Chapter Text
Shiro mindlessly chewed on the tip of his spoon.
The food goo was bland. Tasteless, as it was repeatedly stuffed inside him just to fuel another bothersome day. Today was another day of training, training and most likely some long diplomatic discussions with Allura about alliances or something. Which was basically every other day anyways. He couldn’t help his schedule, after all, he was stuck in space with around six other people constantly in the same area. While he was sure his day may be slightly boring, he couldn’t help but imagine his teammates trying to find a way to pass time.
Keith had found himself training daily; Shiro could attest to that. Everyday. Nearly every hour. Shiro would find Keith sweating and nearly about to collapse as he continued to work his sword on the Altean training bots. Pidge and Hunk always found ways to keep themselves busy. Whether it be tinkering with machinery, acting out strange plays, or simply training as advised by Shiro himself. But it wasn’t a priority for everyone. There was someone else on the ship that didn’t exactly find joy in any of the things the others did.
Lance. Shiro had little to no clue of what Lance did in the castle while the others were working or training. Shiro had only seen Lance training once or twice, only seen him with Pidge and Hunk when they were doing rambunctious horseplaying (which Coran forbade), and never had he taken part in any long intricate conversations with Allura about the future. Shiro didn’t know when he started to examine Lance more than his title of leader allowed. How his eyes would linger on the sway of his hips as he waved to the table to leave. He would say he was going to his room… but what did he do all day? Shiro set aside his bowl, long overdone with his abused metal spoon. Shiro suspected he should ask Lance, it was only right to do so as their leader after all. Or so was his go to excuse to deny his own obvious feelings.
“Shiro, are you already done?“ Allura questioned, pushing her hands against the long table, standing up.
“Ah, yeah.” Shiro nervously stopped in his tracks.
“Then do you mind if we talk? The people of Kyk’olk have been restless over their defenses. I advise that we meet with them to assess the situation.” Allura stated, already next to Shiro’s side and ushering him to the command room.
“Oh, Allura I-“ Shiro looked back towards the door, seeing Lance was already long gone.
“Is there an issue, Shiro?” Allura asked, concerned.
Shiro shook his head, knowing that this was an important cause for the whole universe. After all it was his duty as the head of Voltron.
“No… Sorry, we should focus on the resistance effort right?” Shiro sighed, following Allura out.
There were millions of lives at stake. He could just always ask Lance another day.
———-
“We need to form Voltron!” Allura screamed into their helmets com.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey! Watch it, Lance!” Pidge yelled as Blue knocked into the core of the green lion.
“Sorry, Pidge, but it’s sorta hard to dodge literally every laser and also try to maneuver my way back to reform with you guys!” Lance shouted as everyone proceeded to dodge and avoid lasers from every direction.
“As much I would love to argue right now, we have much more important enemies that we need to properly fight here!” Shiro called out, sending his lion barreling into one of the drone ships.
“Holy crow- there’s literally no end to them! I don’t think I can even get back to you guys with all of them in the way.”
“Well we can't form Voltron without a leg, Lance!” Keith shouted.
“Well no quiznak, Sherlock!” Lance retorted.
“That isn’t how that-“
“Hey guys, I don’t want to alarm you, but bigger and badder Galra cruise ship is in view!” Hunk yelled into the coms, catching the attention of the others.
“No need to tell me twice! Step on it, Blue!” Lance hollered, sending his lion towards the newly appeared enemy.
“That dumbass! We can’t-“
“Follow after him, we can’t form Voltron with this many enemies aimed at us.” Shiro said, rushing towards Lance’s location.
Shiro found himself farther away from the rest, it was almost as if every drone fighter was on his tail as they physically cut him off from everyone as he tried to regroup with the others. Keith was soloing the larger ship, though Shiro drove Black to assist him, Hunk was following after Lance; breaking the enemies one by one. Shiro’s eyes were jumping from the ships to the lasers shooting past him as his mind barely heard the audio in his com.
“Yeah you wish-“ Pidge sneakily said.
Was there another fight that broke out?
“Wait-“ Hunk hollered, “the main ship!“
“Pidge move!” Keith screamed.
“Pidge!”
“Wh-“
It seemed as if in slow motion. The purple encased laser that pierced through space, as blinding as it was deadly. It dove through the space quicker than a blink of an eye as it headed straight for the green lion.
His com was met with a piercing crashing of metal. It creaked and whined in his ear.
Just as quick as the purple laser came so was green suddenly replaced with blue and the creaking with a blood curdling scream.
“Lance!” A screamed ripped straight from Pidge’s lungs rang out.
“Holy- Lance!”
“Lance, respond!”
“Hey, answer us!”
All of his teams voices muffled together, lost in the canals of his ear as all he could do was stare. There was only a small weak voice that he could hear, even buried under the cries of his team.
”I don’t want to die.”
“Shiro! Snap out of it!” Keith yelled, his voice piercing in Shiro’s lion.
Shiro’s eyes blinked, his lion maneuvering to avoid the enemies on their own. Shiro’s shaking hands found his commands as he reeled the black lion towards the direction of the others, who were all shielding an unresponsive Blue Lion.
“Hunk, use the yellow lion to carry the blue lion back to the castle!” Allura commands, her voice the beacon of reason, “Once you are here, let Coran check on Lance!”
“Y-yeah…” Hunk said, his voice wavers as he shifts his lion to move towards Blue.
Shiro swallowed hard, “Pidge, Keith, help me take the rest of them out.”
…
…
...
They all went to bed silently. Never had Shiro seen the team so… despondent as they all set their lions in the castle. Shiro was the last one to touch down, his head jolting as Black settled to the renewed gravity. Shiro barely had time to take off his helmet before he heard a shout from outside his lion. He rushed outside, his lions jaw barely a crack open before he could feel his stomach flip.
Hunk stood perfectly still. All the others had crowded around him and in his arms was Lance. Limp. Corans face was drawn, his eyebrows stuck quivering and his mouth hung low. Like many of the others. Nobody could move. Nobody could speak. Without needing to ask Shiro could tell just what happened.
Pidge was the first to break away from the trance.
“It’s my fault! It’s all my fucking fault!”
“Pidge! It is not your fault, the Galra-“
“Say what you want, Allura! If I just had better reaction time and noticed the damn laser in time, Lance would still-!”
“Pidge!” Allura yelled over Pidge’s own despair, “It was unavoidable…”
“... we just need a healing pod right?” Hunks voice broke through the silence, but yet his voice was shattered as if it gave in to itself, “he… he will get better if we just… he will…”
Hunk’s arm shook, not allowing himself to drop Lance as if he was a fragile priceless treasure. His tears dropped in large streams, unable to be stopped as he cradled the young man in his arms tighter. His teeth grit as sobs wracked his ribs.
“I believe we should... properly hold a ceremony to honor our lost Paladin.” Allura said, looking away as she clutched her fists.
“I… I never thought I would need to use that room. Please give me some time to prepare…” Coran whispered, barely loud enough for the others to hear as he trodden out of the room.
In a matter of time they all stood in a room that was buried in a crevice of the castle.
It was a crematorium.
And like that Shiro saw Lance engulfed in flames.
Lance was dead.
————
Shiro woke up to an extreme headache. While he says he woke up, it was more like his eyes shut for five minutes once every three hour passed. He couldn’t shut out the face of his dead teammate. One he knew he should’ve gotten to know. One he wished he got to know. But yet, he was gone. Shiro personally saw his cold limp body be torched from life. Lance’s ashes were stored for until they were back on Earth, ready to be tossed into the ocean. That was the one and only thing Hunk said after the ordeal in a soft, croaky, broken voice.
Shiro couldn't get out of bed. The grieving faces of his team etched in the back of his mind like a soldering iron. The face of his fallen… teammate projected an eerie, serene expression. His face was slack, his eyes closed delicately as if he were simply going to bed. Only he wasn’t ever going to wake up. Through all the madness of fighting for weeks, months, and maybe even years on end without rest… he was at peace. But Shiro wasn’t. With Lance’s death, Shiro realized the worst part of himself. He put his position first as an excuse to not get to know Lance better, to not be honest to himself and the others. And yet now it was too late to tell Lance the simplest of things.
“Great work out there, sharpshooter!”
Pidge was wrong. It was Shiro’s fault. If he was just a better leader… if he could only control Black a bit better… if he was just the one that reacted faster and took the hit… if he could’ve taken Lance’s place. He would in a heartbeat. Shiro bit his lips, bruising them as he tried to not dwell on the what if’s. He saw what happened. Nothing could bring Lance back. Nothing could receive his newfound emotions.
There was a soft knock on the door. Shiro didn’t move. It was breakfast time already, so it may have been a concerned Keith or Allura at his door. But he couldn’t bring himself to move. He couldn’t bring his dry throat to even speak. The knock resumed slightly more loudly, this time accompanied by a voice. One whose last words he heard too many times echoing in his skull.
“Shiro? You in there? The rest of the team got worried because you weren’t-“
“Is this some kind of sick joke?” Shiro groggily yelled at the door.
If it was Hunk or Pidge trying to replicate his voice to get a rise from Shiro- would they really do something like this? Something this inhumane?
“No?... is it a joke to be worried? Like for real, you’re usually the first one to the table so even I’m a bit-“
There was a yelp as Shiro slammed the usually automatic mechanical door open with a crash. His crusty eyes filled with sleep adjusted to the hallway light. Through the blinding pain his eyes widened, his mouth agape.
“Shiro? You look-“
Shiro gripped the figure’s wrist.
Pulling him into a crushing hug.
He was warm.
He was alive.
Lance was alive.
It seemed like a dream. Seeing Lance once again in front of him, acting as if he just hadn’t seen death's door and- no… that wasn’t possible. Shiro saw with his own eyes that Lance was gone. Burned to ashes.
“Lance… you’re… alive?” Shiro drew out.
“Yeah? I think I am? Though at this point I think I should shoot that right back at you. You look like you need fifteen years of beauty sleep.” Lance joked, his fingers harmlessly tracing Shiro’s eyebags.
They were light feathery touches but they drew him in like the essence of life itself. He came back. It really was Lance.
“So it was all a dream…”
Lance looked at him quizzically, like he was trying to understand what Shiro meant.
“Are you okay, Shiro?” Lance's voice was soft, concerned.
“Yeah. Sorry.” Shiro backed away from Lance, quickly reminding himself that it was out of order and probably made Lance uncomfortable.
“If you say so. Are you going to come to breakfast? The food goo doesn’t get any better but we need it.”
Shiro pauses. He still was in his night clothes and he most likely looked rusty from lack of sleep. If anything he just needed to wash his face at least.
“Yeah. Sorry, you can go before me.” Shiro said, waving Lance off.
“Oh- alright... see ya Shiro!” Lance said, nearly dashing away from Shiro’s front door in an instant.
Once Lance was gone from his sight Shiro swerved back into his room. His door closing with a whine behind him as he stepped back into his dark room and then into the joined bathroom. Turning on the intense lights Shiro squinted harshly at his own reflection in the mirror. He… looked like a mess. He wondered if Lance thought Shiro always looked this rugged. Shiro tried to comb his hair with his fingers, not realizing they were clammy with sweat. Turning on the faucet as he dunked his face into the water cupped in his hands.
The water brought out a new stream of thoughts within Shiro. He’d spent the whole night mourning Lance. But yet Lance was just in front of him. Inviting him to breakfast as if it were a normal everyday morning. Was… was everything just a dream? Shiro felt for sure none of what he remembered was a lie. But there was no other explanation. Was there something strange in the food goo? Was he infected with something on Kyk’olk? Was he simply going insane from stress, age, or the fact that he was stuck in space as a formidable leader against a tyrant ruler? Maybe it was all of it. A demented illusion created by Shiro’s disgusting mind.
All of those options seemed much more viable to reality. Shiro laughed at his pitiful eyebags. Lance was alive, and he had nothing to worry about. Shiro changed into his usual attire, his vest pulled over his shoulders. He sucked in a breath. He needed to remind himself that the dream wasn’t real, no matter how insanely detailed it might be. Shiro stepped outside of his room and found his feet automatically stepping into the dining hall.
“Good morning, Shiro.” Allura said.
“Good Mornin’” Pidge muttered.
“Morning, Shiro.” Keith yawned.
“Mornin’” Hunk said.
“Morning…” Lance called out tiredly.
Shiro grabbed a plate and filled it with green food goo, looking around before deciding where to reside. Shiro sat on the seat closest to Keith, finding himself sandwiched between Pidge and him. They all were talking loudly as they ate. It was… normal. Shiro shoved his thoughts behind thick spoon filled layers of food goo. Shiro ate rather quickly, responding in a small quick one word when the others asked about his late arrival as he shoveled the goo into his mouth. He saw Lance from the corner of his eye, already nearly done with food goo as his last bite slipped behind his teeth.
Shiro put down his spoon, ready for when Lance was finished as Shiro put up his bowl nonchalantly to follow after Lance. As if scripted, Allura suddenly spoke up, still seated as her surprised eyes locked on to Shiro. Shiro could see already what she wanted to say reflected in her eyes as Lance was quickly disappearing from everyone’s sights.
“Shirogane, are you are already done? That was rather quick.” Allura said, her voice drained with concern.
He froze on the spot at her words. If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought that he did the same exact thing in his dream.
“Yes, I was hoping to get to some different matters.” Shiro said, causing the other three Paladins to give Shiro a questioning side eye.
“Shirogane, I hope you know we are expected today for an important diplomatic-“
“Yes, but if you wouldn’t mind could be hold off our meeting?”
“Shiro you know as the leader of Voltron your attendance is mandatory,” Allura said, her voice convincing as it was commanding, “The people of Kyk’olk have been restless over their weak defenses. I advise that we meet with them to properly aid their people.”
Those exact words were familiar...
“Allura I appreciate our continuous work to the coalition and efforts in reforming planets upon other changes to the universe, but we have been needing a break. Today, I feel you may not need me to interfere as you and Coran speak to the Alliance,” Shiro stated, feeling the need to hammer in the point, “In fact, I believe you two may need a break as well from constant questioning.”
Allura looked at Shiro in disbelief as if she hadn’t expected him to deny her request. Which normally he wouldn’t, they had universes upon galaxies to save. But Shiro couldn’t shake off that strange dream. It didn’t feel right, almost as if a premonition or a foreboding vision of the future if he were to allow it. He didn’t do all he could to protect his teammate before. Hell he didn’t realize how much he neglected Lance beforehand. He couldn’t make such an obvious mistake now.
“I… If you say this would be the best course of action… I am willing to hold off the meeting for another time.” Allura diplomatically said, already rushing to the command room alone most likely to delay to council.
“Holy quiznak- Shiro actually rejected Allura for once?” Pidge whispered loudly to the others, not even trying to hide, “I never thought in a million years I would see that happening.”
Shiro had a twinge if guilt, but he had his own work cut out for himself now. He now had unfound freetime. Time he didn’t expect to have or get when it came to Allura’s usual stubbornness and demeanor. Shiro waved off to the others whose faces were caught in a questioning gaze as Shiro nervously smiled his way out of the room. With the mechanical whisp the door closed and he was enveloped with the darkness of the hallway. Shiro navigated his way, memorizing most of the living quarters halls for practical uses of waking certain Paladins who would sleep at abnormal times or simply sleep in.
Shiro stood in front of one of the numerous grey metal doors that lined the hall, only this one had small blue marker doodles and writing on it. Various small stars and sporadic lines detailed to the main focus of the large blocky text “LANCE MCCLAIN”. The others decorated their door in an attempt to memorize which one theirs was in the whole maze the castle is, and Shiro didn’t blame them. Shiro sucked in a deep breath of air. When was the last time he spoke to Lance alone? When has he really been able to talk to Lance for a long period of time without another person interfering?
Shiro knocked on the door, his metal hand clinking in the door as if to signal who exactly it was. To his surprise the door opened quickly after, not having him wait standing awkwardly for too long.
“Oh- Shiro? What are you doing here?” Lance said, his voice slightly dazed with morning still and his eyes squinting.
Light illuminated from Lance’s room, all coming from a large screen TV that took up most of the room. It displayed pixelated characters that were on standby, waiting for Lance to come back to the controller so they could finish their mission. Shiro internally silenced himself, reminding himself not to nag about the negative effects on the eyes when in the dark or to make comments on how cute he looked when was tired; especially not the latter.
“I… I uh- I was curious as to what your daily activities were.” Shiro said, hoping to darkness of the hallway hid his slow blush.
“Why?” Lance asked, his lips biting slightly.
“I was worried. Most other Paladins had interactions with others, say Pidge talks with Hunk and Coran with Allura. Keith has an occasional chat with me and the others… I know that you usually are with Pidge and Hunk but lately you’ve been… isolated.”
“Then shouldn’t you be worried about Keith instead? He’s basically alone everyday expect for when he’s with you.”
Shiro frowned at Lance’s inflection. It was strangely rough as if he couldn’t bring himself to say or acknowledge it.
“Keith is fine. He prefers time to think for himself and will talk to me when he needs me.”
“Great, I’m a special case then… I’m fine, I just got a game from the mall that I’m slightly addicted to.” Lance said, his shoulders shrugging matter of factly.
“Is that really all?” Shiro didn’t buy it.
“Yeah, of course.” Lance affirmed rather harshly.
Shiro pauses. He couldn’t just let everything end now. He made the effort to make a decent excuse to get Lance to open up. He could quickly feel the atmosphere becoming a stinging awkwardness, blurring out the first thing Shiro could toss off the top of his tongue. He couldn’t just up and leave, he made it this far he had to go all the way.
“...Mind if I... play the game with you?”
“What!?” Lance chokes out, “You want to play a digital game... With me?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Don't you have a meeting with Allura or training with Keith? Or really like anything else?”
Was he imposing that badly on Lance’s daily freetime?
“I can always postpone those everyday actives to simply spend some time to get to know you better, Lance.”
Lance flared up faster than a firework. Saying that the crawl of pink to red flushing his cheeks weren’t amazingly adorable was a lie. Lance’s fingers froze on the frame, but slowly moved backwards into his room. Gesturing Shiro to come inside.
“If you say it that way…” Lance said, “come on in. It’s sort of small; like every other room.”
Shiro’s smile automatically filled his face. Just, in general, the thought that Lance was trusting him sent small sensations to the tip of his fingers. Shiro ducked into the room, finding a small spot not encroached with wires to sit as he waited for Lance to situate in front of the large TV.
“So… this game does have two player. Want me to pull up a controller for you? It’s just a side scrolling fighter game.” Lance said, already grabbing a controller and attaching a wire to the console.
“Oh, I’m not sure if I would be any good.” Shiro nervously replied, staring at Lance’s mischievous grin.
“You’ll be fine, you have me to teach you after all!” Lance confidently said, tossing the controller haphazardly onto Shiro’s lap.
Shiro fumbled with the controller, settling it within his fingers. Shiro hasn’t ever seen this type of model before, but it looked simple enough to use. Lance returned to the main menu and opened a new game for multiplayer. In front of his eyes the screen burned bright in his retinas and a whole row of boxes appeared. Shiro waited quizzically for Lance to explain.
“So I don’t know any of the technical terms or memorized all of the characters skills unlike Pidge and Hunk, so I’ll be stuck to teaching you basic stuff. For now you can choose your character skills, there’s a lot of customization too.”
Lance already started on his character on his side of the screen. Shiro slightly panicked, not sure on what to do.
“Are you going to make your character?” Lance asked, seemingly setting his controller down already as if finished.
“I… I don’t know where to really begin. There’s a lot of options it’s slightly overwhelming.”
Shiro’s eyes scanned Lance’s character. While it slightly resembled Lance, it was… cute. It had the ears and tails of a cat, a scar above the left eye, thick red markings lining his cheeks, his famous royal blue eyes, and a mischievous smirk. Shiro saw flashy skills under the characters profile, exactly what Shiro would guess Lance would have picked.
“You just make who you want to be. It’s a game so try to be someone who you inspire to be, or your ideal self I guess. Make them badass or cute or whatever your type is; I won't judge.”
“You… want to be a cat boy?”
Lance started coughing up a fit, his bubbles of laughter seemingly breaking out between. Lance barely managed out a weak response over his own laughter. “Of course not! It’s just- a preference! It’s cool isn’t it? It implies I’m not human, plus cats are cute and cool at the same time! I call him Pike! He’s my default go-to character design in games!”
Shiro wished he didn’t spend most of that sentence just thinking of Lance with soft fluffy ears and a wagging tail in real life. His short hair seemed soft as fur, and Lance was always so… Shiro’s favorite animal was a cat… despite Lance acting more like a loving dog and despite his coy nature that resembled a cat… Shiro could feel the thoughts directing somewhere entirely different and had to stash that thought away forever.
Shiro shifted his focus to his own side of the room. His controller in his hands waiting to be used. Lance told him the basics in between like which buttons did which, so he deftly tried to remember as he scrolled over the hairs and accessories. No real inspiration crossed over Shiro’s mind… he was perfectly acceptable as he was right now. Only… Shiro traced over his arm. Thankfully the game didn’t give that far of customization to have a whole limb replaced. He wouldn’t have anyways… It only took Shiro around fifteen minutes before he was done. Lance had fiddled around during that time wanting to see “Shiro’s fantasy” as a surprise.
“I think I’m done.” Shiro said, having Lance spring up to action after than he’d seen Lance wake up.
“Lemme see! Let-“ Lance paused as if something were wrong, “Shiro. Did you just make yourself? You didn’t even change your name!”
“Yeah? I don’t think I really want to be anyone else but me.”
“Wow… maybe I should be you too, I want that much confidence in myself as well. Anyways, you look good! It even looks like you!”
Shiro was going to shrug off the fact that he basically directly complimented Shiro’s appearance. Lance didn’t seem to notice as he began to scroll through more character options.
“So then here’s the skills. There’s classes, like, a lot of them. I don’t know how to customize so I just use the preset ones. Pike is a thief- stylish but also deadly. Here’s a list of all the classes and-“
Shiro’s eyes barely had to move before he saw exactly what he wanted.
“I want to be a paladin.”
“What?”
“I want to be a paladin.”
“But… why? I haven’t even explained the skills yet.”
“It… just seems fitting. You know, paladin of Voltron? Paladin of… whatever this game is called.”
“But Paladins literally only have two attack skills! All the others are defense or support!”
“I want to be-“
“Fine! You win!” Lance flushed at Shiro’s bright smile, “... this isn’t fair.” Lance murmured as he clicked start.
————
“Lance, I need you to help me!”
“Wait a second Shiro, I’m a bit busy here dealing with mobs!”
“I don’t think I have enough MP to be able to maintain the barrier on myself for much longer!”
“Crow- Shiro use a potion!”
“We didn’t buy any at the last merchant!”
“Wha- Oh yeah we didn’t have enough coins-“
[[GAME OVER]]
“Lesson learnt, right?” Shiro gave a small smiled to Lance.
“Lesson learnt.” Lance sighed.
—————
“Shiro dodge! Dodge! Bosses’ AOE is charging! Move to the bottom left!”
“What is an AOE?!” Shiro desperately cried, reigning his controller for control of his character.
“Area of effect, it means that there’s going to be magic cast in the area marked- Quiznak!” Lance shouted.
The strange green charged orbs would instantly turn an electric blue laser crashing down onto the platform causing both of them to lose all their hearts nearly instantly. Shiro couldn’t help but frown.
[[GAME OVER]]
“Was… was that AOE?” Shiro asked innocently.
“Ughhh… we died again!” Lance cried pitifully, falling on his back.
“Pull it together, Pike! We can always restart and try again!”
“Shiro, you’re way too optimistic somehow…”
“This is an amazing game! It makes the player want to continue on their quest for the continuation of the main story but yet also its driven by teamwork and-“
“Don’t make this game into a life lesson! Let’s just get back in!”
————
“We… we did it! Four full hours! We completed the third chapter!” Lance screamed in celebration, elated enough to throw his controller to the side and raise his arms to the sky with the cry of victory.
Shiro finally blinked in what felt like hours, his eyes dry, but all worth it for how Lance reacted. His hands were frozen to the controller and stuck in the same position for hours, his back cracking once he managed to stretch. His legs had gone numb and his neck aches. He had barely remembered the attack outside of the castle as they made their way out, desperate to get back to the game and most likely be feared their real enemies in record time. Both their desire to finish the game winning out on their instincts.
“Yeah… that was surprisingly fun. You’re amazing Lance! I never knew you had such quick reaction times.” Shiro commented, getting a wide smile from Lance.
“Of course I do. I have pretty amazing eyes for games.”
He had pretty amazing eyes in general but Shiro wasn’t going to outright say that.
“The game was rather intense during that last mission. I was worried my hands were too clammy to be able to play properly.” Shiro jokes.
“You did amazingly! Hell you use combos so much better than me! You learned faster and… play better than me really.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you Lance.” Shiro said, unsure on if he really had.
“Oh thanks, Shiro. I needed the extra cheese.” Lance joked, popping his back as he stretched enough for Shiro to see his naked stomach.
“I think we had enough cheese once Pike and Shiro’s story arc reached the end.”
“Oh tell me about it! It gets even more insane in the next chapter,” Lance excitedly pounced in the topic, “In the next chapter we face off an even more harder boss to avenge-“
————
“That… that was amazing! How… how could anyone had thought that the Coranic dragon was a being used as a coverup from the dark evil merchant from before! I never would’ve thought!” Shiro said, the screen fading into black as the credits roll slowly with images appearing from certain cutscenes that featured both Shiro and Pike on their wondrous and perilous journey.
Shiro found finding himself sitting side by side to Lance much closer than he remember from the beginning. Their legs were touching and Shiro’s shoulder was easily bumping into Lance’s back. Shiro took the chance to put his arm around Lance, a sort of celebration hug as they revelled in the victory. Shiro could blame it on the spur of the moment if Lance questioned his sudden intimacy. Shiro could barely contain his love for the game as Lance high fived him.
“I know right!” Lance cried, reciprocating Shiro’s tight hug hesitantly, “Holy crow, I need to show this to my family when… we go back… home.”
Just as quickly as the credits finished so did Lance’s smile wipe off his face as if it never actually happened. Shiro felt the drawn out silence as the heroic soundtrack was soft and heartwarming, but he didn’t know how to approach on this subject easily. Shiro knew out of everyone that Lance was the one who was a homebody. He loved his family, and he loved them more than he was able to ever express. Shiro found his hand reaching off the controller and lightly grasping Lance’s.
“Lance… We will make it home. I… I promise you that at the very least I will do everything I can so that we all can go home no matter what it takes. A home where we can be with family and never have to worry about the Galra again.” Shiro said, his voice much more confident despite his actual unease.
“Shiro… I… I can’t help it. Everytime I do anything I just think about home. I’m so homesick I can’t stop thinking about everyone back in Cuba. Even the ones I thought I hated, I realize now that I miss them more than I ever could possibly imagine… it hurts, Shiro. I can’t stop thinking about how many birthdays I must’ve missed, how many family dinners and gathers… birthdays? Christmas? Halloween? April Fools? I might not ever see any of them again.” Lance choked out.
Shiro’s arm wrapped protective around Lance’s shoulder. A more purposeful action than before filled with determination. Lance was cut off guard, but didn’t push Shiro away. If anything he burrowed closer into Shiro’s side. Both their faces luckily hidden with the darkness of the room.
“Lance… do you want to talk about it?”
“About?...”
“Your family. It’s always easier to deal or understand something when you speak about it.”
“I… are you sure? I could go on for hours and hours about them all. I have a large family…”
“If that’s what it takes. It’s a small price to pay for your happiness.”
“... I’m the middle child in the family. My father was really never around so my mother-“
————
….
“Holy hell, it’s dinner.” Lance groaned as he flopped onto the seat.
“Holy hell, you guys decided to actually come eat. Where have you two been all day?” Pidge commented, giving them both a deadpan glare.
“No need to worry, Pidge. I just decided to spend the day off to get to know Lance better.” Shiro answered matter of factly, rubbing his eyes.
“A-kay-a! I just showed him some games. Nothing else!” Lance exclaimed loudly.
“No need to tell us twice.” Hunk said, obviously not believing it.
“Lance, I would love to play the game again. It was really interesting and fun.” Shiro said, grabbing both a food goo plate for both Lance and himself.
“Y-yeah. Anytime, Shiro! My room is always open. For games.” Lance said grabbing the bowl from Shiro.
Shiro felt his own body temperature rising slightly at the obvious connotation. Shiro wasn’t innocent, but it wasn’t as if he wanted Lance to think that was why he wished to get along with him. Either way, Shiro was glad to have spent such a long time alone with Lance. It was a good bonding experience and if anything he felt… felt like he knew Lance just a little bit better. Not from just his experience with games but even learning about his family enough to know that when Lance says “that dick” he meant his third uncle.
“I would love to, Lance.” Shiro beamed.
“How are you even functioning, Lance?” whispered Hunk.
“No clue, Hunk...” Lance whispered back.
By the time they finished eating, Lance was already bounding to the doorway; yawning dramatically and prancing.
“I’m going to bring this bottle into my room. I hate having to wake up at midnight and walk all the way to the kitchen to grab some water.” Lance said, doing his best to balance the large bottle in his arms.
“Sure, just make sure not to drop it on the console. It’s alien tech so who knows how it might react?” Pidge said, not even eating but tinkering with some touchpad instead.
“No promises from my butter fingers!”
“Lance, that isn’t a joke.” Keith sighed.
“Your face is though-“ Lance retorted smugly.
“Ohhhh!” Hunk backed Lance up.
“Keith is right, Lance. It could be an explosion for all we know.”
“You’re just being pessimistic, Pidge. What console explodes when you drop water on it? It might destroy it but I keep perfect care of my beautiful items. Plus, I still have to finish the bonus stages of the game with Shiro!”
Shiro blushes at the mention of his name so fondly. He really was hoping to get to know Lance better, as well as play some amazing new games. It was a package deal he felt was way too cheap to be real. How was Lance real? Shiro couldn’t possibly have such an honest and strong family man stuck in space with him- Shiro’s eyebrows creased roughly as to remind him where exactly he was.
“I look forward to it, so make sure to take care of Pike and me!” Shiro said, blushing slightly.
“Gross. Get a room.” Keith said, making a fake sickly face.
“Will do! Good night everyone! I have a beauty routine to get to!” Lance said, disappearing behind the mechanical door.
———
Shiro went back to bed with ease, his back enjoying the actual rough texture of the bed for once compared to his bad figure while playing games. Yet, as he laid, he couldn’t help but… feel off. Like something was missing for his memory, or like he had a sense of déjà vu. He didn’t know why, but he’d never ever had a day with Lance this extensive, at least to his knowledge, but even then Shiro was confident.
Shiro rucked his body into the blanket. It was probably just his ever growing stress or anxiety. His body was most likely not used to the peace. A single day without training, without lunch (though he just forgot, honestly), and with Lance… he was a good man. He was not only strong but was capable of just having fun in what Shiro considered a more humane way. It was refreshing… Shiro shuffled in the bed, finding the best position to sleep in. He wanted the night to quickly pass so he could go and play games with Lance again. Hear more lovely fun stories about his family and just… see him smile. Happy.
Alive.