Not A Big Deal – Part 1

I decided to expand on my idea of Lance taking no one fussing over him dying to mean that it wasn’t that big of a deal- that death itself wasn’t a big deal, that Allura would just bring people back anyway. And so he starts risking his life for no good reason.

Lance wanted to ask so badly.

Why didn’t anyone make a big deal out of it?

He didn’t expect hours of fussing or people babying him, but he expected someone to mention it. Ask if he was okay. Reprimand him for being reckless. Say anything in response to him dying.

He almost convinced himself to ask Allura if the others even knew, but then he shook his head. Of course the others knew. He was probably making it into too big of a deal, he was alive now, after all.

He really didn’t want to be the only one to make a big deal out of it. They would roll their eyes, say he’s being dramatic. Say he wasn’t taking things seriously. Things are dangerous and they can’t worry about Lance chickening out because he couldn’t take being dead for five minutes.

He came to a conclusion. After seeing the reactions to his own death and then watching Allura restore life to Shiro, he learned something. Death wasn’t a big deal, Allura can fix it.

Which isn’t to say that no one was upset about Shiro dying, but that was because he suffered so long. Because he had watched as Lance and the others didn’t recognize the fraud. Because he asked Lance for help and he failed him.

In comparison, Lance had nothing to complain about.

And he shouldn’t fear it happening again, he convinced himself of this. Now that Allura could bring people back, dying was just another injury. It wasn’t pleasant, sure, but he would get over it.

He found himself biting back any lingering instincts of self-preservation. Mission first. He would dive into danger if it meant they would succeed.

And part of him still hoped that they’d notice, that they’d yell at him for being reckless. The most he’d get was a startled “Lance!” with no follow-up discussion after the fact. He figured these were just reactions that lingered from when death meant something, from when they could be in danger.

He found it was harder to ignore threats when they weren’t directed at him. He knew if one of the others died, Allura would be able to revive them, but what if she couldn’t? Besides, dying isn’t exactly painless, and he doesn’t want any harm coming to his friends.

And of course, the most important person to protect was Allura. If she was hurt, well, besides the obvious fact that she couldn’t revive herself and the team needed her leadership, Lance would be heartbroken.

He stopped counting his near death experiences. It used to be saving Coran from the bomb, the airlock, and dying for Allura, but they piled on quickly after that. He took a bullet to the side when he pushed Hunk out of the way. Got a concussion when he made Red take a hit meant for Green. The list went on, and they hadn’t even gotten to Earth yet. But they’d patch him up– he only needed Coran so far, not going as far as to die and need Allura to step in again yet.

He hadn’t noticed the worried glances everyone would toss his way. He didn’t know they noticed his behavior change.

Then he ran into danger without the excuse of protecting someone.

It was their final stop before Earth. They were meeting with another group of aliens who offered aid in the form of more supplies and troops.

But playing a simple game could give team Voltron double what they were promised. All you had to do was sit in one of 3 identical chairs. On the count of 3, a lethal amount of electricity would be sent through one of the chairs. If you live, you win. Like Russian Roulette.

“Thank you for the offer, but none of us are interested in that type of game.” Allura tried to stay diplomatic. She had to respect their traditions, no matter how needlessly dangerous they were.

“Actually, I’ll give it a go.” The entire table whipped their heads to face the source of the voice, not quite believing he would have said this. Sure enough, it was Lance, looking smug as ever.

“No, Lance, we can’t put you in danger for no reason.” Allura spoke through gritted teeth, both annoyed at Lance for thinking this would be funny to suggest and concerned that he meant it.

“You see, Princess Allura,” The large, hair-covered alien spoke, “Once you accept to play, any backing out will result in death.”

“Yes, but as we were not aware of that rule, I think you can make an exce-”

“We have been doing this game this way for 1000 years with no exceptions.”

The rest of the table was all talking at once.

“He was just joking!” Shiro argued.

“He doesn’t know what he’s saying!” Pidge.

“You can’t just force him to play your stupid game!” Keith.

“Please, can’t we find another way to do this?” Hunk.

Lance only stood up, rolling his eyes and smiling. He bit back his fear of death, this being the first time he had time to think about his decision. It would be silly to show fear, right?

“Ignore them, they’re a little cranky. Long drive here, you know?” Lance made himself laugh.

“Lance, what are you doing?” Keith demanded.

“Stop fooling around!” Pidge.

“Please, Lance.” Allura.

Lance smiled. “Relax, guys.” And he went up to the stage with 3 chairs.

Before he could choose one, the paladins started getting out their weapons. “I’m sorry, Galnians, we really need our paladin back.” Allura said as the others took a stance, ready to fight.

“He made a commitment. He must honor it.” The Galnian replied, an edge to his voice now.

“Look guys, let’s not start a war over here!” Lance asked of his team.

“Well we can’t let them- hey!” Pidge was interrupted as clear walls encased Lance, the Galnians in the room, and the 3 chairs.

Lance looked back at the alien, who shrugged. “This happens sometimes. People get upset, so we don’t let them interfere until it’s complete. Now pick a seat, blue paladin.” Lance would say that the alien was probably smiling under all that hair.

Lance sighed, then picked the seat all the way to the left, ignoring the team looking horrified on the other side of the glass. He gave them a wink right before the Galnian started the countdown.

“And 3… 2… 1…” Lance heard a button being pressed behind him, and he flinched as sparks began to fly from the chair next to his. Then he smiled in relief.

The alien was all too excited, helping him up. “Congratulations! Wasn’t it exhilarating?” he asked. Lance only nodded, staring at his friends, whose weapons had now been put away as they weren’t able to use them when it would have made a difference.

The wall was lowered. “See guys, nothing to worry about!” Lance grinned.

His face fell as he looked at the faces of the other paladins. They ranged from shocked to horrified to angry to worried.

Allura looked right past Lance. “My apologies to you and the other Galnians, I’m afraid we must be going. We appreciate what you have offered us.” Her voice was strained.

Lance caught a look from Shiro before they started walking and he winced. He could gather that he was in big trouble.

I love how the fandom has mutually just agreed that Jack’s pet name of his SO is “doll”

hey so i’m never going to get over that kuron vs keith episode. that really fucked me up