The Space Between Us // Klance *UNDER REVISION*

Chapter 3: Lance

My thoughts were all over the place, like a thousand bouncing particles heating up a once cold room with kinetic energy. Pidge was solely credited for the analogy.

At the time, I was confused to where I was and what had happened. I had a hard time figuring out those details due to my splotchy vision and the several bits of white specs that surrounded me. It all seemed to contribute to my lack of understanding. I had this desire to fall back asleep, but I pushed myself to stay awake. I had spent way too much time in those pods for me to waste another day. The one thing my eyes could view clearly was Keith's intense gaze with the addition of his stupid, fluffy mullet.

Before my vision began to clear up and I could piece together all of what had happened during the quote on quote race, he had called Pidge and Allura over to the control panel that operated the pod's functions. My eyes grew heavy as I fluttered my lashes. A slight, sour smile grew on my face. I was terribly weak, yet my eyes never broke contact with Keith's. His compassion looked almost authentic.

I was forcibly brought into a medically induced sleep. Pidge made the decision as I still needed to rest to regain my strength completely. I had been physically and emotionally overwhelmed by the situation. Everyone else deemed it to be the wisest choice, and they were happy enough with the news that I was okay. The statistics promised I'd be healed in half the estimated time. That comforted my friends.

When I did wake up it was the morning after. I had the energy of a thousand suns and I felt so ready to take on a hundred Galra. Wait no. One hundred plus ten Galra: a thousand. I was never great with math.

I hadn't felt so refreshed since my last rendezvous with the healing pod. It was honestly quite nice. Everyone, that being Hunk and Pidge, made sure to tease me about how I always ended up in them. They consisted of either puns or straight up insults, but I was able to see the humor in them. I had to.

"You spend more time with that healing pod than you do a girl. That healing pod likes you more than any alien gal we've ran into?!" Hunk snorted. Pidge rolled her eyes, questioning to add a comment.

"Well I can't pick up any ladies without any beauty sleep, am I right? The healing pods do wonders for my skin. You are really miss out," I didn't let what Hunk had to say get to my head. I knew he was just playing around, but my confidence concerning my pick-up skills had been exponentially decreasing. Being a paladin of Voltron meant I was well known across the galaxy, yet I still couldn't strike a date with a hot alien girl. I was supposedly the fan favorite, but maybe that had been Shiro. The more I pondered about it, the more I realized I didn't even want to date some random babe from another planet. It just wouldn't work out. In between fighting Zarkon and defending the universe, there just wasn't much time for messing around. Settling down in a relationship would take a lot of commitment that I was just not ready for yet, Allura being a perfect example.

She was equally beautiful, intelligent, and generous. The total package! Sure she didn't always acknowledge how amazing I was, but she was more focused on our mission first and foremost. I considered that maybe I enjoyed the rush of the hunt more than being in a substantial relationship. It had always been fun to fight and flirt. I thought that my team was first for me. The sooner all of this was over, the sooner I could return home.

If I could recall correctly, us paladins of Voltron were interviewed not too long ago. We all had brief chapters filmed on us and they thought that mine should be about lover boy Lance's nonexistent love life. All of our chapters were edited by the managers of the coalition. It was an ingenious tactic to recruit new allies. Aliens from across the galaxy had an opportunity to identify with us. For whatever reason, none of us had the chance to view them. In the end we shrugged off the interview. They never seemed to come to mind anyway.

Regardless of my transitory thought process, something had changed with how I viewed women. Maybe changed wasn't the best word to use. Was it really about commitment? What did I have such a hard time reasoning with?

"Lance, you are awake?!" Keith bursted through the doors to where Hunk, Pidge, and I had gathered. He seemed eager for a response despite it being very clear that I was not asleep.

"Yeah," I raised a brow at his presence, "Why such an entrance?" It had been me to ask the leader of Voltron if I was worth anything to the team. Now, I noticed he was here for me after my little accident. My own idiocy got in the way of things. Such scant, subtle things.

He seemed to not know what to say as he fiddled with his hands, "Uh, are you feeling any better? It looked pretty bad out there."

"I'm fine, buddy," I looked back at Pidge and Hunk who were exchanging suggestive glances during the oddly awkward conversation. I internalized it as our rivalry tension fading away and it being replaced with something else. I didn't like what was happening.

"I am glad to hear," Keith looked down at the floor shyly, prepared to lead into his true reason as to why he inquired about me being awake or not. I stopped him from continuing with such a thing.

I quickly interrupted him while stuttering over my words, "Er, I have a few things I need to catch up on after sleeping for so long! I'll catch up with you guys later. I'll, uh, be in my room?" I apathetically excused myself from what could have unfolded.

Pidge and Hunk froze, their expression went blank at what they saw. As I left the room and all of its stiffness, I heard their muffled voices gossip at my action to leave so swiftly. I couldn't get Keith's face out of my head. He looked so thwarted.

I ran. Each nimble step I took made Keith's image all the more clear. The castle's halls emulated that of either an extensive maze or that of a labyrinth in a David Bowie movie. I knew that a Goblin King was not after me when I made it to my quarters. I collapsed on my bed, my legs shaking even as I laid defenseless. My heart raced and it spun in circles and I could not give all the credit to the short burst of exercise.

Inside, my gut felt twisted. There had been a deep pit that had been growing and growing. The pit finally grew into something that I could identify. It's presence was imposing. The pit belonged to a fruit tree and that fruit tree bared a delicacy most dreamed of finding. It was hard to achieve, hard to grow, and hard to take care of. My only issue was that I refused to accept that fact and yet it still thrived. I had growing feelings for Keith.

I had tried waiting them out, hoping that they would subside. I thought that maybe I was having these feelings out of a way to grieve the loss of not seeing my family. That I had sought out the attention of the one person who had remotely shown any interested in me. I didn't know what to think, I couldn't think, and when I could it would be of Keith Kogane. I was caught in a landslide. And even so, was crushing on Keith such a bad thing? Was it just temporary? A phase? It didn't feel like it and that was what scared me the most. I could rationalize that I hated my crush on him, but I didn't hate Keith; I could never truly detest him. I only hated that he wasn't mine.