A/N: So, my friend decided to introduce me to the Voltron fandom a few weeks ago (right at the beginning of finals!) and I've been hooked ever since! The characters are just awesome and I found myself with the urge to write some oneshots. What I might do, if there's enough interest, is do the same here as I did with my story Discovery - keep writing one- or two shots for Voltron.

Enjoy!


Shiro watched his brother interact with the other three paladins through narrowed eyes. It seemed that despite the year since he'd seen him, the teen was just as clueless as he had been before. It was becoming increasingly obvious to everyone on the ship, human, Altean, or mouse, that Lance had feelings for Keith. The blue paladin found every opening to flirt with the red one, but the other never noticed.

It had started almost immediately after they'd boarded the ship. At first, it appeared that the two paladins were constantly arguing, never agreeing on anything. If the two were in a room together, there was definitely shouting coming from it. But then Shiro began to notice the little things.

One of Keith's worst habits was that he would often get lost in his own mind. If whatever was going on around him bored him, or he wasn't part of a conversation, his mind would drift. Every time Lance noticed the dark-haired teen's eyes unfocus, he would take it upon himself to annoy him. Sure, it drove Keith crazy, but it also forced him to socialize with the other paladins, something he wouldn't do of his own volition. Shiro worried that it was because Keith had been living alone after being kicked out of the Garrison (which they still needed to have a conversation about).

But that wasn't all. If Lance noticed that Keith had been up on the training deck for too long, he would take it upon himself to get up there and drag the red paladin downstairs to the group, or at the very least, out of the room. That generally made Keith…rather explosive, at first. Then Lance began to strategize: he would go upstairs and train with him, which would get Keith aggravated, which in turn would make him storm off. It made him sulk for a bit, but it also meant he wasn't covered in bruises.

Either of these things could have simply indicated that Lance was trying to ensure that the team was…well, a team. He did the same for Pidge and Hunk. For Pidge, he would bring her food when she worked late into the night and through meals. For Hunk, he would be there when the stress became too great. Even for Shiro, he had something: somehow the blue paladin always knew just what he needed to hear. But Keith…Keith was different. What brought Lance's feelings to Shiro's attention was a conversation he'd overheard between the two in the showers by the training deck.

The pair had been changing into their clothes, towels around their waists. Keith turned his back to Lance to reach for his clothes when it happened.

"See, what you need to – Keith!"

"What?!" The red paladin twisted his head to look at his back. "What is it?"

"You – " Lance pressed a hand to his back, just above a purpling bruise. From his vantage point hidden from the teens, Shiro winced. It looked like Keith had taken quite a blow, and he was surprised the ribs beneath weren't broken. "You're hurt! Badly!"

Keith finally had the brains to stand in front of the mirror and craned his head over his shoulder. "It's not that bad," he commented before reaching for his boxers.

"Not…not bad?! What are you talking about?" The blue paladin grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him once, hard. Shiro held back a relieved sigh that the towel didn't fall. The one time he had seen his brother naked was more than enough, and he was pretty sure Keith would flip if he was nude in front of Lance. "You've got a bruise the size of my hand on your back and it's not bad?!"

"Let go of me!" Shoving the other teen away, Keith grabbed his clothes in his hands and glared. "I know what I'm doing, I'm fine! I don't need you to worry about me! Worry about the rest of the team, but not me!" With that, he stormed off in the direction of his room. Shiro shoved himself farther into his hiding place to keep from being seen.

Lance stared after him with a forlorn look in his eyes, something Shiro had never seen before. "But I want to worry about you," he whispered quietly.

It was then that Shiro realized there was something between the blue paladin and his brother.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Shiro looked up in surprise as Pidge sat down at the table in front of him. "You need to do something about Lance," she said without introduction. "He's driving me and Keith insane, and if your idiot brother doesn't realize that Lance is flirting with him I'm going to punch his stupid face."

It took him a moment to register everything his best friend's sister just said. "Wait, you know?"

"Know what?" Pidge pushed her – well, Matt's – glasses up her nose. "That Keith's your brother? A, you look alike, b, Matt told me. That Lance is into Keith? I'm not an idiot. Hunk, Allura, and Coran also noticed it. If he doesn't cool it down, someone's going to deck him. There's a betting pool going on who it'll be. My money's on Keith."

"I agree with you on that," Shiro replied absently. He thought he'd simply been more observant. If even Pidge, who had always been a bit of a tomboy, saw what Lance was doing, then maybe it was just Keith who was oblivious. "So…everyone knows?"

"I just said that, yeah, everyone knows. Well, except Keith." She shook her head. "Anyway. This is me giving you a warning that even though I bet that Keith is going to punch Lance before the rest of us, I also wanted to warn you that everyone's money is on me punching Keith within the next few days."

The black paladin watched open-mouthed as the girl stalked away, her Galra-robot at her shoulder. Sometimes he couldn't believe that she was Matt's sister. The siblings couldn't be more different.

It looked like he would have to speak with his brother, unless he wanted to deal with the team devolving into punching each other. As team leader, he couldn't have that.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

It seemed that luck was on his side today. At dinner, Lance kept to his previous Keith annoyances – the usual riling him up, slightly snarky remarks, nothing overly flirtatious. Pidge raised an eyebrow at him, but Shiro shook his head. He hadn't had a chance to speak to either paladin. Whatever was going on with Lance was being done of his own volition.

Later that night, Shiro found himself alone in his room. Being on a spaceship with just the seven of them was enough to drive anyone berserk, and sometimes he found himself holing himself up in his room to get away from everyone. For some reason, the training deck seemed to become very popular whenever he tried to go there for peace and quiet, so by now he'd learned to just go to his room.

He was lying on his bed reading on a tablet Pidge had lent him when there was a knock at the door. "Come in," he called, sitting up.

To his surprise, it was Lance at the door. The blue paladin rarely came to him to talk. "What's up?"

"I…I was wondering if I could talk to you about…about Keith," Lance asked awkwardly. For once he looked nervous, twisting his hands behind his back. "I know you're brothers and – "

His mouth dropped. "How do you – Does everyone know?"

"Pidge mentioned it before." He waved away Shiro's surprise absently. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been trying to…to get him to notice me – "

"Lance, everyone knows you've been trying to get him to notice you. Well, everyone except Keith."

Now it was Lance's turn to look surprised. "Really?"

"You've been pretty obvious about the whole thing." Shiro crossed his leg beneath him and patted his bed. "Sit. I think you'll be here for a bit. What's the problem?"

"I've been trying to get him to notice me for weeks! Nothing I do seems to work," Lance burst out.

The black paladin blinked. This was a side he'd never seen before. Lance was usually enthusiastic, no frustrated like this. "What do you mean?"

"I've tried making sure he takes care of himself. You know, eating, drinking, not training until he's one big black-and-blue mark." He shook his head and collapsed onto the bed. "Then I tried talked to him. I tried to get some more information, be friendly. That just made him even more angry. I don't know what else to do!"

"The first thing you should do is calm down. You're not doing anything wrong." Shiro thought for a moment, trying to find the right words to say to the teen. He wanted to help, he did, but he had to be careful with what he said. "Keith is just…a bit unaware of these things. He doesn't talk about himself very much, and he's not used to people worrying about him. He wouldn't realize you're flirting with him unless you make it very obvious."

"How much more obvious can I be?!" Lance spread his hands. "I've done everything but kiss him! Or strip in front of him…maybe that could work…"

Shiro felt his face turn red. "No. Both of those ideas will just make him more uncomfortable. Just…maybe start small? I know there isn't really anywhere to go as a real date, but perhaps you two can have a meal together? You can also try to just ask him on a date. That should be obvious enough."

"Yeah. Yeah, maybe you're right." A grin spread across the blue paladin's face as he stood up. "Thanks Shiro!"

As he watched the teen leave, Shiro allowed himself a small grin. Good. He must be doing something right as a leader, if Lance felt comfortable enough to come to him with a problem. That had been one of his primary concerns when he became the de facto leader of the little group. He'd never had experience leading. Well, not really. He'd done group exercises that worked out well, he'd never had a problem with that. It was having to lead teenagers that threw him off. Plus, he had his own brother to boss around. Even if that was the dream of many older brothers, it wasn't his. But it seemed like he was doing pretty well, all things considering. He hadn't even threatened Lance about treating his brother well.

Another knock at the door startled him. "Come in." It was typical that Lance had decided to come back, he – "Keith?"

"Can I talk to you?" He stood awkwardly in the doorway, his teeth worrying his lower lip. "Like my brother? Not as the team leader?"

"You know you can always talk to me. Come sit down." Shiro sat back up as his brother tentatively settled himself on the bed. "What's bothering you?"

"It's…it's Lance." Mistaking the raised eyebrows betraying Shiro's surprise, Keith plowed on, a blush spreading across his cheeks. "I think…I think I like him, but I don't know if he likes me back at all."

"What do you mean?" It was all Shiro could do to not start laughing. What were the odds that he should have to talk to both teens in one night about their feelings for each other?

"He's always bugging me and stuff. I know you said when I was younger that that's how kids show they like each other, but do adults do that too?" His brother looked so forlorn and confused, a look completely unlike him. "He's always on top of me in the training room, always making me crazy that I'm pushing myself too hard – "

"You do, Keith. You get injured more often than anyone else on the ship. I think you get more injured in your trainings than you do in battle."

Keith shrugged that one off. "He keeps trying to pry and get information about my life out of me and he won't stop even when I say no. But I don't know what to do!"

"Have you thought about making the first move?" Shiro asked. At Keith's confused expression, he continued, "Maybe ask him out?"

"No."

"Think about it. You can ask, and you'll know for sure if he likes you." He leaned back against the headboard and motioned for his brother to move to sit beside him, which he did. "Or you can ask him straight out if he likes you, or tell him you like him – "

"Shiro…" Keith leaned against his arm, his metal arm, and let out a sigh of frustration. "I don't know what to do. I don't like this."

"I know you don't." Wrapping his arm around his brother, Shiro squeezed him gently. "But if he's not showing you, or you don't realize he's trying to tell you indirectly, you'll have to tell him your feelings."

"But I don't want to."

Shiro sighed and ran his free hand through his white forelock. "I can't give you any advice other than that. You have to help yourself in this, Keith. I can't do it for you."

"I know that." He crossed his arms and huffed. "Doesn't mean I can't want you to do it. Can I stay in here for a bit?"

"You can stay as long as you like. You know that."

As Shiro figured would happen, Keith wound up falling asleep nestled against his arm. He'd done that quite often as a child, and there was no reason to think a year apart would make all that much of a difference.

It was funny, he reflected to himself. Both teens, one outgoing, one more quiet, coming to him for advice on the same topic: their feelings for each other. He'd never seen himself as someone who could give romantic advice, but it seemed as if they thought he knew what was up. He felt that his advice was decent: all they had to do was tell each other how they felt. It wouldn't be easy. Well, maybe for Lance it would be, but Keith couldn't do that.

Only time would tell what the two of them did, and Shiro was looking forward to finding out.