Langst oneshots? Probably.

But it's tradition. Part Three.

Valentine's Day was coming up. Lance didn't feel like doing anything for anyone. Well, except for himself.

He wanted a day to himself. And when he says a day to himself he means a day where he can sit in his room and cry for the whole day.

He was practically nonexistent on holidays now. He'd hole up in his room and his sorrow.

The others didn't care anymore. Days blurred together and everyone forgot about Lance's failed holidays.

Everyone except Lance. And so, every holiday Lance would disappear. He wouldn't be in his room or in the training room or anywhere.

No one would be able to find him. They didn't know what he was doing and though they were angry with him for disappearing, they didn't do anything about it.

They didn't care. Lance knew that. Lance knew that and his heart ached every time he thought about it.

But for some reason, this holiday was different. Lance first noticed this when Pidge went up to Lance after breakfast and asked, "are you going to disappear on Valentine's day too?"

Lance didn't respond. He ignored her and left the kitchen quickly. Lance didn't want to answer those questions.

It came out of nowhere and Lance didn't exactly know how to respond. No one had asked before.

But it went on from there. During training Shiro asked Lance the same question. Lance, still unprepared, didn't respond.

He stabbed a bot through though in anger. He was angry with his teammates and himself. Why is it such a big thing? Why did he let it become such a big thing?

But Lance continued on.

At dinner that night no one spoke. It seemed like everyone was walking on eggshells around Lance and he hated it.

Lance closed his eyes and stood. He excused himself with no words and left to his room. He hated it all.

In two days Valentine's day would be here. Two short days. Lance didn't have time for the other paladins games.

That night Lance dreamed of all the things he could do for Valentine's Day. He planned on candy and red streamers.

He thought up fantasies of him and Keith dating. Of him and the other paladins getting along. Of Valentine's Day not failing.

By when he woke up he was reminded of the hard truth. The other paladins gave up on holidays. They wouldn't care if Lance snuck out to celebrate without them.

Lance ignored the paladins for the rest of the day. He ignored the questions from Hunk and Keith asking if he was going to sneak out.

He ignored the worried glances and the angry stares. He ignored it all until night came. That's when he started.

At 2 am is when he started the plan. He walked over to Blue's hanger and sat in Blue for a while.

Lance thought about what he was doing. He was running away. He was going back to Earth and staying there.

Lance closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before flying out. The other paladins woke up with all the ruckus.

They stepped out of their respective rooms, looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to sleep.

They didn't notice that Lance wasn't there. Maybe they didn't care. Lance would never know.

Lance flew throughout the night. By day he was almost there. Only two hours more until he would get home.

Meanwhile, at the castle, no one paid much mind to Lance's absence. No one wondered if he was okay.

That day they were doing a bonding exercise. Allura called Lance up and upon noticing he wasn't there she gave the snide comment of, "took him long enough to leave."

Everyone was shocked. Was it a holiday? Lance only disappeared on holidays. There was no way.

Pidge checked and it was, in fact, a holiday. Valentine's Day. Pidge looked at the others and Allura demanded they find him, she was tired of Lance's shit.

So the other went to work. They found where he was. Heading back to the castle. They called the blue lion but the call wasn't answered.

Then there was a rumble in the lions. Everyone knew what happened. Lance left. He wasn't going to come back.

The others looked at each other. There was silence before Pidge said, "he left because of the holiday stuff, didn't he?"

The others looked right at her but she continued to stare at the ground. Realization dawned on them.

They messed up. Lance went home. They weren't going to get Lance back now. They messed up.

Lance's jokes and his laugh and his smile. They would miss that. They broke tradition.

The tradition of watching Lance be happy.