"Lance, what's going on?" The blue paladin froze at the sound of his name. He wiped something from his face, probably tears, and turned towards Keith.

"Oh, nothing!" Lance said in a surprisingly convincing cheery voice. "Just going to get some midnight training done. Maybe then I can actually get myself to sleep."

"No." Keith said. "You're not and I know it."

"I don't think I understand." Lance's smile faltered for a moment.

"You're lying! Are you scared?" Keith hissed. "Why would you be scared of us? Of me?"

"I'm not following." Lance shuffled nervously, although one wouldn't be able to tell he was anything but calm from looking at his face.

"Lance, please! Just... Tell me the truth. What's going on?" Keith was trying so hard not to yell at Lance. He knew it would only make things worse, but this was way more complicated than it needed to be.

"I..." Keith could see Lance considering it. He could see it in the way he bit his lip, the way his eyes darted around as if looking for something to hold on to. This was the moment.

"Lance, we're a team. We're always here for you." Keith whispered taking a step closer.

"I've... Lately, I've been having these thoughts, and I just feel... What if you guys don't need me? You don't seem to c-care about me. Not that I need you to." Lance address hastily. "I can take care of myself. But I just feel... Neglected, sometimes."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Keith asked, feeling as if he'd barely scratched the surface. Lance gave him a weary look.

"Not especially. Just... Don't tell anyone, okay? I don't like being called out on things very much." Keith felt a little bad, remembering vividly all of the times he'd been rude to Lance and made a fool of him, even if only slightly.

"I won't." Keith said, unsure if he was lying or not. He didn't want to betray Lance's trust, but the others had to know. If Lance didn't get help, he would only get worse. Keith was afraid he was already too close to his breaking point.

"O-okay." Lance sighed a breath of release and began to walk away when Keith grabbed his wrist.

"You need to answer me a question, though, and then make a promise."

"Uh, okay?" Lance raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Have you ever cut?" Lance didn't have to say a word for Keith to know the answer. It was told to him in the way Lance's eyes widened ever so slightly, the way he swallowed quietly.

"Maybe once or twice." Lance mumbled. Out in space, his family couldn't stop him and his friends didn't even know, so there were no barriers between his skin and the blade.

"Promise me that you won't do it again. If I find out that you do, I'll tell everyone. Otherwise, I promise that this can stay between us - for now."

"I promise, I guess." Lance never knew Keith was such a mom friend. It always seemed like Shiro was the responsible adult of the group, but now Keith was acting very reminiscent of his mother. It was a little weird, but in its own way, comforting. Like Lance had someone to watch out for him even though he felt like absolute shit.

It didn't seem to help him the next morning, however, when Pidge accidentally ran into him in the hallway and broke her project (something involving robot spies and Rover). Before she could open her mouth to apologise, Lance had fled, terrified of both her and the voice in his head, which was already blaming him for the accident. He knew that it wasn't really his fault, but it didn't matter.

It isn't about you. When will you learn that? It's not about you.

Lance knew that he was the root of his problems, that if he would listen to himself, he would know that. But there was still a rebelious part of him that believed maybe he wasn't horrible. Maybe he was a normal guy who just needed some help.

Before he could contemplate his self-hate any further, he ran into Keith. The red paladin managed to catch him before he fell over, but this cauded both of them to fall over, with Lance on top of Keith.

"I-I'm sorry!" Lance yelped, mentally stabbing himself as he scrambled to his feet. Keith only smiled as he brought himself upright.

"Lance, it's okay. It wasn't your fault. I should've watched where I was going." Keith had been thinking about Lance as he walked, not noticing when the boy appeared in front of him. It had been both of their faults that they fell, but at least they had fallen together. If only one of them had fallen, it would've been embarrassing, but since they both did, it would be okay.

Keith brushed away the thought as he realized the double meaning behind the word "falling", trying to think only of getting to breakfast. Maybe if he did that, he wouldn't have to worry about tripping over anyone else.

"You're sure?" Lance stammered. Lately, if he'd been the cause of some sort of fiasco, he was ignored (or, at least, he thought he was).

"Lance, calm down. Nobody blames anything on you." Keith reached out a hand, and Lance took it. They walked to breakfast together, Lance feeling confused but grateful. Grateful that he had been noticed by someone, that Keith was being nice for once.

Of course, they had their bad moments. Everyone fights. Teammates, friends, couples. Everyone. Sometimes, it was hard for Lance to get to sleep because of the horrible thoughts in his mind and the tightness in his chest. On nights like these, he would run to the closest paladin's room (which happened to be Hunk's), and he would get Keith. Eventually Lance went straight to Keith every time, apologizing for waking him up, but desperate for someone to talk to, something to do.

Lance never broke his promise. And every time he saw a wolf approaching, he yelled for help.

Keith would immediately be at his side, whispering soothing words into his ears, wiping tears from his eyes and wrapping him in protective embraces.

Lance was far from "cured". But he was better - he had Keith.

Did y'all see the Voltron Vlog for Keith? If not go watch it. It's on YouTube.