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autisticlancemcclain · 10 months ago

Text

this is how it continued

———

This is how it ends.

———

This is how it ends.

———

This is how it ends.

———

This is how it ends.

———

Lance tries for weeks to make it end.

The words crawl up like bile in the back of his throat. Keith, he tries to say, time and time again, we need to talk. And when he manages to push through the stinging burn and say them, breath turning to dust in his lungs, Keith crooks his finger under Lance’s chin and meets Lance’s eyes and replies, just as quietly, Of course, sweetheart. What’s wrong?

And every time Lance is faced with the softness in his dark eyes, the steady way he holds his gaze. And every time something inside him cracks, desperate and howling and selfish after being deprived so long, and his bravery dries up like a tiny stream in the summer heat. And instead of saying When did you start loving me, Keith, ‘cause you woke up one day and decided we’d been together for ages and everyone thinks you’re crazy his chin trembles and his eyes burn and he cries, again, and tells Keith of the months without him.

Every day I’m sorry I left you behind, Keith whispers into the heat of Lance’s skin, and every time in response Lance knows, I do not deserve this from you. And the desperate howling selfish part of him grows stronger and stronger.

Lance needs to make it end.

———

He cannot make it end publicly.

It’s too…messy for that. It has been too long now. He hasn’t counted the days but he knows what it looks like right before Keith screams himself awake, now, knows how to press his cold hands to the side of his neck and the curve of his ribs to startle his dream-self into thinking kinder thoughts. He knows how the chip on Keith’s right front tooth feels on his tongue, his knuckles, his shoulder. He knows that Keith showers with his eyes shut out of years of habit of showering in the dark and fearing the sting of the soap.

Rarely do they stop at a hotel. Usually they sleep in shifts, staying in space for days at a time instead of resting every night. It’s horrible and cramped and makes everyone cranky, but it brings them home faster. After everyone is fed up of air travel, which never takes long, they often stop somewhere small and uninhabited and out of the way – a moon, a burgeoning planet, a long-abandoned one. Whatever is closest. On those nights, the nine of them, plus the animals, will stretch and enjoy the fresh air, if there is any, maybe watch a setting sun. And then they will make a fire and cook rations or a real meal, if they can find ingredients and Hunk or Lance have the energy. And after everyone has eaten and conversations have long begun to slow, after teeth have been brushed and faces have been washed, after their friends have nodded off one by one, Keith will push their bedrolls together to make one, spread a blanket over the two of them, and hold Lance close; without question, without hesitation. And he will be out in moments, gently snoring along to whatever alien crickets are crooning into the night, and Lance will trace the shape of his face under the light of the dying embers and forget to be guilty. He will feel safe in Keith’s hold like he does not feel anywhere else and his feet will be warmed between Keith’s thighs. He will fall asleep with a smile on his face.

———

Five months into their journey, Coran says: “I have an announcement to make.”

“What’s up?” Pidge asks, swinging her feet from where she sits sideways in her chair, hair a mess, face buried in the not-quite-DS they found a few planets back. Lance smiles and rolls his eyes.

“In the next quintaint, we will be approaching Deruyn. The Deruy were close friends of the Alteans, eons ago, and the Chancellor has extended to me an invitation to reacquaint ourselves. If you’re all amenable, my dears, we have been invited to stay in the guest wing of her royal quarters for a week.”

Lance straightens up, rubber band ball he was toying with slipping from his grasp. He hears it bounce several times behind him before an abrupt stop, and then a very angry moo. He winces.

“Sorry, Kaltenecker.”

She huffs, clearly still miffed.

Everyone is talking over each other, eyes bright and excited through their video connections. Coran looks pleased, watching them all chatter. Lance catches his eye and smiles at him.

A whole week in a royal wing…and a real royal wing! Nothing like the paladin quarters they lived in on the Castle. They bedrooms will be huge, probably; fancy and ornate. Maybe a canopy bed and pillows comfier than Lance can even fathom.

And baths. Lance hopes there are big, deep baths he can almost swim in.

“You look dreamy.”

Keith’s amused voice startles him out of his daydreaming, although he can’t bring himself to be embarrassed. Everyone else is still chattering on, bubbling with excitement — no one is looking at him.

“I am,” Lance admits. He puts a hand to his forehead and sighs, more dramatically than necessary, pleased when it brings the expected reaction of Keith’s fond little smile. “There might be baths, Keith. Real baths. And oils and soaps and soft towels. And pillows! And a queen-sized bed!”

Keith’s smile turns teasing. “What you need is an Alaskan king.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Keith’s laugh has gotten rumblier since his space whale growth spurt, that’s the only way Lance can explain it. It’s softer and darker and suggests smile lines around his eyes he didn’t have before. Every time Lance looks at them he imagines them getting deeper and wider.

“Been a while since we’ve been somewhere with a real bed, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Gotta make sure they don’t book us two separate rooms again,” Keith huffs, crease appearing between his eyebrows. “I still don’t know what that was about.”

Lance’s mouth goes dry.

I do, he should be saying. I know exactly why there were two separate rooms booked for us. In fact I can guarantee it will happen again.

But he is a coward. And the words die somewhere in his belly, before they can come anywhere near his throat.

———

It takes time to reach Deruyn. Some of this is because Shiro read the map backwards and set them back two days. (“I’m dyslexic!” he had defended, to their booing and whining. “There is not booing and whining to dyslexia! Do you boo and whine a lisp? No! Let me live!”)

By the time they finally manage to drag their poor, exhausted Lions to the sizeable planet, everyone’s excitement is so palpable Lance doesn’t need an emotional bond to feel it.

“Fresh air,” sighs Allura.

“Good food,” seconds Hunk.

“People to talk to that aren’t you fools,” agrees Pidge.

“A mattress,” Keith adds, and shoots Lance a wink.

Despite himself and rolling mess of feeling in his stomach, Lance flushes.

Coran accepts a call as soon as they’re within radio range, greeting a narrow-faced, pink-skinned woman who must be the Chancellor. Immediately they delve into a conversation that Lance doesn’t even pretend to follow. He recognizes Coran’s tone from the many times his mother would strike up a conversation with an aunt or uncle or any guest at all as they were leaving the house — this conversation could be hours long. His eyes glaze over, sliding away from his Lion’s display to take in the planet in front of him.

Deluyn is large, that much is obvious. It’s hard to scale something with such magnitude when it’s so close to your face, but if Lance had to guess, he would place it somewhere between Jupiter and the Balmera. It has no rings but the whole planet seems to glow, slightly, although Lance can see no clear source for it. The colours visible from orbit are entirely alien to him, so he’s not sure what is water, if anything is, but from the angry look of the planet’s poles, the dark green things are clouds.

What feels like a million hours later, but it probably only around fifteen minutes, there’s a click as the Chancellor and Coran end their call, and they are urged forward into landing. As they get closer to the landing strip, Lance notices dozens of children sprinting along the barrier, holding signs and flags and cheering. He grins, twisting his hands tighter around Red’s controls, hanging back just slightly from formation to give himself space to move. Then he yanks the controls to the side, feeling Red roar as she whips around in a tight circle, flames rolling down her back. The children jump up and down, fists raised, mouths open in shouts of joy. Several of their grownups watch with wide grins, too, necks craned to watch Lance spin around.

He pulls back into formation after a couple of tricks, sliding smoothly in between Black and Blue. His heart rate ticks up, and suddenly his undersuit feels tight, itchy. He squirms in his seat. When Shiro’s face pops up to relay landing instructions he flinches, and immediately hates himself for the hurt look that eclipses his friend’s face.

“…Lance?” Shiro asks softly, confusion lining his voice. He looks like a kicked puppy. Lance is a monster.

“I’m just jumpy, I’m just jumpy,” he assures, forcing a smile and holding it there until Shiro’s shoulders relax. ��You know. So excited to see where we’ll be staying.”

“Yeah, me too! Coran even said they have this massive sauna they’re really famous for. I can’t wait. I miss what saunas do for my skin. And, plus, having our own rooms will be nice.” His excited grin turns sly. “Well, most of us will have our own room.”

Lance’s heart pounds for a totally different reason. “Okay thanks Shiro bye —”

He reaches to cut the connection but Shiro stops him, laughing.

“No, no, wait, I’ve got landing instructions. Their staff is limited so we gotta go one at a time, okay, stay in your Lion once you’re parked in case you need to adjust…”

Thankfully it’s nothing too complicated. Keith lands first, and Lance next to him, then Pidge, then Allura, then Hunk. Once they’re all parked and confirmed by ground control, they’re cleared it exit, none of them taking their time.

Well, everyone else disembarks pretty fast. Kaltenecker remains and stubborn pain in the ass as usual, and Lance is stuck trying desperately to drag an 800 something pound cow that has absolutely no desire to work with him. “Kallie,” he begs, tugging uselessly on her leash, “you dumb ass fucking animal. Please. I am begging you. I put up with your farts in the cabin for days on end, which has got to be shaving years off my life. The food I feed you could be better but in all fairness, I’m getting the same slop you are, so. Maybe cut me some slack.”

She doesn’t even moo at him.

Lance tries bribery.

“Say, you want good food? I bet they have good food on this planet. Nice, sweet, fresh grass. You love grass. You want grass? Please come on, Kallie. Everyone else has already left and I’m going to die of embarrassment if I’m the last paladin left, doing the walk of shame with his stubborn cow behind him. The jokes will write themselves. I’ll have to quit and join a travelling circus, and then who will put up with you? Remember that Allura wants to turn you into hamburgers.”

Clearly hamburgers were the wrong thing to mention, because if cows can glare, Kaltenecker does. She even has the audacity to huff her cow breath at him and drag them both further into Red. Red, who is a traitor, does absolutely nothing to help and is in fact laughing herself sick, loudly, in Lance’s mind.

“I shoulda left you in that damn mall,” Lance grumbles, not meaning it. He sighs and collapses against his cow’s side, closing his eyes. Just his luck. The rest of his friends are gallivanting about a fancy-dancy castle as guests of honour, and Lance is babysitting a methane machine. “I’m gonna have to sleep here tonight, aren’t I.”

“Well, I hope not.”

Lance yelps, jumping to his feet. Unfortunately, in his haste, his boot hooks around Kaltenecker’s hoof, and since she is still unmoving, he goes sprawling. Fortunately, Keith got stranded in a space whale for two years and took Prince Charming classes, or something, so he catches him.

“You’re such a nervous wreck,” Keith says fondly, leaning down to kiss him instead of letting Lance stand like a normal person. (Not. That Lance. Is necessarily complaining. But for prosperity’s sake, and everything, keeping a man in a dip for too long is just undignified, Keith, you should know that, you graduated top of your class from Fairytale University. So. Pull yourself together.)

“Am not,” Lance protests. He sighs as Keith adjusts his hold on him, patting around blindly until he finds the edge of Keith’s braid and undoing it. He slides his hands in that thick hair with a relish as soon as it’s free, making Keith chuckle (but, wisely, not say anything, because the one and only time he commented Lance avoided him for two days out of pure embarrassment).

“I sent the rest of the team on when you didn’t come out. Figured Kaltenecker was giving you trouble.” He meets Lance’s eyes and grins, dark eyes mischievous and sparkling, and Lance is seriously going to walk off a bridge because who authorized that, who, who approved the combination of big dark eyes and a crooked grin and a face that promises trouble. Huh? The fuck’s up with that. “Figured I could help.”

Lance manages to find a shred of dignity within himself and steps slightly away. “That’s great, Noble Kent, but last I checked you couldn’t drag an 800 pound heifer either, so.”

Keith nods. “‘Course not. Brought Kosmo. Here, boy.”

The wolf poofs to existence at Keith’s side, barking excitedly. He bounds up to Lance first, expecting his usual barrage of kisses and head scratches (which he gets), then gets all shy as he walks over to his crush. Kaltenecker looks over at him and no lie rolls her eyes, looking away again. Kosmo, however, is undeterred, barking happily before blipping them both out of existence.

“She is never gonna love you, dude,” Keith says, shaking his head.

Lance snorts, taking Keith’s offered hand and heading down Red’s ramp (finally). “Wouldn’t it be weirder if she did? I think we’d have to break them up. Like, ethically.”

“Could be a Donkey and Dragon situation.”

“Shut up. It ruins my perception of you every time I’m reminded you’ve seen Shrek.”

“You’re perception of me,” Keith repeats, musing. His right eyebrow twitches, and it’s too small to see at arm’s distance, but Lance knows a tiny scar ripples there, from when he was fourteen and got it pierced in defiance of Shiro. “What is your perception of me?”

Lance keeps himself steady. He puts one foot in front of the other and keeps his left hand held in Keith’s. There is nothing interrogating in Keith’s tone, he reminds himself, although maybe there should be. When he looks up Keith’s eyes are open and curious and something else he doesn’t know how to name.

“You’re honest,” he says quietly. He means to say more, has a list he could probably recite bullet by bullet, but he doesn’t.

“Honest,” Keith mutters to himself. “Huh.”

Lance swallows. He doesn’t know how he could possibly explain the weight to that. Keith is committed and brave and talented and beautiful. But more than that he is truthful. Does he see? Does he know?

An empty landing pad passes remarkably slowly when two people walk in silence. There are crafts of all kinds and tarmac upon tarmac. Eventually, though, they start walking somewhere a little more crowded; thin, reedy people resembling the Chancellor waving to them as they pass. Lance would stop to ask for directions, but the giant castle is kind of hard to miss, so they just walk in the direction of it hope their armour will do the talking for them.

Keith catches a richly dyed ribbon blowing by as they pass through a crowded market, trapping the fine thing between his fingers as it passes between them. It’s a strange and familiar colour, walking the line between indigo and deep violet. He glances around for a stall that might be selling them, and when he can’t find one, he turns to Lance and says, “Hold out your arm.”

Lance does. Carefully, Keith unlatches his vambrace, tucking it under his arm, then peels up his undersuit to lay bare his wrist. His tongue sticks out of his mouth slightly in concentration as he ties it among Lance’s dozens of string bracelets, right above his blue Moana watch still counting the hours back home.

“There,” he says proudly. “Looks good on you.”

Lance reaches up and kisses him until neither of them can breathe.

———

They know they will be teased when they finally meet with their friends at the castle.

“Let’s not,” Keith suggests, nodding at the guards who move to let them past.

“I’ll find out where our room is?” Lance says.

Keith nods. “Yeah, we’ll need that.”

“‘Kay, wait here. Don’t be obvious, or Allura will smell drama and come running.”

He’s jinxed them by saying anything at all — no sooner do the words leave his lips does Keith tense up, screwing up his face in an attempt to appear neutral but resembling instead someone who is trying very hard not to sneeze. Lance manages not to laugh, squeezing his hand once before darting off, choosing a random corridor and going with it.

Thankfully, he manages to find a person who holds a clipboard and walks with a purpose, so he assumes they know what they’re doing. Double thankfully, they do, and not only direct him to their rooms but press a labeled map into his hands. It even has a schedule on the back for mealtimes and room cleaning, which is something Lance totally forgot existed. He runs back to Keith quickly, careful to avoid the kitchen and the armoury — places he’s sure his friends will be.

Keith is earnestly inspecting a mounted sword on the wall when Lance returns. His nose is maybe an inch from the polished blade, probably less, honestly. Lance bites his lip to hold down a snicker and takes a picture, intending blackmail, but it ends up being the perfect shot — his hair is slightly wavy from the braid he wore earlier, and there’s a cute scrunch to his nose, not to mention his squinted eyes like he’s wishing for reading glasses. It becomes Lance’s background almost without him meaning to.

“C’mon, nerd,” he calls, smiling as Keith startles. “I got a map and someone is gonna meet us there with a key. I wanna check it out, get a move on.”

Keith does indeed hurry over. “I’m so glad they got it right this time. One room! No need to debate over it.”

Lance falters. He’d been so caught up in the excitement of the room and then Kaltenecker and then…Keith, he forgot. They’re not what Keith thinks they are, what Lance has been pretended to be.

“Right,” he manages, mouth suddenly dry. He desperately tries to shove the enthusiasm back in his voice, forcing his face into a smile when Keith looks back. “Right, yeah, that’s so much less of a pain.”

There is indeed someone with a key when they get to the room. The door is light, in both colour and material, and although his feelings are still heavy and conflicting, his excitement wins out. Keith takes the key, thanking the attendant, and a small voice in the back of Lance’s mind whispers this could be them some day, on Earth, with a key of their own. He does his best to ignore it.

“Ready?” Keith asks.

“Please oh please let the bed be bigger than Red’s cabin,” he responds.

Keith snorts. Slowly, out of what must be a desire to torture Lance, he slides the key into the lock and turns it. Lance doesn’t hesitate before shoving it open.

“It is bigger than the cabin!” he shouts, and wastes no time running up and onto it.

He practically sinks into the mattress, so soft it’s like it’s made of hopes and dreams. The blankets are the fluffiest things he’s ever felt in his life. And the space — he stretches out as far as he can, fingers to toes, and not a single limb comes even close to the edge of the bed.

The mattress dips beside him, and a hand slides along the back of his neck.

“This is you before you notice the big canopy.”

Lance lifts his head immediately. He fights back a very undignified squeal when he does, indeed, see a gossamer blue canopy hanging softly from the high ceilings.

“And the windows too, sweetheart. Floor to ceiling, like you like ‘em.”

Lance scrambles to his knees to check. They are. And the view is breathtaking.

“And the bathtub? Is it huge and clawfooted?”

Keith ducks his head, smiling, and presses a lingering kiss to his cheek.

“I’ll go check, you grandma. You take your armour off.”

He listens for Keith’s footsteps, waits for them to go from carpet to tile, waits for the “Yep! Claw foot!”, waits for the sound of rushing taps even though he didn’t ask, even though Keith didn’t offer. He turns on his back and stares as the canopy, inspecting the padded wooden roof structure from which the gauzy curtains hang, tracing its sturdy edges and even corners.

Keith makes him feel so warm.

He’s felt a lot of cold, in a lot of places, for a lot of his life. Part of it is the stupid anaemia that he gets to live with. Part of it is stuff he doesn’t like to think about. But Keith comes in with his warm hands and warm smile and stupid big warm heart, and Lance is thawed in every frozen inch of him. It’s good. It’s so good.

He wants it so desperately.

He comes when Keith calls, stripping his armour along the way. Keith is waiting for him in the bath when he gets there — and it is huge, close enough for them to both sit comfortably without brushing so much as a toe against each other, but of course Lance settles his spine against the curve of Keith’s chest the second he slips inside the steaming water. The room smells of sandalwood and lilac.

“You are so important to me,” Keith murmurs, seemingly at random, pressing his lips along Lance’s stretched neck, following the arch of it as he tips his head back to rest on Keith’s shoulder.

Lance’s breath sighs out of him, rising and mixing with the steam. He lifts a shaking hand to twine it to Keith’s, squeezing. Their joined hands are wet against his chest. Together they rise, up and down, up and down, up and down, with every shaky breath.

———

They giggle like teenagers, sneaking into the kitchen well after dark and well after most of the castle has finally gone to bed.

Neither has wanted to face the team’s teasing just yet, or even the team at all, really. Their room can’t be called a room so much as a small apartment — bookshelves lining the wall that Keith had been eyeing for hours, a massive wardrobe, a beautiful velvet sofa, even a small icebox. Neither of them have said it but it feels, implicitly, like their own little space, their own little commune, beyond the privacy of a hotel room. It feels like somewhere they could live. They’re billions of miles away from Earth and anywhere Lance could consider home, but it’s nice to pretend, and neither of them is ready to hop back into reality — or Hunk’s roasting — quite yet.

(It is not what Lance’s mind is pretending. In no world could they ever live in a castle like this. It is foolish to spend his time fantasizing about a future they will probably never have, a home they will never build. The guards stationed at every door should break Lance’s fantasy. But he has always been very, very good at pretending.)

“Just grab some of everything,” he whispers to Keith. “We have actual room cleaning, remember? We can have some dirty dishes, no one will mind.”

“There’s certainly space for it,” Keith agrees.

In minutes the two of them have piled almost more than they can carry. They’re much slower on the walk back, but no less giddy. As soon as the door is locked shut behind them, they’re sat on the bed, even though eating on a bed is disgusting and usually Lance would never permit it, and stuffing their faces.

“Oh my God, this thing tastes like strawberries. Here, try.” Keith holds up a juicy looking silver fruit, Lance leans over to bite it. It does taste like strawberry. He dusts off his hands and crawls over to chase the taste off Keith’s tongue.

“Strawberries get you going?” Keith mumbles, and Lance grins and says, “Something like that.”

They have more food than they can possibly eat and they eat until they can barely move. The rest they wrap up and stick in the icebox.

He can feel Keith falling asleep, head getting heavier, so he pats him gently on the hip and whispers, “Come on, get up, at least get ready first. Wash your face.”

Keith groans. He squishes his face further into Lance’s belly, making him squirm and laugh, and mutters something he can barely here. “Hnnngh. You first. I’ll catch up.”

“You’ll fall asleep,” Lance scolds, but he gets up first anyway. When he glances behind him he sees that Keith has at least managed to put one foot on the ground, so maybe he really will get up and put some pyjamas on.

Lance snorts. Yeah, right.

He takes his time and pokes around the bathroom, having been too preoccupied to do so beforehand. There’s a stack of fluffy towels and cloths on a shelf, and even a couple rough ones for exfoliating. In a cupboard lies dozens of soaps and oils and creams and a million other things, labelled in that same holographic translator stuff the Olkarions use so Lance can read them easily. He is impressed by the wide range of selection — he’s been slowly rebuilding his skincare collection, and will indeed be looting at least half of these bottles to complete it. There’s enough stuff here to do a whole soak. Nice.

Then he turns towards the sink. And he stares.

And he starts to cry.

Laid out exactly as he likes it is his stuff from his pack. His toothbrush, his primary face wash, his hair brush, his lotion, everything. In order of how he uses it, with the sink in the middle, and everything an appropriate distance from the sink so he doesn’t soak the whole counter trying to reach for whatever comes next in his routine. A setup his has perfected over many years and has had genuine conniptions over misplaced steps and wrong orders. Something inane and stupid and that only matters to him.

Of course Keith has noticed, of course Keith has memorized, of course he has replicated.

Lance is a horrible, horrible person.

This is has to be how it ends.

“Keith!” he shouts, and the man comes in running, half groggy and robbing the sleep from his eyes. He’s in a t-shirt and boxers.

“Lance?”

“My brush is — in the wrong place.”

Keith inspects him carefully. “You’re crying.”

“Because the brush is in the wrong place! I keep it in the same spot, I like it here, you know I like it here, why is it —”

He interrupts himself with a great, heaving hiccup, so large it shakes his whole body, and he’s furious with himself, with his shaking hands, with the careful look on Keith’s face.

This is how it ends.

“This is not where my brush goes,” he insists again, desperate to keep his voice steady, desperate to make it angry.

“Okay,” Keith says simply. He walks over and pulls the brush gently from Lance’s hands. “Where do you want it?”

Lance tries to breathe in. His chest shakes and shudders, poking holes in his voice. This isn’t working. Why isn’t it working?

“No, you’re supposed to — I’m being unreasonable.”

“You’re upset about something.”

“Something stupid.”

“Okay. I’ll fix it. I can fix it.”

“No, you can’t — I’m not —”

The rest of his strength leaves him.

This is how it ends.

Why can’t he make it end.

Slowly, Keith reaches out to grab his hands. Lance lets him, like the coward he is.

“Come to bed, sweetheart. You’ve had a long day. You need to sleep.”

“Okay,” he whispers, defeated, squeezing his eyes shut. He keeps them shut as Keith guides him to the giant bed, as he pulls back the covers, as he crawls in and waits for the sound of the light switch to be flicked off, of the tiny creak of Keith’s weight as he joins him.

For a long moment Keith is quiet. Long enough that Lance would assume he’d fallen asleep, except that he still sits upright, except that his hand has slid under Lance’s shirt, and his thumb traces a line across the small of his back, over and over again.

“There’s something you’re not telling me,” he whispers.

A new tear slips hot down Lance’s face.

This is how it ends.

He knows, or at least he must suspect. Maybe he realized his mistake some time ago, and has been waiting for Lance to fess up, to explain why he went along with Keith’s mistaken affection in the first place. Why he used Keith, confused as he was, for his own selfish needs.

“I’m sorry,” he says hoarsely. He can’t bring himself to turn around, to sit up, to meet Keith’s eyes.

Keith’s hand doesn’t so much as twitch. “What for?”

“For leading you on.”

That certainly gives him pause.

“Leading me…on?”

“Yeah.” Lance sniffles, dragging himself upright and away from Keith’s affectionate hands, huddled against the massive headboard. “You came back…confused. I don’t know. You thought we were in love. I wanted it, so I let you. I’ve been manipulating you.”

“Lance…” Even only in the silvery blue moonlight streaming in from the windows, Keith’s face is unmistakable, obvious; strong brow creased in worry, head tilted in confusion, face pulled with something like desperation. “Lance, we are in love. Aren’t we? I love you. And you love me, I know you do.”

Lance shakes his head. His tears make his face crumple and he knows how ugly that makes him look, so he hides his face.

“No, I made you feel that way, I didn’t correct you back then and it’s habit now so…”

He trails off. Keith doesn’t respond. He wonders if he’ll stay the night, bed surely big enough for him to sleep without touching Lance at all, or if he’ll have to go get a new room.

A tiny, tiny part of Lance’s brain recognises the irony in that and wants him to laugh. But the steady breaking of his heart keeps it at bay.

“…Back at the tarmac,” Keith says what feels like hours later, startling Lance out of his skin. He looks up at the man with wide eyes, having half-convinced himself he was already gone, and Keith meets his gaze determinedly. “Back at the tarmac, you said I was honest. Did you mean that?”

Lance swallows.

“Yes.”

Keith holds his gaze, looking for something, then nods, having found it. “Believe me then, sweetheart.” He crawls forward, slowly, as if he is afraid Lance will startle away from him. That fear is what startles Lance out of his stupor, out of his guilt, out of the dread that has been building in his stomach for months. He hasn’t seen that kind of fear — the fear of getting too close — on Keith face since he came back. And never does he want to see it again. He throws himself into Keith’s arms, too hard, hard enough to hurt, but Keith catches him and holds him and squeezes just as painfully tightly. “I love you, star of my skies.”

“That’s cheesy as hell,” Lance croaks, and Keith laughs, wetly and beautifully. “I love you too.”

“Good.” Keith kisses the top of his head. “Good.” He exhales, long and shuddering; relieved. “God, I spent two years waiting for this exact moment.”

The statement strikes Lance as odd. “This exact moment.”

Keith tenses. Lance tenses, too, and immediately he relaxes again, breathing steadily until Lance matches him.

“On the space whale, time was…stretchy.”

“You mentioned.”

“Two years I lost.”

Lance tightens his hold. “I know.”

“Most of it was survival camping, really, but there were these visions, sometimes. For Krolia and me. Our pasts. You guys, in the present.” He takes a breath. “Our future.”

Somehow, Lance gets the feel he’s not talking about his and Krolia’s.

“Our future?”

Keith’s breath tickles his neck. Lance doesn’t dare move. Goosebumps pimple his skin and he lets them, shivering, warmed.

“Yes. So much, all the time. More than anything else we saw. Just — tiny snippets, here and there; your face when you sleep, your fingers on a bow, you dragging me on a surfboard and a million other places I woulda followed you to anyway.”

One of his hands slides down Lance’s ribs, fingertips light enough to make him shudder, and rests, cupped open at his hip. “I saw this,” he admits. “Not — the whole conversation, or why, but my hands on you, in this bed, in the moonlight. It kept me going.”

Lance closes his eyes and tries to imagine. Stuck in a strange place where days don’t seem to pass with a stranger who claims to be his mother, watching visions of himself in the future, over and over again.

“No wonder your head was all wonky.”

“Yeah.”

“You’d already been with me. For two years.”

“For twenty. Thirty. Seventy.”

“…That’s a long time, Keith.”

“God, I hope so.”

Lance smiles. “You gonna stick with me that long, hotshot?”

“Like glue, darlin’.”

Lance looks up and, sure enough, Keith’s eyes are closed, face slack. He’s clinging onto consciousness with every bit of strength in his body, things like keeping his accent in check losing priority. Lance settles again against him, guiding them gently so they lie comfortably against the pillows, and breathes out, slow and long.

“Tell me about our future.”

“House on th’beach,” Keith murmurs. His words are slow and pulled apart. “Stone’s throw from your mama’s.”

Lance traces sleepy circles on his skin.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Little boy with hair like yours followin’ every little thing you do.”

His breath hitches. He hadn’t thought about that — hadn’t let himself think about it. It’s dangerous, for more than one reason.

But tonight they’re safe. Under the silvery moonlight, with a bed three times bigger than they are, nothing can touch them.

“What about a little girl with your smile?”

“You got it.”

Lance’s smile is warm and giddy, tucked into Keith’s arm, etched there like it’s permanent. “Good. Goodnight, mi alma.”

“Night, baby.”

This is how it stays, forever and ever and always.

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bagerfluff · 11 months ago

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Keith's A What?

Keith Kogane x Non-Binary Reader

Prompt - "Your hair is so soft"

“Keith got turned into a what?” You asked Shiro. Tilting your head has if that would help you hear better. The team left for a mission a few hours ago and just got back.

You were excited to see your boyfriend, but when he didn’t come up out of his hanger, you were worried. But the Shiro told you something that made you realize that space is weirder than you thought.

Shiro had explained to you that the Galra had some new magic and used that magic to turn Keith into a cat? At first, you didn’t believe, but when Pidge walked out of the red lion’s hanger with a black cat with extra hair on their head, you thought you had seen it all.

“A cat” Shiro answered your question as you walked closer to Pidge. The cat in their arms looked up at you. The cat was fluffy and somehow had Keith’s same signature glare.

They had the same purple eyes that Keith did. “I think with the help of Allura, I should be able to turn him back” Pidge said with a tilt of their glasses as they placed Keith on the ground.

“But I don’t know how long that will take,” Pigde noted “I’m not even sure if Keith is Keith”. “What?” Hunk said as he looked over at Pidge. “Well I’m not sure if Keith got turned into a cat with the mind of a cat or with the mind of Keith”

Pidge said as they looked over at Hunk and then back at Keith. “Well someone needs to take care of him,” Shiro said as he looked around. “Well I’m not. I have stuff to do”

Lance said before walking off to his room. “Maybe Y/n should do it,” Hunk pointed down to your legs “I mean, look at Keith”. Everyone looked down as did you to see that Keith was rubbing against your legs.

Like a real cat. “Maybe he does have the mind of Keith” Pidge noted with furrowed brows as they moved their glasses. “That’s fine with me if it’s okay with Y/n”. You looked down at Keith before looking up at everyone else with a smile.

“Yeah I’d love to” You reached down and picked Keith up, Keith immediately resting in your arms. You then walked back to your room. This week might be weirder than you thought.

It had been a couple of days since Keith got turned into a cat, and it was differently weird. Pidge had decided that Keith still had the mind of Keith but just a cat body. Though, Lance did not appreciate that since when he tried to pick Keith up, he scratched him.

Pidge said that it should only take a couple more days, but you like cat Keith. He was still Keith, but cuter. You didn’t think Keith could look cuter.

Though he was a cat, he was still Keith. Moody, hot-headed, and only really tolerated you.

Since Keith couldn’t go on missions or train and you didn’t do any of that to begin with, Keith hung out with you. You spent most of your time fixing stuff around the castle. You were an engineer, like Hunk.

But you liked Keith’s company. He just slept and watched you work, but you liked it. You normally did all of this alone, so you liked it. Sometimes, Keith also did the cutest things, in your opinion.

Like he would cuddle up with you. When you were working, sleeping, or just resting. But you kinda wanted your boyfriend back. You wanted to cuddle him.

You wanted to talk to him. You slumped in your chair at your desk as you thought about this. You wanted your boyfriend back. You let out a sigh as he leaned forward on your desk with your arm.

Keith walked over from your bed and jumped on the table when he heard you sigh. “Hey love” you said and reached up to pet Keith’s hair.

Keith mewled as he walked into your hand and sat in front of you. You continued to run your hand through Keith’s fur. That was something you and Keith liked.

You because it gave you something to do with your hands. As an engineer, you were kinda handsy, needing to do something, or maybe you had ADHD. Keith liked it because he liked the comfort he felt when someone did it.

Keith’s hair was also soft and fluffy. You loved it. “Your hair is so soft” you said with a small smile. “Or should I say fur” you said with a laugh, and your smile grew. Somehow, Keith looked annoyed as a cat.

You laughed at that as Keith looked away from you. “Come on” you laughed as he moved closer to Keith. “You know you love me” Keith looked back at you and placed his nose on yours.

Your nose wrinkled at the feeling but you loved it.

You held Keith in your arms as you walked into the bridge. Pidge had finally finished the cure with the help of Allura. And it was time to give it to Keith. It was in a needle, and you were also tasked with holding Keith still.

“Ready Y/n. Ready Keith” Pidge said as they walked closer. “Ready” you said, and Keith meowed. Pidge looked around, and everyone else nodded as Pidge walked closer and shot Keith with that needle.

For a while nothing happened and everyone thought it wouldn’t work. “It didn’t work Pidge” Lance said but was quickly proven wrong as Keith started to shake.

Everyone looked at Keith, who is still in your arms. A couple ticks later a human Keith laid in your arms. He quickly wrapped his arms around your neck. You laughed as you placed a kiss on Keith’s forehead.

“You looked cute as a cat,” you said as Keith blushed from your statement.

#lgbtq #voltron x male reader #voltron #keith kogane #keith kogane x male reader #keith voltron #vld keith #vld #voltron legendary defender #keith kogane x reader #keith kogane imagine #voltron x reader #voltron imagines #voltron in 2023

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mothmanavenue · 1 year ago

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In conjuntion with this art piece here

...

The war doesn’t end with a crash or a bang. Nothing explodes in a fiery shower the way he’d read about in books as a kid. There's no rocking of the ground as the world shifts under their feet, and a curling anxiety in his gut as he desperately reaches out in the link for a glimmer of one just one of his teammates, his family, his lover.

There’s just the dead drop of a falling lion as a ceasefire is called. It’s just the feeling of his fingers relaxing from a white knuckled grip on Red’s controls and his head falling back with a dull thud against the headrest of the pilot’s chair. It’s the unwinding of his spine as he slumps, all his strength and exhaustion collapsing in on him as he surrenders flight back to his lion, her battle roar softening to a gentle rumble in the back of his mind. It’s the gasps of relief and whispered gratitude of his family echoing in his ears, letting him know they’re safe, they’ve made it, it’s finally done.

Keith is completely unsurprised to note which one he prefers.

Red’s purr is a constant source of comfort in his mind as he curls his legs toward his chest, eyes squinted in lazy, bone deep weariness, brain barely processing Shiro and Allura from their respective command stations outlining the conditions of ceasefire. He can barely think about anything outside the cramping in his fingers and the bleariness of his eyes from entire successive days spent raising Voltron’s sword, pouring his energy and willpower into convincing the strongest weapons in the universe to bend to his will.

It’s ok if he misses something. The team will catch him up. They always have, when the tiredness consumes him, and he checks out of conversations and discussion, slumping against the nearest comforting shoulder.

Allura’s voice is as sharp and clear as the crown that adorns her head; the queen of Altea in all her glory commands her troops from the midst of battle. Keith’s attention had been laser focused on ensuring Voltron’s continued presence, but nothing in the world could keep him from watching for Allura’s flashing blue light as she approached Haggar, now withered and raging, and knelt in front of her. Keith missed what was said, the words exchanged. But he saw the tightening of his Queen, his sister’s, shoulders, and the hand wrapping tight around the witch’s neck.

It’s been a long eight days on this earth of his.

His brain clocks out in that moment, and he rides the warm haze he’s in, letting the satisfaction of success settle into his bones. It’s not time for celebration just yet. It will come later once the dead is counted and the shrouds are laid. Keith knows better than most the toll of war, and he dreads the time that will come when the lists of the dead will be handed to them, and he will need hours, days, weeks, to grieve people he did and didn’t know and names he’s cherished and ones he’s never heard, and each loss will still hit like a blow to the ribs. After that, the celebration will come. The ballrooms of the castle will glow with life and Hunk will dress in gold, Shiro’s white hair will gleam in the light, and Pidge will protest that she just won a war, she deserves a drink. Allura will stand regal at their side, and her shoulders will be light, free from the burden of an avenger, and she will turn to them with a gleaming grin and they won’t have any choice but to smile back at her.

And lance.

Lance will be so handsome in his blue suit, golden and silver threaded in painstaking embroidery in the bed of deep sky. His hair will fall loose and natural in his eyes, heavenly blues, and earthy brown under the string set of his eyebrows, and he’ll gleam like a freshly lit candle.

He’ll take Keith’s breath away and Keith will never want it back.

But that comes after.

Right now, here, Red lands on dusty earth and grumbles in his head about doing all the work. He’s sure none of the other lions give their other halves this much shit. He loves her so fiercely it burns his throat and eyes. He can’t believe he ever spent a day outside of her. Can’t believe he wasn’t raised alongside this wonderful, temperamental, protective, grouchy cat, who bossed him and fussed him, and purred and cooed when he screamed in his dreams. Can’t believe there ever was a time he resigned himself to not having this. What a fool he was.

The wave of emotion fills the cockpit in a lilting hum, and she lights up around him, Voltron blue piercing through the chunks in his armour. Red is as alive as a blaze and warm as a hearth in his head.

Her mouth drops open with one final swell of affection, as she releases her paladin to his home ground.

Keith murmurs a breathy thank you i love you you’re everything to me, as he stumbles out, hand grasping the cool metal as he comes to a rest on the shifting sands. The sand is warm from fire and fighting and it hits him all at one.

He crouches down, head hanging as he pants and gasps for breath. The emotion of the past few days shutter his eyesight till all he sees in the grains of sand sticking to his gauntlets. His head spins and his hair is falling out of the ponytail he’d tied it back in, and his breath is coming hard now.

Something is missing. Somethings not quite right.

The swords have fallen, the helmets tossed to the side, red looms protective behind him. The shields are down the guards are dropped and he can feel the press of the Voltron bond that lets him know his team is landing nearby, drawn together with a gravitational pull.

He draws in breath, cool and refreshing and tinged with the scent of burning. Around him the sand is interspersed with freshly formed glass.

He raises his head, expecting to see the heavens above him. He wants to take in the freshly healed scar of the newly collapsed Rigel star system. Wants to know how the blazing lights of thousands of planets worth of warfare look set against the familiar earth sky. He think he might look at the constellations, like he did not far from here a hundred years ago, tucked into his dad's strong, solid arms, the scratch of a stubbly chin accompanying a moving mouth as it named Orion, Cassiopeia, Gemini.

He looks up expecting to see stars, and instead, he sees the sun.

Lance's smile is crooked, and his breath comes fast, like he ran, as he hovers over him. Their faces are so close he can count each individual freckle on this boy’s face, as precious to him as the gleam of moonlight cutting paths across the castle hallways. Oh this boy, this absolute death of him.

“Hey lover,” the words leave Lance’s mouth with ease and anticipation, years of pent-up adoration spilling out with every vowel, “we did it.”

Keith feels his own smile steal across his face, “yeah, we did.”

If possible, Lance's smile grows wider, crinkling the already forming smile lines at his eyes. Keith thinks of the products that line the counter of his bathroom sink, just waiting for a pretty bronzed hand to pick them up when the separation hits, and their resolves are softened by the press of late hours and long silence.

A silly waste. Keith likes this look on Lance.

Aging.

What a wonderful thing he never thought he’d get to have.

“You know what that means?”

Lance's voice is smooth, the tremble that only a practiced ear could pick out masked by the sincerity and anticipation that has dogged their every conversation since that night on the dais.

“We’ll wait.”

“Until when, Keith?”

“Until it’s done. When it’s done then we can have this. We can’t lose everyone for each other.”

“I’m yours?”

“When it’s done then. And when it’s done, I’m bringing you home with me. I’m putting a ring on your finger and I’m never letting you go. You’re it for me, Keith.”

“I’m not asking you to wait, that’s not fair-“

“I followed you into space Keith. I followed you to the point of no return. You aren’t asking me anything and that’s a damn shame. I’d give you anything you asked for.”

“When it’s done lance, when it’s done, I’ll ask you anything you want me to. I’ll come home with you, I’ll share a bed with you. I’ll be yours as long as you’ll have me.”

“Don’t joke, honey,”

“I’m not. You’re mine, lance”

“And-“

“you’re mine.”

The words reverberate in his head, and oh. This is what it was. The smooth slot of this thing that’s been so long coming.

Lance drops to his knees in front of him, one warm hand coming to rest on his cheek. Keith leans his head into it. He’s too tired for restraint, or shame, or any other useless emotion that would’ve held a younger him back. He’s got nothing to lose. He’s won. There’s no reason left to hold back. What a novel idea. It coats him and leaves him shivering at the feel of a gloved thumb running gently over his cheekbones.

His eyes fall back open from their unconscious close, and Lance is so close.

Honest, sweet, honourable lance. The sandpaper to all his rough edges. The iron that absorbed his burning heat. The shore that meets his rocking tide.

Keith can hear the thunder of Pidge’s feet as they run across the uneven terrain. Hunk is following after her, his voice a cacophony of relief and joy. Shiro’s laughter is warm and thick as honey, coming easier than it has since aliens were a late-night story. Allura is giggling, high and bright, and a little hysterical. It’s ok. She’ll pull herself back together and they’ll be there to fill the cracks with liquid gold.

(Or glitter. She’d like glitter.)

Lance is watching him, and Keith’s eyes drift back to him. Lance hasn’t looked away in years. Something, some last resistance hidden away so deep he didn’t even know to search for a cure, falls away.

He leans in and closes the gap.

...

posted on ao3 here

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clickabletale · 2 months ago

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how other artists depict “long haired pidge”

how I picture “long haired pidge.”

#enby pidge has been eating my brain matter lately #i can’t unsee it #also funky frog bait appreciation <333 #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #pidge gunderson #pidge holt #green paladin #hidge #team punk #smart cookies #photos #nonbinary #nonbinary pidge #fem pidge is totally fine but idk this feels more fitting #hits the right note #pidge

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callmelyc · 11 months ago

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Angsty post canon concept:

When Allura dies what if the Altean magic she used on Shiro and Lance weakens and that's how ppl find out Lance also died?

Both Lance and Shiro start with symptoms they can ignore and ones doctors brush aside. They get told it's fatigue, they get told it's after effects from fighting In the war like they had for all that time. Neither realize it all starts after Alluras death.

Then they end up with things unexplainable. Things like extreme full body tremors, sudden extreme chills and are icy cold to the touch no matter the temperature. Their bodies ache in the ways they had in their deaths but neither man admits it out loud too afraid of what that might mean so neither is aware they aren't alone is this bizarre and sudden turn of events.

It's not until Lance collapses and is rushed to the Garrison hospital that they discovered it something more.

His body deteriorating from the inside out seen visibly from their newest high tech scans. Rotting, closing down, slowing or lacking proper function like his body has given up. Like his body is referring backwards to lack of life but no one knows why.

It's almost like its frying itself from the inside out, it's path crawling closer and closer to his heart with every passing day like bolts of electricity pulsing more and more upward.

Shiro is the first to realize what it means once Lance is finally giving the symptoms they'd had to pry out of him. He realizes with dread that his fellow paladin has things that match up too close to his own.

He only realizes bc he's felt similar things, only his resemble his own death and he knows for a fact its thinfs in Excruciating pain, a pain he thought no one but himself would ever understand.

To get lance to admit what happened Shiro goes through the scans himself to prove his point. No one enjoys hearing Lances story, Allura hadn't even known she was capable of what she'd done to him So he's worse off than Shiro is and terrified of the idea of dying again this slowly

both get taken to an off planet hospital, one that could preserve their symptoms until the rest of their team and families could find a way to heal them

But without Alluras alchemy No one knew what to do.

First they try talking to the alteans on new altea but none have any knowledge of the alchemy allura had used for them

Then the team spreads out

Pidge uses her ranking in her field to gain any and all database information she can get her hands on

Hunk uses his connections To the Balmera and other species to attempt to find any information on healing abilities that might help

Keith is the most successful, the man he loves and his brother are dying and he wouldn't accept that one bit

He sends all the Blades willing to look for any possible Leads and anyone who might know anything about healing magic or alchemy

Keith is the one who comes across one of haggars old druids, one well versed in altean alchemy and one bitter at what had become of the craft

She had understood, to a degree, what Allura had done to Save both men

She had tied their life force to her own to ground them back to this plane of existence and now that she's no longer tied to one universe her connection has faded and so has theirs

"You must tie them to another life to keep them but this practice is taboo. If this next life dies they will with it."

Keith doesn't hesitate for a moment "just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

He ends up tying Lances life force to his own, Lance so sickly he didn't get a choice and Keith apologizes the entire way

He combs fingers through lances thinned hair hoping it brought any comfort to the man that had no energy to even stay awake anymore "you can be as angry as you want after this, as long as you survive I don't care anymore..."

Shiros husband does the same for Shiro

They know it's worked when their bodies stop dying and start to finally try to heal.

The damage so extensive they both spend months in newly crafted healing pods that do everything to try to reverse it.

Both come out whole, alive and maybe a little worse for wear than before All this took place.

But no one cares so long as they stay alive.

And, if when Keith tells lance what he'd done to save him, Keith earns a strict slap to the face for his recklessness that's followed by a gentle kiss.

Well, no one says a word.

#voltron #lance vld #vld #vld lance #lance mcclain #keith kogane #klance #keith x lance #keith voltron #shiro vld #i put this concept on Twitter and rhey were frothing at the mouth over it #this will be turned into a full fic so stay tuned

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alluraaaa · 1 year ago

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i do very much like the idea of baby butch lesbian pidge. or futch or however we wanna diagnose what she’s got going on in canon. but i’ve always seen her having a love/hate relationship with her femininity

when she first came out as trans she was veeery little and flocked to femininity like coming home. it was so easy to put on dresses and grow out her hair and play with girl toys. she wanted to!! and katie rolls off the tongue much easier than any other name, but her annoying brother still calls her that old nickname sometimes :/

(but it’s fine. it was pidge from pigeon. it was her first word. for some reason.)

and when she decides to sneak into the garrison detransitioning for the time being made sense. they’re looking out for a girl. with long hair. it’s the best plan she’s got. it’s for her family she can do it. she can do it she can just pick up the scissors… and…

pidge keeps his head down. doesn’t talk much, even to the two (other) guys he’s grouped with. doesn’t talk to them even as they all get launched into space with two more men. just five boys in a giant lion. guys night, right?

but soon enough it gets clear this isn’t temporary. this is real. they’re in this together. they have to mind meld and get along and be on the same wavelength twenty four fucking seven. pidge has to come clean.

so she does. she’s a girl. the name has grown on her but she’s a girl she’s she.

and the team accepts it. loves her regardless. hell, even saw through her botched haircut.

so… yay. she’s a girl and they know. but would they be okay with her being… girly? she’s missed the dresses and the hair and pretty flowers. yeah allura is all those things and they all like her just fine but would it be weird if pidge just suddenly gets girly? she likes the masc look too but damn she misses heels sometimes. she hates having to deal with her shortness

one day allura weasels all of this out of her and allura doesn’t take no for an answer. so pidge is dolled up in one of allura’s best dresses, face beat to the gods, hair done in the girliest style they can manage with her… whole situation. and she’s beaming at her reflection

then allura drags her to dinner, hiking up the skirt so she doesn’t trip over herself as she gets into her seat. pidge toughens up and waits for the laughs to hit her. for someone to assume pidge got roped into this and secretly hates it. the “uhh… who are you and what have you done with pidge?”

but none of that happens. shiro says she looks nice. keith likes the hair. hunk likes the dress. lance demands to get dolled up next.

if anyone notices pidge’s immovable smile for the rest of dinner, they don’t comment on it. and they don’t bat an eye when skirts and dresses make their way into the rotation of pidge’s outfits right alongside her pants and overalls

#my femmasc futch girlypop #txt #pidge #headcanon #longer than i thought. and this is the short version #she accociates femininity with being a kid in school and being bullied by those kids. they didn’t bully pidge they bullied katie #and other such thoughts #but allura would murder all of them in her sparkliest gown. so who cares what they think <3

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jiveyuncle · 1 year ago

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"Lance," Keith sounds breathless. "Back when we found my lion - the glowing symbols. What did you say about it?"

Lance is still staring hard at where Keith's hand rests on the control panel's screen, face scrunched in disbelief. "That is was written in code?"

Keith shakes his head. "No, no, about the Galra not being able to find it because of something to do with quintessence."

Lance's brow furrows further as he tries to recall what all he said so long ago, then his eyes flick up to meet Keith's. "Um? They were directions - quintessence infused." His lips purse as he tries to list everything. "The inscriptions would only be revealed in the presence of an Altean."

Keith removes his hand from the panel and the stars wink out. He strides toward Lance, mind racing. "Lance," Keith exhales. "I saw similar symbols back on Earth. Back when Hunk, Shiro, Pidge and I found the Green Lion in the cave."

Lance's eyes are flicking rapid-fire between Keith's, "But I wasn't there with you that time."

Keith grips Lance by the arms, hands squeezing tight. "Then why did the cave still light up?"

Lance almost looks as if he's stopped breathing.

Keith shifts his hold from Lance's arms, to hold his face. "The whole time I've been amazed at how much a couple of aliens look like us humans," Keith presses his forehead to Lance's, "but maybe I should've been thinking about how much we look like you."

And Keith can see it - in Lance's face - the moment the full meaning of everything clicks, and then Keith's being crushed in a bone-breaking hug. A wet laugh finds its way into the crook of Keith's neck. "Allura and I weren't the only ones to survive."

Keith raises his arms to squeeze Lance back just as tightly and buries his nose in his hair. "I think we're gonna need another look at the cave back on Earth."

A little glimpse at the Humans-are-the-crossbreed-descendants-of-Alteans-that-fled storyline reveal. I tried to layer so many hints and foreshadowing throughout the fic, and the reveal was just so satisfying to write. Idk if it’s been done before (probably) as I joined this fandom wayyy late but this AU is clogging all my brain space. I’m feral. If you ask me, I will scream your ear off about how this fills a ton of plot holes in canon and strengthens some of the choices made by different characters. Actually, I’ll rant about it on the next post since it’ll be the last batch of artwork for the fic. I’m so excited to draw more stuff within the AU. I just have so many thoughtsssss about how everything connectsssss ahhh

Fic: Sure and Indelible on AO3:

#klance #keith kogane #lance mcclain #altean lance #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #black paladin lance #fanart #fanfic #sure and indelible

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xochitai · 2 months ago

Note

Is this where sketch requests go? Would love to see Pidge braiding Lotor's hair, but Lotor cooking with Hunk to make up for setting Hunk up with Dayak would be fun too.

when you miss having long hair but fortunately you have an alien prince on the ship who owes you a favor from all those times he almost killed you & your friends

#i will probs draw lotor cooking w hunk later #but i picked this one first bc i knew the pose would be more challenging for me #anyways hope u enjoy :)#vld #voltron: legendary defender #lotor #pidge gunderson #katie holt

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girlboypersonthingy · 2 years ago

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First Meetings~

Voltron x reader drabble about the first time they met each other 💖💖💖 Gender neutral reader ALWAYS !

LANCE 💙

This cheeky boi. He first laid eyes on you back at the Garrison when he saw you and Pidge talking one day at lunch in the cafeteria. Hunk and Lance came strolling in to find Pidge, presumably to bug them and mess with their current technology fixation. Before the two boys have even sat at the table, Lance has his eyebrow cocked, a smirk on his lips and a hand slowly running through his hair.

"Hey...name's Lance." He looks down at you, leaning on the table to get closer to you. You smile at him politely, unsure of his motive with such a flirty tone.

"Hi. I'm (Y/N). Nice to meet you." You offer him your hand to shake and your smile widens. Right then, as his hand fell into yours and you were being so nice to him (and he was lowkey admiring your smiling lips), he felt it. It was kind of like he had to throw up, but also like he wanted to run a marathon. You'd think he'd go for the ol' kiss on the back of the hand cliche, but not with you. He just stares, in awe of how cute you look. You were different...he didn't know why, but he just couldn't keep his cool around you.

"I-I like your name. Heh...uh yeah. Nice to meet you, too." He mumbles, now a shy blushing mess. Your hands parted, but he kept staring at you. You couldn't help the blush that crept up on your face as you quickly looked away from him. "Oh brother..." Pidge mumbles as they roll their eyes, still tinkering with their device. "Dude, you good?" Hunk whispers to him as he watches the awkward staring contest happening between you two.

"Uh I should...get going actually." You stand slowly, smiling at the two boys again before gently nudging Pidge's shoulder. "See ya later, Pidge." Pidge simply nods, not looking up from their current project. And with that, you quickly run off to your room to scream into a pillow because OH MY GOD WHO WAS THAT CUTIE AND WHERE HAS HE BEEN ALL YOUR LIFE??? And Lance...yeah, he just starts screaming right there in the cafeteria...in front of everyone because the boy is S T A R S T R U C K.

SHIRO 🖤

Aww space dad is so sweet and polite. You and Shiro met when you helped Keith rescue him when he landed back on Earth after the failed Kerberos mission. You had befriended Keith just after Shiro had disappeared and while you knew who Shiro was, you had never actually gotten the chance to meet or interact with him before you were dragging his limp body off of that medical table.

As soon as he woke up, Keith was by his side. "Shiro? Hey...how are you feeling?" Keith stood from his seat and quickly approached the bed Shiro was laying on. He sat up slowly with a groggy groan. "I'm alright." He replies softly before rubbing his eyes.

"Hey, Keith. You haven't eaten all day. Come on, why don't we-" You stop in your tracks upon seeing Shiro awake and standing slowly. You had been concerned that Keith was just rotting away in his seat waiting for Shiro to wake up, but all thoughts left your mind when you saw him. He reaches his long, strong arms above his head to stretch and you just watch, taking note of how much taller than you he is. Seeing him up close like this had your heart doing back flips. His eyes look so soft and his hair is a bit disheveled and he's smiling at you. Oh god, he's smiling at you...

"Oh, uhm. Hi. I'm (Y/N), Keith's friend." You blurt out nervously, fidgeting with your fingers. Shiro nods and holds out his hand to you. "(Y/N). Nice to know Keith is making friends. I'm-" You cut him off as you slap your hand into his, shaking it excitedly. "Shiro! Yeah, I know who you are. Everyone does." His smile becomes bashful as your eyes meet, giving you a firm hand shake. He can't find the strength to let go of you, not when you were looking at him like that, his smile growing by the millisecond. The way he repeated your name made you forget how to breathe for a second. It was like in the movies, a slow motion love-at-first-sight scene.

Keith simply raises a brow and crosses his arms as he watches you guys get lost in each other's eyes for a moment. "Uhm..." Keith's voice brings Shiro back to reality. He quickly pulls his hand away, averts his gaze and clears his throat. His once soft and lovely expression has turned more serious. "I have so much to tell you, Keith."

PIDGE 💚

Let's be real...Matt TOTALLY hooked ya'll up. You were Matt's friend before you met Pidge. He was nice and funny and hella nerdy just like you. You guys just got each other. One day, he invites you over to help you with some very challenging homework because he's obviously way smarter than you and he could tell you were struggling.

You sat across from him at his family's kitchen table, your head in your hands as you sighed. "I'm gonna fail." You groan, causing Matt to chuckle. "No you won't, (Y/N). Come on, let's go over it again." You sigh and try to follow along in your textbook as he reads to you. A small figure sneaking to the cupboard catches your eye. You glance up to see who it was looking for a midnight snack. Matt stopped reading and smirked a bit. "Pidge, you better brush your teeth after you eat all that sugar." You watch the younger of the siblings turn towards you, their arms full of different candies and chocolates. "You're not the boss of me." They reply in a snarky tone, making Matt whip his head around to look at them. "I'm the oldest person in this room, that makes me the boss of both of you." Pidge simply rolls their eyes as you struggle to look away from them.

Pidge approaches you guys, slowly sliding a mars bar across the table to Matt. "Don't tell mom I'm eating sugar this late, please?" They mumble shyly as they attempt to bribe their sibling. You can't help but stare. This adorably small person with long, messy hair and tired eyes was the most gorgeous person you'd ever seen. Matt snatches the candy bar with a cheeky grin. "Only if you share with (Y/N), too."

Pidge glances over at you and sighs. "Fine. What kind do you want?" You panic, barely able to function with them standing so close. "Uh...you uh...got any Reese's?" They go to slide the candy over to you and as you reach out for it, your fingertips touch just for a second. That's all it takes for you two to make eye contact and you both become blushing messes as you both yank your hands back. The eye contact doesn't last long because Pidge is just a shy little bean, but Pidge definitely keeps glancing over at you as you reach out and pull the candy closer. You open it and take a bite, smiling a bit. "Mmm, I love peanut butter." And Pidge just can't look away now. You like peanut butter, they like peanut butter and the way your face looks as you chew. Wow, they think you're too cute.

Pidge just stares as you take another bite. The silence, at this point, is too much to bear. Finally, Matt chimes in, "Geez, Pidge, stare much?" You blush as you look up and meet their gaze. You flash them a small smile, watching them get flustered. They quickly look away and angrily snatch the candy bar from their brother's hand. "I hate you." They grumble before walking off back to their room.

"They totally like you. Oh ho ho! I'm never letting this go." Matt snickers as your face grows more red.

KEITH ❤️

Baby boy met you after you were rescued from a galra prison. Pidge, of course, needed to search every cell for her father and brother and they stubbled upon you, dirty, weak and starving. You looked exhausted but hopeful. Pidge calls for some help in getting you and the others in your cell back to the castle. At this time, Keith was much too busy being the protector to really help you all escape.

Once back at the castle, all the others who were held captive with you were doing fine, but you were in much worse shape. The galra seemed to really despise humans so you were thrown in the ring to fight and man handled the most. Bruises littered your body, scrapes and dry blood painted your face. You had a hard time even making it off the galra ship and to the castle, so Shiro and Allura thought it would be best to put you in a healing pod.

It wasn't long before all the paladins were surrounding your pod, wondering how another human ended up all the way out here in the hands of the galra. Finally, as the pod begins to opens, the group goes silent as they watch you. "Someone better grab them. Last time I did, Allura nearly ripped my poor ear off." Lance shoves his hands in his pockets. "Don't look at me! They're like twice my size!" Pidge protests, their arms crossed now. "Guys-" Keith tries to intervene. "Just do it, Lance." Pidge argues and suddenly, the blue and green paladins are full blown shouting at one another. As Shiro tries to deescalate their fight, Keith notices that your eyes are still closed, but you're slowly leaning forward. He jumps forward to catch your weak body before you nearly face plant. You fall into his arms with a grunt, slowly opening your eyes.

"Hmm? Where...where am I?" You ask the boy holding you, his eyes looking deep into yours. "You're uh...We're uh..." Keith just couldn't come up with any words as his pretty purple eyes bore into yours and your hands clutched the sleeves of his jacket. Your lips began to stretch into a shy smile as he slowly came down to his knees, still cradling you in his arms (lmao bonding moment <3). He gently rests you on the ground, nearly scrambling to get away from you and back to his feet. You look around at the others, a confused look on your face. As Allura begins to explain where you are and who they all are, Keith is just staring at you down on the ground. He rubs his arms where your hands were just resting, a blush quickly tinting his entire face and neck. If God is real, Keith is pretty sure he just met them.

You stand slowly, feeling tired but better than before. "Wow, no way I was saved by the paladins of Voltron. Cool!" You smiled brightly as you clasped your hands together behind your back. "Uh, sorry. I'm (Y/N)." You look around the group as they all begin telling you their names. When your eyes landed on Keith, his eyes went wide with embarrassment. "Keith..." He mumbles shyly, making your stomach drop. "Thanks for catching me, Keith." You watch as he looks down at his shoes, his long dark hair covering his beet red face. You are so damn cute, what the hell? He's never felt this way before and neither have you. The way his name rolled off your tongue made him want to punch something, but also made him want to cry? He is such a dense guy, but something about you softened him just a bit that day.

HUNK 💛

You and Hunk met back at the Garrison. Lance was no doubt out trying to impress some cute pilot while Pidge sat up on the roof, looking for signs of their brother and father. So, that left Hunk to go on a mission of his own. It was late, far past curfew, but when your stomach is grumbling you decide to sneak into the cafeteria in hopes of finding a late night snack. It was dark and quiet as you tip toe through the halls, constantly looking over your shoulder for anyone who might catch you. As you scurry into the kitchen, you slowly open the large industrial sized fridge. The light from the fridge illuminates the room around you and as you look back once again to check for anyone who might catch you, you nearly yelp as your eyes meet Hunk's. He's sitting up on the counter with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon, his eyes wide when he sees you.

"Geez, you scared me" You both whisper in unison. The way the dim light lit up his cute chubby face had you seeing stars. There was a bit of peanut butter on the corner of this mouth and his cheeks were turning red as he stared at you. He couldn't see much detail with the way the light was shining behind you, but just the way you were standing with your hands behind your back and the way your voice sounded tired and the way you wouldn't tear your eyes off of him. Boy was whipped. "I-if you tell anyone about this-" You whispered before he jumped down from the counter to get a closer look at you. "No, its okay. I come in here all the time after curfew. It'll be our little secret."

Now that he's this close, he can see the color of your hair and the shape of your jaw and the curve of your smiling lips. You looked back and forth between his kind eyes and the jar of peanut butter in his hand, your heart racing. "You...want some?" He holds the jar out to you and you shake your head. "Uh no thanks. I was looking for something salty like chips or something." And before you can finish your sentence, he's opening cupboards to help you find a good salty snack. You watch him for a moment before you realize your heart is POUNDING in your chest. He was so...big. Not that you mind that, you just couldn't help but wonder how warm and comforting his hugs must be.

"Ah ha! Hope you like salt and vinegar chips." He turns to hand you the bag, a bright smile plastered across his tan face. You took the bag from his hand and nodded. "You really know your way around the kitchen, huh?" Your voice is still soft, just above a whisper. He lets out a soft laugh as he nods his head. "I mean...I'm not trying to brag, but I do whip up a mean apple pie. Do you...like pie?" He watches as you stare up at him. He wanted to look away because we all know Hunk is a shy babe, but he really loved the way your hair was messy right now and the way you looked at him made his knees feel weak. "Apple is my favorite pie." And at that, you're both full blown smiling at each other.

"I'm (Y/N)." You offer him your hand and he's quick to grab it, shaking it gently. "Hunk." He lets your hand go, but he wishes the contact would never end. Your hand was so cold in his and now he was picturing you two cuddled up in bed, his warm body bringing you comfort. You both stood in a comfortable silence for just a moment before you both hear talking and footsteps coming from the hallway.

"Goodnight, Hunk!" You whisper shout before taking off back towards your room. He watched you scurry off, not even worried about getting caught right now. He couldn't look away, not when you had just said his name so soft and panicked.

"Goodnight, (Y/N)." He sighs dreamily.

ALLURA 💖

You met the princess during a mission in which team Voltron had to sneakily board a galra ship in order to deactivate a weapon that would soon be used to try and capture their precious lions. The galra were using you to their advantage- you were a weak human but you were feisty and a decent fighter so they forced you to protect and serve them and, in return, you were treated a bit better than the other prisoners.

As sirens blare in the ship, you run to where you were told to go. You were simply following orders. As you quickly round the corner, your body SLAMS into another, sending you both falling back on your butts. You quickly regain your footing and reach for your dagger before realizing the hard collision of your bodies sent it flying off in another direction. As the other figure stands, you lift your hands and take a wide-legged stance, ready to fight with your bare hands. Before the fighting began, the tall woman in front of you takes off her helmet, making you nearly gasp. "A human?' She asks, her eyes wide. Your hands fell back to your sides as you watched her. She was so tall and pretty. Did you just die and go to heaven because you are so sure she's an angel.

You shake your head to regain clarity and raise your fists again. "Yeah, and who the hell are you?" She steps closer to you, her hands up in a nonthreatening way. "I'm Princess Allura, I am with Voltron. How did you end up here? Why are you working for the galra?" You blink in shock, your hands once again falling to your sides. "Voltron?" You repeat, realizing this could be your savior. "The galra are keeping me here, forcing me to work for them. I-" She cuts you off by grabbing your hand and leading the way. As you run along behind her, you're quick to grab your dragger off the floor and return it to it's sheath on your hip.

You couldn't help but let your eyes wonder the back of her figure, admiring her long legs and slender fingers wrapped around yours. Your hand was sweating but not as much as your face was. This beautiful lady was rescuing you after you nearly punched her just seconds ago. You simply followed along as the rest of the team took out the weapon and soon returned back to the castle.

Once back at the castle, you introduce yourself, explain your situation and sheepishly apologize for making their mission harder. "Well, I'm glad you're here, (Y/N). If the galra were utilizing your talents then I'm sure we can make good use of you, too." The way your name sounded on her voice made your mouth dry. You gulp nervously, staring up at her bright blue eyes. "Y-yeah. I'm glad I'm here too, Princess." She smiles sweetly at you, causing both of you to blush slightly. For just a moment, everything else disappears and it's just you and her, eyes locked, lips slowly turning up into a smile, cheeks growing more and more red. She realizes that the moment is becoming awkward and tense so she looks over to the others, noticing their smirks. They all knew you two were falling for each other. "Well then...are you hungry?" She asks you before glancing at you once more. "Starving." You reply softly before following the team to the dinning room.

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