𝔻𝕚𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 🄻🄰🄽🄶🅂🅃

Stupid thoughts

{Weeks went by, and no one seemed to have any suspicions on Lance's current state. They were too busy doing their own things to even consider that maybe their friend wasn't in the best of shape.
And yet Lance could not care less of their nonchalant being. In fact, he was grateful that none of them cared enough about him to ask how he was, because if they did, then they would leave him in an instant, or worse, they would look down on him more than they already did.}

3rd person P.O.V

Lance was in his room, listening to music and vibing at the songs Pidge had managed to download on the weird altean MP3 Coran had gifted him a while back, when Lance was struggling and asked him for help.

When Lance felt sad or homesick the only person he felt comfortable taking to was Coran, as the man would not judge him for his unusual past and current feelings.
Plus, they both missed their homes, as Lance missed earth and Coran missed Altea.

Coran was the only one that tried to understand him, and the only one that took him and his stories seriously. He was the only one that attempted to understand Lance and actually get to know him.
Their bond was stronger than any other on the team, although noone else knew about their meetings and late night talks.

As the song "El mismo sol" started playing in Lance's headphones, Allura's voice rumbled through the speakers, in urgency. "All paladins of Voltron are required to meet in Black lion's hangar immediately" she started sternly. "The paladins must come at once! This is an emergency".

Lance was sure this was just another drill, that is why he struggled to leave his room without motivation every time they had the "emergencies".
After thirty seconds of staring at the wall with half lidded eyes and emptiness, Lance stood up and stumbled out into the hallway, not thinking and not caring.

He was walking slowly, as he knew that he would never make it in time.
So instead of worrying about how much Shiro and Allura would yell at him again, he just let himself get carried away by his weak legs and thoughtless mind.

As he arrived at Black lion's hangar everyone was already present, obviously waiting for the blue paladin to show up.
As soon as he stepped into the hall, all eyes landed on Lance. Every one either had an annoyed look or a disappointed stare, and Shiro's mouth was slightly open, signalling he was about to yell at Lance again.
Lance knew that if anyone made any comments about his lateness he would break down. He felt too weak to just mask up the pain like every other time. So he closed his eyes to prevent the tears from spilling, and braced for impact.
They took one look at the blue paladin, and soon, all their faces went from fed up to disgusted and worried.

"Ewww! Dude...what's up with you? you look like a frikin' corpse" stated Pidge as she pointed at Lance's face. He let out a nervous chuckle, knowing she was making fun of his appearance.
The Cuban boy turned his head to look at his reflection through Black lion's newly polished paw.
Only then did Lance realize how messed up he actually looked. He had slept in the dirty clothes he had previously used to train, his hair hadn't been washed in six quintants (six days in altean), he had dark, prominent bags under his eyes, his face had dried tear marks staining his brown skin, and his blue eyes, once full of life and hope, were now as hollow as an empty auditorium that swoons with the echo of a distant and forgotten heat beat.

His broken laugh reverberated around the hangar. The voice that came out was hoarse as if he hadn't spoken to anyone in ages.
Hunk, Shiro and Allura seemed to be intimidated by Lance's laughing outburst, while Keith and Pidge wore a disturbed expression.

"Lance, i- have you been sleeping at all lately?" Asked Allura

Lance looked at their faces, one by one, then answered in a monotone voice "look. I'm honestly feeling fine guys...like c'mon. I don't look *that* bad! I feel fi-ine" as his voice broke he felt a pain in his chest, and before he could stop them, tears were falling from his face and onto the floor.

In a moment of surprise, all of the paladins(+Allura) just stayed still, paralyzed. Silent shock present among them.

After what seemed like a varga (altean for an hour), but was probably just a few ticks (altean for seconds), the blue paladin took off and ran out of the room with tears still falling down his face.
While trying to see through the sea of tears, he managed to make out a figure in the distance. The person seemed to be knocking on his door.
After a second glance at the tall figure, Lance realized it was Coran.

•_________________•

This is something "san-bika" stated on Tumblr and I very much agree:

"I Love Lance. But he's the only Paladin who seems to think that the team is more important than himself. Where all the Paladins seem to believe that they are uniquely meant to be on the team, Lance just doesn't seem to have that sense of place and belonging. He holds his shortcomings against himself in a way we don't see from Pidge, Hunk, Allura, Keith, or Shiro."

(925 words)