Accidental Intentions

24 • Weariness

Lance jumped when a large fist made contact with the blue door. "C'mon, buddy, you're gonna miss breakfast!"

"Go away, Hunk!" Lance yelled through his comforter. Was it morning already? He didn't get a wink of sleep.

"But it's the most important meal of the day! Everybody knows this!" Hunk insisted.

"I don't wanna!" Lance lamented. He wasn't ready for the day yet. He wasn't ready for a lot of things.

"When was the last time you've eaten? You need to eat!" the Yellow Paladin insisted, trying the handle. It fell off in his hand.

"Hey, your door is broken," he informed him, stepping in.

"Courtesy of Shiro," Lance's muffled voice came from a pile of blankets.

Hunk's eyes went wide,"What'd you do? Oh no, it's not Pidge is it? I know she doesn't care when you flirt with her to make Allura jealous but I told you to tone it down in front of Shiro. He's like her surrogate dad now."

Lance peaked his head out of his fortress, "Nah, the guy didn't even realize he broke it."

"Ah. That's even more terrifying," Hunk knelt down and began to ease the rest of the mechanism free from the door.

"I know," Lance agreed. "Can you fix it?"
The engineer shot him an offended look before turning back to the wreckage. "That depends."

"On what?" Lance asked. Though it had been fun locking Keith in his room, Lance admitted that it was a drag that he was never able to close his door fully. It was such a little thing, but he missed the privacy it provided.

"On whether or not you get your lazy rump out of bed, sleeping beauty!" Hunk offered.

Lance hid his face back in his blanket with a groan. No. Not yet.

"Actually, there's a lot of leftovers, what with Keith being confined to quarters on Allura's orders and all. What a waste! I don't know how that space slime is manufactured, but it goes bad fast!"

"What!?"

"Oh yeah. The green goo goes bad within an hour. But I think there is a way to keep it good longer. The only problem is, I need a pressure cooker and a greasy pizza box, and it's been a while since I came across either of those. If you happen across either one, snag it for me will you?"

"What? No! Who cares about goo? Keith is what?"

"Oh yeah, Allura thinks he's training too hard because he's avoiding something so she sent him to bed," Hunk explained.

"To bed!" Lance couldn't help it, it was funny. "Ha! He just got mom-ed! He probably doesn't even realize it! Oh I wish I could have been there to see his face!"

"I can hear you, asshole!" a voice pushed against the wall, cutting off Lance's laughter.

Immediately last night's happenings that had replayed in Lances head all night replayed again at the sound of Keith. The Red Paladin was just next door. And as much as he didn't want to face anyone, he needed to put as much distance between him and Keith as was possible on the ship. He shot out of bed and pulled on his shoes.

"So food time, you say?" Lance asked, voice shaking.

"Wait a tic," Hunk held up a hand blocking Lance's escape. "You know what's up with Keith, don't you?"

"What! Are you kidding me? No!" Lance declared as he shimmied past his friend. "Who knows what goes on in that mullet!"

This was bad. Lance had been most worried about Pidge finding out, but Hunk? Granted, out of everyone on board he had known the engineer the longest, but he often forgot how quickly Hunk picked up on vibes.

"Lance," Shiro greeted him as he passed in the hall.

"Oh, hey, Shiro," Lance mumbled.

"How are you this morning?" Shiro asked.

Oh, right.

Last night he acted like a jerk to both Shiro and Pidge.

Lance threw up his hand defensively. "Fine, fine. I think I just needed some sleep, you know some good ol' R and R," he lied. "It's been a lot lately — you know, with the concussion and all..."

He hoped he sounded convincing.

Shiro didn't look like he bought it, but pretended he did. Lance respected the senior officer for not pressuring him.

Lance rushed down into the dining hall. He was hungry after all. And after shoveling down the goo he needed to put in some time in the training room. He wanted to make an appearance there early so it wouldn't look odd when he left the instant Keith rejoined them.