scriveyner | Voltron Legendary Defender - Shining Like the Stars [13] [Klance]

Title: shining like the stars [13]
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender
AU: slts
Characters/Pairing: Keith/Lance, Team Voltron
Rating: M
Length: 2008
Summary: Lance was having a very nice dream about cheeseburgers. Well, to be entirely accurate it was about the little no-name burger shack by the beach that made the hands-down best bacon and avocado burger he had ever had, mouth-wateringly good and he missed them so much, when his dream was very rudely interrupted by a finger poking his cheek.

Lance was having a very nice dream about cheeseburgers. Well, to be entirely accurate it was about the little no-name burger shack by the beach that made the hands-down best bacon and avocado burger he had ever had, mouth-wateringly good and he missed them so much, when his dream was very rudely interrupted by a finger poking his cheek.

He batted at the finger and tried in vain to hold on to his dream, but it was already fragmented and gone. Lance let out a loud aggrieved sigh and opened his eyes, only to find that Coran was way entirely too close in his personal space, face barely a hand's span away from Lance's own and finger out prepared to poke him again. Lance blinked once, slowly -- and then screamed.

Coran wheeled back in surprise, and Lance threw both of his hands out to shove the Altean away -- and that action caused him to flail back at the same time and crack his head into the support column he had been sleeping against. Lance leaned forward, both hands folded over his head and nursing his poor, aching cranium. "Why would you do that?" he moaned.

"The bridge is not the proper place for a sleepover!" Coran announced as he straightened, hands on his hips.

"I'm not having a sleepover," Lance yelled as he lifted his head, only to realize that Coran was not the only person on the bridge. In fact, it seemed like everyone was present -- Pidge in her favorite claimed spot, the navigator's chair; Hunk and Keith standing behind her and Shiro standing beside Allura with his arms folded. "Ugh," Lance said and rubbed his hands over his face. "What time is it?"

"You missed breakfast," Hunk called cheerfully, and Lance groaned. Then, abruptly, he remembered and flailed himself into an upright position, almost smacking the still-lingering Coran in the face with his hands.

"Has anyone else seen it?" Lance said to no one in particular, staring at the viewscreen.

"Uh," Pidge said, after a moment. "Seen ... what, Lance?"

"The light in the Galra ship!" Lance jabbed his finger at the forward viewscreen, and the dark mass of the wreck in the lower corner, a fixed distance away. "There was some glowing yellow light in there last night!"

With his back to everyone, Lance couldn't see the particular glances being exchanged, but the even longer moment of silence made him turn around, one arm still pointing at the wreck. "No one else saw it?"

"We've scanned the wreck half a dozen times by now," Allura said firmly. "There are no operational systems, and definitely no lifeforms. You must have simply dreamt it."

"I didn't dream it!" Lance said. He marched over to the viewscreen and jammed his finger in the approximate location of the light, to the best of his memory. "It was right here, it was yellow and it blinked a few times and went out!"

"Kind of like your brain," Keith muttered loud enough for Lance to hear.

Allura and Shiro exchanged looks, and Pidge leaned forward. "While there probably isn't anything operational," Pidge said, "I did want to check out the wreck before we left."

"Wait," Hunk said. "You're saying you want to visit a burned-out space-tomb?"

Pidge looked back at Hunk, as Lance and Keith said, at the same time, "Space-tomb?"

"Well, yeah," Hunk said, his eyes wide. "It's a burned-out wreck, right? It didn't get that way without a battle, and yeah the Galra have all those drones and robots but there would have been people on that ship too, so..." he covered the lower portion of his face with both hands, eyes still very wide. "Space tomb," he said in a high voice.

"What if there are space zombies," Lance said.

"Enough," Shiro said, his voice firm over Hunk's very loud whimper at the thought of space zombies. "Pidge, you're certain there aren't any operational systems on that wreck?"

Pidge immediately turned her attention to her console. "All the scans came back completely negative, and nothing seems to be..." she broke off and typed something else. "Hm."

Lance came around from in front of the viewscreen and parked himself in front of Pidge. "Hm?" Lance said. "Hm's not good. Or is it good? I guess it could be go-"

"Shut up, Lance," Pidge said.

"Did you find something?" Keith asked.

"I'm not sure." Pidge stopped typing for a moment. "Last night there was ... I don't want to call it a transmission because that wouldn't be accurate, but something came from the direction of the wreck. A few short bursts of something."

"See," Lance said. "I did see lights."

Shiro inclined his head and looked over at Allura. "What do you think, Princess: Should we check it out?"

Coran, from his station, recalibrated the viewscreen to orient on the wreckage itself and not the edge of the planet. Floating locked in its eternal orbit, a dark mass against the reddish-brown backdrop of the planet below, the wreck looked wrong, like a blank spot in the canvas. "Yes," Allura said as she stared at the form on the screen. "Any information we can gain on what has happened in the last ten thousand years would be valuable." She nodded her head decisively. "Team Voltron must investigate!"

Hunk said, loudly, "I'll stay here."

Keith patted his arm. "She said team, Hunk."

"I just don't do very well with ghosts." Hunk said as Keith steered him toward the door without looking at Shiro once.

Lance got up to follow them off the bridge, when Shiro said, "Lance? A word."

"Ooh," Pidge said as she ducked through the lift doors behind Hunk and Keith, right before they closed. "Someone's in trouble."

"A word?" Lance said, stopping abruptly. "You know what a great word is? Defenestrate. It sounds like it's so much dirtier-"

"Lance."

He stopped and raised both eyebrows as he looked at Shiro. Allura had covered her mouth with one hand and looked away, as if she was willing herself not to smile.

Shiro sighed, and unfolded his arms, planting his hands on his hips. "Will you and Keith be all right?"

There was a moment of sheer panic that overtook him – was Shiro actually asking about ... that, in front of Allura, and Coran...? Whatever that was that had passed between them over the last few days that Lance still hadn't had time to figure out, Keith in his bed and touching him and looking at him with entirely different eyes... Somehow, miracle of miracles Lance's voice didn't jump, or squeak, or break when he asked, "what is that supposed to mean?"

Shiro looked away and actually turned a little pink. "You're ... both in heat, right?"

And oh, this was worse. Lance turned red. "I've taken my suppressants, and Keith should be almost off his."

"I can still smell when you're on your suppressants." Shiro was still not looking at him, still pink in the face.

"I really didn't need to know that," Lance said. "Is that all? You just wanted to make sure me and Keith didn't start dry humping a piece of debris while wandering around, right?"

Now Shiro looked at him. "That's not what I meant at all-"

"Lance," Allura said. "That's uncalled for."

"No, it's exactly what he meant." Lance's face was still pink, but it had moved from a flush of embarrassment to one of anger. "He thinks that omegas can't help themselves and will just start fucking anything that they can while they're in heat. Just like an alpha."

"Considering the way you two behaved yesterday," Shiro said, anger building in his voice. "It's not at all out of the realm of possibility and it is something I do have to worry about."

"The only one throwing themselves at anything is Keith, throwing himself at you," Lance yelled, taking a step closer. Shiro actually growled, and the blood that was already thudding hot through Lance's veins spiked when Shiro grabbed him by the front of his pajamas and yanked him forward.

"Stop it!"

Allura's hands between them, one on Shiro's shoulder and the other on Lance's chest, shoving them apart with more power than Lance expected to feel. She placed herself bodily between them, her back mostly to Lance. "This is unacceptable behavior from paladins of Voltron, you both need to cool down immediately!"

Shiro turned away, his chest heaving, arms crossed again. He closed his eyes and a pained expression crossed his face. "I'm sorry, Lance," he said, but didn't lift his head to look past Allura at Lance.

He was dizzy and sick to his stomach and his heart was beating so loud he could barely hear Shiro speak again, or Allura as she turned to look at Lance again, her brow creased in worry. "Lance?" she asked, as he took a step back, almost stumbling over himself as he fled to the lift.

The last thing he saw as the doors to the elevator closed was Allura with her hand on Shiro's arm, but her concerned expression was directed to Lance, standing in the elevator with one hand braced against the wall and shaking.

Keith touched the wall plate outside of Lance's room, and the doors whisked open, unlocked. "Lance?" he said tentatively, into the dim room. The only lights came from along the wall, they glowed the same faint blue as their armor during the castle-ship's day cycle, and from that came enough light to see Lance sitting on the bunk, curled into a small, tight ball, a pillow clutched between his chest and his knees.

He'd left Hunk and Pidge in the ready room, waiting to board their lions and get going, and when Shiro entered, followed by Allura and still no Lance it made Keith's heart plummet. "Are you all right?" he asked into the dim room, which was a stupid question to ask, because if Lance was okay he wouldn't be hiding in the dark.

"I'm okay." His voice sounded normal, at least. Keith stood in the open doorway, hesitant. He'd woken up in this very room not very long ago, comfortable and surrounded by Lance's scent, even if Lance was no longer in the bed with him he felt warm, and safe. Keith stepped in the door and touched the wall plate, so that the door did not close behind him again.

He might not be the best and reading situations, but even Keith could tell the lie from the truth here. "You're not okay," he said, standing awkwardly.

"Then why the hell did you ask?" Lance hissed, and now there was a break in his voice. Keith could hear Lance breathing quickly, and then catching his breath and trying to force it to normal again.

"Do you want to...?" Keith trailed off. He wasn't good at talking about it.

Lance answered right away though, a sharp "no" that cut through the room like a knife.

Keith sat down on the edge of the bunk, close to Lance, but not too close. "I'm here," he offered. Lance shuffled a little and scooted to the edge of the bed to sit beside Keith, and it was still too dark to properly see Lance's face. He saw Lance set down the pillow Keith had slept on last night, then put his hands on his knees and hung his head. "We can't form Voltron without you," Keith added, and Lance let out a sharp, pained laugh.

Tentatively, Keith put his hand over Lance's on his knee. Lance inhaled once, held the breath deep and then leaned suddenly into Keith, the side of his head connecting solidly with Keith's shoulder. "If you tell anyone I was crying I'll hate you forever," Lance said.

"You already hate me," Keith said, concerned.

Lance let out another laugh, this one low and not quite as sharp-edged or bitter. "Yeah," he said, and rubbed the sleeve of his pajamas over his eyes. "Guess I do."