Author's Note:

Hello all and welcome to the seventh chapter. This one is one of my own ideas and it kind of ran off in its own direction. Thank you those who've shown their support and made suggestions for this fic, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Chapter 7

Strangely enough, it was Keith who brought it up.

It was during a post training rest, with all of them gathered in the lounge, when the Red Paladin broke the usual tired silence from his position on the couch.

"Lance, how old are you?"

The boy in question sat up from his sprawled position on the floor, and stared at Keith for a moment, confused by the sudden question.

Pidge, who was sat next to Keith, started to look thoughtful, "Actually, that's a good question." She glanced at him, "I'm surprised none of us thought to find that out until now." She frowned, "Though I guess that you might not really know…"

Lance nodded in agreement, with a lack of knowledge about numbers, and no real way of keeping track, he didn't know how old he was. He thought hard, had his mom told him his age at some point? Even if she did, she died so long ago he couldn't possibly remember what she might've said.

"Well, how old do you think you are?"

Hunk joined the conversation from the other couch, and Lance simply shrugged.

Pidge studied him intently, the way she'd study some new piece of tech, "Well, from your appearance, you have to at least be a teenager."

"But that still leaves nearly a decade of possibilities." Hunk added.

By this point, Coran and Allura were intrigued, and the male Altean threw in his thoughts from where he was standing behind the princess' seat, "Well, I know that your human lifespans are different from Altean ones, but surely its fairly easy to narrow down his age from his physical development."

Shiro smiled slightly from his position beside Hunk, "Narrowing down an exact year is harder with teenagers." He explained, "Humans develop at slightly different rates, so one eighteen-year-old could look like an adult while another eighteen-year-old still appears to be a child. In some cases, a boy might not physically be a full adult until his twenties."

Allura looked to the Black Paladin, "Well, how old do you think he is Shiro?"

He stuttered slightly, "Umm…well…maybe around Keith's age, possibly younger?"

By this time, Pidge had moved so she was right in Lance's face, staring intently, "I think that's a reasonable assumption, I'm pretty sure he's older than me, and I don't think he's nearly as old as you are Shiro."

"What do you mean 'nearly as old'!?" The Black Paladin gave her a mock glare, "You make it sound like I'm an old man or something."

She grinned slyly but didn't respond as she returned to her previous seat. Meanwhile, Hunk spoke up, "Hey guys, I think how old he isn't the important issue here."

All eyes turned upon him in confusion, and the Yellow Paladin spread his arms wide, "The real issue is deciding when his birthday will be!"

For their part, Shiro, Lance and the two Altean's looked bemused, but Pidge and Keith looked like Hunk had just revealed to them a great epiphany.

"You're so right!" Pidge exclaimed, "Lance has to decided on that as soon as possible!"

"Agreed." Keith looked to Lance, "Firstly, what season do you want it to be in?"

Lance looked between them, completely baffled. What were they talking about when they said 'birthday'?

Upon seeing the symbols projected to represent his question, Pidge practically leapt to her feet, her voice almost a shriek, "What!" She pointed at him in determination, "Right, there's no way I can let this continue. We are going to throw you a big birthday party to make up for the last however-many-years of no birthdays!"

"Agreed!"

Hunk and Keith spoke as one, as determined as Pidge, and Shiro moved to try and prevent things from getting out of hand, probably thinking they were going to start partying right there and then, "Guys, while I understand that you have good intentions, maybe stop for a moment."

"Shiro!" Pidge stared him down, "How can we not do something about this? There's no way you can simply say no when its clear that Lance has never had a birthday celebration in his life. We can not let him miss out on this vital part of childhood!"

Their leader sighed, "That's not what I'm saying Pidge. Remember, we're the Paladins of Voltron and we are a vital part of the fight against the Galra. Plus, we don't really have the supplies to throw a massive birthday party at the moment…"

"Can't we at least make him a cake?" Hunk offered.

"Yeah, and we can all help make it for him." Keith added.

Shiro smiled, "Okay, we can do that."

"And if we magically find something like a space mall, I'm buying him the best birthday present ever!" Pidge declared.

"Not if my one for him is better." Keith challenged.

"Yeah, well I'm going to get him a present that's so good, it'll make all of your ones look awful." Hunk threw in.

"Okay, okay, why don't you three just go and get started on the cake." Shiro suggested.

At his words, the three basically charged for the door, Hunk lingering behind for just a moment, "Lance, do not come into the kitchen under any circumstances, not until we say you can."

Not waiting for his response, he ran after the others and vanished.

A while later, Lance and Shiro were sat by themselves in the lounge, Allura and Coran having decided to join the cake making party.

The Black Paladin had taken it upon himself to properly explain about birthday celebrations to the confused teen, and since then, Lance had been thoughtful.

He seemed rather perplexed by the whole thing, as if he was having difficulty understanding why the others got so worked up about it, and Shiro suspected it was because he didn't quite realise it was because they cared about him.

His heart went out to him, the same way it went out to Keith when he'd been dismissed as a 'discipline case', despite showing blatant, and incredible, talent. Here was another boy who'd been dealt a rubbish hand by life and he'd definitely developed protective instincts for him, for all of them really.

He had a sudden idea and stood.

Lance looked up at his movements and Shiro gestured with his head, "Hey Lance, while we're waiting for them to finish that cake, there's something I want to show you."

The boy gave him a confused eyebrow but stood as well, following the man out the room and up to Shiro's quarters.

The moment they entered, Shiro strode across to one of the draws, and carefully pulled out a small disc-like object. It was a miniature holo-projector, one of many the castle had spare, and he'd put into it a single projection.

Clicking the button on the side to turn it on, he turned to Lance to show him the image.

It had been taken from one of the castle's security feeds and showed the paladins after a particularly good training exercise with the lions, early on in their time in space.

Lance was in the centre of the group, smiling broadly as Hunk had an arm draped around his shoulders, laughing at something. Pidge was opposite the Yellow Paladin, on Lance's right and she was in the middle of jokingly berating the two boys, a smirk on her face. Just behind them was Keith, eyes alight with joy and mouth open in a huge grin as he said something (a quick quip if Shiro remembered correctly), while Shiro himself had a small smile as he was ruffling the Blue Paladin's hair proudly.

It had been the day when Lance had pulled off a particular manoeuvre with the Blue Lion, a basic one for pilots and known by the others, but difficult for a novice. It had been Lance's first achievement since Shiro had begun training him and the pride the others had in him was evident in the picture.

Lance took the picture and stared at it, even as Shiro spoke.

"Everyone was so happy for you that day, all of them were singing your praises and saying how quickly you'd learned and improved, considering you started completely from scratch." He squeezed the teen's shoulder, "We were all so proud that day, and every day since."

The boy looked up, slight shock on his face, and Shiro ruffled his hair, "Since you're owed several years' worth of birthday presents, I want you to have it. As a reminder of what you mean to us Lance."

Lance's eyes widened, and his mouth opened slightly, then he flung his arms around Shiro and tightly hugged him.

Since he'd met them, the teen had never openly initiated a hug, regardless, Shiro naturally returned the embrace.

"I know we don't know your age or even what date you were born but, Happy Birthday Lance."

By the time they'd returned to the lounge, the others were ready and waiting with the cake.

Somehow, they'd managed to create a cake replica of the Blue Lion, complete with candles (though he had no idea where they got them from). This was accompanied by a raucous (and very off-key) rendition of 'Happy Birthday' as Hunk held the cake before Lance.

"And now, you blow out the candles and make a wish."

With a grin, Lance did as asked, and everyone cheered.

Then Keith spoke up, "So, what did you wish for?"

Pidge smacked him on the arm, "You can't ask him that dummy! If he tells us, then it won't come true."

Hunk shook his head in disappointment, "Seriously dude, everyone knows that."

As it quickly devolved into a joking argument, Lance watched them all with a smile.

To be honest, he didn't quite get this caring for each other stuff, but he was starting to believe that no one really understood it, they just did it. He may not get basic things, and he may seem far behind the others, but he felt that they really didn't mind. He had no knowledge of his exact age, no idea as to when his birthday should be, but he had decided on when it would be celebrated.

On the same date as the Blue Lion took him from Earth and into this new life.

PS-So, it kind of ran into family fluff stuff, but I think that's going to be a theme for this story, so what the hey. Please let me know what you thought and any chapter suggestions.