Part III: Lance

There wasn't a day that went by when Lance didn't count himself as the luckiest guy in the universe. Not only was he a paladin of Voltron, defender of said universe, he was also in love with the two most incredible people he'd ever met. Even better, they loved him back.

They hadn't had the easiest start.

Keith had barely payed attention to Lance during their time in the Garrison together, even after all of the effort Lance put into making himself the perfect rival to the (beautiful) boy. It'd been more embarrassing than he liked to admit when he reunited with him after his crush had been kicked out of the Garrison, only to find out Keith didn't remember who he was.

Then there had been Pidge, whose focus and drive had drawn him in even before he'd known she was a girl. He tried hard to make friends with her under the guise of bonding as a team, but none of it had worked. It wasn't until the truth came out and he learned about her family that he finally understood why she'd pushed him away. If he'd been in her shoes and his family had been taken, he'd probably have done the same.

Of course, then they'd been thrust into a war that had been going on for ten-thousand years and there was hardly time for Lance to try and voice how he felt about them. And how would he tell them, anyway? He couldn't just walk up to them and say: "Hey, I've liked you both for a long time, we should date."

Well, he could, but Keith would likely ignore him and Pidge would just think he was joking.

So Lance stayed quiet and kept his feelings bottled up deep inside.

It mostly worked. There was always something for him to do – something or someone to distract him from his thoughts and the ache he felt in his heart. If he stayed busy, he could distract himself from the fact that he was in close contact with them every single day. If he stayed busy, he wouldn't awkwardly blurt out that he had a crush on them.

Then Keith left the team to go work with the Blade of Marmora, and Lance felt like his world was crumbling around him.

Keith was abandoning them.

Abandoning him.

Lance found more to do.

He ignored the stab of heartache when Pidge ran off to find her brother, reminding himself that she'd be back. She wasn't leaving him.

She'd never looked more beautiful to him than when she returned to the Castle with Matt by her side. The happy smile on her face had his heart doing somersaults for days and he'd almost confessed to her right then and there. (He focused on Allura instead. It was easy to pretend his feelings for her were more than just platonic.)

It took time, and several near fatal missions where Lance was sure he was about to lose Keith forever, before Keith came back to the team, a little more broken and scarred than when he left.

Lance lasted three days before he caught Keith alone and out tumbled all of the feelings and thoughts he'd kept bottled up for two years. He didn't even realize he was crying until the other boy was standing right in front of him, gently wiping away the tears.

"I like you too," Keith admitted.

That only made Lance cry more, though he tried to hide it by throwing his arms around Keith and pulling him in for a tight hug. He had the thought that his day couldn't possibly get any better, which was when Keith pulled back, cupped his cheek with one hand, and then leaned up for a soft, brief kiss.

Telling Keith about his crush on Pidge had been easier than he thought. Much in the same way he'd blurted out everything before, it was when they were sitting alone, just enjoying each others company, that Lance found himself opening his big mouth.

"I have a crush on Pidge."

Keith pulled away, visibly startled. "You... what?"

Lance couldn't look at him, the guilt welling up in his throat. "I know. I know it's stupid. It's wrong. I shouldn't... I can't like both of you this much. It isn't right, but I do."

"So, what do you want to do?" Keith asked, brows furrowed in confusion. "We're dating, right? But you also want to date Pidge?"

"I... yes? I think so," Lance said, sounding miserable.

"Would I be dating her too? Would that... would that even work? We're all so different. What if it doesn't work out between all three of us? What if... what if you like her more and don't want to date me anymore? Or if it turns out that neither of us like her in that way?" Keith tried to vocalize his concerns to get a better grasp on the situation. "Do people even do this?"

"I don't know," Lance admitted. "There has to be someone else who's felt this way, right? I can't be the first." He finally lifted his head, daring to look at Keith's face. He was taken aback to see the same fire and determination in his eyes as when he was tackling a Voltron-related problem.

"I want to try," Keith decided.

"You want to try?" Lance repeated, feeling faint.

Keith nodded. "If you like Pidge that much, I don't want to be the one keeping you from trying. So... so I'll spend time with her. We've never had the chance to do that."

Lance may have spent the hour following that conversation showering Keith with affection and reassurances of how much he loved him.

About a month into Keith's plan of spending time with Pidge to better get to know her, Lance found himself in the kitchen with Hunk, helping his best friend test new recipes, when Keith walked in with a faraway expression on his face.

"Lance, I think I like Pidge."

Lance nearly dropped a bowl of something that had the consistency of jello, but smelled like boiled cabbage and was an alarmingly vivid pink color. He quickly set the bowl aside and rushed to Keith's side. "You really like her?"

"She was explaining how she first got the cloaking to work on Green, and then the version she built for Voltron, and just looked so..." Keith struggled to find the right word. "Cute. And once I started thinking about it, I couldn't stop. Why didn't I notice before? It's so easy to be around her. She doesn't expect me to carry a conversation or even understand everything she's talking about. And she doesn't talk down to me when I ask a question either. It's... She's amazing." Keith blinked, realizing Lance was standing right in front of him with the biggest grin on his face. He smiled back. "You're amazing too, Lance."

"So you want to try?" Lance asked eagerly, unable to keep his excitement at bay. "Not immediately, of course, but you want to? Soon?"

Keith chuckled. "Soon sounds perfect. We might want to actually ask Pidge if she's interested in dating us first, before we go too far."

"Well, duh." Lance couldn't help but lean forward for a quick kiss.

"Oh," Hunk spoke up from near the stove, where he was watching the two with wide eyes.

Both Keith and Lance went a little red at the realization that they had an audience.

"So, wait. You two are dating? And you didn't even tell me? Me, your best friend?" Hunk put his hands on his hips, trying to look disappointed. The effect was ruined by the giant smile he was sporting. "Congrats, man. I'm happy for you. And, Keith? I'd totally do the whole protective best friend threatens the boyfriend thing, but lets face it: you can kick my ass. So instead, if you hurt him, I'll get Shiro to kick your ass. Got it?"

Lance wondered if he should tell Hunk that the spatula and frilly yellow apron really didn't lend well to the whole intimidation routine he was attempting, except Keith seemed to take it seriously enough.

"Good," Hunk said, going back to his baking. After a minute or two, he frowned and turned to face them again. "Wait, what's all this stuff about Pidge?"

And that was how Lance found himself on the receiving end of a mildly terrifying promise that Hunk would make his life a living hell if either of them ever did something to purposefully hurt Pidge in any way.

"I know how this Castle works," Hunk reminded them.

Maybe the apron was a little more intimidating than he thought.

The bed was too big, too empty without them.

Lance never slept well when his boyfriend and girlfriend weren't there with him. Part of it was the worry; they weren't technically at war anymore, but that didn't make their missions any less important or dangerous. There were still Galra out there who insisted on continuing their fight, even with Zarkon gone and the Empire in ruin.

He worried about the others when they were away too, but the absence of Pidge and Keith was always so obvious when he got into bed without one or both of them right next to him. He knew it was the same for them. They'd talked more than once about how much they looked forward to the days when they wouldn't have to be apart for long stretches of time.

Lance curled up in the center of the bed, tucking the blankets around him. He fell into a fitful sleep.

Two hours went by and he jolted awake at the sound of the door swishing shut and angry, hushed voices.

"Wazgoinon?" Lance slurred, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "What happened?" He tried again, seeing them standing at the door, glaring at each other.

Pidge held herself stiffly, arms tense at her side, on the verge of snapping at someone if she was pushed too hard. Keith had his arms crossed over his chest and was staring down at her with a deadly serious expression. By the looks of things, he wasn't going to back down from his stance, even if it meant being on the receiving end of Pidge's temper, which had been getting shorter and shorter.

"Nothing happened," Pidge snapped, not talking her eyes off of Keith.

That wasn't a good sign. Lance could handle Keith doing stupidly risky things on mission, but Pidge? It was never something he'd get used to, even if he wanted to. (Which he did not. It was bad enough that Keith still tended towards reckless when he fought.)

"But something almost happened!" Keith shouted.

Lance was out of bed in a heartbeat. Keith would never raise a hand to hurt Pidge, or anyone he loved, even in anger, but him raising his voice had every one of Lance's protective instincts on edge. He slid between them, a physical barrier to keep things from escalating.

Keith backed down, his anger flickering to reveal something more like fear. "Katie, you need to ask Shiro to take you off of active duty. Yesterday proved that. Please."

"Take her off...? Why would Shiro take her off active duty?" Lance asked, trying to piece everything together through his exhaustion. Was Pidge hurt? Was she sick? That didn't make sense. The healing pods would fix her right up if that were the case. So then why? What was he missing?

He looked to Pidge for answers, only to find her staring at the floor, tears glinting in the corners of her eyes. "Pidge? Babe, what's wrong?" He missed Keith wince at the word choice and was therefore unprepared when Pidge began to sob, great big tears rolling down her cheeks and splattering against the floor.

Lance looked to Keith for help, on the verge of panic himself. He wasn't so sure one of his usual comforting hugs was going to help the situation, but Keith nudged his arm and nodded, so Lance did just that.

Pidge hiccuped into his shirt and wound her arms around him, squeezing tightly. After a few minutes of sniffling and even more tears, she tilted her head to look past Lance. "Keith..."

He took that as his cue to move in, circling around to join in on the hug. "I'm sorry, Pidge. I saw you go down and I... I panicked. But I'm serious about talking to Shiro. You shouldn't be out there in the field like that."

"I know," Pidge responded miserably. "I'm going to tell him tomorrow."

Keith breathed a sigh of relief and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you."

Lance was still lost. "So are either of you going to tell me what's going on, or am I going to have to start making crazy guesses?"

Pidge laughed as she unwound her arms from around him. Grabbing his right hand, she guided it down to rest against her flat belly. "Lance, I'm pregnant."

Lance's joyous shouting as he ran down the hall to tell Hunk the happy news woke the entire Castle.