Gone and Mute

Chapter 7

Keith was silent as he pulled his helmet off. Him and the other Paladins walked towards the bridge. Allura had a slight skip in her step, but Hunk and Keith hung behind the group, a heavy weight seeming to weigh on their shoulders.

The doors slid open with a hiss and Coran looked over from where he was standing at the panel. His arms were folded and he looked... unhappy. Not disappointed, per se, but he wasn't pleased.

Allura's bright beam fell slightly when this was the sight they came upon. "Coran? Is something the matter?"

"Yes, Allura, as a matter of fact there is." His voice betrayed his eyes. He was very disappointed, and maybe even a little ticked.

Allura blinked at Coran's forwardness, but murmured a soft, "yes, continue" as she moved to take up her position in the center of the room.

"Is what you all said back there true?"

"Huh?" Hunk looked up. Pidge was starting to settle into her chair when she stopped, looking up at the rest of the group.

"About being able to run better without Lance."

Silence.

"I don't think it was true," Hunk muttered.

"And yet, you agreed that Allura was a better soldier than him," Keith countered before Coran could say anything about it, earning him a couple looks of surprise and one of admiration.

Hunk seemed to fold in on himself, and he looked away.

"Yes, Coran, it was," Shrio answered after another silence. "Lance is a weak link in our bond and I'm pretty sure he knows it, which only means he knows he needs to improve."

"Shiro is right," Allura decided. "Competition will only drive Lance to try and succeed."

"You're trying to compete with Lance for the bond with the Blue Lion," Coran asked incredulously, causing Allura to back off.

"This isn't right," Keith said after a moment.

"I agree," Coran said lowly. "I understand that Lance needs to learn to improve, but this clearly isn't effective."

"What?" Shiro looked at him. "Why?"

Coran spread his hands. "Where is Lance?"

They glanced around the room.

"He left crying after hearing what you had to say about him."

A heavy silence. Coran turned back to the dashboard, typing angrily.

"Do you know where Lance is?" Pidge finally asked from where she was sitting, looking deep in thought.

"I'll go find him," Keith said before anyone else could offer, and turned to leave, only catching the last bit of the conversation as he did so.

"Coran, why don't you and Hunk and I go try and fix the pods? It's the most we can do for Lance right now, since we can't exactly talk things out."

There were murmurs of agreement before the door closed behind Keith.

Lance listened. All he could do was listen, since he couldn't fill the silence. He listened to the electricity hum away in the walls of the castle. He listened to the lions dock in the bays. He listened to the tap of Keith's boots as he approached the door, and the rapping of his knuckles against the metal door.

He looked up as Keith let himself in. Lance was still sat against the wall, and didn't seem too keen on moving any time soon. Keith didn't say anything about it. The doors slid shut behind the Red Paladin and he sat down beside Lance looked back at the wall opposite him, avoiding Keith's attempts at eye contact.

"I brought a pencil and paper," Keith said, setting it on the floor between their legs. Lance looked down at the paper for a moment before looking back at the wall. Keith watched for a moment before reaching out and gently setting a hand over Lance's, which were wrapped around his knees. Lance flinched a bit at the sudden contact and looked over at Keith with wide and slightly surprised eyes. Keith blinked at the reaction and started to pull away, but Lance quickly reached out and grabbed his hand again. Keith watched as Lance had trouble swallowing before lacing his fingers between Keith's and letting their hands rest on the floor.

"Lance, is everything alright?" Keith reached up with his free hand and ran his fingers through Lance's hair, pushing it away from his eyes so Lance could look up at him with knotted brows. After a moment of silence, Lance shook his head, causing the aforementioned locks to fall back into his face.

"Was it something I did?" Keith asked in a hushed voice. The last thing he wanted was Lance tearing himself apart because Keith did something stupid- again. It hurt him enough the first time and he didn't want it to happen again.

Keith had been so lost in thought about how his previous actions caused him to land here, comforting Lance, that he hadn't realized Lance's hand had pulled away from his. His gaze jerked to where Lance had picked up the pencil and was writing, in loopy but graceful handwriting, 'you didn't do anything wrong'.

Keith's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't quite understand why, but knowing that Lance wasn't mad at him- not right now, at least- was comforting.

"Do you want to try and... 'talk' it out?" He put air quotes around talk- whether it was because Lance couldn't talk, or because Keith sucked at it, it was hard to tell. Whether it was one or the other, or a combination of both, it earned a slight chuckle from Lance, and the corner of Keith's mouth twitched upwards into a faint smile.

Lance leaned forward and set his forehead on Keith's shoulder at an angle that still allowed him to see his writing, his faint grin fading quickly as he wrote 'just thinking about it hurts' on the paper.

Keith's small smile faded as well, and he moved his arm around Lance's back. "That's okay. Maybe we can try again later, okay?"

Lance nodded slowly, tapping the eraser of the pencil on the floor.