Thoughts Are Louder In Silence

Chapter 3

Lance dodged a blow from one of the three gladiators, gritting his teeth as another hit him from behind, sending him flying across the room. He refused to give up, and heaved himself to his feet. He took aim and took several deep breaths, closing one eye as he aimed at the gladiators rushing at him.

He pulled the trigger, hitting the middle one in the head before quickly switching targets to the one to his left, hitting its neck area. The last made it to him and picked him up by his neck, aiming its sword. Lance struggled, unable to speak to end the training session.

Thankfully, he didn't have to.

"End training sequence!" Hunk watched as the gladiator fell still and released Lance, allowing him to the drop to the ground before disappearing. "Lance, what the heck are you doing?"

Lance looked over before picking himself up, sitting up straight and panting heavily. He obviously didn't answer, looking down at his lap to avoid eye contact.

Hunk sighed, walking over and shaking his head. "Look, I don't care if you train. But, now that you can't talk, I want you to tell me before you do. You could've gotten seriously hurt just now. Understand?"

Lance nodded his head, forcing himself to look up at Hunk. He noticed he was holding something behind his back, and pointed.

"What's behind my back? First of all, water." He handed him a water pouch, which Lance accepted gratefully. "Second of all... Look what Coran helped me get!" He held up the items.

Lance's jaw dropped open and he could feel himself tear up a little. God, he missed paper. Despite the Alteans being so advanced, they had absolutely no paper to be seen that they could find. He took the notepad and pencil from Hunk, quickly scribbling a sentence onto it.

For me to talk?

"Sure is." Hunk smiled kindly, not even moving when Lance barreled into him, hugging him tightly in gratitude. He hugged back, knowing how hard these past two weeks had been for the blue paladin.

Lance pulled out of the hug, wiping away a few tears and writing again, his handwriting actually very neat.

Thank you so much, Hunk.

"You're welcome, Lance. It's good to see you happy again." He smiled again, relieved that Lance liked the gift. "As celebration, you can pick what I try to imitate for dinner."

Lance beamed and scribbled out his answer in cursive, since it was faster.

Enchiladas.

"Ooo... A challenge, eh?" Hunk grinned. "Accepted. For now, got eat breakfast. You'll need the energy after training."

Sure thing, Hunk.

Lance removed his helmet and wiped his forehead, his hair slicked to it with sweat. He placed his Bayard on his hip for the time being and trudged to the hangar where they stored his armor, changing out of it and pulling his normal clothes on. He set his Bayard neatly in its place before slipping the notebook and pencil into his oversized pockets and leaving the room.

He subconsciously fidgeted with the pencil as he walked to the dining room, well aware that he reeked of sweat and B.O. He decided he'd shower after he ate, and maybe take a nap afterwards. He was starting to regret getting up so early, even earlier than Keith would to train.

He stomped into the dining room, announcing his presence as per usual. Keith rolled his eyes, Pidge ignored him, and Shiro seemed to be too deep in thought to acknowledge him. Coran was the only one to greet him.

"Good morning, number three! Did you sleep well?" Coran handed him a bowl of food goo, having anticipated his arrival.

Lance was about to no before thinking better of it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his notebook and pencil.

I did. Thanks for asking.

"No problem, lad." Coran smiled, seeing Lance use the notebook and pencil he helped obtain for him.

Thanks for the notebook.

Lance held out the notebook for Coran to see again.

"You're welcome, number three." Coran hummed and walked away, out of the room to likely go help Allura with something.

He sat down and started his bowl of food, starving after his training session. He noticed Pidge wrinkle her nose from beside her.

"Jesus, Lance. You reek." She exaggeratedly pinched her nose close.

Probably.

Lance shrugged, continuing to eat as Pidge quickly​read the word.

"Wait, a minute... You chose paper and a pencil over something like a tablet? What is wrong with you?" Pidge stared at him in betrayal, as she had offered to rig up a tablet for him to speak with, but he had declined her offer.

I like paper better.

Lance didn't elaborate, chewing as he thought about home. He missed his family, despite all the financial and personal problems they had.

"Honestly... How could you like paper better?" Pidge grumbled to herself under her breath, typing on her computer, the glow from the screen reflecting off her glasses.

Keith picked up the notebook and turned to the front, raising an eyebrow at its pink and purple floral patterned cover. "Nice."

Lance glared at him and snatched the notebook back, turning back to the page he'd been writing on.

Is there something wrong with pink and purple? Or flowers, for that matter?

"What? I'm not saying there is. It's just that flowers aren't very masculine."

Lance frowned, tapping his pencil against the table before writing at lightning speed and still managing to keep flawless handwriting.

And is there something wrong with not being masculine?

"First of all, fuck you and your quick and flawless handwriting. Second of all, that's not what I'm saying either." Keith was getting annoyed that Lance didn't understand what he was getting at.

"That's enough, you two. It's too early to be fighting." Shiro intervened, having looked over and seeing Lance writing out, in the most neat handwriting he could, 'fuck you'. He scribbled it out at Shiro's words.

He started it. He made fun of my notebook.

Lance held the notebook up for Shiro to see.

"Keith, don't make fun of his notebook. It's his only way of talking. Lance, stop provoking Keith."

Keith and Lance both glared at each other and crossed their arms in response, huffing and looking away.

"I wasn't making fun of his notebook." Keith muttered, looking back at Shiro.

Shiro sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Whatever you said, just don't say it again."

"Whatever. I'm gonna go train." Keith stomped away, irritated.

Lance stared after him and calmly went back to eating, ignoring the slightly criticizing​ look from Shiro, well aware of his bias.

Just another thing he'd have to face other than communicating with his friends and Keith.

He felt a pang deep within his heart and did his best to ignore it, clutching a hand tightly against it and opening his mouth to let out a small sigh, wanting oh so badly to speak his mind, to tell the others how he felt. Alas, he would simply have to hold it all in, not wanting the others to worry about him.

Not that they would, anyways.

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Words: 1,197

I'm gonna get to the Klance soon...

And the angst, of course ;)