Because I just had to do something for the 28th.

EDIT - ok, so i was a FEW minutes late. So happy LATE birthday, Lance!

It was supposed to be a small party. That's the only thing Lance could think about as he watched the chaos around him.

He had been friends with Hunk and Pidge since they had all been enrolled into the Garrison, so it was obvious that they would remember his birthday. What Lance hadn't expected was to wake up on July 28th only to hear that they both had gone out of the castle on a "special mission." While he had tried to get an answer out of his remaining teammates, both Shiro and the Alteans chuckled and told him to "wait and see," while Keith had patted his shoulder and simply said "wait for it." (The fact that Keith had touched him at all was an indicator that something was up - he wasn't usually that touchy.)

However, his answer was quickly received when The Green Lion flew into its hangar, immediately gathering the rest of the crew's attention. Out of its maw came Pidge and Hunk, who were both carrying large plastic bags. Both of the paladins immediately lit up and tried their best to hug Lance, but only managed to squeeze him in between the bags."Happy birthday, Sharpshooter!"

The Blue Paladin beamed with joy. "Thanks guys!" Chuckling, he then pointed to the bags. "Whatever's in those things better be important, because no one here has told me anything! I must've asked everyone at least a thousand times!"

"And all I have to show for it is a spoon to the face!" He added, shooting a glare at Keith.

"Well what did you expect?! You sneaked up behind me and screamed 'WHERE IS THE YELLOW MAN?' in my EAR!" They both started to glare at each other until a cough from Pidge grabbed their attention.

"Guys, I wouldn't waste time arguing if I were you," she grinned and held the bags up, "The ice cream might melt."

All three of the other paladins looked at her in awe, while the aliens seemed confused. "You got what now?!" Keith and Lance shouted.

It wasn't only ice cream - M&Ms, Twinkies, Popcorn, all of the good stuff. Apparently, the space mall also had a section of Earthen foods, where both Hunk and Pidge had grabbed the best birthday foods they say. Of course though, the assorted ice cream was still the pinnacle of their entire haul - nearly every flavor had been grabbed, from cherry to cookie dough all the way to double chocolate chip.

Sure, the cartons were blank, save for a label on the bottom, but Bluebell or not, it was still ice cream.

Pidge had already gotten a bowl, determined to try a bit of every single food that they had gotten. Hunk was standing close to the Alteans, explaining the foods and its ingredients. ("To be honest… no one really knows what's inside a Twinkie…..) Shiro was sitting contently with a scoop of a random flavor, and both Keith and Lance were still deciding what to eat first.

"To be honest, I have no idea what to pick…." Keith. Lance looked over at him and chuckled. "I know! All of the flavors are my favorites, so it's really hard to pick one!"

"Actually, I've never had anything but vanilla, so I have no idea what the others will taste like…"

Lance nearly choked on air in shock. "Wait, like Ever?! How is this even possible?!"

Keith smiled a bit after looking at Lance's genuine concern. "No parents, remember? The few times school or state care ever did give us dessert, it was always the cheap vanilla kind."

The Cuban quickly grabbed Keith's shoulders. "Don't worry Samari! Tonight, I'm gonna make sure you find a new favorite! I promise!"

Keith's face flushed at the contact, but was quickly replaced by a small grin "I'll be fine, Lance. Go enjoy your birthday, you dork." he gave a short pat on the back to his friend, and walked over to the bowls before his blush could spread.

Well, Mullet was right - it's about time Lance had fun. It was technically his birthday, after all.

Everyone had gathered a bowl, and was making light conversation of their history on Earth/Altea, and their adventures in space. It was shaping up to be one of the better birthdays that Lance had ever known. Even though he was miles away from his family, he was still happy.

So of course, something had to go wrong.

At the first sound of Shiro coughing, no one thought anything of it. However, what was once a light clearing of a throat had turned into a full out fit, grabbing everyone's attention. The Black Paladin was doubled over in his chair, face red and hands around his throat. "N-Need a Pod….. N-N-Now…" he managed to get out before he began to choke. Immediately, Allura and Hunk brought their arms under their leader, supporting his weight as they made their way to the med bay. Pidge and Coran quickly trailed behind them, while Lance looked at the bottom of the carton Shiro had been eating.

Peanut Butter Brownie. Of course - Shiro had a peanut allergy. The flavors just HAD to be listed at the bottom.

Thankfully, Shiro had made it to the pod in time, and was currently recovering from his allergy attack. The downside, however, was that he was going to need the pod for a few hours. Lance was sitting in a chair by the pod, watching his leader be healed by the ship, while Hunk tried to explain what had happened to the Alteans.

"You mean, what nearly killed Shiro was the Ice Cream?! Is it toxic?" Allura gasped, looking at The Yellow Paladin like he was mad to even bring poisonous food into the castleship.

Other than the three's debate over the safety of frozen dairy, it was pretty quiet in the med bay. So quiet in fact, that Lance suddenly realized why the situation felt so off.

"Hey guys, has anyone seen Mullet?"

Before the others could give him any sort of answer, a retching from the side of the room brought everyone's attention to Pidge, who was hurling in a trash can. "Is the poison affecting Pidge too?!" Allura cried.

"No Allura, Pidge just probably ate too much food," Hunk assured her, before glaring at the younger girl, "Isn't that right, Pidge?"

She looked up from her bin to face the Samoan teen. "Yeah, looks like eating 3 Snickers and a bowl of cookie dough wasn't my best idea…" she managed to give out a chuckle before puking again. "But it was - hnng - still worth it!"

Lance decided to make his way out of the door in order to search for Keith. Hunk noticed his friends movement, but before he could follow him, he was pulled aside by Coran.

"Number 3, can i ask you why Earth permits the use of recreational drugs? Because i smelled this tin of candies right here, and it's definitely contains traces of Frost Petal inside of it!" The older man showed Hunk a packet of IceBreakers, which only made him confused.

"And may I ask how you know what Frost Petal smells like, Coran?" Allura asked, narrowing her brows.

"No need to concern yourself with those questions, Princess!" he answered quickly, before looking back at the human, "However, you can answer mine! Is Frost Petal legal on Earth?"

Hunk suddenly connected the dots and had to stop himself from laughing. "Coran, do you mean mint plants?"

Coran wrapped his finger around his mustache before replying. "Yes, I have heard it called 'Mint' on other planets… But does that mean it's legal?"

"Of course it is - what could be bad about a silly little herb?"

The Altean gasped in shock. "That 'silly little herb' is a galaxy wide banned narcotic! Its addiction is so powerful, it can cause an Altean to spend thousands of credits a cycle just for a daily taste! Quiznack, boy, it's even banned from all Galran Military fleets to prevent a mass addiction outbreak!"

While Coran was busy ranting, Hunk thought it would be better to show him how 'dangerous' mint really was. Opening the package, he took a single mint and put it in his mouth. Both of the Alteans nearly shrieked before noticing that the pellet produced no change in the teen's behavior.

"Well I'd be a tiny weblum, Humans aren't affected by the drug!" Allura said in surprise, while Hunk merely chuckled.

"Well, this has turned out to be a horrible birthday," Hunk joked, "Shiro nearly died, Pidge is hurling half a gallon of ice cream into the trash can, and I brought space drugs to the castle. What else can go wrong?"

At that moment though, a shout echoed through the corridor outside of the room. "Guys… I found Keith..." Lance shouted, a hint of worry present in his voice.

Needless to say, Lance had a good reason to be worried.

The moment he had opened the door to Keith's room, he didn't know what he was expecting. But he definitely wasn't prepared to see his usually reserved teammate lying in his bed, disheveled, surrounded by what looked like empty packages of Thin Mints and Tic-Tacs, as well as cradling/gouging on a carton of ice cream. In the dim lighting from the hallway, Lance could make out Keith's dilated pupils, and his extremely giddy expression as soon as his eyes met the Cubans.

"Heyyyy Laaance! W-What youu dooin'?" Keith slurred, sitting up while continuing to hold onto the carton. He extended the ice cream to Lance, while licking off some melted cream off of his thumb. "Lannce, buddyyy…. Y-you gotta try this stuffff maaaan…" Looking in the tub, he could see that it was mint chocolate chip. Lance shot him an apologetic smile.

"Uh, no thank you buddy…"

"N-No Lancee, like…. this is reeeealy good stufffff." However, Keith dropped the carton and staggered over to Lance, grabbing him in a tight hug. "Mm… you're soooooo waaarrrmm Lannce… a-and really cuutee..."

The poor birthday boy could do nothing but support the half - Galran's weight as he began to snuggle into The Blue Paladin. "You knnow baabe…. I knew you were h-hot, but this is reeeally nice."

By the time the others came to his rescue, both of them were frozen by the door - Lance in shock, and Keith in peaceful contentment.

"Um…," Hunk started, "I can explain."

The 6 remaining members of Voltron had gathered into the lounge, where Pidge was drinking a juice pouch, Keith was snuggling into Lance's chest, and Hunk was breaking down.

"Lance, I PROMISE i'm going to find a way to make this up to you! I could take you to some alien bar, meet some really nice space chicks, have a good ti-" He was suddenly cut off by Lance, who shook his head no.

"Guys, even though Shiro nearly died, and Keith got high on ice cream, I still enjoyed today. This was, hands down, the most interesting birthday I have EVER had in my life. You did great guys."

Hunk began to smile and nodded his head. "Thanks Lance, I hope this was worth it."

A soft snore from Lance's neck told him that his admirer had fallen asleep. Looking down, he noticed how peaceful Keith looked while sleeping. After talking about the minty binge Keith had gone through, Coran was able to confirm that thanks to both the diluted amount of actual mint in the foods, as well as Keith's half blooded status, that no real harm will come from the mint - only a slight high, courtesy of his galran ancestry.

As an added bonus, now Lance had a lot to talk to The Red Paladin about in the morning, when Shiro would be ready to wake up.

Yep - it was a good birthday for Lance McClain.

Immediately afterwards, Shiro bought a dozen EpiPens and Keith couldn't look at Lance for a week