Lance knew he was the weak link, and couldn’t stop thinking about it, especially after what happened during the mission a week prior. He messed up and it could have killed someone. Thankfully, they got the information they needed and everyone got out with no more than a few scrapes and bruises. The angry scolding from Keith and Allura hurt, but the disappointed look he saw on Shiro’s face was what really got to him.

Shiro and Lance had been together for a while now, and their relationship was going very well. But the uncomfortable tension between them since that mission was upsetting. They hadn’t talked much since then, but that also could have been due to their busy schedule as paladins.

Maybe Lance was overthinking all of this. Maybe the lack of sleep was getting to him. Or maybe it was the fact that he was starting to feel under the weather.

He couldn’t sleep well that night after the mission, and instead decided to get some training in. “Some training” ended up being five hours, almost to the point of passing out on the training room floor. Lance thought he would sleep better the next night from the exhaustion of all of that training. However, as always, the universe was out to get him and he ended up training the next night as well. And the next. And the one after that.

Basically, he had only gotten about two hours of sleep each night for the past week, which probably explained why he was so tired during the day. Lance knew this was bad for his body, but he was the weak link. He needed the extra training so he could be useful to the team. Pidge, Hunk, and Coran were incredibly smart, Allura and Shiro had amazing leadership and planning skills, and Keith was a talented fighter. Lance didn’t have any special skills like the rest of them, he was only there to pilot Blue.

“Lance!”

His head shot up and realized everyone was staring at him.

Allura approached him with a furious look, and stopped mere inches in front of him. “Have you been listening to any of this? Do you even care about being a paladin?”

Lance’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “Of course I care.”

Keith then stepped forward next to Allura. “Then why did you look like you were about to fall asleep? Are we boring you?”

“No, I’m just tired.” Lance mumbled. He was already feeling irritable, and a second scolding from Allura and Keith in the same week was definitely not helping his mood.

Before anyone could say another word, Shiro stepped in front of Lance and took control of the situation. “That’s enough. We’re all worn out from these constant missions, so why don’t we take the rest of today to get some rest?”

Allura looked as if she was going to argue, but instead sighed and left the room without another word. The other began filing out afterward, slow and sluggish in their movements. Shiro was right, they all needed a break.

Lance silently made his way to the training room, despite what Shiro said about all of them taking the day to rest. He didn’t deserve to rest, he needed to be a better paladin.

Lance hadn’t even gotten through halfway through the first practice level before he heard someone call out “end training sequence!” He turned to the door and saw Shiro walking towards him with a concerned expression.

“What the hell, Shiro? Why’d you stop it?” Lance bit out. He regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth, feeling guilty at seeing the surprised and hurt look on Shiro’s face.

“Lance, we seriously need to talk.”

Lance froze, afraid of what was going to come next. Was Shiro going to break up with him? Kick him off the team? He felt himself fall forward to the ground, and then everything went black.

---

Lance woke up feeling refreshed and in a much better mood. He yawned as he sat up, stretching his arms over his head.

“Hey there, sleepy head.” Lance turned and saw Shiro sitting beside his bed with a teasing smirk, holding a tablet in his hands. He must have been looking over information for the next mission.

“Hey, what are you-” It was then that everything came back to him. Lance groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Shiro, I’m really sorry. I was being such an ass earlier and-”

“Lance.” Shiro interrupted. “It’s okay, really. I understand what was going on with you now.”

“You do?”

Shiro turned the tablet for Lance to see. It was displaying his training log for the past week. “You’ve been working so hard, Lance. This shows how much you’ve improved and I am so proud of you for it.”

“Really?” Lance asked, embarrassed from the praise.

“Of course. But you overworked yourself to the point of collapsing. You trained so long every night, and it’s obvious now how little sleep you’ve been getting.”

Lance looked back down to his hands in his lap. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to be a better paladin, to catch up to all of you.”

Shiro frowned at that. “Lance, what are you talking about? Why do you think you need to catch up?”

“Because all of you are obviously better than me. You all have these unique, helpful skills you can contribute and I… I have nothing.”

Shiro moved to sit on the bed next to Lance and wrapped him in a tight hug, stroking his hair and peppering kisses to the top of his head. “No, baby, you are so important to this team. I don’t know where you got the idea that you aren’t helpful, but it’s not true. You are so talented with your sniping, it’s because of you that we’ve gotten out of some dangerous situations.”

Lance shook his head. “But I really messed up during the last mission. It was my fault that someone could have been hurt.”

“Lance, everybody makes mistakes. Keith and Allura were too harsh on you and I talked to them about it already. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about it too, but we’ve been so busy. I’m sorry, Lance, I really should have gone to you sooner.”

Lance sighed. “It’s okay. Thank you, Kashi.”

Shiro smiled, a fond look in his eyes at the nickname.”Now, how about you and I spend the rest of the day relaxing together?”

Lance nodded. “That would be nice.”

“On one condition, that is. You have to actually get a reasonable amount of sleep tonight. No training.”

Lance hummed in thought and smirked. “I don’t know… I think the only way I’d be able to do that is if I slept next to someone.”

It was that time of the year again, when the air got colder and snow began to fall and everybody seemed to get just a bit more cheerful. It was almost perfect. Almost, as Lance would be going through yet another Christmas without a romantic partner to snuggle with by the fire.

Lance sighed as he pulled his navy blue winter coat on. He was heading out to spend time with his friends - Pidge, Keith, Allura, Coran, Hunk, and Shiro. They would all be going to their town’s winter festival together, and Lance knew that would cheer him up and distract him from his lonely thoughts. At least he still had friends to celebrate the holiday season with.

When he arrived at their meeting spot near the entrance, everyone else was already there. “Ah what a surprise, Lance is late.” Keith teased.

“Typical Lance.” Pidge added.

Lance let out a sharp, exaggerated gasp and clutched at the fabric of his coat over his chest dramatically. “I’m wounded, truly wounded.” They all laughed at his usual silly behavior they all knew and loved, some rolling their eyes fondly.

“Alright guys, it’s time to get this fun started!” Hunk announced, turning toward the entrance, the others following behind him.

Before he started to walk with them, Lance felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Shiro smirking down at him. “Don’t worry, I only got here just a minute before you did. You’re not the only one who was late.” Shiro ruffled his hair affectionately before making his way to catch up to the others. Lance couldn’t help but notice the way his heart started to beat just a bit faster, as it always did around Shiro.

The two were utterly, infuriatingly oblivious to it, but they were pining for one another. Everyone else in the group knew it, and had a plan set in motion to get them alone together that night. Lance and Shiro wouldn’t see it coming.

They had a long day of games, food, and rides. At one point, Shiro even won a stuffed lion and gave it to Lance. Although Lance thought it was a bit strange that Shiro picked the blue lion, Lance’s favorite color, rather than the black lion, which was Shiro’s favorite. He thought that maybe Shiro was only playing just to win it for him, but shook that idea away as quickly as it had come. There’s no way he would do that… right?

The group seemed to be running low on energy, now chatting quietly to one another as they walked through the stalls set up by local artists. Lance could tell their lively night of fun and games would soon be coming to a close.

“Hey,” Allura spoke up suddenly, grabbing everyone’s attention, “I heard there’s a hedge maze nearby, we should go through there to end off our night.” she suggested.

“Yes, I hear it’s lovely this time of the year.” Coran added.

Shiro nodded his head in agreement. “That sounds like a good idea, let’s go.”

Allura lead the way, and when they got there everyone stopped outside of the entrance. “After you.” Allura stepped off to the side, the others behind her, and gestured for Shiro and Lance to walk in ahead of the rest of them.

Lance’s brow furrowed and he pulled Hunk roughly to the side, while Allura was talking to Shiro about the supposed history of the maze, which he assumed was at least half made-up. “Dude!” he whispered sharply, “this is so obviously a set-up of some kind, what are you guys planning?”

Hunk looked guilty but tried to hide it, to no avail, Lance knew something was up. “It’s nothing really! We’re all just going to have a nice walk through the maze, that’s it!”

Lance crosses his arms and huffed. “Sure.” he said, unbelieving.

“Just trust me, it’s gonna be fine.” Hunk gave him a reassuring smile and turned back to the rest of the group, dragging Lance with him.

Somehow Lance and Shiro ended up walking together in front of the rest of the group, and he has suspicion that it wasn’t simply mere coincidence. He tried to enjoy the maze for now though, despite his worry. He had never been a fan of the cold, growing up near warm beaches in his childhood. But he had to admit, the dimmed Christmas lights were pretty and the serenity of it all was mesmerizing.

Lance assumed they had been in the maze for about ten minutes, by the time he realized something was off. He stopped in his tracks, looked behind him, and frowned. “Seriously?”

Shiro turned to see what Lance had found, the empty trail behind them where their friends had been mere minutes before. “Where did they go? Do you think they got lost?” Shiro wondered.

“No, actually I think they’re up to something.” Lance mumbled.

“Ah yeah, I knew they were acting kind of suspicious.” Shiro sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t know what’s going on with them, but let’s just enjoy the maze for now, okay?”

“Fine.” Lance mumbled, “I’ll enjoy it but I won’t like it.”

Shiro let out a laugh at that, and it warmed Lance’s heart to see and hear such a beautiful thing. He shook his head at his thoughts and continued forward. He was so distracted thinking about this situation, about the others leaving them alone because Hunk knew about Lance’s feelings for Shiro so of course they all set him up, that he hadn’t even realized there was a large root sticking out from the ground on the path in front of him. Lance’s left foot came into contact with it and was bent painfully as he fell forward into the freezing snow. He hissed in pain as he turned onto his back and pulled his leg up to his chest, cradling it. It hurt, and he knew it was at least sprained. He must have looked like such an idiot right now.

“Lance! Are you okay?” Shiro knelt down by his side and pulled The leg of Lance’s pants up to check the injured ankle. “Okay, So I’m guessing this hurts.” he said, cringing at the sight of the already bruising foot.

“Does it really look that bad?” Lance asked, sitting up carefully to get a better look at it. He winced when his leg moved, hissing in pain.

“Here, do you think you can get on my back so I can carry you?” Shiro offered, turning his back to Lance.

Lance rolled his eyes and cursed this awkward situation. “Yeah, hold on.” He struggled to crawl over, but was able to make it without moving his leg too much. “Alright, I’m ready.”

Shiro stood up slowly, careful not to jostle Lance’s body too much, and gripped the undersides of Lance’s legs to keep him steady. “Ready?”

“Yeah. Thanks Shiro.” Shiro turned around and made his way back the way they came. Lance rested his forehead against Shiro’s back, cursing in his mind at the heat rising to his cheeks. He was embarrassed. And, of course, in his typical Lance way of doing things, he started talking to distract himself from the awkwardness of the situation. “So you’re like my hero now, huh.”

Shiro scoffed, but Lance could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke, “I wouldn’t say ‘hero’, I’m just carrying you back.”

“Exactly! You’re the only one of our friends who didn’t abandon me in my time of need. Also you’re strong enough to carry me this whole way, you are definitely a hero!”

Shiro laughed. “I guess.”

“You are. Also you’re still helping me even though I was a complete dumbass and got us stuck in this mess in the first place. So I definitely owe you.”

“Lance, you’re not a dumbass just because you tripped.”

“But I should’ve noticed it!”

Shiro was quiet for a moment. “Lance, you said you owe me for this, right?”

“Yes, why?”

“Then pay me back by not talking badly of yourself anymore. You deserve better.”

Lance felt heat rise to his cheeks. And he swore he could see the tips of Shiro’s ears turn a bit pinker, but maybe it was just the cold air causing them to change color.

“Thank you.” Lance mumbled, a tingly feeling in his chest that wouldn’t go away.

“Anything for you, Lance.” The rest of their walk was spent in comfortable silence.

By the time they got back to the entrance, the others were all waiting for them. “Wow. I expected hand-holding, not for Shiro to be carrying you. But congrats to the happy couple I guess.” Pidge mused.

“Uhh… happy couple?” Lance asked.

“Didn’t you two read the note?” Coran asked.

“What?” Shiro asked, confused.

They all stood there in silence for a moment before Hunk explained. “The note we left you at the romantic bench in the middle of the maze, didn’t you see it?”

“We never made it to the center. Lance tripped and sprained his ankle so I carried him back.”

“Uh… what did the note say?” Lance asked.

“That doesn’t matter now!” Allura cut in. “What matters is that Shiro saved your life and it’s time for him to kiss the damsel in distress!”

“What?!” Lance shrieked.

Keith stepped forward then. “Shiro, Lance likes you. Lance, Shiro likes you. I can’t make it any more obvious, just date already.”

“Keith, blunt as always.” Pidge murmured.

Shiro laughed after a moment, “Well this certainly clears a few things up. Now let’s get you a first aid kit, damsel.”