It's been a week since the explosion. A week since Lance entered the pod and a week of Keith snapping at everyone, practically tearing each other's heads off. Pidge actually had to entrap him in vines to keep him from attacking Coran with magic when he said he might have to keep Lance in further.
But finally they were standing in front of Lance's pod waiting for it to open. And though Keith was the worst, everyone else had been an anxious mess while they were waiting on the blue paladin to heal.
Pidge had become worse than a hermit. She became an angry hermit. She growled at people who tried to make her eat something. She hit people who tried to make her leave the nest of flowers and trees where she sat to do her computer work. And she actually bit Hunk when he tried to make the crazy paladin go to sleep. No one went near her after that.
Hunk tended to stay in the kitchen. He stressed bake so much that Coran had to make a supply stop because Hunk had used all of their resources for a signature get-well cake. He baked so much he transformed into an octopus with legs so he could bake multiple things at one. Shiro had stared at him a long time just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
Shiro just paced angrily. If he wasn't in a political meeting with Allura or training or forcing keith to stop pounding the training bots to dust, he was walking a straight line back and forth, bringing his path into the floor. He would pace protectively in front of lance's pod, his werewolf side peaking with protectiveness. He growled whenever Coran got too close to the pod.
But finally, Lance's healing was complete. A whoosh and a beep was all the warning they had before Lance fell from the pod. Keit caught him and hugged him tightly, tears cascading down his face. "Don't ever do that again, asshole!" he cried.
Lance laughed and hugged keith back, pressing a light kiss to his jaw. "Aww, did you miss me fire-floof?"
"Yes!" Keith wailed. Lance laughed and pushed away from Keith and faced the rest of his team. Shiro, satisfied that Keith and Lance had had their private moment, walked over to Lance in big strides. He scooped him up in a big hug and sniffed him, making sure he was okay.
"Shiro!" Lance laughed. Shiro grunted and set Lance back on his feet. Hunk walked up to him next. He hugged the witch tightly and pressed a wet kiss to his temple, grateful that his best friend was alright. He then backed up and allowed Pidge to run into lance's frame, red faced and snot and tears flowing freely.
"You're the biggest jerk in the world!" she wailed, clutching the Cuban tighter. "Never do that again or I'll fucking kill you!"
"I won't, I won't," Lance said, wincing slightly as the young child crushed his insides. "But if you don't stop crushing me I might actually die." Pidge echoed sorry and let go of lance. Lance grinned. "Now! What have you guys found on the person who bombed that area? Alos, Allura, you got your artifacts right?"
The team shifted guilty. Lance narrowed his eyes. Allura stepped forward awkwardly. "Well, Lance, yes I got my artifacts but....er....we haven't exactly been focused on finding the bomber...persay.."
"WHAT?!" Lance cried. "What do you mean? Why not? Did you guys hit a roadblock or something? That's really important! We have to find them so they can be brought to justice!"
"What, for ruining your perfect face?" Pidge snickered. Lance blinked.
"Oh! That too!" Lance said. The team stared at him in confusion. "But mostly for harming all those civilians!"
"Awww, Lance, you're such a sweetheart!" Hunk cried, hugging the blue paladin. "Sorry we haven't been very focused, we were just too worried about you to really think properly."
Lance tilted his head up like a puppy to indicate confusion. "Why?"
"What do you mean, 'why'?" Hunk asked.
"I mean who cares if I was hurt?" the team froze. "So what? It happens all the time,. But you guys are the paladin of Voltron, you have far more important things to worry about than me!" Shiro stepped forward, eyeing Lance wearily.
"Lance you're so much more important than that," he said, placing his galran hand on Lance's shoulder. "Of course we were worried."
"Oh." Lance said in a small voice that made the rest of the paladins even more nervous. Heb them replaced the look of wonder on his face into a happy mask. "Right! Well, now that I'm better let's focus on finding that bomber, yeah?"
"Yeah!"
==time skip==
"Lance! Lance! I found him!" Pidge cried, bamging on his and Keith's door. When the two started dating they moved into Lance's room. Pidge heard shuffling on the other side of the door before Lance poked his head out, Keith standing behind him with a scowl.
"Pidge it's four fucking am," Lance grumbled. "This couldn't have waited until after I had my motherfucking space coffee?" Lance was clearly not a morning person.
"No it couldn't have," Pidge said matter-of-factly. "Because your window for catching him ends in four hours, right around the time you wake up." Pidge added pointedly. Lance's eyes immediately sobered and he started to get dressed.
"Fuck, Pidge, why didn't you say so?" Lance cried angrily. "Did you wake up the others?"
"Not yet," Pidge said. "I'm on my way. But if you don't hurry the hell up and get in your lions you won't make it in time. Go! I'm sending the coordinates now!" Pidge said before disappearing down the hall.
Lance and Keith ran into the hangar and boarded their lions. Sure enough, Pidge's coordinates were displayed on the screen. Lance left the hangar, with keith in pursuit. They flew as fast as they could.
"LANCE!" Shiro barked into the comms. Lance cringed at the unconcealed anger in Shiro's tone. "Get back to the hangar now! We did not discuss this!" he hissed.
"No can do, leader 'ol pal," Lance said fake-cheerfully. "If we don't hurry we'll miss him. This is a one time chance! We can't miss this!"
"Yeah, Lance is right," Keith chirped. "This is my time to get revenge for harming by boyfriends beautiful face!"
"Aww, thanks Keith." lance cooed. Keith snorted. Shiro growled.
"Keith if you guys catch him, don't hurt him. Bring him in for questioning!"
"We'll see," keith said. Lance could practically hear Keith;'s smirk. "It depends on what mood I'm in."
"KEITH!" Shiro roared. Lance turned off his comm. Oh, Shiro's gonna kill him when he gets back but right now he needed to focus. He flew blue through an asteroid field and..there! He spotted the bombers ship. Lance hid blue behind a large asteroid and exited it, hoping to board the bombers ship inconspicuously. Keith followed closely behind Lance.
Lance entered the ship to see a strangely quiet ship. There was nobody here. "Well, this is creepy." Lance stage whispered. Keith snorted. "Where is everybody?"
"Why, I'm so glad you asked, Blue paladin Lance." a voice replied from behind them. Lance shrieked and turned around to face a creepily familiar face. He sucked in a breath.
"Lotor."
