The alarm echoed around the halls as Keith was in the middle of training that night. He was already dressed in his armour so he just needed to grab his bayard and then race out of the room towards his lion. Once he made it, he climbed into Red and collapsed into his seat. Reaching forward to grab his controls was almost second nature to him as his lion escaped the castle and flew out into space.

Galra ships surrounded them. The lions were all together in a circle, staring out into the depths of space as they faced the attack. They were being shot at from every angle so decided to split up and face different ships themselves. Green went to the left, Yellow went forward, Blue went backwards, Black stayed in the same position and Red went to the right. Red lurched forward, Keith focusing all of his attention on the one ship in particular heading straight for him. The lion opened his mouth and shot a beam of blinding, blue light, impaling the Galra ship as if it was made out of plastic rather than complex, robust space material.

Commotion erupted on the coms, the sounds of each paladins' yells becoming muffled over the transaction. Keith could hear Pidge yelling, "​They're too strong!​" and Hunk's, "​I can't handle them all guys!​" Shiro was silent, obviously trying to push himself as hard as he possibly could. Then there was Lance. Lance was making various grunting noises similar to ones escaping from Keith's pursed lips. Another ship was on Keith's tail. He leaned forward and moved the controls so that the lion could race ahead. The Galra ship wasn't as speedy as the red lion so it was easily outrun. Keith swerved around so rapidly that he almost fell out of his seat but his reactions were enough to take the ship down with another blast.

As the others were getting their situations more under control, the coms quietened down a substantial amount. Red wasn't the direct target of any ships and so took the opportunity to help Lance who appeared to be struggling the most. He was surrounded by Galra ships that were shooting at him without any mercy. Lance was screaming, "​Guys!​" over and over again, desperately in need of some assistance.

A larger Galra ship came into view, its canons charging up and glowing with blue light. They were shaking until a large beam was released, directed straight for Lance. "Lance, no!" Keith yelled, jolting forward and crashing into Blue. Lance let out a loud snap at Keith for being so careless before realising Red had taken the mass of the hit from the ship. It was powerful enough to shake the entirety of Red and cause Keith to collapse out of his seat, his head hitting against the front. His eyes fell shut.

"Keith's down!" Lance yelled once he realised what had happened. His voice cracked as he repeated the exclamation over and over again. It was as if he thought it would make the other paladins move faster.

"Lance, get it together! We'll get Keith to a healing pod as soon as we can! We need to destroy these ships first!" Shiro said, voice full of authority, despite the anxiety that was actually manifesting in the pit of his chest. They had to keep going and persevere if they wanted to defeat the fleet and protect the castle.

A sob arising in his throat, Lance pushed Blue forward and continued to fight. For Keith.

-

When Keith fell out of the healing pod into someone's arms, he expected it to be Shiro but the arms weren't muscle-y enough to belong to Shiro. He forced his eyes open to glance upwards and meet the eyes of the person who had been waiting for him to wake up. Allura. As soon as eye contact was made, Allura let go of Keith and watched him collapse onto the ground as a result of his legs that felt like jelly. Groaning loudly, he used the wall to pull himself up.

"Stop hitting on my boyfriend!" She instantaneously yelled, her voice making Keith's head pound. Keith squinted, pressing one hand up to his hot forehead.

"Hitting... on..." Keith trailed off, attempting to piece together what had happened in his head. All he could remember was being attacked by a Galra fleet and then... Lance. Right, he had protected Lance from being impaled with a laser beam. "How is saving his life hitting on him?!"

"Shiro was about to get there! You should have let him handle the situation. Now you've just drawn attention to yourself."

"Fucking hell, Allura. I was just trying to be a good person. Since when was that a crime?"

"When my boyfriend got involved. I hope you know your little secret is very close to being revealed. I bet you wouldn't like that, would you?"

Keith tensed up, his entire body relying on the wall to keep himself balanced. Allura was standing tall, her chin struck out and her arms folded. Her long hair was tied up into a messy bun and she was wearing her dress again but, still, she managed to look as intimidating as a Galran soldier. Maybe even more intimidating. "Allura... would you have preferred for him to be hit?"

"That's not what I'm saying. Shiro would have protected him instead."

"Are you going to tell Lance?" His voice wavered, connoting desperation. Desperation wasn't a word that should have been used in the same sentence as Keith's name or pronoun: he was meant to be the most emotionally strong person on the team. Being rendered so weak and hopeless was embarrassing for him.

"I don't think so. Keeping you on your toes is rather entertaining." Allura grinned, her teeth shining obnoxiously beneath the lights of the med bay.

"Can you tell me something?" Allura hummed as a response, her head tilting to the side. "You don't... You aren't hurting Lance, are you?"

"I don't know who you think you are, Keith. Accusing me of hurting someone I love..."

"Answer the question, please."

"No, no, I don't. I wouldn't stoop that low."

"Yet you'd stoop as low as to blackmail someone?"

"You make it out like I'm some sort of monster for only wanting the best for my boyfriend. I don't want you to cause unnecessary trouble."

Keith let out a loud huff, finally gaining the feeling back in his legs. He stepped forward so that his chest was grazing Allura's in a way that was borderline threatening. Allura's breath was heavy and warm against Keith's neck. "Blackmailing someone is never the right thing to do, Allura, and you know it. You're meant to be the princess of Altea; can you imagine how the other paladins would react if they found out you were doing this?"

"Don't you dare bring Altea into this," Allura's voice was so sharp that Keith was almost impressed when it didn't cut his skin. Her tone was full of poison, the type that could kill anyone- human or alien. "That was disgusting of you." Her hands found her way to Keith's broad shoulders, laying down on top of them with such a harsh grip that Keith was almost pained. She shoved him backwards, her arms visibly shaking.

"I'm just asking you to stop this... Lance wouldn't want you to be behaving in this way either."

"Lance also wouldn't like to know a certain half-breed had a crush on him, would he? Can you imagine... he might hate your guts... If you two really stop getting on, maybe I could find a way to kick you off of the team."

Keith's hands curled into fists at his sides at the mention of the derogatory '​half-breed​'. He gritted his teeth and held back the spiteful words arising in his throat. Arguing wasn't going to get him anywhere. "You wouldn't." He went for instead.

"Watch me. I have much more power than you here, Keith. I'm the princess. Everyone on this ship will listen and bow down to me. Not you. Especially not with your Galran genes..."

"Please don't do this, Allura."

"I won't. You just need to isolate yourself from everyone. Especially Lance."

"I'm trying but it's kind of difficult when they're my teammates." Allura grabbed Keith's arm and twisted it around his back. He grunted at the sharp pain that travelled up to his shoulder, biting down on his lip to hold back a shout.

"You're going to do it or Lance is going to find out you like him."

Reluctantly, Keith nodded. Allura released his arm with a satisfactory grin on her face that spread right from one cheek to the other. During the encounter, his hands had clammed up so he wiped them against the thighs of his jeans. He turned to leave, his heart beating faster in his chest than he would have liked to admit.

"And Keith?" He turned his head, his hair falling against his face and blocking the vision of his left eye. "Don't expect me to go soft on you either. You know what I think of you and your... heritage."

"Yeah, I do."

"You're disgusting and I'm ashamed to have someone like you on my team."

Keith swerved around because attacking his personality and relationship status was one thing but attacking his fighting skills and heritage was another. "The team ​does not​ belong to you." He snapped, jaw tense. "Your dad may have built Voltron but he'd have been disappointed in how you turned out. Blackmailing is a low even your father would have hated you for. And, for your information, I can fight. I am an asset. I know I'm one of the best out of us because fighting is the one thing I am able to do to. I lost my parents young so I learnt to cope on my own and I learnt to fend for myself. I can fight and that is the one thing I won't let you attack me for." Allura looked taken aback at the outburst, her eyes wide and her hands raised in front of her in defence.

"Sensitive subject, huh?"

"The fact that that was your response is pathetic, Allura. You can't even defend yourself. That's low."

"I'm going to tell him if you don't shut up."

"Go on then. Tell him. Why should I care?!" Keith's voice had raised to such a deafening volume that he was surprised the other paladins hadn't checked in on them to find the source of the commotion. His face had turned the colour of his uniform and his entire body was shaking like a leaf in a strong gust of wind.

"He's going to hate you and then you won't have anyone. He'll leave you just like your parents did because no one loves you, Keith. No one ever will love a half-breed like you." Keith chose not to respond before storming out of the med bay with heavy, angry footsteps. As he reached the end of the corridor, he just about heard Allura scream, "You only didn't respond because you know it's true."

Maybe it was true. Maybe no one would ever love Keith because he had the genes of a civilisation that had caused nothing but chaos for the entire universe. Why would different cultures ever accept someone who was part Galra as a defender of the universe?

Fighting back tears, Keith pressed the button to open the door of his room. Once he was inside and sure the door was locked, he curled his hands into fists and slammed them into his innocent pillow. He repeated the action over and over again until he was gasping for breath. His heart was pounding like a drum inside his chest but it was completely out of rhythm. He choked out a loud sob before praying that nobody had heard him.

"Fucking Allura," He grumbled before burying his head into his pillow and letting out a bellowing scream. He punched the bed again, as if trying to murder the inanimate object. It was a poor attempt at transferring his ire into his bed. "Fucking Lance." Keith leaned forward, his shoulders hunched as his entire body shook with sobs. "I hate them both so much."

But he didn't. He didn't hate Lance. He wanted to- damn it, he wanted to- but something about him just made hating him impossible. Lance couldn't do anything wrong. He was smart; even if he attempted to hide it, it came through when they were doing missions and got themselves stuck in seemingly impossible situations. Lance was kind and selfless, going out of his way to help everyone whenever he could. He was always the one to check that Pidge got to bed on time; to taste test Hunk's recipes; to ensure Shiro's nightmares weren't getting too out of hand; to give comfort to Allura whenever she sought it; to discuss Coran's homesickness with him... He used to be the one person to tell Keith when the training was too much but that had stopped when he got with Allura.

As if Lance couldn't get any more perfect, he was also an amazing fighter. His knowledge and skills with guns were impeccable, something that Keith couldn't even begin to compete with. Being known as the team's 'Sharpshooter' was a large title but Lance wore it with pride, meeting (and exceeding) all the expectations of the team and the others in the universe. He could crack a joke, even at the worst times, just to soften the tense atmosphere. One of the paladins could be on their deathbed and he'd have slipped in a pun or joke to make sure they were able to find humour in such a dreadful situation. So he didn't hate Lance. He couldn't.

The person he hated the most wasn't Allura: it was himself. He was meant to be a rock, the person to stay strong and emotionless throughout everything. He had lost his mother and father so long ago: he didn't understand emotional or physical comfort. He had learnt to bury his feelings into a hole because they were meaningless. They didn't matter. Keith didn't matter.

He was meant to be stronger than that. He wasn't meant to beat the living crap out of his pillow because someone- his friend's girlfriend of all people- was trying to take control over his life. As someone who had been through so much, Keith ​was meant to have control over his own life. Not some low-life, princess trying to blackmail him.

A soft knock on the door extracted Keith from his own thoughts. He lifted up his head, sniffed and then asked who was bothering him. He kept his voice as emotionless as possible: he didn't need another paladin making fun of him and asking him what was wrong.

"Uh... it's Lance. I think we should talk." Lance said, his own voice shaking.

"Fuck off." Keith uttered, pulling his legs up onto the bed and hugging them tightly. He buried his head into his knees, his breathing shallow as he continued to silently cry.

"I'm coming in..." Around thirty ticks passed. "Okay, it's locked. I'm still going to talk to you though." The sound of quiet fumbling filled the air as Lance was obviously making himself comfortable outside. Keith found himself standing up on shaky legs, heading over and sitting with his back to the door. Lance was the other side, in the same position. "Allura told me about your... your feelings."

"Bitch..." Keith murmured so that Lance couldn't hear.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Uh, okay... I just wanted to say I'm cool with it. I mean, I can't help my handsome good looks, can I?" Keith could imagine Lance's smirk and he couldn't help but shake his head at the thought. "I hope you at least smiled because that was a joke. I swear I'm not that cocky."

"I know..." Keith brought a hand up and wiped his eyes.

"I'm not angry at you and I certainly don't hate you. I mean, I don't think you're Allura's favourite person but I wouldn't blame her. I think she's scared I'm going to leave her for you or something. I'm sorry but I can't see that happening. I love her so much. I think we're going to get married someday."

Of course. The tears reappeared in Keith's eyes as he leaned over and let out another sob. It wasn't as if he had any hope remaining but sometimes imagining a world where Lance returned the feelings was comforting. The fact that Lance was so adamant on ​not​ liking Keith hurt. It was like Lance had picked up Keith's favourite knife and stabbed him in the chest with it; slowly so that it hurt all the more.

"Okay, that may not have been the best thing to say. I just don't want to give you false hope, man. You're a cool dude and I actually do like you a lot. Just... not like that, okay? I don't want things to change between us and I'm sure you don't either so I don't mind pretending this didn't happen. No one would even need to know except me, you and Allura. That alright?"

"Yeah... I'm so sorry, Lance."

"Hey, it's okay. You know, if you let me in, I could give you a hug..."

"I- I'd rather not."

"Okay. I respect your decisions." Lance shuffled outside of the room, presumably standing up. "Just don't bottle things up, Keith. Something has seemed really off with you lately and, if it has something to do with your feelings for me... I'm sorry. Just know you can always talk to me... about anything. I mean it."

"Thanks, Lance."

"No problem. I know I call us rivals all the time but I consider you my friend. Potentially one of my best friends but don't tell Hunk that. He might get offended. I should probably go now. My face doesn't get this handsome without my beauty sleep."

As Lance walked away, Keith wiped away his tears with his sleeve. Lance continued to be perfect, even after he had found out about Keith's unrequited love for him.