"About time you got here." Lance teased as he sucked on a cigarette, hearing the door open and close behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see Hunk standing behind him awkwardly. He leaned back on his palms, sitting precariously on the ledge of the roof of their high school.

"What are we doing up here?" Hunk asked worriedly. "We gotta get back to class, man."

Lance rolled his eyes, turning back to look out at the city scape as far as he could see from the top of the three-story building. He took a long breath, smoke exhaling from his lips. He outstretched his legs, kicking them off the edge of the building and swinging them absently against the bricks. "Like biology is hard for you. You know you're not missing anything."

"Hey man, you wanna come off of there?" He asked, approaching Lance cautiously.

Lance did not answer for a while. He looked down at the ground far below them. Hunk couldn't see his deep frown from where he stood behind him. "Do you ever like… think about what it would be like if you were just… I dunno… Gone?"

Hunk blinked, confused by the obscure statement. "No? What do you mean? Are you okay?" He asked, standing as close behind him as he dared without getting too close to the edge of the tall building.

He shrugged nonchalantly, taking another hit off of the stick. "I don't… I don't know…" He shifted on the ledge. "What if we just like… Fell or something." Hunk did not like how casually his best friend spoke. Lance tapped out his cigarette on the cement ledge of the building before flicking the butt off of the side. "We wouldn't fly… We would just… Be gone…" He muttered, watching the spent stick fall quickly to the ground.

Hunk swallowed. He wanted to reach out and grab Lance, but he was afraid he would startle him, and the last thing he wanted to do was make him fall. "Do you… Think about jumping off buildings often, Lance?" He asked carefully, unsure of how Lance might answer him.

Lance bit down on his lip. He tightened his hands into fists for a moment before releasing them along with a deep breath. "Sorry. You're right. We should get back to class." He muttered, hopping off of the ledge and quickly shoving passed Hunk.

"Lance, wait." Hunk called out, grabbing a hold of his arm quickly. "Seriously, are you okay?"

The second their eyes locked Lance broke down into tears. With his head down, he held out his arms. Without a second thought, Hunk took him into a tight embrace and allowed Lance to cry into him. They stood in silence on the roof for a long while, Lance letting out choked sobs when he could not form words. With a shaky breath he slowly pulled back, just enough so that he knew Hunk would be able to hear him. "I-I've started again…" He admitted softly.

The cool breeze carried his confession and for a moment Hunk was not sure if he had heard him correctly. "Lance, no…" He swallowed, pulling back to study his friend. "You can't…"

"I'm sorry…" He muttered, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "Everything has just felt so awful lately. It's just all I know to do, man."

Hunk took a deep breath, a frown hard on his face. He did not like what Lance was saying, and if he were being honest the implications of Lance's actions scared him. "Dude I… Think it's time you told your parents."

"What? No! Why would you say that!" Lance demanded, suddenly angry and defensive. "I-I-I can't do that. They'll think I'm crazy. They'll like… Lock me away somewhere or something!"

"You're talking about jumping off buildings, Lance!" Hunk argued back, raising his voice as well. "You promised that if you started cutting again you would tell them!"

Lance bit down on his lip so he would not start crying again. He looked down at his feet, unable to meet his friend's concerned stare. He could tell Hunk was scared, he was as well. "Y-Yeah… Okay… Maybe…" He muttered, tugging on the sleeve of his hoodie. "I'll… figure something out."

He felt Hunk's hand on his shoulder. Even though he still did not trust himself to meet his eyes, he could hear the encouragement in his voice when he spoke softly. "You're gonna be okay. You know the bad feeling passes. You know that it gets better. We both know they can help you better that I can."

Lance nodded numbly. "Y-yeah. Thanks." He muttered, unconvinced.

As Lance walked away from Hunk, the memory fizzled out as the Yellow Paladin ripped off his mind-melding helmet. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Hunk apologized, wiping the tears from his eyes as everyone looked to him with pity. "Sorry. This whole thing is just... Really messing me up..."

If they were being candid, none of them slept the night before, all too worried or pent up from the events of the previous day. Trying to keep up with at least a small feeling of normalcy, Shiro had suggested they try their regular morning routine until their fifth woke from his stasis. The more they trained though, the more obvious it became that none of them were alright with their current situation, the hole in their circle where Lance should be seemed like a void within all of them. "It's okay." Shiro said, exhausted. "Let's take a break. We'll figure something out, Hunk." He wanted to say 'don't worry', but found he was unable to do so.

"Should we have another meeting? Make a new game plan?" Pidge asked softly, taking off her glasses momentarily to rub her tired eyes.

Shiro shook his head, rising to his feet. "When Lance wakes up. We'll work through this together. All of us." He responded dryly, as he headed out of the training deck.

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Keith snapped, rising to his feet. "Why should we include him when-"

"Not now, Keith." Shiro cut him off harshly before leaving his subordinates alone.

—

When he had ordered everyone to take a break, Shiro was secretly hoping that he would be able to get some sleep. After staying up all night keeping guard immediately after his fight with Sendak, he was exhausted. His body ached from a lack of rest, not to mention his injuries, and all he wanted to do was sleep. When he finally laid down, though, he found he was wide awake. He swore, staring up at the ceiling of his room restlessly. His mind was spinning. As though the stress of being the head of Voltron was not enough, he also had this on this plate now? He tried not to be angry with the Blue Paladin, but he was finding that task grow harder everyday. Shiro tried not to dwell on the past as he tried to form a new game plan in his head. He rolled over to his side, frustrated as he found himself too tired to concentrate on formulating one plan for very long, but also too stressed to get some well needed sleep.

His rest was interrupted by a knock on his door. He sighed, sitting up in bed and letting out a tired "Yes?"

When the door slid open he was greeted by the form of the Red Paladin, shoulders slumped forward and bags under his eyes. "Hey." He said softly. From across the small room, Shiro could tell how tired he was as well. He held out his hand and Keith took it delicately, sitting beside Shiro on the bed. There was a brief moment of silence before Keith opened one of his side pouches, pulling out a box of cigarettes and a lighter. Wordlessly he held them up as an offering to his boyfriend.

Shiro shook his head, holding up a hand to wave off Keith's offer. "I quit before Kerberos. You know that." He muttered, leaning back to rest against the wall.

"I also know someone's been stealing them from me." Keith replied flatly, holding them out further towards his boyfriend.

"And you're sure that's me?" Shiro asked, finding just enough energy to almost sound offended at the accusation.

The joke was lost on Keith as the Red Paladin argued with him. "The only other person that smokes is in a coma." Was the sharp, tactless response.

The Black Paladin sighed, defeated as he took the offered objects. "Sorry…" Shiro muttered, stick between his teeth as he lit up a cigarette.

Keith shrugged, leaning back against the wall to sit next to his boyfriend. He pulled his legs up to his chest as he lit one for himself. "Not that worried about it." He muttered. "How are you holding up?" He asked as the small room began to fill with smoke.

Shiro let out a long sigh, exhaling smoke into the air. "I am." He answered after a moment. As much as he wanted to be honest with his partner, he felt that it would be redundant to point out how exhausted and sore he was just like everyone else on the ship. Keith seemed to accept the answer without much of a question, as he did not say anything in response. Shiro was thankful that Keith understood. "What about you?" Shiro asked after a while, reluctantly leaning forward to prevent his ashes from falling into his bed.

Keith shrugged nonchalantly, staring straight ahead of him and not daring to look at Shiro. "Fine."

Shiro knew Keith well enough to know that he was definitely not fine, but he also knew the younger would not take kindly to any prying or pushing that he might do. Doing his best not to stare at Keith, he tried to keep an eye him as the finished their cigarettes in quiet. When he was nearing the end of his stick, Shiro dared to break their silence. "Have you found a good place to put these when you're done? Because I've just been–"

"Why doesn't he like us?" Keith blurted out, flicking his cigarette butt across the small room before quickly pulling his arms back up to wrap around his knees. "Why is he so… Desperate to get away from us?"

Shiro swallowed at the loaded question. He took the final hit off of his smoke before dropping it to the floor and stomping it out. He would deal with that mess later, he decided before turning his attention fully back to Keith. Moving closer to his boyfriend, he carefully wrapped an arm around the narrow shoulders, pulling the younger close. "Hey. It's not like that." Shiro said carefully. "He likes us plenty. He just…" He let out a sigh, stalling as he thought of what to say next as Keith rested his head against his chest. "Doesn't like himself very much. Which is why we have to be nice to him when he wakes up, okay?"

The Red Paladin did not dare to look up at him, instead choosing to remain with his head down and against Shiro. "But why then is he just not doing the…" Keith let out a frustrated sigh, squeezing his eyes tightly shut for a moment as he trailed off. Keith held up one finger, a familiar gesture between the two of them to give the younger a moment. Shiro waited patiently for Keith to recalibrate and start over. "Everyone is trying so hard to help him." He finally said, dropping his hand and speaking slower this time and over enunciating each word. "Because he's part of our team. But he's still being an idiot and… Are we not trying hard enough?" Shiro could feel Keith shake slightly underneath his prosthetic and instinctively pulled him closer. "Am I not trying hard enough?" He asked quietly.

"Keith, You can't blame yourself for what happened to him." Shiro said seriously. "You've been doing a lot to help out. I know I was really impressed with your bet that you and Lance came up with." Shiro offered, giving Keith a comforting smile. "You're doing your part, and I appreciate that. You just… have to keep it up, okay? Even when it…" Shiro let out a deep sigh, fighting to keep his eyes open. "Even if it's hard sometimes. Even when you don't want to."

Keith scoffed at the encouragement. "But it's still not enough." He muttered, feeling dejected. "I don't… I don't know what else to do…" He admitted. "I thought that… a stupid bet would be good enough to get him to stop for some stupid reason…"

Shiro sat quietly for a moment, trying to figure out what to say to appease his boyfriend, if there was anything that could. He rubbed Keith's shoulder gently. "You know how your brain is wired differently, and how it's hard for you to talk to and read people?" There was slight hesitation from the younger paladin before he nodded carefully. "Well, Lance's brain is wired differently, too." He felt one of Keith's arms wrap around his torso as he continued. "Only his brain is wired so that it's hard for him to feel happy on his own. Everyone is different in here." He said, resting the tip of his pointer finger against Keith's forehead. When their eyes finally met, Shiro tried again to offer Keith a smile and was pleased when it was returned. "You're different from Lance who's different from Hunk who's different from Pidge who's different from me, but we're all all a team, and we all have to be there for each other and support each other. Okay?"

Keith sighed, knowing that Shiro was right. He knew he had been hard on Lance lately, but it was hard for him to express his concerns, especially in such a foreign situation. He had been confused about the situation Lance had put them all in and worried about his well-being. Unfortunately, all of these emotions came out as anger towards his teammates. Deep down he knew he had not been handling the problem at hand appropriately, but he was not sure what else he could do. After a beat, Keith nodded. "So… What do we do now?"

"I'm going to see if Hunk has any ideas." Shiro answered. "Because, frankly, I'm all out like you." He admitted, which earned him a small chuckle from Keith who found comfort in not being the only one to ask for help. "And then whenever Lance wakes up, I think we should ask him what he wants to do, too. Then we'll just have to be patient with him." Keith let out a frustrated sigh, not looking forward to the idea, but willing to try and be more helpful. "Hey now, don't be like that." Shiro scolded as his boyfriend sighed. "Patience…"

"Yields focus…" Keith finished, resting his head back down onto Shiro's chest with a yawn.

Shiro leaned down to plant a kiss on the top of Keith's head. "Why don't you rest for a bit?" He offered. "I'll come back and get you when it's time to get Lance, and we'll figure this whole thing out. All of us. Together." He punctuated as he rose off the bed, the Head of Voltron's job was never done.

—

He was not okay. He was definitely not okay. He let out an Earth swear, kicking the kitchen counter while he paced. Hunk let out an angry sigh, turning back to the abundance of non-earthly ingredients that filled the island counter. "Fuck!" He swore again, throwing a few things into a pot.

Shiro paused when he heard the commotion coming from the kitchen. Poking his head inside he was not surprised to find The Yellow Paladin slaving over something that already smelled amazing. "Hey." He dared to call out, leaning on the door frame. "How're you holding up?"

Hunk let out a sigh, not looking up from his work as he turned on the stove, setting his pot on the heating coils. "Fine." Another sigh. "That was a lie. I'm sorry. I'm not fine." He scowled, throwing a few spices into the pot as it began to sizzle.

Shiro shook his head. "You don't have to be fine." He comforted. "Do you want to talk about it?" He offered kindly.

"I trusted him, ya know?" Hunk started as though the flood gates had opened and all of his anger came out while he cooked. "I really trusted him. And I knew better. I know how he is when he gets like this and I listened to his lies and I just looked the other way. I knew that he was at risk and I didn't do anything about it. He's… Fuck! He's a liar. He lies and he goes behind our backs and he hides this shit from his friends and family. And I want to be mad at him but I can't because it's not his fault, ya know? Like, I'm hurt, sure, but he…" Hunk swallowed, trying not to stir the contents of the pot too quickly as he spoke. "He's hurting so bad. So fucking bad. And… We all trusted him and I vouched for him. And you counted on me to make sure he was alright. And… I really thought that like, I was helping him and he was getting better this time and god I believed him when he said he was getting better." Hunk chewed on his lip as he was definitely not going to cry in front of Shiro twice in one day. "But he wasn't and… I don't know what to do…" He said softly, pulling the pot off of the burner and turning the heat off. "Like, what happens when he wakes up? Nothing's going to change, Shiro. We're still going to be just as ineffective as we have been."

The Black Paladin had remained quiet while his teammate vented to him, listening carefully as Hunk voiced what everyone else on the ship had been thinking. When Shiro felt he was expected to speak, he chose his words carefully. "It's not your fault. None of this is your fault. You've been with him through this before and you both came out alright. After what you showed us this morning, what did you do?"

Hunk let out a scoff. "Last time it got this bad… I told his parents." He responded simply, guilt thick in his voice. "He told me he was planning on killing himself and… I called his mom." He poured two bowls of what looked like it could be ramen. He held one bowl out to Shiro who took it quietly. "They sent him to some… hospital rehab place. He spent about a month there, was home for about a week, then joined me at The Garrison. He… didn't talk to me for a long time…"

It was definitely not noodles that Shiro was eating, still he had to admit that he was very impressed with whatever was in the bowl, strange crunch and all. He swallowed a bite before speaking. "And The Garrison thought he was mentally stable enough to be a pilot?"

Hunk shrugged, eating his lunch a bit slower than usual. "His doctors at the hospital checked 'no' on the danger to self or others box and the medicine they had him on was on The Garrison's approved list of anti-depressants so I don't really think anyone looked into it too deeply." Hunk sighed, putting down his bowl half-eaten. "What can I do? I can't just call his mom up, or get him more pills."

Shiro set down his bowl to rest a hand on Hunk's shoulder. "You're doing great. You can't hold yourself responsible for his actions. What he does to himself, Hunk? That's on him. You are not solely responsible for his health and safety." Shiro paused, looking the younger in the eyes in hope that he would find understanding before he moved on, "What we tried before didn't work so when he wakes up, we'll try again. We reconvene and we make a new plan as a team. Don't worry. We're not going to give up on him."

Hunk frowned. He tried to believe what his leader said, especially when he spoke with such confidence. He picked up his bowl again, nodding to the leader before he absently poked at his food. There had to be something that they could do. He was not about to give up on Lance, not ever.

—

They all tensely waited outside of the pod for Lance to wake. As Coran checked his vitals, the rest of them huddled around their injured teammate as soon as the Altean declared he should be ready to wake soon. "I can't tell if he looks healthy or not…" Hunk admitted, looking over everyone else's shoulders.

"I think he's breathing weird…" Pidge noted, pressing her nose to the glass of the pod, studying him carefully. She had watched Lance unconscious in the pods enough times to know what was 'normal' breathing for him, unfortunately.

Growing impatient, Keith scowled. "Oh, come on!" He exclaimed, easily reaching over Pidge towards the buttons on the cryo-pod, as though he knew which one would open the glass door.

"Not yet!" Allura barked back, slapping Keith's hand away from the control panel. "A few more ticks."

Not liking being slapped one bit, Keith argued back. "How much better do you think he's gonna get in a few more ticks?"

"And what exactly is a tick?" Pidge asked, pulling away from the glass just enough to glance up at Allura.

"You know… A time slice." Allura offered as though that should be obvious to her Paladins.

All it took was Shiro to offer what he thought might be the Earth equivalent of a tick for the members of Team Voltron's focus to shift off of their fallen comrade and to comparing the different races' time intervals. So caught up in this new information that they all measured time differently, they did not seem to notice when Lance's cryo-pod opened, ejecting him into the cold room.

It took him a moment to place where he was. Lance's vision came in and out of focus for a moment as he took a few shaky steps forward. He swayed back and forth as he walked, lightheaded as he had never spent that much time in his pod before. It took him a few ticks, but soon realized that everyone was there. Had they been waiting for him? Lance found that hard to believe as he got closer and realized that they were all huddled around Pidge's stopwatch. "You guys having a clock party?" He muttered, his joke falling flat as his delivery was groggier than he would have liked it to be.

"Aw, Lance, you just ruined it." Hunk retorted back reflexively before he could realize what he had said. At the sound of his best friend's voice behind him, Hunk briefly forgot his anger and immediately swept Lance up in a tight hug. "Hey! Lance!" He exclaimed, easily lifting the Blue Paladin off the ground.

Something was not right, Lance thought as he was gently lowered back down to his feet. He narrowed his eyes, looking around the room as everyone stared at him expectedly. He had spent more than his fair share in the cry-pods, but never before had he felt this disoriented right after. Usually when he stepped out, it was only Pidge and sometimes Coran waiting for him. He wondered why everyone else had been waiting for him as well, but more importantly, he wondered why he could not remember anything before stepping out of the pod. "What happened?" He asked with a frown, leaning heavily on Hunk to stand.

"We can tell you all about it while you get something to eat." There was a hesitation, and then a delicate hand on his back as Allura spoke kindly to him. "Are you able to walk?"

Why was everyone being so nice to him? He wanted to ask. Instead, what came out was, "Talking? Eating? Are you asking me out on a date?"

—

He had to admit that he felt better as soon as he sat down and got some food in him. He even welcomed the usually bitter taste of food goo and the energy the Altean meal provided. He tried his best to listen intently while everyone gave him the play-by-play of their adventures that he missed out on, but found it hard to focus. Lance tried to swallow down the feelings of guilt along with his meal as he heard about the great lengths Shiro and Pidge went through to keep him safe while he was unconscious. Bits and pieces of the night began to come back to him as he was reminded. He could remember the frantic yelling of his teammates. He could remember the pain in his back and neck. "You wouldn't have survived the explosion if Hunk and Coran hadn't gotten a new crystal." He remembered talking to Coran right before…

He resorted to giving the rest of his meal to the eagerly begging mice, dread filling his stomach as he vaguely remembered the things he might have said to Coran. "Wow. Thanks everybody." Lance managed out, forcing a smile on his face as he tried his best to pull the attention off of himself by dropping a snide at Keith, who snapped back in a way that made Lance at least momentarily feel like everything was back to normal. He desperately continued to keep the conversation off of him. What happened to Sendak? What was the plan now? The longer they remained in the dining hall, the more worried Lance became that he might be in trouble, especially if Coran had said something to someone. Earth etiquette stated that if someone was talking about being gone the way Lance had been when he was drunk, someone should be alerted, or action should be taken. He wondered briefly if Alteans had the same rules.

Lucky for him, Hunk seemed equally as eager end their conversation to get started on their new mission. Lance wondered briefly if Hunk knew.

—

It had certainly been an enlightening lunch, Lance had thought as the team dispersed momentarily to change into their armor before taking off in the castle that was apparently also a space ship. He was thankful to be out from underneath the eyes of the rest of his teammates, but still noticed that Hunk was sent back to his room as his escort. The two changed in silence, which only seemed to add to the tension between them.

Lance removed his jacket, turning his back to Hunk as he looked over his clean arms. He had noticed before when he was changing out of his healing body suit that the cut on his arm was gone, not even a scar left behind. He was sure at least someone had seen it before putting him in the pod. Someone had to have. Someone knew. The way Hunk was ignoring him made Lance worry that it had been the Yellow Paladin to find the cuts. He hated that he had not been able to tell Hunk to his face, but he also had to admit that he was not planning on telling anyone anyway. Still, the last thing Lance wanted to do was start a mission with is best friend mad at him. He really did not want to jump into anything as the ship was taking off, but Lance could not stop himself from opening his own mouth. "Before we head out." He started. Lance's words caught in his throat as he watched Hunk's shoulders tense out of the corner of his eye. "We're… We're cool… Right, buddy?" He pushed on, continuing to face away from his teammate.

Hunk took in a deep breath, pausing his dressing to exhale slowly through his lips. Every part of him wanted to snap at Lance for hurting himself and lying and worrying everyone. Lance began to speak once more and Hunk held up a finger, silencing him. He took another deep breath before he trusted himself to speak. "Are you serious right now?" He asked darkly, grabbing a hold of Lance's shoulder to turn him around so they could face each other. "What do you think, Lance?"

The Blue Paladin let out a shaky breath. "I-I just… Wanna make sure everything's okay… Before the big mission… Y-You know?" He asked fearfully. He could feel his face heating up and tears welling up in his eyes as he stared up at his best friend. "I, uh, was having a bad day before the… Sendak…" He found himself struggling with words as Hunk waited patiently for him to finish. "I thought… Maybe we could… Talk…"

Hunk nodded for a moment. He had not wanted to fight, but if Lance wanted to start something, he would certainly finish it. "You wanna talk, Lance?" He asked, pulling away from his friend to turn back to his discarded clothes. He shuffled through the pockets of his vest for a moment, before pulling out something that hit the lights and shined briefly. Lance's breath caught in his throat when he realized what it might be. "Then why don't you start with telling me where you got this?" Hunk asked, his voice cracking as he dared to ask the hard question. He held the small blade out between them, his hand shaking as he held onto the weapon.

Lance did not dare to look up at his best friend, instead choosing to focus on the blade. "I… " He swallowed, eyes burning as he answered the question. "Last time I was home on break fro The Garrison, I went to visit my sister, and James always has a bunch of box cutters for work and… I stole a pack of his spare blades."

"So how did one end up here? In space?" Hunk continued, tears pricking at his eyes as he stared Lance down.

At this, Lance shut his eyes, knowing that he was not going to like his answer. He tightened his hands into fists to stop himself from grabbing the blade out of Hunk's hand. He dared to answer softly. "I just… always keep one on me. Just…In case I need one…"

At this, Hunk snapped. "In case you need one? Why would you ever need one?" He yelled, much to the surprise of his fellow paladin.

"What do you want me to say, man?" He asked softly. "I'm messed up. I… I'm broken…" As he spoke he could feel tears running down his face. "I didn't ask to be this way. I didn't ask to be wired like a crazy person! I feel, like, nothing all the time. I can't get out of bed in the mornings and the idea of eating makes me feel sick even though I'm, like, living the dream, ya know?" He began to stutter out how he felt, not bothering to try and stop the tears from falling. "I'm a fighter pilot. I'm in space with my own ship fighting to save the world, like some super hero. And I'm with you and my hero, like I should be happy, right? But… I don't even know why The Blue Lion chose me… And when things start to get even the smallest bit stressful my first instinct is to hide and there's this voice in my head that's like, 'Hey. Stuff's hard. Cut yourself.' And I don't know how to turn it off. And-And…" His voice caught in his throat as he began to sob. "I don't want to… But… These thoughts in my head… I can't turn them off…" He looked up at Hunk pitifully, not surprised when Lance saw that they were both crying. "What… What else can I do?" He asked desperately.

"You don't give up." A voice called from the still open doorway. When Hunk and Lance did not return to the bridge, Shiro had grown worried and set out to find them. He did not mean to eavesdrop on the conversation, but also could not help the feelings of anxiety rising up in his chest as Lance spoke. "We're all a team now." Shiro said, trying his best to keep his voice level and calm for his subordinates. He approached the two of them and Lance quickly wiped his eyes, wondering how much Shiro had heard. "We're all we have out here." He continued, resting a hand carefully on Lance's shoulder. "And, you're right, stuff is hard, but Hunk and I aren't going to give up on you. No one is giving up on anyone." He said seriously, looking between the two of them. After a moment, the two young Paladin's exchanged glances before nodding. "We're almost to the Balmera. We're gonna get in, do our job, and get out. Then the seven of us are gonna have a meeting. We're gonna make a plan to get those thoughts to at least quiet down a little, alright?" When Lance nodded, Shiro gave his shoulder a light squeeze. "Now in the meantime no one is giving up on you. But that means you can't give up on yourself either."

Lance looked between Hunk and Shiro for a moment. He was amazed that after all of the lies he had said, and after how much he had hurt them, they were both still there looking out for him. Everyone was still there for him. He wanted to do right by his team and get better for them. Lance wanted to get better for himself. He turned to Hunk, a nervous look on his face. He held out his hand. "Hunk… Can I?" He asked softly.

Hunk hesitated. He glanced over to Shiro who gave him an awkward shrug, not sure what Lance was planning. As scared as he was, he knew that he had to trust Lance. If they were going to work together in his recovery, they had to trust him to lead the way. Turning back to his best friend, he gave him a nod before handing the small razor blade over.

Lance's fist curled around the sharp metal. For a moment he found comfort in the familiar feeling of cool metal against his skin. He took a deep breath before turning away from them. If he was going to be serious about getting better, then he had to do this. With shaking hands, he opened a small hole in the wall of the room for trash disposal. He took a deep breath, squeezing down around the blade just enough to sting for a quick moment before releasing his grip. He watched for a moment as the razor fell into the darkness towards wherever trash was stored on the ship. "Okay. We can go n—" Lance's words were cut off as he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around him.

He closed his eyes at the familiar feeling of one of Hunk's hugs. For a few ticks, Lance began to panic, almost immediately regretting his decision to get rid of it altogether. Those feelings quickly subsided, though, when he heard Hunk crying over him. For the first time in a long while he felt like he was doing the right thing when he could make out Hunk's soft words. "Thank you. Thank you so much…"