Chapter 9 - Whole New Issues

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For once Lance fully accepted this feeling for what it was.

Jealousy.

HE wanted to be the one Keith smiled at with sparkling eyes. HE wanted to be the one drawing those moans out of him. His fingers tangled in the mullet he pretended to hate as he marked up the other boy's pale skin.

Lance let out a frustrated groan. He couldn't think about Keith like that. Keith was happy with Lotor and as much as it pained him to admit it, Lotor seemed like a decent guy. At least he made Keith happy which was more important. Lance failed him. Everyone in Voltron failed him, worst of all Shiro. He couldn't allow himself to be blinded by jealousy and selfishness when it came to Keith anymore.

**********



"You fight like a Galra!" Zarkon sneered.

"He is not a true Galra." Lotor snapped in Zarkon's direction. "But he is stronger than you!"

Keith gasped when Haggar appeared to rush forward to attack Lotor. Suddenly Haggar morphed into Shiro with glowing yellow eyes, he stepped over Lotor's bloody corpse and moved towards Keith with his blade arm.

"No!" Krolia screamed, Diving between them to protect Keith. With a single flick, she was thrown to the side like a ragdoll. Dead.

**********

It was late in the night cycle and everyone in the Castle had gone to bed when Keith and Kosmo walked into the med-bay to find Lance sitting in front of Allura's pod, hugging his knees. He looked miserable, very unlike the Lance he had known back when he was a paladin himself. Lance even seemed to have lost some weight, his carefully maintained face looking a bit gaunt. Keith had a feeling he knew why.

After the battle, Keith was debriefed on the situation with the Paladins. Allura had fought hard with Haggar using magic, she had been exhausted to the point of passing out and needed to be placed in a pod. Shiro didn't seem hurt except for a limp. Lance had a cut on his eyebrow and several magic burns he refused to get treated. Pidge and Hunk managed to get away with bruises which were quickly healed in the pod.

At the time, Keith had no idea what had happened with the Paladins since he was busy helping Lotor but according to Pidge, Lance blamed himself for Allura's injuries. It didn't help that Shiro had gone off on him at some point, yelling at him to 'do better'. Leaving another crack on Lance's already poor self-esteem.

"Hey," Keith began. Lance made a small noise in response, his eyes red.

"Pidge filled me in on what happened. There is nothing you could have done." He told Lance softly but the taller boy only cried harder, it was times like this when Keith wished he was better at comforting people because he was clueless on what to do, so instead of saying anything to make it worse, Keith pulled Lance into an awkward hug and the pair remained that way in silence for a while. "Shiro is just being an idiot, I'll talk to him about it."

"Come back p-please." Lance sobbed. "I am really sorry for the things I said before. I didn't mean it and I promise I'll do better." the more Lance pleaded, the harder he cried. Keith's heart hurt to see Lance so broken, held him close, rubbing circles on his back and ignoring the wetness forming on his shirt from Lance's tears and snort.

"Ok," Keith replied softly. He wasn't exactly sure why he agreed so instantaneously, but he desperately wanted to comfort Lance. He hated seeing the boy look so miserable. It didn't suit him. Keith held on long after Lance fell asleep on his shoulder. It was only when Hunk and Pidge arrived with blankets and pillows, did he finally let go and the four of them curled up together on the floor in front of Allura's pod for the rest of the night.

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