Chapter Text
“This is excessive,” Allura says, staring in awe at the array of objects stacked high on the table.
Lance has to agree, marvelling at the vast number of gifts which have been delivered to the castleship, where it had been stationed just outside the latest planet they’ve rescued. He can see with just one glance clothing, jewelry, food, machinery, and other items which he has no word for stacked in a never-ending system.
“It’s so kind of them, but they really don’t need to do this. Some of these planets have almost nothing,” Hunk says, looking down sadly at a platter of small fruits.
Lance nods to himself. This week marks ten months since Voltron began its mission, which seems to mean more in space than it would on Earth. To mark this time, they’ve settled in Juardon, recently freed from Galra control, which is the final planet in the solar system. They insisted on the Paladins staying to mark not only the end of this struggle, but the auspicious date.
With the anniversary, planets far and wide have been sending celebratory gifts addressed to them, an amazingly kind gesture, but one that, much as Hunk says, leaves him feeling uneasy.
For some planets, they’d been able to rebuild swiftly — but others were still finding it hard to stand on their own; either through the devastation the Galra had caused or through the cascade of events in their leaving: such as civil war, military action, and natural disasters. Gifts from planets with precious few resources didn’t sit well with Lance.
Pidge steps up to the table, peering down until her nose almost touches the nearest baskets and boxes. Her hair is growing faster than Lance could believe, as she swipes at it in vain when strands try to interrupt her scrutiny.
It’s strange still for him, how time passes without his notice, how time has flown to a point where they are now set in their roles as protectors of the universe.
“Let’s check who it’s all from. We’ll need to thank them all anyway. We can tell — oh hey, look at this beauty, how are you put together…”
“Aaaaand, we’ve lost her,” Lance says, nudging Hunk, who laughs as Pidge dissolves into pleased noises as she studies what looks to be a bright red, diamond-shaped stone with flecks of gold floating through.
“Pidge, you shouldn’t touch things before knowing what they are,” Shiro says and the look Pidge sends him in return has Lance smiling, reminding him of the Garrison commanders who would dare challenge her math back home.
It feels normal, good. Which is a reassuring sensation since things have hardly felt settled of late with Keith discovering he’s part Galra and taking the Blade of Marmora trial. It’s nice that they have this week to just reflect on what they have achieved, rather than what they’re lacking.
As if left to that train of thought, the spiral is deep and seems infinite, and Lance would like keep himself together right now.
Speaking of Keith…
Lance turns to where he stands slightly away from the group, arms crossed and glaring holes into the gifts — his usual version of Resting Keith Face. Lance has barely seen him these past few days. Allura is obviously still uncomfortable in his presence, although it’s not quite the obvious avoidance after the first announcement. Keith, in turn, is avoiding most of them, although his mission with Hunk seems to have alleviated some of the problems. Hunk is great like that, the best positive reinforcement a person could wish for.
Lance thinks that, aside from Allura, much of it is a projection of Keith’s own feelings on the matter. He’s already the ‘lone wolf’ of the group, but discovering that you’re not only part alien, but the alien race that’s their enemy? That’s hardly going to boost your confidence in socialising. Add that to the whole defenders of the universe pressure, and Lance is surprised all they’ve had so far is Keith being far more aloof than normal and spending way too much time training.
He’d refused a healing pod after the Blade of Marmora incident, and had been pretty cagey on what happened. Mentioned some manner of trial, which has hardly endeared the Blade to them in Lance’s mind. If he looks carefully, he can still see faint blue shadows of bruising on Keith’s skin, stark and deep against the paleness. It makes Lance ache just to see it.
Which it shouldn’t do as Keith is his rival, and annoys the hell out of him most of the time.
It’s just that the other times, the feelings associated with Keith have a way of shifting and morphing into something uncannily familiar, and that in itself makes it terrifying. He knows what is it, what to name and categorise it, but will only hinder their interactions further. Therefore, Lance tries to focus on the annoying parts, the logical parts.
Yet, he can’t help being deeply affected by the memories of battle littered on Keith’s skin.
It does him no favours though, for Keith catches him staring and turns the full force of his Resting Keith Face on him.
“What?” he mouths and Lance is so on the spot at being caught basically scanning Keith for injuries, he simply raise his eyebrows and gives Keith a pointed look.
Of what, he isn’t sure. But it does the trick in making Keith huff and turn away, although the stance of his shoulders locking out makes Lance’s mood drop instantly.
He really needs to learn to deal with this better.
Lance forces himself away from Keith and back into the conversation. Pidge has managed to draw Hunk into her analysis of the diamond object, both of them rattling off words and phrases Lance doesn’t understand, nor is he really that interested in. Shiro, Allura and Coran are debating how they want to proceed with the celebrations and Keith has now, of course, managed to find a wicked looking serrated knife among the artifacts.
Which leaves Lance rather at a loss. Again.
However, he pushes down that tensing of his heart, that malicious little creeping voice which whispers unworthy in his ears. He’s proven his place in the team; he’s their sharpshooter, a position none of the others can fill. He just needs to keep reminding himself of such.
So he walks up to the table himself, between Pidge and Coran. Running his eyes over the goods, he sees a rather spectacular looking cloak haphazardly piled between a vase that looks so delicate, he dares not touch it, and a box of blue-toned dried leaves which might be tea. He’s about to call dibs on the cloak when a hand claps him on the shoulder, causing him to jump and yelp.
He turns to see Allura and Shiro both looking at him with twin expressions of alarm while Coran laughs, as if scaring Lance is the highlight of his day.
“Lance, my boy, we’ve been assigned tracking duty! We should get started on taking note of where each of these gifts come from,” he says, smiling all the while as he pulls out his holoscreen.
Lance’s heart plummets. Admin duty. A step up from cleaning, he supposes, but still, is there nothing else can do but menial tasks? However, before he can protest, Pidge practically bounces up to Coran.
“Me, too! I want to see what tech we’re dealing with, some of this stuff is more advanced than I expected,” she says, arms flying around and almost smacking Lance in the chest.
“Can’t help to have more hands, I suppose,” Shiro agrees, although Lance can see a wariness there. Pidge is hardly known for helping in the correct manner where her technological interests are involved.
“We have a meeting with the planet’s elders in a few moments, anyway. It appears they still have Galra weapons on the East side of the planet, so we may need to help out later today,” Allura says, and Lance nods in tandem with the others, all instantly on alert as Paladins.
Hunk doesn’t need much persuading to join them, intrigued by Pidge’s own theories and aided, Lance likes to think, by his own imploring gaze. Coran begins listing various methods of categorisation they could try from different eras, which Lance half listens to and half lets wash over him, knowing they’ll end up doing this how Pidge wants.
Despite his earlier concerns, he’s now excited for the task ahead. With Coran setting himself up for a long reminiscence, Lance knows this will mainly be down to the three of them. Which suits him well, it’s not often nowadays they actually get to work together like this, more often than not split into different groups. It reminds him of home, of the three of them struggling their way through the Garrison classes, all hopes and dreams of even getting to scrape the edge of what they now experience on a daily basis.
He turns to Pidge and Hunk, grinning, hands on his hips. They both smile back, and he thinks they, too, are excited for the prospect.
“Alrighty, where do we begin!” Lance calls, looking to Pidge.
Pidge casts her eyes across the sprawling mass on the table.
“Let’s split them into tech, weapons, material goods, flora and fauna, and edibles. That’s what I can see so far, anyway. If we find anything else, it can go into miscellaneous for now,” they say.
Lance nods, grabbing his tablet and opening up a new page.
“Okay, I’ll make a sheet with those, and we can list a short description and the name of the planet it’s from. How about that?” he says, the other two nodding in rapid agreement. Lance always was the one who colour-coded his notes in meticulous order. That need to coordinate and plan comes in handy at times.
As Lance adds the finishing touches to his document, he feels Hunk’s stare. He looks up, about to ask if everything is okay, when he realises Hunk is actually looking past him. Lance turns and sees Keith, standing awkwardly by the door, eyes flickering back between them and where Shiro and Allura are preparing to leave. Coran has mysteriously vanished. Typical.
“Keith, buddy, you wanna help out?” Hunk calls, voice all light and friendly.
Keith jerks as if not expecting the summons. He takes one step forward, looks back towards Shiro and Allura, then hesitates. He shakes his head.
“No, I think I’ll go train for a while,” he says, eyes not meeting theirs.
“Okay, well, when you’re done, we’ll probably still be working on this, so feel free to join us!” Hunk says, making an obvious effort to keep his tone the same, even though Lance can see him deflating.
Keith nods, then turns on his heel and stalks out of the room. Hunk sighs. Lance leans over and clasps him on the shoulder.
“You can’t make him join us, man. It was nice to ask,” Lance says, before moving back to the table. Hunk follows with a grumble.
“I know, but I just… wanna make sure he knows he can,” Hunk says, looking back at the door.
Lance understands that, for as annoying as Keith is, it’s clear he’s finding it hard to know where his place is right now. And if anyone can relate to that, it’s Lance. But they can’t force Keith to do anything; he has to come willingly.
“I’m sure he does. Plus, if training makes him less of an asshole when he does join us, all the better,” Lance says, for Keith is most definitely still an asshole, even if he’s an asshole that needs support right now.
“You’re not fooling anyone, Lance,” Pidge states as she arrives next to him, holoscreen in hand.
“And what is that supposed to mean?” Lance says, a flush creeping up his neck that he wishes could be better hidden by his casual clothing.
Pidge, however, just rolls her eyes and gestures to the table.
“Let’s get going. I want to see what we’ve got here!”
And with that, Lance pushes all thoughts of Keith out of his mind, focusing on the task at hand.
When Keith does reappear over an hour later, Shiro and Allura are still not back, Coran is as missing as ever, and Lance can say they have made… some progress.
It’s hard to stay on track when there are so many incredible artifacts. A sword of obsidian with a pearl encrusted guard, which somehow still feels comfortable to the touch. A series of wires connect to a thin sheet of what appears to be glass — but after tests, is certainly not — has Pidge fascinated for twenty minutes. There’s a miniature working rocket with a fuel Hunk can’t identify, which, of course, bothers him immensely. And many types of clothing and jewelry, all of different styles and extravagance.
So perhaps they warrant the judgmental glare Keith bestows upon them when he enters to find Pidge draped in a sea of gold chains, Hunk wearing a silk flower encrusted top hat, and Lance in the cape.
“Really?” he says and Lance dramatically flips his cape over his body at Keith’s entrance.
“Should have known you’d never appreciate style, Mullet,” Lance says with a huff and Keith wrinkles his nose in response.
“Hey, man, wanna work on the flora? There’s a lot of plant life we haven’t started on yet,” Hunk says in greeting, pointing to where Lance has been sorting through a box of silverware that’s more opalescent than anything else.
Keith nods at Hunk, and ignores Lance as he makes his way over to the aforementioned area. Lance makes a face at his back as Keith appraises the plant life, and Lance cannot help but notice his hair is slightly damp, hanging heavy and clumped as it dries. He watches, half hypnotised, as a bead of water collects at the end of one particular strand near the base of his neck. Lance waits almost on edge for it’s inevitable progress, watches the water collate, expand, and finally-
Drop.
Hits just below where his black t-shirt begins, coating the pale skin of his neck in moisture.
Lance licks his lips.
Then, with an almighty slam of reality, Lance realises what he’s doing.
There’s not even a shadow of a doubt of how much Lance was just checking Keith out. He winces, tearing his eyes away from Keith’s slightly hunched frame in case his eyes wander and thoughts fly to any further unexpected places.
Okay. So. Calm down. Lance inhales and exhales, focuses his eyes on the box of cutlery before him. It’s not the first time he’s found himself enticed by his teammate, not the first time he’s been unable to help notice just how attractive Keith is. It’s just becoming more frequent and harder to ignore, what with his close proximity and perchance for doing things that keep Lance’s focus on him so exclusively.
Amazing reflexes. Pure, cool control in the flying of his lion. Sweeping his hair dramatically out of his face. Pouting when Shiro makes them run drills late into the evening. Eating food goo and the way his nose crinkles as he tries to keep a straight face. Pretty much just exist-
“Arrgggg,” Lance cries before he can stop himself, having to vocalise his need for his mind to stop.
Keith spins around with potted plant in his hand, eyes wide and peering at Lance.
“What’s wrong?” he says, voice all Red Paladin, ready for action.
Lance opens his mouth and closes it in a gaping motion, for he has no idea how to cover up his thoughts. Thankfully, though, he doesn’t need to, for he is suddenly startled by what’s before him.
“Whoa, giant bug!” Lance yells, pointing to where said creature is hanging off the plant in Keith’s hands.
“Bug!” Hunk and Pidge cry in unison, one in fascination, one in slight disgust. Funnily enough, it’s Pidge whose voice is of the squeamish tone; she is far more comfortable with machines than crawling beasties.
Lance stands as Hunk comes over, and Keith turns the plant to face him. It has wide, midnight blue leaves and tiny pink flowers that remind Lance of snapdragons. And off one leaf hangs a thin torso of a cream-coloured insect with four spindly legs that seem to somehow be able to keep it upright. It has an almost square head with no obvious eyes or mouth, which makes Lance wary. He’s pretty neutral about bugs, doesn’t shy away, but isn’t eager for a closer look.
So he cannot help but yell when the thing launches itself onto Keith.
Hunk is obviously not expecting it either, for he joins in Lance’s cry, jumping backwards. Keith, however, freezes, eyes going wide as the thing lands on his bare arm. That is, for only a second before he, too, yells and drops the plant, the pot which was holding it smashing on impact with the castle floor.
Lance doesn’t hesitate; he runs over to where Keith is now hunched over, grabbing onto his arm. There’s no question of what just occurred, so Lance situates himself firmly in front of him and grips onto his elbows, providing support and anchoring.
“Keith? Buddy, did it sting? Bite? You okay?” Lance says, keeping his voice steady, years of helping out with younger nieces and nephews getting bitten by bugs of all varieties making this almost routine.
“Bitten. Shit, that hurt, I don’t know where it we-”
Keith looks up and just stops. That’s all Lance can describe it as. His mouth ceases forming words, his eyes lock onto Lance’s and his body freezes. Lance is caught in his stare, and for a moment, he thinks he sees Keith’s eyes change colour; just a film of something light sweeping across, making the violet almost dark magenta in Lance’s vision.
Keith blinks, though, and it’s gone —a nd with it, Keith straightens and shakes his head. Lance lets go of his elbows slowly, still not sure what he’s just seen.
“There you are, you little bastard!”
Lance spins to see Pidge holding a glass tube at arm’s length, scowling deeply at the cream-coloured bug encased within, it’s legs moving up and down the glass.
“Where did it get you?” Hunk says cautiously, moving to stand next to Keith. Lance flinches when he sees the bite on Keith’s arm, a dark raised mark already appearing, much like a mosquito bite.
“We should see if Coran has some age old cure for this. Not like we have Tiger Balm in space,” Lance says, before moving towards the door.
“Wait, no, don’t go!”
All three of them slowly shift to look at Keith, matching expressions of confusion on their faces. For Keith’s cry is almost scared, if that’s the right sentiment, something in the tone and swiftness of delivery that speaks of urgency.
An urgency to keep Lance in the room.
“You okay, buddy?” Lance says carefully as he steps back, Hunk looking equally as perplexed on Keith’s other side.
Keith blinks, then looks away, running a hand through his hair.
“Y-yeah. Sorry. I just don’t think it’s worth it. It’s just a bug bite,” he says with a shrug.
“Just an alien bug bite,” Pidge says with emphasis, glaring again at the captured creature. Lance had forgotten just how much she disliked insects, having hardly seen any since they traveled to space.
“Let’s just clean this up before we do. I’m sure it will go down in no time. I’m fine, seriously,” Keith says, before dropping to the floor and starting to collect up the pieces of shattered plant pot.
Lance looks between his friends who send him similar shrugs in response. They all know there is not much which can be done when Keith decides on something, so while Pidge stows the bug away, Hunk and Lance help Keith clear up the mess, and find something to replant it in. Hunk checks it carefully and declares there are no more creatures living in it, much to their collective relief.
However, any further plans are halted when Shiro and Allura return.
“Paladins, we have a task!” Allura calls as she enters, and immediately they are focused on their roles, moving into a circle around her.
“It appears that the Galra were testing mines in the East of the planet. Although it originally seemed as if they’d cleared the area on hearing of our arrival, a patrol stumbled upon an unexploded one two days ago. I’ve offered out assistance, since we should be able to find and disable them with our equipment,” she explains.
Pidge nods. “I have something that Green can use to scan the area. I can get it up and running pretty quickly,” she says, and Allura smiles.
“Keith, your lion is the most agile, so it will be the best suited for the conditions,” Shiro says, and Keith stands straighter in acknowledgement of his role.
Shiro smiles, then begins again. “With the two of you covering this, we should be fine. Once Pidge-”
“Lance is the sharpshooter. He’ll be able to set them off best at a distance. He should come, too,” Keith says, causing the entire room to go silent.
Initially, Lance’s mind can’t comprehend what’s happened. For Keith is not only asking for Lance to be part of the mission, but interrupted Shiro to do so. The entire room is now staring between the two of them, but Keith still looks resolute in his decisions, so Lance has no choice but to step up, despite the strangeness.
“Ahh, yeah! Sharpshooter, here! All set and ready to go,” he says, winking in Allura’s direction as he does.
It seems to diffuse the tension as she sighs at that before nodding.
“Okay, the three of you should head out as soon as Pidge is ready.”
With that, they are dismissed, and Lance tries to steer himself to focus on the mission, and not on whatever is going on with Keith.
“I’m just saying, it’s weird,” Pidge says over their comms channel as they watch Keith fly through the dense forest area, maneuvering carefully and clearing a path for them as he does.
Turns out that, thankfully, there are only three mines left. They’ve made quick work of the first two, with Pidge tracking the location, Keith clearing the area, and Lance setting them off in a controlled blast zone created by Pidge, similar to their shielding technology. The final one is in the deepest section of the forest, so it’s taking Keith a while to reach it.
Which has left Pidge with time to start thinking. Never a good sign when Lance’s life is her focus.
“Weird that I am literally the only one whose a sniper and he suggests I come on a mission where you need a sniper,” Lance says into the comms as they follow Red through the cleared area.
“No, but the way he said it. And when he freaked out at you leaving the room. I think the bug did something,” Pidge says.
Honestly, Lance is thinking the same, but it’s hard to correlate exactly what that something is and how a bug could be the cause. Sure, they’ve seen some strange and, quite frankly, disturbing things since appearing in space, but being bitten by a bug causing Keith to…
To what? Value Lance’s presence?
The thought makes his stomach dip and something hollow out within. A bug that makes Keith finally appreciate his existence, when Lance can barely stop thinking about him? A horrible twist of fate. And also terribly unlikely, for how can that even occur?
There must be something else happening, or even nothing at all.
“We should tell the others when we get back, though. I’m not saying I agree with you, but Keith still got bitten by an alien bug,” Lance says into the comms.
“Okay, last one is ready.”
Keith’s voice in the joint channel has him jolting in his seat. Green flies forward as Lance slows Blue, and he watches as the controlled zone is lowered to where the mine sits.
“All yours, Sharpshooter,” Pidge calls, and Lance rolls his eyes as he stands, moving his way through his lion and into Blue’s mouth.
His bayard at the ready, Lance exhales once before setting up. He widens his eyes, takes in the area and just allows the moment to catch him. No panicking, no disturbances, nothing but the target. His breathing seems to slow, times seems under his control, and all in the world feels balanced. And with that, he pulls the trigger.
The explosion is immense.
Lance is flung from his lion with the reverberations, his comms going haywire with both Pidge and Keith’s voices ringing in his ears. It’s hot, that first step out of the doorway in the height of summer, humidity and pure heat encompassing him. And joining this, the impact of the fall, his head rattling inside his helmet as he hits the ground, teeth biting into his lip and mouth pooling with blood. Lance feels his knee and arm in particular throb with muted pain, and he groans.
“Lance? Damn it, I’m coming!”
“Urg, Keith, I’m okay,” Lance says into the comms as he opens his eyes.
His vision swims for a moment, but soon enough, the world comes into focus. Lance winces and carefully pulls himself into a seated position, taking in the destruction. All around are fallen branches, charred earth and pieces of brush still smoking.
“Pidge?” he says, voice hoarse and breaking, a cough escaping.
“Lance, don’t move, I’m coming!” Keith’s voice is his answer, frantic and high, much like it had been back when he’d asked Lance not to leave.
“That mine was different from the others, it ripped through the barrier. Lance I’m so so-”
But Pidge’s apology is lost on Lance as a family figure in red and white suddenly lands onto the ground before him and grabs at the release on his helmet, effectively cutting off the comms connection.
The harsh light of the afternoon hits his eyes and Lance winces again as Keith pulls off his helmet. They fill with moisture and Lance has to blink himself free of tears as the world blurs and clears. But even through the haze, he is still hyper aware when Keith carefully cups his face between his gloved hands.
Lance’s whole world skids to a halt. For Keith is so close to him, his own helmet apparently discarded somewhere, his eyes scanning across Lance’s face before meeting his stare directly, blinking and puzzled.
And Lance notices his eyes are magenta once more, flashing in the sunlight, leaning more towards pink than purple.
“You’re hurt,” Keith says, his hand curving around and downwards slightly so his thumb gentle rubs near Lance’s split lip. Lance hisses, trying to pull away from the contact as, even though barely a press to his skin, the touch sends a searing burn through the wound.
“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” Keith says, hand withdrawing back to higher on his cheek and eyes falling as he feels the pain Lance is in.
“Okay,” Lance says with a vibrating breath, as his body and mind seem to now be able to catch up with the fact he’s just been in a mild explosion.
Keith’s smile dampers, though, the shockwaves coursing, the upturn of Keith’s mouth such a rare thing that it has Lance wanting to copy the motion, even if it pulls at his wound. The smile makes Keith’s entire face change, lifts some of the near constant shadows and creases that seem to make their home there.
Slowly, Keith removes one hand and carefully pulls Lance forward, the other still resting on his cheek and moving closer to his neck. Before Lance can really take stock of what’s happening, he’s brought forward fully into Keith’s arms.
Keith is hugging him. Hugging. Him. And not just a quick circling of arms, but a full embrace, tipping his head to one side to repeat his previous words directly into Lance’s ear.
“I’ve got you.”
Lance freezes in complete incomprehension. Keith, however, doesn’t seem to mind, the thumb on his neck making comforting circles against his skin. Lance swallows, then looks up to see Pidge, out of her Lion and staring at them.
Her eyes meet Lance’s and her face moves into a wry grin. She tosses her head once before mouthing one single word.
“Bug.”
It looks as if Lance was wrong. There is most definitely something strange going on.