Chapter Text
Lance has a bitter taste in his mouth. Nightmares with Keith. Again.
The nightmares would not leave him, no matter what the prince tried and it was getting exhausting. He stills has his eyes closed, not quiet awake, but not sleeping either. But too tired to try to open his eyes. Until the loud noise of banging pots and pans alarmed Lance enough for him to jump off his bed, wheezing - his breathing irregular. “What’s happening?” The prince demands frightened, before running into his desk, too confused from his sleep about his surroundings.
Lance scratches his eyes, trying to clear his vision before opening his door. He runs to the bridge, worried about an emergency, only to find Coran banging pots next to a microphone - which would explain why the sound was so clear everywhere in the castle. “Oi! Coran, my dude, what the heck?!” Lance raises his voice, trying to compete with the pans. When the ginger turns around to look at him, he has an amused smile, which makes a scowl appear on Lance’s face.
“Evil never sleeps and neither should you.” Coran sings. If it weren’t for the other paladins’ arrival, Lance might have jumped on him. The others are as accelerated as Lance is, asking one question after the other, all to be interrupted by Coran raising his hand in a sign of stop. “I thought it would be prudent to wake you up in order for us to rehearse our best behavior and a few choreographies for today’s party.”
They all grumble in unison.
“I almost forgot your hair is white like Allura’s.” Pidge says a second later, raspy voice from sleep.
“What?” Lance asks dumbly. He takes a second to realize what they meant by it before trying to find somewhere to look at his reflection. He then notices that his hair went back to white, result from being caught by surprise. It’s actually a habit of his: anytime he is surprised, he loses control over his shapeshifting. “Oh, yeah.” He agrees, low voice, almost a whisper. Lance sighs, squinting his eyes, concentrating into changing his hair back to its daily color.
Lance stares at his own reflection, his fingers running on his scalp, trying to calm down his messy hair from training. “I just think I would rock as a brunette.” He mumbles, not paying much attention to anything, just trying to start conversation.
Both of them had been quiet, distracted with their own things.
“Huh.” Keith gives a thought, closing his book. He then stares at Lance’s reflection for a second. “There’s a store that I know. I’m gonna get the paint.” He announces standing up.
“Keith,” Lance calls with a chuckle before the Galra can go out the door, “I was kidding.”
He stops, his shoulders relaxing. “Oh.” Is the only thing to leave his mouth.
Something inside the prince feels uncomfortable with the trouble Keith was willing to go through all because of his comment. “You know what?” He asks. “Life is short, why not?” Lance closes his eyes, concentrating. His hair starting to slowly change its color from its root to the very end. He opens them to find a brunette version of himself in front of the mirror.
The prince turns around to stare at Keith, in a silent question of ‘how do I look?’.
“You look perfect.” He doesn’t miss a beat. “I mean... uh-“
“I loved it!” Lance is able to admit, even exclaim.
“Yeah, it suits you.” Keith agrees with a tiny smile.
The team is looking at their sharpest, with best clothing and great manners at the ball in their celebration. Pidge and Coran are discussing the architecture of the palace with the guest, Hunk is chatting with the staff making them seem a little more comfortable and not so stiff, and Lance is laughing at his sister as Allura has to dance with the Emperor, who does not have any dance skills whatsoever.
But most of all, Lance is occupying himself at the party with flirting - which is probably his favorite thing to do. Flirting, dazzling, charming everyone around to get a smile and an easy going conversation. He’s talking to a girl who giggles at his jokes and looks at him with interest.
But then, right in the middle of the crowd, Lance’s eyes finds raven hair and red clothing, and his heart stops for a moment too long for his anatomy. “No way.” He says under his breath. “Uh, could you excuse me for a moment? I need to talk to my teammate. You know, paladin stuff.” Lance shots a smile at her before leaving with large steps to find reinforcements. “Hunk, you’re not going to believe this.” He calls, poking the yellow paladin’s back.
“What is it?” Hunk asks absently, distracted with tasting the appetizers.
“ Who is it.” Lance corrects, bitter taste in his mouth. He’s trying his best to not lose him out of sight. “I can’t believe his audacity.”
“Whose?”
“ Keith .”
“Keith is here?” Hunk yelps.
Lance hushes him. “We can’t raise suspicion.” He squints his eyes. “But yeah, it’s him.”
“Where is he? I don’t see him.” Hunk moves his head, scanning the room.
“That one, by the corner.” Lance points.
“Are you sure it’s him?”
“I would recognize that mullet anywhere.” He grumbles. “I’m going to go there and confront him.”
“I don’t think that’s the best... and he went there anyway.” The prince can hear Hunk’s voice behind his back, disappearing into the music.
“Enjoying the party?” Lance calls.
The raven haired boy looks at him by the corner of his eyes, a smile threatening to appear. “It’s alright.” He shrugs, distracted.
“New form? I didn’t think you were the type to care about your looks.”
“Calling me ugly?” He asks frowning, but refusing to look at the prince.
“Calling you careless, pretty boy.” Lance crosses his arms against his chest, cocking his hips to the side.
Keith chuckles as he turns to stare at him. Finally. “New earrings?” He asks, getting a little closer to examine it, touching it lightly with one of his hands. His smile fades away, being replaced by a serious facet.
“Yeah, Hunk gave them to me.” Lance refuses to flinch.
Keith stays quiet for a moment. He clicks his tongue. “Is he your new me?” He asks sounding a little too serious, voice too deep, not taking his hands and eyes from the earring. The question catches Lance off guard, his eyes going a little wide. “Not gonna lie, it’s cute. It matches your eyes.”
Lance has to blink a few times to get back on track. He laughs nasally. After the shock, the prince raises an eyebrow. “What is it, Keith? Jealous ?”
“Of what?” He moves his hands from Lance’s ear to his chin, lifting it a little with his claw, forcing the prince to look at him in the eye. “Your stupid vanity that doesn’t let you think about the possibility of you losing an ear during battle because of that thing?”
“Careful, Keith. Or I might start believing you care about me.” Lance opens a grin, annoyingly so. “But that excuse seems like a cover up for your jealousy, if you ask me.”
“I’m not jealous.” Keith says taking his hand away from the prince’s face, placing it behind his back with his other hand in a perfect soldier posture.
“Of course you’re not, Keith. Of course you’re not. Why would you be?” Lance chuckles. “There’s no one to be jealous of.”
“Your highness-“ He starts in a warning tone, but Lance is faster and interrupts him.
“Now, if you excuse me, but I have a party to attend to.”
“Back to that girl, I suppose.” Keith raises his own chin, looking down on him. “She’s your type.” He mocks. But it only confirms that he was paying as much attention to Lance as he was to Keith.
“See ya, Keith.”
Lance is not naive. He doesn’t lose Keith out of sight. He even warns the others of his locations and they all keep an eye on him from afar, trying not to alarm anyone. They couldn’t act yet. That ball was extremely important for them to destroy. They were in a silent agreement of ‘I will only attack if you do.’ A dangerous dance of cat and mouse.
But Lance still enjoys himself as much as he can. He would love for just once go to a planet who is willing to not kill him or his friends, and he will take his chance if he can.
The prince did go back to the girl. They resume their conversation from where they left, they keep laughing, they share a dance or two. But his eyes never miss Keith in the crowd and, Lance would never admit this, but sometimes he would let a smug grin appear on his face as he would stare at the Galra soldier, provokingly so. Lance did not know why he was doing it, but it was stronger than him. The annoyed look on Keith made it even better.
Myrae, the girl, and him finish the dance with a kiss on the cheeks. Her eyes glow in excitement, showing how much fun she’s having. And Lance would never deny he was also having the time of his life - or something Earthlings would say. “Do you want something? A drink?” He asks, white teeth, shining even, showing.
She agrees to it and he leaves gracefully. From afar he see Allura and he signs her a thumbs up, commemorating. She just rolls her eyes in response, but he pays her no mind.
Lance looks behind just to check on her before grabbing the glasses. He realizes with horror that the girl disappeared - since he can’t find her anywhere. And even worst, Keith seems happy with himself, smirking as he leans against the pilar.
Lance grunts, closing his fists as he walks decidedly in his direction once again, taking him by his arm. He drags a grumpy Keith through the halls until they stop at the farthest room from the party, at the end of the corridor. “You’re so possessive it astounds me.” He says, letting go of the Galra boy. Lance crosses his arms giving him a dirty look.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He says, adjusting his suit. “And I’m not jealous, I already told you.”
“Somehow I'm struggling to believe that.” Lance throws his hands in the air exasperated. “If you're not jealous, then why did you get rid of her when she kissed my cheek, Keith? I turn around for just one tick and suddenly she’s nowhere to be seen. Where is she?”
“I didn’t do anything. She just casually decided that she wanted to go home early.” Keith shrugs.
“What did you do? Did you hurt her?” Lance asks grinding his teeth.
“I already told you: nothing.” He insists.
The prince pinches the bridge of his nose, grumbling. He sighs, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opens them, he has a sarcastic smile on his face. “You know,” he starts, getting a little closer as he lays a hand on his hip, “if you want my attention so badly, all you have to do is ask.”
“Why would I want that?” Keith squints his eyes.
“You tell me.”
“I don’t want it.”
“Oh, my mistake,” he says in a sarcastic tone, “I just thought you were taking care of me.” Lance teases.
“Whoever gave you that idea must have been a fool.”
Lance rolls his eyes. “Then you’re a fool.” He says simply, before offering his hand. “ Care to join me in a dance?” A know-it-all smile appearing, as if he had the upper hand.
Keith eyes him for a second, before slowly taking it, not sure if he can trust Lance. The prince takes him to the middle of the room, the two of them alone, as the muffled music starts playing.
“I see you’ve learned how to lead.” Lance says, whispering, voice softening.
“I figured that if you could do it, it shouldn’t be that hard.” Keith answers, corresponding to the same tone as the prince.
He opens a little smirk. “Ouch. Still bitter from that girl?”
“You’re so full of yourself.” Keith rolls his eyes.
“And you’re still fond of me.”
“I am not.” He groans, almost showing his fangs.
“Whatever makes you feel better, dearest.”
They fall in a comfortable silence, slow dancing trying to correctly follow the music in the other room. After a few steps, they start to improvise as they silently agree that no one is watching, so what’s the point of being so formal?
Keith pulls Lance a little closer, touching their middles. The prince opens a fond smile as he starts humming a melody close enough to the music they should be following, and Keith prefers Lance’s version. They swing and rotate the room in a intimate and private moment, in their own dance.
“You’ve never looked at me like that before.” Lance is the first to break their comfortable almost-silence. His eyes are earnest and his smile seeming vulnerable. He looks... open.
“But I have.” Keith admits, eyes seeming so tired. He doesn’t let the dancing stop even if the other room changed the music. “You were just not looking.”
Lance’s smile grows a little wider, reaching his eyes. He doesn’t take his eyes away from Keith’s, as the Galra boy slowly changes back to his natural form. “That’s more like it.” He says.
Keith finally opens a contained, but fond smile. He tucks the Altean’s prince hair behind his ear, before spinning Lance slowly, making the prince chuckle. That scene too familiar.
They are 13 and they are having so much fun.
“I kind wish I knew how to dance Mahihosalo. It seems fun.” Keith comments, not taking his eyes off his knife as he cleans it.
“There’s no one better than Coran at this.” Lance says absently. After a few seconds, he opens a smile as he has an idea. “And he taught me everything he knows. So I’ll teach you.”
“Really?” Keith looks up too quickly, putting away his knife.
“Of course.” Lance offers his hands and Keith takes it gladly, standing up. They share excited smiles.
The prince puts his other hand on Keith’s back as the galra boy puts one in Lance’s shoulder.
“Okay, Mahihosalo is really easy. It’s basically dancing in circles.” Lance starts. “And since you still don’t know how to dance, I’m gonna lead.”
After telling something about how the dance usually works and what’s the right counting of steps, he starts giving simple instructions, such as: “Try to not look so much at your feet.” Or “Stand as straight as you can at the beginning of the music.” Or even “Stop sweating on my hand.” That last one makes Keith blush hard.
If Lance noticed the color of the Galra’s cheeks, he doesn’t say anything. They start to move with Lance counting their steps. Keith notices how patient Lance can be, since he never misses a step while Keith eventually forget where to step correctly. And Lance still manages to smile gracefully through the many many many tiny things that go wrong.
“You’re too stiff, you’ve gotta loosen up, buddy.”
“I can’t.” Keith grumbles, frustrated for getting the step wrong again.
“Of course you can!” Lance says with a cheerful smile. “Just take a deep breath and relax.”
Keith feels something weird as he looks at Lance’s smile. “Maybe I’m just not good at dancing and that’s it.” Keith snaps, letting go of the prince’s hand as if he felt a minor electric shock. He cross his arms against his chest, huffing.
He raises an eyebrow with the reaction. “What are you talking about? You’re doing great!” Lance slowly gets closer to Keith, touching his forearm lightly. “Seriously, you’re a fast learner. Not even Allura can dance as good as you. And if you relax, you might be as good as me.”
The Galra boy rolls his eyes, but can’t avoid feeling good about himself with the compliment. “Don’t be so conceited.” Keith says with a teasing smile.
“Sweetie, you’re talking with the master. If it weren’t for Coran, I’d be the best in the whole galaxy.” Lance coos, offering his hand again. “So I have every right to be conceited.”
The galra boy once again accepts the invite, snorting. They start again, going a little slower than they started, the prince guaranteeing that Keith doesn’t get as frustrated as before. And this time, they get every step right. And Keith won’t admit it, but it’s because Lance told him to calm down and takes things lightly.
“See? You’re perfect!” Lance says after they repeat for the third time the routine. He has a proud smile and soft eyes.
Keith let’s an uncomfortable chuckle out. “Oh- uh, I- What?” He stutters, feeling his whole face warming up as he stares at their feet.
Keith feels Lance’s hands and shoulders stiff for a moment, but it’s so brief it almost seems like it didn’t happen. “I mean you’re dancing perfectly.” He answers, and Keith recognizes he’s actually teasing him for his reaction. “I think we can use music now.”
Keith mumbles any answer, still trying to concentrate on getting his face back to its normal color. Lance gives the commands to the room and a cheerful music starts playing.
They dance trying to follow the rhythm. They laugh when something goes wrong and eventually add a new step. They are having so much fun.
They switch who’s leading who. “Spin me.” Lance commands with a wide smile, and Keith obeys him. He spins the prince as fast as the song goes, making Lance stumble a little. They laugh at their failed attempt. “What was that?” He asks, huge smile on his lips.
“What was that?” Lance asks as soon as he hears distant screams. He pushes Keith away. “What did you do?”
“Me?” Keith frowns, asking offended. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah, right,” he says, starting to run towards the ball, “because it’s never you who makes a whole planet scream in despair.”
Keith follows the prince, Lance sense his presence nearby. They run as fast as they can, entering the other room with worry in their eyes. They both realize at the same time that everyone left due to someone barging in the prom. Not someone, a whole squadron.
The place is almost upside down. Things thrown to the ground, broken and spilled. Lance looks around the deserted room trying to find team Voltron. As soon as he recognizes Pidge’s scream, he runs towards it.
“Lance!” Pidge yelps the moment they notice him getting closer. “Where were you?”
“Doesn’t matter. What happened?” Lance demands, him and Coran helping the green paladin get out of the fallen heavy decoration. He unlocks his bayard right after he makes sure Pidge is not hurt.
“I’m not sure.” They start, fixing their glasses. “It was very fast. I just know everyone started running after I heard the windows breaking.”
“Is everyone okay?” Lance hears Hunk’s voice approaching, as he appears at his side, his weapon in hands.
“We are fine.” Pidge affirms, getting their bayards and unlocking it. “I don’t know about the guests.”
“Apparently they are trained to flee as fast as they can, through secret passages along the castle and city. So, they are all safe.” Coran says, and Lance sighs in relief.
“So, should we stay here or...” Hunks starts, lowering his weapon. “I mean, there’s no one here and the bad guys don’t seem to be near.”
“They wouldn’t leave this easy.” Pidge says, analyzing their arounds, trying to find something suspicious. “Why would they barge here just to leave five minutes later? Wouldn’t they want to claim the castle?”
“Pidge is right. We should check all the rooms just to be sure.” Lance suggests, looking back, trying to find Keith, but he’s nowhere to be seen. “We should go in groups. Coran, Hunk and Allura, you go west. Pidge and I go east.”
They all hum in agreement, but Hunk is the only one to intervene. “Great plan. Just one question: uh, where’s Allura?”
Lance frowns, now getting his attention to the team. He counts rapidly the number of heads just to realize there’s one person missing. Horror appearing in his face as the color of it fades. “They came here to take Allura.” He announces in a deep low voice, feeling his knees weak, almost giving in.