Deserving

Chapter three

Coran pushed Lance into his seat beside Allura and Lance allowed him to bonelessly. His sister was sat at the head of the table with Lance and Coran on either side, each quite a few seats away from the other Paladins.

On top of being talked into sitting next to Allura, Coran had also forced Lance into proper altean clothing including a circlet. He couldn't be more annoyed. The clothes were more comfortable that his flight suit or armour. The shirt was loose and the trousers were slim fitted up to his waist but they weren't too tight either. The accessories were a bit much though. A swirling, blue brioche clasped a navy cloak around neck, leaving it to trail across his shoulders and hang off his body. On each of his hands heavy golden bracelets stuck to him like cuffs and, similarly, the circlet on his head weighed on him. The only accessory he actually liked was the small pendant drifting over his chest. It was light.

Coran had woken him this morning with far too much energy for Lance to even attempt to go back to sleep. 

The Prince didn't usually sleep in. He had gotten used to early starts from when his father introduced him to his royal training. He'd just been so tired from everything that had gone down the day before - forming Voltron was exhausting. 

Coran had to help him get dressed he'd been so sleepy. Afterwards, the Prince just trailed after him as he was already drifting off back to sleep. The advisor had already gathered everyone else to the dining room so Lance was the last to arrive. 

Allura didn't pay any attention to the half-asleep Paladin beside her. Coran was happily directing the conversation for the others. The Princess remained reserved while the humans seemed to be in varying states of awareness. Shiro and Pidge were both already wide awake - the latter already clicking away at a computer. Keith and Hunk looked about as awake as Lance felt.

Coran was setting out bowls of food goo in front of everyone next to a small spoon. Lance smiled sleepily at the advisor when he got to him but he didn't make any move to start eating. He still wasn't quite awake enough to want to move. 

Allura didn't have same problem. She delicately picked up her spoon and dug into the meal after thanking Coran. Lance followed her example clumsily, prompting the others to try theirs as well. 

They ate in near silence, the only noise being the scraping of spoons and chewing. If Lance had been any more awake he would have been rushing to fill the quiet. 

Gradually, the Prince woke up as he ate and started taking stock of his surroundings. There were two empty seats on either side of the table between Coran and the humans. The four of them were all on Coran's side of the table. Pidge was at the far end with Keith sat next to her. Shiro was the closest to Coran and Hunk filled the remaining space. They all seemed to have woken up by now but were making no effort to break the silence. Pidge was clacking away at her computer, barely paying attention to the meal while Hunk payed far too much attention to his food. Shiro appeared a little uncomfortable next to him as a witness to the scrutiny Hunk was putting his food under. Meanwhile, Keith was forcefully shovelling food goo into his mouth mechanically as he refused to look at him. 

Or at least, that seemed to be the look he was going for but Lance didn't miss the way Keith's eyes kept flicking to him. 

Lance grinned at him through closed lips, biting the inside of his lips to stop himself from laughing when Keith whipped his head around to avoid looking at him.

"Ahem," Allura cleared her throat, placing her spoon down onto the table beside her plate. Lance's smile dropped but he refrained from slouching into his chair grumpily, "While we watched your fight from the Castle, we couldn't help but notice your struggle to form Voltron," Lance leaned back in his chair as Pidge and Keith bristled, "To remedy that, I believe that today, whilst Coran and I work on the Castle's defences, the five of you will begin your Paladin training."