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autisticlancemcclain · 1 year ago

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“This your place?” Keith asked, panting.

His host raised his eyebrow, pushing open the door.

“No,” he deadpanned, “this is my annoying neighbour’s house. He’s on holidays. I’m staying here and using all his things to take revenge for hours of small talk.”

“Oh,” Keith replied, impressed. “Cool.” He’ll have to do that next time Lance is on a solo mission.

“No, I’m – I’m kidding, Paladin.”

“Oh,” Keith repeated, disappointed. “Less cool.”

“Just – get in the house.”

Keith didn’t argue. He followed his host into the small building, nodded as he was pointed to a guest room, and passed out the second his head hit the straw-stuffed pillow.

— — —

When Keith woke, it was dark outside. A scarred face was looming over his, and he bit back a scream, hand flying for his knife on reflex.

“Peace, Paladin,” said Ares, holding up a hand. “I startled you. I did not mean to. It’s time for the feast.

Keith slumped. His heart slowed from its jackrabbit pace. “Yeah. Yeah, man, thanks. I’ll be right out.”

His host nodded and left, closing the door behind him. Keith took one minute to calm himself, closing his eyes and counting his breaths. Once sixty seconds passed, he stood, glancing down at his armour.

That was…fine, right?

They always wore their armour to diplomacy missions. Well, mostly because Keith threw a massive hissy fit the second Coran attempted to force him into the worst, most restrictive suit he’d ever seen. His armour was battered, unpolished, and honestly kind of rank, but it wasn’t like he had many other options. He held out his helmet, inspecting himself in the reflection of his visor.

Shiro would tell him to brush his hair.

Too bad he didn’t have a hairbrush.

He walked out of his room, shrugging. His host was waiting for him by the small hearth in the middle of the house, standing as Keith approached.

“Shall we make our leave?”

“Sure.”

He followed his host back out of the little house. They walk in silence. Keith’s feet begin to hurt by the five minute mark – he has no idea how long he slept, but it was not long enough, and exhaustion still pulled at his frame.

Dryope had mentioned food, though. And something like a party, but one lucky thing about Ares – he doesn’t seem to be much of a partier, either, so hopefully Keith could ditch that bright and early and go right back to sleep.

They walked along the same hills Keith’s host had led them down earlier, only this time they were going up, so it was worse. Thankfully, though, the walk was just barely shorter – they weren’t walking back to the beach, but to the hearth, the big fire pit Keith noticed walking in. All the houses they passed were empty, not even a light by the window.

“Is everyone at the – party, thing, whatever?” Keith panted.

Ares eyed him briefly, not pausing his stride. “Look for yourself.”

They crested the top of the hill, and Keith’s jaw dropped.

The hearth was blazing. The flame burned so brightly and hugely that Keith was half-convinced it was out of control. Surrounding it in hundreds of chattering groups was every single Aegian, tall and wide and small, smiling and laughing. As he watched, an Aegian called something in a language Keith couldn’t understand, and immediately dozens of the tree-warriors rushed up to join hands in a big ring around the fire, twirling and dancing as the watching Aegians chanted and sang.

Keith’s first thought was, Aren’t these guys made of wood?

His second thought was, This looks like a hippie commune. Time to ditch.

Unfortunately Ares caught him before he could go right back the way they can, spinning him around and shoving him down the hill.

“Real hospitable,” Keith grumbled.

His host seemed, as much as such a scary person could look, amused. “On you go, Paladin.”

Keith stomped on. He probably could take Ares in a fight, at least normally, but he was exhausted and injured and weak. Plus, if he was the reason behind yet another failed diplomatic mission, Lance would gleefully hold it over his head for weeks, and Shiro would be disappointed if Keith finally killed him. Plus, Allura would be upset with him, and having Allura upset with you kind of feels like taking a kitten that loves and trusts you and drop kicking it into the sun. Very quickly, you realise that you are the scum of the Earth and the worst person alive. It’s generally just something you should avoid.

As he trudged down the hill, he quickly recognised three familiar suits of armour. They were kind of hard to miss – even as scuffed as they were, they glinted in the light of the massive fire, shining like a bunch of precious stones. Pidge, sulking somewhere near a table of desserts; Hunk, chatting with his host; and Shiro, speaking with the Aegian leader like the tryhard little teacher’s pet he was. Coran stuck out, too, in his bright blue Altean uniform that was somehow pristine even though Keith watched him get flung at a wall and shocked by a bare wire from the broken control centre back on the dead castle.

All the Aegians wore some kind of bedsheet, or their Tinkerbell clothes. Interestingly, the dryads were not the only Aegians present – there were others who looked a little more human, although they had plenty of strange features that reminded Keith they were not. A group of laughing girls looked like they were made from the bottom of a pool in the sunlight, skin shifting with dappled light. Several guys walked around with half a donkey hanging out of their drawers. Keith spotted some honest-to-God centaurs. One girl appeared to be made out of blowing, spinning wind.

Hundreds of eyes seemed to follow Keith as he joined the crowd, glancing at him and then back at their friends, whispering to themselves. Keith shrunk into himself, letting his hair fall in front of his eyes – no one looked mad, or angry, or cruel, but no one looked exactly welcoming, either. Ares had disappeared at some point, not that he was what Keith would consider a friendly face.

Keith needed to find someone he knew, stat.

His first instinct was Pidge – the two of them usually slunked in some corner together whenever they were forced (often at gunpoint, thanks, Lance) to some stupid party. They had a running game called How Many People Can We Convince That Barking Is A Polite Human Greeting Before Shiro Finds Out. So far their score was 135-149, Pidge in the lead. (Keith very much intended to catch up.) But before he could make it over to where she was hiding, a group of water-girls descended upon her like a pack of piranhas, giggling and shouting something about braiding and eye makeup. Keith decided he would rather chew off his right hand than put himself anywhere near that, and did an abrupt 180 in search of Hunk.

Unfortunately, the big guy was still preoccupied. His host – Elijah (or something, Keith would be reminded of his real name eventually) – was showing him some kind of metal box that opened to a bunch of intricately placed gears and bobbles and wires. Hunk was staring at it like the Holy Grail. Not even Keith’s best pleading eyes and sad orphan story would convince him to babysit Keith and glare at anyone who attempted to socialise. Another dead end.

Keith sighed. That really only left –

“Hey, squirt!”

Keith went bright red, cringing with his whole entire body. He loved his brother, he really, truly did, but Shiro was as out of depth as he was at stuff like this and tended to overcompensate by being affectionate. Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, except he had a bad case of Foot In Mouth Disease and knew Keith at his most embarrassing early teenage emo.

So.

“Hey, Shiro,” he said stiffly, trying not to die inside as the man pressed a smacking kiss right in the centre of his forehead.

A tall, handsome guy somewhere to their left raised his eyebrows, smiling with amusement. Keith thought he could die. Sometimes, he thought his brother was secretly a forty-six year old suburban mom of three.

“We missed you!” cried his embarrassing brother. He was so genuine about it, it was hard not to smile back at him. “You took so long getting here!”

“My host’s place is at the farthest corner of the city,” Keith explained. “Had to hike here. Thought I was gonna bite it by mile six.”

Shiro snorted. “Drama queen.”

“Yeah, yeah. You try hiking after getting shaken around like a bobblehead. I bet your place is, like, twenty feet away from here.”

“Pretty much,” Shiro agreed, smile turning into more of a smirk. He attempted to dig his knuckles into Keith’s skull, but Keith was well used to his brand of crap and squirmed away at the last second. “Akeso’s sorta the main healer around here – at least I think? They’re not much of a talker – so they live in this building that’s attached to the infirmary. One of the big buildings in the inner circle.”

He pointed to one of the more rectangular buildings Keith had seen on the way in, with a much smaller, rounder building attached to it like one of those suction fish on a shark. It was hard to make out many details in the dark, fire’s light only able to stretch so far, but it looked pretty infirmary-ish.

“Hunk’s staying near the forges. He loves it, you should talk to him about it. He’s all cute and excited, you know that look he gets. Elatreus is impressed with him, practically made him an assistant.”

Elatreus! That’s the host’s name. And Keith absolutely knew what look Shiro’s talking about – the wide brown eyes, clasped hands, talking a mile a minute. He smiled softly. Nothing better for the soul like watching an ecstatic Hunk.

“That’s good. Glad he’s happy.”

“Yep. And Pidge is in a regular house like you, little more in-city. Next to some kind of trap shop? I don’t totally get it. Apparently Dysnomia needs a lot of supplies. Pidge was being all sketch about it.”

“That’s not super reassuring.”

“It is not!” Shiro agreed. He led Keith to one of the many tables laid out, absolutely covered in food. Keith realised he was ravenous, piling up a plate at least a foot high with meats and breads and foods he couldn’t even identify, but that smelt positively godly. At Shiro’s raised eyebrow, he rolled his eyes and selected a single vegetable.

“Make sure you toss some in the fire,” Shiro advised.

Keith squinted at him. “I’m…not gonna do that, thanks.”

“No, no, you have to.”

He pointed to the edge of the fire, where, sure enough, some Aegians were scraping the edge of their plates into the flames.

Keith wrinkled his nose. “The hell are they burning their food for? What a waste!”

Shiro shrugged, stepping into the line. “Akeso said it’s an old tradition, something that their ancestors felt protected them and gave them good will and peace. No one really wants to mess with that mojo, so. Portion of the food is sacrificed.”

Keith would be less pressed about it if the food didn’t look and smell so good. Scraping perfectly good food into fire felt like spending hours polishing a sword only to scratch it three seconds later – effort for no reason. When it was their turn, though, Keith did as the custom dictated. He’d learned enough about questioning weird traditions.

He held eye contact with Shiro and flicked his one vegetable into the flames. Delightfully, his brother’s eye twitched, like he was considering shoving Keith into them. Suddenly, this custom was Keith’s favourite he’d ever been forced to partake in.

By the time they finally sat somewhere to eat, Keith was so hungry he was ready to eat his fingers along with the food. He inhaled his food for a good five or six minutes, ignoring Shiro’s attempts first at conversation, then at slowing him down.

“Christ, kid,” he said, voice tinged with either horror or awe. Maybe both. “Eating like I never fed you in your life.”

“You haven’t,” Keith replied around a rib of some kind. “Adam fed me. You made ash of everything you touched.”

Shiro’s expression soured. He poked sullenly at some kind of leaf. (Serves him right for trying to be some kinda health freak now that he’s in charge. Keith once watched him eat an entire Costco sheet cake at three in the morning, and that had been his first and only meal of the day. Keith enjoyed bringing it up every time Shiro preached about the benefits of salad and watching him just start screeching to drown Keith out. Good times.)

“I didn’t turn everything to ash, you ungrateful brat. I made muffins that one time!”

You microwaved an already cooked muffin, Keith thought, wisely choosing to eat some kind of rice dish instead of bringing it up. And it tasted like erasers afterr. So.

“Sure, Shiro.”

Shiro nodded, satisfied. He picked up the leaf, sprinkled with some…orange thing, maybe, Keith couldn’t tell exactly, and took a delicate bite. He looked less satisfied.

“So,” he said, setting down his plate like he was looking for an excuse not to eat it. He looked at Keith expectantly. “You must want an update on Allura.”

Keith blinked. “Oh, shoot, yeah. I didn’t see her. She good?”

“Yeah, from what we can tell. When we got to the infirmary, Akeso stitched up my knee, then we –”

“You had a knee injury?” Keith interrupted. “You should have said something!”

Shiro smiled gently. “I got it treated, dork.” He bumped their shoulders together, trying to ease Keith’s upset expression. “I’m fine, okay? If Akeso didn’t bring it up, I would have. Promise. It wasn’t too bad, anyway, I swear.”

Keith frowned harder. He had noticed Shiro shifting slightly when they were first confronted by Dryope and her army, but Shiro had walked away without limping, so he’d allowed himself to stop worrying. A stupid mistake, and one he should know better than making. He knows his stupidly self-sacrificial brother.

“Keith, seriously,” Shiro assured. He leaned down, unlatching his thigh and knee braces, then pulled back the rip in his undersuit. Keith wasn’t comforted by the size of the rip – nor the placement of it – but the wound didn’t look too bad, and was stitched neatly. Some kind of salve was spread all over it, under the clear wound dressing. As he watched, the wound seemed to contract, shrinking ever so slightly.

“Healing magic,” Shiro explained, putting his armour back. He patted Keith’s shoulder. “Akeso is super practiced at it. They stitched me up but warned that overdoing magic healing is as bad as cheating death, so it’ll still take a couple weeks to heal fully. Just won’t hurt so bad and might heal a little faster than with just stitches.”

“That why Allura is still out?” Keith clarified, finally letting go of the tension in his shoulders. Shiro looked relieved. “No speedy magic?”

Shiro nodded. “Exactly. After Akeso stitched me up we went to go visit Rhea, check on Allura. She’s tucked in this massive bed-nest thing, snoring away. She’s fine. Just super drained and needs all the rest she can. She’s in good hands.”

Relief punches out of Keith like a physical force. It’s one thing if his friends are injured, a whole other if they’re unconscious – but with Shiro’s assurance as well as Coran’s confidence earlier, he can relax. The two of them can read people like no one else on the ship – except maybe Lance. She’ll be fine.

“Speaking of Lance,” Keith said.

“No one brought up Lance except your own brain,” Shiro responded patiently. That infernal smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth.

Keith went red, barrelling right on. “Where is he? This stuff is right up his alley, I figured he’d be out twirling until he passes out in the punch or something.”

Shiro frowned, looking at him funny. “He is? He’s been over –”

Just then, the music that had been playing in the background changed – there was a collective inhale, then all the instruments played something at once. Keith didn’t know much about music, but the something felt intentional, deeply so. A song was beginning, rather than endless background music.

Excited murmuring moved in waves throughout the gathered Aegians. People started shifting. High above everything else, loud and excited, rang a disbelieving laugh – a very familiar laugh.

Keith whipped his head up, roll dropping from his hand and bouncing into the dirt. At the edge of the crowd, lit softly by the orange golden flames, was Lance – but it was no wonder Keith had missed him before. He wasn’t wearing his armour.

He was wearing a dress!

Well, not really a dress. One of those ancient Greek toga things, that looks like a droopy bedsheet. Keith had noticed it on several – almost all, in fact – of the Aegians; a draped, white garment, cinched in the waist, pinned at the shoulders. It hadn’t looked anything special on them.

Lance, though, wore it like it had been made for him. Maybe it had. Most Aegians wore the toga-thing pinned at both shoulders, but Lance’s was only gathered at one, the rest of it falling artfully on his chest, looking dangerously like it was about to fall off. The cinched golden rope acting as a belt made his waist look downright tiny, like someone could pick him up around his middle and throw him, or something. It wasn’t crazy short, or anything, but Lance surely didn’t wear it down to his toes, like some others did. A pair of simple brown sandals wrapped all the way up his calves.

There were actual freaking laurels in his hair, along with what Keith could only assume were gold threads, wrapped around a few tiny, careful braids. A golden bracelet wrapped around his bicep, contrasting with his many Earth-made bracelets and anklets, and his plastic blue Moana watch that he never took off.

“He looks ridiculous!” Keith cried.

Shiro tried poorly not to laugh. “I think he looks nice!”

“He looks like a freaking Roman statue!”

The music started to swell, and Lance reached out to grab an offered hand, and suddenly Keith’s blood went cold.

“What is he doing all over Lance,” he hissed.

Shiro raised his eyebrows. “His…host?”

“Hosting immoral thoughts, maybe!” Keith protested. Shiro choked on his drink. “Look at his damn hand! Gripping Lance’s waist like there’s a magnet involved! What’s he want, to pick Lance up like a prize and show him around, or something? What a creep!”

But Lance wasn’t scowling, or even using his polite I-hate-you-and-can’t-wait-to-talk-crap-about-you-to-my-friends smile. He was just smiling, and concentrating hard on his feet, wrapping his own hands all over Mr. Creep. As the music got more complicated, they started dancing.

“What’s your deal with Peithos?” Shiro questioned. “What’s he –”

Keith ignored him. “And they have some kinda dance prepared? He’s supposed to be helping Lance recover, not teaching him a dance! How long have we been here for?”

Shiro finally sighed, giving up on his questioning. He watched the dancing duo, although with significantly less (zero) animosity than Keith.

“‘Bout ten hours? Give or take.”

“Ten ho – ten hours,” Keith said, stumbling over his words. He tore his eyes away and stared at his brother, alarmed. “We’ve been here ten whole hours? I thought it was, like, three!”

Shiro nodded, taking a long sip out of his cup. “Yep. Surprised the heck outta me, too. Went for a nap after checking on Allura, and boom, sun’s down, Akeso’s waking me up, and my leg hardly hurts anymore. Exhausted sleep is sleep, man, I feel you. Pidge, Hunk, and Coran knocked out, too. Only Lance stayed up. That’s why he’s not in armour. And why he knows this dance, apparently.” He nudged Keith’s shoulder, expression suddenly much more solemn. “You know how he is with sleep.”

Keith softened. He turned back to the blue paladin with a sigh, watching the half-Aegian twirl him around. The music got faster and faster and the man grabbed Lance around the waist and lifted him, twirling them both like it was easy as pie. Lance threw his head back and laughed, cheeks flushed and nose squinted like it does when he’s really laughing.

“Yeah, I know. Still, though. I don’t trust that guy. Too friendly. And Lance is too comfortable.”

“That’s fair.” Shiro was staring at him, too. “I don’t really trust many people here, actually. I think Rhea is trustworthy. And Elatreus. The other people, I can’t say yet. But Dryope…”

He turned to glance at the leader, who watched the festivities over the rim of an ornate glass. She sat on a carved rock, her father next to her. The rock-seat to her right was left empty. Keith could guess who it was for.

“There’s something they’re not telling us,” Keith finished, nodding. “Agreed.”

He turned back to look at Lance and Peithos. The song had ended, but they were still standing close to the fire, bent close. Lance was gesturing like crazy, smile lighting up his face. Peithos was intently watching his every move.

“We’ll keep an eye on them,” Shiro promised. His smile was small and reassuring. Keith glanced at the half-Aegian, then back at his brother, nodding slowly.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think we should.”

After the weird dance, the party started to die down. People slowly started to head out, first in singles, then in couples, then in large swathes. Pidge was one of the first to make her getaway. Keith looked around for his host, but couldn’t manage to land his eyes on him. He hoped he hadn’t already left – he had no clue how to get back to his guest room in the dark, and wasn’t super pumped about sleeping on the ground if it came to that.

“You know where the house is?” Keith overheard Peithos murmur, so close to Lance there wasn’t a place they weren’t touching.

Lance grinned up at him. “Yep! I’ll meet you there, don’t worry about me. Go do what you need to do.”

The half-Aegian smiled gratefully at him, then rushed off.

Some host, Keith thought bitterly.

His glare was apparently pretty pungent, because now that Lance’s distraction was gone, he looked over quickly. He brightened, jogging over.

“Keith! Hey! I haven’t seen you all night.”

“Yeah, wonder why,” muttered Keith sullenly.

“I hope you –” Lance frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” Keith repeated, mocking. He rolled his eyes. Unfortunately he still managed to notice the expression on Lance’s face – wounded, not mad. He faltered.

That wasn’t how their arguments were supposed to go. “You know what it means,” he insisted, but it sounded unconfident even to his own ears.

“I really, really don’t. I looked for you earlier, I couldn’t find you when everyone else –”

“You looked?” Keith asked incredulously. “I couldn’t’ve pried your eyes away from Tall, Dark, and Handsome if I plucked them out of your head!”

Lance’s already-present flush exploded out of control, so bright Keith could see it even in the dying embers of the hearth. “I wasn’t – he’s not – you’re not – what are you talking about!” he finally managed, tripping over his words in a way he usually didn’t. “Peithos and I were just – were just – we were only dancing! He taught me the Spring Dance, earlier, when he was showing – showing – me the wildflower fields, and –”

Keith narrowed his eyes. He realised for the first time that Lance was swaying, slightly, and even as he talked himself out of his embarrassment, the red didn’t totally fade from his face, staying high on his cheeks.

“– I don’t know what your problem is, I swear, every time I have fun you live to ruin it. Gods, can’t I even have – have – have one thing, I just –”

He kept tripping over his words, like his tongue wasn’t working with him. Keith frowned harder.

“Lance, are you – drunk?”

“What? No!”

That Lance said clearly. He whirled on Keith with a new layer of clarity in his eyes, dark like pits and absolutely flashing in fury.

“You think,” he seethed, stepping forward, “that I am so freaking irresponsible, so absolutely stupid and idiotic, that I would get intoxi – intoxish – intoxicat –”

He couldn’t even say the words. Keith stared at him in alarm, because he raised a good point – Lance liked to pretend, but he really wasn’t irresponsible like that. Keith had never heard him swear. He went to bed at the same time every night. As far as he knew, he’d never actually touched a drop of alcohol in his life – it would be out of character for him to get wasted at a diplomatic mission, late at night, when they were separated and wary.

Something was not right.

“Lance, I think you should maybe –”

“Gods, you ruin – you ruin everything.” Lance blinked, hard, then glared at Keith, shoving off the steadying hand Keith had placed on his elbow and stumbling backwards. He held his gaze for several moments, absolutely glowering, and then – to Keith’s great horror – his brown eyes watered. Tears built up faster than he could wipe them away, tracing a line down his cheek. Keith staggered backwards.

“I hate you sometimes,” he said, and ran off.

Keith watched him go, aftertaste of the delicious food turning sour in his mouth.

— — —

all art by @jiveyuncle!!

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czernysglittersoup · 3 months ago

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as much as i hate the whole “shiro actually died” plotline, voltron writers COOKED with the black paladins episode

#i love me some good brotherly angst #animation was so good in that ep too??#like everything was so #chefs kiss #me when the ep has broganes i guess #vld #voltron #vld keith #vld shiro #broganes

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ya-to-ra · 4 months ago

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Sobbing

Netflix my biggest enemy

#voltron #keith kogane #broganes #vld #takashi shirogane #angst #edit #fyp

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maweezp · 1 year ago

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comic inspired by gnaw from this album (bc apparently when i link the song it sends you to the album) ;)

#klance #klangst #keith kogane #lance mcclain #krolia #takashi shirogane #broganes #keith angst #klance fanart #klance comic #vld fanart #voltron legendary defender #voltron #vld #fanart #artists on tumblr #art

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corruptedplaylist · 11 months ago

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Lance looks through the binoculars again and finds Keith at the same time Adam calls Keith’s name and points at where Lance is standing. The other boy glances up, caught between a laugh from watching Pidge and Hunk write a lewd message in the sand. He flips him off and Lance’s hand-painted skull grins back at him. Keith’s cheeks are pink from the chill, his eyes bright and mischievous as the wind catches on the edges of his hair.

Lance mechanically waves back as he pulls away from the binoculars, Keith becoming a tiny figure against the sand as a blush begins to stain Lance’s cheeks. He hikes the collar of his jacket up, glancing furtively back at Shiro and then down at the shore below.

Oh.

Fuck.

——————————————————————————————

this was an excerpt from chapter 10 of my fic! here's some more info if ur interested:

title: looking out for you

platform: ao3 only

rating: t

genre(s): slice of life college au

ships: Keith Kogane/Lance McClain, Adam/Shiro

words/chapters: 187k/18 chapters

status: completed

summary/elevator pitch: wholesome queer vibes and healthy communication a la voltron. found family shenanigans include: paintball, halloween parties, laundromat trips, beach episode, family dinners, video game tournaments, awkward confessions, grocery shopping, and some good old angst and character development. also, lance may or may not get possessed by a ghost but it's not pidge's fault.

i was reminiscing on this fic and decided to just promo it bc why not? drop me a comment/kudos if u check it out and like it!

for anyone who has already read it or is planning on reading it, i've done faqs between the three acts. i recently updated my faq here for act iii if anyone is interested (i finally got around to putting in some more details!)

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mosscreeper-ao3 · 5 months ago

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I think about broganes at least once a day.

#the angst #the HC potential for why Shiro plucked up Keith like a feral cat #Keith learning to let himself be loved #platonic love saving the day #i’m going insane #crying screaming throwing up #broganes

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ao3isthehomogod · 2 years ago

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"You will decide who will live - the other will die"- Fic Rec 2

Author: T_Hurricane (their content is sooo good istg)

Word Count: 3,606

Chapters: 1

Author summary:

Keith is faced with an impossible choice over life and death: Save either Shiro's life - or that of Lance.

But can't choose between them. He just can't.

My summary:

Keith and Shiro’s PLATONIC relationship holds a very special place in my heart and at this point Klance is my freakin’ personality. So watching Keith being forced to pick between the lives of the two people he loves the most pulls at my heart strings in the most painful yet satisfying way- idk it’s weird BUT this piece is just pure art, hence why I recommend it.

Rating: General Audiences

Relationships: Klance and platonic Sheith

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence

Characters: Keith, Lance, Shiro, Lotor, lil Pidge and Coran

Enjoy :]

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campbellschunkybear · 1 year ago

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Real talk only Norman and Viktor are the romantic f/os who fit all those sweet posts that are common in the self ship tags, Guy is just. not.

Like he isn't even one of those who "oh he puts up a strong cold front but actually hes sickly sweet/affectionate!" no when he first meets Cuain (my oc) he's annoyed, and then he realizes he can be useful. And he plays on that, as well as finding an outlet for his own loneliness, the anger that he's stuck here in this god-forsaken place, not really caring about Cuain's feelings. It's when he messes up and opens up a bit more, when shit gets tough and when Cuain seems to show like. actual interest in sympathy. That something starts to grow.

And when the night sky burns, and smoke is in everyone's lungs, and men are dying in the house of god, that's the moment Guy runs away. He beats on the door of the cobbler (knowing very well maybe it would be smarter to run the other way) and he asks for sanctuary. And Cuain gives it to him (he's seen so much death tonight, he can smell the burning books and metal on flesh, but his little monk, thank God, is alive)

And Cuain is a smarter man than Guy gives him credit for. He knows he's being played the whole time. But maybe he's lonely too, and despite the danger, he's willing to take what little Guy will give him, for as long as he'll give him it.

#self shipping #f/o: brother guy #f/o angst #f/o lore #oc: cuain brogan #death mention #self ship

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comfortlesshurt · 28 days ago

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Skyler's 2025 January VLD Fic Recs

Boys, I did not read a lot this month, but I still have a couple recs under the cut! As always, sorted by least to most hits, so show the top ones some love ;_;

Letters to Lance by AsterikaMay: in progress! Klance! I usually won't touch a journal-format fic, but ughhhhh, Asterika is teaching me to let go of my prejudice against them. this isn't finished yet, but i got to read the first chapter this month and had a good time, can't wait to see the rest!

Fan the Flames by Nuri (SpicyIsopods): small oneshot! gen! makes me a little sad to see a fic from 2017 with so few hits... you're allowed to like longer, shippy content obviously but man... hurts my gen heart when these ones go ignored! quick little pre-canon, post-kerb keith angst that immediately gave me ideas for my own pre-canon longfic, so i owe it lots of love

starlight by AsterikaMay: Klance oneshot! little AU moment with some miscommunication. getting together fic. it is adorable

Common Denominator by SilenceIsGolden15: oneshot! Keith-focused gen fic! broganes, some emotional angst. do I really have to sell you on a SilenceIsGolden fic? they are THE gen keith author to me. if you read gen fic and aren't already subscribed to them, i don't even know what you're doing with your life... they have another current wip i already KNOW i'll be reccing as soon as it's done

i'm only overthinking when i'm close to you by langst: Klance oneshot! I was so lucky to get to help beta this a little bit and UGH, when I tell you el spawns beautiful stuff even in the very first draft? i'm jealous actually. this is an early seasons getting together fic with cute flirting and the team finding out and teasing them a little

let me in if i break by existwound: Klance oneshot! another one I was lucky to get to help beta >:D Keith whump, getting together, post-canon.... so many of my favorite things in one fic

You were dreaming by iybms: EXPLICIT Klance oneshot! man, okay, i'm realizing I was really into getting together fics this month, but uh.... here's another one!

Reverse Psychology by tempestbreak: EXPLICIT complete Klance multichapter! NOT FOR YOU if you're uncomfy with one-sided Sheith, but Klance is the endgame here. little post-canon friends to FWBs situation

and bonus rec! Grin and Bear It by loadingboy! zack's a friend so maybe i'm biased but UGH, the little bit i've had a chance to read so far is LOVELY, so i'm gonna go ahead and pre-recommend this bad boy. check the warnings for yourself before committing if you aren't fully on board with the range of things i typically rec! i hear this one is closer to the angstier end of what i like

#fic recs

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the-feral-gremlin · 2 years ago

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Sheith/Shalladins/Proshippers/etc DNI

Do you think that after the war and the clone fight and just the everything, Shiro stares at himself or his new arm in horror, guilt tearing him apart as he realizes that he almost killed his little brother?

Do you think Keith stares at the ceiling at night, trying to convince himself that Shiro never, not once, doubted or regretted taking him under his wing- basically saving his goddamn life?

Do you think they talk about it after Keith calls Shiro sobbing hysterically and Shiro rushes over to Keith’s living Quarters? Do you think they both hug and cry in the middle of the doorway for a while before Keith invites him In and makes hot chocolate and they joke and watch a movie??

#broganes angst #keith kogane #takashi shirogane #broganes #voltron legendary defender #i’m rambling #and sleep deprived

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autisticlancemcclain · 2 years ago

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Keith knows his nerves must be leeching off him, because the rest of the team is overcompensating. There’s an abundance of chatting and banter, way more than usual, enough that Keith can recognise the oddity even though he’s been gone for two years. It might just be everyone’s relief after finally getting to sit down and be calm after rushing to foil Haggar’s weirdo clone plan, but Keith’s pretty sure his team has noticed his strangeness, and is trying to make him comfortable again. The thought makes him smile despite his anxiety. He’s missed them.

He’s snapped out of his thoughts by Pidge pointedly clearing her throat and using her spork to point at Krolia, who’s been about as anxious as Keith (only for her that manifests as looking like she wants to kill small cute things).

“Are you finally going to tell us who Tall Dark and Gorgeous is?” she asks, because she is the least subtle and nosiest person in the galaxy and Keith honestly should have expected it. His face flames, and his mother raises an eyebrow, while the rest of the team snickers.

Shiro tries his best to appear a little more adult. “If you wouldn’t mind introducing us, Keith.” He smiles kindly at Krolia. “You were amazing out on the field, we were really grateful to have you. Sorry for not getting us all introduced earlier.”

Krolia nods at him, smiling in an awkwardly reassuring way. “Of course, Black Paladin. There were bigger things to focus on handling.”

She returns to her food too after speaking, clearly done her piece.

Keith grimaces. He was hoping she’d introduce herself, but it looks like he’s going to have to. Fuck. (He’s not sure why he’s so opposed to it. It’s nerve-wracking, though, introducing his actual mother to his family. To his brother, his almost-father.)

“Um, Krolia, this is my family.” He points to them all and names them, rolling his eyes fondly at Lance’s wink and finger guns. He even introduces Lotor, even though he still maintains that they are not friends and Prince Hairdo has a lot of making up to do. “Everyone, this is Krolia.” He looks directly at his brother, taking strength in the man’s encouraging expression and addressing him directly. “She’s my mother.”

The entire table goes dead silent. Small conversations abruptly halt, the sounds of eating cease, silverware freezes where it was scraping on bowls. Complete and total silence.

Shiro’s face goes from encouraging and open to shocked to shuttered, jaw set and eyes narrowed.

Keith’s anxiety skyrockets. He sees his mother tense from across the table, and feels Lance go rigid beside him.

This is worse than what he expected.

“Your mother?” Shiro clarifies, words careful and controlled. He’s the first to return to movement, scooping goo into his spork almost robotically.

“Yes,” Keith says hesitantly. He doesn’t understand his brother’s reaction. He had expected some hesitance from Hunk, who is wary of newcomers, and maybe some understandable discomfort from Allura, but not…

Not Shiro. Not Shiro who is great in a crisis, who is the king of diplomacy, who has always supported Keith.

The rest of the team slowly follows Shiro’s example, returning to their meals, but there’s no more jovial conversation. All eyes are avoiding the brothers, but ears are open, movements slow and quiet so as to not miss a word.

“Hm. Interesting.” Shiro takes a bite of the goo, slowly chewing and swallowing, looking forward like he’s really contemplating. Keith watches every move carefully. “Where’d you find her?”

His tone is almost pleasant, conversational, but there’s something off and plastic about it. Forced. Like he’s talking about a volatile creature Keith has dragged home that he’s trying to be cool about, not the parent Keith has been searching for his whole life.

Keith glances surreptitiously at his mother, but she only shrugs at him. “On the space whale. Well, at the Blades, technically. She was assigned the mission with me and we both got stranded.”

Shiro makes another hum of acknowledgement, nodding to himself. He pokes aggressively at the bowl of green gelatine. “That’s wild. I would have guessed you’d have found her in a jail cell for tax evasion or something, since she seems to be the type to avoid responsibility.”

Keith blinks in shock. Two seats down, Hunk chokes on his water, and Coran thumps his back to help. Every other jaw is dropped in shock, heads swivelling from Shiro to Keith, at a total loss.

“What the fuck are you talking about,” Keith says harshly. He glances at his mother, who quickly hides the hurt on her face with a carefully practiced mask of indifference.

“Oh, nothing,” Shiro says, distractedly pushing around his goo. He sounds blasé, unbothered, but Keith recognises this tone of his, as rare as it is to hear it — the passive aggressiveness, the snooty way he speaks when he’s too furious to even yell, and just wants to make everyone around him feel stupid. “I just figured the person who abandoned her infant son without so much as a note is someone of the more irresponsible and immature variety. That’s all.”

Lance, who has never been capable of handling tenseness, stands abruptly and starts gathering the bowls and utensils of everyone at the table, regardless of whether they’re finished. Keith watches distantly as he quiets Pidge’s whining, firmly telling her to get up and bring it with her if she needs.

“She’s my mother,” Keith says through grit teeth. He pulls his gaze away from the red paladin, glaring at his brother. “I thought you’d be happy for me.”

Shiro finally looks up from his stupid goo, baring his teeth in a poor imitation of a smile.

“Thrilled,” he drawls.

Quietly, Krolia stands, pushing in her chair and following the rest of the team to the door. In the back of his mind, Keith wonders if it would be better for her to stay, but dismisses it just as quickly. Better for her not to hear whatever Shiro’s problem is. She walks out the door without so much as a glance backwards, and Shiro’s gaze follows her out with a sneer. Lance shoves the rest of the reluctant team out of the kitchen doors, then glances back one more time, brown eyes big and reassuring, smiling sadly before closing the doors quietly behind him.

When Keith finally returns his gaze to his brother, his eyes are wet and there’s a lump in his throat. Hurt swarms his chest as much as anger.

“You’re being a dick,” he says. His voice cracks several times as he says it.

“Oh, well, fuck me, then,” Shiro says, violently pushing his chair away from the table and stomping to his feet, grabbing his bowl with his prosthetic so tightly it cracks. He barely even glances at it, fisting the pieces and storming over to the kitchen to toss them. “Here, let me pretend.” He turns back to face Keith and forces a smile on his face, mockingly sincere. He reaches over and yanks Keith bowl away, with his flesh hand this time, and all but tosses into the sink.

There are small smears of blood on it, from the shards of porcelain that dug into Shiro’s flesh hand. Keith’s own hands shake. He scoops his and Shiro’s sporks into his hands, squeezing them tightly, and walks carefully to the sink. He resists the urge to fling them right at Shiro’s head, instead forcing himself to set them gently among the rest of the dirty dishes and standing next to his brother to rinse what he washes. He says nothing as Shiro roughly scrubs the goo pot — they’ve discovered it tastes sort of better hot, so they take the time to cook it — and practically slams it into Keith’s sink.

“Could you tell me what your fucking problem is,” he grits out. He can no longer stop his tears and they drip down his face, down his nose, over his lips, down his chin and disappearing into the dishwater. Every time he swallows, it’s bitter with salt.

“Sure,” Shiro snaps. “I have a couple questions first.”

Frankly, Keith wants to tell him right where he can shove those questions, but he wants this to be resolved more than he wants to be angry.

“Fine.”

“Great,” Shiro says with a relish, and Keith regrets it immediately. “She recognise you the second she saw you?”

Keith swallows. He has to try three times to speak, to force his voice above a whisper. “No.”

“Huh. How long’d it take her to realise?”

Keith hands shake so bad he has to set down a cup lest he drop and break it. He doesn’t want to answer. “Some time.”

“Crazy. Bet she told you she’d been looking for you, huh?”

“Stop,” Keith whispers, choking on a sob, but Shiro plows right on.

“Told you that finding you was all she ever wanted? That she’s so glad she can finally see you again?”

“Stop.”

“That you’ve turned into a fine young man she’s proud of?”

“Shut up!” Keith shouts, and the words hurt on their way out of his mouth, shoved past the giant lump in his throat. He gasps for air and can barely find it, lungs heaving, hurting everywhere, heart feeling like he’s being squeezed. He can no more stop his sobs now than he could stop a star from imploding, and they tear out of him, leaving him aching and shuddering and shaking. “Stop. Stop. I don’t know why you —”

“I’ll tell you why,” Shiro snaps, dropping the last dirty dish and gripping the sides of the steel sink so hard it warps under his prosthetic. “You remember when you showed me those pictures of your dad and his crew? When you were thirteen?”

Keith nods, sniffling, wiping his eyes with wet hands. He hears metal creak, hears hands being dried on a dishtowel, and a long, heavy sigh.

“I picked him out immediately, kid,” Shiro says quietly. Some of the overt cruelty has faded from his voice. He just sounds tired, now; bitter. “You didn’t need to point him out to me. I barely even needed to look at it. I knew who your father was immediately.”

Keith sets the last dish on a drying rack and takes a step back, leaning away from Shiro and pointedly looking away. “So?”

“So — ”and Shiro’s voice sounds almost gentle, now, apologetic, although to Keith or for Keith he’s not sure — “you look just like your Pa, Keith. You are his spitting image. The only difference is your eyes, and your height.” He glances at Keith and then snorts softly. “Well, not the height anymore.”

Keith doesn’t smile back anymore. He hears what Shiro is saying and he hates it, hates him a little for bringing it up.

“She had no reason to expect it was me,” Keith argues.

“And no reason not to recognise you if she was really looking,” Shiro retorts. “If she was exactly what she said she was, she’d recognise you.”

Keith scowls at him. His eyes still burn with tears. “I was wearing my Blade uniform. And she hadn’t seen me since I was a baby.”

Shiro’s face has started to return to the anger it held before, the frustration. “That’s the fucking point!” he shouts. “She left you! Without so much as a goodbye, or even a note! Just a cryptic knife that did nothing but confuse you!”

“There was a war to fight!”

“And she had a kid to raise!”

“What was she supposed to do about Blue, huh?” Keith demands, pushing off the counter and throwing his hands up. “Let Zarkon find her? She had to protect the universe!”

“She had to protect her fucking kid.”

“One kid is not worth more than the entire universe!”

“You are!”

Keith freezes. Shiro barely notices, face twisted in rage so badly that he’s barely even looking at Keith, fists clenched hard enough to creak, fury radiating off of him.

“What?” Keith asks in a small voice, but Shiro plows on.

“You’re her fucking kid. You come first. You come before any other kid, you come before her mission, you come before the fucking universe. That’s how having a kid works. They’re the priority. And anyone who leaves their family behind like that is unforgivably despicable.”

The truth comes crashing down at Keith all at once. He looks at his brother with wide eyes, unclouded with his own hurt, and sees for the first time all the pure hate and rage and pain — not directed at Krolia, not even a little, but sharpened to a point and shoved back into himself.

Anyone who leaves their family behind is unforgivably despicable.

The words ring through the room. Keith hears them repeat a thousand time in three seconds. A million different memories whirl through him at once, all tinged with a pain and a border of abandonment; memories he hasn’t let himself touch since he got to space.

“I don’t blame you for Kerberos,” Keith says quietly. He waits a beat. “I never have.”

Shiro says nothing. His expression is frozen, body unmoving, but his dark black eyes — the eyes that chose him first, that followed him with pride, that were the first to look at him softly when his heritage came out and everything went to shit, that he used to cry and sob and beg to have so that Shiro could be his brother in more than name — are wrought with pain. His face does not crumple, but his eyes are like shattered volcanic glass, and slowly they fill with water, and a drop escapes the corner of his almond eye, dripping slowly down his cheek.

“How can you ever forgive her?” he asks, near silent, voice rough as sandpaper and twice as painful.

How can you ever forgive me?

Keith chokes back his tears and meets his brother’s eyes head-on, determined and steady and loving as Shiro always has been when Keith was the one shattering.

“Easily.”

Shiro swallows. It’s loud, deafening in the silence of the room. The sound of it, the knowledge that Shiro is pushing his pain down but it’s coming up anyway, makes Keith’s chin tremble.

“I don’t deserve easy.”

“You deserve whatever I want to give you.”

Finally Shiro breaks, and sobs. And sobs and sobs and sobs. His cries seem the yank the life out of him, drain himself of energy; his knees hit the floor with a crack and he crumples at Keith’s feet.

“Forgive me,” he begs, like he knows he doesn’t deserve it.

Keith gently kneels next to him and reaches out, almost afraid to touch. “I already did.” He reaches out finally and holds his brother, his big brother who was stronger than his body and bigger than his dream and catapulted Keith up to the stars with him, and holds him together as he cries.

“I forgave you before you even left,” Keith whispers, when Shiro’s sobs don’t sound so painful. He squeezes tighter, because he’s almost worried that he needs to keep Shiro all together. “So did Adam.”

The mention of Shiro’s…whatever Adam is to him makes him cry harder, but Keith pushes on, sure that he needs to know.

“The day you went missing, he broke into your apartment. Went looking for the rings. He never took it off after. Never stopped looking for you, either. He forgave you, too.”

Shiro cries something, too warbled to make out, but Keith can make a pretty good guess as to what it was.

“You do deserve it,” he says firmly. “You are not a monster. You are not undeserving of our love, Shiro, of any of our love. We have always loved you as you are. Don’t rob of us the chance.”

“I don’t actually hate your mother,” Shiro whispers.

Keith laughs wetly. “I got that one, dumbass. Use your words next time.”

Shiro smiles slightly, wisely not agreeing. They both know he won’t. They both know this will probably happen to him again, and probably Keith, too — they may not be blood brothers, but they’ve always been alike anyway. Neither has ever been good at expressing themselves, at letting themselves be vulnerable.

But Keith holds his brother tighter, and thinks of their family who loves them with all their shit, despite it and because it, and thinks that they’ll make it through anyway.

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ssasides205 · 3 months ago

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Fic Project 3

alright, I know ppl engage with abo even less than they do normal content, but I promise you I'm very ace abt it. anyways...

The adoption au:

-abo bc I need the scent thing to be a thing for plot reasons

-aged up characters (late 20s)

-Leo gets kidnapped, and adopts two kids

-Shiro is like 6? Maybe less, Keith is like 3 or 4.

-Leo and Keith click instantly, bc Leo’s quintessence is similar to that of the Red Lion (this will come up later)

-Shiro takes a bit longer to warm up to him, but he does trust Leo from the moment they get out

-Leo and Nico have a weird sort of situationship, in that Leo was basically abandoned by his previous partner, and Nico understands and is willing to wait but wants to court him and sometimes that slips into their interactions.

-Nico’s incredible with the kids, Piper lives to tease Leo about it

-nobody questions Takashi being adopted, Keith however gets mistaken for Nico’s actual son so often that he believes it to be true for a while

-Nico totally teaches the kids Italian, Leo has mixed feelings about Spanish so he only passes down some words and translated expressions. He does, however, teach the boys Morse code.

-It’s actually Annabeth that figures out their roots, and helps Leo find out about their respective families. She also finds people to teach them Japanese/Korean, as well as Ancient Greek.

-the others all get involved in the rearing of the broganes, it really does take a village

-galra Keith exists fully, as in he can shapeshift and has been holding it unknowingly, but one of the apollo campers figures it out and poof, tinny fluffy purple baby

-Shiro is a demigod, actually, but I have not decided whom sired him just yet

-Leo totally makes Keith a galra-proof hippo stuffy, and then a demi-safe cat stuffy for Shiro

-the broganes are partly responsible for getting Leo out of his own head, and getting Valdangelo together

-Shiro and Keith both get offered to choose their legal names, even offered the option of having two. Keith opts for having two, so he’s Akira Kogane, but also Keith Di Angelo-Valdez

-mostly, this is just Keith and Shiro both getting to have a huge family that could kick your ass

-I love the Leo ends up working for NASA thing, so he becomes a very well-known aerospace engineer, when Keith meets the rest of the Voltron crew Pidge and Hunk know of Leo so they immediately note his surname

-Keith, to Red: you know, you feel kinda like my pops | Red, who’s been inside Keith’s head: *purrs loudly*

-Lance, at some point: How come Shiro didn’t get a second name? | Keith: he’s butthurt that everyone knows he’s adopted | Shiro: we can’t all look like our adoptive fathers Akira!

-Keith slips into Italian when he’s sleepy/drunk, Korean when he’s annoyed and wants to curse without getting in trouble, and Ancient Greek when he’s legitimately angry.

-Shiro uses Japanese the most when tired, Italian when angry, and exclusively speaks in Ancient Greek when he’s drunk.

-Hunk, someone who studied modern Greek: what dialect is that? | Keith, Leo’s son: Underworld drawl

-Pidge, a Leo fan: hey Keith did you get any language from your cooler dad | Keith: .--- ..- ... - / - .... .. ... / --- -. . | Pidge: wicked

-there’s a real scary moment after they fight big baddie 1 (can’t remember) where Keith realizes the enemy looks just like him, this would lead to much angst as he decides to hide this from the team, - Shiro (he already knew)

-when the truth finally comes out Shiro is ready to throw hands, Lance calls Allura’s bullshit so fast he gives everyone else whiplash, and Pidge and Hunk prepare a list of questions. Coran tries to play mediator as best as he can, the poor man.

-yes abyss whale, no second time-skip, yes road trip back to earth, yes armor changes, maybe black paladin lance, definitely Klance

-Keith, to Krolia: are you sure you didn’t have other children | Krolia, who watched Keith’s childhood through whale shenanigans: I admit it’s a very striking resemblance.

-Shiro: it’s a little funny how similar Lance is to Leo | Keith: you shut your mouth

-when they get to earth there’s an awkward moment where Leo has to call the Alteans aside and explain the mist to them so they don’t look crazy for saying what they’ll see

-Pidge, after meeting the brogane’s parents: I’m seeing double | Keith: yeah, dad and I are pretty close looking | Pidge: and you have the exact same taste in men | Keith, turning purple: they’re not the same!

-Lance: honestly, I don’t see it, Mr Di Angelo is a refined goth, meanwhile Keith’s out here with a mullet | Keith: my hair just grows like this! | Leo, appearing: Can confirm, we tried giving him a haircut once and it just returned, pretty sure it’s the alien in him

-Allura, to Leo: remarkable, your quintessence is near identical to that of the red lion | Leo, after checking there’s no mortals around: probably the fire thing |Allura, intrigued: the fire thing? | Leo, after doublechecking: *lights hand on fire* | Allura: ✪ᗨ✪

-Krolia, who’s seen what Leo’s capable of and is understandably intimidated: Thank you for taking care of my son when I couldn’t | Leo, who’s now not all convinced his husband isn’t an alien: we’re talking about Keith, right?

#pjo hoo #leo valdez #nico di angelo #valdangelo #klance #lance mcclain #keith kogane #vld lance #vld keith #voltron fandom #adoption au #the broganes are legally brothers #Keit is also called Akira #crossover

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baby-yongbok · 2 years ago

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A Scream to the Gods

Hyunjin x Fem!Reader

Genre: Angst, Non idol, Medieval

✨Masterlist✨

Warnings: Cheating, Swearing, Death, Description of blood, Major character death (reader), (Sorry if I missed any tags)

Notes: Hyunjin's POV + I enjoyed writing this but I'm anxious to share it. It's pretty angsty but I enjoy writing in this style. I hope that you enjoy the story!

Word Count: 2538

Summary: Despite you doing your best to make your realm proud Hyunjin couldn't be more opposed to the idea of marrying you. So much so that he's done a great deal of things behind your back to ease the pain. What will happen when everything comes to light and it becomes way too much to handle?

Hyunjin's POV

She was feared, envied even. Every woman she walked past wanted to be her and all of the men wanted a woman of her equal on his arm but no one could ever compare. She was a fair height and her skin was golden like a pool of honey, her mouth was presumably the most craved thing in the kingdom after her body. I’ve heard another man say that she has “The body of a true woman.” One would think that I am happy, ecstatic even for her to be my bride but in reality I’m far from it.

“Hyunjin, we’ll be late if we wait any longer, can't we leave now?” As much as I’d love to remain in my chambers and hide from my mother it is no use, either I go to her or she comes to me.

“Very well, I suppose I’ve waited long enough.” Turning to Lady Y/n I forced a smile and offered her my hand. “Shall we?”

Confidently, she takes my hand and I lead her to my chamber doors. The guards visibly perk up as I exit and close the doors behind me. “Brogan, call for my sister. I'll be needing assistance dealing with my mother” The guard rushes off in the other direction as Lady Y/n and I make our way across the palace to my mother's quarters.

“Would it really be so horrible?” With furrowed brows I look over to Lady Y/n, she halts her movement on the garden bridge and stands in front of me. “Marrying me, is it really that frightening to you?”

A smirk plays upon my lips as I look around to make sure that we are alone, I look her directly in the eyes “Yes, it would be, I’d rather fall into a war with the North than marry the likes of you.” My shoulder bumps into hers as I make my way past her. "Come, let's not waste anymore time."

The remainder of the walk to my mother's quarters felt as if it lasted a thousand lunar cycles. Lady Y/n dragged herself behind me just close enough to look as if we were actually together.

"My Lord." My mother's personal guards greeted me as I approached her chamber doors. Opening the tall doors I enter, neglecting to wait for Lady Y/n.

I halt in my tracks and my heartbeat starts to quicken as I take in the scene before me. My mother, The general and his wife and the high priest of the realm all sat before me in a quiet huddle around my mother's common room table.

"Look who's decided to join us." My mother's cold tone gave way to the reason that such a scene is being displayed before me. Finally, Lady Y/n makes her way Into the room and bows to my mother.

"What the hell is this?" Scoffing my mother sets her tea cup onto the table before her. Grabbing the hand of the general's wife she lifts her to her feet.

"Are you familiar with this woman?" My first thought is that this must be a trap, another one of my mother's creative ploys to get me to marry Lady Y/n.

"What kind of question is that mother? Of course I am familiar with the general's wife." It took everything out of me not to call her by her birth given name, Reyna, my - I mean the general's wife.

"Do you take me as a fool, son?" Exasperated, my mother motions for the general to stand. "Jisung, inform my son of what you've been told."

"Yes, My Queen." Standing to his feet, Han Jisung, the grand general of this realm and a dear friend of mine, looked at me with eyes I did not recognize. With a sigh he followed my mother's orders. "It has been brought to my attention by one of my men that you've been seeing my wife."

Fuck

"Jisung, don't be ridiculous. Do you believe your men over me?"

"My men have a loyalty to me that you don't seem to have, My Lord."

From the corner of my eye I notice Lady Y/n tense, it is at this point that I think the both of us realize the severity of this situation.

"I foresaw that you would try to deny the truth so I took it upon myself to get the answer out of your mistress." Coming from around the table my mother trails Reyna behind her. "I told her that she can either admit to seeing the King and be sent away to the Central Realm or she can keep your dirty secret and be placed on trial for manipulating and seducing the King."

No no no no no, she's lying, my mother lies all the time to get her way this can't be any different, but when my eyes meet Reyna's it is clear to me that my mother is not bluffing. Tears well up in her honey glazed eyes causing anger to boil in my veins.

"Do not punish Reyna for my mistakes, I will stop seeing her." The pain I felt while speaking these words is a feeling I wish to never experience again. At this point every pair of eyes in the chamber are on me, waiting for me to fix what I've done in some way.

"There you go playing me for a fool again, I don't believe you anyway. You're too passionate to stay away from this woman especially while she's with your child."

"What?"

"I'm sorry." Reyna's whispered words were all I needed to hear to break me down just enough for me to nearly give up but by the grace of the Gods I remembered something, something that may turn this into a victory.

“You can not send your Queen away to the Central Kingdom.” Once again all eyes were on me as I revealed my deepest dearest secret. I’ve held these words inside my chest for far too long. “Unhand your Queen, at once.” The maniacal laugh that ripped through my mother could silence any realm within earshot.

“How can she be your wife when she’s married to me?” Jisung’s face may have been just as painful for me to take in as Reyna’s terrified one. He is a good man and I’ve gone behind his back and slept with his wife.

“Your marriage was never officiated by the priest. Therefore Reyna is technically an unmarried woman, well, she was an unmarried woman.” The hard swallow that followed once Jisung realized Reyna was no longer his wife was clearly an attempt at keeping his temper in check.

“You married this girl!?” My mothers grip on Reyna’s wrist visibly tightened

"She has every right to the throne as I do. With that being said I suggest that you unhand your queen before I smite you. You've already tested my patience." My mother throws Reyna's arm away from her in disgust. Reyna holds her wrist to her chest and begins to sob.

"My queen, if you don't mind I need a moment. " With a bow Jisung makes his way to the chamber doors. Stopping before the guards at the entrance, he seems to be in deep thought. "Reyna, if you come with me now I will forget this ever happened. We can move to the Southern realm and live the life that we've always wanted. If you stay I know you've chosen your corrupt king over me. "

With every word that Jisung spoke I wished that he was struck down by lightning. He's trying to take my bride away from me? Without another word he moved outside of the chambers and Reyna watched him leave with pain glazed eyes. My gaze stayed on her until her eyes flickered to mine. The Queen mother watched in silence almost as if she were taking part in a mental prayer.

"My Lord, I love you more than the Gods love this land. You've given me one of the most wonderful gifts that life could ever give and I can never fully repay you for all that you've done. " The tear that fell from Reyna's right eye gave way to my darling's response.

"No, you're not leaving. You're with my child."

"And he will know who his father is. My Lord, I am not worthy of a life with you. I am not fit to be Queen."

"No, you can't leave, I won't let you." Reyna makes her way towards me, stopping right before me.

"Saranghaeyo" I couldn't help the tears that sprung to my eyes.

Without another word she hurried out of my mother's chambers avoiding all eye contact. "Reyna." I called for her hoping she'd return but it was no use. She chose the safest option, she knows that my mother will have her killed if she stays and for that reason alone I will make sure that my mother feels the exact fear that Reyna feels right now. Directing my gaze to the queen mother I warn her.

"Watch your step, you never know which one will have a trap door underneath it." With a smile my mother sits at her common room table and sips her tea.

"I think it's fair to say that we can annul the union you had with your mistress and marry you and Lady Y/n." I glance over to find that Lady Y/n is gone. Not that I care.

"I will not marry that woman, I have no feelings for her. If you're willing to force your son into a loveless marriage you have no business calling yourself a mother. "

"You're right. I'm not a mother, I'm a queen protecting her kingdom from my son who loves to fall in love with the help. Now go find Lady Y/n and apologize for your ignominious behavior." Charging towards my mother I slam my hands onto her common room table shaking her tea cup and startling the priest.

"I will make every day of Lady Y/n's life a living hell and I will be sure to remind her that you are to blame for her eternal suffering." Before my mother could rebuttal a guard came rushing into her quarters.

"Pardon me, my queen. There's an emergency in the garden. Lady Y/n has threatened to take her life." Jumping up from her seat my mother begins to panic.

"Is she armed?"

"Yes, my queen"

"Unarm her and bring her to me" Scoffing, I straighten my garments before turning my back to my mother.

"No, allow me to support my bride. Stay put, you've done enough

"Lady Y/n" she halted all movement at the sound of my voice. Her face was scrunched into one of a perplexed woman as she circled the rose bushes. I had them planted for her earlier this year, she often came here to think or practice archery. I remember the day that I presented the bushes to her, she was so happy, practically glowing. The look of confusion on her face almost makes me miss that happiness… that glow.

"Stay away from me."

"My darling, please come inside. Let me talk to you about this." She turned to me with a look of betrayal stronger than I've ever seen before.

"Talk about what? Your affairs with a married woman? You're hatred for me? I've never acted in an ill manner towards you my lord, yet you treat me as if I'm a pauper begging for your gold. I did not want to come and marry you, I had a love of my own in the Central Kingdom but I left him to be here and serve my born duty. You seem to forget that, you're not my first choice either."

"Darling -"

"Don't call me that" she points her dagger towards me as I take a step towards her."

"Y/n, please. I'll speak to my mother and convince her to have you honorably sent back to the Central kingdom. We've made an alliance with your father, all will be well." Tears fall from her eyes as she listens to my proposition. I slowly take a step towards her as she's distracted.

"Why would I want to be sent back to the Central Realm? To be executed for loving a merchant? That's why my father sent me here. He didn't give a fuck about your alliance, Hyunjin. He wanted a reason to get rid of his sinned seed. I've heard that man pray to the Gods that my love was a mistake. I heard Felix scream to the Gods as my father's court hung him for loving me. Why on earth would I go back to the Central Realm? To die? I'd rather die by my own hand."

Turning her dagger to her chest she holds it firmly with her right hand. Stopping dead in my tracks I begin to panic. Lady Y/n is no fool, if I take another step she'll drive that dagger right through her heart.

"Y/n… my queen… please." Swallowing hard, I try to slowly move towards her. "I've been evil to you. I've shown you the hatred that I did not have the heart to show my mother. I belittled you and I am eternally regretful of my actions. It is only now that I'm being forced to face my mistakes that I realize that you have been the only person to genuinely care about me and my well-being. You came here to honor your late lover's death, not your father's wishes. Let me help you, we'll get married and change this kingdom for the better. We'll make certain that no one will ever have to endure what you have. Especially our daughter, we can turn this all around."

With a weak grin Y/n tightens her grip on the dagger. "My Lord, you can't fool me. You do not care for me and I will not force you to. Besides, I died the moment that my love was taken from me." Y/n's face went blank as she whispered to herself “I’m coming back to you sunshine.”

"Guards!" I ran towards Y/n hoping to save her. Hoping to kiss her like I meant it for once. I wanted to drop to my knees and apologize for the way I've mistreated her. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her into me. The gasps that fell from her mouth gave me the answer that I dreaded before I even looked. "Get me a healer, now!"

Dropping to my knees with her body in my arms I laid her down onto the grass. "Lady Y/n. Darling, please." I held her head up and caressed her flushed cheek. "No, no, no, no you can't leave me too. Come on, wake up."

Blood soaked into the garden soil as my bride bled out. Her eyes fluttered shut peacefully and a mere grin was left on her face. Shaking her body softly I called out to her, praying to the gods that she'd wake up. Praying that the healers could bring my love back. In a whisper I said the words that I didn't have the courage to mutter earlier.

"It wouldn't be horrible at all… to marry you."

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