Paper Airplane

Chapter I - Mission

Keith stared down at his feet so hard his head started to spin. He wasn't expecting to hear those words from Shiro's mouth. Lance is going on a mission to spy on the Galra. With no backup. No nothing. Is he crazy?

Keith knew Lance had a big ego, but he didn't think he'd think he was ready for this.

Shiro tries to talk to explain more but Keith cuts him off as all these thoughts are trying to explode out of his head.

"What do you mean Lance is going on a mission?! By himself- what are you thinking?!"

It was not happening. Never in a million doboshes was he going to let Lance get himself into this mess. At least Keith has had training most of his life to be able to handle that much stress, and most of all, he's trained to fight. He can handle himself if he gets caught. But Lance, he, he doesn't. And it's not that Keith thinks he's not capable of getting to the same level as Keith. Lance just hasn't got the experience to understand what can happen if things go south.

That is what has Keith so enraged. That Shiro can't see that either. Or maybe he just doesn't want to.

"It's too dangerous to go near the Galra, let alone go with no backup! He could die."

Keith screamed at Shiro, making him move back from the younger paladin, but not changing his posture.

"Keith.. I didn't choose Lance to go on this mission. If you had just let me explain, I would have told you-" He is cut off once more, but not by Keith.

"I chose to go." A voice Keith could always recognise as Lance's.

"No..." Keith breathed heavily, attempting to calm myself down, but it didn't work.

Lance steps into the room, and I look at Lance, but immediately turn away. I can't look him in the eyes right now. He shouldn't want to do this. Lance has never wanted to put himself in danger, not like this at least. Volunteering.

"I'll go," Keith says, turning back to Shiro, hoping he agrees. Shiro stands still, not taking in a word he's saying, waiting for Lance to answer that himself, again.

"No, Keith, trust me, I can do it." Lance turns back around and leaves out the door behind him. "Fuck."

Keith murmurs under his breath and chases after him, leaving the rest of the team back in the main room of Voltron. Of course, he won't listen. Keith needed to get him to realise this is a bad idea.

"Lance, don't do this. Don't put yourself in danger, it's not worth risking your life. Listen to me!" Keith turns into the training area where Lance is standing near the door.

"Keith, stop! This is my decision, it will be fine!" Lance spins around, leaving a small distance between him and the other paladin. His eyes are fierce. He looked at Keith with so much certainty that he could do this.

"You don't think I am good enough, do you?" What. Keith's eyes widen...

"You just think you are so fucking good that you don't believe I can handle myself to do one simple mission. I am just sneaking into the galra to get information on where they plan to attack next! I even have Blue with me, it's not that hard!"

"Then why do you want to do it so badly?!"

Lance pauses, but doesn't take much longer to talk back to Keith.

"I just want to prove that I'm not just some goofball, someone who doesn't take anything seriously and messes everything up! I want to do something meaningful with my life, okay, Keith!" Lance yells back to Keith, tears forming in the corner of his eyes. Shit.

"Lance-"

"No, don't 'Lance' me... don't tell me I can't do this, please, I need to do this, not just for me, but I want to help. I want to save the fucking galaxy for gods sake. Not just some goodball, some stupid Loverboy that only wants to hit up girls and thinks he's only good at making the team laugh at some corny joke once in a while. I want to do this." Lance throws his hands up, his face staring back at Keith.

He shakes his head. Keith didn't realise how much this meant to him. "Lance, please just think about this. You know how much the team values you as a paladin, the blue paladin. For God's sake, Blue chose you, remember, and I'm pretty certain it wasn't just for your jokes. You are a good fucking Paladin."

"And I'll support you no matter what you choose to do, but I want you to understand what could happen if things don't go your way!" Keith leans in and brushes his thumb across the Cuban boy's tanned and freckled cheek, wiping away a tear falling from his eyes. His stunning blue eyes, turning a light shade of pink from the tears. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry you feel like you are nothing. But believe me.. You are a great blue Paladin, even if you don't put your ass on the fucking line.:"

Lance is stunned, he was shocked that Keith actually had some good advice for once. Instead of just yelling and throwing a punch when he's angry.

"I-I'm sorry too, I guess I'm just a little scared that when I do die, my life will mean nothing-" Keith looks up as Lance jolts back from his touch. Leaving Keith's fingers slightly cold and empty from Lance's warm cheek.

"Shit I didn't- I didn't mean to say that out loud just forget that last part!" Lance scrambles words out. He looks away and starts to move towards the door next to them, stopping when Keith grabs his arm.

"Lance, it's okay to be scared. Trust me. I know I don't usually show these kinds of emotions, but..." Keith narrows his eyes at Lance, making sure he hears the words Keith is saying. Although Keith doesn't know why he's even telling him all this but he knows, he knows he needs to tell Lance.

"I- I get scared too, fuck I'm scared you are serious about doing this." Keith lets his hands fall, really wanting to put them back up to Lance's swollen cheeks. But why. Keith has never wanted to feel like this towards Lance.

"Lance-"

"Thank you, Keith. I appreciate this, but whatever I decide to do, I'll be fine."

Lance looks down at his feet, and tears fall to the ground.

Keith doesn't usually care much when people are upset, most of the time he keeps to himself and lets them figure it own on their own. But... he sees Lance's face go red and his eyes burn from him trying not to cry more, and he just can't control the urge to do whatever he can to make Lance feel better. Even if this is all his fault, it makes him rethink his decisions.

The pair stands in silence until Keith feels the urge to break his boundaries. Only for Lance, this feels.. right.

Keith pulls Lance towards him, Lance gasping as he is brought into a hug. Keith wraps his arms around Lance's torso, and his head lies on Lance's shoulder.

Shock falls onto Lance's face as he tries to understand what's going on right now.

Keith is hugging him. Keith is hugging Lance.

It's odd, it's never like this between the two, but somehow it is nice.

Lance wraps his hands around Keith and moves into Keith's neck, letting the coolness of his skin ease the burning in his cheeks. The two of them hold for what seems like minutes to each of them, but only seconds go by.

"Thank you.." Lance forces himself off of Keith, wanting to hold the hug longer, but not wanting it to be too long, and make things weird between them. They don't express feelings like this to each other. Let alone a hug.

Keith thought the opposite, he didn't want it to end. For some reason, it didn't feel weird between them. Why does it feel so different between them now? Was it a good feeling, or could it be bad...

Looking back at Lance, Keith realised maybe he didn't think the same things, so he started to walk back. "Don't mention it. I just hate to see you upset." Without waiting for a response, Keith walks out the door and heads down the hallway towards his room, leaving Lance a confused mess in the training room.

"Shit.. what the fuck was that." Lance holds his hand over his face as he tries to hide the slight blush on his cheeks. Things are going to start getting weird between the two of them now.