Lance fell to his knees. His head was spinning, his heart was beating fast. Heaving for air, his chest rose and fell. Sweat dripped from his forehead, hitting the floor beneath him.

His voice was hoarse, and getting worse for each time he yelled.

He clenched his gun, changing it's form back to the original bayard as he lost his strength.

He took a deep breath.

"End training sequence!"

The balls fell to the ground just like the bots. The screen showed his training level. It was a new record.

A smile appeared on his face, grinning as he saw the new score.

"Finally, level 15!" he grinned. Compared to Keith who was in level 20, this was great progress! If he kept going like this, he might surpass him! That way Keith would DEFINITELY notice him not only as a paladin, but as a talented person too! That will show him how great he was..!

Lance grinned as he fell to the ground like a sack of stones. His knees couldn't support him anymore.

As he lied down and grinned at the roof, he felt the accomplishment faded. Faded too fast.

Why didn't Keith look at him?

They were different and had a rough start, but they should still be a good team, right?

Keith was so great, he probably didn't need anyone else on their missions.

But even then, he didn't need to avoid his teammates like that.

Or did he only avoid him?

Lance stared at the ceiling, finding a spot right above him. The room was huge, like a ballroom. He liked the design. Nobody on the team had actually commented on that when they first arrived at the castle, but he thought it looked nice.

Did Keith think it was nice?

"Why am I so hung up about that mullet?! He doesn't even see me as a team member! I am nothing to him.."

Throwing his fists in pure frustration, he bit his lower lip. Something warm streamed down his chin, making him confused. His eyes widened, and he realized. It was a teardrop.

Trying to dry it with his fingertips, a small lump formed in his throat.

"Why do you have to hate me?" he sobbed.

"Like, I get it. I am a pushover, an idiot, a cargo pilot. I'm just a boy from Cuba that doesn't know how to make cool gadgets or cook alien food," he rolled to the side, curling into a ball, "and I'm certainly not the best fighter on missions.."

His mood dropped.

"Of course he doesn't like me back.."

.

Allura stood in front of everyone, only waiting for the castle to land on the planet. Everyone were chattering away, but lowkey expecting Allura to give them a last hands up about their mission.

And she did.

"Paladins. I must remind you that we are to visit all the planets in this solar system. This planet, Abox, is the least hostile of them all, and we need to tread carefully. We shall stay for a few quintents (days) and then travel to the next planet, Obcyr. I will tell you more about it later, but for now; behave."

She turned to face the door behind them, and signalled for Coran to open it up.

Lance eyed Keith for a second, but looked away in an instant. Why even try? There was no reason for him to even look, he'd only ignore him or glare back with hateful eyes (as usual).

Lance bit his lips and tried not to cry. That thought hit him harder than he anticipated.

.

The inhabitants of Abox where, to quote Hunk, the hunkiest aliens he'd ever seen. All of Alluras information were right, but it could never prepare them for the actual aliens.

They were at least a meter taller than the paladins. Their arms and legs were huge and with smooth skin, but their necks were full of a lion-like mane. The head was small compared to the body, and their ears were like a longer version of alteans'.

They were wearing huge armors on their arms, and it was shimmering like glitter in the sun.

Lance liked what he saw.

Until he figured out that the females looked just like the males.

"Duh Lance, they don't have genders here. They are like snails, they are both genders and switch! And yes I googled them in the database."

Pidge pushed her glasses back in that annoying way, as a "geez you didn't know?" comment.

Lance wrinkled his nose as a response. Snails..

"Also they can shapeshift because of the snail ability. They are kinda like Allura, you know what I mean?" she continued, and now Hunk joined the conversation.

Lance began to walk slower, falling slowly behind on team Punk. Their altean outfits looked cool, and it really fit each of them.

The closest way to describe the clothings was to say.. It looked indian? Although Coran and Allura wore their usual clothes (except for Allura who now wore her dress), the rest of them looked closer to indian. Yeah, indian for sure.

It was a bit weird to make that connection, but he thought it was the closest to what he saw. They were gorgeous, each and every paladin. And Coran.

Lance stole a glance towards Keith, who was walking in the front with Shiro. He totally understood why he would spend so much time with their leader; Shiro the hero, everyone's space dad.

Shiro was, and still is, his hero.

Lance bit his lower lip.

Keith had 100 times better chemistry with Shiro than with him..

Lance began to walk even slower, feeling his thoughts consuming him more than he anticipated. Shit, not good.

He bumped into Coran's shoulder, and the altean looked worried as he caught the paladin.

Lance smiled a sorry smile back, and moved forward, walking between the alteans and the paladins.

Keith didn't even look behind himself once.

.

Lance wanted to go back to blue.

The coalition thinks he's an idiot, he shouldn't come for these parties. They shouldn't let him go to these parties, he's just embarrassing everyone by saying stupid and inappropriate jokes! Allura must hate him now, she's gonna kill him when they get back to the castle!

Lance sank down the wall onto the floor. He could hear the faint music and chattering from the big hall he'd run from just a few minutes ago. His heart wouldn't stop beating, and it HURT.

The lump in his throat kept growing, and he tried to calm down by taking big drags of air.

For a good 10 minutes, he sat on the floor, completely alone, trying not to suffocate from the stress.

The memories of what happened before the catastrophe appeared in his mind.

First, he'd look for Keith, cause he wanted to remember how gorgeous he looked in the altean clothing. He accidentally walked into one of the hoobyxes, and as it turned around to face him, Lance felt his blood left his face.

He looked furious.

"What did you just do, you rat?" it snarled, squinting it's eyes. Lance felt a small lump in his throat.

"I.. I didn't mean to- It was an accident, I'm sorry-"

The hoobyx slammed it's drink to the floor, crushing the glass so liquid and shards flew everywhere. The music stopped.

"You imbecile! You fool! How can Voltron be led by an uncoordinated idiot like you?! Spilling drinks on Fortar?! Leave this planet before you cause more damage, PALADIN."

The hoobyx was now hovering over Lance, fury in it's eyes, and it's voice roaring. Everyone was silent, and nobody came to rescue him.

Lance ran from the hall, cursing to himself and wondering what the hell just happened.

Back to the hallway he now sat in, he had finally caught up with his breath. But he couldn't go back in there. That hoobyx looked important.. The king of the kind would probably side with him.

He should just stay outside or in the castle..

"Hey, are you okay?"

.

Sorry for the long wait! It'll probably take some time to update this anyway, so sorry in advance!