Change (voltron)

Chapter 3

(Dinner)

When Allura arrives at the table, everyone is there. Waiting for her to them what's going on.

The moment she sits down, she's overloaded with questions from Hunk and Pidge.

"Is Lance ok?"

"What happened to him?"

"Do you know why he's acting so weird?"

"Of all the people why did he choose you?"

Shiro, of course, was the one to quiet them down. "Hunk, Pidge, I don't think she'll be able to answer any of your questions if the two of her are over loading her with them."

Allura sent him a smile.

"But Princess, just... is he ok?"

Allura nodded as she spoke. "I promise that she's completely fine."

Im return, she got confused looks. "Uhh, 'she'? Are we talkingabout the same person?" Pidge asked.

"Uh sorry? I-uh meant Lance. Yes. Lance is completely fine." She had been talking to them for 2 minutes and almost blew it.

********

Dinner finally finished and all the paladins and Alteans headed to their sleeping quarters for the night. All but one.

Keith

The red paladin was heading straight towards Lance's room. He knew that there was no way in hell Lance would open the door but he just wanted to talk to him.

When he reached it, he sat himself on the ground. Back on the door.

"Lance?" He called. "I get it, you don't want me to see you but, can we at least talk?"

No answer

"Lance..." he whispered. "Please."  about a minute later, he heard footsteps comming from inside the room. And then they stopped as Lance let out a sigh of relief. Keith figured that Lance was sitting the same way he was.

"Keith?" He managed to croak out. "Yeah Lance. It's me. Don't worry." He did his best to reassure his so-called-rival.

"Lance, I don't wanna pry but, are you ok?" He asked, holding his breath.

An akward silence settled like it had earlier that day. About 2 minutes later, Keith finally got his response. "To be honest, I don't think so."

"Lance..." Keith started. Ugh, he didn't exactly know what to say. He had never really been one to comfort people. "Lance, I don't know ehat you're going through but I know you can get through it. You're strong Lance."

On the other sode of the door,  Lance looked down at herself as tears started welling up in her eyes. "W-what makes you so sure?" She stuttered in a whisper.

"Just trust me on this one Lance." Keith replied. Another silence settled but this one wasn't akward like the one before. Finally, Keith got the courage to speak again. "Could you tell me what your family was like?"

Lance felt a smile spread across her face as she started to talk. She couldn't help herself. She felt comfort in her family. One she didn't feel with anyone else.

The stories of siblings and cousins went on for almost two hours before Lance drifted off to sleep. Which left Keith just sitting there alone. To hear Lance talking happily meant everything to him.

As much as he would've prefered to sleep in a bed, he didn't want to abandon this moment so he stayed at the door untill he, like Lance, drifted off to sleep.

********
Keith woke up to Shiro shaking his shoulder and saying his name, clearly urging him to wake up. Slowly, the red paladin blinked his eyes open. "Sh-shiro?" He asked before his eyes adjusted to the light. 

"Yeah Keith it's me. Why did you sleep right next to Lance's door?" He asked rhetorically. Before Keith could answer, Shiro continued.  "We all miss him but lecturing him about it is no way to get him to open the door."

Keith wasn't in the mood to fight right now. So he just nodded. But then, Shiro said something that changed those feelings.

"Keith, I don't want you around Lance anymore. I can't let you come back here again. Well, unless the whole team's here, but other than that, you are banned from both Lance's room and anywhere close to it."

Keith blinked a few times before he processed the information. "Is this just some kind of sick joke?"

"Keith, I'm serious. If you come back,  we're going to have to-"

"We're going to have to what?"

"Keith, just stay away. Is that clear?"

Keith was absolutely furious. Why was Shiro doing this? "Why? Why do I have to stay away from him?"

"Because you two hate eachother! Everyone knows it. Putting Lance in a situation with his biggest enemy!?! I can tell you this, Lance isn't going to get any better with you around. If anything, he's going to get worse."

Ouch

Those words stung. I was his 'biggest enemy'? No, that had to be Zarkon or something.

"Please Shiro. Lance means as much to me as he does to the rest of the team." He begged. Shiro just didn't understand. He didn't hate Lance. He just... he just wanted to help.

Shiro's expression didn't change at all. "Stop pretending you care, Keith. We all know you don't so stay away. I'll talk to Allura about setting up some security to keep you out of this area."

Keith glared at his leader. He knew that he couldn't say anything to change Shiros mind so he just stood up and ran to his room.

This left Shiro alone, right next to Lance's door. "This is for your own good Lance," he said clearly. "The team needs you and we can't have Keith interfering with anything."

Silence

Shiro raised his eyebrow and waited a little longer before he ran off to find Allura.