Chapter Text
Lance and Shiro had grown close once he had woken up and was convinced to talk to everyone. For a while, only Shiro and Coran had been able to be near the teen, they had been the only ones allowed to have physical contact with him. It had taken him a long time to let the others close and he still was closer to Shiro and Coran.
As memories came, the closer he let himself get to everyone.
As memories came, the more he wanted to know about Shiro.
He didn’t have that many memories (he couldn’t remember much about the group in general just yet) that he could remember that included Shiro so he had started to ask him about himself. Question for question.
As time passed, the two had grown close, which was something Hunk and Pidge, whom Lance had warmed up to a lot over the past month or so, would tease the teen about.
Then that night happened.
Shiro had woken up to two arms wrapped firmly around him, a familiar voice whispering soft words of comfort to him. His hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat, his body shaking as he tried to even his breathing. He couldn’t quite remember what he had been dreaming about, but he knew it had apparently been bad enough for Lance to hear him when he was walking to the training room, a place the Blue Paladin took refuge in when he couldn’t sleep for some odd reason.
The teen had entered Shiro’s room and was quick to attempt to wake the older male, forgetting what Shiro had told him about being carefully if he was having a nightmare momentarily and focusing on helping the Black Paladin. He had swung in his sleep, landing a solid blow on Lance’s gut, having knocked the breath out of him. That’s what led to Lance holding him with his arms pinned to his sides.
Shiro had been quick to start apologizing for hitting him, which just pulled a laugh from the Blue Paladin, a sound that was more reserved than it had been before. He found himself staring at the nineteen year old as he sat back on his knees, smiling at the leader with a simple ‘it was my fault anyways’.
Neither knew what really happened next, they both just remembered the Black Paladin leaning forward and connecting their lips. Lance had froze, eyes wide and when he felt Shiro begin to pull away, he had quickly wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him again.
After that, the two had found themselves in a relationship that the others had said they ‘saw coming’. It was hard at first, any relationship developed during a war would be hard, especially when you’re on the front lines constantly, but they had managed to make it work. At some point, they had both begun to sleep in each other’s rooms all the time. It was mostly Shiro’s room that was used seeing as it was the biggest of the two, but Shiro wasn’t picky when Lance roam off during dinner and end up in his own room. (They’ve all been working on that, trying to get Lance’s appetite back to normal, and so far, it seemed like it was working.)
Then the battle with Zarkon had come around not long after they met the Blade of Marmora and rescued Slav.
The battle had been hard but they won! They had defeated Zarkon! Everyone was happy!
Then Black didn’t move when they were called back to the castle so they could leave. Lance felt worry pooling in his gut as they tried to call out for their leader and got no reply.
She was carried back.
Everyone had entered her cockpit and were frozen in place.
“Shiro?”
Keith’s voice sounded muffled to Lance as he stared at the helmet laying on the ground, blue orbs wide. His hands were shaking at his sides, eyes burning as he watched the chaos ensue. He couldn’t make out his teammates’ voices as they spoke, the same words running through his mind quickly.
“Hey…I’m right here, Lance. I’ll always be right here.”
He felt a large hand grab his own and his reaction had been slow before he turned his blank gaze to his friend. Hunk’s eyes were worried as he squeezed Lance’s hand. His mouth was moving, but he couldn’t tell what he was saying.
“Promise me you won’t leave me..”
He found himself quickly jerking his hand away from Hunk’s, barking out a surprisingly hostile “Don’t touch me”, his entire body trembling. Someone’s voice, he couldn’t quite tell who’s, had said his name and he looked around to see the others looking at him.
Keith’s expression was frustrated, most likely from the fact that he just lost his brother, his best friend, and now Lance was lashing out. If one looked passed the frustration in those violet eyes, they would see the panic that had settled, his hands twitching at his sides slightly.
Allura looked surprised, eyes wide as she stared at her Blue Paladin. She had never heard him speak like that before, never heard him yell at any of the others except for the time he had exited the cryopod.
Coran’s expression was a mixture of pity as well as concern for the boy he had grown to view as a son. During the time he could barely even remember any of them, he had been one of the few that could be near Lance and he could see the panic in those bright blue eyes he would often see back then when Lance would forget where he was.
Hunk looked almost hurt by the way Lance had jerked away from him and moved away, but the concern for not only his best friend, but also Shiro was quickly pushing the hurt away. He took a step towards the other and was stopped by Pidge’s hand on his arm. The youngest of the group was staring downwards, not meeting anyone else’s eyes as they simply made Hunk stay in place.
Lance quickly felt that shield he was easily able to put up when he didn’t want the others to know how he felt crumble, tears rolling down his cheeks.
“I promise you, Lance.”
Shiro’s voice promising he wouldn’t leave him slowly got louder and louder as it repeated and the Blue Paladin found himself barely even able to hear the others’ voices anymore. Tears began to fall at a quicker rate and he was quick to turn away and head for Blue’s hangar, just wanted to being with his lion. He heard one of their voice’s call out to him, but he ignored it and quickly ran off.
Blue attempted to overpower the memory with her own memories of her paladin, her words and purrs echoing through the teen’s mind. He could still hear Shiro’s voice, he could still hear the promise being whispered to him by his mind, and he found himself dropping to his knees as soon as he entered Blue’s cockpit, sobs shaking his body. Blue’s concerned purr echoed through his mind and he felt himself curl into himself.
The lion put her force field up in the end, refusing to let any of the other paladins nor the Alteans in to see her paladin.
He needed to cope and she was going to let him without the disruption of others.