"Maybe I don't have a thing,"

It echoed across everyone's coms like a shock of cold water. Nobody suspected that Lance felt that way. He was always so confident in himself. Or at least it seemed like it. Shiro stopped in his tracks in the middle of Beta Traz, for the first time ignoring Slav to try and process what he had heard from Lance. He couldn't afford to think about it right now though, they were in the middle of a mission and still didn't know which one of them had the right Slav. When they got back though, he was definitely going to have a talk with the paladin.

As they floated back to Green after Lance perfectly shot the Warden's hand to release Slav, Shiro glanced over to Pidge. She was looking over at Lance with a worried crinkle in her brows, it confirmed that she had heard Lance as well. If they both had heard him over the coms, it was completely possible that everyone on the ship had heard him as well. They brought Slav in to introduce him to Allura and Coran, as they walked in Shiro noticed that everyone's eyes were on Lance albeit inconspicuously.

Everyone had heard him.

Even Allura and Coran watched him with worry veiled in their eyes. Coran distracted Lance by complementing his sharpshooting during the mission. While Allura quickly made her way over to Shiro, who was joined by Hunk, Pidge, and Keith.

"I'm not going to pretend to know about the psychological welfare of humans, but I believe that the four of you need to talk with Lance," she started looking at all of them.

"Believe me, we are," Shiro said earnestly, chancing a look over at the teen. He furrowed his brows when he saw him laughing and smiling with Coran, no sign of the self-doubt that they knew was brewing beneath the surface.

"Yeah, we need to sort this out, Lance is not a seventh wheel!" Hunk exclaimed quietly. The others nodded in agreement and looked back at Allura.

"Coran and I think that it would be better if we were not present, the bond that Lance has with the four of you far exceed our ties with him," she explained. Although, she looked over at him as well, sadness clear in her eyes.

"As soon as we are done here, we will talk to him," Keith promised. She nodded and returned to her spot by the monitors.

"Coran," she called. He turned on the spot to face her. "I believe we should take our leave and try to find a spot for Slav to stay in for the time being,"

"Of course Princess," he agreed. Before he left he turned and pulled Lance into a hug, his hand cupping the back of his head protectively. Lance looked surprised, to say the least, but almost immediately, his hands snaked around Coran's back to return the embrace. When he pulled back, he ruffled his hair and walked toward the door with Allura and Slav trailing behind him.

"What was that?" He asked with a laugh as he turned to the paladins with a grin. It dropped off of his face when he saw that they weren't returning it.

"Guys? Whats wrong?" He tried, taking a few steps forwards.

"Lance, we have to talk," Shiro announced. Lance's heart simultaneously stopped and sped up. He went over every bit of the mission in his head attempting to find the point where he messed up.

"Maybe we should go to the lounge?" Hunk suggested. Lance's gaze snapped to him.
What? They were going to be there too? When Shiro was going to go over his mistakes? Maybe it was to make sure that he would listen this time.

"Yeah, that would probably be the most comfortable," Keith added. Comfortable. They wanted to be comfortable while Shiro ripped into him.

He deflated on the spot, missing the way that their eyes widened at the sight.

"Oh, well let's go then," he stated blandly, turning and walking out of the room toward the lounge. Behind him, they glanced around at each other. They weren't sure what thoughts were bouncing around in Lance's head right now, but it didn't look like they were good ones. Following behind them, they were able to see how defeated he looked, if his slouched shoulders were any indication. He flopped down on one of the couches and stared over at them, specifically Shiro.

"Alright, let's have it," he mumbled. Despite the uncaring attitude he had right now. It was killing him inside at the thought that he had disappointed or angered Shiro. Shiro sighed and sat down next to Lance before he said anything.

"Are you okay Lance?" Shiro asked. Lance flinched back, obviously caught off guard but the question. He raised a brow and looked at the other paladins and saw the same downcast looks on their faces.

"Uh yeah, why? Whats wrong?" He asked instead, looking back at Shiro confused. He sighed again and reached over to put his hand on Lance's shoulder.

"You know that if you're ever feeling down or anything you can come to me, come to any of us really," he started looking into Lance's eyes. The confusion Lance felt doubled at that moment.

"Um okay, why are you telling me this?" He asked. He looked over at Hunk hoping for some sort of explanation.

"We heard you today," Shiro said. Lance drew his attention back to the leader and was surprised to see that his eyes were becoming glassy.

"You're going to have to be more specific, I said a lot of things today," Lance chuckled. Shiro was slightly taken aback. How could Lance not realize what he was talking about? Maybe he talked this way about himself all the time, and he doesn't even realize that he is doing it anymore. The thought of that made Shiro heart sink and his throat sting as he bit his lip.

"You're not a seventh wheel Lance," he choked out. Lance's eyes widened in realization and his head whipped around gauging the reactions of everyone in the room. They looked down at the ground, hand clenched into fists and teeth biting into their lips.

"Oh," he breathed out, not attempting to move away from Shiro's hand. He hated seeing his team this way; quiet, unsure of what they could say to him. He made them act this way, it was his fault. Again.

"You guys don't need to worry about that!" He said cheerfully, going to stand up. Shiro's hand kept him in place though and he looked over to see the devastated look on his face.

"Of course we need to worry!" Keith cried stalking forward to stand in front of Lance. "You're doubting your place on the team, and you're doubting yourself,"

"Yeah, and if you're doubting them that much it must be our fault in some way," Pidge added coming up beside Keith.

"We want to fix it," Hunk finished for them. Lance's eyes widened and he ripped himself away from Shiro's hand to stand up.

"No, it's not your fault, you guys are perfect, it's all me," he argued.

"Well, it can't be, just tell us what is happening so we can fix it," Keith tried. Lance sighed and deflated on the spot.

"Why does it even matter how I'm feeling? We're forming Voltron just fine,"

"What!? Of course, t matters, you're our friend!" Pidge said poking Lance in the chest.

"We care about you Lance," Hunk said earnestly taking Lance's hand.

"You're so important to the team Lance, we could never replace you," Shiro added.

"Yeah, you're our sharpshooter," Keith said with a small smile. As they continued talking, Lance couldn't help the overwhelming feeling of self-loathing that began growing in his chest. His team didn't need to say all of these things. They thought that how he felt was all their fault. It wasn't their fault, it was his. It was always his fault. He wasn't good enough for them. They deserved someone better than him.

"You deserve someone better," he whispered. Immediately their chatter stopped and they looked to Lance.

"Sorry?"

"You deserve someone better!" He yelled shocking the paladins into taking several steps away from him.

"You deserve someone who is actually smart enough to know the difference between a person and a pet," he said. Memories of leading Laika through the prison halls, insisting that she was their missing prisoner. The embarrassment had cut deep when the real Slav informed him of the mix up.

"You deserve someone who is strong enough to not be chained to a tree," he insisted. He wasn't even sure why Nyma had seemed interested in him. When she trapped him, he realized that it was because he was the weakest one there. It was understandable really.

"You deserve someone who is reliable enough to not crash every quiznacking simulators," his voice cracked in the middle of the sentence. Every word that Iverson had ever said to him came rushing into his mind. Every night he cried himself to sleep because he couldn't keep the simulator going long enough for his team. Every day he wished that he could just leave that place.

"You deserve someone who is kind enough to not make people so uncomfortable," he finally cried. Allura's creeped out face flashed in front of his eyes. Every single disgusted face that he was given. Every heart break that he had suffered because of something he had said.

He fell back on the couch, ignoring the hand that came to rest on his knee and instead pushed his head into his hands. He let out a muffled sob, trying to get a hold of his emotions. He didn't want to look even more weak in front of his team.

"If you weren't smart you would not have gotten in to the Garrison," Pidge said breaking the silence. Lance looked up at her, his eyes were already puffy from crying but it didn't look like he was close to stopping yet.

"If you weren't smart you wouldn't have been the top pilot of your class," she insisted coming forward to stand in front of him. "Don't you ever think that you are stupid or something, because it isn't true. I've seen the things that you are capable of, and the stuff that you know that you don't think people want to see,"

"If you weren't strong, you would not be here right now as a part of Voltron and you know it," Keith added. "The lions only choose the best pilots out of everyone in the universe, and you were chosen first out of all of us," he gestured to each of them. They all nodded their heads with big smiles on their faces.

"If you weren't reliable, I don't think that Coran would even be here right now," Shiro stated moving his hand to rub up and down Lance's back. "You promised to defend and help others and you kept good on your promise, you saved him when no one else could," he choked out another sob. That wasn't something that was special to him, anyone would have saved Coran.

"If you weren't kind, so many lives would not have been changed. You make everyone's lived who come across you happier. Remember when you first met me and I could barely even speak because I was so nervous but you just kept complimenting me and making me feel so good about myself that I became confident in myself," Lance chuckled at that. Remembering the big kid in his grade school that no one talked to. He could tell that he and Hunk were going to be the best of friends from the first day he met him. Of course he was correct in that prediction.

"Any of you could have done those things, it doesn't matter that I did," Lance insisted after a moment. He still couldn't let them believe that they were at fault. Keith groaned slightly and crouched in front of Lance to look him in the eye.

"Why can't you just believe us!?"

"Because I'm garbage Keith!" Lance cried staring into Keith's eyes. "I'm like, blue planet trash or something," he muttered bitterly. He tucked himself into a ball on the couch and flopped onto his side.

"Very poetic," Pidge laughed.

"I try," he deadpanned staring at the opposite wall.

"Lance you have to understand why we're shocked right?" Shiro asked. Lance shook his head slightly.

"You are one of the most talented, kindest, bravest, most loyal people I have ever met and there is so much more to you but we would be here for weeks if I had to list everything off," he continued. Lance curled up further, this time in embarrassment.

"I know that this won't be cleared up in an instant, but are we allowed to start trying to get you to see differently about yourself?" Shiro asked leaning over to thread his fingers through Lance's hair. After a moment of thought, he nodded slowly. With a cheer everyone piled on top of him in celebration.

Even though it was the warmest and sweatiest hug he had ever had. It was also the most comforting that he had in a good long while.

Everyone knew that it would take Lance a long time and possibly for the rest of his life to start valuing himself more, but they would never give up on him.