1: Reason Coexists with Insanity

CASTLE OF LIONS

"I'm really not sure… Three days in that tiny ship, with Lance…" There was something about the way Allura said it that made me think the tiny ship was not the biggest issue.

"It'll be fun," I said. "It's only like eight vargas each way, the rest of the time you can do your diplomacy thing while I get to know the locals, if you know what I mean."

"We know exactly what you mean," Pidge said dryly. "It does make sense," she continued, "Coran, Hunk, and I need a few days to reconfigure the flexium channels and Shiro needs to, well..."

Pidge trailed off. She didn't need to say what Shiro was going to do, we all knew. The idea of interrogating a prisoner was not something any of us liked, but it was especially close to home for Shiro. In fact, that was exactly why he felt he should be the one to question Lotor. Not for revenge, but to prove that we were different. To show that Galra Prince that humans wouldn't stoop to his level.

"I'd prefer larger teams, but Pidge has a point," Shiro said. "And any intel we get from Lotor will take time to verify; just because he turned himself over doesn't mean we can trust him."

"Galra always have an evil plan," Hunk said to no one in particular.

"I agree. But if we can get the truth from him, it will be invaluable to the war effort. I need to stay here and make that happen." Shiro looked at Allura, then me. "I guess that means you're on your own for this one."

"And you're sure we cannot take our lions?" Allura asked. "At least we'd have some comfort and privacy."

"The flexium channels can only be balanced properly while the lions are in their bays and connected to the charging system," Coran explained.

Allura frowned. "I understand."

"Allura," I said. "I'd totally rather take Red or Blue, but it won't be that bad." I was actually wondering how well Blue remembered me. After all, your first lion is sorta like your first love; except Blue was more of mutual breakup that didn't end up with half my phone in the ocean.

"I suppose," the Princess said.

"I'll stay out of your way unless you need me. You go to your diplomacy meeting thing, and if you have some free time and want to have some fun my expert services are at your disposal."

Allura furrowed her brow. "Your services?"

I blushed. "I mean… there's a beach, right? I grew up on an island back home. I know everything there is to know about having fun at the beach. Games, swimming, or just chill-laxing."

The Princess gave me one of the little smiles she does. "I doubt I'll have much time 'chill-lax' but I'll keep it in mind. Right now I need to finish preparing. Can you have the shuttle ready to go in forty dobashes?"

"Sure thing."

With everything settled the team started to disperse. I looked at the front window for a minute, wondering if I'd remembered to pack everything I needed. I decided to double check, but as I turned to leave I felt Shiro's hand on my shoulder. His good hand. By good I mean human hand. I probably should specify that, because the other one is actually stronger.

I spun around to face him, irritated that he'd stopped me. Because, despite everything he said, he still didn't really trust me. I wasn't sure if he ever would. "I don't need one of your lectures right now, Shiro," I said. Maybe whined. Probably whined.

"No lecture. Just reminding you that long journeys with one other person can be tough. Trust me, I've done a few. You find ways to get on each other's nerves you never even thought about before. And since you and Allura—"

"We what, Shiro?" I demanded.

The former Black Paladin took things in stride. "I was eighteen too once. Not that long ago. And I learned a lot of hard lessons about love." It took a lot of willpower not to make a joke about the words love and hard right then. "One of them was that sometimes you have an interest in someone that goes deeper than their interest in you might."

"You're saying she's not into me?" I mentally kicked myself. Way to sound desperate Lance.

"Not the same way. At least, not right now. And you need to accept that she gets to make her own choices, on her own schedule."

"I'm not the kind of guy who keeps hitting on girls who aren't interested. Alright, I am, but…" I looked Shiro square in the eyes, "but not with her. She's too important." I sighed and looked at the floor.

The truth was Allura was special: it was more important for me to have Allura in my life than have her be anything specific in my life. Not that I didn't want something more, but… I felt my lip start to tremble; I'd had enough of the feelings discussion. "Besides, I'm probably going to be too busy to hang with her: Vostoth has the best beaches in the sector, and you know what that means." I flashed him a silly grin to emphasize my point.

"I shouldn't need to remind you," Coran said as he stepped between Shiro and me, "the Princess's well-being is of the utmost importance. It is a tremendous responsibility."

Did he think I didn't know that? "I know. She'll be fine." She is fine too.

"See that she is," Coran said firmly. "The future of the Universe depends on her."

I snorted and waved my finger in a circle. "Look, I don't need this three way to know you have doubts about me." I thought I saw Shiro's eyebrows raise just a bit.

"It's not that we don't trust you," Coran explained, "We just know you."

"Thanks."

"What he means," Shiro said, "Is that you sometimes get excited and distracted. Remember when you lost the Blue Lion?"

"Or that time you—"

"I got it," I interrupted Coran.

"We just want to make sure your mind is in the game," Shiro said. "There's a lot going on, and we're all under a lot of stress."

I knew he was trying to be helpful, but I wondered if Keith was here if he'd be getting the same kind of talk. "It was pretty go-go-go through the whole Naxzela campaign," I agreed. "And now the whole Lotor thing is a lot to take in."

"Yes it is," Shiro agreed.

"So, really, I think a quiet trip to a beach planet is just what I need right now. But I know why we're going and I'm not going to do anything stupid. Mock my words."

Shiro was silent for a second. "That's all I want to hear. Remember, we need to be able to launch a mission if we get actionable information from Lotor. Once the Castle is ready, we're going to really bring this fight to the Galra."

I smiled. "I'm not missing that party! We'll be here."

A/N:

Every story needs a helping of Space Dad

So after a lot of work on a story that doesn't have a lot of room for humor, I decided I'd try my hand at something a bit different (don't worry, Cruel Path Home will be finished). Of course, I wanted to create something that had purpose and complexity beyond a bunch of punchlines. But still plenty of punchlines. I also wanted to keep in the character of the show, but just a bit more adult on occasion (eg. something appropriate to an 18 year old Paladin and his particle barrier).

Many of you can probably tell by the context, but this is set between S4 and S5.

Also, malapropisms, creative spellings, and other inarticulate writing is an intentional part to capture part of Lance's character. Unless, of course, it isn't…

Feedback is always sincerely appreciated. This story is a bit of an experiment for me, so please let me know if you have any thoughts, things you'd like explored, or some criticism. Thanks for reading!