"Blue Paladin!" Kolivan called looking to each side when he left the bridge. Lance looked behind him with a slight wince, but at noticing that it was Kolivan relaxed a bit.

"Sorry about all of that big guy," he said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

"We must talk Blue Paladin," he stated, walking towards the boy.

"Oh, um, okay," he started. "Is the lounge okay?" he asked.

"Wherever you are comfortable," Kolivan replied putting his hand on Lance's back. Lance nodded his head and started leading him to the room. They sat down on the couch and Lance looked down at the ground waiting for Kolivan to start. He expected the leader of the Blade to berate him for storming out of the room and nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt his hand settle on his upper arm. He turned to look at the galra, unlike usual, he had a soft open expression on his face.

"Please explain to me Blue Paladin, why does this upset you so much?" he asked calmly.

"You can call me Lance you know," Lance muttered moving his gaze to the other side of the room.

"Lance then; I'm afraid I don't understand much of what happened on the bridge, would you please explain to me? If you don't mind," Kolivan asked. Lance took a deep breath and nodded his head in understanding.

"Basically they were making fun of me, calling me stupid, saying that I didn't understand anything they were talking about," he said bitterly. He clenched his fists up on top of his knees glaring at the floor.

"But that isn't true," Kolivan finished for him. He nodded and closed his eyes against the rage that was building in him again. Just as quickly as it built, it fell and sadness grasped him instead.

"No it isn't, in fact, it's the exact opposite," he said looking into Kolivan's eyes. "Where I'm from, I'm considered a genius,"

"Is that so?" Kolivan drawled giving the young man a calm smile. Lance gave a small nod and looked forward.

"Yup," he said popping the p at the end. "In Varadero, I was top of the class and ready to join the military there just like the rest of my family, but then the Galaxy Garrison found out about me and my skills as a tactician and programmer. They offered me a full ride scholarship and me and my family citizenship if I accepted, I mean how could I even think about refusing? I mean I don't know how citizenship works in space, but I must have been somewhat important if they offered it to me,"
He couldn't stay still anymore and leaped off the couch to pace in front of Kolivan who sat quietly to listen to the upset paladin. His face scrunched up a bit in confusion when Lance mentioned citizenship, but decided not to ask questions yet.

"So that's what we did, I accepted the offer and started learning English which isn't fucking easy. But that's okay because we made it, and I had my family with me too which is something a lot of people can't say," he paused to take in a shaky breath and pushed his fingers into the bridge of his nose. He stood stiffly, letting himself take a few breaths before he continued.

"So the Garrison!" He cheered trying to perk himself up. "They offered to give me all of these things and in exchange, all I had to do was get a spaceship to Kerberos," Kolivan quirked his eyebrow at the statement. "I know, easy right," he said sarcastically.

"I thought the Green Paladin said that the mission that brought the Black Paladin here was the most advanced your planet has been with space exploration," he said. Lance puffed up his chest and gave a smug little smile at the statement.

"Of course it was, that was why I was so important," he started only to slump a moment after. "Well, I didn't do it alone, of course, so I guess I'm not that important; never mind, we're getting off topic," he shook his head as if trying to dislodge the distracting thought.

"It is correct to assume that this Kerberos mission is important though?" Kolivan asked. Lance's head whipped around to look at him with his mouth gaping.

"Yes! Its basically the only reason why I was at the Garrison in the first place, as I said before I was just going to join the military in Cuba with my family but this opportunity was to die for," he stated, squeezing his eyes shut. He thought of the opportunities that opened up to them when they moved and sighed.

"Anyways, we went to America and next thing I know I'm at orientation for classes and I was going to just join the generic fields engineering, computer science, meteorology you know; but that morning before I went to go, my mamá sat me down and told me to find something that I would grow to love and I would never grow tired of. I was kind of confused because at this point I was so sure of my path, that I already had my class sheet filled up and ready to hand in at the end of the tour," he thought of his mamá and the smile she gave him before he walked out that door. Looking like she already knew that he was going to have a great day.

"She was so adamant about it and I didn't know why, I already knew what I liked and I was going to gain the key to my future as well, I thought she was crazy," he admitted shaking his head and dropping to sit next to Kolivan again. He was about to open his mouth to comment but stopped when he saw the easy smile stretched across his face as he got lost in memory.

"That is until we visited the flight simulators; they walked us in and it was just the pod and blank space and suddenly it just got pitch black, we were all freaking out. But then, there was this big flash and there were stars everywhere and planets, galaxies and meteorites, just everything and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life," he gave a breathless chuckle as he looked at Kolivan. "Then the sim started and I was just mesmerized; whoever was in that booth was dominating the front lines, no one could get close to them and I must have stood there for twenty doboshes with my mouth hanging open, watching them. But then, they turned off the sim so we could meet the pilot and ask questions about the classes and stuff; and after a few minutes out pops Shiro,"

"I didn't realize that you met the Black Paladin so soon," Kolivan commented. Instantly Lance shook his head and waved his hands around frantically.

"Met is a loose term! A very very loose term, I didn't even speak to Shiro until we saved him in the desert before coming to space," he said flustered. Kolivan only nodded his head and looked forward.

"I see," he said coaxing Lance to continue his story.

"Well, anyways, Shiro got out to do a little talk about the classes, what a pilot in the Garrison does, and all about the missions he had already been on; and when he talked about piloting I could see in his eyes how much he loved it, and that's when I knew that I wanted to fly and when I decided that Takashi Shirogane was my hero," he admitted quietly rubbing the back of his neck. "I was right, I did love it, it was the one thing in my life so far that was actually difficult for me to learn, and I wasn't good at it. I-I knew that I wasn't but it didn't matter because I loved it so much, it made me feel human sometimes," His face was glowing with happiness, but as soon as it appeared it was gone again and the boy was looking dejectedly at the ground.

"I don't know when Pidge and Hunk started thinking that I was stupid," he said curling into himself. "I wasn't around much during the first while of the Garrison, whatever free time I had I spent it with the other scientists working on the Kerberos mission. I guess it started when I used sneaking off into town as an excuse when they asked why I was gone for so long," he let out a humourless laugh and felt his throat tighten. "Now that I think of it, it does sound like something an idiot would say," Kolivan could see the paladin slowly breaking down beside him and scooted closer to offer some sort of comfort to the boy.

"Keith I understand, he hates me," he muttered trying to blink away the tears that were forming in his eyes. "All he's seen from me so far has been an empty-headed flirting mess," He clenched his jaw tightly, he didn't want to cry about this, and it was a dumb reason to. He curled his arms around himself and lifted his legs onto the couch.

"But Shiro, I thought he saw more to me than the others did, and it hurts but I guess I deserve it after getting him and his crew stuck in space," he choked finally letting himself sink into the pain. Kolivan let out a quiet rumble and pulled the boy to his chest to rest underneath his chin. After a moment's hesitation, Lance gripped onto Kolivan's suit tightly and let out a sad wail. The galra continued to rub his back and let out comforting noises.

"It was okay at the Garrison because I had my family to talk to and they knew, but out here they all thought I was some clueless idiot," he whispered to Kolivan listlessly. "I'm nothing without my brain, so what was I even worth to them?" Kolivan closed his eyes and cupped the back of Lance's head to cuddle him closer.

"Lance, you are worth much more than you realize," he said softly. "You are an exceptional pilot, a glorious marksman, and now we realize you are a genius. Your teammates are the ones that assumed you to be something you're not, now they have to face the consequences of their actions, not you,"

Lance didn't answer and only nodded his head from where it rested on Kolivan's chest.

______________________________________________________

The team turned to the doors when they heard them hiss open. Kolivan's face was blank but he had his hand on Lance's shoulder. Lance smiled up at the galra and walked to his friends who immediately started apologizing.

"I'm so sorry Lance!" Hunk cried grabbing him by the shoulders and sniffing as tears poured down his face.

"I'm sorry too!" Pidge joined latching onto Lance's legs when Hunk lifted him in a hug. Lance gave them a weak smile and patted Hunk gently on the arm when he started sobbing into his shirt.

"It's okay guys, I forgive you," he replied. "Can you please let me down now?" he asked kicking his feet around.

"Sorry!" Hunk wailed as he placed his feet on the floor. He wiped his eyes and nose and looked guilty down at the ground as Keith walked up to Lance.

"I'm sorry Lance," he said sincerely. "You're right, I'm a condescending jerk sometimes and I let it get out of hand," he shifted from foot to foot and avoid looking at him. Lance let out a huff of laughter that made Keith's head shoot up.

"I forgive you," he said punching him lightly in the shoulder. Keith gave him a hesitant smile and stepped back when Shiro came forward. He had a sad frown on his face and his eyebrows were wrinkled in guilt.

"I failed you as a leader and as a friend Lance, I should have paid more attention to my teammates, I am so so sorry," he said weakly, guilt evident in his voice. He tried to keep his eyes on Lance's face but slowly found himself looking to the floor instead. He looked back up when he felt a hand on his shoulder and found Lance giving him a soft smile.

"We all have something we could work on, that doesn't mean you failed us as a leader Shiro, I forgive you," Shiro let out a breath of relief and put his hands on his knees.

"Shiro?" Lance's voice asked hesitantly. He stood up and looked at the paladin.

"Yeah?"

"I know it wasn't really my fault but I need to get it out, so I'm sorry I got you captured on Kerberos," he announced. Shiro's face scrunched up in confusion as he looked at Lance.

"Huh? But you didn't have anything to do with Kerberos," he said cocking his head. Lance twiddled his thumbs absentmindedly and scuffed his shoe on the ground.

"Actually, I planned the entire voyage and programmed the ship," he admitted not looking up from where he was looking. There was a beat of silence before they let out various sounds of disbelief, Pidge grabbed him by the shoulders and madly shook him screaming.

"I never noticed your name in the reports," Shiro said thinking back, trying to pick out names from the papers.

"Oh, I had the codename Cub," he said. At that Pidge's arms and mouth dropped in shock.

"You're Cub?" She asked, he nodded and gave her a smile. "Oh my god, you're the best hacker I've ever seen, I based all of my codes off of yours," she admitted, still in shock.

"Wow, thanks!" He said scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"How the hell do you manage to pull this off?" Keith asked astonished. Lance looked around at his amazed teammate. They may not be the most perfect people in the world, but they were family to him. He put his hands on his hips and gave them a grin.

"Would you like to hear the whole story?"