#robot lance

He can barely see the glowing stars stuck on the ceiling of his room through his blurry eyes, but they calm him. His arms go limp, letting his back thump against the softness of his mattress as he tries to slow his breathing.

"Shit," he mutters, throwing an arm over his eyes. His other hand runs down his side slowly and he flinches when his fingertips come into contact with the warmed metal of his leg. He quickly pulls his hand away and sits up tensely.

His eyes flash down to his left leg, covered by his blue sheets, and he feels his mind running wild again, feels his breathing picking up.

Stop it, it's okay, I'm okay.

He swings his legs over the edge of the bed and doesn't let his eyes stray downward as he stands shakily, still unbalanced from the weight added to his left side. He doesn't bother putting anything on as he exits his room, wobbling through the hallways in his black boxers.

He ignores the clanks in his leg as he walks down the hallway, not even reading the nameplates on the doors he passes as he goes; he knows which one he's looking for.

He stops in front of the door and, without a sound, his presses his hand against the scanner at its side. There's still a flare of anxiety that it'll flash red, that it'll disallow him from his sanctuary despite the many times he's done this.

He's shifted his weight from one foot to another by the time the light at the corner of the scanner flashes green and the door clicks. The door slides open almost silently and Lance steps in, pressing the button at his side that would close and lock it once more.

Groaning is the first sound he hears when the door closes, and he isn't surprised. He walks to the edge of the bed and sees in the light glow of their mechanical limbs a silver hand fisting the pillowcase near Shiro's head. There's already a tear in it, stuffing getting stuck in the crevices of Shiro's hand.

Shiro's face is stained with tears, and where there used to be panic or worry at such a sight, there is quiet acceptance and heartfelt sympathy.

Lance leans over the bed and grasps Shiro's metal hand in one of his own, placing his other on his back, gently shaking. "Shiro, Shiro wake up."

Shiro doesn't stir, but the crease on his brow gets deeper. He gives the man a sturdier shake, nearly jostling the entire bed with the roughness of the movement. "Shiro."

Shiro's body jerks awake and Lance is forced to take a few steps back as Shiro sits up at lightning speed, his back straight as a pole. Shiro's dark eyes search the room in quick flashes and when he notices Lance, he sighs and his shoulders slump a bit. "Lance."

Lance doesn't try to smile as he says, "Hey."

Shiro looks at him for a moment, his white fringe sticking to the sweat dampening his forehead. He scoots over without a word and presses a hand to his chest, steadying himself.

Lance rubs his arm before shuffling over to the bed and climbing in, a ritual by now. They don't speak as they lie down, their eyes towards the ceiling and the sounds of their breathing intermingling.

It's warm with the two of them-- warm and loud and it feels like relief.

~

Lance wakes slowly. He isn't rushed when he opens his eyes, doesn't feel the need to get up immediately. He's calm and his calm days are becoming less and less so he values it.

He feels the warm brush of skin against his arm and looks to the side, a small smile tugging the corners of his lips up. Shiro's face is lax, peaceful, but his hair has flopped into his face, tickling his nose and making it twitch.

Lance watches for a while, but Shiro doesn't stir no matter how many times his nose twitches at the intrusive, fly-away hairs.

He must be so tired, Lance thinks. His smile disappears like a wisp of smoke, turning into a gentle frown. He reaches out and displaces the white hair, not wanting it to disturb Shiro's sleep and thinking that the man could do with the extra rest.

Sometimes he wonders what he did for all of the years he slept in solitude. He shivers at the thought of having to go through something like this alone. He can't imagine staring up at the ceiling all night, nightmares coming alive when his eyes slip closed with no reprieve. Lance can go to Shiro and Shiro to Lance now, but what about before?

Lance feels guilty, to a degree. It shouldn't have taken his own tragedy for him to gain such a simple understanding about his leader-- his friend.

Lance doesn't know how long he stares, but time goes by quickly and soon Shiro's bloodshot eyes are squinting up at him. Lance can't help but smile; Shiro is like a cranky toddler in the morning and it is the single most adorable thing Lance has ever come to learn about him.

"Good morning," Lance greets with a small smile.

Shiro just continues squinting at him, then he scrunches his nose as if in distaste. He frowns in a way that bloats his cheeks and Lance wants nothing more than to squish them... so he does. Happily.

Shiro looks a mixture of irritated and confused as Lance grasps his puffed cheeks in between his palms and squeezes, forcing Shiro into making a sleepy ducky face. Shiro's eyes are glaring when Lance starts snickering, but he still looks like a tired hamster so it has no effect.

"Lance." Shiro's words are muffled and Lance's snickers become even louder because oh my god he sounds so pouty!

"Sorry, sorry," Lance apologizes through his giggles, giving the man a break and removing his hands.

Shiro just huffs and moves onto his back and reaches his arms up above his head, stretching. His body goes taut for a second and his eyes squeeze shut before he's relaxing again with a small sigh.

"Good sleep?" Lance guesses.

Shiro's eyes flicker to Lance and he gives Lance a crooked smile, "Yeah."

Lance can sympathize, he doesn't know why they even try to sleep apart anymore.

Lance moves to get out of the bed but a twinge in his thigh has him hissing. He moves the blanket away from his lap and looks down at where the prosthetic meets his skin. He rubs gently at its redness and it's warm to the touch.

Shiro sits up and looks with a frown, "You shouldn't be walking on it so much."

Lance lets Shiro get close and watches as the man gently presses the pads of his thumb into the tender flesh. "Your body has to get used to the added weight, you have to rest."

Something pangs in Lance's chest when he looks at the leg for an extended period of time. "Can't we just throw me into a healing pod for a few hours and call it a day?"

"Sorry, but the healing pods can't make you stronger, Lance," Shiro says, pulling his hands away and leaning back on his palms.

Lance eyes Shiro's bicep and gives Shiro a meaningful look, "You sure, Adonis?"

Shiro rolls his eyes and gives Lance a small push, "Get out."

"Fine, fine, I can see when I'm not wanted," Lance says with a dramatic hand to his chest. He stands and twirls with a flourish. "You bed me and then you leave me. You are a cruel man, Takashi Shirogane, a cruel, heartless man."

Lance grins, winking and sticking his tongue out when Shiro gives him an unimpressed look. "Don't worry babe, I'll be your booty call any time!"

Lance has to duck to avoid the torn pillow thrown at his head.

~

Lance has been banned from training for a while, and he hates it. He hates watching everyone work while he's forced to sit out, hates the jittery feeling he gets when he sees Keith practicing with his bayard. He hates the looks they cast him during group practice.

He wishes he could have enough self-control to keep himself from coming to every practice, but he can't, he has an innate need to feel like he's a part of something; like he still has a use despite all of his broken pieces.

Allura still hasn't really said anything to him, but sometimes he hears her talking to Coran late at night. Once their conversation was about searching for a new paladin and he's sure it wasn't the first nor the last time the topic has come up. His heart squeezes when the thinks about it, but he always moves on. If he loses Blue, he'll take it in stride.

He'll smile at the new paladin and introduce them to his beautiful girl, his faithful companion. He wonders if the new paladin will call Keith out on his terrible haircut or if they'll be the one trying Hunk's food-- if they'll be the one Shiro goes to when he has a nightmare.

In stride, Lance, in stride.

"Is your leg bothering you?"

Lance looks up and Hunk is hovering over him, hesitant and concerned.

Lance smiles, shaking his head, "Nah, it's good."

Hunk looks relieved, "That's good, do you want to try these cookies I made?"

"Are they cookie cookies or are they..." Lance makes a face, "...cookies?"

Hunk laughs, "You'll have to tell me." Lance shivers at the thought of a warm, chewy chocolate chip cookie being turned into a purple monstrosity, but he still follows Hunk.

The cookies don't exactly look appetizing, but they aren't purple and Lance sees that as a win. They're actually remarkably close to Earth's own brown-colored delights, but they're much more yellow and the chocolate chips--which he quickly surmises are not chocolate at all-- are a deep blue color.

They don't look poisonous so Lance wastes no time fitting a whole one in his mouth-- much to Hunk's horror-- and chews thoughtfully. The texture is soft, nearly reminiscent of cookies but a little spongey, and the taste...is surprising.

Lance looks at Hunk, his cheeks stuffed with space cookie, "Hunk! This is so good!"

Hunk's eyes light up. "Do they actually taste like cookies!?"

"Uh...no," Lance says flatly. When Hunk's face drops, he wraps an arm around his shoulders and grabs another cookie. "But, they kind of taste like vanilla ice cream. They're seriously good, dude."

Hunk breaks off a piece of a cookie and puts it in his mouth. After a second he smiles, nodding with an ecstatic look."You're right!"Hunk moves and grabs his notepad off of the counter to the side and picks it up, mumbling, "I might actually be able to use the recipe to make actual ice cream..." He looks up at Lance for a second. "Thanks, Lance."

"'Course," Lance says. He grabs another cookie, "I'm just gonna take this and leave you to do your culinary genius."

Hunk only hums and Lance takes that as his cue to go.

He takes a bite out of his cookie and thinks he doesn't want anyone else to take his place in the kitchen with Hunk. Not now, not ever.

~

Lance's favorite thing to do when he can't sleep is sit in one of the glass-covered pockets that are hidden in crevices dug into the sides of the ship and stare at the stars as they pass them at a snail's pace.

Tonight he sits here cross-legged in only a pair of pajama pants, the reds and whites of the stars they pass twinkling in his eyes as if they're waving off their unhurried departure.

He doesn't know how long he's been sitting here, but he thinks it's been a while because his toes are frozen and his arms are stiff as they haven't moved since he sat down.

There's a soft sound of padding feet behind him and he looks, finding Shiro standing behind him in only sweats, water dripping down his bare, scar-ravished torso. His right arm is lifted, rubbing a towel on his damp hair.

Neither of them say anything as Shiro comes to stand next to him, looking out into the vast expanse of space. The alive sound of breathing is the only one Lance can hear and, for once, the excess sound doesn't bother him in his haven.

"It's late," Shiro speaks finally, his voice soft and unobtrusive. Lance nods a bit. Not an answer to the unspoken question, he realizes, but he doesn't move to remedy his nonanswer.

After a second, Shiro drops his towel by his feet and sits by Lance with his knees up and his arms crossed over top. Lance thinks he can see a bit of gold in his eyes when the stars reflect in them.

He knows they don't need words to understand each other anymore, but he still feels a need to fill the silence. "Did you just get out of the shower?" That was stupid, of course he did.

Shiro gives him a side glance and a small, amused smile, "Yes," he says, "I wanted to train before bed."

"This late?" Lance asks, mimicking his previous question. Their eyes meet and they both know Lance isn't really looking for an answer. Lance's hand strays down to pull at his left pant leg and Shiro quietly presses an arm against his and Lance stops, letting his hand rest near Shiro's instead.

"Allura had something to talk to me about; it took longer than expected," Shiro says. Lance gives him a side glance.

He looks down at his hands and bites his lips. Hesitantly, he says, "...It's about finding a new blue paladin, isn't it? Because I haven't been able to work with the team."

Lance can't bring himself to look at Shiro, but he can feel the man's gaze on the side of his face. "Lance...what are you talking about?"

Lance's hand clenches into a fist and he still doesn't look up as he says, "I know that Allura is thinking about it. I...I can't really blame her, can I?"

"Lance," There is a hand on his shoulder and out of the corner of his eye he sees Shiro leaning into his space. "we aren't going to replace you."

Lance's lips are sealed tightly as, to his horror, tears start to leak from his eyes. "Don't sugarcoat it, Shiro, please."

"Lance...Lance look at me," Shiro forces Lance to look at him with a firm tap on the cheek. His tears come faster when he meets Shiro's painfully kind eyes, "no one is replacing you."

Lance sniffles, "Why?"

"What do you mean 'why?'  We wouldn't replace you because you can't do everything while you're still recovering. That would be ridiculous," Shiro says in a soft, convincing tone.

"Then why was Allura saying she'd look for someone to Coran? I heard it," Lance says. He wipes his eyes roughly on the back of his arm, uncaring that his skin would become sticky with tears.

"She... may have been considering it when you looked like you weren't going to recover," Shiro says slowly as if cautious, "but you are recovering."

"So she isn't looking anymore?" Lance hates how pathetic he sounds.

"No, she isn't. She wanted to ask me about integrating you back into your training regime," Shiro tells him with a gradual smile.

Allura wants him to train with them again? She doesn't want to replace him?

Lance laughs mirthlessly, "Great, now I sound like an asshole."

Shiro rests a hand on his arm, "You aren't being an asshole, Lance," he makes sure to hold onto Lance's gaze as he continues, "you just went through something traumatic and you're going through new emotions that you need time to learn how to handle. She understands. We all do and we won't ever hold it against you."

"But I'm a paladin of Voltron, what good am I if I can't handle my emotions?" Lance asks, his shoulders curling in.

"You deserve to lash out, Lance. You deserve to be upset and sad and angry, you deserve to feel what you feel and being a paladin of Voltron doesn't change that." Lance's brow furrows as he looks at Shiro helplessly.

"Did you ever go through this?" he asks.

He begins to regret his question when Shiro's eyes seem to darken and he's about to take it back when Shiro replies, "Yes. I would have hated for any of you to see me like that."

"...Was it that bad?" Lance prods gently.

Shiro's lips purse and he nods, "It wasn't pretty." Shiro heaves a hefty sigh and closes his eyes. "It wasn't pretty, but it was and is normal and I can't fault myself for it any more than you can."

Lance nods. "So I'm not being replaced?"

"No," Shiro responds patiently, letting his eyes open once more and smiling, "we're all waiting for you to get well again."

Lance gives a hard sniff. "Thank you, Shiro."

Shiro wraps an arm around his shoulders and pulls him into a one-armed hug, resting his cheek on the crown his head. "I should be the one thanking you."

"For what?"

Shiro holds him a little tighter as he says, "Everything."

And as Lance looks at the stars that zoom past the ship he thinks that this is what healing feels like.

Everything changed when they were battling the Galra, as most of their life-changing moments did. Everything had to happen with dramatic flare these days.

Being captured was high on the list of undesirable things to happen to the team. Especially when they were all together like this. They had taken Hunk and Lance first, taking the opportunity to grab Pidge while she was trying to figure out the centre’s computers. It was harder to capture Shiro and Keith but soon enough they were kneeling beside their teammates as well.

“So you are the paladins of Voltron? I have to say, I’m not very impressed,” the Galra commander smirked, his eyes drifting across their angry faces.

“Don’t underestimate us!” Keith growled, struggling against the soldier holding him. The commander let out a resounding laugh before striding forward and grabbing Lance by his hair and pulling him away from the line, to the loud disapproval of the rest of the team. He dragged him a few feet away and stood between the two groups.

“I’m giving you one chance paladins, surrender Voltron to me or I will shoot the Blue Paladin,” he threatened, pointing his gun towards Lance’s head.

“Don’t do it, guys!” Lance yelled panicked, wide eyes looking at his friends.

“Well,” the commander pushed.

“We won’t,” Shiro said sternly, trying subtly to loosen the soldier’s hold on his arms. The commander looked at him with narrowed eyes for a moment before shrugging and turning towards Lance.

“Alright,” he said calmly, his finger squeezing the trigger.

Without a sound, the laser left the muzzle of the gun, hitting Lance in the head. He slumped to the ground with an echoing thud. There wasn’t a single sound for a few moments until a horrified scream erupted from Pidge’s mouth.

They sobbed, screamed, and begged violently struggling against their guards trying to get to Lance’s side.

“Take them to the ship, we’ll see how the princess of Altea will take the news of her team’s capture and unfortunate loss,” he laughed, the soldiers nodded wrenching the distraught paladins to their feet and started dragging them towards the looming Galra warship.

“NO! LET US GO! LANCE! LAAAAANCE!” Hunk screamed, he strained towards him, only turning back in the right direction when the soldier hit him in the back of the head. Even as his vision went blurry from the hit, he looked back and his eyes widened in shock.

He was pushing himself up.

He went to shout his name with a smile but stopped when he finally got to his feet.

Half of his face was gone. Instead of the gore and blood that he expected, all he could see was gleaming metal and sparking wires.

“Lance?” He whispered, in a blink, he was behind the commander and with a single punch, he was throwing his hand straight through his back and out his chest. With a final roar from the Galra, he toppled to the ground motionless.

The rest of the soldiers’ hands dropped away from the paladins and they stared at Lance in shock. His hand slid out of the Galra’s body without a struggle. Slowly his head turned to look at the rest of the soldiers.

“Survival mode has been activated, do not engage,” his voice was distorted and emotionless, though it still clearly sounded like Lance. The metal was still sparking, and the exposed eyeball was eerily illuminating the intact part of his face. His other eye matched and, was opened wide, the normal dark blue was glowing a bright blue.

The soldiers didn’t heed his warning and one of them charged at him, gun drawn and aiming. He shot off a couple of rounds, but it didn’t phase him and instead, he stomped towards him and grabbed his throat. The soldier started struggling in pain as he started squeezing, his eye didn’t move an inch until the soldier went limp in his grasp.

He only looked away when another soldier charged at him and without warning, sliced his arm clean off letting the soldier drop to the ground unmoving. He backed away in horror when Lance only turned towards him, the new stump sparking at the same beat as his face.

It was like the soldiers were just tiny germs in his path, with only a few quick punches they were on the ground, either unconscious or dead. He looked over at the team who was still reeling in shock.

“No enemies detected,” he said before he fell to the ground, back hitting the dirt with a thud.

“Excessive damage to external and internal assets, seek immediate repairs,” he droned on, laying on his back looking up at the stars.

After Shiro was able to snap through his restraints, he went to each of them and deactivated their bindings. Together, they cautiously approached their fallen teammate.

Kneeling at his side, they carefully looked over his body and tried to figure out a way to carry him back to the Castle in his shape. He didn’t turn his head to look at them, instead, they stayed glued looking up at the night sky, filled with stars from another galaxy.

“What are you, Lance?” Pidge whispered, eyes searching his figure for any clue. At the whisper, his body seemed to shake and for the first time, the glow dimmed in his eyes, returning to the ocean blue they remembered.

“I don’t know,” was the teary reply. They went to say more but again his entire body locked up and his eyes returned to their glowing state.

“Repairs required, shutting down,” he announced before his eyes shut and his body went limp. They cast frantic looks at each other before Shiro was picking him up and they started sprinting for the Castle. As they passed the bodies of the Galra, Pidge scooped up Lance’s disembodied arm and sprinted after them.

When Lance woke up, he wasn’t exactly sure where he was or what had happened.

“Lance?” He looked over and saw Hunk standing beside his bed looking at him with concern.

“Hey, buddy!” He said cheerfully, giving him a wide smile.

“Um, do you remember what happened?” He asked nervously, wringing his hands together.

“Not really? I mean I know that we went on a mission and stuff but after that, it’s pretty blurry,” he admitted, looking around the room to see the rest of the team gathered around his bed. “Why? Did something happen?”

“Yeah, something happened,” he replied. Lane waited for him to continue but it seemed like he was having trouble getting it out. Instead, he turned to Pidge who was sitting beside Hunk on her laptop.

“Pidge?”

Her fingers stopped tapping and she glanced at him nervously. His eyes flicked between her and Hunk before straying over to Shiro and Keith who were equally as silent.

“What happened? Is there something wrong with me?” He asked frantically.

“The short answer to both of those questions is that you’re an android,” Pidge said carefully, moving her body to face Lance completely. The spoon fell from his hand, clanking off the tray and landing on the floor beside the bed. His eyes were wide in shock before he burst out into laughter, clapping his hand on his leg.

“That’s a good one Pidge, you almost had me,” he chuckled, wiping a fake tear from under his eye. He glanced around but no one else was laughing, instead, they were looking down at the ground. “Pidge?”

“I know that’s a joke that I would make but it’s not Lance,” she insisted with a frown. His eyes darted from her to the rest of the group, quietly begging for one of them to crack a smile, but none of them did.

“But, robotics aren’t this far advanced, it would be in the news, it would be everywhere on Earth,” he argued, gesturing wildly with his hands. “Unless…I’m not from Earth?” he asked with a wince but Pidge only shook her head at him.

“Your programming is all in English and Spanish, you were made on Earth and we think we know why nobody knew about such an advanced robot,” she said, moving to her computer set up. He ignored the programming part and tried to focus on the information she was giving to him.

“Your creators; Rosa and Cortez McClain,”

His stomach dropped.

“Everything is in your main database; their research journals, their processes, everything that was needed to keep you running, they even included where you live,”

“Mom and dad?” He whispered weakly. “This can’t be true Pidge, it can’t! I remember being a little kid, I remember growing up!” He was tearing up in a panic, grasping at straws that were quickly being pulled away.

“In their journals, they talked about a fatal incident,” Pidge tried, looking at her screen quickly.

“The car accident,” he clarified without missing a beat. It was always stuck in the back of his mind like a looming shadow.

“I shouldn’t have survived it, I-I didn’t survive it. Lance didn’t survive it,” he corrected himself. His hands clenched at his sides, shaking slightly.

“Lance,” Hunk tried, moving forward to put a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t call me that,” he said weakly, brushing away the gentle touch.

“What?”

“I SAID DON’T CALL ME THAT! I’M NOT LANCE! I’VE NEVER BEEN LANCE!” He cried, eyes wide and filled with tears as he yelled at Hunk. With a gasping breath, he burst into sobs and hunched over, hiding his face in his hands. Hunk’s hand went to his back, gently rubbing up and down. As much as he wanted to wallow in his newfound misery, he was calming under the motions.

“What do you mean you’ve never been Lance?” Shiro asked calmly, coming to his other side and laying a hand on Lance’s shoulder. He gasped in an uneven breath, and tears rolled down his cheeks.

“The real Lance died in a car accident, I’m just someone-something that looks like him and has his memories,” he explained carefully. “I-I just feel like such an imposter,” he burst out with another sob. “This wasn’t the life that I was supposed to live, this is the life that Lance was supposed to live and I’m here instead,”

“We’ve never met the other Lance, we didn’t get to know him,” Keith said, finally stepping forward to stand beside Shiro. “We’re your friends, not his,”

“But if he was still alive, you probably would have been his friends,” he argued.

“But that’s not what happened! It’s unfortunate what happened, but this is the outcome and you’re our family Lance, we care about you,” Hunk broke in, startling Lance. He watched him with wide eyes.

“Family…” he trailed off suddenly in thought. Emotions raced across his face before settling on devastation.

“Lance, it’s pretty clear that your family loves you if they were willing to go this far to keep you with them,” Pidge reminded him, before patting him on the arm.

“You don’t understand,” he stated mournfully, turning to look at her with new tears streaked down his cheek. “I was made to be a replacement, what if I get back and they’ve just made another one of me?”

They sucked in a quick breath at the question. They were noticeably hesitant to answer if they had already replaced Lance once, what was stopping them from doing it again?

“Then fuck them,” Keith finally said. Their heads snapped over to look at him with shocked faces.

“Keith?”

“Seriously, fuck them. They shouldn’t doubt that you’re alive; when Shiro went missing, I never gave up hope that he was alive. The same with Pidge, and now she has proof that Matt is alive,” he said gesturing first at Shiro, then a beaming Pidge.

“Sure, the Garrison can lie but what acceptable thing can they come up with? ‘Three teens go missing during a lockdown?’ My dad is gullible but even he would know that something is up,” Hunk said with a smile, which Lance tentatively returned.

“I’m apologizing in advance for the shit that I’m going to go through in the next little bit,” he said quietly, a frown sliding across his face again. They huffed good-naturedly before wrapping him in a group hug.

“Don’t worry Lance, you’re only human,” Shiro soothed. Immediately, his mood plummeted again and he sagged a bit in their arms.

“But am I?” he asked quietly. The arms tightened around him.

“Of course you are, it doesn’t matter what you’re made up of,” Pidge said, squeezing him as much as she could. “You laugh,”

No matter where they were, no matter what was happening, Lance could always make light of the situation. When she felt down, a mischievous smile in her direction had her perking up, waiting for what Lance was going to do. Maybe he’d throw in a joke, or pull off a prank, most of the time he would stand there laughing at himself if the joke fell flat. She could see that sometimes, he would joke more for their sake.

“You cry,” Hunk added.

Days and nights spent in the kitchen, with Lance sobbing over a mug of watery space cocoa. Arms squeezing around his body trying to take as much comfort as Hunk could bear to give. When it came to Lance, he could take it all if he wanted. The nights in the kitchen came more and more often the longer they cruised through space, the possibility of returning home growing lower as the days passed. He could only let out his emotions at this time of night when no one else was around and only trusted his best friend to stick it out with him.

“You get scared,” Keith said softly.

Lance wanted to be brave and he pulled it off well, but if you looked close enough, you could always see his hands shaking before every mission. You could see the hesitance in his eyes during a mission planning. He would look off to the side to avoid eye contact during practices when he was facing off with Keith, Shiro, or Allura. They were all scared and they knew they were all scared, but Lance was a lot better at hiding it.

“You care, Lance,” Shiro finished, brushing his fingers through Lance’s hair.

Every planet, every inhabitant got Lance’s full respect. When he was there to save somebody, he was in 100%. It didn’t matter if they were rude to him during a meeting, if they were in trouble, he would lay his life on the line for them. He tried to hide what hurt him to keep the team happy, he did whatever he could to present his best self so they didn’t have to worry.

“You’re you,”

“Thank you,” he whimpered, leaning into the hugs a little bit more. A wobbling smile was on his face and happy tears were rolling down his face.

“You don’t have to thank us for this Lance, we’re always going to be here for you no matter what you think of yourself,” Hunk said with a grateful smile.

Lance just let himself be for a few minutes. Just let himself feel the warmth radiating off of his family.

“You know,” Hunk suddenly sighed. “I love how you haven’t noticed that you’re missing an arm,”

“WHAT!” He yelped, flinging everyone off of him to look down at his arms. One was the familiar brown he had always been used to while the other was a sleek white and black metal. When he flexed his fingers, the joints lit up with a blue light. He looked up at Hunk with wide eyes.

“I don’t know how much of the fight you actually remember but we were able to transfer some of the “skin” on your arm to fix your face. Turns out that Alteans do not take cosmetic surgery lightly, so it’s nice and even too!” Hunk said, holding up a mirror for Lance to look in. Apparently, he was right because he saw the exact same face he always had.

“Your arm was completely useless though, so we made you a new one,” Pidge preened, scooting up to run her fingers up and down the arm.

“Okay, I guess that’s kind of cool,” he admitted, bringing it up to examine it more closely.

“Great, now would you like the bad news or good news first?” Hunk asked cheerfully despite what he said. Lance looked at him with a deadpanned expression before he let out a heavy sigh.

“Well, it can’t be any worse than any of the other news today, bad first,” he chose, looking back down to the arm.

“Okay, well, we aren’t exactly sure how Altean tech will work with yours, so we’re going to have to monitor you for a while,” Pidge said with a bit of a shrug. “We haven’t fully activated it so there won’t be much damage if there is a problem,”

“Okay, that doesn’t sound too bad, the good news?” He asked looking up at Hunk who was fully smiling.

“Shiro,” he said instead. Lance blinked in confusion looking over at their leader instead.

“We’re twining!” He exclaimed, batting at Lance’s new hand with his own metal one.

“Oh my god, that literally just made my day,” he laughed, as he leaned over to Shiro and gave him a one-armed hug.