Outside Lance's door, Pidge and Hunk were arguing about who should go in to check on Lance. The whole castle had heard him cry last night and they were a bit worried because they'd never heard anyone cry like that before. They imagined maybe he had a nightmare, missed his family or maybe he finally cracked with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Either way they needed to make sure he was ok, it was enough that they had Keith who was an adrenaline junkie they didn't need Lance be an anxious mess.
P: "Go in there and ask him what's wrong" Pidge pointed a finger and Hunk directing him to go knock on the door.
H:" Why do I have to do it?" Hunk shrugged his shoulder's .
P: "Because your his best friend" Pidge squinted at Hunk for his unwillingness.
H:" But he's dating Keith , lets go get him, he'll know what to do." Hunk turned around in the direction of Keith's room motioning to go get him when he stopped in his tracks.
They heard Lance sniffling and crying loudly . Pidge and Hunk stopped to listened for a second.
P:" Great you woke him up" Pidge squinted their eyes at Hunk again.
H:" Let's go get Keith , what if something bad happened?" Hunk was starting to panic, he did not do well with crying Lance.
P:"Wait do you hear that ?" Pidge motioned to press their ears at the door to hear better.
They both put their ear to the door , they heard more crying but in between breaths they could hear Lance softly say Keith's name. Pidge's eyes went wide "Oh no, you don't think they are , um . . you know . ." Hunk turned red "No! They wouldn't . . . . would they ?" they kept silent for another couple seconds and listened more. Lance was definitely crying there was definitely something wrong. Then Hunk snapped his fingers as he got an idea "I bet they had a fight and broke up, why else would Lance be crying this early?" "mmmm that does makes sense" Pidge rose an eyebrow thinking that was the most likely explanation.
H:"Lance was always a sensitive lover boy" Hunk grinned.
P:" More like Crybaby, anyway go in there and talk to him." But before either of them could take their ear off the door the door opened and both Hunk and Pidge fell into Lance's room.
They both quickly got up "Um Lance we were just . . um just walking by and wanted to see if you wanted breakfast" Hunk said trying to coverup eavesdropping. "We heard you crying all night and wanted to see if you haven't died from sodium deficiency" Pidge didn't even try to sugarcoat it. Hunk and Pidge had started to nervously chuckle until they saw how bad Lance looked. He had plopped back down on his bed and curled up to his pillow, his eyes were swollen, he looked defeated in every way.
Pidge froze , they hadn't seen someone like this since their mom got the news of Max and dad gone missing. Pidge didn't know what to do then and they didn't know what to do now. Hunk on the other hand had stopped panicking and questioning himself, he even left the humor behind. He ran to Lance's bedside.
H: "Lance what happened ??" Hunk sounded concerned and calm , something Pidge didn't know Hunk could ever be. Lance let out a big sigh before he could say anything. In between sobs he was able to get some words out. "Keith . . . . . he . . . Keith " Hunk instantly new Keith had broken Lance's heart , he just waited for Lance to try to say more. "Keith . . . left forever . . " Hearing this got Pidge's attention "He left? Where? When?" Pidge was concerned they'd be down a pilot again. "He left . . . me . . he left . . . the team" Hunk was in shock, he new he was a hot head but to leave Lance that was crazy. He knew they were meant to be from day one. "It's ok Lance , slowly tell us what happened" Hunk knew Lance was struggling to get any words out so he wanted to make sure he wasn't going to choke on his tears. Lance tried to collect himself. Pidge handed him tissues for his tears and some water, sodium deficiency was still a main concern for Pidge. "Here Lance, drink some water it will at least help with the tears." Pidge tried to give Lance an apologetic smile but they new nothing they did would fill the void Keith left.
Lance sat up, wiped his tears and blew his nose then took a huge gulp of water. He took a deep breath.
"Last night , Keith left, he said the coalition is more important and thats where he needed to be. I begged him to stay, I told him Voltron needed him and that I needed him." Tears started to fall from Lance's eyes again. "He didn't care, I told him how much I loved him but he said there was no place for a Galra on the team. He swore he loved me but he still left, how can I believe him when he chose to abandon not just me but Voltron!! Everything we have been fighting for!" Lance was sobbing. "Oh, Lance I'm so sorry" Hunk didn't know what else to say. He pulled Lance into his shoulder to cry on. " I don't doubt that he loves you but he's Keith, he doesn't exactly deal with things, you know." Hunk knew that Lance was the type of person that when he truly loved it was with his whole being so he knew this was going to be a very long road ahead. Lance sniffled "Yeah but I thought that at least with me it was different, I really thought we were a team you know." Lance's voice cracked. Pidge wasn't one to be sentimental but they were feeling bad for Lance, he never let anything bring him down so to see him like this was hard . Pidge took a seat next Lance on the other side of the bed. Pidge rubbed Lance's back, all they could do was be there for him .
The next couple of months were a lot , they were rough rough. Pidge and Hulk were there for Lance everyday, some days were good, some where ok and other's were plain awful. Lance did his best though, he had meltdowns but held himself together on the battle field. He would break down after each battle , longing for Keith to be fighting by his side. They went to multiple planets saving countless lives, he was happy when they saved a planet but the high was short lived every time he remembered Keith wouldn't be there when he got back from a mission. It was hard to be happy and keep his spirit high when the one person he wanted to turn to , to celebrate with, to hug, to be with was no where to be found. He had lost his appetite. Hunk did his best to try to make as close as possible earth food with the ingredients available. Eventually Lance started eating and got some strength, it definitely helped that Hulk constantly made food for him regardless if he ate or not. Pidge would try to get Lance out of his slumps by offering to play video games with him. For a coupe hours Lance laughed and got really into the games. It was nice to see him enjoy something and see a little of the real Lance every now and then. Shiro pitched in subbing in as his training partner now that Keith was gone. And even Allura pitched in trying to spend more time with Lance, she even laughed at his incredibly terrible not funny jokes , she pretended they were hilarious. Everyone really cared about Lance and hoped that Keith was safe somewhere , but once everyone went to bed Lance was left alone with empty sadness. Some nights they could even hear Lance's nightmares where he would call Keith's name, it broke everyone to see the one person that always kept up the morel on the team be so down. They really wished they could do more for Lance but only time can help him now.
Lance slowly got better though, he started smiling, then laughing and eventually he started to be excited again. Hunk and Pidge looked at each other and smiled finally having Lance back. He was back to his old self with his terrible jokes and finger guns. Everyone was happy for him. Although they were all waiting on pins and needles for the day Keith would show up. There was no doubt in anyones mind that Lance and Keith loved each other and they had all thought that Keith would have been back by now begging for Lance's forgiveness. But the more time passed the less likey it seemed, there was no way Keith was this stubborn or prideful, but then again it was Keith they were talking about. The break up had affected everyone because they were all rooting for them. Hunk and Shiro knew though, Lance and Keith were meant to be and one way or another would find their way to each other.
Lance had been feeling great , he felt like himself had decided he was not going to let what happened with Keith effect him. He understood Keith was his first love and he would always be his first love but it wasn't meant to be. He did all that he could and was the best partner he could be, he had learned a lot about himself and was thankful for Keith ever being in his life. He was ready to get back into it and be the ladies man he's always been. He had hit on many damsels in distress during their missions but none of them moved his heart like the one he knew would never love him back. That was his Princess , Allura. She was so beautiful and graceful all the time. She could never do any harm, she was so pure that he knew he didn't deserve her. Every time she looked at him he felt like melting, she was just so perfect. Little did he know that Allura was crushing on him too. She had spent so much time with him trying to help him feel better laughing at his terrible jokes, she didn't know when she stopped pretending to laugh. When she was with Lance it was like nothing else mattered , he was so genuine she couldn't help but actually fall for him. She couldn't possibly be sane right ? She would look for excuses to be with Lance alone. She was very careful to make sure to never overstep she new not to cross any boundaries she didn't want to be a rebound for Lance and she new she couldn't rush Lance after everything that happened with Keith. But spending some time with him was enough for her, she just wanted him to be ok.