pidge had been next, and Lotor had volunteered himself. Shiro had agreed Lotor's previous visit to the facility might be of use and had allowed him along, which had been disheartening.

Flying as a passenger with Pidge was at least as terrifying as when Lance was deliberately flying crazy, more, because he always knew he was in control. She was the epitome of distracted driver, concentrating more on her gadgets than her visuals. Admittedly, remaining cloaked was important as they were sneaking past a Galran battle cruiser, but not running into things was important too.

Lance made an involuntary noise in the back of his throat and tightened his grip on the seat back as she barely avoided a space rock twice the size of the castle.

“I saw it!” She snapped at him.

“Never doubted you Pidgey.” He lied, voice croaking slightly. He cleared his throat but his voice was still slightly higher pitched than usual when he said. “Sooo… When are you installing that stealth tech on the rest of the lions?”

She glared at him and returned her attention to the not quite empty void in front of them. They crested another gigantic rock and there was their destination. A gaseous planet, bigger than Jupiter, with three moons. The biggest moon was their destination: Poulus-925. It was about the size of Mars and verdant with life. It also held the key to removing the dormant form of the varacite still circulating through Keith’s system.

No intelligent life had evolved on Poulus, but plenty of intelligent life visited to study the local ecosystems. A scientific outpost was built and all were welcome as long as they came in peace. Fifty years ago that had changed with the arrival of Galran battle cruisers. The scientists had been captured and forced to work for the Galra or die. Now the base mainly studied biological warfare but in the past scientists had made many breakthroughs in medicine across various species, including the Galra.

Luckily the scientist that had worked with the varacite was listed as still alive. Migshad Ardu.

Pidge’s driving was less erratic now she was in mission mode. She wasn’t focusing any less on her instruments but somehow she was now managing to multitask and fly well. She wasn’t anything on him of course, but he didn’t feel quite like gibbering in fear anymore.

“I’m reading a fourth large body in orbit. That’s probably the battleship that was mentioned.” Pidge’s voice was focused as well. Relaxed, yet fully engaged.

Lance whistled as Pidge zoomed in on the fourth orbiting body around the gas giant. It was more a battle station than mere ship. It was in the same orbit as Poulus, far enough distant to not affect the other moon, but close enough the full arsenal could be used at anytime on the defenseless moon.

Shiro frowned “That’s more of a threat than we hoped… Hunk, Allura, do you copy?”

“Go ahead Shiro.” Allura’s smooth voice replied.

“You two are going to need to make your way in system as stealthily as you can, use the asteroids. If we need you, we’re going to need you fast .” He glanced over at Lance and sighed. “I almost wish I’d left you, Red would be invaluable if things go wrong.” He shook his head “Too late now and we're going to need you more. The plan stays the same with Pidge on standby for extraction.”

She mumbled under her breath so Lance couldn’t make her out.

“We’ve been over this Pidge. It too dangerous for just you to go sabotage a ship without backup and we need you.” Shiro’s voice was stern, almost chiding.

“It’s your own fault for not giving anyone else your stealth tech!” Lance singsonged at her earning himself a glare from Pidge, a sigh from Shiro, and a carefully blank look from the Prince.

“Entering the atmosphere.” Pidge’s announced moments before the turbulence hit them. It was just barely enough warning to brace themselves. She’d moved to the side of the planet the space station wasn’t on. Even her cloaking technology couldn’t hide the sparks thrown up by reentry. She could hide from all known advanced technology only to be defeated by the simple organic eye. So she was taking precautions.

They fell below the clouds and into green . Every shade imaginable packed densely below them.

“It reminds me of flying over the rain forest.” Shiro said awe clear in his voice.

“I’m surprised it’s hasn’t been drained of all it’s resources. Isn’t that the Galra’s usual MO?” Lance wasn’t subtle in directing his barbed not-really-a-question to the Prince.

Lotor shrugged “This planet’s resources are in its varied forms of life. Wholesale destruction would rob the empire of most of the moon’s value. Once everything has been catalogued and the useful things successfully recreated, then the moon can be drained.”

“I mean, that’s more responsible than humans were of the earth.” Pidge commented.

“Yeah, bet humans would get the hang of not wasting resources after a couple hundred planets too.” Lance knew he was being petty, and shouldn’t be picking a fight with the Prince right before a dangerous mission, but his pre-mission nerves and his general dislike of Lotor were conspiring to make him an asshole.

Lotor took the snipe calmly, no change in demeanor. The only time he lost control of that cool, collected expression seemed to be when Keith was involved, which only increased Lance’s bitterness toward the Prince. “My people have done horrible things, I won’t deny this. However we have acquired much knowledge over the years that could be used to help people and undo some of the damage we’ve caused, if there is a change in leadership. My attempt to make things better from the inside blew up in my face, and yet war and possibly a fracturing empire, is a waste that will only lose information and resources-”

“Sorry to interrupt the recruitment speech, but I’m going to have to drop you guys a couple clicks out from the base to keep our presence hidden. So get ready to drop.” Pidge cut in and jabbed a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of Green’s main bay.

“Remember, no going off on your own. Find a place to hide and stay there until you hear from us. Our helmet comms can’t get off planet so you are our only contingency.” Shiro was using his dad voice.

“Yeah, I got it.” She looked reluctant but Lance knew she wouldn’t disobey Shiro unless someone’s life was in danger, most likely theirs.

The drop was exhilarating.

Lance was the first one out, back to the opening, he saluted Shiro and jumped letting out a whoop as he free fell towards the canopy. He spotted a likely looking space and angled towards it, pulling his limbs in tight to get the speed he wanted. At the last moment he reversed his body so he was going into the canopy feet first and fired his jet pack. He’d timed it correctly and grinned to himself as his fall slowed, then reversed.

He was able to make his way through the canopy without hitting any major branches on the way down. Branches wasn’t exactly the right word but he didn’t really have the vocabulary to describe the towering plants except as tree like.

He landed on one “branch”, slightly disturbed by the spongy texture, and surveyed his surroundings. Densely packed growth was everywhere and below the canopy colors truly exploded, green a minority am reds, purples, golds, blues, and every shade in between. It was stunning, and yet his irreverent mind couldn’t help thinking of a scenery created by people on some pretty hardcore drugs. Shiro arrived soon after Lance, landing cautiously next to him, the branch wide as a street was well able to handle the weight of two mere humans.

The older man smiled at him. “I’m actually glad Keith isn’t with us, one of you would’ve broken something racing down here.”

Lance grinned back. “Can’t help it, we’re both adrenaline junkies. Dios that was espectacular! ”

Shiro grinned back and Lance could see the excitement in his eyes. He was just as pumped about the experience. Sometimes it was hard to remember that Shiro was just as crazy as he was, he controlled it better and was so generally responsible .

Lotor landed last and immediately peered below them at the forest. There was no sign that he’d experienced any kind of rush as he said “This part seems the most open, maybe we should make our way to the station through this level of the canopy.”

Shiro nodded. “The branches are large enough to walk on and interconnect mostly, so we’ll be able to save fuel in the jet packs.”

The branches were twice as wide as Lance was tall so he felt that Shiro was rather under exaggerating the situation. It was truly a miniature highway up here

“Other creatures might find this as convenient as we do.” Lotor observed dispassionately.

“We’d need to be on alert for Galra sentries anyways. Lance you watch the rear, Lotor take the left vanguard and I’ll watch the right vanguard.

“I’ll gladly watch your rear sir!” Lance grinned lecherously and snapped a smart salute. Shiro gave him a slightly horrified look. “What? You’ve got a nice ass. Them’s the facts!”

Shiro’s facepalm was impeded by the visor of his helmet. “I swear you weren’t like this when I left, were you this bad with Keith?”

“He was worse, you should’ve heard him when Keith wore leggings. Though, to be fair, it mostly devolved into Spanish, but Hunk turned a extreme shade of crimson so it had to have been pretty bad.” Pidge’s voice cut in crackling through the comms.

“Slander!” Lance gripped at his heart in pain at her utterly unfounded accusation.

“Ignoring Lance and his dramatics, I found a place to hide. The camouflage unit is going on standby to cool down.”

Shiro shook his head but there was a hint of a smile. “Good. I’m guessing you plan on eavesdropping?”

“Yup, just let me know when you’ve got my bug in place.”

“Good. Alright team, let’s move. Lance, eyes to the back please, not observing your teammates physical features.”

“Roger that!” Lance chirped, he’d already gone into rear guard mode, his sharp eyes usually landed him that role and he didn’t really mind.

The trek through the canopy was pretty uneventful. All the animals Lance spotted disappeared quickly into the depths, usually making a racket as they left. It always surprised him how loud animals were. Only the predators had any stealthiness. He honestly had to rely on the infrared to show him any hidden animals that might be predatory.

The large growth ended abruptly in a clearing. There was no intermediate growth just large trees then BAM! clearing. The science base rose out of the middle of the clearing, an elegant octagonal building very obviously not Galran built but with some additions that were clearly Galran.

“Ooooh, fun. Turrets.” Lance observed dryly.

He heard Shiro snort.

“Lance, remember those short range EMP’s I altered for your rifle?” Pidge’s voice staticed into existence “Have fun.”

“Roger that Pidgey.” Lance singsonged as he scanned his surroundings to find the best advantage. “How many am I going to have to take out?”

“Probably three to be safe. Do you remember the map and the best entry point?”

“My mind is a steel trap. We are totally on the wrong side.”

Pidge snorted “I can see that you just pulled the map up on your suit.”

“Lies. It’s all my super amazing brain. Also that’s creepy. Fastest way to the likeliest entry point is counter clockwise from here.”

Shiro hummed thoughtfully “Alright. Lance, take point and choose the best spot for you. Lotor watch rear and left I’ll do the same to the right.

Lotor shot Shiro a disbelieving look then shook his head and turned his eyes to his section. Lance stuck his tongue out at the Prince’s back. Shiro shot him a disapproving look and Lance focused.

He moved carefully, keeping them well into the tree line as they circled the base. When he was near the entry he’d selected as the best point, he slowed and started calculating angles. He’d like a position that would let him shoot all three turrets but knew he might have to move between shots. He remembered testing the EMP’s with Pidge and knew they would only last half a dobash and it would be best if there was as much overlap as was humanly possible. So he was careful. He scouted each potential location, assessed advantages and disadvantages before choosing his spot.

He heard Lotor huff in annoyance a couple times and felt smug about inconveniencing the Prince. He didn’t take anymore time than he had to, but he wasn’t going to be less than perfect and annoying the prince just happened to be a side benefit. He found a spot that was as close to perfect as he was going to find and lay flat, focusing.

He felt Shiro and Lotor above him, guarding him, and let his mind float. The world became him, the rifle and his target. All noise disappeared except his own steady breathing. At the pause between one breathe and the next he gently squeezed the trigger. He stayed at the scope only long enough to see the slight impact into the farthest turret, then reloaded and shifted his sights to the nearest target. Rinse and repeat. Three targets. Three perfect shots. There was a profound satisfaction in these perfect moments he never found anywhere else.

It was just that, a moment, then they were on their feet and running. Shiro activated the handheld cloaking unit. It was rudimentary and was rather like a rippling blanket of blocky color when watched, but it would hide them from any machine eyes. They raced until they hit the door. Shiro opened a hatch by the door and plugged his arm into it.

“Go Pidge!”

Lance spun and took a knee, guarding their back while Pidge worked to let them into the base.

“I gave you a universal key for the station, you're going to have to get me access to a control panel for me to get at the cameras though. This isn’t on the same system.”

“Understood.” The door swooshed open and Shiro disappeared inside, Lotor following a heartbeat later. Lance followed last, keeping most of his attention behind until the door shut behind them. They were in a corridor with a T intersection at the end of it.

Lance assumed Shiro had pulled up the map of the station on his headset, because he didn’t hesitate as he moved forward. He was still cautious, checking the corridors for people before moving on. They had to avoid three groups of sentries, but overall Lance was surprised at how small the Galran presence seemed to be.

When they arrived at, according to the plan, a small security center Shiro signaled Lance forward. He had changed his bayard back into its mid range size and set it to stun. He didn’t know who would be in there and he didn’t want to kill civilians. Sentries would be harder to take down but he hadn’t practiced shooting for dobashes for nothing. Shiro put his hand on the door panel and the door slid open. Lance counted three, two sentries and an alien. He shot at the non robot first, they were less predictable than the bots and best to get out of a fight as soon as possible.

They had half risen to their feet, eyes wide and mouth open but were caught by his blast to the head. Their eyes rolled up and they slumped back into their chair, then slid bonelessly to the ground.

Lance rolled left, shield up as the sentries concentrated fire on him. Shiro darted in, shield up, headed straight for them, arm glowing violet. He’d yet to use his bayard even now. Lotor went left, sword in hand helping to flank them. As soon as the sentry fire let up Lance was able to shoot back and downed one. Shiro made it to the second before Lotor could.

It was only after they caught their breaths Lance contemplated “accidentally” shooting Lotor. If he’d just grazed his arm he’d only be numb for a while. Oh well, too late now and doing so would probably endanger their mission. He wouldn’t do that, stakes were too high. Maybe sometime in a practice bout. He grinned wolfishly in anticipation, imagining Keith impressed and swooning into his arms as Lotor lay prone and twitching on the floor.

Shiro snapping his fingers in front of his face brought Lance back to the present. He paled in horror, that was dangerous. He shouldn’t have let himself space out like that, especially for a fantasy so unbelievable. He was waaaaay more likely to swoon into someone else's arms, it was dramatic and right up his alley. Thankfully nothing had happened but his eyes still dropped in guilt. “Sorry Shiro.”

He felt a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder, then Shiro was moving to the console. He ripped a panel off and connected the wires to to a small device that was obviously of Pidge origin.

“Aaand there we are! I can cover you now.” A long pause filled with happy Pidge noises as she dissected the information. “Okay, this is just security systems, try another to get me some actual data, we need to find our alien.”

Shiro ripped open another panel and Lance moved in with his Pidge device.

“... this one's useless, next.”

It took another three attempts before Pidge found what she wanted.

“Alright! mapping you a trail that should lead you to our scientist. I’m going to be multitasking pretty hard so there’s a chance I won’t catch something, so keep an eye out for yourselves.

“Where would we be without you Pidge?” Shiro smiled his “proud dad” smile.

“Okay, okay you were right! I couldn’t do this and sabotage the station too.” Her voice was annoyed. Shiro laughed at that. Lotor had been making himself busy by the guard Lance had downed while Lance kept an eye, and his bayard, trained on the door.

“He’s a Galran soldier. Nothing of interest about him so I secured him.” He gestured to the guard now bound to the base of the consol, mostly hidden from the door by the desk. He’d also piled the sentries remains behind some consoles.

“Good. Then we’re ready to move.”

They continued with Shiro in the lead and Lance watching their back, he wondered if Lotor was feeling useless yet. So far he hadn’t contributed much thanks to the utterly overwhelming machinery that was team Voltron in action. Even down a few members they were so used to working together that they didn’t really leave anything for an outsider to do.

Following Pidge’s path kept them safe, they didn’t even see any patrols. Pidge was busy looping the security feed for the cameras they were passing. Lance knew it was coming but when the corridors opened into giant windows that looked out into the courtyard at the center of the building he couldn’t help but gape in awe. The building was of skyscraper proportions, in an octagonal shape, and the center was one massive greenhouse. There were people moving up and down different terraces tending plants and presumably conducting experiments.

According to the security scans of Migshad Ardu’s badge, the scientist was in a subterranean laboratory. This was going to be the trickiest part. Scientists didn’t have a set patrol the way the Galran sentries did and they’d have to rely more on their stealth. They didn’t have disguises and Lance wondered if they shouldn’t have painted their armor gray or something. Shiro was a good lead though and kept them from running into anyone. Lance kept his eyes on their tail and had a few moments where he was sure he was going to have to stun someone, but the footsteps always faded.

They came to an elevator shaft and Shiro worked his low tech magic to make the doors open. Lance set their magnetic grapples and slid past Shiro attaching him to his grapple, then dropped a couple feet into the shaft. Lotor followed him, attaching himself to the preset grapple. Shiro let the door go as he took his place and the doors closed with a ding that made something in Lance’s soul happy.

Then they began their descent, rappeling down the shaft. Lance kept a nervous eye above them, he really didn’t want to get squished by an elevator no matter how funny or ironic it would be.

As it turned out he didn’t have to worry about being squished, they landed on the roof of the elevator after about five minutes of descent. Lance found the hatch and as he opened it he couldn’t help but reminisce about the last time he was in an elevator shaft.

Shiro disconnected the magnetic grapples, and they held their shields above the three of them as the grapples fell. They made three loud bangs as they hit. One bounced off his shield and he felt it in his shoulder as the weight hit at high speed. Thank physics for air resistance. Lance retrieved the grapples and added them back to his belt.

Inside the elevator was utilitarian, elevator design was apparently a constant among the universe. The main difference was it didn’t have convenient buttons to say what floor they were on or wanted to go to.

“The elevators are voice activated.” Lotor remarked, he was the only one of them that had been here before even if it had been a while ago. Shiro gestured at him to go ahead. “Floor B19.” The elevator dinged in acknowledgement then began to move. It was probably the subtlest movement Lance had ever felt on an elevator. His foot began to tap and he leaned against a wall, an awkward silence permeated them, he actually missed elevator music...

It was a relief when the doors opened with another soft ding and they gratefully resumed the serious business of breaking into a guarded Galran research facility. A few corridors later and they were finally at their goal. Shiro slapped the scanner and they rushed through the door sliding gently shut behind them. The lab was empty save one startled looking alien.

“Doctor Migshad Ardu?” Shiro asked.

The alien, an insectoid creature with four legs and arms, bobbed it’s head twice then turned it’s head and made an odd chittering noise.

“This better not be Sven and the Yupper all over again…” Lance muttered. Shiro shuddered, any reference to Sven had a negative effect on their usually patient leader’s mental health.

The alien focused on Lance, head cocked to the side and spoke in a flat buzzing noise. “Your comment I do not understand, but you the Paladins of Voltron are?”

Lance felt his eyes go wide. “Ummm, Yeah.” His normally nimble tongue failed him and he floundered. “How do you…?”

Eyes blinked vertically at him. “Captives of the Galran empire we may be, but news from the outside world we have ways of acquiring. Confused by the green Paladin we were, sense they did not make.”

“I fucking told Coran!” Pidge yelled in their ears making them wince.

“Language Pidge.” Shiro murmured, then continued in a louder voice. “We are the Paladins of Voltron, my name is Shiro and this is Lance. With us as well is the exile prince Lotor.”

He took a deep breath. “We need your help.”

The aliens expression seemed to sharpen. “Prince Lotor, remember I do your visit. Well, well, my freedom I presume would be in trade?”

“We were thinking more along the lines of giving you back your station.” Lance drawled, smirking as the antenna like protuberances by the aliens temple stood up straight. It’s eyes blinked rapidly.

“Anything in my power I swear to do for that.” The flat buzz was slow. “Help you how may I?”

Dr. Ardu handed over the research he had on the viracite, also known as QDX-7366843. Lance preferred their name as it was something you could pronounce not just a string of numbers. They sent it off to the castle immediately using Pidge as the relay point.

With Dr. Ardu and his fellow scientists help they were able to quietly take over the station. All mechanical sentries were destroyed and the few flesh and blood Garlans restrained. The only thing left to worry about was the Galran space presence.

Admittedly that was a pretty big worry.

Most of the time the fact that Yellow had armor for days made Hunk feel secure beyond belief. Today he was wishing for a little of Green’s stealth tech, or some of Red’s maneuverability. He’d run into three asteroids on their way in system. They had been small and smashed harmlessly against Yellow’s carapace, but he’d still winced each time, silently apologizing to his lion. She’d dismissed them the way he would a fly hitting him, but he’d been worried each time that he’d broken their cover and the Galra were moments away from discovering them. Thankfully they hadn’t been, and were now hidden in the shadow of a gigantic asteroid waiting for their friends to return so they could attack said Galrans.

“They’ve made it back to the castle, not long now.” Allura’s voice was professional. He sometimes wondered if she ever got scared. She could be angry, passionate, sometimes sad, but never showed fear.

“Great. I’ll feel a whole lot better when it’s more than just the two of us trying to keep that tiny little station filled with hundreds of lives safe from giant space canons .” Hunk grumbled.

“You know, I used to wonder what bond you and Lance shared that was so strong, now I’m pretty sure it’s your love of dramatics.” Allura sounded like she was rolling her eyes.

Hunk huffed “Oh come on, you aren’t freaked out by the idea that one little mistake on your part, likely because you are doing something outside your expertise, could destroy hundreds of lives and lose decapheebs worth of scientific discoveries?”

There was a pause then Allura said slowly “Admittedly, I hadn’t thought of it like that. I was thinking more along the lines of how to disable the cannons the fastest when the rest of the team gets here.”

“Oh, to have a brain that doesn’t remind you of the worst possible outcome in any given situation! I’ve thought up twenty five different things I could do wrong-“ he paused and shuddered “Make that twenty-six… and that’s before the team reaches us. The likelihood of something I do causing an outright disaster decreases once they are back, but there are so many more moving parts after that it’s just…” he waved his hands even though she couldn’t see him to convey the enormity of the situation. “There’s a very real reason I was never interested in flying myself and only half of it was motion sickness.”

Allura was quiet for a long time. “I think I’m glad I don’t live in your mind. Though that does explain your ability with failure analysis.”

“I am good at knowing how things could fail.” Hunk said glumly. He knew why this was all coming up now and his stomach was roiling with nerves. He was usually pretty good at being rational but when the fear was strong he lost it and suddenly he was a large ball of nausea. He usually managed to push through but he didn’t understand how the others were so easily able to fly willingly into danger. Hell, Lance and Keith jumped at every opportunity!

It was easier when other people were in danger, when it was just the team Hunk would rather they just ran. There was always a reason behind their missions but… it was hard. He didn’t know why Yellow chose him. Maybe it was just because he was in the right place at the wrong time, maybe one day Yellow would find someone that suited her better.

He felt a deep grumbling growl in his head, Yellow was not happy with his doubts. I know you love me girl but Voltron needs the best. I’m not a fighter, all of this doesn’t just come to me like it does to Lance or Keith.

She flashed memories at him of how he’d helped the team, how often his feelings had proved right, how he’d found the courage and done incredible things. He felt his eyes watering.

“Did you miss us?” Lances voice was loud across the comms startling him out of his commune with Yellow.

Something inside him settled at his best friends voice. Lance wasn’t perfect by any means, but just having him there settled Hunk. His friend’s enthusiasm tended to drag others with it, often kicking and screaming.

“Alright team, remember the plan. The only thing we absolutely cannot allow are those main cannons firing at the science base. Let’s do this!”

Shiro was also a big boost to Hunk, the man had survived so much and was still doing everything in his power to fight. And despite being the leader with the final vote he tended to listen very carefully to all ideas and weigh people’s feelings about plans. Nice when you sometimes got hunches that just couldn’t be explained properly.

So it was with a churning mixture of terror and determination Hunk and Yellow launched themselves towards the Galran station. They weren’t the last ones into the fight despite his reluctance.

Red led the way aiming for the joints that moved the canons, Blue followed freezing them and Hunk finished by smashing into the weakened parts. They snapped off three of the giant space canons before Galran fighters began to pour out of the station and they had to split up.

Hunk dove, Yellow ended up running along the station until they were underneath it. There, they dug in their claws and began to rip into the station. They were routed by enemy fire but not before doing some substantial damage. Yellow barreled through enemy fighters like a bowling ball through pins, smashing and crushing until the call came to form Voltron. Then he flew with the others and the power and purpose flowed through him and he was a leg.

Being part of Voltron wasn’t as invasive as one would think, practicing had been full of people invading people’s head spaces and getting angry, but as Voltron the whole team focused on the goal, so you’d get strong feelings from the others but generally nothing strong enough to break the goal of kicking ass. It wasn’t even as much of a melding as the one with the lions. Yellow and Hunk became one being, but Voltron was five with one purpose.

Allura and Hunk had to keep things balanced, make sure they moved in the right direction and sometimes bring out heavy weaponry. They were mostly defense though. It had taken quite the adjustment to balance with Allura. Lance had been easy, except for the whole learning as they were going thing, but the Princess thought differently than Lance. She didn’t have the same… rhythm he did, and Hunk didn’t have years of friendship helping their synergy. He still sometimes over or under compensated and had to correct them.

He didn’t now. Allura seemed more tuned to him today and they kept the balance as Shiro directed them.

They flew towards the station, ignoring the fighters whose fire harmlessly bounced off their shielding. Lance drew the sword and starting from the hole Hunk had started, they sliced up the station. Explosions radiated upward and Shiro and Lance gave a final flourish before Hunk and Allura were jumping backwards, away from the chaos they’d just caused. An alarm flew through the link in Pidge’s distinct tone and she screamed “The canons!”

They whirled and saw that despite the damage there were still a few operational, and they were aiming for the planetside station.

“Hunk!” Shiro called out.

“On it!” Terrified he slammed his bayard into its slot and turned it. The missile barrage Shiro sent out slammed into the remaining cannons disabling them.

“Alright team, nearly done just the clean up left.” They all cheered and Hunk's missile launcher gave way to Lance’s sword as they dove back into the station.

Lance was always buzzing post mission and his feet were walking him to one goal without his brain needing to prompt him. With the liquid lightning of adrenaline running through his veins the entire Galran empire couldn’t keep him from his goal.

Coran had sent them periodic updates on Keith’s condition the second he started treating the varacite. Keith has been popped back into the cryopod about the time they were going into battle. After all the clean up, celebration and diplomacy, Keith had been out for eight or nine vargas. Everyone else was passed out and when Lance crashed it would be hard after being up for nearly two quintants.

But he was still running and wouldn’t be content until he saw him. Maybe the third, or was it fourth? attempt at apologizing would stick. He slowed as he reached the med bay.

The door was open.

That was something that had to be deliberate, all the doors automatically shut unless someone set them to remain open. So… Keith was inviting visitors? He continued forward slowly, his stomach roiling. He wasn’t sure why he suddenly had a bad feeling, but it was there now.

Keith was sitting up in bed, pale but features gloriously animated, awareness in those dark eyes. Seated next to him, back to the door, was a figure leaning forward and holding his hand. The person wasn’t Shiro and had lilac skin. Lance felt bile rise in his throat.

“-to see you well.” Prince Lotor’s voice was earnest.

“I understand I once again have you to thank for that.” Keith’s voice was neutral, as was his expression. Lance wondered if the hand holding was against his will and he required aid in getting rid of his visitor.

Lotor shook his head “My role was negligible, I had some knowledge and was a mere decoration in the mission to collect your cure.”

Keith shook his head slowly. “Nevertheless, that makes three Ansaràwei . A debt is owed.”

Lotor reeled back at the word, Lance couldn’t see his expression but shock radiated from him.

“Tha-that’s- you cant- I didn’t…” Lotor was stuttering, obviously whatever Keith had just done wasn’t expected and probably highly unusual.

Lance remembered plummeting off a cliff on an overencumbered hover bike. Unexpected and unusual was the story of Keith’s existence .

“Do you deny me?” Keith’s voice was soft, like velvet over steel.

“Of course not!” Lotor’s reply was quick “But do you truly know the severity of-“

“I know exactly what is owed. Do you deny me?”

Lotor’s head bowed and this time his reply was more a murmur, awed and reverent. “Of course not Gashänn .”

Lance saw Keith’s whole demeanor change, he was no longer looking for a fight and there was even a slight smile. “Good. It would dishonor me if you refused. Fuck if I know how I’m going to pay this debt though.”

Lotor pulled Keith’s hand up to his face and Lance could easily imagine him kissing it like some knight in a play. “Even as little as I know of you I've no doubt you will manage. Probably in some way that will leave me in your debt.”

Keith’s eyes rolled but his cheeks and the tips of his ears were flushed. Lotor rose from his seat and bowed. “I’ll take my leave. Coran says you still have a movement or so before you regain your former strength. I hope you will allow my help Gashänn.”

Lance leaned against the corridor wall trying to school his expression to be anything other than hostile. Lotor said the word with a reverence, almost like a pet name, or something intimate at the very least.

“Nothing about the bond keeps me from kicking your ass, Ansaràwei .” Somehow Keith made the Galran word sound like a promise and a threat. Lotor shuddered slightly, imperceptible unless you had the motivation to watch as closely as Lance was. Lotor turned and walked out the door hitting the panel to lock the door. Lance was finally treated to a view of the the prince’s face and was unsurprised to see dilated pupils and a distant expression.

The look changed abruptly when he saw Lance leaning indolently against the wall. He looked actively hostile, and Lance felt an odd sort of pleasure at the crack in the prince’s demeanor.

Lance gave his best insolent grin and a small wave. “All done?” He kept his voice light and innocent. Provocation was an art he’d perfected, and he hoped his own tension wasn’t showing.

“He needs rest.” Lotor’s voice was a low snarl.

Lance raised an eyebrow in response and drawled. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I promise I won’t keep him up past his bedtime.” He was glad he was still in his armor and had his bayard. They stood there a moment longer Lance all false nonchalance and Lotor bristling with hostility, then the prince took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again his cool mask was back.

“Of course, he will wish to see his friends and none of you would harm his well being.” The Prince’s focus was more inward as he said this and Lance perked up with interest. Lotor didn’t seem to be actively hostile because he saw Lance as an interloper on Keith, but because he was protective. Lance had seen moments with Keith, mostly involving Shiro where the black haired boy had shown a single minded determination to protect . He got scary because you knew he’d do anything to keep Shiro safe.

Lance let his expression relax into something less mocking. “You really do care for him.”

Lotor’s head jerked up, eyes wide, stance shifting to defensive. Lance shook his head “You’re interest was clear from the start, but you do actually care for him.”

Lotor said nothing, his mouth a tight line, eyes hard. Lance shrugged and walked toward Keith’s door. When he was slightly past Lotor but not in the doors sensor range he paused. “Don’t think you have any of our blessings yet, but you did save his life. We are all just as much in your debt as he is.”

He didn’t wait for an answer, but continued into the infirmary. The door shut satisfactorily behind him and he couldn’t help but be pleased with the properly dramatic scene. He was grudgingly accepting Lotor as a coworker and rival in love, but that didn’t mean he had to like the man.

Abruptly he became aware of eyes on him and remembered that, yes, he’d just walked into Keith’s room. His heart began to race as his adrenaline spiked and suddenly he was flying again. He locked eyes with the dark ones staring at him from the bed and moved forward to take the chair Lotor had so recently vacated.

Keith’s face gave little away, it wasn’t tight but it wasn’t relaxed. He was controlled, no anger evident but those eyes were intense.

“Hey Samurai, good to see you back in land of the living.”

With that Keith’s whole demeanor relaxed and Lance saw a faint smile appear. “Shouldn’t you be passed out with the rest sharpshooter? It’s been a long couple of days from what I heard.”

Lance leaned forward voice drawling laconically “You know me, can’t sleep after a mission, thought I’d come visit since you’re bound to put me to sleep.”

The lines around Keith’s eyes deepened as his grin grew wider. “If you wanted boring you should’ve gone with Shiro, the old man was falling asleep in his lion on the way back.”

“I was wondering why he wasn’t passed out in here, he barely left your side the past movement.” Lance felt raw remembering Keith’s unresponsive form cold in his arms.

Keith’s eyes weren’t smiling anymore. “He called me from Black on the way back. I told him to go to his own damn bed for once.”

“Worrywart Kogane huh? Going to start making sure we all get to bed at a reasonable hour and eat our veggies?” The light banter was reflexive and so easy . He didn’t want to break the atmosphere of camaraderie but knew he’d have to bite the bullet eventually here.

Keith rolled his eyes, that quiet smile returning. “I wouldn’t be your mother for anything. I’d be completely white within a week.”

Lance examined him “Not like you’d look bad with white hair, but I don’t need another mother. Hunk is enough up here.” Keith’s eyes rolled again.

Lance took a deep breath and took the plunge. “Look, Keith, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have blown up at you the way I did. I have some seriously   deep seated issues and-”

“Lance.” Keith’s voice cut him off, and he leaned forward one hand moving to Lances leg, grounding him. Keith’s dark infinity eyes drew him in and held him securely. “Thank you. I accept your apology.”

Lance sagged in relief, eyes still held bound, a small, real smile appearing on his own face.

Keith’s hand retreated as he leaned back again, wry grin on his face. “Besides it’s not like I’m one to talk about unreasonable angry outbursts.”

“Something we should both work on then.” Lance wanted to chase Keith back, not let him pull away, but knew better. Keith was like a cat, you let him come to you and were honored when he deigned to give you affection.

Moving with a speed that belied his supposed weakened condition, Keith threw his blankets off and slung his legs off the bed. Their knees knocked together.

“C’mon. Help me break out of here!” His grin was wild and Lance threw his head back and laughed.

“You, my friend, are crazy.”

Keith’s grin didn’t change and he began to unplug himself from the monitor Coran still had attached to his arm. “I’m just a little weak, perfectly healthy.”

Lance gave him a flat, unimpressed look. Keith raised an eyebrow. “Don’t even pretend you’re responsible. Now get up and help me to the pool.”

“I’ve decided it’s unfair you know so many of my weaknesses.” Lance grumbled more for show than anything. He would’ve gone along with stupider ideas, like a short flight in Red… the pool was a relief in comparison to say, the training room. That he wouldn’t have gone along with.

Keith’s grin returned and he lifted his arms. Lance pulled him up easily, he’d lost even more weight… He wavered, even with Lance’s support.

Lance pulled him in close so he was more leaning on him, and frowned. “Are you sure you shouldn’t get some rest Keith?” He kept his voice soft, making sure he was worried not challenging Keith’s ability.

“Mmm…” Keith said from his collarbone, eyes not quite focused. He took a breath and blinked. For a moment his chin set stubbornly, then miraculously , it relaxed. “Maybe, but I don’t want to be here.”

“Your room?”

Keith thought about it and shook his head. “Too abandoned.” He looked up at Lance with hooded eyes. “Yours?” There was a wistful hope in that voice Lance was powerless to deny. To be fair, he doubted he could deny the hooded eyes anything . Ai dios , this boy wasn’t even trying to to seduce him, and he was halfway to killing him!

“Sure.” With that he scooped Keith up. The boy yelped and glared at him, not nearly as soft as his half delirious state last time, though he did eventually relax, he kept his arms crossed and pouted.

“Shiro’s probably going to kill me for kidnapping you again.” Lance mused.

“Again?” The pout gave way to a curious cock of his head.

Lance chuckled awkwardly “I was the one at the cryopod when you came out the first time. You wanted to go to my room then too.”

Keith was quiet. He looked down and saw Keith as red as their lion. Keith’s eyes refused to meet his.

“What’s wrong querido ?”

“It still feels like a weakness to want the company.” Keith’s voice was quiet, almost inaudible. Lance swallowed down sadness, Keith didn’t respond well to pity.

“Well if that’s true, I’m weaker than you. We all missed you like crazy, you’re going to have to insist if you want to get any time to yourself before you go away again.” Lance hoped he was keeping the bitterness out of his voice. “If you want to be bunkmates the whole time I won’t object.” He should but he was weak. “Though if Shiro doesn’t kill me tomorrow, he’ll probably still kick my ass and claim his brotherly rights as roommate.”

Keith had relaxed against him, he couldn’t be comfortable against the hard plates of Lance’s armor but he didn’t so much as shift in discomfort. He chuckled. “Try not to lose, Shiro snores.”

Lance groaned feelingly. “Ask the impossible why don’t you?”

“Anytime.”

Lance rolled his eyes. Then paused for his door to open. Ducking in he locked it behind them, more out of habit than anything. He dumped Keith on the bed unceremoniously. He bounced and glared up at Lance who only grinned unapologetically back.

“Glad you were able to get clean and comfortable after the cryopod, now it’s my turn. Feel free to fall asleep, I know I take a while.”

Keith’s face fell for just a moment before he rolled his eyes. “Pass me your holopad, I’ll read a bit or something.”

“Your wish is my command.” Lance bowed mockingly and passed over the holo before divesting himself of all but his undersuit. He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and moved into the bathroom. He rushed his routine, skipping most of it actually. That one moment of vulnerability had been enough. Keith was lonely. He’d always been good at hiding his vulnerabilities, and bad at hiding his passions, Lance couldn’t resist a lowering of his defenses.

It was maybe fifteen minutes later when he emerged from the bathroom. Keith was staring absently at the holo, mind obviously elsewhere. He looked up at the noise Lance made but still wasn’t fully present. Lance moved quickly over to the bed and flopped down onto Keith. He grinned as he pulled the other boy to him and started tickling. Normally he probably wouldn’t have managed but Keith was just startled enough by his unexpected actions that Lance managed to succeed without any fight from the other boy. Of course after his assault was another matter. He squirmed and fought, only Lance’s weight giving him any advantage from flailing limbs. Keith’s breathless giggles were music to Lance, and he was grinning like a maniac. Finally Keith managed to knee him in the groin, which definitively ended any more action on Lance’s part.

Keith elbowed himself up so he could glare at the boy in his own private world of pain above him. “You deserved that.”

Lance just groaned, thankful that the pain was receding. He let his weight fall completely on Keith, who grunted and fell back against the bed. The dark haired boy made a mocking punch against Lances shoulder.

“Ass.”

“Yeah, probably.” Oh good, speech was possible again. He rolled them over so Keith was laying on top of him. He settled his arms around Keith’s waist and sighed. “I think I’ll avoid doing that again.”

Keith crossed his arms across Lance’s chest and rested his head on them looking down on him. “Good. Next time I’ll do worse.”

Lance imagined a world where he could lean up and kiss the beautiful boy above him and sighed. He was way too enamored.

“C’mon, I’m starting to crash.”

Keith’s eyes rolled and wriggled to grab the blanket at the foot of the bed and pulled it over them. Lance had loosened his grip but Keith made no motion to to leave his spot on Lance’s chest.

He hadn’t lied about crashing. The adrenaline melted away and, for once, he fell asleep quickly.