Chapter 1- Coran

Soon after they had formed Voltron for the very first time, Allura and Shiro had decided that they would all help Coran out with the upkeep of the Castle-ship, keeping it functioning and clean. Coran had argued, saying he was perfectly capable of keeping the Castle in tip-top shape by himself. His argument was that it was unfair to ask the humans to help with chores while they were busy training and defending the universe. Lance had been the one to ask him how many people it used to take to keep the Castle in perfect condition.

When Coran had answered with a number higher than anyone, except maybe Allura, had expected, Shiro had asked how Coran was expected to do everything and still have time to sleep and help them. The orange-haired alien hadn't been able to answer. Allura had asked him to make a list of all of the jobs that had to be done daily, weekly and monthly (or the Altean equivalent of those times) so they could figure out which jobs the Paladins could help with. A roster was made and sent to each person's personal tablet with the roster sending them an alert anytime it changed.

Soon there was a routine in place and everyone could tell Coran was grateful for the help. Of course, there were times when the roster had to be changed. Coran refused to let them do anything the day after a battle and if someone had been in a healing pod, Coran wouldn't let them do anything until he was sure they could handle it. It had driven Lance crazy after the explosion in the crystal room. Coran had made him rest for three days after he got out of the pod and by the time a week had passed, he still wasn't letting Lance do anything. The Cuban boy had gone to the Princess to see if she could anything about it. Allura had been surprised Coran was still not letting Lance do anything and promised she'd speak to him when she could. She'd found Lance the next day and told him that Coran had admitted to her that he felt guilty over how badly injured Lance had gotten trying to protect him from the explosion. Lance had thanked her and went off to find Coran.

He found the Altean tidying one of the numerous rooms Lance still had yet to explore in the Castle. He wasn't sure what this one was used for but it was massive and there were all sorts of fascinating things on the shelves. He started looking at everything, trying to figure out their purpose and was startled by Coran coming up next to him. Lance had actually forgotten why he was in this room.

"Number 3!" Coran had greeted him upon realising he was in the room. "Do you need something, my boy?"

"Coran, why are you not letting me help with stuff around here? I swear, I'm perfectly fine! All healed up and everything!" Lance asked and watched Coran's expression turn guilty.

"I know you are, Lance," he almost whispered and Lance remembered what Allura had told him. He placed a hand on Coran's shoulder.

"You know I don't blame you for what happened to me, right?" He asked once they locked eyes and Coran didn't have to say anything for Lance to know the answer. "Coran, me getting hurt is not your fault. I'd do it all over again if I had to! I don't know if you're not letting me help around here because you think I'm still hurt or because you feel guilty but either way, you're wrong and I'd love to start helping out again because I'm getting really, really bored and that's not a good thing for me and anyone around me. I've started plotting pranks to pull on everyone!" He told him, dramatically throwing his hands up in the air. The act made Coran chuckle slightly.

"I'm sorry, Lance. I know it's silly but I just didn't want to see you hurt because of me again," Coran admitted. "I just figured that there would be no way for you to get hurt because of me if I didn't ask you to do any chores, " the orange-haired alien admitted. Lance's features softened.

"I get it, Coran, but I want to help out around here. It's not fair to everyone else and it's not fair to you if I keep missing out on my chores. And if I get hurt doing them, it's not on you. Just like me getting hurt before isn't," Lance added sternly. "So can I start helping out again? 'Cuz if not, I'll probably end up being killed by Keith when I add something that looks like hair dye to his shampoo bottle if I don't get to help." Coran had thrown his head back and laughed.

"We certainly can't have that, my boy!" He grinned as he threw an arm around Lance's shoulders and led him to where he had been working. "Why don't you help me out with this?" He said, handing Lance a rag that the teenager took from him. They spent the afternoon dusting the shelves off while Coran taught Lance the names of some of the objects. Coran had been touched when Lance asked him if he could teach him Altean and his heart swelled with warmth at the unrestrained happiness in the boy's smile when he said he would be happy too.

That was a couple of months and now it was Lance's day off and the Blue Paladin was looking for his favourite Space Uncle. He often sought Coran out on his days off so he could help out more and keep getting Altean lessons. Coran had been intrigued when Lance told him Earth had several languages and had acted like an excitable child when Lance had spoken Spanish one time so now their lessons were half-Altean and half-Spanish.

He frowned when he'd visited every spot listed on Coran's to-do list for the day and he still hadn't found him. It was not like the man to swap things on his list and not update his own roster. He always did so just in case someone needed to track him down for something. Lance moved down another hallway, looking in each room as he passed them. He had just walked past the medical bay when a flash of orange had caught his eye. He doubled back and saw Coran standing with his hands behind his back next to a tray filled with medical supplies, an opened roll of bandage, and a completely unconvincing 'I wasn't doing anything' look on his face.

"Whatchu doin', Coran, my man?" Lance asked, quirked brow, as he stepped into the room.

"Nothing much, my boy! Just doing inventory! Yup, that's all I'm doing! Just making sure we've got everything!" Coran told him and Lance's brow nearly reached his hairline in disbelief.

"Would you like time to think of a different lie? Inventory was done in here by Shiro two days ago," Lance pointed out and Coran deflated. Even his moustache drooped.

"I hurt my wrist. Nothing serious! Don't worry!" Coran added seeing Lance's body shift in concern. "I don't need a pod but I need to wrap it for a couple of quintents," he told him and Lance sighed before gesturing for Coran to hold his hands out. The wrist Coran had hurt was haphazardly wrapped and Lance unravelled the bandage.

"How about you let me wrap this then you can teach me what everything in here does, just in case?" Lance offered as he re-rolled the barely used bandage so he could apply it to Coran's wrist properly.

"That would be appreciated, my boy," Coran said softly as he watched Lance expertly wrap his hand up. The bandage was tight but didn't restrict his finger movements too much and it was taped securely so it wouldn't come undone easily. "Thank you."

"It's no worries," Lance assured him before picking up a random bottle of pink spray. "Now, what does this do?" He asked, eyes alight in a way that Coran knew meant he was really excited about what he was doing.

"That, my boy, is a spray designed to help with any bruising," he answered and Lance looked at it, fascinated. He asked a few questions before they moved on to the next medical item that caught the Cuban's eye. They spent the rest of the day in the medical bay until Lance had memorised everything. Coran tested him a few times and both of them had smiled proudly when Lance was able to grab anything Coran asked for on the first try. Coran couldn't help but feel proud of Lance.

Lance and Coran both startled when the alarm to indicate dinner sounded. They'd completely lost track of time in the med bay, both too absorbed in what they were doing to pay much attention to the time. They both headed to the kitchens together; Lance now asking about whether there were first aid kits in the Lions and what they held. Coran was happy to go into details since there were things in the kit that weren't strictly for medical uses.

"Lance?" Coran asked when the Cuban had run out of questions. The brunette hummed in response. "Why did you want to know about the uses of each medical item?"

"Well, just in case really," Lance said before realising that wasn't really an answer. "I mean, there'll probably be times where one of us gets hurts like you did and you'll be in the middle of something important or something so I figured that having someone else on this ship knowing basic first aid wouldn't be a bad idea." Lance shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe then I'd be a bit more useful to the team," Lance whispered, likely not meaning to be loud enough for Coran to hear him.

"My boy, you are very useful to our little team. I couldn't imagine anyone better suited to piloting Blue than you," Coran told Lance, his voice completely serious. Lance's cheeks flushed slightly but he bumped his shoulder against Coran's.

"Thanks, Coran," he said, voice slightly watery. He cleared his throat before shaking his head and breaking out his usual cocky attitude. "As much as I love this mushy stuff, I'm starved! Let's go find out what wonderous creation my Hunky-Bear has cooked up for us!" Coran laughed as Lance started bouncing slightly in his excitement.

"Yes, we mustn't keep Number 2 waiting," he grinned as he followed Lance once more. He was still concerned about what Lance had said but he vowed to himself that he would take every opportunity presented to show him how worthy he was to be here.

A/N - New story for y'all! I've written out most chapters and, as you can probably guess from the summary and this chapter, there'll be a chapter for each character. Though I'll probably split Lance's one into two cuz I think it's a bit long XD None of this story will be fully compliant with canon, though I've based all chapters before the s2 finale. Each chapter will be various lengths as well. I'll be updating this story every Thursday/Friday. Please let me know what you think to this chapter!