It wasn't that Lance wanted to die.
It was just that he didn't want anyone else to get hurt. Without Kieth, they would be down a skilled pilot and melee fighter. If Pidge was hurt, they would be seriously technologically crippled. An injured Hunk would leave them without an engineer, which was a critically needed skill in such an advanced universe. Shiro was their leader, and having him injured would be like cutting off Voltron's head. Allura was their cultural jack of all trades; without her, they would be seriously lost. But Lance? What did he do that was so important? Sharpshooting was an easily learned ability, and although he had a knack for it, it wasn't an irreplaceable skill. Just like him.
There was no special quality needed to pilot the Blue Lion. She accepted any who came to her with an open heart. Hell, the specifications for the other lions made everyone one else irreplaceable, but Lance? Any old person walking down the street could replace him.
It was a little disheartening, but at least he knew how to make up for it. If he could, he'd take all the injuries that the others sustained. He knew that was impossible, but that didn't mean he couldn't try.
The first time was with Coran. He was in the Cryopod for a week and came out brand new. Keith had been a bit more concerned than he had expected, but nothing was amiss. He had even helped to save the day, preventing the castle from being taken by the Galra. That was when he first decided to put the other's safety above his own.
The second time he risked his life was for Pidge. It was during a siege on the moon of Alzan, in which they had had to split up and pair up to cover the whole thing. He had gone with Pidge, for no real reason really other than she was closest. He was glad that he did however, when the Galra ship they had been chasing suddenly split open, revealing a massive EMP gun. By placing it in the middle of their ship, it had been effectively hidden from their scanners and protected from their shots. Pidge was the closest to it. She had been trying to find a chink in it's armor, and Lance had stayed to the side to draw its fire from the main guns on it's side. It was only by luck that he realized what it was before it fired. Lance slammed into Pidge, pushing her lion into the canyon wall beside them, but out of the range of fire. He didn't remember what happened next all to clearly. He recalled sudden darkness as the Lion's systems went down. He remembered that sense of falling, like he was completely out of control. And he remembered that feeling of smug pride that he had kept someone useful from being injured. He woke up two weeks later in a Cryopod with scars on his chest and a relieved crew waiting for him.
The fifth time was for Shiro. The Galra always either went for him, or Pidge. Probably so they could take out the strongest and seemingly weakest opponents respectively. Lance had noticed this, and had planned for it specifically. Shiro had asked for one of them to accompany Pidge and him on a mission, and Lance had volunteered. When they arrived at the holding center, dressed as refugees and therefore armourless, Lance had known that something would happen. He had always had intuition about those sort of things; at home it had been especially helpful when he was babysitting the younger ones. It had come in handy in space too. Like right then, when the Galra were scanning the refugees and bio-chipping them; he felt uneasy about it. Shiro's arm may have been covered in makeup, but it probably wouldn't pass the Galra's tests. He motioned to Pidge and Shiro, and they tried to go further back in line, but their movements against the flow brought them Galra attention. Which of course led to a fight, a hopelessly uneven one, in which Lance couldn't fire because of the congestion of refugees. All he could do was watch and attempt to delay soldiers from reaching Shiro. Which meant that he couldn't keep an eye on him like he had planned to. Three Galra cornered the Black Paladin, forcing him into the firing range of one of the snipers. Lance saw him, tried to push him out of the way, but only moved him partially. Both of them were hit, but neither injured severely.
Lance hadn't spoke to either of them on the way back to the castle, even though they tried their best to engage him in a conversation. He instead busied himself with attending to both Shiro's and his own injuries. The shot hurt of course, but not nearly as much at the last time he had been shot. That had literally left a hole in his shoulder as well as a circular scar. This one should leave a big scar, or at least it would've if he had've done his damn job and blocked it. This was the one thing he had gotten good at, and he failed at it.
Lance thought that no one had noticed his quiet anger. He was good at hiding things like that; it was something you learned, growing up in a big family like his. So I came as a surprise when Shiro asked to talk to him, alone. Alone usually meant something important, and private. It wasn't hard to think of the subject matter. Still, he couldn't exactly say no to his leader, so he quietly followed him into the kitchen and sat down beside him, a lazy smile carefully crafted on his face.
"Lance, is there a reason why you keep getting hurt?" Shiro said, straight to the point.
Lance scratched at a scar on his arm. "Everybody gets hurt; it's a part of war."
Shiro shook his head and crossed his arms. Oh boy. He was really in Space Dad mode now. "You personally get hurt way more than anyone else has. You've used the Cryopods four times since all of this began. No one else has even gone in more than once."
"I'm just a danger magnet. No need to worry." Lance said, flashing an almost flirty smile. Almost.
Shiro crossed the distance between them in two strides and placed a hand on his shoulder. Her metal hand. "You can let someone else get hurt once in awhile Lance. One of these days it'll be irreparable damage and-"
Lance throws his hands up in exasperation, knocking away Shiro's arm. "It won't matter. If I freakin' die out here, it doesn't matter! You can always replace me Shiro. There are plenty of Lance's out there, and only one Hunk, one Kieth, one Pidge and one you! Just let me help!"
Shiro stood silently for a moment. Lance steamed under his gaze; it made him feel stupid, or something. He couldn't quite put his finger on the feeling, but it was a bad one for sure! Then Shiro did something that he hadn't quite expected. He crossed that distance again, only this time he didn't stop until his arms were around Lance in a tight but not restricting hug. "You're just as important as the rest of us, Lance. You don't have to give up your health to be worthy of being a paladin. We need you, for you."
Lance can't quite give up his old habits, even after that, but he's found that he's been injured a lot less since then.
Author's note:
I'm in Voltron hell. So, I've decided to practice my writing skills by writing a bunch of one and two shots for Voltron. Feel free to send in prompts and requests. I will do just about any ship, even though I'm Klance for life. XD I don't discriminate. :)
