Am I Beautiful? (Langst)

Am I Beautiful?

No one knew why Lance wore a mask; they just accepted the fact that he did. He had been wearing the mask since they first met him at the Garrison. It just became a part of him; if the officials at the Garrison had no problem with it, then why should they? Which brings us to the next point; when they said mask, they didn't mean an imaginary mask that concealed his real emotions or feelings; they meant a physical mask, snow white with only tiny blank eye holes and a straight line for a mouth. It wasn't like the team didn't give Lance the space he deserved, he probably experienced something if wearing a mask was his only option, but you have to admit that most people would be drowning in curiosity too.No matter what anyone did, they never were able to find Lance without his mask on, so they let him be. That is until they weren't able to avoid it anymore.

They knew that eventually, the mask would have to come off; whether it be by the boy's own will, a mistake during training, or a curious teammate pulling it off. What they didn't expect was a Galra's fist cracking through his helmet's visor and mask splitting it down the middle, while infiltrating a small Galran outpost. Before Keith and Hunk could catch a glimpse, Lance's hand shot up pressing both halves into his face, the other shooting the Galra in the gut effectively taking him down. Without further comment, he started making his way back to the lions, the sound of Pidge's voice confirming that they got all the available information downloaded to the Castle. The two other paladins glanced at each other for a second before quickly following Lance down the way they came.

"Guys, is everything okay? We heard something shatter," Shiro asked from the coms.

"We're good, a Galra got Lance in the face, his visor and mask are cracked," Keith replied after he realized that Lance wasn't going to answer.

"WHAT! Lance doesn't have a mask on!?" Pidge screeched in their ears. "Ohh, this is so good," she giggled. Keith and Hunk saw Lance's shoulders draw up towards his ears.

"I still have my mask Pidge," Lance muttered.

"Aww, I thought I was finally going to see your face," she replied, you could practically see the pout in her voice. Lance only laughed bitterly in response.

"Trust me, you really wouldn't want to," his shoulders slumped down weakly. The silence was thick as they boarded the lions and took off toward the Castle. The coms crackled to life and Shiro's voice drifted through Lance's ear.

"Lance... what did you mean when you said we wouldn't want to see your face?" Lance let out a sigh, pulling the mask shards away from his face after making sure his face camera was off.

"I.. because, I'm ugly," he mumbled. "My family put this mask over my face because they said that I was hideous, and I don't deserve to be seen," He raked a hand through his hair. "I've been wearing this mask since I was a little kid, I've never even looked in a mirror," he admitted.

"Your family is full of crap Lance!" Pidge yelled over the line. Lance flinched back from the voice and squeezed his eyes tightly. He nervously rung his hands together in front of him, when did they start shaking?

"I know," he said a tremor in his voice. "I'm scared you'll hate me though,"

A mix of disapproving sounds rung out from the coms as his teammates tried to reassure the blue paladin. Lance angrily swiped at his eyes, tears of stress leaking from the corners of his eyes.

"Do you really think so lowly of us?" Shiro's voice asked making the others go silent. Lance let out a gasp and his hand fell limply to the side as he tried to understand what or why Shiro asked that question.

"Of course not! I could never think lowly of you guys," he whimpered out. "It's me, it's always just been me," His lips trembled as he shut his mouth to try and stop the sobs that were beginning to crawl up his throat.