Beta

Chapter 23

When Lance entered the communal space, Keith was sat on the couch. His leg was bouncing with nerves. His head had shot up once the door was opened.

He seemed shocked that the omega actually showed up.

"You wanted to see me?" Lance took a seat on the far side of the couch.

He was cautious of the alpha. Keith may have been showing a new side of himself but that didn't negate his past actions.

"Yes, yeah um..." Keith was still trying to get over the fact that Lance showed up.

Lance had been taking his meals in his room since the interaction with Shiro. After Pidge and Hunk had finished eating with the others, they would bring a bowl of food goo to the omega so he wouldn't have to see anyone he wasn't ready to.

Lance was still having a hard time controlling his instincts. He had learned more about his biology, and understands the reactions he has when they happen, however controlling these reactions are hard to stop from happening.

For instance, Keith and Shiro had merely walked past his room and Lance began to produce slick. Pidge had laughed at him again, resulting in a scolding. Lance had excused himself to run to the bathroom with pink cheeks.

Even sitting in the same room as Keith was making it hard for the omega to keep himself in check. All Lance wanted to do was crawl into his alpha's lap and breath him in.

Keith was suffering from similar thoughts but knew that this was about apologizing.

Keith finally found his voice, "I wanted to apologize for the way that I acted a couple of weeks ago. I was horrible to you and even worse to Pidge. I'm so sorry."

It was a short apology, but it was to the point and needed to be said.

"Is that all you want to say? You aren't going to say why?" Lance was more curious than accusatory.

Keith swallowed, "well, I thought about coming here and giving you a million and one excuses of why I was so awful, but I realized that the bottom line was that I did do it and that it was wrong. I want to tell you why without the information affecting the process it takes to heal our relationship."

Lance nodded for Keith to continue.

"I was trying to be someone I'm not. I thought that if I pretended to be a normal alpha and assert myself that it would be better in the long run. I postured and fought back because I thought that would be a normal thing for an alpha to do. But I'm not normal. I like to be cuddled and the smell of my mate to cover mine. I need assurance and know that I am being good rather than determining what is right myself. I'm submissive, and I thought that it was something I needed to hide, but Shiro said that I would get sick again if I kept going against it."

This pack was like a broken record. Keith, Pidge, and Lance have all tried their whole lives to be something they weren't only to end up making themselves sick.

Lance knew how stressful it was to try to be something a person wasn't.

"I think you should be whoever you feel you need to be. You seem happier and that's a very important piece to all of this." Lance moved closer on the couch to Keith.

Keith noticed, his heart rate rising, but ignored this in favor of making sure they moved at Lance's pace.

"I am. Happier I mean."

Lance smiled, "Good."

Happiness was the bottom line in all of this.

Keith spoke up, "Are you happy? I know that being a omega, or well being outed as an omega, wasn't your choice. Are you happy?"

Lance thought about this for a moment. Lance never really had anything against omegas, mostly just the fact that he was one himself. Putting himself down because of societal views felt right at the time.

Now, on the ship, with two pack mates and two soulmates who all seem to care for him, his views of himself were shifting.

The Alteans opened all of their eyes to the idea of how a society is run without dynamics. It was weird. However it also made the paladins realize how pointless it would be to hold something that an individual cannot control over a persons head.

Allura had shared the fact that women were treated as lesser than a man. A woman was meant to stay quiet, look pretty, and raise children.

"For some reason a primary sex characteristic being seen as inferior is ridiculous to you humans yet a secondary dictates your existences. You are all human, so why should an individuals second sex matter when skin color and male or female do not?"

It made sense.

For some reason the paladins didn't really think of the secondary sex as something that wasn't controlled. It is ridiculous, but that's what society taught them. Stepping outside of that mentality, they all realized how absurd it really was.

It was like shattering a glass ceiling for Lance. Hearing those words made him realize that he didn't choose his dynamic. This was just how he was. And changing that wasn't an option without being unhappy.

He felt better; his mind was quieter and his joints didn't hurt. It felt good to breath and eat and live without worrying about if he was doing something wrong. His pack mates were there to help him relax, and stop him from cleaning or cooking or training too hard.

He was happier.

Lance smiles with such a fondness for his new life. Keith smiled as well, even if he didn't really know what Lance was thinking about.

"So much happier."