Keith was pacing in front of the couches, too nervous to sit still. That was the only reason he wasn't sitting next to Hunk who had Lance's head resting on his thigh, waiting for him to wake up. (It had taken him a while to figure out that no, they weren't involved in the same way he was with Lance, they'd grown up together as brothers more than anything else) So now Hunk was one of the few he would completely trust when it came to Lance's wellbeing when his instincts were agitated. In some ways they reminded him of old reruns of Gilligan's Island, lanky Lance always running into trouble, then like Skipper Hunk would come running to help.

Coran said he was perfectly fine after an initial scan, despite the team's obvious concerns about the state he was found in. But the caretaker refused to explain until Lance woke up so he could hear it for himself. Shiro sat opposite the other two, arms crossed and that worried dad look on his face. Pidge was looking through the ships records trying to find anything similar on what happened today.

It seemed like hours before they heard a soft groan, all eyes shot over to the prone figure in his flight suit. They'd taken off his armor to make him a little more comfortable.

Lance's face scrunched uncomfortably, curling in on himself. Hunk lay a hand on his shoulder and the blue paladin tensed eyes shooting open. Everyone stilled, Shiro and Pidge staring in shock at the same icy glow that the others saw before.

Lance glanced around frantically until he found who was holding him, "..'Unk..?" He still sounded groggy, disoriented no doubt too.

"Hey buddy, its ok were back at the castle. No zappy wizards around." The teen laying against him slumped in relief, the glow in his eyes faded and Lance shifted to cuddle more into his friend who was happy to wrap him into a hug.

"I figured as much.." Coran sighs softly from by the door, walking over to join them Allura beside him.

"Are you finally going to tell us what happened?" Keith grumps taking a seat on Lances other side.

The ginger didn't say anything at first, gently taking Lance's chin and inspecting his eyes closely. They looked normal at first glance, but get close enough and you could see the pupils still slightly almond shaped. "Do you remember anything?"

Lance pulled away frowning in thought. "We.. we got hit pretty hard.. Felt like I was being tazed or something.. Turned around 'n saw Vader poof in. I..I just remember feeling cold.. but it didn't seem uncomfortable, just soothing, energetic even.."

Keith frowns softly, reaching over and twining one of Lance's hands with his own. He felt normal temperature now at least.

"I'd say so with that coat of ice over everything." Coran hums pulling up some pictures of the mess on a holo-screen. Lance blinks at it confused, his head tilting to the side. "Did Blue do that..?"

"No my boy. That was all you."

The room erupted in exclamation, questions being shot rapid fire until Allura called for quiet. "It's nothing to worry about just let us explain!"

Slowly the group settled, though still tense and fidgety. Lance was now curled into a ball, firmly sandwiching himself between Hunk and Keith. The physical contact just barely keeping him calm enough to listen still.

"Now stop that. It's nothing to be afraid of, it's just a sign that you've become closer to your lion."

Allura nods in agreement. "You see, while the lions need paladins to guide them, they will start helping you in turn. Though the results are a bit more.. instinctual than anything. Their power and essence will mingle with your own, allowing them to become more like the paladins species, and paladins to become somewhat catlike.."

"Normally its rather subtle, especially with new paladins. Usually more distinct traits only form in deeper more experienced bonds. The most you'll get is an instinct to stay together and protect each other like a natural pride would, perhaps small things like pacing around. However, there are instances it can be driven to extremes such as when Keith pounced on that drunk at the pub last week for getting too rough with Lance."

"I thought that was part of the half-Galra thing..?" Keith frowns, while Lance flushed at the memory. He vaguely remembers being held possessively captive by his boyfriend's arms in a corner booth for the rest of the night, waiting for Coran to finish whatever they came there for.

"It's a mix of both actually," Coran explains twirling his mustache, "Since your new found natural instincts are similar to your paladin induced ones they'll tend to mesh a lot and you'd be most likely to get effected often." He turns to Lance, "Though now that Blue boy has shattered through the initial barriers like he did, we might have the same from him."

"'s that why I can't move..?"

"Actually, I surmise that's more to do with the Druid that slipped onboard. Channeling a lion's element takes quite a bit of energy for even a spark, but it gets better with practice and stamina building. Managing to pull of such a powerful attack on your first attempt will probably knock you down for a few days at least."

The room fell silent, absorbing the new information. Some worries about the consequences of starting to act like a cat hovered around, pulling away what little humanity some of them had left. Lance wasn't sure what to think. On the one hand he had his own ice powers which was pretty cool, he could feel Blue even way up here now, warm with love and pride, certainly comforting. "So…. We're like, literally a pride now..?"

"Seems like it.." Shiro piped up. "But honestly, I don't think I mind about it too much." He smiles softly. "We act pretty much like family anyway, seems like a good enough reason to call it that." The teens around him slowly started to smile one by one, there was still uncertainty to be sure but if they were in it together it couldn't be that bad right?

The next day…

Oooook don't panic.. no reason to panic.. Keith jogged through the corridors, totally not in a frantic search for the one member on the ship who hasn't been seen by anyone for the last 3-5 hours… Just because he got a liiitle upset when Lance clung to him all night and through breakfast and kinda tried to keep him from going to the training deck for a bit wasn't any reason to worry about a lecture from Shiro and Hunk possibly cutting him off from anything other than space goo for the next month right?

Keith really tried to be patient in learning this boyfriend thing, he really did. But despite the new love of getting his ears scratched, Keith still had a limit to how long he could comfortably maintain physical contact. They were still working on that..

Lance was clingy, they all knew that. It was so much worse when he was sick. The poor Latino was still rather lethargic and sore from the ice blast, added to that he seemed to be drinking several glasses of water every few hours (Coran said that the magic had used a great deal of his own fluids to make up for his inexperience, hence dehydration) In short Keith had been a pillow for 16 hours straight and got restless, in that frustration he might have ended up out right snarling at the blue paladin for just a little time to himself. And tried veeery hard not to linger on the hurt look he got back, Lance actually curling into himself and lowering his head in submission while Keith stalked away..

Now though, Lance was missing.. Not in his own room, nor Keith's, Hunk and Pidge had been helping Coran with repairs all day and Shiro was with Allura sorting through the distress beacons, none had seen him since breakfast. The worst part though, Blue wasn't in her hanger.

They couldn't be gone though! Someone would HAVE to notice Blue taking off on her own for no reason, there were plenty of doors big enough for the lions to wander through, but no one knew where they all went.

Wait.. There! Finally! The faint sent of sea salt and Italian herbs! Keith had been in such a panic he hadn't realized his human form had faded, but he didn't care right now anyway, tearing full out towards it.

Oddly the smell of water grew stronger, Keith almost thought he could hear waves lapping about. Turning a corner, he came upon a very large chamber along with the water.

Blue freaking had her own personal swimming pool.

Said lion was happily purring in the shallower end while swishing the water into soft waves with her tail. Her head tilted up as Keith entered then returns her gaze back to the waters, where Keith finally found his missing boyfriend tucked between her paws and SLEEPING UNDER WATER OK TIME TO PANIC NOW!

Without thinking the desert nomad jumped right in, and quickly remembered how bad he was at swimming halfway down..

Panic, flailing, and an unconscious gulp of water registered before something pulled him to the surface sputtering and gasping at oxygen, his fur uncomfortably wet and heavy feeling. Only once back on solid land-er ship floor did he manage to look up and see Lance holding him with a concerned look, eyes aglow and nuzzling his shoulder worriedly.

He didn't even look out of breath! "W-what.. what the hell Lance! How are you-" Keith broke off in a cough clinging to his shirt. "I thought you drowned in there!"

"Eh hehe.. Yeah about that.." Keith could have sworn he saw Lances ear twitch, maybe he still had water in his eyes.. "Uh.. after you left I was still feeling out of it, Blue called me down and said she knew something that'd help and lead me here. I grew up on a beach dude, and seeing this giant pool was like a long deserved vacation day, I might have over did it and dozed off.."

"That doesn't explain how you're still breathing.."

"Weeeeell.. apparently one of the powers of being the Paladin of water includes developing gills.."

Keith blinks at him owlishly, "Gills…"

"Ok, your weirded out.. Understandable just forget what I said.. I'll just-" his rambling was stopped by Keith's clawed finger gently resting on his lips.

"Lance.. Shiro has a robot arm, Allura has elf ears, I literally grow a coat of purple fur on occasion which associates me with the tyrants of the universe.. You having gills isn't that big a deal."

Lance stilled for a moment, Blue still watching their interaction from her pool, and slowly relaxed smiling softly. "Alright then if you say so.. But actually." His head tilts slightly in curiosity, "Your fur looks kind of off today.." Lance blinks and shakes his thoughts away, "Probably just from taking a dip, come on let's go get dry huh?" Standing up and hauling the slightly shivering space cat with him, they set off back upstairs.