(I do not own Voltron)
This is going to be a one-shot most likely, I might add on to the series later on but that is not likely.
Enjoy!
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Lance was always different growing up, or should she say, Lana. Lana Mclain always was adventurous and played with the boys often instead of staying inside like the rest of the girls. Some boys had crushes on her because of her strength, while others resented her for it. The girls either envied her or disliked how popular she was with the boys. She could calmly state that not many people talked to her even with her outgoing personality and it always irked her.
Because of this, she became more of a tomboy, which soon escalated into a full-on boy. She never meant for it to go so far but when she went to the garrison wanting to be a pilot, they mistook her for a boy and thought that the female on her form was a typo. She didn't notice at first. But when they led her to the boys' side and handed her a schedule marked with a big 'M' for gender, she realized something was wrong. She wanted to correct them but then thought against it when she realized that she had a better chance of becoming a pilot due to being a man.
She thanked the gods that she was bisexual and could hit on attractive women with no one batting an eye. She had been going by Lance for a while so it wasn't hard to be called that constantly by others. The only hard part was when she started to show, in middle school, she wore a small binder as they were still not fully developed but now? The binder was starting to be hard on her breathing as she had the biggest one on and knew that even that was not enough. Truthfully she would be okay with acting like any normal girl if it meant she could just wear a damn bra and could let her hair down. No matter how tomboyish she was she still loved her hair and would just put on a wig and hide her hair under it. Sneaking out to take showers became the norm for her.
Soon months passed and she had finally made it into the fighter class and got a new teammate besides Hunk, her best friend, but something was different. In the first few days, she figured it out, Pidge, her new teammate was a girl like her but was also pretending. It was clear that Pidge had a different agenda so to Lana, it meant she was in there for something important. She would help but that was an invasion of privacy and she might have to reveal herself which she was not prepared for so she let Pidge continue to be whoever Pidge was.
When Shiro came from space she knew she had to investigate and her only excuse was Keith Kogane, her pretend rival, who she thought was an ass but she was not obsessed about it no matter what her peers were made to believe. When they got shot up into space by a random robotic cat, she was a bit concerned but was so confused and surprised by the purring in her head that that was pushed to the back of her mind.
When she learned she was one of the five paladins to pilot a robotic warrior made up of five robotic lions called Voltron, everything hit her like a train. She couldn't possibly keep her secret for long so what could she do? Tell Hunk that his best friend was actually a girl and that she had been lying to him for over a year? She didn't really get a chance to figure it all out before they were thrown into action and soon forgot about the whole thing and kept up her routines. No one really noticed with her loud personality being the center of attention so she was able to get through without any problems until she couldn't.
Really it wasn't her fault that a bomb was planted on the ship and that she saved Coran but happened to be blown up in the process. By the time she had time to truly sit down and think a curve ball was thrown into the group. Pidge had told everyone she was a girl, and all she could do was keep eating, not really surprised by the announcement while most were also not that surprised, Pidge did look at her funny. Which brings her back to the present.
Pidge just opened her mouth to speak and all Lana could do was listen as Pidge spoke. "Lance, did you know I was a girl? Knowing you, you would have made a big deal if you didn't know unless that Cro-pod actually make you unnatrually tired." Lana could only reply with one word as she was questioned head-on. "Both." Her voice was a bit sarcastic and she knew it but hoped that it wouldn't make them look at her even more.
"What do you mean both?" Pidge asked with a bit of a defensive tone, Lana winced internally. "I mean that I kinda knew you were a girl and yes, I am fatigued." She tried to say casually but she couldn't help the tiny crack of her voice as a sheepish smile overtook her face.
"How'd you know about it?!? I know I was careful about it!" Pidge screamed the look in Pidge's eyes betrayed how she felt and Lana felt so bad. "I-I knew because it isn't hard to notice when you're one of the same." Oh, she was doing this, she saw the confused faces and knew she would have to explain soon. "What do you mean?" Pidge became quiet with that question, her previous anger turned towards confusion. A small nervous chuckle escaped Lana's lips before she could stop it.
She grabbed a hook on the back of her head that connected the wig to her head and let her hair fall. Her hair fell past her shoulders stopping mid back. She mustered a small small as she spoke softly, not her usual loud, boisterous voice. "I am too, a girl." She continued a bit more frantically as she took in Hunk's betrayed face. "I didn't mean to hide it but when the garrison mistook me as a boy, I didn't correct them. There weren't many girl pilots, and even though it was a national institution they could still sexist and I wasn't going to hurt my chances. I'm so sorry I lied." She took a deep breath, her explanation being in one breath as she spoke fast, her nerves causing her fast speech.
Shiro was the first to come out of his stupor as he spoke quickly to answer Lana. "Lance calm down, we just need a minute to process." He sighed wearyly as he met her eyes again. "To clarify, you are a girl?" All Lana could do was nod and look to the ground looking ashamed. "Why would the Garrison think you were a boy, wouldn't your documents say you're a girl?" Shiro asked. Mostly confused with a hint of worry in his voice.
"I would assume so too, but they informed me that I had a typo on my application through email when I had already spent a week in the boy's dormitory, and at that point, it wouldn't have been useful to say anything." Lana shrugged, she couldn't find a good enough reason to explain herself to the garrison and she found she was having the same problem now as well. It was Keith who spoke up.
"So is Lance your actual name?" Everyone turned to him, looking at him like he was crazy, he took a step back. All Lana could do was laugh which caused heads to turn again only this time to her. "No, it was mostly a nickname some kids came up with." She shrugged and continued "My real name is Lana." She smiled at him, he looked confused which she couldn't blame him. She spent a couple of months saying they were rivals and now she is smiling at him? Yeah, he had the right to be confused.
Pidge sighed as she spoke up. 'So you were also a girl and I couldn't tell?" Pidge laughed "God, you could tell I was a girl through mannerisms and I sit here with my jaw on the floor about you." She looked up, her eyes looking glossy with unshed tears. "Why didn't I notice, you were so good at acting like a boy that I didn't think twice." Pidge's hands balled up into fists. "How bad of a teammate was why, I was willing to leave Voltron too and it took a damn bomb for me to realize that this is about the universe and not just me." Her gaze dropped to the ground as she drew a shaky breath. "I guess I am so sorry about my behavior in the Garrison towards you and Hunk but I am still sorry about not noticing you were hiding your gender. I should have noticed and I choose to dismiss anything weird about you towards your personality." Pidge wipes her cheek with her gaze still at the ground and her face mostly hidden but Lana could still tell she was crying as Pidge whispered "I am sorry, I hope you can forgive me."
That broke Lana as she heard Pidge's small voice and choked out a whisper "There's nothing I need to forgive, none of this was your fault." Lana ruffled Pidge's hair in a show of comfort with a small smile on her face. Pidge jumps in surprise and looks up quickly, tears welling up in her eyes again. "If you still feel guilty, maybe we can start over." Lana says extending her hand out with a soft smile placed on her lips. "I'm Lana" Pidge smiles and replies with a firm handshake. "I'm Pidge, nice to meet ya." Everyone around them relaxes as the tension slips from the room and Hunk speaks up.
"So there any more gender reveals left?" Everyone laughs, and the last bit of tension leaves everyone's shoulders at the joke, smiles all around.