Lance, Please

Lance in the Bathroom

The castle was getting crowded, and Lance was trying hard not to panic. See, one again, they had finished saving a planet. And, once again, for the sake of diplomacy, Allura had invited the natives to celebrate in the castleship. Lance had originally been sticking close to Hunk, but a group of partygoers had swarmed them, so now he couldn't find anyone.

Breathing slightly heavier, Lance started towards the nearest hallway, ignoring everything around him. As soon as he broke out of the crowd, he bolted, sprinting to the nearest door, which just so happened to be an unoccupied bathroom.

Sliding inside, Lance slammed the door behind himself, sliding down the wall limply. Slowing his panicked breathing slightly, he looks up to assess his surroundings. Noticing where he was, he let out a choked snort. 'How ironic. Singing does help me feel better though…’ Contemplating for a minute, he lets out a shuddering sigh.

“I am hanging in the bathroom at the biggest party of the fall.” Lance sang softly, and startled slightly as Pidge's Musical Machine™ (I really need a better name for this) started up. Shaking his head lightly, he carried on, voice getting slightly stronger. “I could stay right here or disappear, and nobody'd even notice at all.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hunk, where's Lance?”

“He's right behind me-” Hunk cut off as he turned around, going a full 360 before looking at Shiro again. “Oh no.” He stated, nervously scanning the room. “Oooooh no.”

“What's wrong?” Keith asked, dragging a grumpy Pidge behind him. Pidge was strangely not complaining, instead choosing to angrily jab at their tablet.

“Hunk lost Lance.” Shiro explained, watching Hunk shift anxiously. “We don't know where he is.”

Still scanning the room, Hunk was quick to voice his concern, growing slightly louder as he rambled. “He’s really good at hiding it, but Lance has really bad social and separation anxiety and it only gets worse during things like this. He's probably thinking I ditched him or something and he's gonna have a breakdown and it's gonna be bad and oH GOD THIS IS GONNA BE WORSE THAN THAT TIME IN-”

“Easy Hunk!” Pidge squeaked, scaling Hunk and clapping their hand over his mouth. “ Calm down. We don't need you panicking too. Besides, I got a message saying someone has music playing. Seeing as it is EXTREMELY unlikely that these guys know Earth music, I think it's safe to say that Lance is calming down in another room. He'll be fine.” Felling Hunk nod, they slowly removed their hand from his mouth.

“Besides,” Shiro stated calmly, “we can't have all of us running around looking for him. We have to make a good impression on the locals. Trust me, I hate to leave him alone like this, but we can't afford losing potential allies. Searching for Lance will have to wait till the party's over.”

Reluctantly agreeing, the group dispersed once more, slipping into the crowd like nothing ever happened. Shiro leaving to inform Allura and Coran of what was going on, and missing the look thank passed over Keith's face as he left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I'm a creeper in the bathroom, 'cause my buddy kinda left me alone. But I'd rather fake pee than stand awkwardly and pretend to check a text on my phone.” By now Lance had relaxed a bit more, but was still slouched against the door, tracing his knee with a finger.

“Everything felt fine when I was half of a pair.” He sighed, hugging himself tighty and wishing Keith (~w-) was there to do it instead. Shaking himself out of a daydream, Lance continued waveringly. “Now through no fault of mine, there's no other half there.”