Not gonna lie, I saw this on a post and was like 'Imma make this into a one shot' so here ya go!
The aliens were cocky. To say the very least. They puffed up their alien chests and boasted about their alien planet while sipping fancy alien drinks from their stupid alien hands. And Lance hated it. He grit his teeth as the aliens boasted about another thing of theirs. For the seventeenth time.
"And this," the alien said, gesturing to a huge clear orb sat on pedestal. "Is the best part of our humble planet."
"Humble my ass," Lance whispered to Hunk. Hunk giggled. Shiro glared in Lance's direction and Lance tried to swallow the lump forming in his throat. Right. Now was not the time to be making jokes. This alliance was seriously important.
"This is a light orb," the alien continued. "It detects feelings. If you place your hand on the orb, it will light up with whatever you're feeling. How bright and how vibrant it is depends on how strong the emotion is."
"That's so cool," Pidge said, practically drooling as she stared at the orb.
"Perhaps you'd like to try it?" the alien suggested, his voice back to it's cocky tone thanks to Pidge's compliment.
"Would I ever!" Pidge cried. She raced up the steps, taking them two at a time. Shiro laughed and followed closely behind her.
"In fact you all may try," The alien said. Lance followed the rest of the paladins up the stairs, somewhat interested. How cool would it be to see each other's emotions?
Pidge lightly placed her hand on the orb and it lit up bright orange. She smiled and looked back at the alien for the translation. "You are excited, green paladin." the aline offered. Pidge squealed and nodded her head.
Hunk went next. He placed his hand and it turned warm pink. "Oh, yellow paladin there is no need to feel anxious. No harm shall come to you here." The alien said. Hunk nodded sheepishly before smiling.
Keith went next, put his hand down. The orb lit up dark indigo. "You are annoyed. But also fascinated. A strange combination."
Shiro gathered his courage as he placed his human hand onto the orb. It lit up white. "You are proud of your team. You have quite the fatherly tendencies. It shows in your emotions." the alien noted. Lance laughed.
"Yeah, Shiro's our space dad," Lance said. "It's his job." Lance then walked up and placed his hand onto the orb. It turned bright yellow, so bright that the paladins shielded their eyes. It dimmed only after Lance removed his hand. The paladins stared at him in shock.
"Wow, Lance," Allura said warmly. "I had no idea you were so excited about the mission."
The aliens looked at Lance sadly, some crying freely. The paladins looked at the outburst in confusion. The alien leader stepped forward, his shoulders hunched. "That color does not represent happiness, princess," the alien said in a defeated tone. "It represents anguish."
It was stone silent.
The paladins were frozen in shock, staring at Lance like he was a fish out of water. Lance looked surprised. And he was. How had the orb picked up on that? Sure Lance was depressed, but he did a good job of hiding it, didn't he?
"Paladin," the alien said softly, reclaiming Lances attention. "Why are you in pain?"
"I'm sorry," Lance said. " I didn't think it would pick that up. I usually do a good job of hiding it."
"It is always the repressed emotions that are the strongest," the alien replied. "What is it that could cause you such pain."
Lance shrugged. He didn't exactly want to reveal his depression in front of an entire planet. He couldn't even tell his teammates. Hell, even Hunk didn't know! And Hunk was Lance's best friend.
"Lance.." Shiro asked softly. Lance stiffed. "What's wrong?"
"I...it's a mixture of things," Lance said. "And none of them are really important. It's fine." Lance brushed off his teammates and looked back at the alien. "Thank you for your hospitality. But I'm afraid I have to tend to my lion."
And with that, Lance turned and left the hall silent and grave.
He heard footsteps approaching but he did not turn. This was a disaster.
"Lance! Lance please wait!" Keith cried. Lance turned around to see Keith and the rest of Voltron running after him.
"What's up bud?" Lance asked. Keith narrowed his eyes.
"Quit the bullshit, Lance," Keith said, "Something is clearly wrong. Just tell us already!"
"It's really nothing," Lance said. "I just ran out of antidepressants. I just got wait for my moods to even out again. That's all." Keith stared at him in surprise.
"You take antidepressants?" Keith asked. Lance trailed his gaze to the floor. God, this was so embarrassing. They were probably mocking him in their heads right now.
"Yeah," Lance said. "I need them because I'm...well you know why people take antidepressants. Really Keith, it's fine."
Lance suddenly felt arms wrap around him. He looked up, forgetting about the fear he held in his heart, and was surprised to find himself surrounded by his team. They were giving him a huge group hug.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Keith whispered into his ear.
"It didn't seem very important," Lance said. "I mean compared to the ten thousand year war going on, I think I can live with depression."
"Lance no one should just live with depression," Shiro argued. "We will be getting you some more antidepressants and I want you to talk to Coran. He can be your therapist. We care about you. And we want you to be happy."
Lance sniffed and tried to stop the tears but it was futile. He was soon crying, his teammates comforting him with soothing words. Lance shook his head and cleared his throat, not bothering to wipe the tears because he knew they'd keep coming.
"Thank you guys so much." Lance said.
"We're here for you Lance." Hunk said.
Lance sniffled and nodded. "Can we get out of here now?" Lance asked. "This place is seriously bumming out."
"Yeah, Hunk nodded. "C'mon! Let's go back to the castle. I'm making dinner tonight!" The team whooped for joy while Coran made a grunt of indignation. The team walked away slowly. Keith stayed behind to walk with Lance, their hands entwined with each other and the hopes of the future.
