Deserving

Chapter eighteen

"-And then of course Coran just had to start his own save file just to prove to Pidge that your Earth games are too easy," Lance rolled his eyes fondly, gesturing vaguely with his hands while Keith watched him. 

He'd stopped crying not too long ago, a bit before he'd headed into his room to change, but his eyes were still significantly red-rimmed. Lance thought he might have started again out of Lance's sight. 

Lance paused in his story, giving Keith a clear chance to chip in, to no result. His smile wavered for a second before he continued, "I thought it was fun," He shrugged, "I think we might need to find a more competitive game for Allura though."

Keith's plastic smile dropped, his entire posture seeming to sink at the mention of her, "You seem to be getting along better..."

Lance tensed, worrying over potential missteps, "Hopefully."

The other Paladin chewed his lips, not quite looking at him. He nodded curtly, pursing his mouth closed and speeding ahead of Lance, leaving the prince baffled for a moment behind him.

The sound of his footsteps echoed as Keith's words bounced in his head, not quite clicking into place. He sprung after him, falling into their faster pace, "Is something wrong?"

Keith shrugged stiffly, "Doesn't matter."

"Um," Lance analysed his profile, Keith's cheeks darkening under his gaze, "Okay." Keith barely even looked like he was listening, his eyes dim and unfocused. Lance wished he got more time to recover from the revelation, "What else should I fill you in on?" Lance said instead, "Oh!" He forced a grin, spinning and propping his face up between his hands, the movement so sharp Keith jumped to catch it, "Look! I'm being a good altean today!"

Keith seemed to take a moment to catch on, his eyes slowly dawning on the circlet, "Oh." He said quietly, a small smile brushing his lips, "You don't usually wear that."

"Nope!" Lance popped the 'p', grinning so widely Keith's lips seemed to twitch in response, or maybe that was just Lance's wishful thinking, "Gotta impress the allies, you know?"

A real, half-smile brightened Keith's face at that, "Yeah. Allies."

Lance bumped against his shoulder as they crossed onto the bridge, "It'll work out."

Allura and Shiro looked up as they entered, both slipping on relieved smiles at the sight of them - despite their different reasoning. 

"Lance, Keith," Allura sighed, still in her flight suit rather than her formal wear (Lance wondered if it was for its better versatility in a fight), "The Blade and the rest of the team should be arriving shortly." Her eyes flicked over Keith in concern for a moment, frowning at the way he flinched away from her gaze.

Shiro inched a bit closer, "How're we all feeling?" He asked the room although his eyes were glued to Keith.

Keith shrugged, mumbling a fine. The healing salve and painkillers Lance had given him seemed to be doing their job although Lance was still planning to check on the bandages later.

The older two frowned, worrying holes into Keith's face as he avoided them. 

Lance forcefully brightened, "Well, I'm feeling quite superb! What about you, Shiro?"

The human's eyes flickered distractedly between him and Keith, "I have a good feeling about this," He smiled lightly to which Allura's frown deepened, "This just feels right."

Allura visibly bit back an argument, settling for a short nod, "Hopefully your intuition proves correct."

The Bridge doors opened again, a small flicker of chatter from the second group dying down quickly. The blades gathered to one side of the room while the other Pidge and Hunk fitted themselves along Lance and Keith's sides. Coran patted Shiro's shoulder, taking a spot beside him as Allura stepped up onto her pedestal.