Lance was starting to get bored of the stars.
Sitting by one of the floor to ceiling windows in one of the many, many corridors of the Castleship, Lance sat on the floor, his back leaning on the opposite wall, and looked at what had travelled millions of light years just for him to see.
They twinkled with their many colours, from blues to purples to reds and then greens to yellows to oranges, all out of order and eye-catching against the black background of vacuumed space, almost demanding Lance to only focus on one of them and stare straight into it's core until it stopped.
He once considered the stars to be beautiful, staring at them from the beach with his older brother pointing out the different consolations, teaching him the different legends behind each of the shapes drawn by dots. It was one of the reasons he applied to go to the Galaxy Garrison in the first place, so he could be closer to the stars.
After his brother died in a freak boating accident, he only cemented this dream even more put passing these stories onto his younger brothers and sisters and cousins and nieces and nephews, pointing to the sky and making them follow the path that his finger made across it, whispering about the heroes and monsters that were immortalised by the specs above them.
These were not those same stars.
He couldn't help but hates these stars because of that.
"Lance?"
Turning his head, Lance came into eye contact with Keith, in his usual attire except for the jacket, his deactivated bayard held in his left hand, meaning that he was probably on his way to the training deck because he did not know when to stop hitting the metal dummies, and, one day, Allura will be upset that there are no longer any more droids for one of her crazy training exercises.
"Hey samurai." Lance muttered back, turning back to the stars, wondering if he could make one of the constellations he so very missed from home in the space in front of him, but he doubted it would make him feel better.
He could feel Keith's confusion at the lack of insult graining into the back of his neck, but Lance couldn't find it in himself to care that much for it at that moment in time, just wanting to listen to the silence while watching the life drain over the specks of dust that he was beginning to hate.
"You know, I never got the fascination with the stars." Lance turned his head to the side, blinking at the sight of Keith sitting down next to him staring at the stars instead of walking off towards the training deck like he thought he was going to. He opens his mouth to reply to Keith's statement, but Keith continues without waiting for Lance's thoughts.
"Shiro tried to explain it to me once, when we were both at the Garrison, explain the calling of space. He said that they were calling him, but now that we're here, I think it was more the Black Lion calling him than anything." He sighed as he continued to look out of the window, and lance felt his face flush slightly when he realised that he had been staying at the other boy-
Because it was getting slightly hot in the corridor (not that it was possible because the Castleship had a very good AC system), not that he was etching Keith's jaw line to his memory. Nope. Didn't happen.
"Wait, so why were you at the Garrison if you didn't want to go to space?" Lance asked, watching as Keith lent back on his arms.
"I wanted to get away from my dad, I guess. We never had the best relationship, especially as I got older and things that he said just didn't match up, so I left Texas-" Keith was cut off when Lance started laughing loudly, leaning back against the wall to support his giggling body.
"Ugh, I can't believe that I tried this-" Keith muttered, going to stand up, only for Lance to lightly catch his wrist, stopping him from leaving.
"Sorry man, it's just, you're from Texas. That means that you're literally a space cowboy. That's amazing!" Lance's smile filled his entire face, and, to Keith, it seemed to light up the whole corridor, making him forget that he really should be arguing, saying that not all people from Texas were cowboys. Instead, for a second, Keith forgot that he was in the middle of space fighting a war, and was able to just pretend that it was the two of them, pretend that none of the problems that being a Paladin of Voltron held, pretend that no one wanted them dead.
"I don't know what's amazing about it." Keith muttered, setting his hand on the floor again, oddly aware of the fact that Lance hasn't attempted to move his own yet.
"So, you left Texas for the Garrison. Why the Garrison?" Lance nudged, his attention having been drawn away from the stars and the underlying pain that they held for him. Keith shrugged at the question, but despite wanting to move his sight towards space, he was lost in Lance's eyes, orbs that seemed to captivate the ocean's calmness and peace.
"I'm not sure. I saw a leaflet one day and thought 'okay then', though, the thought of flying was a good motivator I suppose." Keith replied, hyperaware of the small circles that Lance was rubbing on the back of his hand, though, the Cuban's face did nothing to give away if it was intentional or not.
"Would you go back to your dad then? After this is all over?" Lance's voice was almost a whisper, as if he was telling Keith a secret that shouldn't be shared with the rest of the team.
"Probably. There's still so much I don't know, and I doubt the Blade will hold all the answers." He sighed, leaning back against the wall as he was able to finally able to look out towards space again. The corridor filled with a silence that he's never heard before, comfortable, as if he didn't need to talk anymore, just stare into the abyss with Lance's hand still on top of his own, as his holding him down and making sure he doesn't leave them all behind.
"My brother used to tell me and my hermanos stories about the different consolations, and why they're named the way they are. After he died, the stars were one of the things that reminding me if him, and it encouraged me to join the Garrison I suppose." Lance sighed, relax against the wall next to Keith, his hand shifting slightly but not moving from it's place on top of Keith's, their shoulders now touching as they looked beyond the glass.
"Tell me one of those stories." Lance looked back at the Red Paladin, his purple eyes filled with curiosity and reflected the stars, making them almost twinkle under the artificial light.
"What, why?" There was a small smile on Keith's face, but Lance wasn't too sure what he was happy over.
"I just want to know the story that drove you to join the Garrison." Keith answered, and he felt his heart flitter when Lance blinked and then started the story of Orion the hunter, and how he killed Scorpio.
Keith missed Earth, just like the other Paladins, though he may not show it. He missed the sunrises over the daunting cliffs, the quiet days spent rock climbing looking for the source of the mysterious energy that called him, and even his dad, just a little.
However, he was beginning to miss it a little less every day.
Because, he had realised that, while watching Lance animatedly describing about how accurate Orion was with his bow, that this beautiful boy in front of him had taken his heart from him when he had his eyes closed.
And your home is where your heart is, after all.
A.N. - It's Klance week, so I'll be uploading a new chapter every day this week. See you again tomorrow!