#considering Lance was in the garrison since he was like 12

[ashkazora]

Concept- around the time the team was fighting Haggar in different realities twitter poll against paladins and other important galra or some figures (idk i never watched past s6 years ago) is going on. Obviously #lancesweeps so now he not only has to deal with dead gf he has to do it while being crowned with absolutely most inane titles he certainly doesnt want right now (he only loses in 2 fucking polls and that's against sans undertale and hatsune miku)

Lance gets crowned the most pathetic man, best DILF, best twink, and so much more. He’s literally going through the five stages of grief but the moment he gets back to earth, he finds out he’s become an internet funny man, despite having no kids, a swimmer’s build (and is pretty pathetic because his gf died). He doesn’t even know what undertale is.

More angst idea: Whenever he gets particularly depressed, Lance distracts himself by seeing what new discourse is posted about him. Some #lancesweeps fans always argue that he shouldn’t be glorified because hes a child soldier. Others say he’s a war criminal. But most just make art and write fics of him in either crack, lewd, or both situations. It’s a good distraction from how bad he feels, and the sheer attention from the polls means he can stay as a farmer and people WILL doxx him. To get away from the attention Lance goes on some lone missions but of course, #Lancesweeps somehow spreads to other universes.

Less angst idea: to honour his loss against Miku and Sans, he changed his armour colour to match Miku’s hair, and uses his new, Allura given space STD powers to make his eye glow. The internet loves it.

[justheretobreakthings]

Whumpmas in July: Day 12

@whumpmasinjuly

Warmth

Also my fill for Hypothermia for @badthingshappenbingo

Read on AO3 My house, my rules, my ko-fi

When Coran had been doling out supply-gathering assignments to each of the paladins, Keith had thought nothing of his. Telrov was cold, yes. He wasn’t used to cold climates, sure. But he had his armor, and he had dealt with extreme weather before, so when Coran had asked whether Keith was up to the assignment, of course he said he was. In fact, he was almost insulted that the Altean didn’t think he could handle a bit of cold.

And sure, maybe ‘a bit of cold’ was a bit of an understatement, since it seemed that the entire dwarf planet was covered in a layer of ice that he had to hammer through with his sword in order to get to the fungi growing under the frozen soil that he needed to collect. And sure, maybe after the team’s previous mission yesterday, he should have mentioned that he had taken quite the wallop to the chestplate, but it hadn’t looked like anything had been damaged any worse than a bit of denting, and he had walked away from it with just some soreness and a bit of bruising.

How was he supposed to have known that the temperature control valve had been damaged? There had been no warning signs. Nothing but a few ticks of high pitched beeping started up while Keith was already nearly a varga’s walk through the rocky, frozen wasteland from Red’s landing site. The next thing he’d known, the heating that usually flowed evenly through the armor had disappeared.

He had tried his best not to panic. He knew where Red was, and even without the temperature control mechanisms, his armor and suit were far from flimsy. Surely he could hold out for long enough to make it back. He hadn’t gotten quite as much of the ingredient as Coran had requested, but hopefully he would be forgiven that shortcoming in light of the circumstances.

Shoving the last of the fungus he had managed to collect into the bag he’d been given to store it, he turned to start making the journey back to Red. It should be a shorter walk getting back to his landing site, in terms of time, since he didn’t have to collect anything on the return journey and he’d already broken through the spots where icicles had been thick enough to block his path. Still, despite those advantages, the return trip was slowly revealing itself to be more difficult than he would have liked.

For one thing, it was a lot harder to trudge across the ice while shivering, and that shaking worsened the longer Keith was out in the cold. The boots of his armor gave him some traction, but not enough to always keep him from slipping in places where there was no rock wall or frozen shrub to hang onto for support. More than once he lost his footing and wound up gracelessly splayed across the ice, and each time he dreaded the bruises he was likely gaining from the impacts. During one fall, a slip over the edge of a path and down a good ten feet only to land on his rear, he was certain he heard his loinguard crack – he could feel a particularly biting cold sneaking into that spot as he went on, which he tried his damnedest to ignore.

His helmet, too, was causing him trouble. His breathing, which grew steadily heavier the longer he walked, would fog up the visor with every exhale. It wasn’t completely impossible to see through – the material wasn’t quite glass, and didn’t fog up quite so badly as, say, a window or pair of glasses on Earth would – but he still had to squint through the blur enough to give him a hell of a headache to avoid walking into ice pillars or off of cliffs. He debated simply removing the helmet altogether, but exposing his bare face to the cold didn’t seem like a good idea.

So instead, he powered through, tripping and sliding across rocks and ice. His movements slowed as he grew steadily more numb, not to mention more exhausted by the minute. What he wouldn’t give right now to be back in his room on the Castle of Lions, wrapped up in as many blankets as he could find. Maybe with some of Hunk’s hot cocoa or Shiro’s tea. Not Pidge’s coffee; it was hot, sure, but it was as bitter as Lance after losing a round of sparring during training.

Heh. That was a good one. He’d have to remember it, find some point where it would be natural to use it. Lance always claimed that he had no sense of humor whatsoever, but Hunk actually said that Keith was getting better at –

In his distraction, Keith didn’t notice the thick crack in the ice in front of him until the toe of his boot was already in it, and he was sent sprawling to the ground, his vision whiting out for a flash when he landed on his chin and his jaw was knocked together.

He let out a groan and slowly rolled onto his side, curling inward. He needed to get up, keep walking, get back to Red. But God, getting up was so hard. His muscles were stiff as he could ever remember them being, his hands and feet throbbed. On a whim he tried to curl his fingers – he had no idea whether or not he succeeded, which was concering on its own.

The Garrison had covered first aid pretty extensively, and definitely had at least touched on what to do in extreme cold, considering the low temperatures that could be reached even within their own solar system, but admittedly, first aid hadn’t really been his forte. Especially not first aid related to cold. He was much more accustomed, after all, to weather that was too hot than weather that was too cold. If Telrov was a desert instead of a tundra, he’d surely be having no trouble at all. He knew what to do about overheating, and what signs to look out for.

And he knew that fatigue was a danger sign of heat exhaustion. If freezing was anything like heatstroke, his current sleepiness was probably a bad omen.

The shivering had stopped too, he noticed as he fought to keep his eyes open. Shivering was likely the cold equivalent to sweating. Another bad sign, but he found that he wasn’t quite as concerned as he was a little while ago. He was just too sleepy to be concerned.

He had never noticed before just how pillow-like permafrost was…

His oncoming sleep was interrupted suddenly, with a low, rumbling noise. Not from the world around him – Keith hadn’t encountered a single animal so far on Telrov, and it was unlikely there were any nearby that had managed to hide from him, at least none big enough to let out that low a growl – but seemingly from inside his head, echoing in his ears and worsening his headache.

I’m fine, he thought back to Red. Not because he was, but because that was his automatic, knee-jerk response whenever anyone was concerned enough about his wellbeing to actively check in on him, which the Red Lion usually only did in the direst of circumstances. When he’d spent hours getting beaten up by Blade agents, for example, or when he threw himself out of the airlock of a Galra ship and into the void of space.

He knew, on some level, that he wasn’t, in fact, fine. But at the moment, he couldn’t quite recall what exactly was wrong, besides just being very tired. So he didn’t bother answering any further.

Another growl in his head followed, this one laced with skepticism. It was a weird sensation, having a giant robotic lion inside his brain. Almost humorous. Keith didn’t have the energy to laugh right now, but if he did, he would have.

Red reached out again, this time sending a mental image his way. Well, more a mental sensation than an image. A feeling of icy, sharp and wet and seeping through his skin as if frost were expanding from the inside out and melting into slush to drip off of his fingertips. A sort of questioning lilt at the end.

Cold. Something about cold.

…Are you cold, Red? Keith thought at her.

The frustrated growl that she returned seemed to be as close as a lion could ever get to saying ‘You are an idiot’ in plain English. Rude.

He tried to think of some retort, glad that he could express it telepathically rather than speaking it aloud since he was pretty sure his teeth were frozen together, but before he could come up with anything at all coherent, another sensation was sent his way. At the edges of his mind, he could see the flickering of flames. Not much – the last embers of a fire in a fireplace that hadn’t been properly stoked, but that was still fighting for life.

And just as he saw it in his mind’s eye, he felt it. Sometimes in the heat of battle, Red would send him fire. A heat that would act like a sort of fuel, pumping throughout his body like blood and granting him a boost of adrenaline that could make him feel faster and stronger than he had ever been in his pre-paladin life.

Now, she was giving him that fire again, but it was different this time. It wasn’t a sharp and focused flame propelling him into action. Instead this fire was softer, more diffuse. Spreading slowly from his chest, moving more like water than like fire. Gradually melting the frost in his veins. Warming, but not burning.

Keith shivered, noticing once again how cold the world outside was compared to his insides, but that noticing came as a relief. The aches were returning – he wasn’t numb. As his blood started flowing again, he grimaced at the throbbing sensation that began in his fingers and toes, the skin stinging bitterly where it touched against the fabric of his gloves and socks, circling the silicone of the black and white rings on his middle fingers, always tucked into the safety and privacy of his gloves. He hoped it wasn’t frostbite. He didn’t doubt that a trip to the cryopod could fix it if it was, but he dreaded the way his hands and feet looked right now if they were frostbitten.

Red huffed in his mind, warm breath seeming to hit his face as the sound seeped into his ears. He curled in on himself further before blinking his eyes open, relieved to find that they were no longer stinging from the piercing cold. For several ticks, all he saw was gray, the gray of the sky fogged up by the paler gray of his breath against the helmet’s visor. Even as he watched, though, the fog was clearing, thick water droplets cutting through like rain as he warmed.

And minutes later, the world beyond the visor wasn’t gray anymore. In an instant the cloudy gray was replaced by a mass of red and white, and he found himself staring up at the Red Lion floating above him.

She let out a sound halfway between a growl and a purr, and although the Lions of Voltron had fixed, robotic faces that couldn’t show expression, Keith could swear she was looking at him with that sort of fond exasperation that a parent would give to a kid who had wandered away and later been found. The look his dad had given him as a kid when they’d lost track of each other at a zoo and security had found him trying to figure out how to climb into the hippopotamus exhibit before dragging him to the information booth and reuniting them.

A look that said, “You just did something very stupid, but I’m just glad you’re safe.”

Her mouth was agape, waiting. Not scooping him up on her own, just certain he would climb into her on his own. Keith took a deep breath before finally beginning the arduous struggle to his feet.

It took several attempts to get upright, but once he was standing on trembling legs, the ramp descended from Red’s mouth, and Keith’s hauled himself up it, against all odds making it into the cockpit without falling. Once there, he collapsed instantly into the pilot’s seat. He had never before fully appreciated just how soft the cushioning of the chair was, or how pleasant and soothing the hum of the engine, or just how cozy and warm the entire interior. Never again would he take it for granted.

One more sensation sent his way from Red, a softness added to the weight of his armor and his clinging undersuit, making them feel just a hint more like a blanket. Then she sent one more mental nudge, this one questioning.

“Yeah, Red,” Keith said softly. “That’s better. Thank you.”

With a final purr of approval, and apparently having decided Keith was too busy getting cozy and warm to pilot her himself, Red took to the air, leaving the ice behind.

[corvus--rex]

Long ago I had a writer's fever dream where I thought "What if Keith had a twin? And what if that twin was on the Kerberos mission..." So I decided to rewrite VLD from the beginning with these things in mind. This one's pretty well given up on as of right now. I realized that I needed to figure out how to fit people in and never quite got there. Anyway, here's the first ~1.3k words of Double Threat (working title). (also, for the record, I don't actually ship Keith & Matt, but ocs are always fair game ;) )

}~{~}~{

“Why you? Why does it have to be you? If anything – and I mean anything – happened…I…I don’t know what I’d do. Not after…” Keith began his rant angry, furious even. But then the walls began to crumble like they always did around his brother, and the truth began to slip out.

Finlay stopped. He sighed, turning around. They’d gone over this so many times. Despite their both still being cadets at the Galaxy Garrison, despite both of them having unmatched scores in their classes and flight training, it was Finlay who was chosen in the new mentorship program. It was Finlay who had been selected for the opportunity to go along on the Kerberos Mission as a co-pilot, to have the experience of real space flight. They both knew why. Not that it made sense to anyone but Commander Iverson.

Keith and Finlay, despite being identical twins, despite having nearly identical scores, weren’t viewed the same way by some of the Garrison’s faculty. The brothers stuck together, backing each other up in everything. But James Griffin had gone out of his way to harass Keith one day, and Keith snapped, getting into a fistfight with the other boy. Ever since then, Iverson had decided that Keith was trouble, even though the class full of witnesses all said the same thing: that Griffin had purposely goaded Keith into that fight.

“I know. But I’ll be with Shiro, and Sam. And Matt. We’ll be fine.” Finlay huffed a laugh. “If anything, you’ll have the tougher job. Keeping Katie in line.”

Keith cracked a smile, albeit a small one. His brother considered that a win.

“Of course,” he said with a knowing smirk, “That also means I won’t be around to give you someone to hide behind whenever your crush is around.”

Keith’s smile hardened into a glare at his twin. “Fuck.”

“Sorry,” Finlay said, smirk still in place, “Looks like you’re just gonna have to deal with McClain all on your own for a few months.”

“Kill me now.”

The smirk widened into a grin. “Nope. Either suffer, get over it, or y’know…just fucking tell him.”

“Never gonna happen,” Keith said, but his immediate stress had been relieved.

“You say that now, dear brother, but you are way the fuck too gay to keep it to yourself without me.”

“You’re just as gay as I am.”

Finlay slung an arm around his brother’s shoulders. “Oh, well aware. How else would I know?”

Keith snorted. “Yeah, about that. How areyou planning on dealing with being out in space? With Matt? In such close quarters?”

“Fuck you,” Finlay spat without malice, shoving his brother, who only laughed.

_~*~_~*~_~*~_

Keith raced along the desert, the memory unbidden, but not unwelcome. He was getting them back. Both of them. Finlay and Shiro. He wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to manage it with just his hoverbike and not knowing what kind of shape they were in, but he was doing it. Whatever the hell else was going on, he was getting them back.

Taking out the guards was easy. Taking out the Garrison scientists was even easier. Just as Keith was working on releasing the restraints around Finlay’s wrists, his twin began to wake. Keith’s efforts became hurried, nearly frantic, in his attempt to free his brother. The instant one wrist is free, Finlay rolled, pushing Keith’s hands away so he could free himself.

“Shiro took most of the impact,” he managed weakly, “He needs more help than I do.”

Keith had only just gotten Shiro free and his weight supported when a hand was on his shoulder. One of the hazmat-suited scientists was awake. It took Keith a second to recognize him through the suit.

“Adam?”

“Let me help.”

Keith didn’t think, only reacted. “Ok. What now?”

“Nope. No no no no no,” said a familiar voice from the entranceway.

Keith froze, not having heard that voice in six months. He felt more than heard Finlay’s rough chuckle behind him. What the actual fuck was Lance McClain doing there? Not that it mattered, they didn’t have time for that. Adam took charge, leading them and the other two Garrison cadets that looked like they’d been following Lance out and over to one of the Garrison vehicles.

“Keith! I need you to take point! Get us the fuck out of here!” Adam yelled, ushering everyone but Finlay into the truck.

Finlay followed Keith to the hoverbike, climbing on behind his twin. He was still weak from the crash, and whatever it is that the Garrison techs did to him, but held on with what strength he had left.

“Finn, you good to ride?” Keith asked, flipping the power switch.

Finlay nodded against his back, knowing his voice wouldn’t be heard over the roar of the engine.

“Hold on.”

Keith took off, feeling more secure than he had in months. He led Adam through the desert, knowing that the ace pilot could keep up with him, even in something like a Garrison truck. They lost the rest of the Garrison pursuit, but Keith didn’t trust them. He took off again, making a turn he knew would make the trip longer, but it was less likely that they’d be followed.

Coming over the crest of a hill, the cabin that had belonged to their father came into view. Keith felt it when Finlay gasped against his back.

“It’s still there,” he said softly.

The hoverbike had slowed down, the engine nowhere near as loud as it had been. Keith heard his brother’s astonished whisper.

“Yeah. It is.”

Adam and the others were still unloading both themselves and the still unconscious Shiro from the Garrison truck when the Kogane twins entered the cabin. Finlay was surprised to see that it looked lived in and turned to face Keith. For his part, Keith was looking more at the floor than his twin.

“I, um, I kind of got kicked out of the Garrison,” he admitted, “You went missing, and they tried to claim that it was pilot error. I knew it was bullshit and I tried to fight it, but Iverson just called it ‘disciplinary issues’ and got me booted. He tried to say that I wasn’t thinking clearly and that I was trying to see things that weren’t there. I never believed it was pilot error. I’ve been out here listening to the Garrison’s radio chatter; that’s how I knew where to find you.”

Finlay was exhausted, physically and emotionally, but still found the strength to pull his brother into a tight hug. “I knew you’d never give up. Too fuckin’ stubborn for it.”

Keith returned his twin’s hold. “So are you.”

Their moment was interrupted by the sound of conversation and what they knew was Shiro’s unconscious body being dragged across the compacted sand and dirt. The rest of the group stumbled inside, Adam and Lance carrying Shiro.

}~{~}~{

From a later scene that wasn't even half-baked:

“Go away,” Pidge snapped, “I’m close, I know I am.”

She tried to throw off the hand on her shoulder, but it held on, squeezing once. “We’ll find him.”

That voice used to throw her off, never knowing if it was Keith or Finn. But after months in space together, she learned the differences between the twins. Sighing out a combination of stress, exhaustion, and frustration, she let her hands fall from the keyboard and slumped into her chair.

“Every time I think I'm getting somewhere, it always leads to a dead end. I’m getting frustrated, Finn. The only thing that keeps me going is that I know Matt and Dad are still out there somewhere. I have to find them. I'm going to find them.”

~*~*~*~

Links to the rest of the series:

1 | 2 | 3* | 4 | 5* | 6* | 7 | 8 | 9* | 10 | 11 | 12* | 13 | 14 | 15* | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19*

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 132

132

Lance had fallen asleep at the bus stop. Keith carrying him back to VOLTRON where Coran and Shiro were waiting in the bookstore looking less than amused. Lance was safely cuddled up in his arms, face buried against his neck. Shiro pinching the bridge of his nose, his tone unimpressed

“Should we be asking why you felt the need to leave in the middle of the night, and where you’ve been?”

“We went for a walk”

“In the middle of the night? When it’s cold... without telling anyone”

“Lance wanted to... I asked him”

“And you didn’t tell anyone”

“We only went down to the bus stop...”

Shiro sigh deeply. Thank god Coran was more understanding

“What number one means is, is Lance okay? He’s been very withdrawn since his return”

Keith moved his knee to support Lance’s arse as he hiked him up in his hold

“He needed it... He’s... they kept him underground. He’s scared of being underground. I know I didn’t tell you, but he needed this... He was talking. Properly talking”

Coran’s face softened, Keith sounding almost pleading as he was tried to make both of them understand

“I must admit I didn’t think of that. Come now, let’s get him settled back in bed. He must be exhausted and frozen solid, it is a rather chilli night”

“I promised him we could take a shower...”

“That will have to wait. We need to have a little talk, I think”

Yeah. They really did. Lance was scared of putting them all in danger and Keith was scared staying underground any longer was really going to fuck his boyfriend up. Tomorrow they’d see Mami, have a meeting with their friends, then Keith was taking Lance back to the apartment to recover where he could keep him safe and sound.

*

“Lance?”

Dropping the glass of water he’d pouring in the sink, Lance flinched at the sudden sound of Shiro’s voice. Between morning sickness that’d kept him up all night and Coran’s words, he didn’t think about Shiro coming back to the apartment... reaching in to retrieve the glass, he sliced his fingers, hissing as he did

“Lance!”

Shit. He’d fucked up. He didn’t deserve to be this skittish. Shiro and Curtis had been so good about letting him and Keith use the apartment. He just... had so much to think about. Coran had suggested protective custody. Lotor was willing to take the fall for Sendak’s death, seeing Zarkon may be more forgiving... He’d been pretty placid at the group meeting to discuss that they’d had. Lance letting the meeting wash over him, too nervous to talk. He really hated how his anxiety went sky high when they were together. It was like he couldn’t relax, he wanted them all where he could see them... but didn’t want them looking at him.

Coming into the kitchen, Shiro pulled the tea towel off the front of the oven, before taking Lance by the wrist to wrap his hand

“I didn’t mean to startle you. I thought you’d be sleeping”

Yeah. If the twins would give him a moments peace. He’d sent Keith back to bed, staying on the floor with Kosmo. Keith was trying his hardest to work around him basically feeling like a nutter

“Morning sickness”

Shiro winced in sympathy

“Still going?”

“12 weeks and they haven’t got the message... I’m... sorry I broke the glass”

Shiro turned the tap off for him

“It’s just a glass. I came back to grab a change of clothes”

Ugh. He felt bad that Curtis and Shiro were giving them space. Everyone was giving them space. He needed space, but evicting Shiro from his own apartment wasn’t his idea of a fun time

“I’m sorry... I’m not allowed to go back to Garrison...”

Shiro sighed at him, Lance finding himself being led away from the kitchen. He had to keep a low profile. He was the vampire who’d killed Sendak... making him a threat to his friends and probably a threat to the vampires who’d fallen under Sendak’s command

“I’m not blaming you. I know it’s not easy coming back from something like this. It’s going take some time for things to return to normal”

Krolia was in the shit for acting recklessly. Keith told him Kolivan was livid for her reckless actions. Apparently the Blades had some trouble in Rome. All of it too big of a mess to put into real words. Finding himself led to Keith’s room, Shiro gave him an awkward hug

“You get some rest, you look like you need it. If Keith’s giving you trouble, let me know and I’ll talk to him”

“Keith’s... Keith’s been more than good to me”

He really had. He hovered and he worried, he’d barely let him out of his sight, but he was letting Lance do things for himself and Lance was grateful for that. He knew Keith wanted to coddle him, but there was only so much Lance could take right now. His boyfriend got that he needed to do things after having the privilege taken away from him, despite it only being for a short period of time

“We’re all here, when you’re ready. Curtis misses watching his shows with you”

Shows were the least of his worries. He had all the time he could want, and none of the drive to do anything but in Keith’s arms

“I miss... I miss him too. I’m just... not there yet”

“That’s okay. You don’t have to be. Just go back to Keith, he was a total mess without you”

“I missed him so much”

“I know, kiddo. Things will get easier”

Crawling into bed beside Keith, Keith pulled him up against him, slipping his leg over Lance’s hip as he let out a soft sigh. His boyfriend’s hand going straight to his stomach, fingers slaying across the forming bump. Keith loved the little bump. Lance still felt like he didn’t really look pregnant, simply really well fed, but Keith couldn’t stop with the belly rubs. It was different to when he nearly lost their twins. He didn’t feel so touched starved, because Keith was always touching his belly. He wasn’t shying away, though Lance had been hurt. He’d taken a while to wake up and come to his senses, his body feeling like he was in shell of a stranger after being ill fed. All his senses had gone into overdrive. Lights being the biggest issue. He’d gotten so used to darkness and near darkness that the fluorescent lights of VOLTRON had been blinding.

“Mmm... you ‘kay?”

Nosing into his neck, Keith was comfortably warm around his cold body. Kosmo was like a portable heater, he’d lay against Lance’s side, flipping his tail lazily as he huffed or snored up at him. Keith’s scent helped so much. It was his safety blanket that he couldn’t do without

“Macaroons”

“Baaaabe...”

Too cute. The huffy, sleepy way Keith tried to ask if they needed to see Coran about his continued morning sickness was something only Keith could fit into the way he said “babe”. His boyfriend was too cute. He’d tried hard to keep Lance on the outside of things while keeping him looped in. Lance felt as if he was betraying him seriously considering Coran’s offer. Not forever, but for a while, he might need to not be in Platt for everyone’s sake

“I’m okay”

“Mnmm... ‘ love you”

“I love you, too”

Sleeping late with no place to be, Lance tugged Keith into the shower with him. Sometimes he wondered if his boyfriend would remember to shower if he left him alone. Quickly washing the evidence of where he’d cut his hand in the guise of checking the water temperature, he jumped as Keith looped his arm around him, hand going to his belly

“Baby...”

“There’s two in there. And there’s about to be a big one in the shower”

Keith grunted at him, Lance pulling him under the running water. He’d never take private showers for granted again. It’d felt like he’d never showered so much in his life, even after his three month stint making death soil, but every time he felt like he could feel Sendak on him again, he found himself in there. Keith would come for him, pull his hands away from where he he’d scrubbed his skin almost raw and fill his sense with him instead.

Washing Keith’s hair, his boyfriend knelt before him. Resting his forehead against Lance’s stomach, his boyfriend was seriously being too cute. It’d become their thing. Their thing during their morning shower. Keith had been so excited to see the little swell. Lance hadn’t even noticed it during captivity, but it had been two weeks since that day. Digging his chin in lightly, Keith tilted his head back so Lance could rinse his hair out, humming as Lance played with the black locks. He loved and hated how perfectly Keith’s hair was with no special treatments

“Feel good?”

Keith hummed, that was a yes. They hadn’t tried to be sexually intimate since he’d come back, and Lance was honestly okay with that. He missed being comfortable enough to have sex with the man he loved. Keith had been so sure he’d been touched, Lance strongly shaking his head. They’d never stopped so low

“Want me to wash your back now? Your knees have to be getting sore from the tiles”

Keith pouted at him before kissing Lance’s stomach, Lance snorting at him fondly

“They’re still going to be in there. Come up here and let me wash you”

Washing Keith was easier than letting Keith wash him. When Keith would touch his lower back, he’d feel the phantom memory of the cattle prod against him. The front was fine, where he could see Keith. A ridiculous new fear to have. Kissing him more than washing him down, the shower puff fell to floor as Lance slung his arms over his boyfriend’s shoulders. They couldn’t help but react to each other, Keith getting flustered, breaking the kiss with a groan. Too cute... and too horny... Maybe he’d kept Keith waiting too long? Maybe he should talk to him about if he wanted to try?

“I think that means it’s coffee time”

“Mmm... kisses”

“You’ll get more kisses soon. Come on, Samurai, time for coffee and cuddles”

*

Making breakfast around having to make actual breakfast, they were living on food from the freezer, still there from the last time he’d stocked up his boyfriend’s fridge. Keith was human now, human and sexy in his black boxer briefs and black shirt.

“Lance, what happened here?”

Lance forgot about breaking the glass the previous night. That the evidence was in the sink, he’d thought Shiro would clean it up. He should have cleaned it up. Why hadn’t he gotten up before Keith and cleaned it up?

“I broke a glass... I’m sorry... Shiro came home this morning and I dropped it”

“Shiro’s supposed to let me know if he’s coming home”

Why couldn’t Keith have found the glass before he was awake and caffeinated. Drawing his knee up, Lance fidgeted with the mug of blood in front of him. Pidge, Hunk, Shiro and Krolia all donated blood to him while he’d been unconscious. The blood in his mug was freshish. Keith couldn’t keep giving him blood, but Coran had taken some from him, the bag in the fridge for breakfast. He didn’t have much choice and he didn’t want to go hungry again.

“Babe?”

Looking over to Keith, Keith smiled at him, opening his arms. Lance up and moving over into the hug. His boyfriend wasn’t mad. No one was going to show up with a cattle prod and gag

“Hey, it’s okay if you’re okay. It’s just a glass. Did you hurt yourself?”

“I cut my hand but it’s healed”

“Babe. You need to be careful. I’ll tell Shiro to make sure...”

“You don’t have to. It’s his home too... he probably thought we’d both be sleeping”

“That’s...”

“It’s not beside the point. It’s his home too”

“He said...”

Lance didn’t want him fighting with Shiro. He just wanted to enjoy the day with his boyfriend

“It’s okay. I’m okay. I was too tired to not jump”

There really needed to be a limit to this vomiting thing. And this thinking thing.

“Did you get much sleep at all?”

“Enough. I passed out when you cuddled me”

“We could go back to bed”

It was tempting, but Lance’s head was already far ahead of Keith in the thought chain. Coran putting him in protective custody would mean he felt unable to protect him, meaning that the Blades would be pulling out. If they were going back, Krolia would probably go back too. Curtis possibly with Shiro to testify over Lotor and Sendak... and if Shiro was going, Keith should go too. He’d be safer if he did. It wouldn’t be forever...

“Can we go for a drive today?”

They weren’t supposed to really be going out, but if they took shiro’s sedan it’d blend in with the rest of the white sedans in Platt

“Babe...”

“I know. I just want to get some air. We don’t even have to get out of the car”

He was being pushy. He’d tried hard not to be. He’d gone with the flow as much as possible

“I’ll have to check with Coran, is that okay?”

“Yeah. We don’t have to leave city limits... or the car...”

“I’ll tell him. Do you want to get dressed, and find me some pants? Unless you’re fine with driving around in your boxers and shirt?”

And his robe. He’d be fine not getting dressed any further if it meant he and Keith could go out. Matt had brought a heap of his stuff from home when Coran said he wouldn’t be going back to Garrison just yet. Pidge and Hunk were bummed out, they wanted to see him. Lance wanted his head on straight before the million questions and worried looks. If things had been safer he’d have asked to go see Mami. Mami was with Luis and Lisa for now, Luis didn’t know his house was being monitored. His brother was being a dick about phone calls, if he was lucky he’d manage to get Lisa who’d put Mami on for him. On the unlucky occasions Keith usually tried to get to the phone to grouch at Luis. Lance loved how much Keith loved Mami and that they’d been there for each other.

Kissing Keith on the cheek, Lance nodded as he asked

“Sweats?”

Sweats were comfy... sweats didn’t irritate his belly when he’d been throwing up

“Jeans. I have to pretend I’m adult enough to be taking care of you”

Fuck being an adult... Keith was a total bad arse hunter with amazingness oozing out of him

“You’re plenty adult for me”

Probably more of an adult that Lance had been being. Really. What kind of big bad vampire jumps at absolutely everything? He’d been so spacey he’d completely missed Shiro coming home

“I’d hope so. You’re kind of stuck with me at this point”

“Happily stuck with you. Don’t forget that”

“Mmm, that makes two of us. Oh, you need to finish your breakfast too. We don’t we get lunch while we’re out?”

They didn’t even know if they could go out... but Keith would figure a way to avoid cooking

“Babe... you are the best boyfriend ever”

[everykindofnerd13]

“I was only 3 years old when my mother left leaving nothing but her memory and my knife behind for me. I was 6 years old when my Dad left my home and never returned. I was 7 years old when I was discovered by a teacher at school and put in the Foster care system. I was 10 years old when I figured out that I might be gay and came out to my parents as questioning. They weren’t very happy and I was put back in the system. I was 11 years old when I ran away from my foster home at the time and began to live on the run from the agency. I was 12 years old when I met Takashi Shirogane who brought me home to live with him and his boyfriend Adam. I was 14 when I was finally permitted to join the Galaxy Garrison and was finally happy to be pursuing a dream. I also met my first ever crush when I was 14, not that I knew it yet. When I was 15 I realised my crush, and when I was 16, I accepted my crush...” Everyone laughed as Keith spoke, he took a deep breath, steadying himself and continued, “I was 17 years old when Shiro left on the Kerberos mission, and was presumed dead weeks later. It was at that time that Adam began pulling away, beginning to only do what was completely necessary for my health. I was 18 years old when I punched Iverson in the eye and was expelled from the Galaxy Garrison. I also left the home I still shared with Adam and began living in the shack I’d lived in with my biological parents that was only a little ways away from the school. That same year, I discovered that my older brother-best friend was alive and I rushed to get him away from the scientists. There, was when my life took a turn that I both wish could have been better, but will never regret. When I was 20, I left my brother and found-family in hopes of serving a greater purpose in a war I shouldn’t have even had to fight. I was 21 when I returned to my found-family and 23 when we won a war I thought we’d never escape. In exchange I was forced to watch the love of my life hurt over someone I had known for years as well. I was 24 when I finally admitted to my best friend, first crush, and love of my life and that I was in love, and he confessed to returning those feelings. I proposed when I was 25, and now, I’m 26, and you, Lance McClain, the guy I’ve been pining after since I was 16, all of which Shiro had to sit and suffer through, are standing in front of me at the Wedding Alter, and I can honestly say, that until 2 years ago when you said you return my feelings, I didn’t think that I’d ever be this happy. But here you are, answering all my dreams, and all my prayers, by agreeing to spend the rest of our lives together with me, how crazy is that?” He laughed, there were sniffles heard all over the room, and Lance was crying himself, “So thank you, truly, and from the bottom of my heart, for making me happy, for agreeing to live this life with me, and for being my best friend, biggest supporter, and best rival through of this crazy shit we call life. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I’m so happy that you’re here with me.” Lance’s face was covered in his own tears now, and he covered his mouth.

“God! Keith! Still one upping me, 12 years later huh?” He asked his voice hoarse from trying to hold in tears. Keith let out a breathy laugh and looked at the minister expectantly. He nodded and rose his two hands.

“I now pronounce you, husband, and husband, you may kiss the groom.” Lance immediately wrapped his hands around Keith’s neck and pulled him into a passionate kiss, soaking both their cheeks in his own tears. Cheering erupted from the crowd and from their friends lined up on either side of them, but they barely even noticed. Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s waist and pulled him close before breaking the kiss and just holding his husband close, tears of joy running down his cheeks. Their foreheads were rested together, just smiling, as the crowd began to disperse, Keith felt a hand land on his shoulder and squeeze, he pulled away from his husband and looked back, meeting Shiro’s eyes, and smiling at him too.

“Shiro,” he muttered, wrapping on arm around Lance’s waist and holding him their to prevent him from being pulled away by his fussing family.

“Keith,” he started then looked at the ground, and Keith caught tears gathering in the corners of his eyes, “I’m so proud of you Keith. You have come so far from the scrawny little kid that I found outside the general store 14 years ago. Look at you! You’re married! You two are adopting an incredible little girl and you both co-teach a piloting class at your dream school... I guess it’s not my place, because I only came into your life, when you were 12, but I can’t help the pride I feel.” Shiro was smiling, proudly, but also almost sadly at Keith, and he reached out with his free hand to grab Shiro’s arm and squeeze it.

“You and Adam did more for me than anyone else ever could have. I said it in my vows, and I told you, my parents abandoned me Shiro, whether my mothers intentions were sound or not, that’s what happened, and my foster parents, gave me back, you two, put up with all the trauma, all the angst, all the anxiety. Everything, you still managed to raise me so well Shiro, you’re the reason I’m no longer so self destructive, you’re the reason I was able to chase my passions, despite my own knowledge of my bad background, you’re more of a parent to me that any of them ever were, okay?” Keith asked and Shiro smiled and nodded, and Keith laughed to himself, “and plus, you were deemed Space-Dad a LONG time ago.” Shiro rolled his eyes and shook his head, but still smiled knowingly at Keith, who averted his gaze to Lance.

“I think it’s great that you finally got him, considering how long I really did that to deal with your incessant pining, Adam and I both.” Keith laughed and pulled Lance away from his conversation with his mother to place a kiss on his cheek then letting him return to the conversation, but only after Lance returned to gesture.

“I’m so glad that I finally got him, I just wish I could have had the perfect teen romance, like you and Adam, j think space would have been a lot easier.” Shiro hummed and nodded and looked back at his own husband, who was still sitting in his front row seat, talking to their two toddlers and Lance and Keith’s daughter-in-the-making. A wide grin on his face.

“We may have had the perfect teen romance, but you know how Adam reacted to Kerberos, I know you heard, I saw your eyes through the crack in the door.” Keith flushes and nodded.

“Well sure, but at least he didn’t keep that promise, to be gone when you returned, because look at your two now, married, three lovely children, I can already see the protective instincts of Lani and Aki taking Satoshi over.” Keith laughed. Shiro laughed as well and nodded, looking proudly at his family. He nodded again then cupped one hand over his mouth.

“Adam!” He shouted and the man perked up, smiling brightly and standing, beginning to herd the three toddlers toward their parents. Lance smiled and kneeled down as Leilani began running toward them at full toddler speed and Keith knelt down too. He wrapped her chubby little toddler arms around Lance and Keith’s necks and pressed wet kisses to their cheeks, which they quickly returned.

“So does that mean that you guys are gonna my tatay and papa even faster now?” She asked as she pulled away. Keith smiled and Lance nodded.

“We’re already your papa and Tatay though right?” She nodded excitedly and the three year old kissed them again before turning to look at Akisuki next to her. The four year old little girl turned away from her parents and looked at Leilani excitedly.

“Can we go play?” They both asked simultaneously and Lance, Keith, Adam, and Shiro all laughed and nodded then Keith turned to Satoshi seriously, still knelt to look at him eye to eye.

“Alright Toshi, I need you to make me a promise okay?” The 5 year old nodded back, just a s seriously, “ You have to keep them safe for us alright? Leilani and Akisuki? Okay?” He nodded and Keith pulled him into a hug.

“Hey Toshi!” Lance’s newest nephew, the same age as Satoshi, and Lance’s older brother Damien’s son, Julian, called and waved him over. Toshi held up one finger to signal for him to wait then turned to Keith.

“Alright Uncle Keith, but you have to make me a promise,” all the adults present to hear let out silent laughs accept for Keith who nodded pointedly, keeping up his faux serious look. “You have to promise to keep Uncle Lance safe, and Oya, and Otosan!” Keith nodded, but the boy didn’t stop, “because if you don’t, then Julian, and Aki, and Lani, and Andrea will be sad, and it’s hard to protect people when their sad, they get... mm...” the boy looked down, very focused, “I don’t remember the English word! They get mubō when they’re sad! You have to make sure nothin happens to those guys so that I can make sure nothing happens to my guys, okay?” Keith smiles softly and nodded then leaned in and whispered in Toshi’s ear.

“You’re getting very good at English, and the word I think you were looking for was Reckless.” He explained and Toshi excitedly nodded and hugged Keith one last time before running off to join his friends. Keith stood and looked at Lance, who was just looking at him, like he’d hung the stars.

“What?” He asked when he saw Adam and Shiro giving him a similar look, this one less in love and more prideful though.

“You’re just so good with kids, I love it, it’s so good, considering my HUGE family.” Lance explained and laughed while Keith laughed back, they were then finally approached by Hunk and Pidge, the two having just gotten past the bustling 11 person family.

“You two finally did it, look at yoh Lance, marrying the crush you’ve denied since you were 14.” Lance’s eyes widened and he hurriedly hushed Pidge. Keith laughed and kissed Lance’s cheek and left him to his conversation as he turned to Shiro and Adam again.

“He’s right y’know, you’re great with kids, I’m gonna start dumping Satoshi and Akisuki on you when we have date nights.” Adam jokes and Keith laughed then nodded.

“We’ll gladly take them.”

“I’m really sorry...” Adam muttered and Keith’s expression grew into concern.

“What?” He asked, and reached out to place a hand on Adam’s shoulder. He saw tears begin to form in Adam’s eyes and began to panic, Shiro how ever just wrapped his arms around his husband and held him close. Keith’s concern only grew.

“What’s going on? Are you going away? Is there something wrong? Please tel me you didn’t put off telling me because of the wedding!” Keith was beginning to panic as Adam continued to cry before Shiro sighed and rubbed Adam’s back reassuringly.

“You need to tell him before he has a heart attack the day of his wedding.” That only further panicked Keith as his weary eyes looked Adam over for any sign of sickness.

“It’s not, anything that has happened recently, or that will effect the future, I just,” Adam took a deep breath and looked up at Keith sadly.

“I wish I would have helped you. I wish I would have taken Kerberos better, you were just a kid for god’s sake, you were my kid, and I...” Adam paused, “I failed you. I left you in your most vulnerable state because I couldn’t handle it, as if being alone in an apartment I’d shared with Takashi was better than trying to stay with people who loved him alongside me, I’m so so sorry. I’ve always felt like I could have done something if I had just been by your side, but I was selfish, and ignorant and,” Adam’s rambling was cut off my Keith who engulfed him in a tight hug.

“Adam, I don’t blame anything that happened on you, I would have felt the presence of the lion regardless of living with you, I would have gone to get Shiro regardless of being with you, I would have punched Iverson regardless, granted I may not have been in the shack, but nothing that happened was your fault okay?” Keith assures Adam who nodded. Keith nodded as well then stood, looking to see that Lance’s family had already headed to the reception location in their own vehicles and now it was just the grooms, Shiro, Adam, Hunk, Pidge, and the kids, all ready to go get back in the fancy limousine they’d arrived in.

“Alright, are you ready to go, husband?” Lance asked, putting special emphasis on the last word.

“Ready if you are, husband,” Keith responder, almost equally as enthusiastic.

Pidge sighed loudly, “You guys were already insufferable sweethearts, now you’re gonna be insufferable husbands.” She complained and turned around to wall with Hunk out the door.

“Right you are Pigeon!” Lance shouted and turned to offer his arm to Keith who gladly took it. They called over Leilani who ran over and Keith easily swept her up into the crook of his arm.

“Papa! Where are we going now? Don’t tell me we’re gonna go to another boring building?” She asked leaning over to look at Lance. Both her dads laughed and shook their heads.

“Of course not Lani, we’re going to a party! Where you get to play with Julian, and Andrea, and Satoshi, and Akisuki, and Xenia, Violeta, and Adalita,” Lance explained easily. Leilani smiled brightly and nodded, then they heard a groan to their right, where the Shiroganes were walking. They all looked over to find the Shirogane’s oldest son, 14 year oldTakahiro, walking next to his parents and siblings with his arms crossed. Shiro and Adam both narrowed their eyes at him when he huffed, but before they could scold him, Lance leaned over and began speaking.

“Don’t worry Hiro, Mateo and Mariana will be at the party, and so will Jaxon, Leila, and Macy.” He assured the teenager. Takahiro visibly perked up at the mention of his friends, but Shiro and Adam still scolded them as they left.

When they reached the car as Keith and Adam fought with the kids car seats, Shiro approached Lance to ask him a question he’d been wondering for a while.

“Lance, just how big is your family?” He asked. Lance laughed and shook his head then looked at Shiro.

“Seriously?” He asked and Shiro nodded. Once laughed again.

“Oh gosh, okay, well I guess we’ll start with my Abuela and Abuelo. They had my father, Carlos, and his brother Jayden, and his sister Maria. My father married my mother, Rosa, and together they had Camila, Damien, Adrien, and last me. Then Camila married Jacob and they had Mateo and Mariana, Damien married Elliana and they had Julian, and Adrien married Valery and they had Andrea. You still with me?” Lance looked at Shiro, who noddd with a wide amused smile on his face.

“Okay, well then there’s my aunt and uncle Jayden and Sofia. They got married and had Julio and Daniel. Daniel was married to Aleta and they had Adalita, Luis, and Thomas. Julio was married to Angelica and they had Jaxon and Elena. Still with me?” Shiro nodded again.

“Then there’s my Aunt Maria, she married my uncle Hugo, and they had Nina, Lautaro, and Esmerelda. Nina married Alexander they had Leila, Emilio, and Grace. Lautaro married Evita and they had Ian and Alita. Then Esmerelda married Mario and they had Macy and Dante.” Lance finished his sentence then looked at Shiro who was staring wide eyed.

“I know.” He said.

“You have a HUGE family.” Shiro explained and Lance laughed.

“That’s not including my mother’s side, if you’d like I could go into more detail.” Shiro hastily shook his head.

“No no, those like 15 branches are enough.” Lance laughed again.

“Yeah, just there I have 20 girls, and 21 guys. Then adding you guys, it’s 22 girls and 26 guys. Once again, not counting my mother’s side of the family.” Shiro huffed, exasperated.

“It’s amazing, so many people, so many loved ones, all here for one big wedding, and after lacking a family for so long, the bigger it gets the better.” Keith explained after finally wrestling the uncooperative toddlers into their car seats. He came up to Lnce and kissed him in the cheek before pulling him into the limo to sit down with him. Shiro and Adam day opposit them while Hunk and Pidge were driving the car and the kids were all seated near the front.

“It was a really beautiful ceremony...” Takahiro muttered and Lance and Keith offered him bright smiles.

“Indeed.” Lance agreed then leaned over to look the teenager in the eyes.

“You got your eyes on anyone Hiro? Any young lads or ladies, somewhere in between, catch your eye?” He asked, causing the teenager to blush and shove Lance back into his seat, and all the adults to laugh.

“Aw, little Hiro’s got a crush~” Keith sang and looked at the teenager.

“Who? Someone at the Garrison?” He asked and Hiro blushed even further. He crossed his arms and faced away from his parents and uncles.

“Shut up...” he muttered.

“Someone’s pouring cause he’s being found out!” Lance declares, a wicked grin spread across his features, “it’s fine, you don’t have to tell me, I’ll just keep an extra good eye on you when the school year starts up again, I’m looking out.” Lance assures, causing Hiro’s eyes to widen in horror.

“No! You can’t- you can’t do that! If she realizes that you know something then,” Hiro was interrupted by Lance.

“A she huh? Promising, is it maybe that girl with the pink hair, what’s her name Keith? Oh yes!” Lance looked at Hiro menacingly, “Brielle?” Hiro’s face was cherry red as he glared at his uncle Lance.

“That makes sense, you’re always talking about her, and you’re friends are always teasing you about her.” Adam confirmed, much to Hiro’s dismay.

“It runs in the family huh guys?” Pidge called and everyone looked toward the window confused.

“Falling in love with someone at the Garrison and making your friends put up with all the UST,” She explained and Lance and Keith practically shrieked in embarrassment while Hiro covered his ears and groaned and Shiro and Adam grumbled as well.

“Pidge!” All four adults called at once while Hunk laughed.

“She’s not wrong,” he reasoned as he turned on his turn signal.

“Still! Our daughter’s in here!” Keith exclaimed, and Pidge laughed.

“She doesn’t know what UST is!” She reasoned and Takahiro groaned.

“Yeah well I do!” He shouted back and covered his face, clearly disgusted. Lance, Keith, Shiro, and Adam all laughed at his response but Lance and Keith were still blushing nonetheless.

“Tatay?” Leilani asked as she turned to look at her dads.

“Yes Agassi?” He asked.

“How long till we get to the party?” She asked and Keith leaned to look at Hunk in the rear-view mirror.

“How long Hunk?” He asked and the other man glanced at the GPS.

“Ten minutes princess, just be patient alright?” Hunk answered Leilani. She nodded excitedly and turned back to talking to the other two toddlers.

“I got a call from the adoption center earlier, just before walking down he aisle believe it or not,” Lance explained, causing Keith, Shiro, Adam, and Takahiro’s eyebrows to furrow.

“Why? What’s wrong? Complications with Leilani?” Keith sounded extremely worried and Lance just shook his head and ran his thumb over Keith’s knuckle.

“No no, nothing bad, just, they recently had a little girl put in the system, she’s only 7, her parents were charged with child abuse and they don’t want her back after their sentence. Apparently she doesn’t have any living family. She’s of... Korean decent, her parents moved from Seoul to the Philippines, they were wondering if we wanted to look into taking her. And I know that we’re only just about to finialize Leilani but I thought that maybe it’s be good for you to have a child to share your heritage with the language barrier wouldn’t be as bad as with Leilani because she’s have you,” Lance was cut it by Keith swooping in to kiss him and throw him out of the rambling. When he pulled away Keith just smiled.

“What’s her name?” He asked. Lance smiled back.

“Araki.” Lance explained and Keith nodded, his smile never faltering.

“Well look into as soon as possible.” He says, leaning his forehead against Lance’s. There was suddenly cooing and the newly weds turned to find Shiro, Adam, and Takahiro making goo goo eyes and smiling. They rolled their eyes simultaneously.

“Shut up!” Keith exclaimed and shoved Shiro, who laughed loudly.

[dinomight]

all the stars in all the skies: a playlist for Home and a Half by @echodrops

the chain - fleetwood mac // sorrow - the national // nothing’s gonna hurt you baby - cigarettes after sex // child i will hurt you - crystal castles // constant craving - the cat and owl // run boy run - woodkid // female robbery - the neighbourhood // sleepsong - bastille // small things - ben howard // iron - woodkid // greens of june - neko case // mars - sleeping at last // iscariot - walk the moon // human - daughter // body - mother mother // i come with knives - iamx // all these things that i’ve done - the killers // an angry blade - iron & wine // all the stars - the wailin’ jennys // i’ll be good - jaymes young // slow wake up sunday morning - mountain man // someone to stay - vancouver sleep clinic // it’s alright - mother mother // this is home - cavetown

Song explanations under the cut!

First I’d like to clarify: I’m not insane. I’m just a huge ass dork for this fic. (For a lot of things, really, but irrelevant.) HaaH is one of my favorite written works ever, fanfiction or not, so I really, truly should not have been surprised that this playlist ended up being so much longer than I meant for it to be, and it probably could’ve been even longer if I’d let myself keep going. In my defense, I can’t art, so this is one of my only ways to show my appreciation.

Anyways, I’m not gonna wax poetics about how much I love this story because we would be here all day and this post is too long as it is, so down to business: this playlist is very loosely structured. It’s hard to give the songs a significant order when only a few correspond to specific moments or lines; most of them I chose to focus more on bigger picture themes and concepts from the story. So the order isn’t that important, I just organized them so they’d transition relatively smoothly sound-wise and tried to keep similar concepts together. Additionally, I did use both quotes from the fic and the songs in some of my explanations, so fic quotes are bolded and song lyrics are in italics. Some of these are short, some are a bit longer, some are just the quotes because I didn’t feel the need to explain further, but hopefully all of them give a good idea of why I chose the song. I thought about just posting the playlist by itself, but I felt weird not explaining the thinking behind it, so uh, here it is I guess? 

1) The Chain - Fleetwood Mac: The best song in existence. Objectively speaking, of course. The first time I heard this while thinking of HaaH though, it just fit so well, and I haven’t really been able to un-associate the two since. (Not that I want to lol) It just has such a desert vibe to it that matches with the story, and I think it represents Keith’s desperation to avoid rejection from the team so well. It’s like...if I were to picture a trailer for HaaH, this is the song I would hear in the background, y’know? 

2) Sorrow - The National: This one’s a bit of a weird one because I can’t quite put into words why this is on here. Like, I added it back when I was just throwing some songs together for background atmosphere while reading HaaH, but when I was working to make this into something more thought out, I couldn’t bring myself to take this song off. So here it is, I guess. 

3) Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby - Cigarettes After Sex: This one is here more for its sound and atmosphere, not really the lyrics. It just sounds like...nostalgia, I guess. Like it’s supposed to be reminiscing about something comforting, but it’s not quite there because the pain of the present is keeping you rooted. The way I hear it, it’s like Keith is thinking about his mom and her love and comfort, but it’s tainted by the loss of all of that. (I might be slightly insane. I’ve come to terms with that.) 

4) Child I Will Hurt You - Crystal Castles: I don’t know how else to phrase this so I’m just gonna say it: this song gives me the heebie jeebies, just like Keith’s flashbacks to his earlier times with the Garrison. I swear, every time he says replacement mother or father it gives me chills. Or makes me want to cry a bit. It just feels so wrong, and that’s why I picked this song, ‘cause it gives me the same feeling. The music is so soft, like it was supposed to be a lullaby, but the lyrics and the feeling underneath is...disturbing. Plus, “Hide all that you could / Done for the greater good / It’s later understood” reminds me all too well of the Garrison scientists and what they did to Keith. 

5) Constant Craving - The Cat and Owl: So while I was searching for songs to add, it suddenly occurred to me that despite the fact that one of Keith’s major problems is that he can’t put his thoughts and feelings into words properly, every single song I’d added did exactly that. And so began my search for some instrumental songs that unfortunately only turned up this one, mostly because I realized this playlist was getting far too long lol. Though now that I’ve thought about it, an all instrumental HaaH playlist would be an interesting challenge. Hm. I already knew I wanted to add Constant Craving as a sort of representation for Keith’s own craving for love, acceptance, and family, but when I heard this version I knew it was right. Keith knows he desperately needs all these things, but he can’t put it into words, can’t communicate it right. It’s made even better by how well known the original song is, because you can feel the familiarity in it, feel what’s missing and what should be there, but it’s different at the same time, like that absence has created something strange, something off-kilter from what it should have been. Plus it’s sorta a lullaby version, which I like since Keith’s childhood is an often reoccurring topic. 

6) Run Boy Run - Woodkid: Seems to me like there’s a lot of shit Keith’s been running from. (also...running makes me think of “escaped from the Garrison”. Escaped. Escaped. ESCAPED.)

7) Female Robbery - The Neighbourhood: There’s some really fucked up stuff in Keith’s past in addition to the whole Galra thing, and he really does not want the team to find out any of it. This song makes me think a lot about that. 

8) Sleepsong - Bastille: “You go to sleep on your own / And you wake each day with your thoughts / And it scares you being alone, it's a last resort” & “All you want is someone onto whom you can cling / Your mother warned of strangers and the dangers they may bring / Your dreams and memories are blurring into one / The scenes which hold the waking world slowly come undone.” ...yeah.

9) Small Things - Ben Howard: Another song that’s on here more for the sound than the lyrics, though the lyrics could possibly fit. I just love the dreamy, suspended feeling that this song exudes and how well it fits with the feeling that Keith’s flashbacks and memories give me. 

10) Iron - Woodkid: “But Keith was gone—every reflex retuned for battle, every nerve sparking under his skin, and all there was fight, win, refuse to be killed.“ - “I'm waiting for the call, the hand on the chest / I'm ready for the fight, and fate” So the lyrics don’t *exactly* match up, but the underlying themes are there, I think, and the atmosphere of this one was more important to me anyways. The intensity of it just screams fighting and death and red to me. 

11) Greens of June - Neko Case, k.d. lang, Laura Veirs: “Just in the moment / Everything's changed / My dark disposition / Has been rearranged” The arrival of the kids is certainly not a very happy time considering the circumstances, but it brought a change that Keith desperately needed, one that will hopefully help him actually be happy. (My other reason for choosing this song is, for whatever reason, it also gives me desert vibes.) 

12) Mars - Sleeping at Last: “We let the end goal blind us to the means. We’ll have to re-evaluate before we take on any more missions. If violence is our go-to method of beating the enemy, we’re no better than the empire ourselves.” -  "Lay your weapons down! / They're calling off the war / On account of losing track / Of what we're fighting for." The team has taken up an immense and necessary duty to protect the universe, but that doesn’t mean they don’t get caught up in the grey areas of war, and it doesn’t mean they get to come home without scars. 

13) Iscariot - WALK THE MOON: Broganes, anyone? For real though, this song is about betrayal between two people who are essentially brothers (specifically Jesus and Judas but I didn’t pick it for the religious references). While I don’t think Shiro is gonna see Keith being Galra and hiding it as a personal betrayal, Keith clearly does. “How long did he have left before…Before Lance said he’d known all along there was something wrong with Keith, before Pidge threw his hypocrisy back in his face: no secrets between paladins, huh? Before Allura turned her back on him. Before Shiro couldn’t, and Keith had to meet his eyes, watch betrayal dawn white-star bright and burning.” Ah. That sweet, terrible angst.

14) Human - Daughter: “Underneath the skin there's a human / Buried deep within there's a human / And despite everything I'm still human / But I think I'm dying here.” I think this song works on two levels. One, you can take “human” to be quite literal and interpret it as Keith’s desperation to hide his Galra heritage and keep pretending that he’s entirely human, even though it clearly has awful emotional repercussions for him. Two, you can look at “human” with a metaphorical lens to talk about how even though Keith seems like a cold tough guy on the surface, underneath that is a complicated mess of emotions and trauma, and not being able to properly deal with all of that is killing him. 

15) Body - Mother Mother: One of the things about HaaH that I find most interesting is Keith’s relationship with his body. Between the whole Galra form vs human form, the fact that his human form is not how he was born, and everything that the Garrison did to him...it’s a goddamn mess. Hence, this song. can I please give this boy a hug 

16) I Come With Knives - IAMX: First and foremost, I had to include this song for the irony, because Keith did, in fact, come with a knife. However, I also included it because I really like how on the surface, it can be written off as just another angsty emo song, but if you take the time to really listen to it, it’s filled with genuine emotion and hurt. (Almost like a certain knife-wielding alien boy I know...)

17) All These Things That I’ve Done - The Killers: I have a few different reasons for why this song is here, but the main one is pretty much “I got soul, but I’m not a soldier”. I mean...yeah. That screams Keith to me. He’s driven and angry and passionate and willing to fight so hard to protect the people he loves, but...that doesn’t mean he’s emotionally okay with being a soldier, even if the rest of the team seems to think otherwise.

18) An Angry Blade - Iron & Wine: Another one that immediately earned points for Keith irony in the title. Seriously though, I love the tone of this song for Keith. It’s got desert vibes to it, and maybe it’s just because my hearing isn’t fantastic, but I like that the lyrics are a bit hard to make out. You really have to listen. (Again, almost like...hmm...) Plus: “You’re an angry blade and you’re brave / But you’re all alone”

19) All the Stars - The Wailin’ Jennys: I swear I didn’t just pick this for the title. It was a little bit for the title though, sue me. Nope, it was more for “So open wide your wounded heart / Feel yourself be blown apart” because for the love of god, Keith, please open up a bit more to the people around you. On a more serious note, I was also struck by “You don’t know me / You know one side of a story” because it’s true for both Keith and his mother. The Keith part is obvious--the team, with the exception of Shiro, only really sees the Keith that’s on the surface. But it’s kinda true for Keith and his mom too, right? He’s missing so much information because of his spotty memories. Up until the kids arrived, it seems like he didn’t even consider the idea that she might be, y’know, not evil. So...yeah. Also “All the stars in the sky / Say goodbye say goodbye” because I didn’t need my heart, it’s fine, it’s okay, I’m not crying over a fictional character and the death of his alien mother, there’s just dirt in my eyes--

20) I’ll Be Good - Jaymes Young: “But if there was a way to stop the blood flowing down his glove, the sound a sword made when it struck bone, the way her breath came in pieces between the shocks her sobs, then he definitely would have... “ - “I've been cold, I've been merciless / But the blood on my hands scares me to death / Maybe I'm waking up today”

21) Slow Wake Up Sunday Morning - Mountain Man: “It's lucid dreaming; he knew it wasn't real, not anymore, but still he couldn't focus his eyes, couldn't see past the fall of her hair in the pale morning light...” - “The light / It moves / Across this room / Like it could reach us, honey” & “We are already there, it seems / (I know I can't stay in this place)” I don’t quite know how to explain why I connected this song with this moment beyond the whole early morning thing but...this moment was an especially emotional one for me. It felt like something Keith wanted to hold on to, wanted to go back to, but just like the sun continues rising, the world keeps moving, regardless of whether we want it to or not. 

22) Someone to Stay - Vancouver Sleep Clinic: “You were alone left out in the cold / Clinging to the ruin of your broken home / Too lost and hurting to carry your load / We all need someone to hold” I just...yeah. There’s not much I need to say about this one. Just Keith and the kids, man. 

23) It’s Alright - Mother Mother: Whenever I listen to this song, I feel like I’m getting a hug. Since I cannot project myself into fictional stories and hug the characters myself, I instead gift this song to Keith. Please, someone give this boy more hugs. Please.

24) This is Home - Cavetown: “Get a load of this monster / He doesn't know how to communicate / His mind is in a different place / Will everybody please give him a little bit of space / Get a load of this trainwreck / His hair's a mess and he doesn't know who he is yet / But little do we know the stars welcome him with open arms / Oh / Time is / Slowly / Tracing his face / But strangely he feels at home in this place.” <3

This got way too long, so to anyone who actually made it through all of that, I sincerely apologize. >.<

[calligraphist-artemisia]

Across Time and Space (Chapter 12)

Summary: Sequel to I’ll Take Her Place.  Slav is showing off a piece of experimental equipment, when it malfunctions and blasts Katie and Keithir to another universe. At the same time, it drags Pidge and Keith over into theirs, effectively swapping places. With their fate resting in the hands of Slav, will they be able to get back home? Or are they stuck to live the rest of their lives in the wrong universe?

Also posted on AO3 and fanfiction.net under the username “kishirokitsune”.

Only two (or three) more chapters left! Remember that I still have the poll up to decide what I’ll work on next and that will be closing the day after I post the final chapter of this fic! ( https://forms.gle/izPGqWsHD56RxgHg6 )

Chapter 12

“You were so young,” Travis murmured, staring at his son with a stricken expression. “You didn't have anyone? Not Kolivan or Thace or anyone else?”

Keith avoided looking at him as he shrugged. “I had Shiro.”

It was only the partial truth.  He didn't meet Shiro for another two years after his father died, and it had been a long road to learning to trust the man.

Shiro had saved him. Given him hope when he had none. Inspired him to do better when everyone else was set against him. And somewhere along the way, Shiro became his family. He never needed anyone else, so long as he kept believing in him.

“What about your mother?”

“I've never known her. I didn't even know I was part Galra until recently, when Kolivan told me after I passed the trials. And ever since then, I haven't...” Keith paused to shake his head. “There are more important things to focus on.”

“I don't think Kolivan would turn you away if you asked about her. Family is just as important as your work with the Blade,” Travis said.

“Maybe that's the way it is here, but things are different back home. There's nothing more important than ending the war. Not to the Blade.”

Travis was silent for a moment. “I know it's not the same, but I have a few pictures of her, mostly from after Keithir was born. Part of me always knew they wouldn't be able to stay on Earth and I wasn't sure that it was possible for me to go with them, so I took pictures, just in case.”

Keith eyed the small binder his dad brought with him. He'd been curious about it from the start, but knowing that it contained pictures of the mother he'd never seen or known filled him with a sense of anxiety.

Was he ready to see her?

“Tell me more about her?” Keith requested instead.

Travis smiled, happy to do so.

OLKARION – CASTLE OF LIONS

“I'm just saying, it's a bad idea,” Katie said, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared down Allura, Shiro, and Kolivan. Behind her, Keithir was muttering angrily as he processed exactly where they had recently been getting their intelligence on Galra installations.

“So far, everything he has told us has been truthful. We have no reason to dismiss his knowledge of the inner workings of Galra command,” Kolivan pointed out.

Had she known she would spend a good chunk of her morning arguing with them, Katie would have let Keithir convince her to stay in bed.

“I thought you were just holding him prisoner,” Keithir said, reigning in his temper. There was an edge of steel to his voice that Katie rarely heard.

Allura mirrored Katie's stance. “He turned himself in and offered to help of his own free will. As Kolivan said, everything he has told us has only helped us free planets and make progress in the war. He truly wants to help.”

Keithir's ears pinned back in clear agitation, but he kept his voice controlled when he spoke again. “When I first started to hear rumors of Lotor's activities from the Blade of Marmora, I didn't believe them. I told Kolivan it wasn't possible, that they'd gotten it wrong. Lotor wasn't capable of the things they were saying, after all of the good I'd witnessed him doing. To prove that, I started to watch him more carefully, to find anything to clear his name. And through watching him, I found the truth.”

“Lotor lies to and manipulates those around him by offering partial truths. He'll give you exactly what you want or say what you want him to say, but I can guarantee that it benefits him more than it does you. If he's given information on Galra commanders and how to take down outposts, it's because they stand in the way of his own plans or because he sees them as expendable.

“Once he has your truth, he starts to ask for things. He'll start small and work his way up, until you're too deep in to see the truth. And when you're no longer useful to him, he'll betray you and you'll want to blame yourself for not seeing it sooner.”

“Think about before he turned himself in,” Katie suggested once Keithir was done. “Would you have trusted him then? Did he do anything to suggest you were on the same side?”

“No, he tried to kill us,” Lance spoke up before anyone else could.

“More than once,” Hunk added, a little less aggressive and more uncertain.

Allura made a soft sound of disagreement. “We were hardly friendly toward him. What was he supposed to do?”

“He attacked first!” Lance responded. “He set up that trap for us on Puig, remember? If he really wants peace like we do, why would he do that? Why not contact us and offer to form some sort of alliance? I'm with Katie and Keithir on this, we can't trust him!”

“Lance, that's enough,” Shiro commanded.

Lance backed down, clenching his jaw and looking away.

Shiro stepped forward to address the room. “It doesn't matter what he's done in the past, he's here to help now. Without this intel, we never could have progressed as quickly as we have and we would have lost many more lives. We're not discussing this any more.”

Katie heard Keithir growl in frustration and glanced back to watch him pivot on his heel and leave the room. “You know, for all that our realities are very different, there's so much more we have in common, especially when it comes to the people in them. I hope we're wrong. I hope Lotor is genuinely here to help. But I also hope you keep what we've said in mind.”

She stayed for a tick longer and then followed her husband out of the room. She picked up her pace as the door shut behind her, easily reaching his side.

“They need the real Shiro back.”

“Agreed,” Katie replied. “Whatever idea our Allura has, I hope she figures it out soon. Maybe that's part of the news we were promised tonight.”

“Maybe,” Keithir said doubtfully.

“We'll find out soon. We just need to be patient until then.” Katie took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “Would it help if you got to see where they're holding Lotor? There's a room next to his cell with a viewing glass. He won't even know we're there.”

Keithir considered it for a few ticks and then shook his head. “It's better if I don't. I think I'll go up to the training deck instead. Would you help me set up?”

“Of course,” Katie said.

The next time they saw any of the others was long after Keithir was finished beating up robots and running the invisible maze. He and Katie grabbed a late lunch after that, spent a few more vargas relaxing in their room, and then headed down to the Black Lion, where Keithir slipped back into the Astral Plane.

When he returned from talking to Shiro, Coran was waiting there with Katie, speaking in quiet voices. They both turned to look at Keithir as he approached.

“Allura and Kolivan have put a hold on more missions until they re-evaluate the situation,” Katie told him, though there was something off about her tone, like there was something about it that bothered her. “Shiro and Matt went down to talk to Lotor.”

“Is that a good idea?” Keithir asked, directing his attention to Coran.

Coran's mustache twitched with disapproval. “It does seem risky, but we'll just have to trust Shiro's judgement, as we always do. And Matt seems like a level-headed fellow! I'm sure he can keep things under control.”

“He does give that impression, doesn't he?” Katie said wryly.

Truly, Matt was a blessing to have around in stressful – or any other – situations. He had a way of knowing just what to do or say, except when it came to Shiro. Katie joked that it was a mild hero-worship at play, born from the days or their dad telling stories about the rising star of the Galaxy Garrison. Thanks to Shiro, Matt had found himself in trouble more than once since his rescue, and while they were all amusing stories, nothing was funnier to Katie than watching Matt get flustered because Shiro threw him for a loop.

Keithir suspected Shiro did it on purpose; a harmless, long-running set of pranks to play on his friend, not unlike the way Regris continued to treat him.

But that was their reality.

Maybe Matt could handle it and they didn't need to worry.

“We'll have to call them up if they aren't back,” Keithir said, turning to more important matters – at least for the moment. “Shiro says they have a lock on this reality and want to try sending us something. Whoever wants to be around for that should go to the workshop.”

Katie tilted her head in curiosity. “I wonder what they're sending through. I mean, it's likely something inorganic to test to odds of reaching us without trouble, but what? Something electronic? Or maybe they'll go more simple than that.”

“Only one way to find out. If we're right about the flow of time being the same in both realities, we should see something in thirty doboshes,” Keithir said.

Thirty.

Twenty-nine.

Twenty-eight.

Keithir counted down the ticks and tried to ignore how adorable Katie was when she was practically squirming with anticipation. The urge to pull her into his arms and kiss her was so strong.

He breathed in deeply and looked away.

Everyone was on high alert, waiting for something to happen. For something to appear. Slav stared hard at his incomplete version of the trans-reality extrapolator, as though expecting it to suddenly work.

A buzz filled the air, crackling so strongly with energy that Keithir's fur stood on end. He slowly backed away from the center of the room, pulling Katie with him, unsure of how the energy would react. He could almost see it, sparking and splitting the air, creating a rip that was visible for less than a tick. He blinked and it was gone and there in its place was a tall man with dark hair, cradling a familiar-looking machine in his arms.

Keithir's brow furrowed in confusion and a low whine built in the back of his throat. “Dad?”

ALTEA – CASTLE OF LIONS

Shiro knew before he stepped into the room that the air was rife with tension. He could feel it pulling tight across his connection to Allura and he wondered what the source of it was. Had something happened to the trans-reality extrapolator? Was it not ready after all? They'd been so sure just a few hours before!

He braced himself as the door slid open, but instead of walking into a loud argument like he expected, he was greeted by uncomfortable silence.

“What's going on?” Shiro asked, looking around in the hope that he could learn something.

Anyone who was in on the accidental swap was in the room, with the exception of Yorak, who was being looked after by his Uncle Sendak for the afternoon. (Shiro hoped they weren't getting into too much trouble, or that at the very least Sendak wouldn't try and give Yorak a sword again.)

“It would seem that we have a volunteer to transport the blueprints and materials to the other reality,” Alfor said.

“A volunteer?” Shiro repeated slowly, not sure he understood. Hadn't they decided there was too much risk in sending someone over? Did they find a way around that while he was away telling Keithir about their plans?

That couldn't be right. He wasn't gone for that long.

“I know the risks,” Travis spoke up. “I've heard y'all talk about this for days now. I know it's not likely I'll get back, but it seems to me that this'll be the best way to make sure the odds are the best they can be.”

“What about Keithir?” Keith asked, his worry leaking into his voice. “What about Yorak? Your life? You'd be leaving all of that behind!”

Travis's expression softened as he walked over and pulled him aside to speak quietly – too quiet for Shiro to hear on the other side of the room. Whatever he was saying made Keith more agitated at first, but he slowly began to look more at ease, or at least less like he was willing to argue, the longer Travis talked to him.

While that was happening, Alfor and Honerva struck up a hushed conversation with Slav and Allura slipped over to stand by Shiro's side.

“I've already briefed him on what he needs to do,” she said.

Shiro looked over at her, startled. “Allura, this isn't-! We can't ask him to do this! I thought there were more tests to run. What if something goes wrong?”

“We did not ask him to do this, he volunteered, and despite a great deal of protest from the rest of us, he seems pretty set on doing this. Shiro, he has been to all of our discussions about this and is well aware of everything that could go wrong. He is right when he says that this could be our best chance. We can get all of the pieces over, along with the blueprints, without worrying about them ending up in the wrong hands. And if we act quickly enough, we may be able to bring Travis home along with Katie and Keithir.”

Allura sounded so sure of what she was saying, that Shiro almost believed her. He wanted to believe her, but it couldn't be that easy. Not after all of the calculations and Slav's ever-expanding list of possible complications.

But at the same time, Travis had made up his mind, and in the end, it was his choice. They could only do what they could to support him.

Shiro took a deep breath. “Okay. What do we need to do first?”

[roggling]

Prompt can you do kallura nd wiht a dash of plance of Keith asking allura out instead before they leave to fight ( basically like s8ep1)

A/N: I got so invested into this one shot I got all the way up to 5,000+ words. uwu. This work is just a ball of fluff tbh (except for some angst that immediately turns to fluff) I just…I love this piece. It’s probably my favorite fic I have ever written.

It’s been a couple months since they’ve recovered from Honerva’s robeast and they’ve spent every waking moment improving and preparing the ATLAS for launch. It’s hard to believe they were leaving tomorrow again.

“Tomorrow, the defenders of the Universe, Team Voltron, and Earth’s very own ATLAS will be launching tomorrow to search for the creator of the robeast that attacked our beloved Team Voltron and tried to take all our quintessence. There will be a celebration in their honor before they leave and a select few are invited to watch them depart along with their families they’re leaving behind. The Garrison has invited…”

The voice of the reporter faded into the distance as he sat with Lance, Hunk, and Pidge for lunch. He could hear Lance talking animatedly with Hunk and Pidge, but he wasn’t really paying attention. He felt a void. Allura didn’t get to eat with them yesterday nor today. She was so busy dealing with the Altean and prepping the ATLAS for launch, she hasn’t been able to spend much time with the team since they discovered the Altean.

“I think they’re hinting at something between Keith and Allura, too.”

That sure woke him up.

“What?”

At his incredulous tone, Pidge and Hunk smirked knowingly and Lance rose a suspicious eyebrow before responding, “We were talking about the Voltron show that just came out. Weren’t you listening?”

“Sorry,” Keith sighed, “I was just…thinking.”

Hunk bit into the mashed potatoes in his plate and asked with his mouth full, “Does it have to do with Allura?”

“Yeah.”

At his confession, Hunk and Pidge high-fived and pointed at him excitedly, though he was still in haze, and they yelled in unison, “I knew it!”

Keith jumped at the sudden exclamation and looked like a deer caught in headlights, “What?”

“You like Allura, don’t you?”

Keith was slightly creeped out by how interested Hunk looked in an obvious question. He scoffed, “Of course I like Princess Allura. I like all of you.”

Pidge facepalmed, “Not that kind of like, Keith. We know you like us. We’re asking if you like like Allura.”

Keith narrowed his eyes in complete exasperation, “There’s more than one type of like?”

“Oh for goodness sake,” Lance mumbled, “Do you have a crush on Allura, Keith?”

Keith stabbed his green beans and shrugged, “I don’t know.”

Lance gave him an unamused face, “What do you mean, you don’t know? You either like her or you don’t.”

Keith shrugged, “Then I guess… I like her? Like doesn’t seem to describe it”

“You guess? Then what would describe it?” Hunk asked, munching on his steak and listening to their obliviously lovestruck leader try to form his affections into words.

“Well, I mean, I care for her, there’s no doubt about that. But I don’t get the butterflies in my stomach or a ridiculous blush on my face. I just want to see her happy and hear her laugh everyday and make sure she’s okay. I don’t want her to get hurt any more and I want to see her grow stronger and wiser everyday. She’s amazing and, yeah, she’s beautiful, she’s so much more than that. She’s helped me become comfortable in my own skin and- why are you all looking at me like that?”

Hunk had a knowing look on his face, “That’s the most you have ever spoken in a conversation.”

Pidge smirked, “And I thought I was the rambler.”

“You still are.”

“Hey!”

Lance was quiet while Hunk and Pidge teased Keith for his newly revealed crush. He wasn’t expecting Keith to say so much, really. It was much deeper than a simple crush. He paused. It’s deeper than my crush. Looking back at Keith he couldn’t help but notice that Keith was much more fidgety than usual. Lance fought off a smile. If Allura was the only one who managed to get the ever-stoic Keith flustered, heck, she’s the only one who should be with him.

Lance chuckled, catching the attention of the bickering three and smirked at Keith knowingly, “You’ve got it bad, man.”

Keith blinked, “I do?”

The team nodded and smiled proudly at their leader who’s finally showing some sort of emotion other than ‘indifference’ or ‘annoyance’.

“But I don’t blush.”

Pidge sighed in exasperation, “You’re not an anime schoolgirl in love with her senpai, Keith.”

“Now that I think about it, our senpai would be Shiro,” Hunk added.

“Actually,” Pidge fixed her glasses and had slipped into her gremlin grin, “Keith’s also our senpai. He is a year older than us.”

Lance leaned into Keith and whispered, “Notice me senpai!”

Hunk and Pidge lost their sh!t laughing and Keith just decided he shouldn’t ask.

“Okay so I have a “crush” on Allura, what’s the big deal?”

Lance sat back down in his seat and got serious, “This is a big deal! You need to take her out on a date, man.”

“A date? The day before launch date?”

“Well,” Pidge started, waving around a piece of steak on her fork, “It’s our last day on Earth, who knows when we’ll be back?”

Keith pondered for a while and considered, “Well, I guess you’re right.”

“Of course we’re right,” Pidge chewed on her meat.

“But how do I ask her?”

“Oh come on, Keith,” Lance scooped up a spoonful of his mashed potatoes, “It’s not hard, just ask her out.”

“Okay, loverboy Lance,” Keith teased and turned his body to look at him directly, “With all the girls you’ve dated, you must’ve had a lot of first dates. What do you think I should do?”

“Oh,” Hunk cut in, “Lance’s first date was at Chuck E. Cheese when he was 12.”

Lance’s eyes widened and he yelled at Hunk with a look of betrayal evident on his face, “Hunk!”

“And a little eight-year-old stole all his tickets from his pocket when he tried to flirt with the cashier into giving him a few extra tokens.”

“HUNK!”

Keith shook his head fondly at his right hand man’s flustered and betrayed banter back and forth with Hunk. He turned to Pidge, who had a small blush on her face and a lingering smile playing on her lips as she swerved her fork left and right in her mashed potatoes. He rose a brow in question, “What about you, Pidge?”

“Huh?” She jumped up and paused swooshing her fork, almost dropping it.

“Do you have any first date experience you’d like to share?”

“I don’t think my input would help at all. If you haven’t noticed,” Pidge sassed, “I’m a tomboy and Allura is very girly. We’re both on the opposite ends of femininity.”

“Come on, Pidge,” Lance encouraged her, “You must know some advice for our emotionally constipated leader.”

Keith sent Lance a glare but the latter just winked.

“Oh, well, uh… no one’s ever asked me out on a date…” she trailed off.

“Really?” Lance was the first one to ask and Pidge almost jumped in her seat at the attention. Keith rose a brow at the two and he soon caught Hunk’s gaze, knowing immediately that the Samoan teen knew exactly what he was thinking about.

Phase 2 of Date Night has officially started.

“Then why don’t you three go out too while I take Allura out on a date?”

The two lovebirds blinked up at Keith and then looked at Hunk. He rose his arms and with a faux apologetic look he helped Keith out, “Sorry, guys, I can’t join you too. I already asked Shay if she wanted to go to my favorite restaurant with me and I can show her the jewels in a nearby abandoned mine.”

Keith rose an amused brow, “So it’s a triple date night?”

Pidge flushed immediately, which amused Keith because people did blush like that in front of their crush, and she stammered, “A d-date?”

Lance beamed at Pidge and leaned on his elbow, “Why not pigeon?”

“Don’t call me that,” she warned, an adorable “angry” (read: amused) face.

After a second of consideration she relented, “Fine. You better not screw it up, Lance.”

Lance smiled, “I would never.”

“That still doesn’t help the fact that I don’t know where to take Allura.”

“Come on, Keith, just think,” Hunk advised, “What’s something that Allura would love to see?”

Keith stopped and took a moment to consider his options. Allura is actually really homesick right now and is striving to find her people. She needs a break, though. She would really love to see anything that resembles something from Altea after seeing the Castle of Lions be destroyed and after losing her planet.

Keith paused.

He smiled.

He knew exactly where to take her.

He convinced himself that he will ask her after the meeting and before she can head for the med bay again. He had to. He wanted her to relax and also…he had to apologize for many things. He followed her out, but she was engaged in conversation with Romelle. Behind him, he could feel Lance, Hunk, and Pidge’s deep stares at his back and he took a deep breath.

Once they were out the door, he jogged behind the two girls and called out, “Allura!”

The yell came out a bit louder than he intended and he definitely got her attention. Allura turned around and smiled, “Hello, Keith. What is it?”

Keith stopped in front of them and he smiled softly, “Oh, nothing, really. I was just…uh…”

Allura smiled as she waited for him to finish and dang it there go the butterflies, Pidge you quiznaking liar.

“I-Would…Would you like to go out…tonight? Mom will be out with Acxa tonight making last minute preparations with the Blades so I’ll be alone. I was wondering if you’d like to eat dinner with…me?”

He was sure he had to be blushing right now. He’s never felt so nervous before. Behind her, he could see Romelle smiling knowingly at him, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge all joining her with the same look on her face and he was sure he was going to melt into a puddle of embarrassed blushes. Especially when he sees her dazzling smile and sympathetic face.

“I would love to, Keith, but I can’t,” he could see Hunk, Lance, and Pidge droop their heads behind them and he’s sure he would be doing the same if he wasn’t in her direct line of sight.

“Allura,” Romelle put a hand on her shoulder, “I know you’re worried about Luca, but we’re worried about you. It’ll be good for you to relax one night and clear your head.”

“Yeah,” Keith added, “You deserve some rest, princess.”

He blinked.

“Well, it doesn’t necessarily have to be with me. You can still relax without me. But I’d like to…relax…with you?”

He really wanted to die right there.

Allura turned to look at him and she smiled warmly and, almost immediately, his worries went away and he smiled softly back and he practically beamed when he heard her answer, “Dinner would be nice. I’d love to.”

Keith beamed, “Great! I-uh-I’ll see you tonight. In the truck garage. At six.”

“Okaayyyy,” Lance stepped in, grabbing Keith from his shoulders and pulling him away from the Princess, “Let’s go away slowly before you scare her off with your awkwardness.”

After Allura made one final check up with the Altean, both she and Romelle headed for the garden to find the Green Paladin. When the doors slid open, they found her working on some plants with her mother on the other side of the room. Allura walked in, followed closely by Romelle, and smiled, “Hello, Pidge. Do you have a moment?”

Pidge turned around, Allura noticing she’s unusually giddy this morning since lunch, and smiled, “Sure, Allura. What’s up?”

“Well, uh,” Allura trailed off, looking at corner of the room and way too flustered to continue.

Romelle, however, had no problem speaking out her thoughts and she grabbed Allura’s shoudlers in excitement and blurted out, “We need to go shopping! She has a date with flippity hair!”

Pidge’s smile faltered, “Shopping?”

The dreaded word sent shivers up her spine.

“Yes!” Romelle exclaimed, “Where do you buy proper courting vestments?”

Behind the trio, an amused laugh interrupted their conversation and the three turned to Colleen, who was eyeing her daughter with the same mischief Allura has seen on Pidge’s own face multiple times before.

“Katie? Fashion? That’s a good one.”

Allura smiled at the older woman’s joke and turned to Pidge once the girl started speaking, ignoring Romelle’s whispered, “I thought her name was Pidge.”

“I heard the mall has reopened. I’ve been wanting to check it out,” she eyed her mother, “but I’m grounded.”

“Grounded?” Romelle asked, “I wasn’t aware humans could float.”

“No, no. It just means I’m not allowed to leave my mom’s supervision. It’s a form of punishment.”

“What are you grounded for?” Allura asked, concern clearly etched on her face for her grounded friend.

“She’s grounded because apparently my daughter thinks that running away from home and gallivanting off into space without her mother’s permission is an acceptable activity for a 15-year-old.”

Allura blinked in surprise, but she really didn’t even have time to react before Katie-Pidge exploded, “Well, apparently finding my brother and saving my father from an intergalactic tyrant doesn’t get me a pass!”

Romelle hid behind Allura at the face-off of the Holt women, and Allura couldn’t blame her, she would have too after she saw Mrs. Holt’s face when she said, “Not on your life, young lady.”

Allura smiled nervously and intertwined her fingers together in a pleading way, “Please, Colleen. I could really use her help.”

Immediately, the air calmed down and Colleen smiled, “Well, now that you mention it. I was thinking about going to the mall today. I guess I’ll join you girls.”

“Moooom, please,” Pidge begged.

“Besides,” Colleen ignored her sulking daughter, “I won’t pass up a chance to help my daughter choose her outfit for her first date.”

“A date?” Allura asked, turning her body to look at Pidge and raising her eyebrow.

“With who?” Romelle asked, placing both hands on her shoulders and set her head right beside Pidge’s.

The girl in question fixed her glasses and looked away, “Well, uh, with Lance…”

“Pointy chin?!” Romelle exclaimed brightly.

Colleen smiled, seeing that her daughter was uncharacteristically flustered and decided to tease her further as an extension of her punishment, “Yes. Lance came by and asked Sam and I if we would let her off her punishment for tonight. Of course, we wouldn’t have said no to such a well-mannered boy. Also, Pidge seemed quite smitten when she introduced us the first time.”

“Mom!”

The older woman chuckled and decided that she’s provoked her daughter enough and decided to tend to her plants instead.

Allura smiled at the woman in thanks and plucked a growling Pidge off the ground and slid her way out of the room, “Thank you, Colleen. We’re going to go get the other girls while you watch over your plants.”

Keith stood in front of Coran’s door and he could already feel the intense overexcitement wafting out the door. But he had to do this if he wanted tonight to go right. He sighed and knocked on the door, surprised for it to immediately open once Coran asked, “Yes?”

Once the doors opened completely, Coran flipped his shirt and he grinned once he saw Keith at the threshold, “Ah, Keith! Come in, young lad! To what do I owe this visit?”

“Hey, Coran. I wanted to ask you about Allura.”

“Sure. What is it? No one knows her better than I do. Except for maybe the mice, but they have a telepathic connection to her, which seems like cheating to me.”

“Uh… yeah. Well, I have a date with her tonight and-”

“What?! A date?! But you’re not even royalty nor Altean. Much less Altean royalty!”

Keith backed up from Coran’s invasion of personal space and placed his hands on the older man’s shoulders to lightly pull him away, “I don’t think she cares about things like that Coran.”

“Did you even ask her primary guardian?”

Keith rose a brow, “Is that you?”

Coran grinned, “Yep!”

Soon Keith found himself being pushed out of his room, “Now count to zingor and knock.”

“But I don’t know the Altean numeri-”

Before he finished his sentence, Coran’s doors slid shut and Keith was left staring at the door and hearing buzzing and thumping on the other side of the door. He sighed and knocked, the buzzing and thumping immediately stopping and the doors slid open.

It looked as if Coran completely changed the room’s layout. Is that a fireplace? Keith blinked in surprise and then he saw Coran in a big chair facing a small bench and he was “smoking” a pipe, bubbles coming out of the end.

“Ah, Keith. Please come in, have a seat.”

Keith could already feel himself regretting this as he sat down in front of the exuberant man.

“Exactly what makes you think you’re qualified for such a prestigious position? For example, who are your references?”

“What are you talking about, Coran?”

“You see, I’ll need at least two notarized certificates of commendation speaking of your greatness from reliable sources before I’ll even consider giving you my approval,” Keith sighed.

“But since I know you to be an honorable young man, I’ll make an exception for you.”

Keith sighed in relief.

“But… you must do something about that outfit. Altean courting vestments are essential. Seeing as we’re not on Altea, we’ll just have to make do.”

Coran pulled out the most ridiculous get up Keith has ever seen and he inhaled deeply, “No way.”

Coran was left alone in the room.

Keith made his way inside the garage, grateful to see that Allura still hasn’t arrived yet and rushed to one of the garage doors and pressed a button to open it up. Behind it was a replica of his old bike there sitting in the dust. He flicked out a rag dangling from one of his belt loops and got to work.

He heard the doors of the garage slide open when he wiped away the last streak of dust on the bike. He stood up and leaned up against the bike. He realized he doesn’t exactly look cool with a rag in his hands and he threw it away from him in a second and crossed his arms. Allura emerged from behind a few trucks, looking around for him and he stayed quiet to just watch her and appreciate how she looked.

But she didn’t give him much time to check her out because she turned in his direction and smiled when she saw him. He smiled in return and took a few steps to meet her in the middle. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, not really knowing what to do with them and prayed to the ancients that he would somehow know what he was supposed to be doing.

“You look beautiful.”

He assumed he said the right thing because Allura’s cheeks got a soft blush on them. She smiled back warmly and pushed her hair behind her ear, “Thank you. You look very handsome.”

In reality, Keith was lucky enough that Lance had forced him to go out shopping a few days ago when he admitted that his old clothes don’t fit him any more. If not, he probably would have been wearing his Garrison uniform tonight.

He smiled, “Thanks.”

Once the two reached the hoverbike, he patted the seat and asked, “You ready?”

Allura looked at its side and rose a brow, “What is that? Some sort of pod?”

Keith chuckled and handed her a helmet, “Not really. It’s a hoverbike. It’s not really suited for transportation in space, but it’s really fun to ride on the surface.”

Allura slid the helmet on and watched Keith get on, “Have you ever ridden one?”

“Yeah, I used to ride these all the time with Shiro when I was a kid.”

Allura nodded and she clasped her hands together, waiting for some sort of instruction to handle the contraption. Keith turned around after prepping the hover bike and he held out a hand, “Get on behind me.”

Allura’s eyes widened, “What?”

Keith took her hand and led her to the open space behind him. Allura held on tight as she swung her leg over the bike, inwardly chuckling at how scandalized her mother would be if she saw how Allura was dressed and how close she was to Keith. Once Allura was situated, Keith brought her hand to his abdomen and squeezed her hand, prompting her to squeeze his shirt. With his other hand, he brought her other hand to do the same.

“You’re gonna want to hold on tight,” Keith suggested, a sense of pride swelling in his chest when he sees the faint blush on Allura’s cheeks grow with each passing second. He flicked his wrist, powering up the hoverboard and Allura gasped as the contraption glowed and lifted off the ground. She chuckled incredulously as they were floating off the ground and Keith smirked as he flicked his wrist again, prompting the hoverbike’s engine to rev and they both took off out of the Garrison’s garage doors.

Allura laughed in absolute joy at the wind pushing her hair back and squeezed Keith’s abdomen tighter as she leaned her head on top of his back to watch the desert whiz past them. A few minutes into the ride, she yelled, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see soon enough. We’re almost there.”

She held on tight when she felt Keith go faster and she whooped as they descended down a hill. At the far corner of her peripheral, she could see a small, run-down building sitting in solitude before they took a sharp turn and headed for some rock formations.

They entered the rocky terrain and she marveled up at the rocks above her, awing at it’s strange beauty. Keith slowed down eventually and he stopped in front of a cave opening. Once the engine purred to a stop, he swung his leg over the seat and held a hand for Allura to get off the hoverbike. She took it gratefully and did the same, stumbling a bit since she was still a bit dizzy from the ride.

Keith quickly gave her his second arm for her to balance herself and asked softly, “You okay?”

She nodded, “Yes, thank you.”

He smiled and let go of her hands and Allura could have sworn he was blushing. She followed after him, carefully stepping over stray rocks and the rough terrain on the ground. Once Keith was deep enough inside, he turned around and smiled as Alura just looked around at the cave’s carvings.

She rose an eyebrow and studied them carefully, “Are these drawings?”

Keith held an amused look as she walked around the cave’s opening blinking at the drawings carved into the walls and suddenly it clicked, “Is this where you all found the Blue Lion?”

Keith nodded fondly and Allura’s beaming smile was brighter than any he’s seen before. This is amazing, she whispered and she lifted a hand to brush it over the carvings and, before she knew it, they all light up in a dazzling, glowing blue. She jumped away from it in surprise and awed at the beautiful display.

She turned around in a circle gasping when she saw the beautiful color light up the whole cave. She saw dazzling blue embers dancing around them both and she twirled, causing a small flurry of to spin around her. She laughed and opened her palm, beaming when a couple landed in her palm and glowed brightly before she blew them away to join their buddies again.

She turned and looked at Keith, surprised to find his gaze resting only on her. She blushed slightly and opted to watch the small embers again and whispered, “This is beautiful.”

Keith turned away too, convinced that his cheeks must also be flushed, and smiled fondly, “I thought you would say that.”

He offered her his hand again and Allura looked at it before looking back up at Keith. She took his hand slowly and allowed him to pull her along a small pathway. Eventually they came upon a flat opening and, there on the ground, she saw a small blanket and a basket sitting in the middle. Keith led her down the jagged steps and Allura giggled, “Are we having a picnic?”

He looked up at her with such insecurity, Allura just wanted to hug him. He broke eye contact and looked at the side, “Is that alright?”

Allura smiled encouragingly, “Of course! I haven’t had a picnic in deca-phoebs.”

His smile returned and Allura let him help her sit down on the floor, she folded her feet under her and smiled as Keith prepared the dinner. She looked around, noticing that there was a rush of water right beside them and found the sound calming. The area was lit up by multiple carvings, each one depicting a different story.

She was only entranced away from the carvings when a delicious smell wafted in the air. She turned her head and gasped in delight when she saw a plate before her and a strange food sitting and waiting to be devoured.

But it smelled delicious.

“Keith,” she trailed away.

“I’m not much of a cook. Nothing close to Hunk,” he started, looking away shyly, “But I did have to cook for myself a few years once I moved out of my foster parent’s home. This is something I would cook all the time.”

She took a fork in hand and stabbed one of the small bits of the dinner, being smacked in the face with the appetizing smell, and took it all in one bite. She sighed in content at the burst of flavor and almost moaned as she chewed.

“This is absolutely divine, Keith,” she stabbed another small bit, “What is it?”

“It’s macaroni with beef and tomatoes. It’s really simple, not that big of a deal.”

“This is better than anything I’ve ever eaten at home. It’s truly delicious.”

Keith chuckled and looked away, “Thanks, Princess.”

At the foreign nickname, Allura paused and dropped her hand beside the plate. She sighed, “You don’t have to call me that, Keith.”

He blinked and finished chewing before asking, “What do you mean?”

“I’m no longer a princess, Keith. My planet’s gone and my people don’t even know I exist.”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows, “And?”

“Well-”

“Princess, no matter what. You are who you are. Nothing changes that. My whole life… I was light years away from anything related to my mom. That doesn’t change I’m part Galra, does it?”

Allura looked up at Keith and was immediately struck by his soft features looking back at her. He shifted his hand a bit to brush against hers and whispered, “No matter what the circumstances are, you are the Princess of Altea. That will never change. So I’ll always call you the title you deserve.”

Allura returned his soft smile and she enveloped him in a tight hug. Keith froze for a second, not expecting the sudden affection, but he eventually returned the embrace and hugged her tight. Allura whispered a soft and broken, “Thank you.”

Keith sighed and pulled away, meeting Allura’s happy smile with sadness in his eyes and he whispered, “I’m so sorry.”

Allura rose an inquisitive brow and prompted him to continue, “I said horrible things to you when we were stuck in space.”

“Keith it’s alright, you weren’t yourself at the time.”

“The thing is,” Keith whispered breathlessly and turned away in shame, “I was actually thinking along those lines. Not about your father. That comment came up on the fly. But what I said about you and Lotor? Yeah, I was thinking about that for a while.”

Allura gasped and whispered softly and slightly hurt, “Keith…”

“I never blamed you, though. I actually always blamed myself,” he admitted and looked up at her apologetically, “Maybe if I was there with the team, I wouldn’t have let Lotor hurt you guys so close,” he turned away again guiltily, “I was mad at myself for leaving you all. I was mad for leaving you, Allura.”

His voice hitched when he felt Allura grab his hand and he looked up, finding her own guilty face staring back at him, “Well, to tell you the truth, my comment also came the heart. I was always wondering why you would leave us and I thought to myself that it was my fault that you left. That I didn’t act to stop you from leaving us in the most crucial moment of the war.”

She squeezed his hand and Keith found himself unable to look away from her blue eyes and she whispered brokenly, “We needed you with us, Keith. Why did you leave?”

Keith licked his lips, “I guess it’s because I didn’t feel like the leader you all deserved. I was becoming so attached to you all, I got scared.”

Allura grabbed his cheek and whispered, “Scared of what?”

Keith looked up at her and his eyes shined a low indigo under the blue highlights and whispered back, “I was scared of losing you.”

A deep sense of dread was in the pit of her stomach when Keith continued, “Everyone I’ve ever loved was taken away from me in one way or another and I didn’t want that to happen to you guys. You all became my family. I didn’t know what to do.”

Allura smiled and nodded softly, “I felt the same way. You all became my family when I lost Altea. You all became my only. Here though,” she exhaled, “I feel like everyone has a home to return to. All except for me.”

Keith was the one who initiated the hug this time, softly wrapping his arms around her and whispering a faint, “I love you.”

She pulled away slowly and she stared at him incredulously and whispered a faint, “What?”

Keith lifted a hand to cradle her head and his fingers scratched her scalp. He looked down at her lips and back up to her eyes, “I love you.”

He joined their foreheads together, “I love you so much…I never felt like I belonged anywhere. Not really. It’s like a part of me was telling my that my place wasn’t on Earth. But meeting you? Working with you? I truly felt at home. I wanna be your home, Allura. Just like you are mine.”

Allura smiled softly, having never been more moved by anyone’s words in her life and she saw Keith leaning in slowly. She closed her eyes and closed the gap in between them, finally joining their lips together. She lifted up her hand to lose itself in Keith’s scalp and her other laid flat on his chest. His other hand laid on her waist and the two stood there comfortably, sliding their lips against the other softly and lovingly, drinking up everything the other had to offer.

They only let go when they heard a soft beep from Keith’s phone. They pulled apart reluctantly, smiling and chuckling once they saw the other’s red lips and Keith took out his phone to check what it was in case it was an emergency. Allura laid her head on his shoulder as he checked what it was and she giggled softly when she saw what it was.

On Keith’s phone screen was a selfie that Lance and Pidge took. Pidge was smiling up at the camera, her eyes closed as Lance plopped a kiss on her cheek, slightly lifting her glasses off her face. There was a small caption at the bottom saying a short, “Thanks, Keith,” with blue and green hearts. Keith chuckled along and asked softly, “Do you want to send them one?”

Allura nodded and Keith lifted his hand at an angle. Once Allura was smiling up at the camera, he plopped a kiss on her forehead. Even after the picture was taken, he planted one final kiss on her lips, prompting her to giggle, before he sent the picture. Theirs was sent with a short caption too, “My pleasure.”

Later, once Keith finally cleaned up from their date, he led her out of the cave and towards his lion, which she assumed he summoned while they were on their date, and helped her climb up onto Black’s head. He sat down with his legs extended and helped her take her seat in between his legs. She leaned back against his firm chest and they both watched the sun set. After a few more kisses exchanged, Allura was sure that this was her new favorite past time. Being cuddled up in the arms of the man she loves is the best feeling: safety and warmth and love.

She pauses.

She smiles and nuzzles into him more.

She realizes that she feels at home.

[pan-xichen]

Rough Pre-Series Timeline

Because I’m sick of seeing “Keith was literally 12″ everywhere as it makes absolutely no sense and hurts my brain.

Okay so a lot of people are confused about the timeline of how old Keith was in which flashback due to the way he's drawn making him look younger but I'd like to try and clear things up based on what I've gathered from taking 700 screenshots and talking to myself for two and a half hours so here we go (Imma put this under a cut because holy shit this got long):

I don’t know about you guys, but in high school we had students from colleges/universities in our region we could apply to come in and talk about what their school had to offer, specifically in 11th-12th grade. That’s exactly what’s happening here. Shiro is a senior student sent to inspire younger teens by talking about his experiences at the Galaxy Garrison, and ultimately recruit them if they’re interested. He would not be doing this in an elementary or middle school, so the idea that Keith is anywhere under at the very least 17 is blown out the window here. He may be a younger student given his later birthday but seriously why would Shiro here be recruiting kids who aren’t set to graduate this year? They’re not just gonna like... pull them out of high school to join a military academy. So yeah, Keith is 17 here. Honestly staring at him for a while he really does not look like a child. He looks slightly younger than he did before we first saw him in the series. 

Side note: I’m gonna put the time of this screenshot at roughly around March-April based on US high school students graduating in May and not June like Canadian students, otherwise it would be April-May. Not the month of graduation but close enough to it to plant the seed in students’ heads and get them interested.

Tbh right here it looks like you’ve got a college student standing next to an older high school student. The angle at which they’re standing too with Keith in the foreground and Shiro leaning on the hoverbike makes it a bit hard to determine the difference in height between them, but if you look at them closely they really don’t look more than a few years apart in age. With what I said before about Keith having been 17 in the previous screenshot, and the fact that Shiro absolutely looks like a 19 or 20 year old here I’m gonna put that as a rough estimate of their ages at this point, even if it’s been said that Shiro was 25 and Keith was 18 at the beginning of the series. It just wouldn’t make sense logically for Keith to be under 17 in that first screenshot given my own experiences as a high school student being bombarded with people from different colleges trying to encourage us to apply to their school. That didn’t happen until 12th grade, in which I, someone with a late birthday, was 17.

That is, unless, this happened before the recruitment run. Keith and Shiro may have met before then, in which case he could be under 17 here; it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what’s happening in this scene but my assumption is that Shiro went recruiting, was either pointed in Keith’s direction or saw him flying the hoverbike himself, and decided to talk to him one-on-one about joining the Garrison because he was a promising pilot.

Here we get a better look at Shiro’s face, presumably during the previous scene. I wanna say he honestly looks 18 here but for argument’s sake I’m gonna say 19. With this kind of timeline though it does make sense for Shiro to be at least closer to 25 than I thought at the beginning of the series, which I can now accept because it’s starting to make sense.

“The only reason this kid is here, is because you vouched for him.” This gives... a lot of implication that the Garrison is indeed a prestigious military college of a sort. It’s probably very expensive to pay for education here, and very hard to earn a scholarship. Shiro obviously has connections to higher ups if his word alone was enough to give Keith a chance here. Assuming this happened shortly after Keith started out at the Garrison, which would make sense based on his statement of “You should just send me back to the home already-- this place isn’t for me.” I’m gonna say he’s still 17 here. 18 and he wouldn’t be able to go back to the home, and 16 and under wouldn’t make sense.

So why the heck does he look so small compared to the kid on the right, who is presumably in the same class as him? I’m gonna restate my theory here: undernourishment. Keith is part Galra, and Galra are a race seemingly based at least slightly on felines and other carnivorous animals. Not only that, but they have a lot of muscle compared to humans, and probably need vitamins and minerals not found on Earth to grow properly as children. As a result, Keith’s growth is stunted and he appears younger than he should. I’m also willing to bet that the kid on the right was picking on him for being small, thus starting the fight in the first place. It would make sense.

Another reason he looks so small could be that Galra lifespans are clearly longer than human ones, so Galra children in general might not grow bigger at the same rate human children do. The point here is that there are reasons that make more sense other than “he’s literally 12″ that could lead to his smaller size in this flashback. 

With Keith sitting down in the foreground and Shiro standing in the background, it again makes it a bit hard to tell their height difference. Shiro still looks the same age that he did in the previous flashbacks, which further solidifies my theory that this takes place a few months after the recruitment flashback. Notice how Shiro is still wearing the same uniform, too. The stripes are also important as well as they very likely signify ranking. My estimate is that each stripe is indicative of however many years a student has been attending the Garrison, with three stripes on the “officer” uniform being reserved for graduates who have either become officers or teachers. I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Shiro is wearing the uniform of a senior student, not an officer.

So, one stripe for first year cadets, two stripes for second year cadets, one stripe for first year seniors and two stripes for second year seniors. Whether they are promoted to officer or not after graduation determines whether they ever receive three stripes on their uniform. 

I’m still a bit confused as to why Matt, who is seemingly still a cadet, is on the Kerberos mission but chances are it may very well be because his father is Commander Holt, and just like Shiro was able to get Keith into the Garrison with only his word Holt helped vouch for his son, who probably already possessed exemplary skill to begin with, otherwise they wouldn’t have let him go.

Shiro was promoted likely close to the Kerberos mission, which I’m assuming took place around the end of Keith’s first term at the Garrison, considering this:

Lance is celebrating Keith’s expulsion from the Garrison, and they’re all being assigned teams for the simulators. Later on, Iverson says the only reason Lance made fighter class was because the top pilot in his class (Keith) had a discipline issue and flunked out, presumably in the previous semester. Hunk and Lance are said to be 17 here according to the guidebook, but I’m gonna... not focus on that hole because it’s honestly hard to get everything exact, especially as we see Pidge only in what I assume is the second year uniform and she definitely ended up in the Garrison after the Kerberos mission failure, and also had no clue who Keith even was when Lance and Hunk did so??? I’m gonna chalk that up to a canon plot hole for now.

It’s hard to determine what stripes are on Keith’s uniform in these tiny shots so I’m going to assume for now that this timeline is correct. He’s also only a head shorter than Shiro here, so he has grown a bit. 

So, recap:

Keith was 17 at least when Shiro was speaking to his class.

Keith may have met Shiro beforehand, which would make some more sense if Keith had only been at the Garrison for one year before Shiro disappeared, as he formed a bond to Shiro strong enough to cause him to attack his superior officer when they lied about the fate of the Kerberos mission. This would easily put him at 18 at the start of the series.

If Keith was 17 as a first year cadet, and Shiro was a second year senior, Shiro would have also been 18 as a first year, (as he has an early birthday), putting him at 21 when he was recruiting and 22 when he left for Kerberos. If a year has passed since he disappeared at the start of the series Shiro is 23 and Keith is 18, turning 19 in a few months. That fits the “safe zone” of 25 for Shiro’s age that was given initially all the way back in 2016 and is honestly more believable than him being exactly 25. This means that Keith and Shiro, before and at the beginning of the series, have a solid five year age gap between them. This makes sense and is absolutely not problematic, especially if you consider the fact that they were highly unlikely to have been romantically involved pre-series (as much as I love pre-kerberos sheith it was honestly still probably platonic at that stage). 

We unfortunately only have guesses as to how long they’ve been in space, but I’m going to say season 1 to the beginning of 3 was almost one year, with the end of 3 being the end of a single year and 4-6 being another year. Again this is just a very rough estimate but I’m trying my best to make it make sense. This means that Shiro has been dead for at least a year and a half (poor guy) and has not aged in the astral plane. The clone was released close to the end of their first year in space and has been with them for approximately one year after, so the body Shiro is currently in may have aged, but Shiro himself, if this timeline is correct, is still 23. 

Keith spent two years flying through the abyss with his mom and the wolf on the back of the space whale, while to everyone else it was likely only a few months, otherwise there would’ve been this “where the heck is Keith” question before he got back. We have no idea when Keith went on his mission with Krolia as there’s no months or seasons or anything to help us keep track, but I’m gonna safely say that all of them have aged at least one year, save for Shiro. So that now puts Keith at 21, as he would have turned 19 shortly after Shiro disappeared and spent two years away from the team, even though to them it wasn’t that long.

Again this is only my rough estimating and analyzing the shit out of things but yeah... I think this makes sense.

TL;DR -

Keith and Shiro never had a problematic age gap, and in fact the gap has been closed by three whole years, meaning there’s now only two years between them. Keith is now 21, and Shiro, having not aged while dead (seriously you can’t age while you’re dead guys) is still 23.

EDIT: Hey also I forgot to add Keith’s birthday is in October so assuming the semester at the Garrison started around August that year for him he would have been 18 for most of his time there.

[edelwary]

Nah, fam, he spent all his time doing push ups so could come back grizzled. Kidding, I hc he spent a lot of time drawing. And he drew everyone, showing them to Krolia (which was a bit dumb since she already knows how they look seeing them in his memories) but she still smiles and asks him to tell her more about member of this new family he's found. (There's a secret stash doodles of Lance's face, which Krolia is planning to dump them all on his son's crush when they go back)

Krolia is a chaotic good trickster mom and I love her to Pluton and beyond. 

Also Here’s my Hc of a random Greasy Keith in His Shack day :

6am : Rise with the sun and watches going up in the sky while eating some beans directly from the can ; then it’s morning jog and gym!

8am : he’s toured his usual stashs and verified the water drains and the ventilation and checked everything ; more gym

10am : caught a lizard. Named him Germond

12 : Hiding under the table bc its too hot, trying to read but melting. Considers drinking his own sweat bc its so hot

Afternoon is either spent sleeping or drawing but it’s way too hot to do anything violently consuming

17h : Time to go in the city for gaz or something ; passes by the traps to check them, probably overlooks at the garrison while passing by

19 : back from the blackmarket or if he wasn’t going, has prepared everything for the trek to the caves, searching for… Anything ?

21 : back from his trek, tired. Showers only a day on two to save water. If it’s not shower day, he repeats his martials arts and screams the lyrics of the songs blasting them on the speakers

He’s more active after the sun’s down

22 : Has drawn a hella lot, added stuff to his board. Tries the radio for any signal. Nothing. Learns something cool like knitting, patched himself up if needed. 

24- : Drawing, stargazing, midnight touring on the hoverbike again, tries to play harmonica and doesn’t completely fails, falls asleep somewhere randomly

???- wakes up, goes back to his actual ‘’’bed’’’. Caught a shooting star by the window.

Conclusion : He’s busy ! But sometimes he stays inside all day and doesn’t do anything. Some days he just goes from 6 to 21 outside, riding until the sun goes down. After a year he’s got extensive knowlegde on a lot of random things. 

[mexcraziness-art]

Voltron NextGen Multi-Reality AU Basics (S8 UPDATE)

Voltron NextGen Multi-Reality AU

SPOILER WARNING FOR S8

 Or just Multi AU for short. As a multishipper I’ve suffered with all my ships and NextGen ideas for a long time now, until I came to the conclusion: Why make an AU for every single ship when I can make 1 BIG AU for all of them? I mean with Alternative Realities being a thing it’s basically a free-for-all!

That’s how I came up with the Multi-Reality NextGen AU, honestly I’m only calling it an „AU” as a formality…

 Basically, every ship is canon. EVERY SHIP. I may personally not like a couple of ships but that doesn’t mean I don’t want others to have fun. So yeah, fight me.

And of course with this being an inter-reality AU the crossovers are endless… honestly come to think of it, this whole AU is pure self-indulgence, nothing else.

 I just enjoy designing NextGen children for my ships with some very little story ideas here and there and some crossovers. That’s all this is.

 But since I’m putting this out there in the void I might as well write up some basics to make it easy.

 Also this is probably obvious, this being a NextGen, but there’s a general warning for MPreg for the whole thing.

 As for all Realities:

 -          I headcanon Galras to have both set of reproductive organs, so all females and males can impregnante and become pregnant all the same, though the dominance of each organ can change in cycles.

 -          Also miss me with that „Allura is a teenager” bullshit, I headcanon her to be around 23 years in human terms in S1.

 -          I also headcanon Pidge to be a Trans Girl.

 -          Also you can pry Half-Korean Keith from my cold dead hands.

 -          Also also I headcanon Keith and Axca to be siblings, so unless I state otherwise just assume they’re are siblings.

 -          Depending on Reality Adam is alive. Also miss me with Adam dying in the Canon Reality too, my guy just lost a leg and was saved by the resistence and was chilling in the desert the whole time, okay?

 -          Krolivan is totally a thing in all my realities.

 The main gang’s ages through the Canon in my interpretation:

Pre-Kerberos:

Shiro: 24

Keith: 17

Lance: 16

Hunk: 17

Pidge: 14

Allura: -

 Season 1-5:

Shiro: 25

Keith: 18

Lance: 17

Hunk: 18

Pidge: 15

Allura: „22”

 Season 6:

Shiro: 26

Keith: 21 (+2 years)

Lance: 18

Hunk: 19

Pidge: 16

Allura: „23”

 Season 7 (by the time they get back to Earth):

Shiro: 27

Keith: 22

Lance: 19

Hunk: 20

Pidge: 17

Allura: „24”

 Season 8 (by the end of S8):

Shiro: 28

Keith: 23

Lance: 20

Hunk: 21

Pidge: 18

Allura: „25”

 1 year later:

Shiro: 29

Keith: 24

Lance: 21

Hunk: 22

Pidge: 19

 Epilouge (5 years later):

Shiro: 34

Keith: 29

Lance: 26

Hunk: 27

Pidge: 24

 Most of the AU focuses on a couple of ships of my liking and their children, those being:

 Klance Reality:

Everything happens mostly according to canon, up until about S6. The key differences being:

-          Thace is Keith’s Uncle, being Krolia’s brother, he also survives in this AU.

-          The Castle doesn’t get destroyed.

-          The 3 years gap still happen.

-          On their way home they find a Shiro clone who managed to stay alive but never found his way back to Voltron, Shiro has a twin now (they decide to call him Ryou because I’m creative like that).

-          Shiro gets an Altean like arm.

-          Adam doesn’t die.

-          They go back to Earth and save it from Sendak, but Earth doesn’t become the center of the Voltron Coalition.

-          Allura doesn’t die.

-          Allurance happens at first but later they realise it’s not working, so they split sometime after S8.

-          Adashi, Thoran and Hunay happen.

-          No Altean Lance at all.

-          No Curto either.

-          Altea and Daibazaal aren’t reborn.

-          The Lions don’t leave.

 More stuff to know about the Klance Reality:

-          They eventually switch back the Lions with Allura going back to pilot the Castle and Ryou going to pilot Blue.

-          Allura will eventually become Queen Allura, and they’ll reform the Coalition with a more Altean center.

-          The Empire will be completley wiped out and they’ll work on clearing the universe from rogue warlords and pirate captains. Also re-habiliting and re-integrating galras into the universe.

-          Keith will have a more Galra like appearance after their third kid, because he got infected with a bio-chemical weapon virus and part of the procedure to save him was to amplify his Galra genes.

 Keith and Lance will have 8 children:

-          Rosalie „Rosa” and Thace „Ace” McClain-Kogane:

30 years old, the oldest of the children, twins, with Rosa being older out of the two of them. Rosa is named after Lance’s Mom, Ace is named after Thace, Keith’s Uncle. Rosa is a Field Commander and later she’ll become the Red Paladin. Ace is the Royal Commander and later the Black Paladin.

 -          Amelia „Amy” McClain-Kogane:

26 years old, smaller and sickly due to Keith’s sickness during the pregnancy. The future pilot/Captain of the Castle, she will pilot it with a pair of Altean gauntlets Allura made for her.

(She’s named after Amelia Earhart because I’m a history nerd.)

 -          Violet and Liliac McClain-Kogane:

21 years old, twins, with Violet being older. Both of them just freshly graduated, Violet is a diplomat, Liliac is a mechanic. Violet is the future Blue Paladin, Lilian is the future Green Paladin.

 -          Akira McClain-Kogane:

18 years old, going to graduate soon, possible future Black Paladin. He prefers to work with the Rebels, can’t quite find his place yet.

 -          Clarisse „Claire” McClaine-Kogane:

16 years old, the problem child of the family, possible future Red Paladin, nopes out to join the Blade of Marmora in secret.

 -          Charles „Chuck” McClaine-Kogane:

12 years old, youngest and last of the children, future Yellow Paladin, upcomming tech genius.

 As for the ages of everyone in the present of the Klance Reality:

 Shiro: 62

Keith: 57

Lance: 54

Hunk: 55

Pidge: 52

Allura: „59”

  Sheith Reality:

This reality follows canon the most closely, but there’s almost a slight „underage” warning, „underage” being Keith is 17 at the start.

 -          Shiro and Keith kind of „got together” just before the Kerberos mission, a good while after Shiro and Adam broke up, it wasn’t exactly official, they were supposed to figure it out after Shiro came back.

-          They had a one-night-stand before the Kerberos mission, Keith got pregnant, and since he wasn’t aware he’s half-galra, he was thought to be some kind of intersex.

-          Adam helped Keith, and helped him keep it a secret, and even helped him after he got expelled.

-          Adam was taking care of the kid when Shiro came back and they found the Blue Lion and kept taking care of her after their disappearance for 3 years until his „death.”

-          Curtis takes care of Hoshi after Adam’s death mostly. (haha)

-          Since Shiro didn’t bring up their Pre-Kerberos „relationship” neither did Keith, only until they were on their way back to Earth, that’s when he told him about the kid too.

-          Earth’s becomes the Center of the Coalition.

-          After the Universe is safe, Shiro and Keith „settle down” in the desert, Shiro keeps working as Admiral of the Garrison and Captain of the Atlas, Keith as Leader of Voltron keeping the universe safe.

-          Shiro had a twin brother called Ryou in this Reality but he also had Shiro’s disease and he already died from it.

-          Allura doesn’t die.

-          Altea and Daibazaal aren’t reborn.

-          Punk and Allurance happen.

-          Curto doesn’t happen.

-          The Lions don’t leave.

-          No Altean Lance at all.

  Shiro and Keith will have 3 children:

-          Hoshi Shirogane:

26 years old, mechanic and teacher at the Garrison, future Black Paladin.

 -          Ryou Shirogane:

16 years old, talented pilot, Cadet at the Garrison, the discipline case, named after Shiro’s twin brother.

 -          Sora Shirogane

11 years old, troublemaker with the face of an angel, she has very good strategic skills.

 Everyone’s ages in the Sheith Reality:

 Shiro: 50

Keith: 45

Lance: 42

Allura: „47”

Hunk: 43

Pidge: 40

  Shallura Reality:

This reality is pretty close to the Klance Reality, since originally they were in the same reality but I changed it later.

 -          Thace and Ulaz both survive.

-          The Castle doesn’t get destroyed.

-          Allurance doesn’t happen at all, Lance gives up on her and they form a strong sibling like friendship.

-          The 3 years gap still happen.

-          They go back to Earth and save it from Sendak, but there’s no Atlas and Earth doesn’t become the center of the Voltron Coalition.

-          They occasionally go back to Earth.

-          They eventually switch back the Lions with Allura going back to pilot the Castle, Shiro going back to Black, Keith to Red and Lance to Blue.

-          Allura doesn’t die.

-          Altea and Daibazaal are still reborn.

-          Allura will eventually become Queen Allura, (and King Shiro?) and they’ll reform the Coalition with New Altea at the center.

-          Keith becomes the new Galra Emperor of Daibazaal.

-          Shiro gets an Altean arm.

-          Hunay, Laxum and Thalaz happen.

-          Curto doesn’t happen.

-          The Lions don’t leave.

-          No Altean Lance at all.

  Shiro and Allura will have 3 children:

-          Prince Alfor (Jr.)

28 years old, future King, currently diplomat and Ship Commander. Named after King Alfor obviously. Has some alchemy abilities.

 -          Prince Leo

22 years old, new Captain of the Royal Guard. Doesn’t have alchemy abilities. (Yet?)

 -          Princess Hikari

17 years old, wannabe explorer, future diplomat, alchemist in training.

 Everyone’s ages for the Shallura Reality:

 Shiro: 63

Allura: „60”

Lance: 55

Keith: 58

Hunk: 56

Pidge: 53

  Svlav Reality:

Honestly this is just the Altean Empire Reality. Like I legit planned this to happen in the canon Altean Empire Reality but it can just as well be a variation of it. Everything is exactly the same except Sven and Slav having a daughter.

 Sven and Slav will have 1 kid:

-          Yume, 15 years old, member of the Guns of Gamara, her existence is considered an anomaly in all realities, this gives her a good amount of existential anxiety.

  Loturra Reality:

This also mostly follows canon, just with Lotor Redemption.

 -          Lotor doesn’t kill Narti.

-          Lotor also unlocks the secrets of Oriand.

-          (Lotor doesn’t lie to the alteans on the Colony, they can volunteer for the Quintessence extraction „experiment”.) I don’t know what to do with this part yet, bear with me.

-          Lotor DOES go kind of mad from the Quintessence exposure when they go in to the Quintessence Field with Allura.

-          Lotor and his Generals form Sincline and fight Voltron, but Voltron saves them in the end and Allura cures Lotor.

-          Sincline will fight beside Voltron.

-          Lotor doesn’t die.

-          The 3 years gap still happen.

-          They still go back to Earth and save it from Sendak together.

-          Shiro still becomes Captain of the Atlas.

-          Allura doesn’t die (duh).

-          Altea and Daibazaal aren’t reborn.

They’ll eventually unify the Galra Empire again this time on the right path and start to build New Altea with the Colony Alteans. Galrans and Altean unite on a new home.

-          Empress Allura and Emperor Lotor.

-          After Kolivan and Krolia retire, Keith becomes the new Leader of the Blade of Marmora together with Axca.

-          Allura becomes the Black Paladin.

-          I don’t know who’ll be the Blue Paladin yet.

-          Curto doesn’t happen.

-          The Lions don’t leave.

-          Kaxca and Shlav happens.

-          No Altean Lance at all.

 Lotor and Allura will have 2 children:

-          Prince Alfor the II. and Princess Honerva

23 years old, the royal twins, with Princess Honerva being older. Princess Honorva is a great warrior and future Empress. Prince Alfor is a talented alchemist and diplomat.

 Everyone’s ages for the Loturra Reality:

Allura: „59”

Lotor: „61”

Shiro: 62

Lance: 54

Keith: 57

Hunk: 55

Pidge: 52

  Shendak Reality:

Oh boy, here comes another hard one. This Reality is probably the most different of all and the least worked out. This is basically Sendak redemption with Sendak not being That Bad™.

 -          Sendak has a strong sense of honor.

-          After Voltron defeats Sendak, Zarkon denounce him a disgrace and „exiles” him from the Empire.

-          They eventually meet him again and he eventually joins them.

-          At first Sendak works with the Rebels later he joins the Blade of Marmora.

-          Allura doesn’t die.

-          Allurance happens.

-          Altean Lance happens.

-          Altea and Daibazaal are still reborn.

-          The Lions don’t leave.

  Shiro and Sendak will have 2 children:

-          Arashi and Urax

25 years old, twins, with Urax being older. Both of them are pretty problematic, but strong warriors.

 Uliro Reality:

This Reality is pretty much the same as canon, just with Ulaz surviving. That’s pretty much all that changes really.

 -          Ulaz survives the fight with the robobeast, he gets trapped in the pocket-dimension and they later free him with the help of Slav in the 3 years gap.

-          Ulaz will be amongst the surviving members of the Blade.

-          He meets with Shiro again no Earth after they defeat Sendak.

-          Probably Galtean Klance will happen at some point? I don’t have that many details on this reality yet.

 Ulaz and Shiro will have 1 son.

 Some other ships that don’t have their own reality but happen in already mentioned realities:

-          Thoran happens in the Klance Reality.

-          Hunay also happens in the Klance Reality, also the Shallura Reality:

Hunk and Shay will have 1 daughter, 14 years old, Koru.

-          Punk happens in the Sheith Reality.

-          Allurance also happens in the Sheith Reality and the Shendak Reality

Allura and Lance will have 2 children, a girl 19 years old, and a boy 14 years old. They boy will have alchemy abilities. They don’t have names yet sorry.

-          Laxum happens in the Shallura Reality.

Lance and Plaxum will have 2 children, 23 years old, twins a boy and a girl, they’ll both be amphibious, able to change between mermaid and human form.

-          Kaxca happens in the Loturra Reality.

Axca and Keith are not related at all, and they’ll have 2 kids, a girl 19 years old, member of the Blade of Marmora, and Yorak, 14 years old boy.

-          Thalaz happens in the Shallura Reality.

-          Shlav also happens in the Loturra Reality, they’ll have 1 daughter, 13 years old, (Yami) Yumi, she was genetically made by the Galra from Shiro and Slav’s DNA, to see what happens if they mix their strongest and smartest captive: the answer is anxiety and bad impulse control.

 Yeah, all the „Castle doesn’t get Destroyed” will be just solved by Allura pulling some Mary Sue magic thing, she does that often enough in canon.

 And the „Allura doesn’t die” is basically that, most of these will be wiped out for some time when Honerva destroys all realities except 1, so when canon Allura sacrifices herself to save all realities these AU realites just get restored and they just normally fight and defeat Honerva. (Tho this depends on reality since in some of them the story takes a whole different turn from her to begin with.)

 I’ll also add to this file as I go along and figure things out, but I think this is it for now!

OKAY THIS TOOK ME ALL NIGHT TO TYPE

Seriously I’m highkey proud of myself for finally sitting down and typing this up, even if it’s probably highkey cringey but fight me I’m still proud.

[hunterguyveriv]

Daddy Please Wake Up part 2

Here is the second part of the story I posted on DeviantArt, Fanfiction.net, and Archive.

Here the Paladins are being rescued. Let's hope you all can withstand the conclusion of this part. 

Ps: Part 3 is currently in the works and is proving to be a little difficult to write. I will have it to you as soon as I can :) Looking to make this story 5 parts in which somethings mentioned in the series is addressed.

The wolf got off the bed and started pacing back and forth whining. It scratched at the door leading out of the room, but the door wouldn't budge due to General Quarters still in effect. Romelle asked Cosmo what was the matter in which the wolf whined some more and released a sad howl before flashing out in sparks.

Romelle getting (the typical anime) worried look ran to the door. When it didn't open she made the comment "of course lockdown." But she had to get to the bridge, so she just rammed her curled up arm into the flimsy Earth door and started running towards the bridge. Nearly taking her five minutes and countless dozens of cadets nearly ran over by the elven looking girl, all while Auxiliary Power started to come online.

She entered the bridge taking everyone by surprise prompting the Shiro to ask her what was wrong. She informed him the wolf is gone, prompting Shiro to ask "What do you mean gone?" Romelle continued to inform him what happened, which prompted Coran, to say there have been stories of Tlvdatsi Wolves sharing a bond similar to the lions with those that raise them, sensing where they want to go, what to do, and when their person's life is in danger.

Shiro started to put two and two together and realized that with the Wolf gone, going off of Coran's information he started to go pale. He already lost one loved one in this bitter 10000-year war he didn't want to… he couldn't lose his little brother. He ordered Veronica to get down to the hanger with the land rovers and take a medic with her. He then asked Sam if any more of the Micro-satellites were still in operation and ordered them to find the lions and mark their positions.

As with those who took them into battle, so too did most of the MFE-Pilots respond, with the exception of Griffin. Leifsdottir was ordered to recover Hunk, Kinkade was to get Allura, Rizario to Pidge, and Griffin sent for Lance, namely because Shiro going off his own experiences believed out of all of the lions Black would have fared far better than the others. Unaware of the truth of the situation at hand.

Having landed hard in the desert and still a majority of his power left, Yellow sat right up and lowered his head to the ground opening his massive mouth. But no one was willing to approach the lion except 2 weary individuals. They were more determined to see the unconscious occupant. Someone they were desperate to see, they didn't notice or care about a blonde Garrison Soldier followed a Medic running towards the lion from a rather advanced looking fighter jet.

Lance had taken off his helmet an managed to get out of his lion through the hatch on the top of Red's head. He slides down the head to the edge of the snout and used his jet thrusters to jump off and land on the ground. He inhaled sharply almost yelping as the impact of his boots hitting jostled his broken & dislocated arm causing him to grab it. He looked up to see one of the MFEs circling above. He smirked watching it dip its wings.

In Yosemite National Park, Pidge being the smallest and youngest had fared better than expected. She had scrapes and bruises. The magnetic seat locks released her armor, which in turn causing her to let go of her controls. Being so close to death, the closest she had ever been next to Naxzela, she pulled her knees to her chest and sobbed into her knees as she wrapped her arms around them trembling. Outside Green was on her side, she slowly powered back up and sat down.

In the Gulf of Mexico Blue had returned to full power and was floating on the surface. Allura was released from her magnetic locks and stood up slowly. Inside the cockpit was starting to warm up so she removed her helmet and chest armor placing them in her seat. She opened her jumpsuit enough to start cooling off as Blue's sensors picked up an incoming friendly. She limped out of the cockpit to the room just outside it, having smashed her left knee in the impact. Using the emergency hatch, she climbed onto blue's head and was waving to the incoming MFE after magnetizing her boots as to not slip or slide damaging her knee more.

On the bridge of the Atlas, all the MFE pilots reported in and the conditions of the Paladins. All that remained was Keith, but where was he? Sensors were still unreliable beyond a 50-mile radius. Seconds seemed like hours, minutes like days until Sam's voice came over the comms informing the bridge crew there were reports of a small earthquake approximately 8 miles from Monument Valley.

With a pretty good assumption of the location, Shiro dispatched land vehicles to that location. He had also ordered Romelle to tag along but not to interfere in the recovery. She looked at him with a puzzled look until he whispered "Cosmo." It took her a few seconds then she realized, she was being sent to wrangle the wolf, who knew her more than any of the paladins or humans.

It had been almost an hour since Romelle was dispatched with the recovery teams. She was watching for "Cosmo." Before leaving Coran had taken her aside and let her know that not only will the wolf lead them to Keith, but most of all "to be careful around the wolf, that depending on the bond with Keith, he will be very aggressive and protective of him." She saw something bright flash and look towards the flash. She could barely make out a black running shape.

She tapped one of the accompanying soldiers and pointed. He looked at her and looked out the window. Squinting at first he could also just barely make out a singular running black shape. He raises his binoculars and zoomed in 12x and saw the tell-tale features of Keith's wolf. It's black body, aqua luminescent spots on its hind legs and the midnight blue mane that ran from the back of his head to tail. The soldier also noticed a rather large shape in the far background with smoke coming from it. He pointed to it causing the driver to speed up.

The wolf stopped hearing the roar of something. It stopped and looked back seeing some of those weird Earth things coming. Panting heavily it looked back towards its destination whining… daddy… The wolf took off in a flash as the thing "chasing it" was only 50 meters away from it. It reappeared nearly 250 meters away from where it stopped and continued to run towards the destination he was determined to reach before that weird Earth thing. Disappearing and reappearing almost 10 more times.

He appeared 12 meters in front of the downed lion and a building that reeked of Daddy's scent, but nothing fresh. He trotted over to the lion cautiously sniffing the air and ground there was still no sign of daddy. He stopped in front of the downed lions head and desperately whined and scratched at the mouth to be let in. He started to whine louder and louder and more pathetic and desperate hoping to be let in before the Earth "creature" chasing him caught up.

But the "creature" finally caught up with reinforcements. Panicking the wolf teleported into the lion in the room behind the cockpit. He became overjoyed when "daddy's" fresh scent hit his nose. But something else, the smell of blood did too. Following the scents, the wolf walked into the cockpit. It was dark and everything was offline, but pheromones from not just his scent, but daddy's scent, and "grandma's" scent still filled the room which provided enough additional for the wolf to see perfect in the cockpit.

He found Keith's unresponsive body laying on the floor. Wagging his tail he trotted over and nuzzled his arm which moved limply, when he normally got a head-scratching or a "Good boy tap" on his side, nothing. He nuzzled Keith's arm again whining for him to respond, still nothing. He started pawing at Keith, which normally would get a soft verbal reprimand but nothing. He continued to paw at Keith's limp unmoving body for a nearly a minute. He decided to lay down next to Keith desperately whining for him to wake up, but he wasn't getting a response from him. The whines turned into desperate howls for help.

The wolf's ears were lowered against its head feeling a full slew of emotions being "grandma" was no longer with them, daddy was all he had. He whined softly not wanting to leave him behind. Not caring that those creatures were roaring outside, he wasn't going to leave daddy alone to them. Hoping and wishing someone would come to help them.

A couple minutes passed and the wolf heard muffled shouting and a familiar voice calling his name. It was a familiar soft voice. An unthreatening voice, unlike the other voices which seemed to have now surrounded the lion. The wolf looked at Keith's unmoving body, he could just barely hear his dad's breathing.

Outside the lion, the accompanying soldiers surrounded the lion weapons at the ready for any surprise attacks. Romelle had seen the wolf pawing at the lion's mouth and in a panic teleport into the lion. She slowly got out and started walking towards the lion. She was ordered to get back to the vehicle to which she told the soldier on point "That wolf is frightened and protecting one of the two people it considers family. Next, to that person, it knows me more than anyone else on this planet and will kill all of you if it sees you as a threat to the person it is protecting. Now let me do what have to do."

Put in her place the soldier on point allowed Romelle to keep going, which she nodded to a medic to follow. Romelle continued to walk towards the lion trying to call Cosmo. Her voice was nice, calm, and friendly, like when she first met him with Keith and Krolia at the colony, like when she was humming to him during the battle. She called out again "Come on out Cosmo, no one will hurt you, baby." She continued to try and coax the wolf out of the lion. But when he appeared, she wasn't ready for what she saw.

She saw Cosmo laying next to the seemingly lifeless body of Keith, the person he saw as daddy. The sight breaking her heart, almost exactly how Bandor left for the second colony. He laid his head on Keith's body whining when he saw Romelle but jumped up baring his fangs when he saw the medic. She motioned him to stop, which the medic soundly did nodding looking at the ivory white teeth of this teleporting wolf.

Romelle positioned herself in front of the medic to get the wolf to focus on her and change his demeanor and started whining desperately again. He saw many other people surrounding the front half of the lion which caused him to lay down on Keith growling not understanding they are there to protect them. He continued to bare his teeth and growl in the direction of someone who slightly moved. Reminding Romelle what Coran said about Tlvdatsi Wolves when protecting their bonded person.

She slowly walked a few more feet and got down on her knees and sat down. Continuing to use her soothing voice she continued to try to calm Cosmo. She'd say things "Come here Cosmo baby," or "we can help you beautiful boy" among other praises one would say to get an anxiously aggressive or a petrified animal to calm down and come to you. She had even reached into her Garrison appropriated jacket pulling out a water pouch and a small plastic bowl.

After nearly an agonizing 10 minutes of coaxing the wolf to leave Keith's side, in a submissive stature, the wolf cautiously to get a drink. Romelle petted him as he loudly gulped the contents of the bowl. She cautiously reached around the wolf as grabbed a hold of it tight with her Altean strength, but not enough to hurt it. Cosmo released some crying yips and yelps and flailed trying to get away but Romelle wasn't going to have it. She could feel the wolf was tired just by his struggles to get free so she believed it was too tired to teleport.

She got up and started to walk to the closest vehicle with the wolf nodding to the medic too. She hurried to the nearest vehicle, fighting to keep a hold on to a flailing exhausted wolf which was exhausting in itself. She opened the door to the vehicle and gently placed the wolf into the vehicle before getting in with it. She watched as the medic ran up to Keith's body and started to provide field medical attention. He had pulled out a device which reminded her of the healing pod diagnosis display, but it looked like a holographic scroll.

She started petting the panting wolf whose head was in her lap. She watched as the medic held it to his head and moved it down his body. She had to look away as the medic called for a soldier to come to give a hand. The wolf whined wanting to be with Keith. Trying to keep her voice from hitching and keeping it nice and soft and soothing "I know, beautiful boy, but they have to do their job to help daddy." She looked at the driver nodding, informing him to start the vehicle and contact the Atlas, as Medics stabilized Keith enough for transport.

[corvus--rex]

Another one that's soundly asleep and not abandoned. Non-canon compliant, and all 7 of them are lgbt+ (I also may, possibly, be projecting onto Keith - just a little). And Lance is a they/them enby.

~*~*~*~

Liberating the planet Artrax was the easy part. Eliminating the Galra presence was simple. Voltron’s Paladins had done their job in securing the planet’s freedom. No different from any other occupied planet they’d been to. The Artraxians were holding a celebratory festival both in honor of the Paladins and in anticipation of joining the Voltron Coalition. Not complicated. It wasn’t something they hadn’t done many times before. And while every planet’s traditions and customs were different, they more or less knew what to expect. At least, they thought they knew what to expect. They were apparently wrong about that.

Allura dropped into her usual seat at the head of the dining table with a heavy sigh, the tablet in her hand clattering to the table’s surface. A lack of her usual composure was evident in the way her shoulders slumped, the annoyance and displeasure clear on her face. She sighed again before facing the Paladins.

“I’ve just spoken with Artrax’s leaders. They are going forward with the celebration in our honor and over joining the Coalition,” she said, heavy with exhaustion.

“I’m sensing a ‘but’,” Lance said cautiously.

“The Artraxians have a very rigid society when it comes to gender roles and sexuality. They are also insisting that, as distinguished guests, we are to dress according to their standards. At the very least I got them to agree to modify their fashions to our anatomy. But they will not back down from their views on gender. Not even for us. Alteans may not believe in those strict lines, but they do.”

“And combined with their enhanced sense of smell, especially when it comes to hormones and pheromones, there’s no way we can get around it,” Pidge noted disappointedly.

“Unfortunately. Please know that I would never ask any of you to do something that makes you uncomfortable in that way. But they would consider it a personal insult not to attend, or abide by their customs. And their trade routes are invaluable to the Coalition. I am so sorry.” Allura slumped back into her seat, gaze dropping to the table.

The room was silent for a long minute as they all considered their options and what the Artraxian societal standards meant for them. Three fifths of the Paladins didn’t identify with their assigned genders and none of them, Allura and Coran included, were straight. Hiding their sexual orientations was manageable, their gender identities far less so. Neither Lance nor Pidge in any way liked the idea of being forced into presenting as their assigned genders. After expanding their wardrobes beyond what they had worn into space, there was no telling what Lance would appear in on any given day, while Pidge’s remained as non-gendered as physically possible.

It had only been a few months since Pidge had come out to the team as agender, aromantic, and asexual. “Triple-A Queer” they had called it. They had known for some time before, but their disguise to get into the Galaxy Garrison was important to their self-imposed mission to find Sam and Matt, and so allowed everyone to believe that they were male. Lance, on the other hand, had never made their semi-fluid nonbinary identity a secret. Being bisexual and nonbinary at the Garrison had been an unpleasant experience at times, until the day when Tommy Bailey was harassing them for it again and Hunk simply appeared behind Lance without a sound, glaring. Tommy was too afraid of Hunk after that to try anything again.

While Lance and Pidge – as much as they hated it – could power through the discomfort of dressing to their physical sex, it was a little harder for Keith. He had kept it a secret at the Garrison, Griffin’s homophobia and “teasing” about Keith’s parents was bad enough. The only ones who had known were Shiro, Adam, and Garrison medical staff. He figured his life was hard enough being the gay, orphaned, golden boy without adding his trans status on top of it. His recovery time after top surgery was dismissed (by him) as having been sick, and hormone shots as being for specific, undisclosed allergies. (“Yeah, I’m allergic to being female,” he’d told Shiro with a laugh when they decided that was going to be the “official” story.)

He’d been off hormones since not long after leaving the Garrison, and told the team shortly after settling into the castle. He wanted to, but even if he hadn’t, it was going to show itself sooner or later. He’d rather they were prepared for bitchy, PMS-ing Keith, followed by angry, period Keith. It was not a side of himself he liked anyone seeing, but without access to his hormones, they were going to whether he liked it or not. He had the grace of the gods in that respect. Shiro handled it the same way he always had – from a distance and with care. Pidge was right there with him, commiserating over a bodily function neither of them wanted. Hunk had two moms and a younger sister, so he understood, even if it was from the outside. It was the same for Lance, with both of their sisters, one of whom was their twin, so they’d seen what she went through a little more closely than they’d wanted. Allura and Coran didn’t understand human reproductive cycles, but understood that it was an uncomfortable process, and did what they could.

But all that meant that he was going to be the one out of all of them in the most discomfort. It had been years since he’d had to pretend like he wasn’t in the wrong body, and now he was having to face that all over again. He knew that if they’d had any kind of leeway, Lance and Allura would be there to help him to be as comfortable as possible while stuck in a dress. But they didn’t. They were going to be in a modified version of the planet’s inhabitants’ traditional costume. None of the paladins knew what it looked like, but from how upset Allura was, it couldn’t be good.

Keith decided to rip off the band-aid. “So, what do these outfits look like?” he asked.

Allura played with the tablet she’d brought with her for a moment before turning it on. The images projected over the table were of the Artraxian people modeling their traditional clothing. Their race was in an eternal transitional period between reptilian and avian. Mostly scaled, and more closely resembling their reptile ancestors, they also had patches of brightly colored feathers and slightly wing-like arms with retractable membranes. The feathers that grew along their shoulders, forearms, and thighs were short, and nearly mistakeable for scales if it weren’t for their texture. They also had feathers that grew in a swath from forehead to neck, but these were longer, some trailing down their backs. Artraxian scale colors ranged from pale, leaf green to deep forest, those colors determined by regional origin. Unlike what the paladins would have expected of either reptiles or birds, Artraxians were a live-birth species, and so had some features more like Earth mammals, most notably two close-set rows of three breasts. Six-titted aliens was not what they were expecting. But combined with their long, thick, tapering tails and wing-arms, the paladins could see why their clothes would have to be adapted for human and Altean anatomy.

The clothing itself was as brightly colored as their feathers. It appeared light, soft, and silky, but was wrapped around their bodies like bandages, ultimately not leaving much to the imagination. Some of the wrappings were sheer, showing off the scales beneath. The females wore a two-paneled, A-line skirt over their leg wraps that ran to mid-calf, completely sheer and split at the sides to the waist. Males wore something similar, but slightly shorter and opaque. Both sexes went barefoot, no doubt a necessity due to their sharp claws. All five paladins looked over the projection with varying degrees of curiosity, anxiety, and fear.

“We’ll be providing the Artraxians with our physical measurements from here, and they will send us our…outfits,” Allura said, eyeing the female Artraxian with trepidation.

Keith was sorry he’d asked; he felt sick.

Lance was sitting directly across from him and was the first to notice it. Leaning over the table slightly, they nudged his foot. “You ok?” they asked quietly.

“No.” It was all he could get out before bolting from the room.

Shiro started to get up, but Lance stopped him. “I’ll go. No offense, but I don’t think a cis guy is what he needs right now.”

“Want me to come too?” Pidge asked.

“Maybe in a little bit. I think too many people will be too much for him.”

Pidge nodded at the same time Shiro spoke. “I’m not offended, Lance. You’re the best suited out of all of us to talk to him right now.”

“Thanks, man. I’ll call if I need anyone.”

Lance paused in the hallway, considering the possibilities of where Keith was most likely to be. Training deck? Always a possibility, but it didn’t seem as probable at that moment. He’d been genuinely upset, not just aggravated or frustrated. So not there. Holed up in his bedroom? Maybe, but it felt a little too obvious. The shock of seeing what he was expected to wear had made him bolt, and Lance knew he’d gone to ground. Ok, so not his bedroom either. The castle was not a small place, but there were only a handful of places Keith would go. If not the training deck or his bedroom, he had most probably run for his favorite of the observation decks, and that was where Lance set off for.

Walking the halls of the castle, Lance enjoyed the feeling of the soft fabric of their long skirt and fluffy cropped sweater. They liked the way the silky material flowed around their legs, and how their sweater floated and felt like it was made of clouds. It also made them think about their own coming out process. How their twin sister Rachel was the first person they’d told at age 12. Barely a month before their thirteenth birthday, Lance had taken Rachel on the short walk to the beach, to the spot away from where even the locals stayed. Their favorite place where they went swimming all summer long. Where their older siblings taught them to surf, and where their mother had shown them the constellations and sparked a love of space in Lance.

That’s where they’d gone with Rachel on a hot day in June. Lance remembered standing ankle-deep in the warm, clear water. They couldn’t look at her, too nervous about what she’d say. But looking out over the Atlantic, they’d found the courage they needed, and told Rachel everything. About how they’d been thinking about how they noticed they liked girls ok, but also boys and nonbinary people too, and considered themselves bi. It led them into talking about their own gender. That they didn’t feel much like a boy, but that they felt kinda like a boy sometimes, kinda like a girl sometimes, but mostly felt nonbinary. Lance told her that they felt like gender didn’t matter as much to them, and that while they didn’t feel the need to change their name, their preferred pronouns going forward were they and them.

Rachel had sat on the beach and listened. She thought it over while Lance was talking, and when they were done, she got up without a word, left her flip flops on the sand, and joined her sibling in the water. She crushed them in the tightest hug of their life and told Lance that they were her twin, nothing in the known universe could stop that, and that the absolute most important thing was that they were comfortable in their own skin. If there were a few tears before they left for home, no one needed to know. With Rachel firmly beside them, they told the rest of the immediate family that night, getting almost the same reaction from them as they had from their twin. Their father Diego was only a little more reserved, admitting that he didn’t understand the nonbinary part, but as long as Lance was safe and happy, that was all he cared about. By the time Lance had left Earth, Diego had come to understand what being nonbinary meant and that those five years of expressing themselves freely had been the happiest of Lance’s life.

The memory of that summer day made them smile to themselves as they walked, but also made them miss home and family all over again. With a sharp shake of their head, they remembered what they were coming up to the observation deck for. They knew Keith understood how important this party was, but being forced into that was more than enough to cause that kind of reaction. Ironically, Lance thought, the Artraxian male fashion sense was actually feminine-leaning, non-gendered by human standards and didn’t bother them as much as they thought it would, although it still did upset them. But that was them, not Keith. Especially with what Artraxian women wore, they knew how much it upset Keith. And that was why they were there. Not to try to convince him to wear it, but to be supportive. Let him know that both they and the team had his back with this. That Lance would be there for him however he needed.

Lance knocked on the door, walking in when they didn’t get an answer anyway. Keith was sitting on the floor with his arms wrapped around his knees as he watched the stars. Lance curled up beside him without looking over.

“Hey. It’ll be ok. I know it really, really, sucks, and I wish we didn’t have to do it, but we do. We’re all here for you, you know that right?”

Keith sighed, rolling his head from where it rested on his knees to look over at Lance. “I know you are. Doesn’t make it any easier. I thought I was past all that. Having to pretend to be something I'm not. It’s been hard enough being out here without even the possibility of access to my T shots. And now this. I think I would have been more ok with it if it didn’t look like that.”

“Yeah, I get that. Kinda exposes almost everything. None of us like it, even if I know Allura and Shiro are gonna look amazing in it, but Pidge and Hunk will be really uncomfortable. Hunk doesn’t like going to the beach without a shirt on unless he’s really comfortable with the people around him. And I don’t think I can even imagine Pidge in anything girly, let alone that. And even I’m not really comfortable with it. Way too much skin on display, y’know? I mean, I say this while wearing a crop top, but…” they trailed off with a soft laugh and turned to face Keith. “Really what I’m saying is that we’re all uncomfortable. I know it’s not exactly the same, but you’re not alone. If you need to stay close to one of us for the party to feel safe, it’s ok. No one will mind.”

Lance thought that the soft huffing sound that came from Keith might have been a laugh until they heard the sniffle and realized that he was wiping away tears.

“Thanks, Lance,” Keith said softly.

“Anytime, Samurai.”

It was barely a day after transmitting the team’s measurements to the planet’s surface before an unmanned shuttle landed onboard the castle. They realized that color preferences hadn’t been asked of them, and that their “outfits” were all individually wrapped in black tissue and labelled with their names. Coran busied himself with handing out the packages and sent Allura and the paladins off to change.

“Hey, Lance?” Keith called quietly.

They turned to him and immediately saw the discomfort and anxiety all over his face. “Hey, it’s ok. What do you need?”

“I think I need to call in that favor.”

“Ok. Would having Allura there help?”

Keith thought for a few seconds. “…Yeah, I think so.”

Lance turned to where the princess was making her way across the pod bay floor. “Allura, I have a question for you.”

She stopped and waited for both of them to catch up with her. “Yes? What is it?”

Lance looked to Keith first for his silent confirmation before continuing. “Keith’s gonna need some help with this. I figured you being the only girl here would help with making him as comfortable as we can.”

“Oh, yes, of course. Allow me to change and then we can meet.”

“My room?” Lance suggested.

~*~*~*~

Links to the rest of the series:

1 | 2 | 3* | 4 | 5* | 6* | 7 | 8 | 9* | 10 | 11 | 12* | 13 | 14 | 15* | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19*

[chibi-chaos]

Season 7 Appreciation Post

Cause we all need a little positivity, and while there were moments I didn’t so much like there were moments I love, So in no particular order:

1. Hunk being a badass There is nothing that will compare to that scene where Hunk literally jumps out of his lions guns blazing to shoot down those galra ships.

2. Sam and Coleen Holt: Firstly, they were just plain adorable. Secondly, their whole attitude of being willing to break the law to make sure the Earth was ready for a fight I loved so much.

3. Romelle and Hunk being voice of reason buddies. They’re banter I loved, and on Romelle’s side it especially realistic for her to be so stunned when she has never had to deal with anything remotely like all that before.

4. Cosmo I will never not love Cosmo. Between that zapping between places delivering food with a cute scarf holding it, and zapping around and helping in anyway he could.

5. Sam having a chibi face of him appear on screen when he hacks the computers. It’s adorable how he had that which he also shared with Pidge. Okay let’s just say; Sam is just precious.

6. Shay and Hunk reunion!!! It wasn’t for that long but it was so sweet. I’m also really just she hasn’t be a character Dreamworks just dumped because she wasn’t needed.

7. There’s still representation. I admit I wanted to see a reunion between Shiro and Adam, and was greatly disappointed when they just killed Adam not long after creating him. BUT, it doesn’t mean there isn’t representation - just because a character isn’t in a LGBT+ relationship doesn’t mean they aren’t LGBT. Shiro is now in canon as some form of LGBT, and in doing so he breaks the stereotypes for the ‘GI Joe’ type as well as potentially the Gay stereotype. And that isn’t something which should be dismissed

8. Matt with long hair ..,I didn’t know how much I would like Matt with long hair until now... also, is he holding hands with the female rebel when we see him?

9. Veronica. The moment I heard her name I was placing me bets that she was Lance’s sister. And man she’s an amazing character. Her wit made me instantly like her, and she just kept getting more points.

10. Uncle Lance So many feels stirred with those two little kids running up to Lance crying out ‘Uncle Lance’ - it was so cute. Same as that end scene where one’s wearing Lance’s helmet and the other is on Lance’s lap. It all just gave me cavities.

11. Hunk and the Mice It was both funny and cute, and I just love how he proceeded to take selfies with them

12, Young Keith and Shirop - Shiro being the one that taught Keith how to drive off a cliff - Keith stealing Shiro’s car. I don’t think I was expecting that, but I find it hiliarious. Same as it’s amusing how Shiro watches Keith drive off with his car and goes ‘I’m gonna take him to the garrison’ (also funny considering that ep where Keith says something like ‘you know I wouldn’t steal something’)

13. MFE Pilots For one I loved the whole parallels between the and the Voltron Paladins. For two, Griffin’s character development was show really well in the episodes his season (I wouldn’t call him a bully exactly of Keith and I wouldn’t say those ill feelings are still there, cause let’s face it Keith wouldn’t willing be in the same place as someone he can’t stand, and Griffin willingly helped the two with finding where Hunk’s family was - he went again the by the book attitude he was show to have in the conference for these two)  Same as I love what I have seen of Kinkade, Leifsdottir and Rizavi is and really hope that Dreamworks gives more details about them.

14. Keith comforting Hunk It was yet another precious scene, and it was utterly adorable how even looking out of his depth Keith wanted to be there for Hunk, same as that hug shared between them was adorable too,

15. Lance taking on a Galra ship with only his bayard I don’t think I’ll be able to forget that, between how badass it was and how it showed how much her cared for his sister.

16. Iverson redemption Honestly since the first episode I didn’t like Iverson, but season 7 offered him in a new light. Season 1 showed him towering over cadets, and already intimidating figure is shown even more intimidating. Whereas season 7 showed him with some of those cadet how close to his height, and we see him as a man in a position where he had to follow orders. The capturing Shiro was a quarantine, and he’s show to have his priorities with doing what right to save the Earth, even if it means going again his commanding officer. He was given more of an opportunity to fleshed out to the audience.

17. Shiro being made captain of the Atlas. After accepting that he wouldn’t be a paladin any more, I was more than chuffed with being able to see Shiro as a captain, still keeping a role of guiding the Paladins, as well as now a crew of a brand new ship and his whole connection to the ship while not being something I saw coming, I actually kinda love.

Before I sign off, please remember that while the creators are in charge of how the story of voltron goes, they also have to conform with that they company (ie. Dreamworks) they’re working under expects/approves off. So please ease off with the hate, the creators are trying to do right by their creation and the fandom it has earned.

[emphasis-all-mine]

Since you offered I am SHAMELESSLY ASKING AWAY: what can you tell us about the other paranormal species in Paper Skin? I remember Nyma being a ghoul and I'm really curious to know what others you've made headcanons or lore for!

Oooh this is a good one.

Nyma and the rebels (Rolo, etc) are all ghouls

Pretty much inspired by Tokyo Ghoul, so I headcanon a lot of the lore follows that, (can drink coffee but have to eat human flesh) but they’re also a bit like zombies in that they’re technically considered undead. 

Also it means they don’t mind eating already dead folks, and can gain memories from eating brains. 

Kind of like in Warm Bodies they can either be mindless or regain sentience slowly but still crave flesh. 

They were very hesitant to start visiting Jé-Rouges even with Shiro and Lance reaching out directly because they’re very private (and somewhat ashamed) about what they do for food.

Mostly they skulk around areas where dead bodies might wash up. Hence why they comb beaches and waterfronts.

They sometimes disturb crime scenes but try not to eat all of the evidence, taking pieces of flesh off of areas that might not be looked at or would be chalked up to wildlife scavenging the bodies.

A lot of times they either make friends with or work at local morgues. Some of the ones that “pass” better (have less obvious wounds, non-white eyes or less pallid skin) try to get jobs as medical examiners or work with forensics.

Lance thought Nyma was cute but ended up losing a piece of ear and cuffed up on a beach in Far Rockaway as a “prank”. Hunk had to sniff him out.

She is sorry, and it was when they were both younger teens so she chalks it up to both being young and dumb.

Though there’s some unresolved anger, they can be civil to each other.

There is one more supernatural class that I haven’t mentioned, and won’t until they are officially introduced, because of huge spoilers for a lot of things. We have informally “met” one already, (the person I’ve dubbed “The Thin Man” from Lance’s flashbacks) and if my current writing plan goes as I want it to, in chapter 12 we might get a name for them.

In lieu of that, I’ll go over a rule I created for the Paper Skin world:

If character is X in the show canon, then they and their associates/family are Y in Paper Skin.

So like, all of Hunk and Lance’s family are humans in show canon, so in PS they’re all werewolves. Shiro is human, so in PS he’s a vampire and so is (most of) his family and his Garrison associates (lol poor Iverson). Keith’s dad is human, therefore he’s a vampire in PS.

The other rule I created was to try and make the prominent alien races human. Hence why Balmerans and Alteans are all 100% human in the PS world. Haggar despite being a magic user is human. Even characters I haven’t introduced yet, like if Rax shows up? He’s human. If Romelle shows up? She’s human.

When Lotor shows up? He’ll be half-human.

[thestars-seem-outofreach]

Okay now we come to the more problematic episodes, episode seven

I like that they took an episode to explain what happened on earth in the meantime, it was very Sam Holt focused as it was about him telling earth what's going on

Note: this was their chance to introduce Adam. You cant tell me that Shiro had a fiancé and Sam didn't go tell him that Shiro is alive. And did the clone not make a video. People out there saying that the clone is one to one shiro, even though his essence is not in it, why wouldnt he make a video for Adam. There were many ways to introduce him. He is also a very skilled pilot, instead of letting literal teenagers fly the most advanced ships making them the only ones to know how yo fly them once it comes to an attack. Adam could've been one of the pilots, people of Shiros time at the garrison, the best pilots? That would've been a great way to connect Shiro with Earth and us, too, with the flashbacks at the beginning of the season. Instead you let teens, this time knowingly, fight the most dangerous fight.

The garrison not being friendly is what we all saw coming, them not letting Sam go is no big surprise, Colleen is an angel.

Them having the audio of Zarkon and Pidge not finding it after going through most information considering kerboros is weird but not impossible.

Sam introducing the highest ranking to alien information was also important to the plot.

Note: 3/12 people are female as far as I could tell, one, the highest ranking has been instantly villanized

He informs them of the surviving team members and cateds

Again, someone could've told Adam, a teacher, significant other of the best known pilot St the garrison? Someone could've told him and he could've gone to talk to Sam about it

They introduce this bunch of teens that aren't even of higher rank, these are students. You are sending children into war. I don't want to say child soldiers, as pidge is, since I'm not hundret percent sure on their age, but they are definitely too young to be the only ones training to fight in the biggest of all wars.

The Holt's revealing the truth to the world was great. We got to see Hunk and Lances family know they are alive

Yet another note: how easy it would've been to introduce Adam here

I don't know how many female teachers they have but the only woman in power handeling the situation all wrong is yet somehow familiar in popular ways of portraying woman in position of power.

Also why did Sendak decide to go after earth, I can imagine many planets send out distress signals for voltron. Does he know Sam, does he know the paladins home planet, if he did he would've attacked earlier. You cant tell me they took the whole coalition and all the free planets back under their control when such a mess

This is where we slowly go downhill it seems