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Lance was sitting on the table, watching the paladins, coran and Lotor talk. Everyone was so engrossed in their own conversations even so that when he entered the room and said “hey guys” he was just dismissed. Only coran and Hunk acknowledged him for a second before returning to the conversation with Pidge. Deep down he understood that what all 6 of the people there were talking about was important, from improving the particle barrier to planning their next move, but the thing is, lance craved for attention. It was how he was born, and so after a few minutes of eating In silence he decided he wasn’t that hungry anymore. He stood up and headed towards his room. He was being dramatic, for sure. He could always pipe in and say what he was thinking, he usually did, but today he wasn’t feeling it. It was a combination of his homesickness, his insecurities and the stress that comes with being a paladin. He walked along the corridors of the castle, quiet except for the hum of the engines. The lights were dimmed and only lit up when they sensed lance’s presence. He was busy kicking the non-existent dust that he didn’t realized that Keith was coming his way until he raised his head and could see his serious expression that softened a little when he saw him. In his head, when he fantasized the moment when the whole team was together again, he imagined himself saying something like “hey man, I missed you” because it was the truth and he liked to think that before Keith ran off with the blade of marmora they had grown close. However, what came out instead was:“Oh great. The mullet man is here.”It wasn’t intentional, it was just his bitter feelings taking over him and telling him to take it out on Keith. He was sure that when he would look back on this moment, he’d feel like an asshole. On his part Keith’s expression soured completely. He had been sure lance had warmed up to him, but then again it had been awhile since he last talked to him. Since he entered the blade, actually. Still, he didn’t really understood why lance treated him like that, so he immediately put his walls up, bracing for a fight and asked him what was wrong.“What the fuck is your problem?”Okay so maybe he came off a little strong. Oh well, couldn’t take it back now. “What the fuck is your problem?!”Lance asked right back, not making any sense and getting up all in his personal space. “What are you even talking about? I was just walking when suddenly you decided to be a dick.”Unconsciously keith was afraid that they were regressing back to when they could barely work together, but he never backed down from a fight.“Well maybe I don’t like the way you walk! Maybe I don’t like your face! Maybe I’m tired of being second place!” For the most part of Lance’s outburst, Keith clenched his fist trying real hard not to punch the asshole in the face. But then he heard his last words, and his hostility diminished completely. “What are you talking about lance? You’re not second.”“Yes I am!” Lance yelled throwing his hand in the air, “Second to shiro, second to lotor and second to you. I was only a fighter pilot because you dropped out, then I’m only the red paladin because you have to lead voltron and then My bayard transforms into a fucking sword because you decided you were too good for the team.” He said viciously. “okay one: I never said That!.” Lance grumbled something too low for Keith to catch. He decided to ignore it. “ and two, why are you so upset about being able to change your bayard? That’s amazing!”He said trying not to let his temper flare. He just didn’t understand. They said they understood his decision to leave for the blade and Keith thought lance would be happy to have the special ability of changing his bayard, why was he complaining about it? Hell why did he thought he wasn’t good enough? As far as Keith was concerned none of the other paladins had been able to do it, so doesn’t that meant he was ahead of everyone else? “Apparently not to the ones it matters.” Lance said bitterly. Not looking in Keith’s direction. Keith sighed, he forgot how difficult lance could be when they fought. He was standing with his normal clothes just embracing himself. “I mean I thought I was making progress with Allura you know.” Lance continued after a while in silence. Keith frowned internally. He genuinely didn’t care about his girl problems “The other day she complimented me. But then it’s like it never even happened.” Keith bit his tongue, bitterly thinking about the time he cradled lance. He had half a mind to be petty and said something like “oh, like you forgot our bonding moment?” But he refrained. He was afraid that if he said something like that, lance would close up again and bottle his feelings like he usually does. “And pidge and hunk, their amazing together. They even have a team name I wasn’t aware of. I don’t have a team name with hunk and I’ve know him for years. And you know shiro is like, this god of piloting but... I don’t know... and you’re out there doing cool stuff with the blade. It’s like I don’t even matter.”Keith was good enough no to laugh bitterly at the “cool stuff with the blade” part but he couldn’t help the soft expression that took over his face“I told you not to think that.” He saw lance make a confused expression“You just said to not think about the lions” “Yeah, well, that’s what I meant”Lance still didn’t look convinced. After a long pause where Keith debated on what to say to change Lance’s mind, he finally murmured without thinking:“I remember you from the garrison”But he said it so low that lance only frowned“What?”“I said I remember you from the garrison.”He repeated and he knew lance had heard because he let out a pterodactyl screech, followed by broken and unfinished “what’s”. “You asshole!”He ended up saying. Keith rolled his eyes. “I mean, not at first. I was...”he sighed defitedly “I was to busy thinking about rescuing shiro.”“Wow. Thanks a lot buddy. I feel a lot better now. Not!”Lance said.“For once in your life shut up and listen.” Keith told him, becoming more frustrated by the minute “Yes, i didnt remember you at the moment. But once shiro was safe I realized I did know you. You were the number one cargo pilot.”Lance sputtered indignantly and was about to yell at him when Keith raised a finger.“What did I just say?” Lance crossed his arms. “Anyways at the beginning i would always look at you, you know? You were just so... friendly with everyone but you still managed to be at the top. For the longest time I... “ he debated over wether he should say this or not. “I was jealous of you. And I wanted to be like you.”He said knowing he would regret having said that, but when he saw the surprised look on Lance’s face he couldn’t bring himself to regret it at the moment“Oh.”Lance said turning his face away from Keith.“Yeah.” Keith said. “Everyone in fighter class usually talked good about you. But then I realized I didn’t belong so I just.. I blocked everyone else but shiro out, you know? focused entirely on my piloting skills. I figured at least I could be good at that. And you know? Once I got to know you I realized why. You’re incredibly good at talking and you don’t leave anyone out of a conversation.”“Everyone can do that.”Keith sighed at lance and his stubbornness. Or maybe it was Him. Maybe Keith’s words weren’t good enough. He wouldn’t be surprised. “No, Not everyone. You’re also always there when it counts.”“Well yeah, anyone would be for their friends. Being a good person doesn’t make me special Keith. Nor does it make me a vital member.”Keith was starting to get frustrated. “Yes it does!. Diplomacy is the one thing helping us gather allies. Your skills at talking and making friends with different races are helping the coalition!”“So is coran and allura’s and they’re much more skilled at that!”“Yeah but they probably had training! You probably didn’t!”“That doesn’t matter! Look let’s just... let’s just agree to disagree.”Lance said descalating their would-of-been argument. Keith grumbled grumpily, he then lit up.“Okay fine, but you’re smart.”Keith said causing lance to snort. “Very funny keith.”“No, it’s true. You always seem to know what to say to pidge so that she goes to sleep or to hunk to get him to stop worrying. And you even taught some things.”Keith said. Lance raised an eyebrow“Oh? I thaught something to the great Keith kogane?”He said smugly. “Remember that time when Allura was captured by Zarkon?”Lance frowned trying to remember. “Dude. That was ages ago.” Lance said.“Yeah and i didn’t want to go rescue her because I thought it was too risky, but you said if it meant we could save her it was worth a shot or something. At first I thought you were letting your emotions get the best of you. But then I realized you were right.” Keith said, his voice descending in volume with each word, until it was barely above a whisper. “ you were right. A person’s life is worth more that the mission. And that’s something not even the blade has been able to erase.”Once he finished, they fell into a comfortable silence as he waited patiently for lance to speak again. He was blushing, but Keith wasn’t looking at him to notice it.“That’s a given.”Keith threw his hands in the air“You’re impossible.”He said as lance slid into a sitting position on the hallway floor, his long legs a tripping hazard if it wasn’t just the two of them. Lance patted on the spot next to him, inviting Keith to sit with him. Even though lance refused to admit his worth, Keith took pride on the fact that lance looked more at ease than before, and at the fact that they managed to resolve an argument without getting fists or shiro involved.“So... What are you doing back here? Taking a break from the blade?”Lance asked, a hopeful note on his voice. Keith placed a hand on the back of his neck. “I... ah... I... I met my mom.”Lance immediately brightened. “Keith! Why didn’t you tell me this!”He said grabbing Keith by the shoulders and shaking him. “Because you..”“I don’t care what I said! You should’ve told me immediately! This are great news!”Lance said interrupting Keith, and then he noticed Keith didn’t seem nearly as excited as lance was. “That is great news right?”He asked letting Keith go. Keith seemed unsure.“It is. I just... i don’t know how to feel yet. She just left when I was a baby you know?”Lance nodded. “On one hand My mom and i are super close, so I want to tell you to forgive her but on the other... I know what it’s like to deal with a parent that wasn’t there for you.” Lance’s voice turned bitter and squinted at the empty hall, as if his father was standing right there. It was gone in flash. “So I guess in the end it’s up to wether the two of you want to fix things.”He finished, turning to look at Keith. He had this looks on his face with eyebrows furrowed, making it clear he was thinking hard about it. Lance noticed Keith had an extremely cute pout when he was thinking. Wait what? What? Keith wasn’t cute. He was this... he wasn’t cute, okay? And lance didn’t think so. It was just a.. a minor mistake on his part. Fuck. it wasn’t....Shit. Fuck. It wasn’t even his fault, okay? It was Keith’s silky mullet that... fuck. No. Look. Listen. Listen.“So what have you been up to mullet?”He said averting his eyes from Keith, in an attempt to calm his increasingly panicking thoughts. Keith shrugged for an answer. There was no way he liked this guy. He just thought he was attractive. That’s it. It’s a normal thing for friends to think their friends are hot, right? Right.“On our side we’ve done a lot, I mean my bayard turned into a sword. Pidge and Matt found their father and Zarkon died, he was killed by lotor. Allura and shiro trust him now, so there’s that” Lance blurted out missing the amused smile Keith had. “Yeah. I figured. I was there at the kral zera. Saw him with the black lion.”Lance looked at him surprised. “Wait, you were there?”Keith nodded“Yeah, we were kinda the reason why they started fighting among each other.” He said scratching his neck. Lance looked at him expectantly “we set some explosives. I couldn’t stop all of them so I kind of jumped to save lotor.”“Holy shit.” Lance said “are you okay? I know full well how bad those can be. Sometimes I can still feel it!”“Yeah it was more the landing that fucked me over- Wait. What did you just said?” Keith turned to look at lance, he had his eyes furrowed. “Lance. We’re going to the infirmary right now.” He stood up grabbing lance by the arm pulling him up as well. “But I’m fine!” Lance whined. Keith didn’t look convinced but he let go nonetheless.“Fine.”“Anyways” Lance said pulling an arm over Keith. “You know what we should totally do?”On one hand, Keith was glad lance was back to normal. On the other hand he was back to pestering him.... okay maybe it wasn’t that much of a problem. Maybe he craved the attention from lance. The platonical attention, obviously. Not the other attention. Because they were platonical friends. “No”Keith said flatly.“We should have our own team name.” Keith sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I mean come on it would make sense. Pidge and hunk have one because they’re the heads right? So we should have one because we are the pilots!” Lance said brightly“Get one with Allura or shiro. They’re pilots too.”Keith answered unimpressed removing Lance’s hand from his shoulder.“No. Nope. Nopity nope nope. It has to be with you.”Lance said not giving up. Keith snorted.“Why?”Keith said beginning to walk away.“Because, Keith. We have history. You know lance and Keith. Neck and...”Lance followed close behind“Neck?”Keith interrupted amused, however He didn’t look back as he said it, so he missed the fond look lance gave him. “Yes. I was thinking something like team klance.”Lance recovered immediately. Keith sputtered indignantly. “That’s just your name!”Keith complained“Uh, no it isn’t. It has a k in the front”“Team laith.”“What?”“It has to be team laith.”“No way!”As they engaged over that argument, A smile spread over Lance’s face. The feeling of loneliness he had at the beginning felt like a long time ago. Maybe he wasn’t the best, but maybe that didn’t mean he didn’t have a place in team Voltron.