Chapter Text
“Did anyone manage to catch the crystal?!” Pidge’s voice booms through the comms of the Red lion, making Lance grin.
“I did!” The teen exclaims theatrically, “No need to thank me.”
“Wasn’t planning on it.” She retorts. Hearing Hunk snicker afterwards made Lance scoff, a comeback on the edge of his lips before a new voice entered the cockpit.
“Thank you Lance.” Shiro comments with a chuckle.
“See? He gets me.” The brunette pokes out his tongue as if the others could see him, and he oh so wishes they could so he could witness Pidge’s scrunched up face right now.
“Paladins! Mission success I see!” Coran exclaims.
“Yes,” Allura’s voice chimes in, “We are setting our course back to the castle. How much longer until the Blade get there?”
A distinct humming is heard through the line, Coran no doubt flicking through something on his control panel before he chokes, “About a varga…?” He trails off, obviously expecting Allura’s sudden booming voice.
“A VARGA?!”
Lance feels like he’s gonna choke on his own spit at the realization of seeing Keith in over an hour, anxiety crawling up the back of his throat.
“We have to get back before they do!” She adds. Lance can see Blue race past his windscreen, courtesy of the princesses sudden burst in panic. Which was valid, the Blade of Marmora was a big deal considering they were gonna help with the next big mission.
With the pull of Red’s thrusters, Lance makes his way through asteroids to catch up to the rest of the team - momentarily forgetting just how much faster Red was compared to Blue.
“Lance, look out!” Said teen shoots his head up, glancing to the side just in time to dodge a fast-flying asteroid with the sudden lurch of Red’s thrusters, momentarily making his stomach drop.
“Mierda…” He breathes, analyzing his surroundings a bit more intensely.
“Are you alright?” Hunk’s voice comes through with a small wave of static.
“Yeah…yeah I’m fine.” The teen mumbles, the high of his happiness slowly coming down. He gulps, plastering on his facade before indecent thoughts could ruin his mood. “It was just a small rock! Nothing I couldn’t handle.” He exclaims, he could feel Pidge rolling her eyes through the comm link.
Not that he knows whether it’s possible.
But he is almost positive as she mutters something under her breath, the possibility of more banter too juicy to pass up.
____________________________
Once landing back at the castle, Lance can’t help but feel exhaustion wash over him. He gives out a long sigh before sluggishly rising out of the cockpit. ‘Happy thoughts. Keith is coming back within the next varga.’ Stumbling out of his lion, he breathes in deeply. ‘I can do this.’
“So Paladins…” Allura announces adjusting her hair as Lance is the last to walk into the bridge, “They’ll be here within the next dobashes.”
“A hundred and twenty tics to be exact!” Coran bounces in, twirling his moustache.
“Yes Coran. Now we, as team Voltron, need to be exceptionally nice. They are our allies, we need to be kind and welcoming.” Lance feels her gaze linger on him for a few moments. “No pranks, threats, unnecessary squabbling, and definitely no fighting.”
Lance groans, “So you’re saying no fun?!”
“We can still have fun without annoying people, Lance.” Pidge chimes in with a smirk.
Am I really-
The cuban scoffs, pushing the intrusive thought away. “I don’t annoy people, my charm is just too unattainably smooth for you to handle!” To further his statement, he brings his thumb and index finger to his chin while adding a dashing grin for good measure.
Pidge cackles, “If you’re not annoying that means technology must be my biggest weakness.”
Lance splutters, looking to Hunk to back him up.
“Ooo good one Pidge!”
Ouch. Lance grimaces, letting out a breath. “I can’t believe you two! Especially you Hunk! I thought-”
“Look guys,” a sudden cool sensation on his shoulder makes Lance clamber up. “We are all entitled to our own opinions, but..” Shiro looks down at Lance. “It’s only been two seconds and the Princess said no squabbling.” Lance goes to retaliate until he sees the tiredness in Shiro’s eyes. He immediately shuts up.
“Thank you Shiro.” Allura smiles, “Since they will be our guests aboard the castle, we need to honour paladin code while being exceptional hosts.” She pauses for a second, bringing her hand forward, commanding a hologram to pop up as she continues. “So, here’s the plan for when the Blade arrives.”
Lance inwardly groans.
______________________________
The first to gracefully step out of the small ship is an obviously older Galra soldier, the missing top lip his most prominent feature. Long strides accompany his stoic expression and broad body. Lance fixes his slouching posture, wanting nothing more than to not look like the odd one out. The second to get out, from the co-pilot seat, is obviously the second-in-command. His tall intimidating stature makes up for his slight lack of build compared to what Lance assumes is his superior officer. What sets him aside is his cute small ears peering out the top of his head, contrasting with his cold exterior and, dare Lance say, very pretty face.
Allura smiles brightly, stepping forward to greet the commanders and crew that follow after, her armor not making any sound as she gracefully crosses the gap between the Paladins of Voltron and the Blade of Marmora. Allura’s decision to wear her battle armor instead of her royalty robes making an obvious good impression on the commander. Allura greets them in Galran, impressing the commander even more before reverting back to fluent English to continue her introductions and fairly light speech. Lance chuckles in his mind, remembering when both Coran and Allura were first learning English so the Lions wouldn’t tire in translating everything for the Paladins and vice versa. Shiro was appalled when he heard the princess swear, demanding to know who taught her such foul words, or so help him he’d force them to train until they drop. Lance rubs his thigh subconsciously in remembrance of his pain-engulfing cramp.
Stupid Keith and his stupid tell tale ways- Wait. Keith.
Lance glances over the small group of Galra soldiers, his find of Keith coming up empty as Allura nears the end of her speech.
Dangit where is that pri- When they make eye contact, Lance freezes. He hadn’t noticed Allura’s pause in speech and everyone staring at him in expectancy. Pidge nudges his shoulder.
“Introduce yourself, hotshot.” An evil smile ever-present on her innocent face. With a shaking hand, he brushes it through his hair as a cover up, a charming smile adorning his features, eyes still locked with breathtaking purple.
“My name is Lance, Paladin of the Red Lion - former Paladin of the Blue Lion.” Allura clasps her hands together making Lance jump and twist his head in her direction.
“I’m sure you’re all itching to get planning for the mission, but I’m sure being acquaintanced and helping unpack would be good to build strengths in us as a team beforehand.”
The galra crowd disperses to help unpack from the ship after a few brief words from the commander. Lance's breath hitches in his throat when he catches Keith making his way through to Shiro who goes to embrace him in one of his ‘fatherly’ hugs-
“Not here.” Keith mutters lightly, pushing Shiro’s arms away. Shiro sputters. Lances jaw drops.
“What do you mean ‘not here’?” Shiro questions, puzzled.
“Yeah, Keith!” Lance adds, waltzing up to the pair. “What do you mean? Or would you prefer one of ol’ Lancey-Lances hugs first.” Lance sings. He feels a plunge of cold on his shoulder and he goes stiff, imagining the grave-inducing glare Shiro is giving him right now. Keith sighs, pushing the cuban out of the way with ease.
“I don’t have time for this Lance.” Said teen's smile falters for a brief second, anxiety drowning him because does this mean their relationship has gone back to square one or is this just Keith being awkward- The pressure from Lance's shoulder disappears as Shiro follows the half-galra, no doubt to discuss something. Gosh, it’s always something with Keith-
“Are you going to stand their sulking all day or help unpack?” Lance looks down at the menacing gremlin. They lock eyes for a moment, Pidge with a questioning glance and Lance with a stoic stare. An urge hits Lance as he stares at her slightly frazzled hair. An urge so bad that he most likely won’t be able to walk for the next three days. Picking his arm up in one fluid motion, he ruffles her hair. In retaliation she swats his hand away, almost dropping the three boxes stacked atop each other. Lance just laughs at her.
“If you do that again so help me I will tell everyone your secrets and then-”
“Didn’t Allura say no threatening?”
“Didn’t she also say to uphold paladin code? Which also means to quit being an airhead.” The older teen gives an over-dramatic thinking pose for a second.
“Not that I remember..but she did say to pester the Green Paladin on site.”
Pidge scoffs. “Yeah, and she also said she returned her feelings for you.”
Lance feels the burn right in his heart as he splutters on his comeback. “Gotta go and help, ya know?” She cackles before taking off up the steps and out the door.
What a low blow-
“Excuse me.” More of a command than a question, Lance feels his own brain smash itself against his skull as he turns his body around hesitantly to find the more attractive commander stride up to him, arms folded, stoic expression. Anxiety swirls through him as he has to crane his neck up to make eye contact with the galra.
“There are a few more boxes loaded into the left wing of the ship, could you help me with them?”
Lance covers up his anxiety with one of his signature grins. “Of course.” The galra moves his head in a nod, walking in front of Lance and leading him to the left wing.
The brunette’s mind races as he can’t help but stare at the body in front of him, his back muscles defying every law of a shirt and protruding profusely, the chiseled angle of his waist, the way he-
They come to, what Lance thought while being ungodly distracted, an abrupt halt. He peers into the space craft, one box left laying there. He can’t help but feel confused as the galra steps to the side, feeling eyes glued to him as he shrugs.
Lance can’t help but notice the galra’s ginormous hand as he motions towards the box, as if words weren’t good enough for him. Irritation seeps underneath his skin, the thought of ‘upholding paladin code’ rearing back into his mind. Smashing his anxiety down, he decides to make a show of walking to collect the box - adding a slight sway to his hips as he did.
Because fuck it, Allura didn’t say anything about flirting, right?
He bends down, using his legs to heave the box into his arms before turning back around, a smug smirk tugging at the corner of his lip. His eyes make contact with piercing yellow. This wasn’t the first time aliens have created opportunities to get the red paladin alone, and he knew it wouldn’t be the last as he strolled past, giving a sly wink for good measure. The teen can feel the lingering gaze, a small shiver cascading down his spine which he ignores in favour of not dropping the box and looking like a dumbass.
A thought occurs as he makes his way through the hangars doors and into the hallway.
Where was I meant to take these boxes?
________________________
A group meeting had been called, of course, after Lance felt the sweet relief of sitting down for not even a second. The teen grumbles, standing up once again and leaving the comfortable confinement of his room.
“Hey buddy!” Hunk wraps his arm around Lances slim shoulders, causing him to slouch and whine. The older teen gives him a questioning glance, eyebrow raised.
“I had just finished fixing up seats for the bigger dining haul, and just as my butt hits my comfy, cozy bed, Allura calls a team meeting! I’m never gonna get that glorious half hour back because someone *cough* Shiro and Keith *cough* were too busy talking about their next moves to help with the stupid chairs!”
Hunk whistles innocently, glancing away from the frustration radiating off the cuban teen. It was Lances turn to raise an eyebrow before stopping mid-walk and glaring up at his soon-not-to-be-best-friend. “And what were you doing while I was working my butt off?”
“Who, me?”
“Yes, you.”
“Couldn’t be.”
“Fuck you.”
“Look it was an important matter!”
“From what I remember Hunk, having a robotics war with Pidge isn’t very high on the list of important matters.” Lance takes two salty steps forward before being pulled back into a warm embrace.
“If it makes you feel any better, I won. She owes me the videogame you guys purchased for a month.” Pride takes over, kicking the saltiness out of his system.
“Really?” That little gremlin had been hiding that system from them for almost three months now, because she was utterly terrified Lance would spill space goo on it again.
“Yes, really.”
“Paladins! Meeting on the bridge! Hunk and Lance you have thirty seconds!” Just as quickly the saltiness returns, a rumbling groan leaving his throat.
“I don’t know about you, but I’d rather get there before our generous thirty seconds is up rather than being subjected to training until we drop.” With that, Lance agrees,
“Race you there?” Hunk rolls his eyes lightly before smiling. “You’re on.”
Running onto the bridge wasn’t one of Lances best choices; having his team mates eyes on him wasn’t the cause for Lances heart jumping out of its chest. The Blade Of Marmora’s leading officer looks down at Lance in disapproval, trying to fight his slight amusement of the former Blue Paladin. The second in command catches Lances eye, looking the teen up and down with an emotionless expression; a slight glint in his eye. Keith’s glare is what causes Lance to gulp and walk backwards into Hunks chest, a wave of relief washing over Lance in realisation that Hunk is still behind him. Allura is quick to divert everyone's attention from the troubling duo with a clap of her hands and a booming voice to accompany it. “Now that everyone is finally here, we can carry on with our mission plans.” She brings up a hologram with the command of her finger, a blueprint of the galra base that Lance guesses will be the target for this mission. “Shiro, Keith and I talked. We believe sending half of the 4th division to the Galra base, and half to the surrounding ships. If we-”
Lance zones out, the wall behind Allura becoming a lot more interesting with its black mark to the left and how on earth did that get there- “Lance, is that okay with you?” Allura comes back into focus in his line of vision, feeling the questioning stares from everyone else.
“Ah, yes. Yes it is definitly fine with me.” The teen races out his response. Yeah, he loves attention but not when he looks like an idiot-
“While Lance and Shiro stay behind, we’ll have Keith stay close to the 4th division A for backup. He’ll pilot red still.”
Wait...what?
“So I’ll be piloting red for 4th division A and B? Wouldn’t it be better for me to not pilot a lion? We don’t even know if red will respond to me yet.”
“The only lion we can use is green for her cloaking. Red, Yellow and Blue are for backup. Hunk, you’ll be close with 4th division B for majority of the time, then at a certain point Keith goes with red from B to A to help infiltrate the ships. Because we infiltrate the base before the ships, it should be more of a surprise attack for the ships and base. Pidge, when you deliver division B into the base, get out as soon as you can so you can deliver division A to the ships. But if you need to fight, then fight. If you can’t get back, blue will need to take division A.” Allura gives a wide smile to Lance, in which he returns, panic settled behind his eyes.
I am...so confused.
“Commander Stenton and Yuzurak, any suggestions or anything you think we should change?” Lance feels a small pit of laughter bubble at the back of his throat at the names. He feels eyes land on him and turns his head to find the younger galra staring. The teen gulps, scared shitless that he heard his almost-laughter and he’s going to kill me-
“I think that’s a solid plan. Yuzurak,” The lead commander turns to the younger in questioning, “What do you think?”
Yuzurak gives Lance one final look over before turning to his superior, Lance feels a shiver roll down his spine. “This is a well thought out plan. Of course, coming from the Princess of Altea, I’m very impressed.” The superior gives a soft chuckle, punching Yuzuraks arm in a friendly manner.
“There’s no need to be so formal. We may be here to carry out a mission, but it doesn’t mean we can’t form a good bond with the Paladins.” He lightly scolds, giving a warm smile to Lance and Hunk before walking out. “You boys need to be on your best behaviour for this mission. No more tardiness.” Lance gulps, an apology ready on his lips. Stenton gives out another hearty chuckle, causing the teen to take a step back in surprise before the galra lowers his voice, “Although your little run was quite amusing.” He clamps Hunk on the shoulder. “Yuzurak, make sure divisions A and B are seated for dinner by 8’oclock sharp. Any later and they’re on dish duty.” With that final command, he walks out. Leaving everyone to stand in surprise, confusion written on everyone's faces. Keith’s the first to talk, rubbing his head slightly.
“Yeah, he’s a bit...different from the other commanders from other divisions of the Blade. He tries to seem stoic but it doesn’t last very long.”
Coran laughs in amusement. “I believe we’re gonna get on quite well!” Allura smiles in agreement, leaving the four remaining Paladins to stare at each other in disbelief. Shiro shakes his head before laughing lightly himself. The laughter catches on to Pidge, who passes it on to Hunk. Lance shares the same amusement, but can’t find it in himself to laugh along as he feels eyes on him. He decides to look to his right, to find Keith trying to hide his laughter and Yuzurak, stoic as always just...staring. Another shiver rolls down Lance's spine that he unfortunately can’t ignore. He can’t bring himself as to why, but he gives Yuzurak a charming smile. Lance feels confidence radiate from his body in waves as the galra’s eyes travel from his face downwards and back up again. He’s just another awkward galra. Lance reassures himself. Another galra who’s awkward with emotions.