Seventh Wheel

"Maybe I don't have a thing,"

It echoed across everyone's coms like a shock of cold water. Nobody suspected that Lance felt that way. He was always so confident in himself. Or at least it seemed like it. Shiro stopped in his tracks in the middle of Beta Traz, for the first time ignoring Slav to try and process what he had heard from Lance. He couldn't afford to think about it right now though, they were in the middle of a mission and still didn't know which one of them had the right Slav. When they got back though, he was definitely going to have a talk with the paladin.

As they floated back to Green after Lance perfectly shot the Warden's hand to release Slav, Shiro glanced over to Pidge. She was looking over at Lance with a worried crinkle in her brows, it confirmed that she had heard Lance as well. If they both had heard him over the coms, it was completely possible that everyone on the ship had heard him as well. They brought Slav in to introduce him to Allura and Coran, as they walked in Shiro noticed that everyone's eyes were on Lance albeit inconspicuously.

Everyone had heard him.

Even Allura and Coran watched him with worry veiled in their eyes. Coran distracted Lance by complementing his sharpshooting during the mission. While Allura quickly made her way over to Shiro, who was joined by Hunk, Pidge, and Keith.

"I'm not going to pretend to know about the psychological welfare of humans, but I believe that the four of you need to talk with Lance," she started looking at all of them.

"Believe me, we are," Shiro said earnestly, chancing a look over at the teen. He furrowed his brows when he saw him laughing and smiling with Coran, no sign of the self-doubt that they knew was brewing beneath the surface.

"Yeah, we need to sort this out, Lance is not a seventh wheel!" Hunk exclaimed quietly. The others nodded in agreement and looked back at Allura.

"Coran and I think that it would be better if we were not present, the bond that Lance has with the four of you far exceed our ties with him," she explained. Although, she looked over at him as well, sadness clear in her eyes.

"As soon as we are done here, we will talk to him," Keith promised. She nodded and returned to her spot by the monitors.

"Coran," she called. He turned on the spot to face her. "I believe we should take our leave and try to find a spot for Slav to stay in for the time being,"

"Of course Princess," he agreed. Before he left he turned and pulled Lance into a hug, his hand cupping the back of his head protectively. Lance looked surprised, to say the least, but almost immediately, his hands snaked around Coran's back to return the embrace. When he pulled back, he ruffled his hair and walked toward the door with Allura and Slav trailing behind him.

"What was that?" He asked with a laugh as he turned to the paladins with a grin. It dropped off of his face when he saw that they weren't returning it.

"Guys? Whats wrong?" He tried, taking a few steps forwards.

"Lance, we have to talk," Shiro announced. Lance's heart simultaneously stopped and sped up. He went over every bit of the mission in his head attempting to find the point where he messed up.

"Maybe we should go to the lounge?" Hunk suggested. Lance's gaze snapped to him.
What? They were going to be there too? When Shiro was going to go over his mistakes? Maybe it was to make sure that he would listen this time.

"Yeah, that would probably be the most comfortable," Keith added. Comfortable. They wanted to be comfortable while Shiro ripped into him.

He deflated on the spot, missing the way that their eyes widened at the sight.