Shiro glanced at Lance with worry. He has been acting so strange lately. He never joked anymore. Where was the carefree Lance they had once knew? Lance only pondered at his food, poking around a few times before he excused himself to go train.
Shiro looked at the rest of the paladins. This had only began to occur when Keith had left. At first it was subtle, Lance would stop flirting as much. But now, now it was like Lance was a different person. No, it was as if Lance had become Keith.
He rarely talked now.
He rarely ate.
All he did was train and lock himself in his room.
Shiro stood up. He knew what he needed to do.
Shiro pressed the call button with a sigh. He knew Keith wouldn't be happy about this but something was seriously wrong with Lance. Sometimes he just had this look in his eye. Shiro was like Keith's brother and he was there for Keith when Keith was depressed. And every now and then, when Lance let his mask down, the look ghosted through his eyes. And it terrified Shiro, knowing that his teammate was in pain and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Hello?" Keith asked. He looked at Shiro in confusion. "Shiro? What's up?"
"Keith you need to come back." Keith glared at Shiro and scoffed.
"What? No," Keith said, crossing his arms. "Now that I've finally found somewhere I belong you want me to come back? And why? Cause you miss me? No, I'm not coming back Shiro. You're just gonna have to live without me."
"It's not me you should be worried about," Shiro said with a sad smile. "Please, you need to come back before it gets worse."
"Before what gets worse?" Keith asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. Shiro just smiled sadly.
==> Time skip <==
Keith's POV
"What do you mean he stopped?" I asked. Shiro called me and I came because he sounded desperate, but when he told me something was wrong with Lance I became skeptical. Lance is the jokester. He'll survive. Besides, he doesn't even like me.
"I mean he stopped," Shiro said, stopping in front of the training room. I looked in with my eyes wide. Lance was in there training, and damn, he's good. But what surprised me the most was pained expression he wore. Dark bags hung under his eyes. He looked like he needed a good night's sleep. "He has two modes since you left. Training and not. I don't know what it is but I think maybe you should talk to him and figure out what's wrong."
"Yeah, I'll try." I said, brushing my fingers through my hair.
*****
I knocked on Lance's door hesitantly. There was a bit of scuffling and I heard the clank of metal falling on metal. Jeez, what did he drop? After a few more minutes the door opened. Lance stood there, his eyes red and blotchy, like he'd been crying. His hair was ruffled and he wore his usual jacket and pants ensemble. His eyes widened as he saw me.
"Keith?" he asked. I winced at just how..broken he sounded.
"Hey can I...come in?" I asked. He nodded and stepped aside so I could enter, I walked in and stood awkwardly at the door. He leaned against the wall and looked at me expectantly. Oaky. I've never been good with emotions but here goes nothing. "Are you...are you okay?"
Lance scoffed. "What are you talking about? Of course I'm okay."
"You and I both know that's not true," I said. He looked down, deflated. "What's going on?"
I waited a minute for him to gather his thoughts, He looked up at me after a while and I steeled myself when I saw tears falling down his face. "Was it my fault you left? I mean obviously it was, but what did I do? I'm sick of pushing everyone away, so if you could tell me what I'm doing wrong, I can change myself."
I looked at him, too shocked to actually form a sentence. "Lance...have you been blaming yourself for my departure this whole time?" He looked at me uncomprehendingly. He nodded after a few seconds. "Lance I left because I decided to. It wasn't your fault. I swear you didn't push me away at all."
"It wasn't my fault..?" he asked. He was silent as if he didn't believe me. Then Lance laughed. "Are you sure? It's usually always my fault. Are you sure I didn't...?" I nodded and rushed to settle his doubt.
"Of course. Lance please don't blame yourself, it wasn't your fault at all." I said. He smiled at me and wiped away his tears with his arms. I froze when his sleeve fell down a little and revealed dozens of angry lines strewn across his arms.
I grabbed his arms and ripped up his sleeves without hesitation. I heard Lance mumble some kind of excuse but I didn't hear it. All I could hear was my heart thumping loudly in my chest. No. Not Lance. I looked up at him, my eyes brimming over with tears.
"Lance. Why?"
He wrenched out of my grasp and laughed. "It's okay Keith, don't force yourself to care. This isn't anything new. Just went a little overboard." I was still frozen. Nothing new? Force myself to care? Was that what he thought this was? Did he really think I didn't care about him?
"Lance I'm not forcing myself to do anything! I truly do care! Please! Never hurt yourself again! Please I care!" I cried. Lance just let out a sad smile.
"It's okay," He said softly. "It's not your fault."
