Shiro quickly walked towards Lance's room, a worry line etched onto his face. He had only heard the tail end of his and Keith's argument but he knew that Keith had touched a sensitive nerve in the blue paladin, one that was certainly off limits.

"Why can't you ever be serious?! If you can't take this seriously, the Galra will go to Earth and kill everyone you and I love and it's going to be all your fault!"

Shiro winced at the memory, he could only imagine what Lance was thinking about at the moment, he didn't spare Keith a glance before he was chasing Lance down the hallway toward the paladin bedrooms. He stopped in front of the blue paladin's.

"Lance? Are you in here?" Shiro asked the dark room, as he quietly crept in. He saw the blanket on top of Lance's bed give a twitch at the sound of his voice. He crept forward and sat on the edge of the bed, close enough to reach out and touch, but still enough to give the teen his space.

"What do you want Shiro?" Lance's muffled voice asked from underneath his blanket barrier.

"I just wanted to see if you were alright," Shiro replied looking at the lump.

"I'm surprised that you aren't comforting Keith," Lance grumbled at the leader. Shiro flinched slightly at that but let out a sigh after a moment.

"I don't always take Keith's side for everything you kno-" Shirt started.

"Coulda fooled me," Lance interrupted peeking his head out from under the covers; revealing puffy red-rimmed eyes. Shiro lost his breath when he saw the damage that Keith's harsh words caused the paladin.

"I know that it seems like I take Keith's side more often than not, but I know that Keith was in the wrong this time," He replied looking into Lance's eyes. He frowned when he saw that tears were beginning to gather in the blue pools.

"Why does he hate me so much?" He whispered. Shiro's mouth dropped open a little in shock.

"He doesn't hate you, Lance. No one hates you," He said flustered by the suddenly crying teen, he quickly scooped him up, blanket and all into his lap.

"Then why did he say something like that?" Shiro sighed bringing his hand up to card it through the dark brown locks.

"I don't know, but I know that one day we will get back to Earth and you will see your family again," he said trying to sound reassuring to the teen. He felt a slight tremor go through Lance's body before suddenly he started sobbing against Shiro's shoulder.

"Oh, did I say something wrong? Are you okay?" He asked worriedly tilting Lance's face so that he was looking into his eyes. Lance's lips trembled before he coughed out another sob.

"E-even if we do make it back to Earth, my family won't be saved," he choked out. Shiro's eyebrows drew together in confusion. Lance looked down as more tears rolled down his cheeks.

"They're all dead Shiro, I'm the only one out of my family left," Shiro let out a choked gasp and enveloped Lance in a crushing hug, pressing Lance's head into his shoulder. His eyes teared up at the thought that Lance was holding onto this information for so long without any of them being the wiser. It brought all the memories of Lance happily talking about his family to the forefront of his mind. The smiles and laughs that he would let out at the mention of his siblings or parents, and the fond memories he would tell them about his aunts, uncles and cousins; and the admiration in his eyes when he talked about his veteran grandparents who met at the Garrison as pilots and wanted to follow in their footsteps.

"I'm so so sorry Lance, I had no idea," he whispered to distraught teen. He rubbed his back when it seemed like he was at the end of his crying.

"You were never meant to, no one was supposed to, not even Hunk knows," he stated leaning his head against Shiro's shoulder to be able to look at him.

"There was a series of unfortunate events, or what seemed like it. Just one after the other they would start getting in accidents that would take their lives and then, I was the only one left," he stated giving a small hiccuping sob at the end. "Then Voltron happened, and I guess this is the universe telling me that I'm not supposed to make it back to Earth, I have no family to welcome me back anyway,"

"No! That's not true!" Shiro yelled surprising Lance, who was shocked to see tears rolling down his leader's face. "You have us! You're our family now, and when we get back to Earth we still will be, you can live with me and Keith, or Pidge, or Hunk, heck Coran will probably adopt you. So don't you ever think that you're alone; because you're not, and we will always be here for you," Shiro cried holding Lance tighter and tighter with every passing second. Lance's breath hitched before he started sobbing again whispers of 'thank you's slipping out every few seconds. It felt like several hours passed before they were both calm again. Lance sat up and gave Shiro a grateful smile.

"Thank you for everything Shiro, sorry for being a burden,"

"You're not a burden Lance, if you ever need to talk about anything, you can come to me, I'll listen, I'll always be there for you," He replied standing up beside the bed. "Do you need anything before I leave? I could get you some food and water if you want it," he offered.

"No thanks Shiro, you've done more than enough for me," he smiled at the leader, who smiled back.

"Alright, tell me if you need anything, anything at all, I don't mind," he reminded him as he walked out the door. Lance only waved.