"Lance, Keith, I know you hate each other but please think about Voltron for a moment. We can't fight when you two refuse to work together." Shiro commanded, standing over the pair with folded, agitated arms. His face was stern: his lips straight and his eyebrows lowered.

"It's not my fault that Keith tried to rape my girlfriend." Lance quipped, glaring at Keith with eyes full of hatred. He went as far as to step to the side to increase the space between them. Keith chose not to say anything: he hadn't actually done anything wrong. He could feel Allura's glare on his back, burning through his skin, but he repressed the urge to snap.

"Lance, you need to put that aside for a moment. The fate of the universe is in our hands."

"You're asking me to work with a rapist?"

"He didn't do anything!"

"Yeah, right. I'm sorry but back at the Garrison he was an undisciplined kid with anger issues. Nothing has changed. I blame the Galra in him and the fact that his parents both left-"

"What did you just say?" Keith growled, finally turning to look at Lance with a murderous expression on his face. His hands hovered over his pocket where his knife was sitting, ready to attack the blue paladin for making such a comment about his heritage.

"I said that it was your parents' fault. What, have I hit a nerve? Oh, I'm sorry, it's just that you struck a nerve when you permanently scarred my girlfriend!"

"I didn't touch her!" Keith shoved Lance backwards, tackling him onto the ground. As their bodies came in contact, Lance fidgeted and tried to get out from beneath Keith. Having practiced hand-to-hand combat so much, Keith knew to grab his wrists and pin them above his head. His legs were either side of Lance's slim body, leaving Lance without any room to move.

"Get off of me!" Lance screeched, tugging at his wrists as much as possible. Keith used the hand that wasn't pinning Lance down to grab his knife.

"Keith, Keith, calm down. I know you're angry but don't hurt Lance. Both of you need to snap out of it." Keith gritted his teeth before standing up and facing Shiro. He was breathing heavily, his hands clenching into fists and unclenching repeatedly as he tried to calm himself down. Lance scrambled up onto his feet, dusting himself off as if he hadn't just been rendered a weak, desperate mess. "Keith, you need to calm down and Lance, don't you dare say anything about Keith's family again. You know it's a sensitive topic for him."

"Why does he deserve sympathy? You know what he did, Shiro. He should be kicked off of the team."

"No, Lance, he shouldn't because he didn't do anything. I know it's wrong to react in such an angry way but it is also wrong to lie about a crime so serious. We all know Keith isn't capable of something like this."

Lance shook his head rapidly, muttering, "This is unbelievable. Imagine how Allura feels." They all turned to look at the princess who was biting her lip and staring down at her feet. Lance headed over to her and pulled her into a long hug. Keith let out a soft sigh before walking out of the training room, stomping his feet like a toddler as he did so.

He headed back to his room where he pulled his bed covers over his head to block out the rest of the world. He scrunched his eyes shut and tried to focus on his breathing. When he had just been an angry kid, Shiro had taught him relaxation techniques designed to subdue anger and anxiety. He inhaled slowly before holding the breath and exhaling.

-

"Hey, Shiro?" Keith called as he knocked on the door of Shiro's room. The door flew open to reveal the black paladin, greeting him with a welcoming smile. Keith followed Shiro over to his bed where they both sat down, side by side. "I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me."

Shiro looked up and met eyes with Keith, his full of such fondness. "You don't need to thank me."

"But I do. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't taken me under your wing. You've done so much for me and I don't think I've thanked you enough." Keith turned his head and Shiro did the same, their noses just centimetres apart. Shiro shifted so that their thighs were grazing each other and their noses were just about touching. "Could I ever thank you enough?" They lapsed into silence as Keith slowly edged forward and closed the gap between them, their lips making contact.

Keith brought his hands up to thread them through Shiro's hair. Shiro's body just tensed up, his arms remaining motionless at his side. When they parted, both were breathing heavily but neither said a word. Keith blinked a couple of times, his eyes falling to Shiro's red lips. Panic spreading across his face, he scrambled up onto his feet and stammered, "I- I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking. I was just upset and- and I don't like you like that, Shiro."

"Hey, it's okay," Shiro responded, following Keith by getting up. "I know you didn't mean it.

You've been through a lot with Lance the last few days. I understand." Shiro abruptly pulled Keith into a protective hug, his arms spreading heat through the smaller boy's body.

"I'm such a mess, Shiro. I don't know what to do. I don't want him to think I'd do something like that..."

"I know, Keith. He'll come round though. I'm sure of it."

"I told myself I wouldn't cry today," Keith murmured, burying his head into Shiro's shoulder to hide his sparkling eyes. "It's so stupid."

"It isn't stupid. It's okay to cry."

-

The tension between Lance and Keith remained as thick as ever. They wouldn't talk to each other unless they were arguing about something ridiculous. It usually resulted in Shiro commanding them to stop or Pidge snapping at them to grow up. Allura was quiet, hardly saying anything with the exception of the occasional whispers into Lance's ear.

Breakfast and dinner was awkward to say the least. Keith would hardly eat anything, instead balancing his head on his hands and staring above the head of whoever was sat in front of him. Lance and Allura would lean against each other, basically on top of each other as they ate at a regular pace. Shiro would divert his attention between Lance and Keith, the awkwardness heavy on top of his shoulders. Hunk and Pidge would quietly converse with each other whilst they ate. Coran would awkwardly attempt to start a conversation but he always got shut down by the others.

Training was even worse. Shiro kept trying to pair Lance and Keith up together to help build their bond back up. If they ever attempted one-on-one combat with each other, it would just get out of hand and Shiro would need to split them up. Keith had a substantial amount of pent up anger which meant he was liable to let snaps out every so often; even to the innocent.

One training session, Shiro had had enough. Lance and Keith had just been sparring and Shiro had had to pull them apart before Keith held his knife up against Lance's throat. Afterwards, he backed up and yelled, "This is enough!"

Even Allura turned to look at him with wide eyes and a mouth that was slightly agape. Keith was breathing erratically and Lance was leant against his girlfriend, a hand against his forehead. Hunk and Pidge were leaning on the wall with their arms folded in irritation.

"You need to sort yourselves out. We cannot fight the Galra like this. We're a mess. Allura, you need to tell Lance the truth. Lance, you need to stop acting like a child and Keith, you need to get your anger under control. Hunk and Pidge, I'm grateful that you're remaining sane right now. You're doing good. We can't continue like this. Imagine if we got attacked by the Galra right now. We'd be screwed, wouldn't we?"

Keith hung his head, deciding against saying anything. Lance decided to snap back. "It's not my fault! Keith is a criminal and he shouldn't be a part of the team."

"Allura, you need to tell him the truth. For the better of the team."

"The truth was that Keith tried to- he tried- tried to-" Allura's breath hitched as she turned her head to the side and refused to make eye contact with anyone.

"Allura, you need to stop this."

"When did Keith become the victim? This is all his fault!"

"I am ashamed to call us Voltron," Shiro shook his head, straightening his back and staring out at the other paladins. "This is just ridiculous."

Allura clasped his hand over her mouth, her entire body trembling as she let out a loud sob. Lance glared at Shiro before linking their arms and pulling Allura out of the room.