Author's Note:
Hello all and welcome. This chapter is from Shiro's perspective as he starts helping Lance sort out certain things he has access to. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.
I own nothing.
Chapter 3
Shiro wasn't sure how to approach this.
With them gaining traction as a team, getting gradually better at forming and using Voltron, plus finding a way to help Lance communicate, things were looking good. However, with the main issues being dealt with, it was calling attention to other problems, including team hygiene, or more specifically, one member's lack of it.
In short, Lance was filthy.
Shiro didn't hold it against the boy, between Lance's lack of basic literary skills, his clothing that was clearly worn till it fell to pieces, as well as some of his habits, it was obvious he was from a deprived background, most likely a street kid. As such, the fact he didn't wash was hardly surprising, he'd never had the facilities to do so and probably didn't even think about doing it. Now though, he had access to such things, and someone was going to have to mention something to the boy soon.
Shiro wanted to make sure it wasn't Allura.
While he and the others had worked out Lance's background, the princess and Coran likely hadn't. They'd come from Altea, a planet that sounded like it was prosperous for all its citizens, they probably wouldn't consider the possibility that Lance simply hadn't had the things they considered 'basic' and he'd already seen her turn her nose away in subtle disgust whenever the teen was within sniffing distance. No doubt she wouldn't be very gentle in informing Lance of his need to wash.
Hence why he was stood outside the boy's door, wondering how best to approach the issue.
He knocked, "Lance, its Shiro, can I come in?"
After a moment, the door chimed and opened.
Pidge and Hunk had altered Lance's door, rigging it up to a simple control panel beside the boy's bed. Basically, if someone knocked, he could either push a green, yellow or red button. The green button sounded a chime and opened the door while the red one sounded a buzzer and kept it shut, the yellow one sounded two chimes and was the 'hold on a moment' button.
His request granted, Shiro entered to find Lance sat on the floor, sliding on his headset.
Pidge had dubbed the device the Emoji Communication Device (ECD for short) and it had proven incredibly successful, already it had been upgraded several times as they programmed new symbols into it, including some Altean ones to help with speaking to Allura and Coran. They just had to make sure it was charged regularly.
ECD in place, it quickly projected a question mark.
Shiro hesitated before speaking, "Lance, have you been shown the shower attached to your room?"
The boy nodded, then looked thoughtful as the ECD projected a button which then got a red X stamped across it.
"I see."
It appeared that Lance did know about it but hadn't been shown how to use it. Lance shrugged carelessly and Shiro didn't need symbols to understand that it didn't bother the teen much.
"Lance, that's not the point. I understand that you've never had the facilities for it but washing regularly is something you need to do."
A question mark.
"Because its far better for your health, and everyone else's, and since you have everything you need to do it, you should wash every day."
Lance stared for a moment or two, then turned away looking embarrassed.
Shiro, certain as to why, smiled, "Its fine that you don't know how, its not your fault." He gestured to the bathroom door, "Firstly, I'll show you how the shower works."
With a nod of assent, Lance followed him into the bathroom and watched intently as Shiro began to explain.
"Okay, to begin with, you have three buttons. The one at the top simply turns the shower on. These showers control their temperature automatically, Pidge says you can programme them to the temperature you want, but the basic one is fine. The middle button puts the water on the basic temperature setting, while the bottom one makes the water cold, you're probably not going to use that one much." He looked at the boy, "Understand all that?"
Lance nodded and Shiro smiled, despite the teen's lack of knowledge, he picked things up fast if you explained it to him. The man reached into a small bag he'd brought with him, and fished out two bottles and handed them over, "Coran supplied these for us, they're to help you get clean. Basically, you soak yourself in the shower, then you rub the stuff in the blue bottle all over your body making it go soapy, then wash it off in the shower. The stuff in the red bottle is the same idea, except for your hair instead of your body." He passed the boy a brush, "You can use this to scrub yourself, understand?"
The teen eyed the two bottles then held the blue one up accompanied by a question mark.
"That's to go on your body."
Lance held up the red.
"That gets rubbed into your hair."
The boy smiled and nodded, then gestured to his clothes with a frown.
"Yes, you'll have to take your clothes off when you wash, that's the point."
A look of alarm crossed his face, and Shiro quickly put him at ease.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to be in here while you shower." He pointed to the door, "If you press the button beside the door, you can lock this room to stop anyone coming in. Just press it again to unlock it."
Lance gave a sigh of relief and Shiro chuckled as he headed for the door, "I'll just be outside, bang on the door if you need anything."
A good half hour or so later, Lance emerged from the shower, completely clean and dry and looking far better than he had.
He'd put back on his ragged clothes, and Shiro decided that that is what they had to sort next. Yes, they had the Paladin armour, but they couldn't expect Lance to wear that all the time and his own clothes were not fit for use.
Fortunately, they already had some replacements.
He held up the other items that had been in his bag, "Here Lance, I'm not sure how they did it, but Coran and Keith made these for you."
The items in question were a grey shirt, jeans and a brown-grey jacket, all based off of what Lance was already wearing, except clean and not falling to pieces. While it didn't seem much of a gesture to them, they were of incredible value to Lance, if his expression was anything to go by.
The boy took the offered clothes with almost reverence, then looked up at Shiro, as if to confirm they were for him. The man simply smiled, "They're to replace what you currently have. To be honest, your clothes are basically useless now, so we all decided that you needed a new outfit. I was surprised when Keith helped Coran make them, even I wasn't aware that he knew how to stich fabric together."
He saw Lance smirk, no doubt amused by the thought of the normally hot-headed Keith carefully stitching. Shiro had to admit he found the thought quite amusing himself, though he was sure one of the castle's many devices did most of the work in reality.
He pulled out the last item from the bag and put a pair of white sneakers on the floor, "They also made these for you, they'll definitely be better than your current pair."
A slight understatement since Lance's shoes were so worn, they were effectively glorified socks instead of decent footwear, the new pair was far superior.
Lance picked them up and examined them in awe, and Shiro began heading for the door, "Once your changed, head down to the dining room for dinner, we'll simply chuck your old stuff since I don't think there's any way to use it anymore."
He received a nod in response as he disappeared out the door.
He hadn't actually got that far when Lance ran to catch up to him.
He turned to find the boy already dressed his new clothes, except for the shoes which he was carrying in one hand. Shiro raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "Why haven't you put those on, do they not fit properly?"
Lance shook his head, then waved one of the laces and shrugged, causing both of Shiro's eyebrows to rise in surprise, "Have you never had laces on you shoes before?"
Another shake of the head, then the boy looked at him pleadingly.
It seemed that Lance also didn't know how to tie shoelaces, not something Shiro had thought of but then it was fully possible for the teen to have never been shown how. They didn't know what, if any, family Lance had, and if he'd never had laced shoes, then the need to tie them hadn't existed.
Shiro held his hand out for the shoes, and Lance handed them over.
Bending down, he held the right one out for the teen to quickly put his foot in, he then slowly and obviously began to tie the laces, letting Lance see every step of how it was done. Once done, he gestured to the left, "Why don't you try it?"
Obediently, Lance put on the left shoe and started trying to replicate what Shiro had done. His first attempt ended in a tangled mess, but Shiro simply unpicked it and got him to try again, the second was slightly better, but the teen couldn't quite work out the knot until Shiro guided his hands through the motions.
Job done, they both stood upright and Lance bowed his head slightly in thanks. Shiro felt the sudden urge to ruffle the boy's hair but repressed it and went for a simple approving nod instead. Regardless, this small action caused Lance to beam before moving on ahead for dinner, leaving Shiro with a warm feeling.
Lance was obviously going to need a lot more help than the others, but he felt the boy deserved every bit of assistance they could offer.
PS-And there we have it. If anyone has any ideas for future chapters, please let me know. I have got some myself, but more are always welcome. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.