Agent Blue

Four

The Paladins all stood in the training room, 4 of the Paladins had a plan they were mostly excited to try. 

Shiro proposed they try the teamwork test again, allowing Keith an easy way to mess up. Everyone agreed, though, Lance seemed a lot more serious than the others. 

They all stood in the circle like before, Keith noted that he had his back to Hunk and Pidge and mentally apologized for what was about to happen. 

The drones fell from the tiled ceiling, whizzing around their heads. Everyone lifted their shields, but Keith purposefully moved slower. 

The first drone shot at Keith, sensing his slag. The shot flew over his shoulder and hit Hunk in the back. He let out a cry in shock before the blast hardened. 

"Focus, Keith!" Shiro yelled, but it was clear he didn't want to. Everyone knew he didn't want to yell at Keith, that wasn't the kind of leader he was. So, when Keith missed again, Allura stepped in. 

"You need to do better, Keith! You're putting your team in danger!" Allura said through the speakers of the room. Lance's face twisted into confusion. 

Another shot was failed to be blocked, this time hitting Pidge in the back of the head. She fell to the floor hard, her hair tangling with the blast. 

"That's it, end training sequence!" Allura yelled, the drones stopped firing and retreated to the walls. "What's your deal, Keith?" She asked, storming into the room. 

"Hey, he just made a few mistakes," Lance tried. 

"No, he put his team in danger, if this was real, Pidge would be dead!" Allura yelled. Pidge muttered a few 'oww's for good measure. 

"I'm sorry, I was out of it today," Keith sighed, putting his limited acting skills to the test. 

"You need to do better!" She yelled. That actually hit a mark. Keith knew this was all acting, but her telling him that he wasn't good enough made his chest hurt. 

Lance stepped in front of Allura. "He said he wasn't focused! Why are you getting mad at him? He's one of the best fighters on our team! You can't get mad at him for something as small as missing a few shots on a stupid practice run!" Lance's eyes were glaring at Allura, and she had to force herself not to take a step back. His face held no humor, no lightness. He looked pissed, and she was surprised to see it from the lighthearted Blue Paladin. 

"Thank you, Lance, but it's alright," Keith said, putting his hand on Lance's shoulder. He could feel how tense his muscles were from under his shirt, how he was halfway in a battle pose, like he expected a fight. 

"I mess up all the time, I don't see why you're being so hard on Keith because he messed up once!" Lance continued, but he wasn't yelling anymore. His voice was back to a normal volume, but the intensity of the words sent a shiver through everyone in the room. 

"I apologize, Keith. I didn't intend my words to be harmful," Allura spoke just above a whisper. They all watched as Lance's posture slackened and he stepped out from in front of Allura. 

"Damn! I didn't know Lance could be so scary!" Pidge yelled happily, trying desperately to lighten the mood, and it worked. 

"You were badass, man!" Hunk agreed. 

"I didn't know you had it in you, Lance," Shiro smiled. Lance furrowed his eyebrows and looked between them before realization formed on his face. 

"You set this up," He said quietly. They all shared similar looks of guilt. 

"Hunk said you get protective over your friends, so we wanted to see if it would work on Keith," Pidge explained. 

"I didn't think you'd honestly stand up for me," Keith said, a soft smile on his face. Lance looked wide-eyed at him.