"End training sequence."

"Good job Paladins!" Allura clapped her hands. She smiled joyfully at our improvement. I stared back at the demolished gladiators discarded on the floor in front of us.

I took a deep comical breath of air, earning a small chuckle from Hunk. Who was grabbing a sip out of his water bottle. "Nice work today guys." Shiro smiled.

"That will be all for today, I'll see you all for dinner." Allura dismissed us with a polished wave as we grabbed our things and prepared to leave the training room.

"Nice shooting out there today Lance." Hunk complimented. Earning a sarcastic comment from Pidge.

"Really? I would've thought he couldn't see further than his nose." Pidge jumped into the conversation wearing a mischievous smirk.

"Hey, Pidge." I smiled. Consciously ignoring the comment. Her expression said she was just joking.

"By the way what was wrong with you last night?" She looked me dead in the eyes before letting out a snicker. "It was like you turned into a baby!"

"Did I really get you with that?" I lied. I started to create my story from the ground up. Giving Keith a look to signal my new lie.

"...What do you mean?" Pidge asked. She carefully chose her words.

"It was another one of his stupid jokes." Keith intervened before Pidge could pry further. "I was in on it."

Shiro gave us a curious look. He clearly didn't really believe our lie but went with it regardless. "Just don't let it

endanger the team. Anyway, nice fighting today."

"Don't worry Shiro!" I smile.

~\~/~\~\~/~\~\~/~/\/\~/~\~\~/~\~\~/~\~

Keith and I left for the observation deck together in silence. I enjoyed being able to let loose and relax without having to be on guard for every drop of liquid.

The relief led me to stare blankly at his face. He seemed to mirror my relaxation before tensing.

"Is there something on my face?" Keith asked as he abruptly stopped our walk to the deck.

"Just your cute nose." I chirped, bringing up my joke flirting.

"W-what?" Keith sputtered as he tried to find a proper response. I laughed at his reaction.

"I'm just messin' with you." I watched joyfully at his beet red face settled to its usual colour.

I restarted the walk down the long hallway as Keith reluctantly trailed behind me grumbling under his breath the whole way.

When we reached the observation deck I couldn't help but gape in awe of the view. Bright purples blended with vibrant blues highlighted with glowing stars and stunning planets.

"Whoah," Keith said behind me. His usual expression morphing to shock.

"Yeah, whoah! It's almost as stunning as you." I joked again.

"Lance!"

I laughed.

"Thanks."

"For what?" Keith asked, puzzled.

"You know... Not spilling or making a big deal of my tail." I nervously rubbed the back of my neck. This was still very weird for me to talk about.

"Yeah sure," Keith said. "But I do think you should tell the team."

I let out a sigh. "I know, just- I just want things to stay how they are ya know."

"Lance they'd accept you. They accepted me." Keith assured and rested his hand on my shoulder.

"But this is different. I can't-do anything near water or on a full moon." I protest weakly.

"We'd find a way." Keith offered. "Besides, it'd be an asset on some missions."

"I'm a fish." I say bluntly. Stopping his argument.

"You're not a fish. You're a merman." Keith assures me.

I open my mouth to say more but I'm cut off by Hunk over the small communicator in the room.

"Dinner is ready!"

"Let's go." I turn away from the windows in the room and face the door.

"But Lance-" I cut Keith off as he tried to continue.

"Later Keith. Thank you though." I quickly leave the room leaving Keith to follow behind me.

~\~/~\~\~/~\~\~/~/\/\~/~\~\~/~\~\~/~\~

The dining room/kitchen was shockingly loud. We were still excited by our performance in the training room. The group bubbled with joy.

"Then Shiro saved me from one of the robots!" Hunk said. Bouncing in his chair from excitement.

Even Pidge took to the excitement. "And you blasted away that gladiator!" She cheered.

I took a bite of my food. Western hamburgers. "How did you make it taste so good!" I asked Hunk. Interrupting the conversation.

"Well, you see I found some alien cow-type things. So I just used the meat from that. The other stuff is made from things from other planets we've visited." He explained proudly.

"It's delicious, Hunk." Shiro complimented. A soft smile gracing his face.

"Thanks." Hunk laughed.

"Are you feeling better Lance?" Shiro asked.

"What do you mean?" I looked at him. Shiro looked confused as I quickly reviewed everything I had done and said for the last couple of days.

"You said you were sick on the mission."

"R-right! Uh, you see I feel better now!" I laughed and scratched the back of my neck.

"Lance," Pidge spoke up. "You are the best actor I have ever seen." She added a sarcastic emphasize on the 'best'.

"Of course!" I laughed before realizing what she said. "Wait I wasn't acting!" Pidge snickered in triumph.

"Got you!"

"Pidge!" I groaned. The gremlin tricked me! All I could do was glare hopelessly at her victorious smirk.

"Ha!" She laughed and pointed at me. "Now-"

"Come on guys." Shiro tried to break up our budding argument. Shiro kept trying before Keith finished eating.

"I'm done." Keith stood up from his seat and carried his plate towards the sink. "Thanks for dinner Hunk."

"No problem." Hunk grinned. He was clearly pretty proud of his food.

"You know I think I'm done too." I stood up to follow Keith.

"Actually Lance would you mind staying behind with me? I need some input on some new recipes." Hunk asked.

"Sure buddy." I smiled.

I waited for everyone else to finish cleaning their dishes, being careful around the sink and glasses. Once they left I walked over to Hunk.

"So what am I trying?" I was excited to taste some more of Hunk's creations. I'd been dying to try some of the candy Hunk had been telling us he'd been trying to make.

"Did you wash your Hands?" Hunk asked.

"Y-yeah. I'm just eating though right?" I lied. A feeling of unease settling in my gut.

"I mean, you don't have to but I would appreciate if you could help me prepare breakfast for tomorrow."

"Oh, Sure." I agreed. I walked over to the table Hunk was attending.

"We're just making pancakes." He explained as he collected some ingredients from the cupboards.

"Cool." I looked over some of the items, most of which I hadn't seen or heard of before. "What do you need me to do?" I asked.

"Just see if you can find some of these." He handed me a notepad with his neat printing writing out some stuff I'd heard of. Others I could barely pronounce.

"Alright," I said as I walked over to some of the nearby cabinets and looked through each one by one. After pulling a few choice items out of the cupboards Hunk called me over.

"So just follow the steps on that sheet of paper." Hunk handed me two mixing bowls. "If you need help just tell me."

"Sure." I looked over the recipe and went to work on the pancakes. I was almost finished with my first batch when Hunk started talking again.

"Lance… is everything alright?" Hunk kept his eyes locked on his bowl. He did seem concerned.

I frowned. I really, really wanted to tell Hunk. "Yeah… I'm fine." Hunk's expression morphed into a face of disbelief. It hurt to see the spots of distrust. It was clear this was something that had been building for a while.

"You know you can trust me right?"

"Of course." I relent. I started to slow down a little.

"Lance is there anything at all?" Hunk tried. Guilt crawled up my heart. I knew I couldn't tell him anything though. My mind reminded me of Keith's advice. Surely my best friend would too? I opened my mouth but the words wouldn't come out.

I couldn't bring myself to say it. "I'm sorry." I managed to choke out before I escaped the kitchen. It felt like I was being weighed down by every decision I'd made.

"Lance!" I heard Hunk's footsteps as he ran after me. "Lance! Come back!" All I could see was the blur of the halls as my vision fogged from unshed tears. Why was I running? Why couldn't I tell Hunk?" Regardless all I heard was the pounding of our feet as we sprinted down the hall.

The sprint took us through hallways and hallways until I had no idea where we were. I kept running even though I could start to feel the pain in my legs and the hurt in my chest.

It ended with a firm hand on my arm. I turned back to Hunk's concerned expression. The chase was over. I thought I got over this after Keith found out. "Look at me, Lance. It's okay." He tried to comfort me. "What's wrong? Why'd you run?"

I wanted to keep running so bad but I fought back the urge for Hunk. I took a staggered deep breath. Where was Keith when you needed him?

"I'm sorry." I cried. He hugged me tightly.

"It's okay Lance, I don't think any different of you." He rubbed my back with his hand. I took another breath. It was this moment I decided Hunk deserved to know.

"Hunk I-I want to tell you." I started as my heart sped up, nervous about telling my best friend my deepest secret. Another breath. "I'm a merman." I could feel the weight lifted off my heart.

"Is that why you avoid water?" Hunk's expression showed his thoughts. I could tell he was conflicted.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner." Hunk's expression softened and he hugged me tighter.

"Lance It's okay. You're family."

This was where I belonged.

A/N-

Thank you for reading! It's been quite a while but it's here! If you find any errors please point them out! Also, thank you for all the nice comments and favorites and follows. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!