#I guess I just want to have hope & I still treasure Shiro

[evelyns-writing-blog]

Catch the Wind: Reincarnated into an Idealised Shell - Chapter III: Travelling/Trauma

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[Content Warning: Rape, Abuse, Incest, Self-Harm, Suicide. You’ve been warned, Abandon all hope ye who enter here]

A two day trip out of town to a place called Silk Cave. The mission was to locate a treasure chest at the bottom of the cave.

It was simple enough, but I still felt nervous, even with Shiro and another person with me.

This other person was a professional ranked mage. Naturally, she was wearing a black cloak over her clothes and had a big hat on her head. She had volunteered to judge my performance on this job. Maybe it was because of that that made me so nervous. I didn't like being watched at all. This fear was exactly why I needed to take my final exams of school three times just to get a barely passing grade.

Our judge/guide was named Freesia.

  Shiro was in a fowl mood today. As we walked, he didn't even bother saying good morning to our guide.

  "Y-You're not still mad about what I said yesterday, are you?" I asked, nervously.

  "Huh?" Shiro was confused. "Uh, I guess so, but that's not what I'm mad about at the moment. We can talk about that when we get back."

  "...I see." It upset me, surprisingly. I didn't want him to be mad at me, even if it was a little bit.

  "Let's just leave any baggage at home. It'll affect your grade if we argue. For now, let's just pretend you didn't say anything rude to me."

  Fair enough. I could get behind that. "What are you all grumpy over then?" I asked. Curiosity killed the cat, but it couldn't hurt to ask about this.

  Shiro sighed. "It's about last night," he started. "I was staking out the Mercenary Guild's main building, and Donovan and the princess showed up. Obviously she was in a disguise though. The only problem was... They didn't do anything suspicious. They just had dinner and left! Three hours wasted!"

It made me wonder if Shiro would start talking about those two as if they were sour grapes if this kept happening enough times. Though, to be honest, Shiro wasn't the type to give up, I've learned that much.

Freesia patted Shiro on the back. "Did André set you up to that again?" She laughed. "You don't have to listen to him all the time you know?"

I've been saying this.

Shiro groaned and sped up his pace. "I don't care. I don't care!"

Freesia sighed. "Hey, don't run ahead! You need to preserve your energy, you know?!" She facepalmed and quickened her pace too, which meant I had to do the same. "You'd think a pro like him would understand that..."

I shrugged. "I've only known him for a little over two days, and he's as stubborn as they come. I've never met someone so stubborn before."

"I know, right?"

Maybe I was being too mean. Shiro was kind to me. Calling him stubborn felt like bullying. I really didn't want to do that. Given my own history, I felt like a hypocrite for shunning him for wanting to help everyone he meets.

  I wanted to apologise, but he said to leave it until the job was done. Was that really okay though?

  ...

  It was cold, by the way. Freezing. I felt like if I stopped moving, I'd die from the cold. Luckily there wasn't any snow, but the further away we moved from the city of Nix, the worse it got. The stone road turned to dirt, then the dirt was covered in a thin layer of ice, pretty soon, we had to go off road because of how dangerous it had become. If it wasn't for Freesia's fire magic, there would have even been a few times where I could've died from falling into small bodies of water accidentally. Our path was filled with obnoxious puddles that were deeper than you'd expect just by looking at them.

  Of course, Freesia scolded me. No doubt that these mistakes would deduct points from my overall score.

  Shiro did eventually slow his pace, probably thinking I was getting tripped up all the time because of how fast we were moving. But that really wasn't the case. It kept happening.

  What am I gonna do? I'm definitely gonna end up as a beginner!

  "Hey, hold still!" Shiro pouted, healing my ankle, which I just twisted. "Honestly, what was the guild thinking? Silk Cave is too far away for someone like you."

  Apparently I couldn't change my trial job. How frustrating. "Are you saying I'm helpless?" I retorted. "Back in my youth, I went hiking with my entire class. I crossed the country. It took three weeks! Two days is nothing." I may have been over exaggerating. I was crying and moaning a day into it, and felt like I died fifty times over by the time we were done.

  "Youth? You're not that much older than Shiro," Freesia chided, she was glaring at me with a fire in her eyes that felt a little bit like an overreaction. Seriously. Why was she so angry about that. Be that as it may... She was 25, so that would make her five years younger than my old self. I almost forgot that I was only a teenager in this world.

  "Ah! You get what I mean, Freesia! I meant when I was 10 years old!" A bald faced lie like that wouldn't pass in my world. What school would make 10 year olds travel the country? But luckily, this world seems like its kids can become adults much earlier.

  Shiro patted me on the back when he finished healing me. "I guess that rules out you being native to Ferrum completely. There's no school in the entire country that would allow something like that."

  "You could say that, but I don't exactly remember from where it was I came from."

  Explaining my situation was a pain, so simply just saying I'd forgotten most things was a handy catch-all. It's not like most of what I know about my original world matters much here, anyway. My cover up was obviously a cop out, but I was honestly pretty scared of being found out. What would Shiro say if he found out I was originally a woman?

Scary.

Would he cut me off? Find me disgusting? Maybe he'd even kill me. This was a strange new world after all, it's basically the Middle Ages, no doubt, I'm a criminal by the standards of those days, a sinner.

"It's so weird. I've only read about amnesia in books, I would have assumed you'd remember nothing at all, but it seems to be more specific stuff you've forgotten," Shiro said in a mumble.

"Well, I'd be a vegetable if I forgot everything," I retorted, trying to shoot down this conversation already.

"Vegetable?"

I'd be brain dead, I explained. I guess that wasn't a term here.

...

I closed my eyes as we all continued walking, the conversation drifting off into awkward silence. Shiro must've understood then and there that I didn't want to talk about it.

I was starting to get used to having Freesia's eyes on me, and the cold itself wasn't too bad now that I'd been walking for a few hours at this point.

Something flashed before my eyes.

A vision? No, it felt more familiar than that, but I don't believe I've ever seen it before.

I was looking through the eyes of someone. A small boy, maybe. An older looking kid was dragging me around a large field of tall grass that went up to my chest.

He was smiling... I felt like I knew him from somewhere.

And the scene faded.

Odd.

That was all I could think of to describe what I just saw. I didn't really get it. Was I really day dreaming at a time like this?

Freesia patted me on the back, and Shiro quickly asked me a strange question. "Why are you crying?" His worried tone was enough to make me hard.

Having a good little shota boy consoling me during a moment of sadness was a big turn on for me, and— Wait, I'm crying?! Why? I quickly wiped my eyes and found them wet with tears. I grimaced and wiped my eyes some more until it stopped. "S-Sorry..." I said, feeling dazed.

Freesia sighed. "Do you need a break... Marisa?"

I shook my head, suddenly felt dizzy, and fell on my ass. Of course, both her and Shiro came to my side.

"I guess that's a yes, then."

Not even noon, and we're already taking a break. For some reason, I felt embarrassed. I was gonna cry for real now, really.

Shiro made a camp fire within a matter of seconds with a few twigs and a flame spell. "Downtime doesn't count towards your ranking, by the way," Shiro said. Resting his head on my shoulder.

  "It's really nothing, I just experienced a weird vision. It disoriented me for a second." I stumbled back up to my feet and smiled at my two companions. "I can keep going for at least another hour."

  It was an another lie. Whatever I saw just now was weighing heavily on my heart. I felt as if I was going to die from sadness.

  Shiro and Freesia seemed to buy it though and put the fire out. But a part of me wished they hadn't. That's the thing about me. If I want to, I can just hide behind a fake smile and say that everything is alright, and because I'm not important, people will just believe me.

  I kinda just want to go home. This was a bad idea.

"Say, do you know anything about Shiro?" Feeling like a pest, I decided to ask Freesia about something that wasn't any of my business.

  She shrugged. "I don't know much personally about him, he likes to keep to himself, but he is a strange kid, isn't he?" she explained. "He just showed up one day and quickly started making a name for himself. Within a year he was a professional A-ranked Mercenary."

  "He's that good?" Why was he out collecting sticks then?

  "Uh-huh. He raced through the ranks, but once he reached A-rank in the professional rank, he stopped going for harder missions and just helped around town instead. You only need to be an average ranked mercenary at best to do all those menial jobs."

  "Then what's the point of getting to a professional A-rank?"

  Freesia laughed. "He actually told me that before. Apparently it's a safety net. In case he needs to help anyone in the city that has a job that dangerous. He doesn't actually care all that much about dungeon raiding or fighting in wars or whatever."

  "... I guess that could be pretty frustrating for the guild, huh?"

  "Yeah, pretty much. The higher-ups have been considering changing the rules to Professional ranked mercenaries can only do as low as F-ranked Highly Skilled jobs."

"..." I didn't really know what to say, but I felt somewhat sad about it. "Hey, if you make that a rule, can I still work with him? I doubt I'll get into even the Average Rankings from this, but I'd like to have him as a guide. Maybe even a bride."

Fressia had to do a double take. "Yeah, there's nothing stopping two people from different ranks from—wait, what did you say?!"

"Nothing, ignore that. It was a slip of the tongue."

Freesia bonked me on the head. "Don't even joke about that. You said it on purpose!"

I sighed as I self-deprecatingly made light of my dark desires. "Don't worry about it, I just love making jokes that would get me imprisoned for life."

Freesia raised an eyebrow. "You're a strange one, I tell ya what."

"I get that a lot..."

In that moment of awkward silence that followed, Shiro yelled out at us. "Freesia, Adamantia Wolves are coming this way!"

Freesia immediately ran ahead and pulled out a staff. I didn't exactly wanna be left alone, so I followed her.

  I didn't even need to ask what was happening, because the second I saw what it was that Shiro was talking about, my heart sank. And I felt dizzy.

  It was a pack of wolves. The same type of wolves that had nearly killed me a few days ago. I took a few steps back, there was no way I could fall over now. I had to keep standing. If I embarrassed myself any more than I already have, I'd have deserved to have died back then.

  Shiro pulled out his short sword and got ready to fight. "Freesia, protect Marisa, I'll take care of it," he said. I felt like I was being babied.

  Freesia tilted her head. "Huh? I get that he's a beginner, but these things aren't particularly that difficult to fight, even when they're in a large group like this."

  So I almost died to some cannon fodder enemies? The tutorial enemy in an RPG, huh? How pathetic. It kinda made me mad. Platinum mad.

  "I-I'll deal with any stragglers," I said, nervously holding my sword up. "Don't worry about me." I put up a fake smile too. I had to.

  Freesia gave me a worried look, but there wasn't any more time to talk. Shiro rushed ahead.

  He shot out balls of fire from his palm, which sent about half of the wolves flying, and right after that, he used his sword to slice through the wolves closest to him, he was so fast I could barely keep my eyes on him. It was so impressive that I almost forgot that I was absolutely terrified of these things. Almost. Watching him move like that took my breath away, to be honest, my heart beat was returning to a normal rhythm. Watching Shiro, I felt safer.

  It was over in a matter of seconds but I could have watched him fight like that for hours. I was nearly killed by things that a child had no problem dealing with. Freesia didn't even need to protect me. Shiro was doing a good enough job on his own.

  He turned to us and waved, a big smile on his face. "It's okay now!" He said, running back to us. He defeated about 20 of these things within five seconds.

  I gotta be careful around him, definitely need to keep my thoughts in check. If I act on anything, I'm finished.

Maybe it would be worth it, though. Dying by the hands of a pretty boy like him. Few would be lucky enough for it.

I sighed in relief, though. The wolves were gone, I was safe again.

Freesia seemed to understand why she was tasked with defending me after I explained. "I see, that must've been really traumatic. But don't worry, once you fight a few for yourself, you'll realise there nothing to be afraid of." Really, I didn't deserve such reassurance.

Anyway, by this point, I was starting to feel really tired. "How long do we have left?" I impatiently asked.

"We should get there by the end of the next day," Shiro said, drinking from a flask. "Do you need another break?"

I looked up at the sky. The sun was right above us. It was only noon. I sighed, but then kept pushing forward. I wouldn't stop walking until I physically couldn't anymore. I decided that. I wanted to seem at least somewhat competent.

I felt like it was going to only get worse from here, for some reason.

10 minutes later, I collapsed, unable to walk any further. Pathetic!

Shiro forced me to drink water from his flask. And he only forced me because I couldn't move anymore, not even my mouth. I couldn't speak, that's how exhausted I was. If I could move, he would not need to force me. I'd make sure to savour the flavour of his saliva that had been left on it. I could live off that stuff. An indirect kiss to top all indirect kisses.

  I apologised profusely once I caught my breath. "Despite the muscles I have, I guess I'm not built for walking long distances."

  Shiro laid down next to me and sighed. "It's not as if there's a time limit on this, right, Freesia?"

Freesia joined in. "If it means anything, we're actually ahead of schedule. No, there's no time limit, but you are graded on time as well." She giggled. "Might as well take a break here." She raised her hand and summoned a few balls of fire. They started floating around us. "There! That should keep us warm too."

  "You say that, but I still feel like I'm underachieving..." I replied, feeling like shit.

  Shiro put a hand on my head. "More like overachieving. To a dangerous level," he groaned. "If you push yourself too far again we're going right back home."

  "I think I'd start cutting again if I couldn't at least make it to this stupid cave," I pouted.

  "The heck are you talking about? Anyway, we can just try again even if you fail, I'm pretty sure, but you'll get a lower grade by default."

  Did the concept of self harm not exist in this world? I may be an invasive type of person then. I better keep it to myself from now on. Besides. If I hurt this new body, it would make me seem ungrateful. If I had my old body I'd probably have been cutting myself as soon as I woke up.

.... Too dark? It's true though. That old body, my original one, really was a pain. I cut right down to the bone more than a few times. I was hospitalised too many times to count because of it.

I cringed. For some reason, I felt disgusted by the idea of cutting myself despite feeling nothing back in my old world.

  It would help if I felt disgusted by the idea of killing myself too...

  "Lower grade is fine, it's not like I could fight monsters anyway. Wood collection and looking for missing cats is fine by me," I mumbled.

  Shiro laughed. "That barely pays. You'd have to work yourself to the bone in order to live off those jobs," he explained. He sat up and decided to sit on me. Right on my crotch. "Tell you what. Next time we come across some monsters that aren't those wolves, I'll leave some to you." His angelic smile was so pure. I grabbed him by the waist and picked him up before he felt my quickly hardening "sword" rubbing against his crotch. It was really a matter of life or death. "H-Huh?! Awawawa! Put me down! Did I do something wrong?!" His flustered appearance was a reward in and of itself.

  "Sorry, I just wanted to test my own strength," I lied in a monotone voice. You're pretty easy to pick up though, I think I should try picking up Freesia instead."

  Freesia let out an unexpected laugh. "Hahaha?!"

  Shiro slapped me. "Y-You'll do no such thing! If you must, keep using me as a weight!"

  Ah, that slap was wonderful!

  I put him down. I felt kinda bad for embarrassing him.

  "W-What was that all about?!" he cried.

  I closed my eyes. "I could ask you the same thing. Why were you okay with being used as a weight?"

  Shiro took a while to respond. He kept stopping and starting. It's like he was looking for a good enough excuse. "It's okay if it's with you." He ended up going with a cheesy line like that. "B-Becuase I trust you, you know? It's not anything weird."

  "It's fine, Shiro, I get it, heheh."

  "Sheesh! Please don't mention this to anyone! You as well Freesia!"

  Comical. We ended up chatting about nothing in particular after that.

  I didn't like the idea of walking for another day and a half, but that's life.

  I better enjoy these moments of downtime whenever I get them... I couldn't shake the feeling that I should be doing something else though.

"Mum, dad, it's taken a lot of courage to tell you this, but I feel like I'm really a boy!"

  Given how much I've bitched about it, I think now's a better time than any to talk about my past. As much as it hurts to reminisce, I find it important.

  Upon hearing my confession, my parents didn't kick me out, but they started treating me awfully different.

  "You're my daughter, and that's that," my mum said. "I've raised you for 15 years at this point, I won't have you ruining that over some stupid delusion."

  "..." My dad didn't even respond with words at first. He just slapped me and took away my phone. I wouldn't be able to call my friends or anything. He snapped it in half. "You're grounded for a week. Apologise to your mother before then and I'll buy you a new one."

  I couldn't fight back. I was frozen with shock. I was even still holding up my nervous smile. I couldn't react. It was like I was stuck in that single moment. Time itself must've stopped for me. But not for anything else. I was left alone with my younger sister in our living room.

  My sister didn't comfort me after the humiliation I just faced, but she did keep quiet after that. She was usually loud and obnoxious. It made me snap out of my frozen state when I realised how quiet it was, though.

  I looked over at her, and I blinked a couple times. Still taken aback from my parents' response. I told myself beforehand that it was a possibility that they'd reject me, and yet I found myself at a loss. I couldn't quite believe it. I sat down next to my sister and just stared into nothingness.

  I wasn't disillusioned because of this, at least not quite yet. I started crying.

  My sister patted me on the back, finally. "I'll call you brother, if you'll calm down," she said, apathetically. "That crying is pretty annoying."

  I tried my best to do so, but I just couldn't calm down at all. It felt impossible. "W-What do I do?" I cried, not able to say anything else. I was scared more than anything.

  My sister kicked me lightly. "Come on, Marisa, don't you see yourself as a guy? What's all this crying for then? If you're not gonna shut up, then just go to your room. You're being annoying right now," she chuckled. Back then, I thought she was just joking, trying to get me to fight back a little, but it's clear to me now, it has been for over a decade, that she was just bullying me.

  Despite that, though. I couldn't stop myself from hugging her. I thought she was trying to cheer me up in her own way. What a stupid child I was. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I'm sorry for being so annoying! I'm a terrible older bother, aren't I?! I'm sorry! Please let me stay with you for a moment until I gather my bearings!"

  "Ah-." My sister was taken aback. "Dude... get off me..." she bonked me on the head. It hurt a lot. "..."

  I didn't let go. I just kept crying into her shirt.

  "Christ. You're pathetic." She kicked me off her. And I landed on my ass on the hard wooden floor. It hurt so much that I stopped crying. It quite literally took my breath away. I could do nothing but wince and hold my stomach. "What sort of man gets their ass beat but a woman?! Their younger sister of all people?! You're pathetic! You've always been pathetic! For god's sake! No wonder you have no friends at school."

  N-No... Don't hurt me... haha... Please. Don't yell... Please... Treat me nicer, please... Thats what was going through my head at that moment. It was like receiving a gut punch directly after getting told your dog has died.

  I was hyperventilating, but I looked up at my sister, and I forced a smile through my tears. "Y-You still care about me," I stumbled over my words as I spoke, refusing to accept the truth. "You still love me." I grabbed her by the legs and looked up at her. "Please!"

  She towered over me at this angle, obviously, it made her look imposing, it creeped me out. She grimaced and gritted her teeth. "You weirdo!" She kicked me right in the neck, and I lost my breath once more, this time for much longer. "Mum, dad! Marisa's being a creep! Maybe she is a man after all! Hahahahaha!" I was struggling on the ground trying to gasp for air for a full minute. I couldn't hear anything after that, and my eyes were watering so hard that I couldn't see either. I just struggled.

  No one helped me.

  No one was even there to see it happen. My sister had already left the room.

  I was there, alone, writhing in pain. Pain that I deserved, because, despite that, I felt closer to my sister. That was the first time I'd interacted with her for years. I didn't hate her at all for it. It's pathetic, isn't it? I had no one else to turn to in my life, so I grovelled at the feet of my abusive sister. I'm a coward.

  That was my life for the next five years.

  My sister would abuse me more and more, and my parents would grow distant.

  My sister even...

  Raped me.

  More than a few times.

  I would even look forward to it, because it was the only time in my life where someone would pay attention to me.

  My life... quickly spiralled.

  I started cutting myself when I turned sixteen. A habit I wouldn't be able to break until I turned twenty-seven... no matter how hard I tried to. Of course my sister used that against me too. She'd even cut me herself, and then put out her cigarettes on them. Im pretty sure she was mentally unwell. After her rape sessions, she'd force me to apologise. She taught me to believe that I was the one in the wrong just because I was older. I grew dependent on her. I couldn't live without her.

  "Come on, you stupid bitch," she whispered. "You think you can be a man if you're so lame at pleasuring me? Stop crying and get back to licking my cunt, you whore."

  I was licking her crotch. My tongue hurt, but I knew what would happen if I stopped. I never wanted to experience it again. I felt like I'd never recover from this. Not ever.

  She pushed my head down. "If you do a good job, I'll call you a good boy..." i started licking her even more intensely. I had to. Even a little bit of recognition for my true gender was enough for me to degrade myself as best I could.

  "Hehehe... How does it feel? Isn't my tongue amazing? Ahahaha!" I said through my tears. I was an object before I was a man. I was an object before even being a woman, either. I was just an object, simple as that.

  "Ah~! You fucking bet it is, you slut!" My gender didn't actually matter to my sister. When she wasn't horny, she'd refer to me by whatever gender would benefit her. So she saw me for my body and nothing else. But was it really that? No, she once told me she isn't a lesbian. That meant she was only doing it to keep me in my place. It was fun for her to watch me degrade myself.

  I made sure to get my tongue as deep as I could into her vagina. It tasted terrible. I didn't understand how people in porn could do this. But I did it anyway. I'd grow accustomed to it over the years, as I wasted my youth.

  When she came in my mouth, I nearly puked it back up, but I wouldn't get what I wanted if I did, so I always had to swallow it.

  As I grew older, it would just get worse and worse. My sister eventually moved out of our parents house, and she took me with her. And it would only get more hellish from there. I don't even want to remember it.

When she didn't rape me, she'd beat me, and when she didn't beat me, she was out working or hanging out with her friends while I was tied up at home, left alone with my thoughts. Those times were the worst, I actually preferred the beatings and the rape. Because at least I didn't have to think. I didn't have to be alone.

I fell in love with being abused. People talk about stockholm syndrome like they know what it’s like. They think they know how tragic it is, but they don't think it's tragic enough. They underestimate it. I couldn't leave, even when my sister let me roam her house freely while she was gone.

"Marisa, I'm going out," she said, with sigh. It looked like she'd been called out by her friends. She didn't seem to like them but I guess she wanted to keep up appearances. "Let's try something new. I won't tie you up and lock you in, how does that sound?"

"..." I didn't move, I remained lying on the floor. "..." I had to look at her though, otherwise I'd get kicked, so I turned my head. "..." she was smiling at me. It was a warm smile, it calmed me down whenever I looked at it, because it signified that she was going to be "nice" to me today. She wouldn't beat me, only rape me, and after she was finished she'd let me wear boys clothes for the day. "Aren't you worried I'll run away?" I managed to mutter, my throat was dry, so I ended up coughing heavily.

She squatted down in front of me and ruffled my poorly cut hair. "If you run away, I guess I'll be in trouble then, wouldn't I..." She made sure I was looking her in the eyes before continuing. "But I trust you. You won't leave, because I have what you want."

"..." I gave it some thought, and decided to struggle to sit up. I clung to her arms for support. "But it's... not really worth the pain. If I left, I could get it elsewhere, without having to hurt."

My sister put her hands around my neck lightly, she rubbed the back of my neck. "I see, I see..."

"Ahh—!" I tried to scream. Because of how fragile I was, just this light massage was enough to make me feel like I was being choked. "I-I-... S-S-Sorry...!" I kicked my legs meekly in retaliation.

My sister licked her lips. "I bet if you really were a boy, you'd be popping a boner down there wouldn't you?" She pressed her knee against my crotch. "Though it's still easy to tell how much you like this. You're already wet."

"N-No... It's not like that." I coughed some more, struggling with every word. If she hadn't strangled me every time she raped me, my body wouldn't have a sexual reaction to it.

"Heheheh," she laughed, still keeping up that smile. "Then I suppose you should leave then. Go on, as soon as I'm out of the house, you go ahead and leave. Find the life you want that has no pain at all." She let go of my neck and got up.

I coughed, coughed, coughed...

"Goodbye, Marisa, you have five hours to make your choice." And she was out the door, and I was alone.

I couldn't stop coughing. It hurt so much, and eventually... I saw blood splatter over the floor in front of me. I covered my mouth to try and stop coughing, but it wouldn't work. I just gave up and dropped my hands. They were covered in blood. I laughed through my coughing. "I'm gonna die! Ahahahahaha!!!" I hit my head on the floor over and over. "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!!! Die! Die! Die! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"

I ran out of breath. I genuinely felt like I was going to die that day.

...

My life was probably over the second I came out to my parents.

When my coughing fit was over, it took me about an hour to get off the floor. The first thing that came to my mind was the fact that if I didn't clean up all my blood, my sister would kill me.

I cleaned it up, of course.

After that, I picked out the only set of men's clothes in the house. They were locked in a box under the bed. I didn't have the key, so I just broke it open by smashing it on the floor. It worked after five attempts.

I looked at the clothes, picked them up, and hugged them. It's the first time I'd be putting them on by myself. I savoured it, and once I was all dressed, I went to open the front door...

Only to hesitate. I backed off, and took a deep breath. I went to the bathroom, took a piss, washed my hands, and then looked in the mirror. Aside from my chest, these clothes did make me look more like a guy. I nervously smiled at myself. I let out a creepy laugh. I looked like total shit. The more I looked at myself in the mirror, the more I felt disgusted.

Eventually, I threw up into the toilet. I hated how I looked so much.

I flushed it as soon as I could, and then opened the window to make sure the smell didn't stay.

Now, I was ready to leave... right?

But as I opened the front door, I was frozen. I couldn't take another step. A voice in my head was telling me to go back inside.

She'll be mad at you if you leave...

"But I... She said it was okay..." I mumbled.

You don't want to get your sister in trouble, do you? She's all you have. The only one that'll house you, the only one that will call you a man if you behave well enough.

"That isn't true... heheh..." I tried to force a smile, but it wasn't working.

Oh, but it is, if you leave, you'll be sent to a psych ward, no doubt. They won't treat you like a man at all. You'd lack freedom.

"I lack freedom here though."

What sounds better to you? Lacking freedom with people that will never love you, or lacking freedom with a sister that will let you play pretend every now and then?

"I..."

.....................

"..."

I let the door close. I locked it, and I stripped myself.

I sat down by the bed, huddled my legs together, and I waited.

I was too scared to leave. Too scared to defy my sister. I'd be a good girl.

A girl... Nothing but a girl. A real man would have ran away in my shoes. That's what I thought...

When my sister got back, she stopped before entering, looking down at my clothes. "Hmm..." She picked them up. She smiled when she saw me. "You're still here."

I looked away and closed my eyes. "..." Her footsteps made my heart start to race. I was terrified. What was she going to do to me? I should have left. Oh, God. Help me... Her footsteps stopped. I heard her sit down next to me. I was trembling.

"I was worried you'd actually run away," she said. "But I'm glad you didn't." She put an arm around me and my whole body twitched. I was terrified. Was she gonna hurt me? "I'll have to reward you later, you know?"

I nervously looked over to her, but all that greeted me was a warm smile. "I... tried to leave... but I chickened out..."

"It's okay," she said, hugging me closer to her. I think she was drunk, she was slurring her words a bit. "Get on the bed."

I did as I was told, and she proceeded to rape me, as always. "..."

...

  "Okay..."

That was the day I realised I had developed feelings for her. It sickened me to my stomach.

I would be free of those accursed feelings eventually, though. My sister was depressed same as me, and she ended up killing herself in front of me, and I was honestly convinced she did it just to spite me.

She just came home one day, so drunk that she couldn't keep her balance at all. I tried to keep her upright, but she'd just push me away. "God, you're such an annoying cunt, you know that?! Stay away from me!" She hit me on the side of the head with a bottle, and I fell over. I couldn't see anything for a few seconds after that. "Those whores at work! They think they can just treat me like dirt like that?! Fuckin' assholes!" She smashed the bottle on the floor and stumbled over to the kitchen. This was  one room apartment, but it was quite spacious. I could see everything she was doing. She pulled out a knife from a drawer, along with some bandages.

  I instinctively held out my arms and put on a fake, weak smile for her. Not including rape, this was her favourite type of abuse. She only started doing it once she found out I had been cutting myself. She could do it without me even instinctively fighting back, that's probably why she liked it so much.

  At this point in our relationship, I'd embraced my abuse. It hurt like hell, and I wanted it to stop, but I kept coming back for more, I couldn't help it. She had me on a leash. This abuse was all I had.

  It was the only consistent thing in my life. I could cling to it for safety, despite it slowly killing me.

  My sister stumbled over and slumped down in front of me. She grabbed my right arm and sliced across my wrist, harder than she'd ever done before. My wrist started spewing blood, and I let out a sharp breath. I watched my life drain from the wound. I laughed through the pain. "Give me another one, please."

  My sister complied to my request, and she cut my left wrist. From there, she cut my arms until they were completely covered in blood.

  I felt so close to death, and only then did she stop. "Th-Thank you..." I said, meagrely. Barely clinging to my consciousness. So much blood.

  I realised that my sister had said nothing to me the entire time, when she was normally very talkative.

  "C-Could you put the bandages on now?" I mumbled.

  My sister suddenly stabbed herself in the stomach.

  "Ah—...!"

  She looked me in the eyes as she pulled the blade out, only to thrust it back in. "I despise you... Kill Yourself…”

  She collapsed, and bled out, she kept her eyes on me until the end.

  Her blood was mixing with mine on the floor.

    "Don't leave me..." I mumbled under my breath. Still in shock. I barely remember what was going through my mind at this time, but it surely wasn't anything pleasant. "Don't... AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! AHHH!!! NO!!! NO NO NO NO NO!!!! DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME!!! DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE DON'T LEAVE!"

  PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!

  ...

  It ruined me. I couldn't comprehend it. My mind went blank, and eventually the police were called on us.

  I was forced to tell other people for the first time what my sister had done to me, but most people blamed me for it.

  When things settled down, I was sent to live in the apartment that my sister owned. My sadness wouldn't go away, though...

  So I cut myself as deep as I could, and kept going deeper. There's plenty of permanent dents in my bones. Or I guess there used to be. I doubt that stuff carried over to my new body.

  I couldn't work, I couldn't sleep. Living off government benefits and rotting in bed all day.

  Until I just... stopped.

  My depression got worse, and I stopped cutting. It wasn't helping. The cutting was just not burying my mental pain. It was worthless.

  I was worthless.

  Everything...

  ...

  My late 20s were less hectic. I landed a job, even. But I couldn't feel anything. I was completely numb. I wasn't living, just existing. It was exhausting.

  I ran into my mother one day, and it went as well as you'd expect. She blamed me for the death of my sister, that it was my fault for getting raped by her. And once more, she refused to acknowledge the fact I was a man. It didn't even hurt to hear that.

  "You drove my daughter to suicide, and you're still insisting on this nonsense?" she said to me, angrily.

  "..."

  "What is wrong with you? Why won't you say anything?!"

  I looked her directly in the eyes. "I-..." I couldn't say anything.

  "Sheesh! I regret ever giving birth to a freak like you!"

  In that moment, maybe out of anger, or just out of desperation, I reached my hands out to her neck, and squeezed tightly... only to give up after a few seconds. I was so frail that I could barely hold a bag of groceries, let alone strangle someone to death. Still, I tried. My mom didn't even realise I was trying. She thought I was just threatening her. It's laughable.

  She just awkwardly said goodbye, and I never saw her again. Last I heard, she was living the good life with a new boyfriend. When I got home that day, I cried for the first time in years. It hurt beyond belief.

  And now, my suicide.

  On that bridge, in the middle of the night, I stared into that darkness that was the river below, and decided then and there, with no prior planning. No note, no goodbyes. I climbed up, and closed my eyes. I heard the voices of some bystanders. "She's not gonna jump, is she?!" "What are we doing standing around for?! Someone grab her!" "Shit! Someone call an ambulance! "Why is no one stopping her?!"

  I wasn't scared like these strangers were. I was going to embrace death, once again obeying my sister like a good girl. I looked back at the bumbling crowd of morons that were too scared to move, and I looked down on them. I despised them. Cowards…

  The strong wind that night did the rest.

  My last memories of that world was the view of the lights of the city through the water. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

  Thus ended the life of Marisa Emery. I don't want sympathy, I don't want pity. Just leave it be. Laugh, if you must, but don't feel bad. I just hope this life will be different, is all. I never want anyone in this world to know how pathetic I was back then.

  I'll take that last life with me to the grave, my second grave, to be exact.

  God must’ve given me a second chance. But I’d say I don’t deserve it.

  Back to the present. I woke up in a cold sweat.  Not because of that nightmarish memory I just shared, but because of something entirely different.

  I had a nightmare of my new body dying by the hands of some stranger in the middle of the forest. I don't really remember much of it now that I've woken up, but for some reason, it felt more like a real experience I had rather than a nightmare.

  So weird.

  Nevertheless, my heart was beating like crazy, and I could barely breathe properly. I guess it must've been a pretty scary dream to get me like this.

  I heard snoring. Of course, it was Shiro, sleeping in a cute little sleeping bag. His snoring had woken me up before, maybe it snapped me out of my dream this time too... I wonder... I tried to stealthily unzip his bag. There's no way he was sleeping naked again, right? And not all the way out here too, right?!

  "If you try anything with him, I'll make sure you're stuck as a beginner forever," a voice from behind said. Obviously it was Freesia.

  I looked back at her and grimaced. "Allow me to explain myself," I said, my voice accidentally cracking. "He has a tendency to sleep with no clothes on. I was going to scold him and make him get dressed if he was still doing that way out here..."

  In any other situation, that'd be a lie, but I really was gonna scold him if he was naked when it was freezing out here, even with the fire next to us.

  Freesia wasn't buying it, it seemed. "Well, since you're up, do you mind sitting with me for a chat? It's lonely having to sit out here by myself," she said.

  I might as well. Since she was sitting out here, I was guessing the night was nearly over. Shiro told me he'd be on night watch until three in the morning, so it had to be at least 3. I wonder how they calculated the time out in the wild like this when it's night time. They didn't have wrist watches. I suppose the stars worked. There wasn't a cloud in the sky right now. Talk about beautiful...

  I shifted over to freesia and put my hands up to the fire. "How long do we have left, do you think?" I asked, still kinda half asleep.

  "Mm... well, we're still ahead of schedule, so probably by sunset tomorrow instead of by midnight like I was betting on," she replied.

  "So that's probably like five hours ahead... not bad..."

  "You were rushing it yesterday, so please don't feel like you have to do the same today, alright?" She was serious. I guess I was being reckless. "There's nothing wrong with rushing things, but you looked damn near ready to die before you fell asleep. It's for your own safety. I'm not gonna dock points for it though."

  Honestly, I might take her up on that offer. Yesterday really was the worst.

  I yawned and looked up at the stars again. Similarly to my world, the sky had a massive band of stars reaching across the sky, though this one was slightly more curved. I could spot a lot more variety in colour too compared to pictures I've seen of the Milky Way before. I wonder what this one was called.

  "So um, what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

  Freesia sighed and poked the fire with a stick. "Have you really lost your memories?"

  Of course not. But I might as well have. I knew nothing of this world. "What do you mean?"

  Freesia eyed me with intent. "Don't play me for a fool. Why are you going by a female name? Why are you acting so weird all the time with Shiro?"

  ... What? I don't understand. What was she getting at? "Uhh, haha, what do you mean?" I raised an eyebrow.

  "..." she sighed in disappointmen and backed off. "Oh, never mind, I guess you really have."

  Wait... doesn't that mean... "D-Do you perhaps know who I am?" What a revelation to wake up to.

  "Of course, we're close friends. Just like—... No, forget I said that." She suddenly got really suspicious of me and glanced over at Shiro. "Listen, if you start getting any of your memories back, let's talk when this mission is all over and done with."

  "..."

  I came to a conclusion that I probably would have came to earlier if it didn't scare me so much.

  This body, this life that I had been given... it belonged to someone else, didn't it...

  I awkwardly laughed. The reason I know the language, the reason I've been remembering things I've never experienced, the reason my Guild card was corrupted.

  I've stolen someone's life, haven't I?

  "Freesia, what's my real name? It's definitely not Marisa, right?" I asked. "In fact..." I lowered my head, I felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest. "Please just tell me everything..."

  Freesia kept eyeing Shiro. "No, I can't. Not while Shiro's nearby. He might be listening." Why was she so paranoid all of a sudden?!

  The answers were right within my reach, and now it's just barely out of it. Oh, what to do?! I feel so shitty about this?

  Freesia smiled. "Honestly, let's just save it 'til after this mission," she said, happily. "I'll tell you anything and everything there is to know about you so long as Shiro isn't around."

  This made me more suspicious of her than she was of me, to be honest. How frustrating...

  I suppose there's nothing to be done about it. "C-Can you at least tell me my name?" If it was cool, I could ditch Marisa right now.

Freesia tilted her head. "Huh? Why would I tell you that? There's something I've deduced just now, and it's telling me I should keep all information like that to myself." Oh, okay. I see how it is. I'm being cut off. "You're not really the man I know are you?"

I tensed up. Did she seriously realise I'm from another world? No, that's ridiculous, obviously she just means I'm a lookalike or that I've used some magic to take over this body. Neither of those things are correct... well, the former could be, but still. "What do you mean? How did you figure that out?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Because you just told me." Damn it. "I was simply prodding for information in a vague way, though that would explain why you go by such a girly name and act nothing like him."

"I—... Alright fine, you got me, but who's to say I'm not just a lookalike? There's no way I'm in your friend's body, you know? That'd be silly." I tried laughing it off. I was hoping I was just a lookalike so I didn't have to bear the weight of having stolen someone's life from them.

  Freesia sighed. "Well, as much as I'd hope for that, you really are in his body." She looked angry. "When you collapsed that one time, I saw it," she tapped the back of her neck. "You have a brand right here. The same as me. Look." She turned her back to me and slightly pulled on her shirt, which revealed a tattoo, quite a complex one, at least for a word like this. It was a heart shape, with chains wrapped around it.

  My eyes widened. I felt the back of my neck to confirm for myself. It stung when I touched it, but sure enough, a bumpy feeling area on the back of my neck in the shape of a heart. I'm sure if I stood between two mirrors I'd be able to see it clearly, but I'd just have to make do with feeling it. I felt myself sweating. "..."

"Hah, gotta love it. Looks like you had no idea yourself, a guilty man wouldn't give off such a weak look after being caught." Her vibe was total different. Was she an actor or something? I suppose it makes sense though, she thought I was pretending, I guess she felt like she should just play dumb, huh? She continued "Marisa huh? Are you a girl then? It must be pretty disorienting but you seem to be having some fun."

  I stood up. "Excuse me." I started walking. Not in any particular direction. I just walked until the firelight didn't reach me, I got onto my hands and knees and threw up. The pressure was just too much for me to handle. I'd stolen someone's life! I'd replaced them! And to make matters worse, my secret is out... What do I do?! I'm a murderer. I killed myself, and like a child, I clung to life, sacrificing another so I could live.

  Where was his soul now? Was he a good person? A villain? Maybe he had a girlfriend, or a wife! What about the rest of his friends? Freesia seems calm, but it's definitely upsetting her, right? It's all my fault!

  I bashed my head on the cold, icy dirt, over and over until I couldn't handle it anymore. "Think rationally about this, Marisa..." I said to myself. "You had no control over this... it's not your fault." I took in some deep breaths. I sighed and facepalmed. "Even if it wasn't in my control, it's still my fault..." I looked over to the camp and wondered if Shiro would be angry at me if he found out. He was a righteous person, he'd probably do more than just scold me.

  I stumbled up to my feet again and made my way back to the camp, sitting down next to Freesia like I was before. "..."

  "My, you look like shit, what did you do out there?" she asked, half joking. "I'll say this, whatever it is you did, it's worthless, I don't blame you at all."

  I gritted my teeth for a moment, but then slapped myself. "Freesia, you're right about almost everything, but you made a single mistake."

  Freesia gave me a wry grin. "And that would be?" Was she taking this seriously at all?

  "I'm a guy, just like the original owner of this body. A guy."

  She raised an eyebrow, and then seemed to gasp, only to stop herself half way through. "I see how it is, right. A guy, of course."

  She laughed. "Then I suppose you must've yearned for this body, then. I wonder if the person that put you in that body was aware of that. I wonder if that's why they put you in it. Nah, couldn't be, hahah!"

  "..." She figured me out completely, hadn't she? Just who was she, really?! But putting that aside for now, she just said something strange. "Someone put me in this body? Are you sure it wasn't just some sort of freak accident?" I realised my voice had become timid. I was still pretty scared, I guess. I mean, for someone less of a scumbag than me, it's probably nothing to worry about, but I really am the worst, so this'll be keeping me up at night for a while.

  "Accident? Something like this could only happen on purpose." Freesia paused. She glanced over at Shiro again. "That boy is pretty perceptive, make sure to keep this a secret from him, alright?" She whispered. "Personally I don't trust him at all."

  "..."

  This was all too much for me to take in one sitting. I decided to take this step by step. "Who did it then?" I asked, keeping my voice down. It's not that I didn't trust Shiro, but I wanted to respect Freesias wishes, even if it's silly to be weary of a little kid, even if it's Shiro.

  "You're trembling," she sighed. "I don't know who did this to you, or why. But we share a common enemy. Or at least we should. I don't know if you returning to your original body is what you want, but you do, at the very least, seem upset at having pushed out the owner's soul. If we work together we should be able to find a way to reverse it."

  Track down the culprit, and have them reverse the results—Freesia explained. That was all well and good but...

  "Don't give me that look. Don't worry, there's an easy way to make everyone happy in this situation. We can simply wait for another man to die, and transport your soul into that one when the time comes. Easy as pie!"

  ... I couldn't argue with that, but her being so ready to do some grave robbing or something was creepy, and besides... If I can be so selfish... "R-Right... Back to my old body..." I want to keep this body to myself... it's too good.

  I didn't say that part out loud, though. But I probably let it show on my face that I was disappointed, because Freesia once again showed off a smug grin and patted me on the back.

  "Don't be so anxious, we'll find a corpse that looks even better than this one, I'm sure!"

  Don't call this body a corpse just because the original owner is out for lunch, please. Aren't you his friend? I was starting to think she had a couple screws loose. "Thanks, I think," I nodded. "Can you tell me anything about the original owner yet?" I must've been getting desperate, because I blurted out that line despite already knowing the answer to that question.

  "Nope," she said. "Boy, you really need to pay attention. His identity must remain a secret. Not just for his sake, but for other people's sake too."

  "Ugh." I facepalmed again. This was getting tiring. "Sorry..."

  "Relax, how about I tell you about myself instead?"

  I guess we have a shared trait. Narcissism. Though her narcissism seemed to be far more positive than mine. "I-... Sure, go ahead." I felt like I was being used like a puppet. I had no control in this conversation, it was all her.

  Her giddy expression made me realise this story of hers was probably going to take a while too.

  Now that I've seen the true face of Freesia, I can safely say she's a psychopath. She reminded me too much of my sister. Of course, I was gonna have to be weary of her from now on.

  "Hey, now, why are you backing off?" She pouted, putting an arm around me.

  I felt a chill go up my spine.

"When I first saw you, I was lounging around in the Mercenary Guild, unable to find a job to kill time with. They say it's lonely at the top, and they mean it. Professional ranked jobs are actually a rarity, even more-so the jobs you actually want.

  "Just settle for a lower ranked job? No way. Why would I do that? Those are boring too!

  "Anyway, there I was, sitting by my lonesome in a corner, drinking fine wine. Red, to be exact. White wine just tastes too bland, you know? I never got why people liked white wine.  They're crazy!

  "Well, as it happens, as I was praying for all white wine lovers to go to hell, you stepped in, with Shiro, no less.

  "I almost went over to talk to you, even for some idle chatter, because I hadn't seen you in five months. You looked healthier, happier. I couldn't help but smile from my corner of the room but I decided against going to see you. Not because you were with Shiro, but because you didn't recognise me. With my big hat and all. Your eyes were wondering around the room, but you somehow didn't even lock your eyes on me for a second.

  "Like I wasn't even there.

  "Relax, you're forgiven, don't look so sorry about it. Seriously, you're so depressed all the time, try to just take it easy.

  "My first thought was to worry. Worry that you had forgotten about me, I have low self-esteem, so I had no choice but to resort to that worse case scenario. Don't worry about it. I soon realised something else was amiss, so I didn't exactly have enough time to worry about having been forgotten.

  "When I saw you heading over to the registration desk, I dropped everything and went to eavesdrop on you. I feared that your party had been wiped out. That would be the only logical reason you'd not recognise me and also go over to that desk. Though I guess I was wrong. Because when I heard you say you'd like to sign up, my heart froze for a second. I really thought you lost your memory.

  "It's strange, isn't it? What a whirlwind of emotions I was going through! I suppose you can call the whirlwind of emotions you went through just now payback, heheh.

  "Sorry, that's not funny.

  "I listened in on your conversation with Shiro while you ate too. That's when I came to the conclusion that you were faking losing your memory. Of course I know better now, but the things you said in guild restaurant was a little far fetched. I knew the original owner of that body didn't talk like that.

  "We may not have met for five months, but he still sent me letters. He wasn't timid like you, and he certainly wasn't one to show interest in magic.

  "I guess this counts as me telling you a little about him, doesn't it? Well, personalities don't just change once you lose your memory, so I thought to myself, 'is he on some sort of secret mission?'

  "I was so curious, I had to figure it out, so I begged the guild receptionist to let me overlook your trial job. I'd ask you what you were doing then. You'd be bound to talk to me.

  "But you kept avoiding me. I was forced to put up an act. I thought that maybe I'd messed up by reaching out to you. So I pretended I didn't know you either.

  "It was a little alienating, but knowing that you weren't really him, it just makes me feel stupid.

  "This other friend we have is pretty similar to how you are now, to be honest. He acts tough but really, he's a massive introvert. It's a wonder how we ever became friends.

  "I can tell you're bored, so I won't get sidetracked again.

  "Honestly, the biggest giveaway that you weren't the original owner of that body that I completely ignored was the way you reacted to those wolves.

  "Genuine fear.

  "Not an act.

  "I rationalised it as an act all due the simple fact that I thought it was impossible for a grown adult to be fearful of them. You sure showed me, though. I won't judge, but it's certainly a rare fear.

  "I was starting to get pretty pissed off by the time you fell asleep. Not even the way you slept was anything like him. So that's why I asked you just now to quit the act.

  "Yay, we're back where we started!

  "Still. I'm mad beyond words that the real you is missing.

  "To be honest, we didn't get along all that well, and I'd said some rather shitty things to him the night before he went off to do his job, and he got mad at me in return. I was calm about it after the fact though. I kept a cool head. I would only have to wait half a year at most.

  "I didn't know where he was, and he was moving around constantly, so I could never send him any letters. But I did of course get sent some by him. I treasured those. I couldn't tell if he was still mad or not based on those letters. They were pretty neutral, but I didn't really care. They kept me from getting paranoid.

  "And just knowing he's been stolen away from me...

  "I'm starting to wish I just kept my mouth shut that night.

  "I'll be honest with you. I loved him. I wanted nothing more than to say that to his face.

  "I guess I just got my wish just now, haha...

  "That's not funny.

  "I was too much of a coward, so instead of just saying that I loved him, I decided to hurt him instead. There's not a day that goes by without me thinking about it.

  "So, you'll help me, right? It's a lot to ask when you don't exactly benefit, so all I can do is beg you to.

  "Please..."

I was in a lot of pain right now.

  It was worse than I expected. I wasn't expecting her to tear up. What was I supposed to say to all that?

  Apparently, I thought it was a good idea to go with, "that's a lot."

  I knew this was all too good to be true. I'll have to return this body to its original owner. I can't not do that after hearing what I've ruined by being here.

  Freesia wiped her eyes. "You're not too good with words, are you?"

  "I guess..." it was more that this was just too awkward to properly explain my feelings to her. I don't think I'd be able to tell her that my previous body was at the bottom of a river in another world. The original owner of this body is probably dead if he also switched over to my original body. Or maybe his soul was just waiting for me to leave, and my old body has nothing to do with this. But the fact I had no idea was just causing too much stress for me.

  "Freesia..." I said, keeping my voice as quiet as possible. Like I didn't want to say it. "How does this work? Swapping in my soul into another's body. How does it work?"

  Freesia took a moment to regain her composure before answering. "Well... It depends on the person that did this. It's a taboo so there's not many recorded cases of it, but the most common is to just push the soul of the original owner out of the body. Who knows what happens to it after that, but as far as we're all aware, it's not lost. People have gone years without regaining their original bodies, and they came out of it with just mild dizziness." She put on a more lighthearted smile, probably try and stop me from worrying about her.

  Her explanation made me realise I had been holding my breath that entire time. I took a sigh of relief and let myself nervously laugh. "That's great," I told her. "That's less stressful for me, then. I can help you without the need to rush things."

  Freesia raised an eyebrow, but then shrugged. "Don't count on it. After all, there are plenty of more dangerous ways to go about swapping souls around. That's just the most likely option."

  "Can we please just go into this assuming it's the most likely option?" I asked, feeling like I was just going to be crushed by more metaphorical weight if we didn't.

  Freesia nodded. "If it helps you calm down." She stood up and stretched. "Hey look, the suns coming up. We should probably wake up the brat and get going."

  I looked at the horizon, the sun had just barely shown itself. Because of where I lived before, I never got to see the sunrise like this before. It's all blocked off by the tall buildings. It made me realise just how closed off my life had been back then, and I winced. It could have all been avoided if I just ran away. I was a coward. That's why I became content with being raped and abused. That's why I put up no resistance to my parents. That's why I killed myself. Cowardice. Plain and simple.

  I should probably stop looking at the sunrise if it's just making me feel like shit.

I should probably stop looking at it in general if I wanted to keep my eyesight.

I came out of this experience feeling disillusioned by my circumstances. I was completely at a loss and realised that keeping this body wasn't an option anymore. It was temporary. I'd learn some sort of lesson before I have to give it up, like maybe that life is worth living or some other bullshit, I'm assuming, and I'll return to my real body, and die. It must've just been a ploy by a higher power. A trickster god or a well-intentioned demon. Or was that the other way around?

I slapped myself again and got up. "Let's get this over with!" I said, forcing an optimistic smile.

Freesia laughed at me while she packed her things. "You sure you're gonna be okay?"

I giggled and made a peace sign. "Oh, I'm sure it's gonna be just fine!" I lied.

"If you say so. Go wake up Shiro and we can be on our way." She didn't sound convinced.

I walked over to Shiro, and he was as cute as ever. I felt like my HP and MP were fully restored just by looking at his face. I unzipped his sleeping bag, and (un)fortunately, he was fully clothed. I gently shook him. "Shiro, the sun's up," I whispered. He looked so adorable while he was sleeping. I wanna take him home!

He stirred and tried to cover himself up again but I didn't let him. He let out a girly moan, and mumbled, "give me another five years."

"You'd wake up the same age as I am now if you slept for that long," I retorted.

He wouldn't wake, but he seemed restless.

...

I had an idea.

I pinched his nose lightly so he couldn't breathe. A mean trick, but it should work.

...

He didn't react. His face just got redder and redder. I was about to let go, but he started making a strange noise. Until eventually—

"Pwaaah!" He sat up, gasping for air. It took him a while to calm down.

"Good morning," I said, feeling a little ashamed that I just did that.

"Oh," he blinked and looked at me, yawning. "It's just you. Good morning!" He was back to his normal cheery self after being pretty moody yesterday. That was good, at least.

"Did you sleep well?" I said, patting him on the back.

"Well," he started, tilting his head. "Sure, but I had this strange dream that you were holding my nose shut. I couldn't breathe, it was really weird."

"Huh? I'd never do something like that. Dreams aren't accurate to real life, you know?" I lied. I'd been doing a lot of that recently.

  "Well, that's certainly true. You're more of the type of person that would kiss me in my sleep instead."

  "That's true but I'd never actually do it."

  Shiro looked at me with disappointment. "Uh, no, I was joking, I didn't realise you'd actually think that way."

  "..." I bit the inside of my mouth to stop myself for cringing. "I was joking too."

  Shiro burst out laughing. "God, this is so stupid, isn't it?" He hopped to his feet and looked down at me. "Enough joking around. We'll be walking less than we did yesterday! It only gets easier from here!" He said, trying to pump me up, I guess. I could say no to that face.

  I got up and stretched. "Let's get going then."

At the end of this rather uneventful day, we finally reached the cave!

Tomorrow, we'd enter and find the treasure I was to bring back to the Mercenary Guild. I wasn't looking forward to the return trip but it would all be worth it for the chance to get to work with Shiro all the time! Ah! I love that boy! I wanna cuddle him! I wanna take him home! I wanna ruin him! What a wonderful life it's been! Suicide? Who cares! I can creep on Shiro and that alone makes life worth living.

...

I'm getting carried away.

To be honest I was terrified of this cave. I just hoped it wouldn't have that many tight spaces.

I had to keep smiling though. I had to act like everything was fine.

I'd feel as though I'd become non-verbal if Shiro and Freesia realised I was feeling depressed.

I wish I never heard about that whole soul swapping thing.

Just keep smiling, Marisa...

Keep smiling, and everything will be okay.

Keep up the act for as long as you live.

Goodnight.

———————————

Author’s Note:

I hold the belief that there is no correct way to write in abuse or rape. It can never be tasteful because it’s inherently evil. I did try my best, but I’m fearing that my best was not good enough. I agonised over it for days about how to write it, but eventually decided to go with this. Of course, since this is a story told in the first person. I cannot be objective. I have to write with the same subjective mindset of my character. A self hating man that has grown apathetic to what’s been done to him. Because of that, I’m worried about releasing this chapter. Still, thanks for reading. I promise I wasn’t procrastinating with writing this, it just went through a lot of rewrites and I had hit a writers block many times. It was originally supposed to be 20,000 words long, but it’s only around 12,000. I decided to release it without the events that take place in the cave. That’ll be the next chapter instead. Freesia was a very annoying character to write, but I hope it paid off. Please look forward to the rest of her arc.

I’m also sorry for any errors during this chapter. It’s so long that obviously I cant find everyone wrong with it unless i scrub through it more than I already have. I’ll get back to this once I’ve released all the chapters.

I promise to not take so long for the next chapter.

[Song of the Day]

[Next Chapter]

[mxlfoydraco]

Hey Serra. Have you seen Voltrons new season? There’s a lot of people mad about it. I wanted to know if you enjoyed it or not

I was expecting this and I’m glad it’s been asked after I’ve had some time to process everything.

There are a lot of things I’ve enjoyed this season. I loved Hunk getting his own arc and bonding with Keith. I loved seeing how much Lance had grown both as a person and a paladin. I loved Shiro, a canonically queer, disabled man of color who was an amazing leader and a soldier. I love, love, loved Krolia and Kosmo. This season was action packed, kept me at the edge of my seat and put my emotions through a wringer for real.

However, there’s a but. As a queer fan, I’m sad that I had to see another queer character die. I know that it made sense in the narrative— Adam was one of Garrison’s best soldiers, it was an intergalactic war against a much superior species and Adam died a hero’s death. I know all of those. I’m still upset it happened.

I do think that it would be better to see Shiro mourn for longer or for Adam to have more screentime. I kinda get that it was because there was too much story to tell and too many characters around though.

I don’t think the producers deserve hate over this though. They’ve fought for years to include Shiro’s sexuality in the show, which is the main representation. Adam was a very minor character, his role was to reveal Shiro’s backstory. Shiro is still queer, on the screen and visible. He’s still queer even though his ex-boyfriend from years ago is dead, his sexuality isn’t determined by his relationship status at all.

I don’t think they did this to intentionally hurt or bait their viewers, despite what anybody else claims. I don’t condone calling them homophobes or other awful things when they said themselves how much push they had against Shiro from the upper ranks!

I’m going to choose to trust the EPs and believe that they were sincere when they told us they fought for representation and valued it. We’ll see what the last season will bring us.

[housamo-side-blog-2]

HARUMO EXPOSED.

This is a story about Harumo.. 

{SPLASH OF WATER} 

Harumo:...bloo...bloooo..blo...blah.......*gasp for air*. 

You gasp for air, as you have just made a jump from 10 feet,

Shiro: Harumo, you just jump from 10 feet,are you okay? 

Harumo: Yeah,im okay. 

Shiro; Thank goodness,you landed with perfect form, if not, then you would have just felt the most painful slap in history. 

Kengo: Is it really that painful, i bet i could take it on. 

Shiro: Coming from you loudmouth,

Kengo: Its true, I’ve felt way more painful punches that those pathetic slaps,right partner? 

Harumo: Ahh, yeah, i guess? 

{Lil Salomon appears} 

Lil Salomon: Hello Master!,...Whoah!, you”re in the sea, care to explain you’re wherabouts? 

Harumo: Wanna take a dip? 

Lil Salomon: I’ll pass, i was checking in on you.

Harumo: Well thats a surprise... 

Lil Salomon: You see,  I have a very personal project that i want to complete, so i was just checking, if you’re in need of me, 

Harumo: I think we’re good for now. 

Lil Salomon: Oh good, well then, see you later then! 

Harumo: Hey wait Sal-.. 

Your question goes unanswered, to brush your curiosity, you float on your back, and met the piercing gaze of the sun, with its brightness, you close your eyes and just float,.....

COMPLETELY UNAWARE OF SOMETHING IS OFF.!

 ????: HARUMO WAKE UP ! 

Harumo: ....What is it you Guuuuuuuuuuuuuyyyyyysssssss! 

Shiro:*BLUSHING* AGYO AND KIJIMUNA  DON’T LOOK FOR THE LOVE OF YOG-SOTHOTH! 

Agyo and Kijimuna: HEY, WHAT GIVES?!

Kengo: HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH! 

Ryota: *BLUSHING LIKE A TOMATO*

Moritaka:*BLUSHING* Harumo? 

Shino:.*BLUSHING*..THA--UGH--.. FILIAL ONE! HOW DARE YOU LOOK !

Moritaka: PLEASE FORGIVE ME! 

Toji: *blushing* Uhhhmmmmm.....

Harumo:*BLUSHING*AHHHHHHHH!!! WHERE ......ARE .....MY TRUUUUUNNNNNNNKKKKKSSSSS?!

{CAW,,,CAW,,,}

{END SCENE}

*Yesterday* 

{SUMMONERS SAFEHOUSE} 

The safehouse is the the place where guildmates attend to conduct their guild activities, strategy meetings and also. 

EVERYONE: AIR CONDITIONING! 

Thats right, today is an usual very hot for Tokyo today, and according to the broadcast its only going to get more and more hot tomorrow, And due to the intense heat, classes today are suspended as most school don’t have air conditioning,luckily, 

EVERYONE: THANK YOU SHIRO! 

Shiro: All right, i understand all your feelings but, hold out on the touching. 

Ryota and Harumo: YOU’RE THE BEST SHIRO!

Shiro: O,,Well,, Thank you Harumo. im glad you say that. 

Kengo: So much for holding out on the touching.

Shiro: What was that?!  

Toji: Purchasing an AC is a wise choice Shiro Motoori, if not, we’re probably boiled eggs already.

Agyo and Moritaka: AHHHHHHHHHH!! SO COOOOOLLLL! 

The two fluffy fured Canis therians sit infront of the the lifesaving air conditioner in a proper sitting position.

Shiro: Its a good thing, i bought it,just incase if their is a heat wave, Agyo and Moritaka would be alright. 

Ryota: Oh yeah, Canis Therians are probably the most affected in this heat wave, i hope they are okay. 

Agyo: This is much more better that waving fans around in the Land of Wa,  

Moritaka: Yes, When there is a hot day, we would just sit under a tree.

Moritaka: Though i have to say, its not the least effective during this intenese heat. 

Harumo: .....Wait a sec...i get the feeling somethings off. 

Shiro: Really?!, what is it?

Harumo: Hmmmmmmmmm......

{Hexagram flashes} 

Lil Salomon: Hello Master, cooling down i see. 

Harumo: Hey Lil Salomon,

Ryota: Hello, Lil Salomon, how are you doing?!

Lil Salomon: Hello to you too, Ryota, im doing fine, thank you for asking. 

Harumo: He said Hello to you too Ryota and he’s doing fine. 

Ryota: Yay! 

Kengo: Hey, whats with the yay Ryota? 

Ryota: Lil Salomon showed up. 

Kengo: You mean that invisible guy.....Hey Salomon guy, 

Toji: Who are you all taiking to? 

Moritaka: Everyone, what seems to the commotion.

Agyo: And who are you all taiking to? 

Harumo: Oh yeah, i haven’t introduced you to everyone yet. 

Lil Salomon: Well, it seems i to make an entrance. 

The floating gray fured butler,fixes his tie and dust off his butler his uniform to prepare his long awaited introduction to the rest of the Summoners. 

Harumo: Lil Salomon, everyone can’t see you. 

Lil Salomon:....AHHHHHH!, i EVEN DUST OFF MY SUIT, 

Again, only the one wearing Salomon”s ring can see the small butler that accompanies you everyday. 

Toji: So... who are we going to meet again? 

Harumo: Everyone, i would like to introduce Lil Salomon here. 

Moritaka, Toji and Agyo: .........

Harumo: He’s the first friend that i met ever since i arrived in Shinjuku Central Park, and he’s my butler. 

You put your hand under Lil Salomon, to help them see where he is,even though they can’t see his form, 

Lil Salomon: Its a pleasure to meet you Toji, Agyo and Moritaka, Thank you for protecting my Master in times of trouble.

Harumo:{ Relays what Lil Salomon said} 

Agyo: You mean?.....HE IS A GHOST?! 

Moritaka: Agyo, i think thats not it, maybe Harumo is the only that can see him. 

Moritaka: That amazing!, to think you have a butler on your own. 

Lil Salomon: Thank you Moritaka, i have to keep my master safe, even though he always go to trouble. 

Toji: Huh, that explains some questions. 

Lil Salomon: Oh.. Master, i should inform you about Kijimuna, you promised to take him to the safehouse to meet everybody. 

Harumo:............I TOTALLY FORGOT!

EVERYBODY: AHHH!. 

Shiro and Kengo: Harumo, whats wrong?! 

Harumo: I totally forgot about Kijimuna, {Remembers about Kijimuna} 

EVERYBODY: KIJI...MUNA? 

Harumo: He’s my friend that i met during the time i was stranded on a deserted island. 

Everybody:...Eh?

Harumo:......

Everybody: WHHHHHHAAAAAATTTTTTTT?! 

Shiro: You were stranded?!

Ryota: Deserted island? 

Everybody: ALONE?! 

The news comes a shock to them, to know that they’re friend,the one that saved them, was stranded on a island in the middle of nowhere, everybody is still processing your crazy trip, but what would they think if you told them about your other out of this world adventures. 

Shiro: When..did this happened? 

Toji: How did you get out of there? 

Ryota: More importantly, how did you get there. 

Harumo: Guys, calm down...{If i told them about the rest, they surely will go crazy}...uhm...anyway i better go pick up Kijimuna.He’s with Mr Triton, so it shouldn’t be far. 

Shiro: We are going to have a taik with you later. 

Harumo: Uh...O-okay Shiro.. See you all later.

Shiro: This explains a lot of questions. 

Kengo: What do you mean. 

Shiro: Do you not notice Harumo suddenly disappearing all of a sudden? like that time with the treasure hunt in Nakano.

Toji: I forgot to tell about that time, Shiro Motoori. 

Ryota: What do you mean? 

Toji: Remember the day we were discussing about the treasure hunt that was famous in Nagoya. 

Shiro: I thought they were only rumors. 

Toji: Yeah well, We have an exam that time, and i heard Harumo mumbling about something. 

Ryota: What did they say.? 

{FLASHBACK} 

Harumo: Something about a treasure ship.....

Toji: Hmmmm. 

Harumo: Didn’t we go sailing that time.... .. I wonder how everyone is doing?

[END FLASHBACK}

Toji: Then after school, They went to Nakano. i don’t the rest of the details after that. but it sounds like they have some other accquaintances, 

Shiro: I see... hmmm.... when Harumo first arrived. we have been making a lot of friends with other people lately. 

Ryota: Yeah, They are the reason how i met Maria and led us to Daikanyama Academy. 

Kengo: Yeah, same goes for me. and also Claude is way over heels for them. 

Kengo: Back in the war,

Shiro; War? 

Kengo: It was like a war that time, The three main guilds of Tokyo, for the first time fought side by side, i was shocked to see the Tycoons lending a hand. 

Shiro: And the reason for their unity, was Harumo.. 

Ryota: Yeah.. we all saw them. Harumo never backs down whenever he sees someone hurt. 

Kengo: You got that right, during our first fight back in the Coloseum, They never gave up and..{Remembers what they said}... They said im their friend.. 

Shiro: After that, you never have absent again. what made you change your mind. You were always so stubborn. 

Kengo: Shut up nerd!, I-its because!,,,i ....wanted to be with them. 

Ryota: Guys!, I think the reason we’re all here, .Its because of Harumo. 

Shiro: None, of this wouldn’t have happened if Harumo weren’t here. 

Kengo: Because of them. I got to fight much more stronger opponents! 

Ryota: They are also the reason why have friends! 

Agyo: Harumo is also the reason, how i have found my purpose, 

Shiro; Harumo made big changes in the people they have come across with. even to us. ..

Shiro: Right. Toji? 

Toji: Do not misunderstand Shiro Motoori, the only reason i stick with Harumo, is because i swore to protect them, nothing more nothing less. 

Ryota: They are also the reason we met you! 

Toji: Tha--...*sigh* fine,say what you wish, 

{Door opens} 

Harumo: Hey guys, im back! 

Shiro: Welcome back Harumo!,...where’s Kijimuna?

Ryota: Come on!, i want to him too! 

Agyo: I wonder if he is my age? 

Kijimuna: HELLO EVERYONE, NICE TO MEET YOU ALL! ...are they your friends Harumo? 

Harumo: Yep, Everyone, I would like you all to meet Kijimuna, he was the first person that i met when i was stranded on his island. 

Agyo: He’s taller than me! 

Ryota: You’re so cute!, i wanna hug him already! 

Kijimuna: Yay!, HUGS! 

Ryota and Kijimuna: HAHAHA! 

Shiro: Hahahaha.... Hello Kijimuna, my name is Shiro Motoori. Nice to meet you.. 

Kengo: The names, Kengo Takabushi, sup there little fella. 

Moritaka: I pleasure it is to meet you Kijimuna. My name is Moritaka Shino Inuzuka!

Agyo: And my name Agyo, im the protector of this place. 

Kijimuna: WHOAH !, you’re a protector?, like me? 

Agyo: You’re also a protector? 

Kijimuna: Yep, i protect the Banyan Tree that has been growing on my island for years......Oh sorry,... Its a pleasure to meet you all.! 

Everybody: PLEASURE TO MEET YOU TOO ! 

Shiro: Wait.. you mean...you have been alone in your island for how many years exactly?..

Kijimuna:*counting his fingers* More than these! 

Everyone: Wha?!. 

Agyo: You have been a protector for so long? 

Kijimuna: Yep, Then i met Harumo. who washed up on the beach side of my island! and then i we met a lot of new people! 

Shiro: I see.. 

Moritaka: Thats most impressive,to be able to protect something from a young age is most astounding! 

Kijimuna:  No one ever shows up,so there’s not a whole lot of protecting. 

Kijimuna: You see. {Tells his life story before Harumo appeared} 

Kijimuna: And thats when i met Harumo. and after that. i’ve became friends with so many different people and it was fun everyday in the island! 

Ryota: *sobbing* whaaaa! 

Harumo: R-Ryota?, are you okay?

Ryota: To be alone for so many years! WHAAAA!, *HUGS KIJIMUNA*

Kijimuna: O-okay.. calm down.. Ohhh how about we play together!..sound fun?

Ryota: *Sobbing* y-yeah okay. 

Shiro: He was all alone for so many years.. 

Kijimuna: Do you wanna play too Uhmm...Agyo? is it? 

Agyo: Playing is for little kids! 

Harumo: You’re also a kid...

Agyo: Im not! 

Kijimuna: *giggling* 

Agyo: Are you making fun of me?! 

Harumo: I think you two are going to get along really well.Since you both are protectors.  

Kijimuna: *Extends his hand* i hope we could be great friends Agyo! 

Agyo:......*Extends his paw* Y-Yeah!, I think so too! 

Harumo and Ryota: AWWWWWW! SO CUTTEEEE! 

And so,Kijimuna finally have friends that he could have a bond with,even in this hot day, the warmth of these ordeal, makes the room both cool and comfortable.

OR IS IT.....

{A LIMO DRIVES BY INFRONT OF THE SAFEHOUSE} 

Agyo: Hmm.. Hey.guys i sense someone in our territory. 

Harumo: I wonder who could it be? 

Agyo: Its a long,black car and....oh someone got out of it. 

Shiro: A limousine? 

Ryota: WHOAH!, Only rich people get to ride those! 

Kengo: I have a bad feeling about this.. 

Moritaka: Why would someone come here all of a sudden? 

Toji: {Could they be after Harumo?.}

The driver of the car immediately went out with an umbrella opened as if to protect the important person sitting in the backsit. however the driver of the seat is non other than..

Harumo: Xolotl?! 

Shiro: That means..

Kijimuna: Hey...is there something wrong..? 

Harumo: That means Hakumen! 

Xolotl the loyal servant to one of the excecutive members of the Tycoons, His Master is the owner of the famous Casino, that is blowing millions, with its extraegance. 

Hakumen:HMMM....So.. this is the safe house of my liege?

Xolotl: Yes,Mistress Hakumen, according to one our sources,their safehouse is located here. 

Hakumen: Oh.. i see.

Harumo:*Opens the door* Hakumen?!, 

Hakumen: Oh...MY LIEGE?! 

The nine tailed fox quickly went to her beloved liege in a dust, 

Harumo: W-what brings you here Hakumen?.

Hakumen: Well..you see.. its pretty hot today ...and im throwing a grand party at my resort!, 

Harumo: Wow!, You own a resort?! 

Hakumen: Off course i do!, who do you think for?...Ahem. my liege its pretty boring since the guests will be members of the Guild and some other a-accquaintences that i invited. and i would love to personally invite you and your guild to this party.. 

Harumo: Hmmmm....

Shiro: If i may interrupt....

Harumo: Shiro...

Hakumen: And who are you supposed to be? 

Shiro: Im Shiro Motoori, the adviser of the Summoners, Pleasure to meet you. 

Hakumen: Oh.. i see...so my liege will you come? 

Shiro: Forgive my rudeness, but,do you have an ulterior motive for inviting Harumo? 

Hakumen: Hahah!, Well, Sorry to burst your bubble,but i have no plot to accomplish, My only wish is for beloved Liege!, to attend my party..

Shiro:Hm...

Harumo: Okay, we’ll definitely go! 

Shiro: H-Harumo.. what if she has something planned? 

Harumo: She wouldn’t come here in this intense heat, just to plan something bad, i think this is sincere. so lets give her a chance.. 

Hakumen: OHHHH,, The way my liege cares for me!, is so loving, that makes want you now even more!. 

Harumo: We’ll come Hakumen!, Count on it! 

Hakumen: Very well my liege, the party starts tomorrow, i’LL have the men in the entrance know your coming. 

Harumo: Okay, its settled, we’ll be there Hakumen.. 

Hakumen: I’LL be waiting my liege! 

Hakumen, goes back to her limo and drove off. 

Harumo: ..Welp.. Looks like we got a party to attend to! 

Shiro: Im still skeptical about her.

Ryota: Harumo,Shiro!, what happened?, what did she say? 

Harumo: *explains to them* 

Toji: You invited you outta the blue, Im agree with Shiro Motoori, this sounds fishy.

Ryota: C’mon guys, We don’t normally get invited to this types of parties and also i want try their food! 

Kengo: You just wanna eat their food don’t cha! 

Agyo and Kijimuna: Hey,whats going on!

Ryota: We’re going to a party! 

Agyo and Kijimuna: Really?!, with lots of delicious food and fun games! 

Harumo: I don’t think they have games, but their pool could be super fun.. 

Ryota: All right... We’re going to a party, try fancy delicious food and a have pool party!..Oh man!,, im so excited! 

Kengo: Even though, Its cold here, I nice outing in the pool is much more enjoyable than doing nothing than sitting here in the cold. 

Moritaka: Indeed,, this is going to be so much more fun than i imagined it to be.. 

What will happen in the party hosted by the foxy vixen Mistress Hakumen, is there a hidden plot in it or is there something instore for Harumo find out in the next part! 

OKAY, THATS GOING TO BE IT FOR FIRST PART OF THIS STORY RIGHT HERE, AND THE FAMILIAR FACE PT 2, IM CURRENTLY WORKING ON IT, DON’T WORRY, AND AS ALWAYS LIKE IF YOU LOVE IT AND IF YOU READ IT BUT DIDN’T LIKE IT THEN YOU LIKE SO THATS FOR TODAY AND THANK YOU ALL FOR READING.THANK YOU VERY MUCH.....

Self-proclaimed writer: THANK YOU FOR READING EVERYONE..

Harumo: THANK YOU ALL FOR READING EVERYONE.. 

[mydearestreaderfanfics]

Rather Be (Keith x Reader)

Warnings: swearing, alcohol, pining, light angst (with a happy ending)

Word Count: 4,858

Prompt/Request: wb an imagine with my boy keef and a childhood best friend crush,, bonus for blushy flustered keef lmao

Summary: An old promise from their childhood brings back old feelings. When both Keith and the reader fail to communicate, though, will the promises from the past be kept?

Author's Note: Rather Be by Clean Bandit is the musical accompaniment for this fic. What do you guys think, should I add on a song for all fics/fic requests?

Author: Mod Alex

“Keef!”

The young boy dropped his toys and turned around to see his best friend. Although he’d never admit it, he loved the way they mispronounced his name, it was… cute. “(Y/n)! What are you doing here?”

“I came to make a deal.” You held out a paper to him, an adorably serious look on your face.

“A deal?” He took the paper, looking over the crayon written words. The writing was messy and mistake-ridden, but it didn’t matter to Keith, what mattered was that it was a proposal to Keith, a marriage proposal.

“You are my bestest friend ever. So, I’ve decided that if I’m not already married in twenty years, which is like a million years away anyway, then we should get married.”

Keith’s surprise turned into a smile which turned into a laugh. “(Y/N), you’re only 7-”

“And a half! You're only 4 months older anyway, I’m basically 8 like you!”

“Okay, you’re 7 and a half, but shouldn’t you wait until you're older to get married.”

“I am, didn’t you read it? It says 20 years away,” you pointed at a large blue 20, “see? Right there.” You huffed crossing your arms and looking down, your serious face crumbling as you toed at the dirt.

“Okay.” Keith figured if he did want to marry someone one day it should be you.

“Okay?” You looked up, failing to mask your surprise.

“Yup. Oh, I think we need to sign this, right?”

“Oh, right!’ You fished two crayons out of your pocket, handing him the red one, and keeping your favorite colored one for yourself. After setting the paper on the sandbox’s lining you both signed, sealing a contract that would be forgotten for a long time. 19 years to be exact.

-

You were going through some old things of yours (your parents had asked you to come home to see what you wanted to keep and what you wanted to toss as they needed your old room cleared since they were planning on moving). As you were in the process of going through your childhood stuff, you stumbled across your old treasure chest filled with drawings, toys, and crumpled at the very bottom-- a wedding certificate. You laughed as you pulled it out, flattening it as best as you could. Keith absolutely had to see this. After tugging out your phone you sent him a quick message to hurry over.

Keith got there not even twenty minutes later looking for you somewhat panicked. After an apology and a brief explanation, he calmed down. Actually, he was pretty amused. “I can’t believe you told me I was going to marry you.”

“Hey! You’re the one that agreed.” The both of you were laughing as Keith looked over the paper.

“According to this, we’re supposed to get married in a couple weeks.” Keith grinned at you, blushing slightly from what you assumed was second-hand embarrassment from your younger selves.

“Oh gosh, so it does.” Your giggle fit picked up again, as you continued to speak through it. “Guess we have to get married. A contract is a contract, as they say.”

“I’ve never heard that saying, I’m not entirely convinced you didn’t just make that up.”

You held your hand to your chest, barely containing your grin. “Are you, Keith Kogane, saying I’m making things up?”

“Oh absolutely.” He smiled, not even trying to hide his smile.

You gasped dramatically. “How rude.” The paper in your hand caught your attention once more. “Why did you sign it? Way back then, I mean.”

“Why?” Keith took the paper from you, smoothing out some of the worst folds and eyeing it fondly. “How could I not? You came up to me that day and I vaguely remember feeling intimidated-“

“What?! By me?! Your friend?!”

“Well, sure. You came up to me holding this sheet of stark white printer paper- which has seen better days now, but back then it looked official-“

“Kind of what I was going for,” you laughed.

“Right. So any way you come marching up with an official-looking piece of paper and then basically declare that you were going to marry me. And I was intimidated. I mean there was this person I liked-“ Keith fumbled over his words, speaking more quickly after his accidental confession, “and they were asking me to marry them. It was a time of very strong intimidation.” He laughed awkwardly, hoping you hadn’t caught his blunder. “Anyway what are you going to do with this?”

“Wait! You liked me?!”

“I- um- yeah…” He fiddled with the edge of the paper before handing it back to you, noticeably uncomfortable.

“Wow.” The word came out as more of a sound than an actual statement. “I’m just- I can’t believe it. I guess since we signed this I’ll have to keep it. Just, y'know, in case I don’t fall madly in love with some rando within the next three weeks.” You spoke clearly, although your voice did have a slightly teasing tone. It wasn’t mean, though, far from it, if anything it sounded kind of flirty. You hoped Keith understood you were being genuine.

He flushed. “Yeah, maybe… Hey, I’ve got to head out, Shiro’s having this thing and he asked me to go. I’ll see you later?”

“Sounds good. Maybe Sal’s tonight?”

“Sure.” Keith grabbed his bag and basically bounded out of the room, face aflame.

You felt a little guilty about flustering him so much, but really you were feeling quite overwhelmed yourself. Keith and you’d been friends since basically the day you were born and yeah, you’d had a crush on him, and yeah, maybe you still did. But you couldn’t just come out with it. Besides, there was no way he liked you still anyway. You’d gotten a rise out of him for your own amusement (and maybe to see if he still had feelings for you), but you were certain it was just his embarrassment at the situation that made him so flustered. You were a little crushed, to be honest. To be completely truthful you wanted to do nothing more than bottle your feelings up and binge video games all night to forget the awkwardness you’d just set in place, but no, you had already asked Keith to meet you at Sal’s.

-

By the time evening rolled around and it was time to head to Sal’s you had worked yourself into a pit of guilt and regret. Keith wasn’t there when you got there. So you took up residence in the lone booth at the back where the two of you usually sat. Ten minutes had passed before you saw your friends Shiro and Matt walk in. Keith still wasn’t here so you waved them over. They seemed happy enough to see you, you were happy to see them too, even if you had been hoping they had Keith with them. They didn’t.

“(N/n), hey! Is Keith with you?” Shiro grinned, leaning down to side hug you before sliding in opposite you. Matt slid in next to you pulling you into a hug that quickly became a noogie.

“Gah! Matt what the hell, what are you five?” You shoved away from him, giving him the bird as you turned back to Shiro. “No, he was supposed to meet me here like half an hour ago, I thought maybe he was with you.”

“I haven’t seen him since this afternoon.”

“Shit. Did he seriously stand me up?”

“Oh? Did you two finally confess your undying love for each other? And here I thought we had something, (N/n).” Matt lounged against you and you grumbled despite smiling at the dramatic man.

“First of all shut your mouth. Second of all, you know you’re the only one for me.” Shiro barked with laughter and Matt nuzzled in closer to you and you rolled your eyes playfully at the act. “Jesus, you’re being worse than usual, are you drunk?”

“He’s got a buzz.”

“Ah. That makes sense then. Matt, my darling lover, I need you to get your bony ass elbow out from my rib cage.” He laughed as he sat back up.

Though he had been smiling at the antics of his friends only moments prior, Shiro was quick to take up the serious role. “Wait, so you haven’t seen Keith since this morning.” You nodded. “Did something happen between the two of you?”

You flushed, this was the conversation you were hoping wasn’t going to happen. Still, you couldn’t lie to Shiro, the man was pretty much a human lie detector to his friends. “Kind of… I found this dumb thing from when we were kids this morning and I think it upset him.”

Shiro cocked his head to the side. “But Keith loves looking through things from your guy’s childhood.”

“Well, I think maybe it was more so what I said about it. I may have been a bit out of line with my joking.”

“What’d you say?” Math looked at you, eyes widened.

You buried your head in your hands to hide your face. “I may have implied we should get married.” Both Matt and Shiro broke into a fit of laughter at your expense and you groaned. “Guys shut up! Look I didn’t know what else to do, he told me he used to have feelings for me and I guess I was just feeling bold. I’ve been beating myself up for it all day.”

Shiro caught his breath, quietening his chuckles momentarily. “He told you that? And I assume it’s safe to say that you're referring to the fake proposal back in- oh gosh, I want to say first, maybe kindergarten?”

“Second-grade, and yeah. I mean, what would you do? You know how I feel about Keith and it was like he was saying the very thing I wanted to hear for basically all of my life and then he bails the second I reciprocate. The only thing I can think is that I fucked up, which honestly let's be real, is probably the case. And now he’s uncomfortable around me, and I don’t know what to do.”

Shiro blinked, face going slack. “Oh, wow. Okay. I can’t believe he actually told you. I don’t think you scared him off, (N/n), I think maybe he wasn’t expecting you to say anything like that and he didn’t know how to handle it. I’m sure if you give him time he’ll work it out himself. Until then you need to stop beating yourself up over it.”

“Easier said than done.” You crossed your arms, slumping in your seat.

“I know, but you’re going to have to trust me on this one.”

-

Keith had never shown up to Sal’s and honestly now that a few days had passed with him one wording you, Shiro's advice was getting harder and harder to follow. You were in your apartment, putting everything from your old room away when you stumbled across the object that caused this whole situation. You crumpled it, tossing it aside. “As if I needed the reminder.” Your birthday was rapidly approaching, with only little over a week left until the day. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but it only served as a reminder that Keith was avoiding you. You glared at the piece of paper laying crumpled pathetically at the floor. A sigh escaped you and you sunk to the floor, grabbing it again. It hurt sure, but you felt bad just tossing it aside like that. Why couldn’t life be as easy as you thought it would be all those years ago? You’d always loved Keith, that much should have been obvious from your proposal. But the idea that your feelings had been reciprocated and that they may not be anymore crushed you; even more than that, the idea that you’d ruined your friendship with Keith completely wrecked you. Even if you couldn’t have him as your significant other, you would always want to be friends; he was your other half.

Your phone rang and you jumped, startled by the sudden noise. The caller ID said it was Matt. Decline. You just couldn’t deal with his silliness right now. The phone rang again and you were irked to see Matt’s face pop up again. Decline. You pressed down on the screen as if the more aggressive action would keep him from calling again. A moment later a message popped up. It was from Matt.

Answer my call D:

You rolled your eyes. A second later the phone started buzzing again. You slid the answer button, annoyance written in your words as you clipped out a curt “What?”.

“About time, I was wondering if I’d have to come to your house to tell you.”

“Tell me what?!”

“Now, now. Is that any way to talk to someone with good news?” His voice was a singsong that only proved to grate on your nerves further.

“You know what, I don’t care.”

His laughter faded. “Okay, okay, sorry. Yeesh, this whole thing has really gotten to you, hasn’t it?” He was quick to take on a more empathetic tone, it was much appreciated on your end.

“I’m sorry, I’m being kind of an ass, aren't I? But, yeah, it has. Anyway, what was your news?”

“Shiro has a surprise for you!”

“Wait, what?”

“Can you meet us at his place?”

“Yeah-- wait, Matt, what’s the surprise?”

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, now would it?” You tried to speak again, but the line went dead. He’d hung up.

You wanted to ignore the phone call, but you know if you did the curiosity would linger much longer than you’d like. So instead, you huffily slipped on your jacket and shoes and headed out to Shiro’s place.

For having a surprise for you, Shiro wasn’t very quick to answer his door. When he finally did open the door he was red in the face and looked like he had just been running laps. You guffawed. “Are you good?” Too breathless to answer, he just nodded, stepping aside to let you in. “What were you doing-- the hell is this?”

“Oh that, that’s nothing. You look great, but hey have you thought about going out, like with us?” You blinked slowly at Matt who was trying to pull your attention from reusable grocery bags that were spilling out streamers and other various decorations.

“What are you talking about?”

“We’re going to go party and you’re coming with us. No more moping. But maybe you might want to get a little more dressed up, that’s on me, I should have told you before. I was just worried you wouldn’t show up.”

"I wouldn’t have. Matt, I don’t want to go out partying. Besides you’re a little early, my birthday isn’t for-”

“We know! But you needed a pick me up, look it won’t be one of those shitty bars, okay. Somewhere more laid back.”

You rolled your eyes again. “What's wrong with what I have on now then?”

“Pwetty pwease. Look, we even bought you a gift!”

Matt pulled out a nicely wrapped gift box, Shiro must have wrapped it.

“Go on, open it.”

So you did, pulling the ribbon and tearing the paper off. Inside the box was an outfit, and despite your earlier protests, you smiled. It was a number you’d been eyeing for a while now. “Thank you both. Fine. We can go party, but just for a little while. Let me go get ready first, yeah?”

“Sounds good.”

-

The place they ended up taking you was Oriande, a place that landed somewhere between a club and a bar. It was classier than most of the bars on the road, but it also still had a dance floor giving it a more casual atmosphere as opposed to the high-class lounges up the road. It was still early in the evening, the sun just barely touching the horizon when you went in. Pastel neon lights engulfed you, the soft yet bright pinks blues and purples inviting you deeper into the establishment. Honestly, you were surprised you hadn’t been here before, it was just your style. Shiro ushered you over to a table nearer the back that looked like it had been decorated for an event. Oh, dang, were you here for someone else's party? But you didn’t even bring anything-

A cheery lady approached you. “You must be one of our bachelorxs!” She clapped a hand on you back and before you could get a word in edgewise she continued. “Now, your hubby-to-be isn't here yet, but that doesn’t mean the fun can't begin right?” She laughed friendly, before continuing, barely a breath in between her last sentence. “So," she stretched out the 'o' so that it sounded more like 'ooh', "we’ve set up a nice little bar section for your party, and of course since it's your party there's an open bar. Your planners were very thorough! If you need anything just holler!” And like that she had run off to attend other matters.

You rounded on your friends who were looking particularly guilty. “What the hell did you do!?”

“Look before you say anything-”

“No. I-” You pinched the bridge of your nose. “I get that you wanted the discount or special treatment or whatever, but did you really have to rope me in?”

“Well actually-”

“Shiro? Why’d you ask me to meet you here? Isn’t it kind of loud--...” There was Keith looking a little worse for the wear than when you’d last seen him, but he had still cleaned up well. Your attention immediately left Shiro.

“Keith?” His face paled as you approached him, eyes darting away as if searching from an exit; your heart clenched painfully. When he realized he couldn't so easily dart away he begrudgingly looked up at you, face a soft pink, although it might have just been the lighting-- it was hard to tell.

“(Y/n)... Hey…”

“It’s nice to see you again.” Even though you don’t want to see me, you thought bitterly. “Did Shiro invite you? It looks like it’s somebody’s party.” This caught him off guard.

“I... it is?”

You shrugged. “I’m assuming, although I think Shiro,” You yanked the fleeing man over, grip iron clad on his arm, Matt had already made his getaway, “and Matthew are running a bit of a con, but there are free drinks so...”

“Oh, my gosh, you two are so cu~ute! You must be our bachelor, I'm sure your fiance must have filled you in, so if you need anything let me know. I’ll let the bartender know that you’re both here.”

You watched in mortification as the chipper woman from before clapped a hand on Keith’s shoulder, effectively labeling him as your fiance. His face was burning with a blush, you were certain it wasn't the lighting this time. “No- that’s not--”

“Berry! We got an issue!” Someone from behind the bar shouted at who you assumed was the chipper lady. She frowned. “Shoot. Sorry, I gotta go handle this, enjoy your party!” Your anger from before you saw Keith had been reignited with a vengeance.

“Okay, so maybe I should explain…” Shiro looked beyond nervous.

“You think?!”

“It was Matt’s idea. Well, okay so originally we thought maybe we could pretend to be getting engaged for a couple of free drinks but then you two… well, you’ve both been a mess and refused to confront each other… So Matt came up with this idea, which in hindsight is kind of a shitty one, but hey now you can talk and there's plenty of pre-paid liquid courage to help you.”

“Shiro!”

“I’m sorry that we put you in this situation, but I’m not sorry I tricked you both into coming. Who knows how long you two would’ve gone on avoiding each other? And I can't deal with you both being upset over the same thing just because you don't want to confront each other. You both have been beating yourselves up, and waiting around for the situation to just magically right itself. So if it takes alcohol to get you to talk, then so be it." Shiro had taken on that authoritative aura of his and you huffed. You hated it when he was right, and he usually was.

"Fine." Your voice sounded cold even to your ears. You hadn’t meant for it to and you couldn't stand the thought of seeing if Keith reacted to it. Honestly, you weren't sure if it would hurt more if he did or didn't. Instead of looking you stubbornly grabbed his hand and dragged him to somewhere you could talk without shouting. You ended up finding yourselves alone in the hallway to the restroom, the music was still blaring but it was far enough away that you could actually talk. You finally let go of Keith’s hand, turning around to face him. It was almost too much, after so many days of having been rejected by him. Your nerves gripped you with a renewed sense of terror. You couldn’t talk, instead, you felt your throat tighten. Fuck. You were gonna cry. You hadn’t dragged him all the way over here just to cry in front of him. A strained whimper left your lips when you made to speak and you quickly snapped your mouth shut, turning away in embarrassment. Why now, of all times did your emotions have to be getting the better of you.

A shaky hand wiped your tears away. Your eyes shot to meet Keith’s. He looked unsure of himself like he would dart away at any second and yet, he still stood before you, gently brushing away the tears that refused to stop flowing. “H-hey, (N/n), hey… No, no, fuck. Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t-- I didn’t mean to make you cry.” That only made you cry harder and soon enough Keith had awkwardly pulled you into his arms. It was no unknown fact that physical affection was one of the quickest ways to comfort you and as your childhood best friend, Keith knew this better than anyone. “I,” He cleared his throat, “I know I fucked up. I never wanted to hurt you. I’d rather die.” He paused and for a moment you thought that he was done talking and tried to focus on recomposing yourself. You never left his arms though, afraid that stepping away would mean you’d never get to be this close to him again. “But I- I didn’t know what to do… I was scared. My feelings for you were laid out and I couldn’t be sure what you were thinking.” Something wet hit the top of your head-- Keith was crying too? “So, I did what I do best and I ran away. I shouldn’t have, but… What else was I supposed to do?” His voice wavered, his question coming out near breathless and timorous.

“I don’t understand? Why were you scared? I don’t care if you used to have a crush on me as a kid! I’m sorry if I scared you off with that stupid comment, I just… I don’t know. I thought maybe…” You had pushed back, this wasn’t a conversation you could very well have with your face smooshed into Keith’s chest. Regret clenched around your heart like a chain, but you’d already froze before. You forced yourself to meet his eyes, the beautiful violet-grey causing a short-lived wave of calm to wash over you. They were familiar, and yet the tears falling from them were not. Keith rarely cried. Acting on instinct alone, your hands made to wipe his tears away. He let you, watching you with a piercing gaze that was trying to dissect your every movement, find answers in the space between your words and your actions. He couldn’t find any hidden meanings, but he couldn't find any answers either.

“Comment?”

“What?” Your voice croaked out, sounding just as confused as he had.

“You said stupid comment? What comment?” Was he serious? Hadn’t your flirting been what caused this all to spiral?

“When I was flirting with you! Isn’t that what ran you off? I mean I didn’t actually mean we had to get married, just like a date or- or whatever…”

“Wait you were flirting with me?!” You felt like screaming, how had you managed to get yourself into this predicament of giving Keith your feelings on a platter thrice in your life now? Regardless of whether he knew or not, you felt like vomiting from the nerves.

“I thought it was obvious?” You laughed, but it came out strange and garbled, “I mean, shit Keith, I only propositioned you for marriage twice now.” The idea was both incredibly embarrassing and way too funny.

He seemed to feel similarly as a snort left him, quickly preceded by a fit of laughter that you too couldn't help but join in on. The both of you sounded delirious, and honestly, you kind of were. Tears flowed freely as you laughed, making you feel as though you may have lost it. When the laughter finally died down you were left shaky and almost numb. But the weight was no longer on your shoulders so that was something. “In your defense,” Keith’s hands had come to wipe away your tears again, completely dismissing his own, “I’ve technically never refused your propositions either.”

Your hand met his on your cheek, stopping the motions but also stopping him from leaving. “I mean, you did run away the second time…”

“But I never said no.”

“Are you saying you want to marry me?” Your brow arched, eyes searching his for a sign that he was joking. Surely, he wasn’t actually saying he wanted to marry you.

His eyes widened and he glanced to the side bashfully. “Maybe not a week from now… Honestly, though, I don’t think I could ever even imagine myself spending the rest of my life with anyone else? Like you’ve been my constant since basically day one and I’ve… I’ve had feelings for you for almost as long.” You could feel the tremble of his hands, letting your grip tighten slightly afraid he might run again if you didn’t. Your other hand moved to press his ridiculous fringe out of his eyes.

“Oh, Keith.” You couldn’t help the soft smile that found its way to your lips. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

He bit his lip. “That depends on what you think I’m saying?”

“Keith… Please don’t make me wait any longer to hear it.”

He laughed, although you could still feel the slight tremble in his hand. “(Y/n) (L/n), I have wanted to be with you since we were in second grade, maybe longer, and that’s never changed. If you’ll have me, I’d love nothing more than to be with you.” He paused a beat. “Oh, but, um, I do think marriage would be rushing it... “

You giggled, though he sounded monotone, you knew he was joking. “I’ve waited this long, I think I can wait a while longer if that’s what it takes.” The two of you shared a laugh and before you knew it, Keith had gently tugged you back into his arms. With your face pressed firmly into his chest, you could feel the erratic beating of his heart. “But really, Keith. I’ve had feelings for you for as long as I can remember. I’m glad we finally get to be here like this.”

“Speaking of, do you want to dip out and go somewhere-”

“Less loud?”

“Yeah.”

“That would be lovely.” With your hand in his, Keith led you through the crowds, neither of you bothering much to say goodbye to the now tipsy Matt and supervising Shiro, instead of finding your way outside into the crisp evening air. It felt like you could breathe finally, although you suspect part of it was because you no longer felt the crushing pressure on your chest of hiding your feelings for Keith. In fact, you realized with delight, you could now… “Hey, Keith?” You stopped on the sidewalk, with him by your side, eyeing you curiously. “Can I try something?”

“Okay?”

Letting the last of your nerves roll off of you, you took your moment of boldness and leaned up to press a chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth. Keith startled, after a moment his hand left yours, instead, finding purchase on your waist to tug you closer. “(Y/n), can I try something?” His voice was barely audible, but it still sent shivers through your spine.

“Okay.”

He smiled softly before moving to capture your lips with his own. The kiss was tender and filled with love. His inexperience showed, but it was endearing and you found yourself leaning in to kiss him again after he pulled back. You were left breathless under the lamplight, grinning just as brightly as that day on the playground when Keith first agreed to be yours. And now that he’d agreed once again, well you couldn’t be any happier.

[musicanddancingthroughlife]

Shklance -- Bruises Ch5

Bruises chapter 5, thanks again to some awesome readers who have come and talked to me about my stories :) You guys are the real heroes, and please know I can never have enough praise. Especially since apparently my creative writing class really doesn’t appreciate my writing haha... 

Also, I do plan on posting this story to ao3 either sometime this week, or next Sunday, but I need to do some light edits and rewrites, because I realized while writing this chapter that I’m fuzzy on a lot of the details and I want to fix that before moving any further. :) Thanks for the support and patience. Also, to the amazing person who offered support on ko-fi? You’re incredible, and made my whole week <3

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          O…kay… So maybe they needed to wait a little longer before they were actually going to be okay, because right now, Lance was laying on the couch, bandaged and bruised, and Keith was sitting in Shiro’s favorite armchair, arms crossed and scowl on his face, and all Shiro had wanted was to gather them both up and take them to the giant bed he and Keith had gotten after discovering they were soulmates, and go the fuck to sleep. ‘I knew they were going to be a handful,’ he cursed in his head. ‘Damn it all.’

         “You guys can’t just keep me here, my family’s going to wonder where I—”

              “We aren’t keeping you hostage, Lance, we’re keeping you safe!”

              “I would’ve been safe if you had let me leave after classes got out!” The rage on Lance’s face might’ve been a lot more impressive if he hadn’t finished that sentence with a whine of pain. Keith’s eyes darkened and Lance shrunk back at the sight. Shiro held back another sigh.

              “Lance,” he said, “we called Hunk on the way here and told him what happened. He said he’d contact your parents and cover for you.” He frowned when Lance barely nodded, too busy rubbing at his shoulder and biting his lip. “Hey,” he added more gently, “stop that, sweetness, you’re hurting yourself.”

              Lance blinked up at him, dazed and confused. Keith grunted, “We can feel it, dumbass.” And just like that, Lance’s hackles were up again. Shiro shot Keith a glare.

              “Well, thanks for calling Hunk. And patching me up. Even though I would’ve been fine,” he said anxiously, shooting furtive glances at both of them. Keith growled. “But I should get going before I wear out my welcome, ya know? So, thanks, goodbye, see you tomorrow, you’re both stars.” He ducked under Shiro to try and get to the door, causing a shooting pain through all their bodies, but Keith had moved to cross in front of him. He carefully grasped Lance’s wrists loosely.

              “Please. Stay. We should talk.”

              Lance raised an eyebrow at him. “There’s still nothing to talk about.”

              “Not even that you’re our soulmate?” Keith’s eyes were wide, voice painfully honest and raw-sounding.

              “Uh, newsflash, Shiro’s your soulmate. And, hey guess what? You’re his soulmate. Love how that happens.” He tugged carefully at his wrists, but despite the soft hold, Keith was persist and wouldn’t be shaken off. And, great, now Shiro was bracketing him on the other side. No escape for him now.

              But… did he really want to? Keith’s hands were still so gentle on his wrists, and Shiro’s were just barely resting on his hips, one of the few places he wasn’t cut or bruised. And of course, they would know that, because they had applied bruise cream to each other everywhere Lance had been hurt. Because they could feel his pain.

              Because they were soulmates.

              And it made no sense. Why were they still here? Why would they care? They had each other, and they were perfect together. Dream team, power couple, relationship goals. Fairy tale love. All of that and more, so why would they make room for Lance? Those loving (loving? Was he really accepting this?) hands tightened on his body, just barely making his nerves screech from the pain, just enough to get his attention. Keith and Shiro were staring at him, twin masks of horror on their faces.

              Shiro’s voice drifted softly at his ear, and the nearness made Lance shiver. “You’re our friend. You’re kind and loyal and brave and so so selfless, and we love you.”

              Keith’s head tilted forwards, easily bypassing wounds and barely resting against an injury-free zone on Lance’s chest. This close, Lance could still hear him mumble, “We’ve known you for ages, we’ve liked you for longer, and we’ve loved you as our soulmate for hours. Please let us know you better.” His head tilted up, those violet eyes trapping Lance’s own blue, holding him helplessly, willingly captive. “Please don’t make us lose our soulmate. We want you.”

              And, really, what else could Lance say except…

              “Okay.”

              “Okay?” Though they both spoke at the same time, the tone couldn’t be more different. Keith looked hopeful, his shining with excitement. Shiro was looking cautious, wary, and he was the one who continued. “You mean you’ll let us try?”

              Lance bit his lip, and Shiro had to fight hard to not thumb it free of those teeth, because damn now he knew was his lip sometimes throbbed for no reason. He must bite them a lot for it to hurt as much as it did. (Keith wanted to kiss it free, and the effort it took to restrain himself had him nearly vibrating in place.)

              “I don’t know how good I’ll be, but yeah. We can try.”

              Shiro let out a small rumble. “You don’t have to be good, sweetheart. Just be you. We want you.”

              Keith huffed, patience completely used up. “Specifically, we want you in our bed. Hunk said we could have you for the whole night, and I’ve been wanting group cuddles since we found each other and found out we were lucky enough to have a third. Now, come on!” He tugged insistently at Lance’s wrist, and Shiro was proud to see that despite his eagerness, he was still mindful of Lance’s injuries. “To bed!” Keith pouted.

              Lance still looked extremely unsure, but he allowed himself to be led to their bedroom with little fuss, not even complaining when Keith nudged him until he was laying in the center of the bed and Shiro and Keith could settle themselves on either side. Shiro knew that a big reason for that was because Lance was slippery. He had a bad habit of running when he felt ganged upon (though apparently not when he was actually being attacked, and yeah, they still needed to talk about that), and they both needed that reassurance that Lance wouldn’t be going anywhere without them immediately knowing about it. When they each wrapped an arm around him, Lance stiffened a little, and Shiro was momentarily concerned, but instead of running, he just sighed and relaxed again. And…

              It felt good.

              It felt like home, to have both of his boys together. Keith snuggled closer into Lance, seeking out some of that warmth he had been craving for so long. It felt like finding their missing puzzle piece, or finding your new favorite ice cream, or… something stupidly sappy like that. It felt comfortable and it felt right.

Lance’s head was reeling. How did he go from daydreaming about these two incredible men, knowing he would never have them, to finding out they were soulmates??? To being invited into their home, being cared for by them, being cuddled by them in their bed… It was unbelievable. But…

It felt good, so incredibly good to be wanted, taken care of, treasured. And there was no doubt of that in Lance’s mind. With Keith snuggled tight on one side, and Shiro’s hands gently stroking Lance’s side, Lance knew that they would do anything they could to keep him safe, and to ensure he felt loved. And it felt right.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 107 prt 1

107

“Careful! You’ve only just got out of hospital this morning”

Lance rolled his eyes at Keith. He totally hadn’t noticed that at all. He totally hadn’t enjoyed standing in the sun, and feeling the cold wind across his. After a week of tests and monitoring, Lance was sooooo not in a rush to go back to that room again

“I’m fine”

“Here, Let’s get you to the sofa. You should be resting”

Keith looped his arm around his waist as if he thought Lance as some kind of wounded soldier and not 5 weeks pregnant. He was doing so much better for having rested and seen his friends.

They went the half truth. A lie that weighed heavily. Pidge and Hunk had come up with Rieva to see him. Hunk in tears that his best bud had had an accident, Pidge having some not so nice words for not letting them come see him sooner. The first three days all he’d pretty much done was sleep. When Mami came, Keith gave up his position beside him in bed, Lance falling asleep against his mother. When he’d woken again, his Mami was talking to Keith about how he’d been as a child. It was embarrassing. His Mami had come to see him three times, thanks to Coran and Shiro picking her up and dropping her off. Krolia had come by to check on him when he’d sent Keith off to find a decent cup of coffee before VOLTRON wound up burnt to the ground. His friends had come twice. Matt was in tears as he apologised, his, and Rieva’s, scents making Lance’s stomach roll, yet he got to thank both of them which made up for the discomfort. Lance knew he couldn’t put off telling his mother, but Coran wanted to do another ultrasound the following week. Provided things were still okayish, he planned to tell her then. Making her worry needlessly over something they couldn’t control... he didn’t want that, but it was hard not to blurt everything out because she was... she was his guiding light.

Forced to sit on the sofa, Lance patted Kosmo as he climbed into his lap. Keith pulling him off him

“Babe, you’ve got to be careful. You can’t let him climb on you like that”

“Coran wouldn’t have let me out if it wasn’t alright. I feel better. I’m doing better”

They were keeping the baby, but not telling anyone for the time being. He was too tired to tell his Mami, and honestly was avoiding the conversation for now until it’d sunk in

“You still need to take it easy”

“I am. I don’t know how much easier I can take things”

Keith argued that he should take time off work. Lance disagreed. Keith was cranky. Lance stressed. Shiro stepping in to gently pursued Keith that as long as Lance was at VOLTRON he was getting the best care he could. Keith had work throughout the day, suiting Lance fine as it meant cuddles at the end of it. His body was telling him to rest, and he was listening

“Maybe the bed would be better?”

Reaching up, Lance pulled Keith down by his shirt to awkwardly kneel at his level. He didn’t want Keith to leave, still, this wasn’t about him. Keith needed to head to work, the scent of him in the apartment was strong enough to make him feel safe. Pursing his lips, his boyfriend kissed him gently like he’d wanted him to do. Smiling from the kiss, Lance hoped it’d relieved some of Keith’s worries

“Babe, I’m fine. I’ve got the TV and my soap operas to catch up on”

“I should be here”

Lance rolled his eyes again, before kissing Keith

“I’m not going to die from loneliness just because you’ve got to go to work. I’ve got my phone thanks to Rieva, go enjoy being bossed around. I’m just gonna look at some stuff online and watch TV”

“You need to cancel my birthday weekend too”

Lance didn’t want to fight, but that wasn’t happening

“We’re still going”

“You can’t be traipsing across the country side”

“First off, who says “traipsing”. Secondly, I am living for that get away. Coran said if everything stays good, we’ll be able to go. Even if I can’t go, I still want everyone else to have fun”

“But the baby...”

“Isn’t going anywhere if I can help it. I’ll call if anything happens, which it won’t. You’re fussing too much”

“You’re not fussing enough!”

Lance let out a chuckle

“If you’re this bad, I can’t imagine what you’re gonna be like when I pop this baby out. I’m fine, I’ll be fine. You’re only at work until 5, then you’re back home”

“That’s ages”

“Babe, it’s 6 hours”

“Seeeee ages!”

Not for a vampire it wasn’t. But to be without Keith it was. He wasn’t going to be selfish. If it got too much, he’d take himself to bed and sleep until his boyfriend returned

“Time will pass sooner than you think with all your secret Blade work”

“I’d rather be here”

“I know. Look, I won’t even do housework. I’ll be good. Here, bathroom, kitchen or bed. That’s it”

“You’re not supposed to be moving around”

“I’m not going to be running laps of the apartment. Not with this little one to think of. Now give me another kiss”

Keith tried to draw out leaving as long as possible. Lance finding it cute. When his boyfriend finally left, he pulled his phone out as Kosmo jumped up on the sofa for pats. Keith wanted them to work this out together which meant he needed to understand more about what being pregnant entailed so he knew if something was wrong. Having a human baby inside of him, Coran wanted him to graze throughout the day in an attempt to get down as many calories as he could for the little one. Keith had to pick up a few things from the chemist on the way home from work, Lance not reminding him as he seemed sad enough over leaving. His boyfriend was basically an overgrown puppy.

After an hour of reading too much, he dropped his phone at the sound of someone outside the apartment. Kosmo growling, before leaping off the sofa and rushing to the door. Lance felt the need to bolt to safety. To lock himself in Keith’s room. He felt foolish when Shiro unlocked the door. Of course Shiro would be back. He was stuck on night shifts and surveillance, though Lance wasn’t sure if that was related to Honerva or trying to keep the peace. Letting himself in, Shiro went about locking the door again and setting the alarm, before scooping Kosmo up for pats. The hunter jumping as he noticed Lance, Lance flinching momentarily

“Sorry, Lance. I completely forgot you’d be home today. Nice to see you out of that place”

Lance forced himself to relax. Shiro didn’t sound mad. Tired, but not mad. He’d stressed repeatedly that was okay for Lance to stay, but Lance still felt guilty as he couldn’t really contribute anything to the household lest Keith worry

“Hey, Shiro. Uh, how was work?”

“Long. I’m ready for bed. How’s freedom?”

“Better than four white walls... Keith’s made me promise not to do anything”

Shiro chuckled, Kosmo licking at his face as Shiro tried to be out of reach and failed

“I can imagine. Don’t worry about him. He’ll settle down”

“Dude, we both know that’s not true. He doesn’t even want me getting up to use the bathroom”

Keith had to help him use the bathroom more than once thanks to his lack of energy and Lance had felt an all time low over his useless

Shiro chuckled again

“He’s just excited. I’ve already been told I’m not allowed to make your kid lame like me”

A smile formed on the edges of Lance’s lips

“You’re gonna be like the favourite uncle an he’s already jealous. This kid is going to be so confused. A werewolf for uncle. A slightly cursed uncle. A grandmother pushing 90. A hunter for an uncle... I could go on...”

Shiro dropped Kosmo down on the sofa, his fur son giving him a cocky look over his shoulder, before jumping off to trot after Shiro into the kitchen. His love for Lance lost to the slightest chance of a treat from his uncle

“On the plus side I don’t think anyone outside of a royal family has had this much protection. I’m gonna make some coffee, you want one?”

“Nah, I’m good... if you want to watch TV I can move”

“It’s fine. I usually just have it on for background noise until I fall asleep. Besides, I don’t think we’ve been alone like this for a while”

That was true. Keith was like a guard dog when Lance was in VOLTRON’s infirmary

“Not since Keith decided he bitumen needed his skin more than him”

Keith had the scars from the accident. The lighter ones would fade one day, yet Lance would never forget to treasure the darker ones as proof Keith was still alive. His boyfriend a little self conscious, but Lance didn’t mind. Shiro hummed, setting about getting his mug out and his coffee made

“Yeah, that sounds about right. How are you feeling, mother, or is father, to be?”

He wasn’t the first man to be pregnant, though his plumbing was a little unusual

“Father to be. And I know it’s been a week, but it’s still pretty surreal”

“I can’t imagine. I already talked to Keith, and he’s still pretty shocked”

“I don’t blame him. This wasn’t exactly planned”

“Still, it gives you guys hope for the future. I hope we can wrap this case up soon”

That’s be nice. Nice to know Lotor had left and life was returning to normal

“So do I... I know I’m not supposed to be prying, but if you need someone to bounce ideas off, I’m here. Literally. Keith seems pretty keen on me avoiding going home. He really has an issue at the thought of me and stairs”

“I know you couldn’t help it, but you could have been less dramatic about announcing you’re pregnant”

Lance felt himself laugh before he realised his mood had actually picked up. Shiro wasn’t Keith, but having someone in the apartment washed away the loneliness he didn’t know he felt. He’d been so spoilt for attention lately

“Trust me, I would have picked a different time too. Maybe, like, in a few years.... like, when Honerva was dealt with and Keith was in a better place?”

“He’s already in a better place. He worked his arse off for the Blades, and still felt like nothing. Now matter what Adam and I did or said. I’d been with Blades so long that I guess I was used to their...”

Shiro paused as he tried to think of how to word it

“Particular brand of weirdness?”

Shiro snorted, Lance kind of happy he could talk to Shiro like this without pretence or being careful with his words

“Yeah. Pretty much. He’s really come out of his shell”

“He’s still a little anger loaf at heart. He always had it in him”

“He has. Lately he’s come to see that, and as his brother, I’m relieved”

Shiro and Keith were tight. This little one had him wishing he had someone like Shiro

“You’re a good brother to him. I can’t help but be jealous”

“You know what they say, family is what you make it. Blood doesn’t matter when it comes to being there for those you care about”

Lance’s hand drifted to his belly. He didn’t really know why, but rubbing his belly seemed to have some psychosomatic effect on making him feel better

“You okay there?”

Catching Shiro watching, Lance ducked his head

“Yeah. This little one definitely wasn’t planned, I want you to know, I’d never deny Keith access to them, or you. Keith and I are still in the honeymoon phase, despite all that’s happened. Sometimes I can’t help but caught up in all the “what ifs””

“I could say I know what you mean, but I only have a vague idea. Keith was already all grown up when I found him. Things really weren’t great at first”

“How not great are we talking?”

“He stole my car. He eventually came back, but he was so full of anger and confusion. It took a long time to build that trust up”

That actually sounded definitely like something Keith would do. He lashed out something fierce when he was trying to protect himself from developing feelings

“I can’t even imagine. This one has so much love around them already. Shiro, if anything happens, you’ll be there, right?”

“Nothing’s gone to happen. I know what you’re asking, and you don’t need to ask”

“I kind of do. I haven’t told Keith but my anxiety has been pretty whack. Sleeping so much helped keep the thoughts away”

“I’m sure he already knows. He sent me a long list of things I’m not allowed to do or say, and I’m supposed to make sure you eat”

Lance groaned. Food was not his friend. It went down and it came up. At least here he’d have some form of privacy for that bit

“He’s obsessed with that. I don’t think he thought about it when he sentenced me to sitting on the sofa”

“He knows you like Italian, had me pick up some last night. Then he sent me on a chase to find garlic knots too. I know I’ve known you six months now, but I don’t think I can cope with a vampire who eats garlic”

“Which is weirder, that I walk about in the sun, or, that I eat garlic?”

“Definitely the sun. I wasn’t sure you were a vampire to begin with. It’s not like they teach us that vampires are out and about in the sun”

“Coran says it’s because I turned so young. Then again, we don’t really go up in flames until after the third degree burns”

“Did he say anything about the baby?”

“They should be human from what I understand. Lotor already seems to know I’m pregnant. Keith says I’m being paranoid”

The more he thought about the more he was certain Lotor knew, and this body knew too. That’d by why he’d subconsciously tried to protect his belly

“Maybe we can throw Lotor out in the sun?”

Lance laughed again. How he wished

“I don’t think Allura would be too happy. She’s already mad he’s being so useless”

Bringing his cup of coffee over, Lance tried not to smell it. He didn’t know what it was about the scent... it just made him feel gross. Sitting down, Shiro put his feet up on the coffee table, Kosmo half sat on for not moving. It was now a battle of wills

“They used to date, from the sound of it?”

“Yeah. Long before I was born. They were closer thanks to Honerva and the whole fae thing. Then he kicked her heart to the curb by leaving. He didn’t cheat on her. I thought that was it, but it was him making all these plans to leave then leaving without telling her. She’s not so quick to forgive. She’s really making Lotor work for her time”

“Good on her. I did worry she’d let her past feelings sweep her away”

“They did... kind of. She’s kind of a bit like Keith. Really good at not forgiving and forgetting. Not that that’s a bad thing. The pain fucking sucks”

“You know what else sucks? Kosmo. Move it buster, off!”

Kosmo crawled into Lance’s lap, ignoring Shiro telling him to get off. The doggo shooting Shiro a wounded glance as he made himself comfortable on Lance

“Kosmo, off!”

Huffing sadly, Kosmo stood right on Lance’s junk before using him to jump. Lance groaning as he drew his knees up

“Paw to the junk?”

Shiro asked sympathetically, Lance nodding

“He’s best boy, but those paws are no joke”

“He’s good for finding the wrong places to stand. Managed to do it to me and Curtis once...”

“Ugh. I feel your pain. Keith’s been trying to keep him off me. He thinks Kosmo’s going to hurt the baby”

“Kosmo is boisterous”

“Kosmo is best boy, living his best life. Keith brought him to visit and he ended up getting into the cupboards. I think he had the time of his doggy life messing up the room”

“I bet that went well with Keith”

“I slept. Angry Keith can be scary”

“That he can. At least he wasn’t throwing knives”

“This is true. Do you want the remote?”

“Nah. It’s fine. Curtis had been trying to get me into soap operas”

“That’d be my fault. I thought he’d be here”

He missed Curtis. Maybe in some way Curtis was kind of like the cousin he’d lied and said he was. His bluntness wasn’t always comforting, but at least he didn’t hide things

“Matt and him have been hanging out with Sam a lot lately. Whatever the deal with his curse is, it gave Sam some pretty interesting readings”

“Appliances don’t seem Curtis friendly”

“Nope. Keith’s banned him from going near the coffee machine”

“I’m not surprised. These days I’m more surprised when he finds a way to function before coffee”

“You should see him after a mission. He has to have his coffee or he’s a moody bastard”

Lance laughed, he knew that too well

“Yeah. He tells me about it in chat, or calls if it’s around 6 because he knows I usually get up then”

“You’ve got him trained”

A blush appeared in Lance’s cheeks. He could always count on Keith to message him. Now he was thinking about him solely, he really missed him, a small whine escaping before he could stop himself

“What was that?”

“Apparently I do that. I’m putting it down to this whole breeder thing... it kind of happens”

“Because you’re missing Keith?”

“Pretty much”

“I’m not Keith, but if you need a hug...”

Lance very shyly leaned against Shiro who sling his arm over his shoulders

“I’m sorry. He’s spoilt me so much that I feel a little lost when he’s not here”

“You don’t have to explain, kiddo. You’re going through a lot right now”

“I’m freaking the fuck out internally”

“I would be too. But you’ll get through this”

“Yeah... yeah, I know. I want to tell Mami, but I decided to wait until the ultrasound next week”

“You miss her, don’t you?”

“Especially right now. She... she protected me so much growing up. My family say I leach off her... but when I was making enough money, the first thing I did was get us a better house and I never wanted her to go into a home”

“If you want to bring her here, I understand”

“Thanks, but this is your home. It’s like I tried to explain to Keith. You and he need a place you know is safe. Mami doesn’t mean to talk but sometimes it comes out. I don’t want to put you guys in danger”

Shiro ruffled his hair

“It makes helping you hard. I’ve always respected that you respect the people around you. I never should have been so harsh on you when I came back”

“You had a lot going on. You didn’t know how Keith was going to be and you left your whole life behind to come here. You lost a lot thanks fo vampires...”

Still, it felt nice to have Shiro apologise properly. He didn’t blame Shiro at all for worrying over Keith

“Things got really rough after Adam. Keith blamed himself for so long. I should have talked him sooner than I did, but I didn’t... I wasn’t there yet”

“Sometimes it’s like that. Adam was important to you. Plus, your brother doesn’t always phrase things right. It took you to point it out for us to realise he didn’t have a heart condition but a crush”

“Don’t remind me. I swear every grey I have is because of him”

“If you think that’s bad, try looking like a teenager. I’m sick of it”

“Some vampires do seem to age”

“Yeah, I’m still a baby vampire really. I’ve got to be pushing like a century. Then again, look at Lotor. He’s old as fuck and prances around like a college jock-strap wanker”

Shiro chuckled

“I don’t think anyone has ever called him that before”

“If you can’t tell, I have pretty strong opinions on vampires”

“Oh, I can tell. Are you sure you don’t want anything to drink?”

“I’m alright. If I fall asleep, just leave me here. I’ve got most of my strength back, but I still feel really drained”

“Emotional stress will do that. Besides, not to brag or anything, but I’m pretty sure I could lift you up”

“Dude, I’ve totally put muscle on”

“Sure you have”

Lance pouted. His ego annoyed. He’d never been in better shape, other than being fatigued and pregnant. He’d never worked out as much as he had over the last few months, and though undead. He was sure he fitter than ever

“I totally have. And I’ve trained with Matt, Curtis, Keith, and Lotor. I’m deceptively heavy”

“And still Keith manages to carry you around”

Keith made it look easy and it wasn’t fair. His boyfriend wasn’t a muscle meat head, instead he was like deceptively strong

“Is this a sibling rival thing? Who can pick up and carry the vampire around?”

“Maybe?”

Lance groaned at him. He didn’t want to be in the middle of that particular fight

“Please don’t pick me up and carry me around. Let me pretend I’m tough and manly”

“You’re a tuff and manly twig”

Ouch... His gremlin would have laughed herself stupid if she’d heard

“Now you sound like Pidge”

“She’s a smart one. Nah, you’re fine the way you are. I won’t move you if you don’t want to be, but if you need help, let me know”

“Thanks, Shiro. Honestly I’m zonked, but I don’t know if I’m gonna freak out being moved. I don’t want to risk it”

“Alright. Now, what the hell is going on in this show?”

*

Keith was flustered as he left work. Krolia had pulled him aside to ask if he was okay, Keith knew she was trying to ask if he’d read her letter yet. He hadn’t, then he’d been snappy towards her without meaning to. His mother kind of seemed like a different person these days. More human and more approachable... and that had him thinking maybe he’d been unfair to her for a while now. It took Lance getting pregnant to actually fucking get it. He’d never leave Lance like she had, but if he had to live in constant fear of bringing home werewolves or vampires on his tail, he could see how not going home was an option he might be forced to entertain. His dad hadn’t been a loner. Stray feelings of his dad having friends lingered then disappeared when he tried to focus. Maybe if his dad had had friends like his and Lance’s... No. Going down that road only brought up the pain of the past. He’d awkwardly apologised to her in his own way before leaving, calling Shiro as he did.

When Shiro didn’t answer, Keith ran all the way to the apartment. He hadn’t tried Lance’s phone. His lover needed his rest, as tempting and as hard as it was not to message him. Letting himself into the apartment, Keith melted at the sight in front of him. Shiro and Lance were both asleep on the sofa, Kosmo cuddled into Lance’s side, wagging his tail as his tongue lolled out. Yeah. He was kind of ready to yell, and kind of jealous, but Lance had needed comfort from the look of it, and Shiro had stepped up to be there for him. Leaving the alarm too long, Kosmo started howling as the alarm went off. Lance and Shiro both jumping as they were rudely awakened. Hurriedly Keith turned the alarm off, the apartment falling silent after a way too long moment. Damn it. He should have got a photo of Lance and Shiro sleeping. His brother, his dog, and his boyfriend. His little family safe and well... and now wide awake.

Closing the door, Keith dropped his backpack next to it. Lance was rubbing at his ears, Shiro trying to bring Kosmo under control. His poor boy hated the alarm

“Sorry. I didn’t punch the code in in time”

[becky69lu]

Fictober Prompt Day 8: “Can you stay?”

Pidge Gunderson x Lance McClain (Voltron: Legendary Defender)

This is an AU of the events of the show. Basically where everything stays the same except they grew up a bit. So if events don’t make sense in terms of the actual show, it’s supposed to be that way for the sake of the fic. Enjoy!

WINNER! WINNER!

The loud blare of Lance's television went off as Pidge did a victory dance from her spot next to Lance. They were both seated on the floor by his bed engaged in an intense gaming session. By intense, it meant Pidge winning every game. Lance fell backwards in frustration, covering his eyes with his arms. 

"What is that, five in a row? But hey, who’s counting?" Pidge teased, her voice full of mirth.

"I don't know why I bother playing with you." 

Pidge giggled at his deadpan voice. She put her controller on the floor beside her. She leaned backwards to face him better, turning her body on its side. She leaned closer to his face, lifting one of his arms off of his eye with a grin. 

"Because you love me?" She asked, blinking dramatically as she tilted her head to one side. 

Lance snickered, taking his arms off his face. He observed how playful she looked above him. Her hair was trickling past her shoulders in caramel brown fluff. She didn't have on Matt’s glasses, showing off her brown eyes illuminated by the TV screen. She was wearing long PJ bottoms with a loose tank top which showed off her newly developed curves in the right places. Lance wouldn't go there now though.

She was 19 and he was 21. They were much older than when they first became Paladins showed by both of their physical changes. 

The universe was peaceful at last. They barely had any missions anymore which meant more free time. Free time meant discovering new things about yourself. Like how Lance found out a year ago how much he liked Pidges laugh. Or how much he liked Pidge in general. 

The Paladins were gathered for a mission which was why they were in the castle of lions. It would be a night or two until they reached their destination. Until then, Pidge and Lance preoccupied themselves. This time Lance remembered to bring the TV for their gaming system.

"You're right, I do." He stated in a lovesick voice, a loose relaxed smile on his face. Pidge laughed but Lance could still see the blush form on her freckled cheeks.

"You're such a dork." She leaned forward, pecking Lances lips briefly. She went to sit up but found his long arms wrapped around her waist. 

"You aren't getting away that easily, Gunderson." He smirked at her.

"Okay but that’s not even my real last name-" She was cut off by Lance pressing his lips softly against hers. He pulled away for a second to look her in the eyes. "Please stop talking." 

She snickered at his desperation before rolling her eyes and leaning in first this time. They had only kissed for a few seconds before Pidge’s phone alarm went off. She pulled back much to the reluctance of Lance, to pick up the phone beside her.

Her eyes widened in shock. "Shit! It's already 12 in the morning. I have to get back to my room." She got up off of Lance and put her bunny slippers on. Lance frowned at the loss of her body heat. He sat up on his elbows watching her move around and put things away.

"Why do you have to leave so soon?" He asked in a whiny voice. "Because we have security cameras everywhere Lance. If I never left your room what would Coran think?" Pidge asked in a matter-of-fact voice. 

Lance rolled his eyes at her statement. "He'll think we fell asleep playing video games. Like usual." 

This made Pidge laugh. "We did that when we were teenagers Lance. We're too old for that now. Coran may be dense but Shiro sure isn't. He already has his suspicions about us." 

Lance finally stood up, wincing at how his legs felt like needles from lying on them too long. "Why can't we tell them though?" He nearly demanded, pouting with eyebrows furrowed. He nearly folded his arms like a child having a temper tantrum.

Pidges face softened into almost sympathy. "We've been over this. If they found out we were dating it'd change the dynamic of the whole team. We'd be forced to end it for the sake of the team. And I don't want to do that Lance. I've liked you for so long and now you're finally mine. I don't want to lose us."

Lances heart nearly melted. Pidge was never the type to share her feelings. Moments like this Lance treasured. 

"At least.. can you stay?" 

Pidge scrunched her face for a moment in deep thought. She was probably arguing logic against her emotions. Finally it seemed one side had won. "I guess I'll just tell Shiro we played video games all night. And hope he believes it." She said in an worn voice. 

"Yes!" Lance whispered jumping up with his fist in the air. "Alright, settle down, John Bender." 

Lance chose to ignore her Breakfast Club reference, instead pulling the petite girl into a tight hug. "You're the best, Pidgey." Pidge in return chose to ignore his nickname, leaning into his hug.

"Yeah yeah. Now lets get back to playing games. I want to kick your butt in Mario Kart."

[rollzerox]

Can you do a JaeYona fanfiction prompt for me? I want a story where Yona's problem with not eating for long periods of time when she gets really stressed resurfaces? I noticed that Yona had that problem mentioned a couple times in the series, but it never really gets brought up again, and I could see Jae Ha and some of the others getting really concerned over it. I hope this isn't too sudden, but I'm surprised that there aren't more fanfictions that bring it up and I'd like if somebody wrote one

Thanks so much for the prompt anon! I’m sorry this took me so long I’m working on my backlog of prompt immediately during current events hope you like this take for my Castle AU series where Yona is queen of Kouka

“Daddy! Daddy!” tiny voices could be heard running across the hallways of the palace as King Jae-ha turned to see his twin children rushing towards him. He was currently sitting with his cane watching Hak, Ura, Hawke and Shiro practice, Lina bouncing her 6-year-old Krystal in her lap and giggling at her silly siblings. The child squealed when she’d feel her unborn sibling kick at her, considering Lina was 6 months pregnant with her next child. Sitting next to her was her second daughter, Jin-ae, who was named after the first Queen of Kouka, Hiryuu’s wife.

 “Here comes Aki and Mido, Uncle Jae-ha.” Hinto, Shin-ah’s 10-year-old son chuckled as he at saw them coming with his dragon’s eye.

 “Aka-dori? Mido-ka? What is it?” Jae-ha asked once the two children arrived. They were 5 years old, the girl with long raven hair and the boy with short ginger hair.  The girl had clear blue eyes and the boy had green.

 “Mommy won’t eat!” Aki cried, whimpering. “The cooks don’t know what to do she didn’t eat breakfast and now she says she doesn’t want lunch.”

 Hak stopped his practice run and sighed, shaking his head. “… She’s still upset over…” he glanced to Zeno who nodded.

 “We all miss former Seiryuu and Hakuryuu.” The Yellow Dragon answered. “It didn’t help they passed only a year apart. Not to mention former Ryokuryuu lately has…”

 “Oh please, I’m just fine.” Jae-ha waved him off. “I mean seriously Lina’s 22 now, I honestly thought I would have long kicked the bucket by now.”

 “Yeah and you fell down the stairs the other day again, Droopy Eyes.” Hak growled. “You gave her a heart attack.”

 “Hak come on, you have enough on your plate.” Jae-ha looked at him sadly, after all Valerie had just passed away in childbirth a year ago. “No point in me bothering you all the time to get around.”

 “But I can help you uncle!” Shiro, the current 12-year-old Hakuryuu said while extending his arm.

 “Precious child.” Jae-ha hummed, petting the boy on the head. He sure had his father’s enthusiasm.

 Tetora smiled as she hugged her son from behind. “You’re always so eager to help.”

 “Really guys I’ll tend to my wife, lead the way treasures.” Jae-ha hummed, Aki and Mido eagerly rushed back in. “But don’t run or you’ll…”

 “GAH!” Gigan, Jae-ha’s middle daughter growled as the twins nearly plowed her over when they ran past her, the 16-year-old looking rather annoyed. “Aki! Mido! Watch where you’re going!” she growled as she almost dropped the books she was holding.

 “Done with your lesson already Gigi?” Hawke called out to his older sister.

 “Yes which you skipped!” Gigan snapped at him, her eyebrow twitching at the nickname. “What kind of prince are you when all you want to do is run off and learn fighting with our Uncle Hak? Seriously you can’t solve everything with your muscles idiot.”

 “Not everyone enjoys lessons like you do Gigan.” Lina giggled.

 Jae-ha laughed, petting Gigan on the head. “My smart little treasure. You’re going to make a fine queen someday you know.”

 That made the raven-haired girl blush. “F-father really I mean I would be honored if mother were to choose me but I’m not the oldest…”

 “You really think Lina wants the throne?” Jae-ha snorted.

 “Hell no, I’m traveling with Ura after the kids are grown.” Lina rolled her eyes and took her husband’s hand. “I’m a Ryokuryuu my job is to protect our mother and eventually I’ll protect the future king and queen. Which could be you and Shiro when you get married.” She teased.

 Shiro practically choked as he turned red at that. “I-I-I… T-that’s n-not funny Lina!”

 “LINA!” Gigan’s face turned into a fireball. “I’m not you I don’t go around marrying our cousins!”

 “Please, Kija and I weren’t exactly blood brothers just dragon brothers.” Jae-ha hummed. “Otherwise Shiro & Hinto would be Lina’s brothers with their dragon connection. Besides look how happy Ura and Lina are you know I sure won’t complain…”

 “FATHER THAT’S NOT FUNNY!” Gigan shouted, looking ready to explode. “GAH! Why am I the only normal one in this crazy family?!”

 Jae-ha laughed how his daughter would always have a meltdown over things like this. The rest of his children got his carefree attitude and Gigan was more like her namesake it made me smile. “Anyway where’s your mother? I hear she’s being stubborn again.”

 “In the library.” Gigan answered after she settled down. “One of the scholars just dropped off a new scroll with her and she said she was putting it away…. She was forcing a smile so I was going to bring her a new specimen from Kai that my instructor brought.” She held up an orange colored orchid. “Give it to her father, you know new flowers for her garden always cheers her up.”

 Jae-ha nodded, smiling as he took the flower. “I will my dear. Try to not let your siblings drive you insane.”

 Gigan looked at him deadpan. “Don’t ask for the impossible, father.”

 Jae-ha snorted, then kissed her forehead and headed on for the library. His twins ran so far ahead of him he shook his head as they found their mother first, her back to them and not even noticing they entered as she was looking over a scroll.

 Tears floated down Yona’s cheeks as it was a new illustration of her and her Four Dragons surrounding her, along with many of the tales the scholars sat her down and made her recall because they wanted to make a full record of the second incarnation of King Hiryuu. Shin-ah’s funeral was only a few weeks ago and she still wasn’t over the loss of both Kija and Valerie. She sobbed to herself as she clutched the parchment close, hating the fact her family was slowly being torn apart but at the same time blessed she had so many happy years with them…

 “Mommy!” Aki and Mido were suddenly hugging her ankles, snapping her out of her trance. “Mommy! We brought you something!” the twins bounced on their toes as they pulled back.

 “Oh what is it you two? Don’t tell me you’re trying to butter me up because you set the garden on fire again.” Yona sighed, bending down to her kids to pet them on the head.

 “No mommy that was an accident we swear!” Aki whimpered.

 “Even though it happened three times.” Mido squirmed.

 Jae-ha chuckled as he walked in. “They’re just worried about you my lovely, here. A gift from Gigan.” He handed her the flower, bringing a small smile the queen’s face.

 “It’s lovely.” Yona said, joining him in standing. “But you should be resting.” She scolded her husband.

 “I’m behaving.” Jae-ha hummed, leaning on his cane for support. He tried to hide the fact he was trying to catch his breath from the walk over, lately just getting out of bed was a chore for the aging dragon.

 Yona brushed her fingers over his bangs, noting the sweat on his forehead as she chided him. “You can’t hide from me, husband. Sit down.” She pushed him into a nearby chair that the twins helped bring closer. “Or else I’ll let our terror twins tie you down again.”

 “Can we mommy?!” Aki cried, excitement dancing in her eyes.

 Jae-ha snorted. “Now you’re using the kids against me, that’s not fair love.”

 “You use them against me so it’s only fair.” Yona giggled, kissing him playfully as she pulled away. “Aki, Mido, go get something from the chefs for daddy along with his medicine from Grandma Yoon ok?”

 “Ok mommy!” Mido darted off, Aki rushing after him.

 “I’ll only eat if you do.” Jae-ha said in a sing-song voice.

 Yona made a face. “I’m not hungry.”

 The Ryokuryuu sighed, grabbing her hands. “… Love… Come on it’s not your fault. You know Shin-ah and Kija wouldn’t want you to feel guilty.”

 “But…” Yona choked, tears in her eyes as her hands trembled. “If only I wasn’t… And one day the same will happen to our own daughter and then… I was so absorbed in worrying about you I never thought that they would…”

 Jae-ha pulled her into his lap, giving her a long kiss full of love while caressing her back. “Shhhh, it’s ok love. It’s only natural, my successor was born first after all everyone even Zeno expected me to die by now. It’s a strange miracle I’ve lasted this long. Guess Ik-su wasn’t kidding when he said our child is twice blessed and I wouldn’t die as soon as I thought.” He kissed away her tears as he brushed her crimson hair. “But that doesn’t change the fact that they both loved you and wouldn’t want you upset. They lived wonderful lives here by your side and found their beautiful wives. Their children are safe here and we’ve basically broken the curse of Ryokuryuu and Seiryuu villages as their lines will continue here where they are celebrated not hated. We might even mix dragon blood with the way Gigan and Shiro are crushing on each other.”

 Yona rolled her eyes. “Stop playing match maker with our children.”

 “It worked with Lina didn’t it?” Jae-ha hummed, kissing her cheek. “… Please love, you’ve barely ate anything all week or do I have to pop another treasure inside you to make you take care of yourself?” he offered, fluttering his eyelashes at her.

 Yona turned bright red at that, squirming in his lap. “… I-I… I can’t do that, they might never meet their…” she sadly brushed his cheek.

 “Think of it as me leaving you a treasure behind my love.” Jae-ha hummed, pressing his forehead against hers. “Besides we know they won’t be lonely with as many siblings as they’ll have. Just think about it love.” He gave her another kiss. “After all I don’t seem to have the stamina I used to in my prime.”

 “What a crime.” Yona giggled slightly, smiling warmly at her husband. “… Thank you Jae-ha… You and all the dragons helped me find the greatest happiness in my life. I just…. Hate the thought of waking up without you by my side.” She choked.

 Jae-ha looked at her sadly. “… I know, I feel the same. But the kingdom and our family need you love. Besides… You know I’ll be waiting for you on the other side.”

 “Jae-ha….” Yona sobbed, her eyes threatening to let out another waterfall of tears until she heard the sounds of her twins rushing back into the room.

 “We got food mommy! You gotta eat too!” Mido said, holding up a tray that was bigger than he was of food as Aki was holding Jae-ha’s medicine.

 Yoon stood in the doorway as he came behind them, holding a second tray. “Yona how many times have I told you that you can’t skip meals like this?”

 Yona pursed her lips as she crawled out of her husband’s lap. “… I told you kids just to get your father’s medicine not tell on me.”

 Aki giggled. “But Grandma Yoon is your advisor and he can advise you to eat!”

 “Not like she ever takes my advice when it’s about her health lately she’s as bad as her husband.” Yoon rolled his eyes, looking over Jae-ha and handing him a powder. “Now take that or else you’re on bedrest the rest of the week.”

 “Thank you mother.” Jae-ha teased, though the boy genius was so used to it that didn’t even faze him anymore.

 “We just don’t want you to get sick mommy please?” Aki bat her eyes at Yona, looking ready to cry. “Daddy gets sick enough and you take care of him so who’s going to take care of you if you feel bad?”

 “Me probably.” Yoon mumbled under his breath.

 Yona groaned as she took a seat, her twins at her legs immediately trying to force her something to eat as she sighed and grabbed a bread roll. “Fine, I’m eating are you guys happy now?” she then had the kids put the tray down on the table full of books as she lifted them into her arms, kissing their cheeks. “You two are too precious, so worried about me and your silly daddy.”

 “Because daddy makes you cry when he gets hurt!” Mido whimpered. “You’ll make daddy cry if you get sick.”

 Jae-ha hummed. “That’s right dear, don’t you know it’s a crime to make the king cry?” he tried to tease.

 “Don’t you start.” Yona snapped. “It’s not my fault I was tired last week and you insisted on trying to carrying me to my room like a stubborn fool.”

 Yoon groaned. “Don’t remind me. I’m the one the kids got when they found you two at the bottom of the stairs.”

 “So I can’t land as gracefully as I used to…” Jae-ha rubbed his cheek in embarrassment as he chuckled, then grabbed something off the tray for himself to get the bitter taste of the medicine out of his mouth.

 Yona sighed at that. “Sorry. I guess I have been worrying you guys just…”

 “Well all miss them.” Yoon gave her a hug. “… Just know that you aren’t alone, ok? And we can’t lose you too. This idiot will probably jump off a cliff to join you if you die on him.” He jabbed a thumb at Jae-ha.

 “Yoon not in front of the little ears.” Jae-ha groaned, not exactly denying it.

 “No die mommy!” Aki and Mido clung to their mother tightly. “You can’t leave us!”

 Yona wilted at that, hugging her twins tightly. “… You’re right. I’m not leaving you kids anytime soon I swear.” She kissed each of their foreheads. “And now go tell daddy he can’t leave you either so he has to stay stubborn for at least a few more years.” She smirked, letting them go as they rushed to their father.

 “Daddy! Daddy! You too!” Aki cried, clinging to his legs as Mido tugged on his robes.

 “Oh you little darlings I wouldn’t dare leave you just yet, I have to keep seeing all the trouble you get into come here!” Jae-ha smirked, lifting the kids into his lap and smothering them with kisses. “My precious little treasures.”

 Yona smiled at the sight, hoping that her precious family could stay together just a bit while longer…

[angstalottle]

I Picked You Flowers

The funny thing about working with the blade was that they were all so silent and professional that it was easy for Keith to forget that they were there sometimes.

Back with Voltron he could sneak away for a few moments peace during lulls in the mission and no one would be the wiser, but with them. Well, every little movement was observed and calculated without Keith ever knowing until it was too late.

He had hoped that after two years of training with his mom he would be able to keep out of their sights by now. But as he got off the ship to see Kolivan standing in his way with his arms crossed and a frown on his face Keith knew he had been caught.

“Care to explain yourself?”

Keith looked away catching as the rest of his squad slipped out of the hangar likely to avoid the wrath that was about to come. “I don't know what you mean.”

Kolivan sighed “you were under strict orders to wait for the pod and not go wandering off. Yet you disappeared for a good Varga. I want an explanation now.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“The truth.”

Keith glared at him for a long time before finally throwing his hands into the air “ I was taking a shit ok?! Am I not even allowed to do that without being monitored.?”

An awkward silence hung in the air for a moment as Keith refused to break eye contact and Kolivan was unsure how to continue.

Finally, he cleared his throat and nodded towards the door as to let Keith know he was free to go. That was all the signal he needed before he climbed into one of the smaller pods “ I'm going to the castle for a while. Don't wait up.”

Kolivan nodded watching as he left and the doors closed. It was a few more minutes before Krolia stepped out of the shadows.

“Do you think he's telling the truth?” He asked not turning to look at her.

“I know he isn't, but I also trust him not to be doing anything that would endanger the mission.” She replied as she watched the tracker on her wrist “he's heading to the castle at least. Perhaps his odd behaviour lately has something to do with Voltron?”

Kolivan rose an eyebrow “how so?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Krolia smirked up at him “he's clearly smitten for the blue paladin and if my intel is right he is quite sick at the moment.”

“If he wished to spend time with his sick mate all he had to do was ask. Though I fail to understand what this has to do with him disappearing today.”

Krolia chuckled as she patted him on the arm “you didn't notice the meadow of wildflowers next to the landing site?”

“I did,” Kolivan said getting more and more confused as the conversation progressed. What could flowers have to do with anything?

“Well on Earth flowers are given as gifts to your beloved, especially if they should fall ill or be injured. I believe that our Keith has taken the first step in courting the blue paladin.” Krolia smiled fondly, even though when her husband gave her flowers she thought they were food the sentiment hadn't been lost on her and she treasured the memory to this day.

A low rumbling laugh came from Kolivand throat “ I can see why he wanted to keep that secret. When it comes to the matters of the sword he has the best instincts I've ever seen. But the heart… well, he will need all the help he can get.”

Keith paced nervously outside the infirmary.

Just before he left for his mission that morning Shiro had called to tell him Lance got hurt pretty bad, he was going to be fine but the cryo pod had taken a lot out of him and left him in a sickly weakened state.

Since they didn't know how long he would be like this they needed Keith back in case they needed Voltron.

That and since he woke up Lance had not stopped asking for Keith, but Shiro decided to leave out that little piece of information until he spotted Keith running down the halls with a bunch of flowers firmly clasped in his hand.

He had been ready to see Lance before he knew that the blue paladin had been just as desperate to see him. Now a new kind of terror Keith had never really felt before settled in the pit of his stomach.

“Do you always bring flowers when Lance is sick?”

Hunks voice caused Keith to nearly jump out of his skin as it seemed like he materialised behind him with a tray of food in hand and a knowing smirk on his face.

“No.. well yes but this is… this is the first time he's been sick.” Keith stammered out suddenly feeling very hot and wondered for a moment if he was sick too.

“Relax I'm messing with you.” Hunk chuckled as he gently pushed past him to get to the door “I'm sure he will love them when he wakes up.”

Keith stared at him for a moment “Lance is not awake yet?”

Hunk shook his head and sighed “not right now, no… he's only woken up a couple times since he got out of the pod yesterday and he hasn't really been all there thanks to the fever. He keeps hallucinating… he's been asking for you.”

Keith grimaced “yeah… Shiro said.”

“I bet he will be happy your back. Circumstances aside… Did… Did Shiro tell you what happened?”

Keith shook his head no.

“He was watching our back from a tower when a bomb went off. He was buried under the ruble and… when he got him out he wasn't breathing. There was so much blood and… and.” Hunk snapped his mouth shut with an audible pop as he worked to slow his erratic breathing. “Let's just say it's lucky we had to pods… otherwise, I doubt he would have been so lucky.”

Keith nodded as he took a step forwards, suddenly overcome with the urge to see Lance safe for himself, to just watch his chest move and tell him that everything ok because he's here and no one will hurt him again.

He barely moved when Hunky put a hand on his shoulder “he's going to live but… I don't know how much Shiro told you but it was really bad and… just be prepared ok?”

Keith once again silently nodded and this time when he moved towards the room no one stopped him.

The first thing he noticed was the scent of sickness that hung in the air.

Stale and suffocating to breathe in, making Keith wish he could just turn around and hide in his room until Lance was all better.

The room was dark save for the dim glow of the instruments around the room that monitored their only patient.

Lance lay in the closet bed. Thick blankets piled on top of him and pulled up right to his chin. His skin was an ashen grey with a hot red blush high on his cheeks glistening with sweat despite his constant shivers.

He let out a small groan as he turned slightly in his sleep giving Keith a good view of why Hunk had felt the need to warn him.

There was a fresh pink scar stretching from the back of his head down over his right eyebrow. It was jagged and puffed up in areas and at that moment Keith realised why the injury had been so bad. Lance’s skull had been cracked open and on Earth, the best case scenario would have been severe brain trauma.

Keith lowered himself down onto the bed and took Lance’s shaking hand into his own and brought it up to his lips.

“I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you” he whispered as he brushed the hair off his much too hot forehead.

He didn't know if Hulk had followed him in and for once he didn't care if he had an audience. His Lance needed him and he will be damned if anyone gets in his way.

There was an old glass of water next to the bed, likely left from the night before and had been replaced with the much fuller one next to it.

Keith carefully placed the flowers in the old water and smiled softly down at Lance.

“I know it seems silly but when I heard you were sick the first thing I wanted to do was bring you flowers. I've never even picked a flower I wasn't going to eat before but for you, I spent an hour finding the nicest ones I could.” a quiet chuckle escaped his throat “go figure I get the ones that remained me of your eyes. I guess to me there's nothing more beautiful in this or any other universe.”

Lance stirred slightly in his sleep but made no indication of waking up, something that came as a bittersweet realisation to Keith. He doubted if he was awake he would actually be able to say what he had wanted to for years now.

“Lance you… you make me want to be a better person, a better friend and a better hero because to me you're already the best at all those things. You take someone spiralling into darkness and pull them back into the light. You are kinder and stronger than you could ever imagine and… and that's why I love you.”

Keith felt light a weight had been lifted from his heart. A weight he had been carrying since the day he realized just how much he cared for the blue paladin.

A small giggle escaped his mouth as he leaned down and kissed Lance on the forehead “I love you Lance, more than you can ever know.”

“I love you too mullet.”

Keith watched as Lance’s eyes fluttered open and he looked up at him with a goofy smile that made Keith's heart skip a beat.

“Lance! Your awake and… wait your hallucinating again I'll erm ill get Hunk” Keith tried to get up but Lance’s weak grip on his wrist was more than enough to keep him in place.

“Don't try to pretend this bonding moment didn't happen that's my thing.”

“I thought you didn't remember that.” Keith chuckled as he relaxed back into a sitting position.

Lance shrugged “maybe I wasn't ready to admit I remembered it back then… maybe I wasn't ready to admit a lot of things.”

Keith licked his lips nervously as he watched Lance in silence for a moment “so… you heard what I said.”

Lance nodded.

“And.. and you meant what you said?”

Again Lance nodded “and I felt the kiss. The problem is you missed.”

Keith frowned “what do you me-”

He was cut off by Lance wrapping his arms around his neck and pressing their lips together. For one glorious moment, the universe was still and it was just the two of them alone together.

Then Pidge wolf whistled followed by Hunk shushing her and Shiro laughing at the two of them.

Keith and Lance pulled away from each other blushing as they looked at the rest of their team.

“Well, it's about time you two idiots figure it out” Pidge yelled as Hunk put his hand over her mouth.

“I'm happy for you guys but Lance you really should take it easy.” Shiro glanced at the flowers “ I think it would be for the best if we all leave you to rest. I'm sure Keith wouldn't mind taking the first shift in keeping an eye on you.”

Keith had never felt more grateful for his brother in his life as he shooed the paladins out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Lance grinned as he pulled back the covers for Keith to join him “I may be too sick for any more making out but that doesn't mean you're getting out of affection buddy.”

“Wouldn't dream of it” Keith said as he climbed into the bed and pulled Lance close. Soon the two both drifted off with Lance’s head resting on Keith's chest listening to his heartbeat and letting himself realise he couldn't be happier.

[psychicscavenger]

Sea Witch (Shance MerMay 2019)

another drabble for my series Making Waves and Turning Tides. Series was inspired by @justshance‘s Mermay prompts for 2019, written for @shancemermay and fellow shance and mermaid fans in general.

Tags: Tooth-Rotting Fluff, some plot, conspiracy, pining, fairy tale elements, little mermaid elements, AU

After having to watch that disgusting display of emotions, Lotor sank into the depths of the abyss, welcoming the feeling of darkness as well as the increasing pressure allowing his gills to breathe in and out gently. The wonderful air flowing through and cleaning out the salty air from above surface left him feeling more relaxed but he was still on edge hoping his plan would work.

Lotor continued to swim down, the light from the surface fading away until he was swallowed up by the void, circling around him with only his senses to guide him past other mers who lingered around the abyss, usually nowhere to go with other unsavory creatures who liked to lurk in the deep. Lotor located his cave quickly, quietly slipping into the vast cavern, easily avoiding the fluttering cuttlefish his mother liked to experiment on. He cool called out a greeting towards the witch, sliding against a rock and parking himself there, unfurling his tentacles to stretch as the witch, his mother Honerva, approached.

"Lotor have you spoken with the fish noble's son?" A raspy voice called from behind the seaweed curtain. Lotor hummed, meticulously cleaning a tentacle sucker, making sure no remnants of fish scales were stuck underneath before casually replying, "Yes I have. The silly little brat took the deal and he's now off frolicking on the dry lands with the king. We'll be ruling this pathetic ocean soon Mother. That damned Queen Allura was a fool to reject me as a potential mate and to cast you from her palace with your talents! A true disgrace for a monarch in my opinion." Lotor huffed as his mother oozed from the shadows, pulling back the weeds to expose her curling tentacles floating around her as she glided over to her son.

"Just remember the plan. Once that noble gets a taste of what he wants, you'll draw him back and make him hold up his part of the deal. We need that trident if we want to take over the ocean." She spoke, every word punctuated harshly through the murky water Lotor would twitch every time she spoke.

"And what happens if he refuses or doesn't get a hold of it? Lance is divine looks wise but he's not all that brilliant upstairs." Lotor mocked snickering at the image of the mer earlier, acting all flustered and squeamish when the two humans approached him.

"That I'll leave to you dear son. Consider it a gift for helping me this far. It's taken years to find the right someone to help take down the queen but now I have high hopes that we'll be taking over not one but two kingdoms if all goes well." Honerva spoke heading over to a cavern rock that held some valuable objects to her. It was piled with bones, some mers, some regular fish. She even had a collection of shark teeth in a jar as well las several jars of glowing substances, Lotor would rather not ask what those were about.

Honerva pulled out a dusty broken mirror, so old it was rotted in the handle area, bits of algae and mold growing on the reflective portion which Honerva wiped away, repeating a few mumbled phrases unintelligible until the mirror glowed and soon Lotor was watching Lance in the mirror.

"This way we'll keep an eye on the boy, measure his progress with the humans." Honerva stated watching as Lance was currently having a battle with a few humans over the proper way to wear what the humans called pants. Lotor furrowed his brows watching the spectacle as he leaned back, crossing his arms with impatience.

"How long will this take do you think?" He asked getting annoyed upon seeing the human king enter the room and calmly remediating the situation, hands lingering upon Lance's waist with Lance flushing immediately.

"Not long, humans are easily predictable and are often like the very fish they hunt and eat. Place something shiny and new in front of them, and they'll snatch up the bait pretty easily." Honerva explained smirking upon seeing the matching blushing expressions between Lance and the human king.

"Sometimes too easily." She grinned.

                                                         ****

Lance wasn't normally materialistic, sure he was a mermaid, he hoarded a fair bit of treasure that many humans have dropped into the ocean, and he liked to keep his scales cleaner and shinier than his family or friends in the shoal, but compared to having a big, fluffy cushion all to himself, not having to share with his sisters, brothers, niece and nephew, he knew he could never go back to his old life.

"It's so big and bouncy! Beds are so cool!" He moaned, spreading his arms and legs over and over on the vast space, the long sleep shirt he was given rising up just a tad bit, exposing more and more of his upper thighs that had Shiro coughing and glancing away out of respect for his guest, and to keep himself in check.

"Yeah they are..also I just want you to know that you are welcome to stay here as long as you like even if you're finished recovering, I'm afraid to admit, but living on the far coast we don't see too many visitors." Shiro explained a small smile appearing on his face as Lance sat up tilting his head just so in that adorable curious way he's done all day.

"Do I get to use the bed still?" Lance asked which had Shiro chuckling. "Yes, you can use the bed as long as you want." Lance sighed happily flopping back over much to Shiro's amusement as Lance flipped over and snuggled into the sheets.

"Thank Goddess, I never want to leave ever again. You are my treasure now." Lance reached up patting a pillow as Shiro held back a giggle about to head out into the hall.

"If you need anything, I'm sure any of the kind people working here can attend to your needs, I'll be up as well as I'm not much of a sleeper, my rooms not too far down the hall. If you can't find someone, just come find me." Shiro stated turning to head out when Lance shot up, shouting "Wait!"

Shiro froze, unsure what was wrong until he suddenly found a sturdy presence pressing into his front side, arms wrapped around his middle and nearly hanging off of him(Lance still hadn't been able to get his legs to work properly like the humans, Shiro was currently in the process of finding the man a wheelchair to use in the meantime), his face pressed into Shiro's shirt, inhaling deeply as he spoke.

"Goodnight Shiro. I'm glad I met you, you were definetly worth it." Lance sighed happily unaware of the blushing flustered mess Shiro had become.

At first he wasn't sure what to say to something like that. It was definetly a little odd for a goodnight even if the man was very obviously appreciative of Shiro's hospitality, although it was expressed in such a strange way it had Shiro wanting to seek out answers to this puzzle.

But first, bed time.

Eventually, Shiro hugged him back, a little less tighter than Lance's but happy to return the affection in some way, whispering goodnight to Lance before gently coaxing him back to bed, maybe spending a bit too much time tucking him in but he reminded himself, or rather, tried to convince, that he was simply being extra cautious since the man was injured. They still haven't been able to get any solid information such as who he was or where he came from, but he was ultimately deemed not a threat and welcomed by the castle staff and guards alike.

All except for Keith that is.

Keith was friendly, in his own strange way. He obviously cared for others who mattered to him and Shiro's second-in-command for a reason.

His people skills..need work on the other hand.

Since Lance has been invited to the castle, Shiro had found the two bickering several times and Lance had only been there for four hours. Keith didn't trust strangers so easily and was incredibly suspicious of Lance, Shiro didn't really blame him either because Lance did some..very weird things. Like tonight's dinner fiasco.

As Shiro slipped away from Lance's bedroom, trying to get Lance's soft sleepy smile out of his head, he almost groaned at the memory of Lance's first dinner experience in the castle and how..not great it turned out. Apparently salad was too confusing of a dish to explain to Lance so he didn't eat it. The main course, some kind of lobster bisque, had insulted Lance, and in the end the only thing he liked was bread that he referred to as a beige sea sponge. Then Keith got involved...

"Shiro I need to talk to you." Shiro flinched, finding himself suddenly face to face with the very angry person he was thinking off.

"Good because I think we need to sign you up for more etiquette lessons." Shiro teased amused as Keith's face bloomed in embarrassment before he turned away huffing, with Shiro following.

"Lance started it, he was acting so weird! All I simply said was, the fork isn't to comb your hair and he yelled at me! He got mad because I wouldn't let him comb his hair with a fork Shiro, a fork, thats weird." Shiro sighed in response, understanding somewhat.

"Keith what you said was and I quote; 'Hey idiot, that's not how a fork works,' and glared at him until he stopped. I don't blame him for getting upset to be honest." Shiro shrugged it off, turning away towards his room when Keith jumped in front of him again.

"Still, how does someone his age not know how to use a fork? He looked like he had never seen one before Shiro! He's been looking at everything like that He got excited sitting in a chair Shiro. A chair. Don't you think that's a little suspicious at all? What if he's planning something?" Keith asked urgently to which Shiro sighed, aware that Keith tended to think towards the negative and conspiratorial side of things.

"Well, it's strange but I'm actually starting to guess the poor guy hit his head so hard he may have amnesia. It explain's why he can't remember how to use the most basic of human tasks. That or something really bad happened to him, we'll just have to find out and by doing that, he'll have to stay here, got it?" Shiro asked gently to which Keith nodded, obviously disgruntled with the idea.

"Fine but I don't like this." He griped trodding behind Shiro heading off towards his own room as Shiro just about closed his door, a few guards posted outside in case of any emergency.

"Okay MOM. Goodnight." Shiro held back a giggle when Keith made a face, waving him off as his version of 'goodnight' before Shiro shut his door getting ready for bed and a small part of him excited and intrigued to get to know his blue eyed guest.

[blueplanettrash]

Of Bluebells and Stars

I guess I’ll finish My Treasure and Hopeful Longing over the next couple of days because Latte was an overwhelming winner. Sorry to everyone who voted for something else but I’m working on those tonight as well. Either way, I hope everyone enjoys!❤️

Ever since Lance was a little kid, amber had always been his favourite colour. When he told his parents that fact, they thought it was because of his fascination with dinosaurs at the time and because he had watched Jurassic Park for the twentieth time that week. Instead, he showed them the glowing script on his forearm.

“HI,” in scribbled, nearly illegible handwriting to the adults. All at once a celebration broke out, his father lifted him up with a joyous laugh and spun him around the room. It wasn’t long before they explained the concept of soulmates to him. Minutes later he was sitting in his room, happily scribbling up and down his arm in response. At that point, he hadn’t learned much English and only responded in either Spanish or drew pictures.

His parents weren’t able to tell him much about soulmates. Mostly because there wasn’t much they could tell him. The colour that appeared on his skin could be of any significance to his soulmate. Their eye colour, their hair colour, their favourite colour, the name of their pet, literally anything that had to do with colours. It was confusing to think about it, so he didn’t. All he needed to know, was that he would be able to tell when they met.

It still baffled him though, that they had been talking for years and knew so much about each other without revealing their identities in any way. They had planned their futures out together without considering that they didn’t even know each other’s names yet.

“Good Morning my bluebell,” Lance woke up to the script across his arm the morning before the Kerberos mission was set to launch. All their classes had been cancelled for the day so they could attend the launch site and learn how launches were done.

He groggily reached out for the marker he kept on his bedside table.

“Still calling me that?”

“I know you like it besides it’s been like 10 years,”

“I guess you’re right, what about you? Still like being called my star?”

“I’d be pretty accurate right now,”

“What do you mean?”

“I wanted to tell you this earlier but I was so swamped with work,”

“Don’t keep me waiting!”

“Okay, okay… I’m going to be going into space, to a planet called Kerberos,”

He physically reeled back at the news. The Kerberos mission was launching from the Garrison; with Garrison personal. If what they were saying was true, then he could go and see them before they lifted off!

“I’m going to be at the launch! Maybe we can meet before you go!”

“Bluebell, we can’t,”

What? Why couldn’t they? They were so close, they would literally only be a short distance apart at the launch site. Did they not want to see him? Maybe they didn’t love him as much as he thought they did. No, that couldn’t be true.

“Why? I thought you said that you wanted to meet me,”

“I do! I want to Bluebell! But if I see you now, I don’t think I could leave,”

“I guess I would have that effect on you,”

It hurt to admit but he could understand where they were coming from.

“It pains me to say but I won’t be able to write with you the entire time either,”

“You don’t have to explain everything to me, I understand,”

“I’m just going to miss talking to you so much,”

“If it makes you feel better, I can still send you messages,”

“I would love that Bluebell, thank you. I’m sorry I have to get ready for the launch,”

A smile spread across his face as he read. There was no way in hell he wasn’t going to write every day.

This mission would be defining space travel for years to come and to think that his soulmate was going to be one of the explorers that actually went, what were the chances?

Obviously, it couldn’t be Commander Holt; that left Takashi Shirogane and Matt Holt. Both extremely smart and handsome men. He would be lucky to have either of them. As he threw on his uniform, he couldn’t believe how close he was to meeting his soulmate.

Only one more year.

Dead. They were all dead. The Garrison said it themselves; no survivors due to pilot error. That couldn’t be right though, Shiro was one of the best pilots that the Garrison had ever seen, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been chosen for the mission.

He sat in shocked silence on his bed. Nothing had been able to knock himself out of it. Not the hunger that cramped in his stomach, nor the dry numbness of his mouth from thirst.

All at once, everything finally bubbled to the surface. He hunched over his knees as sobs poured out of his mouth. His nails racked into the skin of his arms, hard enough for blood to creep down his skin. He reached out fumbling for his marker and frantically started marking at his skin.

please answer me

are you alive

are you hurt

i love you please don't be hurt

please don't  be dead

i cant lose you my star

i love you

i love you

i lov-

The marker smeared in a line as Lance collapsed against his bed again, sobs wrenching out of his stomach. He wanted to throw up. He wanted to sleep. He just wanted him to be alive.

He fell back against the wall and he curled up on himself. With a miserable whimper, his fingers traced his last message, perfectly written where it always was.

“I love you my star,” on the back of his right hand. He rewrote it every day, tracing carefully over each letter perfectly. He had to tell him that he was still waiting for him, that there would always be someone waiting for him.

Now, he would be waiting forever.

The worst part was that didn’t know who he should be mourning for.

The sky was bleak and dark. The wind rushed around them, chilly for that time of year. Perfect for a funeral.

He attended it, just as every other student had. Hunk, bless his heart didn’t ask any questions at Lance’s forlorn face, only stood at his side as a solid support. They stayed long after everyone had left, keeping their heads bowed as Colleen and her daughter Katie passed by them. He approached the graves, carefully placing a white rose on Sam’s before facing the other two. A red rose for each.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye to you,” he whispered, kneeling between the two markers. Hunk stood silently behind him like a guardian.

“I hope you knew how much I loved you. How much I still love you,” his fingers dug into the dirt, clumping it underneath his fingernails.

“I’m never going to find someone who understood me, or could make me feel better, or made me feel the way that you did,” his eye finally flooded over and tears dropped to the ground beneath him. His head tilted towards the sky as if to look for any sign of the lost craft.

“You’ll always be in my heart, my star,” he whispered to the universe.

Thunder crashed above them as the sky finally opened up and rain fell upon them, soaking him to the bone in seconds. Despite, the miserable state he was in, he looked up to the clouds. Rumbling like a lion’s roar boomed across the sky, and something like hope began thrumming through Lance’s veins.

Instead of the mournful ending, he expected when buying the roses, it felt like a new beginning. Not for him though, for them. At the time he didn’t know who them was, but it was the feeling he got when he thought of the moment that they would meet. The moment they took their first picture. The moment they would kiss for the first time, or go on a date. Or when they would get married.

It wasn’t the end. He didn’t know what was telling him that but he believed it. Now, he just had to find him.

The marker ink on his hand was switched out with amber coloured tattoo ink later that year. Hunk went with him to get it, worried the whole way, asking if he was sure about it and if it would break the Garrison’s rules. As soon as it was done though, he was just as amazed by it.

“Why were so against it before?”

“Just to make sure that you were as committed as possible,” he shrugged, moving his hand side to side. “You know like Phoebe did with Rachel’s pregnancy test,”

“Not the same thing but I appreciate it,”

Telling Hunk about Matt and Shiro was surprisingly one of the easiest things he ever had to do. He was so excited for him that he would interrupt to ask a question and was always happily squealing.

It was within that same month that Keith was booted from the Garrison, Lance was moved up to fighter class and they got a new teammate named Pidge. After various months of research into the lives of his possible soulmates, it was easy to tell that it was indeed Katie Holt.

“Not my problem,” he muttered to himself as he skimmed through the interviews that the Holt’s had given before and after the Kerberos mission. If she was disguised then something must have happened, even if she looked exactly like Matt but two feet shorter.

Evidently, he was right to trust her since it was her technology that led them to Shiro, Keith and Blue, something he will always be eternally grateful for.

“I should thank you, Lance right?” He smiled at him, offering his hand out to him. He stared at it for a second, a metal hand. Maybe he had never gotten his messages. With a small smile, he closed the gap and shook his hand firmly. He tuned out as Pidge and Hunk made their introductions and they made a plan to find whatever was making the strange readings in the canyon. Slowly he reached out and snagged one of the markers off of Keith’s desk and squiggled a line on top of his left hand.

He hadn’t felt anything that might hint of Shiro being his soulmate but he had to be safe. For all he knew, whatever kept him captured in space did something to him that messed with their connection.

As they split up, Hunk to make the Geiger counter with Keith and Pidge watching him in curiosity, he reached out and lightly tapped on Shiro’s arm.

“Could I talk to you alone for a second?” He asked nervously, barely able to glance up at him. Thankfully, he noticed the hesitation and quickly ushered Lance outside to where he and Keith were before they went back inside.

“What’s up?” He asked with concern, noticing the sheen of sweat that was on Lance’s forehead.

“I know this is weird but could you take off your glove for a second?” He blinked quickly in confusion but complied, even holding it out for Lance to examine.

His heart dropped to his stomach as his eyes searched the clean skin. He was still up there, or he was dead. Oh God, he had no way of knowing. Shiro wasn’t his soulmate, it was Matt and he wasn’t here. Why wasn’t he here?

“Lance? Are you okay? What happened?” Shiro asked, reaching out to shake him slightly.

“I guess it’s Matt,” he muttered to himself.

“What?” He tried again, lifting Lance’s face to meet his eyes. It wasn’t obvious but there were tears welling up in his eyes.

“Matt’s my soulmate but I didn’t know. He only told me that he was going on the Kerberos mission but I didn’t know if it was you or him,” he explained quickly, pausing to sniff every now and then.

“Wait. You’re Bluebell?” He asked, his voice betraying his bafflement.

“He told you?”

“Told me? He wouldn’t shut up about the amazing soulmate he would be coming back to,” he grumbled crossing his arms.

“Really?”

“Oh my god, yes, no offence to you or anything but after six months of hearing every single story he could possibly belt out it got a little annoying, then he started mooning over every message he got from you, I’ll admit that was cute though,”

He laughed a little at the thought. The sun finally went down in the distance and the stars started shining across the sky.

“I miss him,” he breathed out quietly.

“He’s strong, we’ll find him,” he promised, laying his hand on Lance’s shoulder. Despite the new sense of loss that was weighing him down. He believed him.

Before he knocked on Pidge’s door, he warily glanced down the hallway. Which in hindsight was pretty unnecessary considering that more than half of the team knew about him and Matt.  

“Lance?” She asked, peeking out from behind the door. He awkwardly raised a hand in greeting.

“Can I talk to you about something?” He asked hesitantly. She blinked for a second before fully opening the door and waving for him to come in. He carefully walked over the junk strewn around her room as she confidently made it back to her desk and began typing on her laptop again.

“Can I sit?”

“Sure,”

He sat on the bed of her bed, nervously picking at the skin of his nail beds, looking for the right words to start with.

“Is this because of the girl thing?” She suddenly asked breaking the silence. His head whipped up to see her glowering at him. “Because I’m just as capable of a paladin as before, nothing changed!”

“What! No! That’s not why I’m here at all! I already knew you were a girl!” He defended himself, shaking his head frantically. She looked at him dubiously as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

“What was with your reaction then?” He laughed and ran his fingers through his hair.

“I kind of just wanted you to think that you fooled somebody. If I’m being honest, I’m pretty sure Keith was lying when he said that he knew,” he whispered the last part dramatically making Pidge laugh.

“Well, how did you know? You’re not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed,” she teased walking over to sit beside Lance on the bed. He let out a long sigh, running his hand over the skin of his hand.

“You look just like your brother like that,” he stated quietly, looking at Pidge with sorrow. Her heart stopped at the look. She had never seen someone look that distraught without crying, not since the boy at the funeral.

“That was you, you were the one that stayed after the funeral,” she realized. “Why did you stay so long?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, I thought that you deserved to know,” he said, a small sad smile stretching across his face. She waited patiently, now wasn’t the time to rush into things and demand.

“Matt’s my soulmate,”

She blinked in complete bafflement at the words. Her heart was beating out of her chest now and a wide smile was building on her face.

“You’re Bluebell!?” She yelled, shaking his shoulders.

“Yes?” He got out as he was being tossed around like a rag doll. He certainly was expecting this. Disbelief obviously, maybe some anger and disapproval or straight up dismissal if he was being honest.

Without warning, Pidge suddenly burst into tears and she shoved her head in Lance’s chest.

“Pidge! Are you okay? Did I do something? I’m sorry,” he spat out frantically, hands hovering anxiously over her back.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Lance, this is one of the best days of my life!” She cheered jumping up to do a little dance around the room.

“What are you talking about?” He asked in confusion. She stopped and plopped back on the bed beside him.

“Lance, ever since I was a little girl, Bluebell was a part of my life, a part of all of our lives really. Matt shared everything you ever said to him with me, everything. Your dreams, your fears, your goals, your plans for the future with him,”

“You’re already a part of our family and I felt like I grew up with another sibling because I just felt so connected to you through him. Sometimes it felt like I was just as excited to meet you as Matt was,”

“You got him through some of the worst things I’ve ever seen him go through with just an ‘I love you’ and a little heart, I’ve just never seen anyone so in love,” she admitted, holding Lance’s hands as he let out a little sniffle.

“I’m so lucky to have a future brother in law like you,” Lance’s face scrunched up and the corners of his mouth wobbled up in a watery smile.

“Thank you so much Pidge,” he cried, pulling her to his chest in a hug. “I’m going to do whatever I can to help you find him,”

The next few months were hard for everyone; losing and finding Shiro, switching lions, reassigning leadership, and Keith leaving to join the Blade of Marmora. To put it simply, emotions were running high and they were extremely glad that they would be working on Olkarion for a bit, a least until Pidge got back from her mission.

As they watched Coran leading two giant aliens out of the lift, their coms crackled and Pidge’s voice broke through.

“Hey guys, I’m just breaking through the atmosphere but I was wondering if you could grab that drive with Galra codes from the bridge? I really need it,” her voice sounded sombre and downtrodden immediately making him straighten in attention.

“Don’t worry Pidge, I got your back,” he replied pulling his helmet back off and heading towards the lift.

“Whoa, this technology is amazing,” Matt breathed out in awe, eyes darting across Green’s interior.

“Just wait for where we’re going, the whole place is made up of advanced technology,” she gushed. Her heart was beating rapidly in excitement. She finally had her brother back after all this time. She was heading to one of her favourite planets that they had ever visited and she was going to be able to introduce him to everyone.

Oh my god. She was going to be reuniting her brother and his soulmate. Okay, now her hands were shaking with excitement. This was officially going to be the best day of her entire life.

“Are you okay Pidge?” Matt’s voice broke her out of her thoughts and she sent a beaming smile back at him.

“I’m just excited! Everyone is going to be so surprised!” She admitted.

“Especially a certain someone,” she sang in her mind. As she saw Olkarion nearing she motioned for Matt to stay silent and turned on her coms.

“Hey guys, I’m just breaking through the atmosphere but I was wondering if you could grab that drive with Galra codes from the bridge? I really need it,” she sent, hoping that they would take the bait.

“Don’t worry Pidge, I got your back,” Lance quickly replied. She winced slightly at the sadness in his voice.

As they shot through the sky, Green let out a triumphant roar and landed in front of the Castle. As she climbed down the stairs she could see the sympathetic expression they were wearing. They quickly changed to surprise when they saw Matt climb down behind her.

“Hey guys, this is my brother Matt!” She greeted sending a smile to everyone.

“Matt, this is Hunk and Coran,” she introduced gesturing at the two of them. “Obviously, you know Shiro too,” she said pointing at the other side of Hunk. His eyes widened and he immediately turned to greet him.

“Oh my god Pidge, oh my god, I see what you did here,” Hunk gushed as he walked over to her and Allura, watching Matt with glittering eyes as he reunited with Shiro. As soon as he was done, he turned to Coran to formally introduce himself and Shiro walked over to the two of them.

“If he doesn’t realize who Lance is immediately, I’m going to kill him,” he smiled as he attentively listened to Coran’s long introduction and what he did on the Castle.

“Oh, same,”

“Obviously,”

“And this is Allura, princess of Altea,” she said as Matt finally turned away from Coran. He let out a loud gasp as he looked at her.

“Whoa! Oh my goodness, you are so beautiful!” Matt laughed posing dramatically. “It is my honour to meet you, princess,”

His gaze drifted across her shoulder to meet eyes with deep blue ones instead. The exact shade that always covered his arm on Earth. His pose dropped as amazement and disbelief set in and he got lost in his gaze. He slowly walked forward, walking around Allura to stand in front of Lance.

“But it’s nothing compared to your’s, my bluebell,” he smiled softly taking Lance’s hand in his and gently pressing a kiss to his knuckles. The drive in Lance’s hand slid out of his grip and hit the ground in surprise.

“Matt,” he whispered. “You’re here,”

Matt desperately tried to keep face as he wrapped Lance in a tight hug; but feeling the warmth of someone he had cried out for, for so many nights as he laid in a cold dark cell seeped through his clothes, he let himself cry. So long ago, he let himself believe that he would never see his bluebell, he would never meet them and they would never know what truly happened to him.

“I never thought I would see you,” Matt rasped pulling back to frame Lance’s face with his hands.

“I never gave up hope,” Lance smiled as tears rolled down his cheeks. Matt leaned down to push their foreheads together and look into his eyes.

“I could have never pushed through without you,” he said softly at Lance’s confused gaze, he slipped off his glove to show the tattoo on his hand. It exactly mirrored his, except for the colour.

“Whenever I thought of giving up, I looked at this and I knew that I had to fight to get home,” he explained.

“You don’t have to fight so hard now, I’ll be there to help you,” Lance returned, reaching up to hook his arms over Matt’s shoulders. He smiled, closing his eyes as his entire form relaxed against Lance’s.

“I love you, my star,”

Stories Masterlist

[lemeute]

new year’s fic wrap-up

tagged by @bosstoaster​! this wasn’t a high output year for me, but here’s what I posted on ao3:

Fate and the Primrose (1005 words) 

What If Nothing (2100 words) 

Once In My Life (5927 words) 

Home is Where the Nonsense Is (721 words) 

Who the Fuck Wants to Die Alone (5393 words) 

Here to See You Through (1931 words) 

There's Been a Lot of Talk of Love (2391 words) 

But At Least (2411 words) 

The Grim Particulars (5575 words) 

Total Fics: 9, and they’re all voltron Total Words: 27,454

Ship/character breakdown: 

Ship breakdown:

Shiro/Keith - 1 Gen - 8

Character breakdown:

honestly I’m not sure how I’m supposed to calculate this? but I wrote a lot of Shiro, Keith, Matt, and Pidge.

specifics under the cut!

Best/worst title? Best title:  I feel like my titles were better than usual this year! probably “but at least”? Worst title:  "fate and the primrose,” which is just a line from a poem that’s already in the fic, so it doesn’t add much to have it as a title really :/

Best/worst first line?

uhhhh hmm

best: if we’re talking just the first sentence, def “who the fuck wants to die alone,” which begins

Well, Shiro thinks, when he’s finally back in his cell, it’s not the worst thing he’s ever done.

if we’re looking at a couple sentences of opening, “once in my life” might edge it out for me?

Of course, Matt thinks, when the sword runs through his gut and twists there, blood squelching louder than the pain. Of course this is how this mission’s going to go. It’s just him, Hunk, and Pidge, and they’ve got no lions and no backup until they hit the rendezvous point. So of course, of course, this—right when he’s the responsible party—this is when Matt gets stabbed.

the takeaway here is I...really like it when I open w a thought, I guess 

worst: uhh, not particularly attached to the start of “here to see you through”

Best/worst last line?

best:

I’m p happy with the way I ended “who the fuck wants to die alone,” actually -- I think it’s the first fic I’ve left deliberately ambiguous like that, and I was stressed about it for a while, but I think it was the right call:

Hope’s a stubborn motherfucker, and Shiro is too, and oh God, he’d do anything to hear from Matt. He’d do anything. Just for that one message, for a few words he could memorize and treasure. He’d fight Zarkon himself, if he had to—

“What do you want,” he says, and he can barely hear himself through the ringing of his ears. “Sir, what do I need to do—”

“It is simple,” Sendak says. “Kill.”

“Okay,” Shiro says. He can’t help it; his mouth is producing words on its own. It could be a trap, says his mind; they might not even have a message. They might have it and still refuse it to you. They might do anything.

He can’t help it.

“I’ll do it,” says Shiro’s mouth. Says his heart, too, the selfish fool. “Anything,” he says. “Anything.”

“Excellent,” says Sendak, and he smiles.

it’s one of those fics where like -- the outcome isn’t what’s important, emotionally speaking. the emotional weight is in the fact that Shiro makes the choice he does. whether it works out horribly or semi-okay is an afterthought, a side note that doesn’t speak to how much this has changed him or the dilemmas he’s had to navigate. so I’m glad I ended it there.

worst:

not in terms of the writing of the last lines themselves, but I really wish I’d continued “the grim particulars” a scene or two longer. writing comfort followups to whump fic is often really challenging for me and sometimes I just duck out of it, but I feel like this fic could’ve used one.

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

less than I thought I would :/

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year? uhh, honestly, I’m not surprised by any of it. What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

hm. I’m super fond of “the grim particulars,” actually, despite the fact that I skimped on the ending? I just really love capture stories, and Keith and Shiro being protective of each other.

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

"but at least”! by comments, kudos and bookmarks, actually. Story most underappreciated by the universe?

“once in my life.” stop sleeping on my Matt-centric action/adventure, people. Story that could have been better? "fate and the primrose.” idk, I just don’t think it came out right :/ Sexiest story?

none? Saddest story? "who the fuck wants to die alone” is the leader in this one, lol Most fun? ummmm I really enjoyed writing “here to see you through”! the sibling dynamic comes through nicely I think Story with single sweetest moment?

uhhhhh this I guess (from “here to see you through”)

“Hey,” Matt interrupts, gently as he can. “Hey, Pidgey, look at me. Look at me, okay?”

She looks at him, eyes flickering with anxiety.

“You aren’t dumb,” Matt says. “There is nothing about you that is dumb. Dumb is fake, and grades are fake, and even if you made Cs in every class you ever took, you’d still be my brilliant sister. Okay?”

She hides against his shoulder again and for a while they just sit. Matt lets her cry, runs war-callused fingers through her disastrous tangled hair.

“I’m dumb,” she says again, when she can breathe enough to talk. “Matt, I don’t want to be dumb.”

“You aren’t,” he tells her. “And if other people want to say you are, well, we’ve got the universe’s most powerful warriors all living in this one dinky apartment, and we’ll fuck them up. Okay?”

Hardest story to write?

...the ones I haven’t posted yet?

but out of the ones I managed to get through, “fate and the primrose” fought me the most. sigh.

Easiest/most fun story to write?

“but at least” just sorta all burst out at once.

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?

uh, I figured out Hunk a bit more with “once in my life,” I guess?

Most overdue story?

sfdjk I’ve been working on this guard!Keith soulmate-as-curse fic since JUNE and it’s still so far from done :/ I’m dying

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

I’m not sure tbh. 2017 was a much better fic year for me than 2018, which is incredibly frustrating because I’ve had a lot of free time this year and I feel like I didn’t use it well. it’s been a rough year for my health, both physical and mental, and I’m trying to keep that in mind when I look back and don’t see what I wish I saw.

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

to finish the guard!Keith fic and to stop being ashamed of the tropes I like to write. also maybe to try ship fic more!

[owenna6]

Sport Dance AU. The First Competition Preparations.

The design of the dress and Ryner’s human concept were offered by @adreamneverends.

When Katie agrees to take part in the competition as Takashi’s partner the new problem comes: she does not have a dress. Shiro offers to go to the Olkarion Boutique run by Miss Ryner. Garrison dancers are her regular customers so they have good discounts. Moreover, she rents dresses and these ones are not worse than the ones she makes and sells. 

“You didn’t have to waste your time accompanying me to the shop”, Katie says, a bit confused. “It’s a weekend and you must have more important things to do than looking at dresses. I can handle this myself, really”. 

Takashi smiles, tilting his head to the right. Katie follows his nod and sees a rather small shop with a sign “Olkarion Boutique”. It should be the place they are looking for. 

“Well, at first, it would be awful of me to send you somewhere which location you don’t know. Secondly, I have nothing special to do and thirdly... Oh, here it is! I think two reasons are more than enough”. 

“Gentleman as usual...” She can’t keep her smile back. It’s hard to be serious or moody beside such a bright and caring man and Katie lets herself relax. In addition, Shiro’s company is always pleasant as he truly knows a lot. “Is this the one?”

“Indeed. Don’t jump into conclusions: she shop might look tiny but it’s huge inside. Ryner says it’s a kind of symbolism: the real treasure has to be hidden”.

“Sounds like philosopher's words...”

“Ryner is a philosopher. And a thousand of other persons too, I suppose”. 

And Katie believes him after a few moments spent in the Boutique. Ryner notices them almost immediately and her official smile is replaced by a warm, friendly one. 

“Mister Takashi Shirogane, if my old eyes are not playing tricks with me?”

“Hello, Ryner”. Shiro’s voice is also full of sincere delight. “How are you doing?”

“Long time no see. Hm, the dresses are still in demand so everything is great. Have you finally come to have a cup of good tea or is it something special? And would you be so kind to introduce me to your companion?”

“Of course.This is Katherine Holt, one of my students. And a partner, to be exact”. 

“You’ve finally decided to move on and go back to dancing world? That’s what I hoped for, you are still too young to retire”. 

“No, no, not at all!” Shiro notices Katie bite her lower lip and hurries to make things clear. He does not want to embarrass his partner, he has already spent too much time and willpower to persuade her to at least dance. “We are just attending. It’s a kind of practise”. 

“Oh...” She looks at him, then at Katie and nods. Something in her gaze makes Shiro come up with the idea she does not believe his defensive speech. He himself wouldn’t mind this event being not just the event, that is right. But the tactful old lady prefers not to insist or interfere. “I see. But a dress is still needed. Please, miss Katherine, follow me, and you stay here until we’re ready!” She points at Shiro with her slender wrinkled finger in a threatening gesture. “Keep yourself busy with something. And no peeking, young man! A man shouldn’t see his partner’s first dress until the event, that’s a rule. It’s a bad luck, you know! Remember what happened to you then, huh?” 

“Oh please, how much time has passed and you still remember it? I just got nervous and tripped over Maggie’s dress”.

“And almost fell on her, she told me. So be wise this time and obey the rule”. 

“I haven’t heard about this custom before”. Katie says glancing at Ryner when they are alone. “Although it’s not my first event at all”. 

“It’s not well-known, miss, and sometimes everything goes great but it’s similar to weddings: might happen or not. I prefer avoiding troubles. So, this is your first event with this young man as a partner?”

“Yes”.  

“Good choice. I watched some championships he attended and he really is skillful. And handsome”. She winks at Katie and the girl feels a blush heating on her cheeks. “What size do you have, miss Katherine?”

“Oh... well... It depends. And, to be honest, I’m afraid almost all the dresses may be too big for me...” 

“This is not a problem at all! We can look through junior ones. Don’t worry, many of them may be considered as adult models so you won’t tell the difference, neither will others”.  

She has never seen so many dresses before. Neither has she ever tried so many dresses on before. Blue, pink, grey, violet ones... With plain colours and prints... But every time Katie goes out of the fitting room Ryner shakes her grey-haired head and says “Not yours” and something about the reason why. She already begins to hate her short figure because of all these wrong backs, shoulder lines and waist lines, but Ryner keeps bringing her a dress by dress every one of which looks perfect, to be honest. And when Katie is finally ready to give up and stop torturing the old lady Ryner suddenly hands another light-green poufy dress to her.

She sighs but takes it, returns to the fitting room and puts it on. 

And freezes when the mirror shows her the vision. 

The dress is shining and it seems to be made from clouds. The fabrics are light and soft, all the darts are in places and even the skirt needn’t being shortened. Katie remains silent, staring at her reflection and guessing is this really the same girl. She remembers Tiana from The Princess And the Frog movie. Her outfit reminds the froggy’s green wedding dress and she can bet the designer used it as a basis. Actually, this makes Katie feel pleasantly strange: she looks like a Disney princess and does not every girl in the world want to be a princess for at least one day? And it does not matter how old the girl is...

“Miss Katherine, do you need any help? Is it your size or should I look for something else?” She jumps and swallows, the spells run out. But the dress is still on her and she cannot deny it fits perfectly. 

“No, no. Everything is okay. I’m just... It’s so beautiful”. 

“Could you, please, go out so I would be able to have a look?”

Katie pulls the curtain away and appears in front of Ryner, her arms are kept tight to the body, the fingers are crumpling the soft green fabric. 

“This truly is the one”. Ryner smiles at her customer watching her turning her confused and purely happy gaze away. “This dress was designed to look similar to...”

“Tiana’s dress”, Katie mumbles and locks her eyes with Ryner’s. She feels like a child but the sense is more than warm and exciting. It is like she is 13 and has come for the first sport dance dress. She still remembers it. Blue satin one with a lovely red belt. “This is the girl from a Disney movie. Her wedding dress looked extremely similar to this one”. 

“Oh... I was about to say it represents a she-elf of nature but your association is right too. I once saw this cartoon but no one has pointed out the similarity yet”. Ryner glances at Katie again and comes closer to see whether the darts are okay. 

“The size is right. Can you move in it freely? Try to spin and do something. The dress shouldn’t bother you or press anywhere. If there is any lack of comfort, tell me and we’ll try to fix it or look for another option”. 

“No, no, I choose this one. It’s just perfect”. Katie shakes her head and looks at the huge floor mirror. She fails to notice Ryner lifting a brow and smirking. “How much?”

“Miss, miss, I have to ask you to check your senses carefully again. The clothes you dance in is very important. And I want my clients be satisfied with their choices completely”. 

“I’ve already decided. I’ll rent this one!”

Well, it is obvious this pretty little woman is very deceive if she has made up her mind to something. Ryner didn’t expect Takashi she knows to choose someone less bright and interesting. 

And when Katie comes back to return the dress Ryner notices her gaze is no longer shy or sad. She is shining and she holds her head high. The true princess even in jeans and with messy hair. 

And when this Katherine says she may need another dress later Ryner smirks: she knew that day was just the very beginning. 

[fandomseverywhereassemble]

@aragentum: Uhm, family birthdays from with his dad to alone to with the Voltron team

@nothing-is-relevent-but-it-is @mysistermakesmelaugh @dragonwatergirl

(Sorry for the blurry image) I hope y’all don’t mind me combining these into one big mega birthday fic, instead of like five little drabbles.  Keith just gets a lot of love this birthday.

Keith didn’t like his birthday. October 23rd held too many memories.  Some of them were good.

He thought back to growing up with his dad.  They never did anything big, because it was always just the two of them in the middle of the desert.  His dad would have gone into town the day before and gotten something small.  The gift was never wrapped; Keith hadn’t known that they traditionally were until he was in the Garrison.

They would sit at the old table and his dad would cook whatever Keith wanted; he made extra because Keith always got seconds on his birthday.  Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, bacon lettuce and tomato sandwiches for lunch, and mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner.  It was a small celebration, but a celebration nonetheless.

October 23rd held too many memories, and only the first ones were happy.

In the home, birthdays were never celebrated.  There was nothing to celebrate.  It was another year that no one had wanted them.  Another year without a ‘forever home’.  The one time that Keith had asked the chef for chocolate chip pancakes, he was less than kindly told to ‘fuck off’ and eat his eggs.

That stung almost as much as his dad’s absence.  Eggs for breakfast.  Slimy ham sandwiches for lunch.  A sad excuse for Salisbury steak for dinner.  The meals were no different than any other day.  There was nothing special about October 23 other than what it used to be.

He moved in with the Shirogane’s and for the first time in years, he felt like he had something to look forward to this year.  He didn’t get his chocolate chip pancakes, but then again, he never asked them for any.  He was too afraid of them telling him no, so when they asked if he normally did anything for his birthday, he thought back to his time in the home and shook his head.

October 23rd held too many memories, but maybe making some new ones wouldn’t be so bad.

“Lance!”

He turned around in the hallway only to see Krolia jogging to him.  Her hair bounced slightly around her face, and the weapons that she wore made clanging against each other.  It was a miracle that he hadn’t heard her earlier.

“Yeah?”  The blue paladin raised his eyebrow at her.  His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his old jacket.  Bandages still wrapped around him in places, but for the most part, he was free to move however he wished.  “What’s up, Krolia?”

She came to a stop behind him.  “I was talking to Shiro who said something about the day of Keith’s birth being soon and-”

Lance’s eyes widened, “Wait?  Keith’s birthday is soon?  No, that’s not right.  I know everyone’s birthday.  Hunk’s birthday is the 13th of January, Pidge’s is April 3rd.  Shiro’s is February 29th, and Keith’s is… His is…”  He stopped.  Three of his fingers were extended and he recited the dates again.  “January 13th, February 29th, April 3rd, and…”  He trailed off again.  “And…”  He blanked.  “I can’t believe that I don’t know Keith’s birthday.  We’ve been in space for months.”  His eyes lit up brilliantly and he reached to grab Krolia’s hand.  “We need to throw him a surprise party!”

She tilted her head to the side.  “A surprise party?  What is that?  Is that an Earth tradition?”  She walked with Lance down the hall.  “We have festivals in the Galra Empire?  Are they perhaps similar?”

“I mean, how different could they be?”  Lance shrugged, then he smiled wildly.  “Oh my god!  Krolia!”  He started jumping up and down excitedly.  “You can organize parts of a Galran festival, and I can get stuff for an Earth party!  It’ll be the best of both worlds!”

Lance ran off and left Krolia alone in the hall before she could ask him where she was supposed to find sixteen competitors to fight to the death.

October 23rd was quickly approaching and Pidge had no clue what to get Keith’s birthday.  She walked down the aisles of Best Buy, looking at all of the movies and the games that had come out while they were in space.

Production had pretty much been halted with the whole ‘Galra invasion’ thing.  Most entertainment stores had shut down and this one was no exception.

Technically it wasn’t stealing because the door was wide open.  Someone else had broken in and stolen before her, so she was exempt from breaking in.

Unfortunately, not being the first scavenger of this store meant that most of the good treasures were gone.  There were a few Wii games still on the shelves and the discount movies bin was still full of cheap and cheesy movies.

She walked past a wall of old black and white movies that no one had picked up when something caught her eye.  There were five copies of it left.  She smiled as she pocketed the thin keep case.

It was perfect.

Keith smiled and shook his head at Allura’s form.  “Not quite.  You’re a little off balance.”  He nudged her arm with his hand so that it was a little less outstretched.  He kicked her foot a little further away from the other, making her stance more stable.

“There.  Go ahead and try those moves again.  This time, keep your shoulders a little further back and stay on the balls of your feet.”  She nodded and swung her bayard again in the series of movements that he had instructed her in.  It wasn’t perfect, but that wobble at the end of the sequence was gone and she didn’t need to shuffle her feet any further to keep her balance.

He nodded his approval and smiled supportively.  “Yeah, you’re really close!  I think that we can take a break now.”  He walked over to where their water bottles and towels were and tossed her one of each.  She dabbed at her forehead and wiped the sweat from her face.

Allura leaned against the wall next to him.  “Keith, if I might ask, what prompted this training session?  Not that I’m complaining or anything.  It just seemed very, what is the human phrase, out of the blue?”

Keith blushed slightly, “It’s nothing really.  I just wanted to keep my mind off of something and I figured that this was the best way to do it.”

“I see.”  She took a drink of water.  “If you don’t mind me asking, what is it that you are trying to keep your mind off of.”  Keith was quiet for a minute before the princess continued.  “Well, I guess, if you tell me, then it wouldn’t really be keeping your mind off of it anymore, now would it?”

The black paladin smirked.  “No, it wouldn’t be keeping my mind off of it, but then again, I haven’t been doing a very good job of ignoring it anyway.”  He took a deep breath and conceded.  “My birthday is tomorrow.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.  “Your birthday?  I was not aware that you were with child.  We really shouldn’t be practicing if you are so soon to deliver.”

“Wait.  No.”  Keith’s face heated up rapidly.  “No, that’s not- that’s not what birthday means here on Earth.  I’m not-  not pregnant.  Human males can’t even get pregnant, so-”  He cut himself off and took a deep breath to force his skin to return to its normal color.  “On Earth, a birthday is the day that you were born.  It’s traditionally celebrated once a year to celebrate the fact that you survived another 365 days of life I guess.”

“Well, that sounds great!  Why would you want to avoid a celebration for living a little longer?”  Her eyes sparkled with curiosity.

Keith let his head thud against the wall and he slid down so that he was sitting on the floor.  “It’s been years since I had a great birthday party.  That’s all.  I usually had a small one with my dad back when he was alive.  He would make these amazing chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, BLT sandwiches for lunch, and homemade mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner.”  He found himself smiling gently at the soft memories.

Images of his dad shaking him awake with the sun’s rays shining through the window blinds and cutting diagonally across his face.  Keith would rush down the stairs, still in his pajamas because it was October 23rd, and that meant that he could do whatever he wanted today.

“But then…”  Keith’s face fell as he remembered the night, two weeks before his birthday, when his dad hadn’t come home from his volunteer job at the fire station.  “There was the accident.  I was shipped off to the home where birthdays were nothing to be celebrated.  Hell, they were frowned upon.  No one cared about when your birthday was like they did at school.  I guess…  I guess I just grew up with so much hatred around birthdays that all of the good memories were corrupted.”  He glanced up at Allura, surprised to see moisture in the depths of her eyes.  “I just wanted to see if I could help you out for my birthday.  That’s good enough for me.”

“Uhhh… Krolia?”  Lance asked from the bottom of a pit.  “What is this?”

Her head popped up over the edge of the pit.  “Oh!”  She exclaimed.  “This is The Hole.”

“That… doesn’t explain anything.”  Lance said awkwardly.  “What I meant is what is it for and why do we have it here?”  The walls were all soft dirt and impossible to climb up without becoming covered in even more dust.  He looked in dismay at his clothes which were now brown from trying just that.

“It’s part of a Galran Festival!”  She smiled.  “Traditionally, we would have a ring that competitors aren’t allowed to leave by threat of death.  I couldn’t find rope anywhere around here, so I improvised.

The red paladin stared up at her.  “You… Couldn’t… Find… Rope?  In all of the Garrison, you couldn’t find rope?  So you decided to dig a hole?”  Krolia nodded.  “How am I supposed to get out?  Do you have a ladder?”

“The true Galra way is to use the bodies of your enemies to form a pile that you can climb up.”  She said.  “Unfortunately, I was unable to find people who were willing to fight to the death in a pit for nothing more than glory if they were the victor.”

Lance sighed heavily.  “That doesn’t answer my question.  How am I supposed to get out of here?”

Krolia pondered for a moment.  Her finger tapped her chin thoughtfully.  “You know, I hadn’t really thought about that.  I wasn’t planning on anyone falling into The Hole.”

“Everyone shut up!”  Pidge’s voice whispered harshly.  “He’s almost here!”

Sure enough, when Lance listened to the noise around him, he heard the quiet thrum of an engine getting steadily closer.  “Places everybody!”  He looked around himself.  “Wait.  Guys.  Guys!”  Someone above shushed him.  “How do I get out of here?”

If Keith had been in his right mind, he never would have let Shiro blindfold him and drive him out into the middle of the desert.  Apparently, he was not in his right mind as that was exactly what was happening right now.

The wind was curling around him so that he couldn’t tell if they were turning to the left or to the right.  The only indication was that the heat of the morning sun drifted along his skin.  That wasn’t much help though, because they seemed to be heading mostly west, away from the rising sun, and it was the middle of October, so the sun wasn’t very hot anyway.

He knew that they had made several turns and circles to ensure that Keith had absolutely no idea where they were.  Shiro cut the engine before the hoverbike had completely quit moving and they both jumped off, still in sync after years.  After the roar of the engine, Keith couldn’t hear a thing in the silence of the desert, and he couldn’t say that he was disappointed.

The wind blew behind him and pushed his dark hair in front of his face.  “Are you going to take the blindfold off now, Shiro?”  Keith asked.  He tugged at the strings in his hair, but only managed to get them more caught and they pulled on the fine hairs at the base of his neck.  He winced as Shiro helped him undo the knot and the scene in front of him was revealed.

“Happy Birthday!”

The shout rang out, incredibly loud from the quiet.  Pidge stood by a table with a few hastily wrapped gifts on top of it.  The wind had blown her hair all around her face, so it was even more rustled than normal.  Matt stood behind her.  He was still dressed in his rebel armor; the metal caught the sun and reflected it directly into Keith’s eyes.

He looked away to see Hunk dressed in an apron that read “Respect the Cook” in all capital letters.  He was even wearing an obnoxious stereotypical white hat.  Something was sizzling on the grill in front of him and Keith felt his stomach rumble even before he knew what was being cooked.  Coran jumped out from behind Hunk a little too late for the initial surprise, but it was definitely a way to keep Keith on his toes.

Allura, Romelle, Krolia, and Kolivan all stood off to the side together, standing in front of something that looked suspiciously like a giant hole, but honestly, who knew.  They all waved to him with giant smiles on their faces.

A giant shade tent had been set up in the middle that read ‘Happy Something Birthday, Keith!’  Despite himself, he felt the corners of his lips turn up even further than they already were at Lance’s unmistakable goofy handwriting.  He really didn’t know how old he was, so the Something part was accurate.  Did he count the two years that felt like months?  Did he include the time spent with the other paladins in stasis?  Who knew?  He sure didn’t.

Unable to keep himself from it any longer, he rushed to the center tent where everyone else already seemed to be running towards.  He was met with a bone-crushing hug from everyone.  Maybe he could start making some new memories for October 23rd.

“Hold on.”  He pulled away as much as they would let him.  “Where’s Lance?”  I know for a fact that sign is his doing.”

A faint call of ‘Happy birthday, Keith!’ accompanied by a shower of dirt came out of the suspicious hole from earlier.  The black paladin laughed slightly to himself before he left the group to stand on the edge of the pit.

“What happened to you?”  He asked.  Lance was covered in dirt.  It wasn’t just a thin layer like Keith would have thought.  It was caked in so that not a single part of Lance other than his eyes and his teeth looked clean.

“I fell in,”  Lance mumbled dejectedly.  “I’m apparently supposed to use the bodies of my enemies to escape, but I’m fresh out of enemies.”

Hunk tapped Keith on the shoulder and offered him… chocolate chip pancakes? He glanced to Allura and Krolia, who both pointed at each other when he glanced at them.  Whoever it was didn’t matter to him.  He took a bite of them, preparing himself for disappointment… which never came.

They were far from the same pancakes that his dad had made all those years ago, but they were just as good.  His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he groaned unintentionally.  “Hunk,” he said.  “These are some of the best pancakes I’ve had in my life.”  He shoveled another bite into his mouth and savored the flavors.

“Dude,” Lance called out.  “Rude.  You can’t just eat food in front of a man who can’t get any for himself.”

Keith smiled mischievously.  “Can’t I?”  He popped another bite into his mouth, and -oh, that was his last one- he overemphasized a moan.  He closed his eyes in mock bliss, not that it wasn’t hard to fake because they were amazing on their own.

Lance scrambled up the wall, dislodging more dirt to fall down onto him.  It also dislodged the dirt right under Keith’s feet and sent him tumbling into the hole with Lance.

“Now look at what you’ve done,”  Keith said in faux outrage.  “Now we’re both stuck here with no way to get food.”  He was dirty now, not as filthy as Lance, but he was well on his way if Lance wouldn’t stop throwing dirt at him.

“Hey, Keith!”  Pidge’s head popped up over the edge of the pit.  I’ve got something for you!  She tossed down a small silvery object in the shape of a DVD holder.  It was silver because it was absolutely covered in Duct tape.  Every inch of the gift had at least one layer on it, preventing Keith from being able to open it right this minute.  “When you finally get it open, we should watch Episode Six tonight!”

He pulled a small pocket knife from his shoe and cut along the outer edge.  He opened the case and looked at the chrome CD titled Conspiracy.  He flipped through the booklet that came with it, looking at the sixth episode titled ‘Aliens’.

“As soon as you two get out of that hole, you can open the rest of them!”

Maybe.  Just maybe, he could grow to like October 23rd once more.

[momorabu]

Viidog Code Event Story - 無人島に隱された秘密 / The Hidden Secret on the Deserted Island

This was supposed to be June’s post but somehow it gets delayed to almost the end of July to be completed =w=“ (I’ll see if I can complete two posts in August in order to catch up ^^;) Finally, it’s time to know Class 3 and Class 1 abit better with this event story~! And it’s going to be even more fun and adventurous seeing that the detectives are going camping on a deserted island~ +W+

As always, the summary of the story can be found below. Translation may not be 100% accurate due to my poor Japanese skills~

Chapter 1: 無人島上陸 / Alighting on the Deserted Island

The story started with the fisherman bringing a group of the detectives to the deserted island on his boat. The detectives were here to research about the island, which would be a difficult task and it seems like the detectives had been getting similar work like this recently. The fisherman had heard that the detectives would be returning on the same day, and thus asked Rudo whether it would be hard to complete the entire researach about the island in just one day. Rudo replied that they planned to split the research into several days, so for today they just planned to research the lower part of the island for now. 

Rudo noticed that Kotaro was silent throughout the whole trip to the island, and thus worried whether he was uncomfortable due to motion sickness on the boat. But Kotaro assured him that he’s alright since he had taken the motion sickness medicine earlier on, and had a question for Rudo instead. He wondered why Rudo had specifically requested a fisherman to take them to the island when Kotetsu and he could both operate a ship and take them there without the help of a fisherman. Rudo answered that this was what Shu had planned and thus felt that perhaps Shu had something in mind when he did the arrangement. Rudo was also worried about “me” being tired from not being used to travelling on the boat and informed us that it would take another 1 hour before we reach the dock on the island. He was actually glad that “I” was able to join Class 3 to work together~ ^^ (Sounds like Rudo had been looking forward to such a day actually ^/////^)

When we finally landed on the island, Sousuke was really excited as he exclaimed that the sea made him feel good that it felt like his heart got cleansed by it. Kotaro bumped into Sousuke, which made whined that he’s going to fall into the sea. But Kotaro coolly replied that he’s going to throw Sousuke if he continues to make a din, and also that he was actually blocking the road for the others to get off the boat. Sousuke apologised and changed the topic to about fishes instead since for him, making sure that they have enough food was the number one rule on living on the deserted island. He had even wanted to catch some octopus to make some takoyakis on the beach. (Erm... did you even have the ingredients and machines to make takoyakis?)

Rudo informed them that their task today was to research about the ecosystems on the island (Eh? It sounds like they’re biologist rather than detectives suddenly OWO”). From the words of the person who gave them this job, this island belongs to his great grandfather, and it had been a 100 years since anyone had stepped foot on the island, which sounds like it can be a treasure hunting trip in Sousuke’s ears. The client had planned to build a resort on the island and thus required information on the island, such as the plants and animals living on the island, the quality of the ground here, and any other information the detectives could gather on the island. Shu had requested “me” to come with Class 3 so as to assist them as part of “my” job as an assistant, as Class 3′s members will be working on their parts based on what they’re good at. 

As the island was really huge, Class 3 would be splitting up to research the island in groups. Sousuke and Kotaro would be walking along the beach and researching in that area, so Sousuke quickly ran off leaving poor Kotaro behind. As the beach was really long, Kotaro informed Rudo that if they feel that they’re walked too far from the starting point, they would return instead. Rudo and “me” would be making the base camp in the area we were currently at. There would be a second team coming later on (and here I was wondering where’s Kotetsu and Kaname ^^;), so we would also be assisting them to carry the stuff they’re bringing over, and also set up a tent for Sousuke and Kotaro to rest later on~ (This really sounds like a camping trip for me ^^~) 

As there aren’t any chairs around, Rudo looked around for some flat stones to be used as stools. He was surprised when he saw that “I’ve” brought along a picnic sheet... and it has rabbits print on it, and get to know that “I’ve” bought this when “I” was on a hiking trip with Class 2 in the past. (Rudo looks like he’s really fond of the picnic sheet~ He really likes cute stuff I guess~ ^///^)

Rudo told “me” that Hijiri had showed him the video he had taken on Class 2′s break day, and remarked that he felt his heart was healed just watching the kids enjoying themselves, adding on that it seems that he had went back to the time when he was a kid himself. Hijiri had invited Rudo to join them the next time Class 2 was on break, but Rudo wondered whether he should go since he knew that Yu from Class 2 was quite afraid of him... (Awww~ TWT) “I” offered to go along with him in that case, which made Rudo felt more at ease since he knew that “I” would help to ease up the atmosphere if “I” was there with them ^^ Therefore, Rudo decided that he shall tell Hijiri about this matter when we’re done with their work, and invited “me” to go along with him as well~

Chapter 2: 船出と祈り / Praying for the Boat Venture

In the meanwhile, Kaname and Kotetsu were still back on the dock on the main street, with Kaname being silent and feeling worried about “me”. He hoped that his feelings were able to reach “me” and become a power to protect “me”. Kotetsu was, in fact, alright with Kaname’s actions, since at least he was quite rather than being all fidgeting and worrying like earlier on. Kaname was still pissed about the agency sending “me” to the deserted island when there’s a possibility that ferocious monsters could be hiding on it. Kotetsu felt that Kaname might be thinking too much but Kaname rebutted that it won’t be weird if there’s a tiger or two living on the island since the island had been abandoned for up to 100 years. Kotetsu tried to assure Kaname by informing him that he used to go to neighbouring islands for fishing since there’s alot of fishes there and it was a quiet place to fish. He had not encountered any tigers in his experience, and at most he had only encountered wild boars on the island ^^; (Side information from Kotetsu: Wild boars could swim and thus could land themselves on these islands. Even though tigers could swim as well, they can’t swim long distances and land on different islands ... Do wild boars swim long distances?) That doesn’t help to ease Kaname’s worries though, as he now worried about “me” being chased after by wild boars instead ^^; Kotetsu tried to assure Kaname again by telling him that Sousuke would step in and help to fight the wild boar in that case, even joking that such a scene would be even more interesting than a snake fighting a mongoose. Kaname’s worries don’t stop here though as he thought about “me” being surrounded by a group of wild boars next... (Kaname’s worries just doesn’t stop... =w=“)

Kotetsu finally got frustrated with Kaname’s worrying, and cautioned him that they won’t be able to continue with the investigation if he continues on in being like this. Kaname rebutted that he just can’t feel at ease as long as he kept imaging all the possibilities that could happen on the island. He complained why “I” have to entrusted with this mission when other people such as Kuki or Shiro could take on the mission instead... Feeling that it’s probably worthless if he kept on worrying, Kaname offered to help with preparations on the boat instead.

Shu came to check on the two of them later on, and Kotetsu informed him that they’ve prepared everything that Shu had told them to prepare. Senri was worried for Shu as he asked him whether he was indeed going to the deserted island too since Senri didn’t think that this was a trip that requires Shu to make his way down personally. Shu explained that there was a need of help this time round due to how large the island was, and since Shu had the free time currently, it was obvious to him that he should lend a helping hand, as it was always better to have more people who were knowledgeable about this area to tag along. Senri was still not pleased as he grumbled why Shu had to take on such a hard labour mission, when Rui could do the same too... (Sounds like Senri would rather Rui take on this mission rather than Shu =w=“ It’s not nice to push matters onto Rui as much as I don’t like him very much =w=“)

Kotetsu who was listening to their conversation dissed that he seems to have heard something similar just now~ (Haha, he’s totally referring to Kaname when he complained that why “I” should be the one who take on this hard labour mission rather than Shiro / Kuki XD)

Kotetsu wondered why Shu had asked a third party to help prepare the boat for this mission too when Kotetsu could do it himself, but Shu answered that it would be a waste of time if Kotetsu was the only one who did it, and thus he split the members into two different groups to increase the efficiency of this mission. (But because of Shu’s plan, it caused Kaname to endlessly worry for “me” =w=“)  When they get to know that Kaname was helping with the preparations for the boat, they had a bad feeling when they realised that Kaname had zero knowledge in regards to anything about a sailboat... And just at that moment, Kaname was getting scolded by the fisherman for pushing a button that he was told not to touch ><” 

Shu realised that Senri had stopped asking him to stay out of the mission, to which Senri replied that he would not disobey Shu’s decision. However, he would tag along too and would help as an assistant to Shu just like “me”. Later on, when Senri was taking out his handkerchief to help to clean Shu’s dirty hands, he accidentally dropped a flyer from his pocket. It was a flyer given out by a family on the streets just now, and they were looking for their missing father. Senri remarked that recently there had been a rise in missing people who were related to the trading industry, and thus wondered perhaps this missing father was involved in a similar incident. He had given the family the company’s name card and guessed that perhaps the family’s case might be one of their jobs too in the near future if they enlisted their help. Shu replied that while they would definitely give in their all if the family had approached them about it, but for now, what they should do was to focus on the job they’re currently working on. 

Chapter 3: 調查リーダー / Investigation Leader

Back on the island, “I” had fallen asleep earlier on and woke up to Rudo looking over “me”. He explained that “I” must have fallen asleep due to fatigue and even offered “me” some tea using the water from a fountain he had found nearby. Actually, it was the first time for Rudo to be taking on such a mission, as he remarked that Sousuke and Kotaro were both more experienced than him in such outdoors mission. He assured “me” not to worry, and to always approach him if “I” have any queries about the mission. (Aww~ Rudo is really such a kind-hearted guy ^^)

Just then, Sousuke came back to the base camp, claiming that he’s the first. This mission reminded Sousuke of the time he was camping when he was a policeman, and told us that he would have to run on the beach with a full set of heavy equipments, adding on that it was indeed a training that trains the entire body. Rudo noticed that Sousuke was carrying a wooden box and asked him what it was, to which Sousuke replied that he had saw it floating in the sea and thought that they could put the fishes and octopus they’ve caught just now into it to use it as a cooler box. 

Sousuke had reached the checkpoint of the research pretty soon since he had been running along the shoreline. From his research, he had found some animals residing on the island, such as squirrels, mice, snakes and lizards. He added that the sea was really beautiful here and there’s alot of fishes here, making this island a really good spot to build a resort on. Rudo remarked that the client would be happy to hear about it, remarking the scenery here made one feel at ease. In fact, Sousuke felt that this place had such a relaxing atmosphere that he could even take an afternoon nap here. Unknowingly, that was exactly what “I’ve” done just now, and “I” felt embarrassed and guilty about it that “I” blushed >////<

Kotaro returned soon later on, with information about the plants on the island. Most of the plants were common and harmless, but there’s a red flower that gets Kotaro’s interest as it was an uncommon plant seen back on the main island. In addition, Kotaro had also found a cave on the island, which the team decided that they might look into that later on. Seeing that the second team would be arriving soon, Kotaro suggest that we should set up the base camp and tent in preparation for their arrival. (Wait... I thought Rudo and “me” did that already. Welp, guess we didn’t do much when Sousuke and Kotaro were researching =w=“)

Sousuke was hungry and got dissed by Kotaro instead, saying that Sousuke had just eaten breakfast not too long ago. Rudo informed us once again that the investigation this time was a combined mission of Class 1 and Class 3, with the addition of “me”. Shu had instructed Class 3 to lead the investigation, and Rudo had decided to appoint Kotaro as the leader for this investigation this time round. However, Kotaro didn’t seem like he wanted to take up this role, that Sousuke had to encourage him to take it on, saying that this matters to him too seeing that his partner was being instructed to be a leader. (I guess Sousuke was really happy for Kotaro’s sake ^^;)

Rudo told Kotaro that the reason he had picked him was because Kotaro seems to be the one who’s the expert in terms to these related outdoor activities. With the leader decided, Sousuke was in high tension as he excitedly suggested that everyone should hold a party in memory of Kotaro being instructed to take on the role of the leader for this mission, even wanting to make an octopus bun for it XD (And I was surprised that Sousuke had actually brought along the machine to make takoyakis and even the flour and eggs as well, I guess it’s really possible to eat takoyakis here after all~ ^^;)

Rudo told the two of them to take a break from their research for now and rest well instead, cautioning Kotaro to take care of his body well since he was the leader of the day. In the meanwhile, an octopus had found his way into Sousuke’s outfit, and he yelled at “me” to help him to take it off. Kotaro saw that commotion and sighed, saying that unfortunately, this was not the time for him to take a break after all... ^^; 

Chapter 4: 本格始動 / Actual Operation

The second team finally arrived onto the island~! Shu and Senri was surprised when they smell the scent of the takoyaki sauce when they got onto the island. Kaname was worried about “me” throughout the entire trip and felt at ease when he saw “me” safe and sound. As Kaname had quickly helped to prepare everything ready for the voyage, the second team had arrived earlier than expected, which was great for Kaname since he was yearning to see “me”.

Kaname noticed that Kotaro seems more tense than usual, to which Sousuke helped to explain that Kotaro was appointed as the leader for this mission overall, and thus he was really working hard to make sure that the mission would be a success. Kaname agreed that Kotaro was the best person suitable for the role of the leader for this mission since there’s no one else who knew more about the outdoor other than him. He explained to “me” that the investigation leader would be decided on every mission in accordance to each individual’s speciality, and this was done to increase the efficiency of the missions. Most huge missions would still be under the lead of Rudo, but if there’s a special mission like this that suits a certain’s member’s speciality, that person would be the leader of the mission. As Sousuke had been a policeman before (new information about Sousuke!), he’s good at tracing and patrolling, and would usually be the leader for such missions (which is actually quite frequently~). Kaname’s speciality is his knowledge on plants, especially flowers. and also looking for stolen gems and artwork, as well as musicial instruments too. 

The two remarked that as it’s been a while since Kotaro was appointed as a leader, he may be abit nervous about it. Sousuke decided that he shall send some takoyakis he had made to Kotaro to cheer him up~

Kaname is still recounting how he’s worried about “me”, and even talked about how he had imagined “me” being attacked by ferocious creatures ^^; Sousuke assured him that if that ever happens, he would first help to attack the creatures instead, even wanting to do that in real life to show it to Kotetsu, who joked about Sousuke earlier on with Kaname ^^; (I guess the part where Kotetsu said that the scene would be like a snake fighting a mangoose?) Kaname advised Sousuke not to be violent to the creatures since they’re here to research about the eco system afterall, to which Sousuke said he won’t hunt them but he would want to fight them and become friends with them... ^^; Somehow he even tried to get Kaname to be the judge for the match, which Kaname surprisely agreed to XD But Kaname said that if the match gets too dangerous, he would protect “me” instead, which Sousuke replied he would protect “me” together too, since “I’m” their very precious assistant >////< (That’s so sweet coming from these guys~ ^////^)

(Haha, Kaname sounds like he’s jealous about Sousuke who gets to say such cool words about protecting “me”. He affirmed to “me” again that he really values “me” and would protect “me” at all costs, even asking “me” to rely on him even more >////<)

On the other hand, Kotaro was reporting to Shu about the workflow for the mission. Kotetsu was preparing the devices required to investigate the sea water, which would be used later on for the mission. As this was the first time Kotaro is leading the mission when Class 1 is working together with Class 3, he urged Class 1 to just say what’s on their mind if they have any questions for him. Kotaro had planned to investigate the island until the evening, when the boat had arrived to pick them up. As there isn’t much time left till then, Kotaro decided to split everyone into three groups to carry out the investigation. 

First up was the “sea” team, which consisted of Shu, Senri and Kotetsu. They would be checking on the sea water and the marine creatures in the sea, and the leader of that team would be Shu. Shu and Senri would be researching on the sea water, since Shu had done related tasks before when he was working as a police. (Is it me or maybe part of the staff here were ex-policemen OWO”) Kotetsu alone will be investigating the marine creatures instead. 

Next will be the “hill” team, which would consists of Sousuke and Kaname only. Kaname will be researching on the plants and flowers (since that’s his speciality), and Sousuke will assists him. Lastly, Kotaro, Rudo and “me” will be forming the “camp” team, which will continue to set up the base camp while the other two teams were carrying out their investigations. We would also plan and calculate how many days it would take to research about the entire island. 

(Shu’s verdict for Kotaro’s plan? It’s perfect XD)

Chapter 5: 助手の奔走 / Assistant’s Work (lit. Working around)

When the teams carried out their tasks, Kotaro asked “me” to deliver water to the guys instead since setting up the basecamp requires lots of physical strength. (I guess Kotaro just didn’t want “me” to do such hard labour as a female ^^:) While “I” went to get water from the fountain and deliver to the guys, Rudo and Kotaro will set up the tent for the basecamp instead. 

Over at the “sea” team, Kotetsu was fishing when Senri asked him if he had any tips on fishing. Even though Kotetsu had been fishing by habit usually, he guessed that perhaps timing was important to land a catch. If one pulls the fishing rod too early, the fish would escape before they get caught, and if one pulls the rod too late, the fish might have already been gone after eating the lure on the hook. When Kotetsu was about to show Senri how to fish, he ended up throwing the fishing rod when he saw “me” appear XD “I” went to pick up the fishing rod, and was about to touch the fish on the rod when “I” got yelled at by Kotetsu. He apologised for that later on and explained that the fish was actually poisonous, so he was actually cautioning “me” instead. Even though Kotetsu was doing better in facing “me” than during the time when we first met, he would still get shocked if we met suddenly, and thus him throwing the fishing rod away was just part of his reflex kicking in ^^;

Seeing that I’ve brought water for them, Senri asked “me” to take some over to Shu too. When “I” met Shu, he had a message that he wanted “me” to pass over to Kotaro, saying that at the speed of them investigating, they would have a result on the quality of the sea water by evening if nothing crops up. Kotetsu also had some findings on the fishes he had caught. There are currently five different fishes that he had caught, and they were all edible. Even though Kotetsu had wanted to catch small fishes and then use them to catch larger fishes, that would take a long time and thus he won’t be able to do that today. The guys thanked us for the water, and Kotetsu told us to look forward to the catfish barbecue later on~! (Guess that means that he would be catching lots of catfish for that ^^)

However, Kotetsu seems to have noticed a boat but decided to shrug it off instead...

Next would be heading into the forest to find Kaname and Sousuke~! Kaname was glad to see “me” and thanked “me” for the drinks, remarking that was actually quite hot at the south part of the island. He remarked that Sousuke was with him a moment ago but had felt uncomfortable after that, when he had eaten poisonous mushrooms that are grown in this forest. Luckily, the mushrooms are not too poisonous, so Sousuke was back to normal soon... and went hungry again ^^; After that, Sousuke claimed that he had saw a wildboar and had went into the inner part of the forest chasing after it. (One might thought that Sousuke might have imagined seeing it, but Kaname assured “me” that the mushroom does not have the effect of making people hallucinate ^^;) Therefore, Kaname was just staying in place and continuing with his investigation of the plants while waiting for Sousuke to return in the meantime ^^;

Since “I” was interested in Kaname’s findings, he decided to show “me” the plant he had found, and taught “me” that odd and even number of leaves on a plant will give an indication on how much flowers / fruits it would bear. Kaname had noted down his findings, especially on the rare plants he had found. He decided to let “me” deliver his notes to the base camp, as well as inform the guys over there about Sousuke’s circumstances. 

“I” returned to the camp to find that it was already set up and Rudo and Kotaro had already calculated how much time it would take to investigate the island. Like what the fisherman had said when he took us here, it would take roughly three days for a thorough investigation. What puzzled Kotaro was how did the fisherman knew that it would take them three days? O.O”

Chapter 6: 明かされる任務 / The Mission that was Revealed

As the sun began to set, Kotetsu was glad to see that Sousuke had returned and informed him that he had a large catch today. Sousuke was about to touch the catfish when he gets yelled at by Kotetsu (again XD) that they’re poisonous. Kotetsu had knew that Sousuke had eaten poisonous mushroom earlier that day, and warned him that he doesn’t want to get poisoned again ^^: In the end, Sousuke lent a helping hand to Kotetsu to carry the fishes back to the base camp. 

Shu and Senri had also returned to the base camp and handed their records to Rudo, noting that there isn’t anything abnormal about the water. Senri had done what he can do to help since he doesn’t understand what the report means anyway as they’re all numbers arrange in columns, and that made Shu smiled as he told Senri that he would teach him about calculating those if there’s a chance next time~ 

Kaname had returned earlier on and was now at the beach nearby sketching a flower that only blooms in the evening for the research. It was a flower which was red and had seven petals. (This may be an important information later on~)

However, there’s a problem right now. The fisherman who was supposed to come and pick us up had not arrived, and Rudo wondered what had happened that cause the delay. As since there’s no other way to go back right now, the group would have to stay overnight on the island. Kotaro had found something amiss all this while, and asked Shu for the actual reason they were brought here. Kotetsu had also noticed that the fisherman’s boat seems to be patrolling around the island like it is supervising the detectives, and wondered perhaps it was related to this matter as well. 

Shu finally announced the real reason that the detectives were brought onto the island. Researching about the island is a hoax, and a bluff to cheat the pirate crew called “Pudel”. “Pudel” is a pirate group which will carry a large scale of pirate activities, and their members had never been caught before, making it uite a unique group. The detectives’ client for this mission was none other than the police, rather than the island’s owner, and their actual mission was to uncover the reason why this pirate group was able to commit their crime perfectly without a trace. The police had suspected that there’s a spy within the police headquarters and thus decided to recruit the detectives to help them investigate about the pirate group instead. The police’s latest findings had traced the pirates to be around this area. It was told that the pirates would definitely stay on this island for a night before committing their crime the next day. Therefore, it can be deduced that the secret to the pirates’ perfect crime might be hidden on the island. Also, it seems like the key members of the pirate crews were all kenrouzoku, and since the detectives were kenrouzoku themselves, perhaps they could deduce and predict the detective's actions better than the police.

(Aww~ Sousuke was so disappointed when he realised that the island investigation was a bluff D:)

After knowing about the actual mission, Rudo argued that it had been too dangerous bringing “me” along to the island. (Thank you Rudo for being concerned about “me” T////T) Shu agreed and guessed that Kuki would definitely be mad when he heard about this later on, (So Shu kept it as a secret from Kuki =w=“) but felt that bringing “me” along was necessary to bluff the enemies even further. The overall leading of the group will still be under Kotaro and they planned to get in contact with the people related to the island and talk to them tomorrow. The time limit for this mission will be at noon, when Mamiya came over and fetch them. 

Chapter 7: サバイバルディナー / Survival Dinner

Everyone gathered around at the base camp when night falls, and were informed about the actual mission they’re tasked to do. Kaname had heard about the “Pudel” pirate crew, and was surprised to learn that we’re actually going to chase after them. Shu corrected him that we’re not actually going to chase after them and capture them as that would be the job of the police. What the detectives are tasked to do was to find out how did the pirates managed to escape from the police and their secret techniques in doing so. The detectives learned that the fisherman who brought them here was actually a member of the pirate crew as well, so that’s why the fishing boat was patrolling around the area supervising them OAO. 

Kotetsu told Kaname to stop worrying over “me” and focus on his work, to which Kaname apologised and explained that he can’t feel at ease when it came to matters regarding to “me”. Shu remarked that Kaname was too deeply affected by “my” presence and that would end up being a weakness of his...  When the guys were discussing about this, “I” was busy helping out with the cooking, and Kotetsu decided to to prepare for the catfish barbecue as well since he had promised “me” that in the afternoon ^^

Kotetsu had lit up a campfire and decided to use that fire to cook the rice. “I” was tasked to look over the pot while Rudo went to prepare the fish together with Kotetsu. Kaname also came over to help, but got dissed by Kotetsu instead that he had not even barbecued anything before ^^; Actually Kotetsu was worried about Kaname being poisoned accidentally since the catfish contained poison in them. Kaname insisted to help, and suggested that Kotetsu would be the one in charge of removing the poison while Kaname helped to spear through the fishes with the sticks to barbecue them. 

(It’s cute that Kaname actually whined that he felt uncomfortable touching the catfishes though XD)

When it’s dinner time, Kaname complimented that the miso soup was delicious, thinking that it was made by “me”. Turned out that it was made by Rudo instead, which impressed Kaname even more~ Kotetsu also praised Rudo on his skills on preparing the fish, and remarked that perhaps Rudo has the talent to become a master chef ^^ Rudo also praised Kotetsu back on his cooking skills, but Kotetsu didn’t think that what he had done as cooking, as all he had done was removing the poison from the catfish and spearing them through the stick. For Shu, everything was delicious and he commented that it was rare to be eating while being surrounded by the nature, as he hardly goes outdoor even when he was on a break. 

Senri wasn’t around as he was away attending to another emergency job nearby (Hmm? What can he do on such a deserted island like here though?). The others had suspected that he might be looking for clues regarding the pirate crew, but Shu firmly replied that Senri won’t be someone who will do that, and asked the guys not to persue the matter any further. (I guess things will be revealed when Senri spoke about it?)

“I’ve” also made desserts for everyone, which were made of the cranberries and raspberries found by Kaname. Shu offered to make green tea for everyone, and remarked about the times when he used to drink green tea frequently when he was working as a policeman, due to his senior saying that green tea can help one to focus more than coffee~ 

Chapter 8: 作戰會議 / Operation Meeting

After dinner, Sousuke decided to create some beds before bedtime. Kaname agreed to that as well, as there’s no way he would allow “me” to sleep on the ground. The guys decided to lay their extra outfits below “my” sleeping bag to create a bed and also inflated an emergency float to be used as a pillow. Kotetsu looked at them fussing over “me” and dissed that they’re being “helpful” XD 

As Kotetsu began to clear the dishes, the rest of the detectives proceed with the meeting on discussing their plans for tomorrow. Shu had hoped that they would be able to find their “target” before the time limit and thus decided that they shall look at the places that could be used as a hideout on the island, such as water fields, caves and the forest. Thus, a search team would be created for tomorrow’s investigation. 

Shu had deduced that someone must be hiding on the island, but whether that person was a member of the pirate crew, it wasn’t something that Shu would be sure of until they found that person. He had sensed someone’s presence on the island, but wondered it might be him mistakening something as a person, and remarked that the “person” seems to be very afraid and a careful person. If that person could be talked to and persuaded, Shu decided that he shall appoint Senri to be the one to talk with that person, as Senri was good at talking with a relaxing voice to win over one’s heart easily. Even though the person seems like he’s afraid of the detectives, there’s still a possibility that the person is related to the pirate crew, so on the safe side, the detectives would be split into the “negotiation team” (Class 1) and the “decoy team” (Class 3). As there’s too many people in Class 3 and the negotiation team is much safer, Rudo decided that Kaname and “me” would be allocated into the negotiation team together with Shu and Senri. 

Rudo told Shu to rest for the night when the meeting was over, saying that the members of Class 3 would be taking shifts in making sure that the fire was burning and looking out for them throughout the night. Rudo was the first person on duty, and when “I” came over to talk to him, he apologised for getting “me” involved in a pretty dangerous mission this time and imagined that Kuki must be so angry about it now that his hair is raising ^^; (Kuki is really behaving like a big brother or say father to “me” ^^;) Rudo was also in the dark about Shu’s actual motive in coming to the island and guessed that in order to prevent the targets from suspecting them, Shu had to lie and hide the facts first from his own comrades. 

Rudo had a request for “me” at such an “emergency”, and it wasn’t anything related to the job. He had wanted to invite “me” out and “I” readily accepted it. Rudo praised that “I’m” good at making desserts and blushed when he realised how happy “I” was on receiving the praise ^^

When “I” was about to head for bed, “I” noticed that Kotaro was setting up a tent for “me”. He told “me’ that Kaname had requested him to set up a tent for “my’ usage. There was still one more pole to be set up for the tent, so Kotaro asked “me” to help out while he taught “me” how to set up the tent. 

When all was done, Kotaro asked “me” how had “I” felt about him today. (Eh?/ It’s kind of sudden to be asked about “my” impression of him OWO”) Obviously, it was none other about how he was like as a leader for today (And to think I was expecting some Doki-Doki scenes =w=“) He was disappointed when “I” could not think of anything at the moment, and told “me” to inform him immediately if “I” had thought of it. 

(I always thought Kotaro was cool and can be kind of mean, but I guess he can be kind of sweet seeing that he did help to set up “my” tent and was interested to know “my” feedback about him as well, even if it’s work-related ^^;)

Chapter 9: 早朝探索 / Morning Investigation

The next morning, Kotetsu was amazed by what Sousuke and Kaname had done specially for “my” sleeping bag, noting that it seems like a little hill ^^; Seeing that Kotetsu was about to head for a walk in the morning, Sousuke suggested to go exploring in the mountains together, to which Kotetsu happily agreed to, since he thought that they might be able to find the bed which their targets are sleeping in if they’re lucky. They decided to leave a note to inform the others about their whereabouts and set off.

When they were in the forest area of the mountain, Kotetsu spotted a mushroom and was about to reach out to it when Sousuke stopped him, warning him that it’s actually a poisonous mushroom even if it looks edible and Kotetsu will get a stomach ache if he had eaten it. Sousuke remembered that Kaname had told him that the mushroom was only slightly poisonous and it can still be eaten if they cooked it to remove the poison. However, it would be terrible if one had eaten them raw or half-cooked instead. Kotetsu dissed that it seems like getting a stomach ache from eating a poisonous mushroom can be considered an important experience, which Sousuke happily agreed to without realising he was being dissed, and said that he could feel that his skills in managing dangerous situations had increased ^^; The guys decided that they shall pick the mushrooms they’ve spotted and let Kotaro to choose from them later on. 

Suddenly, Kotetsu noticed that something had moved somewhere near them. Sousuke had thought that it’s small animals like squirrels, weasels or hamsters, but Kotetsu was wary and thought of the possibility of their target finding them. Kotetsu later realised that it can be hard being Sousuke’s partner and was relieved to know that his partner was Kaname... since Sousuke had landed himself in a swamp and need help in pulling him up. When Sousuke was saved, his legs and trousers are soiled, so Kotetsu suggested that they head back to camp to get cleaned and changed. 

On their way back, they came across a stream and from the flow of the water, one could gauge where the mountain was situation. Sousuke was disappointed to find that there wasn’t any fishes in the river, but Kotetsu told him that there was fishes initially, but they had all escaped quickly when Sousuke jumped into the river ^^; Kotetsu spotted some fishes that can be eaten and decided to go fishing, even making some fishing rods on the spot using the branches in the forest for themselves. As they started to fish, Kotetsu remarked that Sousuke has a great eyesight and could spot the fishes easily in the river. With great timing, he managed to catch a fish just as the fish was eating the bait, and was praised by Kotetsu who told him that he had great reflexes. Sousuke was embarrassed and blushed, commenting that he seems to be praised alot by Kotetsu today XD

Chapter 10: 右腕の責務 / The Role of the Right-hand Man

Back at the base camp, the others had awoke and got to know that both Sousuke and Kotetsu had gone walking in the mountains together. Guess that they’re working hard looking for leads even while taking a while, Kaname decided to go exploring too, and Senri agreed to go along with him. Kaname had thought that Senri would be accompany Shu who had woken up too, but Senri cooly replied that it’s not like he sticks to Shu all the time, and there would be times where they were move about separately. Since Kotetsu and Sousuke had head into the mountains, Senri and Kaname decided to walk along the seaside.

Senri remarked that they might be able to meet the person residing on this island, and referred to a missing person flyer which he had taken the day before. He explained that he had gotten this flyer from the wife and son of the missing person, which was the boss of a trading company. Senri had found it weird that the man had went missing at the same period when the pirate crew had started to cause troubles on the sea, and from there, Kaname deduced that there might be a possibility that the trading company had worked together with the pirate crew, and was involved in the sea robberies. However, Senri voiced out that he had researched on the company and learned that it had been doing well and earning profits every year, and thus doesn’t think that the company would risk themselves so much just to earn from the robberies. Instead, Senri deduced that the boss might be threatened and forced to aid the pirate crew. Kaname was convinced by Senri’s reasoning, and guessed that those trading ships were already part of the pirate crew, which helped to let them escape from the police easily. 

However, this was still a tough case to crack, and as much as Senri doesn’t want to get Shu involved, he could not find any reason to persuade Shu from not doing so. The two of them decided to search around the beach some more and head back to the base camp when they’re found something, seeing whether that would help the team in setting up an operation plan.

Remembering that Senri had gone out yesterday night, Kaname asked him whether he was out alone searching for clues instead. Senri admitted that he was indeed looking for clues, as he felt that his role was to pluck out the seed of danger before Shu starts with his operation. Senri had realised that Shu had taken on this case before they head to the island, and feared that Shu would not talk to anyone about this case if he had not found any important clues that the island is involved with the pirates’ activities. Therefore, Senri decided to do what he can by investigating alone before Shu spoke about the case. This was Senri’s decision, and he was glad to be of help to Shu. (Senri seriously values Shu very much~ ^^;) 

After hearing Senri’s words, Kaname asked him why he was able to be so strong. Kaname wanted to be strong too and protect “me”, his partner Kotetsu, his comrades at the detective agency and everyone around him, but he realised that he was always blinded by his desire to protect everyone and could not see things clearly around him, and ended up making worthless efforts every time. He felt that even if he had the best plan and the best skills, he would end up causing trouble for everyone, and thus he really envied Senri for being to do what he wants smoothly. 

Suddenly, they realised someone’s presence nearby. Senri feared that they might scare off the person if they approached him, and guessed that the person won’t be able to eavesdrop on their conversation at the distance he’s maintaining between them. After a while, Senri could not sense the presence anymore, and guessed that the person must have escaped after all... (Aww... That’s such a pity D:)

Chapter 11: 逃げる影 / The Shadow that Escapes

Senri went to get in contact with Shu and informed him that they had spotted the target. Kaname was trying to trace him now and had let Shu where the target was currently located. Turned out that the target was near the cave which Kotaro had spotted yesterday, and Shu pondered whether they should join in the chase after the target or wait at the cave to make sure the target won’t be able to escape when he reached there. Kotaro had noticed that the target was staying alone on the island, and doesn’t seems to have any accomplices who worked with him here. But, there was still a possibility that his comrades were the pirates, and thus it was best that they capture this man first. 

Kotaro instructed everyone to head towards “Point E” and advised them to prevent getting themselves involved in fights that were not needed, since their only aim now was to capture the target. Rudo nodded and remarked that if he was the one in charge of leading now, he would give the same instructions as well, and praised Kotaro for giving good instructions. That ended making Kotaro blushed as he thanked Rudo for the praises XD

Kaname and Senri had received the instructions as well, and Kaname noted that “Point E5″ was an area that they’ve not investigated yet. Senri remarked that person was trying very hard to escape from them as they chased after him, and deduced that the possibility of this person being involved with the pirates seems to be very high. There was also a possibility that the man had thought that the detectives were pirate crews instead too...

Kotaro and the others went into the forest and managed to block the person’s escape route. Kotaro talked to the man, telling him that he guessed that the man had been the Pirates’ hostage for a long time even if he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t want to be captured by the pirates anymore, and thus when he spotted the detectives, he thought they’re the pirates too and tried as hard as he can to escape from them. Kotaro tried to persuade the target to be captured by him so that he can finish his mission, but of course, the person doesn’t want to be captured, and thus run away again from them... =w=“

Seeing that the target had run into the cave, Kaname asked Senri whether it would be better if they followed him inside. But Senri asked him to calm down instead and told him that the man had now hide himself in the cave because he was scared as deduced by Shu. He got even more scared when he was confronted by so many men, and thus went onto a rampage and hid. Senri proposed that he would try to talk to the man at a distance away from him, and learn more about him. Kaname agreed to this plan and asked Senri to be careful. (I guess he might be worried that the man will suddenly attack Senri ^^;)

Senri went near to the cave while still maintaining a safe distance, while Kaname went further away from them. Senri told the man that there’s only him and the man now in this area, and tried to persuade the man to talk to him. He assured the man that they did not have any weapons, and would also protect the man to return him back to the main island safe and sound too. 

The man finally spoke after being persuaded, admitting that he was roped into helping the pirates, as he cannot choose to reject them. He was originally the boss who operates the trading industry, and in his eyes, the pirates were a scary presence that could not be forgiven. The man pleaded that he had not wanted to commit such acts at all, but he crumbled due to fear and ended up being forced to help them. He had also felt that he had worked too much in his life that he was always busy and hardly returns home, and felt that perhaps there wasn’t a spot for him in his family anymore... (That sounds sad TWT) Therefore, the man decided that he shall not return tot he main island, and would try his best to escape for now, before escaping to another place when things had tide down.

Senri was stern as he told the man that his family isn’t considered that important to him since he’s giving up on going home so easily just because he’s being threatened. He asked the man whether work is really the most important to me, as Senri felt that it wasn’t deep down in his heart. Senri showed the man a flyer and told him that he had seen the man’s wife and child giving out flyers on the streets looking for him, and were still waiting for his return. So, it was only the man’s misunderstanding that he has no place in his family. But the guy wasn’t easily convinced, saying that he’s not sure that the flyer is real and he’s not confident of himself, saying that he’s a terrible husband and father. 

Senri replied to the man that they don’t have to specially make a flyer just to lie to him when they could just capture him by force since ultimately their goal was to capture this man who was their target. He tried to convince the man once again that his family were indeed worried about him and looking for him and told him that it’s impossible to create such a heartwarming flyer if his family does not care about him. 

Since the man had said that he won’t be returning home, Senri remarked out loud that he shall head back to the island and tell the man’s wife about the man’s whereabouts here, as he felt that he had the responsibility to do so. However, there would a possibility that the man’s wife would get worried and came here by herself, landing herself in danger of being captured by the pirates who frequent here. Senri said that the consequences won’t be related to him anyway and bid goodbye to the man. That made the man decided that he shall head back once to the main island and tried to set things right, since he knew that he won’t be able to go back to anything if he had continued to escape from the pirates on the island. Even though he doesn’t know whether he would be forgiven for his actions, he wanted to try and talk to his family once again. 

Chapter 12: 明日への船出 / The Boat towards Tomorrow

Senri, Kaname and the man returned to the island, where Shu and the others were waiting for them. Shu praised him for a job well done, but Senri smiled and replied that it was just something he had to do for Shu. Shu asked the man why he was being brought to the island, to which he answered that initially, he changed the course of the trading ships in order to escape from the supervision of the police, but he ended up encountering the pirates when doing that, and was threatened to assist them. Senri deduced that it’s possible, since most trading ships just want to ship their goods faster and didn’t want to the police to stop them and do checks on them, and guessed that perhaps other traders were also being forced to do similar things on other deserted islands.

Senri assured the man that he would be safe and won’t be blame since the man himself had not want to help the pirates but was forced to, saying that the police would not treat a victim like him as a criminal. However, the man knew that what he had did would not forgiven in the trading industry, and saying that he’s going to work even harder at work in the future to regain the trust that was lost in him from this incident. Also, he’s going to treasure his family very much from now on, which pleased Senri that he said that. Senri replied that though he had lectured the man earlier on, Senri too knew the feeling of losing something / someone very important to him as it had happened to him before too. 

As the case came to a close, Shu remarked that this was what they can do in their powers at this point of time, and felt that what they’ve done was right. This had always been Shu’s vision when operating the detective agency, and was also this vision that had saved Senri (probably to referring to Senri’s past I guess?). Rudo thanked Kotaro for doing a good job in being the leader for this mission, to which Kotaro replied that he doesn’t felt that he had done much this time round. But Rudo felt that Kotaro had already did what he could do as a leader, by giving good instructions to the members to carry out their jobs, and to follow up to assist them when required. Seeing Kotaro’s instructions for this mission and his actions later on, Rudo remarked that he looks forward to Kotaro’s growth as a detective and leader in the future.

Kotetsu had felt that he had not done much in this mission too this time, seeing that he had only ventured in the forest and went fishing XD Seeing that Kotetsu was with Sousuke just now, Kaname asked him where is Sousuke now as he was nowhere to be found at the base camp. Kotetsu sighed and replied that Sousuke had shouted that he’s going to fight a bear and win a wild boar before running off, and wondered whether Sosuske had eaten a poisonous mushroom yet again XD

The guys spotted a very familiar rental boat coming their way, it was the boat the detective agency had always rented! Seems like Rui was on their way to fetch them up. They get in contact with Rui, who informed them that Class 7 had been activated and was diverting the enemies attention so as to allow Rui to have the opening to come and fetch them. Shu guessed that Class 7 had done that because they were so worried about “me” and wanted to leave the island as soon as possible. Kotaro decided that their best plan now was to escort the man back to the main island, and as Sousuke was now here, they decided to leave him behind, since Sousuke seems like someone who could live well on the island. (What?! Poor Sousuke XDD) 

As they went getting onto the boat, they heard a familiar voice apologising for being late (it’s Sousuke!)~ But Kotaro ignored his cries and urged everyone to get on and for the boat to set off XD Kaname called out to Sousuke to hurry up as he’s going to be left behind XD

On the way back, "I” caught Kotaro looking at “me”, and he said that he just felt that “I’m” someone who can be really hardworking and more reliable than Sousuke. However, he told “me” not to get near him or bother him when we’re back at the detective agency. (.... That’s cold, Kotaro TWT) Kotaro was firm in his vision that he can do everything on his own, so as to get “that person” to think well of him as a member. (I think he’s referring to Rudo ^^;)

And that’s the end of the story, it’s kind of sad Kotaro is pushing “me” away again at the end of it, when I thought we’re going to be just abit closer =w=“ Well, at least Kotetsu is warmer to us now, and I do enjoy Kaname worrying and caring for “me” always, and Rudo too for looking over “me”~ ^^ Sousuke was being a silly guy as always XD

It’s interesting that Senri actually gets quite a large limelight on him this time seeing that he’s the overall key person who helped to resolve the case. I still feel that Kotaro doesn’t shine quite as much as I like to seeing that he’s the main character for this event story and the leader of this mission, since I would really want to know more about him D: Such a pity...

The story was at least fun to read this time round, seeing that the event story on the cruise ship the last time round was abit of a boredom. Sousuke was really funny and entertaining, and I do enjoy Kotetsu’s disses XDD Class 3 is really quite a bunch of guys with interesting personalities together ^^

[dark-unimaginably-stupid-kids]

Power Snuggles- Want

Series- Voltron Pairing- Klance Canon setting. Based off this post by @crumbcakeworld

Synopsis: In which Keith demands cuddles and Lance doesn’t really have a problem with that.

Per this Chapter: It picks up exactly where the last chapter ended (Like exactly.) Lance panicking and trying to handle his questionably developing relationship with Keith.

---

That’s the last one that comes as a surprise. At this point Keith is more than certain Lance is attracted to him, more than certain Lance is heavily interested in him, and will more often than not relish in Keith’s attention than ever dare turn him away.

All this knowledge made Keith bolder.

Keith starts to press into his side while the group stands on the brig discussing battle strategies.

He starts leaning his head on his shoulder during meals.

He starts reaching for his hand when they’re out on assignment and outside of their lions.

He starts to wrap his arms around Lance’s waist from behind, head laying on his shoulder, chin toward Lance’s neck, at just about every opportunity he can.

If he’s in front of him when the group is standing around doing nothing he’ll just step back, pulling Lance’s arms around him and humming blissfully like that second time.

And Lance.

Lance is weak.

He is so weak to Keith he has no idea what to do with himself. He lets Keith move him around, he lets Keith push into him and nuzzle him and hold him and for all the gods in all the worlds Lance can’t…!

…initiate it himself.

Sure, he can reciprocate. He can wrap himself around Keith like the shorter boy is everything he’s ever wanted (he is) and like he is this beautiful perfect treasure to be protected and held in his arms for all time (again, he is.)

He can press kisses to his forehead and intertwine their fingers and squeeze Keith into his chest in a way that Lance can almost imagine his chest opening up to take Keith within himself, keep him safe and warm like his very own heart because God.

God, he is.

This. Ridiculous cat of a boy. With his short temper and his recklessness and his beautiful eyes and his perfect face and his awkward nature and his soothing voice and his hips—

Hah.

Ha-ha.

Lance has it bad and has no idea how to handle it.

“You could. I don’t know. And maybe it’s just me. But you could. Maybe. Just maybe…” Pidge starts while sitting across the kitchen table from him. Lance already knows where this is going but let’s it happen anyway.

“TALK. TO. HIM.”

Hunk is trying his hand at baked goods again and retrieving his newest batch of attempted confectionaries from the oven when he grunts in agreement, “I mean to be fair, Keith was supposed to. But…”

Pidge waved him off, “Look, I’ll grant him that, I did tell Keith to do it first but credit where it’s due, at least Keith had the balls to do something. Now it’s Lance’s turn to return the favor.”

Return the favor.

That’s the problem.

Is it possible that Lance is reading this whole thing wrong and Keith really is just… Using him for the occasional physical comfort? What if in attempting to deepen…whatever this is, he just makes things awkward?

“Sometimes I wish,” Pidge starts idly, looking at Hunk, “That the whole “friendly respect” thing had a few more loopholes.”

Hunk laughs outright and braces himself next to the table where he’s just placed the hot tray, “Gosh could you imagine? We could cut all the shit between everyone. Hell, we’d never see Shiro or Allura again.”

“Nah those two are respectable. If Lance here ever grows a pair though we’ll never see him again.”

“What on earth are you two talking about?” The voice sounds just behind Lance’s head and he jumps when arms wrap around his neck from behind, sliding forward and down his front as Keith’s chest meets his back.

Hunk glances back at them while Lance tries his damndest to settle his breathing and he laughs again, “You’re not wrong Pidge.”

“Am I ever?”

“Double modulating.”

“Fuck right off you heathen.”

Lance feels more than sees Keith raise a brow in the way his ear moves up against the side of Lance’s head. He imagines the quirked brow, the other boys pale lips in that straight light denoting his lack of understanding.

Ah god. Was there ever a time Keith wasn’t precious?

Lance reaches up to cover one of Keith’s hands with his own and when that wasn’t enough he lifts it to his lips and keeps it pressed there.

If this bothered Keith in any way he doesn’t voice it.

Pidge does, rolling her eyes in a full body motion that had her almost collapsing back onto the kitchen counter where she was now perched, “You know we’d have to get ear plugs too.”

“You think so?” Hunk offers.

Pidge nods solemnly, “I’m positive.”

“Well I guess he’s always been kinda loud…”

“Nope. The other one.”

“Oh seriously?”

“Guys?” Keith questions again.

Pidge waves him off and Hunk shrugs, “You two should go on ahead, Pidge and I will finish up here.”

The four of them were of course going for their usual sit around and eat shit in the rec room time. Last time they’d tried it was gloriously cut short by the sudden materialization of a Galra cruiser. Keith had basically barreled through the thing with his usual antics but by the time they were done everyone was too tired to hang out.

Honestly, getting out of their lions and saying goodnight to Keith, the adrenaline of the battle still running through his veins would have been the perfect moment to just…

Do something. Anything.

Grab his hand first. Cup his face softly, tell him how amazing he was, tell him he was beautiful, tell him—

Kiss him.

But all Lance had managed was a “Good job guys” and a stupid little shudder as Keith clapped him on the shoulder in agreement and left to his own bed.

“Maybe if you’re lucky Lance will tell you what we were talking about,” Pidge explains, bringing Lance back to the present. “God knows he should!”

Lance sighs and Keith removes himself from Lance’s back before shrugging, “Kay, see you guys in a bit.” He turned and started for the door, “Coming Lance?”

Lance nods and the two of them are walking down a quiet hall now, their fingers occasionally brushing as they walk side by side.

That’s another thing. It’s rare to for Keith to do more than hold his hand if they were alone. He was far more affectionate around other people as if it was somehow less sensible to do it when they were alone.

If they’d ever been alone he wonders how much further it could have gone.

…Is that why? Does Keith only do what he does with the added security of another person being near enough there was no way for a hug or a cuddle to become anything more?

Was Keith only using him? Did he not want anything real to do with him?

“So what were they—”

“Us.” Lance says without thinking, without realizing what truly ridiculous insinuations Pidge had been making. At Keith’s suddenly faltered steps Lance blinks and it all clicks into focus just a second too late.

“I mean I don’t know what they were saying by the time you came in, but the conversation was originally about us so…”

Keith’s eyebrow shoots up again, probably because he knows Lance is lying but he doesn’t fight it.

“…So what about us?”

Lance opens his mouth to response but promptly shuts it again. How does he tell Keith they were discussing Lance’s horrific inability to start anything with Keith when that’s part of the problem?

“Ah…. Nothing really. You know Pidge.”

Keith’s eyebrow remains quirked, because he does.

They’re getting close to the rec room before Keith speaks again. His words nearly causing Lance to double over in the way the words hit him like a bloody freight train what the hell Keith.

“She’s right though.” He says simply, the eyebrow quirk there for a completely different reason now, “I am loud.”

Lance stands there frozen for a few seconds, watching Keith walk past him and enter the rec room as he casually tucks his hair behind his ear, his violet eyes looking dangerously soft despite what he’d just said.

That’s Lance’s fucking problem right there. How is Keith so…

Keith?!

How does he say shit like that and look at him like that and just—do whatever he wants it’s infuriating!

Why does Keith get to be the only one to do what he wants?

Why does Keith get to use him on his terms like he does?

What if Lance wants to do what he wants for a change? What if he just wants to take that stupid perfect face in his hands and kiss the starlight out of him? What if he just wants to shove him into a wall and cover his perfect skin in small purple bruises to remind him just how much Lance wants him and has wanted him from the start? What if—

…Lance wonders what kind of thing went through Keith’s mind the first time he’d crawled into his lap.

Hadn’t he simply been complaining at the time?

Had Lance made Keith angry?

Lance follows Keith inside and the door shuts quietly behind him. He watches the other stand by the couch, looking at the small pile of miscellaneous games laid out there. He worries at his lip while he seems to consider the options, but his cheeks are tinted just the faintest pink and Lance fucking knows the games have nothing to do with it.

He’s standing there slightly bent at the waist, his arms spread and gripping the edge of the couch, and when he bites his lip again his eyes dart over to Lance who catches it quickly. The flush deepens, and he looks right back down at the games.

It’s an invitation if Lance wants to take it.

But just in case.

“Keith?”

“Yeah?”

Lance closes the space between them, “Forgive me if I’m out of line.”

Keith stands up straight again, turning so one hand comes off the couch, “Huh…?”

Lance almost falters. Almost pulls back. But he sees it, the touch of excitement on Keith’s face, the hope in his eyes.

Has he been waiting for this? Is this something he wants?

…Well. It’s what Lance wants. And right now that’s his only focus. Still, he continues to give Keith the opportunity to pull away, to drop it. He reaches for Keith’s chin, tilting his face up as his hand trails down the side of his jaw to cup his face in just the way he’s always wanted to.

Keith doesn’t pull away, in fact he lifts his head more, arches his back.

This is definitely something he’s wanted.

“I want…” Lance mumbles, slowly removing the distance between their faces now, “to know how you define…” He can feel Keith’s breath on his face and licks his lips just before they’re close enough for their energies to mix, “…loud.”

The whimper that escapes Keith when their lips meet is instantaneous and his fingers immediately find the loop of Lance’s jeans to keep his balance as he arches back, body now pressed to Lance.

His lips are soft, if a little chapped, and Lance can feel his heart melting even more for the boy in his arms.

Its not a magical secret of life eye opening kiss, but it’s Keith so that makes it just as good.

Before Lance can push further Keith is pulling away and Lance wonders if he’d done something wrong.

“Y-You’re gonna have to do a little more than that…if you really want to know…”  Keith mutters, eyes shining but staring at the ground.

Lance eyes the wall a couple feet away and grins as he lowers his hands to Keith’s hips and slowly starts to back him up, “Is that so?”

Keith flushes at the contact but appears confused for a moment before his back hits the wall. That’s when he realizes and his eyes darken significantly.

He’s absolutely gorgeous. And Lance is going to wreck him.

He keeps one hand on Keith’s hip, digging his fingers into the boys skin just under the hem of his shirt, while the other goes into Keith’s hair and cards through the black strands before gripping him tightly at the back of his scalp.

“I’m sure I can manage,” Is all he says before catching Keith’s lips in his again. Keith’s whimper is a bit louder now but still nothing to cry home about. Not that just holding Keith’s hand isn’t already that.

No, it’s when Lance’s tongue darts out to tentatively press his way into Keith’s mouth that the boy really starts to make some noise. He opens up and welcome’s the intrusion, leathery tongue meets leathery tongue and proceed to dance around each other while Lance pushes Keith harder into the wall.

This incites Keith to not only wrap his arms around Lance’s shoulders, pulling him in tightly, but to also raise one leg off the ground to hook around Lances thigh. It gives Lance way too much access to the guy who’s been pressing into him in all manner of ridiculous ways for weeks and maybe Lance thinks its officially time for revenge.

When he pushes a thigh between Keith’s legs and he gets to listen to the loud gasp that forces their lips to part Lance figures he’s doing a good job. He also takes the opportunity to dive for Keith’s neck, squeezing himself into the niche right above his collar bone, licking the skin lightly before biting down. Keith moans and buries his face into the opposite side of Lance’s neck, panting into Lance’s chest.

“Th-that feels really good Lance…” He mumbles. Lance almost misses it with the fact he is literally living his wildest dream right now but after it finally hits him what Keith is saying spurs him on. He reaches his hands up Keith’s shirt relishing in the skin on skin contact and the way Keith arches his back and rolls his hips and continues to whimper and moan in encouragement.

The guy is just extremely receptive, and Lance might be entirely enamored with him.

“You like?” He whispers, not sure if he should have even bothered responding or if he should have continued sucking marks into his skin.

Maybe he should be concerned that the marks are so high up, everyone will be able to see them.

…Maybe he should make more.

Later. He wants to taste the inside of his mouth again. He licks down his collar bone and trails kisses up his throat to his jaw before merging their lips again. Keith eagerly lets Lance right back in and maybe gets a little too excited because before Lance knows it his hands are gripping Keith’s ass because his legs are wrapped tightly around Lance’s waist.

It’s a very good thing they’re braced against the wall because Lance doesn’t think his legs would be able to support them both with how weak Keith is making his legs feel.

“Really eager huh?” Lance chuckles between kisses.

Keith pulls away from the kiss again, pressing his forehead against Lance’s while he pants softly, “Possibly…”

For a moment Keith tries to catch his breath before realizing that he’s completely wrapped around Lance and the way his cheeks go bright ass red is one of the most endearing things Lance has seen to date.

“I’m gonna start calling you Koala Keith.” Lance grins.

Keith groans and shuts his eyes, “Don’t you dare.”

“Oh it’s done, it’s officially your new name Koala Keith.”

‘Lance I swear.”

“Yes Koala Keith?”

“Please shut up and kiss me.”

Lance chuckles again but does as he’s told and the next time they part it’s because Lance honestly can’t take it anymore.

“Can we please do this all the time?” Lance whines, his head laying on Keith’s shoulder, his arms now tightly around Keith’s waist so he was basically just hugging the life out of him.

Keith’s hands grip tightly into Lance’s jacket as he laughs, “Was this supposed to be a one-time thing? Cause I really… really don’t want this to be a one-time thing.”

“Kinda like the cuddles right?”

“Yeah.”

They’re quiet for another minute before Lance speaks again, “I mean… Can we do this all the time… just us… together…as uh… as a couple…maybe?”

Keith stiffens in his grasp and Lance immediately wants to kick himself in the mouth.

“I mean if you don’t want to that’s fine! This is fine. This is. Uhm.” Lance buries his face in Keith’s neck and starts to press little light kisses to his skin again, “Let’s just go back to what we were doing okay? Just. Forget I said anything.”

Keith breathed a little heavier as Lance tried to change the kind of tension in the room but one of Keith’s hands came up to the back of Lance’s head, softly petting his hair before pulling Lance away to press a soft kiss to his lips.

“I don’t want that,” Keith started.

Lance figured as much.

“I don’t want to forget you said anything. I want…” Keith pressed their noses together, “I want this, with you, only.”

Lance could feel his heart hammering through his chest, “So…the two of us. We’re a thing now?”

“We’ve always kind of been a thing, haven’t we? I mean. I’ve just been trying to get you to accept it for a while.”

“Yooo what? Dude. Dude you’ve been. What?”

“I kept asking you to train with me, I openly flirted with you… when I started crawling into your lap I figured that was a big “date me” red sign? You can’t possibly be that dense.” Keith laughed and almost made Lance lose his stability against the wall.

“I—you—Okay in my defense when it’s come to you I’m a lot of things in excess. Denser, stupider, in lo--” Lance blinked, swallowed, and went back to hiding in Keith’s shoulder, “Nope. I didn’t say that. That wasn’t a thing. You didn’t hear that.”

Keith laughed again, breathier and softer but it was still a laugh and Lance wasn’t sure how he felt about it. At least, until he spoke again, “Oh man, I’ve been in love with you since you shot Sendak, Lance you’ve gotta catch up.”

The indignity. Who did Keith think he was talking to?

“Yeah! Well! I’ve been in love with you since back at the garrison so top that!” That said, Lance should probably think about things before he says them.

Especially with the way Keith pulls him back to look him in the face again, only managing to mutter a simple, “…Holy shit?”

“Well I must be sounding pretty freaking pathetic right now…Remember how I totally awesomely woke from a coma to shoot Sendak? Yeah. Just. Remember that. Okay?”

Ah but if the ridiculous grin on Keith’s face didn’t make the mortification worth it.

Pidge and Hunk never actually showed up to play that night. Which worked out for Lance if he’s honest. He really didn’t feel like playing any games tonight.