"Well. That was a disaster," Keith heard Pidge say as soon as he'd left the room.

"Ugh. Tell me about it," Hunk agreed. Keith frowned from outside the doorway. He wasn't trying to listen in, but they were making it hard for him not to hear.

"Yeah. He was all, 'Guuuys. Liiisten to me. I am your leeeader,'" Lance imitated, exaggeratedly drawing out every syllable, earning laughter from the others.

"Lance," Allura chastised. Well, at least Allura was on his side. "You're doing it all wrong. You need to fold your arms and scowl more. Like this." Peals of laughter erupted in the next room.

Keith huffed out a breath, stalking off. At least they were bonding, he supposed. And, well, it's not like they were wrong. He was a terrible leader. What had Shiro been thinking?

Shiro. The thought of their missing leader sent a pang through Keith's heart, but he shook it off. He couldn't dwell on that right now. They hadn't stopped looking for him, of course, but there were still people out there who needed their help, and Keith had to figure this whole leadership thing out. How had Shiro done it?

Keith briefly let memories of Shiro flood his mind. Shiro had always been a great leader, even before Voltron. Keith thought back to when he'd first met him, back in his Garrison days. And then the memory hit him. That book. He remembered a book on leadership Shiro'd kept in his room at the Garrison. Maybe that could help him.

Hearing the raucous laughter still coming from the lounge, he figured Pidge wouldn't be using her computer anytime soon. He decided to search her virtual book collection himself. Pidge had downloaded a literal library's worth of books from Earth.

He accessed the computer and typed in the title: How to Be a Leader. Sure enough, there it was, gaudy cover and all. He uploaded it to his tablet, reading the tagline. "Take control! You are the CEO of your own life!"

Keith grimaced, but this was definitely the book he remembered seeing in Shiro's room. And at this point, Keith was ready to try anything.

-x-

01. Use the compliment sandwich! Soften the blow of criticism by delivering it between two compliments. It's a sure-fire way of providing critique without hurting their feelings.

"Lance," Keith said, calling him over after practice that day. He looked down at his tablet, reminding himself of the steps. Compliment, critique, compliment.

"Yes…?" Lance said. When Keith looked up, he was standing in front of him, waiting for him to speak.

Keith cleared his throat. "Your aim was decent. You talk over the comm links too much, your footwork is sloppy, you should improve your reaction time, you're too easily distracted, and you need to work on your stamina." He paused, considering. "Your hair looks nice today."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Wow. Seriously?"

"Well, it doesn't look terrible."

Lance stared at him. "What is wrong with you."

Keith tried again. "What I mean to say is, you're trying out there, and that's good. There are just a very large number of things you need to improve on." He considered. "That's a good shirt."

"That is… really not helpful," Lance said. "Also, I wear this every day."

"So? It doesn't look any worse than it did yesterday."

Lance snorted.

"I'm trying to compliment you," Keith said through gritted teeth.

"Oh- the sandwich? Really?" Lance rolled his eyes. "How 'bout this. You're trying, and that's good," he mimicked, "You're actually a terrible leader and you have no social skills. You are, however, excellent at making people feel terrible about themselves."

Keith shrugged. Not bad. He'd take it.

-x-

02. Don't let them slack! There's nothing like a little tough love. Work them hard, and don't forget the three magic words: suck it up.

"Let's try it again."

"Seriously? We've been at this for hours," Pidge complained.

Lance had collapsed against Hunk's shoulder; Hunk was barely keeping his eyes open. Even Allura looked exasperated.

"We're not eating lunch until we can clear this obstacle course in under ten minutes." Keith's stomach growled as he said it, and the obstacle course started to blur in his eyes. (Maybe the swinging axes and flaming hoops had been overkill. They were just illusions, but still.)

He had them run it again.

And again.

And again.

Another hour passed with nothing to show for it but complaints and frustration. They were all hungry and sore and exhausted, Keith included. He shook it off. Suck it up.

"Again."

Their times were getting worse and worse. Maybe this wasn't the most effective way of training. Still, he couldn't let them slack.

"Again."

…

They never did end up reaching their goal.

"Oh, no," Allura said, deadpan, as she accidentally smashed her arm into the console, shutting the entire thing down. "It appears to be broken. It looks like we can't continue."

She didn't sound too upset about it. Neither did the others, who were cheering for her.

Fine. He'd try something else.

-x-

03. Prepare for the worst-case scenario!It's important to have contingency plans. Always think of what could go wrong.

"Hunk," Keith said from across from the circle. "You're stranded in the desert and you can only save Lance or Pidge. Who do you save? Think strategically."

Keith was met with blank stares all around. "Uh, obviously I'm gonna save both of them," Hunk said, looking at him like he was an idiot.

"But you can only save one. It's in the question."

"What? Dude. That is not a fair question," Hunk said. "What if I asked you that? What if I asked you to pick between me and Allura? Wait, no. Don't answer."

"It's a dumb question," Lance said. "Obviously, Hunk would pick me."

"What? I'm clearly the more logical choice," Pidge argued, indignant.

"But he likes me more. Also, I'm prettier."

"Rude!"

"Enough!" Allura interrupted. "Keith. Let's move on to the next question."

"Fine. Okay. Lance." He looked over to where Lance was leaning back in his chair, bored. "You die in space. What do we tell your family?"

Lance blanched, nearly falling over.

"Seriously?" Hunk said.

"It's a legitimate question. We should know, just in case."

"You can't just spring that on someone," Pidge frowned.

Lance was just staring at him, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. He didn't look like he was going to answer any time soon.

"Okay, fine. Think it over," Keith said. "Pidge and Hunk, you too. You guys still have families."

Allura's mouth formed a thin line. "…Next question," she said tersely.

"Alright. I die. Who leads?"

Lance threw his hands up in the air. "What are you – Slav?"

"I'm just being practical. In all likelihood, at least one of us is gonna die out here," Keith shrugged. "Could be me. Might happen before we find Shiro. There should be a contingency plan."

"No. We are not having this discussion," Hunk said firmly. "Next question."

"Fine. Pidge-"

"Nope. Nope, I'm out," Pidge said, kicking back from her chair and heading for the door. The rest of the paladins quickly followed, filing out.

Keith guessed he should have planned for that.

-x-

04. Never show weakness! You must always portray strength. Ideally, you shouldn't have limitations, but if you do, hide them well. Never show that you're at anything less than one hundred percent.

Keith felt dizzy and light-headed. He hadn't been feeling well since he woke up this morning, but the team couldn't know that. He'd be fine. He could power through. Just a little longer. They just had to grab the… something… grab the something, and get out. Oh, and not get killed by the… dinosaurs? …that were making their way towards them.

"The retrolodium should be found right around here," Allura was saying. Her voice sounded distant amidst the pounding in Keith's head. "Ah! Here we are."

The dinosaur-like creatures were approaching faster. "Hunk. Lance. Shoot the… things," Keith managed.

"We're trying," Lance snapped. Ah, it was the sound of the laser guns that were making his head hurt. Had that sun always been that bright?

"It's not working," Hunk said. "What should we do, Keith?"

He watched as the creatures moved in closer in his blurry vision. How did they manage to stay upright when the ground was tilting like that?

"Keith?"

"Uh." It was so hard to think. "We should… we should…"

"Keith!" There was the crackling sound of electricity, a roar, and then a dinosaur-thing fell to the ground, nearly hitting him in the process. "Seriously. Are you feeling alright?"

"What? Yes. Yes, Pidge. I'm fine."

He raised his sword to attack the next creature that had closed in on them. He swung and missed.

"Oh for-" Allura got up from where she was gathering the material and took the beast out with her bare hands. She hefted it up and threw it into the others that were approaching, knocking the rest of them out. "Keith, honestly, …"

He didn't hear the rest. The world spun and he passed out.

Keith woke up in bed. Allura touched her hand to his forehead, frowning. The rest of the team was surrounding him. "What were you thinking, going out there like that?" Allura snapped. "That was extremely irresponsible of you."

"I'm fine," Keith slurred. "A hundred percent."

"Uh, wrong," Hunk said.

"Yeah, no. The only thing you're a hundred percent in is idiocy," Pidge agreed.

Lance crossed his arms. "Why didn't you say anything, you moron?"

"You put yourself and the others in danger," Allura chastised, glaring at him. "You should have told us you weren't feeling well."

Keith drew the blankets around him in closer. Damn. He should have hid it better. But, he supposed, maybe his teammates had a point.

-x-

05. Try using fear tactics! Scare them a little! Fear can be a great motivator.

"I feel weird," Hunk said, holding a hand to his forehead.

"Me too," Lance whined.

Pidge and Allura murmured their agreement.

"You'll all be fine," Keith said, starting up the battle simulation."We'll keep the level low."

As the gladiators began to morph in his distorted vision and his heart began to race, however, Keith began to think that maybe this had been a bad idea.

The robots took on horrifying forms: terrifying beasts, mutilated zombies, mutated teammates, Shiro.

By the end, Keith was paralyzed with fear, and he was only saved when Hunk, with shaking hands, missed his own target and blasted through the Shiro that had been about to attack him. "No!" Keith shouted, but then he saw the wires inside. Oh.

Lance took out the remaining gladiators. He was anxiously shooting everything in sight, and it was only through sheer luck that he didn't hit his teammates.

After all the gladiators were down, the paladins all sunk to the ground, huddled in on themselves. They were shaking, their faces glistening with cold sweat.

"O-okay. M-maybe the hallucinogens were a bad idea," Keith admitted shakily.

"The what?" Pidge squawked.

"S-slipped some in the food goo, at lunch. Maybe a bit too much."

"You-" Hunk gaped at him. "You can't be serious?!"

"You are actually the worst leader ever," Lance panted, still gasping for breath.

Well. That hadn't gone the way he'd planned either. Keith sighed. This was hard. But something in the next twenty chapters was bound to work.

-x-

Later.

Shiro was back, and all was well again.

"You don't know how glad I am to have you back," Keith told Shiro for the umpteenth time. "I mean, besides the obvious, I'm glad you're in charge of the team again. Leadership is the worst."

Shiro smiled. "Come on. It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"Yes, it was. It was terrible," Keith frowned. "Nothing I tried worked. I even tried taking advice from that book on leadership you had in your room at the Garrison."

Shiro's brow furrowed slightly as he tried to recall. And then his eyes widened. "Don't tell me… How to Be a Leader?"

"Yeah. That one. Why?"

Shiro actually started to laugh. "Keith, the other instructors bought me that book as a joke."

Keith grimaced. "…That explains some things."

"Wait, what did you do?" Shiro asked, his eyes dancing with amusement.

"Not important," Keith grumbled, ears turning red.

Shiro grinned. "C'mon, tell me."

Keith crossed his arms. "No."

"In that case, I'm gonna go ask the others," Shiro said, still grinning as he got up from where he sat on the bed. "I want to hear all about this."

Keith scowled. "I'm going to make your life hell during training tomorrow," he warned.

Shiro shrugged. "Do what you want. You're the CEO of your own life," he laughed as he headed for the door.

Keith threw a pillow at the back of his head, but despite himself, his lips pulled up into a smile.

It had been far too long since he'd heard that laugh. Maybe it had been worth it after all.