VOLTRON ONE-SHOTS

Lance x OC - Stargaze

Word Count: 1,454

"I thought we were getting pretty good at keeping off each others' tails."

I jumped at the noise, turning swiftly around; my eyes caught sight of the light brown mop of hair peeking at me through the trap door hidden under the cushions.

Letting out the breath I had been holding, I shifted back into my seat with a small sigh, fixing my eyes on the stars in front of me, not bothering to say anything, he's get that I didn't exactly feel like talking right then.

Not bothering to look, I felt him settle into the pile of cushions next to me, his lanky form peeking out from the corner of my eye.

It had been a long five weeks. Five weeks that seemed to squeeze into me from every side, it felt like my whole world was closing in on itself, riding me along with it. It was hard to think about some of the memories packed into that small space, I didn't want to think about them, opting to just let them drift and sort themselves out, I really didn't want to be a part of it:

On the third day of the first five weeks, I stumbled across the sight of Shiro holding Lance in a chokehold, his legs dangling over two stories of empty space, curtsey of the castle's massive balcony.

I somehow managed—I don't remember most of the fight in major detail, but I somehow managed to knock the clone out, then proceeding to drag an unconscious Lance off to the infirmary that just so happened to be on the other side of the castle.

Of course, he woke up fine, me too, I'm pretty sure I passed out sometime after bumping into Hunk somewhere along the way, and then that was that.

"I'm sorry I scared you," Lance said, he must've noticed me jump at his voice.

I shrugged, sucked into the memories already unfolding before my eyes, again. "I'm fine."

After that scare, Kuro was thrown into one of the castle's cells under incredibly deep security, curtsey of Pidge.

Week two. The entire castle's inhabitants awoke to the castle's blaring alarm system, and Kuro's escape pod quickly shrinking out of sight.

Week three. It- it was the first hour of that day that my whole world ceased to exist. No one had yet to hear of Kuro's whereabouts and we were all so tired of trying to track down the real Shiro that we could barely handle any other news.

Of course, the universe refused to acknowledge that, and not long after waking up, we were being told by Kolivan himself that Keith Kogane was missing from a mission and—until proven otherwise—dead, gone, kapoof.

The mission was supposed to be simple: gather intel on a shipment carrying some unknown substance traveling out of the Galra's main control ship, get a sample on the substance, and leave; simple, precise, and straight to the point. Stealth was stressed so much that only one person was allowed to go on the mission, just one, and that one happened to be Keith.

The mission was a bomb, literally, in less than five minutes of boarding the ship, it exploded, leaving nothing left but debris of twisted metal snaking out in every direction.

Even though I said that it had been five weeks of activity, I lied. Just, everything after that I remember in a blur. I've been living in a cold, numb blur ever since then.

And I still feel like it.

And it feels like it's killing me.

Lance shifted his position, leaning back on his elbows and gazing at the same set of stars I was now lost in.

"So," he started, glancing over at me uncertainly, "do you want to go?"

Go? Is it because Keith's gone that they don't need me anymore? Is that why he came up here? Did the team really want-

"- because if you need more space up here, I can leave," he finished and I couldn't help but blink in surprise and shame.

I looked over at him, trying not to let my emotions show, of course, he saw right through that and sent me a comforting smile.

I sighed and shook my head, my eyes going back up to the stars.

Lance and I have been mutually cooperating with each other after we both stumbled across a hidden room in the castle. We were supposed to be following Pidge through the air ducts to check out something she had found, but I guess we took a wrong turn and found ourselves in a secret room instead. From what I could guess of the view, it was hidden above the bridge, the room was dome-shaped, crowded with pillows and matted so the small space was comfortable. The only access was through a small door hidden in a nearby supply closet, a short climb up the ladder and you felt like you were floating through space.

Lance calls it a thinking spot, I call it my getaway from the chaos called my life, but I guess "thinking spot" works well too.

But since we both wanted a piece of that quiet time, and no one else seemed to know about it, we got a system started, Lance would get the afternoons to climb up if he wanted to for the day, and I would get the mornings, since I usually woke up before everyone else anyway.

And I may or may not be more than just a little over my time.

"No," I whispered, I didn't feel like talking loud today and the room's quiet enough for it anyway, "stay. Please."

The Cuban gave a breathy sigh, scooting a tad bit closer to me, the silence around us thickening.

"Do you think he's out there?" Of course, he knew who I was talking about. We both knew who I was talking about. Shiro was more than capable to handle himself out there, I knew that as well as he did. No, I was talking about... him.

Thin shoulders shrugged his eyes still on the stars. "I don't know," a long pause, or at least it felt long in my ears; "I don't think he's dead if that's what you're asking."

I sighed, coming up with random shapes out of the billions of dots on the black canvas around me, my eyes tracing a slightly warped version of a face. "I don't want him to be dead, Lance, I want him to be safe." I brought my head over, finding Lance's shoulder and snuggling closer. I enjoyed his company, even when Keith was here.

The teen replied to my action almost immediately, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders in a loose hug as we both stargazed.

"He's alive," he gave a light squeeze and I hummed, I knew he was looking at me, but I didn't want to meet his eyes, I knew he'd want to say how sorry he felt for me, and that he'll be here until Keith comes back, but I didn't want to hear that speech, not now. "I-I'm sure he's alive, the Blades would have found something of his by now if he was," a swallow, "gone."

Gone, just because he tried to soften the word didn't mean it hurt any less than it already did.

Lance squeezed me harder, laying his head on top of mine as we both looked out at the space in front of us, "He's not dead, Emily, I swear it."

Pulling his head back, he brought a finger under my chin, forcing my head up and my eyes to meet his, a gentle smile upturned his lips, and I gratefully smiled back.

"Quit worrying about him, I know he's got to be okay."

But my smile darkened as soon as it came, darker thoughts clouding my head that made me want to run and hide. "But what if he was captured by the Galra, or he really is-"

"Stop," his voice scared me at how hard he spoke that minute and I looked back at Lance, startled to see his expression suddenly mirroring my worried thoughts.

"Stop," he repeated, softer this time and his blinked, squeezing his eyes shut, "stop. He's- he's not dead." Lance surprised me then by pulling me closer to him, his face falling against my shoulder, his arms shook and I felt something wet hit the skin of my neck and travel down softly.

I attempted to hugging his arms still wrapped around me, leaning closer to him as we held each other, both lost to the world, safe in each other's embrace, stuck in our own thoughts.

"He's not dead. He can't be."