Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.
Just for clarity. This is a stand alone and not part of any story arc.
Rating/Setting: Rated T for mild swearing and some violence. Setting is DotU.
Chapter Two
"Geez, Princess, I don't know what is going on with Keith. He's been crankier than usual the last couple of days." Looking over at the princess, Lance continued to punch the bag. The truth was, he was getting really irritated at Keith himself.
"I just don't understand it, Lance. He's given me the cold shoulder several times and acted like I should know why he's bothered. I can't think of anything."
After taking one last swing at the bag, he turned to face Allura and saw Keith watching them from the other side of the room. "Well, why don't you ask him, he's standing over there."
Glancing unhappily over her shoulder, she took in the sour look on Keith's face. Turning back to Lance she ruefully said, "I don't know, he doesn't look very happy."
"Well, a 'happy look' is always relative with Keith. And I guess it doesn't really matter as he's heading over here right now." Lance took in the unhappy look on Allura's face and started getting angry at Keith. There was no reason for him to be treating the team, and especially the princess, this way. Someone should tell him to lay off, and that someone would be him. So when Keith got closer, Lance stepped around so that he was between Keith and Allura.
Keith's eyes narrowed as he approached the pair. They had seemed to be in a serious discussion when he came in. In fact, they had only just noticed him. "Well, you two look cozy. What's going on?"
Lance spoke up, "We were just talking about how cranky you've been lately. It's actually been a little much, Keith."
Keith took in how Lance was shielding Allura from him. It was like he was protecting her. It was like⦠they were involved with each other. Crossing his arms over his chest, he said, "You will address me as Commander, Lieutenant. And if you have a problem with orders, then you should make an appointment to speak with me. In private."
Stepping out from behind Lance, Allura said, "We were just worried, Kei- um, Commander. You just didn't seem like yourself."
Noticing how close the princess remained to Lance and then to see her reach out a hand and place it on the lieutenant's arm made his blood boil. He was right in his observations over the last couple of days. She had led him on, causing him to think that she was interested in him, when it was really Lance all along. His tone dripped of anger and sarcasm as he responded to her honest concern, "Well, perhaps I am just following protocol and expect that my team be able to follow it as well. I've been too lax and let the guys get away with things in the past that should have been addressed. Expect this to be the norm from now on." He didn't even notice Allura's stunned look as he turned on his heel and left the gym.
"What was that about?" Allura asked with true disbelief in her tone. When Lance didn't answer, she looked over to see him scowling and clenching his fists. Her concern for Keith now transferred to Lance as she watched him return to punching the bag, muttering things like 'uptight' and 'asshole.' What was going on with the team? Well, with Keith and Lance at least. She would speak with Hunk and Pidge. Stopping at the gym door, she turned to watch Lance continue to pound the bag. He didn't even notice that she was leaving. Concern etched her lovely face as the door closed behind her.
Allura found Hunk and Pidge covered in greasy oil in the belly of Green Lion in the repair bay. After she brought them up to speed on what happened in the gym, she sat back to get their opinions.
Scratching his head, Hunk said, "Keith said he had been lax on protocol? Keith? Lax on protocol? That doesn't make sense. I mean, yeah, he lets us slide a little here and there, but it's never on anything big. He has always held us to the standards of Galaxy Garrison. I mean, he holds himself to an even higher standard, but he expects us to follow the rules too."
"I know. That's what I was thinking." Allura had hoped that Hunk could help, but he sounded as perplexed as she was, so she turned to Pidge. He might be the youngest of the team, but he sometimes noticed details that his older teammates missed out on. "Pidge, what do you think?"
"Well, Keith's always been a stickler so it's not that out of character, even though it is a little over the top. I was thinking about Lance. You said that he was calling Keith names as he hit the punching bag?" Seeing her nod, he continued, "He and Keith are like brothers. Keith's been irritated with Lance before and it didn't cause Lance to act like that."
Hunk broke in, "But Lance's has always been known to have a short fuse. I'm sure he'll be over it by dinner. Just watch and see."
"Maybe you're right, Hunk," Allura said without a lot of conviction. "We'll see how they are at dinner tonight."
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Dinner was awful. Allura watched as Keith glared at Lance, and Lance glared back. What was going on? Hunk and Pidge also wore looks of concern now. They had tried to engage the two men in conversation, but neither wanted to talk, instead, they wanted to give each other dirty looks. After what seemed to be an eternity, Keith finally stood up to go.
"Lion practice at 0500 tomorrow morning. Everyone needs to be punctual." He said this to everyone but his gaze was on Lance.
"Sure thing, Keith, uh, I mean, Commander." Sarcasm dripped from Lance's words causing Keith to clench his fists at his sides.
As Keith left the dining hall, everyone looked at Lance.
"What was that about, Lance?" Hunk asked what everyone was thinking.
"I'm tired of Commander Uptight singling me out and taking such a self-righteous tone. I mean, did any of you think that his comment about being punctual was really necessary?"
No one knew quite what to say at this point, and the silence in the room was heavy. Lion practice tomorrow was going to be tough if Keith and Lance continued like this. Allura darted glances at Lance as she finished her dessert. He was staring at his plate and moving food around on it but not eating. This was not normal behavior for her two friends. Tomorrow she would ask Dr. Gorma about a possible medical cause. Pidge had been correct in saying they were like brothers, but now it was like they had turned on each other and she was very worried.
