#I always enjoy discussing Shiro with you and reading about your love for him.

[kismetconstellations]

♡ ♡ ♡ for @sockdooe

[ursae-minoris-world]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @starlightvld- thank you!!! ☺️

1. How many works do you have on A03? 42! (neat!)

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 140,503!

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly vld. I have a Good Omens fic and always want to write more and a few fandom that I'm tempted to write for, but I'm still very much in vld.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? - Breaking point (vld, sheith) ; A little mouse told me (vld, sheith); Flowers and Blood (vld, sheith); A cure to loneliness (Good Omens, ineffable husbands)

This gets long so I'm adding the rest under a read more!!

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! I do! Sometimes I can take a little long but I really enjoy talking with my readers!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Just a call... (vld, gen) I think! It's an open ending, but it ends up on a frustrating note (which was the point).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Oh man, they almost always have a happy or at least hopeful ending. Let's go with A little mouse told me (vld, sheith).

Oh, hey, fun anecdote! Someone commented on Stay with me (vld, sheith) to tell me it was the 200,000th work in the "happy ending" tag! They had just witnessed the tag going up to that number with my fic!

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not so far, thankfully. (Happened once on fanart though, but it was just one dumb comment by an anti).

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I haven't so far, I'm not really interested in writing it (never say never, though!).

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Well, I did 2 fairly recently for a crackship event! It was loads of fun. The craziest might be A Mysterious French Chef, which started as a Hunk&Remy idea, but ended up involving Hunk, Allura and the space mice for vld, and Linguini, Colette, and Remy for Ratatouille, and everyone interacting pretty significantly. I really loved mashing the 2 universes, and for something that started as a "crack" idea, it ended up working surprisingly well!!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of. I've had some original (anonymous) poems that I cowrote with a friend plagiarized down to using our actual pseudonym, but that wasn't in fandom or even online!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I don't think so.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! Five times Shiro broke the rules, and one time Keith did with VirdisDrachen (vld, Shiro&Keith). It's based on a roleplay. Other than that, while it's mostly an artist+writer big bang collaboration, I think Square_Orange and I did discuss the plot a fair amount for Let It Snow! (vld, sheith).

I also have 2 fics that are remixes of other people's work, done for the sheith remix event : When you lived! (the “Enormous, within your small hands” remix) inspired by a fic by @annaofaza, and High Score! (the “I want us forever” remix) inspired by a fic by Tragedy_Machine.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? To no-one's surprise: sheith.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I am fairly good at finishing my wips, even if I do have some stuff that has been waiting for a while. I still have my notes about Keith grieving Shiro between s2 and s3 and how the team tried to support him and each other but how things became tense, that I wrote just after s3 aired! I still hope to get to it one day!

There's also the collab with VirdisDrachen tbh because we dropped the rp after a while and I wouldn't finish this alone. So I'm afraid this one will stay as is.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm good with dialogues and characterization? Themes like friendship, found family are my jam, too. Of course it's subjective.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I am learning, but action and fight scenes are *hard*. (But I also love them? haha). On the exact opposite side, stories with very low stakes are sometimes hard to write, when it's just 100% fluff and no conflict, unless it's like, a short scene... It's easier with some emotional or romantic build up (ex mutual pining > getting together) but otherwise I really have to *think* to plot the fic. I'm so used to stories centered around conflict (in the literary sense, including inner conflict, not necessarily an actual fight).

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I agree with @starlightvld that if it's a language that I'm not personally fluent in, I'd look for a native speaker who might want to help or avoid it. Except maybe for conlangs, like Sindarin or Klingon. Although if I ever write in a fandom with something like that, I would f*cking love to get insight from one of these people who actually studied them and are fluent. In a more general way, I'd be cautious that it actually brings something to the story, that it makes sense to use the language that way, and to do it in a way that doesn't confuse readers too much (unless I am purposefully writing for those who know the language, I guess). I will say that I do love different languages to be aknowledged, like for vld fics that actually dig into the paladins having different languages, and the Galra and Altean also, and so on (ex fics where they have universal translators and then there are issues when they break or they can't rely on them for whatever reason).

19. First fandom you wrote for? Voltron! My first fic was a Hunk-centric gen fic, While some count sheep, and I'm still really fond of it!

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Oh, that's hard, I like them all for different reasons. I do enjoy Carry me away for the sheith saving each other vibes. A little mouse told me (sheith written from the space mice pov) was such a fun exploration! Honestly, the most kudosed ones in question 4 are all fics I am proud of. To chose a lesser known one, I also love A special day , a vld gen Hunk-centric fic!

Tagging... @sodomhipped, @tomatocages, @an-aphorism @museaway @jacqulinetan @levyscripts @annaofaza and whoever wants to do this!

(also no pressure at all if you are tagged!)

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

Please may I have a Blue exorcist fluff scenario of when Yukio's wife (Yukio's wife, his childhood friend considering that you knew him very well. She is a highly skilled Paladin and a loving mother) is right about not needing to worry about leaving Shiro (your son, who is also Yukio's son *Shiro certainly looks like Yukio when he was a little boy*..he was named after Yukio's foster Dad who died due to unforeseeable circumstances..) with Rin for a bit so she and himself could have a break for a while because parenting was exhausting. She had never seen Rin so gentle..she thought he was nervous about having to look after his 3 year old nephew for a bit..but he rose to the occasion very well..Shiro was holding a sleeping Kuro and was certainly interested in the storybook that Uncle Rin was reading him.

Yukio and female reader are aged up and stuff and that goes the same for Rin.

Hi! Thank you for your request! Sorry it took so long. I hope you like the scenario!

Fandom: Blue Exorcist!

Character: Yukio Okumura x gn! Reader (uses female anatomy)

Word Count: 0.6k (673 words)

“Are you sure they’ll be okay?”

You glanced across at Yukio and sighed. This was the fourth time he had asked you that question since leaving home.

This was the first time you and your husband, Yukio, had been able to get some time to yourselves since your son, Shiro, had been born three years ago. Rin had offered to babysit while the two of you went out for an anniversary dinner.

And while you were touched by Yukio’s concern for his son, you were certain he just needed to relax and trust his brother.

“They’ll be fine. Rin’s good with Shiro and, if worst comes to worst, Kuro is with them as well and we’re on speed dial.”

“But-”

You laid a hand on Yukio’s arm. “Yukio. They’ll be fine.”

The tension in his shoulders loosened and he let out a deep breath. “You’re right. I know they’ll be okay. I’m just worried.”

You nodded. Secretly, you had a few misgivings of your own. You were certain Rin would take good care of Shiro but he hadn’t looked after the boy alone before and you were worried he would be nervous and let his nerves get the better of him. “I get it, I really do. But we’ve got to take advantage of Rin’s offer and enjoy our night out without Shiro. So come on or we’ll be late for our reservation.”

~

You walked towards your front door, arm in arm with Yukio. You had both enjoyed your evening but were looking forward to being home and seeing Shiro.

As you approached the door, you noticed a distinct lack of noise coming from the house. You double checked the time. Late enough that Shiro would normally be in bed but you knew he was always more energetic when his Uncle Rin was around. And surely Rin would still be awake.

So why was it so quiet?

Yukio exchanged a concerned glance with you before unlocking the door and pushing it open. Inside, the lights were on but there was no sign of either Rin or Shiro.

Not wanting to call out should Shiro be asleep, you both made your way quietly through the house. Without discussing it, you both seemed to be making your way towards Shiro’s room. The closer you got, you began hearing a soft noise.

Together, you and Yukio slowed your steps, creeping towards your son’s room. The door was open and, from the gentle light streaming into the hallway, you guessed the nightlight was on.

This close, you could tell that the sound was Rin, talking quietly. You and Yukio glanced around the doorframe.

Rin was sitting on the side of Shiro’s bed, reading one of Shiro’s storybooks to him in a gentle voice. Shiro was staring at Rin, his eyes wide as he took in the story being told. Kuro was curled up in Shiro’s arms, his eyes closed and his chest softly rising and falling.

Rin’s ears twitched and he stopped reading, turning to see the two of you in the doorway.

“Hey, you’re back.” He turned back to Shiro, “Your parents are back, Shiro.”

Shiro blinked out of his revere and looked across at the two of you, smiling widely. “Hi! Uncle Rin was reading me a story!”

You smiled back at him and nodded, crossing the room to stand beside his bed. “He sure is. Is he doing a good job?”

Shiro nodded. “Yeah! He’s really good at reading!”

“Well we’ll leave you to it. Have a good sleep Shiro.” You pressed a kiss to your son’s forehead and walked back to Yukio.

“Goodnight Shiro.” Yukio blew his son a kiss.

“Goodnight dad.”

You turned back into the hallway, turning so you were hidden from view. Once Yukio joined you, you smiled at him. “See, nothing to worry about.”

Yukio smiled softly and nodded. “Yeah, guess so.”

You grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hallway. “Come on. Let’s leave them to it. I think there might be some dessert in the fridge.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, did you enjoy this? If you like my writing, please consider donating to my Ko-Fi page! This will allow me to make some money off my writing, something I enjoy doing.

ko-fi.com/justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms

Important Note: Please only donate if you are financially able to. If you are currently in a position where you can't donate, a like, comment or reblog will mean just as much.

[silverineontherun]

A list of some of my VLD fics

Heya! I’ve seen some new people following me here and I thought it’d be good to greet you all first! So, hi! I’m Mila, AKA Silverine on AO3, and I love writing for VLD, klance being the owners of my heart. I decided to rec some of my own klance fics for those who may be interested, since I haven’t updated my fic masterpost in a looong while 😅 here we go!

fake, not fate || One-shot, post s5, T rated || Canonverse, Soulmates AU, Fake dating, Fake marriage, Marry or die, Mind reading (a lot, I know)

Lance messes up during a mission and crashes into a sacred place. As if that wasn't bad enough, he can't leave unless his soulmate comes and marries him in a... questionable ceremony. Well, he just has to fake a relationship with any of his friends and get over with it... right?

it’s the little things || One-shot, s6, T rated || Quantum Abyss, Keith and Krolia bonding, pining Keith

Keith and Krolia share a moment in the Quantum Abyss, discussing Keith's feelings for Lance.

a gold for a gold || One-shot, Modern AU, T rated || Divers!klance, Proposal fic

At the World Championship, the Kogane-McClain team is about to participate in the high diving competition, but one of the team members is more anxious than he should. The gold medal is not the only gold at stakes here...

5 reasons to stay || Incomplete 4/6, post s6, T rated || Kinda fix it, canonverse, road trip shenanigans, feelings realization.

After their scarring battle against Lotor, Lance gets sick and he confesses to Keith he just wants to go home. But now that Keith has found his own peace, he will try to convince Lance during the long road back to not quit by showing him a few reasons to stay around. Five curious, bizarre reasons, to be exact.

that’s you in the mirror || Complete, 7/7, post s7, T rated || Body Swap, canonverse, Garrison, mutual pining, mentions of allurance (no real romance as in canon)

While trying to understand the mystery of the fallen Altean, Lance and Keith suffer a magical accident and end up swapping bodies. It’s definitely not the best moment for any of them-- not while they’re coming to terms with the confusing feelings they have developed for each other.

you’re always welcome here || Complete, 3/3, post canon, M rated || PTSD depictions, mild smut, Farmer Lance (gets better), family bonding, team bonding, Near-death experiences, feelings realization, Pining Keith, Healing Lance (altean marks and canon compliant, I’m sorry if it’s not your jam).

An unexpected tragedy that occurs during his work hits Keith harder than expected, and his fellow Blades decide it’s time for their leader to go back home. But... what is “home” exactly? Is it a what, or is it a who?

I’m particularly proud of the last one, just so you know lol. I’d also like to recommend these two for other ships:

Because summer will come || Shatt, one-shot, Modern AU || Writer!Shiro x Editor!Matt.

Matthew Holt is a young and enthusiastic editor for Altea Publishing House, a renowned editorial company. Being assigned to his favorite writer ever, Matt is delighted to finally meet the idol he imagines as an old, kind gentleman… but Mr. Kuron, A.K.A. Takashi Shirogane, is not what he expected at all, and his wish to make him write a bestseller at any cost could be the biggest challenge of his career... and also his personal life.

Two of Cups (Say You’ll Be Back) || Romellura, one-shot, Modern AU || Psychic!Allura x Normal Pining Lesbian! Romelle (lol)

Romelle had a friend at school who had a very special ability: she could see the future and warn people about future events. However, their friendship ended abruptly when Allura suddenly disappeared from her life, giving her her first heartbreak. But a decade later, a certain tarotist appears in town, and Romelle’s life may take a strange turn...

If you check any of these, I really hope you enjoy them! I still write for klance so if you have prompts there’s a chance I’ll take it if I have enough time :D

[robynmarkius]

Language Differences

So I have a bit of a long ramble, which involves Spoilers for the end of 5.3; obviously. Some of it’s already out there as I replied on mobile while half asleep, but it led to talking to the lovely @shiro-from-cafeberry​ about the German text. (Once again, thank you so much! I enjoy talking to you! :D <3 I have discovered I have even more questions for you to help with. lol) I then bothered my friend and co-writer @xehniscreations​ about French and she said it’d be a good practice to shake off the rust. (She ended up translating the whole ending scene for practice! <33 lol )

This all started because I am married to a man who has a degree in Linguistics and a simple questioning of one line/part led to hours of jokes and discussions. Which then turned into me putting my game client into two languages that I don’t speak a word of just to see what a character said... XD And! And! Learning a few other things along the way. I’ve been having so much fun with this and I hope you all can too. Plopping a cut here so as not to completely destroy anyone still trying to avoid Spoilers... or those who want to prepare some tissues. lol

I have cried a lot in the process of this entire Translation, and keep crying. lol As long as this post/translator ramble got, I made sure to post the ‘screenshot comic’, “Remnant” [as its own post] for the sake of focus. That was the scene that started this trip down the rabbit hole, after all. xD

After three days of editing this post, I decided to split it, so that this was just the ending scene. There’s flashbacks I also covered, but this was getting extremely long and I realize that I had not asked Shiro about the first flashback at all! So I still have things to finish and more to talk about before I have more.

For now, though, let’s talk!

Part One: Elidibus’ Explanation

The lines in question came from when Elidibus picked up the crystals, then told us he heard the voices of despair/cries and lamentations of his friends. After which there’s a slightly awkward explanation about how there were lots of opinions and thoughts about the world/star, which led to Elidibus pulling himself free of Zodiark in order to help his friends. It bothered Hubs because it felt kinda “clunky”; he explained:

“I think it’s because of a general norm of Japanese society we hear so much about. That it’s important to have a consensus and not to stir up trouble or stick out too much; which is how that part kind of reads. Your direct Translation is fine. I just feel like the localization team just kinda gave up when they wrote the English version. They could have give a little more context on it when they wrote it. Instead, what happens is, it feels out of place and awkward where it is. It also doesn’t give the context of when Elidibus freed himself from Zodiark. Is there any context that says that wasn’t when Hydaelyn shattered the star into the reflections or Shards?”

Putting aside his question about when Elidibus actually separated from Zodiark for now; as that’s a whole ‘nother discussion that’s rather interesting; I finally understood what he meant by my Translation felt clunky. It was accurate to a “direct translation” versus a “localization”. I re-translated the whole part just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, and made sure that the final lines I wrote in English still made sense. lol

First, I wanted to note the differences in terms; in case I slip when putting this together. ^^; The literal translation of 「十四人委員会」 would be "Fourteen-person Committee"; but in the context of FF14, (at least in English,) we call it the "Convocation of Fourteen", so I try to stick with that for final translations. What makes anything with the Ancients more difficult, is that they're not speaking a language that we can immediately understand, but rather making sounds that our Echo/超える力/l'Écho/Kraft des Transzendierens interprets into words we/the WoL/WoD can understand. The downside is lack of clarification for actual translation if you don't fluently read or speak another language. lol

For example, when Elidibus speaks, we hear the words spoken, so if there's a kanji that's said more than one way, I can hear which definition is correct by listening to the sentence. But the Ancients' "woop woop wop wah wahp woo" is harder to interpret... but, at least it's the same in every language, right? XD For German, they have “The Convent”, and French has “The Council of Fourteen”.

Second, in English, we called him “The Emissary”, which is another term for “Mediator; Arbitrator; Go-Between” which is the definition of the term 調停者 [shouteisha] , his Japanese title. When translating from German, Shiro used the term “The Advocate”. His French title is “le Médiateur” His role seems to be the same, at least, he settled disputes, found the facts, kept things in check, and generally maintained balance. That was the seat of Elidibus; which is necessary to understand why he said what he said about being needed. (Those titles come from the first flashback as well as the second one; which I’ll get to in the next post. <3 )

The English lines that started this conversation are: “Divided -- over the fate of the star. A rare occurrence, always fleeting. But not this time. Not this time... Reconciliation. Elidibus. I was needed. I withdrew myself from Zodiark. For them...”

Japanese: 世界の行く末について、たくさんの意見が出た…… そんなことは珍しいから、委員会のみんなが悩んでいた。

だったら、エリディブスが手助けしに行かないと…… そう思って、ゾディアークから零れ落ちたんだ。

Final Translation: (after edits and all this discussion) "A great many opinions were expressed regarding the fate of the world, Everyone in the Convocation was troubled, since such a thing was unusual.

That being the case, I could not go help them in my role as Emissary. I believed that they needed Elidibus, so I pulled myself from Zodiark.”

In French, from Xehnis: "Le Concile avait perdu sa cohésion...Face à l’anéantissement, les avis divergeaient sur la marche à suivre pour sauver notre planéte…

Ça ne leur ressemblait pas...Plus que jamais, ils avaient besoin d’Elidibus...Ils avaient besoin de moi...Alors, je me suis détaché de Zordiarche pour voler à leur secours…”

Her final translation: “The Council had lost its cohesion...In the face of annihilation, opinions differed on the way to save our planet…

It does not resemble them...more than ever, they needed Elidibus...they needed me....so, I detached from Zordiark to fly to their aid…”

The German lines, from Cafe Berry’s Shiro, along with the explanations: "Die Zukunft der Welt hing in der Schwebe und Chaos machte sich breit. Die Ascians waren zutiefst gespalten. Der Konvent uneins..."

Here, they are talking about how the Ascians, and most importantly, the convent is divided. How the future of the world was not clear and with that chaos spread.

"Elidibus, der Fürsprecher, musste etwas tun. Ich musste etwas tun. Und so spaltete ich mich wieder von Zodiark ab ..."

Here, Elidibus says that Elidibus, as the Emissary, had to do something. HE had to do something. So he split off from Zodiark.

Their translation they gave me then, was: "The future of the world hung in the balance and chaos spread. The Ascians were deeply divided. The convent divided ...

Elidibus, the advocate, had to do something. I had to do something. And so I split off from Zodiark again ... "

This was the part that my husband had called into question; with my original translation to:

"Many opinions and thoughts came forth, regarding the fate of our world.... The Convocation was worried, as such a thing was unusual."

世界の行く末について、たくさんの意見が出た…… そんなことは珍しいから、委員会のみんなが悩んでいた。

The literal translation of it all, would be: "The world's future/fate concerning/regarding, a great many/a lot (of) comments were brought up/expressed......

such thing(s) are/is curious/rare/unusual because/since, committee of everyone("Everyone on the Committee") (was/were actively being) troubled/worried.”

There was also the lines that followed, which were also rough to word in English, so the whole section had felt awkward.

だったら、エリディブスが手助けしに行かないと…… そう思って、ゾディアークから零れ落ちたんだ。

“if that's the case, Elidibus (from) assistance (as/in the role of) to go/to do (could not),

so/appearing that/seeming that considered/believed/reckoned/judged/decided/desired, Zodiark (from) spilled over/scattered from (n'da - 'no desu' / 'no da' used to add emphasis)"

I had tried: "I decided that they needed Elidibus, but as I was I couldn't help them, so I pulled myself away from Zodiark.

Which was another way to put the idea of: "That being the case, Elidibus could not go rescue/help, I believed, then spilled and fell over/scattered from Zodiark."

It ended up: "A great many thoughts and opinions were expressed regarding the fate of the world, Everyone on the Committee was troubled, since such a thing was unusual.If that was the case, I could not give them assistance in the role of Arbitrator. I believed that they needed Elidibus, so I fell/scattered from Zodiark."

In the end, for this part, it really helped to learn what was said in French and German, because it helped solidify more what was trying to be said, and that there probably is at least a little societal influence in the Japanese text. If it hadn’t been for Xehnis and Shiro’s assistance, I probably wouldn’t have landed on something that felt comfortable enough in English. <3

They all feel different, but have the same general idea: that even after Zodiark was summoned; and Elidibus became his Heart; things hadn’t been fixed. Things continued to grow worse, and they began to fight, and have conflict. As Arbitrator/Emissary/Advocate/Mediator, Elidibus’ job was to maintain balance, and settle disputes, but he could no longer do the job of his seat as the Heart of Zodiark, and it seemed to be destroying the Convocation; making things worse; so he yanked himself out of a Primal to go tell everyone to SIMMER DOWN, NOW.

Sidenote/Side Question here... I wonder what happened with Venat and Hydaelyn...? Perhaps we’ll get clarification in the future, as the only person who’s become/been anything like Elidibus has been Minfilia as the ‘Words of the Mother’, then sent off as an “Emissary” of sorts to the First. lol

This all led to wondering about the last line; as it was clearly different in the Japanese Audio than the English Text. I do want to state that I think what they did in English worked just as well for the emotional gut punch intended from Elidibus’ last words; but it’s very different. It did lead to looking at the flashback in Anemnesis Anyder where we heard the line about the rain, which will be in the next post.

English: “The rains have ceased, and we have been graced with another beautiful day. But you are not here to see it.”

Japanese: 私が最後に残ったって……仕方ないじゃないか……。 Translation: “There’s nothing for it then, is there? I’m the last one left...”

French: Je devais partir en dernier... Comment aurais-je pu abandonner mes amis, esseulés en ce bas monde? Translation: “I had to leave last...how could I abandon (forsake) my friends, lonely in this lowly world?”

German: Es ist vorbei ... Alles verloren ... Ich bin der Letzte ... Translation: "It is over. Everything lost... I am the last..."

Japanese can also be read as “I’m the last one left... I guess it can’t be helped, huh?” but even in context, it didn’t flow quite as well as I’d like.. but that doesn’t take away from the crying, does it... ; A; I got the term “Remnant” from Japanese, where “watashi ga saigo ni nokotta tte” would literally translate to “I’m the final remnant”/”I’m the last leftover”, which I did word as “I’m the last one remaining/left.” (It is also 'Sumo term, cried by the referee to indicate that a rikishi is still in the ring’, but that didn’t quite feel right here, however, you can take the sumo joke if you’d like. <3)

I’m going to repeat that I think referring back to the line he was told back when he’d gotten the title of Elidibus wasn’t bad, and it did still work very well to convey that lost, lonely, longing he was left with as a remnant; what little was left of him, lamented the loss of his beloved people; people that he’d just wanted to save. This is evidenced in French and German; where he states that he’s all that’s left, everything is lost, it is over... that he had to go last, so he wouldn’t abandon his friends.

I appreciate that we gave Elidibus all the constellation stones, which, in a way, let him finally be with all of his friends once more. All the stones, except for ours; we kept that, because Hades made it for us. He made it for us to remember, so that the story of the Ancients wouldn’t be forgotten; the ‘truth’ he made sure he told us when we asked about the past.

At least, that’s what I choose to believe for now.

[Next Post >>]

[shiro-0197]

aw shiro, my love, don't worry about it!! i only hope you're okay and safe :d please only reply when you're free, and don't feel bad about it!! >:(

my day yesterday was okay, i've just been relaxing, and studying occasionally. went out to explore a nearby town too, it's so pretty there. and much colder (since it's a highlands) of course!! Today was great too. I bought doughnuts (they're amazing?? I love doughnuts), and I had instant ramen, but it was SO spicy I nearly died. (Three bottles of water later, because someone finished all the milk in the household *cough* me *cough*) and I'm still just reeling. Sucks having such low spice tolerance HAHA. I'm listening to some old school hip-hop rn, while typing this out :D how were your two days?

here are some i'll be using to teach english :d and that would honestly be much appreciated, he's getting on my last nerve rn. (I included the first few, what do you think?)

thats such a priceless feeling i so totally agree. you're so precious 🥺🥺 i'm sure they're prouder thank you imagine. you're so dedicated!! i'm sure all that extra research you've done will definitely pay off. it's good that you know what the job is roughly like, so you'll be really prepared when you finally do start it. you know that one scene, in the 2nd season of the great pretender? when the chinese mafia boss emphasizes the importance of a translator in literally everything? (like that book award example) i may be getting the thing muddled up, but i found that so cool. like yeah, a book or speech could be absolutely beautiful, but if everyone can't enjoy it due to it being a different language, it would be such a shame. i just find translators really important. sorry, i'm really dorky haha 🥺🥺

awww but i think your personality type is wonderful. a lot of my favourite characters are intj (they're all so precious istg grrrr) yes!! i was in a tooru brainrot yesterday too 😭😭😭 (saw a bunch of couples on my walk, and I was like "if only Tooru was real grrrr") and yes?? there'd be so much to learn from each and every one of them. dedication from hinata, savage lines from tsukki, kindness from yams/yachi, how to be a dork 101 from atsumu. aaaah 😭😭i'm sorry they're all so wonderful.

No pftttt I totally feel you. I saw some people without masks today and I was like "bro wtf" and just really loudly said "I sure hope everyone starts following the rules so the cases don't increase" because I'm a lil bitch like that xD

awww okay!! I'll definitely keep that in mind. Mayo makes everything better, tbh >.< aww that's understandable! I don't have specific preferences but hearing the phrase "soggy cheese" makes me want to cry somewhere :( I don't like nuts in chocolate. I'm very passionate about that? XD ikr??

I'm surprised too, I usually never pass on murder, but I guess you're just special like that 👉👈 sir I'd get married to you as many times as you'd like 😼 oops sorry for being cheesy, but—you like cheese ;)

U

I won't ask why, don't worry. Since I kinda feel the same about Malaysia tbh. It's a love hate relationship, I think HAHA but yeah 😣😣 i don't look up to US at all, and it sucks because people generally do. And I'm just like ;-; why (no offense to Americans tho lol)

is that even legal omg they're so chaotic?? XD how cute tho. Angel does stuff like that all the time too, but I'd never know that when I first met her (she has the most perfect exterior, and then when you get to know her; she's the biggest dork) Schools opening on the 20th, I can't wait to see her then :] (I can, however, wait for the exams which are scheduled for the 25th ugh)

peanut butter is indeed yellow, not up for discussion hehe :) here's my favourite hues!! I love gentle, soft hues like these (pastels) , for yellow; I don't have a favourite. they're all wonderful

ahhh no that's so precious of you!! :)) I'm smiling rn.

yeah skdhskdjsk I'M JUST SO GRRR. Whenever someone goes "hey Ari can you ______" and we both respond?? The tension?? In the air?? Bro skdjskks. 😔🤚 You share a name with one of the most precious characters too tho!!;

This is Shiro from Voltron hehe. I love him so much, just like I love you (tho I'm sure we both know I love you more <3)

I share a name with a book character. His name is Aristotle Mendoza, but his crush-turned-boyfriend calls him "Ari" (which has been my nickname since I was 12). Reading it for the first time was the BEST feeling ever. It's also my favourite book, "Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe".

—Ari :D (no pfttt I love the tag so much. I have my own tag, that's like the best thing ever 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺)

Heyyy I'm so sorry for answering so late!! I know you said not to apologize but..... well hmm no excuse I just feel like apologizing, but either way thank you for your patience!!♡ This is the third time I'm rewriting this, and this time I'm doing this in my notes because fuck it😔

Im glad to hear that!! Highlands are always so pretty. Wish we had those here, but it's only steppe here:( Boring~ ooh, donuts!!! They're really good. I havent much, but I tried them like 3 times and they're so good. I really hope I will get to eat more<3 also WHAT'S THOSE NOODLES' NAME I WANNA KNOW- Are you feeling okay now, though? XD

My days were nice!!! Felt as if I had been hiding three bodies, but I've been feeling better lately. We had online school yesterday so I'm excused from the errands for the half of the day, thankfully. But your messages make me very happy. Though I dont always feel like writing a response (or I get stressed because it doenst save) so very sorry for that😔

Ohh those look so pretty!! I'd totally join to just look at them. The colors are so nice🥺 it looks like one of our olympiad prep slides, though better. I dont have the screenshots sadly😩 Either way I really love the little details like the squiggly thingies or the Ж .... they seem unnecessary but the energy changes a lot without them hehe

I really hope they will be🥺 that'd mean a lot to me. And I'm also really hopeful itll work out. I really don't wanna disappoint my family, which is literally just one person. The less people there are, the more it hurts, you know?

Yeah, that scene meant so much to me!! I dknt remember much, but I was very happy they said something like that, because I've been told being a translator wont work out for me. Now look at me, I'm about to tell them to fuck themselves<3 I was also so surprised to see Laurent know that many languages ..... I aspire to be like him😩 And honestly, I havent though so deep of that but you opened my eyes and now I'm about to float off into the next universe😭 dont apologize though, its very cute!!!♥︎♥︎

Heheh, I guess you're right.. every single anime INTJ is a silent sexy mastermind and I love them . ... YEAH every single time I see a passing couple i cry because I dont have anyone 😡💔 and sometimes when I see people doing something amusing (which includes people failing cuz I'm evil) I just imagine one of the characters doing that and I smile all the way xD Honestly, I'd sell my father on black market for a single day with one of them:( though that may sound like a really low price because his cigarette filled lungs wouldnt cost a lot... I sound like my 7th grade self again I'm so sorry

BAHQHHANEJWJD I HOPE THEY WERE EMBARRASED. I HOPE THEY FELT AWKWARD AND OTHER PEOPLE DID TOO, they deserve it. Like, learn your lesson bitch, it's been a year!

Yeah!!! I love mayo, not to the point where I would gulp it down from the package, but it does make dishes taste good. Same, soggy cheese on itself sounds like a dish served in the ninth circle of hell. You should try nuts in honey!! Like, just straight up dip them in honey. Sounds weird, and it doesnt always taste NEJFJKSKF (depends on the honey)but I think it's worth trying xD Walnuts are the best with honey I think

That was so funny ... TOO FUNNY, I LAUGHED FOR LIKE . 3MINUTES STRAIGHT and I do not laugh when I'm tired. You really are special 😭😭😭😭 cheesy ... HAHRNFJJSF

I'm so sorry for being a bully like that but it's so funny how you left a single U there . Its so mysterious, was it in purpose? Or were you lost in the excitement if messaging me?

I was one of those people, honestly 😭 but mostly because I wasnt aware of its political condition, I guess. Maybe theres more than just politics that's bad about US, but honestly, it has more opportunities than this hellfire. Though now I'm more into Norway and Japan. Really wanna travel there :(

Heheh, yeah, we never really show off to strangers at first. I dont know what exactly I mean by we, but you get my point ♡ Good luck though!! I hope it goes well for you<3

Oh they looks so pretty!! They're really wonderful. Like bubblegum and cotton candy and literally anything sweet... it's so cute !!! And I totally agree, there isnt a bad yellow.

HAHAH, honestly, that reminds me of how there were 4 people with the same name in my class, and whenever the teacher did the attendance thing, they would all stand up. Teachers usually dont say the last names, so we always gotta ask which person they mean if theres more than one person with that name, so yeah.. That happened on accident at first, but then they just did it for trolling xD

OH MY GOD HES SO PRETTY? HES SO PRECIOUS?? HUHHH??? I gotta thank Kuro for this wonderful opportunity of sharing a name with someone like .... him🥺

Oh that's so cool!! Also, he has a boyfriend ... I really need to start reading xD it's so cute though! It sounds like such a good book, I'm glad you share a name with him, hehe!!

I also share my real name with one of the characters in a kids' show, and its SO ugly, I'm in pain. Every time my friends see one of those on TV they go

Which is a pain in the ass, it's so embarrassing...........

Awh, okay!! I'm glad you love it, cuz I do too. Because it's your name.... cuz I love u. That was so lame PLEASEJWJDJSJF I HOPE YOUR DAY WAS GREAT !!! LOVE YOU

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Eternal eclipse - Klance Month Week 4

I have no idea where I was going with this but it happened, so yeah. I do wanna redo week 2 of @monthlyklance at some point, but I’ve got a mer bang to finish, so don’t be too surprised if the last prompt for this week is late. Enjoy I guess. Eclipse/Victory

“I’m the sun and your the moon.”

“What does that even mean?”

“We’re apart, but an eclipse is a moment worth watching.”

Keith burst into laughter. “That made no sense.”

“Yes it does!”

“No it doesn’t.”

Crappy webcams couldn’t distort the pout on Lance’s lips.

“What I mean is when they do get to pass each other, it’s one of the world greatest wonders and us being reunited would be the airport’s greatest wonder. Or at least, me getting to see you would be mine.”

While the analogy made no sense what so ever, knowing that he was Lance’s always put a smile on his face. Even when they were miles apart.

He and Lance met at a convention and had a slight competition over who had the better mecha lion cosplay from their shared favourite show, Space Warriors. Keith wouldn’t admit it then, but Lance had won with his Blue Lion cosplay, seeing as the people he came with were engineers and had made the moving pieces of their costumes. Lance himself, despite being a professional stage manager, was able to create the light up weapons they used. Keith made his Red Lion cosplay with hard work and long nights but he was willing to wave the white flag, if Lance hadn’t been so smug about it. In the 3 days of the convention, they always seemed to bump into each other, competing over the smallest things, like who could get a better score in the game room or who could find the better deal on a plush in the dealer’s hall. Even though they spent a good amount of time arguing, Lance had given him his number and told him to call if he ever wanted to admit Lance was better.

Keith was mostly never planning but he was working on a cosplay and the top didn’t look right and he had no other friends who liked cosplay, so he texted Lance.

‘Ah, so you admit I am the better cosplayer. it’s fine, no need to send a voice memo saying so. By the way, the shirt is the wrong colour if that’s the character your going for. You can actually order to correct colour from Jo Anne’s if you want to make it yourself. Check H&M or Forever 21 for similar looking shirts in the correct colour.’

While he rolled his eyes at how utterly smug the guy sounded, he took his advice. It was easier to get the shirt and fix it up himself and it was actually surprising how close to the real thing he needed was. Their relationship continued in asking for advice on cosplays or line ups for conventions and then he happened to find Lance’s Instagram.

Keith kept his cosplays and personal life separate, but Lance combined everything. Pictures of his cat, pictures of the beach, pictures of his friends as they lounged around, somewhat professional pictures as Lance worked, even though Keith knew enough about theatre to know Lance should be completely in the dark in the booth. So, Keith started asking questions about his life, Lance asked about his and they started to become friends. Lance could still be as snooty about his cosplay skills as possible but he was always helpful when it came to offering advice. Somehow it took finding a small fandom they both liked to make them closer.

“Whoa, wait a second. You like Kirarin Revolution?”

“Yeah?” Keith had been playing his usual cosplay making focus playlist and the second opening had come on and Lance heard it over the phone.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone who likes that anime? Almost no one knows it! I’ve been trying to find someone to be my Hiroto to my Seiji for a cosplay. What convention are you going to next?”

“Um, Galaxy Con?”

“Prefect, text me your sizes. we’re doing a cosplay together.”

“Wait, my size?”

“How else am I suppose to make your cosplay?”

“Wait what?”

Lance would not be swayed and when he arrived at his hotel on badge pick up day, like a hound dog, Lance found him and put him in his cosplay to do finishing touches. He even styled his wig for him.

“Why don’t we do this more?” Lance asked as he fixed the feathered pieces for the coat.

“Because you live in LA and I live in Texas.”

Despite Lance claiming not a lot of people knew the anime, they had made quite a hit at the convention. He became good friends with Hunk and Pidge and got to see another side to Lance that wasn’t hidden in smugness. Lance was actually a pretty nice guy and once they had separated again, they still kept that closeness they gained during that convention. They had even started to stream animes together, texting each other on everything.

Even with the distance between and the fact that they didn’t always go to the same convention and see each other, they kept getting closer and closer. One day, they were video chatting and Lance had been falling asleep on himself. His cat had joined him and was asleep herself and looking at him with his face squished by his hand, his half awake eyes and how he was all cosied up, Keith couldn’t help thinking he looked really cute.

He might not of been one for relationships, but was he even considering doing a relationship when your significant other lived so far away. Ok, maybe not that far, but long distance was hard. There was a reason it had such a stigma around it, even if people claimed it could work out.

Keith broached the subject and while ecstatic that Lance felt the same, he’d been as worried as Lance was. They were such good friends, what if this relationship didn’t work?

It took a lot of communication to make it work. Keith tended to keep things inside, including his nerves about how to act around Lance when they could meet at conventions. Lance was always nervous he’d be too clingy. There was a good moment where they stopped talking because not talking meant things couldn’t change or get worse. It was miserable and if it hadn’t been for Shiro – and Hunk on Lance’s side – it would of kept up. Once they talked everything through, it got better. It wasn’t like they’d go ages without seeing each other. Keith always saved up his vacation days at the Fire Station for conventions and he was always working so often anyway that the guys kept insisting he take more time off. Plus they loved teasing him about Lance, trying to sneak into the background of any video calls.

Lance would talk to Keith during shows that he knew the cues for like the back of his hand. He considered it worth getting in trouble for. he’d always count down to the next convention they’d meet at, somehow always knowing where he’d bump into Keith. they’d been doing it for a year now. There were long periods were they couldn’t  see each other at conventions, maybe due to flight issues or work and the distance, while manageable, did hurt. Keith didn’t know why he didn’t just take a random week off when the theatre Lance worked with was in the dark and just spend the week with him. Maybe the fear that without conventions, they’d fall apart. Not a healthy way to live, which was why he was sure Lance announced on this very chat he was coming to visit him. Which kinda lead to their discussion on eclipses. When Lance was in town, in between actually hanging out and not sticking to a convention schedule, he wanted to make a couples cosplay with him. they’d been bouncing back ideas, almost going with Zuko and Sokka from ATLA (even though Keith knew he was more into Zuko and Katara), when Keith went on a tangent about the BNHA manga.

“You know I rarely read manga half the time.” Lance complained.

“I think you’ll like this one. The artist made this little drawing moon Todoroki and Sun Izuku and tododeku shippers have been going insane. it’s a whole huge thing now. I mean, everyone already says things like ‘oh the moon and sun get to kiss each other during an eclipse’. I must of seen 1000 fan arts of those two getting their kiss.”

“Oh! We should do that! it’ll be like us!”

which then lead back into their current conversation.

“Lance, when I get to see you, it’s not going to be a one time thing to kiss you. If it’s up to me, I wouldn’t stop. We might not even get any cosplay work done because I’ll be too busy kissing you.”

“Ooh, eternal eclipse. Kinda like the final battle with the Dead Moon Circus.”

Keith furrowed his brow. “What?”

“Sailor Moon? My god Keith, we might not be doing any cosplay stuff if I have to school you on essential anime.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “It’s not essential.”

“Keith, it’s changed the whole game. it’s essential.”

Keith could put up being school with ‘essential anime’, as long as he got Lance with it.

[kaito-yuki]

Shout Out Thank Yous!

Alrighty I can already tell that this is going to be a long ass post, so I’m just going to say general things here first. I will then address each mun under the Read More (there’s 20+ of you!), so search for your blog mentioned to find my message to you! 

This Fairy Tail OC blog is my 3rd most popular blog by follower count, just under my Vegeta (DBZ) blog which is popular because of the muse itself over the RPing. Kaito is the opposite, which is why I especially find it important to address and thank each and every mun who’s interacted with me through this blog. For actual posts made it is only second to my personal, which just affirms  that this blog has earned its popularity (and bronze medal) here in my opinion. 

I put in my all and beyond to this blog especially, how it’s navigated, organizing the threads and tags as much as I can so me (and you) can read back on things whenever we want, will use it as a template for my other muses/blogs too haha. Kaito (and my other OCs) have grown as characters thanks to the interactions here, especially when it comes to ships! I also have done the most mun/muse vs muse posts here (Shiro has his own tag FFS lmao), which I’m pleased that many of you are a fan of (the posts, not Shiro!) 

To all my followers, thank you for following and sticking with me, esp those from the beginning! To the other RP blogs I haven’t interacted with yet, I’d love to, especially you OCs! I want to also use this blog to advocate for other similar (OC) blogs, that they can also be great and relevant as canon ones with enough hard work!  Now onto the special thanks!

@crystaldragonslayer: Oh looks like the Queen Pixie has returned, the timing couldn’t have been better with your RP comeback! You are just one of the best RP partners out there, I am very grateful for the time and effort we combined together on our RPs/ships. Vivienne is just awesome and probably the main reason why Kaito is too, creating a OTP that deserves it’s own paragraph gdi!

+KaiVi: Kaito & Vivienne have a total of 69 threads by my count atm (I hope I miscounted lmao). I just love this OTP of ours to bits, it is a pleasure and honour working with you on them so far. I can’t wait to start exploring the next stage of their lives and beyond! You know what they say, ’First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes-”-mouth gets frozen by Kaito coz spoilers!- I’m so happy that KaVi has got at least a couple of fans too! Then there’s the AUs, and interactions with them with/and our other muses, so much to look forward to! It’s just really fun to just crossover this ship with others, with other muses ours and our RP partners! Highlights: Battle of Fairy Tail (Thread) | Song | Promo | Wedding (Art)

@starlightxveins​: I usually ship Kaito with Lucy romantically, I never would have thought they’d be the BrOTP too! Your Lucy is a delight and fun to interact with, crossing over the KaiVi, ShiroAqua, GraLu, JerZa and WendyCookies ships is just fabulous and I look forward to more of them (crack) [group] interactions lmao. Can’t wait to start on the other ships we discussed as well!

@celestial-weirdo-lucy: We may only have one thread on here, but I love it! Your Lucy is great, and it’s awesome I get to make a spin on KaiLu by having Kaito have a crush on her already lmao. Then there’s our other ships that I’m excited to develop too! Our KaiLu bodyguard AU is probably my favorite AUs which I look forward to sharing, I’m excited for our other  AUs too (like Gods and Bleach) and ships with our other muses, damn there’s lots to RP!

@celestial-keys-princess​: The Lucy that started it all, Ava you are first mun I approached in the FT RP community and became my guide to others. KaiLu is awesome and I thank you for going through plots and headcanons with me for them! Look forward to continuing their interactions when we do! 

I appreciate you also helping me expand Kaito’s Sabertooth verse with Minerva. Kaito’s ship verse with Tori is still the only one where it’s Shiro and the female teaming up against Kaito, which is so hilarious that I will keep it there lmao. Then there’s our other interactions/ships I’d be happy to get into again like Rukia/Aizen, Laxus/Tori, GraLu (with modern band AU) and Lucy/Jackal, who is atm growling at Lucy behind me because of and/or for her ear rubs lmao Highlights:  A Prayer in the Rain (Thread) | Song | KaiLu (Art/Promo)

@pitchblacksteel: Akira I just love your Gajeel, especially your ships with Lucy and Mira! I look forward to more interactions with him and muses on your multi (like Natsu and Erza!) Kaito still feels bad over the crap Shiro has dragged Gajeel (and Natsu) into lmao.

@poisonouslightslayer: Your Sting is the Sting me (and Kaito) think of whenever Sting is mentioned, you portray him with such depth, it’s really nice to read the posts I see from you! Our interactions also helped inspire me to add a Guild Master addon/verse for Kaito, would love to explore that too!

@itashiro-hitsuchiha​: Thank you for helping me expand Kaito’s Sabertooth and Kingdom Hearts verses, I look forward to continuing our threads with Harumi and Perix!

@dxvilishgrin: Our Kaiio/Mira ship started on Discord, so I’m happy we could also expand upon on it on Tumblr too! Also enjoyed the interactions with your other muses, canons and OCs alike!

@stellcrblossom: Rin I appreciate you and your OCs so much, you gave Kaito a [adoptive] daughter (Ember) and sister (Kamui), and pretty much helped extend his family and my OCs too. Also this helped me branch into going through the next generation of FT, got me working on my other ship’s children too which is appreciated! Can’t wait to RP as Issei (KaiVi’s son) when I’m done with his info! +SakuEm: Sakurai x Ember is one of my favourites and is awesome to see them upgraded to an OTP, and that we created a whole plot/saga/arc/war around Ember’s kidnapping. Can’t wait to continue that and crossover it with my other ships, it’s going to be awesome! Don’t get me started on our AUs, excited for them too! Highlights: Ember Fading (Thread) | Asterius Arc Promo & Graphic

@gureixfurubasuta: Your Gray is great, and I just love their brotherly (gay according to Shiro lmao) bond esp with their shared ties to Ul. Thank you for inspiring me to start my own Gray blog, even though it’s just so I don’t force anyone (like you) to RP Gray for Kaito, and look how that turned out haha. Your Gray (and Juvia) will always by my main for Kaito, and my Gray’s more angsty twin lmao. I’d be happy to interact more through our other muses too!

@sky-dragon-slayer-wendy: Your Wendy is so precious (and a rebel GDI lmao), I loved our thread together and would be happy to continue interactions when you’re free enough again! 

@broken-memories-and-silent-tears: Alice is great and I’m happy to crossover this with our Gralice ship, Kaito and Alice have a great sibling bond with my Gray (and Shiro) between them haha. I’d be happy to add Alice into my fan game as we discussed before way back too, esp now things are better on my end!

@imaginaryserver: Me and (my muses) miss you and your Mavis! Our Cards Against Humanity game is still a memorable time for me from way back, I’m still waiting for an artist to draw it!

@shrimps-variety-garden: I just adore your Levy and her ship with Kaito, the modern AU is especially interesting since it’s based on song lyrics haha. Looking forward to us RPing though to the endgame! Our ship also has helped me develop a more antagonistic version of my Gajeel which is awesome too.

@scythe-rps: Hiroshi is a better guy (and muse) thanks to his best friend Gyrain! it’s good that we can bring more focus onto the usually underappreciated Blue Pegasus! I look forward to when Lyon & Gyrain finally clear the air about their relationship lmao, and thanks for helping me develop Masaru more through their interactions! 

@sunaarashii: Thank you for interacting with Hiroshi, his ship with Cari is just precious with the thread we have currently, can’t wait to RP out what comes next!

@bunnysmultimuse: The thread with Sorano was fun, so I’d like to continue interactions (esp with the headcanons discussed) if you’re still up for it! That goes for Jellal with Meredy too!

@ultecr: Still have your post in my drafts, I know you said to take my time but even I know taking months is ridiculous lmao. I look forward to starting the Kaito/Ultear ship once I do reply, love your portrayal of Mavis too!

@herhorns:  I love seeing your Mira on my dash, especially her ships with Gajeel and Gray! Looking forward to interacting with Ravyn when we get to it, your art is awesome too!

@angelsoffiore: Welcome back man! Mizumi is a great OC and is why I approached you in the first place, so appreciate you still continuing our thread after so long. Hope to interact more with Mizumi, your other OCs, and your Laxus too!

[afinepricklypear]

Compare and Contrast: K Project vs. Bungou Stray Dogs - Part 3

**Disclaimer: I love both K Project and Bungou Stray Dogs. I highly recommend watching both of them. This series of Compare and Contrast posts I’m doing is merely for my own sake, to get these thoughts out of my head. If you are a fan of one show and not the other, please don’t read, or if you do, save your bashing comments for like-minded antis elsewhere. If you have not seen both, there are a lot of Spoilers ahead, please don’t read. I am heavily critical of both shows, so if you are someone who cannot handle negative things being said (I try not to outright bash and just provide reasonable evidence from the material to back my stances) about your favorite fandom or characters please don’t read. Thank you! ***

Read Part 1, Part 2

Characters

Both Bungo Stray Dogs and K feature ensemble casts, with large numbers of characters. That being said, the shows have vastly different approaches for how they handle those characters and those approaches impact the way they come across for the viewer.

One of the things that K does a hell of a lot better than BSD, is fleshing out and managing of its characters. This may in part be due to the fact, K doesn’t attempt to give all of its characters a starring space in the story. It’s comfortable letting some characters fall into the background, allocating them to the role of side characters. There are only a few members of each of our main clans (Silver, Red, Blue, and later, Green) that are given attention and the rest of the clansmen (Red and Blue are the only clans shown to have notable clans members who regularly show up and are given names and little else outside of our mains) fall to the background. For some people, this may be frustrating, as we don’t learn a whole lot about the rest of Scepter 4 or HOMRA in the anime, but narratively, I’m comfortable with it because I’m not asked by the show to care about those characters, and the characters that I’m meant to care about are given adequate screen time to develop them into someone who’s story I am invested in. That being said, K does have moments that utterly flop. Scepter 4, for me, beyond Fushimi, is an absolute failure in presenting itself as a likeable or, even, relatable organization of individuals (Full disclosure, I hate Munakata, and while Awashima has potential, she’s treated by the series as little more than a miniskirt and bad boob job obsessed with Munakata). They seem to be there only to be obnoxious. I get the sense they were originally intended to be viewed as villains, but they became so popular following the first season, that the creators tried to treat them more as heroes in the movie and second season. However, it was painfully obvious in the final episode of K: Seven Stories – Nameless Circle, as the surviving members of the Green, Red, Silver, and good Colorless clan members (Yukari and Kuroh) enjoyed their final farewells with their fallen clansmen (I dare you not to cry when Mikoto and Totsuka pour Kusanagi a glass and Yata takes Anna’s hand in the background), that Scepter 4 staring up at Munakata’s lost Sword of Damocles was the least humanized of the Clans. They lost nothing, they felt nothing, their presence in Nameless Circle was nearly pointless beyond fan service. Likewise, K heavily drops the ball in Season 1 with its primary antagonist, the Evil Colorless King, who’s back history, motivations, and even his (her?) name remain a mystery to date.

BSD starts out with an already large cast, and while Atsushi and Dazai might arguably be the “main” characters of the show, starring roles in various arcs and episodes are given to the other characters, as well. Most of those episodes, however, can easily be relegated to the “filler” pile. On top of this, BSD continually introduces increasing numbers of characters, it also likes to bump characters up from side character to more main character type roles, which only serves to take limited screen time from the initial cast of characters and ultimately fails to give itself enough space to flesh out the cast. Time constraints, of course, doesn’t always mean a character can’t be adequately developed (see the first ten minutes of Pixar’s Up for how it’s done right), but possibly, because of this limitation, BSD has a tendency to fall back on telling instead of showing. It also feels like many of its characters were not fully developed in the creator’s minds (this appears to have been confirmed in several interviews with the creators) when they started their story, so that when those backgrounds are revealed, especially in those far too often instances where characters that have interacted in past episodes and given no indication of a history between them are newly revealed to have a connections to one another. It feels tacked on and last minute, and consistency of characterizations is lost. As previously discussed in a past post for this Review Series, this may also be due to the fact that K was envisioned as a self-contained story, and BSD seems to have been developed as an ongoing serial without a predetermined ending.

For these next several posts, I want to do more individualized character analyses, but to keep things simple, I will only focus on the characters of K that are given focus in the story and I’ll try to reference only its anime (just to be fair, because I’ve read all of K’s extra materials, and have not for BSD because I lack access in my country). Likewise, I’m only going to talk about BSD’s characters from the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia, as well as, a few key villains like Shibusawa, Fitzgerald, and Fyodor. Once again, I will attempt to keep to only what’s been revealed in the anime.

A reasonable starting point on character analysis for these two shows would be our sort-of main protagonists. Although, BSD and K are both ensemble anime, they do each feature a character that may ostensibly be considered the “main” character, in the sense that they kick off our main events and are positioned as integral to all subsequent storylines. For BSD, that character is Nakajima Atsushi, and for K, that character is Yashiro “Shiro” Isana. Interestingly (maybe), these characters share a similar aesthetic. Both are young males, with white hair and light-colored eyes, they are also both small, waif-like, bishounen that might be better suited to a shojo or even yaoi anime, rather than leads on a seinen series.

At the start of both series, Atsushi and Shiro, respectively, find themselves thrust into a world of supernatural powered people in which they are targeted for reasons to be revealed throughout the story. The greatest similarity between these two, however, is that they are both weak characters. Neither one proves interesting enough to shoulder the responsibilities as main character of the show. You would be hard pressed in either fandom to find someone who would name Atsushi or Shiro as their favorite character. I’m not saying these fans don’t exist, because they do, they are just few and far between.

Shiro spends the first half of the first season trying to avoid being killed by the Red Clan, who believes he killed their Clansman, Tatara Totsuka, at the same time, he is trying to convince his reluctant ally and potential executioner, Kuroh, that he isn’t the Evil Colorless King responsible for Totsuka’s death. Atsushi’s story, on the other hand, begins with him finding out he’s an ability user that shapeshifts into a white tiger, and, subsequently, being rescued and recruited into the Armed Detective Agency by Dazai. Then the Port Mafia begins hunting him because a bounty has been placed on his head, conveniently only after he’s learned that he is the white tiger that he believed had been hunting him his entire life, he’s joined the ADA, and Dazai has the chance to warn him with a picture of Akutagawa “beware of this bad boy” mere hours before Akutagawa attacks him.

The initial drawback with both of these characters is that they are merely victims of the plot and not helping to drive the plot forward in anyway. Shiro only becomes invested in determining why there’s video footage of him murdering Totsuka because Kuroh demands he provide evidence that he’s not the Evil Colorless King or he’ll face justice at the end of Kuroh’s blade. When Atsushi learns about the bounty on his head that Port Mafia is pursuing, rather than show interest in why anyone would want to capture him (alive, to boot), he “nobly” decides to run away, in his naivete believing that it would spare the ADA war with Port Mafia.

Throughout the K story, we do see real change in Shiro’s investment in his own mystery when it’s revealed that his memories, and the memories his classmates have of him, are not real, but fabricated and imposed upon him and those in close proximity by the cat girl that’s obsessed with him, Neko, AKA Official Provider of Fanservice #1.  This provides a further explanation for why he’s so lackluster about pursuing the truth, she’s been bending his reality and his perception of it from the start. It isn’t until her ability and how she’s been using it is revealed, and she runs off in humiliation and panic, that Shiro begins to actively pursue the truth. Even before this, however, Shiro is shown to be a wily and clever character who is quite self-sufficient. In his first meeting with Kuroh, he’s able to escape Kuroh’s justice by lying and manipulating the swordsman. He later throws off the Red Clansmen pursuing him by appearing just as Kuroh is facing off against a very annoyed Yata and calling out to Kuroh as though they are allies. This falls in line nicely with the big reveal of Shiro’s true identity as the Silver King, Adolf K. Weissman. In flashbacks to an unnamed great war (FYI, people speculate this was WWII, which, fun fact, would make Adolf a Nazi, but because this story takes place in an alternate history of the world, it’s equally possible Nazis never existed), we see that Adolf was originally researching the Dresden Slate, a mysterious artifact capable of granting people mysterious powers.

As Adolf, Shiro is shown to be a light-hearted, goofy man with no place in war or battle (consistent with what we’ve already seen in the show). Nothing of his character feels last minute retconned, and no previously unheard of connections are revealed to other existing characters in the show that haven’t been heavily hinted at or already explained. He believes that his research will be helpful in granting people their wishes throughout the world, yet when his sister is killed during an air raid, he runs away, leaving his research and the Slate with his friend, a Japanese military officer who becomes the Gold King and curator of the artifact. This turn of events does grant Shiro greater weight as a main character, and an importance in the plot that doesn’t feel contrived or heavy handed. Hints exist early on that Shiro is not who he thinks he is, starting with his high school classmate, Kukuri noting in introductory scene that she feels like he’ll disappear if she takes her eyes off of him. After all, one of the things that K is often praised for is its mastery of foreshadowing, this comes from having a very clear idea of the entire story its creators hoped to tell and a firm grasp of the connections between all of its characters.

That said, Shiro still remains throughout the story as relatively uninteresting, serving more as a plot device rather than a character. After the Blue Clan, the Silver Clan is the second least relatable and their scenes in Nameless Circle also remain a bit ‘meh’ as the “losses” the Silver Clan experienced throughout the anime were far removed from the actual plot. They didn’t resonate. We see, in Nameless Circle, Adolf’s sister and the younger version of his lost friend, the Gold King, enjoying breakfast with the Silver Clan every morning on repeat. Yet, Adolf’s sister was never developed beyond “here’s a tragic thing that happened in Adolf’s past”, so it’s hard to really feel her loss. She isn’t a person but a plot device, used to reveal more of Adolf/Shiro’s character rather than having anything of her own. As for the Gold King, he suffers the same fate as Adolf’s sister, but also, he lived a long life, and died of old age, so his death isn’t any kind of tragedy in the same sense as Mikoto, Totsuka, or Nagare’s deaths. There’s certainly a melancholy to these scenes, Adolf misses his friends, but it doesn’t pull at the heart strings, quite the way the Red and Green Clans losses do.

The real reason that Atsushi is being pursued at the start of the manga is yet to be resolved. We’re given a loose explanation, a foreign organization known as the Guild put the bounty on his head because allegedly his ability is the key to finding some powerful book that can manipulate reality. When the main antagonist of the Guild, Fitzerald, is defeated, this explanation and Atsushi’s importance becomes all but forgotten in subsequent arcs featuring new villain, Fyodor Dostoevsky. Atsushi himself can best be described as whiny and severely underdeveloped. He continues to be a victim of the plot just dragging him along, but worse, he quickly becomes one note with the constant flashback to his Orphanage’s director telling him he’s useless and doesn’t belong anywhere. There are entire scenes dedicated to this refrain causing him to full-scale breakdown into bouts of self-doubt. All I can say is he was eighteen when he was “kicked out” of the orphanage, he had zero work experience, and when we find him at the start of the story, he’s only been on his own a couple weeks and is already considering turning to assault and thievery to survive. Considering that Dazai and Chuuya were sixteen when they became Executives in the Port Mafia, Kunikida is only twenty-two and has already had a successful career as a teacher before becoming a detective with the ADA, Kenji is fourteen when we find him at the ADA and a former hard-working farmhand, Kyouka is a capable fourteen year old assassin before joining the ADA, Lucy is eighteen and comes from a similar abusive background and is already busting her ass to work for the Guild and then the ADA’s favorite Coffee Shop (jobs she got herself, thank you very much, for spending anytime looking for her like you promised, Atsushi, you jerk), and so on…I’m inclined to side with the orphanage director: Atsushi is useless. It’s a good thing they kicked him out, or he’d probably still be a bum surviving off social welfare the rest of his life.

I also can’t help but agree with Akutagawa, Atsushi has practically had everything handed to him and yet still manages to pull a pity party routine on the regular. It isn’t long after getting kicked out of the orphanage that he’s taken under Dazai’s wing and handed a job with the ADA. This wouldn’t be so terrible if he didn’t constantly squander it, and consistently prove that he doesn’t earn it. It’s hard to like him, especially when the author seems to be bending the story over backwards to give him some semblance of importance in the plot to the point it hurts the narrative. This is best exemplified in Dead Apple. Throughout the entire movie, we see every other character acting to bring the plot forward, meanwhile, Atsushi spends the entire time whining that they need to find Dazai, because Dazai will know what to do. Bitch, Dazai is busy trying to outsmart two super smart bad guys; he doesn’t have time to also prop you up on your own damn feet. It gets so bad that even Kyouka becomes fed up and leaves him. It really says something that the majority of comments for the movie on CrunchyRoll are complaining about how whiny Atsushi is throughout the movie.

While some people are quick to defend Atsushi by pointing to his abusive childhood to excuse his behavior, it is worth noting, he is not the only character that has an abusive past and he is far from being the character who has suffered the most abuse, and that’s including the odd growth on the side of Dead Apple’s plot that is the inexplicable, unnecessary, and might I add, ridiculous connection that was made between him and Shibusawa at the last minute that only raised more questions than answers and created huge plot holes. Atsushi’s travel companions in Dead Apple, Kyouka and Akutagawa, both have their own history of being abused. Just to underline Akutagawa’s complaint that Atsushi has everything and manages to forsake it all, Akutagawa was abused by Dazai, whereas, Atsushi is saved, fawned over, and praised by Dazai seemingly only for the sake of further tormenting Akutagawa. This continues to contribute to making Atsushi a weak character that I find difficult to really like all that much or see as having anything more than a forced relevance to the plot.

Atsushi does have redeemable moments in his interactions with Kyouka and Lucy. With the aforementioned Dead Apple aside, Atsushi is often at his best when he is with Kyouka. She sees him as her savior, and it reflects in the way that he treats her, being seen that way helps to boost him from pitiful status to someone that may actually have potential as a hero. As for Lucy, because she has a similar life history as Atsushi (abused orphan with matching burn marks), he can’t get away with the same woe is me lines that he throws at every one else. She’s got the same kind of past and manages to stand on her own two feet, forcing him to also rise up to meet her. Both of these girls have tragic histories, but seek to lift themselves up from those histories and stand their own ground, which serves to lift Atsushi as well, unlike with other characters that only patronize, validate, or outright feed into his insecurities leaving me playing on my phone hoping his scenes end quickly. More interactions between Atsushi and Kyouka, Atsushi and Lucy, or all three together would be a welcome addition in Season 4. These babies build each other up, and it’s beautiful to see.

At the end of the day, Shiro and Atsushi are prime examples of the “perfectly innocent protagonist whose only flaw is their own self-doubt” and exemplify why this type of a character is always, ultimately a failure.  They’re bright eyed, they’re kind, without internal debate they always make the right choice, everyone is drawn to them because they are light and goodness, I guess, and even when they are clearly the weakest in a fight, they always come out on top without working towards bettering themselves in anyway beyond putting in some old-fashioned good guy gumption. This is so painstakingly evident in Atsushi, who receives zero training upon joining the ADA, and is expected to battle (and is successful) against exceedingly powerful bad guys on the regular. Contrast this against Akutagawa, who we see underwent harsh training from the Port Mafia, yet still manages to always lose in his battles against the untrained Atsushi. Proving yet again, that you don’t need hard work to become the best, when you got the power of good on your side. Self-doubt exhibited by these types of characters never rings true, because we see them always get their way, everything turns out fine for them in the end, they never encounter lasting consequences for their choices (at one point in BSD, Akutagawa mocks Atsushi that everyone around him dies, but we have yet to see anyone he cares about die – the only person’s death that we see him have to deal with is his Orphanage Director that was coming to visit him with flowers and probably apologize for being a jerk, and his struggle there is with whether he’s allowed to still hate the guy or not, I mean, come on), and everyone around them that matters respects and dotes on them even before them being shown to truly do anything that should earn that respect and affection. I still don’t fully understand what compelled Kuroh to swear loyalty to Shiro, if I’m being perfectly honest, when Shiro is a lay-about, coward and liar, that ditches his clan in the end to soul search in his airship. Though, I will note, Shiro does demonstrate this character type a mite less than Atsushi. He’s not often shown to come out on top in battles, he doesn’t actually engage in any physical battle himself (his fight with Nagare at the end of Missing Kings, not withstanding, because he’s really just blocking that whole time waiting for Kuroh to show up and do the heavy lifting), he typically needs to rely on the strength and intelligence of others, and is more often than not shown running away. Also, Shiro is never really put into a position where he needs to make any hard, moral choices which has its own drawbacks for a main character in a show where a lot of hard, gray moral choices are being made around him.

I have seen it commented in defense of these characters’ weaknesses that the main character of a shonen/seinen story are always weak. This is not true, and I will point to one of my all-time favorite characters from any anime, as example: Edward Elric of Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions of the anime). Ed is badass, he earns his name as Fullmetal, and he earns his title as the youngest State Alchemist. We see him earn it as we watch him and his brother, Alphonse’s journey to become stronger, yet he also makes mistakes. It is his own arrogance that kicks off the entire anime when, in the Elric brother’s attempt to bring their mother back to life using forbidden Alchemy, Ed loses his arm and then his leg to save his brother who has lost his entire body. Their journey to find the philosopher stone for Ed is entirely about restoring his brother, he doesn’t care about his own body and, in fact, views his missing limbs as his own deserved punishment for challenging God, and throughout we see how their moral failing in the past effects all of their choices going forward. We know why Ed makes the choices he does; it isn’t merely because he is the “perfectly innocent protagonist that exudes light and good”; it is because he has learned from his mistakes. His naivete is not shown as a benefit, but as something to overcome. Ed is always acting on his own motives, while the plot is being driven forward by other characters around him, he is not merely a victim of the plot or being dragged along by it, his own actions and goals also help to forward the story and eventually brings him in direct conflict with the big bad. He struggles under the weight of the choices he’s made, he bears the burden of those he couldn’t save, he doesn’t leave the heavy lifting of gray moral decisions to the other characters, he’s seen to struggle and even lose in the anime, and in those instances, we watch him work to better himself so that he can come back stronger. We know where his power comes from – he trained and studied for it; it was never handed to him. Throughout the anime he is shown to literally and figuratively grow and develop into a powerful hero that we can believe is capable of overcoming our main antagonist, Father, in the end, but not without losses and struggle. This is a protagonist done right. Compared against Ed, the failings of both Shiro and Atsushi is glaring.

That is all I have to say about those two. Next up will be the Black Dog of the Silver Clan versus the Black Dog of Port Mafia.

[justheretobreakthings]

Remember Me - Chapter 19

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Word Count: 4,353 (Total Word Count: 75,456) Read on AO3

Story Summary:

It was strange enough for the paladins of Voltron to have found another human this far from home, locked in a Galra prison. But it was stranger still when this human insisted that he knew them, and even that he was the former red paladin of Voltron.

That couldn’t possibly be true, could it? After all, if this Keith was actually a part of the Voltron team, then why does nobody remember him?

Chapter Preview:

Lance laughed. “So, have you just been spying on all of us this whole dinner?”

“No,” Shiro said. “I’ve been people-watching. Much more socially acceptable.”

“Uh-huh.”

Shiro shrugged. “What can I say. Feel like it’s kinda my job to keep an eye on the lot of you. Someone has to make sure you kids keep yourselves out of trouble.” He suddenly frowned, squinting across the room. “Speaking of which…”

Lance followed his gaze and spotted Keith walking alongside one of the serving tables. Or, staggering, more like. He was moving slowly, hands on the edge of the table, taking awkward, lurching steps. “Oh God,” Lance said, rolling his eyes. “You know, I had a feeling Mullet wasn’t the sort of guy who could hold his liquor.”

“How are you liking the nunvill, Number Three?”

Lance spun around to face Coran at the sound of his voice, then his eyes darted between the cup in his hand and the royal advisor’s expectant face. “Wait, this is nunvill?!” he said, incredulous. “It doesn’t taste a thing like it did last time!”

“Yes, it seems human taste buds aren’t well suited to appreciating nunvill’s intense flavor,” Coran said. “More’s the pity. However, the buoying qualities of the beverage are really too good for you paladins to have to miss out on, so I recruited Hunk and Shiro as taste testers to figure out a fruit juice blend that would be more, ah, palatable to you humans. Thought I’d debut it here. It’s always good party etiquette for the guest to bring along a dish or beverage for the host to serve. Keep that in mind.”

“Well, you did a good job. I can barely taste it. What is this, like, five percent alcohol?”

“One percent nunvill, although I don’t know how that compares in strength to your ‘alcohols’ on Earth. Considering that a single glass of nunvill can effectively de-rust an average-sized ion cannon…”

“Yeah, no, that’s - that’s strong,” Lance said. “I’ll try and be careful with it.”

“Good lad,” said Coran with a satisfied nod. “It’s nice that some of my efforts aren’t going to waste today.”

Lance grimaced. “Coran, you’re not too upset about us not doing the air show, are you?”

“No, no, of course not!” Coran said with a laugh. “It simply wouldn’t make sense to do the show anymore after that battle with the Holvarthans.”

“Oh, good. I was worried that you’d be - ”

“And sure, I may have poured my heart into that choreography to put on as elegant a show as possible, and spent a full day working on those new additions. And do I enjoy getting to play the roles of director and narrator and producer and everything I could have been if a career in show business had ever taken off for me? Of course I do! But upset? Bah! I’m not upset! Not at all, my boy, not at all!” He looked down at his own cup of nunvill-juice. “You know, I think I preferred the stronger stuff…”

He sighed and left without a goodbye, leaving Lance shaking his head to himself. And he’d thought Pidge could be passive-aggressive. Clearly, she’d been bested by a new master.

His eyes roved around the room, eyes out for his fellow paladins. Most everyone in the room was engaged in conversation; the Thotirnians were talkative people on the whole, it seemed, and they moved about the room easily to dart between conversation partners, the gangly limbs on their reptilian bodies that seemed to contain triple the number of joints as humans no doubt helping in the endeavor. The banquet hall, too, seemed to have been arranged for optimum sociability. The dinner was served buffet-style, but with the dishes scattered across different tables all over the hall rather than on one long serving station. There weren’t many tables for actually eating, and only enough chairs to seat about a third of the occupants in the hall. The majority Thotirnians apparently preferred to eat while standing and walking about.

Fortunately all the dishes served were basically finger food, Lance noted as he turned to a table refill his plate with a particularly sweet dish that resembled half-sized spring rolls in appearance. His focus at this party had been more the food than the people. The scaly, oblong-faced Thotirnians weren’t particularly appealing to flirt with, and their culture seemed perfectly okay with interrupting speakers in conversation and cutting each other off, making story-telling difficult.

They were honestly just a bit exhausting. The introverted Pidge must have been getting irritable by this point, and even Shiro got worn out by chatter at times. And Keith…

Well, Lance actually hadn’t paid much attention to Keith’s whereabouts during this whole gathering. The mullet wasn’t exactly a social butterfly. A social pill bug, perhaps. Deciding to check and make sure Voltron’s guest hadn’t gone and imploded from oversocialization, Lance started weaving through the crowd, keeping his eyes peeled for the silvery armor.

He spotted Keith after a few minutes, standing near one of the few empty tables that was available for dining rather than serving food, leaning awkwardly against a chair as if he wasn’t sure what to do with his legs. He was in the middle of a talk with three Thotirnians, and judging by his expression, whatever they were discussing wasn’t Keith’s preferred topic. Lance casually sauntered over to listen in.

“So would that make you some sort of soldier for the Voltron alliance?” one of the Thotirnians, the tallest of the three, was asking. “Are you a conscript?”

“No, that’s not - I do more than just help out in battles,” Keith said. “I mean, I’m living in the castle and - ”

“You are a tenant?”

“No, no, I - it’s not like I’m paying them rent or - look, I’m an ally, but, like, a close ally. I live with the paladins and I do my part in the battles and around the castle and - and stuff like that.”

The Thotirnians were quiet a moment, expressions pensive, before realization crossed the face of one of them and he spoke up: “Ah, so you are a servant.”

“Oh my god,” Keith muttered, closing his eyes and lifting his cup to his lips to drink.

“What are we talking about over here?” Lance asked, moving in so he was standing right at Keith’s side.

The tallest Thotirnian gestured with a wave of his hand toward Keith. “We were simply inquiring as to this one’s relationship to Voltron. He is obviously not a paladin, you see, nor a soldier from any military we were aware of, and yet he flew with your team in battle.”

“Ah, well,” Lance said with a shrug. “Let’s just say our relationship with ol’ Keithy here is ‘complicated’ and leave it at that. Right, Keith?” Keith grimaced and took another gulp of his drink.

The Thotirnian nodded solemnly. “Understandable. It must be a strange transition, putting a Galra into your servitude, but - ”

He was interrupted by the sound of a spluttering cough as Keith choked on his drink. Lance thumped him on the back, and Keith managed a couple of gasping breaths before asking in a strangled voice, “How - how did you know I’m Galra?”

“Well, your smell,” the Thotirnian said, a hint of annoyance in his tone as if he were explaining something patently obvious. “It is fainter than most Galra, but it’s there. And your blood is not as warm as that of the paladins.”

“How can you tell - ?”

“I can see it quite clearly.”

“And your eyes,” one of the other Thotirnians added. “Those irises - I have only ever seen the color on Galra, haven’t you?” The other two nodded in agreement.

“Yes, they are quite frightening,” the first one said.

“All right, cool,” Lance said, before clearing his throat. “Hey, have you three heard about how the flux capacitors on the Lions work? It’s super cool, you should go ask the green or yellow paladin about it. They’d love to share some of the gritty details.”

“Really?” said the Thotirnian, brow raised - or, the ridge over his eyes angled in such a way that a brow would be raised if one was there. “It sounds interesting. Thank you, we will search them out.”

The Thotirnians left, and with a sigh, Keith collapsed into a nearby chair and ran a hand over his face. “Thanks for that,” he muttered.

“No problem,” Lance said with a shrug. “I’m kinda guessing parties aren’t really your scene, huh?”

“I had been getting better at them,” Keith sighed. He took another swig from his drink and then set the empty cup down with a thunk. “It’s easier when I actually know what I’m doing at them. I - I thought maybe coming to this thing with you guys was gonna feel a bit like old times…” He brought his index finger up to idly brush around the rim of his cup. “Guess that’s not really a possibility anymore. I gotta get another drink.”

“You haven’t been drinking too much of that stuff, have you?” Lance asked. “It’s weak, but it’s still nunvill. So, you know, space alcohol.”

“I can handle alcohol,” Keith said, rolling his eyes.

Lance snorted. “Oh, please. You can’t even handle milk.”

“That’s not even - whatever,” Keith said. He stood up from the table. “I’m drinking, and I’ve been drinking. Only way I’m getting through this party. You can go ask Pidge about her flux component, leave me be.”

“Flux capacitor,” Lance corrected. “And they’re not real. Did you really not - dude, that was a Back to the Future reference, don’t you…?” He shook his head in exasperation at Keith’s blank stare. “Wow, man. Whatever, I guess. Enjoy your drinks.”

“I will.” With a languid wave of his hand Keith left, and Lance resumed his wandering. He eventually found himself near Allura and stuck around for a while to listen in as she fielded questions from curious Thotirnians about the other planets in the alliance. He even helped answer a couple himself, to give Allura’s voice a break, although there weren’t many he could. He resolved to start making an effort to pay better attention during meetings - a resolution that he had already made a dozen times over in the past and never stuck to, but this time surely he could follow it through.

Eventually he grew bored, though, so he politely ducked out of the group and scanned the crowd for the other paladins. Shiro was the first he spotted, by himself, leaning against a wall with a drink in his hand, eyes roving about the room.

“Having a good time?” Lance asked as he approached.

“Perfectly mediocre,” Shiro replied.

“Ah, well.” Lance leaned against the wall next to him. “At least the food’s good.”

“That’s true. I think I’ve seen Hunk go to every table in this place at least twice. And you see how Pidge is carrying her helmet around two-handed like that?” He pointed across the crowd, and Lance followed his finger to peer at her. “She stole a bunch of those rolls with the jam fillings and hid them in her helmet. Guess she wanted to take them back for later. She really thinks she’s being subtle.”

Lance laughed. “So, have you just been spying on all of us this whole dinner?”

“No,” Shiro said. “I’ve been people-watching. Much more socially acceptable.”

“Uh-huh.”

Shiro shrugged. “What can I say. Feel like it’s kinda my job to keep an eye on the lot of you. Someone has to make sure you kids keep yourselves out of trouble.” He suddenly frowned, squinting across the room. “Speaking of which…”

Lance followed his gaze and spotted Keith walking alongside one of the serving tables. Or, staggering, more like. He was moving slowly, hands on the edge of the table, taking awkward, lurching steps. “Oh God,” Lance said, rolling his eyes. “You know, I had a feeling Mullet wasn’t the sort of guy who could hold his liquor.”

Shiro sighed and pulled himself away from the wall, setting off toward Keith, and Lance decided to follow. When they reached him, he had just made it across the whole table and had stepped away from it, arms out slightly at his side to steady himself. “Hey, bud,” Shiro said, reaching out a hand to take Keith’s arm. “Are you doing okay?”

“I’m great,” Keith said, flashing him a smile. It was clear instantly just how flushed his face was, and his eyes seemed to take a second to locate Shiro’s face before slurring, “This is - ‘s a good party, Sh’ro. Everyone’s fun.”

Shiro raised a brow. “Huh. Keith, how much have you had to drink tonight?”

“I dunno,” Keith answered. “I had - hmm. There was a cup…” He frowned. “I d’nno what happened to that.”

“Damn, he’s really gone,” Lance said. “He wasn’t like this earlier.”

“How much earlier we talking?” Shiro asked.

“A while? Not sure. He, uh, he said he’s gotta drink a bit to get through the party, and some of the Thoti-, um, the Thor-, the alien dudes, they were giving him a little bit of a hard time, so…”

Shiro frowned and looked to Keith, who didn’t seem to have been listening and was instead staring in wonder at the ceiling. “Keith, are you having a tough time at this dinner?”

“Mmmmm, yeah,” Keith said. “S’okay, though. The juice is good. Shiro, ‘ve you tried the juice? Ya gotta try it, Shirooooo…”

“All right,” Shiro said. “I’m taking him back to the castle.” He threw an arm around Keith’s shoulders, and Keith leaned into it instantly, eyes lidding sleepily. “Lance, could you let Allura know where we went?”

“Wait, you’re leaving?” said Lance.

“Well, Keith doesn’t seem to be in any state to be up and about, and he definitely can’t get back to the castle on his own. I have to leave.”

Lance paused, gaze flicking between Shiro and Keith, the former’s arm securely around the latter to steady him as he slumped comfortably into his grip. “Hey, um, I can take him.”

“Thanks, Lance, but you don’t have to - ”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Lance insisted. He slipped his own arm around Keith’s back to tug him away from Shiro. ��You’re the Black Paladin, you should really stick around ‘til this thing’s wrapped up. And I’m feeling pretty sleepy, been wanting to head back anyway.” He yawned for emphasis, and beside him, Keith yawned too.

Shiro hesitated, frown deepening, but finally he nodded. “All right,” he said slowly. “Just put him in his bedroom and try to make sure he doesn’t make a mess or fall on his face or anything.”

“Will do, Shiro,” Lance said, giving him a thumbs-up before turning away and dragging Keith beside him. “Come on, you idiot, let’s get you back.”

“‘Kay,” Keith said, falling into step obligingly, and already Lance decided that drunk Keith was leagues better to deal with than migraine-y Keith. Drunk Keith didn’t need to make it a point to be stubborn for the sake of stubbornness.

It turned out, though, that drunk Keith was just as unsteady on his feet as migraine-y Keith, and as they walked back toward the castle under the darkening sky, it became increasingly obvious just how much of a lightweight Keith was. At one point, he mumbled something incoherent, knocked his head onto Lance’s paultron with an audible thunk, and closed his eyes, apparently trying to go to sleep on his feet right then and there.

It would have been hilarious if it didn’t have to come with muscle strain on Lance’s part, he mused as he shook Keith off of him and set them moving again.

The walk back to the castle was slow and unsteady, but they made it with Keith still on his feet, and that was the important part. Keith lolled his head back and watched the lights along the ceiling pass by as Lance steered him to his living quarters. “Hey, hey Lance,” Keith said, too loudly for the silent and empty halls of the castle.

“I can hear you, man, you don’t need to shout,” Lance replied.

Keith continued in the exact same volume. “Th’s castle - it’s so big. Y’ever think about that?”

“Uh, I don’t really think about it. But, yeah, it’s big. Good on you for noticing.” He turned down the hallway that housed Keith’s room. “Nearly there, buddy.”

“It’s too big,” Keith said, expression falling to a frown. “Too big. Things… things’ll get lost…”

“I’m sure they do.” Lance opened the door and led the two of them in. “All right, we’re home. Bedtime.”

“Yep,” said Keith. He pulled away from Lance and simply tilted backward onto the bed, flopping onto it face-up right along the head of the bed on top of the pillow. “Bedtime.”

“Okay, dude, if you sleep in full armor you’re gonna be sore as hell come morning.”

“Mm. Tha’s smart,” Keith slurred. He pulled himself back up into a sitting position and gazed silently down at his vambrace for a few ticks before reaching out a hand to fumble uselessly at it. “I can’t get ‘t off,” he declared.

Lance sighed. “God, you’re like damn a toddler when you’re drunk, aren’t you? Remind us never to let you drink at a party again.”

“Okay,” Keith said, obligingly holding out his arm for Lance to remove the vambrace, then move on to the rest of the armor. “Thanks,” he added after a bit, drawing out the ‘s’ in a hiss.

“Whatever,” said Lance. He set the vambraces and gauntlets aside and moved to the breastplate. “I’d really hate to see this armor get covered in vomit tomorrow morning when you wake up with a hangover. Which is definitely going to happen, Mister Lightweight.”

Keith just hummed appreciatively, swaying a little where he sat until Lance grabbed him by the shoulders to hold him still. “‘S nice armor,” Keith agreed. “Liked my old armor better, though.”

“Yeah, your old armor,” Lance muttered, lifting the breastplate off of him. “Stick your legs out a bit, will you?”

Keith obliged, and he let out a small burp before continuing. “It was the red armor. Allura says I di’n’t wear it, but… I dunno… feels right. I like red.”

“Mm-hm,” Lance hummed, pulling the greave off of his right ankle.

“Heh,” said Keith. “I said ‘I like red’ because - b’cause, like, the color. But I like Red, too. Th’lion. She’s a good lion.”

“Yeah, I know,” Lance straightened up, tossing the last of the armor aside. “Okay, so, I guess you’re gonna have to sleep in your undersuit tonight. Because I am definitely not gonna change you into your pajamas. I think we’ll both rest easier forever if this is the most I ever strip you, yeah?”

“Yeah…” Keith agreed softly. He turned and stared down at the armor, his brow creasing.

After a few seconds of the silent staring, Lance tilted his head. “Uh, Mullet? You all right there?”

Keith turned back to Lance. His face still flush as it had been this whole, but now with the addition of a dewiness in the eyes that took Lance by surprised. “Lance?” Keith said in practically a whisper. “I miss it.”

“Um,” Lance said slowly. “What - what do you miss?”

“Bein’ a paladin,” Keith answered. “I miss - I miss Red.”

Lance let out a slow exhale. “Yeah, I know you do. We’ve been over this, man, I know it’s no fun for you and all, but you - ”

Keith suddenly let out a loud, strangled sound before leaning to the side, his expression crumbling as he flopped against the wall at the head of the bed. “I miss Shiro,” he croaked.

“Um.” Lance cleared his throat and shifted his stance awkward. “Do you, uh, do you want me to go back and get him, or - ?”

“No!” Keith snapped, face immediately falling to a scowl. “No, no, no, no, not - I miss my Shiro.”

“What do you mean, your Shiro?”

“My Shiro. The one from - the one I r’ember…” His chin trembled and he let out another strangled whine before burying his face in his hands. “This one, he’s nice, an’ he’s good, but… but he’s not m’brother. He doesn’ remember… he was the first - the first family tha’ I had in sooooo long, and - an’ now i’s all gone…” He lowered his hands and stared at them, curling and uncurling his fingers against his palm. “It’s all gone…” he whispered.

Lance lowered himself cautiously onto the bed, staring at Keith’s face, where the tears had started flowing. This was… not good. He wouldn’t have offered to take Keith back to the castle on his own if he had known that he was going to end up like this.

He had dealt with drunk people before. Once someone had spiked the punch at a party he and Hunk had attended during their Garrison days, and Lance had wound up having to babysit his friend for the rest of the night. But drunk Hunk had simply found everything hilarious. And Coran had once vastly underestimated both the strength of the beverages on one of the planets they had once visited and his own tolerance level, but drunk Coran had simply become an even more loud, talkative, and flirty version of himself.

Giggly drunk, he could handle. Bold drunk, he could handle. Weepy drunk, though?

He lifted a hand to awkwardly pat Keith’s back. “Uh… there there?” Keith didn’t even seem to notice, just began mumbling something under his breath. “Keith?” Lance said. “I, uh, I didn’t catch that, what’d you say?”

Keith turned his head, blinking blearily as his eyes slowly met Lance’s. “It just keeps happ’n’n, Lance,” he whispered. “Every time I try… just all goes away… ” He let out a hitched sob and buried his face back into his hands. “‘S my fault,” he said, voice muffled through his fingers.

“What’s your fault?”

“I left,” Keith said. “I left, ‘cause I was gettin’ it all wrong... messed it all up - tha’s what happens, Lance, I ge’ there, I mess ‘t up, an’ then I have t’ go… but I really really tried, Lance, I tried an’ I thought - I was doin’ it, I w’s doing good, and we were all friends, but then - b’t then - but then it was bad again, and I had to go - had to go - had to - I still tried, I tried with the Ba-… with the - the Bade - the Blades, but then it all just… poof.” He let out a sigh, his shoulders shaking. “All gone,” he finished off in a whisper so tiny Lance barely picked up on it.

He listed to the side, letting his eyes drift close, before softly adding, “It hurts. Hurts so much…”

Lance took a deep, uncertain breath. “Right. Um. I’m not - I’m not sure I followed all of that but - but, um - ” Good God, he was definitely not the person who should be doing this. He could give a pep talk with the best of them, but that was only when he knew his audience. He knew all the buttons to press to get Hunk smiling again, and how to bolster Allura’s strength when she needed it. But Keith - Keith was a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a mullet. He had no clue what Keith needed to hear, or wanted to hear. Or even whether he was so drunk that he wouldn’t even gauge any meaning out of anything Lance did say.

He regretted not letting Keith just fall asleep on their walk back to the castle. Would have made things much easier.

For now, he just needed to get Keith to settle down. Get him to stop crying, and get some rest. Then, by morning, surely he will have forgotten all about all this shit on his mind. Or, at least, he would be sobered up and be able to discuss it in some way that made a lick of sense, and hopefully with someone who actually had some idea how to handle it.

Cautiously he stood up from the bed. “Hey, uh, look, Keith,” he said slowly. “I’m, uh - I’m sure that, whatever it is you’re on about, it - it wasn’t your fault.”

“Was,” Keith said softly.

“Well, um, okay, even if it was, that’s - that’s over now. You have to remember, of course, none of that - any bad stuff you remember, it didn’t really happen, right? So, you know. You don’t even need to worry about it!” Keith’s lower lip began trembling hard, new tears starting to pour from his eyes. Okay, shit, Lance thought. Not the strategy to go with. “I mean - I mean, just the - just the bad parts. The parts about, uh, messing up and stuff? Those were - that part’s fake. But, um, I’m sure the rest of it is… that’s real?”

He examined Keith’s expression intently, trying to gauge how Keith was taking it. It didn’t exactly feel good to lie to him - in fact his stomach was turning more leaden every passing second - but the guy was three sheets to the wind; it wasn’t like any lie Lance told now was going to stick. And if being told that, yes, sure, his memories were real, if that was what Keith needed right now to stop crying, so be it.

“My team?” Keith asked quietly. “They’re real? … They know me?”

“Yeah, man, ‘course they do.”

“Where are they?”

“Uh…” Lance cleared his throat. “Tell you what, how about - how about I leave and go get them?”

“You’ll… where’re they?”

“They’re kind of a ways away, but I can go get them for you. But it’ll be a little while, see, so - so in the meantime you need to stop crying and get some rest.”

“Get some rest…”

“Yeah. And then by the time you wake up, they’ll be here, and everything will be great. Sound good?”

Keith seemed to mull it over for a few seconds, then he gave Lance a woozy smile. “Thank you,” he said.

“No problem,” said Lance. “So, you just get some sleep, and I’m gonna - I’m gonna leave.”

“Yeah…”

“Good night, Keith.”

Lance turned to leave, and made it across the room and had his hand on the door before Keith cried, “Wait! Lance!”

Lance whipped back around, to see Keith suddenly wide-eyed, urgency written across his face. “What is it?” he asked.

“I gotta - I gotta tell you - ” said Keith. “It’s important.”

Lance hurried back toward him. “What? What’s wrong?”

Keith placed his hands firmly on Lance’s shoulders to look him squarely in the eye. And with an amount of solemnity and directness that surely shouldn’t even have been possible in his drunkenness, he announced, “I am going to throw up.”

Then, to Lance’s dismay, he turned around, leaned over, and did just that.

[vcepsis]

Could you do I5 for the drabble thingy for Keith? Any pairing is good for me ❤️

Thanks so much for the request! You said any pairing is good so you can take a wild guess what I did (it’s Sheith). My first Keith whump fic, hopefully you enjoy it!

Shoutout, as always, to @feverflushed for reading this and putting up with my yelling about it lol

I(Fever) + 5(In public), taken from this drabble request meme (really enjoying these, they’re so fun to write!!). About 2k.

“The Blades are coming over today,” Shiro announced at breakfast.

Lance shoveled another spoonful of  space eggs into his mouth. “For what, a playdate?”

“Yes, Kolivan and I figured you could use a friend your own age.” Lance choked on his eggs as Pidge burst out laughing. Shiro rolled his eyes. “They’re coming to the Castle to discuss our next operation.”

Hunk settled into his seat next to Lance with his own plate. They had found these eggs—so similar to chicken eggs they might have been from a bonafide space chicken—on a planet not too long ago, and Hunk managed to barter for a few boxes of them. “So wait, if Kolivan is arranging playdates for Lance, does that make him his father?”

Pidge scoffed. “No, Hunk, Kolivan is Keith’s father. Obviously Shiro is Lance’s father.”

Hunk nodded, like this made perfect sense. “Right, of course. But then, who’s the mother?”

Pidge hummed in consideration. “Allura? No, even better—Coran.”

“Oh my gosh it’s perfect,” Hunk exclaimed. “Coran is definitely the most motherly person on this ship. He and Shiro make great parents.”

Shiro sighed heavily into his eggs. “I’m giving you all up for adoption,” he muttered darkly.

Keith poked at his own breakfast, listening to the exchange with a kind of detached interest. Normally he enjoyed watching Shiro join in their banter—Shiro had a wicked sense of humor that they were rarely allowed to see, and Keith loved it. Today, however, Keith was hoping if he pushed his eggs around enough, they would come to life and kill him on the spot.

He’d woken up feeling off, but had dismissed it as a bad night’s sleep. Now, though, he found himself shivering into his jacket, no matter how tightly he pulled it around himself. He was actually considering zipping it closed, not that it would make much of a difference. Eating was also out of the question, if the twisting in his stomach was any indication. He was definitely coming down with something, but he decided to employ the tried and true “ignore it and it’ll go away” method.

“Keith?”

Looking up from his mangled breakfast, Keith saw Shiro frowning at him. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Keith said quickly. There was no need to worry Shiro over this. It was stupid, and would go away eventually.

Shiro looked like he didn’t quite believe him, but thankfully didn’t push it. “We’ll need you at the meeting today. You’re the perfect bridge between Voltron and the Blade of Marmora. Hopefully it’ll make these talks easier.”

Keith tried to sit up a little straighter in his seat, nodding. They needed him. Shiro needed him. He would be fine.

---

Keith wasn’t fine. Not at all.

He and Shiro had changed into their armor before meeting Allura and Kolivan—along witha few masked Blade members—on the bridge. They were currently discussing……something. Keith had tuned out almost immediately, all of his attention focused on keeping himself from doing something embarrassing, like passing out.

The chill in his bones was slowly creeping up his spine, and though the armor was climate controlled, it didn’t stop the small shivers that were wracking his body. Despite this, his bangs were sticking to his forehead slightly, sweat collecting at his collar. A cough had started brewing in his lungs, and his chest was feeling tight from keeping it repressed, throat aching.

At the moment, though, Kolivan was talking. Keith could barely make out the words; the blood was rushing in his ears and his vision had started going spotty. Kolivan was standing at the head of the table, hands behind his back in the perfect military stance. Shiro sat to his left, listening with rapt attention, interjecting now and then with his own comments. He was also sneaking glances at Keith, a frown pulling at his mouth. Keith figured it had to do with whatever Kolivan was talking about.

Watching them interact was almost enough to keep Keith’s attention. Kolivan was like a glacier: tall, imposing, ice cold. His presence was almost oppressing, weighing down the room with his authority. Shiro, though…Shiro was the sun, bright and beautiful and warm. While he yielded easily to Kolivan’s influence, his aura of leadership was still very much present. But instead of sitting on Keith’s chest like a weight, Shiro’s presence wrapped around him like a blanket, making him feel safe.

Huh. Maybe Keith was more delirious than he thought.

He was just thinking up an excuse to leave that wouldn’t be too suspicious—aliens went to the bathroom, right?—when he heard Shiro speak up. “Maybe now is a good time for a break.”

Kolivan turned to him, keeping his face carefully expressionless, yet somehow still managing to exude an aura of contempt. “A break? I assumed the Paladins of Voltron were more sturdy than that.”

Shiro stood carefully, crossing his arms, but not backing down. “We’ve been at this for hours. And we’ve been going in circles for the last little while. A break would do us all good.”  He raised his chin just slightly, a quiet move of defiance in the face of Kolivan’s cold gaze. “I assumed the Blade of Marmora understood the definition of efficiency.”

Kolivan stared, unblinking. There was a moment of silence, the tension pressing down on the room. Finally, Kolivan relaxed slightly. “Let’s reconvene in fifteen doboshes.”

Shiro nodded once, stiffly, and Keith couldn’t help his small sigh of relief. He started to push back his chair, praying to whoever was listening that his legs would hold, when he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t need to look up to see who it was.

“Hey, buddy,” Shiro said softly. “You alright?”

Keith did look up at this, trying to give a reassuring smile and hoping it didn’t look like a grimace of pain. “I’m fine,” he replied, though the tightness in his chest reminded him that no, he wasn’t.

It didn’t matter. He’d push through it; he always did.

Shiro didn’t move his hand, expression unreadable. “Let’s take a walk.”

Keith groaned internally, but just nodded, rising to his feet. He swayed a bit, but Shiro’s hand had moved from his shoulder to his arm, a steadying weight. They slowly made their way to the hallway, Shiro not commenting on Keith’s much slower steps. The walls were shimmering dangerously, and the black spots in his vision were growing larger with each passing second. Where did Shiro even want to go, anyway? Why couldn’t they just stay on the bridge?

The answer came quickly enough, though it felt like an eternity to Keith. The door in front of them looked familiar, but Keith, in his fevered state, couldn’t place it. That is, until Shiro pressed his free hand against the pad, and the door opened with a whoosh.

“What—Shiro?” Keith asked, confused. Unless he was hallucinating—which he would believe at this point—Shiro had managed to steer Keith to his room.

Shiro stayed quiet, and gently but firmly started guiding Keith to his bed. “You need to lie down, Keith.”

Anger flared in his chest—but it was more at himself than at Shiro. How could he let this get in the way of their mission? Shiro needed him, and he was letting him down. Again.

Keith shoved Shiro off of him, taking a shaky step back. “I don’t need you taking care of me,” he snapped, frustration at himself turning his tone sharper than he intended.

Keith just didn’t want to drag Shiro down with him.

Instead of looking hurt, Shiro just raised his hands in a placating gesture. “I know, I know.” Shiro took a step toward him, closing the distance Keith had put between them. “But what if I want to?”

Keith blinked. He didn’t have an answer for that.

Slowly, Shiro stretched a hand toward Keith. Putting a hand on his own forehead, Shiro started to reach out with the other, only to stop dead when he saw he was reaching with the Galra one. A small noise of frustration escaped him, and Keith’s heart clenched. The Galra arm wasn’t great with temperature, so checking Keith’s forehead with it would be pointless. Another thing the Galra took from him.

But instead of moving on, Shiro just continued to reach out to Keith, cupping the back of his neck and gently tugging him forward until they were just inches apart. Dropping his natural hand, Shiro pulled them together until their foreheads were touching.

Keith’s delirious mind kicked into overdrive. Shiro was so close; Keith could count every one of his eyelashes. Those gray eyes bored into him, an ocean on the verge of a hurricane, and Keith was drowning in the storm—

“Definitely a fever,” Shiro murmured, finally letting go. Keith blinked a few times, resurfacing.

Shiro sighed, brows drawn into an unhappy frown. “I thought you seemed off this morning. I’m so sorry, Keith. I shouldn’t have dragged you to the meeting.”

Keith’s legs were shaking, the room was spinning—but none of that mattered. He took a stumbling step forward, latching on to Shiro’s arm with both hands. Shiro turned to him, eyes wide.

“No,” Keith rasped. “I wanted…to help.” Keith felt like fainting, like he was floating, but he gripped onto Shiro harder. Shiro had always been his anchor, after all.

But just then, his legs gave out, and he was falling, he was drowning—

Strong arms wrapped around him, one under his legs and the other behind his back, lifting him up.

“It’s ok, I have you.” Shiro’s voice soothed the panic that had started to bloom in Keith’s chest, the rumbling vibration of it a comforting presence.

After a moment, Shiro laid him on the bed, gently letting go. Keith couldn’t help the whine that escaped him, reaching out for those strong arms again.

A cool hand caressed his face, and Keith sighed, leaning in to the contact. And then it was gone, but before Keith could complain, there were hands on his chest, carefully unbuckling his chest plate. They worked down his body, gently taking off the uncomfortable armor, leaving Keith in his black undersuit. Keith shivered, curling up onto himself. Why was it so cold in his room?

Suddenly, a blanket was being tucked around him, the weight of it settling comfortably on him. Keith sighed again, ducking his head under it.

“I have to get back to the meeting,” Shiro said softly. “Will you be ok until I’m done?”

Oh shit. The meeting. Keith blinked a few times to try to clear the black spots, then pushed himself up on shaking arms.

Only to be gently pushed back down. “No, no, you’re staying here.” Shiro still sounded worried, but there was a small smile on his face. “Who taught you to overwork yourself like this?”

Keith mumbled something about Black Paladins who can’t take a break. Shiro chuckled at that, sounding a little more at ease.

“I’ll be back soon,” he said, running his hand through Keith’s hair. Keith’s eyes fluttered closed at the contact, a warm feeling spreading in his chest. Was that from his fever, too? Keith couldn’t tell, but the warm feeling was making him feel good, so probably not.

Just as he was about to drift off, there were lips on his forehead. Keith’s heart rate picked up at the contact, but he sank further into the bed as that warm feeling continuing to spread.

There was the familiar whoosh of the door closing, and Shiro was gone. But Keith knew he’d be back, and that thought carried him into a dreamless sleep.

[ursae-minoris-world]

25 sheith moments

This is a collection of 25 drabbles (of exactly 100 words each) I did for @sheithfest, each using one of the prompts suggested for day3.

You can read it on AO3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19432342

There's a little game going on that the 3 most popular drabbles will either get expanded as ficlets or get an illustration. :)

Here's the thread on twitter: https://twitter.com/UrsaeMinoris2/status/1144886396106301440 People can vote for their favorite drabbles by liking, commenting, or re-tweeting them.

It is also possible to vote on tumblr by reblogging and commenting with the numbers/prompts of your favorites drabbles, or on AO3 in the comments.

Votes should be open for the first week of july, I think. I'll edit here when they close.

---

1- Pride

What Shiro felt when Keith came back looking so grown up and strong and confident should have been pride, shouldn’t it? Pride that the young cadet he had taken under his wing earlier had grown to his full potential, not only an amazing pilot, but also a strong leader. You just needed to look at how the team was eagerly listening to his explanations and discussing his plans to see it. And Shiro was proud, of course he was.

What he hadn’t expected was to stumble on his words like an idiot because he found his best friend so hot.

2- Meet again

Keith would have hugged Shiro if the situation wasn’t so dire. But they have to stop Lotor first. No time to get emotional. Even if he has missed Shiro immensely.

It seems to be always like that with Shiro and him. They keep being torn apart, but they always find each other again. He remembers saving Shiro after his disappearance in the Kerberos mission; and their reunion when he had been missing after the fight against Zarkon. And now, after Keith was stuck in the Quantum Abyss.

He knows he will always find Shiro. As many times as it takes.

3- Long hair Shiro

When Keith helped him out of the galra ship, Shiro felt weirdly self-conscious. His hair was too long and greasy; he would have needed a shave; his skin was sticky and his own stench made him uncomfortable. That didn’t seem to bother Keith as much as it should have; he didn’t shy away from holding Shiro close.

“Don’t look at me...” he muttered, his parched tongue making the words indistinct. Keith said something, and the rest of the team cleared the room. Coran left last, after insisting that Shiro was too starved for the pods. Only Keith stayed with him.

4- Distance

3 billion miles. The current distance between the Earth and Kerberos. Keith thought about that number often, while watching the stars in the clear sky of the desert. He wished this was a distance he could cover with his hoverbike. He knew Shiro was out there, possibly in danger. He refused to believe he was dead.

After being kicked out of the Garrison, his last chance to go to space seemed to have vanished. Sometimes he thought of stealing a spacecraft from the Garrison; he knew that even if he managed to pull it off, he wouldn’t go far alone.

5- Sunset / sunrises

Shiro was clutching his side, which was both burning and feeling numb, a strange sensation. He felt his consciousness slip away, and he knew he wouldn’t survive for long on that desert planet; not hurt like he was. He could only hope Keith would outlive him long enough for the rest of the team to rescue him. The young paladin was resourceful and resilient, so Shiro trusted him to survive. He would be a great leader, and Shiro’s only regret was to not being able to witness it.

It seemed like a fitting end, watching the sunset alone with Keith.

6- Monsters & Mana

“Thanks for saving me again”, said Jiro.

“Always”, answered Thunderstorm Darkness. “You have done the same for me.”

“Of course I did.” answered Jiro, softly. They shared a long hug.

“Pleaaase stop flirting with your characters.” complained Pidge.

“Wha… what? They’re not flirting!” protested Keith.

“They’re just friends.” added Shiro nervously. “They help each other.”

“Sure, like you and Keith are just friends, I guess” replied Pidge, the sarcasm in her voice thick enough to cut with a knife.

“Well, yeah.” replied Keith, tone deaf as always for that kind of things.

Hunk grunted. Coran let out a long sigh.

7- Drunk dialing / wrong number

“I missed you, Shiro. I’m glad to be back.” admitted Keith.

“Keith, please don’t use the Atlas’ general hailing frequency for personal communication.”

It was Veronica, not Shiro, on the screen. Despite her formal tone, he could see her grin. Behind her, Acxa was rolling her eyes, Curtis was blushing, and Iverson was looking purposefully away.

“Good to have you back, Keith” answered Shiro warmly, undisturbed by his crew.

Keith didn’t get it either. What he had said wasn’t that bad, after all.

“It’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it”, Hunk had once tried to explain.

8- Battle / fight

Seeing Keith getting beaten up during the first part of the trials had been hard enough. Shiro had ground his teeth and held back for Keith's sake. This was Keith's choice, and Shiro didn't want to stand in his way. It still felt like dying inside watching his friend get hurt.

Seeing Keith unconscious on the ground while Shiro's image was used against him had been too far. Now they were using Keith's trauma about his parents, and that was unacceptable. Even Red was furious. Shiro would fight the entire Blade of Marmora to get Keith out of their claws.

9-Pining / Mutual pining

“I think... I always loved him. From the beginning,“ admitted Keith, thoughtfully. “At the time, I didn't really understand it, but...” He trailed off.

“Maybe you should tell him?” suggested Romelle.

Keith let out a breathless laugh. “No. He doesn't see me like that.”

“Hu. Are you sure?” replied Romelle, dubiously.

---

“I know I shouldn't see him that way”, Shiro tried to explain to Matt. “To him, I'm some kind of big brother, he trusts me. If he knew what I feel for him, it would ruin our friendship.”

“Are you serious?!” growled Matt, slamming his beer on the bar.

10-Denial

“Sooo… how was your date?” Pidge's carefully casual tone was a trap.

Shiro realized he was still holding Keith's hand and swiftly let it go. “P...Pidge! It wasn't a date.”

“Yeeaaah, right. So what were you doing?” It was going to be difficult to get out of this discussion if Hunk paired up with Pidge. It didn't help that Keith was leaving all the defense to Shiro, arms crossed and expression sulky.

“We. Were looking for resources.”

“Did you find any?” Hunk retorted.

“Not really.”

“Maybe you'd find more in daylight.” insinuated Pidge. “But I'm sure the stars were pretty.”

11- Cooking

One night, at the Garrison, Keith noticed a burning smell in the air. He hurried down the corridor. Dark clouds of smoke were crowding under the ceiling, and Keith’s heart jumped in his throat.

He teared a fire extinguisher off the wall and sprinted in direction of the kitchen, where the smoke was coming from.

Inside, the smoke was so dense you could hardly see; his eyes were watering and he started to cough.

“I’m so sorry!” exclaimed Shiro as he opened a window. “I was trying to make mac-and-cheese”.  In the sink, a blackened plate was all that remained.

12- Confessions

Seeing Keith in his hospital bed was jarring. He was uncharacteristically quiet in his sleep. On his pale cheek, the scar stood out blatantly.

Keith suddenly became agitated. Shiro was starting to worry, but Keith opened his eyes, saw him, and calmed instantly.

“Shiro...”

“Keith… I’m sorry.”

Keith blinked, confused. “For what?”

Shiro hesitated. He brushed Keith’s scar. “For hurting you.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Keith frowned. “You remember what I told you?”

“That I was your brother.”

Keith scoffed. “That I love you. Not really...as a brother.”

“I love you too.” replied Shiro, before realizing what he was saying.

13- Astral Plane

Time didn’t really exist, on the astral plane. Shiro didn’t know how long he had been there. Both dead, and existing here, in this strange place. Sometimes, he felt himself dissolve in the lion’s consciousness, aside from when he was in contact with the team. When the team formed Voltron, or when they had called out to him, he felt more solid. He felt the most like he was existing when Keith was piloting Black, of course. He tried so many times to reach out to Keith.

When Keith finally joined him on the astral plane, Shiro felt alive again.

14- Soulmates

Black was the only one to know Shiro and Keith had held hands in the astral plane. The only one, because they had not realized it. And they had no idea of the implications, either. Of two souls touching, directly. Not in a fight, but out of love. The way Keith had so easily reached the astral plane through his connection with Shiro. The way Shiro had been able to materialize enough to put his hand on his shoulder. How they had held hands afterward. Black already knew they were soulmates. But how could they still be unaware of it?

15- Festivities

When the war ended, there were festivities for weeks all through the universe. Keith could understand this. But in big cities, it implied lots of excited people in the streets. Too bad that, for diplomatic reasons, they often ended up in big cities. And the team always wanted to enjoy the festivities once the formalities were over.

And now, he had lost Shiro. They were walking together, and suddenly, he wasn’t there anymore.

Shiro came back, holding two pastries. Keith let out a relieved sigh. “I hate crowds.” he grumbled.

“Should we go home?”

“No. It’s fine if you’re here.”

16- Overworked

“I thought that meeting would never end,” confessed Shiro.

Keith sighed. “Yeah. And I still have paperwork due tomorrow...”

“I know, me too...” Shiro checked Matt’s last message on his phone. “You know what? The team is chilling in the rec. room, we could join them and work there.”

“We won’t get any work done.”

“We could give it a try!”

“Fine”

–

“Told you we wouldn’t work!”

“Well, it’s late, but let’s try to get it done now!”

–

“Are… Are those the Captain of the Atlas and the Leader of Voltron cuddling on the couch?”

“Shhh. Don’t wake them up.”

17- Waking up together

When waking up, Shiro was startled to find arms around him; he was lost for a moment, before recognizing Keith. He remembered his nightmares, and how Keith had heard his panic from his  room -the Castle’s walls were not exactly soundproof. Keith had come and helped Shiro calm down. They must have fallen asleep together.

Keith was still sleeping, snoring softly. Shiro brushed his dark hair away from his forehead. Keith moved slightly, but didn’t wake up. Shiro smiled. He still marveled that, after all that happened, he had Keith at his side again, even so far away from home.

18- Folklore, myths & legends

Do you know the legend of Voltron?

Of course you do. The Robot that freed the Universe.

But, do you know about it’s pilots? No? Let me tell you of two of them, then. Let me tell the tale of the Black Paladins, who both piloted the Black Lion, head of Voltron. Let me tell you about their love, that was stronger than death itself. Let me tell you about how fate tried over and over to separate them, and how they always found each other again. Let me tell you how their love saved us. Gather around, and listen.

19- Fist dates / blind dates

It was the early hours of the morning, and most of the wedding guests had gone. Only their closest friends remained – the paladins, Matt, Romelle… They were watching the sunrise together, quietly sipping the fresh juices a waiter had brought them. Keith was a little hungover, but the headache didn’t matter: he was greeting the morning with his husband.

“What I always wondered was… when did you two start dating?” asked Lance.

“After the war” said Keith.

“No, we already dated on Clear Day, remember?” replied Shiro.

“That was a date?”

“I’m pretty sure you were dating before” stated Allura.

20- Shenanigans with Kosmo

Kosmo was was really good at guessing Keith’s moods. And he had his own ways of helping him out when his spirits were not so high. Frequently, it involved Shiro.

–

“Hi Keith!” said Shiro when a grumpy, half asleep Keith was teleported in the training room.

“Hi Keith!” said Shiro when an exhausted, sweaty Keith in training gear was teleported in the middle of a Garrison meeting.

“Hi Keith” said Shiro when a brooding Keith was teleported beside him on the couch.

“Goodnight, Keith”, whispered Shiro when a fast asleep Keith still in his uniform was teleported into their bed.

21- fix-it

“Be with the ones you love”, Shiro had advised. And Keith had panicked. He had hugged his mom, and had hidden in the desert. Well, if you can “hide” on top of a giant mechanical lion.

Shiro was busy with Garrison business, and Keith didn’t want to bother him. They still hadn’t  talked about what had happened at the clone facility, and he wasn’t sure if Shiro had understood what Keith really meant- or even if he remembered.

Keith’s heart jumped when he heard a hoverbike approaching.

“You’re here”, he whispered when Shiro joined him.

“Of course” answered Shiro softly.

22-seasonal

“What's that?”

“Takoyaki. Just try it.”

Shiro scoffed when Keith's eyes widened in surprise while tasting the food; he hastily went for more. It didn't help that he looked ridiculously cute in a yukata; Shiro was glad he had convinced him to wear one. “I knew you'd like this.”

They walked in silence for a moment.

“Did you… enjoy these summer festivals when you lived here?” wondered Keith.

“Yes, I loved them! My Granddad always took me. Good memories.” Keith nodded. Shiro continued. “Thank you for coming. It's good to make new memories with you.”

“Thank you for inviting me.”

23- canon alternate reality

When Sven opened his eyes, he recognized the space hospital. Slav was curled up, asleep on a nearby chair. In the other chair was…

“Sven!” exclaimed Akira. His desperate tone as well as the worried curve of his brow made guilt  tighten Sven’s throat. “I came as soon as I heard!”

“I’m sorry. I’m fine!” Sven exclaimed.

“No, you’re not! You’ve been shot!”

“I had to protect Lance!”

Akira blinked, and looked even more concerned. “Lance wasn’t with you.”

“Not this Lance.” He chuckled at Akira’s puzzled expression. “You wouldn’t believe what happened to us.”

“Well, you’d better tell me.”

24-Monsters

Waking up after a transformation was always painful and scary; even more so for Keith when he found himself lying on dry leaves in the forest rather than in the basement where he usually secured himself for the full moon. But Shiro being there too… that had to be the worst ever.

Despite the horror of Shiro knowing the truth about him, Keith’s first reflex was to hide as much as he could in the cover he was rolled in -before realizing that Shiro had to be the one who wrapped his naked body in it in the first place.

25-Rockband AU

The group had been less than enthusiastic about taking Keith in as a second guitarist, but Shiro was convinced of Keith’s talent, and he had been right. The young punk was a diamond in the raw, and since he joined the group, their popularity was off the charts.

He didn’t get along that well with the others, but they could work on that. Lance might complain about Keith being a show-off, but the public did love his solos. And Allura could keep accusing Shiro of being biased towards Keith… they still had found the new sound they were searching for.

[ambivalentangst]

When to Give (More)

A day late but!!!! Here with my piece for the @klancepoetryexchange, I have a fic inspired by A Question by Robert Frost, for @kittymeow321. It’s been a pleasure creating for this event, and I hope you enjoy!

A voice said, Look me in the stars

And tell me truly, men of earth,

If all the soul-and-body scars

Were not too much to pay for birth.

tw: heavy mention of self sacrifice and near death experiences

Lance and Keith have a nasty little habit of throwing themselves in harm’s way. They have a habit of gritting their eyes and shoving a teammate away to take the blow meant for them, and as those wounds have come to turn stretches of skin into leathery scars, they smile anyway because their team is safe.

Veronica comments on it, seeing her brother heading for the beach on a rare day off after evicting the Galra from Earth. His back is a mottled, pale mess. “Hermano,” she hisses, pulling him aside when his team isn’t watching. They all have scars, faint little nicks and tallies of days they’ve lived to tell the tale of their victory, but none like that. “What’s your back from? Why didn’t you tell any of us about it?” He’d had time, certainly, more than enough time in the hospital after he nearly died yet again.

Lance merely shrugs. “Coran was going to get hurt. I had to do something about it,” he tells her in that simple way of his, head snapping back around to stare at Pidge as she cackles something crude from the waves. Veronica watches him go, teeth gritted together and brow furrowed in concern because she can’t help but feel like she’s just missed something important. She knows just as well as anybody about the merits of sacrificing for the team, but there’s a fault lying in Lance’s shiny flash of a grin—a grin that, if she remembers correctly, used to be brighter—as he runs to tackle his teammate into the surf. Try as she might, Veronica can’t seem to find it and is left with nothing but the memory of her brother without a lion, ready to meet his maker.

Krolia pretends that she doesn’t notice, is completely oblivious to the way her son’s fingers are too tight—strained—around the controls of his fighter. There is a fear there she’s yet to uncover, and attempts to do so with subtle prods at his team, as her status as a Blade leaves her prone to do. She is met only with the occasional confused stare or bewildered silence over the comms, that she knows they chalk up to her not knowing their patterns as a team. She does not divulge that she has spent her every waking moment memorizing the people who she will inevitably have to entrust Keith to, being sure to correct any flaws she sees in her eagerness to remedy the cracks running through them.

In the cave, with her leader, she smiles at him and lets their time together keep her from shedding a single, undignified tear until they’re far away and Kolivan is fast asleep. Even with all that Keith has grown, she knows there are gaps in him that she’s unable to fill. She merely hopes that someone, anyone, can. If not, she hopes they can keep them from growing wider.

And Lance should be able to.

Keith, as leader, has tried very hard to know his team. To read when they can carry out a mission without a hitch, and when they’re seconds away from falling down a hole far too treacherous for Keith to dig them back out of.

Lance, in particular, he’s kept his eye on. He asks him on Earth, once, if everything’s alright. There’s good reason for the question; when Lance thinks nobody’s watching, his face will fall and his nails dig into his palms with force just shy of enough to draw blood. Lance snaps back to normal with blinding speed. Keith can only blink in surprise as Lance nods. “Course. You know me, mullet, ready for anything the universe decides to throw at us.”

When Keith isn’t happy, he shows it. He closes himself off and uses everything he has to scream comfort away. Usually, it works, with the exception of Shiro. Lance, on the other hand, is a clam with a pearl of hurt he’s desperate to hide, and every time Keith comes knocking, he closes up even tighter. He nods, pretending that Lance has him fooled. “As long as you’re good,” he says casually, and when they talk about their strategy for their next mission, doesn’t make mention of the tightness of Lance’s eyes. In turn, Lance doesn’t mention what Matt confessed to him once, after everybody else had long gone to bed and the two of them were left around the table, reeling from Nacxela.

“Keith, he—he was going to give himself up. He was ready, Lance. If Lotor hadn’t—” Matt had shaken his head. “We’d be down one more man in the fight.”

Lance had lain awake in his bed then, staring up at the ceiling and wondering why, when he thought of making the same sacrifice as Keith, he didn’t mind it so much on him. When had he stopped caring?

Lance hopes, sincerely hopes, that Keith wouldn’t do that again, but he never brings it up again because how can he? He’s such a hypocrite, really.

Keith can only ask himself the same.

One might think they’d break individually. A chip here, a crack there. When one blow after another meant for someone else turns into nightmares that aren’t calmed as easily as they used to be. It’s almost cruel in its irony though, how in sync they’ve always been. Tit for tat, them.

They’re back out in the universe, answering the distress signal of a planet a good few systems away when it happens. An explosion rocks the lions, sends the both of them down for a good few minutes.

They come to eventually, and the battle is hard won.

For Lance, there’s the memory of something almost like a friend floating in front of them, and then searing blackness that ends days later as he stumbles out of a pod. For Keith, there’s the weight of a thousand cuts when all he wants is Shiro.

They meet that night.

Both of them are fresh out of the Garrison med bay, skin like ash and the taste of what had almost been flaky in their mouths. It’s almost eery, the way Lance’s hand slots into Keith’s like it’s the most natural thing in the world, and yet there’s no emotion accompanying the action. It’s all empty, meaningless.

They walk to Lance’s room, sit on his floor and stare at each other, a thousand unsaid almosts hanging between them.

“I can’t do this,” Keith whispers first. Lance—never still, never motionless—has his fingers drumming lightly on his thigh.

“Yeah?” he murmurs. The utterance is neither approval nor condemnation.

It’s a nice thing that Keith can’t be bothered asking for either. He doesn’t even respond.

“You never realize how close death is until it won’t leave you alone. I thought I was okay with that, as long as everyone was safe.” Lance sighs. His fingers haven’t stopped moving. A pause. “You think we’d be better at this whole heart to heart thing. I mean, it’s not like we’re hiding how hard it is to care when you think you’re helping the team.”

Keith huffs a laugh that smacks of fire and their fellow paladins screaming through the comms. A beat.

“What do you think the Garrison will say?”

It’s like that, drained and so fucking tired of the constant fear and wondering which goodbye will be the last, that Keith doesn’t even have to ask for him to clarify. “They’ll be mad. Yell at us about it.”

Lance nods.

It’s so weird, how not caring turns into the only thing that matters being the not caring, and then everything starts to matter so much. It’s so weird how death gets a wave and a slap on the back when it passes by, but when it arrives with purpose, that’s something to fear.

“Haven’t we done enough yet?” Lance asks, standing like the conversation’s over now that the unsaid decision is mostly said. He takes his shirt off and strips down to his boxers, not bothering with any of his skincare as he crosses to the bed and rubs his hands over his eyes.

Keith follows his lead but keeps his top on. Lance holds up the covers for him to slip under.

It’s not the first time they’ve done this, exactly, but before it’s always been with a kiss and some kind of lightness between them. Holding onto each other’s shoulders as the lights flick off just feels like it’s all there’s left to do now.

The discussion doesn’t stop. “It’ll never be enough. There’s always another battle to fight,” Keith responds, voice lacking inflection.

Lance nods. “Wanna’ ignore the alarm?”

Keith shrugs. “Shiro’ll be mad.”

Before, that might’ve meant no. Lance sighs, closing his eyes and ignoring the tickle of Keith’s hair on his cheek. It’s gotten shaggier since being with Krolia. Keith thinks of what his mother would say should she know that he has so little left to give now.

“I’m glad you’re with me tonight,” Lance says. Keith smiles from above his head. There’s a little flicker of love in that, but to feel it in full force is too exhausting. A little love is good. Between the two of them, a little means there’s at least some semblance of realization when it’s too much. That’s important to them right now.

“Me too,” Keith responds.

They’re tired, and the sound of their heartbeats together is a perfect lullaby. Tomorrow will be a beast, surely, telling the Garrison that they can’t keep going, that they need a break. Just for now though, in the space between heartbeats, it’s okay to pretend like nothing is waiting for them in the morning.

[notdeadjack]

Annual rec list 2018 edition

Multi-fandom reclist y’all!

Fandoms represented: 7

Part 1: Voltron: 37 fics Teen Wolf: 155 fics

Part 2: Boku no Hero Academia: 9 fics Yuri!!! on Ice: 3 fics Harry Potter: 2 fics Marvel: 23 fics Kingsman: 21 fics

250 fics, under the cut!

uuh, pay attention to the author’s tags for potential triggers. I highly recommend opening this in your browser and use the “find in page” feature to skip to the fandom/ships relevant to your interests.

if this shows up on your dash and the “read more” isn’t working, I am so sorry.

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Voltron

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/13575843     What comes through the bond by sedna_mode    5k, gen, 

Pidge gets her period. The boys feel echoes of it 

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/12045429    Change of Plans by kitausu    26k, Lance/Shiro, AU, 

When Shiro is left at the alter, he decides to go on his honeymoon alone. Enter Lance, the man Shiro had hired to take him and his would-be bride on a month long tour of Europe.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/13892394     Strike a Match by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)    5k, Shiro & Lance, 

Shiro realizes why his head hurts, and Lance is faced with the reality of responsibility. Based on art by Littlecofeiart.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/12282321    Signals by epiproctan    40k, Lance/Shiro, Shiro/Keith, Lance/Shiro/Keith, sex pollen, friends with benefits, pining, STDs,

Space is infinite, and varied, and the possibilities that exist in it are numerous. Despite knowing this, Shiro never imagined that he’d find himself the host of alien bacteria that makes him frequently and unbearably horny. That’s exactly where he ends up though, which is unfortunate for a number of reasons discussed herein, but namely because emotions are messy, and so is biology, and so is war. But maybe somewhere between words like, “It’s just sex,” and, “You’re like a brother to me,” three people can find love. And the mission that ruins Shiro’s life might just be the one that saves him, too.

(Or, Shiro fucks up, fucks Lance, and fucks Keith over. And things are never the same again.)

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/13864146    it's all about the team by clairelutra (exosolarmoon)    1k, Lance/Shiro, pre-slash, 

Lance, Shiro, and an escape from formal execution. All in the day of the universe's legendary defenders, right?

It was only halfway there that he realized that he didn't have a clue how to hand Shiro the key when the key was most definitely not in his hand and he had no way of discreetly getting it there. He couldn't exactly hand Shiro the key with his mouth.

Lance wasn't very good at forethought today, was he.

He kept paddling even as his extremities went numb at the realization, his mind silently, helplessly reeling as Shiro approached like oncoming doom.

Wait, he thought when he was a mere five feet away from Shiro. Mouth.

Lance had a mouth. Shiro also had a mouth.

There actually was a way he could hand Shiro the key, it just didn't involve hands.

...This was going to be awkward as fuck.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/12234321    As The Flower Blooms by aestivali    7k, Lance/Shiro, sex pollen, bottom shiro, 

While undertaking a mission on an alien planet, Lance and Shiro encounter some troublesome flora - and need each other's help to ride out the effects. 

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/14948963    The Last Blues by Atalto    3k, Lance/Shiro, h/c, 

He’s left with Red, with Lance, who invited him in with an uncertain, almost nervous smile, who rambled unconsciously all the way from entrance to cockpit, who sat him down with a small bowl of rehydrated food goo and a cup of milk that he promised was pasteurised.

Shiro thinks he needs space after coming back, but the truth is far from that. In fact, all he wants is contact after being alone for years, which Lance is happy to oblige.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/14701146    Never Better by avoidingavoidance    3k, Lance/Shiro, 

After a hard battle, Lance comes to comfort Shiro, and both of them end up being more honest with each other than they'd intended.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/13874268    Listen by SuccubustyKisses    43k, Lance/Shiro, clones, 

When you can’t hear what you’re told to, you find another way to hear it. Or: Lance can’t stop thinking about what Shiro was trying to tell him, and as a result he makes a life changing decision. 

Preview: “Shiro!” Lance wakes up with a scream, sitting up in his bed. His hand is held in front of him as his chest heaves. Curling his fingers into a fist he pulls his hand down in front of his face, fighting back the frustration bubbling in his chest. “God damn it, Shiro.”

Knowing he’s not going to get back to sleep Lance stands up, stretching his arms up high above his head. With a yawn he settles back down and slips his feet into his slippers, one red lion and one blue. With a sigh of resignation he opens his door and shuffles quietly into the hallway. His feet lead the way as his mind struggles to leave his dream and catch up. Before he can realize it he’s standing in front of Red, hands fisted at his sides.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/12816384    Circle by starbear (panda_hiiro)    13k, Lance/Shiro, 

(Shiro POV) A routine exploration mission goes awry, and leaves Lance and Shiro with an inexplicable connection to each other. In attempting to untangle the new bond between them, they draw closer to each other, but is that actually a good thing?

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/14485782    do you got plans tonight? by kalakauuas    5k, Lance/Shiro, AU, 

Lance doesn’t know this guy, but he knows that being stood up is no fun, so. He takes matters into his own hands.

(and maybe holds Shiro’s while he’s at it.)

...

alternate title: just according to keikaku* *keikaku means plan

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/13784256    Little Talk by sxofstardust    1k, Lance/Shiro, pining, 

    “Hey, uh… are you okay?” Came the dreaded question, the grimace to follow upon hearing it being completely against his will, and poorly did he conceal it with an aversion of his gaze. “Whoa, okay, I’ll take that as a no…” A pause, followed by the sound of shuffling which tempted Shiro to look and see just what exactly the other was doing. “… Do you… wanna talk about it?” Lance sounded far too enthusiastic in the offer.

    With a hesitant look tossed the boy’s way, Shiro could practically see the hopeful gleam in his eyes, bright and blinding. Lance appeared ready to leap into action, as though he had something to prove, though what exactly that was, Shiro hadn’t the faintest. Still, the offer had been presented to him, and though words of dismissal had been on the tip of his tongue, the elder found himself hesitating.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/14308173    Relax by robotjellyfish    1k, Lance/Shiro, massage,

Lance's hands are like magic on Shiro's tense shoulders

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15035519    Sit Next To Me by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)    12k, multi, innuendo, massage, scars, flowercrowns,  fluff, 

A series of fills for Shiro Ship Week 2018

Day 1 - Flowers (Sheith) inspired by this art by Gitwrecked Day 3 - Stars (Shunk) Day 7 - Scars (Shance)

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/14961512    I Want to be There for You by DeathByStorm    1k, Lance/Shiro, 

“You've been avoiding me,” Shiro said. “Did you want to talk about it?"

"No," Lance said. He rested his chin on his arm and looked resolutely out across the dead water hoping Shiro would take the hint and leave.

"I guess I'll just sit here and enjoy the sunset with you then," Shiro said. He leaned on the same rock that Lance was sitting against and crossed his ankles. Lance narrowed his eyes and nope, Shiro was definitely ignoring the fact that he wanted to be left alone right now.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15233076    Ignorance is Bliss by DeathByStorm    4k, Lance/Shiro, 

Or four times Lance pined after Shiro, and the one time Shiro noticed and did something about it. 

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15274980    A Visible Soul by fenfyre (Jace)    24k, Lance/Shiro, monsters and mana AU, praise kink, virgin!Shiro, 

There was no doubt in Pike's mind: He'd leave the others again as soon as possible. All the more reason to have some fun with the handsome paladin.    

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/14832060    Coming Through The Noise by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)    28k, gen, truth serum, PTSD, fluff, 

Shiro is in the habit of keeping things to himself. He's always been private, and he prefers to keep his thoughts to himself unless there's a reason to share.

He doesn't get that option anymore.

Or: Shiro got hit with truth spell magic and he might drop dead of embarrassment

Also Or: 5 times Shiro told the truth (because magic made him do it)

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/14756066     On Camera by kitausu    11k, Hunk/Keith, AU, cam boy, praise kink, fluff, 

Keith wasn’t exactly the traditional camboy but It wasn’t like Hunk had any experience with this sort of thing. Mostly, he was hard and his normal tricks just weren’t doing it and he was making dumb decision entirely navigated by his dick (like handing his credit card number off to a camboy website in the first place).

Otherwise known as the heith camboy au no one asked for but I’ve been talking about for 600 years.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15604098    Per Aspera by fenfyre (Jace)    10k, Lance/Shiro(/Shiro), praise kink, angst, astral threesome, 

Lance wasn't sure when it had started, couldn't pinpoint an exact date, but if he had to try, he'd say it was sometime after him and Shiro had connected through that psychic link during a battle.

~

When Lance and Shiro take a quiet moment in the Black Lion the strange visions Lance has been having get a little out of control.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15420975   lead us into battle and i'll lead you in a dance by ghiblitears   3k, Lance/Shiro, pining, 

Two aliens have eyes for Lance at a diplomatic party. Shiro intervenes.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/16698706    take a trip to your dark side by Hymn    6k, Lance/Shiro, rough sex, 

It's just one of those days, sometimes.

----

Shiro narrowed his eyes, leaning back. “Don’t push me, Lance.”

“Oh?” Lance raised his eyebrows mockingly. He stepped closer, put out one hand and poked Shiro in the chest with it, hard enough to be not only rude, but annoying, a deliberate physical taunt to go with the verbal. “And if I do, Shiro? What are you going to do? You want to have a bad day, fine. But then I’m going to treat you just like the rest of us, I’m going to push, and I’m going to needle, and I’m going to tell you that you can’t just be a dick ‘cause you’re not feeling like --”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16518809    The curl of your lips in the centre of eclipse by thatsformetoknow    1k, Lance/Shiro, touch starved Shiro, 

Kissing Lance hadn’t been on his morning schedule when he’d woken up today, but somehow here he was; on Lance’s bed, with Lance in his lap, Lance all over him everywhere and Shiro really for the life of him couldn’t bring himself to push Lance away, didn’t want to at all.

Because god, he had one hand in his hair and one hand cupping his face, gently brushing over his skin and tilting his head upwards and it was all Shiro could manage to part his lips when Lance licked at them.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14930270   hold on tight by Hymn    5k, Lance/Shiro, pwp, establish relationship, sleepy ex, bottom shiro,

“‘m too tired to do anything,” Shiro warned, not quite certain he actually meant it.

“You can just sleep,” Lance said, voice muffled by his shirt. “I don’t mind. I missed you, dude. I missed cuddles, and like, your smell, and the feel of having you in my arms, y’know?”

Shiro wasn’t too tired to smile, at least, his heart picking up the pace, stomach fluttering with butterflies. “Yeah?”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17046572    FootWork by AshesTheTerrible    7k, Lance/Shiro, clubbing, rough sex, 

Shiro wasn't the same person he used to be. He used to be wild and young and free. Maybe those parts of himself had been lost along the way.

But for one night, he's determined to reclaim them. Lance is hardheaded and obnoxious and he's everything that makes Shiro want to give into those more primal urges again.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16811572    easier to lose by quiddative    42k, Lance/Shiro, AU, hockey, 

"It's easier to lose than to win." - Wayne Gretzky

Shiro is at the peak of his NHL career. Unfortunately, being famous has its downsides, particularly when it comes to dating. And that’s on top of the fact that he’s still in the closet.

However, a chance meeting with college student Lance, who seems to be the only person in the entire city who doesn’t know who he is, gives him hope that maybe he won’t die alone after all. Just as long as he can keep his identity a secret.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16910493/chapters/39728568   Goodbye by SpicyJam, chapter 1: kidge - dirty grind     1k, Pidge/Keith, sparring, dry humping, 

request:

i know you just pointed out that we’re all v thirsty for the sweet kidge content and you’re so right.. short drabble prompt: some good old fashioned ‘accidental’ grinding during a sparring session kidge?

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14279403    Behind the Mask by Hannaadi88    4k, Lance/Shiro, aliens made them do it, master/pet, undercover, 

Accompanying Shiro to a shady meeting with the leader of the Malachim Shechoreem (or the 'Space Mafia', as he liked to call them), Lance poses as the Black Paladin's pet to add to Shiro's credibility among those who own them.

And while Lance certainly looks the part, neither of them expected him to actually have to play it.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14480427    Old School by chashuu    8k, Blaytz/Lance/Shiro, smut, 

When they found Blaytz in an old cryo-pod, hidden away on a planet they’d fought so hard to liberate from Zarkon’s Empire, even Allura didn’t realize exactly who he was at first. The man was a legend, and honestly, an all around amazing guy. That being said, Lance would learn very quickly that the lessons the original Blue Paladin had to teach really were the best thing that ever happened to him.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16378742     the importance of being idle by wajjs    15k, Lance/Shiro, future fic, 

It's been years since the war has ended and Lance just keeps running away.   

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10024043    Gunna Go Far, Kid by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)    3k, gen, de-aged!Shiro, 

Shiro finds himself in the body of a six year old. Again.

He's not any more happy about it.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11621454    Brace for Impact by shyfoxes    15k, Lance/Shiro, AU, fight club, 

"Not to be rude, my guy,” Lance said, “but you’re wrong. You are worth it. I’m going to prove it to you.”

“By doing what exactly?” Shiro asked, exasperated. “Standing outside Galra Tech with a sign? Spray-painting Zarkon’s car? There’s nothing you can do, Lance.”

Lance held his chin up. “What if I fight you?”

Shiro blinked, jaw dropping. “What?”

“What if I fight you? What if I fight everyone on that list to get to you?” Lance exclaimed. “If I win, you come with me. If I lose - I’ll leave you alone, forever.”

Or, underground fighter Shiro finally learns how to hope again from a persistent guy named Lance.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13817205   Full Moons and the Mornings After by Impetus    6k, Lance/Shiro, AU, fluff, 

Lance really needs to stop letting stray wolves into his apartment.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14910051    honey and seawater by your bed by lacking    2k, Lance/Shiro, nightmares, 

Lance’s head whips up, his shoulders rolling back as his spine straightens, standing at attention like he’s a fresh-faced cadet snapping off a salute to Iverson for the first time. Pidge and Hunk share a look, eyebrows raised with their lips pressed flat, amused or bewildered by Lance’s reaction, but Shiro makes a sound, metal knuckles pressed against the curve of his mouth, ducking his head as Lance sputters and asks the alien to repeat himself.

“You probably shouldn’t get your hopes up,” Hunk says, stage-whispering behind his hand as their escort leads them out of the citadel. “We don’t know what their definition of a beach is.”

-

Lance reflects on his changing relationship with Shiro, understanding both a little more and a lot less than he realizes.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13791507   from your heart by godsensei    2k, Lance/Shiro, injury, 

“If you pull this off, Lance,” Shiro says, moving his hand so Hunk can begin applying bandage pressure to the wound, “I’ll make out with you.”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12089259    You're All That I Want by saecchii   6k, Lance/Shiro, abo, beta/omega, pining, 

Lance doesn't think Betas deserve to be with anyone but Betas. Why would an Alpha or an Omega want him? Surprise, an Omega does want him and he won't let some stupid Earth culture stop him.

Ft. Omega!Shiro & Beta!Lance

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12773484   light up the sky by scriveyner (trismegistus)   27k, Lance/Shiro, abo, omega!shiro, pining, 

There was no reason for him to be so upset. Lance let out a groan and buried his head in his arms, ears gone pink. So Shiro had a crush on Allura, so did Lance. Big deal. So Shiro liked to almost inappropriately touch Keith and be overly familiar toward him like they were boyfriends or something, so what? Maybe they were just really close friends. Or maybe Lance was trying too hard to buy into his own delusions and was just going to end up majorly disappointed. Lance groaned again, louder now, and then lifted his head and squinted out at the water.

Had it only been a week he’d been mooning over Shiro?

.

.

Teen Wolf

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/4880440      Not Quite Lost (Not Quite Found) by alocalband     25k, Stiles/Derek, h/c, bed sharing, fluff,

A year after the nogitsune is defeated, Derek is living a quiet life in the mountains above a small town in Colorado.

Then Stiles shows up.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/4064446     Windows by dr_girlfriend     83k, Stiles/Derek, AU, disability, slow burn, 

Derek has a new neighbor who won't stop looking.

Excerpt:

“You’re blind,” Derek said flatly, the anger draining from him so suddenly he felt almost woozy. His vision cleared, his claws sliding back into blunt fingernails.

“Thanks for the memo, genius,” the kid said acidly. “I can still fucking defend myself, so don’t take another damn step.”

“Fuck, I...I’m sorry,” Derek stuttered.

“What?!” The kid’s brow crinkled. “I mean — what?! You’re fucking sorry!?” His lips thinned into a harsh line. “What, is this some kinda Hallmark movie where you’re discovering the error of your ways because you don’t want to rob a blind person?! That’s fucking condescending, man. I’ll have you know that —”

“Just, wait.” Derek interrupted what was apparently the start of a convincing argument as to why he should rob the kid after all, feeling his head start to spin. “This is — it’s a misunderstanding. I’m — I’m not robbing you. You’re — you’re safe, okay? I’m taking three steps back. Just — just let me explain.”

“Explain why you came busting into my apartment? Yeah, go right ahead, man, I can’t wait to hear this epic tale.”

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/2552132     Love Thy Neighbour by cywscross    22k, Peter/Stiles, canon-AU, fluff, 

In which Stiles is an emancipated minor, and – after Peter Hale comes back from the dead – gains a zombie werewolf for a neighbour.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/2209359     All's Fair in Love and Videogames by taylorpotato     22k, Peter/Stiles, cybersex, light BDSM, daddy kink, 

Neither of them is aware of it, but Peter and Stiles play the same MMORPG. After Stiles moves away from Beacon Hills and goes to college, he and Peter start raiding together by accident. 

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1058001     (Fake) Winter Weather Brings Us Together by Rawren (Zimothy)    10k, Stiles/Derek, 

So naked cuddling with Derek while suffering from hypothermia wasn't really on Stiles' to-do list for the week, but neither was that kiss--so who was Stiles to complain?

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/7515700     Stiles Stilinski, Boyfriend Extraordinaire by MereLoup    14k, Stiles/Derek, AU, fluff and crack, 

“Beacon County Sheriff's Department, this is deputy Mahealani speaking.”

“Oh thank god!”

“Stiles?”

“I, uh, I need some advice.”

“Advice?”

“Yeah. So, hypothetically, say you met your boyfriend’s mother and sister for the first time ever. Completely by accident. In the grocery store. And they convinced you to help them make a dinner to surprise aforementioned boyfriend when he got home after work. What would you do?”

Danny paused, and then, “Stiles, you don’t have a boyfriend.”

“That’s not the point! And I said hypothetically.”

“Stiles...what are you doing right now?”

***

Stiles never imagined he’d be in Derek’s kitchen cooking a surprise dinner with Derek’s family while they waited for Derek to get home from work.

Partly because their visit was a complete surprise.

But mostly because Stiles didn’t have a boyfriend.

Or even know who Derek was.

But he’d already come this far and Papa didn’t raise no quitter!

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1001802     Inertia by apocryphal    21k, Stiles/Derek, road trip, angst, fluff, 

The last thing Derek and Cora are expecting to find outside their motel room is a gaunt Stiles Stilinski, lacrosse bag on one shoulder and the weight of the world on the other.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/2297084     Seeing Wolves (Where There Are No Wolves) by MellytheHun    71k, Stiles/Derek, slow burn, therapy, pining, 

Or otherwise known as "Derek Goes to the Doctor," wherein Derek gets the therapy he so desperately needs and gets healthy. The clearer his head gets, the more room it seems to have for Stiles.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5168423     The Socioeconomic Repercussions of Mutually Assured Destruction by alocalband    15k, Stiles/Derek, AU, high school, pining, obliviousness, 

"The trouble with having the kind of brain that likes to write essays on male circumcision for an Economics class, is that it also likes to turn PowerPoint presentations for Biology into odes on the perfection of notorious bad boy Derek Hale’s backside."

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1071015     Just A Few Extra Benefits by heartsdesire456     13k, Stiles/Derek, friends with benefits, 

When Derek comes to Stiles with a confession that he has trust issues that make any sex life impossible, he offers Stiles a mutually beneficial proposal:

They are close friends who trust each other explicitly, therefore, they can have sex with each other and take care of both his intimacy issues and Stiles's 'virginity' issue all in one no-strings-attached deal.

Derek and Stiles are comfortable with their arrangement... It's everybody else that is waiting for their friendship to be damaged beyond repair.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1913811     The Time Traveler’s Prerogative by weathervaanes     9k, Stiles/Derek, de-aging, fluff, 

After the events of "117", Derek doesn't magically transform back into his twenty-five-year-old body. Instead, he's stuck as a sixteen-year-old for an unknown amount of time. So the pack has to learn to deal with it.

-0-

Stiles looks down at his hands and considers it. “If we could time travel, like my dad said,” he starts, “if you could find Derek in my dad's office wrapped up in my dad's coat with his face all full of ash not even able to look his sister in the eye, and you could be there for him, and not leave him alone, and not let him take the fall for everything Kate did to him, would you?”

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/949047     Silver Only Shines in the Moonlight (And I Rise With My Red Hair) by yourguardianangel    26k, Stiles/Derek, vampirism, bloodplay, 

Stiles died alone.

He didn’t honestly know what he had been expecting; he had made it a habit to hang out with (and occasionally fight) bloodthirsty supernatural creatures of the night, and that had become a more frequent occurrence after all of that Darach business a while back. As the warmth of his blood seeped steadily through his fingers and onto the cold, filthy floor, he realized that no one was coming, that no one would be there in time. Stiles couldn’t help the single whimper of utter helplessness. --- Stiles becomes a member of the rapidly growing Beacon Hills supernatural population, to his own disgust, and along the way he finds out a thing or two about himself and the people he cares about most.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1818415     How I Met My Werebunny by Moku    19k, Stiles/Derek, pranks, fluff, 

“This is going to end in tears,” Scott told Derek while he watched the man easily lifting Stiles’ desk up with one hand and driving nails into the ceiling with the thumb of the other. “Probably mine.”

Or:

When a Stiles and a Failwolf love each other very much, they’ll engage in a prank war. Basically, it's a mating ritual for dorks in love.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/640428     Delicate by livthelion    27k, Stiles/Derek, 

It’s been two days and Derek has apparently overcome his aversion to making himself comfortable in Stiles’ room. “Derek, that’s my shirt.”

“Yes.” He gives Stiles a look, your point?

Stiles grinds his teeth. “Why are you wearing my shirt?”

“I ran out of clean ones.”

Obviously.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1267789     Relationship Status: It's complicated by kellifer_fic     4k, Stiles/Derek, fake relationship, 

Okay, I know this is a huge stretch for you, but can you please pretend you're like, into me?  

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/631410     Truth or Dare by violentcrumbles    8k, Stiles/Derek, curse, 

Derek can't tell the truth. At all. It's funny until it isn't.

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/5180441    Hide Your Lies by planiforidjit    11k, Stiles/Derek, 

Derek and Stiles have been secretly together this whole time!   

.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/4020778    Untamed by rosepetals42    28k, Stiles/Derek, AU, harry potter, 

Of course, the transfer kid gets mentioned because transfers are rare, but the news isn’t that exciting. In fact, according to Laura, no one even seems to know his first name. The only thing anyone has really figured out about him is that he’s American. And that’s not exactly hard because he obviously has an accent.

The only thing Derek really knows is that, despite other reports, he seems quiet enough, prefers to work alone, and has the most amazing shade of amber eyes that Derek has ever seen.

Not that he’s looking. Obviously.

OR: A Harry Potter AU where Stiles is a Slytherin transfer student and Derek is the grumpy Gryffindor who falls in love with him.

There are also potions, elves, and falcons involved. Oh, and illegal use of magic. Obviously.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1695293    The Werewolf Who Built his House of Brick by Ionaonie    40k, Stiles/Derek, canon-AU, h/c, fluff, 

Now that Scott's human again, Derek isn't their problem any more.

So why can't Stiles stop thinking about him?

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/484359    That Secret They All Know by Salomonderiel    20k, Stiles/Derek, fluff, 

Somewhere, somehow, along the line, Stiles went from being the human sidekick of his stupid beta, to someone he gives lifts to when there's torrential rain, to being the one who sleeps beside him on the couch.

And god help him, but, for some reason he REALLY can't figure out - he doesn't seem to be doing much to stop this from happening.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2796392    Agent Halewinkle and the Stilinski Cheer Initiative by WhoNatural    6k, Stiles/Derek, AU, fluff, pining,   

PROMPT: Derek is an elf sent to the "mortal world" to bring Christmas spirit back into the Stilinski family and accidentally falls in love with Stiles

He’s a senior Agent of Cheer, decorated numerous times by the Candy Cane Council for his work in bringing joy to the many jovially-challenged families during the jolly season. His attention to detail has been heralded as ‘heartwarming’, ‘inspiring’ and ‘hella swell’ by several respected trade publications.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1787755     Running Towards You by SnowshadowAO3     31k, Stiles/Derek, PTSD, recovery, fluff, 

“It’s 2 A.M.,” Derek says. “What are you doing here?” Stiles turns to him with raised eyebrows. “We haven’t finished Harry Potter,” he says, as if it’s obvious, and Derek just stares at him. “I mean, if you don’t want to know what happens with Fluffy and the dragon, fine. But I personally think that the plot only gets better from here."

In which Derek and Stiles are both broken, but it takes a few paperback novels for them to realize that it makes them fit together just right.

A post-3B Canon Divergence, based on comment that said someone needs to sit Derek down on a couch and read him a nice book.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/613366     A Christmas Hale by Captain_Loki     14k, Stiles/Derek, fluff, 

His mouth began forming the word 'no' in a knee jerk reaction, but it died on his lips when he actually looked at Stiles. There was no pity in his face, no sense of moral obligation or charitable intent, he looked...earnest and nervous and so much the sixteen that he was. He realized with a jolt that had his stomach twisting into something that felt nothing like anger that Stiles wasn't asking for Derek's sake.

- The boys spend Christmas together. There's copious amounts of sarcasm, some sharing of emotions and somewhere along the lines feelings develop.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4632642      "We're Not Dating!" by Glissa     16k, Stiles/Derek, frottage, 

There must be something in the water supply in Beacon Hills. That has to be the only explanation as to why everyone thinks they're dating.

Either that, or there's something Stiles and Derek don't know.

Or: 12 times the pack, and the pack by proxy, think Stiles and Derek are dating but they aren't, and the one time they actually are.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2188908     Better Than Any Flame by alisvolatpropiis     4k, Stiles/Derek, beard kink, 

“You've got something on your face,” Derek says, clearing his throat, resisting the urge to reach up and touch the scraggly beard, to get his mouth on it.

Stiles rolls his eyes but he still leans forward to bump a shoulder against his in greeting. “This thing,” he says, petting it. “Scott and I had a bet to see who could grow a better beard.”

Derek doesn’t even glance over at Scott, who he already knows is clean-shaven; he just holds Stiles’ unnerving stare, trying to figure out the look in those big brown eyes. It's something like innocence, but it's way too knowing, too sure, to be sincere. It's classic Stiles, really. Derek raises one eyebrow at him and strokes his own, better beard, making a show of luxuriating in how full and soft it is. “And you lost so you had to keep yours,” he says finally, fighting a smile.

Stiles tosses his head back in wide-mouthed laughter, and goddammit, Derek wants to lick, wants to taste, wants to feel. Stiles walks past him on his way to the dining room, patting him roughly on the shoulder, winking again. “I missed you too, big guy.”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11168268     you’ve got me on pins and needles by jadore_hale    17k, Stiles/Derek, AU, obliviousness, 

“At any rate, I’m not here to steal from you. One of the biggest potentially most important moments in my life is coming up and I find myself in need of a custom tux.”

“A tuxedo?” Derek halted, then tried not to laugh as he gave the kid a good look up and down. “Biggest potentially most important moment of your life?”

Derek picked up the broom and started sweeping, shaking his head. “If you need something for your little costume party, kid, rent something from party city.”

-

Stiles Stilinski needs THE perfect suit and Derek Hale is just the tailor to make it for him. Only Derek doesn’t exactly know that Stiles is kind of a famous movie star…

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1817704     Introduction to Zero-Sum Anthropology by apocryphal    20k, Stiles/Derek, fluff, snark, 

Stiles buys Derek a set of cooking spoons. Derek retaliates with lunch.

The war begins.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2534624     Cuddle Therapy by alisvolatpropiis     3k, Stiles/Derek, cuddling, 

“Dude, did you know that Derek’s into dudes?” Scott asks the question as he shoves a folded piece of meat lover’s pizza in his mouth, last few words turning to mumbled mush.

Stiles tells himself that’s why he has to ask him to repeat it twice, even though Scott-talking-with-his-mouth-full is practically his second language, mastered when they were first graders, along with Scott-needs-to-use-his-puppy-eyes-now-because-words-are-hard-for-him-sometimes and Scott-talking-while-trying-to-pretend-he’s-not-having-an-asthma-attack (now a dead language thanks to the vigorous application of werewolfdom).

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2356391     I Feel We're Close Enough by samann98    55k, Stiles/Derek, AU, high school, pining, friends with benefits, 

Derek's two friends share a look and even Boyd can’t muster up the strength to deal with his pathetic attempt at denial. “Come on now, Derek, seriously? We know about you and Stiles.”

“Yeah, we know you two are fuck buddies,” Erica adds with a smirk, and Derek buries his head in his hands.

“That’s not exactly the terminology I would use,” he murmurs, his whole face burning with embarrassment.

“How else would you describe having sex with your best friend who has no clue you’re in love with him?” Boyd asks, actually sounding curious about his answer.

Derek lifts his head, opens his mouth to reply, but only ends up making a few ridiculous noises that can’t pass for actual words. When Derek finally just throws his hands up in defeat, admitting, “Okay, fine, that’s exactly how you’d describe it,” Erica and Boyd shake their heads at him.

Or the one in which Derek and Stiles are childhood friends, their freshman year of high school Derek makes the craziest suggestion ever, and four years later Stiles decides to take him up on it.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1701203    some kind of karmic-chi love thing by llassah    27k, Stiles/Derek, drugs, 

“Stiles, uh. You know I’m totally on your side? Like, I’ll never not be on your side, ever. But you know that weed’s kind of different for werewolves, right?”

Stiles mashes his face into Scott’s chest, tries to burrow down under the comforter. Scott sighs, pulls back and waits until Stiles is looking at him.

“I know. Just—don’t try and make me be the adult here,” he says, hates the plaintive tone his voice has taken on.

“He’s happy, Stiles. And I can’t believe you’d ever think I’d do that to you, buddy,” he says, ruffling Stiles's hair with a grin as Stiles slaps his hand away and hunkers down again, his ear against Scott’s chest, their feet tangled together.

- Derek Hale comes back to Beacon Hills stoned and happy. Stiles tries not to resent him for it, and mostly fails.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1359397     For Love is Not Ours to Command by weathervaanes    18k, Stiles/Derek, fake relationship, 

Where Derek's skills at thinking on his feet mean that he and Stiles have to act. For the sake of Stiles' dad, of course, for the sake of the pack. No personal interest interference at all, whatsoever. Right.

-0-

“Why does my dad say that you and your boyfriend are a bad influence on me?”

“What?”

“Yeah, what boyfriend? Dude, you are not allowed to not tell me crap like this. You didn't think I'd like be a douchebag or something. Right?”

“No, wait, what? I have no boyfriend.”

“He says you were with him at the police station.”

Stiles blinks. “Uhm. Oh shit.”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/682201    walk me down your broken line by geordielover     18k, Stiles/Derek, h/c, angst, fluff, 

The kissing. That’s important, very important. Not that the homicidal lycanthrope dragging him through dirt and fallen leaves isn’t important, but the kiss that follows? The path to this monumental push of lips on lips began even before this ill-fated venture to the Hale house.

The douchebag manhandling him through the forest, hand clamped tight around Stiles’s throat to keep him from screaming, is just a bonus.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/752428    Fireman Derek's Crazy Pie [Cheeseburger Baby] by owlpostagain    17k, Stiles/Derek, AU, fluff, obliviousness, 

“He can't blame me for the fact that I live in a building full of people united in the singular effort to ogle Hot Fireman as often as humanly possible."

Laura laughs, loud and echoing in the empty restaurant.

"Hot firemen can make a girl do crazy things," she agrees, nodding towards her brother's name on the menu. "Derek won't let me date anyone from his company, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the eye candy."

"Send them my way," Stiles suggests, finally loading up a forkful of pie. "Apparently I'm incompetent enough that I need to be babysat at all times, because it would be cheaper than dispatching a truck every time I try to use a kitchen appliance."

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/687704    The Morning When It's Clear by BarlowGirl    13k, Stiles/Derek, fluff, 

“She makes me have dinner with her and the Sheriff every week,” Derek admits. “She keeps saying I don’t eat well enough. Too much fast food, she says. I keep reminding her I’m a werewolf and then I get a lecture about cholesterol. That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Did you accidentally puppy-dog eye her?” Scott asks seriously.

“I – no? What the hell, no.” He levels a glare at Scott. “And dog jokes aren’t funny.”

Scott laughs. “You totally did. Oh my God. That’s priceless.”

Or: Derek feels, basically.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5137046    It Can All But Break Your Heart by orbiting_saturn     7k, Stiles/Derek, 

Turns out, Derek can’t go anywhere without getting hit on.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3362135     Ruin Me (Take Me Down) by xLostDreamsx    50k, Stiles/Derek, AU, underage, 

Driving his teachers and his Dad crazy with his incessant trouble making, Stiles reluctantly accepts young college student Derek Hale as his ‘babysitter’, his Dad misguidedly believing he will be a positive role model to help guide him back to the straight and narrow.

Unfortunately for the Sheriff, he isn’t quite aware that Derek isn’t quite as up-standing as he appears and at the hands of his smart, young, manipulative son with a head full of ideas, his rather weak moral codes soon crumble.

Or put simply, Derek gives in to Stiles and things get hot and heavy pretty fast.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/817564     the shortest distance between two points (is the line from me to you) by decideophobia    23k, Stiles/Derek, 

“You—I—” Stiles splutters for a second, scrutinizing Derek’s face. He huffs in frustration. “I take it all back. You haven’t changed at all, you’re still acting like a petulant ten-year-old who unleashes his bad mood on others. You know, all Unleash the Derek style.”

“‘Unleash the Derek’?” Derek asks, dubiously.

“Yeah,” Stiles nods, gazing out the window again. “You know, the thing where you dump your bad mood on others, pour your suffocating attitude over everyone around you, twist everything that is said to you into some sort of—insult or whatever. It’s what I used to call it back in high school.”

“Sometimes I get the feeling you were dropped on your head an awful lot as a child,” Derek says appraisingly, eyebrows furrowed.

Stiles snorts. “Yeah, right back at you.”

Derek’s lips quirk in amusement, he arches his eyebrows. “I was, actually. But unlike you I regained full health.”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/622475     with metal on our tongues (we'll be dressed in rags) by Rena    18k, Stiles/Derek, AU, 

Double-oh agents are a piece of work; Stiles knew that before he became MI6's new quartermaster. It's cool, he survived Lydia in college, he can deal with stubborn, reckless, trigger-happy operatives. Derek Hale, though, is definitely trying to live up to his predecessor's legacy and make Stiles' life more difficult.

AKA the one where Derek is 007 and Stiles is Q and they bitch and angst their way to a Happy Ending. 

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/602627    Our Memories Are Numbered by rufflefeather    23k, Stiles/Derek, amnesia, dub-con, 

Stiles’ Jeep grinds to a halt, he sees someone running through the rain, he's not expecting it to be Derek. He's not expecting a Derek without any memories either, or an Alpha pack that's coming for all of them. He probably should've, because lately nothing goes the way he expects.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4639482    'Till You Make It by standinginanicedress    46k, Stiles/Derek, soulmates, pining, fake relationship, 

“I'm saying – let's fake it.”

Derek blinks at him. Hard. Stiles never knew that someone could physically make a blink look hard, but there Derek goes, slamming his lids together like he's fucking exercising them. “Fake it.”

“Pretend, dumbass,” he backhands Derek lightly on his upper arm. “Pretend like we're doing as well as our parents want us to and then they'll be off our backs, right?”

“We don't have to pretend anything, Stiles,” Derek says evenly, in a tone that suggests he'd much rather be yelling. “We're literallysoulmates.”

“That's the beauty of it! It's going to be so fucking easy. I can't believe we never thought of this before,” he runs his hands through his hair and shakes his head in amazement, grinning from ear to ear. “Holy shit. I can't believe I just solved all our problems for us, man.”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1166542     Anything You Can Do by Rosada    1k, Stiles/Derek, pre-slash, body swap, 

Based on a prompt by Tumblr user prettiestcaptain: Pissing off a witch is officially on the pack’s no-no list. After Derek and Stiles get their bodies swapped, Stiles decides to explore the werewolf body he is now occupying. Derek is not thrilled at all about it and Scott is having the time of his life.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2259114     Three Marks by sanam     113k, Stiles/Derek, AU, soulmates, slow burn, 

"And then there was pain again, but this time it was in only three places—his arm, below his clavicle, and next to his heart, all on the left side. It felt like the skin was being sliced apart, ripped open, flayed off— And suddenly it was done. Derek looked across the room and saw the boy on the floor, looking about as bad as Derek felt."

Derek and Stiles learn that bonding is probably best done with ridiculous amounts of video games and maybe a little bit of time.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1016307     In My Arm by lurrel    3k, Stiles/Derek, amputation, 

Stiles has to cut off Derek's arm, and it's kind of handsy. An alternate storyline for Magic Bullet (1.04). 

.  

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13401471    Stay by Smowkie    18k, Stiles/Derek, 5+1, bed sharing, hypothermia, 

Stiles had just gotten off his fourth long shift in a row and was looking forward to going home to his bed. He had plans to spend the next day, his first day off in more than a week, in bed or on the couch with junk food and bad tv. When he approached his Jeep and saw Derek on the ground next to the passenger door he groaned but hurried over.

“Derek, what the fuck? What happened?”

-

Or: another 5+1 bed sharing fic that nobody asked for.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3968296     Paint My Spirit Gold by Red_City    84k, Stiles/Derek, AU, mythology, touch starved, temporary character death, 

There was a gift.

There was a curse.

There is a power in the house of Hale, given to the firstborn son of every generation - the ability to turn everything he touches to gold. Though the original intent of the power was thought of as a gift, in reality, it is a dreaded curse that causes the bearer a life of fear, isolation, and danger.

Thus, Prince Derek is born.

---

[Excerpt from Chapter 22]

He didn’t think much of his hands, or any part of his body, really - but Stiles gaze had lingered enough to make Derek wonder what Stiles’ thought. Now, Stiles honey eyes were fixated on Derek’s hands, running over them like they were something precious rather than tools of death.

“Hmm.”

“What.”

“Nothing, I just - I thought they wouldn’t look like normal hands.”

“Why.”

“Because they’re magic,” Stiles said, looking up to meet Derek’s eyes.

“They’re not magic, they’re cursed,” Derek said, tucking his hands back into the sheet.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13308726     The Quickest Way to a Man’s Heart (is Through His Bottomless Pit) by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)   54k, Stiles/Derek, AU, slow burn, shy!Derek, pining, 

Pulling open his apartment door, he let out an involuntary shout when something was quite literally thrust into his chest hard enough to have him almost tip backwards. He managed to right himself while keeping hold of what had been shoved at him and looked up in time to see his neighbour striding back towards his apartment.

“You’re going to fucking kill yourself.”

His door slammed.

Stiles blinked at the other man’s door, utterly confused, and looked down at what he was holding.

It was a plastic bag, full of what felt like tupperware, which made no sense to Stiles because when had his neighbour broken into his house to steal his tupperware?

(SNYE - January 11th - Neighbours)

THE SOFTEST hoy shit!

. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4975684     There's a howling that stays beneath my skin by LunaCanisLupus_22    32k, Stiles/Derek, slow burn, pining, 

Cora inclines her head pointedly and he realises he’s half perched on the deck chair, ready to leap up and fight at a moment's notice. Or run. He shrugs out of his dad’s jacket, folding it over the edge of the chair, and then crosses his arms.

He’s relaxed, okay? He took the jacket off. He’s plenty relaxed.

Or Derek's obligatory vacation fic in South America after he left Beacon Hills (for good?)

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3131873     Hallowed Grounds by damnfancyscotch    109k, Stiles/Derek, AU, wolf!Derek, slow burn, 

Everything in Beacon Hills is the same when Stiles comes home from college.

Well, except for the fact that he's a published author now, Scott is halfway across the world with a travelling circus, Erica's epilepsy has been cured, her boss offers him a job too, and there's this weird black dog that seems to be following him around just to judge him.

Oh, and the murders, of course.

But other than that stuff... totally the same old BH.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5821597    Days Like This by rlnerdgirl    18k, Stiles/Derek, slow burn, 

Returning to Beacon Hills is a big step for Derek. He's starting his own business, rebuilding his old family home, and enjoying the feeling of being home. When he runs into the Sheriff and finds himself invited to a Stilinski family dinner, it's not nearly as strange as he would have expected, and when Stiles starts becoming a regular part of his new life, it only feels natural.

“The first thing Derek notices is that Stiles is taller. The second is that he’s more filled out. This shouldn’t be a surprise. Not living in Beacon Hills doesn’t stop the machine of social media, and it’s not like he hasn’t seen pictures, but it’s different in person. Stiles, now Derek’s height, maybe an inch taller, still has the same wide smile and loose-limbness about him that he did when he was in high school. Between the height and the muscles though, this Stiles wouldn’t make anyone second guess that he played lacrosse. The only thing people would second guess about this Stiles is the fact that he was always on the bench.”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11669214     Framed by Nival_Vixen   65k, Stiles/Derek, action, accidental pack acquisition, 

Stiles' first day at the FBI was also going to be his last. That had to be some kind of record, surely?

...

On his first day at the FBI, Stiles discovers that Derek is wanted for mass murder. Stiles knows that Derek's innocent and is determined to find out who framed him. 

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12971160     Fully Grown by thedaughterofkings    36k, Stiles/Derek, AU, soulmates, wolf!Derek, 

The pup smells of summer, of heat in the air, lightning in the sky.

No amount of growling sends him running; he just keeps standing there, staring. He's no threat though, smells of sparks but not of fire, no taste of ashes on the tongue.

Satisfied, he turns around, leaving the pup behind, ignoring the acid scent of anxiety and fear that suddenly fills the air.

~*~

Stumbling across a wolf in the preserve is not what Stiles expects when he goes for a run the last night before school starts again. But even if the wolf acts more intelligent than a mere animal, he can’t have anything to do with Stiles’ unusual soulmark, four vicious scratches down his forearm, can he?

And what is Kate Argent doing back in Beacon Hills for the first time since the Hale Fire?

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4585491    Hunger of the Pine by utsu    48k, Stiles/Derek, slow burn, pining, 

Normal. A word with meaning akin to water, slipping right through his fingertips. Elusive in the long-term; a flickering understanding he accepts and loses track of in a passing moment.

Normal had never, ever seemed an applicable term to a life ridden with werewolves.

or: the one where the pack figures out that Derek and Stiles are in love before Derek and Stiles do.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1820941    In the Early Morning Hours by acolonf6    13k, Stiles/Derek, bed sharing, pining, 

Stiles remembers sleep, remembers it well. Stiles and sleep are totally buds…or at least they used to be. Ever since everything with the nogitsune went down, sleeping just hasn’t been the same.

(Until Derek starts showing up)  

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7312444      What You Wont by Spitshine    17k, Stiles/Derek, AU, Shakespeare, trans character, pining, 

Derek’s protests dried up in his throat as Laura’s eyes bled red, but he rolled his eyes and huffed out, “Fine,” knowing full well he was being childish and not caring. All the complaining she did about his taciturnity, and then cutting him off the one time it really mattered. Well, Laura could hardly blame him for the inevitable failure of his so-called marriage if she wouldn’t even let him talk long enough to tell her he had never once felt attraction to a woman.  

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12408531    When You're Close I Feel the Sparks by Leslie_Knope    39k, Stiles/Derek, AU, high school, 

The guy is hot as hell, sure—leather jacket and glasses, Jesus, be still Stiles' poor, bisexual, beating heart—but more importantly, it must really suck being new on the first day of senior year.

“We’re adopting him,” he decides, tugging Scott and Kira by the elbow in that direction. “Let’s go.”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/518799    Apparent Lack of Ceremony by Loz    3k, Scott/Stiles, first time, frottage, friends to lovers, bed sharing, 

Scott keeps climbing into Stiles' bed at night to cuddle. They don't talk about it in the morning.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1110863     A Phenomenon When You Came Along by Loz     17k, Scott/Stiles, road trips, bed sharing, friends to lovers, 

Stiles and Scott embark on a road trip together. This isn't a metaphor (except for how it is.)

-

“It’s okay, I’m good.”

“Yeah, you’re the best,” Scott replies automatically.

It’s one of their stock phrases, something they’ve said since childhood --- as natural to them as their ability to communicate through eyebrow-raises, their super-secret handshake and their unending loyalty to one another, but Stiles thought they’d retired it when they were fifteen, so he glances at Scott quickly.

“Sometimes I think we’ve forgotten how to be us and then you say something, or look at me a certain way, and it all comes back.”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/484734    Came home, like a stone (fell heavy into your arms) by queerly_it_is    10k, Isaac/Scott, first time, friends to lovers, 

In the aftermath of Gerard's final attempt to bring down the pack; Isaac and Scott's friendship becomes something more, as they forge a new connection and learn to trust each other and themselves.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2420705    Like real people do by queerly_it_is    15k, Scott/Stiles, pining, 

Stiles waits until Scott’s focused on the game, eyes narrowed and his tongue poking at the corner of his mouth, fingers tapping at the controller, before he says, “So I think we should kiss.”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/1595759    Lost and found by holesinthesky    9k, Stiles/Derek, emotional hc, friends to lovers, sexual identity, 

"Most people look at Derek and assume he is having more sex than anyone else in the room."

In which Derek has the worst time, but then it gets better.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2772911    When It Happens by matildajones    5k, Stiles/Derek, AU, high school, fluff, friends to lovers, 

Stiles turns his head and looks up at his friend. “Have you ever thought about it?” Derek asks. “What?” “Thought about us dating.”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13560063     Parallels by inatshej    21k, Stiles/Derek, AU, high school, pining, UST, light dom/sub, 

Stiles slowly pulls in a mouthful of curly fries, dumbly focused on the task. ''It's weirdly homoerotic how you do this,'' muses Derek, eyeing him. Stiles chokes and Derek's lips curl up into an almost smile. It's so easy to get the reaction he wants from Stiles. ''Yeah, it's disgusting, Stilinski,'' says Jackson, looking at the boy with distaste. Derek turns to him, letting his eyebrows rise. ''And who asked you, Whittemore?'' Jackson glances at him, surprised. ''I've just agreed with y-'' ''No one cares,'' Derek interrupts him. ''Fuck off.''

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/940345     And, And, And- by captainkoirk    8k, Scott/Stiles, bed sharing, friends to lovers, pining, 

Stiles likes to be sure of things, when he can be. It comes with the territory; growing up on the wrong side of gangly, complete with a late growth spurt and a nail-biting habit. Precocious as they come and constantly mistaken for being younger. An ex-prodigy child with a mean streak that grew up too fast because a broad vocabulary means hitting hard and getting your barbs hooked.

Stiles can do tunnel vision with the best of them, knows every Pre and Post iteration of himself, can pick at a moment and know his own inevitable shifting, from Mom's death to his first day of high school to his first brush with lycanthropy. And yet he can't pinpoint when Scott's leg pressed against his own changed from something he wouldn't even register to the sort of thing that twists in his gut and pulls the air from his lungs, because Scott's been his constant when the world won't stop spinning and Stiles wants off, and Stiles can't quantify any of it.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/3742582    the place that’s out of view by Loz    10k, Scott/Stiles, soul bond, 

“As far as I can ascertain it’s a proximity curse,” Deaton says, still leading Stiles away from Scott’s house, walking quickly enough it’s nearly a jog. “Your life-forces have been merged. As you come into contact, he weakens and you strengthen.”

“Is it temporary?” Stiles asks. He feels almost normal, now. Close to himself. Sick to his stomach, but not supercharged.

Deaton frowns. “I don’t know.”

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/468406     Let us Stray 'til Break of Day by Loz    55k, Stiles/Derek, emotional manipulation backfiring, snark, 

Derek decides the best way to get Scott to join his pack is to seduce Stiles first. Derek makes terrible decisions.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/489098     make the most of it by preromantics    12k, Stiles/Derek, sex swap, scent kink, 

In which some witches swap out some pretty important parts on Stiles for new ones, Stiles takes it in stride because things like this happen (right?), this is his life now, supernatural shit all over the place, but Derek definitely does not take in it stride. // Stiles can just roll with this, just like he rolled with werewolves existing and magic existing and various other way more gruesome things than suddenly having a vagina and some pretty, honestly spectacular breasts.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/554708    You let me push under your bones by ellievolia, morphosyntactic    10k, Stiles/Derek, girl!Derek, 

He’s not used to girls sleeping with him in his single bed.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4154790     Wild Horses by thepsychicclam    78k, Stiles/Derek, AU, slow burn, permanent injury, scars, UST, past trauma, 

Derek's a drifter with no home, no destination, and no will to live. Stiles works on his family's failing cattle and horse ranch while all his friends are going off to college. When Derek falls asleep in a random barn, exhausted and half-starved, he doesn't expect to wake up on the other end of the sheriff's shotgun. And Stiles sure as hell doesn't expect his dad to invite the drifter in for breakfast.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2366066     I Might Be A Fool by prettylittlementirosa    35k, Stiles/Derek, AU, 

The thing about Stiles, though, is that for him, turned on and angry are not mutually exclusive feelings. He may be painfully hard but that doesn’t mean he’s not also ready to strangle Derek for having the audacity to act like this is something that’s happening to him, not something that is almost entirely his fault. So when Derek let’s out what must be his hundredth long-suffering sigh, Stiles snaps.

(or the one that was supposed to be a GRΣΣK AU but is mostly just a study in the gratuitous and inconsistent use of punctuation)

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12742563     Slow Hands by aussiebee    8k, Stiles/Derek, pining, hand kink, 

Derek is suddenly made aware of Stiles in an entirely new and uncomfortable way; specifically, his hands. His wide, strong, clever and dextrous hands.

Derek is kinda screwed.  

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12258063     Throw Me to the Wolves by skoosiepants    13k, Stiles/Derek, h/c 

He feels the physical embodiment of devastated, his already too strung-out mind struggling to wall up all the hurt, the rejection—he takes a deep shuddering breath and looks down at the shredded skin on his arms, at the sluggish way they’re weakly healing.

There is nothing, nothing he wants more than to have Derek sweep in and make everything all better. He should have known, though, that something like that would never happen to him.

OR -

Stiles accidentally gets bitten, and everything goes to hell.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11953764     Don't Feed the Wolves by Amazonia_8    30k, Stiles/Derek, canon-AU, feral!derek, 

Stiles took the dare, because what else was he supposed to do when the whole lacrosse team was chanting his name? Even though the werewolf pack had left Beacon Hills years ago, nobody was stupid enough to set foot on the Hale property.

Except, apparently, Stiles.

Now he's got a feral werewolf following him around town with the sole purpose of claiming Stiles as his own.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12626415    We're caught in stone, you know we might not make it by LunaCanisLupus_22    29k, Stiles/Derek, AU, childhood friends, friends with benefits, 

He does this thing then, while Stiles is watching, rolls his left shoulder a little as if he’s adjusting the books in his arms and suddenly Stiles recognises him from the gesture.

“Oh my god,” he cries, dumping his books, bag and coffee into one big mess on the ground and rushing over to them at once.

Or the one where Derek and Stiles are childhood buddies who lost touch and reconnect by chance at college. Only they end up doing a lot more than just reconnecting.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12689862    This Counts, Right? by we_are_the_story   2k, Stiles/Derek, AU, soulmates, 

Block-lettered versions of the first words your soulmate will say to you are outlined in black when you are born, or your soulmate is born, and are consequently filled in within a minute of the first meet.

Stiles doesn’t think, “You’re going down, 24,” can constitute as a friendly conversation, or a nice, normal beginning, but Stiles never really cared. And he got a lucky number out of it, so that should mean something, right? The only thing is that a number generally means a sport, and he and sports had always had a mutual hatred for one another. But Stiles would never let something as trivial as a disagreement get in the way of being a good friend, so when Scott joined the lacrosse team at school, Stiles did too, took 24 as his number and didn’t expect anything else.

But then it happened. And it was simultaneously worse and better than he could have ever expected.

Or: too many people are injured during a lacrosse game against their rival team and Stiles must step in, only to unexpectedly help ensure a win. Stiles still doesn’t really understand.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11082210    Full Circle by kaistrex (weishen), klimt   19k, Stiles/Derek, canon-AU, kidnapping, 

Stiles wakes face to face with the muzzle of a black wolf and he does the only thing any sane person would do in such a situation: he screams.

A hand – a furry, claw-tipped but human-shaped hand – comes up to cover his mouth. He follows it with his eyes to a furry wrist disappearing into the sleeve of a leather jacket, up to broad shoulders and to the head of the wolf looming over him sprouting from the collar of a Henley.

A wolf. Wearing clothes.

Stiles sags backwards with relief. It’s okay. He’s just dreaming.

–

All Stiles had wanted to do was warn a newly-returned-to-town Derek Hale that some unsavoury-looking men had put a target on his back. Instead, he gets kidnapped, turned into some sort of human-fox hybrid by a spell gone wrong and, oh yeah, werewolves are a thing.

This is all Scott’s fault.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12888906    The Hardest Thing In This World by yodasyoyo    4k, Stiles/Derek, canon-AU, h/c, 

Stiles is not a wolf, but he has the heart of one.

--

After the Hale fire Derek and Laura go to stay with the Stilinskis, and end up finding more there than they could ever have hoped for

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13130385    When You Wish Upon a Nymph by KaliopeShipsIt    19k, Stiles/Derek, established relationship. accidental pregnancy, mpreg, 

Sheriff Stilinski rescues a nymph who wants to grant him a wish in exchange.

John accidentally wishes for a grandchild and chaos ensues.

A Derek!Mpreg as witnessed from John's POV.

Merry Christmas everyone :)

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12278055    Never Letting Go by Captain_Loki   4k, Stiles/Derek, first time, bottom derek, 

Stiles is the first person that Derek has sex with since Kate. Derek is the first person that Stiles has sex with, ever. It happens during that summer researching the Alpha pack.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2113620    What Good Are Rules (If You Can't Break Them) by wishingonalightningbolt   9k, Stiles/Derek, AU, friends with benefits,

Derek is trying to come up with something witty to say in return when he realizes that he’s smiling. He purposefully turns the corners of his mouth down into a dramatic frown. “Fuck you, Stilinski.”

“Wow, you have a way with words.”

-0-

In which Derek and Stiles engage in no-strings-attached sex. It works out about as well as you might imagine.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7446664    The Dead of Night by nameloc_ar_115   19k, Stiles/Derek, AU, vampire!stiles, kidnapping, 

What's the point of being captured by deranged scientists who want to experiment on you if you have no one to share it with?

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7064629    Devil Unicorns by CrazyJ    27k,Stilles/Derek, pining, 

“Stiles, Derek’s been gone for almost four months man, he’s not coming back,” Scott said gently, placing his hand on Stiles’ shoulder, knowing his friend needed the support. “If he was going to come back, don’t you think he would have by now?”

The room grew heavy as Scott’s question hung in the air, the truth of his words permeating everything but the thick defence Stiles put up anytime Derek was mentioned. To be honest, Scott didn’t understand it. He had liked the dude, appreciated his help more than he had considered him a friend, seen his value in the pack, but he wasn’t heartbroken that he had left. If he was being completely honest, it was easier now that he was gone, the dude was bad luck and things had been good since he and Braeden had disappeared.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2798522    Hurt Me (to Heal Me) by SushiOwl    51k, Stiles/Derek, AU, BDSM, sub!Derek, 

Stiles likes his job, he does. It's just that his boss is an asshole. Stiles has been working for Hale and Associates for a while now, and he's learned to take Mr Hale's treatment of him with a grain of salt. They're coexisting, more or less. Stiles puts thought of his boss out of his head when he heads to a BDSM club called The Menagerie for the first time. It's a nice night, everything is going well, but everything changes when he sees his boss there.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/602124    Last Day on Earth by Saucery    3k, Stiles/Derek, first time, 

Stiles refuses to die a virgin.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/452969    We Should Become More Adventurous by skoosiepants    8k, Stiles/Derek, AU, 

Werewolves are the kind of horror you only find in books and movies and gay porn, so forgive him for being a little slow on the uptake. 

.  

https://archiveofourown.org/works/378434    he is and as he is by jaegermighty    1k, Stiles/Derek, 

First times and muffins. 

.  

https://archiveofourown.org/works/943047    my chest is a field full of landmines by Amber    5k, Stiles/Derek, masturbation, 

Derek Hale's emotional problems extend to his penis. Stiles plays therapist.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11013228    At least the Road to Hell is paved, I'm not good with Stairways by lady emebalia (emebalia)   170k, Stiles/Derek, AU, BDSM, disability, 

When Derek signs up on a BDSM dating site, he expects things to be straight forward. Turns out the road ahead has more unexpected turns than he thought. But at least Stiles comes well equipped for twists and turns.

Definitely one of the best BDSM fics i’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. lady emebalia is a fantastic writer.

.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5365487    Human is Just a Word by lady emebalia (emebalia)    173k, Stiles/Derek, AU, dub-con, biting kink, 

Getting claimed by a werewolf has so not been on Stiles' agenda for the night. But at least he can choose whose human pet he's going to be. That's a plus, right? 

only the first sex scene is dub-con (due to fuck-or-die/get raped by other character), the rest features enthusiastic consent. There is abuse and one non-con scene featuring two minor characters at the end of the fic tho.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/2330807   Pale Skin and Fragile Bone by fakinbrilliance    62k, Stiles/Derek, 

Stiles asks Derek to teach him self-defense. 

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/14996549    Thanks for Thumper, But I Prefer Cheeseburgers by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)    58k, Stiles/Derek, AU, Wolf!Derek, mates, 

The wolf’s head whipped around so fast, Stiles felt like he was watching The Exorcist.

Stiles wondered if he could just stand still enough to make the wolf think he was a tree. A very bright red and jean-clad tree. He doubted it, but one could hope.

He knew it was a lost cause when the wolf turned fully, lips pulled back from its sharp teeth—so very sharp, good fucking Lord!—and began walking towards Stiles.

“I didn’t see anything!” Stiles shouted, both hands out in front of himself and sweat instantly breaking out across his skin. “I swear to you! I didn’t see anything! I didn’t see anything! I won’t tell anyone! I won’t! I’ll keep this to myself, until the day I die! I promise! I promise!”

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/12088854   Stained Glass Windows by KouriArashi    85k, Chris/Peter, AU, kid fic, slow build, 

Peter survives the fire and suddenly finds himself trying to raise children with only a vague notion of what he's doing, while trying to cope with his own grief and find his family's murderer. He ends up turning to Chris Argent for help, and nothing goes as expected.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/14334453    Five Times Stiles Fell Out of a Window and the One Time He Jumped by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)    14k, Stiles/Derek, 5+1, pining, 

“What are you doing?”

Stiles started so violently that his hands slipped. He was leaning out so far, and his balance had been relying on his hands so much that he just tumbled right out the window, rolling along the slanted roof and letting out a loud shout when he fell over the end.

He landed hard on his side, pain shooting up his shoulder and let out a very loud curse that his neighbours probably all heard. He rolled onto his back with a groan, clutching at his injured shoulder, and opened his previously closed eyes in time to see Derek standing on the roof, staring down at him with the eyebrows.

How was Derek’s entire language just eyebrows?

“What the hell?” Stiles demanded, sitting up and still holding his injured arm. “Where did you come from?”

“The door,” Derek informed him, giving him a look.  

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/13417734    The Not So Beauty to Your Not So Beast by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)   64k, Stiles/Derek, AU, royalty, modern, pining, 

“Mieczyslaw Stilinski?”

All eyes instantly turned to Stiles and he felt his stomach drop. They’d taken his dad. They’d actually taken his dad and were here to tell him so.

“Yeah?” he asked in a small voice, feeling ready to be sick.

The second he spoke, two of the four regular guards moved through the rows, the lead guard speaking.

“By order of his Grace Peter Hale, you have been selected to begin your employ under the royal house of Hale.”

Wait.

What?

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/13444578    Drive Me Crazy by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)    1k, Stiles/Derek, road trip, bickering, 

“Stop making that sound,” Derek snapped.

“What sound? There’s no sound.”

“That,” Derek insisted. “That sound!”

“What, me breathing?” Stiles shot back. “There’s no sound, Derek!”

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/11060220   This Isn't What I Wanted (but I can't keep my filthy fucking mouth shut) by LadySlytherin   26k, Stiles/Derek, 

Alt-S3A, wherein the alpha pack strikes at Derek shortly after taking Erica and Boyd. They kidnap Stiles and bite him, but Sparks aren’t made to be wolves. When the bite doesn’t take, Stiles’ self-preservation instinct makes a choice between dying and surviving at any cost. But the price paid is a steep one, and not something Stiles ever wanted for himself.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/6544285    Gambling Debts by lady emebalia (emebalia)   141k, Stiles/Derek, AU, BDSM, 

Stiles owns a casino, Peter has a gambling problem and Derek has to pay his uncle's debts. You know the setup, you know where this leads. Or maybe not …

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/13881453    Extraordinary by HyperLittleNori (Shiguresan)    109k, Stiles/Derek, AU, disability, 

An awkward encounter with a man of few words in the laundry room of Stiles's building sparks a chain of events that will change the way he sees the world forever. A little story about finding a place for oneself and someone to share that place with.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/13938150    in this twilight (i can't see shit) by Anniely    39k, Stiles/Derek, AU, 

About three things Stiles is sure:

First, the people in Beacon Hills are supernaturally gorgeous and he has no idea why he was allowed in. Second, if he hears 'mountain lion' one more time, he's going to do some serious maiming. And third, Derek Hale looks at him like he wants to eat him. And Stiles might just let him.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/14662854   Something Rotten by HappyJuicyfruit    78k, Stiles/Derek, drug use, prostitution, homelessness, past rape, 

Dammit, this was another reason he hated walking around a big city at night, he always managed to catch glimpses of the dark underbelly. He turned around, planning on going the long way home, but he froze when he heard the voice-

“Let me take you home,” a man said.

“That will cost you more. I get the money before we leave, and I take another hit at your place before we do anything.” Another man slurred.

That voice. It sounded like- Derek’s feet were moving him towards the men before he could think.

“Stiles?”

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15631620    Dress Me Up In Stitches (Or, Five Times Stiles Got Hurt And Hid It, And One Time He Couldn't) by rockmusicplays   22k, Stiles/Derek, 5+1, injury, 

Stiles is determined to help the pack protect the town any way that he can. Derek and Scott keep trying to sideline him for his own safety, but Stiles isn't having it.

Even if it kills him.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503010    Waiting by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)    81k, Stiles/Derek, canon-AU, feral!Derek, possessive!Derek, 

Not wanting to think on it took much, Stiles took a step forward and passed his hand between the bars, moving the bleeding side closer to Derek’s mouth.

“Not too close, he bites.”

Stiles snatched his hand away just as Derek had been about to lick at it. The snarl he got in response was not comforting.

“He what?” Stiles asked nervously, turning to Deaton.

The man looked a little amused. “Don’t worry, only if he doesn’t like you.”

“Well, he probably hates me, now!” Stiles insisted, turning back to Derek.

He looked extremely displeased.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/670586    Cross My Soul by ecarian    31k, Stiles/Derek, 

Sometime around mid summer, during the intervening weeks of baseball camp and recovering from baseball camp and the latest Minecraft update, Jinx hops up the plastic step stool to their bed and says, “Derek’s daemon won’t talk to me.”

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/736142    Messy by blacktofade    1k, Lydia/Stiles, pegging, 

As soft as Stiles appears, he’s surprisingly firm beneath Lydia’s hands. 

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/758433    Be Sure by blacktofade    1k, Stiles/Derek, watersports, possessive behaviour, 

Stiles likes to think he’s an open-minded guy.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15866892    Magical Encounters by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)    105k, Stiles/Derek, AU, phone sex operator, angst, stalking, 

“Shut up and talk to me.”

Spark laughed, and it made Derek’s muscles relax even more. God, even just his voice was enough to calm him down. Derek wished their relationship wasn’t what it was. He knew it could never be anything more, but he wished they’d met under different circumstances.

“Well, which is it? Shut up, or talk to you? Or did you need a little bit of relief?” Spark’s voice lowered and it shot straight to Derek’s groin. “Are you in need of some other services, Derek?”

“Don’t do that,” Derek snapped. He hadn’t meant for it to come out so hostile, but Spark didn’t often use that voice with him. His ‘service’ voice. The one he used to get people off. When Derek was having a normal day, he didn’t mind it so much, but today? No, today he felt it go straight to his dick and he did not want to do that to Spark. He didn’t.

He fucking didn’t!

“Sorry, sorry,” Spark said quickly. “Yeesh, it was a bad day, huh? Okay, no problem, let’s make you happy again. As happy as a grumpy motherfucker like you can be, anyway.”

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15719427   I'm Lost In You by matildajones    13k, Stiles/Derek, AU, soulmates, coma, 

He knows he should move but a part of him still feels paralyzed. He has clear feelings of not being able to move his body, of not being able to even blink.

“Oh my god,” Stiles says, and he clambers to his feet, feeling dizzy. He easily finds a mirror in the room and then the most gorgeous eyes stare back at him. They’re a sea-green instead of the normal brown that he’s used to.

He’s looking at his soulmate.

--

Stiles wakes up in his soulmate's body, on his twenty-second birthday, with blurry memories of the past year. Derek doesn't wake up at all.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15869025    The Sun to Rise by andavs    7k, Stiles/Derek, AU, Alpha!Derek, Emissary!Stiles,

Stiles has an imaginary friend. He's kind of a dick.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/941881    You Always Make A Bloody Mess by Sweetsyren    5k, Stiles/Derek, h/c, scars, injury, 

Stiles is used to hiding his scars.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/515709    And You Say You're Alone by taelynhawker   30k, Stiles/Derek,injury, 

Between the kanima, the Argents, and Peter's untimely return from the dead, everything has fallen apart. Stiles and Derek try to put their lives back together once the crisis has passed. Stiles deals with the aftermath of being tortured, and the distance growing between he and Scott. Derek attempts to become a stronger alpha and keep his pack safe, and that includes Stiles.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/702099    Thunder, Steal the Wind by qthelights    10k, Stiles/Derek, forced proximity, h/c, injury, frottage, first time, 

Trapped in a thunderstorm with an unknown creature chasing them, Stiles and Derek find they need to trust each other to get through the night.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/648444    Under Pressure (Approximately 7lbs) by shlynn    2k, Stiles/Derek, injury, h/c, 

Stiles breaks his collarbone.

Well, Derek breaks Stiles' collarbone.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/562077    Say it Sweet by morganoconner     4k, Stiles/Derek, h/c, truth serum, 

"Wolfsbane." Derek grits his teeth. "Interrogation blend. Still in my system. It makes me talk."

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/614989    Never Cage A Rabid Wolf by tty9    49k, Stiles/Derek, AU, prison, prison appropriate warnings, 

Stiles is sent to prison, and gets assigned to a cell with-

“Hale?!” Scott gasped as his gaze followed Stiles’s. “You got Derek Hale?! Oh boy, man, good luck with that buddy, that guy is a psycho!” His voice had become worryingly high pitched. Stiles’s heart started thumping in his chest, and he swore it actually skipped a beat when Hale looked up at them, his eyes searing into Stiles’s who quickly dropped his head. His beef (or was it pork?) slop suddenly looked very interesting.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/925944    constant as a northern star by Hymn   6k, Stiles/Derek, smut, Derek discovers he loves to bottom

Derek stole a chicken wing from Stiles’ pile, said “You’re special," in a way that was probably meant to be a subtle jab at Stiles’ sanity but really just came out sounding like Derek was having emotions.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/1664021    I Can Kill You With My Mind by Snowjob    4k, Stiles/Derek, psychic bond, masturbation, 

Response to an open prompt on tumblr:

I need a fic—no, this fandom needs a fic—wait, THE WORLD NEEDS A FIC where magic!Stiles accidentally forms a telepathic bond with Derek while having sex with someone else.

He may or may not be having an orgasm at the time.

He also may or may not be picturing Derek while doing it. - Jerakeenc

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/1533503    Seeing Double. by doctorkaitlyn    62k, Stiles/Derek/Stuart Stilinski, AU, twincest, polyamory, 

Derek had always had a thing for libraries, even before he started working in one. There was nothing like the feeling of having all the knowledge in the world at his fingertips, nothing like the quiet serenity that only books could bring.

One day, that serenity was shattered by two young men, twins to be exact, sitting in the English Literature section and firing off rapid Polish at a completely inexcusable volume. Derek told them to be quiet, like he'd done to dozens of other students, and that should have been the end of it.

In reality, it was just the beginning.

or, that fic where Derek falls for both Stiles and Stuart (and the feeling is definitely mutual.)

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/899188    Riding the Lightning by Vendelin    23k, Stiles/Derek, AU, temporary amnesia, past torture, 

Stiles finds himself on the doorstep to his home in Beacon Hills, not remembering how he got here or why he’s barefoot. As it turns out, he was abducted a couple of weeks earlier from a college party and bears the same marks on his body as victims of a serial killer his dad just can’t seem to get a hold of. So there he is, with no memories of what happened, the last couple of weeks like a blank line in his mind and knowing all too well that he’s the best shot they have at catching this guy. As a key witness and in acute, assumed danger, he finds himself under surveillance 24/7 and more often than not, his dad’s best Deputy: Derek Hale, is sitting at his kitchen table.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/857035    Just a social construct by queerly_it_is    2k, Danny/Stiles, first time, 

"I really was kidding," Danny says. It'd be more of a put-down if it wasn't said against Stiles' mouth, if his hands weren't on Stiles' hips while Stiles just sort of twitches against the wall he's being pressed into.

He mumbles back, "I really wasn't," trying to get Danny to use more tongue. Stiles is maybe already a little addicted to Danny's tongue. It's a problem.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/850274    Bought the T-Shirt by the_deep_magic    6k, Stiles/Derek, first time, fuck-or-die, 

Stiles needs some help with a thing. (Post-ep for 3x03 "Fireflies")

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https://archiveofourown.org/series/34394    And Will Not Be Commanded series by whiskey_in_tea     13k, Stiles/Derek, Derek/Erica, 

He can’t decide if it was worse when Derek was with Erica, when he would touch her shoulder or hip with his fingertips and the perpetual frown of his forehead would smooth out, just for a single, tender second, or now, when his hands are always empty at his sides and Stiles is starting to feel compelled to offer himself to fill them.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/515616    You are the Moon by skoosiepants    10k, Stiles/Derek, AU, wolf!Derek, 

Stuff Stiles doesn’t like to deal with first thing: hot, moist dog breath in his face, a cuddly werewolf creepifying his perfectly normal morning wood with shades of bestiality, and his dad holding his service revolver up against the skull of his bedmate, never mind the fact that his bedmate could possibly be a vicious unhinged rogue omega.    

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/532552    You Taste Like Glitter by dizzzylu    1k, Danny/Stiles, first kiss, 

There was a time in Danny's life when he'd have sworn he had better things to do than sit in a club and check out the latest guy his ex is trying to hook up with. That is not the case tonight.

(written for the prompt: Danny sees Stiles at a gay bar and asks him to dance to make his ex jealous, only things get a little out of hand when he realizes Stiles is really into it and is not so straight as Danny thoughtat the Everybody Loves Danny Fanworks Fest)

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/546446    Hide Of A Life War by Etharei    26k, minor Stiles/Derek, BAMF!Stiles, hostage situation, injury, 

“We have received confirmation that there is a hostage situation in progress at a warehouse compound two hours out of Los Angeles, following a multiple-vehicle pileup on Highway 101 this morning...”

The one in which Stiles has lived to (legal) adulthood and, along the way, become a bit of a badass himself.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/2262240    A Desperate Arrangement by mikkimouse    115k, Stiles/Derek, AU, arranged marriage, 

"I'm sorry, I believe there's something wrong with my hearing," Stiles said. "Because I could have sworn you just told me you set up a betrothal agreement with the Hales. A betrothal agreement involving me. Me."

Scott smiled his easygoing smile and nodded, which told Stiles no, he hadn't misheard a damn thing.

After seven years of lengthy negotiations, the treaty between the Hales and the Argents has fallen apart and the two countries fell into war.

Months later, there's an uneasy truce, thanks to the intervention of King Scott McCall, but it won't last. In a desperate attempt to maintain the peace, the Hales sign a treaty with the McCalls to marry Prince Derek to Prince Stiles Stilinski, King Scott's brother.

In the history of the world, there have been many better ideas.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/1935087    my heart's been offline by thepsychicclam    58k, Stiles/Derek, AU, online dating, past drug use, 

31/M/New York. Rich, lays in bed all day, likes to read (aka Derek Hale, son of an Oscar winning actress, brother of one obnoxious reality star and one rebellious fashion designer, hates the paparazzi so much he's a recluse)

26/M/California. Boring office job, likes to read (aka Stiles Stilinski, co-owner of a 100 acre organic farm with his dad and two best friends, writer of obits for a newspaper, has absolutely no life)

Or, where Derek and Stiles meet online, and Stiles has no clue Derek's part of a famous family.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/754219    Alpha Complex by Hatteress (goddammitstacey)    3k, Stiles/Derek, smut, 

"Hold still," Stiles says, hand clamping down on the back of Derek's neck to keep him from turning and it's laughable, really – the thought that that would be enough to hold him. Except it is. Because Stiles' fingers are gripping the nape of Derek's neck, pressure sure and hard and Derek- Derek can't fucking breathe.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/8804740    Your Darkness Will Be Rewritten by Omni    11k, Stiles/Derek, AU, incubus!Stiles, 

Stiles is no guardian angel. In fact, as an incubus, he's pretty far from it. But still, it seems he's always there at the right place and the right time to be the protector that Derek didn't even know he needed.

(An alternate timeline where Stiles prevents the Hale fire, and returns to Beacon Hills years later when someone's performing three-fold ritualistic killings.)

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/11342160    Honey, Can't you See (The Bloodstains on my Teeth) by Loup_Aigre, TroubleIWant   44k, Stiles/Derek, canon AU, soulmates, angst, 

“Mr Stilinski.” Deaton’s usually impassive face betrays a hint of surprise today, maybe even disappointment. “You haven’t changed your mind.”

Stiles tips his chin up, smiling against his irritation. “Nope,” he confirms, so cheerily it bites. They had arranged this weeks ago, yet Deaton was apparently betting Stiles wouldn’t go through with it in the end. Fuck that. He doesn’t know what it’s like out there, not really. He can afford to hold himself aloof and uninvolved, knowing his druid power is enough to keep him safe in this little office. Stiles can’t. Scott’s pack has got to protect this whole town, and Stiles’ spark isn’t enough to protect all of them while they do it.

The thing is, magic isn’t like the fairy tales. It’s blood and risk and sacrifice. Nothing comes without a price, and anyone who tries to say different is baiting a hook to gut you on. Stiles knows that, has known it since he was a kid and his mother started training him for the inevitable day when he’d need to fight for his life.

That day had come four years ago when she died, and it hasn’t stopped yet.

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https://archiveofourown.org/series/23664     Good Things series by alchemy 10k, Stiles/Derek, first time, smut, power dynamics, 

His social circle consists almost entirely of creatures of the night and men who dress as women; if he ever wants to pop his cherry he’s going to have to make some concessions somewhere. 

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https://archiveofourown.org/series/114250    the one where the Hales are related to the Addams series by callunavulgari    8k, Stiles/Derek, AU, uuuuh gore?, 

“So is this a werewolf thing or a you thing?” Stiles asks eventually. He’s half-hysterical, but his heartbeat is still steadier than Derek would have expected it to be. “Because I’m pretty sure Scott would die if I chopped off his head.”

“It’s a me thing,” Derek says. “Well, it’s a Hale thing. A Hale-Addams thing. Look, can you help me reattach this? I’m a bit out of practice, so it’ll be easier if you do it.”

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/3518480    Better Than Deep-fried Twinkies by shift (clarz)    7k, Stiles/Derek, AU, rodeo, 

There’s a guy sitting cross-legged in the hay, seemingly unconcerned with the cow excrement almost certainly contained within it; Inara’s laid down in front of him, and he’s leaning forward, her huge head cupped tenderly in his hands, his cheek almost touching hers. He looks completely enraptured, staring into her eyes intensely and rubbing her cheeks in slow circles, leaning into her with his whole body like she’s precious and beautiful and everything he ever wanted. It’s weirdly intense, and should really be off-putting, but Inara looks sleepy and calm and happy, and Derek is way too distracted watching the guy’s hands, long-fingered and beautiful, massaging her face tenderly.

In which Stiles hits on Derek's cow, then hits on Derek. Also in which Stiles' eyelashes are favorably compared with those of a cow.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/4646664    as you are by veterization   34k, Peter/Stiles, 

Stiles runs straight into a tree and suddenly, things are... different. Namely, he's in a world where Peter Hale is his boyfriend.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/486351    Hearts in High-Vis by tourdefierce    7k, Stiles/Derek, smut, exhibitionism, 

It's three days after the events of Master Plan (S2 Finale).

A fic in which Stiles has questions, Derek wants to talk about his feelings, everyone is hurting and not really anything gets resolved or answered but they do manage a puppy-pile.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15741372   The PlayLiszt by dylanssourwolf    21k, Stiles/Derek, AU, hand kink, classical music, 

Dr. Derek Hale is one of the most qualified musicologists in the country. He’s damn proud to be one of the most sought-after specialists in the world; he’s done his fair share of travelling to colleges all over the country to to give insights on the musical structures of some of the most famous pieces of classical literature.

While he can't really play any of those pieces, he does have a particular choice of pianist when it comes to listening. Mieczysław.Derek likes to think he’s in love with the guy, even though he isn’t sure if Mieczysław is a first name or a last name or even a name at all, and he's never once gotten a glimpse of the pianist’s face. It’s about the music, the money-makers, and the guy’s hands are plastered on everything.

The only other pianist who may be well on his way to being as talented as Mieczysław is a student by the name of Stiles Stilinski. He's just come back to school after a semester off and is now taking an independent study with Derek, who's trying desperately not to fall for his student. There's one peculiar thing; Stiles always has his hands mostly covered by fingerless gloves, yet still, Derek swears he's seen them somewhere. 

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/16225304    We Are Here by suburbanmotel    7k, Stiles/Derek, pining, touch starved, h/c, 

Derek is touch starved. Stiles has beautiful hands. And so it goes. 

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/11697558   Bittersweet and Strange, Finding You Can Change (Learning You Were Wrong) by WithMyTeeth (Ylith)    50k, Stiles/Derek, AU, fake dating, sugar daddy, 

When perpetual loner and failwolf extraordinaire Derek Hale finally loses patience with his meddling family, he grabs a confused Stiles Stilinski, unsuspecting diner patron and herbal medicine student, off the street to pose as his new boyfriend. Hijinks ensue. 

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/10503357    To Build a Home (Of Sorts) by nogitsune_lichen    75k, Stiles/Derek, slow burn, angst, fluff, 

The words were stuck on loop, Stiles’ broken voice repeating them over and over. Derek didn’t realize he was crying until he let out a broken noise, so low he could barely hear it himself. His hands dug into his eyes trying to stop the flow but the tears kept coming. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t be strong like he’s supposed to be.

He was weak. So weak.

He walked away from the only person that felt like home.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he couldn’t help but acknowledge that by the time he got back, his home would be miles away, once again leaving him all alone.

///

Or the healing/getting together AU that involves building a house together and a healthy dose of angst.

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https://archiveofourown.org/series/1047593    You Are series by Livinginfictions     104k Stiles/Derek, fake dating, 

With the Hale pack finally settled and safe, it only makes sense that something would happen to screw it all up. To top it all off, Stiles has to pretend to be Derek's mate, or face a pack of angry Alphas. He's doomed.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15202121    Lost on you by devilscut    51k, Stiles/Derek/Peter, polyamory, incest, 

A deadly encounter with an Alpha changes Stiles' life forever - kicked out and betrayed by his best friend and brother, Scott McCall, he leaves Beacon Hills, but much to his surprise not alone. Ten years down the track, living a life he never dreamed possible, a chance meeting brings back memories of that night - the good and bad mixed with a whole lotta WTF that even now still has him scratching his head as to what happened. 

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15931463    Door to Door Enquiries by katiemorag    1k, Stiles/Derek, 

John and one of his deputies are carrying out door to door enquiries when Derek Hale answers the door of the final house on the street wearing only a pair of boxers.

Those boxers look really familiar to John.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/1142392    lift you to your higher ground by verity    4k, Stiles/Derek, awkward boners, 

Derek takes a deep breath before he looks up. "I was going to Jungle to pick up a guy."

"Huh." Stiles taps his fingers against his bottom lip. They come away red; there's already lipstick on his teeth. "You know, there's an app for that. Grindr. You're—I bet you could just get guys to come over, like pizza delivery."

"I don't like pizza," Derek says.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/781435   Of college boys, old tv shows, trust and heavy petting. by Original_Cypher    7k, Stiles/Derek, neck....kink?, maybe trust kink??,

It's a quiet midday during Spring Break at Derek's. Stiles is set on a lazy afternoon, and judging by the way Derek is sinking into the couch, he won't get any arguments from the sleepy alpha, so he settles for his usual routine of 'petting the werewolf's hair'. It all goes like usual until they make an interesting discovery.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/1183982    make something good by verity    7k, Stiles/Derek, kid fic, babysitting, lactation kink, 

Stiles sighs and slouches down in his chair, taps his pencil against his desk irritably. He spent a year and a half fighting evil, being evil, and then fighting evil again, and now he's just—a glorified babysitter.

This is how it ends: not with a bang, but a whimper.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/1057876    all wound up in you by verity    2k, Stiles/Derek, fluff, physical disability, bed sharing, knitting,

Stiles's blue project grows steadily, the finished pieces draped over each other haphazardly on one edge of the knitting basket in the living room. Sometimes Derek touches them, squishing the springy wool between his fingertips. Maybe it's an afghan: those are supposed to take a long time to make.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/1562651    the devil makes work by llassah    7k, Stiles/Derek, masturbation, awkward sexual situations, 

“It takes Stiles four days to notice something’s wrong. Well it’s not like jerking off three times a day is unusual behavior. The third day, he has his usual good morning session, comes straight home from Lacrosse and jerks off without even taking off his jeans because it’s laundry day tomorrow and it’s not like he’s got standards. And everyone jerks off last thing at night; it’s like a glass of warm milk for your dick.”

Stiles has been hit by a jerking off curse. He might not make it through May unscathed.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/1239916    stem of the bloom by languisity    5k, Stiles/Derek, Nemeton/Stiles, dubious consentacles, first time, 

“I have to fuck that tree,” he tells Scott and Allison at lunch. The cafeteria is packed but Stiles doesn’t bother to keep his voice down.

“Okay,” Scott says. “Wait, what?” He’s been a little slow lately, but that’s forgivable. True Alphahood, darkness in his heart. Those things build up.

“The Nemeton,” Stiles says, rolling a tater tot around in ketchup. “I’m gonna put my dick in it.”

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/936514    the dog days are over by M_Leigh    5k, Stiles/Derek, wolf!derek, stiles is a dick, 

"To say that Scott and Stiles are surprised when Derek manages to turn into a wolf – a big one, an actual real-sized wolf that probably weighs twice as much as Stiles on a good day – would be an understatement of the highest caliber, but even so, they’re not half as surprised as Derek himself."

Derek changes into a wolf. He decides to stay that way.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/521237    Lovebitten by LunaCanisLupus_22    10k, Stiles/Derek, awkwardness, 

The one where Derek gets bitten by a lovebug and Stiles is the first person he lays eyes on. Hilarity ensues.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/712284    Your Yoda I will Be by darksylvia    5k, Stiles/Derek, 

Stiles offers to give Derek tactical training.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/762715    may your path be the sound by magneticwave    13k, Melissa/Sheriff, Stiles/Derek, 

This may make Melissa a terrible mother, but things were so much easier when Scott and Stiles were unpopular and spent their weekends on either her or John’s couch, playing Mario Kart and talking about all of the stuff they were never going to be cool enough to do. Scott and Stiles’ weekends now mostly involve blood and Derek Hale.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/698441    Special Collections by hannah_baker    16k, Stiles/Derek, AU, everybody lives, 

Stiles Stilinski is a senior in college working on his thesis. Derek Hale is the grumpy (though inhumanely attractive) special collections librarian. All they needed was a common interest to spark a friendship that becomes more than either of the bargained for.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/703198    A Life Less Ordinary by Jebiwonkenobi    19k, Stiles/Derek, buried alive, giants, 

It takes a few years but eventually they manage to agree on something; Derek Hale is an asshole, and Stiles Stilinski is in love with him.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/16303505   Captain’s Log: I am Sly as a Fox by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)    42k, Stiles/Derek, pining, fox!stiles, magical mishap, 

Derek wandered into the store with him, some of the cashiers cooing at Stiles because, yes, yes, he was very cute, thank you. He was getting more attention as a fox than he’d ever gotten as a human.

Figures.

He just pouted while being carried through the store, one of the girls helping Derek with what he needed and bringing it all to the cash register for him since he seemed reluctant to loosen his grip on Stiles. He probably didn’t want him wiggling free and wreaking havoc across the store.

He was pretty destructive, he’d admit that.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/15452388   Breathing You In by lavenderlotion    29k, Peter/Stiles, PTSD, touch starved, 

“Good morning, kiddo,” his dad said, and the words hurt.

All Stiles wanted to do was step forward and let his dad hug him, allow his father to give him comfort. His father's hugs had always been all-encompassing, the way he would fold himself around Stiles and hold him as tightly as he could.

Stiles stepped around him, careful not to let foreign skin touch anything that was special to him.

Anything he loved.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/16225304    We Are Here by suburbanmotel    7k, Stiles/Derek, pining, touch starved, h/c, 

Derek is touch starved. Stiles has beautiful hands. And so it goes.

.

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Onward to Part 2!

[heartforheart532]

Final Season 8 thoughts

As always, you can discuss with me certain things that you might not agree with in this list, remind yourself this is MY opinion, be respectful even if you disagree. I respect everyone’s feelings and opinions and understand completely why you are upset. 

While watching the season I have been thinking about the production of the show and want to make a separate post about why I firmly belive it’s not just the voltron crew (read lauren, joaquim, supervisors, writers team etc) (I’ll leave out the VA’s and the animators of the show because I feel like most of it is out of their hands. I’ll go in on why I think that too.) netflix and dreamworks are ALL guilty of Voltron’s downfall and the controversy surrounding around it. I’ll post that later today, just something I need to get off my chest.

First of let me start of with things that I enjoyed:

- The animation this season is something I found just fucking amazing, it all just looked very cool and detailed and I love it when it looks so goddamn beautiful. (I may have had multiple breakdowns about Shiro because he is one gorgeous man anD HOW DARE THEY MAKE HIM THAT FUCKING BEAUTIFUL. Same with Keith. And Lance. Basically everyone.)

- One of my favorite episodes had to be episode number 7, it starts off with Kinkade making a vlog but throughout the episode the camera follows the crew everywhere by whoever seems to pass by, like the space mice, bebe, and it gave me kind of the feeling that we were actually there, you know? It felt sort of like a first person view at times and I found that really cool.

- I knew there were theories going around that Zethrid was still alive but we had no idea if Ezor survived. I was just pleasantly surprised that they both survived the explosion and eventually just decided to help the paladins. I was really happy about that.

- Klance, now I know that this is a painful blow, it is to me too but they still had beautiful scenes together that showed indeed how much they’ve grown and how far they have come. It was nice to finally see their bond at that stage, although I, and many others of course, would’ve left to see a different out come at the end of the season. 

- The team in general, listen these characters have wormed themselves into my heart and they’re not coming out of it anytime soon. I relate to a few of them and just feel... connected. There’s nothing that can be done for me to not love this team as much as I do and I am really, really going to miss these characters. A lot. I already do.

- Lotor. ESPECIALLY TINY LOTOR HE WAS SO FUCKING CUTE- and Honerva said it herself.... LOTOR DESERVED BETTER.

- THE ORIGINAL PALADINS. I found our Paladins meeting and reuniting with the paladins of Old so fucking cool. I loved that Allura reunited with her father that way as well. I really liked that plotpoint, props to them for coming up with that.

- Shiro’s happines, NOW HANG ON ONE TICK. Before you come at me in the comments, this one is going to be in the section of what I didn’t like about the final season too, because I am feeling kinda yay and nay about it. For now let me keep it at the fact that I am just glad, relieved and so fucking happy that HE is happy and even got married. It’s what he deserves and I hope the rest of the paladins have something beautiful like that in their future too.

Okay, with that said. Let’s get to the things I didn’t like:

- Allurance. Now, this has nothing to do with my prefered ship not being canon. I was actually warming up to the idea until a certain scene with Allura happened where she was manipulated by ‘Lance’ and ‘Lotor’. That scene just showed me her feelings for Lotor really weren’t completely gone and Honerva felt like that she could manipulate her with his presence. And it worked for a short while, but she still resisted because she had grown feelings for Lance as well, so Honerva just used Lance against her as well. It just bothered me a whole fucking lot. Also kids, please. Don’t ever confess your love on the first date no matter what. (I love you, Lance ;))

- Allura’s death. Okay listen, we’ve all had a feeling but really hoped it wouldn’t be like that and for the longest time I was actually convinced that they wouldn’t. Until I saw a Season 8 video by Fictional Crystals and she was talking about how it was hinted at FROM THE VERY BEGINNING and throughout the series that Allura would have to sacrifice herself. And when I saw that, I got really scared. But it did happen and I just fucking cried and just- Why. Why LAUREN. WHY JOAQUIM. WHY.

- Pacing, The pacing of this season was alright. Alright as in, one second an episode would be calm and everything’s good thEN THE NEXT. BOOM. ROBOT. BOOM ACTION. And sometimes I struggled to keep up because I glance at my phone one second and before I know it everyone was yelling in my ears. Also Allurance’s pacing. Because... no, take a relationship easy guys.

- Klance. Yeah you know- We’ll always have the fandom doing amazing things and I do feel like season 8 give artists/writers a nice “best friends to lovers’’ trope to continue on. Just- it could’ve been fucking canon why.(actually I might have a feeling WHY, it’ll be explained in my post about the show’s downfall later on today.)

- Shiro’s happiness. Listen, I don’t mind that the fact that there is an lgbt kiss at the end of the season. Really, I don’t. These things are (OBVIOUSLY) very welcomed. What I DO have a problem with is that it was with someone we knew nothing about, we never saw Shiro’s and his relationship. We don’t even know his name unless his name is actually Happiness and that’s who he found because if so I will shake some writers up becAUSE WHAT THE F- Besides that, I agree with the fact that instead they could’ve just let Adam live and have him get married to Shiro.

- Honerva’s ending. It was kinda... anticlimatic to me? 

I might add some stuff more later on but this is all I have so far, I’m kinda struggling thinking about more right now.

Anyways, feel free to let me know your thoughts or whatever, the only thing I ask is be respectful of mine and each others opinions! It doesn’t cost anything to be polite.

It’s been an honor flying with you all! 

[stephicness]

Let’s Talk About Shiro... (SPOILERS)

Contrary to popular belief, it seems, but I really enjoyed the final season of Voltron. Yeah, it didn’t wrap it up as tightly as it could, but that’s always the downside of alot of shows that have a limited episode run and only so much resources to meet the criteria for a complete show. It was really great overall, and it was super cool watching it from its first debut to its final season. It was a wild ride, and I enjoyed every minute of it!

But I can’t help but shake this thought: that Shiro would have no pleasant resolution in terms of his character -- no matter what the writers would do. But regardless of that, I think Shiro really was an amazing character who had a valid ending in the series.

Let me explain...

And WARNING! We’re getting into spoiler territory, my friends. Read at your own risk!

...And crack open a drink. This is a long read.

So technically, according to writers, Shiro was supposed to have died in Season 2, which would allow Keith to properly take the mantle of Voltron’s leader. However, it’s already a controversial idea enough to kill off one of the story’s only LGBTQ characters and villianizing the other few that existed (Zethrid and Enzor. Yeah. They were in lesbians with each other!). It would send a bad message to those of the LGBTQ community -- even though he wasn’t properly noted to be LGBTQ until interviews surfaced and Season 7 (I believe) showed his arc with Adam. Thus, Shiro was rewritten properly into the series to resume his role as a fan-favorite.

So there’s one lose-lose situation: write him in and fear him overshadowing a character arc for Keith or follow through with his death and receive a drop in ratings for killing off a fan-favorite and an LGBTQ character.

But they kept Shiro and allowed him to show himself as a clone experiment. Which, I don’t know about you, but I feel like fans were more shocked to have Shiro as a clone than they were to have him suddenly be magically resurrected. Me, as a viewer, kind of thought the clone idea was a little cheap, but it did make for an amazing fight between Kuron clone and Keith! But, for me, the appearance of this Shiro clone really did interrupt what potential character arcs other characters could have. And better yet, it kind of undermined a bit of Keith’s story because -- what do you know? Keith spent an entire season away on his own adventures because -- with Shiro there -- he wasn’t needed.

So another lose-lose there: risk losing a character (Keith or Lance) by having Shiro/Kuron remain or get rid of Shiro yet again.

And so, it felt like this weird compromise that the writers and executives were faced with. Now they needed a reason for Shiro to stay there, so boom. He’s back as the white-haired space dad we all know and love.

But now, cat’s out of the bag, and we learn about Adam officially! Which was kind of nice to see that Shiro had a life before the Kerberos mission ever happened, and how that -- I think it was referenced -- Shiro was injured but determined to continue his job and mission as a fighter for the Garrison. He and Shiro get into a discussion about Shiro wanting to go on the mission, but they disagreed: Adam wanted Shiro to be safe and Shiro wanted to continue helping the world. Contradicting ideas about what it means to protect someone: to keep them from pushing themselves or pushing oneself to the limit. It was a conflict that lead to them departing form one another until Adam’s death in season 7′s recap of events on Earth.

Yet I think this is where people misunderstand alot about why Shiro and Adam’s story was written like this: this is a story about war. It’s not about romance or love, despite Voltron always having morals of the bonds we form and being stronger together. Those are morals, but the overarching plot is that this is a story about a war between peacekeepers and conquerers. So, even though I was shocked and upset by it, I understood the writers’ decision to kill Adam: it showed that nobody is safe from what war takes from us all. It doesn’t matter what your sexuality is, what your gender is, what you look like. Violence keeps taking casualties.

Of course, this annoyed fans. Why introduce a love interest for Shiro and then not do anything with him? They didn’t even get to speak to each other before Adam was killed -- rather horribly -- for us all.

Well, I think this is kind of what shaped Shiro and his overall endgame story. He continued his mission to help Voltron end the war and stop the destruction of the universe, but that’s because Shiro’s character has always been defined by his morality: it’s what is best for everyone. But, for me, I can’t help but feel like his mission needed to come to an end. Not for the sake of the story, but for the sake of Shiro.

Because, you see, Shiro lost someone he loved before to war. And not just a boyfriend and stuff. I think they mentioned that Adam was his fiance before the argument happened between them. He picked his mission over someone he loved, and for that, Shiro was never allowed to say goodbye or to see what could have been with a happier, calmer life. Shiro’s decision to put the mission aside for the sake of finding happiness in romance? I think that’s an important choice because Shiro was so close to having it before, and I feel like that’s why he didn’t want to give up on it again when the chance came knocking.

But this, once again, annoyed fans because there was another choice made for them. It was either make him a man of war that was dedicated to the peace, or to have him finally get a happy ending that he was denied because of his selflessness. And the writers decided to let Shiro finally be a little selfish for once.

This was met with backlash because, you know, who the heck did he even marry?! Well, his name was Curtis. He was a minor character who appeared a few times, but here are the main facts:

- He sat on Shiro’s side (...Was it left-hand side?) whenever they were on the bridge of the Atlas. - He asks about Iverson’s dog because he seems like a dog person. - He’s friendly with the Atlas crew, being with them during Clear Day for part of the day. - He’s got a preciously derpy face when he feels awkward. - He’s the first one to support Shiro and his arm-wrestling career.

Those are pretty much all of the details we really get from Curtis, which I admit is really not a whole lot. But I think this was done for a reason.

It wasn’t because they wanted to deny you your main ships.

It wasn’t because they wanted to appease the LGBTQ community no matter the consequence.

It was because we didn’t need to know about it.

I think what the writers feared -- and what I personally feared -- when it came to Shiro was that his love life would be the only thing that we would focus on. We’d ignore his impact of being a great leader by stepping down to help another great leader excel. We’d ignore the sacrifices and arcs of other characters because the writers would be too heavily emphasizing Shiro’s back story and side arcs. We’d ignore the fact that Voltron isn’t a romance and that it’s a war story. Instead, all we’d be focused on was who would kiss who and what would be the dominant Shiro ship sailing.

And yet, when people are so obsessed with satisfying their own desires and cravings for ships, representation, plot, etc. and ultimately undermine a character’s integrity, I personally find that much worse than just plain writing a character in an out-of-character context. Their idea of what Shiro is kind of seemed to blind them to not just his story overall, but the fact that he probably wants something too. He’d probably want stability.

I’ve still noticed people saying that they’ve ‘been done wrong,’ or it was ‘dirty’ what they did to Shiro by giving him an off-screen marriage technically. Despite Voltron being a cartoon, it really has connected people in many ways and was one of the first cartoons in awhile to have an LGBTQ character as a main focus throughout the series. So I can see why people felt wronged by Shiro being pushed aside and given background character treatment. And yet, I disagree. Not with the background character thing, even though I feel it was needed. But with the being wronged. As much as I wanted more representation in the show, I feel like that’s all we would focus on until the bitter end, and now... Well, the issues arise with Shiro about his off-screen marriage to a character we vaguely see.

I’m a bit more of an in-depth thinker when it comes to characters. And as someone who also studied character analysis in theatre during college and high school, one of the first things you should normally think about a character is what are they striving for? Shiro’s motivation throughout the series was the defend the universe so he and the others can return home and everything will be at peace from the Galra. But this isn’t the only thing he wanted.

He wanted to start a family. You saw it when it was first mentioned he and Adam were together, and that they would be engaged, I believe. I feel like if you were a military guy wanting to marry a military guy, it would be because you wanted to settle down eventually. I think this was why Adam was so frustrated with Shiro because they were ready to settle. But Shiro’s desire to have a last moment of heroism during Kerberos before... Well, I think it was hinted that he had a disease that affected his arm or something? They were talking about Shiro’s health during their argument. But Shiro’s final hurrah ended up driving them apart because... Well, I don’t know about you, but I get frustrated and angry when things don’t follow through until I eventually go ‘Don’t bother.’

But why not give them a chance to reunite? I feel like it wasn’t done because I feel like there was nothing left for them to say. Shiro did his mission, came back a wreck because he, you know, died a little bit, and thus, it would prove Adam right. Shiro, however, has no regrets over his actions because he did what he thought was right, even if that meant following a different path from romance. This would only create tension, I feel, and make it harder for them to really rekindle things. Their stories moved on, and it was, unfortunately, a tragedy that reunited them once again.

Yet this is all background context because Shiro’s tragic love-life isn’t the main focus of the show. The writers didn’t intend it to be because that would ruin this idea that the universe is much bigger than the Paladins are. It was said in moments of the series that this isn’t just about them anymore: it’s about saving the entire universe. So of course they aren’t going to talk much about Shiro and his finished character arc. They’re not going to give you all the details of who Shiro is crushing on.

They want you to focus on Shiro, the hero, and his (and everyone else’s) role in defending the universe, and I feel like they did an amazing job of it. And even if we didn’t get to see more on-screen romance and representation, I think this was justice done for Shiro in terms of a story. His arc completed when he helped get Voltron to where it needed to be, and so now he can pick-up where he left off from what he had given up in the past.

...That, and I don’t know about you, but being tortured by evil aliens and then having to stop an intergalactic war would make me wanna take a breather too.