Langst

We never knew

Hai hai, author here lmao (no shit)

I've been finding it really hard to update lately, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to update regularly anymore, but I promise you I will finish this eventually.

For now, ONTO THE CHAPTAAAAAA!

Keith POV

My eyes snapped open, and I attempted to walk forward, only I couldn't move them or stay standing. I fell forward, into a pair of arms, one robotic, one warm - Shiro.

A groan escaped from my lips and my hands moved to my head, a killer headache making itself aware.

"What happened?" I asked, voice cracking.

"I saw all of the broken battle bots lying around in the training room, and I assume what happened was you were hit in the head." Coran replies, fiddling with his mustache on the side.

I vaguely remember the bot kicking me into the wall - maybe that's where I sustained my injury.

"When we found you here, we saw you put Lance in the healing pod, before you passed out yourself from the concussion."

"What about La-" I was cut off by Coran.

"Lance, my boy, is still in the pod. I don't know how serious his injury was."

"Pretty bad actually." I said. " He was training pretty damn hard in the training room. I think he was on level 59-"

"WHAT THE QUIZNAK!?!?!" Coran exclaimed. "But that's very difficult, especially at this stage for you guys, who only just started to work together as paladins! Doing something like this is practically suicide."

"Well Lance actually seemed just fine with it actually." I spoke quietly. "It was my fault he got distracted. He turned to look at me before the level increased and he was tasered in the back." I decided to keep silent exactly about how much he has improved as a paladin. He can tell us when he's ready.

"Oh yeah Keith?" Shiro asked.

"Hmm?"

"Have you been training late at night? I keep hearing blasters in the training room at midnight when we're supposed to be resting." My theory was proved correct.

"No, it wasn't me. I actually think that was Lance - I thought it was you at first but then I realized that you prioritize rest as much as training."

The room fell silent.

We remained like this for a few minutes, before Lance's pod hissed open. He began to fall from the pod, but luckily, Shiro managed to move in front just in time to catch him.

He moaned as he placed one foot besides the other and pushed himself up into a standing position.

"Uh, hey guys." Lance spoke hoarsely. "I feel like I was tasered in the back by a gun. Oh wait I was."

Guilt spread throughout me, and I opened my mouth to apologize, just before Lance waved his hand in the air like a zipping motion.

"And no Keith, it wasn't your fault at all. I was the one who lost concentration at that point. It was my fault. I got too riled up." He sighed and put his head in his hands.

I walked up to him and rubbed his back in soothing circles as I'd seen Hunk do once.

"Lance, training harder won't necessarily get you back to your family faster, if that's what you're thinking." I spoke gently.

He opened his mouth, but then closed it shut.

"Lance, what matters right now is that we work together - we all help each other, we all have different strengths and weaknesses. Our job is to make sure that we cover each other's back and make sure that the universe is safe from Zarkon's hands." I spoke. He nodded gently, and so did Shiro and Coran.

And besides, by doing this, you're protecting your family. Have you ever thought of it like that?" I added after a slight pause.

Lance thought for a moment, before replying that he hadn't.

"That's made me see this in a new light, but still. - " Lance began to tear up "I miss them so much. I just don't know how they're coping without me."

He broke out into full sobs, and Shiro embraced him tightly. I wrapped my hands around him too, and so did Coran.

We all collapsed to the ground in a cuddle puddle, just as Hunk walked in too.

Like a loyal, wonderful friend, he instantly come to our sides and joined in, squeezing us hard, earning a groan from Shiro and a half wheeze half laugh from Lance. Coran and I both looked at Lance, and I could see that at least he was happy in this moment we have.

And then his eyes shut and legs collapsed.

"Lance!" We all shouted in unison.

Shiro held Lance in his arms as he checked the poor boy's pulse. He held his cheek and shook his face a little, chanting his name like a mantra, before he heard a loud snore.

We all laughed in relief. He was asleep.

As I stepped closer to his motionless body, I noticed huge eye bags under his eyes and his skin was quite pale.

Shiro lifted him up a little too fast, gasping out.

"He's so light - too light. Is he underweight?"

We all shrugged, except for Coran.

"He said he hasn't been feeling much of an appetite lately, and he's been skipping a few meals, but I didn't think he would train so hard without energy." Coran said.

"Well let's get him to bed, and we'll discuss this later, when he wakes up?" He spoke, more of a question than a statement.

We all nodded in reply.

Shiro's POV.

I stepped out of the control room and made my way across the the castle towards Lance's room, carrying him bridal style. I was going to have to tell Allura and Pidge what happened at some point. On the way, I passed the training room, and saw the destruction in there. Damn, it was messy. Really messy.

Robots were strewn everywhere like corpses, most of their top halves missing. Lance did this? He's advanced the farthest out of all of us. He really is unpredictable.

I passed all of our rooms and finally got to his room. Surprisingly, it was very neat and ordered, and on his wall was pinned a slightly bent picture of him and 4 siblings - him and his family.

It suddenly hit me how much he loved them, and how much they meant to him.

And also the fact that him staying here must be hurting him so much.

I set him down gently onto the bed and sat down myself, placing my head in my hands as I waited for him to wake up.