#BUT ALLURA IN BLUE... HAS BEEN GREAT FOR HER............................

[torveiglyart]

I had this idea that when the paladins are really connected to their lions and they’re in mortal danger or something, the lion can actually take over the paladin. This would only be in dire situations as the rush of quintessence from the lion would do irreversible damage to the paladin, but would save them (or someone else) from certain death. Of course I used Lance as a basis for this, because he’s the paladin I know how to draw best, and the Red-Blue double channeling looks cool. Being a puppet for two lions at the same time would probably kill him though. I also couldn’t decide on the regular white armor or a blackout version.

I was thinking something like this:

The paladins are infiltrating an Empire land base and got split up. Lance and Allura got caught up with a ton of sentries but were able to destroy them and are headed back to the Green Lions as per pidge’s instruction, when out of a corner comes (Insert Galra character). They are forced to fight more, but are already exhausted from the dozens of sentries prior. During the fight, Allura gets harmed enough to be down for the count, leaving an angry Lance to deal with their opponent. In his desperation, exhaustion, and rage, the Red Lion takes over. The next thing Lance knows is that he’s waking up from a pod and falling into Hunk’s arms. The team congrats him on his bayard upgrade, but Lance has no idea what they’re talking about. They claim he was shifting his bayard fluidly mid fight and was able to use their bayard forms as well. Lance denies it, saying at one moment he was fighting with his broadsword, the next he was waking up in a pod. They spend the next few quintants trying to figure out what happened, why Lance’s armor is now red and blue tie-dye (But normal white with no stars), and why Lance has burned-in lines under his skin.

I have way too much time on my hands but I hope you all enjoy it 😂. I’ll probably draw the side effects next week because I’m going on vacation this weekend. It’s my sister’s birthday and we’re going to Disney to meet her and spend it with her. I’m so excited! I’ve been to Disney A TON but I could never get tired of it. One time in September 2020, y’know, covid, my dad got us a week stay at one of the resorts and my brother and I did our online school from the hotel rooms. Even though we didn’t do any parks, it was still a great ‘stay-cation’. Disney holds a lot of nostalgia for me and my family, so every trip is another addition to the memory book. Okay, okay, I’ll stop with the Disney stuff now. Hope you all liked my idea!

[ethereance]

𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓎 𝒮𝒶𝒻𝑒

Allura thinks of him—the boy she met so long ago and yet not so much, time a deceptive thing—and remembers the arms she fell into, unfamiliar at the time, as were those ears—strange, utterly so—and she thinks of pickup lines, how there must have been an entire part of his brain dedicated to them with often they fell from his lips.

She thinks of agitation, nights spent wondering if these paladins really could achieve what her father set out to, bringing peace to the universe, when most were immature, the blue one especially, so close in age, and worlds apart with everything else.

She thinks of Lance, of everything that he was back then, the face he wore—obnoxious, carefree—and wonders just when this feeling entered her heart, when mild distaste gave way to admiration and affection, something childish and spirited creeping there as if she had time to find someone to fancy, a teenager in a school, and not the soldier princess she is, caught in a war that is more than her own wants.

Wonders when his presence became one she sought out, dear to her this teammate, this friend, this confidant, this Lance who has become everything that fondness can provide.

Wonders when it became something she might call love, so strong in Allura’s heart she cannot deny it, not when it is so obvious now, every beat so clamorous she’s sure everyone can hear it, her feelings stuck on a loudspeaker. Love—she has that in abundance with him, glad to have Lance in her life, to have people like the paladins, to be family where she had lost it. But there’s something different with him, an intensity to it, one that invites risk, in jumping into open space for a life that isn’t your own. Allura has sacrificed, has done so, but the loss of him brought her a terror not even she can quite express, his life something else, cherished in a way that plants buds in her heart.

She wonders, but there is nothing to pinpoint, nothing at all. Just a gradual descent. Allura did not trip and fall as when Lotor had ensnared her with his charms, but walked, walked and oh—how blissful that walk had been, to look around and realise that she wanted him as her destination, hands entwined in a union as one. Because this is Lance, and there is something so genuine to him, his loyalty and kindness such strengths in a universe battered and bruised, and what a gift it is to see that, to experience that, his support a pillar she can lean upon. Allura sees greatness there, and wishes, not for the first time, there could be a way for her father to see him, to realise that that spark is continued in him, a pilot of the same lion who tries and tries and tries to do what’s right.

Allura loves him, values him, adores him, but there is no place for that daydream, not here in the thick of bloodshed. Not now when Earth is hanging in the balance, when Lance could lose the very home that she had lost. Not now when they have a mission.

It comes first.

But maybe theirs is a future that could be fought for, maybe one quintant if what the mice said still holds true there will be time for them, and that dream in her heart can come true. Peace, with him. It sounds delightful.

So—

“I wanted to say, stay safe out there,” she says up to him, face aflame, and hopes with everything in her heart he does.

[autisticlancemcclain]

prev chapter

– – –

The mission falls apart.

Keith wishes he was surprised. 

They lose communication with Hunk right from the get-go, following a giant explosion that collapses a good third of the entire base. Keith feels the panic begin to grow, then – not Hunk, not Hunk, we can’t lose Hunk, our support, our nurturer, our engineer, our friend. 

“Keith, focus! He’s fine! Explosions mess with the comm’s radio waves, you know that!”

Keith forces himself to swallow, to focus on the very real threat of armed Galran general in front of him. His focus is fucking shot, today, it’s ridiculous, he’s usually better than this. 

But something does not feel right. 

Keith continues to provide the main distraction in the control room, double blades slashing and stabbing anyone who comes close. Lance is perched somewhere above him, firing shot after shot and never once missing. 

Keith forces his hands to stop shaking, to hold the blades steadily. 

Shiro is covering Pidge. They’re sending updates. They’re both fine. Allura is ripping the entire experimental warfare department apart with her bare hands. (These fuckers have nothing on her superstrength.) Coran is shooting down every single reinforcement fleet and keeping the pods up and running. Hunk’s radio waves are simply blocked, he’s fine.

A blue laser flies millimetres away from his ear, nailing a soldier in the head right before they lift their blaster to blow Keith’s head off. Keith smiles despite himself.

Lance is fine, too. 

“I’m done here. Who needs help?” Allura doesn’t even sound like she’s broken a sweat, which is entirely like her and also entirely unfair. Keith is suddenly aware that his undersuit is drenched, which is disgusting and also distracting.

“We’re good. I’ve managed to take care of any soldier to come close to us – there haven’t been many, Keith and Lance have been handling most of them; great job, guys – and Pidge is almost done.”

“Alright, Shiro. Lance and Keith, I’m coming to you.” 

Keith stops listening after that. Not that there’s much to listen to, he doesn’t think. He lets his brain settle into the rhythm of the fight, synching his breaths with every slash of his sword, matching every turn and flick of his eyes to his heartbeat. He is, in some backward way, grateful for a routine he is familiar with, even if it’s stressful and kind of horrible. He notices when Allura finally makes it into the fray – his whole job is noticing everything and reacting to it – because it is, honestly, kind of hard to miss her ear-splitting battle cry and the sound of her massive axe helpfully removing the burden of several Galran soldier’s heads from their bodies. 

Time passes, or it doesn’t. Keith’s not a hundred percent sure. All he knows is that just when he thinks he and the rest of the team – who trickled in eventually, Hunk’s arrival especially drawing several cries of relief – think they have finally thinned out the room, a new surge of soldiers and sentries crowds the room and they have to drag themselves alert again lest they literally die. 

A myriad of curses fill the comms at a new wave, the bridge they’re fighting in become more crowded and more dangerous. 

That is not what worries Keith. 

He has three soldiers and four sentries turn to him at once, weapons bared, danger attacking him from all angles. He barely has the time to react, and fully misses a shot from one of the sentry's blasters, burning a hole into one of the unprotected parts of his armour which stings like a swarm of wasps.

That is not what worries Keith, either. 

Quietly, almost silently, in fact so slight it might be a figment of Keith’s anxious imagination, there’s a breathy noise over the comms, a sharp inhale. And Keith realises he has not seen blue laser fire flashing steadily, knocking down adversaries one by one with ease. 

That is what worries Keith. 

“Lance, status report,” Keith orders immediately. He immediately notices the sudden stiffness in Shiro’s shoulders, right next to him, and hears Hunk echoing Keith’s worry. Matters are made worse by the several minutes that pass before Lance replies. 

“Um, could be better,” Lance says quietly, clearly out of breath. “Really wishing I was a flounder right now. They can move their eyes to the back of their head, you know. Real useful skill. You guys are going to need it.”

“Lance, darling, the point,” Allura says, voice short and more sharply space-British than usual. “You need to get to it.”

There’s another moment of hesitation, and Keith can practically hear Lance’s thoughts, desperately hoping he can resolve the situation on his own before asking for help, because Lance hates being vulnerable although he’d rather die than admit it. Keith is genuinely better at asking for help than Lance, and Keith has never been out-stubborned in that particular avenue before. 

“I got shoved off my perch,” Lance admits eventually. As soon as he says it, Keith realises it’s not his usual laser-focus that is making his breathing so heavy, nor is it frustration, but an injury from falling twenty-six fucking feet. 

“Lance,” shout several frustrated voices in unison, including Keith’s. 

“Injuries,” Pidge snaps. Out of the corner of his eye, Keith watches her whip her bayard forward with particularly brutal strength, perfectly calculated to knock out an entire squad of sentries. “List them. Now.”

“Nothing fatal,” Lance assures. “In fact I might not even bruise.”

“Lance,” Allura warns, again. Keith wonders if Keith is going to hear Lance’s name echoed in his nightmares, voices of the team tinged in panic, calling for him again and again and never getting a straight answer. Keith has always admired Lance’s ability to lighten a room, but it scares him, sometimes. He wonders against his will if Lance will die laughing, with his final joke still hanging in the air like a noose.

The thought makes him gag, stomach twisting painfully and violently. He doesn’t want to even imagine it, and hates himself for imagining it anyway. 

 “It’s fine,” Lance says eventually. “I didn’t fall on my head, or anything. And the armour held up pretty well, so any and all damage to my extremities is contained.”

“Lance!” Keith shouts, and it echoes over and over in his head. “Please, for the love of God.”

Lance laughs, high strung and pained, the first cracks in his faith and his fearlessness and his hope. “I can’t move,” he says, and he almost sounds giddy, and he laughs again, and the panic floods through. “I sprained my wrist. And. Um. You know how the knee bends one way? Mine bends the other, now. I’m stuck. It’s funny, kind of, huh? ”

There’s a beat of hesitation before the entire team whips to face Lance, everyone’s mouth dropped at the same time, same terror written on their faces, same shouts pushing their way past their throats. 

Keith sees as Lance’s other leg, not bent grotesquely, finally gives out. He sees as Lance’s back hits the wall. He sees the shattered glass of Lance’s helmet. He sees as his face crumples in pain and he drops his gun. He sees Lance look up, brown eyes clouded in panic, locked with Keth’s. He sees Lance’s mouth open, hears an aborted ‘k’ sound over the comms. 

He doesn’t see who shot the bullet. But he does see the perfectly circular hole that burns through Lance’s forehead. And he sees the light die from Lance’s eyes before he can finish begging Keith to save him. 

– – –

next chapter

[discordiansamba]

I guess I should discuss the AU that's been rattling around in my brain in a little more detail, rather than just making shitposts about it. So here's the basic gist of it:

We all know there was one surviving universe at the end of Honerva's rampage in VLD's (pretty bad) finale before everything was restored to normal- but could it really survive everything that happened around it unscathed?

The answer is no. Of course it's no.

In a twist of irony, given Honerva's goals, Lotor is deleted from a universe that would have otherwise been very close to the canon universe as we know it- which is... kind of a problem, actually. As in 'the universe could fall apart if this event doesn't happen' problem. But don't worry. The cosmic forces of the universe has a stopgap measure of its own in place to protect itself.

After all, what could go wrong with the universe using one half-Galra to replace another?

Keith is born to Zarkon and Honerva in Lotor's place. He's always felt out of place in a way that simply only being half-Galra can't quite explain. He has a strong sensitivity to quintessence, and knows from a young age that his father and the witch that stands by his side are corrupted.

He knows he's corrupted too. he can hear things that are not him whispering in his head sometimes, telling him things. he ignores them.

(this is sometimes harder than he would like)

(on very rare occasions he hears a different voice from the rabble- one that calmly tells him not to do things. he listens to this one a little more.)

He grows up loathing his father- it's a mutual feeling. He knows that even before he was born, his mother loathed him as well. He grows up with no strong connection to their either side of his heritage.

(perhaps honerva subconsciously realized the child she was carrying was not her own)

He breaks away from the Empire on his own at an early age- he knows in his bones this is wrong, and wants no part in it. He ends up safeguarding a pocket of space from the Empire, but his motives remain erratic and he stays aloof from the other forces against the Empire, so he's not exactly trusted by them.

After all, he's not exactly not still a part of the Empire himself. Zarkon's not going to let his only heir walk away that easily.

He still ends up meeting Acxa, Narti, Ezor and Zethrid.

He's born with the Altean talent of shapeshifting- though he's better at it than most. He wears three faces- the Galran prince, the Altean wanderer, and then a third face, one of a race he has never seen before, yet feels oddly familiar to him.

(Sometimes it feels more natural than the one he was born with.)

He later learns of a planet called Earth, and its people known as humans, who so resemble his third face- and the blue lion with them. He decides to keep an eye on the planet with the excuse of trying to protect the lion... which is surely the only reason he feels such a strong draw to this otherwise backwater planet.

Which is great, because it turns out replacing Lotor with Keith created another problem the universe has to deal with- there isn't a Keith anymore to pilot the red lion.

He just kind of gets swept up in everything when the blue lion awakens, and before he knows it, he's on the Castle of Lions, and Princess Allura of all people is telling him he's a paladin. They all seem to think he's human.

Somehow, he senses it would be a very, very bad idea to tell them all he's actually Zarkon's son.

Great job Keith. You signed up for the universe's most stressful double life. I'm sure this is going to work out real well.

(I am lying.)

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

How would you have ended Voltron ??

In particular, what would you have done with Lotor and Allura ??

Hi, anon! Oooh what an interesting question!

If I absolutely had to start with the end of s8, assuming everything before has still occurred:

The easiest option would be that Allura doesn’t die, given that her life force is tied to Voltron and the Realm of Universal Consciousness is where the living and dead exist in the same space anyway.

Instead, previous paladins of Voltron, current paladins of Voltron, Voltron itself, and others (including a willing/repentant Lotor) help Allura restore the universe so that it’s not always just mostly her doing all the heavy work, offering their spiritual energy together to accomplish this massive feat. (Because legit, we need some found family / stronger together vibes! That’s the heartbeat of Voltron!)

It’s during the restoration that the selfish and defeated Honerva gets purified / fully restored herself.

The restoration burns out the rift creatures haunting the quintessence field.

When the universe is restored, Allura realizes she can bring the previously dead with her from out of this liminal space.

All the current paladins open their Lions to take in refugees and bring them back to their restored planets.

While Allura might offer them a second chance, Honerva and Zarkon choose to stay behind, as do many of the victims of the 10,000-year war who prefer the peace they’ve found.

Cue Allura’s heartfelt convo with her parents, who like many of the elders choose to stay behind, but not before doting on their daughter and offering her something that indicates the crown of Altea has been passed down to her / replaces the circlet she lost in s7. Perhaps Allura can still call on her parents in some way if she ever needs help or guidance (as previous-franchise versions of Allura could do). (More under the cut!)

The elders (Zarkon, Alfor, Honerva, etc.) could agree to help guard the flow of quintessence in some way, so that the living have sustainable access without going insane. (Idk what the limits are of this liminal space they're in.) Or else maybe the true secret of sustainable power is revealed through them, answering the problem that started this whole war.

As the paladins are encouraging others to come back with them, Lotor hangs back in the crowd. He does not feel worthy of a second chance at life, and is possibly unsure whether he even has the energy to try. He feels shame over his past and how quintessence twisted his mind.

Out of all the paladins, Allura approaches him and holds out her hand. “We were meant for more than fear and war,” she says, voice soft. “Do not be afraid to live.”

Lotor asks something like, deeply hesitant, “What life do I have? I isolated all allies and nearly destroyed the universe in going mad.”

Allura goes silent and then tries again, still holding out her hand, “And yet, the universe is restored, and all here know you took part in this great work. Your energy and will is a part of New Daibazaal’s atmosphere, its rivers and valleys.” She manages a weak smile. “If I remember correctly, you always did want to explore.”

“And can the past be so fully undone?” he asks. “Would I even be free to explore?”

Perhaps some moment where Zarkon and Honerva take responsibility for Lotor’s screwy life. Bonus if he gets some kind of call that the Galra still need a leader to help them in this new phase of peace, and that he hasn't reached his true potential yet.

Probably, some paladins chime in, validate that the alliance is back on, and the serious moment gets broken.

Lotor grabs onto Allura’s hand. She leads him to Blue Lion, where he joins the multitudes returning to the restored universe.

The Robot that jettisoned itself off Lotor’s spaceship from S5 is part of the crowd!! Lotor reunites on-screen with his cat, Kova!

Cue silly paladin shenanigans, a few stowaway mice finding a new resting spot on Lotor’s shoulders, and Allura’s new circlet catching the light as the paladins of Voltron launch back toward their reality, away from the Realm of Universal Consciousness.

Cue a pan-out to the restored universe, where the rift is healed, and New Altea and New Daibazaal exist side-by-side as their suns rise.

I think something open-ended, in the context of several characters—focused on a theme about not being afraid to live, about reconciling the past with the present—would hype that found family / stronger-when-we’re-together / comic energy that made Voltron unique…and leave lots of possibilities for the fandom to explore this new world!

If I could roll the clocks farther back than s8, I’d massively overhaul several things about the show. But this is just where I see a way to better land what we got toward the end.

Thanks for this ask! So fun to think about!

[harukamitsuki]

Hello, I’m the anon that apologized for implying that Keith was “spoiled”

I wanted to come back and talk to you because I wanted to discuss some points!

I made my Keith statements without really explaining what I meant and I wanted to try again.

I don’t want Lance to be the black paladin and I just need to state that now. However, I also didn’t want Keith to reside as the permanent black paladin.

I know that his color palate and clothing have black in them but shiro is also all black. In my opinion I would’ve preferred Keith to be the substitute black paladin.

Ryou (the clone) should’ve never been able to pilot the black lion because he’s just a copy of shiros face not him. Making Keith stay within the team and allura going to red (because I really don’t know how they thought allura in blue was a good idea, love her but what?)

(I want Keith to stay with the team and not go to the blades as I would prefer the paladins sticking together)

(Also because the plot line for the altean colony is ridiculous)

I would’ve loved to see ryou find out he’s a clone along with the paladins and not just kill him off. I think it would’ve also brought some realization into Keith about shiro and such.

The way I think of the paladins and their relationship to the lions is that the lions physically created the paladins.

The reason why it took 10,000 years is because earth doesn’t have quintestance, so the lions had to basically build their paladins from the ground up by creating generations of humans with it.

Because earth doesn’t have it, it takes a long time until there’s finally enough for the paladins now!

Which is why I don’t think Keith should continue to be the black paladin. Because he belongs with red just as Lance in blue, pidge in green, hunk in yellow, and shiro in black.

and because Shiro never gets to go back to being the black paladin his character gets reduced to cardboard.

which is the reasoning for my initial comments that I couldn’t describe clearly.

I didn’t mean to come off as a black paladin Lance supporter or that Lance was the best option. Because he isn’t.

There are things with lances character that I feel as though could’ve been worked so much better. (I saw a previous post of yours discuss lances having altean markings and your so correct, honestly they feel like fan service since the fandom goes nuts with altean Lance and honestly I can’t understand why)

I’m far more a shiro fan. In all honesty he has done a lot for me. I don’t like that he was just meant to be thrown away.

I mean the writers created an entirely new character for crying out loud!! Shiro didn’t exist in the other versions. Technically he is sven but sven was always the blue paladin.

Shiro has obvious PTSD and has a genetic disease that needs his arm forcefully removed from him. He fights so hard for his lion and his teammates.

My feelings on Keith are in fact very biased but it feels like a lot of Keith’s character completely erases all of shiros.

With ryou and the paladins finding out that shiro is in the black lion i would’ve loved to see them search desperately to find where the clones were made to see if they could bring Shiro back.

My thoughts are a little all over the place I apologize for that.

Hello again!

This is a bit awkward because I basically agree with almost everything here so there's not much for me to dissect haha.

If anyone's been reading my past, PAST, posts, you'll have probably seen my post as to why Lance never should have went to Red, and why it should have been Allura. I can understand why Allura is Blue and Lance is Red in the ORIGINAL series, but this is a rewrite where the characters are basically completely different.

Which also means that, no, I will not be using the original series to back-up my belief that Keith is a great Black Paladin.

Like I said, I basically agree with everything you wrote, except that I didn't personally care for Ryou. I felt sorry for him and was kinda shocked when they just used his body for Shiro's soul, but I didn't care about him.

I do think it would have been interesting to see Ryou be a little stinker and try to manipulate everyone, due to him being a sleeper agent. Like, in canon, when Ryou apologised to Keith, he says "I'm sorry I had to step in there" instead of "for stepping in there". He's still putting the blame on Keith. He says sorry without truly saying it, if you get what I mean.

Then, one day, he goes a little too far. Like, I dunno, he calls Lance useless or Hunk cowardly or something, and Keith immediately goes: wait. That's not right. Suddenly, Keith's a lot less willing to take Ryou's 'advice' to heart and things pile up until he realises Ryou is a clone.

I think that kind of story line is much more interesting that what we got. Of course, if you care about Ryou and are horrified at his death, there are others ways. Ryou slowly learning he's a clone and hating himself until the paladins make him realise that it's not his fault and he can choose to be his own person. Heck, he kind of already is.

Of course, another option is just to not kill Shiro off? Like, put him in a coma or reveal that Haggar yoinked him from Black with quintessence magic and he's been captive this whole time. Keith would still have to pilot Black but, because Shiro isn't a clone, when he gets back Black opens up immediately.

The thing is, Shiro and Keith's style of leadership is different. Very different, meaning that they're suited to lead different kinds of things, with varying efficiency. What I think would have been cool to see is them changing the roster (Shiro leads, Keith in Red/Keith leads, Allura in red) depending on the mission. Which can mean that, if you decide to keep season eight for some reason, Shiro or Keith can lead them into the final battle. Shiro leading them might make more sense.

I've heard a lot of people say that Shiro is boring and it's like– why do you think that? I kind of wanted to see more of his character arc, wanted to see Keith, Coran and Allura take care of him when he's too high strung. I wanted to see him be there, actually there, when Pidge saves Matt. I wanted to see him accept that he may have been hurt, but he is not broken.

I think that those people who think Shiro is boring just weren't watching the same show, or only remeber him from season 7-8 where he does basically nothing. Season 1-2 Shiro are great. He feels so human, scared of the world but pushing himself through for the sake of others and to not seem weak. He makes bad gun noises, immediately denies Coran trying to feed him like a baby with "no. Just– no.", displays some dark humour when he's alone with Keith and bleeding out. He's terrified of being seen as broken, because that's exactly what he thinks of himself.

So. Yeah.

Either make Ryou more interesting or don't kill Shiro off. It would still let Keith become his own Black Paladin, and it would let the group change members depending on the situation, which would make it less jarring if Allura was the one to pilot the Atlus, as was originally planned.

I can understand why you believe Keith's character erases Shiro's. Because, in all honesty, it kind of does. Of course, that is mostly DreamWorks' fault because they just can't give Shiro any sort of happiness? Like, Keith has also been hurt over and over again, but at least Keith has his mother.

Shiro was supposed to gain the ability to teleport. HE WAS REPLACED BY KOSMO - HE WAS REPLACED BY A DOG. Shiro didn't even get to end Sendak! Even if I adore Keith, I was so baffled when Keith made the finish blow, because that was Shiro's fight! Shiro has nobody to go home to, only returning to find that his ex-fiancé is dead, and it's just– I know that gay characters tend to suffer the most, but come on DreamWorks! Give him SOMETHING!

From my perspective, I've always noticed the difference between Keith and Shiro's leadership styles, and just in general. But DreamWorks is so allergic to giving any of them anything, so they wrote in the Broganes bond, tore it apart, then played a darts game to decide their traits after Shiro's death. It makes it especially worse when they decide to make Keith go through development off-screen, so he comes back when he's become more mature like Shiro, but it gets no explanation so it feels like he was just given more of Shiro's traits.

Alas, we get no explanation, so it is jarring. Which is another reason why making Ryou unable to pilot Black, or Shiro still being alive, would have been much better. Keith had a point about leaving, but Shiro, the real Shiro, never would have let him leave, and Keith wouldn't leave if Ryou couldn't pilot Black.

I would still make it so that Keith stayed with BoM just for the sake of meeting Krolia, but nothing else much.

So. Yeah.

I do agree with basically all of this, only I wouldn't have Keith be just a sub for Black. I think he and Shiro should have used it interchangeably, or at least provide an explanation for why the real Shiro, the one who bonded with Black the most, couldn't pilot her.

AND SCREW KOSMO– GIVE SHIRO HE TELEPORTATION BACK! GIVE HIM HIS RELEVANCE BACK!!

(Sorry if there's any mistakes, I just woke up haha)

(Also, Keith's colour scheme fits Black more than Shiro's did, mostly because of the accent colours that Keith had. Other than that, yeah. I agree.)

[omgsquee2001]

We Are Connected: Chapter 2: An Unwelcome Arrival

As they got closer and closer to the planet, Shiro started to have second thoughts. Coran's words rang in his head. He turned to Allura, worry on his features.

"Allura, are we sure this is a good idea? Like Coran said, it has been ten thousand years. Aengtew and Seäumni might not even be there anymore." He said. He was trying to tell her in a polite way that the two might not even be alive anymore. Allura looked at the leader of Voltron.

"I understand your worry, Shiro. However, you must believe me. I stayed on Pandora for at least two decafeebs. I know the Na'Vi very well." Allura said. "They are a relatively peaceful people." She said. Lance frowned.

"Yeah, well, last time Coran said something was 'peaceful', Hunk and I got shot at by Galran fighters while trying to get the yellow Lion. You Alteans have a very different definition of what 'peaceful' actually means." He said. Hunk nodded.

"Yeah, what Lance said. So, the question is, are they going to kill us right as soon as we land, or are they going to sacrifice us?" Hunk asked, listing off the two worse case scenarios. Allura sighed and smiled.

"I understand your hesitance, but you must trust me. They will not cause us any harm," she said. Allura stopped the Castle just before entering the atmosphere of the planet. "Now, we will not go down in the Lions. We will go down in pods. The pods are smaller than the lions and I do not want to upset the balance of the planet." She said. Keith and Shiro shared an unsure look.

~~~~

You sat in a field of grass, your hands lay flat on the surface. The area surrounding your hand glowed a gentle white. Your eyes were closed, concentrating. Suddenly, you heard a voice in your head.

*'Ma 'ite, oel ngati kameie.' The voice sounded. The voice was young, but still deep, filled with much wisdom and experience. A smile graced your face, hearing the voice of Eywa.

*'Awvea, oel ngati kameie.' You responded. Your ears twitched lightly, making sure to pay attention to your surroundings whilst communicating with the Great Mother.

'How fair my people? How is Home Tree?' Eywa asked.

'Your people flourish happily. Akou and Tamìun lead the People in peace and strength.' You responded. Suddenly, you felt a change in the wind. Your smile fell and your ears twitched.

'Something is coming, Ma 'ite. When it arrives, do not fear. For they are familiar faces.' Eywa advised.

'I carry your wisdom, Awvea. Farewell.' You responded.

'Farewell, Ma 'ite.' Eywa responded. With that, you opened your eyes and sighed. You lifted your hands from the grass. The Seeds of the Great Tree floated down and around you. With a soft smile, you lifted your hands, allowing one of the seeds to float just above your palms, tickling your hands lightly. Your ears twitched as your heard the familiar war cries of your People. Lifting your hands, the seed floated away in the air, returning to the Tree. Giving an almost bird like call, you waited for your Ikran.

~~~~

*Ma 'ite, oel ngati kameie = Daughter, I See You

*Awvea, oel ngati kameie = Great Mother, I See You

~~~~~

As the pods floated down towards the surface of Pandora, the paladins looked around in wonder at what they saw around them. The differences in color were astounding. Lance's eyes widened, seeing, what looked like a monkey with blue-green skin and four arms.

"Woah! Is that a monkey with four arms?!" He shouted. Allura smiled looking at it.

"That's a prolemuris, Syaksyuk in Na'Vi." She explained. As they got closer to the ground, arrows started flying up at them. Shiro frowned and looked around.

"What's going on?" He asked. Pidge ran over to the glass and looked down.

"Uh, Allura, I think you got the definition of 'peaceful' wrong again." Pidge said in an unsure tone. Allura smiled.

"Let me handle this," she said. The pod door opened and Allura stepped out, her arms out to the side, hands out, showing that she meant no harm. "Greetings, Na'Vi, children of Eywa. I am Allura, daughter of King Alfor, Princess of Altea. I come in peace. I wish to see Aengtew and Seäumni." She said. However, she was met with more arrows pointing at her, the angry hisses and yelps of the Na'Vi did not cease. Just as an arrow was about to let loose, there was a familiar voice.

*"Kehe!" A voice sounded. An Ikran, with a Na'Vi riding, flew down to the ground. The Na'Vi dismounted and turned to the rest, bowing down and moving their arms forward. *"Mawey, Na'viya! Mawey!" The Na'Vi called. The rest seemed to follow their command, lowering their weapons, still on guard.

*"'upe lu po?" One or the warriors asked. The Na'Vi turned to the warrior.

*"Mawey, Leaypaw," they turned towards Allura and the Paladins, a protective look in their yellow eyes. *"Fìketuwongti oel stìyeftxaw." They said. Feeling tense, Keith reached for his bayard, however, he was stopped by Shiro. Shiro looked at his friend and shook his head. The Na'Vi slowly walked around the Princess, eyeing her up and down. They soon stopped in front of her, then, their yellow eyes widened in realization. "It cannot be," they whispered. *"Allura te Altea, Alfor'ite?"

*Kehe = No

*Mawey, Na'viya! Mawey! = Calm, People! Calm!

*'upe lu po? = What are they?

*Mawey, Leaypaw = Calm, Leaypaw

*Fìketuwongti oel stìyeftxaw = I will look at this alien.

*Allura te Altea, Alfor'ite? = Allura of the Altea, daughter of Alfor?

~~~~

//Here's chapter 2. I hope you all like it.//

[jessilynallendilla]

Home Post

GALRA KEITH 

Galra Human Guinea Pig  G 2,986 SERIES 

Keith is a bit anxious after learning he's part Galra. Kolivan is surprised by what he learns about the Red Paladin. 

Culture Shock  T 5,142 SERIES 

Keith has never known life on Earth. His knowledge of humans comes from the limited experiences he had with his father before his untimely demise. However, his first encounter with a human throws him into a role he's unprepared for, and he has to learn what it means to be human. 

No Matter What, We'll Be Together  G 5,758  

Voltron was incomplete from the beginning, when the four left Earth. They made do with Coran helping them out but it wasn't enough. They meet Keith, a half-Human half-Galra member of the Blade of Marmora with whom they're trying to make an alliance and Lance figures out that he's the red paladin. They bring him in the team to take down Zarkon. 

Rescued  T 2,275 

 After falling through the destabilized wormhole, Lance is taken prisoner by the Galra. When he is rescued, it's not by who he thinks... Or Lance finds out the hard way that Keith is part alien. 

Home And A Half  T  

They make a mistake that follows them home. Or: Keith becomes an unwitting caretaker to three Galra children, who teach him a great deal about how to take care of himself. 

Freeing The Black Paladin  M 

Keith had been born a part of Zarkon’s Empire and as a young Galra he had fulfilled his duty to become a soldier of the Empire. An honour he’d been told, but his human blood had exposed him to the darker side of the Zarkon’s rule. No one left the Empire, but with the help of the Champion he had escaped. Now Keith was determined to repay the favour and free his saviour. He’d use anyone to do it, even the new Paladins of Voltron. 

Together We Fall  T 

Actually, Keith realized about three steps in, he wasn’t ready to face his future husband at all. He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to speak to Prince Lance and he wasn’t sure that he ever would be. Twelve years of bloody, devastating conflict had ended merely weeks ago. If that didn’t spell out disaster for a marriage than Keith had no idea what would. After twelve years of bloody conflict between the Galra and Altea finally come to an end. As Queen Allura desperately grapples with the Regent Prince Lotor for a treaty that will not humiliate her people, the younger Galra Prince, Keith, winds up getting far more than he bargained for in the negotiations. Meanwhile, a trap is being set that threatens to bring failure to the peace talks and reignite the flames of war. 

Red Lion Of Fate  T  

In another universe where Keith was never able to make it to Earth, born in the Galra empire through a shady past involving the Blade of Marmora. Now named as Prince Sincline raised under the life of royalty is now met with a chance of fate. Freeing the Champion and soon being offered the opportunity to join the Paladins of Voltron. Sincline now finds himself attached to Shiro by the strings of fate. 

Sword And Shield  EX 151,054  

In which Keith is a half Galra soldier and Shiro is the Galra prisoner. And they fall in love. However, things are never that easy, are they? 

To See Blue Skies  T 

He scoffed as he watched the fight below, the crowds going wild at the two fighters in the arena. They had such poor taste for entertainment these days. 

He heard a small sound of amusement from the one sitting next to his standing form, ever vigilant. 

"As if you were any better your first time in the arena." They murmured under their breath, a small smile sneaking onto their face, pupiless gold eyes focused on the fight below, but their attention solely on the person standing guard next to him. 

"I must have have been somewhat impressive to catch the eyes of a certain prince now wasn't I?" 

The prince snuck a glance towards the taller, whose face was hidden behind the helmet they wore. 

"You caught a lot more than just my eye that's for sure." 

Looking Back  G 3,150 SERIES 

The dagger goes clean through his chest, just a couple of centimeters shy from his heart and a scar remain to remind him of the time he very nearly died. He never regret it though, every time he took off his shirt he look at it with pride. Keith hated it. 

To Be With You  G 1,730 

 His eyes are squeezed tight in protest, and what little hair he has is matted and wet against his skull as she stares at his teethless red gums. His rounded ears. His pale skin. Her son is far much smaller than an average Galra infant would be, much so that most healers would have considered him as premature. 

Alien Alien        G 1,169 SERIES  

First contact is something to be proud of when you are the first... Not unless somebody else crashes it 

When Galra Genes Hit They Hit Hard   M 

Keith has been going through some rough changes after activating his blade certain Galra features and instincts are shining through, and Lance find himself being Keith's wall. However when weird things start appearing in front of Lance doors Lance can't help, but wonder what's going on and if it had anything to do with Keith's new behavior. 

Stars Shine Only In The Sky   EX 212,718  

Imprisoned and doomed to be sent to the Galran slave planet Dema, Keith sees an opportunity to change the outcome of a few poor life choices. In the back streets there's nothing better than a win-win. A potential set of one-shots involving Galra Keith and Altean Lance. 

Down The River Styx  T 37,658 SERIES 

After decafeebs of working at Central Command and drifting through space, Keith stumbles upon a new Galra outpost with a very specific type of entertainment. Judging he’s far away from his haunting past, Keith starts a personal mission. It’s knowledge or death on a specific Champion. 

Perihelion   T  

After growing up in the shadow of war, Prince Lance of Altea would give almost anything to bring peace back to his people. So when a Galran ambassador arrives with an offer to make that a reality, Lance knows he can't refuse. Even if it means binding himself to his enemy's prince for as long as they both shall live. 

Reasons To Keep Going  T 7,307 

Lance and Shiro are escaped laborers-turned-bounty hunters trying to earn safe passage back home. Things take an interesting turn when they acquire a particularly lucrative bounty: the Galra crown prince. 

An Angry Blade   EX 

Keithikoz is quite content in his role as a fighter pilot - a role no one expected an orphaned runt to get, and Keithikoz has long counted his blessings and doesn't expect more from his life. But when his fleet's commander Shirogane - the mysterious alien who rose from gladiator slave to one of Zarkon's handpicked commanders - takes notice of Keithikoz, his dreams of a quiet career and a quieter life go up in smoke. Slowly, he is dragged into Shirogane's enigmatic web as Keithikoz realizes that Shirogane's plans and that of the Empire may not be as aligned as they first seem. 

Ad Astra  T 31,965 

Keith was a half Human-Galra who grew up aboard the Exploration Vessel Marmora. When a suspicious half-Galra woman hired the crew to retrieve a shuttle, Keith had no clue that it would change his life and the fate of the entire Known Universe. 

We're Giants In A Little Man's World   M 

Shiro and the rest of the currents Paladins lose some time, thanks to the distortion of a black hole. When they re-emerge, they find a Blade of Marmora Keith...not quite the same. 

I Was Born A Lion  G COMIC 

After Keith discovers he is part Galra and Red lion rejects him, there's only one way he can make himself useful: to join Galra and try to wreck them from the inside, while figuring out a relationship with a guy who turns out to be his biological father. 

Small Glimpse   G 5,862 SERIES 

“Kill the child; it’s the right thing to do.” 

Keith wonders for a second if his lion has suddenly appeared in front of him because his vision turns red at the Emperor’s words and the next thing he knows he’s being held back by both Shiro and Hunk, trashing wildly, snarling as he tries to get his claws around the alien’s throat in front of him. 

Denature   T  

Ever since Voltron’s last battle with Zarkon, Keith had felt that something about himself was…off. Now he could definitely confirm it, tracing the dark blotches of purple stretching across his bare chest. 

His Mother's Son  G 1,470 

Why did Kolivan send Keith? 

DADS OF MAMORA 

Dads Of Marmora  G 964 SERIES 

Keith is found passed out on the training deck. Lance attempts to take the overworked Paladin back to his room, but the Blades step in and adopt Keith. 

Deep Blue  G 858 SERIES 

Galra dads take their son to the aquarium. 

Lion Hearted  EX SERIES 

Is that... a child?"  "Have you ever seen one so small? Perhaps it is some strange exotic pet."  "I think I know a child when I see one, Thace." 

Five Times: Keith And The Dads Of Marmora  T 4,816 SERIES 

Bonus, one time it literally saved his life and he really didn't have a choice but to roll with it. So actually, this is a 'seven times' fic, but that doesn't quite have the same ring to it. 

Packs And Dens And Mother Hens  G 7,239 SERIES 

Basically after they've secured an alliance with the BoM, Keith starts talking to them sometimes, and one time he mentions his age. Turns out Galra live a lot longer than humans and Keith, by their standards and since he's part Galra, is a child. 

Son Of Marmora  G 606 

Four times Keith didn't need a hug from his adoptive fathers, but got one anyway. 

The Babe Of Marmora  G 

A group of rebel Galra trying to raise a young Keith. What could possibly go wrong? 

Reflex  G 1,091 SERIES 

Kolivan assumed that the Paladins of Voltron were adults, or at least near the age of human maturity. Keith's mixed heratige, however, may change his view. Through a simple gesture, more about Keith's galra side is revealed to Kolivan, Thace, Antok, and Ulaz. 

Identity  G 1,034 SERIES 

Cubs weren't supposed to be up in the middle of the night, but Kolivan does his best to be patient with the ones that are. 

Knowledge Or Death  T 2.666 

It’s usually the eyes. More than the eyes themselves, it’s the fire inside them. The spark of determination and promise of doing the unthinkable. It’s a fire he hasn’t seen in a long time. Keith rolls, something he seems to taken a like to everytime he enters a pod, before he slams his back against the far corner of the pod, choking up at the impact. And it’s the same fire that gets the kit in trouble  

It Takes A Village  T 18,012 SERIES 

One decision by an injured soldier changes not only the fate of the universe, but the fate of her young son. 

Little Red One  G 4,176 SERIES 

A compilation of Dads of Marmora ficlets I wrote for Keithtober over on Tumblr. 

Collision Course  G 5,342 

Keith gets adopted by the Galra empire rebellion, basically. 

New Addition  G 602 SERIES 

Thace has never interacted with a kit before. That makes it all the more jarring to see his leader's doting over the tiny thing. 

Of Blades And Lions T 

On a mission something the Paladins never expected happened. They meet and make an unlikely relationship. How will this newcomer affect their views of the enemy? 

The Sun Has Fallen, The Day Is Dark  NR 34,656 SERIES 

Keith had leaped into Kolivan's heart without the Blade leader noticing, had wrapped his pack around his tiny half-human finger so effortlessly, had brought grown Galrans to their knees in grief as he lied in a pool of red. His kit never did know how much power he held over them. Now, he never would. 

Made Of Star-Stuff  T 26,179 SERIES 

The headquarters of the Blade of Marmora was not just a military base; it was also a home to refugees. Aliens of all sorts from planets the Empire had destroyed or were occupying lived there. Secured between the pulling forces of two black holes, protected by the solar flares of a blue supergiant star, the small rocky moon was the safest place to hide from Zarkon’s destructive fleet. Despite this diversity, Keith the half-Galra from Earth always knew that he was different. 

Fresh Baby Galra Smell  NR 3,011 

When the paladins get Captured Something is revieled to the team that is unice to Galra anatamy. And how do the Galra react when they learn that one of the paladins is so young? 

Separation Anxiety  G 2,733 SERIES 

First rule: never get between a Galra and their pups. 

Home Is Where The Heart Is  G 5,722 SERIES 

Lotor didn't know where his caretakers had gone, nor did he know why they hadn't tried to find him. All he knew was that he was alone on this ship, hiding in the shadows of crates as the emergency lights blink on and off. And then, he gets found by someone who is very surprised to find a cub hiding away in a storage closet. 

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

Let's Rewind! Toast watches Voltron Defender of The Universe (1984)

Season 1, Episode 29: Magnetic Attraction Season 1, Episode 30: The Sleeping Princess

Episode 29: Magnetic Attraction

Defensive training time! The team are doing Karate together I only got to a yellow belt myself because of how expensive lessons were, but it was fun either way

"I flipped Lance easy, and I'm a girl" "I fall for girls" Lance just say you like women who can kill you Once again we see Allura pointing out the fact she's a lady,,, I will never get over the back handedness of those comments

Oh my bad it's Judo! I've never done that one before

Great, nanny and Coran are here to tell Allura she's being improper again, and he thinks it's a good idea to guilt-trip her with her dead dad dude when will you learn that you can't stop her, she's literally doing worse by being a solider, protecting herself is the least she should know since even her guards can't handle when Lotor is after her

More misogyny from the team, the show really do be a product of its time 💀

The one good thing Coran does is warn other people to get to safety, but then proceeds to say "it's nothing, definitely not weird that a freaky orange and red cloud is slowly spreading over the sky of Arus when it's noon" if he doesn't die of old age I'm killing him myself

Oh so the cloud is rapidly causing global warming, eco terrorism is horrifying

Why the hell is there a group of people washing themselves in the last remaining water of a boiled away lake? im not sure if dotu will ever answer that but golion will later on

robeast so hot it melts missiles, and the team is immediately going to fly up to it except allura can't launch because blue has no power from the surrounding water which got boiled away oh shit this is actually a good plan on Haggars part

Ooh we get to see a crystal that probably helps power blue lion! Maybe that's where the nexus idea in VF came from!

Alfor ex machina, i can't remember the last time we saw you but it's been a hot minute hasn't it

HOLY SHIT LORE Black gets powered by lightning/electricity, Red gets powered from the heat of lava/magma, Yellow is also magma but more earth dependent, Green is powered by wind, and blue obvs is powered by water like i knew all this already but i love the fact i get to listen to it now

Coran finally thinks of protecting Allura against Lotor and attacks through castle defenses,, except not that it works because Lotor just attacks Allura who is still stuck in her lion as long as she stays inside I assume she's safe but man she's not having a good day

Lance is a smart cookie! He plans to make a path with their own magnetic laser in order to get up to the robeast Now only if he made more plans like that, the fights would be easier me thinks

Lotor doesn't want to hurt Allura, yet actively sends missiles at blue lion while she can't move I hope your dad beats you ong

wait did the team not know that they needed water to launch blue? ok that makes sense actually since they don't know anything about the lions and their mystic nature kind of late in the episode to realize that though

GIRL WHY ARE YOU OPENING THE HATCH FOR THE MECHANICS OF BLUE TO LET WATER RUSH IN, I DON'T THINK THAT'S HOW IT WORKS BUT OK Blue lion is back anyway so I guess it worked

Voltron formed, robeast defeated, and global warming cloud dispersed, so water can come back, the GIF for this episode is going to be great

DAMN ZARKON TRASHING HIS SON FOR THINKING FOR HIS DICK AGAIN

"My beloved nincompoop" LMAOO

/episode end

Episode 30: The Sleeping Princess

Lotor has a nightmare about a woman he says is Allura but very obviously isn't, especially when she does fade into Allura's design, probably his mother This man really obsessed with Allura

PRINCESS CORRAL MY BELOVED, LOTOR IS A SLUT FOR TURNING HER DOWN SHE'S SO CUTE

"Stop whining, you have no feelings" -Zarkon get his ass

Lotor stop making batshit excuses for not marrying her, you'll be unhappy either way good god

At least Zarkon knows that he'll fail his mission against Arus, if he just held on a little longer lotor wouldn't be a problem but nope

Look at her, she's such a sweetie! She's even helping Lotor try to marry Allura, a mistake, but she's got her heart in the right place

"I want Allura to come willingly, [but] she lives in terror of my father" Lotor she's afraid of YOU, this is man is all kinds of delusional

Another flashback of the Not Allura woman, still think it's his mom, and she's definitely Arusian which is probably why Lotor has so much obsession for Allura

Flower picking time! Gotta give the pretty princess some pretty flowers to match! The boys are so wholesome

Ah, shit the cat fucked over a blue lion pilot again, what is with that cat against the color blue, now Allura is presumed dead and everyone is freaking out about it

Of course Keith pieces it together that she can't be dead as long as Lotor is still after her, which yeah makes sense but c'mon any other guy see through it please

Hunk makes a plan! Fake funeral for the princess to lure Lotor and Haggar out I'd love it if the team got more scenes like this, everyone is smart enough to contribute somehow

Oh shit Orla attended her funeral! That's nice to see

Keith you're such a simp for Allura, yes, yes we get it Allura is a girlboss and is an amazing leader

What a sweet idea, people throw flowers into Allura's casket and almost filled it to the brim maybe it's tradition for every Arusian, that'd be cool

Lotor hijacks the carriage Allura's casket is being transported in, sucks for him though BECAUSE PIDGE MANAGED TO HITCH A RIDE GET HIS ASS PIDGE

Rip Pidge gets used as a hostage EXCEPT ITS PIDGE VS HAGGAR AGAIN BECAUSE HE HAS A GRENADE ON HIM Oh god this kid is about to sacrifice himself if it means making sure Allura is safe and taking down one of the baddies, where's that post about dotu Pidge being suicidal

"I oughta feed you this" (proceeds to run at Lotor and Hagar with a live grenade) "PIDGE FOR PETES’S SAKE DITCH THE GRENADE" - Keith "WANNA SEE WITCHCRAFT?!" oh my god, everything is happening all at once

Grenade explodes, it was knocked out of pidge's hand beforehand, so he dove for Allura to protect her as best he could still so sweet even under all that pressure

Lotor and Haggar run away and Allura's awake, so all's well that ends well I guess Pidge finally gets a real kiss on the cheek from Allura, good for him

LOTOR STOP BULLYING CORRAL, SHE WANTED TO HELP BUT YOU FUCKED UP SO MARRY SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY LOVES YOU YOU FOOL

/episode end

[ravendruid]

Be In My Eyes - Chapter 3

You can read the previous chapters here, or on AO3. I would like to take a second to thank you all for reading my fic. It means a lot to me <3 I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

“What’s the name of the building again?” Vax’ildan asked, adjusting the straps of the heavy backpack on his shoulders. 

“Greyskull Keep. It says on the map that it should be, er – ” Vex’ahlia said as she looked around. “Over there, the gray building!” She pointed at a modern-looking tall gray building with lots of big windows. “It seems like we are on the seventh floor, apartment 7B."

Vax nodded and sped up toward the building. He had been carrying his heavy backpack for too long and needed to give his back a break. Vex followed him with a big, black shaggy-haired dog trotting by her side on a leash.

It was a bright sunny afternoon, the summer heat still blazing in the air, and the twins had just crossed half a city on foot, both carrying their heavy backpacks. At first glance, one would think of them as just a pair of students walking through campus. No one would suspect that they had all their lives’ possessions inside those backpacks. 

It didn’t take them long to find the entrance to the building, nor did it take them long to be stopped by a security guard.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t allow dogs." He said, pointing at the black dog.

“But I was told I could bring him," Vex’ahlia answered as she took her backpack off her shoulders and crouched on the floor, looking inside it for something. “I have a letter." Vex found the paper and handed it to the security guard with a smirk. His eyes moved from side to side, and his frown gave way to a smile.

“I stand corrected. Welcome to Greyskull Keep." He said, moving to the side to allow them in.

Once inside, the twins sighed in relief as the cold air hit their skins. Air conditioning was a luxury they weren’t accustomed to, so they would enjoy any chance they got. They crossed the large foyer toward the makeshift reception area, where a girl with a long blond braid greeted them with a smile.

“Hi, welcome in! My name is Allura."

“Oh, hi! I’m Vex’ahlia, this is my brother, Vax’ildan, and Trinket." Vex introduced them with a smile. Allura nodded in acknowledgment and quickly leafed through a few papers. 

“Ah-ha! Apartment 7B! It looks like one of your roommates has already moved in this morning. Here are the keys. Welcome to Greyskull Keep! If you need anything, you can find me in apartment 10A." She smiled as she handed them their keys.

The twins thanked her and followed the signs toward the elevators on one side of the building. Almost there. Vax adjusted the backpack again as he felt a pang on his lower back. 

***

Keyleth was finishing putting away the last of her clothes in the three-door wardrobe. Although she had picked what she assumed was the biggest room in the three-bedroom apartment, the room itself felt a bit cramped with three beds, instead of two like the other rooms, and only one desk to share. The two positive things about this room were that it had a private bathroom and floor-to-ceiling windows that let in tons of light, which would be great for her plants. 

As she moved about the room, she started mentally taking notes of things she wanted to get to make the place cozier, like a plush rug by her bed – she had claimed the one closest to the window, of course – plants, lots of plants, some fairy lights, a few photos from home that she had taken… yes. Keyleth would make this her home away from home.

Keyleth heard the apartment door open, and she promptly left the room, thinking it was her father returning with the food he had gone to pick up. She was instead met with a pair of very similar-looking people and a big shaggy dog, whose tail thumped against the open door. 

“Oh! Hello!” The girl greeted. Her brown hair was tied in a pretty braid that fell to the front of her shoulder, with a couple of blue feathers placed behind her ear, and she had pretty brown eyes and a charming smile. She was wearing a pair of jeans, which Keyleth thought was weird, considering how hot it was outside, and a blue t-shirt with a white dragon’s head on the chest. She was also the one holding the dark blue leash that was tethered to the dog.

“H– Hi." Keyleth greeted with a small wave. She could already feel the heat of a blush flaring on her cheeks.

“I’m Vex’ahlia, but you can call me Vex. This is Trinket." she gestured toward the dog, “and this is my brother, Vax’ildan."

The guy, Vax’ildan, looked exactly like his sister, except for a change in his facial features and the fact that he was a few inches taller. His hair was also long, but instead of being tied in a braid, he had it up in a bun, with a few strands falling down his face. He had a mysterious aura about him that Keyleth couldn’t pinpoint. Maybe it was the slightly smudged eyeliner, the black nail polish, or the tattoos on the inside of his arms. Or maybe it was the fact that he was wearing all black and a leather jacket, which on such a hot day like today was a grave mistake. 

“You can call me Vax." Keyleth’s cheeks flushed red as the smoky timbre of his voice reached her, sending a million tiny electric shocks down her spine. Oh, he’s handsome.

“H– Hi. I’m Key–." Keyleth choked. Suddenly, any semblance of thought was completely erased from her brain as Vax’s piercing gaze and smirk focused on her.

“Keyleth!” Korrin stood behind the twins – they had to be twins, right? It only made sense, since they looked so much alike – with two brown paper bags in his hands. 

“Dad!” Keyleth’s voice was a tad louder than she intended it to be.

“Oh, hi! I’m Keyleth’s father, Korrin." The man introduced himself, balancing the two bags in one hand and extending the other toward the twins.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Vex’ahlia, and this is my brother, Vax’ildan." Vex took his hand and shook it with a smile. 

“Ah, you must be Keyleth’s roommates, then." Vax took Korrin’s hand after his sister. Korrin lingered on the handshake, carefully examining Vax. There was something about him that Korrin couldn’t describe, something dangerous, mysterious, maybe? Whatever it was, the way his daughter looked at him caused alarm bells to ring in his mind. 

“Please, come inside and set your things down. Those bags look extremely heavy." Korrin said, gesturing toward the spacious living room. 

“Oh. Right. Since I was the first to arrive, I picked the biggest bedroom." Keyleth guided Vex through the open floor common area to the hallway leading to the bedrooms. “Uh. Allura? I think that was her name…”

“Blonde hair in a braid?” Vex asked. Keyleth nodded in response. “Yeah, we met her too."

“Well, she told me we were assigned three girls to the apartment, so I picked the room with three beds for us girls," Keyleth explained, stopping in front of the open door to the bedroom in question.

“I see," Vex said, entering the room. It looked too cramped for her liking, especially since it would be the three of them, plus Trinket, but she couldn’t complain much. Vex set her backpack on the floor by the bed closest to the bathroom, and sat on the bed, testing the firmness of the mattress. It wasn’t too bad, not too firm, but not too soft. It would do.

“I’ll leave you alone to unpack," Keyleth said with a smile. She moved to leave the room but turned back as if she had forgotten something. She cautiously approached Trinket and gave him her hand to sniff, which he did, his tail thumping against the furniture. Seemingly happy with his reaction, Keyleth dug her fingers into the fur on top of his head. “Nice to meet you too, Trinket." she cooed. “I’ll be in the living room if you need anything," Keyleth said before she left, closing the bedroom door behind her.

***

Vax stood in the doorway and watched the girls disappear around the corner. He looked around the common area, examining the apartment. The main entrance opened to the living room, where the back of a dark gray three-seat couch created a sort of division between the entrance and the room proper. Two comfortable-looking gray armchairs sat on each side of the couch, with a black coffee table in the middle, sitting on a light gray rug. In front of it was a black TV stand with a 45” TV, a tall bookshelf, and a standing light in the corner.

“You should go pick a bedroom, Vax’ildan," Korrin said kindly, reminding Vax that he was still blocking his path.

“Right." Vax nodded before he walked through the common area, following in the direction the girls had disappeared. The hallway had two doors on each side, and Vax could hear the low murmur of voices coming from the farthest room on the right, so, assuming that was the bedroom his sister would be staying in, Vax opened the door right next to it, finding another bedroom.

The room was pretty small and looked cramped. Two beds sat against the opposite wall, with a floor-to-ceiling window in between them, and each had a desk at its foot. On the wall next to the door were two decent-sized wardrobes, not too big, but not too small either, perfect for people who had enough clothes to fill them, which wasn’t Vax’s case.

Vax quickly set out to unpack his bag and put what little articles of clothing he had in the wardrobe furthest from the door, then stored the bag on top of it. He placed a few trinkets on the desk closest to that wardrobe, a picture frame of him, his sister and Trinket, his old laptop bag, and a few school supplies he had gotten ahead of time. Lastly, he placed his phone charger in the drawer of the nightstand near the bed he had chosen, and sat down, testing the firmness of the mattress. He had slept in worse places, so he couldn’t complain about the firmness. He was glad to be at least warm and to have a roof over his head. It was with this thought that he let himself fall onto the mattress and close his eyes.

[kallurances]

s1e1 the rise of voltron (pt 2) liveblog

cont. from my pt 1 post!

aww shiro thinking that altea must have been an incredible place

this moment btwn allura and coran was so sweet :( i rlly did love their relationship and im glad they gave allura a little time to grieve, bc i rmbr they rlly never gave her the space to do so afterwards even though she was continually losing so much . . . gah

allura and the mice awww

im sorry this 'rivalry' btwn keith and lance is too funny like pls

allura is connected to the lions' life forces! how though? maybe this gets explained in s8 idk

but it is a cute idea that alfor was building this giant mecha cat warrior and he was like ‘my daughter absolutely needs to be in on this’ LOL

coran calling pidge primitive LOL

the lions choose their pilot; it is 'a mystical bond that can't be forced' LOL @ s3

god the og lineup was too good im trying to savor it while it lasts

goes crazy over the fact that we literally never found out abt the blue paladin's qualities. but yes i agree, the blue paladins are def the best looking and coolest of the bunch ^_^

lance being 'skeptic' over keith being assigned the red lion oooh foreshadowing?

only allura can open wormholes . . . again im left wondering what are the scope of allura’s abilities. is this bc she’s altean or bc she’s allura? or is this bc this is her ship, and other alteans can open wormholes on their own ship? maybe this gets answered later in the series i don’t rmbr

god she looks so serious my bb :(

sloth creature on green lion planet!!! loved these dudes they're just funky guys

shiro's gallows-esque humor was so funny to me, “i've been locked up by aliens for over a year, this is nothing” i love him T-T

the cut to hunk and lance LMAO

cool contrast of hunk overthinking and lance getting right to the point! hunk def has a lot of anxieties which give him a lot of hesitance, lance is v intuitive and usually pretty sure of himself

i love hunk's snark and sarcasm!!! he can be so petty lmao king

oh man yellow has lion carvings next to him too, who put them there? the blue lion had some too, are we supposed to infer that local natives did it (in the same sense how we found out later the arusians think of voltron as a divine being and they had carvings of the ‘lion goddess’ around the castle)?

“oooh pretty” hunk u r adorable

yes blue!!!

lance being distressed over hunk!!! my boys ahhh you can tell they def were pretty close before the whole team came together

pidge also overthinking lol but shiro being a reassuring presence . . . is this supposed to be a contrast to the earlier hunk and lance scene?

awww he used her dad's advice to calm her down, pidge’s soft smile T-T

“go. be great.” I LOVE U SM SHIRO the way this scene always used to make me so emotional pls . . . pidge's yelps of joy T-T literally crying real tears.

shiro and pidge were my first favs when i initially watched this show and im pretty sure this was the scene that hooked me onto them? ahh i really love them and the dynamic they built up over the course of s1 T-T *tries not to think abt later seasons*

lance bracing to get hit by the galra - smth similar happens in s7 i rmbr! was this an intentional parallel?

yay hunk to the rescue!!! oh also sven in s3 and hunk here both jumped in front of fired shots to save lance's life

how many times are they gonna do this hunk throwing up joke it got old after the first two times

pidge and shiro's knowing smiles they’re so cute :( <3

the galra have a hold on the red lion! man i rmbr someone pointing out after s1 it was bc it was probably alfor’s lion that zarkon got a hold of after he killed him and i was like :0 also why does zarkon have the red lion stowed away on a random warship - granted it's one of his best generals, but you think he would keep it somewhere more secure

not another lance pickup line sighing so loud rn

lance calling coran the old guy is so funny cause we all know he ends up sacrificing himself for him like 2x later on this season CTFU

l/h are team running away, k/p are team fighting back . . . the legs are all about stability and making sure they don’t get knocked down and the arms are all about offense and assertiveness . . . god i love how the anatomy of voltron translates into the character’s (initial) positions and characterizations it’s so *chef’s kiss*

and shiro is the perfect balance btwn the opposing parts here, the head who will direct their actions yup yup yup

HERE’S AN OPTION: SHUT YOUR QUIZNAK

I DONT THINK YOU'RE USING THAT WORD CORRECTLY

iconique

god s1 k/l dynamic was so funny i loved these dudes

i love that shiro defers to allura!!! those are her lions! and allura is unsure of what to do - she’s just a teen thrust into this leadership position for this war she never signed up for

the music when allura meets alfor's ai T-T

bb girl is so scared and unsure :( my babyyy

alfor admitting that allura was right and that he made a mistake!!! god i wonder what would have happened if he had listened to her

oh wait that was a s3 episode wasn't it

'you must be willing to sacrifice everything' goddd did they rlly know the series would end in her death this line is so bittersweet i hate u bitches

BOYS ITS TIME TO SUIT UP

god i missed this

the bayards!!! takes a distinct shape for each paladin! this was a rlly good way to add more characterization to them . . . l/h are more long range (perfect for support), while k/p are more offensive weapons (great for getting all up in someone’s face)

also side note, cool how keith gets a sword and a shield, rlly filling in the knight archetype here

shirooo u r my angel <333 i wonder what his bayard form would’ve been after he gained it from zarkon . . . Big Sigh

you have to earn red's respect! where was this energy in s3 lol

lance taking the lead in the absence of the natural leaders!!! cool

shiro having flashbacks T-T i rmbr thinking how great the depiction of shiro’s trauma and PTSD were when i first watched the show, but i think they pretty much dropped it after while . . . Sighs

shiro thinking of the greater good and pidge thinking more selfishly (valid), it’s nice to see shiro deciding to support pidge . . . he will always have his team’s backs

patience yields focus lol

keith being transfixed by the galra symbol 0.o

ohh he’s sensing red like how he sensed blue in the desert!!! did they ever explain how he was able to do that?

who designed the inner workings of this castle that only mice can fix

coran trying to communicate with the mice LOLLLL

frustrated keith lol

shiro is known as the champion!!!! i am so fascinated by his time in galra captivity but they never rlly built off it after s1 . . .

i love how lance loves piloting T-T my boy

KEITH TRYING TO BOND WITH RED LMAOOO

IM BONDING WITH YOU!!!! these moments are big thing to him huh

keith opening the hangar doors so they all get sucked into space SCREAM this bitch is CRAZY

ngl ever since ~s6, i have kinda been a keith hater on the occasions that i recalled vld but . . . i may be growing fonder of him on this rewatch

this shot of red coming for keith is so pretty and awe-inspiring like wow look at the scale of these lions T-T THEY HAD A BOND

GOOD KITTY

shiro's hand activating!!! u r so cool

kitty rose has left the stage! cute

allura pressing her joined hands to her mouth in nervous anticipation at the black lion meeting shiro IM GONNA CRY T-T god she must have been feeling so much pressure and responsibility to do all that she could to bring an end to that evil empire

her sigh of relief when the black lion accepted shiro :(((

the team attempts to form voltron!!!

hunk slamming into red and yelling COMBINE LOL

1 2 3 VOLTRON

THE THING THEY FEEL IS JUST THEM BEING PULLED INTO THE WARSHIP SCREAM

shiro’s speech!!! idc what the showrunners were thinking he was always meant to be the leader of voltron!!!

HUNK IS A LEG!!!

their joy is so pure my kidsss

the split screens as they yell in unison ahhh i missed this

shiro slapping keith on the shoulder lolll they’re brothers <333

allura is so cute <3

they're in the lion formation! i miss this lineup soooo bad crying shaking screaming throwing up rn

shiro likes being a defender of the universe :( and then they took that away from him IM GONNA CHEW ON GLASS

THE EPISODE STARTING AND ENDING WITH SHIRO KILL ME HOW DID THEY EVER THINK HE WOULD BE PERCEIVED AS ANYTHING BUT THE LIKABLE LEAD CHARACTER 

this ending song slaps

overall impresison: this was one of my favs back in the day, and it was easy to recall why! great setup of the characters and dynamics, overall good pacing, some rlly funny moments . . . we were all so happy that day . . . it’s hard to imagine how bad things were abt to become :(

[tempestaurora]

yeah! i thought the same and then also thought that was a shame because everyone else has a lot more to them! but if it was about humour, allura wouldn't have been given the blue lion half way through the show!

season 8's 'knights of light part 1' has the former blue paladin inform allura that what made him - and now her - special was that she had undiscovered greatness within. which means that after all that, lance still doesn't know what trait it was that got him a lion!!

actually i cannot believe it took 8 seasons for voltron to reveal that the blue lion looks for a paladin with undiscovered greatness, with potential. like, we didnt get to find out what the blue lion wanted because lance made a joke in season 1, and i truly believe 60% of his insecurity could've been cured by allura powering through past his joke and saying, the blue lion sees the greatness within, that which others have yet to see. like. imagine a lance who knew he was a paladin not by chance, but because a mystical space robot could see into his soul and know how much greatness was stored there.

[klanced]

i’m working on my voltron rewrite and i’m sweating because do i keep keith as the black paladin as in canon or do i. indulge myself. and finally make allura the black paladin.

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 1

welcome the the first fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

1. Blast Zone by @mareepicurean

In the middle of a mission, a bomb going off leaves Lance unable to hear. Still, while he's deaf, the rest of his team are the ones that won't listen.

This is one of my voltron fics ever. I’ve read it regularly since it came out in 2017, and it was one of the big inspirations of my deaf lance fic. The fic does a really good job of team hurt/comfort and Lance’s insecurities without making the team weirdly evil. An awesome fic that I highly recommend. (Also, there’s some excellent Shiro & Lance!)

2. Perishing Pearls by @ohcontrary

A training session with the team goes awry when Lance has to spar against Allura, who's wielding her new whip. The mere sight of it raises ghosts he'd much rather forget.

This one is also heavy on the angst, although fair warning: it mentions past child abuse, so tread carefully. The fic is handles complicated family dynamics and grief really well. It is a great established klance hurt/comfort fic. 

3. How To Train Your Galra by magisterpavus [EXPLICIT]

“Shiro, I fucked up,” Keith blurted, wringing his hands.

Shiro paused mid-punch, shooting him a quizzical look. “What? What happened?”

“I think,” Keith whispered, “I think I accidentally roofied Lance. With my dick.”

This series is the walking proof that 2016 fics hit different. Should 14 year old me have been reading it? Probably not. It’s hugely NSFW, so definitely proceed with caution, but it’s a banger and has a lot of good banter, team as family, enemies to lovers, exes to lovers, and more. Honestly a lot of fun and a lot of face-palming, just remember to heed the tags.

4. If It Ain’t Broke by @overlymetaromantic

A 5 plus 1: Five times Lance takes a hit for the team, and one time the team takes a hit back.

There’s this specific scene in this fic (it’s a bit of a spoiler) where Lance is getting shit from a worried team, who’s upset about him continually putting himself at risk, someone asks “Even if it means putting yourself at risk?” and Lance doesn’t even hesitate before saying “Yes!” It’s such an easy description of Lance’s character that it makes me emotional every time. 

5. Medic Lance by Fullmetal_Bitch

Multi-chap ft. my headcannon that Lance is the team's unofficial medic. Basically, it's a 5 + 1 of Lance helping the others when they're hurt and them helping him, just with a couple extra chapters. Story is so much better than this summary, I swear.Story is complete but the chapters did get revised so let me know whether you reckon it reads smoother now!

Medic Lance my beloved, truly. I feel like it fits him so well, especially as the Blue Paladin. This also has really good BAMF Lance, and Lance interacting with all the lions! Amazing, longer story. 

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Lotura Week 2023 Day 6 - Wardrobe Updates Welcome

All-Season Armor

“Surely, you jest,” Allura said, a hand on her hip as she giggled. She wore a long ball gown of deep blue and white, her neck glimmering with diamonds. “Is this your only outfit?”

Lotor raised his chin, his face flushed as he straightened his spine. “What is wrong with armor?”

She paced around him, running her finger along the line of his broad shoulders. “Well, my husband, this is armor for war and survival. We have been invited as guests to a great dinner hosted by the Alliance, in which we must still present with power and prestige, but not threateningly so.”

He huffed at her. “I do not intend to duel with any allies.”

“I know, I know.” Allura giggled. “But I’m quite sure I’m the only one who has ever seen you without armor.”

“You suggest I attend naked?”

“Oh, no. Not at all!” She patted his chest, her fingers a soft tap against his armor as she added, voice low, “I do like to keep you to myself.”

“I should hope so,” he said, preening.

“But notwithstanding that, I fear the universe is beginning to question if you know how to wear anything else.”

Lotor did not respond for a time, instead glancing off to the side in the silence. His claws ticked against his armored thigh. “You know how I am.”

Her fingers slipped from his chest to grab onto his hand and squeeze it. “I do know,” she said, voice softening. “I know it’s hard to stop wearing armor after so much war.”

He glanced down at their intertwined hands and squeezed her fingers back, an emotion coming over him. “You are the only one I trust not to attack when I do not wear armor.”

Allura pulled him into an embrace, wrapping her arms around him. He embraced her in return, careful of his claws as he stroked his fingers along the diamonds sparkling in her white curls.  

They fell quiet, the grand flagship warping through space with a deep, merry hum.

“You know,” Allura said, tilting up her chin to rest it on his chest plate. “I learned from Keith the other day that the humans make a weapon-proof cloth, called Kevlar. Perhaps we can travel there before the next dinner and have a royal tunic made for you, but out of material that can bend swords.”

His ears flicked, his pupils widening in interest. “Kev…lar?”

“Yes, dear husband.”

His fingers ticked against the soft silk of her dress. “In that case, my wife, clothe me in this…Kev-lar, and I shall wear whatever fashion you deem appropriate. Preferably, in dark colors.”  

Allura’s face split in a great smile, glowing. She pulled away, reaching for a datapad. “Oh, how exciting,” she squealed. “At last, we can match.”

[slothgiirl]

the medic (keith x reader)

17k. something weird’s going on with keith, like alien weird. as the team medic, you’re concerned.

“So he is avoiding me,” you muse aloud, grabbing one of the pink alien food biscuits that were Hank’s latest experiment. Though it had been hours since Voltron had taken out the Galra Empire’s presence on this Balmera, you’d only just seen the last of your patients. Altean medical equipment did wonders.

After a battle, you were hardly surprised to find Hank in the kitchen, grounding himself as he cooked. You were surprised to run into Keith.

“Yeah,” Hank nods, “Probably trying to avoid another dental exam.”

You flush bright red, “His teeth fell out! Sorry for being concerned.” Between you and Lance, you’d managed to get a look at Keith. A fist fight with some alien species that was cooperating with the Galra had not gone Keith’s way, knocking out two of his teeth.

Shiro, predictably, had waved it off and accepted Keith’s insane explanation that his teeth would grow back on their own without question: given his hand waving of the red paladin’s eyes glowing slightly in the dark, more than any human’s should (human eyes didn’t glow at all!). Hindsight was twenty twenty.

The yellow paladin shrugs as he mixes orange noodle-esque things in a bowl.

Team Voltron was full of strong personalities. Add in Lotor and his friends dropping in, there was always something going on.

Hank just wanted to unwind from spending the past few hours destroying heavy duty mining equipment without hurting the planet. “So how are the biscuits?”

You chew on one, still bothered by Keith. Maybe Hank was right and he was trying to hide something from your keen gaze. You hoped not. Knowing the red paladin, and after two years in space, you certainly did, he’d rather suffer in silence until there was no other option than get medical attention. Back on earth with needles and scalpels, you understood, but in the Castle of Lions…

“Kind of like a rice cracker,” you tell Hank helpfully. “In a good got snacks at H-Mart way, not the sad quaker oats rice snacks.”

“Oh H-Mart,” Hunk smiles, “they don’t have those in space. They do have salt though. Found that at the last market we went to.”

“As long as alien food doesn’t poison us,” you comment. It was lucky that hadn’t happened. It was alien food. But not one negative reaction which either made humans some of the most hardy species or you were just lucky.

“Yeah,” Hunk chuckles, “I’ve gotten pretty good at recognizing what’s edible and not. I know Pidge said there’s some books, but my Altean is pretty bad.”

“Languages are hard.”

“Wish there was a space version of google translate.”

“Hunk-”

“Yeah.”

“That’s genius!” You look at the yellow paladin, wondering how a universe with speech translators never thought to do the same for written language.

“I know,” Hunk smiles while popping another tray into the oven.

—————

Lance finishes painting your toenails. It was a rare day when there were no space battles or rebel meetings. “Pidge,” the blue paladin whines, “let me paint your-”

“Don’t even think about it!”

“It’s supposed to be team bonding night,” Lance counters.

“Lance,” Allaura frowns from where she’s sitting with Shiro, “the castle’s night cycle has not started.”

“Well we can change it,” he counters, “there’s no up or down in space. OR day or night.”

“You can paint my nails,” Hunk offers. “Won’t last long though between the cooking and the vents I’ve been cleaning. This is a 10,000 year old castle. No offence,” he glances at Allura.

“No offence at all. The battles have taken their toll and I’m sure Coran appreciates the help. He is only one man.” She lets out a sigh. The only other remaining Altean was a bittersweet subject for her.

Hunk kicks off his shoes. “My pleasure. Literally. This Castle is so cool. The artificial gravity alone!”

You watch the paint dry on your toes. Only your big toes had actual drawings on them, strange alien creatures you’d all encountered over your time in space. The others were clear with green and blue swirls. “You’re a good artist Lance.”

The blue paladin winks, “I’m a regular old Michaelangelo.”

You laugh, “of course you are.”

“And I’m not just good with a brush,” he wiggles his eyebrows, more boyish flirting than anything serious.

You roll your eyes.

Pidge throws a cushion at Lance. “Oh please like you’ve got past the first date!”

“I have! Vivian Tran from Calculus.”

“Can you focus on my nails,” Hunk asks, but Lance is busy waving the thin brush in hand as he argues with Pidge.

“And Atticus from Cantonese.”

“Didn’t you drop that class,” Hank asks.

“Well, the hindi teacher was way nicer and didn’t hate me. I was good at drawing the characters though.”

“Can you speak hindi,” you ask, having taken French for your language fulfillment.

“Eh-” Lance shrugs.

“Can you flirt in Hindi is the real question,” you ask with a grin.

“He can’t even flirt in English,” Pidge points out scathingly.

“Hey!”

“My nails Lance,” Hunk grumbles.

“Right. Right,” Lance focuses back on his task, going with a yellow that matches Shay. “What language did you take Shiro?”

“English.”

“How many dialects does Earth have,” Allura asks.

“A lot,” Shiro tells the alien princess. “The Garrison pushes being multilingual in its program. Most cadets were already bilingual to start with, generally covering major languages.”

“Ah.”

“Got bored of the training room,” Pidge asks Keith as he walks in, flopping down on an empty sofa.

“It timed out.”

“Sure,” Lance immediately starts, a dog with a bone, “not like you couldn’t beat it or anything.”  

“You can’t even get past level 9!” Keith growls back, sitting up with a jolt, skin still slick from sweat and his cheeks were flushed with exertion.

Lance gets up, puffing out his chest. Oh boy, here they go again. The rivalry thing they had going on got old fast to everyone around them. While it did push them to be better paladins, it was annoying to hear. “Oh like you’re any better.”

Hunk takes the brush from Lance, finishing off his last toe on his own.

“I am,” Keith bites back, a growl still audible from his chest.

“Only because you cheat!”

“It’s not cheating!”

“How is it not-” Lance stops, furrows his brow, then grins. “You got a little something there.” And like a thirteen year old, Lance points and laughs.

Keith frowns, his hand coming up to his cheek.

Sure enough, Lance was right. Keith had a couple of angry red blemishes on his cheek.

“You have adult acne,” Lance giggles, immature as ever. He was always able to find an angle to everything. It was what made him such an excellent strategist.

“It’s not adult acne!” Keith scowls, scratching at the blemishes.

“Its been three years,” Lance retorts smugly.

You frown. “No. It’s been like two.” You look over at Pidge to confirm, “Right?” You were like ninety percent sure you were twenty.

“Two and a half,” Pidge answers.

“Ha! You’re twenty! Adult-”

“I don’t have adult acne!”

They’d fought over more meaningless things before.

If it was two and a half years, maybe you were twenty one? You frown. How old would you be before you ever saw your family again?

Stashing that depressing thought away, you focus on Keith and the red marks on his cheek like a line coming down to his jaw. “It could be a rash,” you utter thoughtfully. Pidge and you had already encountered a very itchy plant before. “Or space ringworm-ring line?”

For the first time in days, Keith looks at you, meeting your gaze. “It’s not a rash!”

You lift your hands up, “okay. Okay. Geez.” When it came to Keith, you didn’t push too hard. He was too stubborn for it to work.

Lance, however, “hey, it’s okay Keith-buddy, just use toothpaste.”

“Toothpaste makes it worse,” Hunk counters. “Not great for your skin either.”

“It always worked for me,” Lance counters. “Or a clay skin mask.”

“Clay? You mean that green mud,” Keith clarifies.

“It’s clay!”

“Clay would work,” you agree with Lance. “Hey it could be like a spa day!”

“I could go for a spa,” Hunk nods.

Pidge shakes her head, “right. I’m going to try and see if I can get a signal back home.”

Shiro looks over at you, “do you really think it could be something serious?”

You shrug. “No clue.”

Keith huffs, “Just drop it,” he states dramatically, headed for the door. He was over being the center of attention.

“So face masks?”

You nod, “want to try it Allura?”

“I would love to try the clay mask,” she smiles brightly.

——————

Te-Osh’s rebels had sent for Voltron, less fighting than rebuilding.

While you were no paladin, you had spent the majority of the day helping Allura take stock and synthesizing medicine, everything from serums to numbing gels. Just your luck the machine had overheated and given out on the last batch. It was a pretty large machine.

You stick your head inside, waving off the smoke. With your nails, you pry open the hutch and take stock. You were no Pidge or Hunk, still unsure how the thing even worked, but it was clear it needed a new regulator and starter. “Plenty of those lying around,” you utter, scrunching your face at the awful burnt hair smell. Your finger finds the ventilator button on your wrist controls, and there-the smell gets sucked out of the room.

“Is this a bad time,” Keith asks behind you.

Startled, you bang your head on the mental. “Keith,” flushing hotly when you look back and realize you were ass up in front of him.

He doesn’t even notice, grimacing, hand rubbing his nose bridge.

“What’s wrong?” You hurry to wash your hands.

Keith sits down at one of the medbay tables. “My skull feels like it’s being cracked open,” he explains flatly.

You look him over closely, standing right in front of him. “Where exactly,” you ask, frowning when you notice the blemishes had grown to a full blown rash, hot angry skin peeling and cracking like twin marks down his cheeks. You should have pressed. What if it was a parasite? Keith was half galra.

It was easily forgotten given how human he looked. Sure, the signs were there: his unhuman night vision, more strength than he should have, good ears and nose, nails that had torn through metal, but it all faded into the background.

“Does it itch,” you ask, raising your hand, fingertips hovering over the marks on his cheeks.

“Yes,” Keith nods, averting his eyes from your gaze, “mostly it’s hot. And my sinuses…all the way down to my neck. Hurt.”

“Hm,” you turn, reaching for the medical scanner. There was no way you could ever go back to being a medical officer at the galaxy garrison. Earth’s technology was ancient in comparison. “Hold still.”

“Alright,” he says seriously. Keith holds his breath.

You look up at him, in his violet eyes, and smile before laughing. “Keith!”

“You said to hold still,” he points out sincerely, before the corners of his lips turn up. Keith was an expressive guy, his smile lit up his entire being, a lightness in his eyes that made you smile wider.

“Let’s try this again,” you giggle, clicking the scanner and aiming right at his rash first. “Pew.”

He rolls his eyes, snorting. “You too?”

“Mine’s the only right one,” you wink, then look over the reading.

“Not even close.” He scratches at his cheek listlessly.

Whatever reason he had for avoiding you had worked itself out. You’d missed his company.

“Oh yeah,” you challenge, “then what’s the sound?” The readings came up clear. Keith was in perfect health. So not a parasite…space allergies? Those wouldn’t come up on the scanner.

“What is it,” Keith asks, noticing your pensive expression.

“How’s your sense of smell? Stuffy nose?”

He looks up, then takes a deep breath, “now that you mention it…I can’t smell your soap anymore.”

“What?” This was news to you. “You can smell my soap?”

“And whatever planet we’ve been on,” Keith fidgets, blushing as he ducks his head, bangs falling over his eyes, “the soil. It’s all different. But I can’t right now.”

That was worrying. But if the scanner said nothing was wrong…you had to wait and see. It might clear up on its own. You’d give it a day or two.

“Nothing came up on the scanner,” you tell him, “so it should go away on its own. It might just be allergic to something out here.”  

He nods, accepting your diagnosis.

“Let me get the medicine.”

“Mhm.”

You pass him a tube of gel and add that to the list of medication you need to synthesize once you fix the machine. Then grab a weekly supply of pain tabs. “Here.”

Keith pops one in immediately.

“Let me know if it doesn’t clear up in two days,” you tell him.

“Worried?”

“Eh, I can always set Lance on you again,” you snort. Shiro was a pushover when it came to Keith. He was no help.

Keith laughs, looking a little more himself. “I could take him.”

“You could,” you agree, “but don’t tell him I said that.”

He tilts his head, smiling. “Coming? Shay got food for us.”

“I’ve got to fix this machine first.”

“Need help?”

“Might ask Hunk or Coran,” you admit.

“I could-”

“No,” you cut him off, placing your hand on his shoulder, “go eat and rest. That’s an order.”

Keith leans into you. “Are you going to write me a doctor’s note too,” he asks, his delivery always so earnest you had to do a double take to figure out if he was joking or not.

“If I have too,” you stick your nose in the air. “I’ll even send one to Zarkon.”

Keith laughs easily. “Why didn’t Lotor think of that.”

You snort. “I’m going to check your lymph nodes,” you tell him, taking a step towards him again. “That okay?”

Keith tilts his head back, “Go for it.”

“Wow,” you chuckle, “who are you and what did you do with Keith Kogane.” You brush his hair out of his face.

“What?”

“Remember when you broke your arm,” you point out, gently pressing your fingers over the side of his throat, feeling the swelled bean shaped lymph nodes under his ears, behind his jaw. “And said nothing for like a week?” It had been your first year at the Galaxy Garrison.

“It was only a sprain,” Keith grumbles.

“Still!” You laugh, “I’m glad you asked for help.” Because this was still Keith and you didn’t want him to think you were laughing at him.

“Mm,” he closes his eyes as you trail your fingers lower, making sure it wasn’t too bad.

The fact they were inflamed at all worried you. You had no clue what was the space equivalent of antihistamines.

Keith’s breath tickles your shoulder, deepening and evening out like he’d finally relaxed. That was most of your patients once you gave them answers and they knew they’d be getting care and treatment. You liked helping people.

You pull your fingers back, ever the consummate professional. It was like the ghost of your garrison advisor was hovering over your shoulder. “They’re not too swollen if you can still eat. Can you still chew?”

“Hm?”

Keith opens his eyes. His expression is glazed and feverish.

“Keith,” you utter, worried.

“Yeah?” His gaze is heavy as it meets yours.

Your skin warms up because he wouldn’t stop looking at you like that.

“Any jaw pain,” you ask, focusing on the task at hand. You bring your hand up to his forehead. He was warm.

Keith leans into your touch, “no.”

“Good.” You bite your lip. Could it be some weird galra thing? Wouldn’t it have come up? You feel your own forehead. He was for sure warmer.

You were going to have to corner Coran about it.

Keith lets his eyes fall shut again and honest to god purrs, leaning into you.

Add cornering Lotor to your list.

You don’t pull away, figuring it was harmless. Lance, Hunk, and Allura were more prone to random hugs. You were more than happy to indulge Keith as well. He already wasn’t feeling well.

You wrap your arms around the red paladin’s shoulders, hugging him, “I’m looking forward to a break from Coran’s post mission food goo once I get done with the machine.”

“Mm.”

He was completely out of it.

His breath tickles your cheek.

“Though I’m not sure there’ll be any left if I don’t go there? Maybe I should grab a plate and then come back here,” you ramble. Keith had never sought you out for comfort. It was touching that he trusted you now. You’d been friends with the others before, with Keith and Shiro and the Alteans, you had skipped right over friendship and gone right to family.

“Oh.”

You look behind you.

Te-Osh takes a step back, “forgive my intrusion. I was unaware-”

Keith snaps out of whatever was going on with him. Bolting off the exam table. “It’s fine. We’re done here.” He hunches his shoulders and beelines for the door.

You frown, still processing.

“I can come back,” Te-Osh tells you, glancing between you and the door Keith had just escaped through.

You shrug. “No. I’ve got time. What do you need?”

“If you’re sure?”

Nodding, you smile, “yeah, what can I help you with?”

———————

“Here is where we will focus the blunt of the attack on. Keith, Lance, engage the fighters. Hunk,” Shiro explains, “you’ll be with me taking out the communications towers. We want to keep the damage to the minimum. The resistance leaders want the factory intact. Pidge-”

Pidge waves the Black Paladin off, “I’ve got the code written.”

“It really does come in handy,” Lance observes, “all those vents are Pidge size.”

The green paladin grumbles, “easy for you to say when you’re not the one crawling around in there. It’s not your knees getting banging up.”

“Well the galra are all like nine feet tall,” Hunk points out, “the vents probably aren’t that small from their perspective.”

Lance unsubtly glances over at Keith.

His rash had cleared up, but not before spreading. In its place were two purple slash marks running from his cheek to jaw, galra markings. No one had pressed…yet.

You were just glad it wasn’t some weird space parasite.

Her brother ruffles her hair, “Pidge sized! A micro pidge,” Matt jokes to himself.

She smacks his hand away, “five feet is a perfectly reasonable size.’

“She could still have a growth spurt,” you add, though it was highly unlikely.

“No,” Matt’s eyes go comically wide as he hugs his sister, “not my hobbit,” relishing in her embarrassment.

“Matt!”

“In summation,” Allura calls you all back to attention, “the paladins will take out Galra forces and Pidge will open the weapons factory up to Vexuin rebels to take over. I will be manning the Castle to ensure no fighters target the work camps and coordinating communications with the rebels.” She turns to look at you, “Matt and you will take down the sentries, freeing the people from the work camps.”

“No!”

Everyone looks over at Keith. The horror on his face is easy to read.

What had brought this on?

Shiro clears his throat.

Keith ducks his head, letting his bangs obscure his features.

“Why not,” Pidge asks grumpily, time was running out. You were all just ironing out the details, “your plans suck.”

“Pidge,” Shiro chastises.

The green paladin was right.

Keith fought the same way you played video games, caring about nothing but reducing the enemies stats to zero. He’d gotten great at teamwork, but he was hardly a strategist.

“Keith,” Allura asks, “do you have any legitimate reasons why Matt should go on his own?” And when she phrased it like that…

The red paladin crosses his arms over his shoulders.

Pidge taps her foot on the floor.

“Okay then,” Shiro takes over, “let’s get to our lions.”

“Coms. Come in earthlings!,” Coran chimes in over the system, “remember this planet’s atmosphere is toxic to breath, too much sulfur in the air, not to mention the heat will give you all a taste of the slipperies. And worse! So keep those space suits on Vol-”

“-Tron,” Lance grins back, having taken a liking to having a kooky space alien uncle.

You lock your helmet in place as Matt pilots the pod towards the work camps. They were just as grim as the first time you’d seen them. It was the same all over in many of the Empire’s work planets. They were at the bottom of the totem pole. There were some planets where the native species and Galra coexisted more or less peacefully, this was not one of them.

“So what’s up with Keith,” Matt asks you.

You shrug. “No clue. I keep waiting for Lotor or one of the Blades to drop in so I can corner them but he’s a picture of perfect health so I’m not worried.”

“But the,” he takes a hand off the wheel, motioning to his face.

You frown, arching a brow. You’d never looked at Allura quite the same after the way she had treated Keith upon learning about his heritage. It’s not like he’d been a completely different person, she’d known him for over a year.

Matt might be Pidge’s brother, but you weren’t about to let anyone get away with giving someone you loved shit. Especially not Keith who would just silently take it.

It made your chest ache, thinking about how sweet he looked when he smiled. He didn’t deserve any of it.

“What about it?” You stare back at him cooly.

Matt focuses back on landing the pod just beyond the sentires line of sight. “Nothing. Pidge figured it was nothing, didn’t even seem curious. I figured you might know, you two are pretty close.” He glances over at you meaningfully.

“We’ve known eachother since the garrison,” though you hadn’t really been friends. Keith had been kind of a loner. You’d tried to include him, having shared a couple classes with him here and there, but he’d never taken you up on any offer.

“Right.” He doesn’t sound all that convinced. “Glad to hear it’s all good. I caught the sneazles while in the work camp,” Matt makes a face.

You laugh.

“It was horrible! But also like an episode of spongebob somehow?”

“Space is weird.” You had way bigger problems and had seen stranger things by now. For fucks sake, you were saving dragon looking aliens from the Galra right now. This planet was like a silent hill game!

Thick fog obscured the rocky landscape. Even from within your suit you could smell the stench of rotten eggs. Yet this was home to the Vexuin.

Shiro gives the signal.

You take the safety off the taser gun Pidge had built for you. Anything pilfered off the Galra was too large for your small stature, just a hair shorter than Keith. The gun packed a punch, with enough voltage to take out the robots.

Matt and you get to work.

“Almost got it,” Matt mutters as you take aim and shoot.

Stupid damn biolocks.

“Hurry the fuck up,” you tell him, dodging a shot from another sentry before frying it with your own weapon. One shot, one sentry. You needed to take them down before they got close. The robots were durable and strong. You knew better than to think you could go hand to hand with one, you were a medic not a fighter.

“I am, I am,” Matt insists. “Ah there,” he grabs a taser flash bomb out of his pocket and tosses inside the sentry outpost.

You shoot again, trying to keep your hands steady. It was easy when it was just programmed machines. Nothing to feel bad about.

Matt and you rush inside, stepping over more fried sentries. You take position at the entrance, gunning down anything that makes its way towards the two of you.

“You in,” you ask him.

“Patience my young apprentice,” Matt says, laughing at his own joke, “it’ll take a moment for my worm to work its way through the software and give me complete control.”

The ground shakes as the main part of the battle takes place outside, at a monsterous factory that’s gray, chimney shooting out smoke. You can only see hints of lions shooting and Galra fighter ships lighting up the sky.

The sulfuric fog coats everything.

You taste rotten eggs on your breath.

Inside your suit, sweat runs down your back.

“Okay,” Matt chimes into the coms, “I’ve hacked the camps. Ready to open the gates.”

The rolling low grutal voices of the Vexuin rebel leaders fill your coms, “Good.”

“Go ahead Matt,” Allura gives the order, “Voltron?”

Pidge answers, “dropping in, should override their” static, “ticks.” Then an explosion reverberates in your ear where the communications device is.

“Pidge,” Keith yells out.

“Keith cover Lance,” Shiro grunts out, blasts audible from here. “Pidge?”

Nothing.

Matt’s face goes ghostly white.

“Pidge, come in Pidge?” Allura asks. “Paladins? Are you able to reach Pidge?”

“Negative,” Shiro replies, “Hunk, take the main gate! Time to land.”

“On it.”

“Guys,” Lance yells, “the shield’s down. Pidge hacked them.”

“Keith,” Shiro yells, “wait!”

“Fine.”

You decide to hope for the best. There was nothing you could do for any of the paladins all the way from here. “Turn it off,” you tell Matt.

He steals himself. “Right.”

The lights of the compound go out. Sentries power down where they stand, puppets with their strings cut. Locks disengage, and for the first time in decades, the Vexuin are free to leave the barracks free from Galra supervision.

You and Matt go out to meet them.

“I could get used to this,”  Pidge calls out as everyone meets on the planet’s surface. Rebels come in from the forest slowly, making sure this is for real, before sniffing the air and calling out to their loved ones lingering around the liberated camp complex.  Their vision worked in the infrared, all the better to see on this planet. You’d need at least three showers to get the smell out of your hair.

Keith carries Pidge, careful not to jolt the youngest member of Voltron. She holds a leg stiffly, a sprain or fracture.

Matt rushes to his sister, “Katie!”

She waves him off, “I’m fine.” Then snaps her fingers, “Down.”

There’s a small smile on Keith’s mouth as he places her down on the ground gently.

Lance comes up behind Keith, ruffling his hair, and being every bit himself as he comments with a smirk, “good boy.”

The shorter paladin smacks Lance’s hand away, but it’s too late, Lance is already smothering Keith in a hug that turns into a competition, like always with those two. Keith shoves at Lance’s face while Lance tightens his grip on Keith.

Shiro clears his throat, “paladins.”

“A dobesh in the pod,” you ask Pidge as Matt gets his turn to fuss over her.

“Yeah. Landed right as an explosion went off,” Pidge frowns. “Not my best moment, but my program still did it’s job and,” she pats her bayard, “I took them out.”

“Can’t be that bad if you can stand,” you agree. Nothing serious but you’d be keeping an eye on her all the same. The faster she got into the pod and took weight off her injury the better. You didn’t want to exacerbate the sprain.

“The jet pack helped,” Pidge points out.

“Lucky you,” you grin.

Shiro and Allura are consummate professionals as they go over the last of the logistics with the Vexuin, “It would be wise to stay until your people have situated themselves in case the Galra Empire retaliates,” Allura states, ending her sentiment in a question, “but it is ultimately up to you.”

The Vexuin chatter among themselves for a moment before one speaks up, “we would not turn down Voltron’s help. A few quintants should be enough time.”

“Then we will make ourselves of service to you,” Shiro nods. “Please, let us know anything we can help with.”

A red scaled one smiles, showing off her many sharp and jagged teeth, “our people long to see the camp destroyed.”

Hunk offers, “I could help rig a controlled explosion.”

“Very good.”

“The system inside the weapons factory is down,” Pidge tells them, “but I can reprogram it to keep the Galra out so that you can decide what to do with the place.”

“Oh no you don’t,” you cut in, “Matt can take care of that. You’re going in a pod first.”

“Pod person,” Matt mutters under his breath with a snort.

“Then let us get to work,” Allura dismisses everyone.

Pidge tries to take a step, and almost falls over.

You grab her.

Her face goes crimson from the pain.

The adrenalin must have been keeping the bulk of the pain away.

Keith picks her up.

It’s not until you’ve loaded Pidge in for three vargas that you pull off your helmet, savoring the crisp clean air of the Castleship.

“I can still smell the sulfur,” you comment, wrinkling your nose.

Keith shakes his hair out.

You look at him thoughtfully, “must be worse for you though.”

“Why,” he asks, genuinely puzzled.

“Because your nose,” you point out, then frown, “your sinuses did clear up yeah?” He never said anything about it so you figured they had and he could smell fine again, but you weren’t sure.

“Oh. Yeah. They did.”

You smile fondly, “very convincing Keith,” you tell him, reaching out to him. He lets you run your fingers right under his ears, behind his jaw. Everything was in order.

A knot of anxiety dissolves in your chest.

“Well,” he asks, “satisfied?”

“Mhm.” You look at the purple markings on his skin.

Keith’s breath hitches. His gaze is trained on you, watching carefully.

“So if not rotten eggs,” you ask, slowly bringing your fingertips over the marks on the sides of his face, giving him every opportunity to pull away, “what do you smell?” You couldn’t help it. It was that scientific curiosity. Everyone at the garrison had ended up there because they were nerdy in some way: devoting themselves to some STEM field while other kids were watching cartoons. You’d had a stutter as a kid, self conscious about it too, so instead of trying to make friends you read your textbooks under your desk, racing ahead.

Keith’s eyes meet yours. There’s a level of vulnerability in his gaze that worms its way into your chest and all of a sudden you’re incredibly aware of how close you two are, the lack of space between your bodies, your fingers caressing his skin.

You look away, focusing on the marks. They were purple, which was obvious. His skin itself had grown purple, perfectly delineated.

“Like wet soil,” Keith explains finally, “when they just added fertilizer.” You wince, remembering the smell of the horticulture center wafting through the garrison’s campus during the spring. “And garlic.”

“I like garlic. I’d kill for some,” you tell him, sounding very much like Hank. You hadn’t expected to be homesick for food. “Best food they served at the cafeteria.”

“That’s not saying much,” Keith mutters, amused.

You chuckle, pulling your hands away from his face.

He leans forward, asking for physical comfort in a very Keith way: unsubtle and wordlessly, putting the onus on you to get the hint.

Pidge must have freaked him out more than he was willing to discuss.

You wrap your arms around his waist, hugging Keith. “Pidge’ll be fine.” Sure, she was younger and short, but she was more than capable of handling herself. “I’m more concerned about how she left the other guys,” you comment lightly resting your chin on Keith’s shoulder.

His shoulders shake as he laughs easily. “They asked to surrender to her personally.”

“That’s Pidge all right.” You glance over at the pod. She’d be back on her feet in no time.

Keith’s breath against your skin feels nice. Your heart flutters in your chest and you find yourself blushing and pulling away, thoughts racing as you realize just how much you liked this boy. You pull away, unsure what to do and suddenly finding it too awkward to be around him at all.

The start of a whine escapes his throat before he smothers it, looking away, as he lets his bangs fall over his eyes, effectively hiding his easy to read features.

“Let’s go help the others,” you say, fumbling to grab a med kit and click your helmet back in place, your face too warm and it must be obvious. You didn’t want to make things weird. You didn’t. But-

“I’m going to stay here until Pidge wakes up,” Keith tells you.

“Oh. Okay.” You nod. “That’s a great idea. It’s always confusing as hell to get out of the pods.” It was akin to waking up from a midday nap: completely confused and exhausted instead of rested.

Your skills would be more useful with the Vexuim than fussing over Pidge at the moment. And having something to do would keep your mind off Keith.

—————

“You know,” Lance comments, sliding up to you as you watch Lotor strut away from you after another failed attempt to talk to him. “If we bottled up whatever galra repellant you have going on, we could defeat Zarkon with perfume.”

You look over at Lance, trying to suppress a smile. “What would you call it?”

“Starlight.”

“That’s-that’s actually pretty great,” you tell Lance.

“I know,” he grins. Then the latino boy sobers up, “trying to find out what’s going on with mullet?”

You nod. “I even tried to corner Acxa,” you admit. For an eight foot tall purple alien, boy could she make herself scarce.

Lance’s eyes widened in delight, “like could and should peg me Acxa?”

You groan. “Lance, sometimes it’s okay to keep things to yourself.”

“I’m just saying,” he laughs, “the ship’s not that big…”

“It’s designed for six thousand people.” You’d learned that fun tidbit while practicing your Altean with Pidge.

“Like for real!”

“Yeah.”

“Ay dios mio,” Lance utters, “you’re screwed.”

You finally hit the motherlode.

Lotor and his generals are in a stately room that reminds you of the socratic lecture halls at the garrison, sofa arranged in a half circle, with Shiro and Allura. The former Prince had shown up for a reason beyond making a nuisance of himself. Allura looks at her wits end with him, as he smiles like a douche, her eye twitching.

She invites you in without hesitation, “take a seat next to me,” and effectively uses you as a human shield against Lotor.

Literally since you and Shiro were the only humans here.

“Everything has been thoroughly discussed,” Lotor comments dryly, snubbing you once more. Normally, you wouldn’t have cared but you were trying to get information out of the man. “Unless either of you have further questions?”

Shiro hums, rubbing his chin, “I know saddling you with a rebel ship or two will slow you down but I don’t see another way around it. A display of size on their part will go a long way to show it is an alliance and not the Galra Empire hy another name.”

Allura nods, a small smile on her lips as she looks over at Shiro, “The black paladin is right. It will be a steep hill to climb to show that you are not the Galra Empire. Their fears would be alleviated with the presence of the rebel alliance.”

Zethrid sucks in a sharp breath, “So that’s it then. We will always be scorned and merely tolerated.”

“Time,” Shiro sighs with a look of gentle understanding at the muscular woman, “they need time. You can’t erase 10,000 years of history. It is hard to extend trust after being imprisoned and enslaved.”

“The alliance has started coordinating with you and the Blade directly have they not,” Allura asks stiltedly. It was by the necessity of time that they had stopped going through Voltron first. Lotor might be too smug for his own good, but his team was effective at sabotaging warships and infiltrating Galra ranks to liberate prisons and cities, enough to turn the tide for the rebels.

Her feelings towards Lotor and the Blade were still tinged with suspicion, her treatment of them lukewarm at best.

Still, Lotor brushed it off and continued to help. “Well then, Princess, Shiro, we have a long journey ahead of us.”

Shiro nods.

They shake hands.

You stand up, ready to corner Lotor.

“But first a word Shiro, it is a private matter.”

“Yeah, sure,” Shiro leads Lotor away.

Your eye twitches.

That snake!

Zethrid and Narti walk purposefully away as Allura pushes in her chair, ignoring the last two of Lotor’s team. “Princess,” Acxa, tries. “Until next time.” She nods at you, “stay safe.”

Allura gives the woman a strained smile, hooking her arm with yours. Human shield.

“You too,” you tell her. She doesn’t wait, already halfway out the door. You sigh.

Ezor giggles, by far the friendliest and easiest to get along with of Lotor’s team. “Stashing food and water will cut down the embarrassment by half.”

“What?”

“Oh,” she shrugs, “I guess Lotor was right. Darn it! Now I owe him one hundred GAC.”

“Wait-”

But she scurries off.

“Ugh,” you kick the wall, tired of everyone being weird. The usual frustration with being caught up in a space war was just the salt on the wound.

Your toe throbs, “fuck,” you hiss.

“They are rather tiring to deal with,” Allura agrees, reading the situation wrong, “but it hardly calls for assaulting the Castle.”

“Sorry,” you flush red with embarrassment. “I just had a question for Lotor and he seems intent on never being in the same room as me.”

“Ah-,” Allura smiles easily, “Lance did mention that you were in possession of a Galra repellent.” The twinkle in her eyes lets you know she was in on the joke.

“Come, let us work our frustrations out with some introspection.” Which was just Altean for weird breathing exercises that supposedly helped you do alchemy. She had managed to rope you into practicing with her before.

“Anything to spare the wall,” you joke.

——————

You walk back from the library. It was a cozy room, especially when you dimmed the lights. The Castle was always so bright, designed with the Alteans sight needs in mind.

Sometimes you just needed some time away from everyone. You loved them, but spending years with the same people while floating through space…you had no clue how Shiro had managed it.

Getting a walk around the ship was also nice. It was easy to forget how big the Castle was when you mainly stayed on the same three floors. Just a couple months ago Coran had rediscovered the greenhouse. The plants were a little piece of Altea, and had quickly become one of Allura’s favorite spots.

The windows were wide portholes. It unnerved you still, looking out and not recognizing any star, any constellations.

A lump of homesickness lodges itself in your throat. It had been over two years, your siblings would have grown so much in that time. You certainly had. The last vestiges of childhood had gone from your face.

Acne cleared up even without Lance’s ten step routine.

You walk across the bridge, trying not to look down. The viewing platform was clear glass in space, you could lay on it. It freaked you out a little.

It was the only constantly dark place in the castle.

You still yelp when you spot Keith, his eyes luminous violet like a glow in the dark t-shirt. That should have tipped all of you off, but alien was not the first thing that came to mind when you previously believed aliens had never visited earth.

He whimpers, curling up further.

“Keith,” you gulp, focusing on him and not the glass separating you from the void of space. “What’s wrong?”

He looks up at you miserably, blinking sluggishly. “I have the worst migraine.”

“And you’re down here instead of getting painkillers?”

Keith shrugs. “It’s not as bad, quiet. Dark.”

You sit down next to him. “I can go get you something,” you offer, your cheeks warming up and it was ridiculous how you can’t even manage to act normal around him anymore.

“Coran already gave me a dose.”

“Oh.” You were hurt. You were supposed to be the medic. That was your role on Team Voltron.

You hug your knees to your chest, and look down at space. It was darker than the photographs back on earth. Not so purple and blue.

You weren’t Matt who was just as good as Pidge with technology or Allura who was the leader and a princess to boot, you’d just planned on having a late dinner with Hunk once he got over the motion sickness before Lance roped you into following Pidge. You weren’t a paladin.

Keith shuts his eyes. “You were with Allura. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“It’s no bother.” You swallow thickly, letting silence fall over you both.

You listen to Keith breathing, looking around the darkness of space for any familiar stars. You knew the space around Shay’s Balmerra, and Arus was at least a little familiar. But the universe was so vast and wide.

There were planets you’d only ever been to once, each with a different night sky. Some of them never even had a night, with multiple suns staving off a night cycle.

“Do you think Allura minds?”

“Mind what,” you ask.

Keith clenches his jaw, rubbing his temples. “That I look more Galra.”

Allura has always been harder on the Galra. For her, it had been such a short time since Zarkon had destroyed her world and her people. You didn’t agree, but you could understand where she was coming from, the pain still there as she continuously wore Altean mourning pink.

You look over at him, the outline of his body against the glass. “I think your marks look cool.”

“Bullshit.”

“I do,” you whisper gently, considerate of his migraine. Those were the worst. “They frame your face. You look nice,” you finish lamely, looking away. You look nice. Lance might say stupid things but at least he tried.

“What if I looked even more Galra?”

“Like completely purple and tall?” You couldn’t really wrap your head around it. It also seemed incredibly unlikely. Could his phenotype change so drastically? On earth the answer was no, but who knows how the Galra work. It was fascinating to see such a wide range of traits in one species.

He was also half human.

You worried if his body would even tolerate such a drastic change.

“Yes,” he says, not waiting for you as he rants in agitation, “the rebels hate the Blade and Allura doesn’t trust them at all and that’s not even mentioning Lotor.”

“That’s not true. Te-Osh likes Acza and Ezor. Lotor’s kind of annoying if we’re being honest, and I’m sure his being Zarkon’s son makes it a little hard to believe he’s on our side,” you try to reason. “And don’t write off the Galra who have changed sides or were in the camps right alongside other aliens.”

Keith says nothing in response, mouth a thin line as he thinks.

You wonder how long it’s been bugging him.

You want to reach out and hug him, but he isn’t Hunk. You’re not sure he’d want to if he’s not initiating the contact. So you don’t.

“Everyone knows how the last Galra paladin worked out.” A low growl in the back of his throat is enough to clue you in to how distressing this was for him.

Your heart hurts. “And everyone knows you’re not Zarkon,” you state evenly back. “We already know you’re Galra.”

Keith snorts humorlessly. You can’t see his eyes; they’re hidden by his bangs.

“The glowing eyes are not exactly subtle dude,” you point out, “not to mention your hair does the poof thing guinea pigs do when they’re eating, but not when you’re eating, more like when you get annoyed.”

“I-what!” His eyes go comically wide as he sits up. His dark hair does the thing, making him look like a character from those old Japanese kids movies.

You giggle, “you’re doing it.”

Keith tries to look at his reflection in the glass.

You blush, grateful that it’s too dark to see, and then realize that wasn’t true for him, so you look away, hoping he didn’t notice. “Yeah. I’m the medic, it’s my job to know these things. Like how Pidge has two webbed digits on her foot and Lance is allergic to flax seeds and bees.”

“That…makes sense.” Then he smiles, “still didn’t put two and two together.”

“Don’t be a smartass.” Reason number three thousand Iverson had it out for him back at the harrison. “And if anyone has a problem with you I’ll kick their ass.”

“You?” Keith snorts. “You wouldn’t even flip me during self defense.”

“You remember that?” You run a hand over your face, “I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” you always took forever to practice on your partner. And your weak arms didn’t help.

“That’s what the mats were for.”

“Still!”

Keith laughs at your expense.

You smile, taking delight in watching him smile and laugh and you wish it could always be like this and the war would just end.

Then you sober up. “You’re going to be okay, right?”

He doesn’t answer you right away.

“Keith-” you reach out, voice cracking. “You’re going to be okay, giant purple space cat or not, right?”

He takes your hand, squeezing it firmly. “Yeah. Don’t worry about it.”

“Good,” you utter, but tears bead up in your eyes anyway. It was terrifying watching someone go through something unknown that you couldn’t help them through for all your medical training. You knew how to set bones and run a pod…not whatever this was.

You trusted Keith.

He knew himself better than anyone. After all, he’d been right about his teeth growing back.

“You really are worried,” he whispers in disbelief.

“Duh.”

“I can smell it on you,” then he seems to realize what he said, and pulls away, ducking his head. Like he hadn’t meant to say so much.

“Really?” Learning about anything alien biology was pretty cool, you had to admit. Allura had once described colours that you couldn’t perceive. It was a fun talk. And then she’d made you meditate for alchemy stuff or so she claimed. It might have just been payback. “Is that new?”

“Yeah,” Keith admits, still drawn into himself. “Can we not-I already feel like enough of a freak already without,” he waves aggressively at himself.

You bite your lip, nodding. You wanted to say something, to get it through his head how you saw him, incredibly kind and fiercely loyal (to the point of taking on Zarkon by himself) and an endearing smile you never got tired of seeing.

You liked him.

The universe was lucky to have him as a paladin.

But you don’t know how to say it in a way he’d accept. And he asked you to drop it, so you do. “Right, I’ll just go then.” He’d been here first, and the glass made you nervous.

Could it withstand a hit from a galra battleship?

Keith opens his mouth like he wants to say something else, but he just nods, then winces, “Argh,” he groans as he curls up on his side, covering his ears with his hands.

You rush to his side, kneeling next to him, “Keith,” you utter softly, not wanting to make it worse.

His eyes are pressed close and for all your medical know-how, you’re at a loss.

So you running your fingers through his hair soothingly and wait for the pain to pass.

He shifts, laying his head in your lap as he whimpers.

You can’t stand to watch him and do nothing. You press your com, pinging Shiro and Coran. This was beyond you. He’d trust Shiro with whatever was going on and he’d gone to Coran. You respected that even if it did sting.

Your pride meant little so long as Keith felt comfortable and sought help.

“Shh, shh,” you whisper gently.

Sweat beads on his brow.

Whines escape his throat.

“Fuck,” he grunts, clenching his teeth.

He’s warm to your touch and that rouses another bout of worries. At this temperature it’s a fever, but he didn’t have the symptoms, the flushed cheeks and chills.

Keith curls up further, muscles stiff.

You’re helpless.

After what feels like ages, Shiro and Coran finally appear.

“Number four, Number five,” Coran claps his hands.

You hold out your hand, motioning them to shut the fuck up as Keith winces at the sound.

His hair is damp near his ears.

“Keith,” Shiro utters much more gently, kneeling down on his other side, “I’m here, I’ve got you.”

He raises his head, blinking groggily at Shiro, trying to concentrate through the pain, “Shiro,” he reaches for his brother who easily pulls him against his chest. Keith buries his head in the crook of Shiro’s neck.

You sit back, trying to get out of the way. Your hands are wet.

You look down and realize it’s blood. His ears-

Oh god.

“Number five,” Coran says gently, helping you up, “I’ll take great care of our Paladin. Why don’t you go get cleaned up.”

You don’t get any sleep that night.

——————

You were always struck with cognitive dissonance walking around colonized planets like Rahiri where the natives and Galra lived side by side. This was not a planet ravaged by the empire. The flora-like aliens in all shades of green with rootish limbs and leaves and petals for hair had assimilated into the Empire, achieving citizenship over generations. 10,000 years deca-phoebs was a long time. That was a huge source of tension in the Alliance, what to do with the world who neither wanted or wished to leave the Empire.

It was also a source of dark humor that no one spared the four of you a second glance despite two paladins of Voltron walking around.

Hunk holds Shay’s hand in front of you as they point and awe and drag their feet on the way to the space port.

“You could always stay with,” Hunk says hopefully, “we could just drop you off. Personal taxi service.”

Shay smiles back kindly, “that would be wonderful but I have been away from home for too long. I am, as you say, a homebody.”

“Aw, yeah,” Hunk chuckles, “I feel that. I like the ground. And dirt. Piloting is overrated.”

“Don’t let yellow here you say that,” Keith comments so dry, you think he’s serious for a second. Allura and Pidge had gone shopping for supplies. That was an advantage of a planet that had not seen war.

Hunk glances back, clearly having forgotten we had tagged along in case anything went down. “Yeah well, she’d like a small moon. Or an asteroid. There’s colonies on those.”

“Very true,” Shay laughs. “I think my balmerra is also like a moon. A beautiful creature. We have learned how to ask for crystals so we do not need to cut them.”

“That’s impressive. Did the books from Allura help,” Hunk asks.

As much as you liked getting to stretch your legs, seeing a different planet where the threat was not imminent, you didn’t like being a third wheel, or fourth wheel if you went according to Coran’s favorite numbering pattern. That inch difference between you and Keith mocked you.

You glance over at the red paladin.

His gaze kept flickering back and forth, around the street. The occasional loud noise of crates being unloaded made him jump.

“You good,” you ask Keith, cracking a joke so he’d know you weren’t judging him. “You see la llorona or Davy Jones?”

“Hm?”

“You know…a famous ghost? Do they have ghosts in space?”

Keith snorts, cottoning on. “They don’t even have ghosts on earth.”

You pull a face, “well that’s no fun. Seriously, you okay? Or have we been made?”

He shakes his head, glancing around again just to be sure. “So much for Zarkon’s finest.”

You laugh, following Hank and Shay into the space port. Shuttles were departing pretty consistently. Everything was in orderly fashion. You especially liked how no one was shooting at you.

“It takes some getting used to.”

“What does?” You watch as Keith shakes his head, making his hair fall back from his face.

Shay and Hunk go to the ticket counter, but you decide to find somewhere off to the side, wanting to give them privacy.

“Stuff.”

You roll your eyes at Keith, “you suck.”

He crosses his arms over his chest, leaning against the wall, looking anywhere but at you. “Lotor explained it to me and Shiro…what’s happening.”

“Oh.” You swallow, looking at Hunk and Shay hugging and saying their goodbyes yet again. They’d said them last night at dinner, this morning in the pod, and again when you’d split from Allura and Pidge. It was cute. They were adorable.

“Sorry.”

“Hm,” you glance over at Keith, not sure why he would be sorry about anything. He was the one getting screwed over by half of his heritage.

“You’re hurt.”

“You can smell that too,” you ask him, holding his deep gaze. There was an intense commitment to everything Keith did; it was reflected in the depth of his violet gaze. He didn’t do things in halves.

“Now I can.” He looks at his shoes, red dusting his cheeks. The red didn’t tinge the purple marks on his skin.

“So this is all,” you’re not sure how to put it, “nothing to worry about?”

“He said it was normal. But because I’m half there’s no way to know what to expect.” He looks away as he says it, stiff as he glances around.

The anxiety that had settled into your jaw since you’d had to wash his blood off your hands eases up. “Giant purple space cat,” you joke, nudging his side.

“Oh fuck no,” Keith grumbles. Even that furrowed expression that crossed his chiselled features made you feel all giddy inside.

Bad timing.

“I’m not hurt I-I just wish you trusted me,” you finally admit. It was silly. You felt selfish, so you tack on, “You know I’m here for you if you need me. We all are. I know Shiro’s your brother, but we’re your friends.”

“I know,” he sighs wistfully, “I do trust you…it’s just-it’s been hard. I don’t know how to feel about any of it and I’m not used to it either.”

“It’s fine,” you tell him, “I’m being silly, making this about me. As long as you know I’m here for you…I’m not trying to force you to tell me anything…” you cringe internally at yourself. The galaxy garrison had been made up of nerds, so it followed everyone was a character. It hadn’t helped anyone’s social skills.

You wish you could just go, I worry about you because I love you instead of stumbling through word vomit.

“Come on,” Keith brings you out of your thoughts, grabbing your hand and pushing through the crowd of people coming and going to different boarding gates, “I think Hunk’s going to need some comfort food.”

You glance around, finding Hunk’s form making it’s way to you both. He was wiping his eyes, bittersweet smile, making no move to really hide that he was crying.

“Let’s get back to Allura yeah,” he tells you both.

“Or,” you go with Keith’s idea, “we can get something to eat. Allura gave us a good hour or so.”

“Varga,” Keith supplies.

“Yeah, that.”

Hunk nods, “that sounds nice. It’s just,” he looks back at the departing shuttle, “it’s hard. It’s war and you never know when your going to see each other again but it’s not like she can just drop everything and I wouldn’t ask her too, if anything I’d like to retire there. Nice and quiet. Maybe open a restaurant…”

“Vrepit Sal two,” Keith offers.

“Could make it a chain,” you add with a smile. Hunk, like you, was not such a gung ho pilot. You had landed the flight simulation without crashing exactly once, for your final emergency protocol exam.

“Thanks guys,” Hunk grins, “but I think I’ll bring some earth out here. Give these people a taste of traditional earthlign cuisine.”

“So your menu’s going to be as long as Cheesecake Factory’s,” you ask with a silly grin.

“Maybe not that long. A burger, ramen, scratch that, pizza instead of a burger.” Hunk rubs his chin thoughtfully sniffing the air and following his nose to a food stand. You trusted him for food. He had a knack for combining goo and exotically colored food that screamed fake and poisonous into pretty great meals.

Keith was still holding your hand, not as a loose afterthought: every now and then he’d rub his thumb against the back of your hand and it sent a thrill down your spine.

You don’t pull away, wanting to savor the feel of his skin against yours even if it wasn’t that deep. You’d hugged and napped with everyone at least once, grabbing each other’s hands in the confusing crowded hovels of swamp malls (actual swamp malls and not places Coran thought of as a swamp mall).

You nab a table outside the stand.

Everything was in Galra which none of you could read. “Damn,” you mutter looking over.

Hunk glances at Keith without subtlety.

You were starting to think only Allura and Shiro could do subtly.

Keith raises a brow.

“Nothing,” Hunk looks down at his screen.

“Point and hope for the best it is,” you shrug.

“I love a good surprise,” Hunk nods, then looks down at his hands, “we’ll see each other again right? Shay…they’re pretty safe. And well…yellow’s got thick armour.” He sighs, resting his cheek against his fist, elbows on the table.

“Shay’s a badass,” you confort Hunk, “she figured out how to communicate with the Balmera and through the Balmera. She’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty freaking amazing,” Hunk blushes.

You order from an alien that somewhat resembles Ezor, all cotton candy color, and twiddle your thumbs, enjoying the rare moment of rest and relaxation.

“I could get used to this,” Hunk comments, savoring the strange dish he’d been served.

“Get a travel food show,” you tease, “I’d watch it.”

“It could be like this all the time,” Keith muses hopefully, “aren’t planets like this proof we could all get along.” He bites into the glowing blue lotus root shaped meal, and blinks widely.

“What,” you ask, looking over at him.

Keith grabs a napkin and spits out his food. “I think I just lost another tooth.”

“You think,” Hunk raises a brow, “how could you not notice a missing tooth?”

“Smile,” you nudge Keith sitting next to you.

He rolls his eyes, before fake smiling which was always so undeniably forced when he did it. You laugh, nodding, “yup, missing tooth.”

Keith frowns for a second, before continuing to eat.

“Oh,” Hunk utters, before he kicks your leg lightly.

You look up, meeting the yellow paladin’s searching gaze.

He looks at you with a knowing smile.

Heat rushes to your cheeks, the tip of your nose burning hotly, you look down, shoving a questionable sticky black slice into your mouth. It was easy to chew despite the sticky-ness, the flavor starchy and nutty.

There was no way this wouldn’t get back to everyone else in the Castle. No way.

They were all so nosy.

Oh fuck.

——————

“It sure is hot in here,” Lance says with a challenging smirk at Keith.

You roll your eyes.

Lance stretches, resting his arms against the back of the sofa, his hand tapping annoyingly against your shoulder.

Keith is unmoved. Or more accurately, Keith’s mouth twists as he tries hard to ignore Lance’s latest attempts to get him to remove his hat, a lime green thing that clashed perfectly as was his fashion sense, or lack of any fashion sense.

Pidge smacks her head, then peaks curiously at Keith: at Keith’s hat.

You flick Lance’s cheek. “Hey hot shot, don’t hug me when you’ve set the thermostat to ninety degrees.”

“Ninety five actually,” he winks, hugging you towards him. Ugh, you couldn’t do it. You’d already done away with your afghan coat, tied your lavender flannel around your waist, what more could you do. You didn’t have shorts in space. The skirts stored in the castle were breezy, but made you feel at risk of tripping over the hem with each step.

“Hm,” Keith voices, taking a seat, “reminds me of home.”

Hunk snorts, “really thought that through,” he tells Lance.

Lance is undeterred. “Could go higher.”

“I don’t think your cow would like that very much,” you point out.

The blue paladin sulks, looking down at you, “you’re just saying that because you like-”

You jab your elbow into his side.

“Ow! What ever happened to do no harm?”

“Technically,” you tell Lance, “I never graduated.”

“She’s got you there,” Pidge smirks from beside Keith. She was taking apart yet another radio. The signal had yet to reach earth.

“Thank you Pidge.”

She shrugs, “It’s true.” Then turns on Keith, “The hat, explain.”

He looks like he wishes he could merge with the sofa at that, slumping in his seat.

You decide to step in, “I’m going to turn the thermo down.”

Lance is quick to wrap his arms around your waist and pull you back onto the sofa, “come on, relax. Like mullet said, it’s homey.”

You throw him a dirty look.

“Keith?” Pidge side-eyes her fellow paladin. He’s sat up, gripping the sofa cushion so tightly he’s ripping hole into the ten thousand year upholstery.

“You okay there buddy,” Hunk asks.

“No.”

“Oh.”

Keith sucks in a breath, and with deliberate motion, pulls the hat from his head.

Oh.

Your eyes widen.

OH.

His ears had changed.

They weren’t nearly as alien as Allura’s, but no one would mistake their shape for human. Keith’s ears tapered up and out, portrudding, but it was more than just a pointed tip, the entire shape of his ears had transformed, resembling a butterfly’s wing. It was still human in color, but…

Hunk breaks the stunned silence first, “so are you going to like to end up purple?”

Keith ducks his head, wrapping his arms around himself.

No one else gets the chance to further interrogate Keith, or hear his own thoughts, because Allura calls everyone up to the bridge.

Lotor hailed the Castle of Lions. Everyone stands around the bridge while Shiro and Allura take the lead as usual. They might as well be twins given how well they got on, communicating differing ideas without undermining the other.

“There are nine warships in the system,” Lotor acknowledges, “I would be much indebted if you would do me the favor of sending Voltron for the aerial battle.”

“The Empire’s presence is still in its early stages,” Acza explains, “but their terraforming development for the planet will cause the destruction of the Talpidae living there.”

“Then we have no choice,” Allura clenches her fist, never one to sit back while there was something she could do about it, “we will provide air support. Sent me the coordinates so that I may Teleduv there.”

Lance is still obviously eyeing Keith’s latest development. It was readily visible, and you were fighting the urge to do the same.

But you weren’t also trying to flick his ears.

Keith growls lowly.

Lance sniggers.

Pidge offers Lance a piece of paper to make paper balls with.

Hunk sighs long sufferingly, having resigned himself to the more childish side of his two friends. They were terrors. Put Pidge and Lance together, and they were gremlins out of a horror movie made for elementary school teachers.

You slip your hand into Keith’s, squeezing reassuringly. It would take some getting used to like anytime someone got a new haircut, but you would. Like his atrocious boots, they’d become an endearing part of him.

Keith squeezes your hand back.

Shiro nods, agreeing with Allura, “have the Talpidae been contacted.”

“Very much so,” Ezor chimes in, “they’re funny little people. And their sensory-”

“The point Ezor,” Lotor sighs, rubbing his nose bridge.

“They sent for help to the rebels. We were closest to their system,” Exor elaborates with a shrug, “they do not have the background to fight head on, and will evacuate most of their people into bunkers, but they have been digging under the new construction and weakening the structural integrity of the Galra outposts.”

“Very well,” Shiro accepts, “Princess Allura and our chief medic will meet with the Talpidae as a show of goodwill.”

“Our only medic,” Hunk points out.

Keith growls, his hand squeezing yours hard.

You all look over at him.

“Red Paladin,” Allura says, trying to look as professional as possible in front of her least favorite of Voltron’s allies, “is something the matter.” She shares a look with Shiro, but otherwise looks unsurprised at Keith’s less than human ears.

Or maybe she’d make a great poker played.

“Can’t you meet with the Talpidae after the battle,” Keith utters harshly.

“They may need immediate tactical support,” Allura reasons, “we should be there in person to provide it.”

“It’ll be fine Keith,” Shiro adds.

Their words do little to calm Keith down. His dark silky hair puffs up. His grip on your hand tightens and you feel miffed. You’d been on the ground working triage before. You might not be a fighter or pilot but you could look after yourself.

You pull your hand out of his. “I really don’t see what the problem is,” you tell Keith pointedly.

“I’ll watch Allura’s back and she’ll have mine.”

Allura nods. “Our chief medic is correct-”

His ears twitch, “You’re not exactly a fighter.”

Shiro covers his face with a hand.

Your brows furrow. You’re livid. “So! I won’t be fighting. We’ll be in the bunkers with the Talpidae. It’ll be safe so it doesn’t even matter.”

“If it’s perfectly safe then you don’t need to be there,” Keith’s voice breaks, a whine escaping his chest but you don’t care, done with the conversation.

“Yikes,” is Ezor’s quiet whisper.

You’re not a paladin so you don’t care, you just stalk off the bridge ready to go scream into your pillow in frustration. Or better yet, go for a swim and scream underwater.

“Wait-” Keith follows you.

You ignore him.

“I just-,” he keeps trying as you stalk down the stairs, deciding your room was better after all if only because you could lock Keith out.

“Listen-,” he whines.

“I didn’t mean-”

“You didn’t mean what,” you round on him, hands on your hips, pissed off and maybe some of its was from being stuck on this stupid ship all the damn time but like eighty percent was earned. You might not be taking on a squad of Galra soldiers, but you could take one on if it came to it.

Keith at least has the decency to look miserable, sad chirrups in his throat as he crosses his arms over his chest and looks at the ground.

“Well?” You tap your foot on the ground.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” he finally manages. “Especially if you don’t need to be there.”

“But I do,” you counter, “There’ll be people running into those bunkers having escaped soldiers and sentries and the faster they get treated the better chance they have.”

“I didn’t mean it,” Keith repeats himself. “You-you can hold your own.” He looks up at you through his bangs, still hunched in on himself.

“Obviously.” There’s no heat, the anger having deflated already. It was just white hot ache in your chest, hurt at the idea that Keith thought you would get in the way, that you had nothing of value to add to the Alliance and Voltron.

You bite your lip.

Don’t cry, you think to yourself.

You were being dumb.

He was just being plain stupid.

“I mean it,” Keith repeats, “I’m sorry. I was just looking for an excuse to make sure you were safe.”

“Right, because Allura can handle herself but I can’t.” Your voice cracks.

“No,” Keith says in a rush, “it’s not the same.”

“Because I can’t fight?”

“That’s not,” Keith runs a hand through his hair, “It’s me okay. I’m-I’ve always jumped into things without thinking, but I decided to go for it, like breaking Shiro out but now I’m doing things before I even notice and it’s all these stupid Galra instincts!”

You swallow.

“I’m sorry,” he tells you once more. “I didn’t mean to and I’m sorry. No one thinks you can’t handle yourself. That’s why Shiro paired you up with Allura, because he knows you’re capable of watching her back.”

Your smile is fragile as you look over at him, “yeah?”

“Yeah.” Keith holds your gaze, looking as skittish as a stray dog. Another whine escapes his throat.

What the heck.

You hug him, “you’re such a dumbass.” You understood why he’d worry. This was war. Pidge was on a two man campaign with Shiro to get Matt to stay on the Castle, both scared witless that Matt might die on a mission with the rebels. Ulaz had died so everyone could get away.

You’d had patients in the last decaphoebs you could do nothing but ease their pain. You’d had patients that you couldn’t even administer anything for the pain because of how torn apart they were: guts spilling out, charred people shapes that you were surprised to still find breathing.

The images would never leave you as long as you lived.

“I’m sorry.” Keith buries his head in the crook of your neck, his breath tickling your skin sent shivers down your spine.

You hug him tightly, aware that every battle could be your last: the last time you saw him. “You’ve said that already,” you tease, memorizing the smell of him, stale sweat and something cloying that you had wanted to bottle up from the moment you’d met him and had never found on anyone else. As embarrassing as it was to admit to anyone other than yourself, Keith smelled good. Really good.

Most people smelled like nothing at all.

He stiffens.

“But it’s nice to hear again.”

Keith smothers a laugh.

You kiss his hair. Boys were so dumb.

He purrs.

You smile goofily, warmth building under your skin, and toes curling up in your shoes. You should say something. Right?

At some point?

Or maybe it shouldn’t be said under the looming threat of an upcoming battle.

Fuck.

You can’t decide, so you say nothing at all.

——————

Bombs still pelt the surface.

Your teeth chatter as the ground shakes even deep underground. Even more soil falls onto you. Your spacesuit was more oche than white at this point as you carry an injured Talpidae in your arms. It’s arm had been completely blown off. Sluggish blue blood oozed out.

Allura was last, tailing the group.

You reach the bunker.

The sentries had followed some of the feeling Talpidae into the tunnels, but they’d been sorted out.

The people here were strange, russet in fur colouring, with no discernable eye, just strange pink flagella protruding from their nose and large claws for digging. They stood at about Pidge’s height.

The bunker seals and you get to work.

Tourniquet here, pain patch there. There were so many of them banged up.

The fight continued on the surface.

The paladins had to form Voltron.

You and Allura work as a team, she takes the bruises and broken bones with no immediate risk of death. You triage the worst of the Talpidae, giving away your precious stash of painkillers to those you can’t save and are not in for a quick death, a Talpidae lies twitching, it’s nose blown off but alive. Another holds it’s hand, but shakes their head when they look at you. They weren’t going to make it.

Training kicks in and you focus on saving those you can.

Your hands stain blue from the blood.

Allura works alongside you.

You cauterize a Talpidae named Soedob’s hand, the claws on their right limb were gone, but most of it was spared.

“You smell Galra,” Soedob utters, blinking out of the pain induced haze as the painkiller kicked in.

You half hear, half don’t, so focused on the task at hand. It was easier to not stop until you were finished and could curl up and sleep and not think about blood and war and Zarkon.

“We have Galra allies,” Allura answers diplomatically, leaving the issue of the half Galra paladin alone.

It irked you.

“No, not them,” Soedob notes. “Those had a different aura.”

“Smell,” you guess, finishing off. You hoped the fighting ended soon. You supply was not unlimited. The castle had better facilities.

“Is that what you call it?”

“Our primary sense is sight,” Allura explains, giving you a long look.

You shrug. You hadn’t even seen any of Lotor and his team. There hadn’t been time. It had all been relayed over coms, over video.

“Another then?”

You swallow thickly, flushing with embarrassment because you both spent time around Keith but Soedob was only smelling him on you and it’s not like you had been doing anything intimate…well, it had felt intimate, hugging Keith, but it wasn’t anything like when cadets snuck into each others dorm room, shoving a sock on the door handle in the universal symbol of don’t bother us. “The red paladin is part Galra.” Mercifully, your voice doesn’t shake from the embarrassment, but you can’t look at Allura.

“Ah,” Soedob nods, neither outraged nor pleased.

Then there’s no more time, you have more Talpidaes waiting for medical aid. You give their own healers some of your supplies, freeing up Allura to find the clan leaders.

You can feel Allura’s questioning glance on you.

——————

“Team meeting in the mess hall,” Shiro calls over the coms system.

“Mess hall,” Pidge rolls her eyes, “it’s the dining room.”

You snort.

“I like to think of it as the dining room too,” Hunk offers. “I mean there’s only eight of us. It’s sort of like being home again.”

“Mess hall makes me think of the garrison,” you admit, falling into step besides them. “and the food.”

“Ugh,” Pidge groans. “That was the worst. Matt wasn’t kidding.”

“It does make the space packs easier to digest,” you muse, “maybe that was the point.” It took the garrison two years to get to Mars. It was funny, once you’d thought that was a long way from home.

“I liked the cheese garlic bread,” Hunk allows.

“Food goo,” Pidge grins, “or the garrison space food?”

“Food goo.” Hunk doesn’t even have to think.

“Food goo,” you agree. “Though not Coran’s paladin special.”

“You don’t even eat that,” Hunk huffs, half outraged half amused, “you’re always like well I’m not a paladin so…”

You laugh. “Seeing it is more than enough.”

The rest of the ship’s inhabitants are already there waiting for you. Lance is trying to teach Coran how to play slide, moving very slow as he claps their hands together.

Shiro and Allura are in easy conversation. Her mice scamper around her feet.

Keith looks absolutely miserable next to Shiro, folding himself into the smallest possible size, trying to disappear. It was hard to reconcile the Keith that was quiet with the Red Paladin that shot first and asked questions later.

You smile at him, excited to see him, but also figuring he could use some reassurance, whatever it was going through his head. Keith meets your gaze and the corners of his mouth turn up, before he ducks away.

You know better than to take it personally.

It was Keith.

Your toes curl inside your shoes and you bite back your smile, suddenly aware of how much you might be revealing and not wanting Lance of all people to start a meeting by commenting on it. For him, it might be all fun and games, but you weren’t sure what to do with these newfound warm and fuzzy feelings. You sure as fuck didn’t want to be called out on it.

You weren’t sure what to do about liking Keith so your current plan of action was: nothing.

“Thank you everyone for being here,” Shiro claps his hands together, his leader impression defaulted at awkward dad. He thought he always had to be on. Despite being the most trained out of us, he’d only just started his career during the Kerberos mission.

You wonder if he’d picked up his leadership style partly from Pidge’s dad.

“Where else would we be,” Pidge shrugs, never one to miss a shot.

“All the same,” the older man smiles.

“Yeah, no problem my dude, bro,” Lance flashes finger guns at Shiro.

You snort, taking a seat between him and Hunk.

“But seriously, what’s up,” Lance leans forward. “Or is this some lowkey way to keep us on our toes,” he winks at Allura who smiles indulgently.

“I await the news alongside you paladins,” Allura answers, hands resting in her lap. She looks over at Shiro.

The whole room turns to look at Shiro.

He had called the meeting.

Meetings tended to be informational in nature: updates about the expansive war, rebels hailing Voltron for intervention, the Blade passing on the rare bit of information, and the always popular distress signals. But Shiro and Allura both looked too calm for that.

Keith goes rigid, a spring wound up too tight.

Hm.

You wondered if the elephant in the room would finally be addressed.

Shiro puts his hand on Keith’s shoulder, smiling encouragingly the way a parent dropping their child off for their first day of school would, “go ahead Keith.”

The red paladin focuses his gaze on Shiro, his expression more sour than it’s been in a long time.

The past few years had done a lot to get him to open up to everyone on board, but right now, he looks exactly like the stubborn closed off cadet he had been back on Earth.

His ears twitch slightly. He manages to look even more taunt, and you wonder if he’s going to wave this off. Then, he lets out a breath.

His body is stiff, but Keith no longer pulls away from Shiro. He looks down at his hands pensively, nails cut to the quick. “Right.”

You can feel the nervous energy of the rest of the room, leaning in, waiting to see what Keith wants to say.

“Mhm, go on,” Lance says, chin in hand.

Hunk elbows him in the side.

“Hey!” Lance is about to start in on Hunk.

“Guys,” you snap, shoving Lance’s shoulder.

“Okay, okay,” Lance zips his mouth and throws away the key, “shutting up.”

“Looks like that didn’t work,” Pidge snarks.

“Paladins,” Allura’s clear commanding voice rings out. When everyone shuts up again, she nods at Keith, “you may continue.”

He looks up at everyone through his bangs, “I’m going through Galra settling.”

Hunk looks over at Allura, who was far more familiar with all this alien mumble jumble than anyone else.

Shiro squeezes Keith’s shoulder.

“And that is,” you prompt gently, before Keith hastily decided that was all he needed to say and left.

He meets your waiting gaze. Under the ship’s bright rooms, his eyes were obviously violet, heavy on the purple. He’s chewing his bottom lip like he isn’t sure he wants to go through with saying any of this and you wonder if he must be thinking of how weird things were between everyone when he learned of the alien part of his heritage.

Your mouth quirks up into a smile.

You were more than willing to stuff someone into a cryopod if they bothered Keith. He may be part of Voltron, tasked with defending the universe, but you’d make sure there was someone to defend him.

An embarrassing rush of heat bubbles under your skin. You look away, nervous.

“Shiro,” Keith asks.

Shiro nods, wrapping his arms fully around Keith’s shoulder. “Galra settling is when Galra,” he looked like he was trying to figure out exactly what he was talking about as he said it. Aliens were weird. “When Galra reach a certain age their appearance locks in.” Even Shiro looks a little puzzled. He was a pilot, not a biologist. You knew organisms back on earth who could manipulate their genotypes, generally sex changes with the right environmental conditions, but you weren’t sure there was anything comparable to whatever this was. “The Galra are apparently very adaptable in individuals. That’s why there’s such a range of them.”

Huh.

That explained the fur, range of tails, more reptilian looking once, and the eyes.

You wanted a Galra biology course, a full semester long one. What exactly caused such a plasticity in their phenotype? Did the trait have to be encoded in their genotype to appear or was there something freakier, Allura’s space magic, going on?

“-because he’s half human and we don’t go through anything like this it’s more painful than it would be. Lotor said the chameleonic abilities of Alteans helped him when he went through this,” Shiro finishes without a satisfying or thorough explanation.

At least Keith wasn’t dying.

Thank god.

Thank whatever freaky Altean magic existed in the universe.

“So,” Lance starts, “it’s Galra puberty.”

In a split second Keith loses any self consciousness about the situation, “it’s not Galra puberty!” His hair puffs up and you have to fight the urge to laugh, covering your face with your hands.

“There’s…” Shiro glances at Keith, before Lance and Keith could really get into it, “there’s more.”

Keith looks mullish, but ultimately gives Shiro the go ahead.

“Part of these..changes,” the black paladin explains, “have brought out some Galra instincts.” Clearly he was having as much trouble grappling with what this meant as Keith was. Your body suddenly deciding to change was no fun when you had no context for it. “Among them, the need to scent family…”

Pidge tilts her head, “is this like the most convoluted and emotionally constipated way of asking for a hug,” she asks Keith.

Keith smiles wryly, “pretty much.”

“Oh come here dude,” Hunk grins, engulfing Keith and Shiro in a hug.

“Ah number four,” Coran points up in the air, “I am now just recalling the galra that lived on Altea having explained this once, of course it didn’t occur to me because of the apparent dominance of your human genes.”

“So they’re actually co-dominant,” you muse as Lance drags Pidge along for a “group hug!”

“No.no,” Pidge makes a half-hearted effort to wiggle out, being a younger sibling herself, was used to being subjected to affection. She smiles even as she struggles.

“It would seem so,” Coran nods, “though not every gene.”

“Just these.” You wonder if there’s a space equivalent of the human genome project.

“Lance,” Keith yelps, “that’s my foot.”

“Buddy, I am not feeling the love here.”

“Is it working,” Hunk asks, peering at Keith, “are you going to turn purple now?”

“No one turns purple from hugs,” Keith replies, annoyed but makes no move to pull away.

“Thank you for trusting us with this Keith,” Allura smiles, her eyes crinkling.

“Get in on this too Princess,” Shiro motions over, before catching your gaze, “you too. Don’t think you can get out of this. You’re part of Voltron too.”

You snort, and join the group hug.

Pidge’s elbow is a bony thorn in your side and there’s the slight hum from Shiro’s prosthetic, but it’s a good mix of warmth and intimacy with the people you were closest to in the entire universe. Allura’s shoulder presses into you back and it’s sort of ballooned to ridiculous proportions, Keith somewhere in the center of it all, his hair barely visible to you.

“Add cuddling Keith to the chore wheel,” Pidge proposes.

Keith groans.

“How about we let Keith decide,” Shiro proposes.

You snort, knowing him too well. “Are you willing to take that risk? Died-from lack of hugs.”

Lance laughs.

Shiro looks convinced by your stellar argument.

“I’m not that bad,” Keith grumbles.

“You’re a terrible hugger,” Lance argues back. “You’re all stiff, like you’re enduring one of Iverson’s paradox sims. Not as bad as my abuelo but still.”

Keith lunges for Lance.

Someone topples over.

Everyone falls.

You laugh, smothered by limps and someone’s hair in your mouth…maybe Hunk’s? You don’t move, worried about kicking someone’s head.

From somewhere, Keith does that low rumbling chest noise that reminds you of a cat purring happily.

No one makes fun of him for it.

——————

“You should comb your hair before we take the pod down,” you tell Keith. You’d spent your free time before this alliance dinner scrolling through a datapad, trying to learn names, where they hailed from, species, things that may prove useful.

Half a varga ago, Keith had found you balled up on a sofa, and sat next to you, his way of asking for physical comfort. You’d obliged him readily, throwing an arm over his shoulders and spooning him as you both laid on the sofa. He was already in the paladin uniforms that Allura had dug out once the alliance became a reality instead of a loose string of rebel groups fighting the Galra empire.

You’re both short and slight, fitting together perfectly.

You squash any feelings you have, this wasn’t about you, it was about him. You’d done it a thousand times with Hunk or Lance, fallen asleep listening to Allura, why should Keith be any different? (You know why.)

He’s reading the screen with you.

“I doubt they’d notice,” he remarks as you scroll to a particularly vivid color alien race with sensory appendages sprouting from their heads.

“You have a point desert bum,” you tease, “I’d rather be a bum by a beach town. All surfer bro.”

“Can you even surf,” he asks flatly.

“No. Learned how to swim at the garrison,” you admit. “But tanning by the water has to be more appealing than roasting under the Texas sun.”

“I like the desert.”

“I know.” You were pretty sure everyone just liked their homes.

“It’s quiet,” he admits, “and watching how the sunlight transforms the landscape…”

“It’s too big and wide,” you admit, thinking of space. Flat land that went on forever…empty dark space that went on forever.

“Good for driving,” Keith smirks.

You laugh. Or course that’s where his mind went. “Sure, but it all looks the same, everywhere you turn.” It was disorienting. To be fair, you were a city girl. Your background noise was cars honking and people yelling even at four in the morning. The garrison had been a big adjustment.

“It’s really not. You just have to look.”

“I’ll trust my gps,” you counter, “not my sense of direction. I’d probably end up one of those cautionary tales about mirages and deserts.”

“You can’t really get a good signal,” Keith replies lazily, his body slack against yours, “out there. It’s best to mark a trail with chalk if you don’t know the area.”

“But you do, know it I mean?”

“Out past the Garrison? Mhm. All of it. We used to go hiking…before,” he trails off.

You press your lips to his hair lightly, before shifting, “my arms asleep.”

“Sorry.”

“I don’t mind.” You sit up, “it’s nice. I used to put my sister to sleep this one year she had nightmares almost every night.”

“You miss her,” Keith states, sitting up, looking at you with his intense expression. Having someone focused one hundred percent on you was a new experience. He wasn’t thinking of a thousand other things, just you.

“I do. I miss everyone, but,” you shrug, “I’ll see them again. Meanwhile you’re stuck with me.” You smile fondly at Keith. “I’m going to change before we have to go to dinner.”

“I’d take fighting Zarkon anyday,” Keith mutters, cringing at the upcoming show of diplomacy. There was so much smiling and hand shaking. It was exhausting to be that extroverted with a roomful of strangers.

Even Lance zonked out after these things.

“Knock on wood,” you laugh.

_____________

Treaties have been signed. A wrecked Galra fleet floats in space above the planet your on today, but today’s battle is won.

One of Lotor’s General’s is here, Acza. She’s wary, and surprised at the warm reception she’d received. She might be Galra, but she’d been crucial in taking down the Galra base’s shields. Biolocks, Zarkon should really rethink those.

You sip at your thick drink, warm and flavored like cinnamon oatmeal, that chases off the chill of the night. The idea had been to sleep, your hands still ached from all the sutures and stitches you’d woven, but Allura refused to hear it, dragging you along. There would be time for sleep on the Castle, she’d claimed, joyous to have helped another besieged planet.

“My congratulations,” a Blade utters from behind their glowing mask.

You jump, not having known there was even a Blade here. They were allies, yet their anonymity that made them so useful in information gathering, created a gap between you. You had no way of knowing who this person was. Their suit obscuring any details, the mask a rank.

You couldn’t even see their eyes.

“For what,” you ask, puzzled. You hadn’t fought. Your skills made you most useful after the battle, trying to save lives and patch up wounds. It was important and emotional draining work, but you hardly won battles.

Because of the mask, you can’t get a read on their reaction. Blades. Spies. Maybe if you could see their eyes…

They nod, and walk off without explanation.

You watch them go, still confused until they disappear among the bodies loitering around, celebrating liberation.

It was a feat to disappear when you were eight feet tall.

First the Galra had avoided you like the plague, the black plague, now they were being cryptic as fuck.

You lean your head down, trying to sniff your armpits without making it too obvious. Was it the blood? Or the space bleach? That tended to linger.

You didn’t smell that bad. Certainly like bleach and rubbing alcohol…

You take another sip of your drink, looking around for a place to sit. You’d been on your feet for too long. You wanted to sleep.

Someone would find you.

You wander around. Smiling when someone notices you, and thanks you and you hurry to get away before they ask you a hundred questions. There were only eight humans in space. Well, seven and a half. You stood out.

They wanted Voltron, but you would do.

“There’s space here,” Acxa calls out.

“Thanks,” you plop down next to her, sagging into the seat. Oh, yeah, you were so freaking tired.

“Of course. You look dead.”

“Yeah,” you look around the rebel camp, “I’ve no clue how they have the energy.”

“It’s like that everywhere. This is their home,” Acza offers, “people fight hard for their homes.”

You nod, before looking over at the alien woman, “not avoiding me anymore then?”

She shrugs, not disputing the allegation. “No need anymore, now that you and Keith sorted yourselves out.” She’s so blunt about it. “Galra are so sensitive when settling. We didn’t want to cause any incidents.”

“Is this about the scenting?” You still hadn’t had time to read through the information you’d gotten your grubby little hands on.

She nods.

You put your drink down on the mossy ground. “Yeah, Keith explained it. Well, Shiro did, really. Lance is over the moon about having an excuse to bother Keith.” Now you really all were a family. You’d named it outloud.

Acxa’s brows furrow, “Lance?”

“I think he just misses his family a lot,” you offer. “We all do and while we’re family too, it’d be nice to see our family back on earth too.”

She frowns. “Keith and you are not,” she asks slowly.

“Me and Keith,” you flush, ducking away from her. “No-I, no. We’re not.” You should’ve gone back to the Castle the moment Allura turned her back. She would’ve never known.

Acxa’s frown becomes tinged with anger and worry, her hand grabs your wrist. “Galra have more than one type of scenting, between families, and between partners.”

“Oh.”

You try to connect the dots but your brain gets stuck between ideas. Scenting. Keith. You. You and Keith. It was right there but-

“Keith isn’t marking you as family,” she explains slowly, “he’s marking you as his partner.” Acxa waits until her words sink in before adding, “to do so without letting the other know…” She makes it clear what a social taboo that is.

But you’re one step behind her.

Did Keith like you?

You think back to all the times you’d been with him in the past few vargas, trying to pinpoint any hint: he’d smiled at you but he was happier now in general so it could be a coincidence…

“If you need,” Acxa offers, “I will help clarify the situation.” It’s an awfully kind gesture.

“No,” you say in a rush. “no. It’s-I think I need to go talk to Keith.” He’d known what he was doing…you could draw a thousand conclusions but nothing would be better than confronting him about it.

“If you’re sure.”

“I am,” you stand up, glancing around. During parties, Keith tended to find a quiet corner out of the way. He’d opened up, but he was still more of an introvert.

You find Keith lying stretched out in the shadow of a makeshift building, looking up at the stars. It’s his eyes that give him away, reflecting the light enough to be inhuman, nocturnal vision.

“We need to talk,” you wrap your arms around your body. You weren’t angry, just confused. Didn’t he know he could just come talk to you about it by now?  

Keith looks up, startled, then stands. “Alright.” He sounds resigned, a man sentenced to detention for a month which was janitorial duties at the garrison. It kept even the most smartass cadets humble.

You look around.

No one was really here. You could hear the music and people a bit further into the heart of the camp. Here was good enough.

“I talked to Acxa,” you start, “she said-” you look down at the trampled vegetation underfoot. It was embarrassing to your human preconceptions to even think, let alone say, which was why you were pretty sure Keith didn’t mean any harm. Scenting meant nothing on earth, where he’d grown up. “She said you’ve been scenting me, which like I know but not that way?” You look up at him as realization sets in and he ducks his head, looking away. “Is it true?”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “I-,” he takes a deep breath before ranting, the agitation and months of buried emotions flooding out, “I hate this. I hate that I can hear the conversation outside and smell which direction  Shiro’s in and how much my eyes hurt on the Castle from how bright it is but I don’t-I can’t say anything because I’m already enough of a freak. Before I was just the weird kid but now I’m just a fucking alien freak! There’s always so much going on and I don’t even know what’s next!”

You wait, wondering if there was more.

It was a lot of changes.

You couldn’t understand, there was nothing in your life comparable to your biology deciding to be a little more Galra after twenty years.

“And I tried not to-,” he admits, meeting your waiting gaze, “I tried to leave everyone alone so you wouldn’t,” Keith swallows, forcing himself to continue with an obvious disgust at himself, “you wouldn’t smell like me or whatever Lotor explained but I couldn’t-it was driving me crazy like this itch, this buzzing under my skull and seeing you guys with others-I thought I was going crazy until Lotor explained. And then when Lance would ruffle my hair or you would check that I wasn’t about to fall over and die and-,” he waves his hands in the air, “I would just zone out.”

“Oh,” you utter, recalling past events with a newfound understanding. Keith had been reaching out, all instinct even when he was trying not to be a bother. It broke your heart, how he always came from the perspective that he was an inconvenience.

“I did know,” he says in a small voice. “That-you…but I don’t know if it’s me or this, or all these things happening to me.”

Your expression wobbles. You bite your lower lip, trying to get a handle on it. How silly to worry about a crush when Keith was going through it.

“I like you, but I don’t know if I like you or if it’s just these stupid Galra instincts messing with my head.” Keith deflates, drawing into himself. “Everything

s…it’s been a lot.”

“I get it,” you utter, “maybe not the situation but I’m not mad. Though Acxa was ready to kick your ass and she totally could,” you try teasing.

But Keith flinches, looking away guiltily.

“I’m joking. I-I get why. It makes sense. It’s a lot to get used to.” You swallow, not sure what to do about anything either.

“Its a huge offence,” Keith utters, “that’s why she was pissed. Made worse because you can’t even tell…I-I couldn’t think straight and I…it took the edge off.”

“Scenting me?”

He nods.

You take a step towards him.

“I-,” Keith’s eyes meet yours, his attention entirely captivated by you. It sends a thrill down your spine. You’d seen how he could be when laser focused: on piloting, on training. “I know they say it’s wrong but you and Lance do stuff like that all the time. And I thought…I figured I could figure out how much of what I’m feeling is me and how much of it are these new instincts.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” you tell him. “I-you’re right, it’s whatever to me. Like, a Blade congratulated me earlier which was weird but fuck them you know? I can ‘smile and nod’,” you smile as fakely as possible to show what you mean, “through it so long as you’re okay.” He’d bled in your lap.

Keith looks a little unsteady, unsure what to do with your lack of anger. “You don’t-”

“So is it like galra marriage then?” You were curious as to what exactly the Blades were going to gossip about you and Keith.

He makes a choked sound. “Sort of. They bond. It can be broken but that generally means someone killed the other.”

“Let me guess,” you reply, “Zarkon fucked even that up.”

Keith nods.

“That guy’s the worst.” Your voice is light.

Keith snorts, smiling for a split second. “I won’t anymore. I’ll-”

“Keith,” your voice cracks as you out your hand on his arm to keep him from rubbing off, “if its really causing you all this additional confusion in too of everything…you can…” the words were too intimate to say, too charged with a sensuality that he clearly was figuring out. You were willing to wait. For him.

He was conflicted enough without you dumping your feelings on him.

“You don’t-”

You raise your hand, caressing the side of his face with the back of your hand, ghosting over the purple mark on his cheek, “I don’t mind.” Sure, you had a crush on him, you could admit that much, but more simply, you loved him.

This was a small ask.

Your gaze flickers to the tips of his ears.

You had washed his blood off your hands.

“Besides, shit’s hard enough. My arm falling asleep is a small price to pay if I can help you.”

Keith’s mouth quirks up in a smile.

You laugh, “come here.”

It finally sinks in that you weren’t just talking bs. You meant it, as you hug Keith, wrapping your arms around his middle. He smelled good in spite of the battle he’d been through earlier.

Without really thinking, you breathe in the scent of him.

Keith hugs you back, cuddling you against his chest, resting his chin on your shoulder.

You yawn. “want to sneak back into the castle?”

“Only if you tell Allura you’re the one who wanted to leave,” he deadpans dazedly.

You laugh.

——————

“Come,” Allura motions as you stand from one of the Castle’s weapons systems, “we must meet with the rebel leadership on planet.”

The planet was a farming camp.

The slaves were overworked and underfed and they had still revolted when they learned Voltron was near. Now, they were free.

“Princess,” Coran calls out, “it appears that number four is heading back to the ship.”

A pained expression crosses Allura’s broad features, her full mouth frowning, before she decides to pick her battles for the day. “I am sure Keith has a good reason for his actions.” She sounds like she’s trying to convince herself.

You don’t want to go down there either.

This entire last week had been spent synthesizing medicine and treating thousands of people made harder by the range of species. The garrison better give you that medical degree immediately.

“I’ll go check on him,” you say automatically, “he might need me to prep a pod.”

“Fantastic idea number five,” Coran believes your excuse.

“Let us know if anything happens,” Allura says, giving you a long look, before heading for the exit.

The central Galra soldiers had been taken out, but small bands of fighters were still fighting to their last breath. It’s why Voltron has remained on the planet.

The lions had roamed the landscape answering calls for aid and hunting down the last of Zarkon’s forces here.

You meet Keith in the red lion’s hanger.

He’s popping his helmet off, running a hand through his flattened hair. “I thought you were headed out with Allura?”

You shrug, suddenly feeling awkward. “I was, but I wanted to check on you first.” That was a normal thing to do for your friends. There was no reason to overthink things.

“I’m fine.”

He sets the helmet aside, working on undoing the armor off. There was dirt and dust but thankfully no blood to speak of, his or otherwise.

“Then I’ll see you there,” you ask.

Keith looks over, a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar, his smile slight when he replies, “I’m not heading there.” Blunt. Concise.

“It is depressing,” you admit. There was so much resource allocation and need planet-wide.

He raises a brow. “Oh. Yeah.”

“Keith?” Now you’re wondering what the real problem was. “What is it?”

“Does it matter. I don’t need to be there. Shiro and Allura can handle it.” He looks away, suddenly very interested in the wall. Unlike the rest of the ship, the red lion’s hanger was dim, in a permanent night cycle.

Pidge’s work.

“I think the people would like all of Voltron present.” Then you make a face, “oh god, I sound just like Allura don’t I?”

Keith laughs, “just a bit. As long as you don’t make us all meditate…”

“It’s so boring. I fall asleep.” You smile softly, “Seriously, go down for a moment. Then you can hide out here.”

“I-I’d rather not.” He shifts uncomfortably. “Four out of five is is fine.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand,” you agree.

“I’m sure they’ll be glad.”

“Keith-” you start, knowing he already felt hyper aware of how his appearance had changed. Before, it hadn’t really ever come up outside of the team. No one would tell and if Keith wasn’t vocal about it…now everyone in the entire universe probably knew.

There were rebel Galra, mostly in prisons and work camps. Feelings varied.

“That’s not true,” you say, not sure if it was true, “you helped free them.” You shift your weight onto your other foot, “there’s a few assholes everywhere.”

He gives you a long look. “The Galra enslaved all these people.”

“Pfft,” you wave off, “you look like one sixteenth Galra. And-”

“They stare.”

“Because you’re a paladin,” you reason. “Pidge is also cranky about the attention.”

Keith sighs.

The paladin armor lies in a discarded pile.

You step forward to him, “anyone would be lucky to have you as a pilot. And Voltron sort of lucked out when the red lion chose you.”

Keith’s eyes widen as he looks at you, pink dusting his cheeks.

In for a penny, in for a pound, you lean forward and kiss his cheek, ghosting over his skin, “face marks and all.” You can’t meet his gaze when you pull away, blushing fiercely.

Why did you do that!

God, you were so dumb-

He cups your cheeks and brushes his lips over yours.

Oh! Oh.

“Is-is this okay-,” Keith starts asking.

You feel giddy, smiling before kissing him. Yeah, it was okay.