Lance doesn't do well with separation. When he was accepted into the Garrison, he had been hesitant about leaving his family in Cuba but they had pushed him to go anyway. That didn't mean he didn't have sleepless nights wondering what his family was up to or if they missed him. And then when he and the rest of the team left Earth, Lance was even further away from his family but quickly leaned on his teammates for comfort. Especially Keith. So imagine how he felt when Keith announced he was leaving to train with the Blade of Marmora permanently.

When Keith told everyone the news, Lance was angry. He (and the others) saw it coming but Lance had hoped that Keith would prove them wrong. That he wasn't going to leave the team for some stupid group. But then he did.

The night before Keith's departure, everyone in the castle threw a going away party for him. It was supposed to be a fun night for everyone but Lance couldn't make himself happy. He knew that in the morning Keith would be leaving and that sad feeling would hit him almost as hard as it had hit him when leaving home for the first time.

Hunk made a cake with chocolate frosting. Pidge gifted Keith a device similar to a phone so he could keep in contact with them. Coran shared a long and over extracted story with everyone while Allura played with Keith's long mullet hair, something he never let her do until then. And Lance sulked in the corner, wishing that Keith would have second thoughts about all of this.

At the end of the night, Shiro gave a speech that Lance assumed was meant to be motivational but it wasn't to his liking. Nothing that had happened tonight was. Not even Hunk's cake was enough to lift his mood.

Not long after Shiro's team chat, everyone started heading off to bed. Shiro was first, then Allura and Coran who warned the rest of them not to stay up too late. The remaining four stayed up a little while longer, but as the night went on, Pidge started to notice Lance's mood and made a quick excuse to leave with Hunk.

"Hey, Hunk and I need to clean up the mess we made downstairs before we go to bed," she said without a single slip up. Hunk, who remembered picking up every tool from earlier, sent Pidge a questioning look.

"What are you-- Oh!"

He stopped when his arm was suddenly grabbed by Pidge. She started dragging him out of the room, ignoring his comments about the small girl's nails digging into his skin. The doors slid shut behind them and Hunk's voice was no longer heard by Keith and Lance.

Keith turned his attention to that other paladin. He had noticed Lance's mood but thought he'd brighten up at some point in the night. That hadn't been the case though.

Keith opened his mouth to ask if Lance was okay but the other stood up, saying, "I'm heading to bed," with a little bit of attitude. Despite knowing that he wanted to go to bed, Keith stopped him, cutting him off before he could go down the hall to his room.

"Lance, what's wrong? You've been like this all night."

"Like what?" Lance asked defensively. Keith rolled his eyes.

"Like you're mad at the universe."

"I'm just tired, alright? So let me get some sleep."

Lance tried to move around him, but Keith moved to block his path again. Lance crossed his arms, waiting for Keith to move and/or speak.

"Then why have you been all moody since I said I'd be leaving for the Blade of Marmora?"

"I haven't," Lance denied, avoiding eye contact. The other took that as a sign of a lie, moving his head down to meet Lance's eyes again.

"You're upset I'm leaving," Keith concluded. He knew he guessed right by the look on the Cuban's face.

"Of course I am," he snapped, standing straight up to get that tiny height advantage. "How did you expect me to react? To just accept the fact that you're leaving us? That you're leaving me?"

"Lance, I--"

"Save it," Lance demanded. "I don't want to hear it."

He stormed passed Keith, and Keith didn't try to stop him this time. He knew there was nothing he could do to comfort the Cuban unless he decided to stay. Sadly, Keith wouldn't be doing that.

***

The next morning, everyone gathered in the control room to bid Keith goodbye. Tears were shed by the girls, and by Hunk and Coran who tried to hide them but failed. Keith and Shiro shared a brotherly hug and a few final words. Then it was turn for Lance to say his goodbyes.

"Lance, listen--"

"No," Lance mumbled, turning his head to where Keith would be walking in a minute. "You need to go. So go. Good luck with the training."

Keith sighed, glancing at the ground before turning his attention back to the boy in front of him. He wanted to say a something comforting but nothing came. Instead, he made one promise.

"I'll video chat when I can."

That got Lance's attention.

Keith smirked, patting him on the shoulder before walking off. Lance watched, shocked that Keith was promising to stay in contact. They had the means to do so, so why wouldn't they, right?

***

Lance waited in anticipation for days for Keith to call but days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. He tried to convince himself that the other was just busy off doing missions or training, but he had his doubts.

Once every other week, Allura and the rest of the team would contact all their allies to discuss their plans. Since the Blade was one of their allies, they talked with Kolivan and Keith but only about their plans. And in everyone one of those meetings, Keith stood off to the side and only spoke about progress the Blade was making.

Lance wanted so badly to scream at him for not calling like he promised but held back every time he had the urge.

Hunk had picked up on his friend's reaction to Keith. He talked over with Pidge and the two had decided to approach the Cuban together, but when they did, Lance assured them he was okay. They didn't believe him but thought that pushing him was a bad idea, so they laid off. Secretly, Lance wished they had pushed just a little further. He would've caved. But they hadn't. Instead, he just wallowed in his sadness.

***

Four months had gone by, still without a promised video chat from Keith. But instead of a video call, Keith showed up out of the blue one day to surprise the team. Allura had known about it, apparently, but kept it a secret from the others.

Everyone was happy to see him, Lance included, but knowing that mullet boy was here in the flesh made his happiness turn to anger again. And the fact that Keith broke away from the bear hug Hunk and Pidge pulled him into just so he could talk to Lance alone enraged him even more.

"You broke your promise," Lance flat out said.

"I know," Keith hung his head in shame, but Lance wasn't buying it.

"And to think," Lance chuckled humorlessly, "I was looking forward to those video calls. Even if it was once a month. But it turns out it was an empty promise."

"I'm sorry, Lance. I'll make it up to you. I promise."

Lance snorted, shaking his head.

"I don't want another promise from you."

And Lance left Keith standing there with what he hoped was guilt. And it was, not that Lance had to look to see.