The past few season don't apply bc I started writing this around season 5.
Back on Earth, Lance McClain was a wanted criminal. Well, not Lance, but rather Blue. Most teens have normal high school lives and end up with decent jobs. Not Lance. He was one of the few who was doomed from the start. Coming from a poor family, Lance never had money to do much aside from school. Unfortunately, he ended up with a bad crowd. It had its benefits though.
The group he was in, were all criminals. They all had their own specialties but they needed a hacker. Lance had a friend when he was younger that would show him how to hack and do stuff on the computer. Lance jumped at the opportunity to make money. His family needed it for food.
The new group gave him a laptop so he could touch up on his skills and work from where ever. It started out as harmless ways to get money. Hacking a couple bank accounts, breaking into a few stores. But then it got larger. People came and went from the group. They started going by code names. They didn't meet each other unless needed for a mission.
As the years went on, they became more known and began planning larger scale heists. Lance knew he was in way too deep but the group became like family to him.
Eventually he was encouraged by his group to go live his dreams at the Garrison. A few years previous they had sent Lance's partner in crime, Gold. They didn't know who each other were but it comforted him to know he had a friend close by.
But one day Gold disappeared. He stopped helping with crimes and stopped responding to Lance.
The others figured he just didn't want to be apart of the group and was too scared to actually say it. Lance felt that wasn't the case since Gold had always been loyal and proud of the group.
But he dismissed it and went along with his daily life.
---
The first time Lance met Matt, he felt like he was sort of familiar. They became friends quickly. With everyone else busy and ignoring Lance, he welcomed Matt's company. They were inseparable.
With the war finally over, they could make their long journey back to Earth. Naturally, Lance was nervous. He didn't know what home was like after being gone for so long. He didn't know what happened to the group either. It was really stressing him out.
"Hey, Lance. Are you excited to see your family again? I can't wait to finally see my mom," Pidge questioned him.
"Yeah, I can't wait! I want to know how my friends are doing too," he replied.
"I'm sure they're fine. It's that group you were always talking with online, right? Matt was always doing the same thing before Kerberos."
"Yeah, they were there when no one else was. I owe a lot to them. I wonder if Gold is back," he trailed off, thinking about his missing friend.
"Gold?"
Lance looked up and saw Matt looking at him with a confused look on his face.
"I used to be part of an online chat and we all used colors as nicknames."
"Holy shit. Blue. That's where you seemed familiar from!"
"You're Gold?! How-? I- What?!"
"Small universe, huh?"
"No kidding," Lance mumbled.
"Okay, hold up. You two were both in that chat, and only now realized it?" Pidge asked.
Matt and Lance nodded.
"You guys are unbelievable."
---
After months of traveling, the paladins could see their blue and green planet.
"Guys, we made it!"
"I can't wait to be home."
The team was cheering but Lance was hanging a bit aways from them and trying to calm down his anxiety.
"Hey, you okay?" Matt asked, placing a hand on Lance's shoulder.
"I'm worried. I'm worried my family won't be there. I'm worried our group won't be there. And I'm- I'm scared."
"It's going to be be okay, Blue. Even if it's not okay, it will be. You still got me."
"Thanks, Matt."
---
"Lance McClain. You're under arrest for the involvement of several robberies and hacking incidents."
"What? There's no way Lance would do something like that," Pidge defended.
"He just helped save the universe. Why would he have done that?" Keith asked.
"I've known him for years, he's not a criminal," Hunk argued.
"Blue, run!" Matt grabbed Lance's hand and took off running.
Lance brought his shield up to protect Matt and him from the bullet being fired at them.
"Gold, you idiot. What are you doing? They only knew about me, not you!"
"We always look out for each other, Lance. I'm not going to stop now. We're Neon Lights, remember? And we'll stain the Earth for as long as we stand. So come on blue boy, don't stop now."