The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. As soon as they arrived at the base Pidge turned on Green's cloaking. The others rushed off to begin the distraction. Red, Blue and Yellow flying in tight formation. Coran stayed behind to man the castle.
"We're approaching section two. We'll let you know when we've found a place we can safely dock." Lance's voice spoke over the comms.
With Lance, Matt, and Pidge in Green there was a good chance they would succeed. Even so, Keith found himself listening intently to every word, a bad feeling clenching in his gut.
Allura's voice spoke next. "We're keeping low for the time being, but we're in formation to reveal ourselves and start the distraction at any moment."
"Good. Watch each other's backs. If it gets too intense leave immediately, don't worry about us." Lance's words rang ominously in Keith's ears. "I'll make sure we find a way out."
Keith allowed himself to settle inside Red. He took some breaths to still himself and focus on the task ahead. After this they might find out where Shiro is. They might bring the whole team back together again. Besides, it was Lance, he would make sure everyone came out safely.
Keith allowed that to become his mantra. It calmed his nerves. Beside him, Allura and Hunk were thinking similar things to calm theirs.
"We're docked." Pidge's voice said. "We'll have to be quiet once we get inside, or we'll never make it to the control room we need."
"Why are you looking at me when you say that?" Lance said, pretending to be offended.
Keith let out a chuckle. Through the comms he could hear the other's do the same. Leave it to Lance to make them all laugh right before a battle. It helped him to relax a bit. They could do this!
"In all seriousness, Pidge is right. We'll have to stay quiet on the comms. If anything happens we'll speak up, but otherwise…" Lance trailed off.
"Understood." Keith was the first to confirm. "Make sure you watch each other's backs too."
The team fell into silence. Pidge's team quietly breaking their way into the station. Allura's waiting with baited breath for the word that they were in.
"We're in." Pidge's voice barely breathed.
"You have ten minutes more or less. Make it as fast as possible." Allura replied. "Alright everyone, let's fly."
Keith punched the controls. He allowed himself to speed past Blue and Yellow and be the first to be spotted by the Galra.
Almost immediately lasers rang out. Keith dodged them easily. It would take more than a few shots to bring them down.
He fired several back at the Galra ships. From behind him, Hunk's canon blasted and shot one of them down. Allura sped off into another direction, leading a couple of the Galra ships away. Keith sent another few blasts at the remaining ships, moving out of the way for Hunk's larger canon fire every few seconds.
Keith knew that a larger wave of ships would come soon. He took a deep breath to help his concentration.
Inside the base Pidge led Matt and Lance through a maze of hallways.
The Galra were running around on high alert, busy preparing ships and battle strategies. Lance and Matt had their weapons ready, every once in a while shooting a Galra down, but mostly trying to stay off the radar. Pidge busied themself with the blueprint of the base, focusing on getting them all to the main computer as quickly as possible.
Lance motioned for Matt to check around one side of the next corner, while he checked around the other. They did a quick peak with weapons at the ready before nodding at Pidge who motioned which direction they were supposed to continue. They stopped at the next corner to do the same. And then the next.
The checking slowed them down, but it was faster than facing Galra unnecessarily. It was also safer. Lance didn't want any mistakes to happen. It was his plan after all. He was responsible for bringing everyone home safely. He took some shots at a Galra that had appeared around the next corner before they could alert anyone. Pidge clapped him on the back as a reward.
After stopping and starting and a lot of darting around corners covertly they reached the door to the main computer. Only a few Galra had been in the way and both Lance and Matt had done quick work of them. They'd taken up about three minutes of their precious time just to get to the door. Now the hard work could start.
Pidge pried off the door console and pulled out some of the wires, and then a laptop from their own bag. They carefully attached some of the wires to the laptop before hurriedly typing something into the code that displayed on the monitor.
Lance whispered on the comms. "Made it to the main computer room. Pidge is working on getting us in."
"Good." Keith's voice spoke. "Things are going well out here. Is everyone keeping up?"
"I'm doing fine." Allura confirmed.
Keith could see the blue lion expertly darting about a group of Galra before quickly turning around to freeze some of their engines.
"I could use a little backup." Hunk's voice didn't sound quite panicked yet, but it still came out squeaky.
"Keith?" Lance whispered.
Keith smiled at the voice. "I'll try to fend off some of the Galra on my tail and come help you out!"
Lance nodded to himself. As long as things kept going well they shouldn't have a problem making it back within the time limit.
Almost as soon as the thought crossed Lance's mind the doors slid in front of him slid open.
"Good work Pidge." Lance whispered as he went to sneak around the corner of the door.
"Wait! There still might be a-" Pidge's loud whisper was abruptly cut off by a sounding alarm, "motion activated alarm system…"
"What was that?!" Hunk's and Keith's voices rang out at the same time.
"It's uh...not a big deal…" Lance said, no longer bothering to whisper, "I may have...uh...tripped an alarm. But there's three of us so we should be okay, just focus on distracting as many Galra as possible out there."
Keith gritted his teeth...Lance…All he could do was focus on the job he'd been given and hope Lance could come up with a good plan to get everyone back out safe. He hated not being able to do more.
"Pidge get that intel! Fast! No point being stealthy anymore!" Lance yelled.
"I can't just make scans run faster just because you tripped an alarm. Technology doesn't work like that!" Pidge yelled back as they ran towards the center console.
"Well I need you to find a way! You're smart, Matt can help you."
Pidge shook their head before getting to work. Matt ran over to them and started helping pull out wires and connect things. The room became grunts of "and this goes there," "add the wire to that," "I need," "yes, that," "no, there," as they worked together almost seamlessly.
Lance positioned himself at an angle so he could see anyone coming from the hallway. The sound of boot-steps came closer. Lance counted in his head before firing out a shot. It hit his target perfectly. More sounds of boots. More shots timed well.
Louder footsteps approached, a larger group. Lance took a breath before stepping closer to the hallway.
Szhoom, szhoom the blaster fired. Two Galra went down right away. Lance fired several more times shooting down a third and fourth, but missing the fifth.
The Galra he had missed fired back at him. Lance rolled to dodge, before resetting. He raised his weapon to shoot the offending Galra, but in the time it took him to dodge two more had appeared. He shot quickly, managing to take down another one of them, but they were quickly replaced by yet another Galra rounding the corner.
This time he had to dodge several blasts. He ducked and rolled again, one blast just whizzing past his ear.
"Hey, watch it!" Pidge yelled. One of the blasts hit a wire they were working with and fried it.
"Sorry, Pidge, but I'm going to need to borrow your brother!" Lance charged at the oncoming Galra shooting several more before whacking one on the head with his blaster. He stepped in front of it, switching his bayard to a longsword and spinning to slice it through and three of the nearest Galra at the same time.
"I've got your back, Lance!" Matt yelled as he fired a few shots into the barrage. Lance's attack had given him time to run over and aim his own blaster.
"Pidge! How much time do you need?!" Lance yelled, slicing through another Galra.
"I've got my laptop connected to the main interface, but there's a lot of data to sort through. The folders are organized in a system I'm not familiar with and I'll have to write some code to help it go faster." Pidge yelled.
"Pidge, english!?"
"It's going to take longer than I thought. I need at least five minutes!"
"You have two!" Lance yelled. He heard Pidge grumble behind him, something about "not respecting science" before they got back to work, fingers racing across the keys of their laptop.
A Galra behind Lance yelled as it was hit by Matt's weapon. Lance barrelled into the Galra in front of him. It toppling into an oncoming one. Lance slashed at both of them. Blood splattered his open helmet and he smelled metal.
The assault continued.
Lance took a step forward. He stabbed into a Galra. He took another step. Sliced through a blaster. Another step. The hilt of his sword smashed in a helmet. Another. A slash through three Galra on his right. Step. Crashing his shoulder into the Galra on his left. Step. Swinging around to hack through a Galra arm. Step.
The sounds of blasts rang through the air. Many were Matt's, more still were Galra.
Lance gritted his teeth, wondering how much longer they could hold out. He needed an idea, a friend, something.
Lance's voice rang out over the intercom, breathing heavy from fighting. "There are too many guards for us to take by ourselves. We need some backup!"
That was the last thing Keith needed to hear. It distracted him enough to misfire on one of the ships he was helping Hunk with. The blast clipped one of the Galra ships' wings, sending it spinning directly into the yellow lion.
Hunk yelled.
"Sorry!" Keith yelled. "Lance! What can we do?"
Think. Lance commanded his brain. There's a way out of this. THINK!
A Galra hit Lance in the back with his blaster, knocking his breath out. Lance turned to slash.
Wait!
"Okay!" Lance knew there was no way that anyone sent inside would get to them in time. But maybe there was another way. "Pidge! Can you manually shut the emergency airlocks?"
"What good would that do? They'd just open them again. I thought you wanted me to find the intel. I thought I only had two minutes. Now you want me to-"
"Pidge can you do it or not?!"
"'Course I can do it. What a stupid question." Pidge grumbled.
"Time?" Lance asked.
"10 seconds."
"Great! Hunk! In about 10 seconds I need you to use your canon and slice through the third hub, right next to where we're fighting. Don't hit the fourth hub or this won't work! You need to have perfect aim!"
"But what if-" Hunk started to ask.
"You can do this! You're the only one with a powerful enough canon to slice a hole through the base. I trust you completely!"
Hunk took a second before answering. Steeling himself for the task at hand. "Rodger! Just tell me when!"
This was a delicate moment. Lance took a breath to steel himself. "Okay, Matt, Pidge it's about to get bumpy, I need you to hold onto something in five, four, three, two.." Lance sliced through the arm of the alien he was fighting. It backed up just enough to reveal a pipe that looked secure sticking out of the wall. Lance grabbed hold, clutching on for dear life. This better work, he thought. "One! Pidge! Hunk!"
The door to the room they were all in slammed shut. Most of the Galra were stuck on the other side, away from the trio. One Galra got trapped between the doors, keeping them a couple inches open. Another couple ended up inside with them all.
A blast went through the gap, scrapping Lance on the shoulder. He let go of the pipe he was holding in his surprise.
Boom. The airship shuddered with the blast from the yellow lion as a huge gash was hacked in the metal.
Lance's hurt shoulder slammed into the wall. He grasped out with his other hand, just managing to clasp onto it before the entire place shuddered again.
The galra inside were whipped around, banging into the ceiling and walls. One grabbed at Matt and he kicked out at it, forcing it back.
Suddenly all of the air in the room began to whizz past their ears and out of the gap the Galra wedged between the doors was causing. Lance let go of the pipe he was holding and pushed of the walls hard. He slammed his boot right into its face. It was pushed out a few inches.
Lance tried again. This time hacking through the Galra's middle. The doors banged shut the rest of the way. A final tremble of the base made them all slam into the ground.
Matt recovered first. Sending blasts at the remaining two Galra, downing them.
Lance took a moment on the floor to just lie there and breathe. Hunk had hit the base perfectly, in just the right spot.
"Nicely done Hunk!" Lance croaked.
Hunk and Keith watched from their lions as several Galra were whipped into space.
"Is everyone okay?" Allura sounded almost panicked.
"I'm alright." Lance said.
Pidge and Matt yelled their affirmatives over the intercom.
"Although now we have no way back to Green…" Pidge mumbled.
"We'll figure something out. How much more time do you need?"
"Forty-five more seconds should do it. I've found the file, I just need to download."
"O-kay," Lance said, stretching the word out to give himself more time to think. "Allura, can you start clearing a path between where we are and where Green is?"
"Yes, but Lance I don't know how that'll-"
"We're gonna have to space walk." Lance interrupted the thought.
"Lance?!" Keith yelled through the comm.
"It's the only way I can think of. If it makes you feel better, you're going to be the one to take us from here to Green." Lance said it in a cutesy voice like he was talking to a kid.
"That doesn't make me feel better at all."
"Coran! Get the castle ready for a jump. We're gonna have to do a quick exit!"
"Understood!" Coran yelled. "You know this reminds me of a time on planet Hobrov-"
"Great! Keep thinking of that memory of planet Hob-whatever-and tell us all about it when we get back." Lance said, cutting him off before he could get too far into his story.
"Right-o!"
"Keith, keep helping Hunk for now, but look for an entrance to get to us."
"I still don't think-" Keith started to say.
"Please, Keith!" Lance paused, "Just trust me."
The way Lance said it broke Keith's heart for some reason. "I do." He whispered, more to himself than to anyone in particular.
Keith moved Red out of the way of a Galra ship coming at him full speed. He quickly spun around and fired back. He turned back toward the base even faster. Keith didn't want to let his eyes wander off for even a moment. Any opening would have to be taken immediately. He didn't want to let Lance-the team down.
"Pidge?" Lance said.
"10 more seconds!"
Lance calculated in his head the angle they'd need to jump. It was odd. To Lance it felt like the fight was slowing down, like he could see everything calmly and clearly. It was almost like he was seeing through seven pairs of eyes.
Lance barely breathed in anticipation. "Keith, how close are you to getting an opening?"
"I need another moment!"
"Hunk! Help him however you can!"
"Got it!" Hunk began firing wildly at the oncoming Galra. They scattered, and Keith took that moment to dive for the base.
"I'm coming in fast!"
"Pidge!" Lance yelled.
"I need another five seconds!" Pidge yelled back, panicked.
"Keith!"
Keith dove back up, trying to mislead the Galra that were on his tail. "I'll make it work!" Allura shot out some ice to help Keith get away safely. "Thanks!"
Five seconds had never gone so slowly for Lance. He closed his helmet, sealing in his air supply. His shoulder twinged in pain. He moved it gently, trying to figure out how bad it was. It felt sore, but not too bad.
He yelled at Matt and Pidge. "Get ready, we don't have a lot of time!"
"The data's downloaded, it's time to get out of here." Pidge was throwing the computer back in their bag. Lance had never seen them so ruthless with technology before.
Keith dove toward the base once more. "Right outside!"
"Grab hold!" Matt, Pidge, and Lance clutched themselves together, before Lance gave a firm whack to the airlock button.
Being sucked through a hole into space wasn't a comfortable experience. One moment, solid ground was beneath your feet, the next moment felt like you were riding down a waterslide while someone pulled and stretched you from both ends.
But then they were floating calmly in space...well as calmly as they could be while being hurtled through blackness.
"I'm here!" Keith yelled, as though that would give them a direction to shoot for. He saw the three bodies floating past him. He primed Red to grab them, but then a blast sent him off path. "Quiznak!"
"That's not what I need to hear right now, Keith! Get to us and then head for Green!" Lance yelled.
Lance's suit definitely had a hole in the shoulder. With one of his arms he was clutching tightly to Pidge, he managed to clap the other one over his shoulder, but it was precarious. His suit blinked alerting him to the low oxygen. Another second and he was completely out.
He hoped Matt and Pidge were holding on tightly.
Keith dove around the Galra ship, but it chased him relentlessly. He fired at it. It matched him. "Quiznak!" Red was getting further and further off course with each moment. "Lance! I-"
"Keith! We need you to get here as fast as you can...any means necessary!"
What scared Keith was that it wasn't Lance who yelled. It was Matt. The further radio silence from his friend wasn't a good indication either.
"Lance!" Keith yelled.
He saw red. It wasn't just the color of his lion anymore, it was everywhere. Keith dove again, and when the Galra ship followed once more he let out a cry. "Graaeeggghhh!" He pressed the controls forward, begging Red to go faster, even faster in his mind.
Red's claws outstretched. She slammed directly into the Galra ship, completely mauling it as she did so. They blasted past, heading as fast as a rocket to where Keith knew Lance and the other paladins were floating.
He expected to see them near the hatch they had escaped from, but they weren't there any longer. Keith's eyes went wide, his nostrils flared as he searched through the skies.
"Where?" His eyes darted around, but then he saw them. Three bodies clutching tightly together. "Red!" He yelled it aloud, but she was already turning and darting towards the paladins.
Red's mouth outstretched and she pulled them in.
"Lance! Lance are you okay?!" Keith yelled, unable to turn around and look, too busy fending off Galra.
He heard coughing, and then an arm thumped on his shoulder.
"Thanks, buddy." Lance sounded dazed.
"How are you?" Keith asked, trying not to laugh in relief.
"Mm'good. Had a hole in my suit or something. Fortunately Matt noticed what was happening." Lance shot some finger guns at Matt.
"I think you're a little disoriented from the oxygen deprivation. Try to keep it together." Matt said in response.
"Nah, I'm okay." Lance leaned down, and pressed his cheek to Keith's.
Keith turned redder than his lion and jumped out of his seat, completely letting go of the controls for a moment. "Lance!"
"Keith?..." Lance looked puzzled standing up, and then he shook his head and it all seemed to come back to him. "Keith! What are you doing, we need to get to Green!"
"What am I doing?" Keith sat back down, grabbing the controls again, still tomato red. He could hear Pidge and Matt laughing in the background.
Lance's face matched Keith's for a moment, as they both stared pointedly ahead.
"Uh…" Lance said, "uh..Pidge! You're gonna have to do another space walk. We'll get you much closer than this last one though."
"You want me to spacewalk from one lion to another while being attacked by a bunch of Galra ships? Like the last time went so well...Lance!" Pidge yelled.
"You can do this! Green will respond to you. Keep the cloaking on and then as soon as you get inside gun it straight for the Castle!"
"You say this like it'll be easy!"
"For you?" Lance said. "Of course it will be!"
"Lance!" Pidge paused unsure what to say, before throwing their hands up and simply yelling, "QUIZNAK!"
Lance moved besides Pidge, clapping a hand on their shoulder this time. He said quietly. "The reason I'm so hard on you is because I know you can do it."
Pidge was silent.
"Besides...if you miss I'll come right after you and pass out in space again and then you'll have to deal with me being loopy in your lion."
Pidge scrunched their nose up for a moment before saying. "Fine."
"See! I knew that threat would work!" Lance laughed.
Matt leaned down next to his sibling. "You got this. Be careful."
They hugged while Keith circled the base.
"Uh...everyone? How am I supposed to find an invisible ship?" Keith grunted, hoping any of them had an answer for him.
Lance opened his mouth, before promptly shutting it again, suddenly unsure.
"Oh…" Pidge said, "It's right next to the door marked 4,783 on the side with the Prumoria adapter."
Lance and Matt looked at Pidge with their mouths dropped open.
"What? Weren't either of you paying attention?" Pidge asked.
They stood motionless.
Pidge grumbled under their breath. "What would you all do without me?"
"Got it!" Keith steered Red toward the correct door. Avoiding a tail from more Galra.
"It's here Keith!" Pidge pointed out the exact spot.
"Alright Pidge, get prepared! Don't miss!" Lance said.
Pidge shot him a glare. Lance just smiled.
A look of concentration came over Pidge's face as they were sent back into the abyss of space.
They watched for a moment as Pidge floated towards the door, before promptly disappearing. Keith took it as a good sign, and allowed Red to turn quickly and shoot in a different direction away from oncoming Galra.
"Pidge, fly green towards the castle! Make sure you stay in front of Red since we can't see you!" Lance's voice sounded a bit nervous over the comms.
He and Matt both relaxed as soon as Pidge's voice spoke up once more. "I'm in. Headed toward Coran."
"Allura make a wall of ice behind red to prevent the galra from following!" Lance hoped it would be enough. He bit his lip. They only had a few more seconds left of this fight.
"Will do!"
"Alright Coran, we're gonna need that wormhole setup! Everyone fly toward the castle!" Lance yelled into the comms.
"It'll only be open for about five seconds! Everyone hurry!" Coran yelled back.
A collective, "Got it!" rang out over the comms.
One. The castle floated through the white portal.
Two. Allura turned back from the ice wall to shoot toward the wormhole.
Three. Hunk and Allura both zoomed through the light one after another.
Four. Lance hoped that Pidge had made it through.
Five.
"C'mon!" Lance and Keith yelled at the same time.
Red touched the light.
And all of a sudden they were through.
"Alright!" Hunk raised his arms to Lance in a double high-five. "I can't believe we did it!"
"You were awesome, buddy. When you blasted your cannon, like psshhhhh bshshhh." Lance made a motion in the air like a lightsaber.
"We did wonderfully. Hopefully this intel will tell us where Shiro is." Allura chimed in.
"Yeah!" Lance lost his smile, but only slightly. He hoped no one noticed. "I know that since we have three mega geniuses on this ship, you'll be able to crack it." He looped his arms over Pidge's and Matt's shoulders.
Coran twirled his mustache proudly. "Awe, no need to call me a mega genius, we all do our part."
"Yep, of course Coran." Lance winked at Hunk so that he knew Lance had been talking about him. He couldn't take the happiness away from Coran though, not after they'd all done so well.
"That plan was...kind of genius." Keith, for once, seemed happy.
"Kind of? It was awesome!" Lance glowered at Keith.
"Okay, it was awesome. But you did almost die from a hole in your suit."
"All part of the fun."
Pidge snorted, but didn't comment.
Lance's smile got brighter. Something about that smile made Keith's knees feel weak. They all stood around happily for a moment.
It felt only right that it should be Lance to break it. "So I guess next step is to find Shiro so that you all can form Voltron again."
Keith picked up on something wrong about Lance's smile.
Allura's smile faltered slightly, she had noticed too. "Well...actually...while I do agree that we need to track down Shiro, I don't agree that we will have to wait to find him to form Voltron again."
"What, do you think Keith can reestablish his bond with Black after that fight?" Lance asked, slightly hopefully.
"No, that's not what I mean." Allura looked at Keith, opened her eyes wider, signaling to him.
Keith looked at her questioningly. Then it hit him.
"Lance...I'm not going to reestablish that bond with Black," Keith said it carefully, "Red's definitely my lion. If anything, today proved that."
"So...what? Do you think Matt can lead or something...I know he's Shiro's right hand man, but do you really think Black will let him lead?" Lance looked uncomfortable.
Keith was studying him. Lance definitely wasn't stupid enough to think that Allura had been talking about Matt. It was obvious that something else was going through his head.
Allura frowned too, her thoughts along the same line. "Lance...you should be the black paladin." She said it quietly, unsure of how Lance would react. He was surprisingly quiet.
Keith spoke up first. "I agree, I think you were a really great leader today."
Hunk chimed in. "I've always thought you would make a great leader, Lance. That's why I wanted you as my pilot back at the Garrison."
Pidge snorted. Everyone looked at them. "Okay, look, Lance, even I agree with that. You've actually proven yourself." They quickly added. "Don't get used to it though." And stuck out their tongue.
"I can't disagree with Pidge." Matt shrugged his shoulders, smiling at his younger sibling.
"So it's decided then," Coran clapped his hands together, "Lance will be the leader!"
Lance was still quiet. The others stood around awkwardly waiting for him to speak.
He opened his mouth. "But...I already tried."
Allura tilted her head, confused by his reaction. "And you'll try again. I think Black will be more receptive towards you this time."
"Just…" Lance looked around at all his friends.
Six pairs of eyes stared back.
"Just...can you please give me a moment." Lance frowned, looking down at the table.
The others left, looking back at him with concern. Finally he heard the door close. Thinking he was alone he let out a sigh and stamped his foot on the ground. How was he supposed to get Black to listen to him? She hadn't even been slightly responsive the last time.
But now they all expected it to work. He'd try, and he'd let them down again. Wasn't it just easier if he wasn't a paladin at all? Wouldn't that just be easier for everyone?
"Lance?" A soft voice by the door startled him. Lance looked up to see that Keith hadn't left the room.
"Oh...uh…?" Lance wasn't sure what to say.
"What's going on?"
"I..just…" Lance paused, sighed, uncomfortable, afraid to admit to Keith his insecurities. "What if Black still doesn't think I'm deserving?"
"She will." It was a statement of fact for Keith, he knew that she would accept him this time.
"But...how can you say that? There's just so many people depending on me right now, and I just got lucky that the plan worked."
"That wasn't luck, Lance, that was leadership. There were so many times when things changed and the plan wasn't going to work and you found a way, you figured out some other solution. Do you honestly think that I or even Shiro could have figured out how to get out of that situation without forming Voltron? You didn't even need to, and that's because you're a natural leader."
"How can I be?" Lance looked down, squeezing his eyes shut as hard as he could to prevent tears from forming. "Shiro didn't even once consider me as his next in command. And the black lion chose you for that role, and I agreed with her choice. You should be the one trying again, not me. I've messed up so many times. I don't deserve this."
"Stop it! Stop criticizing yourself like this." Keith was letting his anger get the better of him. He closed the gap between them, wanting to shake Lance out of his self-doubt but then couldn't bring himself to touch him once he was closer. "Back then you weren't chosen by the black lion because none of us were ready for you to be the leader. None of us trusted you to lead or believed in you. You won our trust one by one. What I saw today was total confidence out of every single paladin. You did that. You made us trust you."
Lance was silent. Keith wasn't sure if his words were getting through, he needed Lance to listen.
"Lance, you've got this. We've all grown so much since this started, but you've grown the most. Just from a few months ago you're more clearer-headed and a better pilot. Besides…" Keith steeled his voice for a joke, hoping it would break Lance from his look of pain. "You don't flirt so much with the ladies anymore, so I know you won't accidentally get Voltron stolen like you did that one time…" Keith reached up and flicked Lance on the forehead.
"Hey!" Lance looked up, just like Keith had hoped he would. He didn't look so sad anymore.
Before Keith could lower his hand, Lance caught it in his own. Keith held his breath, unsure of why. Maybe he's just worried about you flicking him again.
Lance didn't move, didn't say anything. Keith couldn't hold his eye contact. It was too piercing for the intimate moment.
He continued, nervous, now that Lance was paying attention. Keith's voice came out quieter than he expected. "I've already accepted you as my leader, and I'm ready for you to accept me as your right hand man." He met Lance's eyes once more, this time ready for that piercing look. "Lance, we all trust you...so please trust us when we say this is your role."
Keith's hand was warm in Lance's.
There was something deeply comforting about the moment. Lance slowly sighed out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. His chest felt lighter. For a moment he wondered if Hunk had accidentally turned down the gravity. But he also felt calmer somehow.
"Okay, I'll try." Lance didn't stop gazing into Keith's eyes.
Keith smiled briefly, glad his words had worked. His gaze traveled downward from Lance's eyes, to just settle on his mouth.
They stood their for a moment, neither wanting to move and break their connection or change the mood.
Keith couldn't bring himself to step in closer. He hesitated in getting intimate with Lance, as scared of rejection as Lance had been just a few moments before. He knew too that taking Lance to speak to the black lion was more important than anything else at the moment. "Are you ready?"
Keith regretted saying it immediately as Lance dropped his hand and nodded. They walked out of the room in silence. Lance was in front, with Keith following him just behind.
The others were waiting on the outside of the door.
A/N: Ahhh! I'm floating. There's been so much good Voltron news and I just am so excited about Shiro and the new season coming out!
Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MA BOI! LANCE! An extra long chapter just for you!
And thank you so much to my readers for your amazing comments! I read all of them and I appreciate them more than you can imagine. It also reminds me that I need to get my butt working on this fanfiction.
Obviously this chapter is quite late. The funny thing is I have the absolute best excuse for not finishing it on time (a better excuse than any of my other late chapters), and yet it's such a crazy story no one would believe me even if I told it to you. Long story short though I went through a traumatic incident and since then haven't been able to focus very well. I'm trying really hard though, and I'm still planning on finishing this!
Working on this story did seem to help me a bit with my concentration, so hopefully it will continue to get better until I feel back to my old self. Plus finishing a chapter always makes me feel really good and accomplished.
I love all of you readers! You make my days brighter!
