Not Just a Pretty Face (Genius Lance)

Chapter Two

"Blue Paladin!" Kolivan called looking to each side when he left the bridge. Lance looked behind him with a slight wince, but at noticing that it was Kolivan relaxed a bit.

"Sorry about all of that big guy," he said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

"We must talk Blue Paladin," he stated, walking towards the boy.

"Oh, um, okay," he started. "Is the lounge okay?" he asked.

"Wherever you are comfortable," Kolivan replied putting his hand on Lance's back. Lance nodded his head and started leading him to the room. They sat down on the couch and Lance looked down at the ground waiting for Kolivan to start. He expected the leader of the Blade to berate him for storming out of the room and nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt his hand settle on his upper arm. He turned to look at the galra, unlike usual, he had a soft open expression on his face.

"Please explain to me Blue Paladin, why does this upset you so much?" he asked calmly.

"You can call me Lance you know," Lance muttered moving his gaze to the other side of the room.

"Lance then; I'm afraid I don't understand much of what happened on the bridge, would you please explain to me? If you don't mind," Kolivan asked. Lance took a deep breath and nodded his head in understanding.

"Basically they were making fun of me, calling me stupid, saying that I didn't understand anything they were talking about," he said bitterly. He clenched his fists up on top of his knees glaring at the floor.

"But that isn't true," Kolivan finished for him. He nodded and closed his eyes against the rage that was building in him again. Just as quickly as it built, it fell and sadness grasped him instead.

"No it isn't, in fact, it's the exact opposite," he said looking into Kolivan's eyes. "Where I'm from, I'm considered a genius,"

"Is that so?" Kolivan drawled giving the young man a calm smile. Lance gave a small nod and looked forward.

"Yup," he said popping the p at the end. "In Varadero, I was top of the class and ready to join the military there just like the rest of my family, but then the Galaxy Garrison found out about me and my skills as a tactician and programmer. They offered me a full ride scholarship and me and my family citizenship if I accepted, I mean how could I even think about refusing? I mean I don't know how citizenship works in space, but I must have been somewhat important if they offered it to me,"
He couldn't stay still anymore and leaped off the couch to pace in front of Kolivan who sat quietly to listen to the upset paladin. His face scrunched up a bit in confusion when Lance mentioned citizenship, but decided not to ask questions yet.

"So that's what we did, I accepted the offer and started learning English which isn't fucking easy. But that's okay because we made it, and I had my family with me too which is something a lot of people can't say," he paused to take in a shaky breath and pushed his fingers into the bridge of his nose. He stood stiffly, letting himself take a few breaths before he continued.

"So the Garrison!" He cheered trying to perk himself up. "They offered to give me all of these things and in exchange, all I had to do was get a spaceship to Kerberos," Kolivan quirked his eyebrow at the statement. "I know, easy right," he said sarcastically.

"I thought the Green Paladin said that the mission that brought the Black Paladin here was the most advanced your planet has been with space exploration," he said. Lance puffed up his chest and gave a smug little smile at the statement.

"Of course it was, that was why I was so important," he started only to slump a moment after. "Well, I didn't do it alone, of course, so I guess I'm not that important; never mind, we're getting off topic," he shook his head as if trying to dislodge the distracting thought.