Team Voltron wouldn’t forget Lance’s birthday...right?
Here’s a one-shot I wrote to celebrate Lance’s birthday! You can read it here or find it on AO3 here! Enjoy!
Honestly, he wasn’t completely sure what he was gonna get. He knew what he wanted. Maybe a small get-together with the team, some nice food, a few presents here and there. Maybe they would take him on a trip to a new planet. Or, maybe another trip to the space mall. Some minor praise, major fun, and an all around good day.
And it wasn’t like they didn’t know his birthday was coming up. After being the youngest of several siblings, birthdays were a pretty big deal. When else would you have a whole day where the attention is all on you? So the days (or weeks, who's counting?) prior his birthday, Lance was not subtle about how he expected to be celebrated.
Anytime he’d see something he liked, he’d gesture and tell the others to get it for him.
Whenever him and Keith got in a dispute, his new comeback was to officially uninvite Keith to his birthday party. So far, Keith has been uninvited 56 times within the last month.
So no, it’s not like they could forget his birthday...right?
The night before his special day, he went to bed early.
He yawned at the dinner table, loudly and obviously, “Well, I guess I’m gonna turn in! So if any of you have any last minute planning to do, this would be a good time to do it.”
Everyone looked at Lance with the similar, common,‘ there goes Lance with his crazy antics’ expression as he backtracked out the room.
Back in his quarters, he pampered his face, played some tunes, tried not to be too homesick, and spent some important me-time as he got ready to turn a new number.
The morning of his birthday, he expected a few things. A big birthday breakfast meal from Hunk was number one on that list. The presentation of his birthday sash? Number two. Birthday kisses from the most beautiful paladin? Number- actually, cross out that list, that last one is definitely number one.
Instead, he woke up, not to a face full of kisses or the smell of space-bacon, but to the alarm systems blaring.
After being in space for a while, all of the paladins were able to be in gear and at the control deck quickly and efficiently.
As Lance ran down the hall, he thought about how this would be a perfect way to enter a giant surprise party. How funny would that be?
Oh no, we are being attacked, wait, PSYCH, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Then, streamers fill the room, blue balloons fly all around, and everyone is there to greet him.
Lance worked on his surprise face before he walked in.
But Lance wasn’t the last person to arrive, and no one yelled surprise or even looked remotely pleased to see him.
Allura was geared up, and already tense as she delivered the news, “A planet we once thought was at peace is currently being attacked by the Galra. We must immediately assist if we want to interrupt their process.”
Shiro nodded and stepped forward, “What’s the plan?”
Pulling up the current state of the planet, showing at least four good-sized Galra fighter jets heading towards the small world, Coran said, “They have one several troops on the on ground, and multiple ships awaiting action. We need to make sure those ships don’t breach the planet’s atmosphere while still handling the army on the surface.”
Continuing, Shiro nodded, “So we need to split up.”
“But we have to strike both parties at the same time. If they realize they are being attacked on the ground, they might send more troops, which is what we don’t want.” Pidge mentioned.
“And if they see that their ships are being blown up in the air, they might start hurting the citizens in panic!” Hunk said.
“Good point,” Shiro said, “Obviously the castle-ship will invade the jets, Hunk, you and me will be on the offensive up here. We are going to need us big guys to hold off all those ships.”
Hunk nodded.
“Pidge, your cloaking is going to come in handy on the ground. Go for a sneak attack. Keith, you’ll go with her to hold them off. We are going to need those fast instincts of yours to make this work. Lance, you are in charge of figuring out who is down there and being our point of contact with the people. Give Keith and Pidge some help taking out any ships that are already down there then go find their leader. You’re the best when it comes to being diplomatic.”
As much as Lance reveled in the praise, was...was that it? Lance knew that Voltron came first and world saving didn’t stop just for his birthday, but where was the ‘by the way, I know we are going on another live-or-die mission, but hey, you made it to another year, congratulations, good luck not dying today?’.
Maybe that was a bit of a mouth full, but still! Nothing? Really?
Lance decided he would be mad about it later, after he saved the day.
Touching down in the thick forest of the planet, Lance and Keith stayed behind as Pidge edged up on the army, waiting for Shiro’s call.
As they waited, Lance took the time to chat with Keith.
“What a special day, ya know…” Lance hinted, “A lovely July morning...nice weather, don’t you think?”
“Lance, we need to focus,” Keith, ever the buzzkill, stated.
“I know, I know, but don’t you think it’s a special day for-”
“Now, team!” Shiro's command rang.
With that, Pidge sprung forward.
Usually, Voltron wasn’t too eager to go on the offensive and be the first to attack. However, they’ve been at this for a while now, and no longer had time to wait to strike.
Lance helped the armed lions (get it? ‘Cause Red and Green are arms?) until Keith assured him that they could handle it. Then, Lance took Blue away from the battlefield.
He leaped around until he found a good place to park, next to the village but hidden in the trees. He activated the invisible shield (thank you, Pidge) and made sure Blue was secure before he ran towards the village.
The people of this planet were extremely tall. Like, about the height of the Galra, maybe even taller. Tall and they had four arms, their extra two resided on the sides of their hips.
Lance had seen his fair share of strange-looking aliens, but running through a giant crowd of panicking whatever-these-guys-were-called, made him feel like a kid trying to get a bunch of adults attention.
He tugged on sleeves and shouted, “I’m the Blue Paladin! I need to find your leader!”
Everyone was too busy screaming in terror and running the opposite way to pay attention to the tiny blue human.
“Ugghh,” Lance groaned, and kept running until he found another crowd of the tall aliens, all screaming and huddled in a circle.
There was a troop of Galra, five or six, advancing towards a group.
Immediately, Lance sat down, and hid himself behind a nearby plant. He pulled out his bayard. Instead of turning into his normal blaster, it formed into a sleek sniper rifle.
Not trying to brag here, but Lance had been the first to unlock his bayard.
Okay, he’s totally bragging.
Lance looks down the scope, breathes in, breathes out and squeezes.
It was a straight shot to the commanding Galra’s chest. Unfortunately, the remaining sentries were too thrilled that Lance took down their supervisor, and started advancing towards him, guns blazing.
Lance grinned, as he swapped his rifle for two pistols.
The Galra didn’t even get past the bush before Lance had taken them all down.
Lance put away his bayard and ran to the crowd of people, who looked at him with hope but a tinge of fear, unsure what he was going to do with them.
“I’m a paladin of Voltron, I’m here to help, where is your ruler?”
One alien spoke up, “King Tempten is in his hut, the tall one on the hill.”
“Thank you, help everyone out of the village, head to the forest, you’ll be safe there.”
Lance knew they would be. Blue was there and she knew what to do.
With that, Lance looked up to the hill.
Running was not Lance’s favorite thing to do. The first part of the trek up the hill was one thing, but when the Galra noticed where he was headed and started attacking him, he picked up the pace.
“AHHHHHHHHHHH!” Lance screamed as he ducked blasts left and right while sprinting up the hill.
“Lance?!” Keith yelled through their helmets, “What’s going on?”
“Are you okay?” Shiro said, “Give us an update.”
“I’m-” Lance yelped, avoiding another blast that hit a tree beside him, “Just-PEACHY!”
“Lance ,” Keith growled, “Where are you?”
“Up-the, HOLY CHEESE AND BISCUITS, up the hill! I’m going up the hill!” Lance turned around and fired five shots to the advancing Galra, hitting three of them. He then whipped back around and kept going.
Apparently everything on this planet was tall, including the towering trees around him, the long grass, and the sheer height of the damn hill.
Shiro asked him to report more.
“I’m being tailed-” Lance breathed deeply, “by like two dozen. They-oh god-have guns, and they DO NOT like me.”
“Where’s Blue?” Pidge asked.
“She’s taking care of the citiz-AHH!”
“LANCE?” Hunk shouted.
That time, Lance wasn’t screaming out of fear, but surprise. He tripped over his feet when the hill was shaken by a giant thud somewhere behind him.
Once he fell to the ground, he thought he was dead for. He heard firing of guns, but none of them were hitting him.
Looking up, Lance realized why.
The Galra had averted their attention to the giant red robot that was now hovering above them, growling in a way that only giant red robots can.
It didn’t take long for Keith to wipe them out.
As the Galra laid groaning on the ground, Lance chuckled as the once big, scary, fighting machine, calmed down and made a low, grumbling mechanical purr as it tiptoed over the unconscious Galra and snuck towards Lance. For a robot lion, Red managed to look bashful.
“You okay?” Keith asked softly, leaning Red’s face down so it was almost touching Lance.
Lance laughed, and patted the tip of Red’s nose, “I’m fine, thanks to you.”
Pidge made a gagging noise through the coms, “Keith, stop being cheesy and get back down here, I need you!”
“Duty calls,” Lance grinned.
“Be careful,” Keith demanded.
Lance winked, “Always.”
Lance kissed the lion’s nose and then took off, setting his way to the ruler’s home.
Luckily, the door was unlocked so Lance slipped right through.
To say the least, he was...surprised with what he saw. As all the other aliens were tall, the King was extremely short. Like, up to Lance’s waist short. Shorter than Pidge.
“I heard that.” Pidge said.
Wait, DID PIDGE JUST READ HIS MIND?
“I heard that too,” Keith said, “It sounded like a bomb went off, we should go investigate.”
Oh, heh. Of course, she didn’t.
Right?
Pidge, if you are hearing this, Lance thought, stop it. It’s rude. Stop invading my privacy.
Lance turned back to the subject at hand. The tiny ruler of the planet was pacing back and forth.
“Uh, excuse me?” Lance said, trying to get his attention, “King Tempton?”
The King screamed when Lance spoke to him, then he pulled out a small dagger and pointed it at him, “I don’t know who you are! But-but you need to leave my planet alone! G-go away! Now!”
Lance put his hands up, “I’m a paladin of Voltron! I’m here to help you!”
“V-voltron’s here?” The King asked.
“Yes,”
King Tempton put down his knife, “Oh good,” He took a seat and relaxed. His panicky attitude melted into something more mellow, “You’ll take care of it, then.”
“Wait, what?”
“Voltron saves planets, and what not, correct? So, go along, do what you do. Let me know when you are finished.”
“Hey, that’s not how it works! You have to help too!” Lance protested.
“I don’t see why.”
“B-because they are your people! You know them best!”
“No hats allowed in my home.” The King stated.
Lance threw his helmet off then walked over to the King, staring him down, “Do you have an army?”
“Yes.”
“Why aren’t they out there?”
“It’s too scary! I can’t make my men go out there!” The King shouted.
Lance pinched the bridge of his nose, “Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the greater good. And they won’t die if we work together and get this over with quickly.”
The King shook his head and crossed his arms.
Lance sighed, “Look man, it’s my birthday today, and I really didn’t want to have this much trouble. So if you’d just please-”
King Tempton looked at him, “Today is your day of birth?”
“I mean,”
“You were just born TODAY?”
“Whoa, wait-”
“You have been alive for one day and you are out here FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE on my planet?”
“Uh,”
“That is...most noble…” The King thought for a moment, “I will help you.”
“Oh...sweet.”
“Follow me, young infant,”
Lance, not exactly sure how he felt about being called an infant (oh the things he did for the universe), followed the King to a room underneath the house.
It was, to put it lightly, a fortress. Full head to toe with different weapons, some of the most advanced he had ever seen.
Lance grinned, “Let’s get this done.”
“Is that Lance?” Pidge asked over the comms.
Hunk said, “I haven’t been able to get ahold of him, he’s not responding.”
“No, Hunk, I can see him. He’s-oh my god-I’m pulling up a video feed, everyone look- ”
What they were all viewing was an amazing, movie-like feat. Lance, walking dramatically down the hill, bayard in hand. Helmet: gone, hair: windswept and gorgeous.
And a giant, towering army with high tech weapons following behind him.
“ Holy shit, ” Keith whispered.
Lance halted his army, then firing some shots in the air, yelled, “WOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!”
The army behind him shouted in agreement.
Suddenly, as if she heard the commotion and decided she had to back up her paladin by making him seemed even more badass, Blue flew to Lance. She hovered above the trees and roared loud and proud.
That definitely got the Galra’s attention, which was the plan. Anyone that was fighting the others of Team Voltron immediately stopped their fire and turned to the huge army at the Blue Paladin’s disposal.
Lance pointed towards the enemy, and howled. Everyone else followed suit, rushing the Galra.
The battle didn’t last much longer after that. The Galra (the ones that were left that is) surrendered and retreated.
Lance met the rest of the team up on the hill in the King’s home. The King was raving about the epicness of the fight, as did the rest of the team when they came in.
Hunk threw himself on Lance in a hug, “Duuuude! That was so cool!”
“Yeah! Man, you remember when he did that war cry and everyone else came in right after? That was awesome!” Pidge mentioned, "And I got the whole thing on video!"
“The best part was DEFINITELY when Blue flew in, all glowly eyed and roaring. Did you guys plan that, or did she just know? I bet she just knew. She’s so good with cinematic timing.” Hunk nodded to himself.
Lance laughed, then displayed a smile that showed on his whole body when Shiro laid a hand on his shoulder and said, “I’m really proud of you, Lance. That was an impressive stunt you pulled there. I’m glad I put you in that position. You really did an amazing thing today. You saved all of us.”
Lance couldn’t imagine how red his face was right then, so he re-directed the attention, “This is King Tempton. King, this is the rest of Voltron.”
Allura stepped in, “It’s very nice to meet you. Let’s talk an alliance.”
The adult talked about adult things while Lance went over and retrieved his helmet from the ground.
As he was standing up, he was suddenly rushed with someone in his personal space.
It was Keith, standing close to him, with a shaky glare. 'Shaky' because he looked like he was trying really, really hard to be mad.
“Uh, hey?” Lance said.
Keith, with a solid but slightly wavering expression, said, “That was the hottest thing I have ever seen.”
Lance raised his eyebrows and smirked the most mischievous smirk he could muster, “Oh? Is that right? ”
After looking his boyfriend up and down, Keith locked eyes and stated, “Yes.”
Lance kept a solid ‘I can not believe this is happening’ smug smirk on his face from the point where they departed with the King to when they get the castle back into motion.
“Alright, everyone, let’s do a quick brief about how the mission went and then we can all get the showers we desperately need.” Shiro said.
It was simple, mostly talked about how the Galra seem to be trying to take any planet that they can and need to kept a closer eye on. They did go over Lance’s awesome act in a positive light.
“What can I say?” Lance said, “I’m feeling a bit more mature today ‘is all.”
Cue birthday celebration!
“Finally,” Pidge muttered.
Allura agreed and then moved on to the next point.
Or not?
Soon enough, Shiro released everyone to go shower. After that, they would be serving dinner, he knew everyone must be hungry since they didn’t get to eat today yet.
Hunk’s stomach agreed.
On the way to their rooms, Lance walked close to Keith and muttered, “Hey, so what do you think of conserving some water back in my room?”
Lance could feel the heat running up Keith’s neck. Still he choked out, “Uh, maybe not right now?”
Nodding with a smile, Lance kissed his boyfriend on the cheek then hit up his own shower.
Making sure he looked his best, he imagined what the birthday dinner would consist of. Because, obviously, that’s what it was. One of those where they made him THINK they forgot his birthday but really didn’t and surprise him at the end of the day. Little did they know, Lance was already ahead of the game.
Although, as he exited his room to go to the dining hall, Hunk greeted him. Shouldn’t Hunk already be there…? With all the food they prepared? They were not very good at this birthday thing, were they?
And when he walked to get dinner, nothing special was happening. Coran was chatting to Keith about the history of food goo, Pidge curled up in her chair as she played her gaming device, Allura and Shiro were talking politics. Like any another day.
Maybe...maybe it was just another day?
Sure, for Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk’s birthday these past few months were a cause of big celebration...but that was mostly by Lance’s planning. Of course he made a big deal of other people’s birthdays. Didn’t his actions show that he would like something similar?
He probably being selfish, he decided. If they...didn’t care, then they didn’t care. Who was he to ask for more?
So he sat in his usual spot by the table and did his usual thing. Sure, in the back of his mind he hoped that perhaps they would pull out a cake and at least sing to him, but he tried to push those thoughts down when they arose.
The night went by as such. Hunk offered to have a movie night, but Lance wasn’t feeling up to it.
He went to his room, did his nightly skin routine, singing softly, “Feliz cumpleaños a mi...feliz cumpleaños a mi…”
“Lance, Lance, wake up,” someone softly shook his shoulder, and had their hand tangled in his hair.
He blinked awake, grimacing and looking at-who was it? Oh- Keith sitting above him.
“What ‘ime is it?” Lance slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes.
“10:00am Earth time.” Keith said, as he bent down to kiss Lance’s cheek.
10am? He hasn’t slept past 8am since he joined the Garrison. He’s surprised his body even allowed to stay asleep that long.
Well, then again, Lance couldn’t deny his body’s talent for sleeping as long as humanly possible when given the chance.
“Is Allura giving us the day off or something?” Lance asked. Usually when Keith came in his room it was to yell at him because he was late, help him get up and going. Today, however, Keith was...nuzzling into the crook of Lance’s neck? Which was the complete opposite of the usual.
“Of course,” Keith murmured, leaving kisses on Lance’s skin.
Lance drew in a breath and a laugh, “Whoa, are we doing this? ‘Cause I’m all for it, but let me brush my teeth.”
Keith shook his head, his nose brushing lightly against already warm skin, “Not yet. I have something planned for tonight.”
“Wait-whoa-what-why?” Lance looked confused.
Keith squinted his eyes, he pointed to Lance’s clock, “Because-oh. Huh. Here, follow me.”
Standing up, Keith helped Lance to his feet. Keith looked up and down to make sure Lance was properly dressed. Of course he was, he was dressed in his blue silk pajamas.
Taking his hand, Keith lead Lance to the door.
The moment it opened, he was greeted by three faces, Shiro, Allura, and Coran. They all threw confetti and yelled, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”
Lance was too shocked to say anything besides, “Whoa-whoa-WHOA!” as he was thrust into a blue padded, elegant chair and lifted up, each person holding one leg hoisting Lance in the air.
“WhAT THE QUIZNAK!” Lance yelled, but laughed all the same.
“All hail, King Lance!” Coran announced, “Make way!”
Although they almost dropped him down the hall, eventually they end up in the dining hall, and set Lance’s chair at the end of the table.
Lance can’t stop his laughing, deep belly laughs that make his sides hurt. He doesn’t stop smiling as Pidge skipped over to him and placed a crown on his head.
“It takes pictures!” She explained, “It tracks your heart rate so it’ll take a pic anytime you get really happy! Also it changes colors, here’s a remote that controls it all.”
“That’s awesome!” Lance takes the remote and fiddles with it, soon figuring out how to make the crown five colors at once- red, blue, green, yellow, and black.
Next, Hunk came over to Lance and gave him an awkward bear hug, since he was sitting in a chair, “Happy Birthday, buddy!”
Hunk sets down a tray of food, “I know we’ve advanced in our foods, but we still haven’t reached the true potential we could have. So this is what I got. Blueberry pancakes, in celebration of our one and only Blue paladin, and bacon, obviously. Then, just for you, here are some Tostadas, Huevos a la Cuban, and a fruit bowl, to give you a little taste of home. How’s it look?”
Lance couldn’t help it, he started tearing up, and choked out, “It looks g-great.”
“Oh no, you’re crying, he’s crying. What did I do?”
Lance went to tell Hunk that nothing was wrong that everything was great, it’s just that- but Keith beat him too it.
Keith walked over and leaned on his chair, saying, “Yeah, Lance. What’s wrong?” He was smirking.
Lance sighed, then stood up, raising his hands, “Guys...listen...this is all really nice but...it’s not my birthday.”
“Oh?” Keith said, mockingly.
Pidge looked at her ticker, “Wait, is your birthday not the 28th?”
Hunk shook his head, “It’s definitely the 28th, Lance, I’ve seen your birth certificate.”
“Today’s the 29th,” Lance said, “So my birthday was yesterday.”
“According to the calendar we’ve set monitoring Earth time,” Coran explained, holding up his own ticker for Lance to see, “It’s the 28th of July. Yesterday was the 27th.”
“That can’t be right!” Lance said, “I set mine the same time everyone else did.”
“Did you update it from two weeks ago?” Shiro said, “Remember? Pidge and Coran had made a miscalculation where we were a day ahead.”
“Yeah, you made a big fuss about how it was so awful that we had to repeat a whole day. Started talking about the Groundhog Day loop,” Pidge reminded.
“Did you ever remember to change it?” Shiro asked, a smile tugging on his lips.
"No, he was too busy staring at Keith during the meeting." Pidge said.
Hunk huffed, "I'm pretty sure it's because we had just gotten back from that beach planet. He was totally out when we got back to the ship."
Lance’s mouth went into a big ‘o’ as he remembered. He laughed awkwardly, “Haha, well, that’s just crazy, isn’t it! What a big coinwinkydink! Time to get back into the birthday celebration?”
Suddenly, there were six people throwing blueberries at Lance, all laughing and yelling about how he scared them.
Lance yelped, “Not the face! Not the face! You can’t throw food at the birthday boy! Keith, not you too!”
Between the laughs, Lance could hear his crown camera going off, and he knew that today was going to be the best birthday (or day after his birthday, who’s counting?) to date.
