#Shiro doesn’t have his right arm(?) but he still uses it to ‘smack’ and it still works

[sockdooe]

Voltron cats……….drawn on magma

[autisticlancemcclain]

Shiro has seen Mean Girls so many times it’s actually disgusting. He quotes the movie in his sleep. (He didn’t believe that when Adam initially told him, but then he woke up one morning to Adam shoving a video of dead-asleep him muttering “Boo, you whore,” before rolling over and accidentally smacking Adam’s face with a flailing arm, and he could deny it no further.)

Because he’s seen the movie so many truly horrifying times, when he hears a constant, unbroken, furious scream echo through the castle, his brain immediately assumes he’s at home, mouthing along to Regina George’s tantrum as Adam sighs (fondly, although he’s rather snort powdered arsenic than admit it) at him from beside the couch, so it takes him a couple minutes to shake that off and react.

“Who is yelling?” he asks, as soon as he’s oriented. Everyone working in the briefing room with him — Pidge, Coran, Lance, and Hunk — offer some sort of murmured confusion.

“Is it maybe a burst pipe? Those sometimes sound really shrill,” Pidge suggests.

“I don’t think so,” Shiro says. “That sounds…angry, almost? As if —”

He’s interrupted by someone kicking — no, literally kicking — the door clean off it’s hinges. Allura storms in, still screaming, Keith following behind her several dozen healthy steps away.

“I hate it here!” she shouts.

“Do you,” Pidge mutters sarcastically, forgetting about Altean superhearing, and then immediately cowers behind Hunk upon Allura’s terrifying reminder (in the form of shifting some fangs into her mouth and literally hissing at Pidge. Yikes).

“What’s wrong, dear?” Coran tries, much warier and gentler.

Allura just yells again and stomps over to the chair Lance has pulled out for her.

“It’s that asshole Empire general we have in custody,” Keith pipes up, still a very safe distance away from Allura. “We did everything we could think of to make him talk, and it isn’t working.”

“He doesn’t believe us at all!” Allura shouts, throwing her hands up. “He calls our bluff every quiznacking time, and we can’t get a single thing out of him! And he is so smug, believe me, if I could wipe that look off his face —”

She cuts herself off as she takes a sip of water, looking gratefully as Lance, who must have gotten her a glass.

“He’s lucky I have morals and won’t gut him,” she says darkly, glowering at the space in front of her. (Shiro imagines that she’s thinking about all the possible ways she could, in fact, gut him.)

“I mean, none of us are you going to be particularly upset if you gut him,” Hunk says. “Like, he sucks, right? Experimented on children? I don’t actually think it’s all that immoral if you gut him.”

Allura growls and says nothing, curling up as tight as she can and continuing to glare at the wall.

Keith speaks on her behalf after it becomes clear she’s done. “We need information from him, unfortunately. A lot of it, at that. So killing him wouldn’t exactly help us.”

“And so we’re at a bit of on impasse,” Shiro surmises.

“Yep. The Blade has… resources, to force information, but they’re currently going through a system’s update and are unreachable, for at least the next couple of days. And the longer we hold this guy the better his chances of escaping, so.”

“I’ve been trying for hours,” Allura says, and for the first time she starts to look more upset than angry. “I can’t do this anymore. He just — he keeps bragging, about every horrible thing he’s done. I can’t listen anymore.”

Lance, having procured a blanket from what must have been thin air (since they are in the briefing room, which has no blankets or pillows or anything, and he was definitely not holding a blanket when he came into the room — how did he do that?), wraps it around her shoulders and squeezes them gently.

“Don’t worry, ‘Llura. You’re done. We’ll get him to talk, okay?”

“How?” Allura asks miserably. “The only thing he’s afraid of is dying, and we can’t kill him.”

Lance grins.

Shiro would not call it comforting.

“Oh, don’t worry. If death is what he’s afraid of, I’ll get him talking. “

Keith raises an eyebrow. “What’re you gonna do, torture him?”

Lance shrugs. “Not, like, technically.”

“You’re not going to torture him,” Pidge says. “I call bullshit.”

Lance hums. He reaches over to pat Allura on the head, then unclips his bayard from his belt. He closes his eyes, concentrating, and then the bayard is enveloped with a familiar, neon-blue light. When the light fades, a shiny revolver is left behi —

Wait.

A revolver?

Shiro blinks. The revolver remains where it is, so it’s no figment of his imagination. And it’s not even white and blue, like his other bayard forms. This just looks like a human revolver — shiny silver, with a wooden handle worn smooth, fitting seamlessly into Lance’s thin hands.

“What the fuck is that,” Hunk says, voicing what everyone is thinking.

“A gun,” Lance says cheerily.

Coran’s eyebrows furrow. “It looks a little… different, from your usual forms, lad.”

“Yep! My other bayard forms are all Altean, so they’ve all got the laser shots. I needed bullets.”

“That… should not be possible.”

Lance looks at Coran in confusion. “What do you mean? I do it all the time! The bayard is supposed to manifest into into whatever weapon you need most, right? I summoned a bronze spear last week. Why would this be any different?”

“You made a spear?”

“Uh, yeah? I was fighting a new level in training and I let the gladiator get too close, so long range wasn’t going to work, but I’m not great at sword fighting yet so I had to adapt. I didn’t beat the level, though.”

Lance looks dejected. As if the fact that he didn’t beat a training level somehow negates the fact that he’s unlocked more than one bayard form, and many of them aren’t even Altean.

“Sometimes I forget that the rules of the universe don’t seem to apply to you,” Shiro says, because that’s the only sentence he can think to say that would adequately voice his complete bewilderment.

“That’s what I’ve been fucking saying!” Hunk cries, startling everyone in the room with his intensity. “I swear to God! He does things because he decides he should be able to, physics be damned!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lance says loftily. “I’m normal.”

Everyone speaks at the same time.

“No, you’re not.”

“And we love you for it, dear,” Coran adds.

Everyone nods hastily (Keith also blushes, which is hilarious and absolutely something Shiro is going to mock him for later).

Lance goes a little red. “Stop being mushy,” he complains. “I’m about to go threaten to shoot somebody. You’re going to knock me off my game.”

“Deepest apologies, Mr. Mafioso,” Hunk teases. “Lead the way.”

Grumbling, Lance does, and everyone follows. (Even Allura, who explained that while she is tired of hearing the asshole speak, she has complete faith in Lance and will not miss him scaring him into spilling. She admits, however, that she has no idea what the hell Lance has planned. Shiro is as curious as he is apprehensive.)

“Okay, all of you go away now,” Lance says as they reach the doors of the holding cell. “You can still watch, or whatever, but no one can come in with me.”

Endlessly inquisitive, the team piles into the tiny observation room attached to the cell, looking through the one-way glass.

Their prisoner sits, bored, handcuffed to the chair he’s sitting on. He stares at the ceiling, eyes vacant.

Shiro thinks about how he smiled as he tortured children, babies, for his own intellectual pleasure, and feels his heart harden.

Lance walks into the room calmly, which isn’t what Shiro expected. He’s not sure what he was expecting, but it surely wasn’t Lance, completely expressionless, walking quietly into the room to stare at the general wordlessly.

After several minutes of careful assessment, the general snorts.

“I have just been threatened violently for hours by an Altean royal and a half-Galra Blade,” he says, amused. “And it did nothing. So now they send a scrawny human?” He sneers, voice turning taunting. “How do you expect to break me, runt? Am I meant to laugh myself into looser lips, so you can earn insight into the fraction of the information I hold? No common jester will make me speak, boy. In fact it is a mockery for you to try.”

Without even blinking, Lance raises an arm, aims his gun at the general’s face, and shoots.

The deafening bang of the gun hides any noise the general may have made, but his face clouds in terror before it narrows into rage. He attempts to raise his hand to the side of his head, but the handcuffs keep them firmly below his knees.

“You shot me!” he yells.

“You’re welcome,” Lance says, tilting his head. His expression remains unchanged — terrifyingly blank.

“You insect! You mite! You speak of dirt beneath my heel! Why would I lower myself to thank you for anything, especially an attempt on my life?”

“That was no attempt on your life.”

“You have carved a wound into my skull with a bullet!”

Lance inclines his head. “Yes. And you are alive to speak of it. I have shown you mercy. You will thank me.”

The general spits on the ground in front of Lance.

“I will do no such thing.”

“Okay,” Lance says evenly. “I will warn you again.”

Before anyone can process, he raises his arm again, and shoots.

This time, it takes less time for the general to react.

“I am remarkably resilient to pain,” he snarls. “No matter how many times you graze me with a bullet, I will not tell you anything.”

Lance nods again. “You’re right. How foolish of me.”

The general spits again. “Yes, you picture of insolence.”

“I waited a long time for access to you,” Lance continues, as if the general had not spoken.

The general actually looks confused, which is a welcome change from his insufferable smugness, even though Shiro’s not sure how it’s helpful.

“I am not Allura. Nor am I Keith. They are very noble, and are so endlessly enthusiastic about positive change to the universe. They are too determined to cut their losses and find other ways to gain information.”

For the first time, Lance grins. It can only be described as shark-like.

Cruel, even. Shiro has never thought Lance cruel, before, and it’s startling.

“I have no such reservations. You have no use to me, and I will not waste the Coalition’s resources.”

He opens the chamber of his revolver, delicately removes one bullet, and then shakes the whole gun upside down. The rest of the bullets fall to the floor with a clatter.

For the briefest moment, fear flashes across the general’s face, before it’s replaced by a snarl.

“Your games don’t frighten me.”

Lance shrugs, spinning the bullet chamber before slamming it closed, and re-aiming.

This time, he aims right in between the general’s eyes.

“It’s not meant to frighten you. It’s meant to amuse me.”

Pidge inhales sharply. “Is he actually going to fucking kill him? We need that information!”

“Have some faith,” Keith says breathlessly, eye transfixed on the scene in front of him. “When Lance says he’ll do something, he will, yeah?”

“Fair,” Hunk murmurs.

Each of them startles when the first shot rings through the cell.

A blank.

“You will get nothing from me,” the general hisses.

Lance doesn’t respond.

Another bang.

“I do not —”

Another bang. Then another, before the general can even open his mouth.

He is no longer trying to mask his fear. His terror is as plain on his face as it was on each of his victim’s faces, as they begged him to stop and return them home.

Lance laughs. The sound echoes, sending shivers down Shiro’s spine.

Another bang. Another blank.

A revolver only has six chambers.

No more blanks.

“Enjoy your final breath,” he taunts, and curls his finger around the trigger.

“Wait!”

Lance pauses. “Why should I?”

“I’ll talk,” the general begs. “I’ll talk. All the information I have. It’s yours.”

Lance hums consideringly, tapping the — loaded, Jesus fucking Christ — gun against his chin.

“No,” he decides, after a moment, re-aiming the gun. “I don’t care.”

“What is he doing,” Pidge hisses again, and this time Shiro is inclined to agree with her. He turns slightly to the door.

“Maybe we should stop —”

“Have some faith,” Keith repeats firmly.

Shiro swallows and forces himself away from the doorknob.

“Please, please, anything.”

Shiro doesn’t think he’s ever seen anyone look as desperate as the prisoner does now.

“Any information you need. I have more than you know.”

“Ooooooh,” Lance coos. “Now we’re getting somewhere. A trade?”

“My information for my life,” the general agrees hastily.

Lance pouts. “Aw, I guess I have to. Even though I was really looking forward to seeing your brains decorate the wall.” He sighs, petulant. “I guess you get to live. Start talking.”

The prisoner slumps forward, sweat and tears alike dripping from his face.

“Thank you,” he weeps. “Thank you for your mercy.”

Lance wrinkles his nose. “The more pitiful you look the less inclined I am to keep you alive,” he says, and the prisoner sobers up quickly. He immediately starts talking — he spills everything. Communication secrets, everything from trickle-down orders to secret projects organized by Haggar herself. By the time he finishes — hours later — they have more information than they have ever had in one place.

All because Lance isn’t afraid to get messy with a gun, apparently.

“Thank you,” Lance says when the prisoner’s stream of information trickles to a stop.

The prisoner swallows. “What now? Do I await trial?”

“Tell me,” Lance says sweetly, “how many children did you free, after you finished them? After they gave you everything they could? After you stole everything they had? How many of your experiments —” he spits the word, falsely saccharine tone dissipating to genuine fury — “did you show mercy to?”

Terror once again makes the general’s face grotesque.

“Please,” he says quietly. “I was only following orders.”

Lance does not hesitate. “I don’t care.”

No one stops him from shooting the prisoner point-blank. Even if they could, they don’t think they would. After spending the last several hours hearing what he had done… there’s no sympathy left for him.

Lance leaves the holding cells as neatly as he entered it, without a backwards glance at the body slumped behind him.

The team rushes out to meet him.

“That was horrifying,” Pidge says enthusiastically. “I’ll be real, you had me nervous at the beginning. But, damn. You got where you needed to go. I didn’t know you had that in you.”

“Neither did I,” Keith mutters, ears red, and somehow Shiro thinks he and Pidge are thinking two vastly different things.

Lance shrugs. “Me either! I wasn’t even sure if it was going to work, but I saw it in a T.V. show a while back so I thought I’d give it a whirl.”

Despite the literal execution he just witnessed and the splatter of dark blood on Lance’s forehead, Shiro can’t help the laughter bubbling up his throat.

“You are full of surprises,” he says, and Lance beams.

[messy-voltron]

Hcs for some little moments that made the paladins realize how much they love their s/o and want to live with them for the rest of their lives? (they go like, "OMG... I'm so in love with them...") you know, some cute moments xD

OMG this make me so soft!! Alright let’s get it lads (also thank you for your submission!)

I do swear a little bit in this one just as a warning

Shiro

Let’s be real folks Shiro is a very simple home body, but it’s hard to open himself to someone else to share that home with

So it’s no surprise that he realizes his love at home, you curled up in his bed, safe in his arms in the early morning where the world is still asleep

The soldier himself hardly gets sleep, and he tries not to do it too much, but he can’t help himself and watch you when his mind is too restless and oh my stars you just look so peaceful curled up in his arms

The love rises to crescendo in his heart, hits him like a train, and leaves him painless and warm because he loves you so much he never imagined love could be like this yet it fits so perfectly Shiro loves you So. Much.

He won’t say it yet. He shows it in his home later

In the way he remembers how you like your tea or coffee, making sure you’re favorite mug is within reach, remembering which blankets and hoodies you like and what movies you like to watch on what days

It’s no surprise when he tells you of this love, much later, in the safety that is this home and he can’t wait to share it with you side by side for the rest of his life

Keith

To start off I would like to add in my own personal headcanon: Keith is not good at parties

Sure he can be civil, he has to attend a lot of them because being a paladin of voltron also kinda makes you a nice little star at a political event and you gotta keep up formalities if you want them to know you’re on their side and you’re willing to protect yadda yadda

And so Keith goes to them, but there just gets a point where there’s so many people he doesn’t know, so man people who want to talk to him, it’s just so overwhelming

He tries to hide it as best he can, not wanting to make a scene, but he just can’t help it

As his s/o, you notice. He knows you notice. Keith doesn’t want to get in the way of you having a good time, but you stay right by his side. Giving him space when he needs it, asking coded questions to see if he needs to leave, offering support when he wants it. You do it without question because it’s so clear that you care

It’s so hard for Keith to open up to people and ask for help, but it’s in a moment like this that it really smacks him in the face of how much he appreciates you and how it’s so obvious you love him the same way

He catches himself. Love. He thought love. But as he looks at you in your formal attire, giving him a gentle reassuring smile, how beautiful you look in the evening lights, he can’t help but feel how right that word fits with you. He truly is in love with you and you best bet that he will never leave you

Lance

Since this man is so dramatic, it only seems right that his declaration of love would also have a bit of theatrics to it

To set the scene: you and Lance were set out on a small rescue mission to scope out a distress signal on a nearby planet. Coran assured you two that it was a small planet inhabited by some very friendly aliens so it shouldn’t be a big deal. It became a big deal real fast. You guys were very much not informed that that planet had been taken over by the Galra and sensing that Voltron as near, set this up to be a trap to catch at least one of the lions to use as bait

Wasting no time, you and Lance have to fight your way through Galra troops to safely get back to his lion but god there’s just so many of them they’re coming in from left to right oh god why did you have to be the one to get caught in the cross fire-

The two of you manage to find a safe clearing and just as he’s about to catch his breath, you grab him suddenly and pull him to the ground as your blaster goes off. Once he gets together his bearings, you’re on top of him with a galra droid now blown to bits and you have the most badass look on your face

He doesn’t mean to say I love you, it just sorta tumbles out of his mouth. Maybe it’s the adrenaline, maybe it’s because you look really nice, but regardless he has felt this way for a while, he just never thought he’d be saying it like this

Because it’s true there’s no one else in this entire galaxy he wants by his side through thick and thin he knows you have his back and he just thinks he’s the luckiest person in the world

You, however, have a shit eating grin on your face and in a classic Han Solo style, just tell him, “I know,” which translates to I love you too and you and Lance will be able to be mushy and lovey once your lives aren’t at stake

Hunk

Hunk is a very lovable person to begin with, he loves people platonically so hard and so fast, so when he realizes his romantic love for you, he almost stumbles into it on accident

It’s classic; you’re tasting a recipe he’s been working on and he’s so nervous to hear your opinion on what you have to say. He watches every movement, every facial feature just praying that you like this

And you do. You give him praise where he excelled, gave a pointer or two on where he struggled, but ended it with a smile and a thank you for sharing because you know how much cooking means to him

And it makes him so happy that you care and understand him and that’s why he loves you and-

He has to stop himself. He brushes it aside, continues on with the evening, but when you two part he can’t help himself but to think about those events over and over again because maybe he was just getting in over his head sure he cares about you but love? Is it too soon? Is he being too emotional?

In the end Hunk comes to the conclusion he’s known since the beginning. He does love you, he wants you in his life for as long as you’ll have him, and he admits this to you the next day as gracefully as he can

For the record, it wasn’t that graceful, but that’s what makes him so perfect

Pidge

Pidges would be perfectly mundane where it’s so simple yet it just fits perfectly into their heart

The two of you are just...talking. That’s it. You guys are spitballing ideas and future projects and being reminded of old memories that make you smile

These conversations go on late into the night, both of you equally admitting that it’s getting late and it’s time to turn in to bed, but then one of you says something and it gets delayed by at least 15 minutes

Pidge has never been the most social person, it often makes them more stressed out than anything, but they can’t help but notice the way their heart settles so calmly and full of love when they’re with you

They won’t admit it yet, but they know they’re in love with you this kid is such a simp but it’ll take them a while before they actually say it (that and you might have to say it first but that’s just cause Pidge is so nervous)

[jxsatlas]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍 ⇢ keith kogane, ch. 3

keith kogane x gn! reader – previous

DISCLAIMER! this story does not originally belong to me, the author is @MaddieWolf37 on Wattpad. i have simply received permission to rewrite and continue her story. go and check out her profile for the original version!

SYNOPSIS! a story in which you are thrown into the middle of an intergalactic space war and have the undesirable weight of being a symbol of peace dropped on your shoulders. but maybe if you look past the constant danger and endless fighting, there's some good to being a paladin of voltron.

MATURE CONTENT! swearing, violence, gore, war, graphic descriptions, mentions of self-harm

You step into the tent, eyes wide at the sight of three unconscious scientists scattered around the ground. Straight ahead, Keith is carefully pulling Shiro off of the metal table and trying to sling Shiro's arm around him.

"Nope! No! I'm saving Shiro," Lance says and takes Shiro's other arm and tosses it around his shoulders.

"Uh... who are you?" Keith asks, furrowing his brows at Lance in confusion.

"The name's Lance?" your brother says, but Keith only blinks at him. Lance feigns a look of hurt and disappointment. How could his self-proclaimed rival not recognise him? "We were in the same class at the Garrison? We were like rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck?"

"Really? Are you... an engineer?" Keith asks.

"What? No! I'm a pilot," Lance frowns.

Keith narrows his eyes at Lance for a moment before it clicks. His face relaxes. "Oh... yeah, I remember you. You're a cargo pilot."

"Well, not anymore. I'm fighter class now, thanks to you washing out," Lance sasses.

"Congratulations," Keith says in a low tone, not interested.

You roll your eyes at their interaction and place a hand on your hip. "Are you two just gonna sweet talk each other or are we gonna take Shiro and get out of here?" you ask.

Keith looks up at the sound of your voice, recognising it. He stares at you for a bit, unintentionally. It's been a while since he's seen you, and he could honestly that say he missed you.

You were the only person he truly got along with at the Garrison, so it's reasonable for him to feel that way.

"Well?" you ask, quirking an eyebrow.

Keith blinks, breaking his stare and bringing him back to reality. "Taking Shiro and getting out of here," he says.

You all rush out of the tent as fast as you can with an unconscious person in your arms. As the others make their way to Keith's hoverbike, You take a quick look to see what's going on with the Garrison.

"Oh, that's not good," you say and spin on your heel quickly. You scurry over to the hoverbike. "We should really get moving! The Garrison is coming back and they do not look happy!"

Pidge climbs onto the hoverbike. "Hey, is this gonna fit all of us?"

As Keith sits down at the helm, Hunk climbs onto the back, causing the back to drop downwards. "No," he grumbles.

But he doesn't bother wasting time when all of you are on and ready to go. He revs the engine and the hoverbike roars to life, lifting up into the air a few feet.

And right as the Garrison comes around the tent, Keith does a sharp 180 and heads in the opposite direction. He speeds away with the Garrison pursuing without hesitation.

To fight against the inertia, you grab ahold of Keith who you sit right behind. And you don't plan on letting go anytime soon, scared you'll fall off.

Pidge has his arms hooked under Shiro's. "Why am I holding this guy?" he asks, but he's left unanswered.

Lance looks at the Garrison behind us. They were getting closer by the second. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

"We can toss off some non-essential weight," Keith says bitterly.

"Oh, right!" Lance chirps and looks around to see what could be tossed off the hoverbike. But when he finds nothing and realises Keith was talking about Hunk, he rolls his eyes. "Okay, so that was an insult."

Keith shouts over his shoulder at Hunk. "Big man, lean left!"

Hunk does so and the hoverbike sharply veers left, quickly evading the gaining pursuers. The Garrison tries to match the sudden movement, but two of the vehicles chasing after you crash into each other.

"Aw, man!" Hunk whines. "Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery!"

You look over your shoulder behind you and see the two vehicles rolling and flipping. You frown. You hope they're okay.

"Big man! Lean right!" Keith orders and Hunk listens to him again. As the hoverbike tips to the right, jumping over a canyon and to the narrow ledge on the other side, you make the mistake of looking down below.

Your body tingles with adrenaline as you watch the ground disappear for a second too long, not enjoying the sight at all.

"Not cool! Not cool!" You say and squeeze your eyes shut. You don't usually have a fear of heights. But it's one thing when you're piloting an aircraft, and a completely different thing when you're riding on the back of a hoverbike where falling off is a very prominent thing.

"Are you seriously scared of heights?" Lance asks, picking up on the reason why you suddenly got anxious. "You're a freaking pilot!"

"This is different!" you bark back at him.

"Wait! Guys! Is that cliff up ahead?" Hunk asks, pointing ahead. You turn back around and you squeak at the sight of the sudden drop getting closer and closer.

"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Lance shouts.

"Yep," Keith smirks and increases the speed, practically flying towards the cliff.

Everyone, except for Keith and Shiro, who is still very much unconscious, clambers and screams incoherently as Keith heads straight for the cliff and drives right off.

You feel your stomach fly up to your chest as you fall, your butt lifting off the seat. The butterflies make your entire body buzz with fear and you tighten your arms around Keith. If you fall off now, there's no doubt you'll be dead.

And flat as a pancake.

"What are you doing!? You're gonna get us killed!" Lance shouts, his eyes wide with fear. His grip is tight on the hoverbike. He doesn't want to fall off either.

"Just shut up and trust me!" Keith shouts back at him.

"I trust you!" you shout, squeezing your eyes shut once again. You truly do. Even though Keith was reckless and quite the trouble maker back at the Garrison, You know he wouldn't intentionally put you in danger without a way to get you out of it.

You fall for what seems like an eternity before Keith rolls the throttle all the way, maxing out the power of the engines. The hoverbike stops just before it hits the ground. Your butt hits the seat pretty hard and you wince.

That's definitely gonna be a bruised tailbone.

With the Garrison having no way to get down the cliff and chase after you, Keith drives off into the desert.

﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋

Inside of an old cabin in the middle of what seems to be nowhere, the group lays about. Lance sits on the edge of a surprisingly soft sofa with you laying across the majority of it, your head in his lap. He has his arms hanging on the back and his head resting on his shoulder. The two of you snooze away.

Pidge and Hunk are across the room sitting on the floor, talking about tech and engineering. Keith is outside with Shiro.

When you were waiting for Shiro to wake up, you had a chance to catch up with Keith. You hugged him and conversed with him happily. He seemed to enjoy talking to me too again, a faint smile on his face.

Although Lance glared at you from across the room the entire time. The boys have a mutual dislike for each other, so Lance didn't take too kindly to you talking to Keith. But you think Lance feels the said dislike more. Keith doesn't seem to care most of the time, but Lance can and will get on his nerves.

Nevertheless, you genuinely missed Keith. You were pretty good friends with him. In fact, you think you were his only friend at the Garrison.

You stir awake when Keith and Shiro walk back into the cabin rather loudly. You rub the sleep from your eyes and sit up. You stretch your arms out with a yawn, accidentally smacking your brother in the face.

Lance jolts awake with a small yelp.

"Oh, sorry," you say. Lance grumbles under his breath and sits up. He yawns as well.

"What have you been working on?" Shiro asks slowly.

You turn my attention to the other side of the room. Keith holds a large cloth in his hands, having pulled it off of the wall. And on the wall are pictures of caves carvings and odd locations and maps of the desert pinned onto it with tacs and tape. Messy red arrows and circles are marked onto said maps, pointing out places in the desert. But not as much as an area at the center of the map, where a large, overlapping circle was scribbled down.

With curiosity overpowering your sleepiness, you rest your chin in your palm and lean forward with interest. "What's that?" you ask.

"It's... kinda hard to explain?" Keith says with a shrug. "After getting booted from the Garrison, I felt... lost?" he says with a somber expression.

Keith points to the large circle on the map. "But I was drawn to this place. It was like something, some energy, was telling me to search," he says.

"For what?" Shiro asks.

"I'm not sure," Keith answers. "But when I did search, I came across a cave system with all these ancient carvings. Each depicting a slightly different story about a Blue Lion, and some... arrival happening," he explains and points to the photos on the wall before looking at Shiro. "Then you showed up."

Shiro hums, a small, impressed smile tugging at his lips. He turns to you, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge, who are clumped together across the room. "I should thank you all for getting me out of there," he says.

Shiro reaches his robotic arm out to Lance. An awestruck expression takes over my brother's face. On the outside, he appears rather calm. But on the inside, he's most likely freaking out about the fact that his idol is wanting to shake his hand.

"You're Lance, right?" Shiro asks.

Lance nods with a wide smile, firmly grasping Shiro's metal hand and shaking it.

Shiro turns to you. "And... [y/n]?" he guesses your name and you nod.

"Yep! That's me!" you affirm and shake Shiro's hand as well.

"I'm Pidge, and the nervous guy is Hunk," the short ginger says and points to Hunk, who is pulling at his fingers, with his thumb. "Do you know if the rest of your crew made it?"

You glance at Pidge. He seems to be pretty hung up on Shiro's crewmates. You slowly get lost in your thoughts wondering why.

Could he possibly be related to any of them? Or at least a good friend to one?

Pidge gives you a strange look and you realise you're staring. You flash him an embarrassed smile and look away.

"I don't know," Shiro says after taking a moment to dig through his memories. "My brain is still pretty scrambled. But one thing sticks out. I kept hearing the word Voltron, over and over. It's some kind of weapon."

You blink. "That's what Pidge was hearing on the radio!" you point out.

Pidge nods. "Yeah, I picked it up on alien radio chatter when scanning the solar system," he rephrases.

"Maybe those were the aliens that captured Shiro?" Lance suggests.

"Well, we need to find this Voltron before the aliens do," Shiro says with a sharp tone of determination.

"But how are we gonna do that?" Lance asks.

He's got a point. "Yeah, we don't even know what Voltron looks like," you say.

"I got that doodle in my notebook?" Pidge says.

"Sorry, Pidge, but your artist's rendition isn't the best," Lance says. You smack his arm and he smacks yours in return.

Hunks smiles. "I don't think Pidge's drawing skills will be a problem," he says and picks up Pidge's backpack. "Because I was looking through his stuff–"

Pidge snatches his bag from Hunk and holds it away from him. "What were you doing looking through my stuff?" he asks sharply.

Hunk rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Looking for a snack," he says. "Anyways, I was looking through his diary and–"

"You did what?" Pidge growls. He seems to like his privacy.

"–and I noticed a repeating series of numbers that kinda look like a Fraunhofer line," Hunk quickly finishes talking before Pidge has a chance to interrupt him again.

"A frown-what?" Keith asks and you, him, and Lance give a quizzical look.

"Sorry, we have the brains of pilots," you say.

"That's fine," Hunk shrugs and proceeds to explain what he's talking about. "It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element. But this element doesn't exist on earth, so I was thinking it could be this Voltron?"

You nod, understanding a little bit more of his engineer mind, but not really. He used too big of words.

"I think I can build something to track it, like a Voltron Geiger counter," Hunk says.

Lance flashes an impressed grin and crosses his arms. "Hunk, you big gassy genius!" he praises.

"It's pretty great," Hunk smiles bashfully at the compliment. He then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a sheet of paper with a sort of graph on it. He holds it up for everyone to see. "It looks like this."

Keith snatches the paper from Hunk and examines it closely. He furrows his brows and turns to one of the photos pinned up on the wall, something connecting in his brain. He holds the graph up next to a photo of rocky outcropping somewhere in the desert.

The line matches the shape of the tall, jagged rocks eerily well. You all share a look, concluding that that's the next place you need to go.

[vldkeith]

keithtober💢🎃🔪 day 12: with lance🦈💙

a/n: excerpt of a band au i'm working on 👀! bartender keith and singer lance have a brief conversation before lance performs at the restaurant keith works at :) just felt like im doing so much kl stuff anyway that this should be smth special, so this is part of a wip! hopefully ill finish it someday gfdkhgsk

🔗ao3 link

content included: alcohol ment, band au, singer lance, bartender keith, banter, rivals, >:)

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

What greets him when he finally gets back to the front of the house is, unfortunately, Lance, drumming his fingers impatiently on the bar. Keith looks around; Shiro’s gone, because of course he is, so there’s nobody left to serve Lance but him.

Great.

He shuffles behind him and says moodily, “What do you want?”

“Not you,” Lance says, annoyed, barely turning around to face Keith. “I said I wanted a drink.”

There’s silence. Then, slowly and very, very pointedly, Keith makes a show of walking away from Lance and behind the bar, coming to a stop right in front of him.

He plasters his best customer-service smile on his face. “Hi! Welcome to the Castleship, what can I, Keith, the bartender, get for you today?”

Lance doesn’t say anything for a moment, just stares wide-eyed at Keith and blinks a little, before once again groaning loudly and slamming his head down on the table. Keith can’t help but wonder if Lance does that often. It would explain a lot.

“I hate you,” is the only comeback Lance can muster, which makes Keith feel like he’s won something.

“Give me your order, dumbass,” Keith says with a roll of his eyes, poking gently at Lance’s head. “Neither of us have time for you to be all pouty.”

“I’m not pouting,” Lance pouts. And then, after a brief moment, “Give me a Nunvill.”

Keith nods and busies himself making the drink which is comprised of various fruit-flavored syrups and alcohols—raspberry, sour apple, orange, a little cranberry. It’s almost agonizingly fruity, and while it’s not as bad as the Paladin (Keith hates that because he hates Whiskey moreso than the fruit flavor), it still gets to be a little much after a few sips.

Not for Lance, though. He can chug it in five minutes if he has to before a show; Keith’s seen it. It never seems to affect him much, either—otherwise, there’s no way Keith would give it to him right before he’s supposed to perform. He’s seen his fair share of drunk singers on this very stage, and it always ends with his eardrums aching.

Keith shakes the drink together and pours it in a small glass, garnishing with a slice of lemon, and passes it to Lance, who takes it and immediately starts drinking.

“You know, Keith,” Lance begins, setting the drink back down on the bar and smacking his lips together, “you’re pretty good at making drinks. If you had a better personality, you’d be a stellar bartender.”

“If you had better pick-up lines, maybe you’d have a girlfriend, but we all have things to work on,” Keith returns, unconcerned. He folds his arms over his chest, already back to being irritated.

Lance lets out a huff and downs the rest of the drink and pushes it back to Keith, lemon slice still in tact. He knows that Keith hates it when people don’t eat the garnishes; it’s a waste.

“All yours, mullet,” Lance says, smirking.

Keith plucks the lemon slice from the top of the glass and, without hesitation, takes a bite and sucks the rest into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. Lance stares at him, unblinking.

“You’re insane,” he says, and stomps away, the bitterness clear in his countenance. Keith can’t help but smile at his retreating form, glad to have emerged on top of both of their antagonistic interactions today.

Plus, he got a lemon slice out of it. They genuinely do taste really good.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

☕️kofi - so im motivated to write more of this au GJKFDSHKGS

[pftones3482]

Commission for @extrasensorious-zoroark, who asked for a Luca and Lance fic. Gotta admit, this one was a little tougher for me, just because we have less than an episode of content with Luca, but overall I think it turned out well.

Set post-Voltron, is otherwise canon compliant (sorry, couldn't think of a good excuse to keep Allura alive within the word limit). Under a cut for length.

~~

When word reached the paladins that Luka hadn’t, in fact, been lost to them like they had thought, it was a stampede to make it to the med bay, with Romelle at the head of the group.

Lance thought Romelle might have felt a bit responsible for Luka’s death – she was, after all, the last one who had spoken to her before Honerva had done…whatever it was she had done to kill her. She’d spent the majority of their time in space looking guilty, and nothing anyone said could snap her out of it.

After Allura’s death, of course, Lance had sat down with her, and they’d done nothing more than just sit silently and cling to each other.

Now, as they gathered outside the med wing in the Garrison, Lance leaned over to Shiro. “How-?”

Shiro shook his head. “No idea,” he murmured. “Doctors didn’t say what changed, just that she suddenly revived right after we left for space.”

“And they didn’t tell us?” Romelle snapped.

Shiro’s hand fell on her shoulder and squeezed. “We had to have our focus elsewhere,” he said, and Lance watched her expression relax.

The doctor appeared at the door, looking weary. “Thank you all for coming,” she said. “I’m Dr. Reynolds. Luka is stable, has been for several weeks, but she still refuses to speak to anyone. With Honerva gone, we don’t believe her at risk for relapsing and suffering as she did prior. We still think it best if familiar faces be let in.”

Her gaze turned to Romelle and then to Lance and he blinked, lifting his hands in front of his chest instantly. “She doesn’t know me, she-”

He remembered, then, the marks on his face, and his gut twisted. “N-No, I’m not-”

Romelle’s hand gripped his elbow. “Please, Lance,” she murmured, her voice cracking. “I need an ally in there. Just in case.”

He slumped, offering a weak smile. “Sure. Sure, I’ll go.”

He glanced back at his teammates as Dr. Reynolds led them inside, and they all gave him sad smiles that did nothing to quell the churning in his stomach.

When Luka laid eyes on the pair, she scowled and flung her pillow at them. Romelle and Lance both dodged easily, and the other Altean hissed at the doctor. “No. Anyone but them,” she spat.

Dr. Reynolds nodded quickly. “Of course. Another time, then.”

Despite not wanting to come inside in the first place, Lance felt his gut sink. He’d been feeling pretty useless since Allura, uncertain, and despite their history, he’d been hoping that maybe, just maybe Luka could’ve been helped. To see that she wouldn’t even try? That hurt.

He hesitated to follow Romelle out the door, setting his hand on the frame as he looked back to her and searched her stony expression. “Well. We’re here, if you need.”

She flipped him off.

~~

He went back two days later, some of Hunk’s fresh gumbo cradled in his hands, and hesitated outside her door. Lance hadn’t told anyone he was planning to come here, so if he got the steaming stew thrown back in his face, he’d have a lot of explaining to do.

Luka was reading something on a tablet when he leaned in the door, tapping his knuckles on the frame and offering her a weak smile as she looked up. “Um. Hey. I brought you some not-hospital food, if you want it?” he offered, holding up the bowl and spoon. “Fresh from my teammate Hunk.”

Luka sneered. “Oh, you mean from the people who only destroyed my home planet? The ones who now keep me imprisoned here? No thank you.”

Lance shifted on his feet. “W-Well if you decide you want it, I’ll just…”

He set it down on the dresser at the end of her bed and gave her what he knew was more of a grimace than a smile before bolting back to the hallway.

When he walked by later, the gumbo was gone and the bowl was outside waiting for pickup with the rest of her dishes.

Lance didn’t know if she’d eaten it or thrown it away, but something like hope lifted in his chest.

~~ “Dr. Reynolds said you liked reading,” Lance said, standing in the doorway of Luka’s hospital room with his arms piled high with Earth books that had survived the war. “I brought some of my favorites from…from before.”

Luka lowered her tablet and frowned. “You keep coming here. Stop.”

Lance licked his lips and set the books down, refusing to be swayed. “This one here is about the Greek gods? They were these ancient gods that people used to worship, a-and the book is about their kids. And this book is about a girl who is a necromancer – that’s like, a person who can raise the dead. And she gets sent to a group home cause people think she’s insane, but actually the whole group home is just teenagers with powers. A-And this one is-”

“Paladin,” Luka snapped, and Lance jumped in surprise. She softened, setting her tablet on her lap. “Stop. I don’t…”

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. Her marks glowed faintly. “Your team…destroyed my home. It doesn’t matter how kind you act towards me, you will always be the people who killed my family. Just…stop. Please.”

Lance winced, thumbing the cover of The Hunger Games absentmindedly. “Luka, I’m sorry. We didn’t do that, though. We never hurt your home. Honerva brainwashed you to-”

The tablet shattered against the wall next to his face with a sickening sound and Lance jolted away, the book smacking the floor next to the broken glass. Luka’s cheeks were bright red and her eyes were filled with tears, the sight of which made Lance's chest ache. “Don’t you ever speak her name, you little-”

Lance threw his hands up, backpedaling out of the room before she could say more. His heart was beating fast, too fast, too hard, and he was back to their paladin wing by the time he realized he was crying too.

~~

Despite Dr. Reynolds advising against it, Lance kept bringing her food. Kept bringing her books, especially when he noticed the slightly dog-eared pages of the ones she claimed to have never touched. He never spoke to her, just dropped off Hunk’s latest cooking endeavor and a new set of books, and then took the read ones back to the library.

His teammates noticed, of course they did, and eventually Lance found Keith at his side, pulling down books at the library and handing them over silently, Pidge knocking on his door late at night with a novel she’d just finished in her hands, Hunk approaching him with more Altean themed dishes. He appreciated the efforts more than they could ever know, more than he could tell them.

Luka was lost, just like he was. She’d lost so much, in such a short span of time, and Lance understood that pain. He just wanted her to realize that there were others in the Garrison who understood what she was feeling. Needed her to realize it.

He’d be damned if he let her spend her whole life locked up here. Not after getting it back.

~~

“Your friend is a good cook,” Luka said as Lance set down the Mexican food Hunk had made that day. He blinked, not having expected her to talk, and looked up. Luka offered him what could only be called a grimace. “He um…knows his way around the kitchen. The Fineom he made the other day…that was an Altean dish.”

Lance nodded, turning to face her. “Yeah. Coran showed him how.”

She pursed her lips. “Coran is…the orange haired Altean, yes?”

“Yes,” Lance confirmed. “Hunk wanted to broaden his cooking horizons, and Coran knows some of the oldest recipes. He’s awful in the kitchen though,” he said with a chuckle.

Luka’s lips twitched in what look suspiciously like a smile, and she looked down at the book on her lap – To Kill a Mockingbird. She’d long since stopped hiding that she was reading the books Lance was bringing her. “Your world is so young,” she murmured, which was a shift in topic Lance wasn’t expecting. “You have dealt with so much that Alteans had forgotten ever happened on our world.”

Lance looked back to the book and hummed. “Yeah. We’ve come a long way. Got a long way to go. Cleaning up after the war is helping with that, shockingly,” he laughed. “Humans were pretty blind to everything outside our solar system – I think finally being able to interact with other planets made us realize how stupid and petty we all were.”

“Pettiness and stupidity occur no matter how old the planet,” Luka said, and her tone was bitter.

When she looked up, her eyes searched Lance’s with a depth he couldn’t fathom. His mouth went dry, and she shut the book. “May I…join you for lunch today? In the canteen? W-With you and your friends? I think…”

She put the book down and clasped her hands together. “I think I’m tired. Of eating alone and being stupid.”

Lance felt his face relax into a smile, and he held out an arm for her to cling to. “You were never stupid. But you’re welcome to join us – I and my teammates would really enjoy that.”

She reached out with a tentative smile and took his elbow.

[snaileer]

Chips & Salsa, Chp 8

Keith had decided that Altean medical beds were the worst thing to curse the universe since the discontinuation of 2-in-1 hair products.

At least he definitely thought so from the last 30 minutes he’d spent sitting on one. Coran was still looking for the right salve or something for his bruises. He’d tried to get out of it but Shiro had stared him down all the way from the armory to the Medbay.

Even Keith wasn’t immune to ‘The Look.’

“Aha!” Coran jumped in triumph, holding up a small container like treasure, “I found it!”

Keith tried to get off the bed again, “I told you, Coran, I don’t need any treatment or-”

“Sit.” Shiro rumbled.

“But I-”

“Sit, Keith.” Shiro glared back. Keith would never admit that he pouted as he settled back on the medical bed, it was only a little childish spitefulness. His brother sighed again, “I know you hate doctors but it is only by the grace of god your nose isn’t broken. He almost-”

“Actually, his face is mostly unharmed.” Coran piped in as he got closer. Shiro raised an eyebrow in confusion as the Altean started applying the cream to Keith. “Yes, Lance certainly did a number on him, but there is a degree of restraint. His nose is bruised, a little bloody sure; but it wasn’t hit with anywhere near enough force to break it.”

Keith winced at a bloom of pain on his jaw and growled, “Then why does it hurt so much?”

Coran scoffed and moved to collect more salve as he mumbled, “Probably because I chose the one without pain relievers in it.”

“Coran…” Shiro gave him a stern look, but Coran shrugged it off and kept applying the cream.

“What? I’m not team leader, I have no problems showing favorites,” He said incredulously, “And besides, restraint doesn't mean he didn't hit hard. He just avoided your important bits, y’know, eyes and such. Could be much worse. In fact, this one time Alfor and I had a nasty run-in with some street thugs on a Gaali planet. Nearly ripped my ear off those fuc-”

“Not the time, Coran.” Shiro stepped in, handing Keith his jacket as he hopped down from the bed. “Keith, you need to talk to Lance.”

“What!? He hit me!”

“I don't want to hear who started it Keith,” Shiro followed him out of the room, “You and Lance have always been at each other’s throats, but this is different.”

“It really isn’t, Shiro.”

“Yes, it is. We both know that Lance wouldn’t have commented on your scoff, wouldn’t have taken it that far.”

“Yeah, obviously, I got that. So, what? You want me to just shut up? Stop talking to him?”

“No.” Shiro sighed, “We don’t need to be walking on eggshells around him, god no; but we still have to recognize that he’s gone through something traumatic. Is still going through it.”

“So did you Shiro. And he took advantage of your sympathy. I’m not going to give him mine, because clearly, he only cares about himself.” His voice grew in agitation.

“That’s not true, Keith, and you know it.” Shiro said, trying to convince Keith to just stop being so stubborn.

“Then why can’t he act like it!”

Shiro looked back over his shoulder, then over the other.

“What the hell are you doing, Shiro!?” Keith shouted. He was sick of his brother always-

Shiro crossed his arms and glared down at Keith, “I’m trying to find who you think you’re yelling at, because I know for damn sure it’s not me.” 

Keith growled and grit his teeth, “I’m not up for your stupid-”

“Try again.”

“I don’t-”

“No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’? I was trying to-” Keith threw his hands in the air at Shiro. Shiro and all his stupid vagueness.

“I mean, no. You don’t get to write him off this quickly. I want you to give him a chance.”

“I already did!”

“Then give him another one.”

“Why!?” Keith shot back.

“Because he deserves it,” Shiro answered, his words solemn enough to shut Keith’s mouth with a snap. “Don’t you think, that after everything, everything we’ve been through, everything he went through, everything he went through for us.. don’t you think he deserves another chance? Don’t you think he deserves a few chances?”

“But I- But he- We can’t just-” Keith shuffled through refusals, but each one fell short. 

“I’ve been where he is, Keith. And it isn’t as easy as ‘go back to normal.’ Surviving that… it takes everything.” Shiro took a deep breath to steady himself, “You can’t afford to be kind, or caring, or selfless. And even when every, single, part of you rushes to save somebody,” He paused and made eye contact again, “You have to push it down.”

Keith stood silently for a moment, looking back at Shiro. Sorrow, guilt, regret washed over his face because he hadn’t been able to save Shiro.

Not just Shiro, his brain reminded him. 

Keith shifted his eyes away, staring at his shoes. “Is it really going to be that hard to get him back?” He said softly, the air fragile.

“We still have to try.” 

Keith twitched his lips back and forth, clenching and unclenching his jaw. Rolling the debate over his tongue. He hated to back down from an argument.

“So?...” Shiro questioned, raising an eyebrow and leaning back on his hip. Keith sighed dramatically.

“Fine.” He threw his hands up for good measure, “I’ll give him another chance.”

“Finally! God, I thought I was gonna have to bribe you or something.” Shiro dropped his arms from his chest in exasperation, “I swear, for how much you two care about each other, it’s ridiculously hard to get you to just talk.”

“What?”

Now it was Shiro’s turn to sigh, “Nothing. Just… trying to get this team to function is like pulling teeth. And I very specifically refused my parent’s desire for me to become a dentist.”

Keith gave a breathless laugh, “Ha!” He looked Shiro up and down, “Like you’re any better.”

An affronted look grew across Shiro’s face, “I’m not-” 

Keith took that moment to dash down the hall, away from any more lectures.

“I’m not that bad!... And apologize to Lance!” Shiro shouted out after his rapidly disappearing shape. Keith threw back a rushed ‘will do!’ as he made his escape.

Shiro stood in the hallway, unmoving for a second. Thinking.

“Oh! Number one, you’re still here,” Coran walked out from around a corner, “Did you need something? Why are you just standing in the middle of the hall?”

“No reason…” Shiro paused, “I think I’m just now understanding why my grandmother got paid so much to be a matchmaker.” He stared off into the distance; his face the picture of resignation.

“Ah! A noble profession indeed! Y’know, one could say that I’m responsible for Alfor and Melenor getting together. Pah! The kingdom would have fallen without me!”

Shiro resisted the sudden urge to remind him that it did.

Instead, he listened to Coran regale him with tales of how he saved the castle (“more than once, might I add”), while they walked, side-by-side, through the corridors.

-x-x-x-

Lance ran his hands across the grass. Trying to pick out each blade of green beneath his fingers. He couldn’t.

It made sense, honestly. In a weird sort of way. Same reason the clouds never moved across the picturesque blue sky. Same reason that though he could see the wind shift the grass, he couldn’t feel any breeze on his skin.

It was fake. A hologram. The wonders of alien technology to create a world that seemed so real and yet-

Wetness dripped onto his cheek. 

Lance squeezed his eyes closed tighter and tried to ignore it. To relish in the momentary sense of peace. 

The peace that always came after a fight. As petty as it’d been, his fight with Keith had helped. He needed it; to fight, to fight without restraints or routine practice. Just to fight, to grapple for the right to exist like he had in the-

Something blocked the light in front of him, casting a shadow over his face. He peeked open an eyelid… Just in time to see a blob of saliva dangling right above his eye.

“Kaltenecker!” Lance flung himself out of the cow’s drool range. He groaned, awkwardly rubbing his cheek against his shoulder in a desperate attempt to wipe it off.

“That’s so disgusting!”

“Mooooo,” Kaltnecker glanced up with half-lidded eyes as she continued to eat at the spot where he was just laying.

“I can’t believe you’d betray me like this! Oh, the pain!” Lance put his hand to his forehead dramatically, “How ever will I go on?!” 

Kaltnecker, seemingly unbothered by him, continued chewing. Lance tried to sneak a glimpse at her without breaking character, disappointed to see her lack of reaction.

“Oh, tough crowd, huh?” 

She turned to the side, flicking her tail at him dismissively.

“I bet…” he paused and got to his feet, “THIS’LL change your mind!” Lance jumped at her, aiming for surprise, “Raahhh! Oof.” He hit her side like a brick wall, Kaltnecker sparing him no more than a look.

“I think I’d forgotten how hard it is to mess with cows.” He narrowed his eyes at her, then shrugged and smirked, “Oh, well.. Guess I’ll just have too....” Lance took a couple steps away, before turning back, “Lay on you instead! Ah-Ha!” He leapt onto the cow’s back like a starfish, searching for enough grip to stay attached.

He leaned his head down to her eye-level, “Still nothing, huh girl?” She blinked at him, smacked her lips, …. And then kept chewing.

“Lance?” Both cow and paladin’s heads shot upright at the voice. Hunk stood in the doorway with a bucket and a weird container next to him.

Kaltenecker found this infinitely more exciting than Lance’s efforts at bothering her and a loud ‘MOOO’ came from below Lance. 

Uh oh.

Kaltenecker galloped for the door, suddenly full of energy, hauling Lance along with her as he held on for dear life.

She finally stopped in front of Hunk’s feet, pausing for a moment until-

“Hoe, don't do it-” Lance scrambled to get off her in time, but failed as she plopped down on top of him. Sitting like a dog. 

Lance groaned at the sudden weight, resigned to trying to keep her tail from slapping him in the face.

“Hey there big girl! Excited to see me?” Hunk’s words only served to make her tail slap harder. Lance struggled to lean around her enough to see what he was doing.

Hunk pulled a package of some type of ‘alien-hay-feed’ out of the container at his feet. Hefting it into his arms, he carried it over to the small stall they had for the cow, Kaltenecker following behind him dutifully. Finally releasing Lance.

“Are we sure you’re not giving her too much of that stuff?” Lance groaned and rubbed his sides.

“Nah, Pidge calculated the perfect amount, I just don't think you're supposed to have cows sitting on you.” Hunk waved him off as he emptied the food into the trough. Hunk perked up like he’d remembered something, “Oh! Pidge! I promised her I’d help fix the glitches in the-” 

“Then go, I’m sure Kaltenecker will be fine,” Lance assured him as he got closer.

Hunk glanced from the cow, to Lance, to the bucket he left by the door, “But I have to-” 

Lance followed his line of sight, “Oh! I can do it buddy! Just go do your computer thing,” He smiled at him and went to grab the bucket.

“Are you sure? ‘Cuz I can stay if-” Hunk’s hands started fidgeting as he crumpled up the feed package and came closer.

“Gooo. I’ve done this before! Or did you forget who taught you?” Lance got behind him and playfully started urging him out of the room.

“Who? Your Uncle Leo?” Hunk said as he dug his heels in.

“No, me!” 

“I think I distinctly remember Leo teaching-” Hunk caught Lance’s eyes, joking glare and all, “Fine. Fine, I’ll go. But I’m making ice cream for dessert so make sure to bring the milk by the kitchen so you can help before dinner.” Hunk smiled back at his friend as he was pushed out of the room. It was nice to have someone take over with Kaltenecker, he was finally free to work on stuff with Pidge like he’d been putting off.

Behind the doors, Lance picked up the bucket and faced Kaltenecker with determination. 

“Now you have to pay attention to me, pretty girl.”

-x-x-x-

By the time Lance had finally, finally gotten Kaltenecker to cooperate enough for him to milk her, he’d already wasted half an hour.

So he had absolutely no qualms about leaving her alone in her ‘pasture’, and he was definitely not sulking.

Still, the whole process satisfied something in him. Something about the actions just brought him back to his childhood trips to Uncle Leo’s dairy farm.

And yeah, they were in space, not south eastern Cuba. And yeah, the cow they had was definitely genetically or hormonally modified by aliens to keep producing milk.

But it is what it is. And Lance would take what bits of home he could get.

Home.

A surge of homesickness rattled through him. It ached. A bone deep ache that he hadn’t paid attention to in so long and-

It was quickly pushed out by ringing.

Right. That.

Lance pulled his mind away from thoughts of his family, of any happiness he used to have. It was all gone for him now, and the ringing seemed to hate any happiness he even tried to scrounge together for himself.

Something clicked. If the ringing grew every time Lance thought about his family, or his home or-

Ow. 

With the Galra, when he’d thought the ringing was self-inflicted, that it was his punishment; it’d made sense for his happiness to make it worse. Why should he get to be happy, when he’d taken that from somebody else? Why should he get to keep his family? When he’d ripped someone away from theirs, permanently.

And he’d thought hearing the screams of his opponents, his fights, his kills, his victims was fair. Justified. Why should he get any peace when he’d taken any chance of it for them?

No.

This wasn’t on him. Yes, he deserved the guilt he felt. And yes, one day, he’d see retribution for his actions, but that wasn’t what this was.

This was Haggar.

Haggar trying to rid him of his memories. Of his home, his family. Of his team. Haggar trying to rid him of his hope.

Rid him of weakness, a voice whispered, No weaknesses, nothing to chance.

The memory of that phrase made him grit his teeth. 

Haggar was such a bitch when she was being condescending.

Lance took a break from his thoughts to peek his head into the kitchen. Still empty, thank god.

He loved Hunk, he really did, but there was no way he was sitting through another awkward team meal. Especially not right before they did something potentially hazardous to his mental state.

Again.

He quickly dropped the milk on the counter and left as fast as he could. He had somewhere to be, things to do, and a theory to test.

But first, a change of clothes.

x-x-x

Keith was sick of looking for Lance. I mean, seriously! The guy is over six foot, he shouldn't be that hard to find! Keith grumbled as he turned another corner in his search.

It was just his luck that he’d been chosen to ‘collect’ Lance. Shiro wasn't even subtle about it! ‘Give him another chance’ ‘He deserves it’ ‘blah de blah de blah de blah.’ 

“Hey Dipshit,” Keith glanced down at the phone in his hand, not at all surprised to see Pidge’s face on the screen.

“Yes?” He said irritably.

“He’s in the pool room.”

“Fine. Meet you guys in the Lounge room.” Keith quickly shut off the phone and spun around to go the right direction.

Of course Lance would be wasting time swimming while they were all waiting for him. It was becoming unfortunately normal for him to skip team meals. And everybody else just let him! Shiro never let Keith skip meals. 

Keith opened the pool doors fully ready to shout at Lance, --

Only to find himself stopped short and mesmerized by the blue paladin.

Now, one thing you have to understand is, Keith grew up in a desert. He didn’t really like pools. The community pools were generally cesspits of germs and packed to the brim during the Arizona summers. And that’s if he could convince a foster parent to bring him along.

This was decidedly not the case for Lance.

Even from the doorway, Keith could tell where Lance had haphazardly thrown his towel to the side before jumping in. And based on the amount of water collecting on the sides of the pool, he’d been here for a while.

Keith watched as Lance flipped off the wall, turning into yet another lap, without even a pause. He hadn’t even realized how close he’d gotten until he felt water splash his boots. 

He growled at the wetness soaking into his feet. Shouting it was then.

“Lance!” Keith yelled. Nothing, “Lance! Lance! LANCE!” 

There! A stutter in the smoothness of his actions.

Lance flipped around at the other end of the pool and started back towards Keith. 

“Finally!” Keith crossed his arms and waited for Lance to finish. Meaning that he’d completely missed Lance’s smirk forming under the water. And that he was utterly unprepared for Lance to kick an entire wave of water at him the moment he was close enough.

Now Keith really shouted.

“What the hell Lance!” He yelled, then continued trying to get his jacket off before it would be ruined.

Lance scoffed playfully as he hefted himself out of the water, “It was worth a try to see if that mullet was any sort of salvageable when wet,” He grabbed his towel and turned a cursory glance at Keith, “News Flash: the answer is no, there’s no hope at all for the mullet, it’d be a mercy just to cut it all off now.”

Keith was left a little shocked by the almost normal comment from Lance, before he finally registered what he’d said. 

“My hair is not that bad,” He growled, “And your hair’s not any better now. So there,”

“Oh, I’m well aware my hair is a disaster but unlike you, I don't make a routine of hacking it off in the bathroom.”

“It’s efficient!” Keith threw his hands up.

“It’s ratchet at best, Keith. But still, I am going to have to cut it soon, it kept getting in my eyes on my free-stroke.” 

“Wouldn’t be a problem if you weren’t swimming for like 3 hours straight.” Keith said snidely. Lance paused to glare at Keith, then went back to wrapping the towel on his head.

Once he’d finished he started walking towards the door, making Keith follow, “Did you know that as it turns out, the pool’s easier to access when you actually go through the elevator entrance? Rather than some off-ramp vent airway?” Insert pointed look at Keith. Insert Keith blatantly ignoring said look.

“It was your idea that got us up there.”

“It’s not my fault you’ve never seen Emperor’s New Groove. Besides, I actually have a reason for swimming this long.” Lance answered as the aforementioned elevator started moving. 

Keith scoffed, “Yeah, I’m sure you have plenty of excuses, Lance. And yet, you still missed dinner, and you’re still late to the team meeting.”

This time it was Lance who growled, “Let me talk, Keith, I’m serious, this is about the ringing.” That made Keith pay attention. He looked at Lance next to him, startled a bit by how stern he looked. Especially with a towel piled on his head.

“I’ve always loved swimming, and it’s been years since I’ve had the opportunity. The Garrison only allows the pool to be used in simulations, not for leisure.”

“Really? You call doing a hundred laps ‘leisure’? Wow, Iverson must’ve been so upset.” Keith rolled his eyes and ignored the look he got from Lance.

“Swimming makes me happy, it reminds me of my family, my home, everything I love about earth.” Lance said wistfully. But Keith’s eyes caught the slightest wince at the end of his statement. “And something that I’ve just now realized, is that Haggar didn't just want me to fight, she wanted me to lose hope too. So every time I think about my family, or I think about Earth, or even you guys, the team, I-” another wince, “The ringing gets worse.

Keith stopped dead in his tracks, not even noticing that the elevator had opened to let them out. Lance turned back to hold the door for him, and Keith rushedly stepped out, once again following Lance mindlessly.

“So you mean-.. Haggar tried to-” He couldn’t figure out how to phrase this. Was there really any good way to say, ‘Hey, an evil witch tried to make you into her own personal death drone,’?

“Yeah. And it worked.” Lance said softly. Keith hated that tone, he was becoming uncomfortably familiar with it, and much preferred Lance’s sarcasm. 

“I mean, I think it worked. Not so much now that I know, but.. When I was still there… Before I knew what the ringing was… I thought it was fair that I wouldn’t be able to think about my family without it hurting. I caused so much pain there, it was only fair I felt some as well.”

“Lance, that’s not-” He started through clenched teeth, but Lance cut him off.

“And I’ve always known what it takes to get rid of the ringing. I needed some time to think. And I needed to get away from the ringing for a while. Swimming does that for me. It makes me work hard enough to drive back the ringing, but I still love it, I can still enjoy it. It’s the one thing I have that hasn’t been ruined by all of this.” Lance’s fists were clenched tightly and he stopped walking.

“And you needed three hours for that?” Keith asked doubtfully. He hadn't realized they’d already reached Lance’s room.

“Like I said: it gave me some time to think,” Lance turned to face him fully, sucking in a deep breath, “I realized that I shouldn’t have fought you like that. I was desperate, but I crossed a line. I said some things I shouldn’t have and I wish I could’ve stopped myself because you didn’t deserve that from me. Not saying you don't need some sense knocked into you, but that wasn't my place.” Lance gave a small smirk, but it faded quickly, “I can’t keep lashing out at you guys like this. First it was Shiro, and then you. Who’s next, Pidge? Hunk? Coran?” Lanced sighed heavily, “I really am sorry about all of it. And you don't have to say anything back, I just didn’t want to leave it like this.” Lance barely waited before stepping away into his room, letting the door slide between them.

Keith stood there for a second.

He was really getting sick of doors closing between him and Lance. It’d happened three times today alone!

And what the hell was he supposed to say to Lance apologizing? The suspiciously Shiro-sounding little voice in his head could shut up about ‘just forgive him.’ No way.

But it was just… ugh! Every time Keith tried to think of the reason why he couldn’t, it was an actual reason. Keith hated excuses. They made him sound pathetic and weak. And honestly, screw that.

He just wanted things to go back to the way they were. Before. When Keith could argue with Lance and not nearly get his nose broken. No matter what Coran said about it.

They’d been on the road to a tenuous ‘friendship’ or whatever Lance kept calling frenemies. And… and… and he kind of liked it. Being friends that is. Because he’d never had friends. He had people he fought with. And that wasn’t what he wanted Lance to become. He wanted more than that. He-

“You’re still here?”

Keith would deny to the day he died that Lance Mcclain had actually managed to startle him. “Yeah….?” Keith said slowly, then furrowed his eyebrows, “What, did you think I’d leave?” 

And for Keith, all the excuses in the world fell flat against the tiny, half-surprised smile on Lance’s face.

“Then let’s get going, Mullethead, there’s no use making them wait for both of us.” Lance said as he smiled and turned down the hallway.

“You’re the one that made us late,” 

“Pffff, I made me late, you just decided to stick around and you should know by now that I have no problem being late.” Lance propped a hand up on his hip.

“Oh believe me, we’re all very knowledgeable about your timekeeping skills, except I don't understand how you’re late at all, considering you’ve got legs the size of giraffes.” Keith may have grumbled through that last statement. 

But really, every step he took was easily double the size of Keith’s, it was ridiculous. He kept having to shuffle to keep up with him!

“What can I say? I’m just pumped to get to work,” Lance plastered on a sarcastically fake smile and gave him a tight thumbs-up.

Keith crossed his arms as he rolled his eyes, “You know we have to do this, it’s the only way to-”

“Yeah yeah, spare me the lecture. I get it already.” Lance waved his hand at Keith like he could physically swat the conversation out of the air. 

“Who’s lecturing Lance?” Pidge’s voice cut in when the automatic doors opened at their presence.

“Nobody. Absolutely nobody,” Lance said as he made a bee-line to the couches, “We’re going to do this, get it over with and then put it all behind us. Good? Capische? Great. Let’s fire it up, Coran.”

“Don't you dare. Fire would ruin the headbands irreparably.” Coran said, clutching the headbands to his chest.

“Relax, Coran. It's just a figure of speech. It means Lance wants us to get started,” Shiro patted him placatingly as he passed the man to sit down next to Keith.

“Yeah, only time Lance’s ever been in a rush and he still wasn’t on time. Go figure. Worked out for me though, more time to process my code.” Pidge finally pulled herself away from her laptop, relinquishing Hunk to sit next Lance.

He whispered something about ice cream and new milk to Lance that Keith couldn't really hear, but Coran was already passing out the headbands. 

“I’ve already modified the quintessence modules in each of the headbands,” Allura moved towards the group, “But I’ll still need to activate yours individually, Lance, so that you all end up on the same plane.” 

“You won’t be joining us?” Keith added when he saw Lance hesitate at the request.

“No,” Allura paused, “Unfortunately, this will require that I act as a guide from the outside. Coran will help me monitor your quintessence levels so I can keep them stable and stay focused.”

“I’m sorry, guide? That implies the ability to get lost; is that a possibility? I mean, we’ve been to the astral plane before, right? So it should be just like that, we’re not going to get blindsided by some evil-astral creature, are we?” Hunk rattled off the random worries flitting through his head, some of which were slightly valid. At least to Keith’s perspective. Can’t be too prepared, right?

“None of that, we just need to keep the headbands from bouncing back like they did last time. Allura is simply guiding the quintessence stream around all you.” Coran chipped in as he went back to the princess’s side. Hunk visibly sagged in relief.

“Lance?” Oh right, apparently Shiro was the only one who remembered Lance still hadn’t answered Allura’s question. She’d need to get really close to him for this, something they’d all subconsciously tried to avoid.

“You can trust us, Lance. You have to for this to work.”

“I know.” Lance sighed and placed the band on his head. As Allura approached, Keith watched Lance rub his finger over something on his other hand. And yet it looked like every muscle in his body went taut at Allura’s touch.

Keith could barely catch a glimpse of Lance’s breathing picking up before the world in front of him exploded with stars. The astral plane.

It’d been a while since an astral projection had been so stable. Keith looked out and could see his teammates standing around him. Even Lance, to a degree, though he was shrouded by a thick fog. They could see it now, because unlike last time, they were actually in the astral plane, not just mentally. However, they could still feel the gap in the Voltron link. 

The gap where Lance was supposed to be.

“Guys?” Lance’s voice sounded anxious, though it edged into frantic surprisingly fast, “Guys? Guys, I can't see anything, why can’t I-” 

“Lance, calm down buddy, we’re here.” Hunk’s voice echoed across the void. Keith could hear it in the astral plane and through his actual ears. Hopefully Lance could too.

“Why can’t I feel any of you? Or see you?”

“Just-- give- me--  a minute-- I-” Allura’s voice was tense with effort. Keith watched in amazed confusion as the fog around Lance started to shift. 

The rest of the team approached it and Keith followed. He tried to put his hand through it, as if he could just reach through and pull Lance out. But his hand hit a barrier.

The light blue fog finally whirled itself into a more distinct form as it settled.

A wall. 

The outside shimmered as magic seemed to ripple across it.

“You all will have to take it from here.” Allura’s strained voice cut through once again, “I was able to shift and gather the quintessence of the block but I fear I do not have the ability to do more without losing my grip on it. It’s up to you, Paladins.”

“Absolutely, Princess,” Keith turned back to the wall with determination. 

Hunk and Pidge had already started pushing on the barrier. Yellow and green magic shimmered across the surface where they touched it. All of it eventually fading back to blue as it spread out farther.

Keith’s hand caused red to join the colors. And he could see black start to ripple from Shiro’s position as well.

But all of the color seemed to disappear too quickly, none of it touching each other. Just evaporating into the shifting blue of the barrier.

“I can only barely feel you, you guys,” Lance’s voice came from the other side, “You still just look like blurry shadows. Are we sure this is gonna work?”

“Lance is right, this isn’t working, you guys.” Hunk’s voice cut in.

“Then keep trying,” Keith ground out, “We’re not just going to give up.” He clenched his jaws tighter, his teeth starting to ache under the pressure.

“No, we’re not. But maybe…” Pidge leaned away from the wall, placing her hands on her hips and looking up at it. She suddenly snapped her head to their leader, “Shiro, we need to connect all of our energies. Instead of trying to put pressure on the entire thing, we just need to concentrate on one point. If we can crumple one part, maybe the rest will come down with it.”

“That sounds like a big maybe, Pidge, I don't know…” Hunk added as he pulled back as well.

Shiro looked at Pidge with a question in his eyes. Keith had seen it enough to know what it meant, ‘Are you sure?’

Pidge nodded with pursed lips.

“Alright, everybody, come over to me and Keith.” Shiro slipped right into leader mode, bringing the rest of the team closer, “We need to connect all of the magic we’ve been setting off and we need to make sure it works.” He motioned Keith even closer.

Keith briefly stepped away before placing his hands back down about a foot away from Shiro’s. The red light flowed out, just as it had before, moving towards the black tendrils.

They collided harshly, but stuck together. The magic fused to each other and Keith found he could no longer pull his hands away. By the look he got from Shiro, it was the same for him.

“Wow, I felt that,” Lance’s voice abruptly cut in, “What the hell was that?”

“We’re not quite sure. But we’re about to do it again, be ready.” Shiro beckoned for the other two paladins, “Pidge, you next, right below Keith’s.”

Pidge cautiously placed her hands down and they all watched as the green reached out for Keith and Shiro’s. It snapped into place with a flash of light, the wall shuddered allowing Keith to catch a glimpse of Lance through the fog.

He looked…

“Lance, what’s wrong with your face?”

“Nothing’s wrong with my face! What’s wrong with yours?!” He said incredulously.

“But I saw…” Now Keith was just confused, “I saw a glimpse of you through the wall…. You looked injured.”

“What? But I’m not-”

“Injured how?” Shiro said sharply.

“Like he’d just gone ten rounds with a blender and a sentient punching bag, Shiro. It didn’t look good.”

“Excuse you, I look fabulous no matter what.” Lance’s affronted protests were heard through the wall.

“Lance, do we need to stop?” Shiro asked, “Are you okay?”

“I'm fine Shiro,” Lance’s eye roll was audible, “Keithy-boy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Shiro looked at him warily, “Keith?”

“If he says go for it, go for it. Who am I to police the actions of an idiot?” Keith tried to sound casual as he shrugged, but he still wished he could see Lance instead of just hear his scoff.

“Alright.” Shiro gave a short, decisive nod, “Hunk, get over here, Lance get ready again, we’re going through with this.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” 

Keith could visibly see Shiro glare Hunk and Pidge down from responding back with ‘I can’t hear you.’ He, of course, would also deny having the spongebob song stuck in his head for the rest of the day.

Hunk hesitantly placed his hands to the wall, surprised when it jerked him closer like a magnet. 

Yellow started flowing out, reaching for Pidge, then Shiro, then finally making contact with the Red of Keith’s own. Each time glowed brighter than the last.

The world around them rumbled.

“There! I saw him!” Pidge shouted out.

“I saw him too! Keith was right, he looks hurt!”

The fog had gaps in it now, places that were thinner than others, and some thicker spaces were shaded a darker blue.

Through one of the gaps, Keith could see Lance drop to one knee.

“Lance!” “Lance! What’s wrong!?” “Are you okay?!”

“I- I’m fine you guys. That blast just knocked me off my feet.” Lance lifted his head to look at them, “I always knew Keith would give me a killer headache, but I never expected it from the rest of you,” He gave them a grin that looked like it should hurt. But it seemed like he didn’t even notice the injuries on his face. 

“Wait, the injuries, they keep changing,” Pidge pointed out, “Why do they keep changing?” Keith looked closer, she was right. The injuries faded in and out on Lance, never the same.

“Seriously guys, I have no idea what you’re talking abou-”

“AS GREAT as it is to see you speaking as a team, I don't think the Princess can hold all of you in the Astral Plane for much longer.” Coran’s voice echoed around them, followed closely by Allura’s.

“It is true, my grip on the quintessence is slipping, something is interfering with it. I fear I may not be able to keep it stable for-”

“What the hell is that!” Hunk’s shout forced Keith’s head to snap towards him as he watched in horror..

The pale fog surrounding Lance was starting to change color. Purple leeching across the surface, like ink in water. It trampled the blue, growing as it surged towards the team.

“Guys, you’re starting to fade out again. What’s going on? Why is it going dark? You guys?” Lance’s shouts jumped through the barrier, but no one could spare a second to respond. The world rumbled again.

A splotch of purple got close enough to touch a tendril of black, seeming satisfied when it leapt away from the color in time with Shiro’s jerk.

“I know what this is,...” Shiro answered, fear building in his voice, “This is druid magic! It’s trying to get to Voltron!”

Keith caught a final glimpse of Lance’s worried face, before the wall started to close off again. And the purple got stronger as Lance pulled back.

“Shiro! We can’t let them get Voltron! She can’t-” Lance sounded more desperate than before.

“I know Lance. Everybody! Channel your lions, we have to push this back.” Shiro’s statement ended with a growl as he pushed more into the quintessence of the barrier. Keith followed suit and could see his team do the same.

Voltron’s colors rushed out against the purple. Even if the Black seemed to push from behind the others, Keith could feel his team hold strong against the ominous pressure.

The entire wall of fog swirled with color now. Not just blue, but Red, Yellow, Green, and Black all curling across each other in smooth cooperation.

Keith had to grit his teeth to keep the flow of power steady. And by the looks of it, everyone else was in the same boat.

“Shiro, it’s taking everything we’ve got just to keep the druid magic back, how are we going to break the wall?”

“I don't know, Keith,” Shiro raised his voice to rise above the barrier, “Lance, we’ve got the druids pushed back, for now, and we’re holding strong!,” The fog returned the thinned state it had been in before, revealing Lance in the middle, curled in on himself. He looked up at them, seeming more weary than he had before.

“Is there anything you can do from your side?”

Lance shakily stood up, almost losing his balance as the ground shook around them. Keith watched Lance steady himself before reaching for the wall. 

The wall glowed a bit brighter, and Keith could feel the pressure even out across the five of them. The bond grew stronger. 

But it wasn’t enough.

“Paladins! You must hurry! If we are to do this, we must do it now! I cannot hold it for much longer!” Allura’s words made Keith look up to see she was correct. The world, the Astral Plane, was quite literally falling apart around them.

A loud thumping sound shook them as shards of the sky fell to the ground.

“Hey, uh- guys,” Hunk’s leg shot out to kick incessantly at his shins, “Hey, guys, guys, guys!”

“What, Hunk!?” Keith snapped as he looked at him.

“I think something’s coming towards us!” Hunk shouted. Keith turned to follow his line of sight. Sure enough, there was a growing blue light at the horizon, slowly getting bigger as it got closer.

“What is that?” By now the whole team was looking at it, Pidge trying to get a proper look with her short arms still stuck to the barrier.

The thumping sound got louder, mixing in with the rumbling of the collapsing Astral Plane.

“Focus, team!” Shiro ground out beside him. The pull of quintessence from Keith got stronger as Hunk and Pidge’s focus shifted. It almost hurt to keep the flow open.

“What are you guys seeing? Is it something bad?” Lance’s voice sounded in his ear. When he looked back, Keith was surprised to find Lance almost right against the barrier, their eyes meeting.

“We don't know what-”

“Is that-?” Pidge asked in an unsure voice.

“I think it is!” Hunk sounded giddy, making Keith look away again, “It’s the Blue Lion!”

The thumping sound grew louder as the Blue Lion’s shape became clearer, now recognizable as the sound of paws running towards them.

Hunk cheered, losing focus even more, and Keith nearly stumbled under the weight now resting on Shiro, Lance and himself.

“Pidge! Hunk! If Blue is coming, then we need to be ready. Focus on the barrier!” Shiro commanded. Pidge immediately turned back to help them. Hunk…. not so much.

“She’s not slowing down. She’s not slowing down! I repeat, she is not slowing down! We are about to be crushed by a giant charging Space Lion!” Hunk’s signature anxious voice filled the air. Pidge looked back.

“Actually, I think she’s getting smaller…she’s almost normal sized.”

‘Normal-sized’ was an exaggeration. Blue was still several times larger than a normal ‘Earth’ lion. A fact becoming readily apparent as she got closer, and again, did not slow down.

“The Blue Lion knows what she’s doing. Get it together you two, we need to keep this wall stabilized.” Shiro used his Galran hand to forcibly turn Hunk’s head around to the wall. The purple had already started to come back the moment the team wasn’t pushing at full strength.

“Yep, uh huh, got it, focus on the evil purple magic, not the giant lion. Can do, boss man. Can, do.” Hunk rambled under his breath, still sneaking glances out of the corner of his eyes.

The thumping of Blue’s feet was deafening; and when she roared, every paladin, even Shiro, had no choice but to look back at her in reverence. 

She charged forwards with all the might of a mother, crashing towards Lance without pause for the wall between them.

All remnants of purple were pushed out of existence as Blue’s magic rushed through the barrier, scattering the world around them. 

The paladins were thrown back into the real world with a shock, Allura stumbling backwards into the waiting arms of Coran.

Lance was laying on the floor in front of them, a smile on his face. There were even a few joyful tears gathered at the corner of his eyes

“Lance?”

“She’s back.” He whispered, the words coming out in disbelief. “She’s back. I can feel her again.” If possible, Lance’s smile grew even bigger as he sat up, the tears falling down his cheeks. “Blue, I missed you so much, girl. I missed you so much!” A rumble echoed through the castle, very clearly originating from the hangers.

“Don’t worry Lance, I think she missed you too,” Hunk smiled back. The pure happiness radiating from them was contagious, despite how exhausted everyone felt.

Pidge moved closer, peering up at Lance curiously.

“So, Lance,” She paused,

“Do you remember?”

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

Next Chapter: https://snaileer.tumblr.com/post/653555387542405120/chips-salsa-chapter-9

[bakubabes-tatakae]

The Demon’s Keeper

Author’s Note: If anyone wants to be added to the taglist for this feel free to let me know! Happy to add anyone!

(Rin Okumara x Reader)

Summary: Rin Okumura is a hot headed demon who is hard to keep under control, only one person seems to be able to do it better than anyone, Y/N. For that, she’ll be known as the Demon’s Keeper, but what exactly does that entail for them?

A03 Link

Part One:

Word Count: 2169

Our nightly ritual of sitting on the swings at the nearest park was rudely interrupted when a certain black haired hot head caught sight of some kids preying on some birds. His eyes filled with anger and I grabbed onto his hand, trying to get him to stay back. “Rin, come on, don’t do this. Can we just have one night where we don’t have to pick a fight with someone? Please?”

Rin pulled his hand from mine. “Do what you want, but I have to help those animals. Look at them, they’re helpless.” 

One of the boys, the one who looked like the leader, was pointing an arrow straight at the group of what seemed like pigeons by the jungle gym. The boy pulled the trigger and an arrow shot straight through the bird. I turned my head and hid my face. How could someone do that to a helpless little animal?

Rin looked from me to the bird, growing more angry at the situation as he saw my discomfort. Another arrow was put into the bow and that’s when he took action. Rin hollered to them. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!”

The boy turned to face us and aimed the bow and arrow toward us instead. Before we could move he shot the arrow. I gasped loudly as the arrow landed an inch from Rin’s face, sticking into the tree that the swings hung on. Rin growled and the boy provoked him. “Get out of my face. I’m just getting rid of these useless pests that just swarm, eat, and crap everywhere. So just shut the hell up.” The boy next to him loaded another arrow for him. 

I never had a chance to grab the sleeve of his jacket before Rin was barreling toward the kid, fist in the air. I tried to snap him out of it before something went wrong. “Rin, stop! Don’t do it!” His fist connected with the kid's face and he hit the ground. 

The kid backed away from Rin and I ran toward them. I grabbed onto Rin’s arm and hid slightly behind him. The two boys beside the leader grabbed his arms and helped him to his feet. The boy looked at Rin both in terror and in anger. “What kind of demon are you?”

They started to walk away and Rin looked at them. “Who are you calling a demon? You assholes are way more demonic than me.”

Rin wiped his nose on his sleeve of his free arm and looked down. Blood tinged the end of his jacket and there was some drying on his nose. He looked toward me. “Oh crap, I did it again.”

I grabbed his face in my hand and took a tissue out of my pocket with the other, wiping his nose and kissing the end of it. 

“What am I doing Y/N? ...Damnit.” He sighed and looked up as the birds he saved flew away. 

“You’re speaking up for what you believe in… even though I tried to stop you.” I smiled at him and giggled. 

He put his hands on my waist, turned me around, and started walking forward. “Let’s head back to the Monastery before the old man wonders where we are.”

* * * * * * 

When we got back to the Monastery we were greeted at the front doors by none other than Shiro Fujimoto. When he spotted the cut on Rin’s face he didn’t look pleased. “What happened to you?” He pulled his glasses down his nose some to take a closer look. 

Rin turned his head so he couldn’t see it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Shiro looked at him with intent. “Into the chapel, now.” I started to turn to walk to our bedroom when he spoke again. “Both of you.” I sighed and the both of us followed him in, sitting in the pews near the front. Shiro looked over at Rin. “Into the confessions booth, no if, ands, or buts.”

Rin groaned and went into one side of it, Shiro sitting in the other. I watched from the pew across from the booth. Rin looked more annoyed than I had seen him in a long time. Rin rested his face on his chin and stared at me as shiro spoke to him. “Oh straying lamb, confess thy sins with true sorrow and pray for forgiveness.”

Rin blew out a breath. “Yeah? Why should I? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Where did you get that cut on your face?”

And this is the point where the stories started. “I tripped going down stairs.”

“Your clothes are a mess.”

“It was a mother of a fall.”

“And that trace of a nose bleed?”

“Yeah, well, when I fell, I bumped smack into this super hot chick, and I-”

Rin didn’t even get to finish his sentence before Shiro came running out of the booth, standing in front of me, frantic. He turned back to his son. “What? Let’s go after her! Show me where she is, Rin!

Rin gulped. “Crap.” 

Shiro reached into the booth and dragged Rin out in a headlock. “You moron!” Rin wiggled in his arms. “You got into another fight. Admit it.”

I stood up from the pew and started toward them. “Shiro, you’re choking him.” I bit my lip nervously. It wouldn’t be the first time that Shiro had done this and Rin had passed out.

“Why must you always brawl?” Shiro squeezed a little harder. 

Rin fought back. “Let go of me you old fart!”

Shiro let go and turned around. “I just received a disturbing phone call from you employers. They told me they have no need for a delivery boy who doesn’t bother to return”

Rin stood up and stepped next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. “So what? Big deal. There was no way I could cut it anyway. As if a guy like me could ever hold down a job.”

I looked over at him and smacked him in the back of the head. “Don’t be a baby Rin!”

Shiro chuckled at me. “I knew I liked this girl for a reason.” He got serious again as he spoke to Rin. “Y/N is right. A day will soon come when you must leave this monastery and strike out on your own. And as your guardian it’s my duty to see that you do so. You can’t rely on Y/N for everything when you leave here. Or do you just want to become a priest and run this monastery?”

Rin looked offended. “Take over this crappy church. Dream on.”

We all jumped when Yukio, Rin’s twin brother, walked into the room and spoke. “Dad? I’m all done getting myself ready to move out. All that’s left for me to do is carry out my luggage.”

Shiro smiled at him. “Well done, son.”

Yukio smiled at us. “Welcome home you guys!” He looked over at Rin. “Get into another fight.”

Rin looked away from him in anger. “Shut the hell up.” I smacked him in the back of the head again. He shot a glare at me. “Ow! Would you quit doing that?!”

“Would you be nice to your brother for once?”

Rin said nothing and the monks behind us spoke as they cleaned the windows. “I swear, for a couple of twins, those guys couldn’t be more different.”

They struck up a conversation without realizing we were listening. “Yukio might be the younger one, but he doesn’t act like it. He’s great at sports, always gets straight A’s, and he’s about to start his freshman year at True Cross Academy.”

“Meanwhile his big brother’s only accomplishment is causing trouble.” They looked over at us. “Rin,” Rin tried his best to ignore them. “You should really try being a little bit more like Yukio and start straightening out your life.”

My eyes grew wide as the other one spoke again. “And you should probably start taking better care of that girl you have on your arm, if you don’t, a good guy like Yukio is going to take her away.”

Rin shot around to stare at him. “I said just shut up!” The furnace next to the two cleaning the windows shot out blue flames, almost like it had been activated by Rin’s anger. 

I jumped and looked at Shiro and Yukio. Shiro ran toward the furnace, spouting things about it being junk and needing to be replaced, but I was skeptical. I looked up at Rin who was still staring at the two men and then looked toward Yukio.

Shiro left the room a second later when another monk came in to tell him that someone was here to see him. He turned before exiting the door. “Yukio, Y/N, please tend to Rin’s wounds.”

We both looked over at him and spoke together. “Yes sir.”

* * * * * * 

As Yukio put rubbing alcohol on Rin’s cuts on his hand he whined like a baby. I chuckled at him. “That stings!” 

Yukio continued without faltering. “I’m almost finished. Suck it up Rin.”

Rin looked toward Yukio’s boxes that were packed near the dining room table. “So you’re moving into the dorm, huh?”

“Yeah, well, since school starts next week and all. I’ll be saying goodbye to sixteen years in this place.” 

I looked over at him. “We’re gonna miss you Yuki.” 

“Don’t make me sound like a baby Y/N.” Rin spat.

“Don’t try to sound so tough you big baby.”

Yukio chuckled at us. “I’ll miss you guys too.”

Rin changed the subject some. “So I guess that makes this the last time you’ll be treating my injuries”

Yukio laughed. “What I become a doctor I’ll give you all the treatment you want… for a fee of course.”

Yuiko amazed me. He had everything together, he knew exactly what he wanted in life. I loved Rin, but he didn’t know what he wanted in life and tended to just go with the flow. “Being a doctor’s always been your dream, hasn’t it Yuki?”

“It has.” He smiled at me. 

Rin held up his bandaged hand and showed it to me, praising his brother. “Then go for it, I’m sure you’re gonna make it.”

“Listen, you guys are gonna be alright without me, aren’t you?” He looked concerned. “You’re going to be able to keep this guy in line right Y/N.”

I gave him a weak smile. Goodbyes sucked. “Probably about as well as I do now. But we’ll be okay Yuki, don’t worry about us.”

Rin didn’t take it the same way as I. “What’s up with that? Are you gonna lecture me too?”

“I’m just worried, that’s all, and not just me. Dad’s worried too, and so is everyone else here. I mean, you’re getting into fights every day. And you can’t seem to hold down a part time job for very long. You can’t even see how worried your own girlfriend is about you, Rin.”

Rin looked over at me with an apologetic look. “I’m really stressed about all that too. I know I’ve got to pull it together, and fast, but I…”

Yukio sensed the tension as Rin fell silent. “I’m sure you’re just being tested in a way, Rin.”

“By who?”

“God, of course.”

Rin’s face dropped some. “You know, you’re starting to sound just like the old man.” 

A couple of apprentices came into the room and spoke. “There you are Rin, we heard that the Southern Cross Shopping Mall is hiring part timers!”

“Yea?” Rin seemed confused. 

“We called and they want you there right now for an interview!” 

“What?” Rin was getting angry again. “How dare you call them without telling me!”

“You better hurry, you can borrow one of my old suits for the interview!” The monk threw a box at him. 

Rin caught the box over his head. “I need a suit to interview for a part time job?”

Yukio cheered up some. “What do you say?”

Rin scratched his head. “Looks like there’s no way out. 

* * * * * * 

As we sat in our bedroom Rin struggled with the tie on the suit. I stood up and walked toward him as he squirmed with anxiety and annoyance. “Rin, let me see it.” I reached for him. 

“No. I can do it. I’ll figure it out. I don’t need your help with everything. I have to be someone you can rely on as well. I have to take care of you.”

I sighed. “Don’t let what that guy said in the chapel get to you. I’m not going anywhere Rin. As unorganized as you are in your life I couldn’t see us any other way. I wouldn’t want you any other way Rin Okumara.” I smiled at him and kissed his cheek.

He smiled back at me and put his hand under my chin, lifting my head up to him. He put his lips on mine and spoke. “I love you too Y/N L/N.”

Part Two: *NSFW Ahead!*, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six

Updated: 5/12/2020

[themonstrousarchives]

Hunt: Party Pack

Description: A motley crew of fellow monster hunters, but with a twist about them. They're just a little too monstrous. A quartet of roadtripping werewolves* seized by the Hunt, given an insatiable desire to track down and destroy other avatars primarily. They hunger for the PC that has done the most collateral damage, ready for revenge. 

Hook, Session goals: Time for the most dangerous game, as we risk NPCs that the players have come across, along with any other monsters in the world- Bigfoot, an avatar of the Stranger, others capitalizing on the fears

Monster Type: Executioner (motivation: to punish the guilty) Powers: All of them have supernatural speed and strength, and can shapeshift into humanoid lycanthrope-esque beings for more effective predation. One of them is adept at using “magic,” mostly in a supportive way like a bard- helping to direct the others and prime their attacks. They try to lure monsters out, one of them faking weakness or taking on some aspect that the target might find appealing, then the bait leads them into an ambush. When hunting a group, they try to split everyone up so that they can gang up on whoever gets left behind. Attacks: Detailed below Weaknesses: The Dark, The Stranger, and the Spiral can either blind or misdirect the wolves, though actually killing them will be difficult- they have to be made into quarry to make them “vulnerable.” It’s a farfetched pull, but calling upon the owner of Lobos Ltd. (See the Deer Man adventure) and acquiring some of his cages would be effective in removing them as threats. 

The Wolves: (Attacks ordered by preference)

Greg (Armor: 1) [][][][][][][] (Shapeshifts quickly)

Bite- 3-harm intimate

Claw- 2-harm ignore armor hand

9mm- 2-harm close loud

Johnny Hobo (Armor: 2) [][][][][][][] (Bait)

Claw- 2-harm close ignore armor

Bite- 3-harm intimate 

Baseball bat- 1-harm hand 

Elsa  (Armor: 0) [][][][][][][] (Stays hidden/protected)

Magic Snare- 0-harm close restraining

Enchant- adds 1-harm to damage dealt

Shotgun- 3-harm close messy

Bite- 3-harm intimate

Pat  (Armor 1) [][][][][][][] (Fastest chaser)

Knife- 2-harm hand 

Claw- 2-harm ignore armor hand

Bite- 3-harm intimate

Greg (Hotheaded and rash. Eager to feel powerful.)

Johnny Hobo (Patient. Durable. The methodical pursuit, often tempering Greg or supporting the others.)

Elsa (The brains of the operation. Puts on a cool air.)

Pat (Jumpy, a pure manifestation of id. The fastest, but also the easiest to fool.)

Countdown:

Burgers on the Coast gets accosted by a brash customer. After they finish eating, they will leave and the table can be investigated.

The Pack arrives in town, a PC sees Johnny outside their window (if they doubletake, or run to get equipment, he will be gone).

If the PCs have convinced any “monsters” to only hunt “bad guys” or otherwise change their ways, the reformed monster gets ambushed. Depending on the monster, the Pack might kill them.

Shiro violently cuts back a mass of vines, which fight back, whipping around his arm and leg. As he pulls to get away, thorns tear into him, and the vines start to dig into him. 

The Pack tracks down Bigfoot, and kills her after she menaces some campers. 

The Pack finds Shiro restrained, spider lilies growing out of his mouth and stomach. They kill him. 

They will start the next hunt, if not found, or if not given the primary focus during the hunt. They are essentially competition for the PCs.

Bystanders:

Susan- (Gossip, Victim) Burgers on the Coast waitress. She’s worked at this same restaurant for 30 years and as a result knows all the regulars. Greg will accost her, then Johnny Hobo will smack him upside the head. Only these two are at the diner.

Anuset- (Victim, Gossip) The mask is out pursuing someone it has targeted in the past week. As it falls upon this person and begin to unpeel, Johnny Hobo will appear behind it with a baseball bat. The morning after, a hunter will see a destroyed clay mask left discarded. Further inspection will discern that a couple fragments were taken.

Shiro- (Helper, Victim) Shiro has been plagued by vines overgrowing his orange tree. While he cuts them back, the vines fight back and restrain him, as impossible amounts of blood issue from his person. Where blood spills, spider lilies start to grow... after a few days he is still restrained, but the Party Pack finds him, and will kill him.

Bigfoot (Victim) (Stranger Avatar)- aka Isadora Vila Quintana, a hiker who got too lost in the woods and now menaces other hikers. She doesn’t quite need to kill the hikers, but often puts them into precarious positions after she is finished with them.

Francesca Lopez (Victim) (Stranger Monster) sells secondhand items. She has ties to Charlotte and her trade market, wherein Frannie goes around flea markets and digital marketplaces. Having recently finished a transaction, or at least would have if she hadn’t gotten caught by the Pack. 

Minnie Taylor (Witness, Innocent) a resident who had gotten lost trying to find her own home. The Pack has promised to help her once the danger is cleared, and if they don’t return for her she will try to free herself from the place they sealed her into, inevitably getting lost and becoming a spiral avatar. She trusts the Pack to help her, and if the Players come across her, will not trust them if they don’t seem to have a good reason to kill them.

Isadora, the Lonely avatar Bigfoot

Shiro Kamada, the Slaughter avatar

Minnie Taylor, a woman about 29 years of age, who recently moved into the Strange Suburb (before it was strange)

Locations:

Burgers on the Coast (and Parking Lot)- the diner that the PCs have taken a liking to, their repeated presence dooms it to become a hub of Interesting Persons. 

The table that Greg and Johnny sat at will have some traces that can be discovered- some gum under the table, a deep cut into the particle board table, a dropped receipt (Ammo- 9mm and shells). 

Camping Grounds

In the forest, far from the sounds of the city, a hiking trail opens up to a small clearing where hikers can put down tents and keep a campfire. This is Isadora’s favorite haunt, because of it’s isolation and the sheer ability to disorient people in these woods. She can be tracked, sometimes.

RV

Parked by the beach, one of many RVs. Once the right one is sussed out, it can be broken into. It is likely that at least one of the Pack is there, keeping watch. As soon as the PCs head there, the other members of the Pack will be notified, and they will circle the party, trying to make sure that they don’t leave with anything important.

Inside the RV is a mess. Clothes in one or two piles strewn over one of the seats or in a receptacle. Projects lay unfinished- Someone’s trying to patch their jacket, someone else is growing seed starters. Plastic dishes lay in the mini sink. One bed looks like it’s been used as an operating table on more than one occasion, a big antique chest sits in the corner undisturbed, and some hefty power tools poke out of a footlocker pushed out of the way. Treat this as a Haven for the Pack, with an Infirmary, an Armory, and a Workshop. 

They also have many “trophies” from previous kills in an upper cabinet- everything sealed with an eye sigil. Some Tallow. A mushroom. A long, preserved beak. A lock of inky black hair. These hunters have been traveling the US, fighting monsters and leaving a wake of supernatural power vacuum. 

Shiro’s home

Vines stretch, having grown a strong base on the telephone pole near Shiro’s home. Runners stretch from the pole to the lines and then to the houses. They have sprouted purple flowers, and are now growing green fruit- not yet ripened, though that may change quickly.

The vines are attempting to peel under the shingles of Shiro’s home to anchor themselves, though he has managed to beat back the majority. It’s harder for him to keep up with the vines currently suffocating the orange tree, though.

Him using his ultraviolent powers to destroy the vines has attracted the attention of the Party Pack.

The Strange Suburb

An entire suburb has fallen into unreality and is distorting- building extensions without rime or reason, warping through various decades and shapes. Think McMansions but worse and more terrible and insufferably generic. Very easy to get lost in, very easy to separate people and confine them in terrible, bland, almost claustrophobic (make sure everyone is okay about this if you use it) spaces. There is no real branding on anything, and looking through the house will find very little personal effects if any.

One house is holding Minnie Taylor. Elsa had set up wards which will keep the spiralizing at bay (The door containing her room is unlocked, but there are multiple and they shift around. A golden seal distinguishes this door if the players look for it with supernatural means).

The largest, most cancerous McMansion house is wavering in the most volatile sense. The house goes through waves of eras- wallpapered walls, then painted, then cheap drywall, then wood paneling. The rooms are labyrinthine, measurements all feel wrong- hallways too narrow, rooms too big or small. Pat is the scout of the group, and will be ready for anyone entering the house conventionally, sprinting away as soon as they come in.  As the Players follow him (if they do), the rooms stretch and expand, making pursuit difficult. At the top of the house is a large, undefinable room with elements of any kind of room in the house. A little bit of a kitchen, a showerhead, photo frames on the walls and ceiling. In the center of the room lies Francesca, with Johnny Hobo holding her down as Elsa prepares Greg to execute her. Behind them all hangs a painting on the wall, from which a malevolent energy exudes.

Artefact: A Francis Bacon painting which is the source of the reality warping in the first place. Disrupting Elsa’s preparations will make the manifestation worse. The Players are able to either try to finish the Ritual Elsa was performing (containment, some reversal of the manifestation, at the cost of Francesca’s life), or find their own solution to destroy it.

Cold Open:  A beat up RV speeds up Highway 101 under the light of a waxing moon. A folkpunk song plays through the speakers as a rowdy quartet sings along. Street lights illuminate a messy dashboard with all sorts of little tchotchkes- batteries, flashlights, pocketknives, that kinda stuff. The song ends and the next one opens with a death growl, and as they roar along, their voices get loud, feral, deeper. The RV hits a bump and the knick knacks on the dashboard shift, the riders laughing with the chaos. The next time the streetlights flicker to the dash, a mugshot of [PC] has made it to the top.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 210

210

For some reason only known to the lord above, on their bed, “wrapped” with a red ribbon around its handle, was a lawnmower. Blue, silver, and black in colour, this had to be Shiro’s dumb idea. No normal human would gift them a lawnmower at a baby shower, nor would they put it “in bed” like it made any kind of logical sense. It hadn’t been there when Keith opened the windows earlier... if he’d seen it, he would have moved it. Sniffling loudly, Lance then choked out

“They got me a lawnmower! I’m a terrible person!”

Now that he knew Matt had been in their space, he could smell him in the room. Too many scents were in their room. Matt, Curtis, and Shiro, three scents that didn’t belong in their space. Lance gave them pretty much free reign of the house, allowing them to violate the sanctity of his office with the promise they’d never look at his client files, or in the boxes that’d come from Lenny and were currently occupying the spare bed

“Let me take it off the bed, then you sit down and we’ll talk”

Lance shook his head, the way he gazed at their bed hurt to see

“I need the bathroom first...”

“Okay, baby. It’s okay, we’ll sort this out”

Lance came stumbling out the bathroom looking worse than when he’d headed in. Downstairs Rieva had started yelling at Matt for being stupid, then started yelling at Shiro for encouraging Matt to be stupid. Coran had tried to calm her, so she’d yelled at him about how he should understand what Lance was feeling with his nesting instincts and being close to giving birth. There was a whole lot of yelling for a party that had been otherwise running semi-smoothly, provided you didn’t count Pidge feeling a bit down and Shiro and Curtis cremating the sausages on the barbecue, somehow managing to leave the middle red raw.

Waddling over to him, Keith held his arms open, Lance going straight for the hug. Nosing at Lance’s belly, Keith sighed softly as his fiancé started playing with his hair

“You should sit down”

“My stomach feels gross, I want to stand for a bit...”

“You don’t need to hide it. Matt shouldn’t have been in here”

“I know he lives here... but this was supposed to be our alone space... I can smell him... and... and... the windows open and all our smells are gone. Why would he open the window? Why did he have to come in and ruin our room? I don’t go in theirs! Not even to clean! I get they wanted to surprise us but... this is our room! I don’t want the... the smell changing and now it’s being ruined”

With tears dropping on Keith’s hair, Keith tilted his head back to look up at Lance

“I’m... the one who opened the windows. I’m sorry. I was trying to get rid of Lotor’s scent for you. I didn’t think about how comforting scent is when we’re like this. I’m sorry I fucked things up for you”

Lance hiccuped a sob as he tried to bring his crying under control

“You... you didn’t... know... I... I don’t know what to do. This feels... wrong... in here... I can’t... I don’t know how to... how to... fix it... This... was... my safe space...”

Keith got it. Lance’s loved the comfort of blankets before he’d gotten pregnant, with all the instincts running through him, he had to have things a certain way. Despite his fiancé being anal about the dirty washing going in the dirty clothes basket, more than a few of Keith’s shirts had made it between the blankets. Keith also benefited from the space being so thoroughly soaked in their scents. He could smell the difference between Matt’s lingering scent in the halls and his fresh scent in his room. Poor Matt copping the brunt of his silent jealous as he was the only other person in the house that could get Lance pregnant, had his fiancé not already been pregnant. His ego had a hard time accepting Matt near Lance when Lance could pop at any moment. His fear made no logic sense, yet that didn’t mean that did exist

“It’s still our safe place. I’m sorry my brother is incapable of being a normal human, and I’m sorry that he was probably really proud of putting the lawnmower on our bed...”

“I want to laugh at that, it’s a good one and it’s funny, but I feel so angry that I’m not sure I won’t go for blood if we go downstairs... I don’t want to be that way. Not today. They put together a great party for us. I just wanted to be normal enough to enjoy it”

“There’s still plenty of time. We can strip the bed and change out what’s on it. It’ll help to get rid of Lotor’s scent too”

“I know. I know it’s just some sheets and blankets, but...”

“You’re exhausted. I know you are, babe. Let me change the sheets and you can have a bit of a nap. With the amount of alcohol Pidge stocked, I’m pretty sure drinking is on the plans”

“I haven’t thanked anyone... I don’t deserve any of this. Not a barbecue, or an outside set, or a really nice new lawnmower...”

Keith would steal every star in the sky if it made Lance happy

“You do. No one made our friends go out and buy anything. They chose to, and it’s not like it’s just for us. I’m sorry I didn’t get you a present”

“You don’t need to. And I don’t need a fancy ring. You keep your word, babe. That’s all I need”

“Let’s get you to bed. Tonight we’ll make sure to really stink the blankets up”

Lance gave a broken sob of a laugh

“You’d have sex with me, when I look like this?”

“If you haven’t realised by now, all you have to do is breathe and I’m like “I want to tap that”

“You’re going the right way for a smacked arse”

“Promises, promises. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to let you pull my hair as I rail you to the mattress”

“Now who’s making promises?”

“You already said it, I keep my word. Just keep your night open, because I’m not letting you slip away”

*

Lance fought going down for a nap, Keith fought the urge to stay with him, dragging himself from their room and downstairs. Their friends knew better than to let the pair of them disappearing bring the party to a close. Coran was now getting a lesson in beer pong from a ruthless Pidge. Rieva and Matt both seemed saddened, their scents weird as they hit his nose. Allura the first to cast a smile in his direction

“I’m assuming that Lance went down for a nap as you’ve returned alone?”

“Yeah. He needed it. I’ll wake him up in a couple of hours”

Shiro cleared his throat, Allura about to say something else but stopped so Shiro could

“I’m sorry about the lawnmower, we thought it’d be hilarious”

Lance’s obsession with grass was well known, the only way the joke could have been funnier was if they’d dressed the lawnmower in lingerie

“Oh, Lance thinks it’s funny as fuck. He loves it. He’s just super sensitive to scents, and I made it worse by airing out our bedroom. He’ll bounce back and you know he’s going to be apologising when he comes back down. I still don’t know why you guys had to go through our drawers”

Shiro answered for Matt who copped a very direct glare from Keith. Matt couldn’t help being a werewolf any more than Keith could. Both of them cared deeply for Lance, their stupid egos and scents making things ridiculous for the pair of them

“I needed a spanner. We were joking about how being Lance, he’d probably keep on in his room... you know, because he fixes everything the moment he knows somethings broken or leaking”

Keith groaned. That was logical. He wouldn’t be surprised if Lance did. Everyone knew Lance was the handiest person in their group

“Okay. That’s fair. But stay out of our room from now on. This scent thing is really messing with his head. He doesn’t want to be mad, but he’s also emotionally exhausted”

Shiro gave him a mock salute

“Message received loud and clear. Are you staying down here, or headed back up?”

The temptation to go back to Lance was enormous. Helping him strip down to his shirt and underwear, Keith had tucked him with plenty of kisses until Lance finally drifted off to sleep. His fiancé looked so angelic when he was slept, though plenty of people would argue the snoring and drooling ruined the effect

“Nah, he’ll be fine. I’m more interested in who’s winning and who’s idea it was to let Coran face Pidge of all people”

“His. Grab a beer and come sit down”

A beer sounded great... This was a party after all... but he’d been a drunken idiot far too many times with Lance taking care of him. The time had come to be an adult and stick with water for the rest of the party

“Ugh. I wish. I’ll be back in a minute”

Being a fae, they were renown as trickster demons. Keith had never seen Coran this competitive as the tables turned on the game of beer pong. Starting to make trick shots, Pidge was soon swapped out for Curtis, heading down the wrong side of tipsy she tripped and landed in Krolia’s lap, declaring a rematch would be had once she’d sobered up enough not to be yelling into Krolia’s crotch. Curtis put on a valiant effort, making more shots than he missed, yet Coran didn’t show the slightest hint of intoxication. Lance would have been shocked. Keith was shocked. In Coran’s world there was nothing better than a good cup of tea... not copious amounts of alcohol.

There came a gradual shift in the mood of the party. It’d become less of a baby shower and more of a “We need to defeat the demon in Lance’s living room” kind of a deal. Curtis was subbed out, six shots his limit. Coran, on the other hand, didn’t get the game and questioned why his cups weren’t refilled. Matt happy to refill Coran’s cups, not mentioning the aim of the game was to make the loser empty all of theirs. After Curtis came Shiro, who already tipsy from the seems of things, was beaten easily as he failed almost every throw, Coran growing more talkative and prideful in defeating their friends one by one. Finishing the cups in front of him, Shiro flopped over backwards where he sat, Coran frowning at losing his opponent as he asked

“Now what happens?”

Rieva retrieved Shiro, dragging him over to prop him up against the chair near Krolia’s feet. Firmly she brought things to an end. Shiro looked absolutely wasted as he sat there with his eyes closed and a smile playing in his lips. He didn’t even seem to notice when Krolia stuck her bare foot under his nose

“That’s it. All the cups on this side are finished”

“That’s rather disappointing. I really quite like this game of yours. My cups are still quite full. Allura, perhaps you would fancy a game?”

Allura laughed politely. She’d been cheering on their friends, though she had no idea what to cheer over, she’d given it her best shot

“I think I’ve seen quite enough. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you consume so much alcohol”

“Nonsense. This is mere dishwater compared to the stuff we used to drink. Barely made a dent, if I do say so myself”

The man had single handedly taken out Pidge, Curtis and Shiro... and was still up for more? Keith could only shake his head at the thought of a drunk Coran being as rambling as a tired Lance

“Krolia, perhaps...?”

“Nope. I’m driving Curtis and Shiro home tonight. Keith’s got Lance to look after, Hunk has to drive Shay home”

“Then perhaps our Shay would care for a game?”

Shay shook her head

“I’m not going there. You’re a demon, what chance do I stand?”

Coran burst into tears. None of them expected it and no one quite knew what to do, apart from Allura who slipped off the sofa to wrap her arms around him to comfort the fae. They couldn’t help being humans

“There, there. They are human after all”

Coran shook his head, puffing his chest out

“Don’t you see, I won! This means I’m the winner! Oh, I can’t remember the last time I won at something so fun, and on my first try!”

A silent groan fill the room. They’d bowed out, and their plan to take Coran was ruined by the sheer amount of alcohol he could tolerate. Allura clearly forced a smile to her lips, Keith sympathetic as this would surely become another of his stories they’d all be stuck listening to

“Uh, yes. Yes, I suppose it does...”

“Wait! I can still drink!”

Waving her left arm, Pidge pushed herself up with her right hand, then flopped backwards against Krolia

“No I can’t! Where’s Lance?! He could do it!”

Patting her arm, Shay broke the bad news to Pidge

“Lance isn’t allowed to drink, it’s bad for the twins”

Pidge’s eyes narrowed, animatedly she yelled angrily

“That undead arsehole! Lance! You suck! Coran, I demand a rematch!”

Coran’s eyes filled with some kind of excitement. Drunk Pidge wasn’t someone to be messed with, heck, sober Pidge wasn’t someone to mess with but with her moral compass out the window anything was likely to happen

“What do you suggest?”

“Mario! You’re gonna lose so bad! That useless Peach is gonna wipe the floor with you! Hunk, we need Mario! I won’t be happy until he feels the devastation of rainbow bridge!”

Hunk pointed to himself, Pidge nodding, Keith wondered if he should say a prayer for Coran now or later on

“This rainbow bridge sounds most interesting. How do you play?”

Pidge wiggled her fingers at Coran as she laughed, failing at trying some kind of spooky accent

“Very very carefully. No one beats Pidge on the rainbow bridge! You hear me, Lance! I’m coming for you too!”

For all her yelling, a long groan of his name from upstairs told Keith that Lance had finally woken up due to their pint sized big mouth. His fiancé’s timing couldn’t have been better as he needed an excuse to flee the living area. Coran had no idea the fire he’d awoken in Pidge. A sober Pidge with a controller in her hands was bad enough, a drunk Pidge with a controller in her hands was near on demonic. With a healthy fear of what would happen should Pidge lose, Keith opted for the convenient excuse of Lance calling for him. Yeah. Whatever happened, the others would totally take care of it... he was not a coward at all.

Sitting on the edge of their bed, Lance had gotten himself tangled trying to take his shirt off. His fiancé’s expression filled with sadness as he softly asked

“Keith... help?”

“Oh, babe. I’ve got you”

Lance had gotten one arm out, and stuck in head hole bit, too sleepy to escape on his own. Walking over to his fiancé, he dropped a kiss on Lance’s head before taking over getting Lance free of his shirt

“I’m sorry...”

“It’s okay. Is there a reason you were getting naked?”

“Wanna take a shower... I made a mess”

As Lance started crying, Keith hushed him. His fiancé pretty much limp as he got his trapped arm free and then helped him out his shirt

“Okay, mister. Pants next”

“I made a mess”

Messes happened. Lance couldn’t help it

“That’s okay, these things happen. Let’s get you out your underwear. Up we go”

Swaying on his feet, Keith pulled down Lance’s underwear as Lance kept his balance with his hand on Keith’s shoulder. The mess wasn’t what Keith expected. Lance’s underwear sodden with cum, his lover half hard as Keith tried not to stare

“Don’t... look... it’s embarrassing”

“You had a wet dream, no big deal. Was it about me?”

“You’re the one who put sex in my head... I want to take a shower”

“Do you remember what happened?”

Downstairs no longer mattered. Keith’s ego elated that Lance had had a sexy sex dream about them

“Keeeeith... please...”

Taking Lance’s half hard erection, Lance groaned as Keith slowly began to jerk him off

“Tell me what happened in your dream”

“Babe... the party”

“Fuck the party... they can afford to miss us and we really don’t want to go back down there right away”

Shifting position, Keith wrapped his lips around the tip of Lance’s dick, sucking lightly as Lance’s hand flew to his hair

“Keeeith”

Letting his lips slide to meet where his hand was, Keith bobbed his head twice before pulling back

“I want to know what you were dreaming about”

“You...”

“What about me?”

Jerking Lance faster, his fiancé moaned. He knew teasing was bad, yet was too filled with elated ego not to. Letting himself feel pleasure rather than pressing need to shower and return to the party, Lance panted out his words between moans

“I... you... were riding... my dick... I was fucking you”

“Is that what you want to do? Do you want to fuck my mouth?”

“God, yes”

“Then you better do it like you mean it”

Holding Keith’s head to his groin, Lance slowly built up to fucking his mouth. His pregnant fiancé had urges, and it’d been a long while since they’d used the pocket pussy, as they usually couldn’t slow down and stop themselves long enough to think about anything other than getting off. Hallowing his cheeks, Keith had tears in his eyes, Lance filling his mouth perfectly, even if he seemed to be trying to ram his dick down Keith’s throat, despite how bad it’d initially made Keith gag

“Keith... I’m gonna come”

“Nghhffd...”

That was Keith speak for a yes, “while my fiancé’s fucking my face”, Lance easing back enough to give space to Keith as cum flooded his mouth, then dribbled down his chin as he tried to swallow as much as he could. The vampire coming with a low growl as his fingertips scratched Keith’s scalp.

As Lance’s knees gave out, Keith caught him by the hips, pushing him so “fell” sitting on their bed. His lover’s chest heaved, as he brought his breathing back under control, Keith wiping Lance off his face with the back of his hand

“You looked wrecked... and we didn’t even do the do”

He was horny, nearly coming in his pants from blowing Lance. Lance would fall back to sleep if they had sex now. Plus he’d be overly sensitive from coming twice

“You seemed pretty into it”

“I was very into it, now I’m very into going for a shower... want me to return the favour”

A million times yes!

“Nah, it’s fine. That was kind of hot”

“Your mouth was kind of hot... I did try to tell you I was coming”

“The meal was delicious. Am I as good as you dreamt?”

Bringing a hand up, Lance rubbed at his stomach. They’d made about as much mess as what Lance had woken up in... whoops

“Way better in real life... God, I feel fat. Help me up?”

“You’re not fat”

“Are you sure? I feel like I just ran a marathon”

“Babe, you’re in great shape. Round is a shape”

Lance kicked him lightly in the leg for his teasing

“I know how round I am, I don’t need a reminder”

“I’m just saying... You’re a very round little vampire. I wonder how chubby your bat form would be”

“Well don’t... I can’t believe I let you blow me when we should be downstairs entertaining our guests”

“Well I can’t believe it’s not butter”

His lame joke earned him a sigh from his fiancé

“That was terrible. You should feel bad”

“I do. I also feel like bending you over our bed and fucking you senseless, but you’re right, we have a party to get back to”

Lance opened and shut his mouth, cheeks flushed as he looked away from Keith

“I suppose a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt”

God. If only Lance knew how much he wanted to take him up on that offer. He probably should be putting himself in a horny mutt time out, but it’d been sooooo long since he’d had Lance beneath him. His dick was definitely up for it... Time to adult again

“It’s okay, babe, I’m joking. Besides, you’re going to need whatever energy you have left to keep the peace downstairs. Pidge challenged Coran to rainbow bridge”

“Damn. I go down for a nap and miss all the excitement...”

“He also got Shiro, Curtis and Pidge all like drunk by winning beer pong. So it’s drunk Pidge taking on Demon Coran”

Lance groaned

“My poor living room. It’ll never be the same again”

“Nope. Come on, you can lament the loss of your living room in the shower, then maybe we can wrap this party up and go to bed early”

Keith was weak and Lance’s arse was glorious. He’d been going to behave himself, he really had... then he’d been sidetracked. Sitting on the toilet, he told himself he making sure Lance didn’t slip... not ogling his gorgeous fiancé. One thing lead to another and then suddenly he had Lance bent over the bathroom counter, lasting all of a minute. It was quick quickie, even for them. Lance’s arse too cute not to touch, his lover’s opening soft and puffy beneath his fingers when he’d been supposed to help Lance dry off properly. Whoops... Keith tried to feel bad but the strength and warmth of their bond left him smiling like an idiot. He really did deserve a cone of shame around his neck, Lance’s boobs the perfect handful as he lost himself. Nobody pregnant had the right to be as perfect as his mate. His belly so gravid Lance looked as if he had a whole soccer team inside him. Keith definitely knew he had a kink for his very pregnant fiancé, he just didn’t know how to knock said kink on the head. Lance limping as he led him back into their room to get him dressed, Keith promising to clean their cum off the bathroom cabinet and floor before Lance realised he’d only cleaned him up.

Lance insisted on looking “presentable” as Keith helped him into his clothes. Keith annoyed at how many buttons there were that’d he have to undo later to get his vampire naked again. Wisely he kept this to himself. Lance would have smacked if he’d known his mind was still in the gutter after fucking his arse with as much force and need as Lance had fucked his mouth. Maybe he should try bottoming again? The weight of Lance’s stomach hanging low must have been uncomfortable as it’d taken a bit to bring Lance to orgasm, despite his hips having a life of their own. Stealing a few extra moments, Keith wrapped his arm around Lance, dropping kisses to the top of his head as Lance chuckled at him for it. He loved Lance. A good solid dose of cuddles from his fiancé was just the thing he needed before they headed back down to face their friends.

[bluedemon1995]

Most recent update!

Chapter 14

Pidge POV

Shiro takes a deep breath in and says, “When I first saw you, you looked familiar like I saw you before. But, hey, I see a lot of people in my line of work so I didn’t really think anything of it. Not going to lie, with the people you were hanging around with I just figured I’d seen you on some database of criminals. Plus the first time I saw you I was more concerned about Keith’s reaction to you than your per se. So I was pretty slow on the uptake. But between things Keith told me and what I put together on my own, well, seeing you in person in regular light…I think you need to meet our own personal tech genius, or the man in the chair.”

He opens the door and an actual guy in a wheelchair rolls in. I look into eyes that are startling like mine. I can’t think any more, rational thought is beyond me at this point, and I think I’m just staring. This…guy. He. Me. Shit. I think I must make some kind of sound, maybe even words, but I don’t even know what. It’s like I’m in a tunnel. All I can see is this guy and blackness surrounding me. I think I’m losing it but that when that I feel Keith holding tight and grabbing my hand. He pulls me close and whisper, “Katie, babe, stay with me.”

I instinctively hold on. What the hell?! He looks, a lot, like me. Scarily so.

It’s only as I register Keith’s hand that I notice the guys eyes are filled with tears as well. He’s staring at me and the room is deathly quiet. Finally, he whispers, “My God, Pidgey is that really you?”

I don’t answer. I can’t. That name, that voice, make me choke up. He looks like a younger cooler version of what I think is my… dad? Or a older, male, version of … myself. That makes. No sense. Because I’m alone, an orphan. They said I had no relatives. I blink but he’s still there. I must squeeze Keith’s hand even tighter-that he must take that as an indication that I want him to answer for me.

“Yes?” Keith queries for me.

God he’s a man of few words. I let out a huff of breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. Eyes closing I focus on his hand on mine. He’s not going to give any more information that he has to. He really does have my back. I can feel his muscles tense, ready to react to anything. And I know he’d protect me. Without a second thought. I also can see his mom at the ready too. Silent and deadly.

Unfortunately, Keith’s friends are NOT like him.

Lance yelps. “Aye Dios mio!!!! Why do you look like her??? Doesn’t he look like her?! You look like Keith’s girlfriend!! Were you adopted too? What the hell Shiro? EXPLAIN!!!”

Hunk moans, “Lance! Shut up! Um, Shiro, I hope you know what you are doing. Cuz, um Pidge here is an orphan. And um, who is this? What is going on??! I’m starting to get worried. And I’m feeling the need to make a cake. I’m feeling very stressed.”

The man in the chair gasps, “Shit, Shiro. I’m going to kill that mother fucking asshole. You can arrest me when I’m done. I don’t care!” He moves his chair forward, closer to me. OMG. What should I do. I freeze and lean away.

Shiro closes his eyes, “Well before you commit any crimes, ANY of you, how about you explain what you think you know. I think we all need to compare stories first. Okay, everyone, this is MATT, or the Rebel, the police force’s secret weapon. He can hack into anything and is a genius at engineering just about anything folks in the field could need. I met him when we were in high school. He helped me graduate and we both joined up with the police force after a stint in the Garrison. We stayed close and well, um, Matt? Can you continue?”

“Oh, um, yeah, sure. So I was in a really bad accident when I was a kid. So bad that I was told my entire family died…I was the only, sole, survivor. After I got out of the hospital, I went to a home for boys, and eventually they registered me at the local high school. I was a natural at science and computers, and it was there I met Shiro. The Garrison is basically a military type of organization that is let’s say off the books. But I made some great connections and got some needed experience. And eventually when we wanted out it wasn’t a problem. I, I never thought anyone lied to me. Because why? Why hide my family? Why say I was an orphan? I don’t understand how you are here but God dammit, you have got to be my baby sister-Pidge-Katie Holt!”

He rolled his chair even closer, looking deep into her eyes and she could see the unmistakable truth. But it was heart breaking. All she could think of was years, YEARS she missed out. On his life and visa versa. But to what end? She bit her lip and tried to control the tears that were threatening her. Family? Brother? Is it true?

Hesitatingly he reached out for her arm and she just sobbed. “Mattie, really?!?”

He reached out and pulled her into his arms, practically picking her up and onto his lap. And as he held her she felt a little part of her soul regain its hope, love, and trust. This couldn’t be bad, she just got her big brother back! Mattie?>! No this was good, she found her other half, her love and it just hit her, it had to be fate. It was meant to be.

And inadvertently, it was all due to Keith…

Keith’s POV

Keith’s mind is racing. Fuck if this is her brother, then there was a whole conspiracy to have people believe Katie was dead AND for her to think she was the sole survivor! And why?! To what end? That means that asshole being her friend, or whatever he made himself as-savior, boyfriend, fiancé, was not a coincidence nor an accident. They used her. From..the… fucking… beginning. Who does that? To a fucking kid?!

Who kills someone’s parents, their brother… and then replaces them with themselves. A child. They manipulated her and hurt her. That… no… good… dirty… bastard. He feels his hands clench and he wants to find Lotor and his father and teach them a lesson. Slowly. It’s then that his head is smacked and he looks up into his mother’s eyes.

With one head shake, she reorients him back to the present. Shit there will be time for that later. Right now he needs to support Katie. This isn’t about him. It’s about Katie and what she must be feeling. Crap he can’t even imagine.

Refocused on his girl, he waits for her to indicate she needs him or what she needs of him. He doesn’t want to pull her from her brother but at the same time wants to be ready just in case she needs him. And after a few minutes she leans back from Matt and frantically turns, breathing fast and uneven. He makes sure to move into her line of vision. Trying to reassure her, he initiates contact by grabbing her shoulder but she launches herself at him. He quickly adjusts her weight in his arms and pulls her closer. Keeping her close. His girl. His. Everything.

“You’re okay, you’re okay. I got you.” He holds her close and even with all his friends and her brother around, he kisses her. Softly, trying to get her to focus just on him. Once he feels her muscles relax, he adjusts her even closer.

Finally, she slumps against him and he finally looks up straight over to Matt. “Can you fill in some of the details. Because I know Shiro and you didn’t just guess. You both did some intensive research in a very quick turnaround of time. Dude, I know you.”

Shiro nods, “Yeah, we did. Or well Matt did. He was in the hospital when the funerals happened and he just took what they said as truth. His family was gone. But not just in death, Katie was just gone but strangely no body.”

Matt interjects, “After a while, I felt a need to know everything about everything. And the information wasn’t easily accessible which was not a big problem for me. But, oddly, nothing really made sense. So I dug. And I dug. This has been a project since, well, high school.”

Katie finally interjects, “ I didn’t go to the funerals either but I have visited your.. grave. Graves. Shit, have I ever really been where they were buried? Oh my, what the hell? What about-!”

“No! Sorry mom and dad, they are gone. But dad was working on a case, a big one. I remember him being even more absentminded and more distracted. But we were just kids and well back then I didn’t realize.”

Keith figures this was expected but not welcomed. He murmurs, “Hey it’s okay, you got brother, just focus on that! Plus you got me and mine. Your ours now, no question.”

It was then Lance, in all his exuberance, interjects, “Yes, you are ours, nuestra familia!”

Keith looks down at Katie, “You compressed? You are mine. So, what do you need?”

She stares, at him, then looks to Matt, “I…dunno. This is a lot to take in. Keith?”

He holds her, “I know, but we have TWO geniuses here, we can figure something out. Right?”

With a watery smile, she nods. “Ok, yeah, let’s come up with a plan.”

Keith smiles, “A kick ass plan.”

Matt watery grins, “A grand, kick ass, Holt plan. Honestly nothing stands a chance.”

[jxsatlas]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍 ⇢ keith kogane, ch. 2

keith kogane x gn! reader – previous, next

DISCLAIMER! this story does not originally belong to me, the author is @MaddieWolf37 on Wattpad. i have simply received permission to rewrite and continue her story. go and check out her profile for the original version!

SYNOPSIS! a story in which you are thrown into the middle of an intergalactic space war and have the undesirable weight of being a symbol of peace dropped on your shoulders. but maybe if you look past the constant danger and endless fighting, there's some good to being a paladin of voltron.

MATURE CONTENT! swearing, violence, gore, war, graphic descriptions, mentions of self-harm

The roof..? you think to yourself as you watch Pidge disappear through the stairwell. The three of you give it a moment before following him up. Your footsteps will echo loudly in the enclosed stairwell, and you have a hunch that it won't be good if Pidge hears you at this point.

So you try to climb the stairs as quietly as possible, but you still make some noise. It's hard not to when there's three of you.

You reach the top and Lance opens the door leading to the roof slowly. Pidge sits close to the edge of the roof, surrounded by various types of tech. His figure is silhouetted by the glow of the screens.

Lance shoves his hands in his pockets and sneaks up to Pidge, who doesn't hear your brother's approach because of the bulky green headphones he wears.

You and Hunk walk out onto the roof. You shiver slightly from the breeze, wishing you had put on some longer pants.

Lance grabs Pidge's headphones and pulls them off of his ears. "You come here to rock out?" Lance asks, causing Pidge to jump five feet into the air. He relaxes when he realises it's just you three.

"Oh, hey guys," he says.

"Hello," you say and give him a friendly wave.

Lance looks over the tech. "Hey, where'd you get this stuff? It doesn't look like Garrison tech," he asks, furrowing his brows.

Pidge smirks. "I built it," he says with pride.

Hunk's interest is piqued. He steps closer and starts looking over all the things Pidge has laying around him. Although Pidge has to smack Hunk's hands away a couple of times to keep him from touching his stuff.

"With this, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system," Pidge explains.

"All the way to Kerberos?" you ask with a smile as you join Hunk, your eyes sparkling with curiosity and awe.

Pidge hangs his head a little and grumbles at the mention of Pluto's moon.

Lance irks. "You go ballistic every time that's brought up! What's your deal?" he asks in an annoyed tone, but Pidge is hesitant to answer. "Look, we can't have any secrets between us if we wanna bond as a team," Lance says as he puts his hand on his hip.

Pidge looks down at his hands in his lap for a moment, letting Lance's words settle in. He sighs and looks up at the three of you. "Fine. I'll tell you."

He looks back at the objects laying around him and picks up a small notepad. You can't see what's scribbled all over the page as he holds it close to his chest.

"The world as you know it is about to change," Pidge says ominously, looking back at us. "The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost due to some crew malfunction. So, I've been scanning the solar system and picked up alien radio chatter."

"Aliens?" your eyes widen.

"Wait, aliens? Like the little green dudes? Or something bigger and meaner? Like Predator?" Hunk questions with fear, but Pidge only shrugs. This makes him uneasier.

Lance, however, isn't bothered at all by the mention of extraterrestrial life. "Okay, so you're insane," he insults.

"I'm serious," Pidge says sharply, glaring at your brother. "They've been repeating one word, Voltron," he says as he holds up the notepad.

Scribbled on the page with various coloured pencils looks to be something straight out of a Transformers movie. The word Voltron is messily written in big letters above it.

"What is it?" you question, taking the notepad from Pidge's hands. You stare at it. "It looks like a warrior or something."

"It's a superweapon," Pidge answers, "And the aliens are crazier about it more than I have ever heard," Pidge says, turning back to his tech.

"How crazy?" you ask.

The school alarms start to blare the moment the words leave my mouth. A voice crackles over the loudspeakers placed throughout the campus.

"Attention students!" the voice says. You all pause and listen, wondering silently if this has something to do with what Pidge was talking about. "This is not a drill."

You swallow. For some reason, the coincidental emergency announcement makes you uneasy. You grab onto your brother's sleeve in hope of a bit of comfort.

"We are on lockdown," the voice informs. "Security situation Zulu Niner. All students are to remain in barracks until further notice."

The voice repeats the announcement a couple of times, making you feel worse. Whatever it is must be serious.

Hunk stammers, pointing to something in the sky. "Is- Is that a meteor?" he asks wearily. "A really, really big meteor?"

You look up to see a giant bright ball falling towards the earth. Your heart climbs up to your throat and a worried expression takes over your face. Are those the aliens Pidge has been talking about?

Pidge grabs a pair of binoculars he had sitting next to him, using them to look up at the object burning up in the atmosphere.

"It's a ship!" Pidge exclaims.

Lance reaches over and snatches the binoculars from Pidge, taking a look for himself. "Holy crow! That is not one of ours!" he says.

"No, it's one of theirs," Pidge says with awe.

You watch it shoot across the sky, crashing down to the earth in the far distance with a loud boom, a trail of smoke behind it. For a moment, you just stare, trying to process what just happened.

Is this real? Or is it just some dream?

Lance jumps up excitedly. "We have to check out that ship!" he shouts, grabbing your wrist and dragging you to the stairwell. Pidge quickly packs his tech into his backpack and him and Hunk race after the two of us.

"Is that your idea of team bonding?" you ask.

"Yeah!" Lance chirps happily, racing down the stairs with you, Hunk, and Pidge trying to keep up with him.

﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋﹋

The four of you are now perched upon a ledge not too far off from the crash site. The Garrison had beat you to it and were guarding the area heavily. They have the ship loaded up on a large, flatbed truck and a big, science tent set up off to the side. Scientists and high-ranking Garrison officers walk in and out of the said tent and you wonder what they have in there.

Did they find something? An alien? A strange artifact?

Pidge types away furiously on his laptop while Lance surveys the area with a pair of binoculars. You and Hunk sit back, tired and not really wanting to be there. Your head rests on his shoulder and you start to nod. The boredom you feel from the lack of interesting events is getting to you.

How long have you been there exactly?

"Hey," Pidge says, looking back at you and Hunk. You jolt out of your half-asleep state and sit up. "They set up a camera inside and I managed to hack into it and pull up the feed."

You stand up and stretch, yawning as well, and walk over to Pidge. You plop down beside him as he adjusts his position so you can all see his computer screen.

Your eyes widen when you register what you're seeing on the feed. A human man is strapped down to a metal table, his eyes darting around frantically as he struggles against the metal restraints.

He looks extremely familiar and his name is on the tip of your tongue, but you can't quite make out what it is.

A couple more scientists walk into the tent, joining the one that's already in there. They start to prepare a few things, and now that he has an audience, the man starts to shout a few things.

"Shiro, calm down," one of the scientists says, walking over to the man and placing his hand on his shoulder. "We just have to keep you quarantined until we run some tests on you."

"Shiro?" You say under your breath, the identity of the man now clicking in your brain. He was the pilot on the Kerberos mission. Him and his crew were pronounced dead about a year ago. But obviously, that isn't the case, and Pidge knew that for some unknown reason. Shiro is alive. Are his crewmates alive as well?

"Do you know how long you were gone?" a scientist asks.

"I don't know! Months? Maybe years?" Shiro answers frantically. "But we don't have time! Aliens are coming, they're probably on their way right now! They'll destroy us! We have to find Voltron!"

The four of you share a look of shock at the mention of the superweapon, wondering how Shiro knows about it.

"Sir, take a look at this," a scientist says and gestures to Shiro's right arm. "It appears his arm was replaced with a cyborg prosthetic."

The other scientist nods. "Alright. Put him under until we know what that thing can do."

Shiro jerks his body, pulling against the metal restraints at those words. "No! No! Don't put me under! There's no time!"

You watch with wide eyes as the scientists inject an anaesthetic into Shiro, not heeding a single word that comes out of his mouth. You definitely would, seeing how blatantly obvious it is that Shiro was captured by aliens.

"They didn't ask about the rest of his crew," Pidge says, a frown tugging down at his lips.

Lance furrows his brows. "They aren't even listening to him! That guy's a legend," he says.

"We have to get him out," Pidge says.

"Wait, weren't we just watching the feed because we couldn't get in?" You say, raising a brow at the others. "Plus, the place is heavily guarded. It's a miracle we haven't been spotted yet."

"True, but now we're properly motivated," Lance says and holds his chin in his hand. "We can come up with a plan."

Silence only gets a second to settle before Pidge perks up. "Oh! Maybe we can get some hazmat suits and dress up like scientists and sneak in!"

"That could work," You say with a shrug, "But I don't think they have spare suits just lying around in the open desert."

Pidge shrugs. "It's an option."

"Maybe we could tunnel in?" Lance suggests.

"That'll take time we don't have," you say with a roll of your eyes.

"I have an idea!" Hunk announces and you look at him. "Why don't we head back, dress up like chefs, sneak into the commissary, and have a late-night snack?"

"Food does sound appealing," You say and place your hand on your stomach. It's been a few hours since you have eaten dinner and you can feel a minor hunger.

Lance shakes his head. "No, what we need is a distraction–"

You scream when large explosions go off in the not-so-far distance. The loud, booming noise hurts your ears and you slap your hands over them, hoping to muffle it out. You squeeze your eyes shut out of fear.

When it's quiet, you peek through one eye to make sure everything's okay before opening both. Your hands fall to your lap as Hunk starts to panic.

"Were those the aliens? Are they coming for us?" he asks wearily.

"No. That was a distraction," Pidge says and points to something kicking up dust. "For him!"

Pulling up on a red, hoverbike beside a boulder near the tent is another person. Almost immediately you recognise the dark mullet and red jacket, and your brother seems to as well.

"Oh no," Lance growls and jumps up to his feet. "He is not beating me in there!" he says as he slides down the steep side of the small cliff.

Your brother runs towards the tent.

"Who's he?" Pidge asks, shoving his stuff into his bag once again to chase after Lance.

"Keith!" Lance shouts.

"Are you sure?" Hunk asks, following after him.

"Oh, I'd recognise that mullet anywhere!"

You roll your eyes and chase after Lance.

You know Keith as well. He was one of your classmates until he dropped out halfway through the school year.

He was top of the fighter pilot class with you just under him. You always got a score a few points less than his, and secretly strove to surpass him.

You were actually on pretty good terms with him though, seeing as your instructors liked to pair you up for team activities. The two of you were more promising than the rest when working together, so it made sense.

As you run towards the tent, you wonder what he's been up to. And if he even remembers you.

[theolddarkmachine]

Dead Space - Baby, I Ain't Holding Your Hand

It starts the day the hero falls. Crashing in a blaze of glory of twisted metal and burning ozone, he leaves a scar on the Earth that changes everything.

And Keith sees it all.

Chapter 6 of 11

Tags: attempted Horror Elements, Zombies, Violence and Gore, Eventual Smut, Happy Ending i swear

Also on AO3

A/N: Apologies for going a little MIA. I moved this month and it ended up taking so much more time and effort than originally planned lol Hopefully some elements of this chapter make up for that a bit lol

***********************************

Two weeks had passed since they’d landed themselves in New Altea, and the newly stagnant life was working its way beneath Keith’s skin in a way that constantly set his teeth on edge. While he could admit that there was a certain level of ease that came with having a place to rest their heads at night, it was met in equal measure by the constant thrum to get out and move.

Experience had taught him that nothing good came of staying in one spot, and especially not when it meant being trapped in a constant Garrison reunion by concrete and steel.

“Good morning, buddy,” Lance’s voice is loud and cheery as if he could hear Keith’s innermost thoughts as he helped himself to the seat beside him. A loud clatter punctuates his arrival as he drops his chipped plate on the table, accidentally knocking some of its oatmeal onto the metallic surface.

“Aw, man,” Lance whines, scooping up the lifeless tan food with a finger and shoving it into his mouth, causing Keith to blanche.

“Do you really have to subject me to your face this early?” He growls, dipping behind the lip of his mug and swallowing down a large gulp of black coffee. Stray grounds scrape across his tongue like sand as he forces the bitter liquid down his throat.

Lance makes a small humming sound as he shoves a spoonful of the sludgy oatmeal into his gaping maw.

“I know, I’m a real saint for letting you start the day with something so beautiful,” he says, words muffled by the dull metal between his teeth.

“Patron Saint of Pains in the Ass,” Keith says drily into his mug, the steam blowing back into his face before he sets the mug back down with a dull tap. Pulling the spoon from his mouth, Lance smiles and points it toward him.

“Thank you for using my full title,” he says, grin tilting further upward as Keith rolls his eyes before he turned his attention back to his food. Quiet fills the space between them as Lance hums quietly to himself between bites of the lumpy oats.

Taking another sip of his coffee, Keith traces the dark marks that scatter the top of the table.

“So,” Lance speaks up minutes later, lips smacking as he drops his spoon with a clatter. “Where’s Shiro at?”

A sharp pang rolls through Keith at the question as his hold tightens on his mug. When he’d woken that morning, it had been to Shiro’s still sleeping form violently tossing and muttering under his breath. It had taken several minutes to wake him, and even after he had, a darkness had still clung to his eyes leaving him looking almost lifeless. Fear had gripped him until Shiro had seemed to resurface, offering him a small smile of reassurance before ushering Keith on ahead of him.

“He decided to sleep in a bit longer,” Keith finally says with a noncommittal shrug as he slowly uncurls his tight fist from the mug. He doesn’t miss the quick, sharp arch of Lance’s brow, the silent question almost screaming in the quiet wrapped around their table.

“What?” He hisses, voice filled with challenge as his gaze snaps up to his companion. Lifting hid shoulders with a quick shrug, Lance places a finger on his plate and slowly turns it, keeping his eyes down as he speaks.

“Nothing, just thinking about how much it must take out of a guy to be stuck in space like that is all.”

Growling lowly, Keith snatches his mug and takes a sip, gaze still sharp and severe on Lance as he doesn’t answer. Settling his forearms on the table, Lance leans in, holding his stare as he sighs.

“So, as much as I’m really loving this cold shoulder thing you’re trying to pull off right now, I actually did have something I wanted to ask you,” he says, voice dipping low and serious in a way that catches Keith’s attention. Lowering his mug once more, he gives him a short nod to continue.

“We’re running low on some supplies, and Allura wanted me to get a group together to do a run,” Lance continues, pausing just long enough to see if Keith will interject. “Figured you’re probably going a bit crazy being cooped up in here. Wanna come with?”

The unbearable itch to be on the move seems to prickle through his veins as he pushes himself further up in his seat. Finding himself mirroring Lance’s posture as he leans forward, he mulls over the invitation.

“Yeah, alright,” Keith finally says with a small nod, “count me in.”

A self satisfied smile etches itself across Lance’s face as he sits back, crossing his arm across his chest and nods. Sitting across from him, Keith can’t help but notice the scars that decorate his forearms.

“Knew you’d be in. We leave at dawn,” he says matter-of-factly. Grabbing for his now empty plate, Lance pushes his seat back, going to stand.

“And Shiro?” Keith asks as he goes to kick the chair back under the table. A quick flicker goes across Lance’s face as it falters before he settles it back into that easy smile of his.

“I think Pidge had wanted him for some work tomorrow, actually,” Lance supplies flatly, void of any emotion in the same way as a doctor giving a diagnosis. He doesn’t say anything about the obvious fact that the colony has been keeping a close eye on Shiro since their arrival, but it’s all too clear in his voice.

Each day, Pidge summoned him for some sort of blood draw, yet they still didn’t know anything about what she was really doing.  

They may have had some semblance of freedom, but they both knew that Shiro, at least, was a prisoner shackled by his usefulness.

Slowly, Keith nods.

“Anything you need me to bring?” He asks, leveling his voice to match Lance’s.

“Just you and that angry face of yours.”

Mouth turning sharply down at the response, earning himself a bout of high laughter as Lance gives him a quick wink.

“Yeah, that one,” he says as he turns on his heel, walking away and missing the way Keith flips him off.

Sighing loudly as quiet settles around the now empty table, Keith drums his fingers on the table’s top, chewing on his thoughts like a hungry dog with a bone. Minutes pass before he grabs for his mug, tossing back the last of his coffee before standing to go find Shiro.

***

Keith finds him in the makeshift gym in the basement, surrounded by concrete and old, worn equipment. The solid sound of leather clad fists against plastic punctuates the otherwise silent space as Keith stands just inside the doorway. Eyes carving pathways along the solid lines of Shiro’s shoulders, he takes in the way the long sleeved shirt clings to his frame like a second skin.

While still not quite as well muscled as he had been, the time at the colony had helped to fill him out a bit more, leaving him looking a little less like a shadow of his former self.

Keith’s own hands balled at his sides as they ached with the need to touch.

Swallowing down the a soft sound, he moves across the untouched concrete flooring, steps silent until he was just at Shiro’s back.

“On your left,” he whispers, biting back a smirk as he watches goosebumps dot the skin across Shiro’s neck. Turning lightning quick over his shoulder, fist throwing toward him, Keith catches it easily with a hum. There was no real force behind it, nothing more than a challenging tease, and it makes Keith’s lips quirk higher into a full smile.

“Been awhile since we got to spar,” he says, voice bursting with its own challenge before he presses his lips to the back of Shiro’s captured hand.  Flicking his gaze up, he peers at Shiro through his lashes, eyes glittering with overhead lights as he says, “wanna go?”

Shiro holds his stare, firm and unyielding in a way that Keith feels at the pit of his stomach before an easy smile draws itself across Shiro’s mouth.

“I guess I wouldn’t mind reminding you of my skills,” he chuckles as he carefully pulls his hand from Keith’s grasp, instead settling it on his hip. “What are you going to give me when I pin you?”

Taking a step forward, Keith feels the near overbearing heat that rolls off Shiro’s skin. This close, he can smell the near clinical smell of the soap the colony had managed to salvage as it mixes with the heady musk that is inherently Shiro’s. Breathing him in, Keith drags his teeth across the full of his bottom lip as he hums in faux thought.

“I was thinking,” he starts as he traces a finger across Shiro’s chest, right over his heart, “that pinning me would be reward enough.”

Looking up at him, Keith sees something spark brightly in his dark eyes as he takes a short step back, falling into stance.

There’s an aching, heavy moment that hangs over the both of them as they watch each other before Shiro tilts his chin quickly towards Keith.

Your move, the look says.

Keith licks a line across his lip before dropping down into his own stance, not giving Shiro any pause before moving forward with a quick, testing jab. Dodging it easily, Shiro takes two quick steps back, eyes never leaving Keith’s lithe form as he mirrors the move to keep himself just out of reach.

With the thick heat building itself into a lightning storm between them, they eye each other, watching closely before both moving at once. Excitement colors Keith’s cheeks an alluring shade of pink as he loses himself to the ebb and flow of their movements. He can’t remember the last time they were able to push each other like this.

He’s sure it was before Shiro even left on that mission that had changed them both, but that had been a lifetime ago.

Lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet as his thoughts spin through his mind, Keith’s gaze finds his opening. It’s nothing more than a split second of hesitation as Shiro shifts his foot to go on the offense instead of the defense, but Keith knows he has him.

Sweeping his foot out, he grabs for the center of Shiro’s shirt, fisting the material in his hand as he uses the opposing forces to tackle him to the ground. Keith lands with his legs straddling Shiro’s chest, his knees pinning his arms to the ground as he draws his hands up to entwine their fingers. Looking up at him, Shiro’s eyes are dark, the usual bright silver swallowed by his pupils as he watched Keith lean in close.

“So,” he says lowly, “what’s my reward?”

Shiro’s answering smile is knifelike as he presses up to close the distance between them. Catching his lips, Keith burns with the sudden contact, pressing down to bring their chests flush together. The sharp sting of teeth pulls a low moan from his throat as he tightens his grasp on Shiro’s wrists. Chasing the sound, Shiro continues to press forward, filling Keith’s head with a thrilling heat.

“Shiro,” he gasps, the name sugar sweet on his tongue as he rolls his hips, chasing the friction that is all too much and not enough. The move earns his a soft chuckle as Shiro pulls away, dropping his head back against the mat with a soft thump as he peers up at him through his lashes.

It’s a wicked look that Keith feels down to his bones.

“Best two out of three?” Shiro asks, voice a molten pool that he’s all too ready to drown in. Swallowing down the ache at the base of his throat, Keith pushes himself up before offering a hand to Shiro.

Ignoring the way Shiro’s touch fills his veins with fire as he takes his hand, Keith pulls him to his feet before taking several steps back and falling into a stance.

“Best two out of three,” he confirms as he brings his fists up in front of him.

It’s Shiro who moves first this time, taking several small, quick steps forward as he aims two blows toward Keith. Knocking them both aside easily, he turns over his shoulder, grabbing for Shiro’s closest wrist. Using his momentum, he pushes Shiro away from him before landing back in the same stance.

“Things are looking good for me if that’s the best you’ve got,” Keith laughs, bouncing slightly as he watches Shiro’s back. There’s a long pause, as if he’s gathering himself before he tilts his head to the side, a sickening crack popping through the air.

When he turns around, Shiro’s eyes are dark in a way that is all together different from earlier. Pitch black and roiling, his stare is filled with malice as he lets out a low, rumbling growl before launching himself toward Keith. Taken aback, Keith finds himself knocked back, his breath leaving him quickly as his back meets the mat.

A thrill rips through him, raising the hair on his arms as the quiet of the gym is disrupted by the sharp snap of Shiro’s teeth just barely missing his throat.

“Shiro!” Keith barks, using his forearm to push back against his throat.

Almost as if a switch was flipped, Shiro falls back onto his haunches, eyes going wide as he looks down at Keith.

“Keith, I,” he starts, cheeks going bright with the pink flush that marks his skin as his chest heaves for breath. Keith’s own breathing mirrors Shiro’s as he continues to stare up at him, unable to shake the savage look that had turned the man before him into something dangerous.

Something a lot like the monsters outside.

Opening his mouth to say something in response, the loud sound of someone clearing their throat shatters the moment.

Turning toward the intruder, Keith sees Hunk in the doorway, questioning gaze set on the both of them before he speaks.

“Pidge is looking for you, Shiro.”

****************************

[annoyinglyjovialbird]

Voltron: Next Generation

Charging Ahead: III

Word Count: 2881

Another blast came over the comms. Tearing her eyes away from Caleb, Kova saw Yellow successfully blast the enemy mecha. With ease, Cake flew around the mecha, distracting it. The mecha, seemingly dizzy from chasing the Lion, had fallen into the river below. 

"Permission to assist Blue and leave Green?"

"Granted." Kova returned her eyes to Blue's camera feed, showing the mecha getting closer to the still Red Lion. Griffin could take care of herself. "Use thrusters."

"Not without me, you're not." With a blast of light, the Green Lion emerged from the overgrown canopy of trees. Inside, Liz was ready to go. 

"Hurry up, then!" Together, the Yellow and Green Lions flew towards Yendailian. 

It was almost too late.

Standing, Blue could only watch as the mecha stuttered towards Caleb. A boulder had Blue's tail pinned to the ground. 

Caleb wasn't responding, and neither was the Lion. 

The mecha approached the lava lake and took a clumsy step towards the pillar. The sporadic geysers erupted around the foot of the mecha, unbalancing it. It quickly regained its balance, reaching the edges of the lake and swung an oversized arm. It missed the pillar completely, hitting the space above Red's head. Kova braced herself on the railing. Her knuckles were turning white as she begged for Caleb to open his eyes and fly out of there. 

The mecha was preparing to swing again. A blast to the head threw it off balance. Green flew above the mecha, firing another blast while Yellow headbutted the rock pile holding Blue down. Together, Yellow and Blue roared, getting the mecha's attention. Yellow went for the mecha's legs. Blue flew towards Green and fired at the mecha's head. The gray mechanical beast swung an oversized limb towards the lions. It missed again. 

Closing all channels of communication, Kova connected only to Caleb. The poor boy was still slumped over in his seat. 

"Caleb," Kova stared at the still images of Caleb inside of Red. "Wake up. Please, wake up." Kova bowed her head, still gripping the banister. "Don't make me tell Cyrus what happened. Don't make me tell him." 

Inside Red, Caleb's arms reached out and flailed in the air. Through blurry sight and sweat from his forehead, Caleb found the controls. It felt heavier than it should have been. Red was fighting Caleb, refusing to spring to life like the other three. 

"Kenny, are the cannons usable from here?" Caleb could hear Kova's voice.

"Get ready to fire." The mecha from Greizian Sur was flying towards the Coeus with alarming speed. Even in the haze, Caleb could hear Kova's frantic voice. Where was he again?

In a moment of clarity, Caleb fought to stay awake as his grip on Red's controls became firmer. The screens, all tinted red, came to life before him. With thrusters now activated, Red launched itself into the air. Cooler than before, Caleb stared at the scene before him. Green and Blue were firing on a mecha the size of Blue with oversized limbs. 

"Garrett, take it down," Caleb ordered. "Griffin, Smythe, follow me." Turning Red, Caleb led the other two towards the Coeus while Cake was left to take care of the second mecha. 

The crew onboard the Coeus was firing when ready. Both Kova and Shiro were looking for weaknesses in the armor, but it seemed solid. Kenny and Shiro were manning the cannons, shooting at the mecha. Kova was staring at the screen, where Yellow seemed to play with the mecha

"Cake, push it into a volcano, and come help!" 

"I thought it was our new toy." 

"Its twin is here."

"Gotcha." Yellow pushed forward and knocked the mecha towards a tall wall of the nearest volcano. With cracks and unsuccessful attempts at standing, the mecha was covered in lava from the volcano. Yellow launched itself into the air before the lava had a chance to reach its front paws. "Heading towards you."

Red was still fighting Caleb for control, going slower than it should have. Blue and Green had engaged with the mecha, with some assistance from the Coeus. The mecha had swiped Blue away and was swinging an arm to hit Green when Yellow headbutted it. The mecha began to retract its long arms to attack Yellow. From Blue's camera, Kova could see the exposed wires. Shiro seemed to have spotted it, too. 

"Red, fire at the intersection between the arm and chest plate."

"English, Kova."

"Fire at the armpit."

"Thank you."

Ignoring the mutterings, Caleb continued his fight with Red and flew until he was only a few yards away. Yellow headbutted the mecha again, while Blue and Green were firing at its eyes and chest plate. The mecha started retracting an arm again, and the Lions cleared a path. 

With agility, Red raced up the mecha's side and fired three times, then made a sharp turn at the shoulder. Caleb had not only deactivated the mecha, but he had also blown the entire arm off. Repeating it on the other side, the team of Lions watched the arms drift away as the purple lights of the mecha flickered. 

Switching off communications to the team, Kova stared at Shiro. Shiro met her brown eyes, watching them flicker through every emotion she was feeling. The most prominent was a mix of pride and anger. 

"Tell me again why we don't need to worry about the Fire?" She had cocked her head at the last word. Even annoyed at him for downplaying this, Shiro knew Lance would be proud of how far Kova had come. With a sigh, she bowed her head. "Thank Allura it wasn't that bad." Switching on communications, Kova walked into the middle of a very important conversation. 

"We could always buy them," Cake said. 

"Oh yeah? Where?" Liz retorted. 

"The mall."

"With what money?"

"The mall? Are you talking about the space mall?" Allie was now in this conversation.

"Ugh, doesn't it have a real name?"

"No," Cake and Allie responded, much to Liz's disappointment. 

"Liz, don't worry about it," Caleb reassured his teammate. "We have to get to Arus, anyway."

"I'm surprised you aren't fighting Kova to the death right now."

"He'd lose before we started." Kova was watching the screen come to life with the four panels with the helmeted faces of the pilots. Well, new paladins.

"Wanna bet?" 

"You already pilot the Red Lion," Kova said, standing up and crossing her arms. "Why do you want the Black Lion?"

"To prove how good of a leader I am."

"You aren't the one standing here giving everyone commands."

"What were you gonna do? Get in the MFE?"

"If I had to." Kova took a breath. "What were you guys talking about earlier?"

"Oh, we're down about half of the lenses in the teleduv."

Kova's stomach grumbled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since she started building the satellite. "Blue and Green, fly for a while. Red and Yellow, enter the bay." 

"What if I don't want to?" Caleb challenged. 

"Then Green comes in and you pass out from dehydration." Kova watched Caleb smack his lips, trying to rehydrate them. His tongue was like a desert with no end in sight. 

Yellow and Red ended up flying towards the bay, headed into the hallway, and went their separate ways. Cake headed to the kitchen to figure out what he would make. Caleb headed to the bridge to help Kova scold Dad. Shiro had always hated it when the pair would team up against him. 

Caleb stood off to Kova's side, while she handed him a water bottle and stared at Shiro. He walked down to the floor, knowing the teens' eyes were on him the entire time. Kenny had slinked away from the bridge, closing the door behind him. 

"Remind me again how the Fire isn't a big deal?" Caleb asked when Shiro didn't turn around to meet his eyes. 

"We have to tell them something," Kova chimed in. "They won't fight against an enemy they know nothing about."

"The Fire of Purification is an ongoing and classified casefile to all cadets and low-ranking officers." Shiro turned his head. "Your teams are cadets and you will be low-rank officers. You only know about the Fire because—"

"Because I'm involved." Kova looked down, glaring at the ground. "You can give the authorization. We can tell them."

"Opening the Fire's casefile will open yours, Kova." Kova looked up again. "Do you want everyone else on board to know about your past?" Caleb stared at the two. Kova doesn't talk about her past to strangers, mostly because it became a classified case after they found someone in Kova's family was involved with the Fire. She didn't talk about it. "Not only that, opening those casefiles opens the one about the failed Coalition response."

"Stop it." Caleb heard Kova whisper. "I get it. Stop." Shiro sighed, walking towards Kova to stand underneath her platform. 

"If this progresses further," Shiro sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." With a nod, Caleb and Kova left the bridge and their dad. The cheery mood in the kitchen did nothing to change Kova's expression. Caleb, on the other hand, joined right in with the discussion. Kova fixed herself a plate of Balmeran fruit and went to her room without another word. 

With the door shut behind her, she felt something off. Her knife, which she had decided was valuable enough to bring along, was thrumming on the bedside table. Out of the corner of her eye, a shadow moved against the wall. Calling the knife to her hand and dropping the plate onto the floor, Kova held the intruder against the metal door. The knife had extended into an almost full-length sword, and she had most of the blade parallel with her arm under the intruder's chin. Unfortunately, Kova recognized the intruder. 

Or at least, their association. 

"Leave. Me. Alone." Kova snarled, her irises becoming dark slits against a yellow background. The intruder had completely yellow eyes, light blue hair reaching the nape of their neck, and violet skin. Their body armor was dark gray, with the Fire insignia on their front in purple. The lightning bolts on either side of the symbol were also purple. 

"You would do nicely among our ranks." The Galra spoke, ignoring the blade to their throat. "To be among your kind. To fight alongside your brethren. To—"

"Save your speech." Kova pressed the blade against their neck tighter. "I told you before. I'm not interested." "They're looking for you," The Galra kept going. "There's a reward for you amongst the lower ranks."

"You think that's enough motivation to join?" 

"The humans of Earth underestimate your abilities. They don't appreciate you, nor will they ever—"

"Leave or I'll remind you of the last time you tried your speech." Kova's voice was low, almost a growl. Her tan skin had taken an almost gray hue, and her hair seemed to have blue highlights under the light. The Galra gulped at the threat. 

Last time, Kova hadn't been so kind. She had stabbed the last Galra attempting to speak to her about the Fire's cause. They escaped, but it was much too close for comfort. 

At blade-point, Kova led the Galra towards the closest exit. She watched as the Galra opened the door, and turned back as though to say more, but Kova had enough. She kicked the Galra in the gut, sending them flying towards the darkness of space and closed the door. The blade in her hands turned back to normal size when Cake came around the corner. 

"Cap?" He watched Kova carefully. The alarms went off when the door opened, but they went off before Cake could figure out what caused it. 

"Go back to the kitchen, Cake," Kova turned towards the hall that led towards her room. "I'm fine." 

Cake eyed Kova as she walked back to her room, staring at the knife in her hands. 

In what would feel like days later, the Coeus arrived onto the surface of Arus. Like the Balmerans, the Arusians recognized Shiro almost on the spot. They continually asked about the space goddess and the blessings her arrival had brought them. Shiro couldn't tell them anything other than thanks for letting the Coeus rest on Arus. 

I guess Allura is a space goddess now. Hm.

Kova was wandering the planet, looking over the open green meadows that seemed to cover Arus. Caleb and Liz were on resource collection and Allie and Cake were joking with the younger Arusians. 

Kova was supposed to be looking for the Black Lion, but her thoughts strayed to the Galra's speech, as well as Shiro's words. She could never seem to run away from her other half, never seem to control it. In her defense, no one had taught her how to use it. She had to learn how by herself, among other things. 

Soon enough, she was at the edge of a cliff overlooking a large body of water. Below her, haphazard piles of stone jutted out from the sea. As much as she wanted to scream, maybe the waves will be enough to relax her. 

She thought back to her memories with the McClain family when they would have their beach days. Kova never jumped into the water because she didn't know how to swim, but Lance's patient coaxing was enough to get her feet in the water. By the end of the day, they couldn't get her out of it. She had found a shell in the soft sand and stuck it in her plastic pail. When she got home, she scribbled the date on it and placed it on the highest shelf she could reach. It was still there, on the shelf in her room back home.

Her only thought as she climbed down the cliffside was maybe she could find another shell to match the one back home. Her feet met another shelf in the cliffside, only an arm's length from the waves. Laying on her stomach, Kova reached her hand down as far as it could go. Her fingertips almost touched the water when a roar echoed in her mind. Kova had turned around, her knife in hand, the blade had extended. 

Behind her was a cave opening. 

Lowering the blade, returning it to its original form, she stood up and walked towards the opening. With a deep breath, she entered the cave, already done with dark, underground spaces. 

The Black Lion, unlike the others, was splayed out in an awkward position. Like a toy a child had dropped and didn't pick up. Its wide jaw was open, with gray, lifeless eyes. Kova figured the tide had caused this, but she couldn't be sure. Maybe the waves had pushed it in? If the Lion were to stand, its head would likely destroy the already fragile ceiling of the cave. She didn't have a choice. She would have to go inside and manually pilot it out. Bracing herself, Kova climbed into the Black Lion's jaws. 

On the surface, Allie was being entertained by stories of the Arusians and their beliefs. They believed the space goddess would cure their famine. She and Cake had discovered there was a dam blocking the water supply to their fields. They had quickly gotten rid of the branches in turns so the Arusians wouldn't suspect a thing. A thunderous roar echoed over Arus, and the Arusians celebrated the discovery of the Black Lion. 

In front of the Coeus, each of the teens had flown their Lion in front of the Arusian village. In order, from left to right, was Blue, Red, a huge piece of space where the Coeus could be seen, Green, and Yellow. The Black Lion, circling over the cheering village, had landed in that space between Red and Green.

Kova exited, removing her helmet in the process. As quickly as the Arusians welcomed Shiro, they shunned Kova. Allie and Cake noticed the shift, much to Kova's annoyance. 

"She's one of them," One Arusian said.

"The King says they aren't to be trusted," Another spoke. "Now one leads Voltron?"

"Enough!" The King, the teens assumed, spoke. He approached Kova, who was stopped by spear-wielding Arusians. She should've figured. "We do not mean to anger you, oh great leader of Voltron. Please accept this apology dance!" A dancer scurried to stand before the King, but Kova had turned towards the Lion. "Great leader, where are you going?"

"I mean no disrespect," Kova had knelt to be eye-level with the three-foot-tall Arusian. "But if my presence causes fear among your people, I think it safer to communicate with our allies on my home planet than stay."

"Please, stay," The King pleaded. "Should we do a sacrificial fire?"

"Your Majesty," Kova said firmly. "I want your people to be safe and to trust me. My team will help your village on my behalf while you and I speak with the Colonel about the events over the past few decaphoebs." The King looked at Kova with a grim expression and nodded his head. With that, Kova stood and walked towards the Coeus alone. 

[littlewhitetie]

In Loving Memory

“Just a little further,” Lance says. “We’re almost there. At least, according to Hunk’s geiger counter thing.”

Keith is too busy trying to stay upright to respond with words as he drags his feet across the jungle floor. Sweat drips from the bangs plastered to his forehead, stinging as it falls into his eyes. He’s exhausted. The nausea that’s been building since they got to this damn planet is reaching a point where it might make good on its threat soon.

Lance eyes him with concern. “Do you want to take another break?”

“No,” Keith says. “Let’s just hurry up and get this over with.”

The Xanorian jungle is creepy as hell. It’s far too quiet, especially considering all the movement in his peripheral vision. Vines creep and slither, ready to ensnare. Tree branches sway without wind; their cloud-shaped clusters of leaves should rustle but don’t. Flowering plants turn to face them, tracking their movements with invisible eyes as they get deeper and deeper in.

And yet Lance seems to think the place is perfectly lovely. It’s so calm and peaceful, he says. The plants are so pretty, he says. Nothing’s watching us, he says.

So either Keith is seeing things that aren’t there, or Lance is just oblivious. Really, it wouldn’t be the first time for either of those options, but given his climbing fever, Keith is willing to admit it’s probably the former.

Keith keeps his eyes on the ground, focused on keeping one foot in front of the other. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left…

“Hey, look,” Lance says, pointing through the trees. “There’s a clearing up ahead. That’s gotta be where the ygdranite is.”

“Mm,” Keith says, not looking up. He’ll take Lance’s word for it.

They get a little closer, and Keith almost runs smack into Lance when he comes to an abrupt halt.

Lance looks ahead, then down at the pinging geiger counter, then back ahead. “Uhhh, okay, so… we found the Xanorians…”

Keith steps out from behind Lance to get a better look. Ahead of them, the trees open up, replaced by rows and rows of glass coffins erected as far as the eye can see. A shudder rockets down Keith’s spine.

“Apparently, it's this way,” Lance says with a grimace, leading them forward into the graveyard.

The Xanorian corpses all around them are humanoid, each with dark hair and pale skin. They all look the same. Exactly the same. This place, it's almost like…

 Keith pauses, gags.

Lance puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Seriously, man. We can take a break,” he says. “The ygdranite can wait a few doboshes.”

“I just want to get out of here,” Keith says, past the point of trying to put up a front. Lance might not know exactly why this place is so horrifying—Keith hasn’t told anyone about the clone facility beyond its existence—but he’s well aware Keith has been on edge since they set foot on the soil.

“Fair enough,” Lance says. “Just let me know if you need to stop.”

They walk past row after row until a towering stone statue comes into view, a scaled up version of the bodies in the coffins. The geiger counter leads them right to the base of the statue.

“Coran said the stuff would be pink, right?” Lance asks.

“Yeah.” Keith’s head spins as he looks around them. The only pink around is a magenta stone embedded in the crown atop the statue’s head, glittering from the centre spoke.

“So I guess we’re, like, grave robbers now?” Lance says.

“Not like they’re getting much use out of it,” Keith says.

“True.” Lance looks up and down the statue. “I’m guessing you’re not feeling up to pulling your super ninja moves to go get that crown.”

Keith frowns. “My what?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lance says. “I got this.”

Keith takes a seat and rests his back against the base of the colossal statue while Lance circles around, muttering to himself as he surveys it from different angles. Keith’s teeth chatter. He’s freezing. He hugs his knees in against his chest in a feeble attempt to warm himself, and closes his eyes.

He doesn't fall asleep, but he must get halfway there because he startles out of something when Lance calls his name. His eyes snap open, and the sight of the rows of glass coffins hits him all over again. He struggles to fight back a wave of nausea.

“We’re good to go,” Lance says, waving the glittering, baseball sized gemstone in his face. He frowns as he takes a closer look at Keith. “You really don’t look good, man. We can see if someone can come get us. They might be able to land a bit closer than we did.”

Keith shakes his head. “They have other things to focus on. I’ll be fine.”

Lance purses his lips. “If you’re sure. Just let me know if you need to stop to rest.”

He helps Keith to his feet, and they head back the way they came, back through the rows of preserved corpses.

Lance prattles on about something or another—probably recounting how he managed to obtain the gemstone—but Keith’s too exhausted and distracted by their surroundings to actually focus on what he’s saying.

It’s slow going, and by the time they’re back in the thick of the jungle, Keith is barely standing. Lance ducks under Keith's arm to bear some of his weight. It helps, but only for so long.

“Lance,” Keith slurs, vision blurring past the point of recognition. “Think I… need a break…”

Lance starts to say something in return, but Keith passes out before he can make sense of the words.

... 

“Hello, Keith.”

Glass pods flicker and light up all around him. They cradle cold bodies, all wearing Shiro’s face. Unscarred, dark-haired, two-armed. They’re younger, softer than the Shiro standing before him, the one awaiting Keith’s arrival with a predatory gleam in violet-infested eyes.

Keith’s heart hammers in his chest; he’s been afraid of this moment for two years. Still, he tries to keep his voice steady. “Shiro, it’s gonna be okay.”

“Yes. I know.” Shiro’s voice is wrong, all wrong, sucked dry of any semblance of warmth or kindness.

“We just have to get back to the Castle.”

“We. Are not going. Anywhere !” Shiro snarls, charging forward. Keith barely has time to throw his shield up before he’s slammed into the wall, air knocked from his lungs.

Shiro doesn’t let up. There’s no holding back; he's aiming to kill. His attacks are relentless, lethal strikes that leave rubble in the wake of his fist.

Keith tries to get away, but Shiro comes after him. His Galra arm shifts and forms a pink plasma blade, extending his range. There’s no escaping. Keith has no choice but to fight back.

“I’m not leaving here without you,” Keith vows.

Shiro’s lips twist into something vicious. “Actually,” he says, “neither of us are leaving.”

Something overhead activates, and violet lights turn fuchsia. Shiro falls to his knees, crying out in pain as his Galra arm comes alive. It tears its way up his arm, metal and cracks of pink light devouring the flesh of his shoulder. The new monstrosity forms a laser cannon that obliterates everything in its range, breaking the facility to pieces. Massive chunks of the structure fall around them.

“Keith?” A panicked voice comes from somewhere behind him—Shiro’s voice, muffled by glass. “Keith!” an identical voice says, this time on his left. “Keith, please!” Another joins on his right. “Keith!” And another, and another. Hundreds of voices all around him converge in a desperate chorus.

Keith takes his eyes off the fight for a half-second to glance at one of the pods. The Shiro inside has his hands pressed to the glass, eyes wide. He’s alive, and terrified.

“Keith, please, help!”

A laser blast fires, and on instinct, Keith dives out of the way. The blast hits the pods he was standing in front of instead. The clones inside scream as they’re incinerated.

“No!” Keith cries out. “Please, stop this,” he begs, but his words have no effect. Shiro raises his arm again.

Another blast. More screams. The Shiros around him are crying, pleading, they don’t want to die, but there’s nothing Keith can do. He can’t protect them.

“Keith! Keith!”

Keith just barely manages to avoid the blasts head on. Shiros are killed, left, right, and centre, in his stead. Some are hit directly, some crash to the planet below as the structures supporting them are destroyed. Eventually, every single pod is decimated.  “I’m sorry,” Keith gasps. “I’m so sorry.”

Shiro switches weapons, drawing his plasma blade once again. He circles in and lunges. Keith can barely move, but a burst of adrenaline at the very last second gives him enough strength to reach for his blade and parry.

“Shiro, please,” Keith begs. He’s in there. He has to be. “You’re my brother. I love you.”

Shiro’s eyes widen, and he falters for a fraction of a second, but it’s not enough. He pushes down harder, and Keith’s vision goes white as the plasma blade sears his cheek. The scent of burning flesh fills his nostrils, and the pain only gets worse. The blade’s about to melt straight through his face.

It’s hard to focus—everything hurts so much— but he manages to summon the black bayard, forging a sword strong enough to cut through even the strongest of metals. Keith takes a desperate swing. It slices through metal—

—and flesh, and bone. Shiro lets out an agonized scream as blood gushes from where Keith has severed his arm. More pours out from between his ribs, where the sword’s trajectory continued deep into his side.

“Shiro!” Keith scrambles to his knees and presses his hands to Shiro’s gaping wounds in a futile attempt to stem the bleeding. That—that wasn’t supposed to—

“Keith,” Shiro whispers, resting his remaining hand over Keith’s. “You know that won’t do anything. You’ve already killed me.”

“No, just—just hold on—”

Shiro smiles. It’s a touch bitter, mostly sad. “I thought you loved me. But I guess when it comes down to it, you always put yourself first.”

“No, no, Shiro, I— ”

“How many times are you going to let me die?” Shiro asks.

“I-I’ll get you out of here somehow. I’ll find a way to save you, I just—”

“Goodbye, Keith.”

“No, I can’t— Please, don’t leave me—”

The floor gives way. Keith reaches for Shiro, but his blood-slick hand slips out of his grasp.

“No!”

Shiro plummets toward the planet below. Keith dives after him, but he can’t catch up. Everything goes white as they enter the atmosphere and burn, and burn, and burn…

 ...

Keith wakes with a strangled cry. He’s choking on air—too much, not enough.

He can’t—can’t breathe. He doesn’t know if he’s just gasping for air or full out sobbing, but the animal sounds tearing their way from his throat refuse to be suppressed.

His skin is on fire; he’s being burned alive. The scar running from his jaw toward his eye throbs with remembered pain, and he claws at the wound with desperate, shaking hands.  

Something in the distance calls him—no, some one . A familiar voice guides him back with strings of soft words: Shh, Keith. You’re okay, you’re okay.

Gentle hands pry his fingers away from his face— let’s not make that worse —then slide beneath his shoulder blades to pull him up to sit. Dizziness rushes him, but the hands don’t let him fall. One hand holds his upper arm at the junction where pauldron meets rerebrace; the other snakes around his shoulders.

They stay there, just like that, until Keith comes down from his panic enough to form words. “L-Lance?” he rasps, between ragged breaths.

“Hey,” Lance says, tone gentle.

“Shiro,” Keith gasps. “Shiro, he’s… I-I couldn’t…”

“Shiro’s fine,” Lance soothes. “You were having a fever dream, but you’re awake now. Everything’s okay.”

“Just a… just a dream,” Keith says, shakily.

“Yeah,” Lance says. “Is your face okay? You were...” He makes a vague scratching gesture at his own face. “Does it hurt?”

“It’s—it’s fine now,” Keith whispers. “It just comes back sometimes when I… have dreams about…” He shudders, wrapping his arms around himself. Tears lick his cheeks, his scar.

Lance holds him tighter. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to. But if you do, I’m here to listen.”

“...Thanks,” Keith utters, voice hoarse.

When it becomes apparent Keith doesn’t have anything further to say—he appreciates the offer, but reliving it is the last thing he wants to do right now—Lance asks, “Hey, do you… want to talk to Shiro?”

Just his name sends a surge of fear through Keith’s veins, but that wasn’t real. It was just a dream. Keith shakes his head. “I-I’m fine.”

Lance’s face is a gentle mix of disbelief and pity before he rearranges it into a smile. “Maybe. But it might be nice to check in with him anyway, yeah?”

Keith grits his teeth. He can’t bother Shiro, not with this . Shiro’s busy, and Keith’s not a little kid anymore. “It was just a… just a dream.” A dream rooted in a very real memory, one branded into his cheek. A memory of a fight that could have ended very differently.

A surge of nausea hits Keith hard. He pushes Lance’s arm away from his shoulders as he leans over and retches.

Lance holds Keith steady as he vomits. The act leaves Keith panting for breath and shaking all over again, but Lance doesn’t let him collapse. He helps Keith back to a seated position, letting him lean against him, and runs a steady hand over his back.

It’s unusual, having someone here with Keith like this, comforting him when he feels downright awful. There’s only one person who had ever done anything like this for him before, back when he’d gotten sick at the Garrison. “Shiro,” Keith whispers.

“I’m gonna call him,” Lance says.

Keith snaps his head up. “N-no, don’t. He has more important things to worry about.”

“More important than you? I don’t think so,” Lance says.

“I—I’m fine. I’m fine .”

Lance tries a different tack. “I’ll just call to let him know where we’re at, alright? Update him on the mission.”

“...Okay,” Keith relents.

Lance flashes him a smile and opens up his wrist console. Soon enough, Shiro’s face appears on the screen. “Lance? What’s going on?”

There’s no trace of malice or pain or despair in Shiro’s voice. There’s no purple in his warm, grey eyes, no Galra arm crawling up his shoulder. He’s alive. Breathing. He’s okay, just like Lance had promised.

Keith lets out a choked sob in relief.

Shiro’s brows furrow in concern. “Keith?” Shiro’s eyes widen as Lance tilts his wrist to fit Keith in the frame. “Keith! What’s wrong?”

“You’re… you’re safe,” Keith breathes, forgetting to answer. Shiro’s safe, in both senses of the word. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Keith’s sick,” Lance explains. “He’s got a pretty high fever.”

“Keith, I...” Shiro pauses to shift the concern in his face to something gentler. “Yeah, I’m safe. You always make sure of that.”

“We got the ygdra-whatever,” Lance says, holding up the pink stone for Shiro to see. “Is anyone available to come get us?”

“I’m on my way,” Shiro says.

Keith shakes his head. “No, I’m—I’m okay. You don’t have to.”

“But I can, and I want to,” Shiro says, calmly.

“But…”

Lance turns to Keith. “Don’t you want to get out of here?”

“I… I don’t want to be a burden,” Keith says, quietly. Shiro’s gone out of his way to help him more than anyone should ever have to.

“You will never be a burden, Keith,” Shiro says, with enough conviction it’s impossible not to believe him. The way he says it is so typical of him, so Shiro , that it makes Keith’s heart swell with relief all over again. “Hang in there. I’ll be there soon, alright?”

“Thanks, Shiro,” Lance says. “See you in a bit.”

The video screen closes. Lance gives Keith a gentle nudge and a soft smile. “See? Shiro’s fine.”

“Yeah,” Keith says, quietly. He’s no less sick, but he does feel better. He presses his cheek to Lance’s shoulder. “Thanks, Lance.”

“Just rest up,” Lance says, bringing his head to rest against Keith’s crown. “I got you.”

“I know,” Keith murmurs, and lets himself fall back asleep.

[This fic was originally written for @vldwhumpzine! The zine features some brilliant artists and writers, and there are a few extras for sale! Check out their page for more details.]

ETA: Check out @zharpzhooter‘s GORGEOUS art that accompanies this fic!! It’s incredible! I’m so glad we got to work together for this zine! :) 

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 138 prt 1

138

Keith watched Lance sleeping. His shirt hiked up with his belly showing as he cuddled a pillow instead of Keith. Lance was an awkward mess of cuteness Keith could have watched forever if his bladder didn’t exist. Heading to the bathroom, he’d wished he could have peed faster, but peeing with a boner was an Olympic effort. Making himself a coffee, he made it more milk than coffee, sculling it down so he’d have caffeine in his system when Lance woke up. As he climbed back into bed, Lance was still sleeping soundly in the same position. Morning sun poured through the open balcony door, heat and humidity already smacking him in the face. Cuba was not Rome... nor was it Vatican City. The weather killer after months in Europe. Smiling to himself, he laid by his boyfriend, hand sliding over Lance’s bump. He loved the bump. But his love was tinged with the sadness of missing watching it grow.

Whimpering in his sleep, Lance’s body tensed, kicking out before he sucked in a breath. Keith cuddling around Lance, sliding his hand up his boyfriend chest as he kissed his shoulder

“I’m here. I’m here, babe. Breathe. It was a dream”

“Mami?”

Lance sounded so sleepy as he asked his for his mother. This wasn’t fair

“It’s Keith, babe. I’m here”

“Keith?”

“Yeah, babe. It was a nightmare. It was just a bad dream”

“Fuck...”

Pretty much.

Lance did an almost three point turn as he rolled over, pulling his shirt down to hide his belly away. One coffee wasn’t as good as two, but better than none. Brushing Lance’s fringe back, his boyfriend didn’t look like he’d slept as solid as he’d appeared to

“Wanna tell me?”

“I haven’t been sleeping well”

“I gathered that... you seemed really out of it”

“Haven’t been to sleep through the nights...”

“Yeah?”

Slowly Lance wrapped his arm around him, like he had to ease himself into the touch. Kissing his boyfriend’s forehead he wondered how many sleepless nights he’d had because of him

“I usually walk around the beach at night... it helps”

The night was cold. Lance shouldn’t be out at night. It couldn’t be good health wise or for the twins... but Lance had to do what he had to do to keep going

“What about during the day?”

“I nap if I can... drink, eat, throw up, wallow, think to much and sleep”

“You don’t go out during the day?”

“I did with Mami... but it’s hard to look like this”

“There’s nothing wrong with how you look”

Lance hummed. The last of his tension sliding away

“You’ve had coffee”

He’d humaned. It was an accomplishment... which he could have said if his brain wasn’t broke

“I had to pee”

“I didn’t think you’d be here when I woke up”

Ouch. That hurt more than it should have. He wasn’t about to “root and run”. He’d busted his arse to get back to Lance

“I’m sorry. But you’re stuck with me...”

“I don’t want you to be stuck”

“I’m not. I’m where I want to be”

“Still doesn’t feel real”

“I’m real”

“My dreams feel real too. Mami... Mami copped a few nightmares”

“Mami loved you. I’m sure she was just relieved she was there for you”

“I hate waking up and knowing she’s gone. I hate it...”

Keith hushed him. How was he supposed to explain everything to Lance when he was dealing with so much as it was

“I know. It’s not fair”

“She loved you so much... her son... she was so proud of Keith. So proud”

“I loved her too. She felt like the first mum I ever had”

Lance hiccuped, before Keith was shoved aside as Lance scrambled off the bed, running for the bathroom. Lance didn’t mean to hurt him, but damn he got him with his hand against his ribs.

Slowly Keith followed Lance into the bathroom, Lance throwing in the toilet, hand in his swell as he did. Keith had the impression morning sickness would have gone by now. Settling behind Lance, Keith placed his hand over his boyfriend’s. His fingers felt thinner, Lance felt thinner. His hips had widened a little, a little more curvy than he had been... but Keith only knew that because he knew Lance’s body so well. Gagging, Lance wasn’t having a fun time

“Let it out, babe”

“S-sorry...”

“Idiot. It’s fine”

“Ca... can... you call Coran? He usually...”

The sentence was lost to Lance vomiting. Coran usually wha... oh. Coran and Lance talked in the morning. Lance had someone there now, so he didn’t have to face the man on his own

“He can wait. Should I get you some water?”

Lance groaned at him. Keith guessed that meant he wasn’t feeling fond of any form of fluids...

“What about some blood?”

Catching his breath, Lance groaned at him again

“Just... go call Coran... please. I’ll be there soon... and no... water...”

This morning sickness thing was beyond a joke.

Keith headed into the kitchen, opening and booting up Lance’s laptop. He smiled as he found himself as the background, Kosmo making a pest of himself licking his cheek as Lance took the photo. Pin locked, he knew Lance too well as his birthday unlocked the laptop. It’d barely got past the loading screen before Coran was ringing. Was he so untrustworthy that he’d suspected he wouldn’t be able to get through to Lance? Accepting the call, the screen was filled with Coran’s teeth, the fae using the laptop to floss in, coughing and throwing the floss aside, Coran not fooling anyone as he pretended that never happened

“Keith, my boy! We were worried! We hadn’t heard from you!”

Whoops. Okay. Yeah. He’d promised that he’d call as soon as he knew what was happening with Lance

“Is that Keith?! Where is that arsehole!?”

Double whoops. He’d upset Pidge. Coran was bumped out the way by her

“Keith! You said you’d call! We’ve been going crazy!”

He was in for it now

“Hey, Pidge. Sorry. Lance and I were talking... uh, he’s here. He’s kind of okay...”

“Can we see him?! I want to see him!”

“Yes, well, excuse me... I did tell you I would be calling him”

Coran nudged his way back into view. Keith felt he’d probably been putting up with Pidge and Hunk freaking out all night now. He didn’t even know where his phone was...

“Guys. That’s enough. Lance is in the bathroom. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to call last night. We had some stuff to talk about”

Coran must have regretted his wheelie chair, moved out the way by Pidge again

“Is he okay? Can we see him?”

“He’s mostly okay. Look, we’ve only just got up. I can either show you him throwing up or I can call back later”

“Don’t you dare bring that laptop in here!”

Whelp. Okay

“What was that?”

“Lance. He doesn’t want you guys seeing him throw up”

“What’s vomit between friends?”

Coran rather forcibly butted Pidge back out the way, looking grouchy as he did

“Keith, how is he?”

“Throwing up. He’s... we’re gonna stay a few days. He really needs this right now”

“Okay, my boy. Make sure you keep him hydrated. Don’t forget his shots. Make sure he’s eating too... I tell him everyday...”

Keith started tuning Coran out. It was amazingly easy when you’d listened to nothing but Blade bullshit. No wonder Lance took the chance to have someone else listen to his nagging...

Pidge yelling as Coran held her back

“Tell him to show us proof of undead life! I want photos! Don’t you hold out on us, Keith Kogane! We wanna see Lance and we wanna see that bump! And we want to see Lance smiling or your lose you balls, buster!”

Oh lord. Well that was Coran’s problem to deal with. Better Coran than him and Lance. Maybe he could con Lance into taking a photo with him? Maybe play along... No. He couldn’t say he’d kidnapped Lance. That felt too raw still... ugh. Why was he happy about Pidge being demanding? And why was he so annoyed at Coran? Right. Nagging... he didn’t want to hear more nagging. He had Shiro to nag... fuck... he hadn’t called him. Whoops. Hopefully Matt did. On the other side of the screen Coran opened his mouth, Keith fearing more nagging

“Coran, I’ve got it. We’ve only just got up. I’ll call you later when Lance is up for it”

He’d hung up on Coran, closed the laptop, and made it back to Lance before he felt bad. Their friends cared and he’d cut things short

“Miss me?”

Lance sighed at him. Resting against the toilet with his arm between his head and the seat

“You hung up on Coran”

“Maybe?”

“I heard you”

“In my defence, I didn’t think about the fact he’d start nagging quite so soon”

Lance groaned at him, his boyfriend reaching his free hand out blindly, Keith taking it, not completely sure why or what to do with it

“What are you doing?”

“Just reminding myself you’re real. He’s been at me like that for weeks...”

No thanks. Coran should have known his nagging wouldn’t help

“You’ve got more patience than I do”

“It gets repetitive. If I don’t answer he calls all day until I do”

“I think he misses you”

“I think I honestly can’t take the nagging”

Maybe Coran’s plan was to nag Lance into returning home? He was going the right way to make Lance stay in Cuba forever. Sitting down behind his boyfriend, Keith coaxed Lance into leaning back against him. Lance looked wiped out... so maybe that meant it was really justified nagging?

“You good?”

“For now... sorry, I know how gross it is”

More concerning than gross

“You can’t help it. Do you want to do something today?”

“Sleep?”

Keith snorted, kissing Lance cheek

“Other than sleep?”

“There’s not that much to do...”

“I’ve never been to Cuba before”

Lance fell silent for a bit, Keith kind of hoping his boyfriend would suggest what he was hinting at, without really hinting. He needed to work on his hinting skills

“Do you want to see Cuba? I haven’t gone out much... since...”

Yep. He got there. This was why Lance was pretty much the smartest person he knew

“I’d like that. You can show me around. Tell me about what you and Mami did...”

“We mostly visited family... and did tourist stuff”

“Then show me around?”

Keith didn’t know the socially acceptable way to help his boyfriend through this, but if Lance was talking, he’d be able to understand what it was like for him and Mami as they waited. This was different from when he lost his dad. Lance had a life of loving memories with his Mami. Mami had lived a long and good life. She’d been happy. She’d thanked him so many times for loving Lance. So many times she’d said she was reassured that she was leaving Lance in safe hands.

Keith was sent to have his coffee while Lance showered. His boyfriend going white and rushing to the kitchen sink. Keith glad he’d managed another two cups before Lance threw up. He was most definitely awake now

“Babe?”

Lance groaned out

“Coffeeeeee”

“You want some?”

Lance throwing up again said “no”. Was it the smell? But he’d seemed okay last night?

“Should I air... I’m just going to air the room...”

Opening the doors to the balcony, Keith blinked at Rieva and Matt. Matt waving at him

“Hey, balcony buddy!”

Okay. So he knew Coran organised Matt and Rieva being there...

“What... the fuck?”

There was like a metre between balconies. Keith could literally climb over to them. What the hell was this

“Nice to see you, Keith. How was your night?”

Rieva was messing with him. Matt was messing with him. Coran was messing with him. What the hell?!

Keith backed away from the door, looking to Lance, then back to their friends

“Uh... I’m going to go back inside now”

Rieva waved at him

“Say hi to Lance for us, and tell him we miss him!”

Keith looked back to Lance who was now leaning against the kitchen counter, shaking. Okay. Closing the doors he pulled the blinds across... nope. Not dealing with that right now. With neighbours like that, he’d be going out in the streets to get five minutes of quiet time.

Moving back to his boyfriend, Lance sighed, expecting some kind of nagging. Scratching the back of his head, Keith nearly tripped as he cast a glance back at the balcony, feeling slightly violated

“I didn’t know they were right there”

“Try figuring out what to do with yourself when they want to talk”

“They missed you”

Lance shook his head, turning away from to organise his injection

“It’s not about missing me. I know people care and don’t want me to be alone, but no one asked if I was ready to see them again”

Keith bit down his comment about this being like after Sendak had taken Lance and Lance had barely been up to seeing anyone before Keith had to leave. Not having friends was lonely. Lance needed his friends

“That’s because we all missed you. Shiro and Curtis are coming home next week. They’re bringing Kosmo because I couldn’t bring him on the plane with me”

“They’re coming back?”

Keith wrinkled his brow. Why wouldn’t his brother be coming home? Rome was done. Done and both he and Shiro really liked Platt’s quietness. Being able to help but being able to be themselves, it was some kind of gift

“Yeah. Oh, I totally have to tell you Curtis has two horns now...”

“He has two?”

“And my mother decided she wants to date”

“She is hot”

Maybe mentioning Krolia was too soon? God. How was he going to tell his mother that Miriam passed away? He wasn’t okay with Miriam passing away. His mouth decided he needed to try and cover his “slip up”

“Yeah. I suppose. Anyway, when Shiro and Curtis come back I was thinking I could move to Garrison properly and we could live together and... we can decorate the nursery. I actually picked up a few things in Rome, but my stuff is coming with Shiro and Curtis because they’re coming back via private jet. Can’t put Curtis on a plane with two horns. He’s twice as horny as he was. But his feet don’t smell as bad any more and fuck, I left my shoes on the beach last night”

Lance let him talk himself out. How could he forget about his shoes? He liked those shoes. Rieva drew smiley faces on the heels and he’d thought Lance would get a laugh out of it. Someone out there scored a nice new pair of red converses. He really liked them... so much...

“Oh, babe. How many cups did you have this morning?”

Did the first cup of milk coffee count? He supposed it did as there was coffee in it...

“Three”

Lance wrinkled his nose. How could anyone wrinkle their nose at the life giving nectar that was coffee?!?

“Babe?”

“It’s nothing”

Right. He knew now that that meant the opposite

“You can tell me. I won’t get mad”

Lance sighed at him

“I know. Like logically. But... fine. Coffee seems to make me want to puke. The smell. Just thinking about drinking it makes me feel gross”

Keith gaped. How?! How could coffee make anyone sick!?

“See. I knew you weren’t going to be happy”

“It’s not that. I... why do you have coffee? If it’s making you feel sick...?”

“You. I got some because of you. It reminded me of you...”

Keith’s cheeks reddened. That was kind of really Lance...

“But, last night?”

“I was drinking blood. It didn’t bother me because... I was so... so fucking relieved to see you”

Lance’s voice wobbled. Keith sensing incoming tears and he pulled his boyfriend into a hug

“If you can’t handle coffee, then I’ll stop drinking it”

“No. No. An uncaffinated Keith is... no. I don’t want you to give up coffee. I just... yeah. The smell...”

He could maybe at least try to cut down on the coffee... his would hurt to even have those thoughts

“I don’t want you throwing up because I like coffee”

“And I need you to be you. Seriously. It’s been four months of nothing but people worrying about me. I heard Mami on the phone more than once, I’m pretty sure she was calling up Coran to ask what to do”

“Mami loved you. You were her pride and joy”

Lance let out a shaky breath

“I... I planned this thinking we’d make happy memories. Then you’d come and it’d be like a real family holiday before the twins came. I felt so much better when I saw her with her family. I couldn’t call you, but, like, she came alive again. She told me all about what it was like here before we went to America. Where dad taught Luis to surf. Where Veronica snuck out one night and papi had to come pick her up because she forgot how to get home again She only about 7. She told me how Marco used to pick his nose and wipe his boogas on the pews at church. Aunt Sarah caught him once and spanked his butt until he was screaming she was the she devil... it was like I could breathe again. I wasn’t in Platt and I wasn’t handling missing you very well, but I wasn’t in Platt putting everyone in danger. None of my family here hated me. They were so kind to me when Mami passed. It took Coran a bit to get things organised, then he came down and picked me and her up...”

Keith nodded as Lance spoke, Lance seemed to be more in his memories than in the hotel room with him

“She sounded happy”

“Yeah. I... told her I felt like... like it was coming and she told me she was okay. She slept next to me a lot... before you... she was the last person to kiss my stomach. I told her the twins couldn’t hear her, but she told me to shut up. Then she’d tell them all about their daddy Keith... When I started feeling down she’d... she just... she’s everything I want to be as a parent”

“She set the bar super high”

“Yeah. Oh... that reminds me, I have a present from her to you... and a gift for the twins... and some other things like that. I told her to wait until they were born but we went to these beach markets and she... she pretty much bossed me into giving her most of the money I had on me. Got herself the most ridiculous hat... then she found one of those badly translated shirts that said “Backdoor Gramma”... spelt “G-r-a-m-m-a” with this cartoon old woman in a bikini and fluffy bits. She laughed so hard at it that I thought she was going to collapse”

He and Mami talked two or three times while Lance had slept and Keith was being gored alive over his regret for not being. Mami hated that there were so many things on the screen she could accident press. She had some very unkind words for Sendak that would have made Lance blush, but most of all it was like a check in. When Lance had been too sick to talk on Christmas Day, Mami was there to tell him Lance was going to be okay. He felt okay about Lance being with Mami, because they loved each other so much and Lance really needed that love that only came from her. Mami had her pride and her sense of self was strong. She could be quite and reserved, but for the most part she lived as freely as she liked.

“I don’t think I want to imagine that”

Mami would have rocked it. Keith imagined her sneaking her chocolates with a bottle of vodka giving the double finger to Sendak if she could have. Chocolates and her abundant supply of love were the only two things she zero self control over. Lance nodded, sucking down a breath, tone slightly dejected before levelling then growing wobbly

“Probably safer... but, yeah. I... the family gave me a lot of things that she’d left behind when we moved. I tried to go to the nursing home, you know, to thank them, but Coran made me stay in for observation. Luis cleaned her room out and took her things. He had the nerve to lose it at me for paying for her funeral...”