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The castle was dark, or at least as dark as a glowing alien ship could get. The light humming of the machinery was the only noise, then muffled giggles cut through the sterile silence of the ship.
The “living room” of the castle was anything but a “living” room. The sterile environment of white and blue light was only ever used for informal meetings, and it showed. The couches were hard, and there was nothing comforting like in a regular living room. The team had previously tried putting little knick knacks and shelves up, or put throw pillows and pictures of everyone on the walls but Allura quickly shut it down.
The kids of Voltron started a tradition, it started off as a one time celebration, however soon it became a monthly habit.
Once a month the room is transformed. Pidge codes the lamps to emit a warm yellow light, not a harsh white one, and brings out her and Lance’s secret movie projector. Hunk brings his stash of pillows and stuffed animals crammed in his closet. Keith makes popcorn and brings snacks he smuggled in from other planets. Lance carries dozens of blankets he hand crocheted, personalized for each paladin. They sneak out when it is late enough, and bring all of their “contraband” into their living room. There they set up a sleepover, pillows and blankets are strewn everywhere, they set up an Earth movie, and they sit and talk about anything besides space.
It was about midnight Lance guessed, and he and Keith snuck out of his room, in their paladin pjs, red and blue accordingly, blankets and snacks in hand. Lance could hardly contain his sneaky giggles as they slunk past Shiro’s room. Keith smacked his hand over Lance's mouth, with a loud whack, knocking Lance on the floor, with 20 or so blankets covering him.
Now he and Keith were on the floor, crippled with silent laughter. They laid there, both terrified that they would get caught and choking on the laughter trying to escape their throats. After a few grueling minutes curled up on the floor, they trusted themselves to get up and continue on their trek to the living room.
They finally made it and the doors hissed open, to reveal Pidge setting up what movie to watch and Hunk tossing pillows onto the “couches.” The room was flooded with the smell of “chocolate chip cookies,” or whatever the alien equivalent to them were.
“Hey guys! Get lost?” Hunk smirked, also in yellow pajamas, throwing a teddy bear at Lance’s head, only barely missing.
“Hey!” Lance called, mock offended, “No, Dad. We had to stop because we didn’t want to wake Shiro.” Dramatically dumping the homemade blankets onto the couch. He picked one up, as if he was going to fold it, then suddenly he launched the blanket ball straight at Hunk, hitting him square in the face.
Hunk feigned stumbling backwards, only to smirk and grab more ammunition, a handful of squishmallows. “Oh it’s on.” He cackled evilly.
As soon as Hunk retaliated with squishmallows, it became an all-out pillow and stuffed animal war. Lance and Hunk were throwing them at each other while Pidge and Keith sat on the sidelines, laughing hysterically.
While the Pillow War raged on, Keith and Pidge decided to pick a movie for themselves, scrolling through all of the pirated ones they saved on the flashdrive. After much deliberation, they chose Tangled, a simple comfort movie for a simple night. However, as their backs were turned, chaos ensued.
So far Lance was winning the war, while Hunk was strong and could throw more at once, Lance, and his sharpshooting abilities were accurate 100% of the time. As the competition intensified, Hunk realized he needed to play dirty if he wanted to win. He quickly scanned the room and locked in on his opponent's weakness - Keith.
Without hesitation, Hunk changed targets and aimed a cow squishmallow directly at Keith. Lance’s eyes widened in horror, “NOOOOOO!” He cried, and leaped to intercept the oncoming projectile. The squishmallow hit Lance square in the chest, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud, clutching his chest.
Keith spun around at the sound of his boyfriend hitting the floor and rushed over to the crumpled pile of blue on the floor. He slid to his knees and cradled Lance's head in his lap, gently turning him to face him.
"Why would you take that hit for me?" Keith sniffed, his voice filled with concern.
Lance, enjoying the dramatic effect, trailed off, "Because...I love you..." he managed to say before dramatically letting his head fall to the side and sticking out his tongue.
Keith couldn’t hold back his laughter any longer as he watched his "dying" boyfriend. “You’re such an idiot, Lance,” Keith chuckled, pulling the squishmallow off of him.
Lance’s blue eyes twinkled as he struggled to sit up, still grinning widely. “What can I say? I’m a hero,” he joked, putting his hands on his hips defiantly.
“Well, let’s hope you don’t have any lasting injuries from this heroic act,” Hunk quipped, coming over to help Lance up.
“Thanks for being concerned about my well-being,” Lance sarcastically replied, accepting Hunk’s hand and getting to his feet.
Pidge rolled her eyes at their antics before turning her attention back to the movie. “Can we get back to watching Tangled now?” she asked with a laugh.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s do that,” Hunk agreed, plopping down on the floor next to Keith. While Lance grabbed some pillows and blankets that weren’t used as weapons and joined them on the floor in front of the couch.
As they settled in and the movie began playing, Keith wrapped an arm around Lance’s shoulders and pulled him close. Lance rested his head on the crook of Keith’s neck and they both sighed contently.
“This is nice,” Pidge commented with a small smile, laying her head on Lance’s lap, and almost on cue, Lance started running his fingers through Pidge’s short hair.
Hunk was on the other side of Keith, making a perfect pillow for Keith to lean against.
The next half hour was spent laughing and enjoying each other's company. They sang along to the songs in Tangled and made jokes about every scene. They talked about their families, and what they were excited about when they got home. The kids were content all curled up together on makeshift beds on the living room floor.
Popcorn flew through the air, landing on faces and laps as laughter filled the room. The sweet aroma of freshly baked cookies mingled with the mouth-watering scent of hot buttered popcorn. The group was just living in the moment, not worrying about tomorrow. Pidge wasn't frantically typing away at her computer, sacrificing sleep for a risky hacking mission. Keith wasn't pushing himself to exhaustion during training, trying to make up for a mistake he made. Hunk wasn't mechanically cleaning every inch of his lion, desperately trying to erase the haunting screams of prisoners he couldn't save. Lance wasn't isolating himself from the group, feeling useless and alone. They all let themselves relax and bask in the warmth of each other's company, allowing their minds to escape from the constant pain and suffering of war. They knew that eventually they would have to clean up the mess of pillows and popcorn scattered around them, but for now, they were content in their cuddle puddle.
I Have A Dream started playing, and to the team’s amusement, Lance got up, and started performing the entire song, word for word, dragging Keith, then Hunk, then eventually Pidge to play new characters as they came on screen. The kids were dancing and singing, pretty horribly, but it didn’t matter, because the once sterile room was full of life and laughter.
Their laughter abruptly ended as they heard the hiss of the door opening, and they all whipped around in terror to see a furious Allura and Shiro standing in the doorway.
The team sat frozen in their spots, their faces betraying a mix of fear and guilt. The once lively room now seemed suffocatingly still, with the only movement coming from the faint rise and fall of their chests as they struggled to catch their breaths. The scattered pillows and popcorn appeared like lifeless objects in this tense atmosphere. Not even a whisper could be heard in the room, as if all sound had vanished into thin air. The silence was so deafening that even the faintest sound, like a pin dropping, would feel like an explosion. And in that heavy silence, the sound of their breathing became amplified, echoing off the walls. The tension was palpable, causing the very air to thicken and constrict, making it difficult to even take a breath. All eyes were wide with fear, as if the slightest noise could shatter the fragile stillness and bring about their doom.
“Paladins.” Allura snapped sharply, causing everyone to jump, “What in the universe's name are you doing? You should be resting, not acting like fools!” All of them hung their heads in fear, and in shame.
Shiro nodded gravely. "We can't afford to let our guard down. Our enemies are always lurking just beyond our sight."
The four Paladins exchanged glances, feeling the mood become heavy with disappointment. Lance hesitated before speaking up tentatively, "But... we were just having fun."
Allura's expression turned severe. "Fun is not our top priority, Lance. You must take your duties more seriously if we are to defeat our enemies and protect the universe."
Shiro's gaze locked onto Lance, his words cutting deeper than any sword ever could.
"Especially you, Lance. Your training needs more focus if you want to keep up with the rest of the team. We can't afford to have any weak links."
Lance's heart dropped like a stone into his stomach, stung by their harsh words. He felt a lump form in his throat as he struggled to hold back tears. Keith stood up defensively, anger flashing through his eyes, Lance just put his hand on his shoulder, easing him to sit back down. Softly, but with purpose, he started, "…we are allowed to relax though… There is no harm in having a day off. I know I’m the weakest you make that abundantly clear, but we all deserve a break."
Allura's patience wore thin. “Quiznack Lance, can’t you just act your age?”
Something in Lance snapped.
“Act my age? Act my AGE? ” He calmly repeated, but his voice darkening. “I am fucking seventeen ! Do you even comprehend that? On Earth I am not even old enough to vote, or drink, or own a gun. On Earth, I'm not even legally an adult yet. But here, I'm expected to save the universe and sacrifice my childhood for the greater good.” His voice was steady, which only made the other three more concerned. They have never seen Lance this mad, usually he is overdramatic, but the lack of flair or emotion at all seemed worse.
“You want me to act my age?” He said, zeroing in on Shiro, “Because I want to act my age too! I want to go out to stupid parties! I want to go to McDonalds at midnight and I want to hang out in parking lots until 2am! I want to go to prom and dance, and get a little drunk!”
Lance’s voice got progressively louder, he took a deep breath to calm down.
“I want to be a fucking teenager.”
A beat.
“But I am here. Sacrificing my childhood. ALL of us sacrificing our childhood. But instead, we’re fighting in a war that we didn't ask for."
“You were chosen to be Paladins because you are capable of greatness. So act like it, even if it means sacrificing your own desires.” Allura responded coldly, though stunned at the venom that dripped from Lance’s words.
Another beat, but he couldn’t control his anger, not just for himself anymore, but for his team.
“Pidge isn’t even old enough to drive a car yet. And none of us even had the chance to graduate or live a normal life before you whisked us away to fight in your little intergalactic war!” Lance punctuated with a wrist flick. “Pardon us as our brains are still developing, because seventeen is a little young to have goddamn PTSD.”
The overwhelming silence filled the room. Lance cut through the thick tension once again.
“Excuse me, but we are allowed… to act like children sometimes. Because we are still children.” His voice shaking with emotion, anger, hurt, sadness.
The room fell silent, the weight of Lance's words hanging in the air like a heavy cloud. He refused to back down, even as tears slowly spilled from his eyes.
Before Allura and Shiro could respond, Hunk spoke up boldly, "Lance is right. We are people and we deserve a break. It isn’t going to kill us to actually enjoy ourselves every once in a while."
Pidge nodded in agreement, her voice uncharacteristically soft. "Yeah, we don’t have much humanity left, nothing reminds us that we are people anymore besides each other." Her voice growing bitter, “Shockingly, killing hundreds of aliens, enemies or not, does wonders to our mental health. You won’t even let us decorate, you won’t let us hang out, or even relax without some exercise meant to test us. The only piece of humanity left is each other.”
Keith spoke up with a fierce determination in his voice. "We've faced death, and war, and injury, and everything a teenager or even an adult shouldn't have to deal with together and come out on top every time. We've earned moments like this. Hanging out and enjoying ourselves doesn't make us weak." He growled that word out, “Lance is one of the strongest people we know, without him this team would be together, and who knows how many times we would have been injured or almost died without Lance shooting the enemy ships to protect our backs.”
Lance’s face warmed with a smile, and wiped his tear stained face.
Pidge stepped in between Shiro and Lance, while small, she was wildly intimidating, forcing Shiro to take several steps back.“You constantly picking on Lance for some reason is the difference between a teammate, and just another person on the team. Yeah we tease him, like we tease each other, because we are teammates, we are friends. You both are constantly criticizing him and calling him ‘the dumb one’” She punctuated with air quotes, stepping towards Shiro, “is frankly horrible, and not only bad leadership, but being a bad person.” Aggressively poking him in the chest.
Hunk approached from behind Lance, forming a makeshift wall between the two. “You ridiculing us for liking each other and being ‘weak,’ is actually making you the weak one.” The team, shocked by the anger in Hunk’s voice, nodded in agreement.
Shiro and Allura stood there silently, completely startled by the paladin’s defiance, while the four stood surrounding Lance, with disdain covering their usually cheerful faces.
“Now,” Lance started, “We are going to continue our movie night like usual, we will clean up, like usual, and we are going to enjoy ourselves before a busy day of killing things.” Picking up a bowl of popcorn, and walking past the two leaders.
Lance's words hung in the air, heavy with an unspoken challenge. Shiro and Allura looked at each other, unsure of how to respond. They had never seen the paladins stand up to them like this before.
"You may leave now if you are done making up things to yell at us about," Pidge added with a small smile, following him.
Shiro and Allura exchanged another glance before quietly leaving the room.
As they settled back into their floor positions, Lance wiped away his tears, his heart heavy but his resolve strengthened. Together, they would continue to fight - not just for the universe - but for each other. And as they cuddled up to finish the movie, they felt the tension melt away, back to the silent comfort of junk food and musical numbers.
The movie had ended, and the living room was filled with crumbs, popcorn kernels, and empty cookie plates. But the atmosphere was light and carefree, a rare occurrence for the Paladins of Voltron.
Pidge stretched out her arms above her head, feeling relaxed for the first time in a while. “That was fun,” she said with a smile.
Hunk nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we should do this more often,” he giggled.
Keith looked over at Lance, who was still leaning against him with a content smile on his face. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Keith whispered, pressing a kiss to Lance’s forehead.
Lance’s smile widened as he turned to look at Keith. “I’m fine, thanks to my hero,” he teased playfully.
Keith rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide the small smile that tugged at his lips. He was glad that they were all able to let loose and have some fun together, as a team.