#Pidge Ship Week Day One: Trust

[fiirecracker]

BRAN

callsign ; n/a species ; human pronouns ; she/her/hers gender ; cis woman sexuality ; panromantic, demisexual class & subclass ; hunter, arcstrider; way of the wind ghost ; pidgeon "pidge" (she/her) faceclaim ; mia goth

light abilities ; when it comes to innate abilities, bran aligns with your typical arcstrider. unlike most arcstrides, however, she does not focus on damage, but rather in her speed. it is easier for her to become amplified, with some part of her able to turn it off and on like a switch. this allows for her to play the role of a scout, an explorer, or a messenger with little difficulty. it is only when she enters combat that bran finds herself unable to live up to the hunter name.

physical description ; small and lithe are two very good, if perhaps far too kind, words to describe the arcstrider. standing at 5' even, bran's petite stature is evident in the lack of muscle or fat in her body. her skin is thin and pale, a color similar to milk, as though she has not seen the sun in a long while. she has a peculiarly pointed face, with hollow cheeks and high brows, and the tip of her nose lifts upwards just so. thick black hair has been cut into a rough bob style, with blue, too-large eyes staring out from under unkempt bangs. were it not for the lack of fur, one might confuse bran for a very large, and very spooked, hare.

personality ; due to her history, bran is a skittish, frightful thing. she does not trust easily, and does not tend to wander far from those of house winter. despite this, she is a gentle soul, and tries to offer kindness to those who might need it. her extended hand will never strike unwarned, but those frightened eyes betray the fear that lay beneath. despite her flaws, she is fiercely loyal to her house and her mate. she refuses to join up with the vanguard or stay in the city and will not do so until her house can exist beside house light. she will run errands for her mate and purchase supplies, however, and so knows her way around the city. she never stays for long.

brief history ; bran was resurrected during the dark ages, but has lived a life in the shadows of those who found her first. an awoken warlord, jaxon, discovered the new light not a few hours from her rebirth and brought her into his fold. but she was a young, timid thing, and thus placed at the bottom of the pecking order. she suffered greatly for this. one day, after a skirmish between her clan and a raiding party of devils, bran was separated from them. she needed to find her way back. she needed to survive long enough to do so. and that felt impossible for such a weak risen all on her own. luckily, bran was not entirely alone. separated from his own crew, the captain iiksiiks stumbled across the skittish risen. the two gave each other a wide berth, hissed warnings and flared their colors. but when neither actually made a move to attack, they faltered. fear gave way to awkward greetings. and then, an agreement. what began as an arrangement hinged on survival blossomed over the course of a week into a friendship. iiksiiks had once been a devil; he knew the price of cruelty. he knew those eyes. and when he was finally able to contact his house, the eliksni offered bran what she had always wanted: escape. since that time, she has lived as an honorary member of house winter. she and iiksiiks have grown closer, tumbling gently from friendship into lovers. it is not an easy life, but it is living. and that is more than she can say from about those early years.

tags ; | general | musings | aesthetics | ic | general ships |

[sillysparklyspaghettios]

Firstly, I want to say I agree SO MUCH especially with that second part because Lance was such a good character and person. He’s silly, loyal, charming (maybe I’m biased), passionate and quick thinking amongst other things. While I love the show a lot I feel a lot of the characters get side lined and even if they do ‘develop’ it’s not really shown with as much care as Keith and Shiro’s character arcs. Pidge is still respected more than Lance or Hunk. To be honest, I don’t remember exactly how Hunk’s development was treated since it’s been a few years since I watched Voltron and I’m only at the beginning of s2 in my rewatch right now. Although, I do remember that Lance was definitely treated as the butt of the joke far too often.

I like characters that aren’t always so serious and I don’t understand why not being super serious all the time is treated as some kind of inferior personality trait. Don’t get me wrong, I love Keith and Shiro but I really get bothered by the treatment of the other characters who are more ‘happy’ or ‘fun’ than those two- like the other Paladins are as important of characters as Keith and Shiro.

Back to what you said at the beginning (I apologise for my incoherent rant, I love yapping too much) so I agree but also that isn’t what happened in this episode. Rolo doesn’t pilot the blue lion to steal it- he just puts it in his ship and flies away. Yes, Lance was still pretty naive and over trusting there but I think it still works because this is right at the beginning of the show when they’ve all been Paladins for hardly a week.

In Season 2 Episode 1, when Keith and Shiro are stranded on that random planet, they have to find each other and Keith somehow pilots the Black Lion to rescue Shiro from some creatures. I know that was probably to serve as foreshadowing that Keith will one day be the pilot of the Black Lion but it just was so rushed and sudden that it feels weird. Like he just puts his hand on the Lion, says please, gets no response, then it cuts to Shiro and a second later we see the Black Lion being piloted by Keith, rescuing Shiro. The Lions have moved by themselves to their pilots so I don’t understand why Keith had to pilot it. There could’ve been different foreshadowing that would’ve made more sense, I feel.

Back to the stuff about characterisation, it does bother me how rushed the character arcs were for some of the Paladins but I do think a lot of it was to do with not being given enough episodes to finish the story because no way did the creators want 4 6-7 episode seasons after staring off with 11 in s1 and 13 in s2. It doesn’t take away from the fact that a lot of character related stuff got a bit butchered but I’m glad that at least the show was great overall and there’s an overactive fandom 🔥

Yap over :3

I started rewatching Voltron a few days ago and it is bringing my obsession back HARD. Lance was always my favourite character and I really remember why now that I’m rewatching it. Anyway, here’s a random Lance thing I thought was funny 😭

In Season 1 Episode 8, the Paladins are all helping out the people who are stranded on that moon and Lance gets enamoured by Nyma, one of the stranded people. Lance is a little dumb so I can’t blame him for not seeing that Nyma was being pretty fishy but what I love is that he literally doesn’t realise that Nyma is tricking him even when she handcuffs him to the tree 😭😭😭 LIKE HE ONLY REALISES WHEN THE BLUE LION GETS TAKEN LMFAO

He BLUSHES and says ‘Woah… this is kinda-’

What was going through his mind at that point 😭

Anyway this is why I love Lance McClain with all my heart

Also I did NOT pick up on that joke when I first watched Voltron LMAO I love this show

[blonde-batgirl]

Day One: Trust

There’s been a lot written on how Lance supported Keith in season three, but relatively little on Pidge. It’s a lot more subtle, but it’s definitely there.

Throughout episodes two and three, Pidge is the one pushing Keith to come up with a plan and lead proactively. In The Red Paladin (Season Three, Episode Two), she tells him, “We need a plan!” Keith is, of course, more concerned with trying to get to grips with the Black Lion which doesn’t fly like Red at all. Still, in The Hunted (Season Three, Episode Three), she asks him again, “Keith, what should we do?” Pidge is the one who identified Keith as “the loner”, but she clearly trusts him to do right by the team. Unfortunately, Keith doesn’t come up with an answer. He just tells everyone to keep out of his way. Of course, what he takes away from The Hunted is that he can’t be reckless and impulsive when he’s responsible for the whole team.

There’s an obvious contrast between The Hunted and Hole in the Sky (Season Three, Episode Four). In the former, Keith rushes in and, whilst everyone protests, it impacts Pidge’s role in the group the most. She can’t do her tech magic because he rushed in, and she repeatedly warned him that this would be the case – “We may not want to follow him,” “Keith, without accurate sensors or working equipment, we're not gonna be able to tell what's up or down, where we are, or how to get out. I say we fall back.” Hunk is sitting there because he’s cautious. He doesn’t want to fly around in the dark.  He doesn’t want to take the risk. Pidge is sitting there because there’s nothing she can do short of flying around aimlessly in the gloom. In the latter, they come across a mysterious hole in space. This time, Pidge does not ask Keith what they’re going to do. Instead, she suggests a course of action herself – “We could send a probe over to it.” For his part, Keith doesn’t even question it. He just says, “Do it.” Pidge making this suggestion marks a shift in their dynamic. From that point on, we see Keith relying on Pidge a lot more. It’s not that he hasn’t relied on her in the past – the two of them came up with a plan to take on Ulaz back in Shiro’s Escape (Season Two, Episode Three) without even speaking – but throughout the episode he defers directly to her on a number of occasions. “Pidge, any chance you can explain what I’m seeing right now?” “Pidge, keep an eye on Voltron’s vitals.” “Pidge, which way to the lions?” What’s interesting here is that Keith has arguably had more interactions with all four of the other paladins, but it’s Pidge he turns to. Hunk or Coran may have been able to answer his first question. As for the last, presumably all the paladins have some idea of where they left the lions. In The Hunted, one of the things that Keith says when he realises that he is the reason why they are separated sitting ducks is, “Everyone warned me, but I didn’t listen.” Pidge’s warnings were specifically related to the environment and how their systems would hold up. If you glance back up, you’ll see that Keith defers to Pidge on these specific topics. He recognises that Pidge is their resident tech expert and aware of her environment (which makes sense, given that she relies on stealth in battle), and actively engages with her when he needs information on those topics. For Pidge’s part, she does her best to answer, even when she isn’t entirely sure (“The energy source doesn't originate from anything that registers with my understanding of how reality works.” – Hole in the Sky).

She is “the brains,” (The Red Paladin), after all.

[chaoticevilbean]

Four In One : Chapter One

"Lance, on your left!"

The Blue Lion moved just in time to avoid a cannon blast, twisting with practiced ease. It laid cover fire as the Red Lion moved in to take out the command ship, the whole thing exploding within ticks.

A few dobashes later, all five Lions were safely in their hangars, having successfully gathered information, freed a few prisoners that were sent off in escape pods, and destroyed the rest of the fleet. The Paladins all rushed out to greet each other, giving and receiving praise for maneuvers and quick thinking.

"Well done, Paladins," Allura called out as she entered the main hangar where the team was still standing. Her white wings fluffed with pride, showing off streaks of pink and silver. "That was one of your most successful missions to date, and it truly shows off your skills as pilots."

"Wouldn't have been able to if you didn't push us so hard," Shiro replied, his dark grey and black wings fluffing as well.

"But the breaks are appreciated," Hunk added quickly, as though worried not reminding the princess would mean her reverting to the relentless training she had given them when they were still new.

"Of course," was the elegant reply. After a few more minutes of talking, the group started to head towards the lounge area. Hunk headed straight for the kitchen with Coran to make dinner, while Pidge began to decode the information they gathered. Shiro and Allura began talking quietly about the ways each paladin could've done better, and how to improve each minor weakness. Keith sat down with a book, and Lance settled on the other side of the couch, content with just thinking.

Like many times nowadays, his mind wandered to wings.

On Earth, there were scaled wings, feathered wings, and wingless. There were minor mutations, and a few major ones as well. Upon coming into space, it was found that Alteans also have wings, though Galrans do not.

Each of the Paladins of Voltron had different wings. Hugely different.

Pidge's wings were small, made for speed and agility, but still with downy spots. It was obvious that there was room for growth, and the youngest paladin made sure none of the boys, or anyone else for that matter, forgot it. But whereas most wings were shades of brown, grey, or red, Pidge's still developing feathers held an ombre pattern of bright green. Streaks of dark and light hues highlighted the wings whenever they puffed up in indignation, which was often, considering the rest of the team thought it was adorable and annoyed her just to see the adorableness. Not that they'd tell her that.

Hunk's wings were feathers as well, in golden tones that ranged from deep chocolate brown to a khaki tan. They were strong, made to hold much more than just Hunk's weight. Their softness was unrivaled, and no matter the weather, warmth radiated from the large appendages. And large they were. The longest wingspan ever recorded, they were at least twelve feet on either side, and bigger in size as well.

Shiro's wings were black with shading of dark grey throughout them. His time as the Champion caused a few light grey streaks and white feathers scattered throughout. They were streamlined, made to be fast, but not nearly as agile as Pidge's. Fully extended, they reached about eight feet on either side, meaning they were strong as well.

Keith's wings were the only ones with scales. About a movement into their time as Paladins (the space equivalent of a week), Allura and Coran did full scans of all of the humans, since they had no information on human biology. That led to a discussion of how much Keith knew about his parents, but it did allow Keith to reveal his wings, which he had previously hidden, as all humans are able to do. His scales shone with different patterns and shades of red, and were built for quick movements. Angled a bit differently than feathered wings, they cut through the air easily. And sitting just below his six foot long wings were a slightly smaller set, a slightly lighter coloring and meant to provide a boost in flight.

Allura's wings were a sight to behold, capturing the attention of the five Earthlings when they first met the Altean princess. White wings with streaks of silver and pink that caught the light, changing with each form the alien royal took. They were just as elegant as the being they were attached to.

Coran's wings were apparently as strange among Alteans as the Altean was to the Paladins. Apparently scaled wings were so rare in Altea that there were under a hundred of the population with them at once. Orange scales speckled with blue and white and brown, built for protection and endurance. Despite most scaled wings being cool to the touch, Coran was much like Hunk - always warm.

Lance sighed internally at the confidence in which each of his companions held themselves and their beautiful wings. His own wings itched to stretch, but he couldn't do it here. Even if he was willing to show his team, there wasn't enough room.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The sea glistened as the McClain family swam in the beautiful water, ran along the sandy beaches, dragging neighbors, friends of family, and even "strangers" from nearby to join in the fun. Children and adults alike took the skies.

Lance had always known this life. His wings were spread out along the sand around him, providing many of his younger family members a soft place to nestle. Despite the strangeness of them, the sheer impossibility of them existing in the first place, every community member had accepted them. Accepted him. When someone new came to town, they were kept away from Lance until it was decided they could be trusted - or they simply continued on their way. In school, fellow students would move chairs and tables around to allow him to spread his wings a bit. Rainy days would lead to little kids and even some smaller teens seeking refuge under the boy's appendages.

On days like these, when the sun was slowly setting, the air warm, the sea calm, and the entire community slowly making their way to the impromptu get-together, Lance felt a joy unlike any other. Neither flying nor swimming could compare to the pure contentedness he felt.

Leandro Charles McClain was the boy born with impossible wings. His wings were a brilliant ombre of blues, and their wingspan was a whopping four feet. At most, babies had two feet of feathers or scales, though apparently there was a two and half foot wingspan record for a Samoan child. Along with the strange color and length, there were two more features that were definitely not normal.

Lance's wings were both feathered and scaled. The feathers covered the top half of his wings, before seamlessly giving way to scales on the bottom half. And there were four of them. Four bright blue, large, half-feathered half-scaled wings, positioned along his back.

In a few months, Lance would be heading off to the Garrison. His wings would be hidden like all of the students were required to do, at least while in uniform. There was a desert nearby where he could stretch his wings without worrying about prying eyes, and his grades were good enough that he couldn't be kicked out without plausible reasons.

So, he enjoyed these days of slow sunsets, warm air, and calm seas.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lance was brought back to the present by something jumping on his back. And something else jumping on his lap. And two somethings jumping on him from either side. A yelp erupted from him, and he looked around semi-frantically. Then he groaned as loudly as possible, as his teammates laughed.

"Lance, you back on the ship?" Pidge giggled from where she clung to his back, careful of the wings none of them had seen yet.

"Yeah, bud. Ya zoned out and weren't responding when we said your name." Hunk chuckled at his friend, who now seemed mildly confused.

"Really?"

"Yep. You had Allura pretty worried," Shiro replied, as Keith nodded seriously, or as seriously as he could while helping Shiro hug-pin his competitive friend. Lance peered over Hunk, who was clinging to his front, in order to gaze at the princess. She offered a slightly sheepish smile, before speaking loud enough for them to hear her from where she stood across the room.

"Alteans do not 'zone out' as you say, at least, not as deeply or for as long. When you didn't respond, I was worried you were ill."

"Thanks for worrying, princess, but I'm fine. And if Hunk is here, that means dinner is either done, or close to it, so can y'all get off me. I can't exactly move, like, at all." The group laughed once more before untangling themselves and rushing towards the dining room.

Dinner was filled with jokes and praise for the mission, and it was one of the many times the group felt like a real flock. A Space Flock, but still a flock. Afterwards, Shiro announced that everyone was to gather in the nest for their nightly grooming session. Grooming was a maybe bi-weekly necessity for proper wingcare, but the Space Flock got together each night to bond and relieve some of their tension. Grooming in a group was considered an act of trust and love.

The younger four Paladins raced to the nest, which was situated in the lounge. The lounge itself was a very large room, and the nest was on a raised platform. It was big enough to hold all of the Paladins and Alteans with their wings spread out - minus Lance. A ladder was connected to the wall, installed in the first movement, when two of the Paladins still hid their wings. It was also there for if someone's wings were injured, and for Lance, who always helped the others groom.

The six other flock members never understood why he hid his wings. They had asked if he was wingless, to which he had assured them he was not. He also let them "groom" his hair and help with his skincare routine, teaching them how to do it properly so that they knew he trusted them. After all, he cared deeply about his skin and hair, much like all humans cared about their wings.

Once settled in the nest, Lance immediately began grooming Hunk's left wing, while Pidge started on the right one. Shiro forced a wiggling Keith in front of him, stopping the squirming by gesturing for Coran to let Keith groom him. The Altean quickly complied, his other wing held out to Allura.

Two vargas later, Keith was letting Lance braid his hair "for bed, now shush, Mr. Mullet McGrumpyPants, this'll only take a tick," Pidge was doing the same for Allura, Shiro was doing the same for Hunk, with the promise that he would let the boy braid his floof, and Coran was brushing Lance's hair.

"Done!" Lance called out as he tied Keith's french braided mullet.

"Same!" Pidge and Hunk called, both doing similar with their subjects. Lance and Keith both tried and failed to hide snickers at the fact that, while Hunk, Allura, Keith, and even Pidge sported very pretty braids, Shiro... well, he looked pretty, alright. Like a pretty little unicorn.

"Alright, alright, I get it," the man said, using his trademarked dad voice. "Now, let's help Lance with his skin and then bed for us all. After such a successful mission, we're sleeping in the nest tonight." Lance tensed slightly, and since they all were scooching closer in order to do his version of grooming, they all noticed.

"Don't worry, Lance. We all know you want your privacy, so Coran was finally able to find that blanket that hides wings." Allura's kind smile reassured Lance, and at his relaxing form the others continued with their activity. Though only being in space for a few phoebs, the others had slept in the nest a few times. Each time, Lance had gone to a different room to sleep, in order to release his wings and stretch without being seen. Coran decided to look around for a special Altean blanket that was used for situations such as these, where one wished to hide their wings during intimate activities. It was basically a miniature space pocket, warped to allow any size wingspan to stretch out fully, while practically suctioning to the body to keep any edges from lifting. Apparently, it was incredibly comfortable.

Coran did not lie.

Lance was the first one out, curled up with his arms around Pidge, his legs entwined with Hunk's, and Shiro holding him with arm. Keith was being held in the other, causing the two boys to be essentially cuddling. Allura sat curled in the spot created by Hunk's and Lance's legs, holding Pidge's legs in her lap, while Pidge's arms cradled Coran's legs. Coran was grasping Hunk's arms, and the latter was doing similarly. Wings curled around all of them, creating a warm cocoon of feathers and scales.

No one had nightmares that night.

No arena haunted Shiro, or planetary destruction to plague the Alteans.

No homesick dreams for the Garrison Trio, and no blurry figures abandoned Keith that night.

All that remained were sweet visions of all their good times, mushed together for pure bliss.

[bluedemon1995]

You know I suck at chapter titles, sorry 😞 I got aa lovely review for this on AO3 so I decided to continue. Hope you enjoy.

This week at work has been...busy and exhausting so I hope I can keep my focus! Stay safe and warm!

Keith wanted to talk to Pidge but even he could see she didn’t want to listen to him right now. And it was pretty much what he expected. He understood her probably better than he understood himself. Once she latched onto an idea it was hell changing her mind. Stubborn was a true Holt trait. Even that is an understatement. Keith tried to come up with a plan.

Ok, so she didn’t believe he had feelings for her. She needed proof. Of his feelings and isn’t that the rub. How could he prove how he felt? Or when those feelings actually started? Then there was the fact that she wasn’t talking to him so when he considers that Shiro let him know that the other Keith was with him and to head straight to the lab for a conference, well, that was just great. Except it wasn’t.

Not only was she NOT talking to him but her husband was there. Fuck.

Keith tried to think of his options but really they were limited. Keith decided his best bet would be to take his bike because at least Pidge would at least physically, have to be close to him. Just by sheer force of gravity. And if he drove a little faster, knowing she’d have to hold him tight, well, who could really say. He enjoyed the speed, the wind and the presence of Pidge’s arms around him. It would at least calm him down before he got pissed again.

Pidge tried to argue that they should take the car but Keith pretended he didn’t hear her. Then he dropped the bomb that Cosmo had to go to Krolia who needed him so there was no valid reason for needing the car. As far as Keith was concerned, whatever worked. Stomping over to the bike, he knew she was being petty and was unhappy but it’s been a rough day all around and it was still early.

As they arrived at the lab and stored the helmets, Keith held her shoulder stopping her in her tracks. Neither moved. Keith let the heat of his hand transfer to her and and turned her slowl towards him. Looking at his hand on her shoulder, he forced out an uncomfortable explanation.

“Pidge, I know that a lot has happened in a short time. And I know that the other Keith is better at talking and giving you the words for what he’s feeling. But if he’s being honest, and even I can admit it looks like he is, please just consider that he’s had years of experience handling you. And I just, I want to, God, I just wish I was better at this. But here we are. Just me.”

Now he looked straight into her eyes, capturing her gaze by will alone as he continued. “And what I can say is that he’s not the only person who loves you romantically. And I know you need proof. And you don’t believe me. And I get that I do.” Closing his eyes, his forehead drops to hers. In a low murmur just for her to hear, he says, “Just know, that this isn’t a case of jealousy or confusion. It isn’t a competition. Or a game. Or any of the other hundred scenarios you’ve concocted in your head. Instead it’s just me being dumb and not telling you when I knew what I felt for you. And if you don’t feel the same, I get it. I do. But I can’t stop how I feel, I don’t even want to. And I guess most importantly I can’t walk away, so please don’t ask that of me.

Pidge frowns, muttering, “Keith”

“No. Don’t say anything. I don’t need that from you now. Right now I just need you to just …trust me. I need for you to let me be at your side, whether it’s to help or, or…”after a moment of looking at each other, he whispers, “please, just trust me.”

Pidge’s eyes fill with tears, and she replies, “Damn it Keith, you know I do! I’ve always trusted you! That’s not the problem.”

He sighs and brushes his lips over hers, so softly. His hand is still on her shoulder and with his other he drifts his thumb down her cheek. “Okay, then that’s all I need to hear, for now. Now, let’s go and save Shiro from Slav. You know he doesn’t handle him well for long periods.”

Pidge gives him a watery smile and laugh finally nodding , “Yeah okay.”

Elsewhere, Krolia and Cosmo waiting for Kolivan in the visitor hangar. As he emerges from he ship he barks, “Status?”

As they quietly talk, a plan is formed to provide assistance to the tiny paladin. No one was going to hurt their kit’s mate.

[snaileer]

Chips & Salsa Chp 2

He could already hear the ringing in his ears, the piercing screams that rose every time he stopped. Anytime that he rested, anytime he wasn’t fighting, hurting, killing for the Arena’s amusement.

It had been with a sense of dread that Lance had realized he’d become dependent on the fights. He waited for the next one, and the next, and the next; every muscle tightening the longer it took. 

Once, they’d waited almost a whole week between a fight. Just to see him struggle, to see him beg at the end of it.

“Ask to fight and you shall Paladin,” they’d told him. He’d refused, with every fiber of his being, he’d refused. 

At first.

Then days passed, the guards had barely fed him, and he could hear the ringing start in his ears.

But he could deal with it. He had 4 siblings and even more squealing nieces and nephews. He could push through the noise, he’d done it before. He would not break.

And then it had grown.

The ringing had grown from a high pitched hum, to a roaring yell. And they told him, “Ask to fight and you shall,”

He said no. He kept saying no. He screamed it at them, just to hear his own voice above the neverending scream in his ears. 

But he could tell his body was itching for the fight. Like an addict with a fix. 

Just one fight. Just to make it stop. Just to move, to do something.

But he denied the urge, that horrible darkness that screamed to be let out. He denied it until he couldn't anymore. Until it seemed to take up every single thought he had. Until he could barely think past the noise of it echoing through his brain. One thought could still get through.

“I’ll do it,”

“Say it again, Paladin,”

“I said fine! I’ll fight for you! Make it stop! Just let me out! Let me fight!”

Nothing.

“Please,” It damaged his soul just to say that one word. And yet, when they took him to the Arena and he fought, when he killed and the buzzing of his mind finally settled, he couldn't find it in him to regret it.

And now he could already hear the ringing in the back of his head. Could already hear it growing. Growing as he tried to rest for just one second.

It rose, screeching in his ears and still growing. And it brought with it only one word;

Fight.

x--x--x

Shiro stalked down the prison hallways of the Arena ship. The floor was littered with deactivated sentries, which their EMP had successfully destroyed with the rest of the ship’s controls. He kicked past the metal bodies. He checked every cell, ushering any remaining prisoners towards freedom. He was only looking for one prisoner. One very specific, very important prisoner.

Lance.

Shiro would tear apart the whole ship if he had to. To find him, to find that laughter, the personality that could lift the room, even in the middle of a war. They’d missed it more than any of the team would ever admit.

“Shiro, the Blades have cleared the battle room and prisoner levels one and three.”

“I’m already on level two, Pidge.” The battle room. A nice way of telling him the Arena was empty.

“What if he’s not-”

“Don't even say it, Pidge,” Hunk cut in from beside him, Shiro had almost forgotten the boy was even there. The lack of frightened comments and anxious rambling had made Hunk all that much more invisible. Hunk with no Lance was different too, and it was just another missing piece without Lance.

“Fine. I’m sorry. Be sure to check the room at the end of the hall. It looks like it’s the med-bay for the prisoners,” Pidge’s comm crackled as she ended the conversation.

She was right, the last room did look different. And it was definitely bigger.

But it was also definitely not the med-bay.

The knives and the blood on the floor told them exactly what it was used for. Torture. 

Hunk gagged beside him. Shiro scanned the room, blatantly avoiding the table and weapons, he didn’t have time to get pulled into a flashback. Not when he had a mission.

His eye caught on the space in the back of the room. Small, but enough space for a medical pod. He stepped towards it hesitantly, but his gut still squeezed.

“Hunk, I think-” But Hunk was already moving around the room and had found the pod too. “Shiro, there’s a healing pod back here! There’s someone in it but the EMP we used took down the systems.”

“I’ve got it,” Shiro shoved his own problems down and moved to help Hunk.

“I can't get it open, we’ll have to break the glass,” It was too opaque to be real glass and without power, it would stay that way. Still, it broke like glass when Shiro punched it with his prosthetic.

And Shiro’s heart stopped when the shards fell away.

“We found him,” Shiro vaguely registered Hunk say it, then yell it into the comms. “We found him. Guys, we found Lance! He was in a pod, but we found him, and-”

Shiro snapped out of his daze to catch Lance as he fell from the pod. He weighed almost nothing, looked like skin and bones and roughly refined muscle.

“He’s still asleep, Hunk, we need to go. Now!” If Lance was in a pod, that meant he was injured, that he was hurt badly enough that he would’ve died without it. And now that the pod was broken...

“Yeah, okay, let’s go! Come on, I’ve got the map to the hangar.” Hunk took off down the hallway, Shiro carrying Lance and running behind him. 

“Coran, we’re gonna need a pod as soon as we get to the castle. Lance might be injured,” 

“Is he okay?”

“I don't know, he’s still sedated. Shouldn't he be awake by now, Coran?”

“If the pod’s cycle was stopped early, he’s still going to be in stasis, but not for long. Get him here, quickly. If he wakes up with an injury, it could- .”

“We’re loading into the Black Lion now. Everyone get back to the Castle!” Shiro couldn't bear to listen to the possibilities of what could happen, “Allura, tell the Blades we’ve found him,” 

“Already done, Shiro,” Shiro paused when he had to lay Lance down in Black’s cockpit, only reassured when Hunk sat right next to him.

Shiro pushed Black’s speed back towards the castle. He could hear Lance groan behind him. “Hunk-”

“Shiro, he looks so different. He looks-”

“I know.” He did know, he’d seen the hardness in Lance’s face, visible only if you looked. His hair was cut differently too, it looked vaguely like an undercut, but it was old, starting to grow out of the style. Not even to mention the blaring difference of the prisoner rags, he could already tell Lance would’ve complained about how they clashed with his skin tone. Would’ve.

The moment Black’s feet touched the ground, Hunk was already carrying Lance down the ramp at a run towards the med-bay. Shiro was right on his heels the whole way.

Lance groaned again, and they could hear the pain behind it.

Coran was waiting for them the moment they burst through the doors. They were putting on the medical suit when the rest of the team came running in a moment later. Everyone stopped short at the sight of Lance. 

“Is he-?” Pidge started, her voice uncharacteristically sad. All of their eyes were drawn to the scars as he lay on the medical table.

“He’ll be alright, Shiro, help me get him in the pod.” Coran finished putting the suit on and lifted Lance’s body over to the prepared pod. He gave him to Shiro so he could turn on the machine.

They watched the pale cover slide over his body and the readings pop up on the screen.

Time didn't seem to move anymore. 

Because Lance didn't look like Lance. He looked like a shadow, an empty, dark version of their friend, of their teammate.

All they wanted was for Lance to be okay. For him to be playing a terrible practical joke. For him to finally break character, to laugh and as he talked about how “Oh you should have seen your faces! They were priceless!”

The last few months had been empty without that laugh.

To just hear that laugh. Just once.

But he wouldn’t

They had him back, finally. And yet, they doubted they would ever have that Lance again. The Galra would have crushed him, crushed every bit of his carefree spirit, every remnant of that amazing, loving person. And left nothing in its place.

Lance looked like he was in pain even in the pod. His face scrunched up and tension laced through his body.

“Alright, all of you, out.” Coran turned back to the team gathered around the pod, and time started back up again, “All of you need to rest.”

“I’m not leaving him here alone, what if something-” Keith started, his stubbornness rearing its head.

“Nothing’s going to happen, he’ll be okay,”

“Will he though?” Hunk was almost too quiet, his eyes pinned to the floor.

“What the-? Hunk, why would you say that?” Pidge whipped around at him.

“We all saw the scars. Some of those were definitely not accidents and we know he was in the Arena; Pidge, what if he’s gone? What if our Lance is gone? What if my friend is gone?”

“He’s not! We got him back! He’s fine!”

“Be quiet!” Both of the kids went silent at Coran’s parent voice, even Keith shut his mouth from preparing to enter the argument. “I’ll not have this team falling apart now, not when we are so close to being all together again. Lance would not want that. He wouldn't want you to be arguing, or working yourselves to exhaustion. You all need to eat and get some rest. Our boy is tougher than a Balmeran’s scat, so you’re just going to have to trust he’ll make it through this.”

“Coran-”

“No, Princess, I’ll not hear another word against it. I’ll stay here and monitor his readings until you’re all back in tip-toppity shape. So out! Out, I say!” He started motioning with his hands, shooing them out of the room and towards the doorway.

BeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeep

“What in the-” Coran stopped pushing them out and ran over to Lance’s pod.

“What’s wrong Coran? Why is it beeping? Is he okay?” Keith was the first to rush back in, the rest of them right behind him.

“He’s waking up! I saw his heart rate was a little fast, but he shouldn't be waking up, it’s too early!”

“Why isn’t the pod keeping him asleep? Is it malfunctioning?” Allura was pressing buttons on the pod’s screen cover, trying to figure out what was wrong with the pod.

“It should be working, but-” the woosh of the pod opening made everyone shut up, holding their breath as Keith moved in front of Allura to catch him. He caught Lance by the shoulders, expecting the weakness that often came with the healing pods.

What he got instead was a knee to the stomach. Lance was suddenly a whirlwind of punches and movement, each one hitting a surprised paladin. Except Shiro, Shiro knew what this was, he’d seen the glazed over look in Lance’s eyes. He’d seen it in himself, too.

“Lance!” Nothing, Shiro continued to dodge the blows, “Lance, you’re not in the Arena!” Shiro managed to land his own hit to Lance’s side, surprising him enough to bring him to the ground. “Lance, please, you’ve got to wake up.” Shiro held his wrists, pinning him down, “You’re safe, now. You’re at the Castle, you don't need to fight.”

That seemed to finally give him pause. Just for a second.

“The Castle..” His eyes cleared just a bit, enough to finally see the people around him, “Shiro?”

“Yeah, buddy, it’s us.” Just hearing the sound of his voice, no matter how rough, seemed to heal everyone’s hearts, just a little. “You’re at the Castle, we rescued you. You’re safe now.”

“I’m at the castle?”

“Yeah, Lance,”

“Really, actually here?” The way Lance said it troubled Shiro with the implications. Implications that he didn't believe he would be saved.

“Of course Lance. We saved you,”

“F*ck!” That was the last thing any of them expected Lance to say.

“What?” Hunk looked like he was in shock at Lance’s reaction

“Crap! Crap crap crap!” Lance started trying to push Shiro off of him again, “Dios mio, Shiro, get off of me. You’re like a ton of bricks,” For a ‘ton of bricks’ he sure got out of it quickly. But Shiro’d be lying if he said he hadn't missed those small jokes and the accidental use of spanish every now and then.

Lance jumped up from the floor and moved towards the medical cabinets in the room. Rummaging through them recklessly, swiping stuff off the counters and pushing things out of the cabinets. He was muttering and cursing under his breath, “Where is it? They’ve got to have one somewhere in here,”

“Lance!” And ignoring them apparently, too. “Lance!”

“Lance, stop it!” This time it was Keith who basically yelled his name as he stomped over and grabbed Lance’s wrist. Lance stopped dead in his tracks the moment Keith touched him.

Lance yanked his hand back immediately, and Keith stood just as still as the rest of the room. None of the team dared to move, afraid they’d scare Lance away like a frightened animal. Lance could be going into another flashback, they didn't know what any of his triggers were yet. They couldn’t help him yet. 

Lance’s eyes scanned Keith, catching on the hilt of his blade holster. 

“Finally!” Lance grabbed the knife in seconds, moving to a mirror with his hands wrapped around the blade’s edge. 

“Lance!” He lifted the tip to his temple as Shiro jumped up to pull the knife away from Lance. Keith helped hold him back, though it took both of their strength to keep him in place.

“Lance, please! You don't know what you’re doing! You’re hurting yourself!” Shiro tried to catch his eyes again to bring him out of it but they roamed across the faces of the team watching in horror.

“No, you’re right Shiro, that’d never work. I need….” He stopped at Coran, “A scalpel!”

“Lance, my boy, why don’t we just calm down for a second-,” Coran took a step forward, his hands up in a placating gesture. They needed to get control over this situation. Fast. It was spiralling downwards quicker than any of them could keep up with.

“Calm down?” Lance pulled against Shiro and Keith’s hold, “I can’t calm down! That’s like the last thing I want to do-! Ah! Mother trucker!” Lance stumbled forward, clenching his head in his hand. He looked like he was in pain. Yet he ignored the slash on his palm and the blood trailing down the side of his face from the scratch on his temple. The sudden shift in movement caused the brothers to move forward to try to support him, accidentally loosening their grip in the process.

Lance took the opportunity without hesitation, ripping himself from their hands with surprising speed and strength.

“I’ve got to go,” He started running for the door, “I’ve gotta get out of here,” Lance ran from the room, barely taking a second at the doorway to choose a direction.

Everyone followed after him, calling his name, trying to get him to just stop or slow down just for one second.

But Lance ran track every year in highschool and it showed. He sprinted down the halls, frantically turning corners and hastily choosing random directions.

“I can’t find it! Gah, I can’t f*cking remember! Where is it?! I have to get out!” He paused for brief second at an intersection before rushing down in the direction of-

Allura yelled on the comms as she chased after him, “PALADINS! Cut him off! He’s trying to get to the hangars! I don't think he knows what he’s doing! Be careful!”

Shiro ran through the hangar shortcut, pushing ahead of the group but still making sure everyone else was following him.

He reached the doors first, seeing Lance narrow his eyes when Shiro blocked the hangar entrance. 

But he didn’t stop. Didn’t even slow for a fraction of a second as he ran in a dead charge at Shiro.

He was a second away from tackling them both to the ground when Lance leapt to the side, making into the hangers.

Only to run straight into Allura. She grabbed him, harder this time, her alien strength easily gapping the difference. They couldn't afford to lose him now, not again.

Shiro saw the team come up the hallway behind him and turned to face Lance again, for all too many times in such a short period.

“Lance! Please, do you know where you are? Do you know who I am?” If Lance was having another panic attack, the team could agree that Shiro would be their best bet for getting him out of it.

“Of course I do, Shiro!” The hidden venom in Lance’s voice startled Shiro, “I’m stuck and lost in this freaking castle and I need to go!”

“Why? Please, Lance just stop for a seco-“

“I can’t stop! I have to keep going! Always! I have to keep moving and fighting and I can’t ever just stop! I haven’t been able to stop since you guys left me behind on that Galra ship 3 f*cking months ago!” He was breathing hard by the end of the yell, his words only seeming to catch up with him when the team gasped.

“Sorry Shiro, I didn’t mean-,”

“No,” Shiro hung his head a bit, “It’s okay, you’re right. We shouldn’t have left you behind.” They had all spent more than one night awake with guilt over what’d happened.

“Hardly, I chose to take that path and I chose to be on the other side. You did all you could.”

“Hermano, we should’ve-“ Hunk stepped forward with tears in his eyes.

Lance winced and grit his teeth, stumbling forward again before straightening harshly, “This is sweet and all but I’ve really got to go.”

“Why,” Pidge asked, her voice betraying the anger on her face for desperation, “We just got you back from the Galra and now you’re trying to leave! Why?!”

Lance’s eyes narrowed with a cold hardness to them, “Because they chipped me like a f*cking dog and I’d bet you they’ve already called Animal Control on my ass.”

Next Chapter: https://snaileer.tumblr.com/post/615697648649928704/chips-salsa-chp-3

First Chapter: https://snaileer.tumblr.com/post/613092735756402688/chips-and-salsa-chp-1

[echodrops]

Home and a Half Pidge Headcanons

An ask I got yesterday reminded me that I never posted the HaaH headcanons for Pidge like I promised, so here they are! (I’ll answer the actual ask as soon as I can with some new material instead of headcanons I already had written... oops...)

Anyway, without further ado, some headcanons for Pidge related to my fic Home and a Half!

Pidge:

- Grew up in the picture of the nuclear family: mom, dad, two kids, dog, nice upper-middle-class house in a quiet neighborhood, dinner on the table at 7:30pm on the dot… Of all the paladins, Pidge had the most stable and “average” childhood… at least on paper.

 - In reality, there is not a single person in the Holt family who isn’t eccentric as fuck. Grandma Holt? May or may not still be an active intelligence agent for MI6. The dog? Woofs in Morse code. Auntie Ariana? Has actually seen the Jersey Devil. Colleen Holt? Has killed a man. If you ask Pidge, she’ll say that her upbringing was perfectly normal and she’ll genuinely mean it, but this is a consequence Pidge having no idea what “normal” even means.

 Rest under the read more to save your dash:

- Not actually a girly-girl when she was young. Although they’re eight years apart and thus unlikely to be mistaken for one another, very early on Pidge got frustrated by how similar she and Matt look, and she definitely did not want to wear his tacky hand-me-down clothes, so she pitched a royal fit and insisted on wearing dresses and hairbands so that her family would have to buy Pidge all her own things. (They probably would have bought them anyway if she’d just asked calmly, but Pidge was three at the time, and they were all very impressed by her grasp of cause and effect.)

 - Of course, when Matt disappeared on the ill-fated Kerberos trip, those tacky hand-me-downs ended up being some of the most important items in Pidge’s life. Even outside of infiltrating Garrison, wearing Matt’s old clothes was one of the few comforts Pidge would allow herself—when she cut her hair and put on his baggy shirts, for a second, looking in a mirror, she could almost convince herself he was still there—

 - Pidge has no intention of changing the way she dresses or styles her appearance until she’s reunited with Matt and her father. After that? Well, they may not be the coolest looking things ever, but Matt does have a point that baggy t-shirts are very comfy…

 - And okay, because I’m sure everyone expected this headcanon first: Pidge and gender is a surprisingly uncomplicated subject. Side note before I go further: I’m sure everyone has their own headcanons for this and none of what I say here should be taken as rejecting or invalidating any other fan’s views on Pidge. The only thing invalid in the Voltron fandom is canon. Anyway, I personally like to imagine that Pidge is very ambivalent on gender. There is so much else going on—the war, Sam and Matt being missing, freaking giant robot space cats—that sitting down and sorting out the question of “Do I identify as male, female, nonbinary, or anything else?” is just really, really low on Pidge’s to do list. Pidge thinks of Pidge as “Pidge” and even that’s rare because Pidge doesn’t sit around thinking about herself or what other people think of her.

 - In fact, what strangers think is, in general, extremely low on Pidge’s radar. Although she used to be more self-conscious due to bullying from both classmates and her teachers, the combination of her parents’ consistent support and Matt’s… extreme tactics (“I’m telling you Pigeon, nanobots in their lunches will solve all your problems.” “That’s illegal, Matt.” “Nothing is illegal until you get caught.”) Pidge (mostly) overcame the phase of being affected by other people’s opinions. Who cares what strangers think? Absolutely none of them will ever be even close to as smart and talented as her family anyway. (My IQ is three times yours, your argument about my gender is literally invalid.)

 - By the way, I’m using “her” simply because that’s what I’m used to seeing in the fandom and to keep the fic and headcanons consistent, but in the functional world of HaaH, Pidge answers to any pronouns and doesn’t have a preference for any set in particular over others. In fact, Pidge is used to going by different sets of pronouns coming from different people, and might be “he” to one person, “she” to another, and “they” to yet someone else. Pidge is just… Pidge.

 - Again, with the war and Voltron and missing family and literally everything else going on--and the fact Pidge is far more practical than all of the rest of her fellow Team Voltron members combined--she isn’t wasting time and energy doing something as troublesome as falling in love with an alien. (“Keith, can’t your melodrama wait until after we win the war?” “My drama waits for no man.” “Then please explain how you and Lance manage to engage in synchronized dumb-fuckery at least three times a week.”) Eventually, after life has settled down and Pidge has had some time to think about it, she’ll realize that the reason she somehow managed to avoid any romantic entanglements in space isn’t because she’s just much more mature than her teammates (although this might be true)—it’s that she’s just not really interested in romantic engagements with anybody, period. 

 - Pidge’s one true love is discovery; she feels far more passionate about knowledge and learning new things, encountering new puzzles, and grasping new concepts than she does about anything else. In between all her creations and codes and experiments and observations, it just doesn’t feel like there’s room—or that there needs to be room—for a romantic relationship with a real person.

 - Pidge will make room for friends though, if and when they insist on worming their ways into her life. She tends to be a fairly private person who has never really had a large friend group (back on Earth, before Garrison, there wasn’t anyone but Matt and her parents who really understood her, and she didn’t have much in common to discuss with children her own age), but once someone earns Pidge’s trust, she does open up and form close bonds and she will give her all to help and be there for her few, but close, friends.

 - Meeting Hunk at Garrison was a huge revelation. Up to that point in Pidge’s life she had never really met any young person outside her own family with a soaring genius-level IQ that was a match for her own. Although she and Hunk bicker frequently because their approaches to science are extremely different, she’s still over-the-moon to have someone who doesn’t stare at her like she’s talking gibberish whenever she goes off on one of her tangents.

 - If you ask Pidge, she will violently swear up and down that Lance never and in. no. way. reminds her of Matt, fills in for Matt in the lame-older-brother role, or helps her miss her brother just a little bit less. That did not happen, never had a chance of happening, what are you even talking about—

 - But if you ask about Shiro, she will be flat-out honest and admit she totally thinks of him as Space Dad. It’s not her fault. Shiro literally hero worships Sam Holt (still to this day!!) and may or may not have taken on more of his mentor’s mannerisms in order to fill the leadership role for Team Voltron. Sometimes Shiro will say or do something and Pidge will be absolutely dumb-struck because he got that from my dad is an actual thing she has to deal with.

- “Pidge” is actually a derivative of “Pigeon.” Everyone in the Holt family has a bird-based code name. Mr. Holt is Eagle Two.

 - People often get the impression that Pidge is scatterbrained because she can talk about ten different things at once and pounces on leaps in her own logic that other people just can’t follow, but her thoughts and speech are very organized. It’s not her fault you couldn’t understand her system of organization if you tried.

 - Put Pidge on the spot on a subject she doesn’t know, though, and watch the awkward jump right out. (“Oh, you meant the pop band Galileo, not the person. You know, that’s really an easy mistake to make. You can hardly blame me when you stop to consider all the similarities between modern chord progression and the trajectory of supermassive objects like—”)

 - And if it’s not awkward, it’s defensive. Pidge may be hyper-intelligent, but she’s still very, very young, and it’s hard not to get snappish when challenged by people whose opinions she really does care about. She has a far quicker temper than Matt (who is a “revenge is a dish best served cold” champion), a trait she shares with their mother. Colleen, in turn, blames it on her having been born in New Jersey. Pidge has flipped so many tables on the Castleship that Coran and Lance eventually went around and bolted them all down.

 - Do not even so much as hint that Sam and Matt Holt might be dead instead of just missing in space. Keith is still scared after his last attempt at reasoning with Pidge about her family’s fate.

 - Has a bad hoarding habit. Back on Earth she had her parents there to insist she clean her room at least once a week, but in space, things are getting a bit crazy. The Castleship closets and cabinets can hyper-condense their contents and she’s STILL running out of room for all the neat doodads and parts and scientific wonders she finds on their adventures across the galaxy. Is definitely in the “Look, there’s still a mostly clear path to the door; it’s fineee” category. It’s not like she finds it hard to let things go once she’s gotten attached to them or anything. Nope. Definitely not.

 - Pidge’s mess is absolutely of the “everything has a proper place” type though. Move anything with her name on it and you will feel her wrath.

- As the only one of the Earth paladins to have technology on her when they were unexpectedly swept off to war, everyone on the ship relies on Pidge’s laptop for their monthly dose of Earth nostalgia. Good thing for them Pidge and Matt’s pirating skills put Pirate Bay to shame, and she’s got basically every Earth movie from 1980 to the present. She even has every episode of the timeless classic F.R.I.E.N.D.S. (Keith hates that show with a burning passion that even he cannot explain.)

 - Speaking of technology Pidge had on Earth—every single person in the Holt family is (and has been for decades) aware of the existence of aliens. Pidge’s family tree has been involved in communications, radio wave technology, and interpreting space observations since those fields were first invented. When Earth first identified patterns of waves that obviously corresponded to alien communications going on outside Earth’s galaxy, Pidge’s great- great- grandfather was there. When world governments covered up the discovery, he was the loudest voice of dissent. Since then, the Holt family has been deeply involved in military and space operations across several countries, operating from within an oppressive system they fundamentally disagree with, using their positions of authority to monitor the Milky Way and beyond, keeping tabs on what the aliens might be saying—and what messages Earth might be inadvertently sending back.

 - Of course this is top secret work—secret even from the Garrison and government where the Holts were employed. Other kids learn how to play piano and soccer; Pidge and Matt learned how to hack virtually impenetrable military databases and hide their data behind uncrackable ciphers instead.

 - But the Kerberos Mission was supposed to be safe. They’d all monitored the chatter so closely—there hadn’t been anything hostile anywhere even near Earth’s galaxy, no sign at all of any technologically advanced race like the Galra in years and nothing about one little Earth mission that would disturb any other intergalactic travelers anyway… Why would they...

 - Pidge is surprisingly athletic for a self-professed nerd. With youthful energy to burn and a family to save, Pidge took to Allura and Coran’s intense Altean training like a duck to water, and while she’s not quite Shiro or Keith when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, she can definitely holds up better than Hunk or Lance.

 - Favorite color is actually yellow, and if Green wasn’t totally The Coolest™ lion, she’d be sort of salty about Hunk getting the Yellow Lion instead.

 - Absolutely capable of cursing up a blue storm, and hasn’t been friends with Hunk quite long enough yet to remember to censor herself around him all the time like Lance does with his “Holy crow!”s. She’s trying, dammit!

 - Big on pets. Gets attached to pet-shaped creatures (whether living or robotic) very easily. 110% kept the space caterpillars, who live happily free-roaming the piles of space junk in her bedroom. The space caterpillars and the space mice do not get along, however, as the space mice do not take well to having their status as the favored fuzzy team mascot squad threatened. In their micro-Cold War, which is occurring without any of the ship’s humanoid occupants being aware, the space caterpillars are currently winning.

 - The caterpillars’ names are Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton.

 - Remember that one post about Lance drawing angry brows on the space caterpillar and siccing it on Keith? I very much accept that as canon. Pidge was Not Happy™ when she found out what Lance had done and she is NOT letting anyone else near her caterpillars again any time soon. Is very, very careful not to let Niresh see the space caterpillars so that they don’t end up stolen right from under her nose.

 - Speaking of the kids, Pidge is super awkward with them and skedaddles at the first sign of tears. Next to Allura, there is probably not any member of the team worse suited to babysitting duty. That said, as someone who has lost members of her family in the war, Pidge is probably the member of the team who most directly understands Dulsara’s anger and the children’s loss. That doesn’t mean she’s really ready to let herself sympathize with the Galra though, at least not until she finds her own family first.

- Pulls all the most bullshit moves in Monsters and Mana. Whenever the team reminiscences on the truly legendary moments from their campaigns, somehow Pidge is the star in all of them.

And that’s all I’ve got for now!

[panda-noosh]

Hii hope you're doing well! and I love your writings sm! , sorry if I'm disturbing you..But I was hoping if you can write Pidge x reader where the reader is sick and doesn't want to let her know but then the reader dies SKKSKSKS i want ANGST Thanks! <3

   pidge knew it.

   she fucking knew it, and yet she still did nothing about it. 

   so used to taking your word for it, she just left you to your own devices. she trusted you in the same way she has always trusted you, the same way she thought she would forever be able to trust you.

    but she should have known better. she should have trusted her gut and done something, because now she is standing in your bedroom, and you aren’t there, and you will never be there ever again.

    the room itself is still packed full of your things, but it feels hollow. the bed is still unmade, because you were always too excited to start your day to even bother making your bed. pidge remembers mornings where she would tell you off for being messy, but now she wants more mess. she wants more of your memory scattered across the bedroom floor. she wants to jump under your covers and kick them away, and then she’ll pretend it was you.

    pretending is the only thing she can do now. you’re gone, and you’re never coming back.

    this is a fact pidge still can’t really come to terms with. that’s kind of why she’s standing in your bedroom right now, a bin bag in her hand. she told shiro she would deal with everything, she would come in and clear out your stuff so they can make room for the next medic they will need to hire in your absence. shiro had tried arguing, but pidge was too numb to bother, so she just turned on her heel and trudged upstairs.

    she really did plan on clearing the place out, but now she’s stuck. the air has trapped her. the memories are everywhere, absorbed into the floor and the walls and pidge’s very flesh.

    how is she ever going to throw them out?

    she remembers the first night you ever slept on this ship. pidge was fast asleep in her own room, only to be woken by the sound of knocking on the wall. she had bolted upright, darted into your room to see you stood on the mattress, a hammer in one hand, a picture frame in the other. you had turned around, stunned, and said, “did i wake you?” as if the harsh thumping of a hammer couldn’t possibly be enough to wake a human up from sleep.

    pidge had got angry at you, she remembers. telling you to pipe down. that had been the start of your relationship - pure tension, even though pidge thought you were the prettiest person in the world, and she wanted nothing more than to sit beside you and maybe hold your hand. 

    maybe kiss you, if you let her.

    weeks passed where you would awkwardly say hello to her and she would awkwardly say hello back. the team got tired of it pretty quickly, calling the two of you childish for letting something so small get in the way of getting work done.

    pidge had agreed. she made her agreement clear when she called you pretty one evening in the summer.

    you had fanned your face with your hand like some kind of old-time maiden, and it took every bit of pidge’s strength not to lean in and kiss you. instead, she’d apologised for the way she had acted, and from then on, the two of you had some kind of agreement - you were friends, in short. that was all pidge could really ask for.

    but then more months passed. and more. and some more after that, and you had kissed her on the balcony of some alien hotel room you had been cooped up in for days, and pidge hadn’t pulled back. she’d ran her hands down your back. she’d felt you shivering against her. she’d held you tight and declared, then and there, that that was all she ever needed.

     you were dating for months before you got sick, and at first, it wasn’t even that obvious. a stuffy nose. a bit of muscle pain. a cold, to put it lightly. pidge didn’t have time to go around diagnosing you when your symptoms were so minor, and you seemed to be fine. 

    but then you weren’t getting out of bed until one, two in the afternoon. 

   then, your eyes were puffy.

   then, you were wincing when pidge hugged you.

    it got worse. pidge could see it getting worse, and she brought it up to you, but you always waved her off and said she was being ridiculous. pidge loved you so much, trusted you so much, that she couldn’t bring herself to believe you were lying; you weren’t stupid enough to let your own health decline like that. if something was truly wrong, you would go to a doctor. you promised pidge you would take care of yourself.

    and it was yesterday that shiro gave her the news you had died.

     in the bathroom, of all places. he had opened the door, and there you were, sprawled across the tiles, unconscious. well, it looked like you were unconscious; that was all shiro could properly comprehend, because the idea of you just being dead never occurred to him.

   not until he knelt down and pressed his fingertips into your pulse-less neck.

    he did everything he could, he said. he held you and he did CPR and he did everything else, but pidge didn’t want to hear it. she was on the floor already, gasping for breath, begging shiro to stop lying, stop lying, stop talking, it’s too much.

   she went to bed that night. alone. 

  she will go to bed for the rest of her days now. alone.     

[yellowsugarwords]

Voltron FanFiction - “Midnight Comforts”

Remembering days in captivity, Pidge has a nightmare and wakes up in the middle of the night. Luckily for her, Shiro is also awake to offer support.

Platonic Shiro and Pidge!! I love their father/daughter relationship :’)

——

Cold sweat clung to her skin. She panted, her body thrust into an upright position, before she groaned and buried her face into her shaking palms. Again. It happened again. Pidge had been dealing with these night terrors for weeks now. It was nothing entirely new. She had dealt with them after the Kerberos mission disaster had been announced, but had been nightmare-free for (what felt like) ages. She hung her feet over the edge of the bed and stood up, groaning at the chill that went through her body. It was always like this after a nightmare; the chills and the hand jitters, the nervous flinches at every sound and shadow. Normally, she hit out in her room, hidden under the sheets until morning. This time, she couldn’t. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. She needed air.

This nightmare had been one of the worst. She stuffed her feet into her slippers, pulled a hoodie over her arms, and started into the hallway. It was so quiet and eerie but at least out here she didn’t feel trapped. She didn’t feel caged in. She felt like she could breathe, even a little, and even if she still felt trapped everywhere else. After the incident, she felt trapped in her own skin. She wanted to escape herself. She wanted out of everything. She wanted out. She wandered down the ship’s hallways to the kitchen area. She got a hot glass of water just to have something to hold; something to keep her from becoming dehydrated. Her hands were shaking so bad she could only fill it up halfway to avoid a spill. She made her way to the control room purely to lay on the ground and stare at the stars. Hopefully then she would feel less claustrophobic. Breathe. Why was it so hard for her to just breathe? She knew why. She just hated talking about it. She hated acknowledging it. She hated acknowledging what had happened. What made her this way. Them. Those people, and all the cruelty they had inflicted upon her. “Pidge?” Her skin went ice-cold. Her shoulders tensed. Before she knew what she was doing, she was scrambling to her feet, her drink collapsing to the floor, a wail bursting from her throat. “Stay back!“ She snapped. In a panic, and skittered to her feet, her body leaping before her brain could settle. She flipped around, her skin ice-cold and pale as a sheet. Maybe it hadn’t been just a dream. Maybe it had been a reminder of her reality. Maybe she was still living in it. She whimpered as she skittered to the other of the room. “Leave me alone!” The scream rippled through her throat desperately, her eyes squeezed closed and tears clinging to the corners. It was real. It was them. They were here to hurt her. They were here again. By the time she hit the far wall, her tears were welling and her hands were raised, pleading for them to stay back. There just past the doorway stood Shiro, a hand outstretched in pain as he studied her panic. Her eyes widened, her heart shaking in realization. “Pidge...” he whispered, his voice shaking with sincerity. “Pidge, what happened?” She hesitated, wavering on nervous feet. A whimper built in her throat and vanished before escaping. “I-Is it actually you?” She asked, her fragility exposed. She flinched back at how vulnerable she sounded. His heart ached at the question. Her hands were shaking, she was hugging her arms in an attempt at comfort. She was scared. Terrified by the looks of it. It was hard for Pidge to trust anything after what they did to Shiro. After what they did to her. She didn’t ever want to speak about it. She never had. Shiro knew it had to be bad for her to be terrified to even speak about her experience. She was terrified. She was scared. She felt alone. Shiro could see it in the way her wide eyes stared back at him, quivering and terrified. “It’s me,” he hushed, hands extending to her. Step-by-step, he drew closer. “It’s me, Pidge. It’s really me.” Pidge fidgeted in spot but didn’t move. Shiro could see her tears welling more. “Pidge, what happened?” He was getting closer and closer. It was breaking her heart more and more. He just wanted to help. He seemed so hurt by her sadness. She was a burden. She was hurting him. Her pain always hurt everyone. A sob escaped her throat, and she lifted her fingers meekly to cover her mouth. Shiro paused, only a few steps in front of her, his brows knit in deeper concern. “I’m scared, Shiro.” She finally managed. She spoke through her fingers timidly, brushing at her cheeks with her sleeves. Shiro frowned but felt his heart swell momentarily. She was trusting him. She was letting him in. Cautiously, she knelt to her level. “You’re safe here, Pidge.” Pidge squeezed her eyes closed and shielded her face, mortified and embarrassed that he was witnessing her in such a state. She took in a shaky breath, another chill of fear rattling her spine. “There’s no judgment here, Pidge.” He said. At no point did he make an effort to touch her, or reach out to her, or bring her closer. In that moment, just like he always did, he respected her boundaries. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.” Pidge dropped her hands from her face. She had tearfully been looking through her fingers to avoid his direct gaze. But she crumbled. Those last few words made her completely fall apart. With a restrained sob, Pidge slid herself forward, her sorry and panic on full display, quickly falling into Shiro’s warm hold. Her head fell perfectly under his chin as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close on the control room floor. She felt safe. Shielded. She knew Shiro would never let anything bad happened. He never did. He never did when he was able to control it. Feeling safe — genuinely safe — for the first time in months, Pidge broke down into sobs. Shiro’s hand settled on her head, soothingly stroking her hair. “What they did to me was so unfair.” She mumbled through a sob, burying her face deeper into his shirt. Shiro’s jaw clenched. He refused to let his anger shift his hold on the girl. Her terror was his priority, and he was careful to ensure his grip didn’t tighten. “It was,” he said softly. “But they can’t get to you anymore.” It made Pidge cry a little harder. But the entire time, Shiro didn’t budge. He remained, holding her reassuringly. When the time came, he tucked her in on one of the main couches and took a seat beside her. No way in hell was he leaving her alone for the remainder of the night. No way in hell. And, for the rest of the night, he watched over her like a hawk, flinching at every slight noise. He just cared. He loved her like one of his own. He never wanted anything to happen to her ever again. And he was going to ensure it never would.

[hunterguyveriv]

Sometimes a Stranger can help you Heal

Another 2 day combined into one for the Day 5 (Conversation in Black Lion) & and Day 6 (Battle Injury/Angst/Healing).

Both Keith & Acxa may seem out of character, but this is how I see the span of time between the time of Zethrid’s ship and when the lions land on the planet Acxa was stationed. It is meant to only center on Keith & Acxa

"What if she makes a move against him? We barely survived our last ground encounter with the Generals, let alone them in the Sincline ships!" The voice of an older female could be heard, "I trust my son enough to hold his own. One of our training regiments was close-quarters combat to simulate an attempted Cockpit takeover. Besides, if this Acxa DOES makes a move against him, I won't need to worry about him..."

In a matter of seconds, the mouth was pressurized and filled with oxygen. Keith landed with the full force of their weight on his left shoulder, causing it to dislocate. The cockpit pathway was now available to both of them as Black turned and rejoined the other lions. He grabbed his numb unresponsive left wrist, picking it up from the area between her navel and waist, letting it drop to the floor. Keith grimaced as the angle his arm was in caused more pain, which he couldn't focus on. 

He jumped up, holding his left arm, rushing to the cockpit. Once in, he greeted his wolf, and delicately stepped over him. He was quickly hitting some buttons on the console. The console had a loading wheel before flashing off. He promptly sat in his chair, grabbing his left wrist again and resting his arm on his hip, hand limply hanging between his legs before holding the right-hand joystick. He shifted black to regroup and take the point in the formation.

Acxa was a mere 50 seconds behind him when she entered the cockpit. She saw Keith deliberately not using his left arm but saw some movement out of the corner of her eye. She saw and wast both shocked and startled that he had an injured Tlvdatsi Wolf. She looked back at the paladin, trying to figure him out. Figure out how the ruggle he got an animal supposedly extinct due to Zarkon hunting them down, wanting to unlock their teleportative abilities. She sat down slowly next to the wolf, not to seem aggressive or to jostle it, causing more pain. As she sat down, the wolf whined in pain, causing her to instinctively stroked his fur and prove some sort of comfort.

Over the comms came the voice of the one she knew from the Weblum as Hunk "Guy's we need somewhere to do close by to land and charge the lions! They can't take much more." A soft voice came from the floor, "I know of a place you can hold out." Keith looked at her as she typed on her gauntlet, "Go to Planet Verolgah-VI. You can lay low for as long as needed while they charge up."

Keith typed in the Planet's name and saw it would take 8 hours at their current levels to get there. Plotted a course, and everyone followed. He turned to face her and thank her for everything she had done, but she had fallen asleep next to his wolf. Stroking his fur gently, she had one of the most peaceful looks on her face.

She was woken up by some strained grunting. She looked up and saw a helmetless Keith standing near the cot for the Black Paladin. He had his hand in between the railing to get in it and the wall. He had is bayard in his mouth, chomping his teeth, which some looked Galra, and some looked human on it as he tried twisting his arm. She heard a growl escape his throat, which prompted his wolf to lift his head and look at him cocking his head. She saw him twist his arm relatively fast and yank. She heard a sigh come from him as he reached up and stroked his shoulder a little, telling her it was dislocated. She watched with abated interest then horror as she saw him take his arm from between the wall and railing and then slam his left shoulder full force into the wall. She winced, hearing a blood cruddling pop and a Yelp-like growl from being his bayard.

She watched as he flexed his left arm, even open and close his hand. He took his bayard from his mouth and let it dematerialize into its storage area in his leg armor. He turned, seeing her watching him, causing his cheeks to burn "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." She waved her hand slightly and stiffly got up "It's all right, but if you needed help you should have asked." She got up and felt his left shoulder region for any severe damage.

Keith stopped feeling heat around his neck, "I know, but I'm still not used to asking for help." She rested a hand briefly on the space between his chest armor and shoulder pad. They stood there in awkward silence for a group of seconds before getting flustered. Keith went back to the pilot's seat. Acxa sat on a small ledge to his right, "But you are the leader of Voltron." 

Keith typed on his console's right panel, transferring power and controls back to the left side. He flexed his arm briefly before taking the left joystick releasing a sigh of relief. He looked back at her with a somber look, "Ever since my father died and and my mother-Krolia was out of the picture since I was a mere baby, all I could rely on was myself." Acxa to tell he was still hurting from his past as he looked back to his view screen, "Sure I had Shiro after he recruited me for the Galaxy Garrison and eventually became a type of brother figure to me, but…"

"You still remained an outcast." He nodded as she finished his thoughts. "Even now, when I am with the team it feels like I am still kept at a distance." She sat there intently, "but what of the one called, I think Hunk, from what I remember of the Weblum, he seemed like he was trying to get close."

She saw Keith reach up and touch the area of his right trapezoid and breastbone area. "Yeah, during a trying time, besides Shiro filling that brotherly role, of the team he was the only one who bothered trying." She looked at him, puzzled, causing him to sigh and looked at her. "I was in a dark place leading up to the battle in which Voltron fought Zarkon. Up to possibly a week prior to that battle, I had gone my entire life believing I was human. That was until I met a Blade member by the name of Ulaz."

He reached a concealed compartment that had mostly chewie snacks for his wolf, which prompted his wolf to get up and sit next to his arm, nuzzling it for some, along with his knife. He grabbed a couple of pieces of dried meat for the wolf and his knife. The wolf eagerly took the chewies and ran to "Daddy's Cot" and jumped on it.

Acxa, in a very long time, giggled at the defeated sigh but put her attention back on Keith. "My beliefs that I was completely human started to falter when Zarkon said, 'I fought like a Galra Soldier' which don't get me wrong was quite a compliment in itself." He saw her nod, "As you should." He held his knife forward, the same knife that transformed into a large sword at the Kral-Zera "But it was seeing this emblem on Ulaz's weapon that shook my foundation."

"Once we met with the Blade of Marmora to be potential allies against Zarkon, but things nearly spiraled out of hand until Blade-Master Kolivan put me through the trials in which I awoken the blade." As he put his knife in a secret hilt, he had specially made for his armor, "That is when you learned you were Galra?" He looked at the timer to reach the Planet that her base was on compared to the remaining power time for the lions, it was cutting it rather tight "Correct." He went back to piloting Black. "How did the others react?" 

She could see she struck a still-raw nerve with his demeanor change, "Sorry…" He politely waved her off, "No, no, it's okay." He initiated the auto-pilot, he shifted to face her. "Lance, the loud pain in the ass actually didn't insult me about it. He said it even made sense since I made Galra consoles work, and the jacket I wore before leaving for a time reminded him of Sendak's armor. Pidge, she looked at it from a scientific standpoint and Coran. Coran told me he already knew, but felt it wasn't his place to tell me.

"Is that why you helped me out in the Weblum?" She saw him smirk, "Yes and no." She gave him a puzzled look. "Honestly I had no idea you were Galra until I saw your insignia. But my father who was a firefighter, had taught me from a young age that if I saw someone in need regardless of who they are you help them." "Sounds like he was an honorable man," she placed a hand on his forearm. "He was, infact that is how he met mom. Watching a vision from the Quantum Abyss, she crashlanded on Earth preventing a scout from revealing the location of the Blue-Lion…" Smirking quite ironically "something that still irks Allura quite a bit."

That last bit, she barely caught, but something definitely caught her attention "It seems, we are destined to keep crossing each other's path." He looked at her, "Oh?" "Affirmative. According to you, we met the same way your parents and ever since, we have been crossing each other's paths." His face in a matter of Milliseconds to a sudden realization, "You may be right!"

"But why… wait, what about Allura's reaction?" "Maybe because of it? We had grown close before the revelation. We were always stealing glances from one another when others weren't paying attention. Of all the Paladins she was always eager to join me, even was the toughest on me because Red was her father's lion. But it all changed after my trials..."

Acxa could tell he was still hurting. Hurting that, he experienced something that she, Lotor, Narti, Zethrid, and Ezor grew used to in nearly a quarter of a century. "All she saw was me as a Galra. Keep in mind I had a lot on my plate, I needed support from my team, my ENTIRE, team. But she cut me so deep that I was willing to take a suicide mission. Even after her… attempt of an apology, how could I lead someone who didn't want me there in the first place." Acxa nodded, sensing there was more anger and bitterness under the surface.

"Well it's her loss." She placed a hand on his and squeezed it softly. "You will find someone worthy of your devotion." Turning to hide the blush on his face, "Maybe I already have." He flipped his hand over, so their fingers intertwined. They gazed into each other's eyes briefly faces slightly red and purple before the proximity alarm brought them back to the immediate reality.

Planet Verolgah-VI was approaching fast, with systems starting to shutdown. Acxa uploaded a map to her base, which Keith sent to the rest of the lions. She even announced over the comms that they have to be careful entering the atmosphere due to Ion storms that had a tendency to appear out of nowhere. Keith gave the order to put their helmets back on and divert life support and any other unneeded energy to thrusters. Seconds before entering the upper atmosphere, more and more systems start to fail in the lions, "Anyone who isn't piloting, strap in! This is going to be rough!"

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.79

Running late to pick Curtis and Shiro up, Lance blamed Kosmo. The puppy making off with one of his shoes, while he was trying to find his missing pants. Curtis had sounded drunk, Shiro even more so. Lance hadn’t expected them to get plastered on their date, but with a rare night to themselves, he felt both of them totally deserved to relax. Promising to wait for them out the front of the hotel whose restaurant was where they’d gone for their date, neither of them were waiting out the front thanks to the light drizzling rain.

Heading into the lobby with his boyfriend, Keith unimpressed they were walking around in their “pyjamas” in such a rich looking place. They’d fallen into a doze cuddling after doing a little physical making up more than once. Lance’s hips were sore and his smile gentle towards his annoyed boyfriend. The vampire really loved it when Keith he’d him by his hips, and he really loved making up with his boyfriend. So that gentle smile was purely for Keith. Wearing sweats, he’d had to borrow because lord only knew where his pants, and oversized shirt in a hotel lobby made him feel like a dork. They were clearly underdressed when compared to the ornate Art Deco feel of the place. Sighing, Keith pulled out his phone, both of them moving out of the main thoroughfare to stand closer to the wall

“I’m gonna try calling Curtis again”

Lance nodded. The place really didn’t seem like they should walk further in. He wouldn’t be surprised if the receptionist had already called the cops on them, but all the money that went into such a fancy place didn’t really show on the outside with the rain coming in under the fronts plastic roofing. As Keith talked to Curtis, Lance’s smile started to waver. Not completely sure why, something pricked at his senses. The feeling annoying, as there seemed nothing wrong with their surrounds, and extra annoying as he couldn’t figure out why he was annoyed.

“They’re on their way. They went and sat in the lounge to wait for us thanks to the rain”

Lance almost thanked god out loud

“Babe?”

Humming, Lance pushed his smile back into place

“Sorry. I was totally zoning out”

Keith slipped his phone back in his pocket, Lance trying not to look as the small amount of weight tugged down Keith’s sweats. They’d already fooled around enough that now the couch and the bathroom were christened. He didn’t feel like he was in heat, but he could definitely appreciate Keith’s body, especially this hips showing above the hem of his sweats

“They could have at least texted”

Lance nodded, casting a glance around as he wondered where the hotel lounge was

“Babe?”

Whoops. He didn’t want Keith to worry over some niggling feeling he didn’t know how to explain

“I’m fine. Just tired”

“Are you sure? I mean...”

“I’m fine. Not even that sore... I mean, I’m not sore, but you know...”

Lance was blushing now. He could almost feel Keith’s hands on his hips. Maybe it was a kink? Yet, he only wanted Keith to do it, so he wasn’t sure it counted

“I know it’s harder on you than it is on me”

“Vampire stamina, babe. I’m okay. This place looks nice”

Keith frowned at the topic change, but went along with it

“It looks expensive”

“I don’t know how people feel comfortable in a place like this. I like the hotel we went to better”

“Mmm. Me too. Curtis did want things to be special. Their dinner probably cost what I make in a week”

Did Keith worry about that with him? That he couldn’t impress Lance with a low budget? Lance had his own money. He’d prefer something casual

“I don’t think I could do that. Spend that much on a meal. I’d rather get a room and room service”

“Do you want to do something like that for your birthday?”

Lance bit down his sigh. He didn’t want to discuss his birthday

“Can I think about it?”

“Sure... I get that you don’t like it, but... I want to do something with you”

Pidge and Hunk would probably want to do something

“I know. Please no 18 again parties. If Pidge and Hunk start on it, can you loop me in so I can not be there. Oh, there’s Shiro”

Curtis and Shiro were a welcome distraction. They were sober enough to walk straight, which was a relief

“Sorry! The rain started and Shiro was getting wet”

Curtis looked good. Both of them were suited up. Curtis had styled his hair a little differently thanks to his horn. The look suited him. The few flakes of dandruff on his shoulder were barely noticeable when you looked at Curtis as a whole being

“It’s fine. Can we go now?”

Ruffling Keith’s hair, Shiro laughing at Keith’s huffy tone

“You’ve got to get used to places like this one day. You can’t just take Lance to cheap hotels”

Keith deflated, Lance wrapping his arm around his boyfriend’s waist

“Actually, he can. I really don’t mind where we go”

“Still. You do have a birthday coming up...”

“Lance would rather not talk about his birthday. It’s a sensitive subject when he doesn’t age”

Lance supposed he deserved that for confiding in Curtis. Shiro’s happiness didn’t waver, the hunter nodding understandingly

“I suppose after a while it gets repetitive. We always baked a cake for Keith’s birthday when I could. He always ate it. No matter how much he disliked it”

“Fuck off”

His little anger loaf wasn’t impressed. Lance keeping his arm around him as they moved towards the door.

That was because Shiro had made it his cake for him, Keith would always eat it like it was the best cake ever made. Lance knew those feelings well. This year Hunk would want to bake a cake for Keith, so Lance’d have to let him know not to. As Shiro brushed past him, Lance caught a whiff of vampire clinging to him. That certain undeadness with hints of blood... Now he knew what’d been bugging him. The feeling like he’d been being watched from far away. Stumbling his steps as he tried to look over his shoulder, Keith kept him upright

“Babe?”

Lance couldn’t bring up the topic now. Not if they were being watched and listened to

“It’s fine. Just making sure they didn’t call security on us”

A little white lie wouldn’t cause any drama. Maybe the vampire worked here as something like a waiter. Shiro’s neck showed, no vampire bites obvious. Confidently, Shiro bought his mistruth

“They’d hardly call security on us. Though you two are underdressed. I hope we didn’t disturb anything...”

The way Shiro said “anything” meant sex... Grumpy Keith didn’t appreciate his brother’s comment

“It’s the middle of the night. We were tying to sleep. Don’t be gross”

“You knew you had to pick us up”

“I didn’t think it’d be in the middle of the fucking night...”

Oh dear. Keith was only getting crankier. Pulling Keith closer, Keith leaned into him, Lance enjoying feeling like he was supporting his sleepy boyfriend

“It’s fine. We were cuddled up in bed. He didn’t have any coffee before we left. Are we headed back to the apartment or VOLTRON?”

“Lotor had a meeting with Allura. That should be over now. She was worried about his scent sending you into a fresh heat when now is not an opportune time. Then there’s the affect of your scent on his ego. Allura was quite unsure what the meeting was about. Lotor seemed quite keen on dating her”

Trust Curtis to know what was up. Lance hadn’t met Lotor yet. The vampire less snoopy now the Blades had sent a team. There were probably a lot of supernaturals that felt they couldn’t go to VOLTRON for help until the hunters had left. Things were fine with Coran running the show. He didn’t simply send someone after you. But the Blades didn’t play by his rules. Antok hadn’t seemed to care when he carried out his mission. He was going to have to find Allura and ask her what she made of Lotor now they’d spent more time together. They never had had to go out... and though Lance disliked going to clubs, he didn’t want Allura to miss out on the chance to get out and about. He didn’t want to third wheel on Allura’s dating life, yet he wasn’t sure he was up for Allura going out alone with Lotor, if she’d decided he was worth her time. If they went out, met in a public space, then that’d be a different thing. Allura could experience what being human was like, without the heaviness of it being a date. Not that dating was heavy. But there was a certain expectation of things to run smoothly. Lotor hurting Allura went against things running smoothly and he’d never forgive himself if something happened to her... even if meant third wheeling. Tomorrow he’d talk to Allura. Or today... He wasn’t exactly sure what the time was, only that he was out past his bedtime and he wanted to get as far away from the hotel vampire as soon as he could.

*

When Lance went looking for Allura in the morning, the last thing he expected was to be running into Krolia. Walking through the halls, Krolia and Kolivan were talking with Coran. Lance knew he wasn’t supposed to hear what they were saying, but he definitely caught “Sendak needs to come in and testify that he wasn’t involved in the incident at the shipping yard, or we’ll be forced to hunt him down. If you can get Lotor to agree on a meeting with us personally, we’ll be in a much better position....” before the three of them noticed him and promptly shut up. He’d heard more, but he really had tried to ignore their words by thinking about Keith. In front of everyone else the Blades made it a point to tell the world they didn’t need Coran’s help. Now they were sneaking around and meeting with him like the dodgy snakes they were.

“Lance, my boy. What are you doing here?”

Coran sounded ruffled. Being caught would do that. Sliding his hands into his jeans, Lance shrugged, pretending this wasn’t awkward, and he didn’t feel like prey with the three of them walking towards him

“I just came up to talk to Allura. Is she around?”

“She’s in her office, I believe”

“Great. Well... I’m gonna go... yep... gonna go find Allura...”

And now he was overjustifying. Kolivan stared down at him, crossing his arms with a savage frown on his lips. Lance nearly found himself dropping down and begging for his life. The man was fucking scary

“Can I ask why you wish to see Allura? I was under the impression you’d be leaving by now”

Ouch. He was currently stuck. Things half packed

“I’m not exactly here because I want to be. No offence, Coran. I... well... I was going to ask Allura if she wanted to go out for a drink and a catch up”

Coran nervously twirled his moustache

“Sorry, my boy... Allura needs to stay here today. Why don’t you call Pidge and Hunk?”

Okay. This was weird. Why was it that he felt Coran wanted Allura staying at VOLTRON because he was scared for her? Lotor better not have hurt her already

“Nah. It’s fine. I wanted to see how she was. I’ll message Keith or something”

“Ah. Yes. Well. Shiro and Keith will be required later too. Sorry. Lotor wishes to meet with them and we believe Allura may be able to obtain information pertinent to the investigation...”

“That’s enough. Anything else is to be saved for the briefing”

Coran tugged lightly on the end of his moustache

“I’m sorry, Lance. He is quite right. Maybe today’s the day to go for a nice drive? You’ll find something to do. Only I ask that you please avoid the main floor. We don’t know what time we should expect Lotor’s arrival”

“Coran, you don’t need to explain. It’s okay. I’ll visit Garrison, and catch up with Allura another time”

Heading back to his room. Lance gathered up his things. Lotor was coming on board to work with the Blades, meaning his presence here would potentially cause issues if the two of them were to bump into each other. Coran had promised to work on something for his scent and pheromones but these things took time and the man now had enough of his plate that Lance understood he didn’t really have time to be coming up with something like that. It’d suck not being able to say goodbye to Keith, but Keith had work and that needed to come first. Plus they’d made up yesterday. He’d overstayed his welcome. Not helpful in the current situation. Packing up and moving home was best for everyone... except Keith. He was being pathetic. He’d been spoiled being able to see Keith almost everyday. Mami was right. They were definitely in their honeymoon phase. He wanted to spend as much time with Keith as possible, but already had made his working life hard because his boyfriend had to take care of him during his heats. Putting it that way didn’t sound noble. It kind of sounded like he was running away from his problems. He should just call Keith and explain... but hearing his voice... he’d want to see him, and then he’d want to stay and he couldn’t stay. Ugh. Being in love was exhausting... Don’t get him wrong, he adored Keith, but if he wasn’t thinking about him then he probably would have gone back earlier.

Taking the cowards way out, he shot keith a text. Well. A series of texts explaining that for now he thought it’d be best. He knew Keith had abandonment issues and he’d really wanted to help with this “Krolia Keith issue”. But he was just one vampire head over-heels for his boyfriend. He thought maybe he get them to talk, yet if he was confined to the lower levels of VOLTRON he didn’t see how that was going to happen. With his things packed, it took two trips to his car. Keith hadn’t replied to messages, making him feel even worse about just leaving him in Platt. Keith had mentioned he wanted him to be able to go back to Garrison, where he’d be relatively safe... Matt and Rieva wouldn’t have returned there is it wasn’t... and with the three of them they’d put up a fair fight if anything happened.

*

Blue kept him company for the drive. Clipping her lead to the passenger headrest, his precious princess curled up on the front seat, happy to be in the sun. Her legs stretched out, toe beans pointing towards him. She was just too cute. She’d made a friend in Kosmo and now Lance felt mean separating the pair of them. Maybe he should get another cat? If things were settling down for him, it’d be good for Blue to have some company... Though the house and grounds were her domain so an intruder might not be looked upon so nicely. Plus, she’d have to share her cat tree... and watch another cat eat wet food... Maybe another cat wasn’t such a good idea... Especially when Blue liked to “play” with him as a bat. He was likely to end up dead with a second feline there to help Blue. As Keith would say, he was overthinking things again.

Reaching his house, he didn’t feel better about coming home. Hunk’s car was in the drive, him and Pidge probably already inside. After his craptastic day, part of him felt petty. Pidge wasn’t fine with sleeping over when it came to him. But she was apparently fine with two werewolves... It stung. Like maybe he wasn’t welcome in his own house anymore, like he wasn’t exactly welcome at VOLTRON. Now he was sitting in front of his house, he realised he’d left without picking up blood bags. He should have some still, from when he was going to move back before, but after skulking away, he felt foolish. His metaphoric tail tucked between his legs because the adults didn’t have time for him. Totally fucking lame. He’d stripped his room completely. Everything packed and in the back of his bronco. All that came now was pasting a fake smile on his face and greeting his friends again.

Matt and Rieva had heard him coming, Lance opening the door to the pair of them. As they wrapped their arms around him, it was the best he’d felt all day

“You’re back!”

Matt sounded happy. At least someone was happy to see him... Nope. No. No being petty. They were home and staying there now

“Yep. Back for good”

“We missed you, man! Come in already! We’ve been dying here. Hunk’s cooking is the only thing keep us alive”

Lance snorted

“You’ve missed me because you can’t cook”

“Rieva can cook... but there’s just something not the same without you in the kitchen”

Matt was careless with his words. Rieva letting go of Lance and grabbing her boyfriend by the earlobe, Matt yelping

“What was that?”

Matt grabbed his girlfriend’s wrist

“Okay! I said it wrong! You can cook! You can cook! Stop tearing my ear off!”

Rieva grinned at Lance

“Hear that? He’s volunteered for two weeks of dishwashing and drying. Now, if only I could get him so enthused about doing his washing”

Lance raised an eyebrow

“You haven’t trained him yet?”

“At this stage he’s surviving on his good looks alone”

“Then how is he still alive?”

Matt frowned, Rieva letting go of his ear as she laughed. Crossing his arms, the werewolf put on an overly hurt tone

“Man. That hurt. I thought we were buds?”

“We are. Can I blame that on my ego?”

“Only if you don’t get too mad about your living room”

“What did you do to my house?”

“Well... about that...”

It took naught-point-two seconds for Lance to wish he was buried out the back in his grave soil. His living room transformed. Now there were investigation boards up for Lotor. Rieva hadn’t given up on Lotor being bad... she’d just shifted her investigation here... roping in Hunk and Pidge from the look of it. He’d left Platt and now Platt seemed determined to mock him

“What. The. Fuck?!”

“Don’t freak out...”

Matt could go jump if he thought Lance would be cool with this

“You can’t just... What were you thinking?”

This right here was why vampires lived longer than werewolves! Rieva took him by the hand

“I know this is hard for you, but we couldn’t let it go. Lotor’s bad news. His family is bad news. Please, Lance. This is the only safe place where we can work this out”

From the sofa, Pidge looked up from her laptop

“Rieva, ignore him. He worries too much”

No. He worried just the right amount!

“Of course I worry! You guys are mostly human! I didn’t come home to be caught up in an investigation that’d make me even more dead if the Blades found out!”

“That’s why they can’t know. Shiro and Keith...”

“I’m not lying to Keith. Both of them were booted from the investigation for a good reason. I can home to get away from this!”

Hunk came running from the kitchen. Oven mitts still on his hand

“What’s all the... Lance?! You’re back?”

Why did it feel like Hunk wasn’t happy to see him?

“I am. And I see you guys have been busy”

“Uh. Yeah. Uh, bud... you see... the thing is...”

“The thing is you’re going to end up getting yourselves killed chasing this. I can’t believe you guys! You find out vampires are real and now you’re targeting one of the nastiest around? Seriously?! Do you know what you’re doing?! Allura is like a hair away from dating Lotor. Keith’s stressed out. Shiro and Curtis are finally dating. We’re all banned pretty much from going to VOLTRON while the Blades investigate this. And you bring it home?! This isn’t fun and games! People end up dead or they end up as something fucking worse. Pidge, you were scared and you haven’t even seen the worst of it! I told you I didn’t want her caught up in this! She’s your sister, Matt!”

Matt sighed

“Look. I know you care about Pidge. But I care about keeping us all safe. Lotor is bad news...”

“I know! Well I don’t know, but I know enough!”

“You’re not a hunter...”

Matt started to speak, Lance snapping mid sentence

“You guys aren’t either! You want to be turned into pets? Is that it? You want to be fed on? You want to be tortured? Why?! Why would you do this?”

Pidge stood up, yelling

“Our parents know hunters! They know. They know about things!”

“Then figure out how to help Curtis with his goddamn curse! Not how to bring down Lotor and get us all killed in the process!”

Pidge’s parents knowing hunters kind of gut punched him. Pidge must have either forced them to talk to her or snooped. Probably snooped. Colleen was scary

“You’re not our boss, Lance. We can’t let people get hurt! Or is your precious ego so fragile you don’t actually care about helping people?”

Lance wanted to shake sense into Pidge. What happened to his always dependable ray of sunshine stopping her from being stupid?!

“Of course I care! But we’re banned from investigating! You guys were knocked out by the Blades once. Kolivan isn’t going to be so kind the next time around!”

“What does it matter if it stops people getting hurt?!”

“Because you could die!”

“And I could come back as a vampire! This is bigger than us”

Pidge didn’t get it. She didn’t get what being a vampire was like at all. Pidge turning into a vampire was the stuff of nightmares for him. Why were his friends so fucking stupid?!

“I can’t... I can’t even look at you guys right now. Being a vampire isn’t a joke. It’s the worst existence you could think of. For 26 years I’ve looked 18. I’ve watched my family grow old. I tore my family apart. My sister Rachel became a drug addict because she couldn’t cope. I’ve left people behind. I’ve had to change my name and move. Everything you enjoy about being human is gone. Your precious coffee, drink that and you’ll be throwing it back up half an hour later. No caffeine buzz. No alcohol buzz. We go insane. That’s our fate. Our fate is loose our minds and turn into monsters. That’s if you even survive turning and you’re not hunted down and decapitated first. Our blood is so dangerous that even a hickey can turn our partners if they suck too hard. Fuck this. I’ll be in my grave my soil”

No matter which way he looked at it. He’d be the first to sign up for experimental time travel because today had sucked so hard that not even Keith calling him could make up for it.

[writingfordayz]

The Distance Between Us

I couldn’t help but notice the subtle trembling of Shiro’s hands. He tried to steady them against his glass, continuing to smile and engage Coran in a discussion about the planet we’d just visited. With the glass anchored to the table, he was able to hide the shaking, but as soon as he directed the glass towards his lips, some of the water toppled over the edge and onto his chest. After finishing his drink, he chuckled and brushed it off, along with the incident, and returned his hands to his lap, concealing them under the table.

With a glance around the room, it was easy to see that no one had noticed his slip-up, but it was evident to me. Ever since we had both returned from the rescue mission, he’d been off. It was clear this mission had affected him more than most, but it’s odd because it was one of the most successful ones. I mean, come on! We managed to sneak onto a Galra ship, completely undetected, and broke out a group of Balmara who were abducted after the team first liberated them. Everyone survived and I only got a few bruises out of it. I was actually proud that I could train the next day without being too sore, but it was that morning when we were fighting simulations that he seemed unsettled.

Glancing up from the last of the fading bruises on my arm, my eyes landed on Shiro’s empty seat. “He’s done already?”

Allura laughed and said, “Yes, he went to continue training. You could all improve a little by following his training regiment.”

Hunk paused mid bite, “Nah...I’m good.”

Without looking up from her computer, Pidge mumbled,” Same”.

“Yeah… you’re right Princess. I’m gonna go join him.”

The training deck was barely illuminated by some dim lights overhead, and Shiro’s figure danced around simulations in the dark, his arm hesitating before striking down the enemies. He continued to increase the difficulty until he was in complete darkness. When the rhythmic shattering of simulations was intercepted by heavy thuds and panting, I abruptly ended the training sequence and flipped the lights on, finding him slumped over on the floor in a pool of sweat.

“Shiro what are you thinking?! The training is going to kill you far faster than the missions at this rate.”

He jolted back momentarily, studying your face before relaxing. Reaching forward, I grabbed his arm that reflexively flew up to defend himself. It was trembling, but as he grasped my hand, all anxiousness ceased.

“I’m sorry you had to see that. I didn’t know you were watching,” he admitted.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?” It killed me when he shut people out, especially myself. Half the time he’d be honest. I’d been informed about his nightmares, his fears of losing his brother, the regrets he’d left behind on Earth, but the other half was completely closed off from prying ears. All I ever want to do is help him like I do in the middle of the night when the knock echoes between our walls and my arms provide enough comfort for him to fall back asleep.

“All I’m doing is trying to improve my combat skills. We all have things we need to improve, and that’s my weakness,” he explained as he stood and walked past me towards the exit.

“This is more than just improving your combat skills! I can tell there’s something different about you Shiro. Ever since that last mission, you’ve been training non-stop and you avoid any interactions with me outside of work.”

He’s stride faltered as he calmly explained, “What we do is tough, so I need to train constantly. The last mission brought that to my attention. As for our interactions, I haven’t treated you any differently, I’ve simply stepped back to let you spend more time with Pidge. You two make a better team, and I’m going to be paired up with Allura from now on.”

Before any protest could be made, the doors slid shut, and he was gone.

Me and Pidge? Shiro and Allura? The last mission couldn’t have gone better, so why would he want to switch partners all of a sudden?

I wasn’t letting this major change go unexplained. Don’t get me wrong, Pidge is a great Paladin, the smartest one on the team and within the top 10 in the universe, but Shiro’s been my partner for the past eight months... Am I falling behind the others, and he’s just trying to keep me in the castle to work remotely? Or maybe Allura is better for him because she’s able to make the tough decisions. I tend to get hung up on the morality of the issue. At times I’m too emotionally involved, but I know that’s my fault and have been trying to fix it.

There’s also the matter of his constant trembling. Based off of the way he’s been training, it could be due to overexhaustion… Maybe I’m just overreacting. Maybe he’s right; he hasn’t been treating me any differently and I’m just trying to overlook my short comings, but that doesn’t expl-

Shiro’s hand trembled over the keypad to his bedroom, flashing red and beeping incessantly, indicating an incorrect code. He tried to navigate his finger towards the correct code, and when the red blinking continued, he slammed his fist against the wall. A pool of guilt settled in the base of my stomach, rising towards my throat as I caught a glimpse of a frown spreading onto his face before it was blocked by the wall he’d settled his forehead against. It was unbelievably sickening to see him this upset.

The whooshing of his bedroom door opening startled him, his eyes meeting mine. “You’re our leader for a reason Shiro. I trust your decisions, and I won't press the issue any further, but just know that I am here for you for whatever you need.” I left it at that.

Things slowly changed for the next week. I helped Pidge work on some projects around the castle while Shiro and Allura went out on some reconnaissance missions. He continued to distance himself, but it wasn’t up to me to confront him any more. Shiro is the most honest guy I know, and if he felt he needed to keep some things private, then I respected that. The rest of the team didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary either, and Keith would’ve noticed if something were truly wrong. Meanwhile, Pidge designed some new tracking devices for all of our suits, ones that could reach a signal nearly half way across the galaxy. After I installed them, it became my job to monitor everyone when they went on missions.

“Alright, what’s wrong?” Pidge asked one night while I was scanning the screens with everyone’s vitals. They were intercepting a cargo ship supposedly carrying weapons for the Galra. They were all holding steady as the minutes ticked by.

“Nothing, why?”

“That’s the tenth time you’ve sighed in the last hour. So, what’s up?” she asked.

Well, she got me there. “I just feel useless...no, not useless. More like helpless. It’s hard sitting back and watching them out on missions when I’m not able to actively help them if needed.”

“I know what you mean, but they’re all capable of backing each other up. They’ll be okay… Shiro will be okay.” Pidge didn’t even look your way as she tossed his name into the mix. I’ll admit, I’ve paid more attention to his screen than the others.

“I care about everyone’s wellbeing.”

“I know you do, but you care about Shiro’s even more. It’s not hard to see that,” she disclosed this so matter-of-factly. I hope it’s not as obvious to everyone else; I wouldn’t want them to think I care any less about them.

Before I could comment, she continued, “Well, I think it’s hard to see if your Shiro. He’s surprisingly dense lately, but we’ve all got stuff we’re dealing with. Ya know?”

“Yeah...I know.”

A few days later, Keith’s voice echoed over the radio, informing us of that they successfully located some Blade members who were being held hostage. While they transported them off the ship, I began filling out a log of everyone they’d found. Suddenly, all of the vitals went into distress mode, their heart rates increasing dramatically.

“Something’s wrong.”

Pidge snatched the radio, “Keith?! What’s happening?”

Muffled words broke through, “...ambushed...not Galra...no sto- Shiro!”

In unison with Keith’s scream, Shiro’s screen went blank. My heart lurched, lodging itself in my throat. I frantically tried to get the screen back up, my mind repeating over and over that it’s just a technological failure. That it’s not his tracker working. That it’s not his tracker telling me he’s dead.

The keys began to blur together, the computer protesting as my vision was clouded with tears. Pidge grabbed me by the shoulders and turned my body to face her. Her mouth was moving, but there was a distant ringing in my ears.

I must’ve sat like that, unmoving and unable to breath, for at least an hour because the next thing I remember is a smudge of red breaking through the darkness and almost immediately fading away, being replaced by more black. I felt like I was being crushed, but it wasn’t by the insurmountable agony in my throat and chest. This was lower and spread around to my back, cool metal grazing the exposed skin between my shirt and pants. I shivered and latched on, immediately recognizing Shiro’s embrace, and when I could finally take a deep breath in, his voice broke through, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry...I’m here. I’m here.”

I didn’t say anything, I couldn’t. This is a part of the job. We all know the risk of being a Paladin, and as much as I always dreaded Shiro going out on dangerous missions, I never could have imagined what it would feel like to actually lose him. He sat there for a long time, rubbing my back. Truthfully, I resent being filled with relief almost immediately because any amount of agony is worth it to feel his arms around me, but as soon as he felt me relax, he pulled back to point out his destroyed tracker on his shoulder. I brushed a finger over the charred device as I noticed six other pairs of eyes fixed sadly on me. Emotion is weakness...I should’ve been stronger. I should’ve been able to focus on the rest of the team and helped get them out safely so the casualty count didn’t rise.

“I’m glad you’re okay…” I admitted quietly. This isn’t a state I want to share with everyone else, the others I’m meant to protect. I’m too vunerable here.

“I think... I need some air.”

Shiro could sense the tenseness in the room and said, “The rest of you go debreif the hostages.”

As they filed out, Shiro started up again, “I am so sorry. I was reckless out there today, and it didn’t even occur to me that you were monitoring my vitals. I shouldn’t have put you through that.”

I tried to shrug it off saying, “It’s fine. You can’t control everything, and that could’ve happened to anyone.” It was true, and Shiro shouldn’t beat himself up over my reaction.

His expression shifted to one of complete disbelief as he struggled to find the words. He settled on a question, “If it happened to anyone else, would you have reacted the same way?”

That was a heavy question, mainly because I know my reaction wouldn’t have been the same.

“I care about everyone on the team Shiro, they’re my family an-”

“That’s not what I asked,” he said, cutting me off mid-sentence.

“If I lost one of them… It would be devastating. If I lost you… I’d lose everything.”

Shiro wrapped his arms around me immediately, holding me tighter than before as if I were about to slip out of his grasp.

“I can’t stop…” he began, but it sounded like the words were caught in his throat; “I know you see it. I can’t stop shaking...ever.”

When he took a breath in, his whole body shook, tears hitting my shoulder when he exhaled. He felt so fragile, even though he put on a brave face for everyone else.

“I know. Please Shiro, talk to me…” I begged. He was finally reaching out after weeks of becoming increasingly distant.

“Seeing you today… how you reacted when you thought I was dead… It reminded me of how I would feel if the roles were reversed. The last mission we went on, the witch got inside my head...She found out my one true weakness was, was you…” He pulled back, gripping the sides of my shoulders as he continued to recount that day. “She altered all of her drones’ faces to look like you. Every time I fought one off, I couldn’t tell if I was destroying my enemy or injuring you! When I finally did find you, the lights were off, and I hit you! I nearly knocked you out and only realized it was you because you didn’t fight back!”

I couldn’t believe that all of this happened to him and he never said anything to me, never radioed to me when it first started.

My confusion must have been rather evident because he explained quietly, “I didn’t tell you because it would’ve put you in more danger… I thought if I actually admitted that what Hagar thought she had discovered was true, she would know. Just by admitting I love you, I’d be putting a target on your back.”

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face, contrasting his continued stream of tears. I reached up and wiped off what I could from his cheeks, trying to soothe him and let him know it’s okay.

“I think we all already have pretty big targets on our backs just from being defenders of the universe, don’t you think?”

A small laugh broke through, his eyes brightening. “I guess you’re right about that,” he admitted.

“So can we go back to being partners again?” I asked hopefully.

After some contemplation, he settled on, “On one condition.”

“Name it Kashi.”

He blushed lightly at the nickname and said, “You have to listen to my commands in the field. If we’re in danger, and I tell you to leave me, you leave me without hesitation.”

“Absolutely not. You can not name terms of agreement that you can’t agree to.”

He sighed and said, “Alright, you got me there.”

“How about this,” I compromised, “We both try our best to stay out of danger, and should the situation arise, we stand by each other.”

Shiro slowly leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead, sealing the pact.

“Deal,” he whispered.

[ptw30]

Hunk tries to teach Shiro how to cook, Shiro owes Hunk Cooking equipment.

Sorry this took so long. I originally planned to have this up for Shiro’s birthday but…life. :) Thanks for prompting! 

Fic: Cupcakes and Camaraderie 

Relationships: Hunk & Shiro, past Shiro/Adam

Author’s Notes: Shiro is still the Black Paladin here…cuz.  

Shiro flipped on the light in the mess hall kitchen and cracked his knuckles. Making a few cupcakes shouldn’t be too hard, right? With some whipped cream and what did Adam always put on top? Graham cracker crumbles?

Whatever it was, Shiro was positive he could figure out, and since Iverson was off grounds for a few days to oversee the launch proceedings, Shiro could take all the time he wanted in the Galaxy Garrison mess.

Finding the pans proved more difficult than he thought, and did he really need to use the mixer? Maybe he could conscript the blender. Just what was the difference between a tablespoon and teaspoon? Did anyone really know?

Okay, on his tablet, he found a recipe for “easy red velvet cupcakes with vanilla icing.” Easy. It was in the title. He could totally do this.

Less than ten minutes later, Shiro found himself wiping off an egg, flour, and water mixture from his nose. Maybe he couldn’t do this. He was seventy-five percent sure the batter shouldn’t be gray-green.  

“What!” a new voice screeched, causing Shiro to whirl toward the doorway. “You-You did not just destroy my kitchen!”

Shiro paused from demanding, your kitchen, but it wasn’t like Shiro knew the garrison chefs well. Then again, Shiro didn’t remember ever seeing this cadet or officer before. Dark hair, an orange wrap, and a yellow-accented Galaxy Garrison uniform – what rank did that dictate? – he seemed out of sorts, standing in the doorway, glaring Shiro down.

Shiro dropped his tablespoon – or was it a teaspoon – on instinct and raised both hands. “Look, I didn’t think anyone would notice. I was just trying to – ”

“ – paint every single surface of this place in batter, if you can even call it that!” The man stalked forward, keen eyes glaring down at the green concoction as if it personally offended him. Then he looked up at Shiro – and froze. “S-Shiro?”

“Uh…yes?” He didn’t think he’d met this person before, but ever since the Kerberos mission announcement, so many people knew his name. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember…have we met?”

“…not yet, I don’t think.” The man straightened his shoulders and rubbed the back of his hair. “I…guess that wormhole wasn’t as harmless as we thought.”

“Wormhole?” Shiro echoed.

Before he could ask the person more, the yellow-clad officer replied, “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure Allura and Pidge – um, some people I know are working on it. Anyway.” He seemed happier all of sudden, scrubbing his hands together and smirking at Shiro. “What’cha trying to do here? Don’t tell me. Muffins.”

Shiro smiled with a slight wince. “Not quite.”

“Brownies?”

“Getting warmer…sorta.”

The man huffed loudly. “Please tell me you weren’t trying to make cupcakes. You have pepper in this!”

Shiro glanced away. “I couldn’t find the salt.”

“No, nope. Uh-huh. This cannot happen.” He pointed a sharp finger at a stool near the counter. “You sit over there while I clean up the mess and make a proper set of cupcakes.”

“Can’t I help –”

“No!” The officer sucked a quick breath, offered a gentle smile, and patted Shiro twice on the shoulder. “I mean, thanks for the offer, but why don’t you watch me work for a sec and tell me why you were trying to make some cupcakes? I’m Hunk, by the way.”

“Shiro.” Shiro took his designated seat and plopped his chin upon his fist. “Had a craving. My…uh, ex used to make them for me, but…he’s now my ex, so…”

Hunk began to measure out the ingredients – eggs, milk, butter, flour, salt, and vanilla – and nodded along. “Hard after something like that. What happened…uh, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“I’m, uh.” Shiro looked away, unsure why he felt comfortable explaining to Hunk this situation. It wasn’t like the entire garrison hadn’t been gossiping about it for the last week. “I was chosen for the Kerberos mission.”

“Oh, right! I’d heard that. Congrats, man! That’s awesome. Not sure why that means you have an ex. Isn’t he happy for you? Proud?”

“He didn’t want me to go. And I’m going, so…”

Hunk glanced around the room – looking for what, Shiro couldn’t tell – before reaching for a larger bowl with high walls to pour his current mixture into. “I’m sorry to hear that. Relationships can be hard. My girlfriend and I, we’re positioned on different sides of the…world. It’s hard to send a transmission to her sometimes, let alone actually see her. But she hangs in there, y’know? Good times, bad times. That’s how I know it’s forever.”

Shiro glanced away. “…I thought it was going to be forever. I’ve known Adam since…well, our first year at the garrison. We were flight partners, and then – y’know.”

“And I’m sure in some universe, you guys are still together, but in this one – you chose the stars and Adam chose to leave. That’s actually, really mature. You both decided what you could live with and what you couldn’t, and then you moved on and found someone who wants the same thing as you.”

Shiro blinked and sat up straighter, a knot in his chest unfurling. “No one – No one has ever put it like that before. Even Commander Holt said I should try to patch things up.”

“Can’t speak for Holt but it sounds like you and Adam want different things. And that’s okay.” Hunk hooked the larger bowl up to the mixer, and a high-pitched whirling added a soundtrack to their conversation. “Better to figure that out now than after you’re married.”

“Yeah, yeah. I guess so.” He couldn’t deny he would miss Adam, though, couldn’t deny he already did.

“But y’know, might not be a bad idea to at least try to clear the air,” Hunk offered, separating the cupcake wrappers in the tin. “Maybe apologize that things didn’t work out, not that you’re taking the mission.”

Shiro leaned back on his hand and watched as Hunk poured the batter precisely into each cup, wiping the edge of the bowl with a napkin. “Maybe. It’s still a few months away. What about you? You said your girlfriend lives elsewhere? Are you looking to close the distance?”

Hunk nodded. “Yeah, one day, but it’s kinda important the work we’re doing, my team and me. Shay understands.”

“Hm. Sounds nice.”

“It is, but not everyone has what we have. And not everyone finds it as quickly, either – or at all.” Hunk slid the tray into the oven and started the timer. “But when you do – when you find people who love you for who you are, not who they want you to be – you hold onto them.”

Shiro smiled as Hunk handed him the spoon to lick. “Sound advice.”

“Eh. I have a good team leader who knows his stuff.”

As soon as Shiro finished the spoon, he joined Hunk in cleaning up the thrown batter, despite Hunk’s disapproval. Hunk told Shiro he liked his kitchen a certain way, but Shiro wasn’t about to let someone else clean up his mess without any help.

As they worked, Shiro spoke about the mission, about Keith, about his days at the Galaxy Garrison, and Hunk talked about Shay, about his friends, and about meeting new people and learning new recipes.

The oven dinged not long after they wiped down the last surface, and soon Shiro was humming around a delicious set of red velvet cupcakes. They were the best he’d ever had, and he made sure to tell Hunk such.

Hunk blushed and took a bite of his own mini cake. “Hey, y’know, it might not seem like it now, but it sounds like you have lots of people who care about you, man. If you ever want them to bake you cupcakes, you just say the word. I’m sure they would.”

Shiro laughed, though it was hollow. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And maybe – you might want to tell Admiral Sanda or Commander Holt that when they start training on the Mecha Flex Exofighters, they should work with their best pilots, not cadets? That’s just…conducive to saving the world, y’know? Training the best rather than the youngest.”

Halfway through his second cupcake – screw his pre-mission diet – Shiro mumbled, “What’s an exofighter? I haven’t heard of those before – or flown them.”

Hunk winked. “Just trust me, all right? Mention it to Sam. Oh, and do the world a favor, Shiro. Stay out of the kitchen or only use it with adult supervision.”

Shiro would have glared, but he was too preoccupied with the cupcakes. He would do as many sessions at the gym as needed to finish off yet another two or three.

“Shiro? One more thing,” Hunk added just before he exited the room. “Happy Birthday – and many more.”

Shiro snorted. He didn’t know how many more there would be, but he was determined to enjoy the rest of this one. Hey, there was still a good half dozen left. Maybe he’d take a few to Keith and Matt.  

One Mission, Many Wormholes, and Two Birthdays Later

The door to mess hall slid open, and Shiro looked left, then right, before stepping inside. Immediately, the lights flipped on, and Shiro barely held in his screech.

“Hunk,” he managed once he breathed again. “You don’t have to guard the kitchen every year.”

Hunk lifted a tray of expertly decorated and undeniably delicious cupcakes. A few sported little Black Lions while the rest had the head of Voltron. “Yes, yes I do. Trust me on that. Now come on. Get your first cupcake before the rest of the garrison arrives.”

Shiro raised an eyebrow as he selected his cupcake, finger sweep around the edge of the icing. “The rest of the garrison…?”

In less than ten minutes time, the mess hall upon the Atlas was packed with the various teams, including Admiral Allura with her ship crew, Commander Adam West with his MFE Squadron, Prince Lotor with his Sincline generals, and of course, Shiro with his paladins. Black rumbled in the back of his mind, and as he sat among his teams, Shiro smiled and snatched another cupcake or three.

Eventually, he collapsed to the corner of the hall, eyes roaming over the people he held nearest and dearest to his heart. Hunk came to sit next to him and smirked at the wrappers on the table next to Shiro.

“Having a good day?”

“Yeah, yeah. Y’know, Hunk, someone once told me that if I ever wanted cupcakes, all I had to do is ask the people around me.”

Hunk blinked and then shrugged. “Well, y’know, I’m more than happy to –”

“But there’s something special about coming down to a set of cupcakes already made just for me.” He clasped Hunk on the shoulder and smiled. “Thanks, Hunk. It is nice to have people here who love me for who I am, not who they want me to be.”

Hunk smiled. “It is a nice feeling. And my kitchen stays intact. I like that.”

“That’s best for all parties involved,” Shiro laughed.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t be able to form Voltron without its head.”

Shiro let out a quick laugh, which Hunk shared, and decided to assume Hunk was joking. Still, he’d stay out of the kitchen, just to make sure. 

The End

[seeds-of-the-garden]

Hello! I'm actually really happy that this is my first ask ever with my own Tumblr account (finally!) The prompt I'm thinking of is a kind of Florist AU (?? Sorry not that good with Tumblr and ship terms yet) where Colleen Holt is a florist and Pidge helps her out in the shop, which is how she meets Lance. He's there to buy flowers for another girl... and another... and another... until suddenly, the flowers are for her. Thank you and mabuhay!

So, I originally wrote something for this with just ‘florist au’ in mind, totally forgetting the rest of what you requested so... I ended up writing about 1k in the span of about 30 minutes. Minor angst but mostly tooth rotting fluff at the end. I hope you like it! We’re so glad you sent the ask!

~~~~~

The silver bell rings a pleasant melody as Pidge enters the flower shop. Instantly the stress and stale feeling of her day at school melts away as the sweet aroma fills her senses. She smiles, breathing out a sigh of relief. She still had homework to finish, but only after she spent some time helping her mother.

Then Matt won’t complain about dinner being too late again and they’ll have that much more time to spend with Dad before he goes back into space. 

Pidge sets her backback behind the counter and strides into the back room where her mother is putting the finishing touches on a set of bouquets for a bridal party. Rather than traditional red roses, the bride picked lilies as the most prominent flower. It tickles at Pidge’s heart and decides that if she were to ever be married, she would do the same. 

“Hey Mom,” she greets. “Need any help?”

Colleen beams, no doubt pleased that Pidge is volunteering today. Though… there’s a glint of amusement in her eye that Pidge nearly doesn’t catch. “I’m glad you asked, Katie. I had a big order come in late yesterday for a large arrangement. The details are on the counter if you can start. I need to make bouquets for a whole other wedding party.”

A bit of pride wells in her heart at the amount of trust her mother has to start and handle an arrangement on her own. Building a computer from scratch and coding her own operating system is child’s play for her now, and she’d always enjoyed doodling on the sides of her grade school papers and notebooks, but creating arrangements in a professional way was something she was still learning. The knowledge of all the different plants and how they complimented each other, the colors, even the types of grasses, while scientific at its core, required a creative eye more than anything. 

It was like a puzzle. And PIdge loved puzzles. 

“Yeah, I can do that,” she responds, taking up a seat on a stool across the room from her mother’s workstation. She grabs the order, scribbled neatly in her mother’s handwriting on a blank receipt. It is for an extra large arrangement, and would probably take the whole night. The strangest thing is that there are no specific flowers requested, only that it use her favorites and the customer trusted her…

Pidge gasps when she sees the name of the person who commissioned the order. Lance. The same Lance that has been in and out of the shop every week or so for the last semester, begging her mother to help him pick out the perfect flower for his date of the week. It seemed he’d asked out every girl in school.

Except her. 

She hated it. She shouldn’t hate it but she did. At first she hadn’t cared, of course. He’d been a cocky, insufferable flirt since middle school. But after he started to frequent the shop, she found herself helping her mother more often. While her mother went to the back to check on things, the two of them talked video games and astronomy and promised each other they’d both get into the Galaxy Garrison after graduating high school. 

Pidge should hate him, but she can’t squash the feeling of passive rejection. She has more in common with him than any of the girls at school he asks out. Whoever he’s asking out this time… must be really special. 

For half a minute, she considers doing purposefully awful, quickly dismissing the thought because this is her mother’s shop after all. She needs to be professional. And… she doesn’t want to see Lance sad anymore than she already does when he walks through the halls after a rejection or bad date. His stupid, cocky grin, when he’s legitimately happy, is one of her favorite things in the world to see. 

For hours she pours all her favorites into the arrangement. It’s well past supper, hardly noticing when her mother goes out to the front to help customers, focused on her task just as if she were developing a new code. In the end, it's nearly as tall as her, ginger lilies dotting all across the main base, colored with prairie grass and blue bells, cat tails giving it its height. It’s beautifully simple and Pidge can’t help but smile in pride.

“It’s beautiful, Katie,” Colleen praises, placing a hand on her shoulder from behind. “I think you deserve a nice hot meal after that.”

“That’s great, ‘cause I’m starving,” Pidge agrees. “Where are you thinking for takeout?”

There’s that sparkle in her eyes again. “Oh, I was just going to drop by the store for a rotisserie chicken for me and the boys. I think you’ll get to pick to go wherever you want.”

Pidge furrows her eyebrows, confused. Until her mother opens the door to the front of the door, and in the entryway, is Lance in the flesh, twiddling his thumbs, dressed in a nice pair of jeans and dressy sweater. 

“Hey, Pidge,” he begins nervously. “So, I know this is kind of last minute, and you can totally say no if you want” he spazzes before calming and continuing his explanation “… but the planetarium is hosting that party for Galileo’s birthday and I thought we could go and um, grab a bite to eat beforehand.”

Pidge’s stomach rumbles, and she isn’t sure its just from being hungry. “Just… us?” she inquires.

He gulps. “If that’s okay. I was hoping I could bribe you with flowers?” he finishes with a hopeful smile. 

He holds no flowers. It hits her like a lightning bolt as she looks down towards the arrangement she’d spent the early evening working on. 

He’d commissioned it for her. And her mother knew it. 

She finds herself nodding before her brain can catch up. “I do. I would love to go out with you.” 

Nothing pleases her more than seeing his wide, uninhibited smile at her words.

[bluedemon1995]

New story because apparently I don’t have anything better to do. Yet I do and sorry for not finishing other stories!!!

Chapter 1

KNOCK< KNOCK>KNOCK

I slowly lift my head up from my arms looking side to side, where apparently, I fell asleep. At my desk. With all the lights on. And the TV on. Way too loud. And did I mention the lights, which are so damn bright that they are hurting my eyes. In fact, I think my foot is asleep and I feel cold, freezing in fact. My body aches as I gradually move, clutching my fingers in and out to get some feeling, ugh I drooled on my paperwork! Well, shit, I absently rub at the wet spot and blink repeatedly. What is actually going on?

I hate when I fall asleep while working at my table or desk. Oh well, who am I kidding, it’s not the first time and sadly it won’t be the last. Groggily I try to focus on the numbers on my clock, rubbing my eyes to see it’s a little after 2 am. Who the heck could it be? Shit they are persistent, I’ll give them that.

<KNOCK, KNOCK> Good news never arrives at 2 am. Suddenly, I’m wide awake, with my stomach in knots as I trip my way to the door while hurriedly scrubbing my face (I definitely don’t want drool on it), finally stumbling to the door. I rush to unlock the door and yank it open it as I yawn and push my hair out of my face. Damn I really need a trim, its too damn long. Again.

I look up, and up to see…Krolia?!?! I lean around and look for Keith or Cosmo, nope.

“Hey, Krolia, um, hi? What can I do for you?” Yep, definitely not fully awake yet I open the door anyways and indicate she should enter. I look down, um… yeah…I’m in my brother’s old Garrison t-shirt and some fluffy socks. And that’s it. FUUUCCKKKK….I vaguely remember spilling coke on my pants, which is why when I look back I see my pants are on the floor by the chair so yeah, I am pant-less…and braless catching sight of my bra…also on the floor…well, why are those things so uncomfortable anyways?

Does anyone really wear them once they get home? I think not! Ugh. I indicate she should take a seat on the couch while I try to evaluate what’s going on. Hopefully she doesn’t notice my lack of attire. She looks serious but honestly I don’t think I ever see her relaxed so …I’m just going to take a leap and assume my attire doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. She’s a girl so no surprises anyway. And at least I woke up and answered the door, which isn’t a given knowing my sleep patterns once I knock out. God, I get enough teasing!

“Pidge, you should not just open your door like that, you didn’t even ask who it was! I could be a dangerous person!” Krolia states in her very calm and serious voice as she takes a seat. Sitting very straight up like she’s in a meeting at a boardroom. Or a spaceship. What she doesn’t look like is a person sitting in my messy front room in the middle of the night on my couch. Ah well.

As I lock the door, I slowly turn to walk over and reply, “Well, you ARE a very dangerous person but good news, so am I! So, not that I’m NOT happy to see you, but it is 2 am so I imagine this is not a social call. What’s up? Where’s Keith and Cosmo? Do you need my awesome tech skills?” Chuckling I add, “What, was Keith afraid to ask?”

Krolia fidgets and finally I get a good look at her eyes-shit she looks … worried … scared … now I’m back to high alert. “I am sorry to interrupt your rest. But Keith has been captured by some … hostiles on a planet we were giving aid to. The Blades want to wait and discuss what should be done. Negotiate. Talk … make plans, wait, argue. I find, that, well, that I simply cannot comply. Not now. I cannot abide by the Blade rules, not with Keith being held. As a prisoner.”

Suddenly I’m fully awake. I interrupt, waving my hand around like I can put the words back in her mouth. “Shit, shit shite! Okay, no problem. Is he, like…ok, do you know where he is? Who has him? How the hell did this happen and why am I just finding out about this!”

Krolia lets out a breath, not breaking eye contact with me, “Yes, I do. They are essentially holding him for ransom and, and I, I left the Blades when they started negotiating with them, going back and forth over the details. Like he was a spacecraft or some bargain or trinket to haggle over. That is NOT acceptable. We are not in the middle of a war. I refuse to let him think I have given him up.”

I can literally see the sadness in her eyes, and I know, she’s thinking again. I recognize guilt when I see it. Continuing, she sits even straighter, “But, I have not been able to see him in over a… week, I think is your measurement? I asked Cosmo to bring me to Earth for help. And here I am. He brought me to you.”

I nod, pulling at my hair, thinking THANK GOD! While initially I was in the process of sitting; now I’m pacing the length of the room, trying to think and come up with a plan, a good one, one that gets Keith out in one piece. “Okay, okay, I can work with this. I’ve been working on a spaceship in my spare time and it’s functional though not pretty. I can call Shiro, Hunk and Matt, they can meet us. I’ll text my parents, and I’m going to let Lance know and either he can be our home base, or we can pick him up. Oh, and I have to let Coran know.”

Looking at her, then down at my half dressed self, “So shit, I need you to give me 10 minutes and we can leave.” I look back up to Krolia who has tears in her eyes. Oh no!!! I can’t take a mom crying. I have too much guilt from leaving my own mom, I can’t take this.

I impulsively grab her hands, “Hey! No worries, they don’t know who they messed with! We’ll get him back in no time. Honestly, I’m surprised we haven’t had to rescue him sooner! You know his winning personality and all.” I give her a small encouraging smile and not seeing any relief, I end up giving her a hug. I hate to see the worry in her eyes, it reminds me too much of the look my mom had, for far too long. And I know how much Keith loves his mom, he wouldn’t want her to worry. And it’s Krolia.

Krolia hugs me tightly for a few minutes.Then she leans back and looks at me and says somberly, “I prepared a whole speech. I thought I would have to try and convince you to come and help.” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, “You are breaking the rules, true? Cosmo obviously knew better than I who to come to. Thank you~~”

Impulsively I lean forward and give her another much longer hug, more of a squeeze, trying to stop the words coming out of her mouth. And I end up just hold her tight rubbing her back. “Hey, it’s okay!!!”

*Flash* Cosmo is suddenly here and cuddled up to the both of us. In his teeth he has something of Keiths? Maybe his shirt. Awwwww, “Hey boy, don’t worry we are going to get our guy!” I don’t know how long the three of us huddle together. But, we need to get moving. I need to do something!

I stand, take a deep cleansing breath and say, “Okay, first things first, let me get dressed, second let me make some calls and let the guys know what’s going on then Cosmo can take us in a flash to my ship.”

At her nod, I rush to my room, grab my bag and run into the bathroom. I’m rapidly calculating the logistics. What do we absolutely need, what would be nice and what might be a problem to get. Is the ship really ready? Do we tell any of the other team members or is it better if Griffin and the others can claim ignorance? As I get ready, I’m quickly coming up with lists and to dos. Rapidly making lists in my head I instinctively sort what needs to be done now and what can be saved for later. I need to move quickly because, well, it’s Keith. I don’t have time to go through proper channels. It’s imperative we get him back.

After I’m dressed and have gone over the lists in my head few more times, I finally feel ready enough to to call Shiro, fill him in and give him a list of essentials. He doesn’t hesitate to agree, saying he can leave the Atlas ASAP, but he does need to talk to Curtis first. I ask if he can clear the way with the Garrison. He quickly agrees, asking what he can take off my plate, what he can do, and given some duties he quickly hangs up focused and determined as ever.

Both of us are now completely concentrating on our individual tasks. Thank goodness, this is one of the times that I realize that Shiro really just steadies me. I don’t even need to see him in person, just hearing his voice tell me we got this, I believe we do. Not to mention that I trust him with my life. Yeah, that’s like solid gold.

Next is Hunk, who is on the Atlas as well, so luckily, I only have to make one stop. He quickly agrees and says he will meet with Shiro at the pickup point. I debate who to call next. I end up calling Lance, who I don’t want to upset, because he is going through such a rough time. I know I’ve been babying him, hell we all have. But ultimately, I feel like he has a right to decide for himself whether he wants to come along. He’s still part of us, the original team. He isn’t a kid and I know he has come a long way in the grieving process. Besides, how could I not tell him? That would be the ultimate insult even if I was just protecting him.

Or at least for me it would be. So, I take a deep breath and wonder if he will even answer, after all, it’s late for a farmer and Lance…is still dealing with things.

“Lance, Pidge.”

He kinda chuckles or wheezes? which is as close to a laugh as he gets now a days, “Yeah I know. Don’t you ever sleep? Did you forget how many bushels equal a peck?”

I smile, “Yeah, every decaphoeb or so I sleep and I know one bushel is four pecks, smart ass. Look, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is no easy way to say this, so here I am. I’m going to do this my way and gonna just rip the band aid off. Keith has been…captured and is being held for ransom. The Blades want to wait and negotiate a return, which has no firm deadline. Krolia came to me and well, we are going to get him. You can come or you can coordinate for us from home or really whatever you want. No pressure, seriously, I know you are recalibrating and, shit, you don’t even have to come, I don’t know what I was even thinking. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have even called, this is probably bringing up all kinds of”

Lance interjects, calmly, “Pidge.”

I sigh, “Yeah, I well, I still have to tell my parents and ask Matt if he wants in. Lance, really, whatever you want to do is fine. Take a little time to decide. Whatever you need.”

I hear him take halting breath, “If you think I won’t hurt your chances, or his, I want to be there. I want to help.”

I smirk, and can’t help but reply, “Dude since when has hurting our chances ever stopped you from coming along!”

He almost laughed again, replying “Yeah, yeah, ok, should I go to the Atlas? Will that be easier? Is that where you are all meeting up? How can I help you?”

I smile and nod, even though he can’t see me, “Yeah, um, the Atlas- that works. I’m getting supplies and will be in route shortly. So, um, I kinda made this, um, ship”

He interrupts, actually laughing, for reals, “Of course you did! Look, call your mom-don’t text! And EAT! I’ll be waiting for you on the Atlas. Sharpshooter out.”

I hit the hang up button, take a deep breath and call my mom. This is the call I’m kinda actually afraid of making. What if she says no. I mean, I’m going and all, but, I don’t want to hurt her. She’s been through so much and I still feel the pain of causing her more pain. While she never said she holds it against me, honestly, I don’t see how. I also don’t want to scare her but hostile aliens and me are not a good combo to mention.

And now, seeing Krolia, so sad and un-Krolia like really made me feel bad all over again for what my mom went through. And it was probably worse because she had no idea what happened to me. Which is why I’m calling even when I don’t want to. She listens to my rambling explanation, without saying a word, and ultimately just states, “Honey, just be careful, and, no arguments, Matt is going with you. NOPE, I just said no arguments. I’ll wake him and have him meet you at the ship. I assume you are taking the ship you are building, but correct me if I’m wrong. I’d hate to send Matt to the wrong place.”

“Mom…I…I’m…” softly, I don’t have a better response than “thanks.” I can literally feel my eyes well up with tears, God why do I want to cry?!

She must hear the tears in my voice because before I know it she says, “Honey, I’m your mom, what do you think, you have secrets?” Softly chuckling, she whispers, “Just, promise me, you’ll be careful. I know you have to go, and I’ll tell your dad. So don’t worry about that. But I need you to come back with your guy, safely and unhurt. Please. And thanks for calling first this time! I can see that your last punishment has really made a lasting impression.”

“Haha, yeah mom, just for you” but then what she said hits me…square in my red face, more seriously - I whisper furiously, “I love you, thanks for understanding mom, but you know he’s not my…GUY. He’s my TEAMMATE. I mean he’s ALL of our team’s person.”

My mom laughs and says “Sure thing, honey. You are right, because you always go off into space for people you don’t love! Let Krolia know I’m here for her and if you need back up, just call, seriously call, I’ll move heaven and earth for you” (is that a sigh) “always …love you. Be safe. Please.”

We hang up and I shoot a text to my dad, I know my mom is going to tell him everything but seriously, I may need back up so it is better to be safe and tell him what I know and share plans as I go. I grab my bag to leave and turn off the lights. No second thoughts, just going through my mental list, this is for Keith after all.

Krolia stands, “Are you sure? You are already done? Who can help?”

I look up, firm and resolute, ”It’s Keith” I helplessly shrug, “…we are all going.”

She looks kinda well, honestly, weird, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have dragged you all into this. Your mom must…”

I know where this is headed… nowhere helpful. She has to know that I’d move heaven and hell for Keith. Any of us would. So I simply, grab her arm and walk her out my door, making sure my door is locked (can’t have a repeat of two weeks ago) and hold onto Cosmo.

“Krolia, no offense, but you couldn’t stop me, or us. Any of us. And my mom knows I, or rather, WE wouldn’t leave Keith hanging. So, it’s cool.” I look around and make sure I have all the supplies that are necessary as well as the minor things like locking my door tight and things are turned off. “Alright, Krolia, let’s go get our guy. Cosmo, who’s a good boy?!? Please take me to my workstation, boy.”

As we flash out, I send a hopeful thought into the universe, please keep all those I love safe. Please.

[sasuhinasno1fan]

My starlight- Shallura Week Day 1

I’ve been a big shallura shipper since the start and when it came out that Shiro was gay, it didn’t change as I headcannoned him as pan anyway. I was a bit worried when a lot of people changed their stance and had asked if anyone, his charaecter, creators, anyone had said he was exclusively into guys. If he was, I’d put my ship to rest but still love their very good chemistry as great friends. No one said there was and then I found out through @breezycheezyart​ blog, when I was looking for her Juniberry art to use as inspo for this space related quest I’m doing that’s gonna be a Sailor Moon au, that @shalluraweek​ is still happening. Back in like, maybe the first year, maybe after s2 came out, I saw shallura week but didn’t do it because of writers block, so I’m really happy that I can do this and celebrate one of my fav vld ships. When I was looking for insporation on tumblr, I found a lot of Star Wars art so I decided to go with it. I’ll be honest, I found the Star Wars movies kinda boring growing up but Clone Wars was the only thing I’d willingly sit through, so my info might not be totally correct. Probably cause I love Ashoka so much. Anyway, please enjoy. Star/Sky

Shiro moved quietly across the room, heading for the door when he heard someone call his name.

“Shiro? Where are you going?”

he turned to look at his Padawan who’d only come back an hour ago from hanging out with Senator Lance, the two the same age and equally good at fighting and breaking rules. He needed the distraction after coming back from their last war effort. They’d lost a lot of good men and going up against Sendak, who’d run off again, was never fun. Keith had collapsed into bed once he got back and Shiro waited until he knew for sure he was knocked out before getting up to leave, but it seemed Keith wasn’t as knocked out as he thought.

“The Chancalor asked me to do something for him.”

A lie. Not for a second did he trust Chancellor Zarkon, who always seemed to find a way to insert himself into Jedi issues, but also seemed way too interested in him.

Keith thankfully thought the same. “We’re not that guy’s errand boys.”

“I know, but he does hold the power. I’m sure we’ll eventually find a way to get away from his grip and end the war too. I’ll be back soon. We have shore leave and you don’t have classes, why don’t you join Senator Lance for breakfast tomorrow? You can take Pidge with you.” he said, mentioning one of the other Padawans Keith was friends with.

“Alright. Be safe ok?” Keith said before disappearing back into his room.

Shiro didn’t like lying to Keith, he really didn’t. The kid was a special case, being raised by a Sith Lord who didn’t care much about Keith, willing to turn him into an assassin. He was older than most Younglings but as a newly knighted Jedi himself, Shiro insisted Keith could be trained and offered up his own job if he was wrong. So far, he had the Council eating their words that Keith was untrainable. Break rules? Yes, but only the rules he thought didn’t make much sense to him within the code. Keith might be a special case but he was Shiro’s family. It made it so much harder to keep the secret he had.

He took a speeder to the more costly apartments of Coruscant, where a lot of Senators tended to home themselves when not at their home planets. He easily made his way to one apartment, home of someone who was more than just a Senator. He easily typed in the passcode and walked to the balcony when the door opened. Standing outside on it, was a woman. Her long white hair seemed to shine in the city lights, like it was made of the stars he’d fallen in love with.

“Hey.” he called.

The woman turned, her blue purple eyes widening when she saw him.

“Takashi!” she ran over and he swept her up in his arms. “I missed you. Are you ok? I heard what happened.”

“Everything is fine now. I’m with you.”

Poster boy for the Jedi Takashi Shirogane in a secret relationship to Senator Allura Fara? The scandal, but Shiro could care less. He’d still been a Padawan himself when he and his master had gone to Allura’s planet to try and help them stop in invasion from happening. He was instructed to look after the girl, who was practically royalty, but he quickly learned she didn’t like being protected. While they could argue whether or not she was putting herself in danger, in the quieter moments, they grew closer. Even after they grew older, the invasion stopped and their meeting few, the feelings they’d gained never faded. When they could meet again, it was like they hit unpause and doubled up the feelings. He broke the rules of forming attachments and formed the ultimate one, he fell in love. They were going to marry in secret when the war broke out. They wanted to, badly, but they knew a connection that intense would put them both in danger. For now, only sweet kisses and secret meetings could happen. But once this was over, once he was sure Keith was taken care of and a Knight, he’d leave. He’d leave to Order for her. He didn’t even have to think about it. Unless they changed their views on a few things, he would leave to be happy then force to give up something he couldn’t.

When he could, he’d sneak out of the Temple and come to Allura’s apartment. To most, the two were good friends. The only one privy to their relationship was Allura’s Protocol Droid and Shiro’s former master, who he could never lie to. Here, he could relax away from the rules of the Order and just be Takashi.

He pulled away to look at her, the woman who took his heart. “What about you? Any senators who’s heads you want to rip off?”

“The list is ever growing, but let’s forget about that for now.” she said hugging him close again, hiding her face in his chest, where she always felt safe.

Shiro pulled her close, easily hiding his face in her hair. When he’d first seen Allura, he asked if her hair was made from stars. She’d gone red, redder even when he started calling her Starlight. It was a soft as a cloud inn the sky and smelled like the flowers that grew in this special garden they had always gone to on her home planet. She told him that while they looked pretty, they could also be used to make a powerful parallelizing agent. They were Allura in a flower, beautiful with looks and a warrior with her electric whip and blaster. She might be able to quell rising wars with her powerful speeches, but if there was ever a time she needed to fight, you only needed to point her in the direction. She never felt like she needed protecting, even when every part of Shiro screamed to.

This woman, someone he was willing to turn his back on his teaching for, his Starlight, made him feel like a better person. She was his drive to end the war that affected their whole galaxy. And when it was finally over, he would get on his knee and ask for her to finally be his.