#awkward Keith

[autisticlancemcclain]

“You’re nervous.”

“Hnnngh,” Keith says, knuckles white on the steering wheel. He looks straight ahead, left leg bouncing, hair pulled back into a ponytail but flyaways everywhere. He keeps having to push up his glasses when they slide down his nose, nudged forward by all the tension in his eyebrows. “Being stressed before a stressful situation is not being nervous, Lance, it’s just my brain responding like a brain.”

Lance hides a smile. “You’ve met my family before, baby.”

Keith slows to a stop as they approach their turn, looking at Lance instead of the road for the first time in twenty minutes. His indigo eyes are wide and pleading. Lance is distracted by the tiny mole beside his nose.

“I’ve met your mom,” he says emphatically, breaking eye contact with Lance to crane his head to the left, checking over the hill for any cars. He’s far more careful than he needs to be — there’s never anyone on this road. But Keith is always endlessly careful when he’s driving other people around. “I’ve met your siblings. I’ve met your abuela. I’ve met the twins.”

“Mighty number of people,” Lance agrees. He looks at his boyfriend pointedly. “All of whom love you.”

“Because they love you,” Keith stresses. “You’re, like, their favourite person. You hyped me up so of course they have a nicer view of me. But this is like — your great grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles and, I dunno, second sister in law five times removed —

“Not how that works,” Lance interjects, amused.

“—and now I gotta impress them all? At once? I still don’t know how I did that with everyone else! I panicked! I forgot all my lines and conversation starters! I just — was awkward, and they were cool with it because your family is cool!”

“Ah, yes, you were yourself and people liked you,” Lance says, nodding sagely. “How bizarre.”

Keith looks at him imploringly. He has a — really cute nose, holy shit. It’s crooked from the three separate times it’s been broken and Lance is kind of obsessed with it. All he can think about is pressing a kiss to the bridge of it and watching how Keith will crinkle it on reflex. He has to fight back a giggle.

“I am going to get eaten,” Keith says miserably. “My luck is going to wear out. I’m gonna say something stupid and offend your third cousin or trip over someone’s toddler and destroy your mother’s flan by crashing into the table and upending hot coffee on an elderly person. Then I’ll get arrested for assault and you’ll have to visit me in prison and my cellmate will make a comment about you or something and I’ll have to kill him and then I’ll get retried and the death sentence, probably, and then Red will bust me out of prison and cause intergalactic meltdowns and —”

Lance can’t hold back anymore. Quick as a dart he reaches out, fisting Keith’s collar, and yanks him over the gearshift, kissing him softly and soundly until Keith sighs, surprise fading into something calmer, relaxed. His hand comes up to cup Lance’s cheek.

“You need a Xanax,” Lance says gently as he pulls away.

Keith huffs, the manic look in his eyes replaced with something much softer. Relieved, even. “Yeah, probably.” He tears his eyes away from Lance, rechecking his turn and finally actually putting on his blinker and moving onto the right road. His free hand reaches over the gearshift and Lance grabs it, tangling their fingers together and resting them in his lap. “I just — I want your family to like me.”

Lance smiles, a wide one that brings a flush to his cheeks and makes him shy, even though he’s not self-conscious; a smile that makes something flutter so intensely in his stomach that it feels so intensely private.

“They’ll like you,” Lance says simply.

Keith exhales. His hand tightens. Lance squeezes back.

The rest of the drive is easy.

———

By the time they make it to Lance’s great-grandmother’s farm, he can tell that some tension has crawled back into Keith’s shoulders. But he’s always been brave, when fighting dictators or meeting parents, and doesn’t hesitate to pull into the gravel driveway and park the car. He squeezes Lance’s hand again before letting go, stepping out of the car and heading to get their stuff.

“Tío! Tío!” scream two voices, and Lance doesn’t even have half a second to brace himself before Nadia is launching herself at his stomach. He manages somehow to spin them both around to offset the momentum, keeping them both upright. Keith is not quite so lucky — Lance hears a slam, a startled oof, and then he sees their bags go flying out of the corner of his eye.

“Jesus Christ,” Keith wheezes, flat on the ground with Sylvio crowded on top of him.

“I got you!” the boy crows, scrambling off Keith’s body in order to adequately dance around in victory. “You went splat!” He whirls around to face Lance, still dancing around. “Tío Lance! Did you see?”

Lance adjusts Nadia on his hip, making no attempt to hide his amusement. “I did. You got him good, buddy.”

Beaming, Sylvio turns back to Keith, who’s finally managed to get enough breath back in his lungs to stand.

“You got me good,” he wheezes in approval.

“Just like you showed me!”

There’s no mistaking the smugness in Sylvio’s voice, the challenge, the I’m-little-you’re-big-and-you’re-a-loser.

Keith recognises the challenge easily, eyes glinting, and before Sylvio can run away Keith scoops him up, tossing him over his shoulder and whirling them around ‘til he’s dizzy.

“Just like I showed you, champ. Think you can get out of this one, though? It’s easy!”

Sylvio shrieks, pounding on Keith’s back with fists weak from laughter. Nadia squirms in Lance’s hold, so Lance sets her down, and in seconds she’s run and attacked Keith’s other side, climbing up his legs to try and free her brother. Keith scoops her up, too, throwing her over his other shoulder as she laughs just as shrilly.

“Clearly neither of you learned very much!” he shouts, grin so wide it practically splits his face. His already precariously dangling glasses slide right off his face but Keith doesn’t even spare them a glance, stepping over them easily and shaking the twins as he goes. “You’re trapped!”

It doesn’t take the bright twins very long to unite forces, attacking Keith with renewed vigour all at once. Lance bends down as they wrestle, scooping up Keith’s glasses and their discarded bags.

“He’s good with them,” Lisa says, sidling up beside him and sliding her hand around his waist. Lance mirrors her, squeezing.

“He thinks they’re hilarious. He loves them to pieces.”

“Believe me, they love him too. I heard about Uncle Keith so much on the drive down that I was tired of him before you two even got here.”

Lance snorts. “Yeah, right, dweeb. No one else here reads Jane Austen. You need your nerd buddy.”

“Indeed,” she says, grinning. She pats him on the hip, pulling away and taking one of the bags slung over his shoulder. “C’mon, let’s get your stuff dropped off. Marcela will want to fuss over you, I’m sure. She hasn’t seen you since your last mission.”

Lance looks back at his boyfriend before following her, making sure he doesn’t need Lance’s help. The twins have wrestled him into doing their bidding, it looks like, or more likely he didn’t even put up a fight, and sit on one shoulder each, guiding him around the property with shouts and points and frenzied gesturing. Keith has his hand locked firmly over each set of knees, careful not to let them fall, as he wobbles around to make them gasp and laugh.

Lance smiles. He’s fine.

———

Keith finds him within the hour, Nadia and Sylvio off to play with their cousins.

“You abandoned me,” he pouts, hand wrapped around his elbow.

Lance notices, idly, that he’s slouching again; that his ponytail has been abandoned entirely and his hair curtains his face.

Hm.

“You were busy being a doofus,” Lance teases, brushing his hair out of his face. He nobly resists the urge to quote Regina George. “One of us has to be the mature one. We wouldn’t want anyone getting the wrong impression about the saviours of the universe.

“You’re hiding out on a random couch on your phone,” Keith deadpans. He glances down at the screen. “You’re watching a seven year old vine compilation. On mute.”

“Like an adult,” Lance says primly. “Watch with me.”

Keith rolls his eyes fondly, but slides on the couch behind Lance, arms wrapped around his waist and chin hooked over his shoulder. Lance digs in his pockets until he finds Keith’s glasses, twisting around to slide them on his handsome face. His hands linger on Keith’s temples. Keith’s smile is small and crooked and bares the tiniest peek of crooked incisors, and Lance’s heart flutters.

He leans back into Keith’s chest as he plays the video, watching a compilation of dorky videos he’s seen a thousand times. He feels Keith’s grin press into the juncture of his neck as he starts to mumble along. His hand rests just under Lance’s shirt, flat on his stomach. Lance fights the urge to squirm.

You Are In Your Abuela’s House, he reminds himself firmly. Your Ancestors Are Watching You. And Jesus, Probably.

Luckily, someone calls out their names before Lance really needs to find a vat of ice water to dunk himself in.

“Leandro! Keith! Come eat before your hog of a brother takes it all!”

The two of them don’t even need to pause for a moment before throwing themselves off the couch, scrambling towards the kitchen at top speeds because Marco absolutely will eat their portion of the food. Not even because he’s hungry for it, just because he’s a butthead who thinks it’s funny.

“This is your fault,” Keith informs him, careening around a questionably placed side table.

“Nothing is ever my fault ever in the entire universe,” Lance shoots back.

(Is it Lance’s fault? Possibly. But in his defense, the several years he spent as a child waiting for Marco to be distracted before eating his favourite thing on the plate still make him crack up when he thinks about it. Marco just got so mad, every time. Plus his eyes bulge a little when he loses it. How was Lance ever supposed to avoid poking that bear?)

Luckily, they make it in time to wrestle a plate away from Marco’s snickering ass.

“Keith, Lance,” Lance’s mother greets warmly before Lance can crack a plate over his brother’s head. “I’m glad you made it!”

“Mother,” Lance squawks dramatically, hand flying to his chest, “I am the second to be greeted? You’re son? You’re youngest angel? The one who went missing for several years and returned to you, prodigal?”

She reaches over and flicks Lance in the forehead. Keith snorts. Marco cackles.

“Keith called me on the flight home,” she explains, ruthless. “So he is the son, and you are the son-in-law.”

Keith flushes as he always does when Mamá pairs them like that, when they’re both her sons, when she implies what it implies. Lance lets the warmth of that expression soak into his bones, deep in through his back, from every point Keith is touching him.

“I was sleeping off being maimed!” Lance despairs.

It does him no favours. Mamá waves her hands wildly, setting down her own plate in favour of placing her hands over her ears. “Gah! Sh! Do not tell me of these things! I am meant to pretend your job is nothing more than ornamental! Do not ruin that for me!”

“It was the slightest ever maiming,” Lance mutters, sullen.

Keith visibly bites back a retort to that, no doubt out of respect for Mamá.

(Lance knows that Keith would have been the world’s biggest mama’s boy had he grown up with Krolia. He has shared this hypothesis with Shiro, who had laughed so hard upon hearing it that he had sprained a muscle in his neck, and then explained later with a heat pack and a wryly smiling Adam that Keith used to scold Shiro for pushing himself with exact quotes from Shiro’s mother herself.)

“Nobody ever wants to hear my side of the story,” Lance laments.

Keith bends down to kiss him on the cheek.

“That’s because you are a liar,” he says kindly.

Lance catches his chin before he can pull away, kissing him to shut him up.

They head outside to join everyone else, plates stacked high with food and plastic cups balanced precariously with spare fingers. Keith starts to slouch again as they walk out the sliding screen door, but he keeps his hair out of his face, eyes flitting between different people. It helps that hardly anyone spares him half a glance, too used to random new people in such a big family.

“Hey, Patito! Over here!”

Lance whips his head up at the familiar voice, breaking into a wide smile when he sees his sister’s wilding waving hand. Keith, too, seems relieved when he catches sight of Veronica, rushing over almost faster than Lance is.

“Hey, losers,” she greets, flicking water from her cup at them as they sit across from her. “Took you long enough to get here.”

“Lance is a distraction and danger to the road,” Keith says immediately, because he is a snitch. He is also unfortunately very quick and manages to duck away from Lance’s pinch.

Veronica snorts. “Believe me, I know. Every ride back to the Garrison on weekends was a near death experience because he kept smacking me every ten seconds. A menace.”

“You manipulator!” Lance accuses. “I slapped you because you teased me! Constantly!”

Keith and Veronica share sharp, matching grins. Lance takes a nanosecond to ponder what he ever did to deserve the sufferings of their friendship.

“That’s because you’re so goddamn easy to rile up, sweetheart,” Keith says with a wink.

Lance attempts to shove him off his chair. Unfortunately, while he does flail backwards, he manages to stay upright.

“You two were supposed to hate each other,” he mutters into his congrí. “This friendship thing is bullshit.”

Neither believe him for a second.

They’re barely into their meal when the nosiness starts. In fact, Lance is honestly surprised it has lasted this long. Luis probably said something to convince everyone to tone it down, because he is a saint and also Lance’s favourite.

“So,” says his Aunt Vena, “…Keith.”

Keith freezes, cheeks bulging. Lance tries very hard not to laugh at him.

“Hi,” he says, swallowing. He says nothing else and looks agonized about it. His memorized conversation starters have no doubt fled his brain.

“You know, I feel like I already know you,” jokes Aunt Vena, never bothered by awkwardness. Or boundaries. “I only see Leandro a few times a year were the only thing he talked about for ages.”

Lance goes pale. Oh, please God, no. Please let Aunt Vena be suddenly gifted with the ability to read Lance’s mind, or at least notice him waving his hands frantically behind Keith’s head, making cutting motions at his throat.

“Keith this, Keith that. Keith Keith Keith.”

Lance cradles his face in his hands. So much for miracles.

“He did?” Keith asks.

“Stop investigating immediately or you’re sleeping on the floor tonight,” Lance threatens under his breath. Keith’s hand finds it’s way to his thigh and rests there, as if laughing at him.

“Oh, yes,” laughs Aunt Vena. “Every other word was about how you sat in class or walked in the hall or flew your planes. He was always angry about it, but he was quite focused on you. Oh, and your hair.”

Aunt Vena turns away to chatter with someone else like she didn’t just ruin Lance’s life. Lance would hate her if he didn’t find her so goddamn loveable, but he does, so instead he looks up and suffers Keith’s wide, shit-eating grin, and ponders deep in his heart how he will re-humble his boyfriend so they’re back on even ground.

“…You were big on the hair, huh.”

“Shut the fuck up or I’ll chop it off as you sleep.”

———

“Keith.”

“I’m just saying.”

“You dorkbrain.”

“I’m just saying!”

Keith’s hair is in a knot at the crown of his head, glasses pushed all the way to his face. He’s got Lance’s hand in his but he’s not paying attention to him in the slightest — he cycles between leaning back, then forwards, then craning his neck and shifting his eyes. Every few seconds he lets out a muted gasp.

A group of children run yelling in and out of the house, heedless of doors and stairs.

“You are such a mother hen,” Lance says with great amusement.

Keith is too distracted to even roll his eyes. “Some of them are very little,” he says worriedly. “Maybe they should play a game outside. There’s more space.” He looks around at the various adults sitting and chatting, aghast. “Should me maybe get a — pool noodle, or something? Just for the corners. So there are no head injuries. That’s the most common way they happen, you know. Tripping during play.”

Lance hums, leaning into his side. “Reading a lot of parenting books, are you.”

Keith is very deliberately silent. Lance flicks up his gaze to watch his face redden.

“…Akira.”

“It’s Shiro’s!” he says defensively. “It was — he had it on the shelf! I read it when I was younger! It was traumatizing! Do you know how easy it is to fuck up a kid? Very easy, Lance! Their heads are very squishy! They don’t know balance yet! They repeat everything you say!”

“Was this book,” Lance starts, choking back laughter with everything he has, “perhaps about raising toddlers?”

Keith’s jaw snaps shut.

“Children under two? Hm?”

Keith glances away. “It didn’t mention.”

Lance loses his battle, burying his cackling in Keith’s shoulder.

“How was I supposed to know that ‘A Guide To Raising Healthy Children For New Parents’ was about — babies? Shiro was the dumbass who had it!”

Lance laughs harder. “Did he — did he buy it when he —”

Keith puts his head in his hands. “He bought, like, forty books when he first started fostering me, they were all basically the same, he’s such a dumbass —”

“Stop, stop,” Lance begs, grasping his aching stomach. The image of Shiro, twenty years old, panicking after impulsively deciding to apply to foster the delinquent who stole his car, frantically googling advice for new parents only to unknowingly receive information about toddlers is the best mental image he’s had in a while. He’ll have to share with Pidge and the rest of the Holts the second they get home.

“You’re such a butthead,” Keith grumbles, but it’s half-hearted. His attention is still mostly on the way Mateo, Lance’s four year old second cousin, very nearly brains himself on the corner of the brick entryway trying to swerve away from his older sister. Keith’s sharp inhale would have been comical if Lance didn’t feel his own heart drop.

“Okay,” Lance concedes, “maybe it’s time for a new game.” He pats his boyfriend on the knee. “You’re up, champ.”

“Wait, me?” Keith asks, bewildered. “You’re their cousin.”

Lance shrugs. “You’re the worried one. Plus, I want to go get wine drunk with Rachel. Mamá said she just got here. She’s been avoiding my calls all week which means she has Information to share and doesn’t trust herself not to tell me immediately. I have to know what’s up.”

Keith still doesn’t look convinced. “But I’m a stranger to them, basically.”

“So start with Nadia and Sylvio, dummy. Once the rest of the kids see a cool newer and accidentally safer game to play, they’ll join fast. Plus, the stranger aspect is intriguing, probably. You’re like a new toy.”

To solidify his point, Lance calls his niblings over, gesturing to Keith. The twins light up, immediately abandoning whatever they’re doing — trying to shove a sleeping Luis’ finger up his own nose — to sprint over to them.

“Tío Keith has a game for you two,” Lance whispers conspirationally.

The twins burst into howling cheers.

“Game! Game! Game! Game!” they chant, each grabbing one of Keith’s hands and tugging him away.

Keith looks back at him, panicked. Lance blows him a kiss, then turns back into the house to go hunt for his sister.

She finds him first.

“LANCE,” she shouts, whipping around to face him. Lance immediately shifts backwards slightly, knees bent, legs widened, arms held out protectively in front of him. He smirks. She matches it.

She charges.

She aerials into a heel kick, as always, aiming for his skull. Lance back handsprings out of her reach, careful of the various relatives around him, who are well used to their brand of bullshit and don’t even pause their conversations as they lean away.

He comes back up just in time to throw up a block to her fists, aiming a kick to her stomach that she can’t fully dodge. She gets him right back, though, like she always does, aiming a sweeping kick for his ankles that he has to flip on his hands to avoid.

“It’s good to see you, fucker,” she pants, roundhouse kicking the dip of his waist.

“Likewise, asshole,” he grunts, grabbing her ankle and flipping her to the ground. She drags him down with her.

They’re both grinning.

“Tomorrow morning we box for real,” she proposes as they lay there, getting their breath back.

“Deal,” he agrees.

By the time they finally get back on their feet, they’re both parched, and since they also make frequent poor decisions, they head straight for the bad boxed wine. Lance pours them both heaping glasses and Rachel guides them to an open lawn chair, which they both sprawl on, a hundred percent in each other’s space.

“So,” Rachel says, chugging half her glass, “my grades are in. I’m graduating top of my class.”

Lance gasps. “Rachel!”

“And,” she continues, building up suspense with a grin, “I got word back from all my residency applications.”

Lance thinks he might explode. He remembers them when they were little, huddled on the floor of their bedroom at one in the morning, glow sticks guiding their planners, mapping out heir lives together. Where they would go to school, when they would bother with dating, how they would do it all together. Lance, best pilot to come out of the Garrison next to Shirogane. Rachel, the first surgeon to successfully transplant a brain.

“I got in,” she says, beam so wide it forces her eyes shut. “Lance, I got in!”

“Rach!” he screams, eyes blurry from tears and heart full to bursting. “Rach!”

He wraps his arms around her shoulders and squeezes, weeping with joy and elation and buzzing from his head to his toes. This is what Rachel has wanted since she was old enough to talk. This is his sister, his first and best friend, getting everything she has ever wanted, as she has always deserved.

“I’m so fucking proud of you!”

She squeezes him right back, her own tears wetting his t-shirt. Her relief is palpable, and Lance knows it, the indescribable feeling of finally crossing that goddamn mountain, finally getting what you’ve been working for for longer than you can remember.

“Everything is falling into place,” she says softly, pulling back and holding up her cup. Lance laughs and clinks them together.

They settle back into their shared chair, too happy for words, gathering themselves. Lance catches his mother’s eye and returns her soft smile, wine making him warm and happiness making him bright. He feels like he’s swimming in sun-warmed water.

He settles back with a sigh.

Rachel nudges him. “Hey, Loverboy. Look.”

Lance follows her pointing finger. Away from the tables and lawn chairs, in a wide, open space, there’s Keith — surrounded by every single child on the property, ordered in neat rows. Each of them has a hefty stick, held carefully in their hands, watching Keith with great intensity. Keith himself has his bayard out, stretched out in a battle position, back straight and shoulders loose. He has the same bright look on his face that he has during Lion training, or riskier missions. Excitement, steadiness, and a hint of cockiness that has Lance shivering. He demonstrates a move, and with a single minded focus, the children repeat it.

It has always been impossible not to want to be a part of everything Keith does, Lance has found.

“…You kind of scored,” Rachel observes.

Lance’s laughter is breathy, high-pitched. “Believe me, I know.”

There’s a rousing shout from the kids, then a cheer, then Keith shouts, “Ready?” and at their raucous response, chaos breaks out. Sticks are strikes and parried and children throw themselves dramatically on the floor in pantomimed deaths, scrambling to their feet seconds later to get back into the fray. Every few seconds Keith calls out rules and reminders, weaving through the children to point out places for improvement or congratulate someone for doing something right.

“I have never seen them all gathered this long without any crying or fighting,” Rachel says, something like awe in her voice. She pauses. “Well, real fighting.”

Lance smiles, something small and secret and over which he has no control. He catches his boyfriend’s eye and waves, which is returned at twice the enthusiasm.

“Keith’s good with kids,” he says quietly. To himself, he wonders if it’s possible to have a heart so full it bursts.

———

The blankets are scratchy but warm, and Keith smells as he always does, and Lance is half asleep. But the words come leisurely out anyway.

“You awake?“ he whispers, words tucked into the spot above Keith’s heart.

Keith hums. Lance feels the rumble of it in his cheek.

“Barely.”

His eyes are too heavy to keep open, so he lets them slip shut. He breathes deeply the smell of his boyfriend’s body wash, and traces meaningless patterns on his chest with his fingertips, breathing slowly, taking his time. He might fall asleep, but that’s okay. They have time.

“‘M glad you came, today.”

Keith’s breathing is slow and even, just like Lance’s, but he can feel the heavy weight of his gaze, those indigo eyes.

“I go where you go.”

Lance quirks his lips. The blankets rustle softly as Keith slowly slides up his hand, encircling his fingers around Lance’s wrist, palm resting on his forearm. After a minute Lance can feel his heartbeat, at the same time that he hears it, head pressed to Keith’s chest. “You’re good with the kids.”

Keith’s breath stutters. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I like them. And your family.”

“Told you.”

“Yeah, you did.” He’s silent for a minute, palm heavy on Lance’s skin. “I wanna — do this, Lance. Forever.”

Lance turns his head slightly, just enough to press his lips to Keith’s sternum. “I will love you until the end of time.”

He feels Keith’s smile, sweetening the air.

“I love you, too.”

[silentwillowwhisperer]

*sparkle*

Hi, yep, I'm alive (maybe.)

Here we have cute flower shop Lance and Keith who is very bad at peopleing.

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

Keith slams the door of the nearest shop open and dashes inside. He bends over and grips his knees, panting. His drenched clothes are making a large puddle at his feet.

"Um... Can I help you?"

Keith looks up and surveys his surroundings. There are various plants of all shapes and sizes on every available surface, and brightly colored flowers pierce Keith's vision. His eyes trail all the way to the far end of the room until they meet iridescent blue.

"Are you ok? You look like you've been running from a herd of angry purple alien cats armed with guns."

Keith has to snort at that. It sounds like the plot of a cartoon made for 7-year-olds. (Which is exactly the sort of thing he likes to watch, but can we just let him pretend to be cool?)

The guy has golden brown skin and a splash of freckles across his cheeks. He has a couple inches on Keith and broad shoulders. The corner of his mouth is quirked up into a little smile, and oh my goodness, Keith really hopes that this guy is at least a little bit gay. (That would definitely make his day go from 'horrible freaking disaster' to 'wonderful freaking disaster.)

This is Shiro's fault. It's that dumb, skunk-haired jerk's fault that Keith is standing sopping wet and making eye contact with an unbelievably cute guy in the middle of a flower shop.

Keith had been sleeping peacefully when Shiro called him at 3am (you read that right, Shiro is a monster) to remind him to take medication. Keith could appreciate this gesture when it wasn't the witching hour, but it was and then Keith was awake, and yeah he hid take the medicine, and because insomnia exists, Keith gave up on sleep and decided to go for a very early run.

Keith can't be blamed for forgetting to check the weather forecast, it was early and he couldn't think about anything but coffee.

And that's why Keith decided to walk the 5 miles from his shack in the middle of nowhere to the nearest town to find a Starbucks.

And that's also why he had to run the last 3 miles because the sky opened up and god decided to have a good cry all over Keith and his favorite sweatshirt.

Yep, completely, 100% Shiro's fault.

Wait. Keith has been staring at the flower boy for too long hasn't he? He can tell from the furrow in his perfectly shaped eyebrows that Keith is not following social conduct right now.

"Right. Sorry. Raining. Water. It's wet." Keith is forcing out words and desperately hoping something he says actually makes sense.

The cute guy laughs. (hallelujah!) "Yes, I can see that. Would you like a towel?" All Keith can do is nod stupidly, terrified of saying something else and having Shimmery-Eye-Dude realize that Keith is about to pass out from social anxiety.

He walks up to the cash register to accept the towel being held out to him. As soon as he does, Dreamy Man smirks and leans up against the counter so that his wonderful face is only inches away from Keith's.

Is it safe to assume that Mr. Ocean Eyes is into guys?

Is this a thing that platonic male companions do when greeting each other??

Is Keith being initiated as a 'bro???'

Why is Keith allowed to leave home on his own???? He should never be allowed into a public area without someone to supervise him!

"I-I- um... h-hi?" Oh look, Keith's stutter is here to say hello.

Tall-Mocha-and-Handsome barks out a laugh. (Wow, Keith would really love a cup of coffee right now.) "Hi there. You come here often?"

Wait. Wait! Keith knows this! Shiro explained this to him last week! Flirting! Keith might have a chance after all!

"I- I've never been here inside of this place and if you mean have I been in front of your face before, no I don't think so because your eyes are kind of sparkling very loudly right now and I don't think I would have forgotten that even though I'm face bland and who are you because you might be flirting with me right now and I really hope so because your face is pretty and hi I'm Keith I'm gay."

Keith has to gasp in a breath of air after the word mush that just erupted from his traitorous face hole. Flirty-Person stares at his face in shock as he tries to process the words that have been shoved at him.

After what feels like an eternity, Please-Marry-Keith's mouth returns to its position in a crooked half-smile and his brow furrows slightly. Keith can't tell if this face means confused pity/teasing or endearment.

"O...k then. You're blunt, aren't you?"

Keith has used up his capacity for language-speaking, so all he can do is flush bright red and try to hide his face in the hood of his sweatshirt.

"Welp, I can work with that. Keith, is it? I'm glad you're not homophobic, you we're staring at me so long that I was worried that you were about to start spouting some nonsense about crimes to humanity. I'm Lance, and are you from outer space? Because your body is out of this world!"

Stop. No. There is no way that Lance (yay, finally, a name! Keith was about to start calling him Sokka.) is a dork. Because Keith's weak heart will actually die. Oop, too late, he's already dead. Deceased. He has officially kicked. the. bucket.

He can't help but dissolve in to giggles. He so caught of guard by the pick-up line that he has to brace himself against the counter to keep from collapsing onto the ground. He rests his forehead on the smooth marble surface and desperately tries to stop choking on his laughter.

"Awww, what? That was my best line!" Keith looks up at Lance's face to see him smiling fondly at him. At least he hopes that's what it is. It there still a chance that Lance is fake smiling to hide the fact that he's calling the police?

Keith finds himself smiling back.

(Two days later they have their first date at the park, Lance prepares a giant picnic and Keith has never been more excited.)

(Shiro never lets Keith hear the end of this.)

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

I think that was an acceptable ending. Alright, now no one wake me up until I've had at least 10 hours of sleep or I might cry. (That means you @gavemebluethenpurplepinkskies, are you happy now?)

[icypantherwrites]

New Fic: Twist and Turn

Summary: Keith is absolutely not watching his teammates play a game without him and he most definitely isn’t wishing he could join them. Not at all. Besides, even if he did want to play, he knows he’ll just ruin it as he and fun don’t really mix.  No. It’s safer to just stay here, out of the way. 

Story snippet:

And before Keith could second guess himself he was on his feet and headed towards the game — faintly hearing Shiro’s surprised call of his name and clearly not expecting Keith to abruptly head over to the group — where it looked like Lance had just claimed his fourth victory based on his crowing.

Lance’s eyes snapped right over to Keith, his lips pulling up into a large, cocky grin that sent every alarm bell ringing and telling Keith he’d just made a huge mistake coming over here.

Damn him and his recklessness. 

“Come to play, mullet?” Lance’s hands gravitated to his hips, challenge clear in the pose. “You think you can beat the amazing Lancey-Lance?”

Keith’s brain blanked.

If he said yes then it was a challenge and it would escalate.

If he said no then Lance would tease and taunt and it would escalate.

And this, Keith realized, was why he always fucked things up.

He literally didn’t know what to say and now he was standing here like an absolute idiot and he needed to say something, anything, what the fuck did he—

Read it here

[hchano]

comic from a collab i did for the binary stars sheith zine, plus some stuff i did on the side for funsies lol. some extras under the cut

keith's design. them galra features are fading in rly slowly lol

this is how i imagine shiro felt when approaching keith lol

just a dumb doodle lol

[heynhay]

anon said 'kl training together/teaching each other how to use their weapons' but the second i drafted the post tumblr swallowed it so here

<hits you with the fem kl laser>

[keithkog]

Was out with Lance’s family for lunch and a stranger who apparently was a family friend heard I was marrying into the family. They then assumed I was marrying RACHEL. I swear I lost my appetite.

-Keith

[honeybyte]

. well,

[misty-moth]

You ever want to channel your inner Keith and tell people mid-convo that you are 1) aware that you are very awkward 2) sorry 3) willing to be punched if the other party wishes to dispel the awkwardness in that fashion?

‘Cause that’s basically how I feel every time I attempt chatting with people 😭 Keef is so very, very real for that feeling

[waugh-bao]

"We just got hold of Charlie one night and said, ‘That's it, you're in, you're doing it,’ Stewart says.

Aside from his musical proficiency, Watts was wanted because he shared a similar sense of humor with Richards. Stewart saw this as a tremendous asset.

"With Charlie we were thinking about the atmosphere in the band. In the carly days I thought Keith might be an awkward person to get to know," Stewart says. "I’d watch Keith with other people, and he always seemed to back away a bit. But he and Charlie were a fuckin' comedy team. They had a dual sense of humor."

Jagger agrees that the addition of Watts greatly added to the camaraderie within the band.

"We had the advantage that Keith and I both get along very well with Charlie. The fact that there's three of us who get along so well," Jagger stresses, "is very important."

In addition to Watts's easygoing temperament, Jagger was equally amused and impressed with his jazzier image.

"We all thought Charlie was very kind of hip because he had jackets and shirts," Jagger laughs. "Because he was working in an advertising agency, he was very different. It was good for the band to have someone who was sort of sharp. And we were glad he had experiences with jazz people."

(From Keith Richards by Barbara Charone, 1979)

[discordiansamba]

With the orphaned port brat AU, is Krolia still Keith’s mom ?

I feel like she wouldn't but also. She sees this runt of a Galra, clearly mixed, very much still a kid who is nonetheless trying to take on the Empire by himself in whatever little petty way he can manage. She's furiously signing the custody of child papers.

[noahtally-famous]

keith! the throwaway name in tdpi to you; but to me he's an actual character

younger me is screaming rn, ever since i watched tdpi when it came out, i was super interested in keith as a character (and his dynamics with sky, and with dave)!! finally here we are, some picrews of what i think he looks like & some basic info! (cant do the 16-slide presentation with him rn like i did with gabriel 😔 but maybe i will in the future!)

here's a fic abt him! (plus i do have an rr au idea with him in my drafts)

below the cut are gonna be some keith (and keith & sky) hcs:

-> keith is exceptional in almost any sport he puts his mind to! his favorites are baseball and basketball though. he met sky through a school game and they bonded over their love of athletics!

-> keith never rlly considered sports as a career, he's always default thought of it as a hobby. sky was the one who wanted to take her skills farther, and he did support her for it

-> their shakiness started when sky brought up auditioning for tdpi. keith has heard the shit that happens in many reality shows and worried for her, saying they could try another solution. they argued, sky signed up for tdpi (she said she'll miss him in the audition bc he was filming and it was sort of as a 'im sorry for the fights pls try to understand' thing). however, despite keith trying to understand, he didn't watch any of tdpi until the finale episode

-> as a loyal person in relationships, keith was extremely hurt and upset by sky kissing dave and then leading him on. it made him feel quite worthless, and despite any reconciliations, he knows he can't ever trust her again

-> he doesnt like dave bc the guy went ballistic and put sky's life in harm's way, he considers that a bit of an overreaction on dave's end and he does resent him for believing he played a part in sky falling for him

-> this guy places trust to a high degree, if you break it, you're seeing a different keith

-> he's the type to maybe be good/proficient at chess. might have him be good at it actually!

-> he and sky are both bisexual. sky is bi with a preference for women; keith is bi but used to pretend he was straight due to the environment he lived in

-> sky and keith's relationship tropes: friends to lovers, mutual respect for each other, relationship for convenience

-> in actuality, sky & keith's relationship is more of a friendship. they only made it like they're dating bc of their families, and when their individual sexuality crisis came up, that caused some issues. prior to tdpi, sky already had a feeling she liked women, but she kept it to herself; keith, for his part, already was aware of his bisexuality when he and sky started dating but he thought their relationship would "get rid of it". in the end, sky got the courage to push aside the veil in front of their relationship first (hence the dave moments), and keith tried to hide behind their relationship bc he didn't know if he had the guts to confront the implications

-> keith's fully ready to confront/fight anyone who gives him bad vibes and isn't afraid to show that--all except for his father (the man gave this guy too much trauma for that)

-> he got his piercings as a nonverbal 'eff you' to the old keith he used to be. back when he was worried abt his parents judgements and his friends. before tdpi, before sky and his breakup, before he made an effort to come into his real self

-> his mum and he have a complicated relationship. she's low-key homophobic at times that he cant get a proper read on her. but he does love her (def more than he does his dad), and he hopes she's willing to accept him

-> has heterochromia; one eye is dark blue, the other is light hazel (he tends to wear contacts, making it seem like he has two blue eyes)

-> he shaved part of the side of his head in a fit of impulsiveness at a concert with several friends, but then he realized he looks good in it and he likes the style, so he kept it that way

-> the type to wear sweatshirts/shirts/hoodies with lowkey memes on them (as shown in the pics with him wearing the orange hoodie with the two fingers almost touching)

-> he and sky were the epitome of 'what we have is better off as a wonderful friendship than a romantic relationship'

-> he and sky tended to help each other sports-wise in various ways; like she'd play scrimmages with him, and he'd race hurdles with her. this helps both of them grow and bond at the same time. it's a fun pastime they both enjoyed and feel nostalgic for now

-> clothing style: the stuff in the pics, along with jeans (not rlly baggy jeans though) along with sports sneakers or light brown hiking boots

-> one time sky twisted her ankle and refused to get help, and keith had to literally piggy-back her to his car bc she said she "can just walk it of, its fine!"

-> strong emotionally/mentally/physically. more so abt the first two, he's good at hiding his feelings bc of the environment he grew up in and his family (his dad more so). if he and dave ever have a heart-to-heart they can discuss their shitty father figures and how that lack impacted them lmao (the dave in my head has a shitty and distant father)

-> this also makes him more suppressed emotionally and more uncommunicative

aaand think that's all i've got so far!!

[lilflowerpot]

Did keith have a crush or like some type of feelings for James Griffin?

Because like I remember him being mentioned when keith was going in about people that he wanted to bite?? And considering that biting can be considered affectionate, is it possible that he felt something like that toward griffin?

Also i love u<3

Lmao yes!! Not in any way that Keith himself really recognised at the time, but it's my personal hc that though he and Griffin had a pretty volatile and antagonistic relationship, there was still something about it that pinged the galra part of Keith's brain like "ah yes,, a Challenger,, we must prove we are a Strong and Worthy opponent,, this is a Bonding Experience,," but obviously you can see how that perhaps did not translate all too well into teenage human hormones 😔

[abrasife]

@unladielike * ✶ ❪ cont. from here┊☓ ❫

Prepared to turn around and leave since he had picked up Rachael's manga, Keith was pretty much ready to put this conversation to a close, especially since it seemed his apology fell on deaf ears for a good few (too long) seconds. If anything, he was quite resigned to have yet another attempt at forming friendships go down the drain. When would the pattern change anyway? He'd muck it up the moment he slipped out of being overly cautious and apprehensive about what he chose to share. Being honest hardly ever went in his favor. He was getting tired of the feeling of having to constantly apologize for nearly every outburst like this.

Then, Vivian finally broke the silence, accepting his apology with a sigh. Visibly baffled, the boy froze in his tracks like a deer in headlights as the girl browsed the shelf of shoujo titles. Breaking out of his disbelief, Keith tucked his book underneath his arm. He didn't think... he'd get this far. What was he even supposed to say to recovery from the sheer awkwardness that was salvaging a conversation like this?

❝ If it helps, I do this to almost everyone, siblings and family included, ❞ Keith replied in a low volume, unsure if the comment would actually make her feel better.

He turned his attention to the row of books in front of him, hoping that the art and the act of browsing would relief him of his apprehension. Was there a series he'd want to study the art of? Even if he wasn't super fond of the writing, the art was something to admire in ways with how detailed and cute it looked. It never hurt to expand his artistic horizons after all. It might make it easier to gain more clients as he dabbled more into digital art, considering many were into the anime and manga art styles.

At her question, he looked towards her with confusion on his face, only for his expression to shift immediately when he realized the misunderstanding, ❝ Oh, uh, both my sisters are older than me, ❞ he corrected her, ❝ and like I said before, Rachael likes these sorts of things—helps her feel happy. ❞

Noticing a thick volume of manga—an omnibus edition—that had an appealing title, Keith carefully pulled it off the shelf, flipping it over to the back side to read the summary—a cute cooking manga featuring a youthful female protagonist looking for the owner of a special spoon at a prestigious academy. As he opened the back pages, he saw a small collection of cooking recipes, igniting his interest immensely. Okay, he had to grab this one!

Keith scanned the shelves for the other volumes in the series, but it seemed that he would be unlucky in that regard. Maybe it was luck that he stumbled upon this considering how much older it was compared to these new releases on the shelf.

❝ I didn't realize there was cooking series like this, but I got to find the other volumes in this one and try out all the recipes. , ❞ he spoke aloud, not really sure how else to streamline his thoughts into the conversation. He briefly glanced back at Vivian, unsure if he should really ask her considering how she had mentioned shoujo wasn't her thing, ❝ Err, do you know of any other places I could potentially find the rest of this— ❞ Keith flipped the omnibus manga to the front cover to confirm the title, ❝ —'Kitchen Princess' series? ❞ If it wasn't obvious, he wasn't exactly a manga or book buyer connoisseur.

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

The space cowboy au sounds so fun!! Do you maybe have more info about keiths kid? Also im courious, does the Kuron in this au have a diffrent personality than the post s8 guy? Since their backstories and background are so diffrent

Honestly not much, Kid is still in workshop (at the point where i am still calling her 'Kid' instead of finding or even creating an actual name for her). But i still have something-

Kid to me is the kind of personification of the consequences of Keith's avoidant ass just straight up repeatedly abandoning everyone. The way i see it is, even after Zarkon died and Shiro was still there, Keith still went on missions with Blade which meant voltron were still down a paladin and a lion for a number of voltron missions and eventually caused the team to fracture to the point that Lance got so frustrated with others he left for home, and eventually got himself stuck in the cowboy sector. (This is like 5 years after Kid is born but no one knows the existence of Kid)

While he was on missions Keith got close to this one alien (Kid's other parent) until they you know slept together. However after few attacks Keith got paranoid that he's endangering his partner and left without even a goodbye or a letter or knowing he got his partner impregnated. Said partner tried to get into contact with Keith to atleast tell him that hey! You are a father! But eventually gave up on him cause they cant be hung up on him anymore and have a huge responsibility especially considering a war is tearing un the entire fucking universe.

So Kid grew up knowing who her father is and what he is and just absolutely fucking hating him. She saw her parent struggle to try to make ends meet and support both of them while her 'father' is treated as a hero despite him abandoning him and she hates the legacy he left behind. Not to mention galran gene pretty much skipped a generation, so Kid despite only being a quarter Galran looks much more of a human-galran-other alien amalgamation than Keith who looks fully human. This in itself is kind of a problem in the universe where Galran hate half-galrans for being impure and non-Galrans hate half-Galrans for being Galran. So not fun. Especially when you are a dirt poor pair of refugees.

Eventually (and idk maybe something happens to the the Other Parent) she decides that actually? She's going to fight her useless father and either make him pay child support or just straight up kill him. She fully believes that whatever is wrong with her can be fixed if she gets to punch Keith, maybe even kick, maim, and bite him. So she decides to embark on her mission in the name of all the children with deadbeat parents to stab her father with his own knife. She ends up taking the wrong turn and ends up in the cowboy sector (if the other parent is still than it is more like they were on a trip, got themselves stuck and even if fighting Keith isnt a mission, it is something that she is still planning to do when she's older). Here she runs into Lance and is like, "Ok here's my ticket to meet the sperm donor!" And Lance is like "Kid i havent seen Keith in years. Also this sector is pretty much an abandoned death trap. There's no way we'll even be able to get out ever!" But Kid is like "Nuh-uh!" And follows Lance around and also plans to get out of here and gets into every fight possible. And Lance who didnt even believe Kid was Keith's kid (despite her looking like him, including that scowl) and just dealing with years loneliness, depression, and hopelessness is like "Well i cant just leave the kid on her own to deal with all the bullshit." And ends up becoming her father figure.

Regarding Kuron, oh absolutely! A lot of Kuron's anger and personality in post s8 au is because of his trauma, and since this Kuron doesnt go through all of That™, he is mostly a chill dude. I am still debating on whether he knows he is a clone, or gets to know this after he meets Lance (i am leaning towards already knows) but yeah dude is mostly chill and lowkey confused with the entire sector. He was running away from Haggar and an existential crisis and an identity crisis and some other regular bullshit of the yeehaw sector. He feels directionless and aimless given he's not only a science experiment meant to be evil, he's an abandoned science experiment meant to be evil. He doesnt want to be evil, his goal in life is to survive to see the next day, and the next day, and the next, and yeahhhhh he's definitely a bit depressed. But it is Fine! He's Fine! Totally Fine!!! (Lies) Lance was a familiar face and Kid is familiar and funny so he decide to stuck around see where it goes, not expecting to be integrated in highly co-dependent found family and sooner or later having to face all his issues head on. He doesnt hate Shiro but he is also weird about him? Like he doesnt know how he would approach him or if he even would ever get a chance to approach him. So Shiro is pretty much in the backburner along with all his other issues. But yeah i'll say he's very different from ps8!Kuron.

[keithsautism]

omg I had no idea that dreamworks bought voltron from bobby at WEP . Apparently theyre also developing a live action film? Sorting out casting and stuff. Looks like its probs a few years away though. Really sad that Bobby is co-producing tho :( I hope the trademark transfer to dreamworks didnt give him a hole into it to fuck it all up.

A film would pull in more older fans as well.. itd be more likely to be targeting older audiences as well, like the transformers films are different to the animated series I imagine.

I wonder if theyd keep or advance the representation there was in VLD. Because there was so much backlash about later seasons and WEP seemed to not understand what the demographics of the fans actually was. Bobby thought it was all young boys and their dads watching it, but it turned out to be teenage girls.. I wonder if theyd make a transformers-type live action but targeting that girl/gay demographic that latched onto VLD? There'd be a niche for it. People would go insane over it

Kinda doubt it tho. There would also be a lot of backlash from older fans of the original series if paladins were lgbt+, which is probably what the vocal fans would be screaming for. Its probably already a big ask for boomer fans if allura is black or brown and not looking aryan. Imagine how hard theyd shit themselves if keith was gay in canon

[waugh-bao]