Chapter 4

The shortest and widest paladins had been gone for a couple of hours by the time Keith opened the door to the main control room. He quickly looked back and forth for any one, or one in particular. He had started to learn the personalities of the others, and knew Lance would gloat over having figured out how to receive the Earth signals before him. Seeing no one, he walked in and sat down on the couch before fiddling with the controls to figure out how to turn it on.

A short time later, Keith was watching titles float up the screen, trying to decide on what looked interesting. Seeing something interesting, he flipped to the appropriate channel. A small girl on a ship sailed towards the screen out of a fog.

Drink up me 'earties yo ho! We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot. Drink up me 'earties yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me

A man suddenly grabbed her shoulder when the door to the room slid open. Keith was paying attention to the film and barely registered it.

"Hey, who's using the TV, I was going to-oh my God"

Lance walked in holding a large glass, positively giddy with a grin that near wrapped around his head. He clambered over the back of the couch, setting his drink down and stared at Keith. The red paladin noticed out of the corner of his eye and glanced back.

"What?"
"yiiiiiiiiii, you're using the thing I made!" Keith scowled slightly.
"So…?"
"So I'm better than you at something!" Lance jumped off of the couch and started pumping his arms and high stepping. "And you admit it!" He switched up his endzone dance to what looked like knocking knees while his arms went back and forth in an Egyptian fashion.

Keith sighed in annoyance and went back to watching the film while Lance strutted the gloat out of his system. The screen had changed and there was a boy floating in the water.

"This is either madness or brilliance."
"It's remarkable how often those two traits coincide."

"Ha!"
Lance almost jumped at the uncharacteristic sound coming from Keith. He stared, perturbed. A few moments passed and the two men were threatening to commandeer the ship before Keith noticed.
"What?"

"You… laughed" replied Lance. "You never laugh, and it's creeping me out"
"It was funny!" The red paladin gestured towards the screen. "It was funny! That's the way half of our missions go!"
Lance stared on.

"Whatever" Keith said, resuming a scowl and turning back to the film.

"You can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man or you can't"

There was peace and easiness in the room again when The pirate offered the blacksmith a sword. Both paladins were slouching against the couch looking at the projection, Keith with his arms folded, and Lance spreading his on the back, balancing his glass of nunvill loosely.
"I don't get it" Lance said, not breaking eye contact with the entertainment. "The guy gets told he's a pirate and he whines about it? What's not to love about being a pirate? "
Keith didn't look away either, but his voice was slightly quieter than it was before. "A lot of things"
"What? Name three"
"Ok" Keith shifted up a bit, apparently uncomfortable speaking in his earlier pose. "One: You have to hear about how awful pirates are wherever you go. Two: If you ever revealed yourself to be half-pirate, everyone you know would turn their backs on you, so you have to keep it a secret. And three: If even half of the things they say about your species are true, you know deep down how evil you really can be."

His voice had gotten tense near the end and, if Lance didn't know better, sounded close to breaking. He glanced at Keith at the corner of his eyes and noticed the red paladin was no longer watching the film, but had found something down and away on the ground very deserving of his attention. His hands were gripping his arms tighter.

This was firmly outside his comfort zone. This wasn't your normal everyday uncomfortable situation, this was advanced discomfort. Pidge talking advanced. Heck, maybe even Pidge engineering advanced. Lance ran through his options: What would Team Voltron Do (WWTVD?™)?

Shiro: Say something about we're a team, teams stick together because your teammates are always on your team. Maybe a pat on the back?

Allura: A hug while trying to hide her obvious longing for a certain sharpshooter.

Keith: Scowl.

Hunk: A teary bear hug while affirming he was always there for him.

Pidge: Something brutally honest before dorking it up adorably, then messing that up and going back and trying to fix it.

Coran: Bizarre, confusing Altean proverb that doesn't really apply here.

Lance scanned through all his options. None of them were really right for him, yakno? He absentmindedly swished the liquid inside his glass. He glanced over at it.

"Hey" Lance tapped Keith's shoulder with the drink before holding it out. Keith looked over. "Want some nunvill?"

Giving the glace a quick glance before taking it and slugging down a large gulp of it. The revulsion was clear on his face and he handed the glass back over. "I still don't know how you drink that." He casually mentioned.
"Oh yeah, it's awful, but nothing's as disgusting as it to really wake you up in the mornings. Plus, it makes you really appreciate not drinking it."

In his head, Lance pumped his fists and did a victory dance. Crisis averted with so little homo there wasn't even a need to affirm no homo with Keith. Lance knew it was only a gross drink, but he also knew that this could be the start of a wonderful bromance. Not Lance-Hunk level bros, but getting there.

"…what the Black Pearl really is…is freedom."

Both paladins were struck by the short speech. The idea of total freedom was something both wanted, but neither were sure how to achieve.

Lance's larger family meant that he was expected to help out and contribute to the household. Though he loved them very much, it was frustrating that even dinner had unspoken obligations attached to it. Even when he had permission to go spend time with his friends in the evening (and doubly so when he snuck out) it seemed like someone resented him for not being there, and missing out on another life-changing milestone in their life. Between that and household chores, it seemed to Lance the only free time he got was whatever he could bargain for or sneak.

The garrison had been the largest step to his independence, and he had quickly gotten drunk off of his newfound freedom. Other students complained about the rigorous schedules and tough courses, but Lance thrived. So long as you weren't blatantly breaking a rule, it seemed to him, nobody cared what you did. Even if you were, it was easy enough to not get caught (or rather punished. Enough of the faculty had been students there once to turn a blind eye to a certain amount of shenanigans. Lance misattributed this to his ninja-like stealth and stellar charm). No one had to be scheduled to watch abuela, papa wasn't there to need help in the yard or garage, his siblings couldn't spring sudden and urgent request for favors, please please please, just this once, I'll do dishes for a week. Still, the garrison had him contained in the building except for brief field exercises. It wasn't enough for Lance.

Keith had more exploration in his youth than Lance, but it was almost entirely a matter of survival, never choice. Moving in the middle of the night under the cover of darkness to escape some unseen enemy, his father carrying him was he was too young to keep up. Harsh lessons drilled into him from a young age. Days spent camping out, either observing some area before making a move or because there was nowhere else to go. It wasn't freedom, it was survival.

The garrison had taken the stress off of that once he joined. Meals were ready, and not something to be scavenged for. Knowledge and lessons of whatever he wanted could be sought out when he wanted, not forced upon him when it was necessary. Hell, even a regular sleeping space that didn't require a fire to keep him warm through the night was an upgrade. Still, the garrison was only going to funnel him into being their pilot, too narrow and constricting of a road. It wasn't enough for Keith.

And now both of them were Team Voltron. Their lions were some of the fastest ships in the universe, and if that wasn't enough, the Castle of Lions could open a wormhole to almost anywhere. Absolute freedom was both tantalizingly close and impossibly far, the closest and furthest either of them had been to it. The means were there, but they had a duty to fight Zarkon and defend the universe. Only after defeating the Galra Empire could they live as they wanted.

"So… when we defeat Zarkon, what are you gonna do?" Lance asked as casually as he could.

"I don't know," answered Keith, equally cool and casual. "Probably try to dig up some stuff from my past. You?"

"Dunno. Might cruise around, pick up some ladies, really surf the whole 'Defender of the Universe' wave while I can before just relaxing on a beach somewhere for a long, long time. Your plan sounds good though"
"Yeah, yours too"

"Are you accepting the Commodore's proposal?"

"Oh-ho, snap! I did not see that one coming!" Lance yelled, fist over his mouth, leaning forwards.
"What?"

"Her choosing the navy dude! Thought for sure she was going to pick the pirate dude"

"What?" What was Lance going on about now?
Lance threw his hands up, almost spilling his nunvill. "Oh, come on! Even you've had to have noticed the love-triangle-square thing they've been building up here!"

Keith blinked.
Giving a sigh of exasperation, Lance launched into an explanation. "So the girl there is the governor's daughter, and her dad and the navy dude want her to marry the navy dude because they're both after status and the navy guy has money. So he's really the 'safe, but boring and socially acceptable' option for her. The blacksmith is looooonging for her, but hasn't had the guts to tell her, but they're definitely close. He's the 'childhood friend you develop feelings for after an adventure'. Then the pirate captain comes in and he's really something different to her, the 'bad boy' option. So now she has to choose between them"

Keith said nothing, but went back to watching the film, either satisfied with the review, or not wanting Lance to launch into another spiel.

However, Lance had apparently continued on that line of though.

"Hey Keith, Miriya Sterling or Ginger Ellington?"
"What?"
"Miriya or Ginger? You know, from the Garrison"
"I don't know what you're talking about"
"C'mon, it's a bonding moment! Just between us."
"Miriya or Ginger?"

"Yeah!" Lance beamed.
Keith thought a moment, looking down hand to chin. "Well…Miriya has better eyes…but Ginger is far more aggressive…" Lance leaned forwards, hanging on every word. Keith nodded, confirming "So I'd pick Miriya as my gunner and Ginger as my navigator."

Lance near fell off of the couch. "What!?"
"I know it's counterintuitive, but hotheads make poor fighters. They loose sight of the big picture." Lance recollected himself.
"That's not what I meant!" Keith looked towards the blue paladin, confused and frowning. "You have to choose, you know, who you'd want to get with!"

"We're not talking about teammates?"

"No! Why would you think that?" Lance was raising his voice in disbelief.

"Because that's what was happening in the movie!" Keith said, matching his volume.

"What?!"

"What!?"

"The movie isn't talking about who's she's gonna adventure with, it's talking about who's she's gonna get with!"

Keith blinked. Lance might as well have been trying to start another cheer.

"You know" Lance moved his hands up and down over his hips. "Bow-chica-wow-wow?"

…

"Schwing?", accompanied by a small pelvic thrust.

…
"Fine, ask me, I'll show you how it's done!" Lance took a small sip of nunvill
"…Pidge or Allura?"

To his credit, Lance did not spit out the nunvill across the room or in Keith's face. He did however, manage to choke on it, sending him into a coughing fit that doubled him over. He recovered and gasped out "Way off limits!"

Keith had scooted away during the spewing and asked from a safer distance "What? Why? We've worked with both pairs"

"Yeah but…" Lance floundered. "You know, it's just different! Allura's an alien princess who's super strong and stuff!"

"Ok, so what about Pidge? Human, garrison, girl, just like Miriya and Ginger."

Lance stood and threw up his hands, waving the empty nunvil glass around. "Pidge is totally different from them! She's smart, and resourceful, and brave, and, and, and a bunch of other stuff too, ok?!"

Keith watched Lance's overreaction with almost a hint of…amusement? "So…Pidge?"

"Yes! … I mean no! … I mean shut up!" He violently plopped himself back down to sulk, crossing his arms.

The film finished as the dashing trio made their escapes in their own ways from the powers that be. Lance had come out of his sulk, but only just. He picked up his glass from the floor and stood up.
"Good movie" commented Keith.

"Yeah" Lance agreed. "Could have had more guns though."

Keith ignored what seemed to be bait and walked around to exit the room. Lance followed.

"So, what are you up to now?" Lance asked.
"I was going to go see if anyone was using the training deck, get some drills in before lunch. "

"Oh, cool"

…

"Want to spar? "
"Sure. Just don't go whining about codes and rules when I beat you."

((A/N

So I guess the takeaway here is don't get into writing if you have a full time job.

Word to /co/ for providing the name of Miriya based on a cameo in episode one.

Word to The_Qing ( /works/7364662) for providing the name of Ginger. Bug him about continuing writing.

As always, suggestions/comment/criticisms appreciated))