A little bit of soul

Apologizing

The ticker struck its target filling the silence with Breakfast and Training time alarms. Pidge and Hunk woke up to find Lance with headphones on and his sleep mask discarded. He mumbled occasionally before burying his face into a pillow.

"We should leave him sleep," Hunk chuckled scooting gently off the mattress. The sudden loss of weight resulted in the boy waking up.

"What's wrong Luis?" His long slender fingers scrubbed at his eyes as the blinked open. He blushed staring at Hunk and Pidge's smiling faces. "What time is it?"

"Time for breakfast but I'm sure Allura wouldn't mind if you slept in today." Lance shook his head already digging through his drawers.

"Who's Luis," Pidge asked.

"My little brother, he was 7 when I left for the Garrison." Lance frowned. "You can meet him and the others when we get home." The word home brought a pang to each of their hearts.

"How did you sleep? Are you feeling any better?" Hunk fired question after question as he watched his friend get ready.

"I'm feeling a lot better. It took me a while to fall asleep though. You two should get going you gotta get ready too. I don't want you guys getting in trouble because of me."

Hunk laughed again grabbing two bags from beside the bed. "Shiro dropped off some clothes and our tooth brushes while we were sleeping, so Pidge, you can take the bathroom and Lance I will brush our teeth when you're done."

They got ready and together walked to the dining hall. Lance scanned the seats; Keith wasn't there. A mixture of emotions flashed across his face as he took his spot.

"Good morning Lonce! Hello Hunk, Pidge ," Allura sang sweetly as Coran waved.

"Hey Guys," Shiro said as he handed Lance a plate of goo. "You only ate a little yesterday, please."

"I'm still not really hungry," Lance told them staring into the bowl a sort of stubborn defiance glowing in his eyes.

"Please my boy, just eat a little bit." Coran asked him gently his eyes crinkling with a a smile.

Lance nodded the spark in his eyes disappearing, "Okay."

Hunk stared at the space man with new respect. Motioning for him to continue with his strange ways of getting through to Lance.

"You know," he began. "Back on altea My wife and I were hiking. And we found a lunar goon swimming in a sparkling pond."

Lance nodded as if he'd heard this story before, "She was a shapeshifting maiden who would go to the pond where she and her soulmate met if they were fighting. Comfort in the face of anger."

Corans smile widened, "Do you remember how they met?"

"He was trying to kill her because their clans were at war. He had tracked her ship to its crash site on Altea and as he placed his hand around her wrist their marks started glowing. It was a Romeo and Juliet sort of thing," Lance finished his bowl and began nibbling on a left over garlic knot.

Shiro stared between the two with his mouth open trying to decide on wether or not he should interrupt whatever strange process Coran was going through.

"Exactly, And What did the man do every time that made her so upset?" The crew watched the two with their breath held. This is the most Lance had spoken to anyone since yesterday and he was eating. Coran was a natural.

"Drakorn was raised a warrior. He had a bad temper problem and would often close himself off and once that happened it would take a while for him to cool down. Especially if His wife Elarian wasn't there to help. She came from a softer story, I think. They were polar opposites in most of your stories."

"Exactly! I believe that you are Keith's elarian. He knows he messed up but he's not sure how to handle the situation. Lance, do you remember how their tale ends?"

"No."

"Drakorn apologized everytime. He grew as a person by learning from Elarian," Allura said her eyes shining. "Nothing could tear them apart because against what others said they loved each other."

Hunk sniffled, "That's beautiful!"

Pidge looked between her friends, "Lance?"

He looked at them with stormy ocean eyes and took a deep breath, "I felt so Happy when I saw the colors, I've liked Keith for a while and I've always looked up to him. But at the same time I felt like I wasn't worth him. I'm scared that Keith only sees me as a friend or even less than that and He'll eventually get tired of me and leave."

"Lance Keith's been in love with you for so long! He's just thinks you see him as a rival. Both his parents were absent a majority of his life so he's not sure how to handle these feelings," Shiro said the princess agreeing.

"I have to talk to him," Lance whispered standing up. "Thank you," He excused himself and Walked over to give each of them a hug, "wish me luck."

"How'd you know what to do?" Hunk yelped staring at Coran with his arms in the air.

"Lance likes to snack when he listens to stories it like a comfort mechanism. I've also noticed he's more prone to talking when the conversation isn't as direct and prodding."

"I'm curios as to how this scene will play out," The princess said a pout pursing her lips.

"Then why don't we go watch.... theirs a corner next to Keith's room we can hide behind," Pidge suggested a mischievous smile filling her face.

"No, we should allow them privacy." Shiro said crossing his arms as he tried to be the voice of reason. Truth is he wanted to know what was happen too.

"I'm in! I want to make sure things don't get out of hand," Hunk shrugged.

"I'll go as well," Coran and the princess stood following Pidge out of the room.

"Were you guys even listening to me! Hey, wait up," Shiro soon joined the group behind the wall watching as Lance hesitated before knocking.

"Keith? Are you in there," He twisted his fingers in his shirt as the door opened.

"Lance! I-" Keith looked no better then Lance had. His hair was a sticking up and his cheeks were red.

"Let me speak first," He said a forced joke to hide his nerves. Keith nodded, " I wanted to ask if you wanted to start over. I don't blame you for anything that's been said or done. But I do want to know if this was okay... I know I'm not the easiest person to work with but neither are you. "

Lance was barely breathing as he rambled about how he didn't want to force Keith to feel thing he wasn't ready to. How much he actually liked maybe even loved him and how much he looked up to Keith at the garrison.

And Keith listened. He heard every word and expressed the same feeling in a more or less confusing way.

"I'm so sorry, " Keith mumbled his fingers brushing against the still slightly swollen mark. "there isn't an excuse for how I treated you. And I don't expect you to forgive this quickly I just-" Lance couldn't take it anymore. He just wanted to forget that time and move foreword. He launched himself into Keith's arms hugging him close.

"You idiot. I forgave you a while ago."