#Lotor is a trash boi

[im-smart-i-swear]

some lore. this may all change lol im still figuring stuff out but this is the general gist

[kitkatopinions]

Hey KitKat I have a question and sorry if this is a weird question:

Is there anything wrong with liking certain rwby characters that are not as popular?

I like Neptune even with the small scenes he had in canon yet I have met fans that didn’t like my opinion because of the whole dance arc.

I understand he is not perfect but I think the part that really bother me is that when I try addressing their character flaws apparently I was the bad guy?

Why is their character immune to criticism when they have just as much flaws?

I don't think there's anything wrong with liking pretty much any character so long as the flaws the character has are acknowledged and (if included in writing) are actually written as flaws.

Neptune is a great example and I also happen to like him, so this is a great place to discuss it. XD Neptune in canon severely suffered from the RWBY writers' misogyny, as he was written as a giant douchebag partially to prop up Jaune's 'nice guy' thing, but since the writers were misogynists, Neptune's own cool guy dudebro 'womanizer' thing was treated as not a big problem and not a deal breaker to the other characters even when he made women visibly uncomfortable and kept flirting like with Team NDGO and with Ilia. And since he was a side character without a lot of screentime and like zero growth, that's kinda like sixty percent of his character at least and the rest of it is pretty thin. In canon, there isn't much to him. And it's important that no one defends or refuses to admit that Neptune in canon is a douchebag who doesn't respect women. But also... Neptune is a fictional person. he isn't real, 'condemning him for his actions' seems kind of ridiculous, and making him better or making him get better in fanfics or just liking the rest of his non-douchey character traits and his design and wanting to have fun with that shouldn't be treated as bad. It's the same with any RWBY character, even much worse ones who have done worse things morally speaking than making women uncomfortable, like Ironwood, Adam, Emerald, Mercury, Roman, Neo, Cinder, Salem, JACQUES SCHNEE even. Like, I hate Jacques with the power of a thousand burning suns, he's evil and trash and I would never redeem him or have a better version of him in my headcanons (even though I love and value redemption arcs, I also personally think having characters that don't get redeemed and instead demonstrate examples of how even though everyone can be redeemed, some people won't be redeemed is beneficial) but if somebody else did... So long as they aren't excusing or defending his actions, so what? I write fanfictions about redeemed Kylo Ren and redeemed Count Olaf, so I have no space to judge.

People have this weird tendency to treat fictional characters like they're real people, like they need to answer for their crimes, like they 'can't change,' and it's so strange to me. Fictional characters are whatever people want them to be, and they don't exist, so their crimes are all fictional, so... Why would they 'need to be punished?' XD Also, the same people who have this 'we should condemn fictional characters,' 'how dare you like this character when they did X bad thing,' 'writing anything except hate for this character is abuse apologism' people... They almost always like a villain themselves. XD Whether it's a villain in RWBY like Cinder, Salem, Tyrian, Watts, Hazel, Raven, etc, or whether it's a villain outside of RWBY like the Joker, Harley Quinn, Azula, Darth Vader, Sephiroth, Catra, Lotor, Maleficent, etcetera.

But yeah, in general, I think you should ignore those people. If you like Neptune, more power to you! If you want to write fics or headcanons or what have you about Neptune realizing that the way he acted was wrong, even more power to you! If you write things where Neptune was never a womanizer or misogynist to begin with, cool! If people get angry at you over something like writing a teenage boy to deconstruct his misogyny or making said teenage boy not that way in the first place, then they're probably not people you want to know. Hope this helps. :)

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

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

Season 1, Episode 5: The Princess Joins Up

Just from the episode title alone, I know my boy Sven is about to be tossed out like TRASH

I wonder what Zarkon wants with Allura, Lotor hasn't been introduced yet so maybe just a political prisoner or something

All the guards and prisoners are like ??? because haggar swears she'll upgrade the winner of this next gladiator fight so they can go against voltron if they didn't push the "all the soldiers were robots not people" narrative so much I'd agree but one of them asked how she could improve robots,, many ways sir and it's worse because she uses magic

Again some of these robeast and alien designs are so cool, very creative and reminds me biology is a suggestion when it comes to making a new species

A look into haggar lab, interesting actually it's just being used as a torture chamber where she infuses magic into them while they're still awake to feel the pain, horrifying

On Arus again, now it's the team calling out to the remaining Arusians into the tunnel to give them safety in the castle AND LANCE ALMOST FALLS OFF A CLIFF, GREAT START It's ok Keith grabs him before he dies

Pidge and Hunk are also trying to convince some people to come by, too bad their main selling point is wanting their cooking because it doesn't work with them either

I couldn't find a gif of the team sitting on this brick wall which I thought was super cute, and I don't want to screenshot that rn, so now it's up to imagination but fr trust me the team are all cuties

"I hate to give [Allura] the bad news :(" to "Sorry! No one wants to help!" PIDGE A LITTLE MORE TACT PLEASE LMAO

Something interesting, Hunk points out that they can't use Voltron to outright attack Zarkon and Allura agrees because he's a defender Knowing that they defeat everyone at the end after outright attacking castle doom, it seems kind of ironic BUT ALSO in Voltron Force (2011) we get an episode that revisits this legit subject and answers why or why not that would change That'll be a fun episode to review when I get to it

Again why would he want Princess Allura so bad, political prisoner is my best idea here This is probably where the Keith/Allura shipping started because after Coran mentions that Keith is super quick to threaten violence against the guy if he tries to touch her I mean ignoring the fact that it's one of the more obvious pairings lol

An attack! And they destroyed that satellite dish thing that Sven and Allura just finished building, rip

They routinely call the lions "space lions" which I guess makes sense but if Earth or at least the GG have been in contact with aliens for god knows how long it feels like it's kind of redundant to specifically say they're from space

Again with the GoLion references, I don't remember it being this abundant it's just them saying the name GoLion btw, nothing subtle LMAO

This week's robeast is called the Dieklops! They named this one pretty well, so there's some hope for the future, This one is heavier than the last one at only 4100 short tons!

I like to think that the team fights in the lions first before forming Voltron because they're trying to see what it can do, and it's a lot easier to annoy a robeast into showing its cards when there's more of you

Activate interlocks, dynotherms connected, infracells up, mega thrusters are go! They finally did the chant this time! Maybe it's because I religiously rewatch Voltron Force (2011) but I expected them to say "Let's go voltron force!" but instead they just shouted Voltron that's ok too I guess

I didn't comment on the transformation sequence last time, but it's pretty cool because it reminds me of some frankenstein's monster type stuff especially because there are a lot of electricity crackles and zaps seen and heard when voltron forms

AND IM FREEEE FREEE FALLIN

Ok but actually though that's a really interesting landscape near the castle, pretty secure in case of ground attacks but what about when natural disasters hit? It probably isn't that safe

I know the show just pulls phrases out of its ass to sound futuristic but "nucleonic circut" is wild

Alfor CREATED voltron?? Again I'm twisting it to my own version because I can't trust them telling a linear story here, but my thinking is that after Voltron was officially split into five, Alfor later discovered them and had them slowly rebuilt as mechs which is why they form like this now

Man these guys suck at dodging

oh shit now the castle is getting taken apart I know what happens next but it's still wild

HELLO?? CORAN WHY WOULD YOU TELL HER TO SURRENDER WHEN YOU SAID THAT ZARKON NEVER BACKS DOWN

I think it's a nice touch that Voltron has expressions whenever he fights, kind of hints at his magical nature even though in this show they're just treated as machines and nothing more

Alfor ex machina returns and confirmation that Zarkon is the one who killed Alfor

Goodbye decrepit old castle of Arus, hellooo new futuristic version!

OH SHIT WATCH OUT ALLURA STAYS STRAPPED ok maybe I was wrong about this episode being the one where Sven gets nerfed

Robeast is defeated but as Allura monologues they show a slide show of all the lions with their pilots on top, except the first one we see is blue and Allura on top lol that must've been weird for kids who saw it air

Episode end! Another short one it feels like, or is it because it was such a simple premise This is the last one for tonight, and hopefully I'll be able to do one tomorrow, but it's my busiest day of the week :/

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Will Lotor and Allura eventually kiss in Adrenaline Rush ?

The infamous Lotor Dalir moaned. “Oh love, I would pay in diamonds for a taste of Miss Singh’s lips.”

On the other side of him, Allura Singh gave him look, her face flushing pink, and then she whacked him lightly on the elbow with the booklet in her hands. “Don’t be so dramatic. It’s embarrassing.”

His thin lips stretched with a delighted, bright smile. “Darling, the good people of the world deserve to know that I am not the one keeping us from a pleasurable rendezvous. If we never kiss, then it is all rather your fault.”

“My fault, sir?”

“Yes, Miss Singh. It in fact would be.”

“And the fact that you are entirely unworthy to kiss me has nothing to do with it, you think?”

He leaned forward, daring to bridge the space between them until his face was inches from hers. “Hn. Oh love. I do not believe anyone is worthy to kiss you.” His decadent, velvet voice broke playfully. “But I hope you might take mercy upon me.” Allura bit her lip, then said lightly, voice strained, “The amount of mercy that would require is…beyond my capacity.”

Lotor face-faulted, pouting. “Do you not find me attractive, kissable? I am very good at kissing, among other things.”

The woman hesitated, swallowing hard. She began to lean backward away from the handsome man as she blushed an even brighter red. “It’s, um, it’s rather not that.”

He leaned along with her, his white hair shifting in a gleam down one shoulder. His voice lowered, just for her. “Then what must I do to prove myself worthy of a kiss from you, love?” The woman shoved her booklet against his chest as a barrier between them. “Perhaps,” she whispered tightly, breath a sweet puff against his sharp face, “if you stop being a jerk, I might consider it.”

[chevs-and-spiders]

The way they didn’t even let them say goodbye. utterly criminal.

[parfaiting]

for old times sake I hope up from the beginning of December until season 8 comes out, klance trends 😔👊

[starboysinspace]

SEND HELP, HE POUTY!

[matis-randomness]

*makes a meme and jumps into a trash compactor*

[prussia-is-too-awesome-for-maps]

seeing how lotor’s usual calculative, guarded, sharp gaze changes to a noticeably softer and even vulnerable one whenever he so much as looks at allura cracks my ribcage and rattles my bones

[durnaught]

blur filter abuse is an acceptable cover for a garbage scanner, voltron edtion

[beetlesacquired]

OH NO

To all the Tumblr users who tend to use tags very liberally:

Let’s play a game.

Type the following words into your tags box, then post the first automatic tag that comes up.

you

also

what

when

why

how

look

because

never

[ima-ghost-art]

I’ve just realised no one on here realises how badly I am Voltron trash!

(even when the fandoms been dead for ages now!!)

It was my first fandom for little ol baby me back in 2016, who hadn’t yet realised that they were about to collect the

 “pretty boy/ goofball comic relief character thats always there for the others, who the creators kinda just beat up for jokes even tho they almost definitely are severely traumatized and also probably Neurodivergent/ dyslexic/ bisexual (that ends up in almost definitely loveless/non-compatible relationships bc no gay??) but no one in the show acknowledges it” 

the very moment my eyes were set upon Lance!

i also survived the shipping war by hc Keith as ace (lances 2nd platonic soulmate after hunk, bc bonding moment) and lance dating matt bc latte has my heart bc goofy meme bisexual bfs who decided to get married so lance is legally pidges brother????

YES PLEASE??????

honestly matt/lance or matt&lance has taken over my Voltron brain like their ship name is so cute as well!?!? i love latte!!

alsooooo matt should have become the blue paladin and lance should have become the black paladin and if i ever get a chance at working on a Voltron reboot, you bet this last bit will be fucking cannon!!!

(Allura can be the red paladin after getting some actually GOOD character development and growing to realise she doesn’t need romance to be happy after like some really random love square involving her lotor, lance, and matt! also, lotor redemption where he wasn’t actually killing altaens  and it was hagger or something)

ALSO also ADAM FUCKING LIVES AND HES LANCES OLDER BROTHER (veronicas twin!!)

idky im posting this i just needed to get the voltron brain rot to disapper for a bit so i can actually get to finishing my stranger things fics!!

[umbreeonic]

ppl calling davy prentiss gay has a distinctly different, yet similar, effect on me that calling loturd gay does

[alcego]

OKAY but really!! Lotor is a nerd!!! he IS!!!!!! he’s the biggest nerd child out there aside from maybe Pidge but he’s a fucking nerd regardless!! 

like yeah sure granted, his nerdism roots in his parents being Heartless Abusive Zombie Fuckheads and almost definitely was the direct result of a form of mal-adaptive daydreaming/escapism where he idealized his memories of Honerva POSSIBLY going so far as to develop new tech in order to go through the Rift to find this long-Zombified woman-- which is really just conjecture at this point but it’s a solid theory!! bc we don’t know jack shit about what’s going on!!!! not really!!!!! which sucks! but it means i can make wild-ass theories and have them possibly be true

TL;DR: LOTOR’S A NERD

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

This is the face of a man who knows how to forage

(but is also very clean about it, bless)

[ambivalentangst]

The Vampire and Keith’s Lasagna

 After disappearing for a a few weeks, I come back and present to you 2k+ words of cute Klance for Halloween. I've been loving all the creating in the Voltron fandom during October, so here’s my contribution to all that. Enjoy, and have a very spooky remainder of your Halloween!

-

When Keith had decided to go to Allura’s art show, he was not expecting to end the night drunk off his ass or to find a vampire eating leftover lasagna in the back of his car. In his defense, when Lotor asked one to go with him to a party, one did not say no. That was simply not how Altea University or the house of Kappa Kappa Gamma operated, and even if Keith did have the lack of self preservation needed where he would tell Lotor to kindly fling himself into the sun, he wasn’t willing to risk upsetting his friend group. Zethrid by herself was clearly a bodybuilder, and Keith doubted it would even be hard for her to crush his head between her thighs. Ezor at the very least was toned (Pidge had her money on her being an acrobat), Acxa could maim someone with a glare, and according to Allura and reluctantly, Shay, Narti’s wings were sharp enough to kill a man. They sat at the top of the dean’s list along with Lotor, who was Allura’s cousin. He wasn’t a bad guy, necessarily. Keith had a certain degree of respect for anyone who could handle a six pack of beer in an hour without passing out or being hospitalized. He was just, ah, how to put it, intense.

   Lotor ruled campus, which turned out to be a lot more difficult in college than all the movies made it out to be. He somehow managed to be in every necessary club or organization, showing up for just enough meetings to be in without being frowned upon, to where it took unprecedented lack of social prowess to not at least have heard Lotor’s name. He had excellent grades too, which was just unfair even to a prodigy who never studied like Keith. At least he couldn’t be seen partying every night of the weekend, then show up bright eyed and bushy tailed on Monday. So, going back to his night on the town and his first meeting with the pasta fiend. It had all started with Allura’s art show.

   Allura was a goddess in human form, and if anyone wanted to argue that point Keith could just direct them to the fact that she dyed her hair white and her roots were constantly flawless. That, and she could breakdance in six inch heels. Like he was saying, a goddess. Even someone whose fashion sense lay solely in flannels and whatever could hide a solid eight blades on his person at any given time like Keith could recognize that. She also happened to be a gifted artist, who Keith would defend with his dying breath because hello, it was Allura. Her color palettes gave him Jesus, which was pretty tough considering Keith was an atheist and resident cynic. Again, Allura.

   Her latest collection had opening night on Halloween, which fit the darker theme she’d been going for in her latest works beautifully. After a delightful dinner, courtesy of Hunk, they’d gone to the gallery. Lotor and the girls were there too, and Allura was obviously delighted to have them. It was all good, and Keith relished the thought that he’d remembered the insulated lunchbox (with an icepack, naturally) he had waiting in the car, stuffed with a very, very large container of lasagna. When weekly dinners with everyone became a norm, they’d all started to invest in some ways to take home leftovers. After the gallery and meal Keith felt fairly socially exhausted, but Lotor had decided to strike.

   He and his squad of terrifying women trapped him, and with that silver tongue of his suddenly Keith found himself at the biggest party of first semester. Kappa Kappa Gamma’s costume party, which Lotor had deigned to miss the beginning of in favor of his cousin. He was a frat boy, but he at least had some loyalty to family. The only thing topping it throughout the school year was New Year’s, but Keith admittedly never really remembered much of that by the time he woke up the next morning. A literal cocktail of bad decisions followed upon his arrival to the party, including but not limited to a bit of a chugging contest with Matt. He’d showed up along the way with the rest of their friend group because when making bad life choices, might as well get everyone involved in the fun. By the time Keith stumbled out of the hot bed of intoxicating substance and horrible music that made him almost let loose his stomach full of way too many different types of alcohol on Nyma’s shoes, he was thoroughly wasted. For anyone’s information, when he found the vampire, he had not been intending to drive home. He knew better, thank you very much. No, his plan had been to pass out in the backseat of his piece of shit car rather than all too sticky floor of that madhouse because really he would rather not relive that experience. Somewhere after his second line of shots he had scrawled that advice on his hand in what could only be understood by someone equally drunk.

   Instead, he found some asshole eating his lasagna.

   “Man, what the fuck?”

   A head of brown hair slowly swiveled his direction, with pupils blown disturbingly wide in the pools of glowing, electric blue that made up his eyes. Keith stared at him accusingly, and at the marinara dripping down his chin that in the dim lighting could only be discerned from blood due to the flecks of oregano hidden in its midst. White fangs flashed in what little illumination was offered by the street lamps, as the thief held out his hands in what appeared to be an attempt at placating Keith.

   “Listen, I’m really sorry, but we all have to eat, right? And, uh, if you didn’t mention this that’d be great so um if I could just slip past-” Keith crawled forward, shoving a finger into the boy’s chest.

   “You. Are. Eating. My. Lasagna.” This was inexcusable. Keith was angry. Very angry. How dare he? He was very excited about that lasagna for a hungover dinner or lunch tomorrow, it would depend on when his steady stream of vomit would subside. The stranger stared at him, those same startling eyes going from the sad last few bites that remained, and then back to Keith. Damn him, Keith thought. He’d been here awhile, then. A long time, and he’d spent that time eating his lasagna. 

   “I mean, do you want the last couple bites?” Keith snatched the tupperware from him, and the fork he also kept in his very nice lunchbox. He aggressively shoved some of the delicious, cheesy and saucy beauty in food form into his mouth. The stranger sighed, looking sad.

   “You’re not even going to have that in your system for a deserving amount of time. And to think I gave the last of the lasagna to someone so obviously trashed. You reek, by the way.” Keith stuck out his tongue, uncaring of the sauce dribbling down his chin as he did so. Screw the vampire. Screw him and his fiendish, pasta devouring ways. 

   “I am not trashed,” he defended himself. His face lit up as he continued. “You know what? You’re trashed. You’re trashed because you’re trash for stealing my lasagna.” The vampire stared, before laughing.

   “Okay pal.” Keith sat, hugging his now empty bowl to his chest, unaware of the stain slowly seeping into his shirt. The vampire sat, smiling while he observed Keith. Keith was equally tranquil for a few moments, before he reached forward and shoved his hand in Lance’s mouth, prying it open while he let the tupperware fall to the floor of the car.

   The vampire gagged, while Keith pushed his head back to better examine it in the street light.

   “So how’d you get these to look so good?” he muttered, poking with quite literally sticky fingers at the fangs he’d seen earlier. The vampire spat, grabbing his wrist to take his hand from his mouth.

   “Don’t do that!” he whined. “You taste like cheap booze and frat house floor,” he complained. Keith did his best to shove his grubby fingers back in the boy’s mouth. The stranger was indignant, though in Keith’s inebriated state he could not for the life of him fathom why.

   “Hold still,” he grumbled. The stranger yelped as Keith finally managed to worm his way back into his mouth to yank on one of the unnaturally sharp canines it contained. Keith frowned when it remained, and fumbled for the tooth again. The stranger this time grabbed both hands, and held them much tighter with a grip to stop Keith, which was impressive considering Keith had kickboxed for the past five years straight.

   “They didn’t move,” Keith told him. The stranger stared, his blue eyes still glowing.

   “No shit.”

   Keith did not respond to that. He stared at the vampire a little while longer.

   “So why didn’t they move?” The boy firstly whacked him, and secondly crossed his arms.

   “Because they’re real, obviously.” Keith was drunk, and drunk Keith did not care to argue with that, as the stranger wiped drool from his mouth with a grimace. He was also not in the state of mind to be harbor properly dubious thoughts about the boy’s claims.

   “Oh, that’s cool. I thought you were gonna’ say you used superglue or something. So why, exactly, are you eating my lasagna at two in the morning?” Keith had not forgotten just who the culprit was in this case scenario, and his eyes narrowed. He was going to stick his gross hands back in his mouth if he ever even thought about touching his leftovers again. The stranger huffed annoyedly.

   “Because, drunk mullet boy, I am not a heathen. Besides, because I’m only a halfie human food fills me up too, even though blood tastes better. Marinara works because it’s still red, but nothing dies except my diet. Tricks my head, and my stomach. It’s a win-win.” The boy smirked, apparently smug. However, he faltered after a moment, and looked to the side. “Plus this is--er, was--really good lasagna.” Keith raised a hand to smack the stranger, who yelped and threw himself to the floor to dodge.

   “I’m aware,” he seethed, glaring viciously. Lance laughed nervously, and put his hands up defensively.

   “Look, sorry about your pasta. Really, my bad. How about I drive you home to make up for it?” Keith thought about it for a moment. The vampire was offering a deal that sounded very good because when didn’t his bed sound good, but he was also the asshole who ate his very delicious lasagna and Keith just wasn’t sure he could trust someone that would do something like that. In the end, a vague sense of logic that told him when he woke up tomorrow he’d really rather be somewhere with a trashcan won out, and so he handed the vampire his keys.

   “Make it quick,” he grumbled, words slurring together. The vampire grinned.

   “Excellent. I, your humble escort, will have you home in no time at all.” 

   The two of them clambered into their respective seats in the front of the car, and the vampire revved up the engine. Keith, from his position with crossed arms and his head largely buried underneath his sweatshirt, slurred directions out. The vampire hummed as he drove, and as the car puttered politely at a red light the vampire looked to Keith, still with those eyes that glowed in the dark.

   “So, mullet boy, what’s your name?” Keith, who was not sober enough to realize giving personal information out to a stranger was a bad idea, responded with about as much enthusiasm as he was giving directions with.

   “Keith. Don’t call me mullet boy. It’s rude. You’re rude. What’s your name, rude lasagna thief?” The vampire laughed, before curling a lip and snarling a quick stream of profanity at another driver from behind ivory fangs.

   “Lance,” he told him when he settled down again. He hummed quietly, blowing past a stop sign after doing a quick once over for cops. “Gotta’ wonder if you’ll remember that in the morning. Probably not. I know the stench of tequila, and you smell like three nights of bad decisions rolled into one with a dash of bad fashion sense for good luck.” Keith scoffed.

   “I made perfectly good,” a hiccup interrupted him for a moment, “decisions.” Lance didn’t respond to that, and flashed a twenty four karat smile as he pulled into Keith’s parking spot.

   “And we’re here! Come on, Keith. Let’s get you home.” Despite Keith’s complaints as he made him ride piggy back, he got him up the stairs to his apartment and into his bed with a glass of water and a lined trash can nearby. Keith stared blearily at him from his pillow, his vision already blurring with exhaustion.

   “You are a rude perpetrator of pasta debauchery. Chef Boyardee is disappointed in you.” Lance laughed, flashing those sharply filed pearly whites again.

   “Whatever you say, mullet. See you later, Keith. Thanks for dinner!” Keith did not even have time to fire back something to express his indignance at his statement before Lance had disappeared, and he was out like a light.

   The next day was spent nursing an excruciating hangover, and lurking around his apartment in a huddle of blankets and pure hatred. He didn’t remember much from the night before, like the name of the stranger who had brought him back home or where his lasagna went. He was thinking about crafting an official conspiracy theory on it, but he needed Pidge for that and she wasn’t much better off than he was at the moment. Shiro scolded him a little, but nobody in their friend group had made it out of that party alive and well. He lost motivation pretty quickly, and went to go take some Advil. Keith didn’t even have a number in his phone to commemorate the flashes of electric blue eyes that lined his memory. Sad, but the loss of the cute boy that showed up Halloween night was forgotten under the mountain of work that slowly crept up on him again. It was not until several weeks later that he came to mind again, on dinner night at Keith and Shiro’s place. Hunk had just pulled his infamous lasagna from the oven to the mutual delight of their friends, when Keith heard a knock at the door. He sighed, but went to get it since everyone else was already seated. Upon opening the door, however, he was greeted with quite the surprise.

   “Mullet boy!” A boy at the door exclaimed, throwing his arms out wide. Keith stared, a montage of memories forgotten from that night playing behind his eyes. Coupled with the smell of dinner wafting comfortingly from the kitchen, Keith’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

   “You!” he shouted, tackling Lance to the ground in the hallway. There was a scraping of chairs on the floor, as his friends rose to see the source of the commotion. They found Keith sitting on top of a lanky, tan boy, who smiled and laughed.

   “Good to see you too,” he greeted. He waved at the crowd gathered in the doorway. “Hey! I’m Lance. I heard it was lasagna night.” Keith grabbed Lance by the lapels of his shirt, bringing their faces close together.

   “You stole my leftovers.” Lance smiled a little sheepishly, to his credit.

   “Yeah, guilty as charged. It was delicious, and you arrived in time to very angrily eat the last few bites, so I am not a complete monster. Besides, afterwards I drove you home and got you in bed, even though you were really against the whole concept of a piggyback ride. So there. Anyways, can I come in?” Keith stared down at him distrustfully, noting the fine details of Lance’s toothy grin. It didn’t come as a complete surprise, but they’d talk about that later. He reluctantly climbed off of him, offering a hand.

   “Come on, thief.” Lance laughed, and walked inside while waving to Keith’s friends with his free hand.

   “Thanks, mullet.” 

         In the end Keith may have been down some lasagna, but who ever said Halloween or vampires ran smoothly?