A/N: An attempt to resolve issues not discussed in season 2 (they had time to go to a space mall but zero time to let the team discuss the fact that Keith is part alien?), adding in Klance (which I'm gonna go ahead and say will lead to a mature rating on this one), while having a little fun with Galra!Keith. Contains season 2 spoilers.

Keith stared at his bedroom ceiling while he thought about Allura using her sweetest voice to thank Hunk for retrieving the scaultrite for the ship while he got a cold, indifferent stare for his troubles.

He kicked off his blankets and quickly pulled his boots back on. When they'd returned from his "Knowledge or Death" fight with the Blade of Marmora, he'd let Shiro explain the challenge he'd just faced. Mainly because he was sure if he told the story, his voice would shake. He'd stood next to Shiro with his arms crossed as tightly as he could manage across his chest just to hide the fact that his goddamn hands were shaking while his knife – his Marmora blade – had felt like it weighed a solid ton in the holster around his waist.

There was dead silence from the group when Shiro – blessed Shiro who managed to tell the others that Keith was part Galra like it was no big deal - stopped talking.

Dead silence. Even Allura's footsteps had not made a sound as she had left the room.

"I'll check on her," Coran had said quietly as he followed and left the room as well.

Keith couldn't meet anyone's eyes. He was already freaking out enough without being forced to see their horrified expressions as they processed that he was no longer just Keith.

Like he hadn't been the main outcast in the group to begin with.

"But -," Hunk's voice finally broke through the silence, "but Galra are purple and fuzzy."

Keith's eyes slowly rose to meet Hunk's face. That was the biggest problem Hunk had with this whole situation? The fact that Keith wasn't purple enough?

"Can Galra shape-shift like Alteans?" Pidge asked with a tilt of her head as she turned her attention to Hunk. "But how would baby Keith know to make himself look more human than Galra as he was raised on earth?"

"I thought Allura and Coran said the Galra hadn't made it as far as Earth yet?" Hunk added.

"They were also asleep for ten thousand years. I don't know why we accept everything they knew about the Galra as fact. Think how much can change on Earth in just ten years?"

"Okay, Pidge, but should we be concerned that they've clearly been to Earth?"

Keith turned to meet Shiro's eyes with a desperate plea. He didn't want to face disgust from his fellow paladins, but he had no idea how to handle emotionless scientific theories, either.

"Maybe you should go wash up," Shiro suggested in a low voice as Pidge and Hunk continued their questions off to the side.

Keith's shoulders sank. This wasn't what he'd been expecting, well maybe Allura's reaction was, but he wasn't sure why he was surprised to be feeling disappointment right now.

He'd left the main control room to head to his own room, but slowed when he realized that Lance had not only followed, but was now keeping in step next to him.

"I thought you were in trouble." Lance's low tone reached him a few steps later. "We locked in on Red and she was attacking the base."

Keith stopped in his tracks and turned towards Lance fully. He'd completely avoided Lance's eyes back in the control room. And Lance had been abnormally quiet during and following Shiro's entire recounting. Keith wasn't sure what to make of that. But now, facing him, Lance looked – he looked worried?

Lance's weight shifted to one hip and he crossed his own arms as he fixed a semi-irritated glare towards Keith. Something he couldn't quite pull off considering half his mouth was fighting to turn into a grin. "Ya know, since history tells us that Red taking off on her own means you've gotten yourself into some sort of mess."

"I'm not the only one who gets into messes," Keith muttered back, feeling instantly better in the familiarity of having Lance pick a dumb fight with him.

"Yeah, but this seems to be at the level of you taking on Zarkon by yourself," Lance said, his tone slightly more serious than before. He released a deep sigh and continued to stare at Keith. "Why would you agree to fight that many at once?" He punched Keith in the shoulder, fast, although not hard enough – he thought – to draw out the loud hiss of pain Keith released at the impact.

Keith wrapped his other hand around his injured shoulder. "I – I didn't know how many it would end up being," he said, nearly panting from the pain shooting down his arm.

Lance was on him in the next second, pulling Keith's chest armor over his head and unzipping the back of his body suit before Keith could even react.

"Keith, fuck," Lance muttered when he had Keith's shoulder exposed. "Why didn't you say anything? You should be in a pod!" He began shoving at Keith, changing their course away from the bedrooms and towards the med room.

Keith groaned. "I don't need a pod, Lance." He tried to plant his feet, but he was weak from his earlier fight. "It's a scrape."

"A scrape he says," Lance mocked. "Any deeper and it would've taken off your arm, space cadet."

They almost run right into Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge as the other three paladins were leaving the main control room, and Lance immediately gets justification in his claims for Keith to get medical attention as the others got sight of his deep shoulder wound.

"Keith," Shiro added when Keith continued to try to twist himself out of Lance's hands.

Keith gave in at the sound of Shiro's dad voice and allowed the rest of the team to cart him off to a pod.

And Shiro, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Coran had been there when he'd come out of the pod the next day. Seeing the rest of the team definitely lessened the sting of not seeing Allura there.

They'd shuffled him to bed where he'd thankfully fallen right into sleep. And he'd actually stayed asleep through most of that day, likely his body taking advantage of the fact that he was horizontal since he rarely slept a full eight hours as it was. It was Lance who came into his room later that evening to drag him to dinner.

After dinner the paladins were summoned to the control room where they were all briefed on their new plan for taking down Zarkon, which included a few missions beforehand, splitting the team into small groups.

As Keith and Hunk prepared to set off for their own mission, Keith got a hug from Shiro before he sent Lance a quick nod, wishing him luck. Lance had taken a step towards him, but he'd kept his hands to himself at the last minute. He'd tried to cover his aborted hug with finger guns and a smile, but there was something intense in his eyes that didn't match the rest of his expression. Something that Keith read as a mix of good luck and get your ass back here safely. At least, those were the things Keith hoped his own eyes were saying to his teammate.

And when their respective smaller missions had been completed, and the five of them had been summoned back to the Balmera to help defend the castle, he couldn't explain the relief he'd felt when he first heard Lance's voice over the comms. He was grateful Shiro and Pidge were safe as well, as always, but there was something about that last look before their separation that made Keith want to be near the blue paladin again.

But for some reason his want actually had him doing the exact opposite. He'd let his eyes run over Lance once they were all safely back in the castle after taking down the Robeast. But then he'd focused on the task of unloading the scaultrite and delivering it to Coran before sitting through their mission debriefings where he got to meet Slav, a creature who visibly made Shiro's blood pressure rise. Keith did his best to keep his amusement to himself, although Pidge was openly gleeful about it.

At the end of the meeting he stood, from his seat next to Lance, and headed towards his room where he'd tried to sleep but couldn't. So far, the paladin life seemed to be one of constant battles and maneuvering, something he happened to love. But so much activity after his Galra revelation meant he hadn't had time to process it himself. His teammates probably hadn't had time either, which left him on edge to try to figure out if his place on the team had changed.

With his boots back on, he left his room and went directly to Red. Regrettably, he hadn't had much time alone with her over the past few days. As he entered her hangar, he could practically feel her senses as they roved over him, much, like he assumed a mother cat would check on their young after a tumble. He was sure if Red could, she'd headbutt him, often, for some of his more foolish choices. Not that she was against all of his choices. He'd felt her excitement during their battles rival his own.

He sent Red a message that he was perfectly fine – what was sleep anyway?

If she could roll her eyes at him, she was doing it now. But she still allowed him to climb inside and sit in the pilot seat as a warm hum surrounded him. Red didn't purr often, Keith seemed to hear from the others that their lions purred all the time, but Red seemed to making an exception for him today.

Did you know? he finally asked her, wondering how deep her sense about him could go. Wondering if she had maybe smelled the Galra on him before he even found out the truth.

I knew you were meant for me.

A surge of warmth seemed to wrap around him and he swallowed hard. So you don't care? That I'm –

I care that you're upset.

Keith sighed and let his fingers run across some of her controls. Thanks.

Another surge of warmth blanketed him and he curled into the pilot seat and let the rumbling purrs lull him into sleep.

When Keith woke from his nap, he stretched and thanked Red for accommodating him. She sent him an amused rumble as he meandered out into the hangar. And as he left Red, he noticed Pidge sitting with Green, surrounded by electronics and wires and equipment that Keith would never know what to do with. She didn't appear to be currently working on anything at the moment, though, just leaning back against one of Green's paws as she watched a hologram video with a strange half-smile on her face.

Keith approached her slowly. He'd only had one on one time with Hunk since his big revelation, and while Hunk could never be intentionally cruel to anyone, Keith had been pretty uncomfortable the entire time Hunk had questioned him about his percentage of Galra heritage, while also staring closely at Keith's skin. But he hadn't had any one on one time with Pidge, and he wasn't sure what to expect. Pidge noticed him then, though, and immediately waved him over.

"You have to see this!" Pidge said in a rush. "My god, Keith, this is the funniest thing I've ever seen. I mean, I heard most of it over the comms during our mission, but to see the video?" Pidge's laughter took over then, preventing further words as she hit the rewind button on the hologram in order to begin it again.

Keith took the open invitation to sit and stared up at the video. He could see Shiro and Slav in a room he didn't recognize.

"Is this -,"

"Yeah, I managed to hook up a link to the security footage at Beta Traz," Pidge said, waving her small hand like it was no big deal. "Now shush and watch."

They sat in silence for a few minutes and Keith let himself exhale a breath and relax as he realized Pidge wasn't treating him any differently.

"What was that whole deal with Slav and the blanket?" Keith whispered.

"I have no idea, but did you see how quickly Shiro blew up at him? He was as red as a tomato!"

"He was – in a stressful situation, Pidge. You guys were in a Galra prison? Cut him some slack."

"It's a tiny puddle!" Shiro's voice shouted out through the video.

Pidge cackled. "This is truly so much better on video." She leaned back on her arms and glanced over at Keith thoughtfully. "We could've used you there, actually."

"To try to keep Shiro calm?"

Pidge huffed out a chuckled but shook her head. "You know, a lot of Galra technology is activated and inactivated just by the user being Galra, like finger scans and thing of that nature. So I bet being part Galra means you can interact with their tech. Like maybe you could open doors for us or even shut down some of their system, you know?"

Keith huffed out a breath, equal parts upset that Pidge would think his being part Galra was cool, while also feeling another wave of relief because Pidge thought his being part Galra was cool.

"Pidge -," he started, "I know that the Galra took your father and brother, so -,"

"Keith." Pidge cut him off with an eyeroll. "Galra commanded by Zarkon took Matt and my father, so please stop that train of thought. Plus, look at this." She pulled up a second hologram next to the first, a short video she'd watched several times since she'd found it.

Keith's eyes widened as he watched the new video. "Is that -,"

"Matt." Pidge nodded. "The records say he was taken by rebels."

"Wow," Keith breathed out.

Pidge nodded again. "I still don't know where he is. But at least he's not still near Zarkon. Although, this also means I can't hack their intel to try to find him anymore."

"Pidge you in here?"

Keith's and Pidge's heads turned towards Hunk's call.

"Finally found you," Hunk said heading towards them. "Hey, Keith," he added as he spotted Keith sitting with the green paladin. "Has Galra Keith told you any jokes? I'm trying to keep a running tally. You know, for science."

"No jokes," Keith said, scratching a hand across the back of his neck. He tried to force a smile that probably looked a little more like a grimace.

"So, Pidge, do you have time to work on that new weapon with me?"

"Yup," Pidge said, jumping to her feet. "Catch you later, Keith."

Keith nodded and watched them leave the hanger. He overheard Pidge telling Hunk to use the word yup around Lance as often as possible, which led both of them to chuckle again as the door closed behind them.

Keith's eyes returned to the video stream and he continued to watch his teammates' efforts to work through the mission. And yes, maybe Shiro's eye twitch did make him smile, not that he'd ever admit it to anyone.

Then the video stream switched to Lance walking down a hallway with what Keith now knew to be a Yupper from the mission debriefing they'd all sat through. Keith found himself immediately admiring Lance in his paladin armor and turned the volume up when Lance began speaking.

"Pidge is the hacker of our group. Shiro is our awesome leader."

Keith rolled his eyes and scowled as he made a mental note to talk to Lance about making sure someone was an actual ally before he began spilling all of Voltron's secrets.

"Keith is always doing things like flying into asteroid fields and black holes and cool junk like that."

Keith couldn't stop himself from hitting the rewind button. And not just because he couldn't believe that Lance was boasting about him, but because he wanted another look at Lance's face when he said those things. He'd seen that expression on Lance before, an awed fondness that curved his face into softer features that usually appeared only when Lance spoke of his family. And here it was, present as he talked about Keith.

Keith could feel his face warm and was grateful Pidge wasn't still here to see him blush over a few kind words and a soft look from Lance.

Plus, Keith thought to himself, as he hit the rewind button one more time, it was proof that Lance didn't actually hate him. The two of them had had a few shiny moments of teamwork over the past few months, but mainly Lance made snide remarks in his direction and glared at him for reasons Keith didn't quite understand.

Well, maybe he understood. He even accepted that he was the one who started their reunion off badly by pretending not to recognize Lance when they'd rescued Shiro back on Earth. He wished he could take his denial back. Or find a way to explain to Lance why he'd said those things. But in that moment, he couldn't separate Lance from the Garrison. The Garrison which had thrown him out on his ass. It hadn't been the first time someone had discarded him, either. So when he'd seen Lance, the cute cargo pilot who was still safely ensconced in the Garrison, he'd felt only shame. And unfortunately his first reaction had been to brush off any memory of Lance.

Keith would still deny their Garrison rivalry, though. While he had certainly noticed Lance in their shared classes, his only wish had been for Lance to talk to him as easily as Lance talked to literally everyone else. He wasn't trying to one up Lance in any way back then. Or now. In fact, he was still in the same boat of wishing Lance would talk to him like a friend. He glanced at the video again and let a small surge of hope soar in his chest. Because if Lance didn't hate him, then maybe they would end up friends.

Keith knew he still wanted more. But he'd settle for friends.

He resisted the urge to rewind a third time and focused back on the screen when Lance began speaking again.

"And I thought I was the sharpshooter. But I guess no one else did."

Keith frowned immediately. His previous warm feelings were gone instantly as anger filled him. Who the fuck had put that thought into Lance's head? Lance was the best sharpshooter Keith had ever seen. His accuracy during not only their training drills, but in their real life combat situations was uncanny.

"Maybe I don't have a thing," on-screen Lance continued and Keith felt his chest tighten at the sadness in Lance's tone. "Maybe I'm just a fifth wheel. Seventh if you count Coran and Allura. That's a horrible wheel to be."

"Yup," the dog-like Yupper creature replied.

Keith continued to glare at the screen as he tried to equate this downtrodden, sad Lance with the self-assured, cocky Lance he was used to. He wondered how much of the public face Lance shared with all of them was just an act.

The video continued overhead but Keith stood. He wasn't sure where Lance was at the moment, but he was sure he could be doing more to make sure Lance knew he was an important member of this team. He was just about to turn and leave, but was distracted when the fight began between the Galra prison warden and Shiro, Pidge, and Lance. He froze and grimaced a few times as he watched his teammates get thrown around the room. Keith wondered if Shiro knew about this surveillance video, because without Slav opening the airlock and hurling them all into space, Keith wasn't sure how else they could've gotten out of this one. And maybe Shiro could take some pointers from the tape for future practice drills.

Although his teammates disappeared from the video feed, Keith was impressed to hear that Pidge had added the recording from their comms to the video – perhaps Shiro had asked her to keep track of their missions in some way?

"Wait!" Lance's voice interjected, "I got this."

Keith already knew what happened. But he held his breath anyway as he heard a deep breath from Lance before he saw a flash on screen, forcing the warden to release Slav into open space to join his paladin rescuers.

"Nice job, Lance!" Shiro could be heard saying. "That's why we bring our sharpshooter."

Thank you, Shiro, Keith thought to himself.

"Yup," Lance responded, making Keith smile as he heard Lance use the same low tone as the Yupper.

The screen went blank and Keith paused. For whatever reason, Lance had been feeling down about his place on the team and his sharpshooter skills. It seemed crazy to Keith that Lance – fully human, exuberant, gorgeous, talented Lance – could feel self conscious about anything.

But despite exhibiting some pretty low self esteem issues in the middle of the mission, Lance had eventually saved the day using the very skills he'd been concerned about. So, he probably didn't need Keith to try to cheer him up. Keith rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. It wasn't like he knew how to cheer anyone up anyway.

He sent Green a goodbye wave and left the hangar. They were all in waiting mode right now as the next step in their plan to defeat Zarkon was coming together. He thought about doing a little training and was headed in that direction when he almost ran right into Lance coming around a corner.

Lance was shirtless – dear Lord - wearing only a pair of blue swim trunks and a towel around his neck. Keith swallowed hard at the sight of so much smooth tan skin.

"Keith."

Keith snapped his eyes upward to Lance's face as he belatedly realized that Lance had probably said his name more than once. He raised an eyebrow in question as a response.

"I asked if you'd seen Hunk around?"

Keith nodded.

Lance stared back at Keith and waited. Keith's eyes had dropped away from his face again and Lance tilted his head as he tried to decide if that was a blush running up Keith's neck and across his pretty face.

"Keith," he repeated. Keith's eyes jerked back up to his face once again. "So where's Hunk?"

"He's uh – Hunk's working on a weapon project with Pidge."

"Oh," Lance said and Keith watched as Lance's shoulders sagged. "He was supposed to go swimming with me."

"There's a pool?"

Lance's eyes lit up again. "Yeah, do you – do you wanna swim?"

Keith nodded. Anything to keep that smile on Lance's face.

Lance looped an arm around Keith's shoulder and turned them in the direction of Keith's room.

"Uh, what are we doing?"

"As much as you love that half jacket of yours, mullet, you can't swim in it," Lance said, opening Keith's door and leading them into Keith's room. "There's a bathing suit in your closet."

He let go of Keith's shoulders with a small shove, directing Keith in the direction of his closet and allowed himself the chance to look around while Keith dug through the extra clothes they had each been provided. Lance had never had a reason to be in Keith's private space before and found that there wasn't much to see. None of them had had a chance to pack anything when they left, but Lance had still managed to amass small collections of space rocks and other space junk from some of the planets they'd visited.

He turned away from the sparse room and back towards Keith who he found was currently pulling his shirt over his head.

"Wha – what are you doing?"

Keith turned towards him, confused expression in place. "Changing into my bathing suit?"

Lance bit back a strange choking noise in his throat as he hurled himself towards Keith and pushed Keith – while ignoring the fact that his fingers were touching the bare skin of Keith's back – towards his private bathroom.

"Go change in there," he managed to say. Then for good measure, he left Keith's room completely and leaned against the wall right outside it. He popped off the wall a few moments later when Keith reappeared, grateful to have his heart rate back to normal by then.

Not that a shirtless Keith was helping his heart rate. Why had he invited Keith to get half naked with him and go swimming? Where Keith would be covered in water and - slippery? He could feel his neck heating up and turned away from Keith to lead the way to the pool.

"Whoa," Keith said a few moments later as they entered the pool area and he was treated to a view of the largest pool he'd ever seen. "How did I not know this was here?"

"Maybe because you spend all your spare time in the training room instead of exploring?"

"Extra training is not a bad thing," Keith said with a huff as he threw his towel on a chair. "You could use some extra hand to hand training."

"And you could use some extra swim time," Lance responded automatically as he tossed his own towel aside. He stretched his arms above his head and let out a satisfied groan as he felt his muscles stretch. He glanced in Keith's direction and paused when it looked like Keith's face was turning red. It was kind of a nice color against Keith's light skin tone, but led Lance to frown. "Wait, you do know how to swim right, desert boy?"

Keith sent a glare back in his direction. "Yes, I know how to swim."

Lance began to wade into the pool, practically sighing in relief as the water wrapped around his ankles and then his calves as he continued. He looked back over his shoulder to Keith. "Come on then, mullet. Ya up for a race?" He could see the competitive gleam in Keith's eyes light up before Keith even answered.

There was a mini race to the deep end as Lance took off when he saw Keith begin to charge into the water. And he was ready with a splash of water to Keith's face when Keith finally reached the side of the pool beside him. Keith maybe tried to drown him for it, but it had been worth it.

"From here to the other side and back?" Lance finally asked with one arm wrapped over the edge of the pool as support.

Keith eyed the width of the pool before glancing back at Lance. "I'm not sure a swimming race against the water paladin is going to be entirely fair."

Lance gaped at him. "Wait, do you think - you think I'm going to beat you?"

"Plus you have those ridiculously long legs." Keith glanced down toward Lance's legs through the water.

Lance huffed out an irritated breath and fixed Keith with a sour look. "Oh I get it, you're just trying to psyche me out before the race?"

"I'm just pretty sure I should get a head start," Keith said matter of factly.

Lance's eyes widened in disbelief. Either Keith was trying to freak him out to gain an advantage for their race, or the great Keith Kogane was honestly worried about losing. To him.

"I mean, if we ever have a lava race, I'll give you a head start."

Lance barked out a laugh before he could stop himself. "Oh my god you're the worst!" He splashed Keith again and then tried to shield himself when Keith splashed back. "I didn't even know you knew how to joke you loser."

Keith tilted his head to the side, looking for all intents and purposes as if he was actually still being serious.

"I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that we could encounter a planet with lava -,"

"Oh my god, Keeith," Lance wheezed at the picture of innocence in front of him. "You're awful and terrible and I don't know why I invited you to swim with me!"

There was more splashing, but at the end of it, Lance was face to face with a Keith Kogane who was actually smiling. In his direction. Showing off two rows of pretty teeth and dimples. Christ.

"There and back," Lance repeated, unable to keep a wide grin off his own face as he pointed to the other side of the deep end.

Keith nodded in return and Lance pressed his feet against the wall of the pool, ready to shoot off the side. He counted off with a ready, set, go and then took off through the water.

He could practically feel Keith swimming nearby. Not right next to him, but close. And when he did a flip turn on the opposite side of the pool – something he spent a few weeks one summer perfecting – he was practically ecstatic to see that he was definitely ahead of Keith.

It was on his way back to the other side that something – or more specifically a red paladin someone – snagged his ankle and broke his stride. He gasped, mostly out of shock that Keith would pull such a move, but didn't let it deter him from retaliating by diving for Keith as Keith tried to pass him. One hand landed on a shoulder while the other wrapped around Keith's middle and he hauled the other paladin through the water and did his best to toss him backwards. Then he jerked away from Keith's flailing arms before they could make contact and try to grab hold of him again. He backpedaled in the water for the few seconds it took to make sure he was staying out of Keith's reach before he flipped and resumed his previous steady strides to the other side of the pool.

He won the race, which meant he was in full on victory dance mode, as much as one could dance when their feet couldn't touch the ground, by the time Keith grabbed hold of the edge of the pool beside him. Keith was panting slightly. And glowering at him. But Lance continued his swimming victory dance with the widest grin his face would allow.

"I can't believe you would cheat!" Lance finally said when the dance was completed. "I mean, I guess when you're up against all this - ," he waved a hand up and down his chest, " - it can make a person feel a little desperate."

"Maybe I just thought it would be best to squeeze in some hand to hand training," Keith said with a smirk.

Keith had had an idea that Lance would be at home in the water. But that tiny thought was nothing compared to just how natural Lance looked as he streamed through the water. And Keith still wasn't sure how Lance had managed to throw him back a few feet through the water when he'd had absolutely no leverage to aid him.

And Lance was certainly the picture of a water child right now. He kept running his hands through his hair, forcing the wet strands to stick up at odd angles that Keith found weirdly endearing. And Keith certainly couldn't complain about seeing all those water droplets run from behind Lance's ears, over his neck, down his chest. Holy shit, Keith thought as he forced his eyes back up to Lance's face.

Right now, Lance was shaking his head at him in disbelief while he laughed out the words, "Hand to hand training my ass, you cheater. You're as bad as my brother, Mark. He pulled all kinds of shit like that when we raced."

"You guys went swimming a lot, right?"

"God, yes," Lance said with a fond smile. "We practically lived in water in the summer. My sister, Gabby, taught me how to dive. Plus, we'd have contests to see who could hold their breath the longest. Or we'd talk under water and then see if the others understood us. My cousins were always around too, so we'd play marco polo or shark attack or - ,"

"What's shark attack?"

Lance glanced around the pool at the interruption, and suddenly Keith wished he hadn't asked because Lance's face did a strange shuttering as if he realized he wasn't in a pool full of family members.

Keith reminded himself that he wasn't supposed to be making Lance feel sad, which led to panicking and saying the first thing that came to mind.

"I've never known anyone like you."

Lance's mouth twisted as he stared across the still water in the pool. "You mean loud and obnox-,"

Keith cut him off. "Someone who just loves his family."

Lance shut his mouth and swallowed over the sudden lump in this throat.

"It kind of rolls over to how you treat everyone here as well."

Apparently Keith's mouth decided it was going to take over for a bit. His brain worked to catch up. He thought about how sad Lance had looked talking to the Yupper on the prison feed. And whether the two of them bickered all the time or not, he wanted Lance happy. And now that his brain had joined the party, he knew he wasn't going to be so obvious as to try to cheer Lance up by mentioning that he thought Lance was an amazing shot. Besides, Lance had several other important roles he and he alone filled on their team. Keith could easily focus on one of those things for the time being.

He met Lance's eyes and took in the shocked expression. But there was hope there too. Something in those blue eyes that was silently begging Keith not to be messing with him right now. So Keith decided to continue.

"I mean, you're ridiculously generous with your time. I don't know how you manage it, but I know you spend time with almost everyone on this ship every day. It's like you're making rounds, just checking on everyone. Making sure we've taken a break. That we're not taking ourselves too seriously. That we're not spending the night in the training room."

Keith rolled his eyes thinking back to the night Lance had hurled enough competitive insults at him, something about how he was going to kick Keith's ass in training the next morning only because he got more sleep than Keith, that managed to coax Keith out of the training simulator with the gladiator – at one in the morning - and off to his room in a huff to prove he could sleep just as long as Lance.

A solid eight hours of sleep later and Keith, with a newly cleared mind, finally realized what it was Lance had done.

Lance's eyes ducked down and Keith watched as a smile curled Lance's lips as a pretty red color spread across his tan face.

"I'm glad you asked me to swim." Keith swallowed and told himself he could be brave. After all, he wanted Lance to think of him as a friend. So he ignored how vulnerable he felt any time he stretched out of his comfort zone and opened his mouth again. "If you ever want to swim again and can't find anyone, uh, just – just come find me."

Lance's eyes shot up to Keith's then and Keith swallowed again at the muted hope he could see there.

"I mean, it doesn't have to be swimming. Just come find me and I'll hang out with you."

And he meant it. He knew Lance hated to be alone, and in turn, Keith found he hated the vision he imagined of Lance wandering the castle looking for a friend. Especially considering how much Lance did for everyone else.

Plus, Keith wanted Lance as a friend. At least. At least maybe they could be friends.

And maybe most people became friends without all the awkwardness that Keith was pretty sure was rolling off of him right now. But he had no real basis for how good friendships formed, so he was doing his best.

Plus, the way Lance was currently grinning at him told him he couldn't be too far off the mark right now.

"You free after this?" Lance asked.

Keith raised an eyebrow in question.

"Let's grab some snacks and go watch a movie."

And maybe Lance dunked him on their way out of the pool. But Keith swore revenge the next time they found themselves near lava.

"Why'd you leave the Garrison?"

"They kicked me out."

"Why though?"

Lance tossed another piece of what they'd taken to calling space popcorn, really just energy bars that Hunk had smashed into pieces so they could feel like they were eating popcorn with their movies, in Keith's direction. He watched Keith catch it neatly in his mouth. Just like he'd caught every piece up to that point. Lance's catching average was slightly lower.

"Thirty, twelve."

Okay a lot lower. He tossed another piece.

"Thirty-one, twelve."

"So why'd they toss out Mr. Perfect?"

Keith threw a piece of space popcorn his way. It bounced off his nose and maybe landed in his mouth by accident. He was still counting it.

"Thirty-one, thirteen," he said with a grin.

Keith huffed out a breath from his side of the couch. But he didn't call Lance out on the near miss.

"I wasn't perf – look, can I ask you something first?"

Lance pulled his legs up underneath himself – criss cross applesauce his youngest sister called it – and nodded back at Keith.

"Do you really not care that I'm part Galra?"

Lance blinked.

"I mean, Shiro was surprised, but he said it didn't change anything. And Hunk and Pidge seem more interested in the how part. And Allura -," Keith trailed off there before his eyes landed on Lance again. "But you haven't really reacted at all."

"Well, I, uh, I guess I didn't know how to bring it up with you to see how you were doing."

"Me?"

"Yeah. I'd say learning you're part alien is pretty huge and I thought you might need some time to adjust before I started badgering you to see how you're feeling about the whole thing."

"How do you feel about the whole thing?"

"Why does it matter?" Lance's head tilted with the question.

Keith stared back at him. It was an innocently worded question with absolutely no snark.

Keith's next words came out stilted. "Because we have to work together. And live together." And I really want to know if you're okay with this.

"Okay, but you've always been part Galra apparently, right? And we've formed Voltron how many times? You've always been a good teammate, Keith. I don't see knowing this new information changing that." He tossed another piece of space popcorn to Keith's side of the couch and watched as Keith, despite the worried look on his face, caught it with ease.

"Thirty-two, thirteen," Keith murmured as he eyed Lance. "You really think I'm a good teammate?"

"Weelll," Lance drawled out, "yeah. When you're not going off by yourself." Keith threw a piece of space popcorn at him and he almost fell off the couch trying to catch it. He picked it up off the floor and threw it in Keith's direction in retaliation. "You should lose a point for bad tosses."

Keith knocked the floor piece away with his hand and watched it land across the room, a treat for the space mice whenever they were next in this room. He chewed on his lower lip and turned back to Lance.

"Iverson kept saying the Kerberos mission was due to pilot error." Keith watched Lance and knew by Lance's nod in agreement that Iverson had continued the slander even after he'd been kicked out. "I called him a liar."

"Oh," Lance said with another nod.

"And then I punched him."

Lance choked out a laugh. He felt like he should be at least a little bit surprised. Keith was always so on task at the Garrison. Whether he was in class or in a flight simulator, Keith did everything perfectly. At the time of Keith's discharge from their school, it would've seemed impossible for Lance to believe that perfect Keith Kogane would've punched a superior officer.

Lance took a moment to study the small smile on Keith's face. The Garrison's golden child had irritated the hell out of him. But this Keith sitting in front of him? Lance actually knew this guy. He was brave. And brash. And acted before thinking. He let his instincts lead him in battles.

But even knowing all that, he still wasn't sure Keith would necessarily punch a rude guy in the face if it meant losing out on his chance to become a pilot. So, likely there was more to the story than that. Likely it was Keith's feelings for Shiro – Keith missing Shiro – that pushed him over the edge.

"You and Shiro were pretty close before he left, huh?"

Keith nodded. "The Garrison sent Shiro to my high school to recruit me directly," he said, thinking back to the day that Shiro had arrived and pulled him from his boring classes in order to take him out to a nice lunch to talk. "He became my mentor and - ," his voice trailed off for moment, thinking back to walking the halls of the Garrison. He'd never been any good at making friends. But Shiro had always sought him out and he had great stories about some of the smaller missions he'd gone on. Keith remembered how hard it had been when Shiro first left for Kerberos, and the pain he'd felt when they announced he was dead.

"Keith?" Lance asked. He leaned over slightly, forcing himself into Keith's vision, suddenly feeling guilty for making Keith relive whatever was making his eyes glassy.

Keith snapped back to attention. "Iverson was an ass."

Lance chuckled and leaned back into his own seat. "Yeah he was. He told me repeatedly the only reason I made it into the fighter class program was because my predecessor had a discipline issue."

Keith's stomach twisted painfully at Lance's bitter tone. It was really no wonder Lance thought they were rivals, especially with Iverson shoving him in Lance's face repeatedly.

"But, I get punching him. I mean, if Hunk had suddenly gone missing and I had to face Iverson's jerky face every day, I'd probably snap too."

"Your first reaction isn't usually to punch." Keith side-eyed Lance again and watched the smile grow on Lance's face.

"Quit hogging the space popcorn." Lance unfolded one of his legs so he could nudge Keith's knee. "I have to catch up to you."

Lance wasn't sure when they fell asleep. He knew he'd been reluctant to let the conversation die off because he didn't want Keith to leave and go off to his own room. He wanted Keith to stay here with him in this weird bubble of space they'd fallen into where all of their attention was solely for the other. And he was sure as soon as they separated this spell of understanding between them would be broken. And he just couldn't go back to that. He couldn't go back to Keith's indifference. He needed this. He needed to be someone special to Keith. Because Keith was someone special to him.

But at some point they'd clearly both lost the battle with their eyelids and had dozed off next to each other on the couch. Lance woke because he'd fallen over at an odd angle and his neck hurt. Plus, because he was sharing the couch with Keith, his legs were bent strangely and were beginning to cramp. He desperately wanted to stretch them out, but wasn't sure how to accomplish that without either stretching them in front of him on the floor, which meant half of him would be hanging off the couch uncomfortably, or getting up and going to his own bed.

Neither option sounded great. He rolled his head and let his eyes land on Keith. Keith's head was tilted at what looked like an uncomfortable angle as well, even if it was pretty cute how his bangs were currently falling over his forehead. But aside from looking absolutely adorable curled into the corner of the couch, Lance figured Keith was going to wake up hating life due to a crick in his neck and pain in his own legs. So, really, if he were to say, adjust Keith a little bit, it would be for his own good. The guy would probably even thank Lance for his consideration.

At least that's what he told himself as he reached over and tugged Keith towards him. He waited for the manhandling to wake Keith, and while Keith's eyes did flutter open, he merely regarded Lance with a sleepy expression that made Lance's insides buzz. But – bonus - sleepy Keith in no way stopped Lance from maneuvering him the way Lance wanted. And what Lance wanted was to be able to stretch himself out on the couch, while also spooning his fellow paladin.

A few shifts of their bodies later and that's exactly what he got. He had one arm wrapped tight around Keith's middle and he pulled him as close as possible back against his own chest. If he'd been more awake and coherent, he may have tried to explain their position by saying he was just trying to keep Keith from falling off the couch. But while he was sleepy and comfortable and warm, he could openly admit to himself that he just needed to have Keith pressed this tightly against him right now. At the thought, he tightened his arm once again and gave Keith another squeeze. He shifted his legs so that they were pressed as tightly up against Keith's legs as they could be. Then he shifted his face through Keith's dark hair until his nose reached the back of Keith's neck. He inhaled Keith's scent and could feel the shiver that ran through Keith when Lance's breath ran across the skin there.

One more squeeze to make sure Keith was as closely tucked into him as he could be, and Lance finally closed his eyes and let himself go back to sleep.

A/N: Since I wanted to address some things that happened in season 2, I squeezed in exact lines from the show. And while I wanted to make it obvious which lines those were (since I didn't write them) I don't like the look of bolded words in the text just for that purpose. And italicizing is also out (because I italicize a lot - so it would be confusing?) In the end I just decided to assume that most people reading this would have seen the season and just know exactly which lines were taken from the show. Here seems like a good place to mention that I do not own Voltron.

March 2017 Exciting Update! So, you know when you go somewhere new or try something new and it can be fun, but also kind of scary and lonely because you're new (I was a navy brat who moved around a lot as a kid but I'm pretty sure this is a universal feeling, yes?) Anyway, I'm pretty new to the Voltron fandom (although everyone has been super nice), but you can imagine my delight when a friend from my original fandom posted some Galra!Keith artwork. I pretty much internet tackle hugged suitboxers when I saw it since I was so excited to see a familiar face in this new-to-me fandom. And as we chatted, it turns out they had already read and loved this story! AND THEN suitboxers offered to make some art to go with it - and it's AMAZING. Unfortunately I have no way to share it on the FF site, but it's been embedded into each chapter on the archives site (there's 17 pics total across the 6 chapters) or you can see it on Tumblr (6 posts total - one for each chapter) through my profile (same username) under the 'make me your home' tag, or you can see it on by visiting suitboxers' Tumblr.