You're My Home

Chapter One

Clank!

The sound of swords clashing against one another filled the training room as Keith went full force at the new Gladiator Allura had made. The Paladin swung with everything he had in him, anger, pain, stress, and many other emotions that the teen could not place. 

The Gladiator came at Keith, slamming the boy down to the ground. Keith grunted at the force of the attack, rolling to a stop on the hard surface. He groaned in pain as he slowly lifted himself up. He looked up to find the robot towering over him in a menacing stance.

"Discontinue level 18!" someone shouted from behind Keith. The robot pulsed for a moment, quickly and swiftly powering down from its attack. The ebony haired teen looked over his shoulder to find Lance all his glory. 

The Cuban teen did not have his signature chartreuse jacket on him, but rather his blue shirt, which showed off his toned and muscled physique quite well. Keith's heartbeat immediately spiked. "Lance, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be getting your "beauty" rest?" he asked as he stood up, wiping the non existent dirt from his pants. The new Red Paladin strutted over to his leader, feeling concern bubble up in his chest. 

The ocean eyed teen crossed his arms over his broad chest. "For your information, I was helping Coran clean the Crypopods all day today," he said rather smugly, eyes closed. The Cuban teen slowly put his arms down to his sides. "But, seriously, the reason I'm here is because I wanted to see how you were doing." Keith was taken aback by the concern in his so called rival's eyes.

"I'm fine. Just training so we're ready for Lotor." Keith brought his eyes to his boots. "Plus, we still need to find Shiro," the shorter boy said, bringing his violet orbs up to Lance's. He was surprised to find a small smile adorning Lance's lips. The taller teen placed one of his hands on Keith's shoulders.

"Hey, man, we'll find him. Shiro would never go down without a fight. Everything will be all right and it'll go right back to normal. Well, maybe..." Lance trailed off, talking his hand away from Keith's shoulder, the Black Paladin missing the warmth of the much bigger hand. Keith found himself taking a long look at Lance's face. He thought he saw a flash of hurt and uncertainty flood through the Paladin's face, but as soon as it was there, it was gone. 

The tan skinned boy skipped away from Keith to the entrance to the training room. He turned back to look at the smaller boy. "You done training so we can eat? You look like you should eat something, mullet. You're really losing your touch," he said with a cute tilt of his head. Keith's eyes widened a bit at the motion.

"Y-yeah, I'll be right there. Give me a second to get my bearings, okay?" The new leader asked. Lance grinned sweetly. 

"Sure thing, hermoso," he said, winking as he turned down the hall. The violet eyed teen blinked numerous times before he finally subdued his weapon. He grabbed hold of his red jacket, making his way down to the entrance. 

What in the name of God did "hermoso" mean? He knew that Lance spoke Spanish sometimes to make him feel more at home and Keith knew not a word of the beautiful language. He knew that Pidge was of Italian descent and that Italian was similar to Spanish, so he had some hope on what the taller boy was actually saying. 

"Keith! Where've you been? We've missed you all day!" He heard Hunk call. Keith snapped out of his thoughts, realizing that he had made it to the dining room without knowing it. He looked around the room, seeing his friends at the table with plates of the lime colored goo that was somehow edible to them. 

Hunk was wearing an apron over his regular attire, ladling the goo into the Paladin's dishes along with other edible alien food that Hunk had managed to cook up. Pidge was in her usual spot at the table, talking with the mice excitedly about whatever machine she had managed to build. Keith also noticed that her short, uneven brown hair was beginning to grow out down to her shoulders. Allura, the new Blue Paladin and their princess, was smiling at all the commotion in the dining hall, wearing her dress other than her armor that they had seen for so long.

But Lance was the one who truly got his attention. The Cuban boy had been staring at Keith with some sort of emotion that the new leader wasn't familiar with. He was still only wearing the shirt, his jacket nowhere to be found at this point in time. He patted the seat next to him. "Come on, mullet. We want you to be part of this "mixed" family so we can eat," Lance told him, a smirk slowly coming on his face. 

Only one person was missing from this scene.

Shiro.

Sighing, Keith sat down next to Lance. He spooned whatever Hunk had made for dinner that night onto his dish. 

He felt a nudge on his shoulder. He glanced over to find his right hand man looking with a worried expression on his face. "You okay, Keith. You've been more quiet than usual."

The ebony haired teen nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about everything," he answered. Lance must have accepted that answer as passable because he turned to his food and didn't ask another question for the rest of dinner. 

The Paladins all left the dining room to go back to doing their own thing once again. Only Keith remained. It was dark in the room, the lights having been turned off. The mice had fallen asleep on Keith's arms, which were laid on the table. 

Keith sighed quietly.

He knew that, as the leader now, his friends would come to him about their troubles. Lance's problem almost gutted him. Was he always insecure or was it just that once they have Shiro back, he'll be left on the sidelines? Sure, Allura learned faster than Lance ever did with the Blue Lion, but Lance had formed an unbreakable bond with her. In fact, Lance was the Paladin that was closet to his lion than any other Paladin. 

He didn't want Lance to feel like he wasn't important, because he certainly was.

At least to Keith, he was important. 

The boy made everyone smile on a bad day. Clearly Red saw something in him to maker him her Paladin after Keith. She may have sensed the violet eyed teen's feelings for the Cuban boy.

After all, it was very hard to keep up this "rivalry" when Keith had a crush on his right hand man.

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The new Red Paladin was currently in his room, staring up at the ceiling on his back. He was too lost in thought to sleep. 

Keith had really looked like he couldn't keep up with the Gladiator. It sure seemed to look like Keith was getting his ass kicked. And Keith was awesome at sparring with anything, living or not. 

Lance's mood became sadder and sadder as the tics went by. 

He knew that Keith was the true Red Paladin. He and Red were too much alike in the sense of agility and temper. They belonged with each other. Shiro would come back and claim his rightful place as the Head of Voltron once again. The only thing that would be different, would be that Allura would fly Blue and Lance would have nothing. 

He wanted Blue back more than anything, but he adored Red just as much because she was just like Keith. But he couldn't compete with Allura even if he wanted to for Blue's affection. Let alone Keith's affection when all Lance did was antagonize him since this whole mess started.

Back at the Garrison, Keith had caught Lance's attention in more ways than his piloting skills. He was a very attractive boy, with big violet eyes, ebony colored hair, and that small body. He was definitely a sight for sore eyes and Lance had wanted nothing more than to make his existence known to the beautiful boy.

But he couldn't until he became a fighter pilot, because he wanted to be on the same level as Keith. Not anything lower, like the cargo pilot he was. 

So when he heard that Keith had gotten kicked out, Lance didn't know what to do, so he put on a mask to hide how he truly felt. Especially when Keith's failure meant that Lance would now be the fighter pilot. 

The Cuban teen closed his eyes, straining at the memories that flooded his every thought. 

He wasn't perfect for Keith yet, but he would be. He would help him out as his right hand. It was the least he could do now that he wanted Shiro back more than anything. 

He just had to make Keith happy and content. 

So that's the first chapter. Yes it takes place between season three of VLD. Let me know what you guys think.