"Hey, Lance?" Pidge's voice pulled Lance's attention away from his tablet where he had been studying Altean.

"What's up, Pidgey?" Lance asked, placing his tablet on the ground in front of where he lay on his stomach.

Both Pidge and Lance were chilling in one of the many loungerooms the Castle-ship had to offer while Hunk, Shiro and Keith were all off doing who-knew-what. Pidge's projects hadn't required her to stay in Green's hangar to babysit them so Lance had appeared at the Green Lion's request. Pidge had been less than impressed to learn her Lion had snitched on her to Lance and had made sure to glare venomously over her shoulder at her amused Lion as Lance dragged her out of the hangar and into the nearest loungeroom so the two of them could relax with their tablets.

"I wanted to ask you something," Pidge said and Lance raised his brow at the slight hesitant tone he heard. He'd never known the green pilot to be hesitant in asking him anything.

"Shoot," Lance said invitingly as he pulled himself up into a sitting position, crossing his legs in front of him and slumping slightly as Pidge put her tablet up behind her on the couch and leaned her back on it.

"When did Green first talk to you and why?" She asked and Lance felt his eyebrows raise in surprise.

It had been whatever the Altean equivalent of a month was since he'd unwittingly revealed his secret abilities: his ability to channel Blue's ice powers and his ability to speak with all of the Lions, not just his Blue. In that time, no one had really asked about how he was able to actually speak to their Lion. Lance had come to three conclusions about why they hadn't asked: they'd asked their Lions and been told by them, that the other Paladins had just decided to not question it or that they didn't care.

"Well, she didn't contact me until maybe two or three weeks after we found Blue," Lance told her. "I think it was a few days after the explosion in the Crystal room." Pidge internally shuddered at the unwanted memory his words brought up. No one liked talking about how close they'd come to losing Lance and the Castle-ship that day. "Why are you so curious now?" Lance asked, bringing Pidge out of her memories.

"I've been wondering about it since you told us but there's always been something distracting me every time I've gone to ask you," Pidge told him, shrugging a shoulder. "So, was there any special reason she'd decided to contact you or did she just do so because she wanted to?" Pidge asked.

"I'm pretty sure it was a mix of both, actually," Lance told her after a moment.

"What do you mean by that?" Pidge asked, unintentionally interrupting him as she didn't realise he hadn't actually finished speaking.

"Patience, Pidgey," Lance said, chuckling at the glare she gave him in response. "Right, so Green initially contacted me because you had decided to surpass your normal three-day binge and turn it into a five-day binge and she'd gotten extremely worried about you. She decided to ask me to deal with you since I'd been the one who'd had the best record when it came to getting you away from your laptop and into your gremlin hole." Pidge scowled at him and went to punch him but Lance had just laughed and leaned back to avoid the blow.

"Are you seriously telling me my Lion decided to initiate a bond with you so she could dob me in?" Pidge asked incredulously, aiming her words externally to Lance and internally through her own bond with Green.

"Are you seriously surprised, Gremlin?" Lance asked, raising a brow in her direction and Pidge pouted because, no, she really wasn't. Lance and Green cackled at her silence, causing her to pout even further.

"What are you guys laughing about?" Shiro's amused voice sounded from behind the couch and both Pidge and Lance jumped in surprise as the man finally appeared in their line of sight.

"Give us both a heart attack, why don't you, Shiro?" Lance accused as he grasped his chest dramatically.

"Does that mean you don't want space salted-caramel popcorn?" Hunk asked from where he appeared behind Shiro, two massive bowls in his hands.

"Of course I do," Lance told him. "Get you amazing butt over here and give me popcorn!" Lance made grabby hands as Hunk laughed at him but did as he was ordered. Pidge immediately attacked Lance so she could get some popcorn too, causing them to squabble as Lance tried to push her away and she tried to cling to the bowl like an enraged kitten.

"Share, you two. There's plenty to go around," Shiro ordered as he sat on the ground, on Lance's other side and pulling Pidge off the popcorn bowl before giving her the second one. Shiro went to ask his original question again when Keith appeared and plopped himself on the ground next to Shiro so he could steal from Pidge's popcorn bowl.

"What are we talking about?" Hunk asked as Keith stole popcorn from Pidge's bowl, looking thoroughly unphased by her growling as he did so.

"Pidge wanted to know why Green decided to talk to me," Lance told him as he shoveled a handful of popcorn into his mouth and let out a massive groan of delight. "Hunk, you truly are a blessing to the culinary world." Hunk rolled his eyes at his best friend's antics as Lance proceeded to drape himself against Hunk and flutter his lashes up at him. Hunk nudged him away but Lance simply adjusted himself so his feet were against Shiro's thigh – not that the older Paladin seemed to mind – and made himself comfortable.

"Actually, I've been curious about that myself," Shiro said and Lance quirked a brow.

"You've been curious about why Green decided to talk to me?" Lance asked teasingly and Shiro poked him in the knee.

"No, about Black, which you very well knew I was talking about," Shiro said as Lance laughed, kicking Shiro lightly in retaliation.

"Yeah, I wanna know when and why Yellow started talking to you as well," Hunk said as he took some popcorn.

"Same here for Red," Keith said gruffly, doing his best to show only mild interest rather than the burning curiousity he'd been feeling since Lance had dropped the whole 'hey, I can talk to all the Lions in my head' bomb on them.

Lance sat up slightly so he was fully leaning against Hunk, rather than slumping against him like before, but still had his feet tucked up against Shiro. The others were all facing him now, interested looks on their faces, and Lance realised they were now all sitting in a sort-of circle with Pidge and Keith against the couch and himself, Hunk and Shiro all facing them, though Hunk and Shiro had shifted so they were facing Lance as well.

"You guys all want to know?" Lance asked, not quite able to hold back the confusion in his voice. Like he'd thought when Pidge had first asked, he just figured they hadn't been overly curious since it had been over a month since they'd found out and none of them had so much as hinted that they were curious.

"Well, yeah. Wouldn't you be asking us if we could talk to Blue?" Hunk asked and Lance nodded. "Why do you think we wouldn't be interested?" Lance didn't answer for a moment.

"Well, none of you have asked before now. I just thought you guys had already asked your Lions or something," Lance told them with a shrug but it was his demeanour that had Hunk looking at him properly.

"You didn't think we cared, did you?" Hunk asked, masking his sadness when all Lance did was shrug dismissively.

Hunk managed to bite back his sigh because he knew that Lance would take it the wrong way. Despite their best efforts, the team hadn't quite managed to convince Lance that they truly cared for him as much as he cared for them. Hunk wasn't facing the same battle as them since he knew that Lance knew just how much Hunk loved him but he still knew that Lance would sometimes doubt their friendship. Thankfully, even though their lives had taken the most unexpected of turns and caused all sorts of turmoil, those kinds of days had been very rare however that was only with Hunk himself. The others, even Pidge, were still struggling to follow the advice Hunk had given them after the whole debacle on planet Tra'Crolle and Lance's subsequent stint in the cryopod and the discussion about his abilities that followed.

"I'm sorry if we made you think that, Lance," Shiro said, face falling as Hunk's words sunk in. "All of us wanted to ask you about it but we decided to give you some space so you wouldn't feel like we were interrogating you or something. After a couple of weeks, we were gonna ask but then we got hit with all those missions and problems and it slipped our minds," Shiro apologised and Lance gave him a blinding smile.

"It's all good. I get it, you know. You don't have to apologise for that. Besides, like I said, I really had thought the Lions had already told you," Lance said, flapping a hand at him dismissively. Shiro didn't really want to let it go but Hunk gave a small shake of his head and Shiro followed his lead, remembering something Hunk had told them a few days after their big talk about Lance. They had to pick and choose which battle to fight and which one to just let go.

"So, did you answer Pidge about Green?" Hunk asked and Lance nodded as he grabbed another handful of popcorn and started devouring it.

"Yeah, Green contacted me when Pidge did that massive five-day binge only a couple of weeks after the Crystal room explosion," Lance told them and Shiro grinned.

"Figures she would've decided to speak to you then. I remember all of us trying to coax Pidge out of the hangar. I think she even attacked Keith, didn't she?" Shiro asked the Red Paladin who scowled at the memory while the others chuckled.

"She cut me with her nails! I have scars from that!" Keith exclaimed, crossing his arms and glaring at everyone when their chuckles turned into proper laughter.

"I apologised," Pidge giggled and Keith's glare was aimed at her.

"Even I know saying 'soz' to someone doesn't count as a proper apology," Keith sniffed, looking upset over it still but Shiro could see some small signs of amusement in his mask.

"How did it feel to have a Lion who wasn't Blue talk to you? Was Green the first one to contact you?" Shiro asked, trying to stop Pidge and Keith from bickering anymore.

"No, Green was the third Lion I had in my head. Yellow decided to talk to me first out of all of your Lions," Lance revealed and Hunk didn't look shocked. He'd theorized that Yellow had been the first Lion to speak to Lance. "But it felt weird. For like, half a minute before she first spoke to me I could feel this immense pressure in my head. I thought it was the start of a migraine or headache and I was going to go to the medbay to find some painkillers when I heard Green," Lance explained before chuckling to himself. "To be honest, I thought I'd finally lost it or that I had some unhealed brain damage from the explosion or something and was imagining Green's voice in my head."

"How did you convince yourself you weren't?" Pidge asked, forever curious and Lance shrugged a shoulder.

"It took the combined efforts of Blue, Yellow and Green to convince me I hadn't gone off the deep end," Lance told her. "Though it did take them quite a few minutes to convince me of that," Lance said, grinning a little sheepishly.

"Wait, why was it so hard for you to believe you had Green in your head when you already had Yellow in there?" Hunk asked suddenly, sounding confused.

"Well, because you're you," Lance said. "I mean, if I would have been asked which Lion I thought would've decided to speak to me other than Blue, I would've guessed Yellow because of how close we are and how close you are to Yellow."

"Huh," Pidge said, leaning further onto the couch, "that makes sense. You two are as close as brothers so, yeah, I can see why you'd come to that conclusion, Lance," she told him. Lance shot her a grin before speaking again.

"So, yeah, Green first contacted me so I could drag Pidge's butt to her room so I could lock her in there and make her sleep," Lance told them, grinning when Pidge muttered something likely unflattering under her breath.

"I mean, I wish I could be surprised that that's why she contacted you but you really do have the best record for getting Pidge to sleep after a bingeing session. Why is that?" Shiro asked, wondering if there was some trick Lance could teach the rest of them.

"Shiro, I have younger siblings and before we moved to America, I had a ton of baby cousins that I used to babysit, which included nap-times when they really didn't want to sleep. All I do is make sure I stay as stubborn as them. Eventually the fact that they're overtired works in my favour and they give in before I do," Lance told him, laughing when Shiro's face fell when he realised there wasn't a magic word or something.

"I don't think I like the fact that you were trying to get Lance's secret from him to use against me," Pidge said haughtily but everyone could see she was just teasing him. Shiro flushed slightly and apologised but Pidge waved it off with a stifled giggle.

"So, why did Yellow first contact and when did she?" Hunk asked, trying to take the focus off of Shiro and get the subject back to something he wanted to know about.

"Oh, she contacted me pretty quickly. Only a few days after we found her and the rest of the Lions, actually," Lance told him and Hunk gave him a surprised look.

"You've been able to talk to my Lion for almost as long as I have been?" Hunk asked and Lance shifted minutely.

"Yeah," he said, a little slowly, like he wasn't certain that Hunk was going to be happy to learn how long he'd been able to talk to Yellow.

"Wait, a few days after we found her?" Hunk asked, brow furrowing in thought as Lance hummed affirmatively. "She asked you to check on me when I had that really bad day where I really homesick, didn't she?" Hunk asked and it was Lance's turn to look surprised.

"I know you're a genius, Hunky, but how the heck did you guess that so quickly?" Lance asked, slightly awed and Hunk felt himself flush a little bit at Lance's tone.

"Because, no offense to the others meant, but you would've been the only person back then to recognise when I wasn't feeling great but was trying to put on a brave face and I had been avoiding you that day because I didn't want to worry you and I knew you were missing home as much as I was," Hunk told him. "I always wondered how you figured out I was upset after you nearly broke my door down to comfort me but I just put it down to your weird spidey-sense you always get when it comes to a family member being upset," Hunk teased, poking Lance in his ticklish spot and making the Cuban laugh as he tried to swat Hunk's hand away.

"So, was it actually Yellow who told you?" Shiro asked while Keith and Pidge had a glaring contest over the popcorn. "Share, you two," Shiro said with a sigh when he noticed. Both Pidge and Keith sulked as they did as they were ordered.

"Yeah, Yellow told me. She was really worried about him and didn't know how to help since, you know, it was the first time she'd ever met a human, let alone had one as a pilot so she spoke to me to see if I could help since she knew he's my hermano in all but blood," Lance told him, ignoring the 'aww' coming from Hunk and Pidge. Pidge's was more teasing than anything but Lance still ignored it, though he did file it away so he could get his retribution later.

"So now we know why Green and Yellow spoke to you and I think I speak for everyone when I say none of us are overly surprised why they chose to speak to you," Shiro said and the three youngest Paladins laughed because he did have a point, "but what about Red and Black?"

"Didn't you say Black was the last one to speak to you?" Keith asked, recalling the comment Lance had made during that whole conversation.

"Yeah, it took Black two months after finding Blue to speak to me but I reckon Red would've been the last Lion to contact me if the circumstances had been different," Lance told him. Keith and the others frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean? What circumstances?" Keith asked, a little pushily but Lance didn't do much more than half-glare at him.

"Do you remember, like, five or so weeks after the Crystal room explosion – actually it might've been almost immediately after we met Shay," Lance nudged Hunk and waggled his eyebrows at him in a way that had the Yellow Paladin shove him away from where he was leaning against him, "and the other Balmerians but before the Castle-ship became haunted where we had that diplomatic mission on the planet with the cat-like aliens who ate those purple flowers. Remember that?" Lance asked and received nods all around.

"Yeah, you and I got separated from everyone and ended up nearly being attacked by the natural predatory species on that planet," Keith said, speaking a little slowly as he recalled the mission Lance was talking about.

"Weren't the two of you saved because Red appeared just as you fell off the cliff those animals had you cornered on?" Pidge asked and both Lance and Keith nodded before Keith's eyes opened in realisation.

"Red told you she would be there!" Keith said, almost accusingly. "That's why you pulled us over; because you knew Red would catch us!" That answered a few questions Keith had had about that whole event.

"Woah, woah, woah! 'Pulled you over'?" Shiro asked incredulously. "You told us that you both misjudged how much room you still had and that it was just good timing on Red's part that stopped you from getting hurt or killed," Shiro said to Lance who hunched in a little guiltily.

"Well, I didn't think you guys would believe me if I said I'd heard Red in my head and since Keith had accidentally blocked her out – that's why she contacted me, by the way – I decided to say that it was an accident. I was more surprised that Keith backed me up than I was that you guys believed me," Lance admitted.

"Wait, I blocked her out? That's why she didn't tell me the plan?" Keith asked and Lance nodded.

"Guys, why doesn't Lance start from the beginning and tell us the whole story. The truth this time," Shiro said and Lance nodded in agreement, wincing a little at Shiro's pointed tone at the end there.

"Right, so Keith and I got separated from you guys somehow in the jungle," Lance told them and they nodded since they knew this part already, "and we found ourselves being chased by those creatures until we were cornered on top of the cliff. There were too many for Keith to take on by himself and my blaster was useless against their hide," Lance repeated what he'd told them the first time around. "Anyway, Blue and the others were too far away to help since we'd only come in Red so I couldn't call them for help and we couldn't contact you guys. I figured we were going to have to jump and hope the fall was survivable or try and fight the animals when Red initiated contact. She wasn't especially nice about it however but I think that in the face of the circumstances, you could understand why," Lance said with a wry grin as he remembered the burst of pain that had accompanied Red.

"Is that why you almost jerked right off the cliff? I thought you'd gotten hit by something," Keith asked, brows furrowed as he recalled the momentary panic he'd felt when Lance had let out a sharp gasp of pain and stumbled half a step back, causing Keith to almost have a heart attack, thinking his teammate was going to fall over the cliff.

"Yeah, Red was very intent on getting through to me," Lance drawled, feeling a sheepish apology from the Lion in question that had him sending some reassurance down their bond. He wasn't mad at her, not that he'd ever been mad at her to start with. "You'd somehow managed to block her enough that she couldn't talk to you," he said to Keith, "so she had to talk to me. Anyway," Lance said, clapping his hands together lightly, "she told me that she was on her way and that she would catch us when we jumped. I may not have been polite when I told her there was no way we were gonna jump off a fricking cliff but she was very insistent." Pidge and Hunk laughed as they imagined what Lance had actually said and Lance smirked. "She told me I had three ticks to decide and I obviously decided. I pulled Keith off the cliff with me and Red caught us, so yeah, that's when she first spoke to me," Lance finished a little lamely.

"This is not a thing I'm gonna have to worry about in the future, is it? You jumping off of cliffs because one of the Lions told you too?" Shiro asked a little exasperatedly and Lance grimaced.

"She did catch us," Lance defended and Shiro sighed resignedly but his small, amused smile told Lance he wasn't actually upset with him, much to Lance's relief.

"So that's Green, Yellow and Red. Obviously, we know when Blue started talking to you and why but what about Black? What made her decide to talk to you?" Hunk asked, unknowingly beating Shiro by moments.

"Oh, uh, she started speaking to me a couple of days after Red did," Lance told them, not sounding enthusiastic about sharing the reason Black did start talking to him.

"Lance, why did Black decide to start talking to you?" Shiro asked, giving him a nod that he hoped told Lance he had permission to tell them, though Shiro had no clue why Lance wasn't immediately forthcoming with Black's reason.

"She wanted to thank me," Lance said quietly before giving Shiro an apologetic look, "for helping you with your panic attacks and nightmares. She wanted me to know that she was grateful for my efforts and that they were making a difference because somehow she knew I'd been thinking I was doing more harm than good," Lance told them, kinda rushing what he was saying the further he got into the explanation, like he wanted it over and done with. Shiro looked shocked before his expression softened as he looked at Lance, who looked like he was worried about Shiro's reaction.

"You did help me. Immensely," Shiro assured Lance, pulling one of Lance's hands from where he was wringing them in his lap so he could squeeze it and make Lance look up at him rather than at his lap. "Why didn't you want to tell us that?" He asked and Lance shrugged a shoulder.

"I didn't know if you wanted everyone to know about how bad you were," Lance said, wincing at his word choice. "You were pretty insistent I didn't tell them when I first found you mid-panic attack." Shiro remembered that instance and couldn't fault Lance for being hesitant. Shiro had made his thoughts on the others knowing very well-known but they did find out one at a time despite his best efforts. After all, Lance couldn't be there for him every time and he didn't always manage to seclude himself before an attack happened so it was inevitable the others would find out.

"I understand and thank you for wanting to keep your word but since they all know about my problems now, I imagine they figured out that I was worse before they learned about the nightmares and panic attacks so it's okay," Shiro told him and felt a little upset at how relieved Lance looked when he realised he wasn't in trouble. Shiro had to remind himself that it had only been a month since he and the others realised the truth about Lance's self-esteem and that he couldn't expect Lance to have completely made it out of that headspace yet.

"Oh, okay," Lance said in relief. "So, yeah, that's why Black decided to speak to me. She just wanted to thank me. She's really sweet like that," Lance told him and Shiro couldn't help his smile.

"Yeah, she is," Shiro said in agreement. Neither of them commented on the fact that Shiro hadn't let go of Lance's hand yet and that Lance hadn't tried to reclaim it.

"Okay, but is anyone going to comment on the fact that our Lions contacted Lance for the most mothering reasons I've ever heard?" Pidge asked, the question bursting from her like she'd been holding it in.

"She's not wrong, actually," Hunk said thoughtfully. "I mean, Yellow did contact him so he could help me when I was really homesick and feeling sorry for myself." Pidge nodded along vehemently.

"And Green snitched on me while I was in the middle of a binge and made him lock me in my room until I passed out," she said sourly though – much to their amusement – the other Paladins noticed her sourness was aimed inwards and Lance could feel Green's shameless amusement at her pilot's antics.

"Then Red decided to have Lance help us out of danger because I wasn't listening to her. That rant was not something I ever want to live through again," Keith said, shuddering at the memory of it. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't surprised that Red told him she'd created a bond with Lance in order to save them. His Lion definitely held that back so he would continue puzzling over it as punishment. He felt Red's smug confirmation and mentally scowled at her.

"Black made sure Lance knew he was actually helping me when that really should've been something I did," Shiro said, face falling a little as he faced Lance. "I am sorry I never thanked you properly for helping me so much in those first few weeks. I don't think I would've dealt with everything by myself as well as I did with your help. So, thank you, kiddo." Shiro made sure that Lance saw the sincerity on his face and heard the earnestness in his voice and was rewarded with the young Cuban's cheeks pinking slightly as he flushed.

"It's okay, Shiro. Anyone would've done what I did and I didn't really do much anyways," Lance said, trying to deflect the attention off him in the way he always did when someone was paying him a genuine compliment like this.

"You did so much for me, Lance. I don't think you'll ever understand just how much you helped me. I was in an awful headspace and I truly believe that if someone else had been the first to find me mid-panic attack – no offence to them – but I don't think they would've handled the situation as well as you did," Shiro told him, refusing to let him dismiss the compliment like they always used too. Shiro needed Lance to realise he was being honest and sincere and that he truly thought Lance was amazing.

"Yeah, you know how horrible I would've been. I would've just been a fussing, flustered mess," Hunk said, nudging Lance with his shoulder and making Lance let out a breathy chuckle.

"I would've been no help. I probably would've freaked out and went and gotten you," Pidge told him, completely honest. She had no experience with dealing with panic attacks and it was only because Shiro wasn't too far into the one she found him experiencing and was able to give her instructions that Lance had drilled into him that Pidge was even able to help.

"Ditto," Keith said a little gruffly. Lance's flush had almost enveloped his whole face at this point, causing Shiro and the others to grin a little with amusement and fondness.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say that I think I'm even less surprised now that I know the Lions' reasons that they all decided to choose you to talk to first," Shiro said, a proud smile on his face.

His honest statement and the proud smile made Lance's eyes water and the Blue Paladin couldn't control himself as he threw himself across the small gap between him and Shiro and grabbed Black's pilot in a tight hug that almost knocked Shiro over. It did, however, upend the bowl of popcorn still in Lance's lap and sent the uneaten popcorn spilling all over the floor. Shiro managed to stop himself and Lance from sprawling on the ground but only just.

"Thanks, Shiro," Lance whispered into his neck as he struggled to hold back his tears and keep his overwhelmed feelings in check.

"I meant every word, Lance," Shiro whispered back before jolting when he felt another pair of arms wrap around him and Lance. When he looked, he almost chuckled in complete lack of surprise when he saw it was Hunk.

"Group hug!" Pidge declared once her bowl of popcorn was safely out of harm's way. She grabbed Keith's wrist before he could try to escape and dragged him in with an unknown strength, causing the Red Paladin to yelp as he and Pidge landed on top of everyone else.

Shiro really did laugh then as he freed his prosthetic arm from Lance and used it to wrap around Keith and Pidge to include them in the hug. Keith grumbled a little but Shiro felt one of the Red pilot's arms wiggling its way in between him and Lance so Keith could hug the Blue Paladin as well. Pidge's wiry arms wriggled their way round as much of Hunk and Keith as she could manage as she rested her head on Lance's shoulder. When everyone was settled, Lance let himself sink into Shiro and Keith a bit more and closed his eyes as he allowed himself to bask in his space family's arms while the Lions made sure to send their love and warmth through their bonds to their pilot and through their bond with Lance.

A/N - Here's the sequel to my Medic Lance story where you all find out why and when the Lions started talking to Lance. I hadn't been certain about how I'd do this story but I hope you like it! Please let me know what you guys think to it and leave me some reviews!