Superstar

Chapter 6

(Synopsis of the last chapter: Lance sees Allura with Lotor and is in a bad mood, so when he sees Keith going by looking furtive, he sneaks off after him. Keith has been secretly giving money to Shiro, and doesn't like talking about it. Lance gets him to open up after he talks about his sister (not Veronica) who went into the war and came back with survivor's guilt and PTSD. She was hurting herself, hence the chapter warning. Keith tells Lance that he needs to stay away from him, Pidge and Shiro because their worlds don't mesh)

Allura shot Lance a look as he yawned. "Did you have a good time staying up late?" she asked waspishly.

"Did you have a good time out with Lotor?" he shot back.

"I did, actually. We went up to the observatory-"

Lance made a noise of disgust.

"-and we visited his mother, who's an old family friend," Allura finished, shooting him a glare, "Is something wrong?"

"When are you going to stop lying to me, Allura? When are you just going to admit that you started something with my worst enemy?!"

"I haven't started anything! You get like this every time I do anything with Lotor! Just because youchase after everything in a skirt doesn't mean that other men and women can't have nice, platonic relationships!"

"No, I know that, but I also know that's not the case with you and Lotor!"

"I'm not lying to you, Lance! You're lying to yourself!" Allura let out a puff of breath and leaned against her desk. "Just... go act, alright? They're expecting you in ten."

Lance wandered down to the costume department and got into his uniform, which he used in all of the military scenes. He poked his head out and looked at the set. Nyma, now in her uniform instead of her skirt and crop-top, and Coran were waiting for him.

"Alright, Lance, remember, you've just found out that your hometown has been nuked. Your whole family is on the casualty list. You've never met Nyma before. She just runs into you. Or, really-"

"I run into her."

"Exactly." Coran moved off stage. "Action!"

Lance ran from the "military information" tent, forcing tears. Then he slammed into Nyma, and they both fell backward into the "mud" (because, of course, it had to be raining). Nyma yelped.

"Hey, look out! Watch where you're- hey- are you okay?"

Lance shook his head as if trying to clear it. "Um- fine." He "shoved back" his tears and offered Nyma a smile. "I- I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright." She started picking folders out of the mud. "These are water-proofed, so they should be alright."

Lance helped her pick up a couple of folders. "Hey, what're these?"

Nyma shrugged. "Forms. I need a mechanic for my plane; the bomb-bay doors aren't working right, and if they jam while I'm flying..." she made an explosion gesture with one hand. "Boom. No more Luna."

"Want me to take a look at them?"

"Why?"

"I did a bit of mechanic work back home. If it's just a jammed door, you might not need to fill out so much paperwork."

Nyma tilted her head to one side. "Why would you do that?"

Lance offered a quick smile. "Let's just say I want to occupy my mind with something. Plus, I feel kinda bad about knocking you over." He stood up and offered her a hand. "My name's Sol. I'm a sharpshooter. You?"

Nyma took the hand, hauling herself gracefully to her feet. "Luna. Pilot, but I'm guessing you already figured that one out."

Lance offered Nyma his arm. "Right, then, shall we go?"

She giggled and hooked her arm in his. "That we shall."

"Cut!" Coran waved his arms with a grin. "Alright! Excellent! Now, let's do that about fifty more times, shall we?"

xxx

Lance grinned at Nyma as she shook her blonde hair out of the bun it had been in for the shooting, replacing it with her headband and separating it into her ponytails. "Hey, great acting!"

She smiled, slightly distractedly, Lance thought. "It's my job. You're not too shabby yourself. See you tomorrow."

She flipped her blonde hair and strode out the door. Lance watched her disappear with a sigh of contentment.

"Not too shabby," he said happily.

Hunk rolled his eyes. "Pull yourself together, Lance. She's your costar, not your girlfriend."

"But she could be!"

They heard some shouting from the lights crew. "Hey, watch out!"

One of the massive spotlights was crashing from the ceiling. Hunk didn't hesitate. He knocked Lance out of the way, taking the brunt of the spotlight himself.

"Hunk!"

Lace crawled over to his friend, shifting the broken spotlight, which had knocked him over from slamming down on his shoulder. Hunk hissed in pain, cradling his left arm, Lance nearly threw up. Arms were... not supposed to bend that way.

Coran pushed over to them. "What happened?!"

"The light..."

One of the light crew was examining the light. "Someone messed with it. The whole thing came crashing down when we tried to move it."

Allura knelt next to Hunk, stabilizing his arm with a piece of wood and her own tie. "Can you walk?"

Hunk nodded shakily, and they made their way to Allura's car, Lance on one side and Allura on the other. Lance climbed in shotgun as Allura revved the engine, maneuvering through traffic to the hospital.

"So, sabotage?"

"It's looking like it," she replied grimly, "I don't know why."

"I bet it's Lotor."

Allura sighed. "Lance, please-"

"Well, what? It could be!"

"Lance, Lotor doesn't hate you. Your hatred of him is completely one-sided."

"Hm."

"And it's his movie too; if you get injured, either you'll have to be replaced-"

"See?! He wants my role!"

"-Or, more likely, knowing Coran, we'll have to wait for you to recover. Not to mention that there was no way of knowing that you would be under the light. It was likely just general sabotage to delay the movie."

"Why?"

Allura shrugged as they pulled into the hospital, ushering a pale Hunk into the building. Lance started filling out contact and insurance information with a sigh. Allura was explaining the situation to a nurse, who nodded along and told them to wait a few minutes, because their doctors were occupied right now.

Lance's foot tapped restlessly on the floor, waiting. The doctor took Hunk and Allura away, and Allura returned about a half-hour later.

"They're going to set his arm, and they'll have to re-locate his shoulder, too. It'll take a bit. Lance, I know you probably don't want to talk about this, but- well- Hunk isn't going to be able to carry out his job."

"Allura-"

"I know that we hired Hunk because you knew him and were comfortable with him, but Lance, I don't want you to be unprotected. We need to hire a new bodyguard. A professional."

"Allura, please," Lance pleaded, "You know I never wanted a bodyguard!"

"I know, but Lance, instances like these show why you need one."

Lance sighed. "I know, I know. Just- give me twenty-four hours to find someone who I want, okay?"

Allura grudgingly nodded. "Twenty-four hours. Starting now."