After their long, tearful reunion, Lance was carried to a bed and checked over by Coran. Keith sat beside him and held his hand as the altean explained the damage in greater detail, and while everyone was still eager to see their friend, Lance requested some time alone.

Coran left and Keith kissed Lance's forehead before leaving as well. Once Lance was alone in the infirmary, he gripped his sheets and cried.

Coran had said they could do some rehabilitation, and treatment, to strengthen his bed leg, but that it would never be the same and he would never be able to walk without help.

Lance knew that this meant he couldn't be a paladin anymore. Not a proper one anyway. So, he lay in bed and he howled, through the pain of his injury and the loss that he'd suffered. And he didn't hate Keith, he could never hate him, but he was just a boy from Cuba, and now he was a soldier, broken from battle.

It was all too much, and it came crashing down on him at once. He didn't even recognise himself in a mirror anymore. He was no longer the scrawny kid with the idiot grin, he was lean but built with muscle, scars littering his skin and peeking from beneath the stubble on his jaw. His face held lines of worry and fear that he'd never had when they first left earth. And now his leg was irreparable and he couldn't even remember what it was like to be that laughing kid, flying the blue lion for the first time.

All that anger, the lost hope and the grief, all came at once and he couldn't hold it in. It was ripped from his throat as he screamed, gripping the sheets so hard his knuckled turned white, and the searing pain in his leg turned his morning into agony.

Keith could hear him, through the infirmary doors and sat with his head in his hands, knees curled to his chest. He wanted to help, but Lance needed to time to grieve, alone.

The rest of the team sat in the hall with him, all with matching looks of misery on their faces. It wasn't until Lance started throwing things that they intervened.

Hunk slapped a hand on Keith's arm as he raced past, letting Keith know he could handle this one. The yellow paladin sprinted into the infirmary, dodging the spray of glass from a broken cup as Lance threw whatever he could reach.

Keith slumped to the floor as he watched the scene play out, Shiro's hand on his shoulder. Hunk gathered Lance into his arms as he screamed, trying to calm his best friend as he was pummelled with clumsy fists. Lance fought in his hold, but relaxed minutely as Hunk whispered to him, reassurances and promises that he would get better, that he wasn't alone. Lance's hands clenched into fists in the material of Hunks shirt, gripping onto him for dear life as he begged him to make the pain stop.

"Please, Hunk, I can't do this. I'm not strong enough, it hurts so much, please. You have to fix me, I can't be like this."

Hunk held him still as Coran came with a sedative.

"Shh, it's okay, Lance. I got you. We're all here. Everything's okay, just relax."

Lance sobbed into his best friend's neck as the sedative took hold, turning his mind into a fog and making his desperate grip on Hunk loosen. The yellow paladin lay Lance gently back in bed as he wiped his own eyes, tucking him in as the last of Lance's sobs calmed. He watched his best friend's eyes glaze over, blinking heavily before finally falling shut. He was out, and Hunk cried.

Keith watched the team surround Lance, taking in the damage, and fully soaking in the gravity of the situation. It would be a long road of recovery ahead and there wasn't any way to mentally prepare for something like that.

Keith couldn't help but blame himself.

But of course, it wasn't his fault. Shiro patted his back, reminding him of the fact, as they waited for Lance to wake up again.

"It's going to be hard, but Lance doesn't blame you. He just needed to get his feelings out, it's a lot to process Keith. Now that Coran's giving him a steady dose of painkillers he should be calmer."

Lance would always be in pain from his injury; chronic pain, Coran called it. And with the injury so fresh, it would be intense, and so the blue paladin was given a heavy dose of pain killers, to keep him calm and comfortable.

Keith had been worried to see him awake again but Lance was quiet and took his boyfriends hand.

"I'm sorry for my tantrum. It's just a lot to take in all at once. I don't want to let the team down and- "

Shiro put a careful hand on the young boy's shoulder, looking down at him with that sincere, space dad look, that none of the other paladins could ever argue against.

"Hey, you could never let us down. You did something brave and saved everyone and now you need time to recover. That's okay, Lance. And we're all here for you. It's going to take time and patience and I know how hard it is to receive news like this."

Shiro glance down at his galra arm, remembering the way he'd reacted the first time he'd seen it. Lance looked up at their leader with huge eyes, and Shiro was glad he could be trusted to understand what Lance was going through.

"It's a mental thing as much as physical so it's okay to have a meltdown or two. Just let us help, that's all we want."

Lance nodded and Keith kissed his forehead, making Pidge smile from where she sat at the end of their bed.

"Yeah, you two have been complaining that you don't get to go on any proper dates and now that we have time, you can. We could go check out that planet we passed before the last mission, the one that Allura said was covered in flowers."

Lance gave a little laugh, slow blinking eyes shining through his fog of drugs.

"Pidge, you hate nature."

The little tech genius rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but you love flowers. And Hunk wanted to teach Allura to make daisy chains."

Lance hummed, agreeing and Keith brushed his hair from his eyes.

"That's a good idea, we could have a picnic huh babe?"

Lance blinked up at his boyfriend with a slow smile, his eyes full of a dopey kind of love.

"That sounds like a good idea. A proper date would be nice."

Keith smiled and leant closer to the blue paladin, rubbing their noses together as Lance let out a drunken giggle.

"Hmm, a date with my handsome boyfriend huh?"

Lance blushed and rubbed his nose back, while Shiro rolled his eyes at the two and Pidge made gagging noises.

"You think I'm handsome?"

"Always."

Once Coran had cleared the idea, they set off for the planet, taking the longer road to their destination, as Coran reminded them that Lance should not be moved around too much just yet. He was still weak and in a lot of pain, and they couldn't start physical therapy for a few days.

Once they did reach the planet, the team pulled Lance out on a hovering bed, so that he wouldn't have to move to see the beautiful planet, which was an endless stretch of fields and flowers, split only by rivers of gold water, and lush white tree's. It was beautiful and the air was sweet as honey.

Keith held Lance's hand as they relished in the warmth the three suns provided, happy that the suns were far away enough from the planet that the warmth was pleasant rather than over bearing.

Hunk and Allura were squealing in delight at the beautiful foliage around them, as Shiro wandered through the grass with Pidge on his shoulders so that she wouldn't have to touch any of the plants. Coran kept watch over his team mates and occasionally glanced down at the computer screen that tracked all of Lance's vitals, but everyone was happy.

Keith knew that this planet was beautiful, but what made his chest warm with happiness was the look on his boyfriend's face. Lance was bathed in light, his dazed eyes flitting over everything he could see, and he looked happier than he had in days.

"Do you like it?"

Lance sighed, content, as he brought Keith's hand to his mouth to kiss his knuckles.

"I love it."

Keith could keep watching Lance's face forever, those beautiful bright eyes full of wonder, and that small lazy smile as he watched his team mates roam through the endless field of flowers.

Coran came to stand beside the two as he plucked a flower from the ground and spun it between his fingers.

"You know, there are several planets like this one, and multiple races come here for their tethering ceremonies."

Keith watched the red petals spin. "Tethering ceremonies?"

"Like the weddings you have on earth, tethering ceremonies bind people together but this planet contains magic that bond the two with an almost physical tether. It's a beautiful ritual, I've been lucky enough to attend one or two."

Coran looked down at the picked flower in his hand and offered it to Lance, before smiling at them and going to join the others. Lance sniffed the flower and smiled at the way it smelled.

Keith's mind filled with plans and idea's and he wanted so badly to share them with the man that he loved most in the universe but he knew he had to wait. So instead he touched a panel on Lance's bed and lowered it to the ground so that Lance could run his fingers over the flowers, and Keith could sit beside him.

Lance let out a soft laugh as he watched Hunk place a flower crown on Shiro's proud head, while Pidge attempted to splash Allura in the golden river. Keith watched him closely, eyeing those soft hands as they ran absentmindedly over his left thigh. Lance had told him he couldn't feel anything properly throughout the whole limb, as if touch was just a thought and not something he could feel there, though the pain never eased.

"What are you thinking about?"

The blue paladin blinked his slow eyes and seemed happy, though his expression was giving away the sadness that lay underneath.

"Just that it was worth it. If I hadn't blown up that tunnel, none of us would be here, and if you hadn't made the choice you did, I wouldn't be here. Leaving earth, missing my family… it's been hard and healing after that tunnel collapse will be harder. But I love this weird space family we have, with our alien mom, Allura, and Shiro as our space dad."

Keith laughed quietly and leant over, resting his head on Lance's shoulder. "Coran our alien uncle."

Lance nodded. "Yeah and Hunk and Pidge as our siblings. I can't wait to go home, but I wouldn't change a thing. What we're doing is important, I know that, and for some reason we were chosen to defend the universe. I'm just really glad it's with these guys."

"Me too."