A few days after, on a completely different planet a quadrant over, Lance announced he was going to collect firewood, and Shiro saw his chance. He volunteered to come along, and immediately Lance looked nervous, glancing at Keith.

Keith was only about ten yards away, fear and worry quite evident in his expression, his Bayard phasing in and out of existence as he clenched and unclenched his hands. Off to the side, Krolia was staring at their shared knife as it grew and shrank, glancing from it to her son and back.

She approached Keith carefully, setting the knife to the side so it wouldn't stab anyone randomly, and settled a hand on his shoulder, whispering something in his ear gently.

Keith huffed, relaxing slightly. The knife settled back into its neutral state, and his Bayard phased out of existence. "Okay, Shiro, if you really feel up to it, you can go. Just, uh, don't die, okay?"

"I won't die, Keith." Shiro promised, laying a hand on Lance's shoulder. Lance flinched back, his discomfort obvious. Shiro let his hand fall, and made no move to put it back. "Besides, Lance'll kill me if I do."

"Lance, you'll make sure he won't die?" Keith confirmed, turning to the Blue Paladin hopefully.

Lance gulped, eyeballing Shiro sideways. "That's an awful lot of pressure for one dude, but I'll do my best!" He said with an obviously strained, wry smile.

"Good." Keith approached Shiro, the two embracing. "Be careful out there, man, alright?"

"You know it." Shiro agrees, before turning and trailing after Lance towards the nearby brush.

Fifteen minutes and only about two logs later, the Lions already well out of sight - stupid, small, sylvan moon - Lance broke the silence.

"You didn't need to come along and babysit me, you know." Lance grunted, pushing aside the large leaves of a low-hanging tree to try and find a good log. "I can collect wood by myself, you know."

"I didn't come along to babysit you." Shiro assured, feeling a pang in his chest. More often than not, that's what Lance felt like. He felt like a child, needing to be watched, and he was constantly trying to prove he wasn't. He had mentioned something very similar to Shiro's clone, once, and while it hadn't bothered the clone, it was like a sucker-punch to Shiro himself. "I'm well aware that you certainly don't need it. I just came to talk."

"Talk?" Lance echoed as he stared up at the tree, frustrated by the lack of branches on the ground. "About what?"

"About what's been going on lately. How you've progressed." Shiro watched with admiration as Lance easily scaled the tree, summoning his sword and cutting off a large branch from the tree.

"Timber!" Lance called, and Shiro sidestepped the falling wood.

"And discuss your new weapons. The rifle and the sword."

Lance paused, glancing down at Shiro in alarm, still hanging from the tree. "Um… I know it's a liability not to know how to use the sword, Shiro, if that's what you're getting at. I just haven't been able to get a decent teacher yet. Allura was always busy with Lotor, and we didn't see Keith for several months in person. And the clone was working with other coalition leaders so I wasn't able to-"

"Lance." Shiro interrupted gently, looking up at the anxious teen with a worried expression. "Calm down."

Lance climbed down, fidgeting nervously. It was obvious he was still panicking, despite Shiro's instruction.

Shiro was a bit bemused, trying to figure out- oh. Lance might've heard 'climb down' instead of 'calm down'. A little funny, but still worrying seeing as how he looked just two seconds away from hyperventilating and having a breakdown.

Shiro officially hated his clone with a burning passion. Sure, his clone talked about how people were in danger, and he really did help him. But being a defender of the universe meant nothing if he couldn't keep his own team mentally healthy.

And Lance appeared to be anything but.

Shiro reached out, placing his hand on Lance's shoulder, the former team leader forcing his expression to properly relax. It'd do him no good to appear angry; even if he was angry at the clone and not Lance.

"Lance." Shiro soothed, letting the smallest of smiles find its way onto his lips. "I'm not here to ridicule you, or to babysit. I'm just here to talk."

Lance still looked nervous, so Shiro released his shoulders and bent down, scooping up the two logs they had collected. Lance turned and started dividing the branch he had cut with his sword, making unnatural logs.

"You know, it's pretty hard to unlock more then one weapon per Bayard. Two is pretty tricky to do; three is almost unheard of." Shiro stated, peering over Lance's shoulder as the hispanic boy worked. "For you to unlock the sword, and not be a master, is pretty much impossible. It means you have real potential."

"Now you're just humoring me." Lance huffed, though he sounded much more unsure of his own words. "I'm… I'm not that great. Look at Zarkon, and-and Lotor! They were able to summon, like, a dozen weapons each!"

"Zarkon has had over ten thousand years of practice with the Black Bayard, and Lotor's his son. I don't doubt that Lotor had trained with several different weapons over his lifetime; to be able to counter Zarkon if nothing else. But, now, look at Keith, Pidge, Hunk, and Allura. They only have one weapon each, not including redesigns, and they've been Paladins for as long as you've been one! Well, not Allura, since she joined later, or Keith, since he left for a spell, but, at the very least, don't you think Hunk or Pidge would've unlocked a new type of weapon?"

Lance faltered, staring down at his feet quietly. "I mean… maybe?" The last word came out as a squeak, and he flushed. "They're always so confident in their abilities, and I'm… not. I just always sorta figured, I guess, that it was because they belonged on the team, and I… didn't. So Red was always unlocking new power-ups on my Bayard to try to train me to, uh, be useful?"

Shiro advanced a few steps towards Lance, pausing before he could entirely reach him. "Can I hug you?" He inquired, keeping his voice smooth. Although Lance was a very touchy person - he practically lived for Hunk's embraces - he wouldn't stop flinching whenever Shiro tried to bond over said touchiness. The clone's memories were a bit foggy in Shiro's mind, and he couldn't help wondering if the clone had injured Lance or beat him in any way during his absence. It would certainly explain Lance's sudden avoidance of touch.

At his inquiry, Lance stared, obviously uncertain how to proceed. "Uh, I-I guess? Sure, that sounds… um, yeah."

Shiro was quick to drop the logs and close the gap between them, wrapping his arm around Lance and resting the stub of his prosthetic atop Lance's shoulder.

Lance seemed to just wilt in his grasp, clinging back with great ferocity.

Oh. Not physically abused, if Shiro had to guess. Touch starved.

It made sense; the clone always kept a distance from the other Paladins unless it was necessary to act like Shiro. Pidge and Keith were very touch adverse, and Hunk had been very busy with the coalition as of late to be physically supportive. The Alteans hardly ever hugged; Shiro doubted 'hug' was very uncommon on Altea, if the occurrence even happened. It was quite likely that the Alteans only learned to really hug and be touchy once the Paladins showed up; bringing their planet's common tradition with them.

"You've been amazing, Lance." Shiro told him gently, careful to only cradle him, and not harm. "You've held the team together through thick and thin; taking lead when Keith wasn't present and the clone's instructions were… sub par. You've really grown into your own; became a man while I was in the Black Lion. I'm so proud of you and everything you've done."

Lance released a low keening noise at the back of his throat, trembling at the praise.

Gradually, Lance started to shake, the whining he emitted becoming wet sniffles. Shiro held Lance carefully, fully aware that he was the main reason Lance was still somewhat upright at the moment. He could feel Lance's knees trembling and beginning to collapse, the hispanic boy slowly collapsing.

It took a moment, but Shiro was able to figure out how to lower them both safely to the ground, letting Lance kneel without a high risk of falling, though he had a feeling that Lance was going to top to the side anyway unless Shiro kept a steady grip on him.

"I-it was so hard…" Lance broke out, choking back a sob to finish the sentence efficiently. Shiro was honestly surprised he was trying to talk at all. "I-I didn't know if it was the right thing to do because we're always supposed to obey you, but after Naxzela and everything else, he started feeling wrong and then it just got worse and worse and-"

"Shh, shh…" Shiro hummed, cradling Lance carefully. "I know, I know… shh…"

Lance's fingers gripped more firmly into Shiro's armor, and though they should, in all honesty, slide right off of the smooth armor due to the lack of friction, they managed to dig in securely. "Yo-you tried to tell me what happened, tried to-to explain it but I-I didn't- I'm so, so sorry, Shiro, I should ha-"

"It's not your fault, Lance." Shiro promised, squeezing Lance carefully, burying his cheek in Lance's hair. "We didn't have a strong connection through the Voltorn bond; all I really managed to say was 'Lance, listen to me'. I doubt anyone would be able to figure out the other Shiro was a clone from that."

Lance nodded weakly, not quite believing, but starting to accept it anyway.

It took several minutes of Lance mumbling either bits of what had happened while Shiro was gone or utter nonsense, and Shiro trying to comfort him in return, lavishing praises and calm assurances, for Lance to eventually be able to calm down enough that he wasn't even hiccuping anymore.

He drew back slowly, wiping his eyes and nose, looking better then he had then when he and Shiro had first come out. "S-sorry…"

"Don't worry about it." Shiro consoled, patting Lance on the back. "I don't mind, and you seemed like you needed it."

Lance nodded, seeming to be in a daze, and turned to scoop up the logs he had cut previously. "Y-yeah, yeah… uh, we've probably been gone for too long, uh, Keith or Allura or someone might start to worry…"

"Maybe." Shiro agreed, scooping up the wood he had previously dropped and helping Lance secure his load. He couldn't do much, due to not being used to doing physical labor and only having one hand, but he did his best. "Hunk at the very most will be worried. For the lack of firewood if nothing else."

Lance chortled, amused. "Yup, yup, that sounds like Hunk…" He sobered up, wiping at his eyes again. "Just… just give me a minute."

"Of course." Shiro permitted with a kind smile, taking a step back. "Let me know when you're ready."

It took Lance a good five doboshes to look relatively normal to the point where the other Paladins wouldn't look at him and immediately realized he'd been crying. His eyes were still just a little puffy, but he was going to be okay.

Shiro was going to make sure Lance never felt unloved and worthless ever again; he'd never be upset if Shiro had anything to say about it.

In season 8, Keith summoned a really big gun, which, honestly, was super cool. And Hunk got a weapon update early on in Season 7. I always thought it was really cool that they weren't able to just summon new weapons whenever they wanted, and had to earn their way to upgrades. (Man, I loved Voltron…) And then I realized while everyone else has two, maximum - except Lotor and Zarkon, but they've been alive for 10,000 years - not including design changes, but Lance has three. He has the normal gun that acts like a super soaker; designed for multiple quick-fire shots and over all not a good sharpshooter gun. Then he got a sniper rifle, which means he can actually aim it extremely well and shoot smaller areas. (Arguably, they're basically the same weapon.) Then a sword?! Me boi is gifted, but he certainly doesn't realize it, especially with Kuron pushing him down. Allura may have told him he had greatness within, but even that praise was shrouded out by the fact that Kuron didn't acknowledge it.

Lance needs someone to hold him up, and that someone has to be Shiro, or else he might feel like he's still being pushed down and overlooked.

(:)

Hispanic is spelled "His Panic" which I found really funny because Lance is panicking during the whole chapter, and he's Hispanic.

…lol.

(:)

I kept on describing Lance's position while Shiro was hugging him as 'cradled' and all I could think of was that picture of Keith screaming "No!" With the caption 'Keith can feel Lance being cradled without him'.

No, I don't ship Klance.

I just find their dynamic really funny. Poor Keith and their "bonding moment" that totally didn't happen according to Lance. XD