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They’re on their way home. It’s taken years that feel like moments and moments that feel like years but they’re finally on their way.
The party is in full swing around the Paladins of Voltron, the saviours of the universe. The Paladins themselves are subdued. They almost lost one of their own and they’re still reeling.
Everything had come down to two one on one duels to the death, Allura taking on Haggar and a quintessence-mad Lotor cornering Lance, while the others were forced to the other side of a line of what could only be called humanoid robeasts.
Allura managed to hold Haggar back but Lance’s swordsmanship was sorely lacking, no matter how much training he’d put in with Keith after they had defeated Lotor’s Sincline machine. Lotor clearly had the upper hand and Lance was trying his best just to survive the encounter. Allura knocking Haggar to the floor and restraining her was enough to send Lotor into a rage that Lance couldn’t hope to stop.
Allura was only alerted to the issues Lance was having when a scream of pain and the anguished cry of Keith, trying to get to their friend, rang through her ears. Haggar was immobilized so she turned quickly towards Lance to find Lotor’s blade through the lower half of Lance’s left leg and Lotor on the ground motionless with Lance’s bayard in its blaster from, trained on where Lotor’s head must have been.
They had rushed Lance back to the Atlas as quickly as they could. He was unconscious from the pain and blood loss and gently pushed into a healing pod. None of the Voltron team were willing to leave their friend’s side. Keith and Hunk especially. Halfway through Lance’s allotted time in the pod, Coran realised the damage to Lance’s leg was too great for him to retain full use of it when he was released. They had to make a decision, amputate the leg just below the knee and provide Lance with a prosthetic that could allow him full motion, or let the healing process continue and leave Lance with his leg, but a severe detriment to his ability to walk and move.
The team ultimately decided to get Lance out of the pod and allow him to decide.
They roused him from his healing sleep and laid the facts out for him when he was lucid.
Pidge, her father and brother as well as Coran began the process of designing a new leg for Lance.
The team, having nearly lost Lance more times then they were comfortable with (“even once was too many Lance! We’re wrapping you in bubble wrap and locking you in a safe room!”) haven’t let the red paladin out of their collective sights since he was let out of the healing pod.
He is honestly getting tired of the constant babysitting. The war is over now, the clean up is underway and the team is headed for home, there’s no reason to be so protective of him.
He sighs. He loves his friends, he really does, but this atmosphere is depressing, and he just wants to move on and learn to live with his new leg as best he can. He wants to dance dammit!
“You know, this party would be a lot more fun if you guys would mingle.” He points out.
“I don’t mingle, neither does Pidge. Shiro is taking a break from diplomacy and Hunk isn’t feeling up to it.” Keith replies like he’s bored of explaining.
“C’mon at least let me mingle! I don’t want to stand here all night when there’s a perfectly good dance floor right there!” Lance whines.
“Lance, Coran said you shouldn’t be exerting yourself until you’re used to the prosthetic. Which translates to, no dancing.” Keith’s stubborn tone makes Lance frown.
“What if one of you guys dances with me? That way you can monitor how I’m doing, and I can go dance!” he offers hopefully.
“No. You’re going to stay with us.”
“Come on Keith! I’m fine! I know my own limits and I just want to have some fun. Please come dance with me, there is no better way for you to make sure I don’t overexert myself than for you to be my partner.”
Keith just ignores Lance’s whining. Lance huffs in annoyance.
“Fine, I’ll stay in the great circle of safety just don’t expect me to be any fun because this atmosphere is literally sucking the fun out of my soul.” Keith snorts but doesn’t look at him.
Lance stays in the circle of his friends for approximately 0.06 seconds before he starts sneaking his way out of the safe zone. No one catches him which is a miracle, and he makes his way stealthily around the perimeter of the room to keep out of the team’s collective line of sight.
He leans up against one of the pillars of the ballroom to breathe. He will not give Keith the satisfaction of knowing just that little trip around the large ballroom tired him out. He’s had this new leg for two weeks with constant checkups and working with the therapists kept on staff on the Atlas. His stamina is the only thing that suffered, the new leg isn’t any different feeling than his old one, so he’s been pain free the whole time. When the Holts and Coran really get to work on something, you know it’s going to be amazing, and his leg is one of their finer creations.
“Finally lose your four shadows?” the familiar voice snaps Lance out of his thoughts. Speaking of Holts.
“Fortunately. I haven’t had a moment of peace since I got out of the damn pod. I love my team, and I know they’re worried, they almost had to watch me die for fuck sakes! But I need to breathe and try and live my life. We won! I want to celebrate, and they won’t let me even think about dancing even if it’s with one of them! I’ve got a brand-new leg and I want to use it!” Matt nods understandingly through all of Lance’s complaints.
He was there for the battle that had ultimately cost Lance everything below his left knee, and he could understand where the other Paladins were coming from. But he also knows Lance better than they think because he knows Lance needs to cope a different way than Shiro did. He needs to use his new leg and dance and run and live, or his vibrancy will dim, and things will only get worse.
“Well, since you want to dance and I want to dance and your personal bodyguard detail isn’t anywhere near us…May have this dance, Lance?” Matt smirks.
Lance snorts before taking Matt’s hand, “of course Matt, I couldn’t think of a better dance partner.”
Matt grips the hand lightly, drawing Lance in close to his body to pull him into a simple partner dance. Matt’s right hand is on Lance’s trim waist, his other holding Lance’s hand as he leads them onto the dance floor. Lance giggles in delight when they join the crowd of dancers on the floor.
Matt’s lead is gentle, they twist and turn their way about the dance floor. The other couples turn to stare when they realize one of the reclusive Paladins has moved out of the little ring they had made and joined the festivities. Some couples even stop dancing at the sight of the grin on both Lance and Matt’s faces.
Lance takes no notice of the eyes on him; he’s too caught up in the freedom he feels being able to dance around without a care. He knows that if nothing else, Matt won’t let him fall if something should happen so this is the perfect time to test his own limits. He encourages Matt to take them into more complicated moves, faster spins, and a lift or two.
They pass several songs like this, just moving around the dance floor. Matt tries to keep them from heading back to where the other paladins are still in their little clump. He managed to get Lance away from them, he doesn’t want the paladin in his arms to be dragged back. He doesn’t want to watch the smile that only just started returning to his bright eyes, wilt away again like it did when he had just come out of the pod.
Matt notices the eyes on them. He revels in the attention, showing off the bright grin on Lance’s face to everyone around them. He understands why team Voltron is so protective of the red paladin, he also knows that Lance is a social person who revels in being around and talking to other people. the way that he’s been kept under lock and key like he’ll break again is getting on Matt’s nerves. They can’t see that it’s hurting him and even if they did notice, they’re so worried about keeping him safe that they wouldn’t change until it’s too late.
The current song ends, and Lance is breathing hard and Matt chuckles.
“How about we take a break from dancing for a bit hm?” he suggests, “we can head out to the balcony over there to get some fresh air and cool off before we come back and tear up the floor with our sick moves!”
“Sounds like a great idea to me, I’m feeling the lack of exercise since I got out of the pod.”
Matt grins and leads the shorter boy over to the double glass doors that let them out onto the balcony.
The night is quiet, there’s no one else on the balcony and Lance moves immediately over to the railing to look out at the unfamiliar world below.
“The one thing about this whole being-forced-into-a-space-war thing that I wouldn’t change for anything in the world, is getting to see views like this. Back at the Garrison, I never imagined what other worlds could actually look like.”
“I get the feeling. The whole Kerberos mission thing was crazy and terrible, but the places I’ve been and the people I’ve met have been so incredibly eye-opening.” Matt agrees, moving to lean on the railing next to Lance.
“If we hadn’t been dragged into the war, we wouldn’t have had any idea. Earth might still be stuck behind faster-than-light travel and we’d still be speculating about the universe and wondering if we were all alone—” Lance snorts “—I can’t believe we ever thought that.” Matt chuckles.
“The universe seems so incredibly real now, the idea of us being the only intelligent life forms just seems so ridiculous.” Lance agrees, grinning at the stars above them.
Matt turns and watches the lights of the ballroom and the city down below play on the red paladin’s features. He’s gained so much more colour since he came out of the pod those two weeks ago. He’s got the light back in his eyes too and the glow in his cheeks, the love of living that Matt learned so early on was woven into Lance’s soul.
“I’m glad I could get away from the others. I haven’t been allowed to do anything but walk around the Atlas in days and it’s been driving me nuts!” Lance drags his hands down his face in exasperation.
“I didn’t make it through in one piece like I was hoping, but I’ve got a new leg and the only way I’m going to be able to move on from this whole thing, is to just do it. I need to be moving and living, I can’t sit still anymore.”
Matt nods, “I have to say, the smothering was kind of hard to watch. You’ve always been such a vibrant person and seeing that spirit dim was awful.” He says quietly, “I’m glad I could help bring some of your colour back.”
He winks at Lance, enjoying the flush that comes to Lance’s cheeks. The younger man looking away quickly and coughing awkwardly.
“I mean, the ladies love a guy with a big personality, right? It’ll take more than an amputated limb and some hovering friends to take away this lady-magnet’s greatest quality!” Lance says loudly with as much bravado as he can add, throwing in his signature finger guns.
Matt laughs, “I’m glad you won’t be defeated by something like that! it would be a shame to lose such a gorgeous person that way.”
“Right?! It would be an absolute trave-wait. What?” Lance stares at Matt with wide eyes. The older man turning and meeting his eyes dead on, a smirk on his lips.
“Oh haven’t I made it clear? I think you’re absolutely gorgeous Lance. I’ve always thought you were stunning, and your personality is like a light in the dark and I’m the moth who can’t help but be mesmerized.”
Lance can feel his cheeks absolutely burning.
“If you’ve always thought that, then why didn’t you say anything about it?” he asks quietly.
“You’re a paladin of Voltron, the front line of all front lines in a universe wide war. I didn’t think starting anything when either one of us could end up dead at any given moment was the smartest thing to do. Besides, we had so much to worry about with just staying alive, I didn’t want to add one more thing to worry about to either one of our overloaded shoulders.” Matt shrugs like it should be the most obvious thing in the world.
“But why now?”
Matt smirks, “the war’s over isn’t it?”
Impossibly, Lance’s cheeks get redder.
Matt turns to the red paladin, holding out his left hand in offer.
“What do you say Lance? Want to give another kind of dance a go?”
Lance doesn’t hesitate to put his right hand in Matt’s.
“I couldn’t think of a better partner.”