#he's weirded out further when lance tells him that if he needs a listening ear | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

blueberry-sunshines · 4 years ago

Text

Small Surpises— Big Brother Shiro x Little Sister Reader

Summary:

You are Shiro's younger sister waiting on him to return from a mission while you reminisce about your life with your big brother which then gets interrupted when he brings you back an unexpected surprise...

Word Count: ~2K

Childhood memories | Brotherly Love

Requested by: @white_skittle on Wattpad

{Your POV}

Honestly, you had never really thought that it would be so boring to be in a half-castle half-spaceship until you were actually in one. It sounds crazy to even think you'd be in one let alone that one exists! One moment you were on earth with Keith trying to figure out these weird radio signals and then the next your brother who'd been missing for a year had crash landed onto earth in an alien pod! And just when you didn't think anything could get any crazier, you found a giant blue lion that whisked you all away into space! That was just the beginning of all the adventures you'd have traveling the universe with your new found family. But as of now, the only thing you could do is wait around the Castle of Lions until the Paladins are back from their mission. To keep your mind off of your boredom and anxiety you tried your best to distract yourself with useless things like wondering the castle and getting lost in your own thoughts.

You were significantly younger than your brother, Shiro. While he was 25, you were only a teenager. You two were always rather close despite your age difference. Shiro was always so cool, you and all of your friends thought he was the most amazing person in the whole world. And if you were being honest with yourself, he still was. I mean, being the paladin of the Black Lion and the leader of Voltron was the coolest thing you could think of! As kids you and Shiro loved playing together, you would play with his soldiers and planes or he'd play dolls with you. You two would spend hours playing little games like hide and seek or just playing pretend.

You would be the princess and Shiro would always be the courageous knight there to protect and save you from evil villains and mystical dragons. Using sticks and pool noodles as swords he would slay any foes that even dared to hurt his little sister. Shiro has always been your hero in more ways than you'd ever realize.

"Fear not, Princess (Y/N)!" He would cry, holding his makeshift sword in the air. "I will slay this dragon to protect you and your kingdom from his evil!" He would then jab at one of your stuffed animals or sometimes even trees, pretending they were the villain.

As you got older, you two were still super close. Shiro was then entering his teens, going to the Galaxy Garrison to be a pilot. He was so smart and so talented and all you ever wanted to do was impress him. When you didn't think he could get any cooler he always did. But even though he was at the Garrison, he still had never let you down. You have many memories of Shiro picking you up after school and taking you out to your favorite diner. Sitting in a booth across from each other he would ask you about your day while drinking a milkshake in his bright orange Cadet uniform.

"You look silly in your uniform, Takashi." Little you giggled in your memory. You could still see Shiro's face as he pulled away from his Oreo milkshake's straw, as well as the smile that formed on his face as he let out a small chuckle.

"I guess I do look kind of silly, huh?" He agreed, setting down his milkshake softly.

These couple times a week visits made it feel like Shiro had never really left at all. Soon you were able to transfer into the Garrison Cadet program and next thing you remember is staying up late into the night studying with Shiro and practicing your techniques. Shiro was the star of the Garrison and he still remained the star of your life. Sure you had made many friends, but Shiro was still your best friend above all else. You still remember when Shiro had introduced you to Keith and how you two got off to a rocky start. But eventually, it didn't feel like it was just you and Shiro against the world anymore. Soon you had a new honorary brother in Keith. You would all ride around together on Hoverbikes and Landspeeders and you even would take Keith for milkshakes at your diner.

"Hah!" You beamed triumphantly as you swung to a halt on your hoverbike. You looked behind you now as your brother came up to a stop behind you. You laughed triumphantly as you had just beaten Shiro to your designated finish line. "I told you I could beat you!"

"I never doubted you for a second." Shiro told you proudly as he whipped the sweat from his forehead.

You looked now on the other side of you over the edge of the large cliff next to you. "So can I learn the dive now?" You blurted out quickly.

Shiro laughed warmly, "Absolutely not." He said quickly and gave you a teasing smile. "Not until I'm sure you and Keith are both ready." He explained, watching you pout in amusement.

As you were entering your teenage years and Shiro was leaving his, you two had somehow managed to grow even closer. He had come out to you over the course of your time at the Garrison. You still remember him gushing to you all about his, then crush, Adam. You were there for him when coming to terms with his feelings and there when he brought Adam home to your parents for the first time. In return he was always there for you, helping you when you were sick, giving you advice when you were down in the dumps, and he helped you through your first ever breakup.

Time was flying by so quickly and soon, you were an accomplished pilot just like your big brother, and Shiro had asked Adam to marry him. Life was just the way you liked it and you didn't think anything could ruin your wonderful relationship with Shiro. If none of the petty sibling fights you got into or even any of the serious ones could have ruined it, you didn't know what could. But, you could never forget Kerberos...

"We're back!!!" You heard a voice shout from a room over. It was the cherry voice of Lance McClain exclaiming their arrival in the castle. You began running back down the corridor to return to the lounge where you heard the voices coming from.

"Hey, (Y/N)!" Hunk smiled seeing you enter the room. You saw Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Keith, and Allura all standing in the room.

"How did it go out there today?" You asked them all, subconsciously looking around for your brother. The Paladins went to a freed planet to collect some tech that was needed to help the fight against the Galra.

"We collected all the samples we needed." Pidge told you before gesturing behind her, "Coran and Shiro are unloading as we speak." She was unusually smiley, but you brushed it off as her just being happy to have new tech to work with. You were about to leave to go find Shiro when,

"(Y/N)," Keith said your name now, walking over to you, also dawning a small smile. "There's also something we brought back for you, too."

"Hey!" You heard Lance complain, "I wanted to be the one to tell (Y/N)!"

"Too bad." Keith smirked at him and the two began a small, signature squabble as they walked past towards the direction of the showers.

You looked over at Pidge and Hunk now curiously, "What are they talking about?" You asked them, furrowing your brow in thought trying to guess what on earth they could have brought you. You heard them both giggle as they refused to give you any clue before heading towards the showers as well. Your last hope was Allura.

She just looked as confused as you, "I do wonder what they had brought you as well." She said warmly before following you towards the other door the four Paladins had come from originally. As you and Allura made your way down the hallway she tried to offer you ideas as to what they could've brought you, but half the things she said you had no idea what she was talking about.

Once you reached the hangar where the Paladins had come from, you sprinted towards the Black Lion. Coran was placing small metal crates onto a floating cart and Shiro was helping him.

"Shiro, Hey!" You yelled as you got closer, Allura still following suit.

"(Y/N)!" Shiro called your name happily placing down a crate and turning towards you. You laughed as you ran into his arms, you felt him stumble a bit upon impact and you heard him chuckle.

"You really missed me that much?" He teased you as he gave you a tight squeeze before putting you back safely balanced onto your feet.

"Always do." You smiled up at him affectionately. You then cut right to the chase, "Keith said you guys brought me something!"

Shiro raised an eyebrow at you, "He did, did he?" You nodded in response and he let out another laugh. "Alright, you got me." He admitted humbly.

"Is it another crystal?" You asked excitedly. Shiro had brought you small trinkets before from the missions you didn't get to go on. The Paladins often needed your help, but sometimes when there wasn't any risk you'd just stay behind.

"It's better than that." He said mysteriously as he lead you back towards his lion.

"Is it a bigger crystal?" You asked which earned you a laugh in return.

"No... now stop guessing!" He shook his head in amusement. "Wait here, I'll be right back." Shiro instructed you, turning snd disappearing into the lion.

You looked back over to where Allura and Coran were conversing about something while you waited. Once your brother reemerged from Black, he was holding a small box that had some kind of cloth or blanket sticking out from it. You stared at the box in pure curiosity as Shiro grew closer.

"Keep your voice down," he advised as the contents of the box were nearly in full sight. "You don't want to startle him."

You were still not understanding what this could be but now you were thinking it may be alive. Despite not knowing, you listened to your brother and kept quiet. Shiro held the box further down and you saw him.

You had to hold in a squeal as you saw what Shiro had brought you. It was a small light gray ball of fluff. The creature had long droopy ears, four legs with five tiny toes on his paws. It had four small horns above his closed eyes, a pink nose and cute little pouting mouth. His chest and his face were white and he was all curled up in his long, white, fluffy tail. He sort of reminded you of a chinchilla but much more alien like.

Gasping you looked back up to Shiro, "No way..." you breathed out finally. Shiro had a large smile on his face.

"Do you like him?" He asked now, "His breed is concerned to be a loyal partner on Ormaphu. He's a traditional Ormanphian pet called a Bentorm."

"Shiro I love him!" You gushed looking back down as your sweet, little baby Bentorm.

"I'm glad, I thought you would."

When you were kids, you would always beg your parents for a pet but they never let you or Shiro get anything besides fish. Your new Bentorm was the most amazing pet you could think of! Your attention was turned back to the box when you heard him let out a soft yawn as he stretched and uncurled himself. You let out a soft aww, as he sat upright and looked up at you with big, black eyes. He looked as if he was smiling as he looked up at you, he began making a sweet chirping noise and you looked up at Shiro in amazement.

"You can pick him up." Shiro told you softly, smile still prominent on his face. You reached down and picked him up softly from his tummy, under his arms. You pulled him close to your chest and he quickly snuggled into you, smile on his cute, Bentorm face.

"From what his breeder told me, they don't get much bigger and they love riding on their owners shoulders as they get older."

"Allura!" You exclaimed, "Look what Shiro brought me!!"

Allura came over then, in the same awe that you were upon seeing him for the first time. "Is that a Bentorm?" Allura asked looking up at Shiro.

Shiro nodded and moved the box onto his hip you free one of his hands to pet the Bentorms head.

"What are you gonna call him?" Shiro asked looking back up to you.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure..."

_________________

Hi everyone! Thanks for reading this Brother Shiro one shot! It wasn't super long but I think it's pretty cute. Shiro would be the best big brother and I hope I captured that!

Have a great day! Keep requesting please!

#big brother shiro #shiro voltron #shiro x reader #shiro x sister reader #vld shiro #shiro vld #voltron shiro #takashi shirogane #voltron one shot #voltron x reader

162 notes · View notes

willadisastercry · 4 years ago

Text

More than ‘just a little tired’: the aftermath part 2

tw: lil bit of gore described, burn wounds, collapsing, lots of pain described, muscle relaxer used and effects described, slight paralysis ensues, emotionally heavy towards end.

Keith finally let’s his friends help him but his adrenaline is fading rapidly and everyone is still focused on fussing over Pidge. Lance is distraught with how cold Shiro is being, he doesn’t understand why no one is listening to him while he’s literally supporting Keith with his own body as he crashes. Hunk needs to look at something other than the blood and gore so he tries to find Coran’s magic cream and is just proud he only threw up once.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

“Woah, Hunk! He’s going down!”

Lance dropped to his knee as he struggled to keep Keith from falling further out of his grasp, his face now deathly pale and pressed against his shoulder as he took in large, shuddering breaths to try remain conscious.

“We’ve gotcha bud,” Hunk’s hand snaked around his waist then as Lance righted himself and they brought him back onto unsteady legs, his right not even strong enough now to put much weight on without buckling.

“C’mon we gotta go...”

With his arms slung over either boy’s shoulders and their hands hoisting his hips up by the supply pack on his utility belt, they made their way to the med bay relatively quickly, a feat of which was only possible because at some point Keith had stopped trying to keep up and allowing himself to be dragged was surprisingly a lot faster.

The whooshing of the med bay doors after what felt like an enternity was what startled Keith into opening his eyes again.

“Oh, hey guys...” Shiro said, sparing only a partial glance their way before continuing to pour over Pidge with Coran and Allura. She was awake and fighting the helping hands.

No one seemed to notice Keith’s prone form held up entirely by his friends who stood frozen in the doorway, a bit at a loss for how to proceed.

“I think I’m fine, guys! Seriously. All that’s left is already half healed and not nearly deep enough to warrant a freaking pod!”

“Maybe, but you still lost a lot of blood that will need to be repelenished...” Coran pointed, his mustache twitching as he attempted to convey the necessity of the percaution and failed.

Keith’s legs hadn’t been contributing much to the effort of keeping him standing but admittedly had some part in it because the longer they remained where they stood the more they seemed to melt into jelly.

The adrenaline had almost entirely worn off by then, leaving his body buzzing as the pain slowly intensified.

“G-guys...” Keith whispered weakly, his voice was barely audible.

“What’s—“

“Need to sit... like now...” he managed before his legs were wobbling dangerously, suddenly devoid of all the strength that remained in them.

“Alright, that’s okay. Over there, Lance,” Hunk assured, his injured leg completely useless as he transferred even more of Keith’s weight onto his hip to make up the difference while they ushered him towards one of the chairs across the room.

“Uhhhh, how much longer you guys gonna be with Pidge?” Lance questioned nervously once they’d settled Keith down, his heart clenching with fear for how grey his face had gotten, his hands never leaving his drawn up shoulders out of fear of what would happen if he did.

Hunk was already across the room tearing apart medicine cabinets for the burn cream he’d mentioned and Keith was finding it increasingly difficult to support his own body weight.

“Woah! Okkay—that’s okay, just lean against me,” Lance offered when Keith couldn’t keep himself from swaying as he narrowly avoided leaning back against the chair, nearly tilting out of it before Lance righted him and guided his head to lean against his hip.

“We’ll be done as soon as Pidge stops being difficult... why?” Shiro asked, his eyes still scanning the partially mended slash across the smaller girl’s stomach.

“Just uh, Keith is sort of not doing so well.”

Lance wasn’t entirely sure he understood why everyone was being so curt and dismissive, not tearing their eyes away from a clearly fine Pidge, who yes, at one point had been not fine at all, but was now.

And Keith wasn’t.

The blasts on his back were... bad.

Bad enough for him to be in so much pain he was forced to accept his friend’s help. Lance also figured the haunting glaze of exhaustion in his eyes and purple bruises beneath them had a good deal to do with lowering his defenses, the realization of just how tired he was sending another jab to his chest.

The material of his suit looked like it had melted into his skin, lining the edges of the puffy burns with a smokey black. Some were larger than others but there were at least a dozen and they were all bleeding steadily, the constant rise and fall of his chest making it impossible for any of them to clot.

“I’ll come check him out once—“

The burns were so deep, like little caverns carved into his skin and Lance was suddenly concerned about how zapped the nerves must be that he didn’t even realize he’d been injured this severely.

They looked so painful.

Breathing looked painful. And sitting, and talking and the way moving air brushed against them.

Shit, Keith.

“No, Shiro...”

The words came from deep in his throat, his voice low and serious, a stark derision from his usually charming vibrato.

“I think someone needs to check him out now. We’re talking about Keith here! You should know better than anyone that when he’s says he’s not okay, he means it.”

Shiro’s shoulders dropped as he straightened up, Lance couldn’t even find it in himself to worry about getting told off for his tone with how angry he was, his irritation justifying itself as he watched Keith’s breathing devolve into something more and more erratic.

The room seemed to silence all at once after he’d raised his voice. The inflection of it, shrill with fear and frustration is what got Shiro to finally look their way, his already weary expression falling further at the horror of how Keith looked against Lance. Slumped and panting, his features tight in anguish as blood dripped steadily from somewhere and collected in a now sizeable puddle on the floor.

Pidge was being forced to lay back down when surging up to see what was wrong had her keening and clutching her middle, Allura remaining at her side while Shiro and Coran raced over to the boys.

“What the fuck happened?!” Shiro demanded, his eyes grey pinpoints that bored into Lance with a sort of accusation until the two men reached the pair, both gasping simultaneously when they got close enough to take in the sight of Keith’s back.

“I don’t-I don’t understand, you said you were tired Keith!”

“Plasma blast burns... most of them 2nd degree it looks like...” Coran offered, his eyes flicking wildly as they scanned the burnt and bloody skin.

“He is tired...” Lance assured, turning his gaze back to Keith’s shaking shoulders. His trembles seemed more like spasms then, each jerk prompting a fresh gush of red from the wounds.

“He’s fucking exhausted but was too stubborn to tell anyone he was hurt...” he continued as Coran left muttering to himself in search of supplies, joining Hunk in his endeavor of locating more than just the burn cream now.

“S-sorry... really thought it was just one...” Keith explained before Shiro shushed him, crouching down to run his hand through his hair even though it was slightly damp with sweat.

His eyes weren’t open so he tensed when the hand first fell into place but soon softened under Shiro’s touch, the cold weight of the galra metal oddly comforting.

“It’s not on you, bud. I should’ve checked in more thoroughly, looked you over myself...”

Lance seethed at that, Keith was feeling guilty when Shiro was the one who had fucked up by ignoring him. He didn’t even sound sorry.

“Damn right you sh—“

“What’s that?” Shiro entreated, cutting him off and lifting his head to face the younger boy with something so fierce in his eyes that Lance had to force himself to look elsewhere.

As much as he wanted to tell Shiro how royally he’d fuck up he knew it wouldn’t be productive. Knew full well that the last thing anyone needed was more chaos.

But before Lance had to take actual precautions to contain his anger, Keith made a noise as if he wanted to respond but all that came out was a defeated whine as his chest stuttered which pulled even more at the mess of his back, sending him into a fit of flinching and hissing.

“Hey, you’re alright—“ Lance cooed, the additional hand on Keith’s neck centering him while he tried to ride out the pain without causing more “—that’s it, just take a second to calm down...”

But Keith couldn’t calm his breathing in time to avoid the waves of agony that followed such harsh breaths, eventually becoming desperate enough to clamp his lips shut and hold his breath until his heart let up with its incessant pounding.

This admittedly made the general haze clouding his mind so much worse, sending black dots dancing across the floor as he stared at it against Lance. He hadn’t realized when his hands had traveled up to clutch at Lance’s stomach but they were there now, clawing at the unwavering material stuck to his torso like glue for something to hold onto.

There were so many hands on him but he couldn’t feel much of anything other than the heat on his back and strain in his lungs as he continued to restrict his breathing. It had come to hurt so badly he was afraid to even try to breath normally again.

“-ith!”

Voices sounded so weird and distant then, like they were calling to him from across a noisy room.

“KEITH!”

It wasn’t until someone was knelt down next to him and nearly screaming in his ear that he could understand anything.

“Stop doing that, you have to take deeper breaths or you’ll pass out...”

But he couldn’t manage anything other than short and rapid inhales that weren’t nearly enough. He didn’t care if he passed out. It wouldn’t hurt so bad if he were unconscious and it had gotten to a point where he sort of wished for that kind of relief.

Coran was speaking to Shiro over them then, of which Keith had only ascertained from the way Shiro’s hand left the base of his skull to rest more on the crown of his head just as a dull and disordered humming began.

His hearing had abandoned him again once Shiro left his position, reducing the conversation to unintelligible murmurs drowned out by the rumbling in his eardrums. The static spotting his vision not letting up as the blast wounds burned relentlessly on his back. It felt like there were literal flames licking up at even the slightest movement and marring deep as the fire only seemed to spread.

The entire expanse of his upper body had gone numb with it, his arms slack at his sides and his neck weak under the weight of his head as he put all of his concentration into slowing his breathing and keeping it as controlled as possible. He didn’t even feel the hands slipping under his armpits or fingers tugging at his supply belt, only the scorching stretch of his body straightening as he was pulled to his feet.

Lance and Shiro shifted around him with care, Shiro guiding his head to rest on his shoulder when it rolled limply, Coran hovering anxiously as they struggled to lift him to his feet without jarring his injuries. In reality, it was entirely unavoidable but hey, it’s the thought that counts.

Keith really tried to hold his own weight this time, but as soon as he was upright, his back lit with a new fury that had his vision whiting. Soon he couldn’t even be certain his feet were still on the ground as his body went lax and the darkness that had been teasing him descended quicker than he could process.

He assumed he had screamed bloody murder since his stinging throat was the only pain he could pinpoint as he lost consciousness, but by then he wouldn’t have been able to hear his own voice if he spoke so he wasn’t be sure. All he knew was that he’d pitched into a slew of arms like his bones had spontaneously emulsified, blissfully unaware as to how the whole room seemed to cry out when he did.

Pidge was near tears with Allura struggling to assure her that Keith would be fine, and Hunk was so startled by the commotion that he had nearly flung the supplies he was organizing on a sterile tray.

“Let’s get him settled comfortably before he comes to,” Coran ordered, his voice sharp and anguished as he motioned towards where Hunk was stood.

Together and with considerable effort the three dragged Keith’s limp body to the other side of the room, careful to keep his torso straight and his injured leg from bending so they didn’t inflame his wounds further, depositing his lifeless weight onto the table on his stomach where all of his injuries could be tended to.

“We have to get as much of the suit off as possible... some of it will of course take a little more effort,” Coran sighed as he poked at one of the darker blast marks with a wider radius than most of the other. There was a ring of molten black around it that looked like it had dripped into the pit of missing flesh from where the material of the suit had melted off. The sentry that shot him there must have been only a few feet away.

“Alaran...” Allura gasped out as she made her way to the group once Pidge had calmed down enough to be left alone.

“These are going to need extensive cleaning before we can put him into a pod.”

“I know, Princess. Let’s get started, maybe we can get the bulk of it finished while he’s still uncioncious,” Coran postured, distributing the supplies Hunk had gathered to everyone.

The task was harrowing and had everyone slightly queasy, but the urgency to complete the process before Keith woke up prevailed everyone’s gag reflexes, even Hunk’s.

Being enveloped by the black that had teased him so long wasn’t as bad as Keith had imagined it would be. It was warm like this, more absent of cold than possesing a distinguishable heat. Pleasant. Peaceful even. A more than welcomed improvement to the inferno he was slowly being consumed by when he was awake and alert.

Sounds started coming back to him slowly as his body recovered from the shock of his plummet in blood pressure. His friends’ words sharpening gradually to where he could almost make out what they were saying.

“...suction... yes, that bit has to go as well...”

He still felt floaty and numb from the pain but knew he was laying on his front and could feel a sensation of tugging and pulling on his back.

“...keeps moving... waking up...”

It wasn’t so much painful as it was uncomfortable in his state of semi-consciousness.

“...dangerous to... sedative before a prolonged stay in the pod...”

His brain was just too fuzzy, still replenishing the blood supply to his brain.

“...looks like he’s in pain...”

Each moment he remained in limbo he grew more restless.

“...Coran I can’t... this piece... tearing the skin...”

The in and out of everything was making him anxious, he’d rather just be entirely out or entirely conscious.

“...should will help with any discomfort...”

Whatever was meant to help wasn’t. He was aware he’d probably been given some sort of drug or medicine but still he couldn’t relax.

It didn’t matter that he was utterly exhausted, his body was reacting to the anxiety bubbling in his stomach whether he had the energy to support such a reaction or not.

“...easy Keith...”

That’s the thing, he couldn’t take it easy. His mind was wired and his body was going into shock once again as things clarified and he woke up more.

“You’re alright number four... steady now, just breathe...”

If he thought it was hard to breathe before it seemed like it was absolutely impossible now.

“-us? Keith...? Keith, can you hear us?”

He could. He could hear everything now. It was all so loud and piercing, everyone’s voices, the tools clicking, his heart beating, the tear of medical supplies packages. Everything was so crisp and right there, the smallest noises sending tingles down his spine that made him want to cringe and he struggled to surpress the urge to.

“Quiznak! Coran I’m gonna hurt him if he keeps squirming!”

He was panting now, his mouth hung open against the towel folded under his face that was catching the blood still leaking from the wound under his eye. A hand came down on the back of his neck and he jumped.

That did it for the pain that seemed to have been numbed, not gone, just too far away for him to register. It was just as close as all of the sounds were now.

Hands clutched at his shoulders and forearms and hips as he wailed, pushing him flat so his flailing didn’t make it worse. He sobbed loudly and unabashedly as the pain surged its way back to the forefront of his awareness, a strange warmth similar to the one he’d felt when he had passed out taking the edge off but not staving it much.

“Keith! Listen to me, you have to relax. I know this is torture, but you’re only going to make it worse if you keep struggling,” Shiro urged, his voice the closest.

Shiro was right, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t in control of his movements anymore, because if he was he would listen. He didn’t want to hurt anymore but his body didn’t seem to give a shit.

“Coran,” Allura said sadly, her eyes looking at him with a sort of heart breaking resolution.

“Okay, Princess,” he agreed, his expression falling dejectedly.

“What-what is it? What just happened?!” Lance asked worriedly, knowing something had seemingly been decided but no idea as to what.

“We’re going to have to give him a muscle relaxer to keep him still, but it won’t take away his pain. We simply cannot risk putting him in a pod while medically sedated, we couldn’t be sure he would ever wake again if we did.”

For the second time that evening a collective silence fell over the room, one filled with such aching and regret and fear that it was as if it wasn’t silent at all.

“Do whatever you have to,” Shiro advocated, handing the tools he’d been using to Hunk.

“But he’ll be in pain Shiro?!” Lance noted desperately, his indignation back in full force.

Shiro just looked at him sadly and moved to drag a stool over to the other end of the table where Keith’s head was, his face twisted up as his sounds of pain continued.

“How can you be so heartless? It wouldn’t be so painful if Allura had partially healed him too! If you had given enough of a shit to notice sooner! To notice at all!”

The sound of Lance yelling bore into Keith’s skull sickeningly, his body unable to contain the shiver that overtook his muscles at how bone deep the sound irked his now oversentive ears.

“Lance—“

“No, Allura. He’s right, this is my fault. I was too focused on the fact that Pidge was hurt to notice that he was too and now he’s worse off because of it. I didn’t listen to him when I should’ve. Administer whatever you have to Coran, I’ll help him through this, it’s the least I can do right now...”

Coran didn’t have to be told twice, skillfully pulling liquid from a vile with a syringe that he poked gently into Keith’s neck.

Hunk nudged Lance’s arm to break his death glare at Shiro and get back to freeing one of the wider wounds on his shoulder as the medicine took affect almost immediately.

“Sh-sh-shir-Shiro...”

“I’m right here, shhhh, don’t speak. Just relax, I’ve got you,” Shiro soothed, grasping Keith’s hand tightly as he took shuddering breaths that grew more and more shallow as whatever control he had left over his body slipped away from him.

With some last few twitches he sagged completely into the table. The hand clutching Shiro’s released its grip and the older boy started to thumb assuring circles into the limp appendage since he could still feel it.

“This is gonna suck, but just focus on me okay?”

Keith couldn’t nod, couldn’t move his exhausted body at all now, so he sighed instead. The tears that had welled at his eyes falling defeatedly and mixing with the blood staining his right cheek to make a slightly pinker mess on the towel beneath him.

“Just focus on me...”

#voltron fandom #keith angst #keith voltron #keith whump #lance and hunk to the rescue #protective lance #bad shiro #voltron fic #voltron whump #voltron fanfic #voltron pidge #hunk is here too #he doesn’t throw up this time #vld #whumpee #emotional whump #whump fic #voltron #burn wounds

89 notes · View notes

dammitadolfnomorecake · 4 years ago

Text

Blood Red Heat prt 40

For the last night planet side, the pack had piled into Green for a sleep over. Krolia, Allura, Romelle, and Coran, all invited, even if they didn’t feel what their pack felt. Sitting between Hunk’s legs, Hunk was helping Lance keep up with the weird card game he and Pidge had tried to invent that was somewhere between poker and uno. Coupled with Pidge, the three of them had crushed Keith and Shiro, who didn’t actually know the rules of the game. Keith’s alpha struggling seeing Lance seated between Hunk’s legs, but he’d managed to keep his temper with how happy Lance seemed to be. They’d all noticed it now, the pauses and the weakness. Coran had suggested a group walk out to where they’d found a wide piece of stream that was better for water collection that further down and closer to camp, Lance stubbornly tried to keep up the “relaxed pace” Coran had set, his hand on Kosmo for support . When Lance had stumbled, Hunk had thrown himself down dramatically with an exaggerated sigh and demanded a time out from training. Pidge caught on quick, their gremlin also asking for a break.

Upon seeing so much water, Lance had wanted to go swimming. Coran having to be the one to break it to him that swimming wasn’t advisable as they had to boil the water for drinking due to some potential parasite. Sitting on the bank of the stream, Lance had told him all about growing up surfing. Keith had never been surfing. Living in a land locked state would do that to you. Lance promised to teach him when they finally got back home, explaining how his next oldest brother was totally a grommet... whatever that was. Keith was simply happy to hear Lance talk so enthusiastically about something he clearly loved. It was then that Lance decided to also tell him about his older sister Veronica who worked at the Galaxy Garrison. Lance might love his siblings, yet the way he talked about Veronica, it was clear she was the one he was closest to out of the brood...

The alpha feeling semi-bad that he couldn’t recall Lance’s family from all their forced upon mind melding. He wished he could keep up with it all. Lance taking his silence the wrong way, apologising for “rubbing his family in his face”. Maybe he had, but Keith wanted to know. He wanted to make sure he didn’t make a fool of himself when he finally told Lance’s family that he had the honour of courting him.

Scrunching his face as up as he went cross eyed at his cards Lance was being cute again, Keith ducked his head to cover the slight blush setting in. Not missing anything, Shiro nudged him with his elbow, whispering in his ear

“Quick, Lance breathed, you better blush”

His brother could go jump

“Fuck off. Like you and Adam were any better”

“Hey, we raised a kid together, we were allowed to be gross. We needed each other with how often you got in trouble”

“It wasn’t always my fault, you know”

“I do. He seems happy”

Throwing a card down, Lance craned his neck to look back at Hunk who nodded supportively

“He is. He still has his moments, but the game really did knock out the hardest part of the apology”

“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who apologised as much as him. Is there any way to get him to stop?”

Keith snorted, if Lance praised him any more, or apologised for something not his fault one more time, his brain might just short circuit

“Try dating him... You love to apologise for everything, don’t you, babe?”

Lance wasn’t listening until he heard “babe”, worry coming to his face as he tilted his head

“Hmm?”

“I said you love to apologise”

Lance seemed unsure, hesitantly nodding, but trusting Keith

“I’m not going to apologise for kicking your butt”

“You’re not going to show me any mercy, are you?”

“Nope... not even if you’re my alpha”

Shooting Lance finger guns, Keith grinned stupidly thinking himself smart

“That’s my omega”

Lance groaning as he blushed. Pidge and Hunk both shocked he’d ever shoot anyone finger guns

“Babe, nooooo”

“I think you mean, “Babe, yessss””

Pidge rolled her eyes at them, surprisingly she was still quiet quite with her teasing, sometimes it took her a moment or two to reword what she was going to say, this time she was straight to the point

“Let Lance keep his finger guns... It doesn’t look right when you do it”

Keith pouted, huffing

“There’s nothing wrong with my fingers”

Lance choked on thin air. Keith blushing hard as he tried to fix what he said

“I didn’t mean it like it! I mean they work and they do their job! Babe, help!”

Shiro patted him on the shoulder

“Keith, kiddo, brother of mine, please just stop”

“I’m... you guys suck”

Continuing their game a little longer, Lance dropped his cards as he rubbed at his head. Hunk casting a worried look to Keith, who placed his cards down and crawled over to his omega. Krolia and Coran both on edge in case there was something wrong. Allura and Romelle stopping their gossip session of how Altea of the old had been. Feeling Lance’s forehead, Hunk gave a small shake of his head, Lance not feverish

“Babe, you okay?”

“Red says it’s time I was asleep... I dun wanna sleep. I think I’m finally getting this”

“Wanna come give me a cuddle for bit then? Maybe you can teach me how to play?”

Lance reached for him, the pack adjusting around them so Lance could sit in his lap and still be included in what was happening. Thinking he was whispering, his boyfriend failed hard

“I don’t think Pidge and Hunk know how to play... I’m so confused”

Hunk and Pidge both groaned. Hunk, shaking his head

“Honestly I think I’ve had enough. Do you want to try fish instead? We all know Pidge cheats at poker”

“It’s not my fault I’m graceful and charming”

When no one immediately agreed, Pidge kicked Keith in the ankle, Shiro chuckling

“She is style. She is grace...”

Lance adding on, as if this “song” was a “well known thing”

“But mess with her and it’s a foot to the face, or her little gremlin fangs in your ankle”

Pidge smiled proudly at Lance, wiping a fake tear from her eye

“Awww, dude, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said”

“I do try to be nice”

Shiro reached over to ruffle Lance’s hair. This was what pack nights had been like before he’d left, only now he had Lance and it seemed a thousand times better for it

“We know, kiddo. You going to play, or do you want to watch?”

“I wanna watch... You guys should teach Coran”

Introducing Coran to “fish”, Coran started explaining the aquatic animals that’d called Altea home. He wasn’t sure why humans called it “fish”, and seemed to think they should all have tiny little rods for picking up the cards. Too preoccupied teaching Coran, Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro, failed to notice as Keith slowly drew out of playing to watch with Lance. Hands holding each other’s, as his omega started to doze off in his arms. The game would have continued if Lance hadn’t accidentally kicked his leg out, knocking the pile of cards over as he sighed in his sleep. Lance had always been a heavy sleeper, once he got to sleep, Keith content as a human pillow as Pidge collected up the cards. Shiro being the responsible “Space Dad”

“We really should call it a night”

Hunk smiled at his best friend, probably happy to be free from Coran’s story

“I’m pretty tired, I think Lance has the right idea”

Pidge nodded her agreement, ignoring Coran’s pouting at the game coming to an end

“Mhmm... I could sleep. It’s been ages since we did anything like this as a pack”

Between their night under the stars and the day spent triple checking everyone had everything and rations were fairly divided, Keith felt it too

“It’s nice. You guys got all your bedding?”

Pidge answered for all of them

“Yep. We made sure we had everything before we started playing cards. We even set you and Lance up with your own bed”

There was mischief in Pidge’s tone, Keith not surprised at all

“Thanks for that... but we’re probably going to crash right here. He’s already completely zonked out”

“Fiiiiine, put all our hard work to shame. I dibs sleeping closest to Lance”

Hunk immediately spluttered

“I’m his best friend”

“You got to cuddle him all night. We all need pack time, Hunk”

Hunk sighed

“Fine. Next time I’m sleeping next to him”

“We’ll see. Shiro, you good?”

“I’m going to use the bathroom before everyone else. Keith, you need a hand?”

“Nah. I’ve got him. I’ll save brushing my teeth for the morning”

Pidge wrinkled her nose up

“I swear I’ll shoot you if you come at me with your morning breath”

“I’ll save it just for you, Pidgeon”

Their bantering continued as everyone got ready around him and Lance. The floor of Green not the best bed, but he did have the best cuddle mate in the pack. For Romelle and Krolia this was new experience, Coran had taken to watching over the pack when they’d had their sleep overs, falling asleep upright on the castle sofa as the rest of them slept close. Now Coran was sleeping near Allura and Romelle, with Krolia the one choosing to take the position of silent guardian. His mother really didn’t get how pack dynamics worked, but she was prepared to accept that this was what they all needed right now. His mother so thoroughly his mother that as she watching, she was oiling her blade. As everyone settled in, Green’s lighting switched to emergency lighting, filling the space with a soft glow. Hunk mumbling

“Pidge, I need the light on”

“Don’t look at me, that was all Green. I think Green agrees with Red that it’s past our bed time”

Black nudged into Keith’s mind, his own lion also in agreement. It’d be hard having to pilot Black away from Lance, but Krolia, Romelle, Allura, and Coran all agreed they were happy to swap having shifts in Red so Lance and Kalternecker would never be left alone

“Yeah, Black’s telling me we should be sleeping. What about Blue and Yellow?”

Allura giggled happily

“Yes, I do believe our lions have all ganged up against us”

“Maybe there as anxious as we are to get back out there?”

A pillow flew over Keith’s head, hitting Shiro, as Pidge grumped

“Personally, I could sleep for a month and that still wouldn’t be enough”

Keith snorted. Pidge was forgetting the one thing that made her more excited than anything else

“Now, now Pidge. Your dad probably has all sorts of new tech waiting for you”

Pidge spluttered, still thinking of her witty reply as Lance snuggled closer to Keith, letting out a loud rumbling content purr that they all heard. Hunk asking

“Dude, was that Lance?”

“Yeah. He’s got a good purr on him”

“I’ve never heard him purr like that before”

Pidge’s pillow was lobbed back over his head, Keith assuming she’d caught it as she didn’t complain about being hit. Closing his eyes, Keith buried his face against Lance’s back. Lance liked being the big spoon, yet seeing he was sleeping, Keith got to be big spoon, which the alpha preferred seeing it didn’t end up with Lance having a face full of his hair

“That’s because he’s all snuggled up with Keith. Don’t you two do anything gross in Green or I’ll kick you both out”

“Shut up. We’re not that gross”

“I’m just saying, we’re already hunting for a sun and if I see something I don’t want to, I might just yeet myself into it”

As Keith mentally sighed, Coran seemed to think now was the time to join in

“Not in Green you won’t. She’s a fine lion who deserves more than that. I’m sorry, Pidge, but I must insist you not do this “yeeting” of which you speak”

Pidge huffed, though her scent showed no trace of actual annoyance

“Look, now you made Coran cranky”

Keith trying to sound as deadpan as possible

“Oh no. Whatever shall we do?”

“Kosmo will teleport me over at the first sign of a potential yeet. You kids need your sleep”

There was a choruses of “Yes, Mum”, Krolia probably hadn’t expected to suddenly be called “mum” by all of them. She didn’t have a smart reply to that. Still, it was nice. To have his whole pack there, and for them to accept his mother, and his mother to accept Lance... all of it so damn nice that he could cry... but he wouldn’t. He loved his pack, for all its weirdness. They really were, and would forever be, his family.

** Three Years Later**

Lance had stood by Keith’s side for all of it. From coming back to Earth, to kicking the Galra off their home planet, to showing up wearing what seemed to be a full set of saucepans because Coran had been talking to him about Altean courting customs, Keith helping his omega unpan himself as they’d watched the sunset sitting atop black. Things hadn’t been easy. Lance nearly dropping when his second heat had come, due to the trauma before his first heat.

When Altea and Diabazaal had come back into existence, and with Honerva and Sendak both finally as dead as they deserved, slowly their pack dynamic had changed as they all sought their own paths. For Lance and Keith it’d been time on Earth, helping Lance’s family reestablish their farm in Cuba. Keith really didn’t like the first time he’d been invited to dinner by Lance’s Mami Miriam. The woman quick to share so many embarrassing stories about his omega. Lance shaken, but bold enough to stand up for himself and ask her to stop. His boyfriend talking him out to see Plant City, as most of the refugee families had been there at the time. Their time on Earth feeling like one big arse term at the Garrison. Keith finding himself “the future” as Lance had called him. Being the first Human-Galra, and the Black Paladin of Voltron, Keith found himself thrust into the spotlight that he’d never wanted.

For a time Lance worked with the Blades to help rebuild Diabazaal, as well as working as Earth’s ambassador to Altea. Coran refused to have it any other way. Lance was there for all of them. When Shiro had learned about the loss of Adam, it was Lance who kidnapped the pair of them from the awkward wake held for all the heroes lost when the Galra attacked. They wound up on some shitty beach in the middle of nowhere, but somehow that was everything Shiro needed. It was also Lance who helped to encourage Shiro to find happiness with his new boyfriend Curtis. Slowly as things had settled, Lance picked up teaching on Altea. His omega such a natural with the children that “laughed at his funny ears”.

Getting a call out of the blue from Coran, Keith broke every rule regarding wormholing off of Diabazaal. The stupid Blades had needed him for some stupid stealth mission. Keith well and truly over pockets of resistance that kept popping up trying to bring back Zarkon’s legacy. As far as Keith knew, Lance was on Earth. One of the perks of Pidge working at the Galaxy Garrison was the new gun tech coming out of the place. Lance had only been joking about being her official tester, yet almost every time Pidge upgraded some kind of gun, Lance would be the first one she’d call to her lab, even when the damn thing didn’t work, and the facility went onto lockdown because they’d tripped the fire alarms... He was supposed to be on Earth, with Pidge, and Pidge’s somewhat scary mother Colleen, planting a new crop of something or other resistant... Honestly, he still didn’t get farming talk, but Lance was meant to be in Cuba and now he was on Altea on that wasn’t okay, especially not when Coran had told him to come straight to main medical centre.

Landing on Altea, Keith flicked off the engines of his pod, out the thing before it’d finished spooling down, still in his Blade stealth suit, or his “onesie of justice” as Lance called it, as he bolted for the medical centre. Alarmed Alteans had no clue what was going, Keith nearly smacked into the glass doors, narrowly barrelling through the with only catching his shoulder instead of taking out the door frame. Hitting the admin desk, the Altea behind gave a small squeak as she rolled back

“Where’s Coran?!”

Timidly the woman pointed him down the hall to the left, Keith taking off jogging. Instinctively he wanted to keep running, yet Lance would smack him for running in a hospital.

Finally finding Coran, the alpha grabbed Coran by the shoulders. He wanted to shake an explanation out of him, but first he had to catch his breath

“Keith, my boy!? What a pleasure to see you again...”

“Lance... where’s Lance...”

“Uh, yes! Now...”

“Coran, don’t tease him! Keith, I’m okay”

Coran was kind of shoved slightly backwards as Keith tore away from the Altean, darting into the room he’d been standing in front of. Sitting on the bed, his omega looked exhausted as Keith rushed over to him. Wrapping his arms around Lance, the alpha let out a shaky breath. Yeah. He’d gotten a bit better with his rashness and impulse control, but that always went out the window when it came to Lance. Scrambling to tear his mask off with one hand, he didn’t want to let his omega go

“Babe... thank fuck...”

Chuckling softly, Lance smiled at him as Keith forced himself back to see his omega’s face

“Are you okay? I thought you were in Cuba. Coran messaged me that you were here...”

“And you came running... Babe, I’m okay. Something Coran should have told you”

Scrunching his brow, Lance being “okay” only made him confused

“I... if you’re okay, what are you doing here?”

“I... uh, started feeling ill. So I came for a check up... and hold on, let me show you...”

Pouting at Lance letting him go, his omega fished something out his pocket, Keith had no idea what the hell it was... until he was passed it

“You might want to be careful, I pissed on it”

Pee... on a stick... oh... oh... OH! What... how...

“Babe...?”

Lance snorted, then kind of sobered. His omega had to be terrified. Even with all the tech they had, he’d still had so many issues with everything growing and settling. Lance’s chances of contraception raising, but severely damaged by his red heat

“Don’t worry, I have a stack of them at home... I wanted to get it confirmed. Coran wasn’t supposed to freak you out”

Stabbing Lance less than romantically in the eye as he took his omega’s face in his hands, Keith’s heart was racing

“And... are... you...?”

“Yeah. We haven’t done an ultrasound, but... blood test and a quick examination confirmed it. I put off coming when I first started feeling sick... but today I started throwing up and it... yeah. I must have brought every test in the shop... I know... we didn’t think and... I’m sorry...”

No fucking way was Lance apologising for this. This was best news he’d had since Shiro and Curtis got engaged. Kissing his omega happily, Lance relaxed into the kiss, stick still right up against his eye.

Behind Keith, there was the sound of a party popper, confetti falling over their heads. For a moment Keith panicked, Bob and his fucking game show haunted him for a long time, so, for an instant, he thought he was back there. Instead, as he whipped his head around around and moved to protect Lance, Coran was beaming at the pair of them. Incriminating party popper remains still in hand

“Oh, I’m so proud of you, my boys!”

Knowing the cause of his distress, Lance tugged on his arm until Keith turned back to him

“You know he’s been addicted to them since Shiro first told him how to use one. I’m okay, tired, kind of nauseous, but I’m okay. Are you?”

Relaxing under his omega’s calming scent, Keith was very very okay...ish. God. He was nervous more than anything... The way Lance stared at him... even after three years, his omega sent his heart all funny

“Yeah. Yeah, babe... a pup... we’re having a pup of our own”

“We are... I know I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but... fuck... I said I wouldn’t cry...”

“Sweetheart, I think I’m crying too...”

Yeah. No. He definitely was... This was actually happening... This was finally happening for them, not that they had been trying, but they hadn’t exactly not been either. Shiro knew all about from making the mistake of walking in on them after one particular tedious briefing. Shyly, his omega asked

“So... you’re... this is... okay?”

“Oh, I’m very okay”

“Good, because this baby and me, we’re both gonna need our big strong alpha”

Inside his alpha was screaming with pride. He was going to be a dad. Lance was going to be a dad. They were going to be dads...

“You and our pup... you’re going to be so loved you won’t know what to do”

Both of them were messes, the pregnancy stick finally dropped as they nuzzled into each other until it was impossible to tell who’s tears were who’s. Lance letting out a barked laugh at the state of them. They might have grown plenty, but no matter how many years had passed, you only had to put them together and they turned into emotional idiots

“Now, yes, well, Lance came for a scan today, perhaps you’d be so kind as to let me patient lay down?”

Giddy, Lance giggled. Both their scents were kind of making Keith giddy too

“Coran begged me to let him do the scan. I think our Space Uncle is excited for us. He probably now knows more about my condition than anyone...”

“If you trust him, you know I trust him...”

“I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t. You’re the second to know... well, third. The man at the store probably suspected with all the tests I bought...”

“When do we tell the others?”

“When we know both me and this little one are going to be okay... which we won’t know until Coran does the scan”

“Oh, I guess I better let you lay down”

“Yep... you have no idea how much water I had to drink for this scan, you better not keep me waiting any longer”

That didn’t sound fun... Everything anything to do with birth, and male omega’s, came out of Lance’s various appointments and therapy sessions... however, he didn’t need a fancy education to know having to pee sucked

“I promise I’ll never keep you waiting again”

Humming sweetly, Lance would never not be the most amazing and sweetest omega he’d ever met. A pup with his big blue eyes... His heart was melting at the thought of them

“Mmm. I might just have to hold you to that, but first, let’s meet our baby...”

He was never going to tire of hearing that. Their baby. Theirs... made by them...

“Our baby...”

The novelty never had worn off, no matter how many times he told everyone and anyone repeatedly. No matter how many times Lance teased him about all their friends knowing. Keith was proud as quiznak right up to the birth, and prouder even still when he finally got to hold their first pup in his arms.

3 notes · View notes

loveafterthefact · 4 years ago

Text

Love After the Fact Chapter 67: Home

Keith returns to his first home, and brings Lance to meet his father. But first, a tiny bit of fluff to soften(?) the blow

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode includes the themes of loss and grief, which be distressing to some readers. Please take care of yourselves <3<3<3

First Previous Next

Keith’s home is simple, four domes, one visibly newer than the others, and one with a new roof. The stove and fireplace have also been redone quite recently. There's also a little garden plot now, overgrown with unkempt flowering plants, lovely in its little patch of wilderness.

“Ah, Mom added a washroom. Thank fuck. Lake’s cold as shit for a bath… It was nice of her to fix the place up. I’d always assumed I’d come back out here when I finished my service.”

“I never really thought about your aspirations had you stayed,” Lance ponders.

“Mnh. Nothing special. Do my time in the military, maybe find a mate, come back here for a while, then travel the stars. Try to find Earth, where my name comes from. But I’m doing something different, and that’s okay.”

“Is it?”

“Being mated to you, raising our kits, and looking after the Altean Empire? It’s not what I imagined, but I like it well enough. I’m happy.” And, because Lance doesn’t quite look convinced, “Really, Lance. Our life together makes me happy. Come on. I’ll show you around. We’ll unpack, and then we can swim in the lake, and you can see the waterfall.”

Lance watches Keith carefully, unsure of how he’ll react now that he’s home. They carry their things inside, watching the breeze roll red earth over the red stone floor. The main room is simple: a small fireplace with a narrow chimney, a knotted rug, a pair of chairs, a stool. Draped over the newer-looking of the two chairs -the other looks rather weathered- is a thin, threadbare cloth blanket, sun-bleached red. Keith smiles, picking it up.

“This was my blanket when I was kit. I couldn’t sleep without it. I left it here when I went with Shiro. I thought it might get taken away… I wonder if we could use it for something.”

“What, like for a baby?” At Keith’s nod, Lance continues. “It looks pretty thin, but maybe Pidge could do something with it. They act callous about it, but they actually really like kids, and not as science experiments. Not exclusively, anyway. It’s cute that you’re thinking about that stuff already.”

“It’s not like we’ll have a lot of time to devote to that stuff once we get home. We’ve delegated pretty much all of our duties for now, but that won’t last long. I have to think about while I have time.”

“Well don’t think about it alone. I’m right here. I already told you: I’m not going to be like the ol’ sperm donor back home.”

“Ugh.” Keith rolls his eyes, turning to open the cellar by the table. “I don’t want to look, think, or hear about your sperm donor ever again. He will never be left alone with our kits.”

“Good idea. Given the chance, he’ll gift them weapons and tell them they’ll take a life before they’re twenty.” Lance sighs. “You are going to let him see our kits, right?”

“Of course! He’s their grandfather! If he wants to see them, and can behave himself, then I want him to. Under supervision. My mother on the other hand…” Keith frowns, stands, brushes earth from his clothes.

“What?”

“Nevermind. Just more family drama. We have enough already.” Keith huffs. “Come on. I want to go swimming.”

“Can’t say no to that!” Lance chirps, skipping after his spouse. He doesn’t believe it’s ‘just family drama’ at all, but he’ll let Keith tell him in his own time. Just like he'll let the young man stall doing what he actually wants to do.

So instead of pressing his stressed spouse, Lance serves to distract him, swimming with him, basking in the waning sun, shoving his head under the water, getting into splash fights, and not acting at all like the prince he is. Which is fine, because they’re alone, and this is a very short respite before their lives get even more complicated. Taking time to 'mess around' in a small alcove behind a waterfall doesn’t hurt either.

Later, settling back against the rock face to watch Keith float in lazy circles, he finds himself wishing, for the very first time in his life, that he weren’t who he is, and for only the millionth time that he could make every last one of Keith’s days exactly like this one.

Keith swam up to the ledge Lance was sitting on, fitting in between his legs. “You okay?”

“Mhm. Just watching.”

“Ah. See anything you like?” Keith rests his cheek against the inside of Lance’s leg.

“Many things… You’re being very cute.”

“Still riding the high of being mated to you. It’ll wear off in a few quintants.” Keith kisses the bare skin at the inside of his thigh, smirking when Lance jolts.

“Just in time for your season. Brat.”

“Yeah. I can’t seem to catch a break, can I?”

“You know we can change that if you want. And I’ll make it as easy for you as I can.” Lance’s stomach growls audibly, making Keith laugh, nuzzling against Lance’s leg, more sweet than sexy. They’ve been apart, physically, most of the day. He could probably do with some physical affection. The platonic kind.

Lance has caught on to just how important that contact is to Galra. When not working or in uniform, they’re a comparatively clingy species.

“Hungry?” Keith teases when Lance’s stomach growls again.

“I’ve been hungry since before we even got here!” Lance laughs, brushing dripping clumps of hair out of Keith’s face.

“You could have said something. We could have eaten already.”

“Yeah, well. I had better things to do. Like watching my husband have some fun for once.”

“Oh, come on, I have lots of-” Keith frowns. “You never call me your husband. Not unless you have to.”

“Yes, well.” Lance gazes at his husband, eyes soft. “It never really felt like you were. And you think gendering everything is stupid, so…”

“It’s fine.” Keith swims around, hauling himself up to sit beside his mate, cuddling up against his side, tail serving as an extra limb to hold him close. “I mean, if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather call you my mate than anything else. That’s what actually means something to me. That's the word I choose for my life partner. And you should call me whatever means something to you. Whatever that is. Even if that’s just ‘my contracted roommate’.”

Lance laughs. “That’s… incredibly sweet. Sweeter than I expected, honestly.”

“What were you expecting?”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps a lecture on the arbitrary constructs of sex and gender?”

“Tempting.” Keith laces their hands together, nuzzling against his pointed ear. He takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly. “But I have something I need to do. I've stalled long enough. Will you come with me?”

“Of course.” If Keith doesn't want to go alone, Lance won't allow him to.

After grabbing a small bag from the den, Keith leads him through the last varga of light before sunset, weaving through trees like he still knows every root beneath his bare feet. BleepBloop eventually finds and joins them on their walk, presumably well-rested after sleeping the entire way there. The small primate remains mostly in the trees, leaping through the branches above, chittering and screeching at Keith to join him.

“We used to use the trees when we were out here,” Keith explains. “It tended to be safer than the ground. And most Alteans don’t tend to look up.”

“They really don’t. To be fair, it's unusual for fully-grown Galra to be hiding in trees. They don't exactly blend in.” The two laugh.

It fades quickly, when they stop at the edge of a ravine, Keith looking down. Without a word, t he Galra begins slipping down the side of the ravine, toward the water at the bottom. He moves with sure, practiced grace, aided further by familiarity with his surroundings, hyper aware of any changes. Lance is not so fortunate, slipping and sliding down the narrow ledges.

At one point, he loses his balance, falling back with a gasp. Fortunately, Keith manages to grab his arm, keeping him from falling to creek twenty dashes below. “You alright?”

“Fine. Just… struggling.” Lance does his best time hide how shaken he is. He can't imagine tiny, undersized Little Keith making this descent.

“Watch my feet. Put yours exactly where I put mine.”

With Keith moving slower, he’s more able to move safely down the side of the ravine. “This is much better. Thank you.”

“Sorry, I didn’t think about it before.” Keith settles his feet into the sandy bottom. “I’ll help you back up… We should have done this earlier. It’ll be dark pretty soon.”

“You weren't ready, earlier. Don't worry. I can make light for us if need be.”

Keith’s not really listening, Lance can tell. Tail swaying, ears pricked, the Galra stares at a pile of rocks, roughly the length of a grown, male Galra, and about two dashes high.

“Is that-”

“Yeah. I was only six, so I couldn’t exactly move him. The rocks kept scavengers off of him. It’s how we’d protect kills if we weren’t ready to clean them.” Keith wades through the shallow creek, ears drooped. “Some of his smaller bones have probably washed away. The rest will too, sooner or later.”

“I’m sorry, beloved.”

“It’s fine. He’d be okay with that. My dad… He loved it out here, feeling like a part of something natural, something alive and thriving, all while minding its own business. This is where he belonged. Becoming a part of it is what he would have wanted anyway. It was me that wasn’t ready.”

Lance has never really thought before about life without his parents. Sure, he’s never had his mother, but he’s grown up with two fathers. Even before Alfor officially remarried when Lance was seven, Coran was his parent. Lance has only ever called him ‘daddy’, and later ‘dad’.

Thinking about it now, Lance can’t imagine losing either of them. Sure, he doesn’t typically get along with Alfor, but Alfor is his father, and the king. He’s an extremely important figure in Lance’s life. And Coran…

Coran, with his permissive attitude and his terrible advice and weird anecdotes and random facts and always being there to soften the blow when Lance screws up- Losing either of them would be devastating. It’s a terrible thing to think about, and it’s Keith’s reality.

So when Keith says he wasn’t ready to let go, Lance says, “I wouldn’t be, either. I don’t know that I ever could be.”

But he'd be ready to be Akira in a heartbeat.

Keith doesn’t respond, very quiet as he finds a bit of dry sand. He pulls a clay bowl, the inside caked in ash, from his bag, pours in the rest of the bag’s contents. A feather. A few different stones. A glass bottle filled with several layers of different colored sediments, which he opens and pours into the bowl. Herbs. Another, smaller bottle of a fragrant oil, which is also poured out.

From his belt, Keith removes a pair of stones, striking them together until he creates a spark. Sitting cross-legged in the wet sand, Keith stares at the low-burning flames. He only has until the flames die before Akira's spirit is finally sent on. Krolia got to convene, and now it's his turn. After this, the gods will take his father away, and nothing but bones will be left.

It's part of the reason he was stalling. This is a final goodbye, and that's always a hard thing.

“Hi, Dad. I kept my promise. I’ve come home…” Keith sighs, looking up at the sky as his eyes immediately start to sting. Lance sits right behind him, rests his cheek on Keith’s shoulder. “But, uh… It’s not really home anymore. I’ve been gone a long time, and- I think it’s okay, don’t you? It’s okay for this to be my sometimes home instead Home home, right? I mean- Fuck, I’m bad at this.”

Lance’s arm curls around his waist from behind, gentle and comforting, just enough for him to know he’s there. “Just talk, beloved. That’s all you have to do.”

“What I’m saying is… You did it. You protected me, and- I survived, because of you. And now, I get to live.” Keith rubs tears into his fur, sniffling. He still really, really misses his dad. Every day, he feels that empty space where Akira used to be. “I have a new home, and a good mate, and we’ll have kits, and a good life, and I hate that you had to die to give me that -

"And it's fine. Everything will be fine. I'll rule Altea with Lance, and help Lotor honor your wishes for Daibazaal, and I'll be a good uncle for his kits, and I'll be a good father, and I'll help keep the peace and you don't have to worry, okay? I'll be just fine. Better than fine, even.

“And that's fine. Really! I just- I just wish you were here. More than anything, I wish you were still here. I miss you so much..." Keith practically falls against Lance, still heartborken. "There are so many things I'll never get to see. I'll never get to see you and Mom together. I'll never get to see you with Lance, or our kits. I'll never get to see you proud of me, and everything that I'm working for. And I know that you are, but I’ll never get to hear you say it and it sucks.”

Keith takes a deep breath. The offering flame is already fading, and with it, his time to convene. “I’m sorry you died, but I’m glad that I’m still here, and I’m grateful to you for that.” The last of the flames gutter out. “I love you and I miss you, Dad. And I’ll see you again. I'll tell you everything you missed.”

They’re left in the dark, Lance wrapping around him, holding him tight.

“Do you- Was it good enough?” Keith croaks, rubbing at his eyes.

“It was perfect, baby. It’s not a speech. It sounded just like you, and that’s good.”

“He was my whole world,” Keith whispers, clutching BleepBloop as the concerned primate climbs into his lap. “And then he was gone.”

“I know, beloved. I know.” Lance rocks them gently. “Are you ready to go back?”

“Can we- Can we stay here for a little bit? Please?”

“However long you want.”

Lance lifts his hands, forming a few tiny werelights to hover above them, pale, gentle light to keep the dark at bay. It’s a good change from being trapped alone in the dark, just Keith and BleepBloop. Now, there’s him, his mate, his pet, and the imprint of his father’s life and legacy. Beyond this little circle, there’s friends and family. A purpose. A home. A future.

A good life, all because of the thing that he lost.

That one, precious, irreplaceable thing.

#LoveAftertheFact #LAtF #klance #galtean au #altean lance #galra keith #adashi #altean adam #galra shiro #voltron legendary defender #vld

9 notes · View notes

alchemist-shizun · 5 years ago

Text

I saw you in a dream. (Then it came to an end.)

Read on Ao3!

Happy belated birthday to one of the best people in the world: @lance-alt! I promised I’d do something for you on Monday, but of course I have to make people wait for the juicy stuff. (read: the juicy stuff will be your tears after this, probably.) Love you bro!

General taglist: @whizzie72 @sapphire-knight @burningpersonflapsuitcase @softanxiouspatton @royallyanxious @kim-argent-moon @lance-alt (tell me if you want to be added or removed)

Taglist: @unsocialchapeau

Word Count: 2,626

Characters: mainly Remus, Logan, Deceit, Roman, (mentioned Virgil)

Pairing(s): onesided!Intrulogical, implied Loceit

Warning(s): Angst. So much angst. Also unresolved angst. Yelling, Swearing. Might be a bit ooc cause I can’t write Remus the way I’d like.

Summary: What do we not do for a loved one? What do we not do for the sake of a friendship? What do we not do to make sure we destroy ourselves in favor of others? And how exactly did Remus think he was going to be perfectly fine?

A/N: I am not sorry. This is a human AU btw. Enjoy! :3

❝Though I am bruised

Face of contusions

Know I’ll keep moving❞

Remus would have never blamed D.

It was middle school, and middle schoolers were widely known for their passion of brushing off specific people who didn’t appear quite as appropriate for themselves in their eyes.

He had always been a devastating tornado according to those around him, unable to be tamed unless given space to burst until not even a gentle breeze was left to tickle his skin.

D, on the other hand, knew how to be cool and poised, but that didn’t mean his nature was the one of an innocent puppy.

No, better yet, he was more like a domesticated beast.

That truly gave the teachers a hard time, because once combined they became inseparable and never really ceased to meddle with them.

And yet … students were most definitely inclined to avoid Remus at best, while when it came to D only curious and interested glances were given.

Remus would have never blamed him though, D didn’t even realize how far better they were treating him compared to his friend. He only focused on how close-minded people still were in there.

Who was he not to join in his complaining?

Everything would have been fine with him for as long as their friendship stayed that way. A messy supportive two-participants family.

It felt like a welcoming and roaring fire at the same time, the chaos they brought just with their understanding looks and smirks.

They knew they were going to end up with a long lasting friendship and they were proud to remind those around them by never losing sight of each other at school.

And it was okay that way, with only just D accepting him the way he was, he didn’t really need much else.

Until that cursed afternoon.

There was an extracurricular sort of contest their school held right after lessons every year, but Remus could barely remember what it even was about

All he remembered was that damned marvellous thoughtful and focused expression when he looked a bit to his left to the boy sitting next to him.

Oh, the irony.

It had been right then that it had hit him. That maybe … maybe there was already something else. A something that transformed into something more with every little bit of interaction they shared.

Roman knew him, they were in the same class, and he had to complain at least once a day about how unnerving the guy was, always challenging him do debates Roman was so inclined to win that it took a third party member, Virgil, to separate them.

How the three of them were still close friends after three years was still a mystery to many.

So that was when he first heard about Logan.

But his brother and him weren’t exactly known for having the safest household in the world, so inviting friends over was a hard no. Then, the actual first time Remus had seen him was when he entered middle school that year.

At first he hadn’t obviously realized his crush, but after he had spent the minimal amount of time with Logan, it was so blatant that even he couldn’t deny it to himself.

He could have also labelled it as the first time someone other than his brother and D had recognized him as another human other than a weird poltergeist to avoid. There was a way he spoke with that low tone and thoughtful arguments that would have probably made him melt right on the spot. Or maybe it was his sharp features, or the way he thought he had looked at him that one time.

Remus was deep down the river at the base of the cliff, the tip of his hair barely managing to be untouched by the water.

Damn Roman. Damn Roman and his storytelling, and how Remus had always rooted for Logan in their discussions, how he had already taken a liking into him and had already doomed himself.

It was break, fifteen minutes of pure relaxation, and Remus and D had already spent the first five minutes together, trying to get away from the stress of the ending of the first term.

D’s eyes lit up as they turned a corner, Remus followed his gaze as he spoke.

« Hey! Why is this the first time I see you since school started? » a toothy smile displayed on his lips. It was almost as bright as the one he reserved to him.

« Your cousin is impossible to move from his seat. » Logan’s crystalline voice cleared. « So Roman and I mostly stay in class with him. »

« Ugh, » D rolled his eyes. « I apologize on his behalf. » he didn’t hide the fond tone when he talked, though.

« No, it’s quite alright by us. » had he ever not turned to Remus, maybe he wouldn’t have regretted meeting Logan in the long run. « Oh, I didn’t even introduce myself properly the other day. » he stretched out his hand. « I am Logan. »

« I know. »

Panic.

Fuck. Fuck what did you just say, why. Now he’ll think you’re creepy, too.

D put an arm around his shoulders. « Yeah, he’s Roman’s brother. » perhaps a saviour? « And sometimes he’s just as dense as him. »

Remus scoffed. « Lies. I’m a better idiot than him. »

That got a chuckle out of both. He felt delighted.

As he saw Logan about to withdraw his hand, Remus took it almost instantly.

Oh my god what the fuck are you doing?

« I’m Remus. » the bell rang and maybe his ears were too.

« My pleasure. » Logan conceded before letting go and starting to backtrack to his class. « I’ll see you two around. »

And as fast as he arrived, he was gone.

Like a blurry hallucination or those spots you see when you get up too fast from the couch.

The rest of the day-

Well, he didn’t remember much anymore.

Maybe the fact that he and Logan did actually have something in common.

When there was a group of three, there would always be the two that shared the stronger chemistry. And if Logan didn’t feel as close to Roman and Virgil, Remus sure as heck knew if anyone interacted with D and him, he would have felt like something was off most of the times.

There were flashes of memories that crossed his mind ever since Logan had left middle school to start his first year of high-school.

Most were all the meet ups they had with D during break, the glances he caught and buried deep down in his heart, the laughter of all three of them, how their dynamics colliding were actually definitely working well together.

What he remembered mostly were the furtive tears that were shed on their last day.

He never told D about that.

It was when he went home that he couldn’t have hidden it from Roman any longer. His brother had affirmed that he had been crying even more than himself, which was saying a lot.

So the words came out like a destructive flood, deleting with a burning strength all the hopeful thoughts.

« Rem, listen here. » Roman, thankfully, had spoken up before his mind would have travelled down risky paths. « Not seeing each other almost everyday doesn’t mean you won’t be friends any longer. »

He had only looked up from the pavement. Were he to look back at this memory years after he’d have thought himself to be pathetic.

« And you can definitely meet after school whenever you want. If our parents won’t let you, I’ll come with. »

And that they did, slowly trying to gain their parents’ trust to let them go out by themselves until they were both attending high-school.

Another three years would have passed before the lethal “last day” would come again, but the trio made sure to imprint the best memories together while they had the time.

Only that the most unexpected things happen at the worst times.

Remus and D were both in the third year; things seemed to be going smoothly as ever, between all the tests and mental breakdowns for said tests, Remus would have never thought to cross the threshold of his school and be met with loud yelling not too further away from his class.

Normally he wouldn’t have really cared much.

Unless the two subjects were Logan and D. Which they were. Which had also made him pale with a horrible feeling in his guts.

He couldn’t make out what they were saying as the screaming in his thoughts didn’t leave him alone.

« MIT, Logan. Seriously! You’re insane! »

« I had my reasons! »

D scoffed and put his face in his hands for a beat. « Refusing because of your friendships is not a valid reason! »

Remus was confused. He really didn’t want to be there at all.

« It is when you don’t want to lose them. »

« You wouldn’t have, you idiot! »

« Guys what’s- »

« There is a reason if we’re friends! »

« -going …? » he could see the profound rage in D’s caramel irises. One glance and you’re dead.

« You didn’t trust us to maintain our friendship, did you? Is that why you refused the international internship? »

« That’s absurd, that’s not what I mean! »

« It sounds a lot like it’s exactly what you mean! »

Remus connected the dots.

Friendship. MIT. International internship. Logan had refused to be an intern abroad only because of them. He had been too afraid to loose them as friends if he were to be away too long.

And, of course, D was mad about his lost opportunity. He would have never admit it at that moment, but he felt guilty, too.

« You sure talk a lot and pretend you’re smart but, really, you’re just as stupid sometimes. »

The look in Logan’s eyes changed.

Oh no. Oh no no no no.

« Fine then. I’ll keep on being stupid on my own. » he walked away in a instant, steps long and furious, opposing the low tone of his voice, but matching the seething fire in his chest.

« D- »

« Please, don’t. » D looked at him with broken eyes. « I’m fine. We’re fine. I’ll see you during break, okay? »

Remus only nodded and headed to his own class. He pretended he didn’t feel awful as he walked by the door to Logan’s own class.

It was as D said. Fine.

Everything was going to be okay.

Except it wasn’t, because that was the last time both of them talked with Logan.

The two wouldn’t even look at each other and Remus couldn’t help but side with D. That meant he wouldn’t have interacted with the older boy either.

And so time passed … months. Avoiding each other when all you ever wanted was to share at least a single word.

It wasn’t okay. It wasn’t fine at all, it hurt so much and Remus didn’t know how longer he would have been able to handle it.

Yet, he was too afraid to do anything. He wouldn’t have wanted to loose D’s friendship too because of a reckless action. And he did lots of them. So, for once, he stayed put and let the Fates do their work.

Which ended into the fight remaining unresolved, Logan graduating from high-school and both of them never meeting him again.

Roman had tried to bring up the argument multiple times, but Remus had decided to bury everything deep down and avoid ever bringing it up.

Like a ghost, Logan appeared to exist only in his mind. A mind that he didn’t seem to want to leave. Even despite all that had been going down his ridiculously tough teenage life.

Remus and D had no idea how they made it through the final exams.

They also had no clue how they almost completely lost contact after the beginning of university.

Maybe it wasn’t loneliness he felt after that. Maybe it was more disappointment.

It wasn’t like it was anyone’s fault, though. Their lessons never matched, so during the week it was almost impossible to meet, sometimes they had jobs in the weekend to pay for apartments nearby their universities.

Texts became a burden they both forgot to remember to answer, it was as if anything was a priority to socializing and it was driving them insane.

Even sad.

Then one day, out of the blue, D had texted him in a way he hadn’t done in too long. He sounded greatly excited and he had told Remus he needed to meet him as soon as possible.

He had a surprise!

Remus was radiant that day, finally getting the chance he deserved to recover their friendship.

It was a Friday afternoon, he was walking down the street towards the place they had agreed on to meet.

D was right in front of him. But enough meters away so that he couldn’t recognize yet the person walking alongside him. Remus narrowed his eyes, almost squeezing them shut at some point. Did the sun have to be so bright right above them that day?

He put a hand on his forehead to shield his vision.

He wished he didn’t.

Not because the guy next to D was Logan.

Not because his heart made three somersaults before twisting one last time as though he fell in love all over again at once, hitting his chest like a violent wind in a snowstorm.

Not because he was smiling so wide his face would have fallen off any second.

But because, as his eyes focused and examined their figures, he noticed the details.

Like their joined hands, fingers intertwined the way he would have wanted to but had never been brave enough to do.

How they looked lovingly at each other before turning back to him.

His own smile faltering for a second and then going back as it was before. Normal, sure, but fake. Fake, but not blatant enough to be discovered.

He couldn’t do this to them.

And sure he was going to be happy for them right? They had been friends. He was going to survive by internalizing everything in himself, right? He was going to forget about all his feelings in favour of his closest friends. That was the right thing to do.

It happened to everyone.

It did.

He could survive.

Hurting in the process, but he could.

The day went by in an instant, a terrible, calamitous and painstakingly long instant in which he hoped he had been hallucinating all along.

Remus had wiped everything he had seen while on his way home. He forcefully removed any kind of thought in his head so he could bask in the numbness until the silent chaos of the world around him stopped making sense.

He threw the door to his home open.

Except that it wasn’t his home and that he had somehow gotten to Roman’s own apartment, red eyes adorning his face in a brutally doleful expression.

His brother was immediately at his side, arms wrapped around his chest, with an understanding look in his eyes and anticipation for the tears to come.

He had known about Logan and D getting together before Remus, so he had seen something like that coming.

Yet Roman didn’t know it would’ve hit him hard too, seeing his brother so broken.

So he let Remus cry his soul out, while nothing else could have been done.

Dreaming, perhaps.

That was all he had left.

#sanders sides #fanfiction #remus sanders #logan sanders #deceit sanders #sympathetic deceit #sympathetic remus #roman sanders #virgil sanders #intrulogical #loceit #purp's writings

111 notes · View notes

the-borrower1 · 5 years ago

Text

Red Vs Blue

Fandom: Voltron and The Borrowers

Summary: Borrower!Lance discovers a mysterious red dot in the human’s apartment.

Words:1330

Lance was startled awake by the sound of crashing and nails sliding on the floorboards. He rubbed his eyes and stared at the boards above and wondered what was happening. He didn’t know what time it was, but he figured it was in the afternoon, which was early for a borrower to be up. He heard barking.

So, it’s Kosmo, Lance thought. Why is that dog making such a racket?

Lance rolled over in his bed made from a can of mint and cotton balls. He placed his handmade pillow over his ears and squeezed his eyes closed. The noise was too loud to be drowned out.

Lance groaned. “Why is he so noisy? The last thing I need is to be sleep deprived on my borrowing night. I’ll get wrinkles and sweaty.”

The noise continued and Lance figured it wasn’t going away soon. He sat up and threw his pillow at the end of his bed. He grumbled as he climbed out of bed and stalked out of his room. He grew even more frustrated when he realized he was still wearing his favorite blue silk pajamas. He could already see dust catching on his pants. He stomped down the hall, climbed his ladder and walked to the mouse hole in the wall. It was hidden behind the T.V. stand so Lance had to creep out of the hole and peek around the corner to see anything.

This has better be good since it interrupted by beauty sleep, Lance thought.

A dark shape ran past him. He jumped and ducked. He heard nails scraping against the floor. He peeked and watched Kosmo run past him again. The giant wolf-dog was after something. It ran all over the apartment. But when it passed Lance, he couldn’t see what it was chasing. Lance crept out further trying to get a closer look at what Kosmo was doing. It was clearly after something.

The dog ran in front of the T.V. and froze. It pawed on the ground and whined. Lance got a weird feeling, like he was missing something important, but he ignored it. After watching for a second, Lance ran back to the hole and grabbed a dog treat he had stored in the wall. It may have taken several months and a few near fatal incidents, but Lance had won Kosmos’ favor. He dragged the treat out in front of the T.V. stand and whistle. Kosmos’ ears perked up and he ran over to the treat. Lance ran past him to where he stood. There was nothing there.

Lance looked at Kosmo who was laying down and enjoying the treat. “You’re going crazy, aren’t you?”

Lance looked back at the ground and gasped. There was a red dot at his feet. Lance reached down to touch it, but it leaped to several inches to his right. Lance followed. Just as he reached it, the red dot moved to his left. A frustrated growl escaped Lance. He ran at the dot and tackled it. The dot moved at the last second and Lance hit the ground hard.

“Oh, its on,” Lance shouted as he got up.

Lance chased the red dot around but could never get close to catching it. Eventually, he became slow and so did the dot. It always stayed within reach.

It’s mocking me, Lance thought.

The dot disappeared. He collapsed on the ground and tried to catch his breath. There was the sound of creaking. Lance was hit with that strange feeling again and he looked behind him. Feet. Large feet covered in white socks stepping towards him. Lance glanced up to see a human standing above him. He jumped up and ran for the hole. But he wasn’t fast enough.

A hand descended from the sky and grabbed him. Lance struggled in the human’s grip, while cursing the giant out. His mother would be ashamed. Not only because he was swearing or had been stupid enough not to check his surroundings, but that he was caught. The hand brought him up to a face. Lance gave up on wriggling and glared at his capturer. The human’s face was huge. The characters that stood out to Lance was the long pink scar on his cheek, non-pointy ears, unlike a borrower, and his large grey eyes that were opened wide. They were both quiet as they stared at each other. Then Lance noticed something.

“Do you actually have a mullet?” Lance asked. “Could you not have a worse hair style.” The human looked taken back then angry.

“I am not taking fashion advice from a one-inch rat man,” he said.

“Rat man?” Lance repeated aghast. “Do I look anything like a rat?” The human raised his eyebrow and Lance felt anger coil around in his stomach. Lance glared at the human and the human glared back. The air between them grew tense and Lance was sure the human’s grip grew tighter, but he did not back down. He had never thought to talk to a human, but this one was seriously wrong if he was comparing borrowers to rats. He needed to be explained too.

“I am a borrower. I am four inches tall. I may have a tail and pointy ears but I do not look anything like a vermin. And I have better fashion taste than you. YOU HAVE A MULLET!”

Kosmo whined and brushed up against the human’s legs, breaking the moment. The human bent down and petted Kosmo on the head with his other hand. The dog stepped forward to Lance and licked him. The tongue soaked him in saliva. Lance wrinkled his face and fake gag.

The human’s hand loosened and Lance sat on his palm. He scraped off the salvia and whined about his poor pajamas.

“It looks like Kosmo likes you,” the human said quietly.

“So?” Lance said. “Look at my pajamas. Do you know how long I will have to wash them to get them clean? It will take me forever. These are my favorite pair.”

The human watched him silently. Eventually the human spoke.

“If Kosmo trust you, then so will I,” he said. “My name is Keith.” He extended his other hand before drawing it back. Probably realizing a full handshake would be hard with a being the size of his hand. He extended his Index finger instead. Lance stared at it for a minute. He could almost hear his mother tell him to not trust the human and to not shake his finger. Lance smiled. If he had listened to his mother, then he wouldn’t have left home. He wrapped his palm around the finger and shook it.

“Name is Lance,” he said. They both smiled.

“Not that we are on friendly terms, can I give you hair advice?” Lance added.

Keith frowned, “No.” “Fine,” Lance relented. I will have to strategize on how to change that awful hairstyle, he thought. Lance walked to the edge of Keith’s palm and petted Kosmo on the nose, before turning back to Keith. “Do you know what that red dot was?” Keith looked at him for a minute, before smiling. “That’s a magical dot. Only the chosen few can catch it.” “Well, you can call me a hero,” Lance said, standing straight and proud. “Because I will catch that dot.”

Keith shook and Lance had to grab his thumb to not fall off his hand. He realized Keith was silently laughing at him. The anger returned and he could feel his cheeks become warm. “I will catch the dot. Don’t you laugh at me.” Keith calmed down and smiled at Lance. “Sure, you will buddy.”

It wasn’t for weeks till Lance catch on about the laser pointer. He took revenge with a well-placed Lego piece. This started a long prank war and an unique friendship.

#g/t #g/t voltron #g/t fic #g/t fiction #borrowers #borrowers au #the borrowers

13 notes · View notes

thinkpinkwrites · 6 years ago

Text

culture shock

i’ve had an influx of followers after my last fic - thanks and hi :) - so i wanted to write something short and cute that’s been sitting in the back of my head for awhile. i’ll probably throw it up on ao3 as well.

Kolivance - PG - Lance is having fun introducing Kolivan to all things human, and Kolivan seems to be enjoying himself as well. Lance is continuously surprised by all the things the Galra have no concept of and Kolivan is quick to ask for more information, he likes to stay well informed after all.

Lance always enjoys having the Blade of Marmora on the ship.

For one thing, it means Keith is around, and as much as he plays at hating the red paladin, Lance is aware that life is a lot more fun when Keith’s there to tease.

But besides that, Lance likes having the Blades on the ship because they’re so weird.

The Galra in general are an interesting race and the members of the Blades seem doubly so. He supposes years of leading double lives, running around the universe taking insane risks to bring down your own people and living by the strict code the Blades all seem to uphold would be a lot for anyone.

Lance, who can admit it to himself but would never say out loud, isn’t the brightest person on the ship but he knows enough to recognize how intelligent the Blades are.

Thace and Regris hold their own in conversations with Pidge and Hunk, which is an impressive feat all on its own.

Ulaz had only gazed at their medical equipment before jumping in to bring it up to modern day standards, Coran crowing in happiness the entire time.

And there’s something about the way Kolivan speaks… It’s like listening to a brilliant professor lecture – except it’s the hot professor whose lecture no one ever misses, no matter how boring.

Weirdly enough, Kolivan doesn’t seem to mind Lance hanging around to hear him speak. He even answers Lance’s questions without any sort of irritation or sense of imposition.

It’s nice.

It’s also how Lance discovers the startling differences in their cultures.

“So you mean you just don’t swim? Like, at all?”

“If necessary, for survival, I suppose most Galra would be capable.”

“But you don’t go out of your way to swim? You don’t have pools?” Lance can barely keep the disbelief from his voice.

“Pools? Like basins of water formed by rainfall or low tides?”

“No, like man made, er—Galra made structures that are deep and full of clean water to swim and play in? For fun? They’re usually outside of people’s homes…”

Kolivan’s expression is unimpressed. “I see no way in that being wet could possibly be construed as fun.”

On another occasion, Lance is bitching to Kolivan about Keith and Shiro and their absolutely ridiculous will-they-won’t-they back and forth.

“Like come on already, watching it is just painful!”

Kolivan hums, most of his attention on the tablet in his hand. Lance can tell he’s following along with the story though, and that hum sounded suspiciously like one of agreement.

“But I can’t say anything because it’s ‘not my place’ and ‘I need to mind my own business.’”

Kolivan does look up at that.

“What are you doing with your hands?”

Lance looks to where his hands are still raised, first two fingers crooked.

“Oh…uh, it’s called air quotations.”

“Air quotations?” His voice is skeptical.

“’Air quotations?’” Lance mimics with a laugh, repeating the gesture.

At Kolivan’s obvious confusion, Lance relents.

“It’s like a…signifier—that you’re quoting someone. I was just repeating what Pidge said to me.” Lance rubs at the back of his neck bashfully. “Usually it’s sarcastic.”

“Sarcastic?”

And so on.

Lance finds he quite enjoys trading strange customs back and forth with Kolivan. And he suspects the Blades leader feels the same way, as he’s begun seeking out Lance’s company more frequently.

Keith is weirded out by it, which is also a plus.

It’s one of those occasions where Kolivan had come looking for him. Lance wasn’t even aware the Blades were on ship and is pleasantly surprised to see the leader walk into the lounge, taking a seat on the couch.

Lance is sprawled across the floor, his shoes kicked off and jacket thrown a few feet away from him.

“New meditation technique?” Kolivan asks. He’s getting better at sarcasm and Lance couldn’t be prouder.

Lance snorts. “No, just exhausted. I have to cover Keith’s chores when he’s away with you guys on top of mine.”

Lance sits up suddenly, squinting at the other man.

“Does this mean Keith is back on ship?”

Kolivan nods and Lance flops back with a sigh.

“Good! Now he can finish up the training rooms. If they think I’m gonna do his chores when he’s actually here, they can kiss my ass.”

Kolivan tilts his head in that cute way Lance has come to associate with culture shock.

“Kiss your ass?”

Lance blushes, the sound of a curse word falling from Kolivan’s articulate tongue is just slightly thrilling.

“Oh um, it’s just an expression. I don’t really want them to kiss my…ya, know.”

Kolivan’s luminous yellow eyes spell confusion.

“And kissing would be?”

Now Lance is actually flushing, his cheeks burning.

“Galra don’t kiss?”

At Kolivan’s blank look he continues. “Um, press their mouths together, sort of, uh—lick at each other’s mouths.”

“And why would one do this?”

Lance sits up, looking anywhere but at Kolivan.

“Well it’s…nice. It’s fun.” He sighs, and it’s somewhat wistful. “People do it to show that they love each other. And to, lead into other things…”

He trails off, pressing a hand to his warm face, finally looking towards the Galra seated in front of him.

Kolivan looks curious. “I can’t picture it,” he finally says and Lance chokes.

Kolivan turns to him in concern and Lance waves him off.

Once he’s finally got himself together, he coughs. “Well I…I mean. I could always…show you?”

Lance tries not to look like he’s dying inside when Kolivan’s expression becomes one of intrigue.

He hums thoughtfully before nodding. “Yes, I would have you show me. Shall I come to you?”

Lance shakes his head, eyes wide. “No, no. This will be easier if you’re seated. You’re uh…really tall.”

Kolivan nods in understanding, sitting up straighter, waiting for Lance.

Jesus Christ.

Lance would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it.

He and Kolivan kind of spent a lot of time together! And the Blades leader was always so nice to him. Never made him feel like he was in the way.

And his broad shoulders and bulging biceps made Lance weak in the knees.

Not to mention his ass. Why were the Blades uniforms so tight?!

Never one to back down, Lance gathers his resolve. Taking a deep breath, he stands up and walks towards the couch.

Kolivan watches him the entire time, face blank, like he’s going into a mission.

Lance supposes this is somewhat like an intel mission for him. Lance has information that Kolivan doesn’t, and he’s taking steps to remedy that.

Lance sighs.

His first kiss in years and it’s with an alien that has zero idea of the significance.

Oh well.

If I’m gonna to do this, I’m gonna make it count.

Lance steps into Kolivan’s personal space, closer than he’s ever been to the older Galra. He looks down at Kolivan’s knees and can barely contain a moan as thick thighs spread, giving him room to get even closer. In this position Lance has the advantage of height, but only just.

“So, um,” Lance’s hasn’t felt this nervous in years, and that included getting launched into space in a mysterious giant lion. “You’ll need to tilt your head back, just a little.”

Kolivan does, but slightly too far. Lance bites his lip before reaching out with both hands to guide Kolivan’s face into the right position.

His skin is soft, like peach fuzz up to his ears, and then it’s thick fur – begging for Lance to sink his fingers into.

Get it together Lance, get in and get out. This is an intel operation, not a make-out session.

Kolivan’s eyes are burning into his own, and Lance swallows at the intensity of his expression.

“Most people, um, close their eyes. But you don’t have to! Just, it usually makes it—better.”

Kolivan grunts lowly and closes his eyes.

Lance barely suppresses a relieved sigh. It’s easier without the weight of Kolivan’s stare.

With his eyes closed, his face is entirely relaxed, and Lance can’t help noticing how much younger he looks.

Lance gathers his courage and leans in, sliding his hands further into Kolivan’s hair, grasping at the strands as he presses their mouths together.

It’s sweet but chaste. Kolivan’s mouth is firm but giving, his lips slightly chapped.

Lance pulls back slightly and Kolivan opens his eyes.

“That was not what I expected,” he says, like a scientist whose theory has just been shot down.

“Well, it’s usually…more.”

Lance can tell he’s going to ask, so he saves them both the trouble and leans back in.

This time, Lance uses his hands in Kolivan’s hair to guide the movements, sliding their mouths together purposefully.

Lance pulls back just enough to run his tongue along Kolivan’s bottom lip. Ever the quick study, Kolivan’s mouth opens just slightly, enough for Lance to dip his tongue in shallowly.

Kolivan makes a soft noise in his throat and Lance feels a rush of endorphins, his stomach swooping.

He’s incredibly pleased when Kolivan starts to take initiative in the kiss, his tongue running over the seam of Lance’s mouth before taking his bottom lip between sharp teeth and tugging gently.

Lance is swooning, this is getting out of hand and he is in no rush to stop it. He starts to lift his knee, sliding it into Kolivan’s lap when a loud noise startles him backwards.

Only Kolivan’s quick hands at his waist keep him from tumbling onto his ass, and Lance turns slowly towards the doorway.

Keith is standing there, eyes wide in disbelief. Shiro and Hunk, who look more embarrassed than anything, are standing behind him.

“What the fuck?” Keith asks, voice unusually high.

Lance looks back to Kolivan, who is watching the scene unfold with calm composure. Lance jerks out of his grasp and is surprised to see a flash of irritation on the Galra’s normally impassive face.

Lance laughs nervously, hands going to his cheeks to cover what he’s sure is an embarrassingly obvious blush.

“Oh—Hey! Uh, we were just,” he looks helplessly around the room.

“Making out?” Hunk offers helpfully, and Lance shoots him a glare.

“Kolivan didn’t know what a kiss is, and I didn’t know how to explain it properly, and this was the easiest method, so—”

“Wait, wait,” Keith interrupts. “What do you mean he didn’t know?”

Lance looks to Kolivan, who has already turned to his tablet, clearly bored with this discussion.

“He told me how Galra don’t kiss, and I was—”

“Lance, Galra kiss.” Keith’s voice is exasperated.

“Wait, what?” Lance looks at the group in the doorway in confusion. Keith is looking at Lance like he’s the stupidest person he’s ever met, and Shiro is trying to hide a laugh behind his hand.

Hunk has the good grace to look sympathetic.

“Galra kiss. They make out, they have sex, we’re basically the exact same reproductively.” Keith rolls his eyes as he explains.

“But why…” Lance looks to Kolivan, who is studying his tablet with forced nonchalance. At Lance’s silence he finally looks up and Lance can see that he’s fighting a smirk as he shrugs.

“Wow.” Lance pinches the bridge of his nose, he can feel a tension headache coming on. “Just—wow.”

Leaning down to grab his jacket and shoes from the floor, Lance doesn’t look at anyone as he heads towards the door.

Shiro and Hunk move out of his way, Shiro dragging Keith along with him.

“If anyone needs me, I’ll be drowning myself,” Lance throws over his shoulder.

He’s not even a little surprised when Kolivan calls after him. “I thought you knew how to swim?”

#kolivance #lance #kolivan #au - all blades live #blades of marmora #voltron #keith #shiro #hunk

83 notes · View notes

awakeby-awindow · 6 years ago

Text

A little one shot based on this post by @coolnonsenseworld! The art is so good omg and I really wanted to write it!

It began as any day would, with crusty eyes, soft sheets and that almost-but-not-quite-enough stretch that one does when one is just waking up. It began with the artificial lights of the castle slowly brightening in each room to ease everyone from slumber, and it began with Lance throwing his pillow over his head and refusing to acknowledge the day until he was good and ready to. But when he was, he threw off his pillow and his blankets and sheets and made off to the bathroom to shower, and ready himself for another morning.

It began mostly the same for Keith, except Keith woke before the lights bade him to, and he woke with his hands fisted in the sheets and sweat running down his body, and there was no stretch, no pillow over face as he slammed the covers aside and marched to the bathroom. He turned the faucet on cold and splashed it all over his face.

“Cmon. Cmon! We agreed,” he told himself, grabbing the cold counter in front of him. “No more of...those. It doesn’t help anything.”

But his brain, as it did almost all the time, didn’t listen to him, and it dredged up images from his dream. Blue eyes, dark brown lashes framing them, and two freckles perched innocently under the left eye, looking up at him. They smiled, and there was an emotion in them, that made the blue dance. And Keith didn’t know what the emotion was but he knew he wanted those eyes to look at him like that in real life. Lance’s eyes.

Keith groaned and threw more water in his face.

When Lance was finished with his shower and his toner and that one weird Altean spray that Allura told him would make his skin as soft as the underside of a Sklernhaak( he wasn’t sure what a Sklernhaak was but it sounded soft), he headed down to the kitchen room and served himself up some goo, sitting at the table, Pidge across from him and Allura to his left. They were talking about some planet they would be visiting that day, but Lance was content to not join the conversation. So he ate, idly listening to them talk about paint and colors, and waited for Keith to show up.

And Keith did, eventually, after throwing himself deep into training for the last two hours until everyone else would be awake. Being around the team was slightly weird at the moment, as he was only here on a visit and in another day he would have to return to the Blade and leave them behind again. He knew they didn’t hold his leaving against him, he did, but sometimes he caught a flash of hurt in Pidge’s eyes, or Hunk turned from him just a second too fast, or Lance grew very quiet when someone mentioned it, and it all felt very raw, and Keith didn’t know how to soothe those hurts. Didn’t know anything except he was causing them.

But he could go to breakfast and he could talk to Lance, who, over his time at the Blade had become his very best friend due to incessantly calling and messaging him, and he could act like he didn’t have to leave in a day, and that everything was fine, and that he didn’t have dreams about his best friend that hurt his chest when he woke up because they weren’t real. He could do all of those things, and would.

So he trudged into the kitchen and grabbed goo, and pretended he didn’t feel his heart clench as Lance’s eyes brightened when he sat down next to him.

“Good morning Keith!” The other boy chirped, always so awake. “Are you ready for another planet to wow? To dazzle? To impress?” And he cocked an eyebrow as he crookedly grinned.

Keith smiled a little and murmured a “always” as he dug into his food.

“You alright? You look tired?” Lance asked, harmlessly, and yet Keith had to fight back a cringe.

“Yeah, m’fine, just got up early for some training.”

Lance smiled again. “Aha! Just your usual samurai nonsense, then.”

A chuckle. “Yeah.”

“Soooo,” Lance drawled. “Why are we going to this planet again?”

Allura pressed some buttons as they readied the ship to land. “Because we all need a little break, and it is Keith’s last day with us,” Some frowns around the room. “And because today is a very special festival for this planet. It is called The Day of Colors, and during the ceremony, everyone picks someone close to them and paints them with this light blue paint, which then—“

“Okay, okay, I get it. It’s a painty, color...y, thing.” Lance said again, but his voice was tight and Keith noted that he was one of the frowns.

Allura’s mouth tightened, but she seemed to also gather that Lance was upset, and she didn’t push the matter further as they began the descent to the planet.

Cheering, there was cheering everywhere as the paladins exited the castle and entered the crowd of aliens. Keith wasn’t sure if he was being dramatic or not, but he was pretty certain that a shadow covered him, hiding him from sight. Which was only fair, he wasn’t a paladin anymore. But it still hurt when they all walked on ahead, shining, happy, and Keith was left to hurry after. Even Lance was caught up in the celebration, and didn’t seem to notice him at all.

Lance noticed, of course he did (when did he not notice Keith) when Keith hung back, standing in the shadow of a hovering ship. And he tried to backtrack, but the crowd caught him until he couldn’t see the other boy at all. So he waited until they were all in what he assumed was the town square, moments before the “official start of The Coloring” which he wasn’t sure what that meant, and then he caught sight of Keith and grabbed his wrist, dragging him into the middle of the square with the rest of the team.

“What are you doing?” Keith hissed, glancing worriedly at what seemed to be the leader of these aliens. “I’m not supposed to be up here.”

Lance snorted “Yeah, right. You’re a paladin, Keith. Being in the Blade doesn’t change that,” he turned to look at the other boy and prayed that his expression wasn’t too soft or...longing. “You’re with m—with us.”

Keith’s face smoothed over and he smiled a little. “Um. Okay.”

Lance grinned. “Good.”

And they turned their attention back to the officials as they began handing out little pots of paint to the paladins.

“Alright!” The leader clapped their four hands together with glee and gestured broadly to the people. “Begin!”

A cheer went up as everyone grabbed someone and slathered paint onto their faces, laughing.

Um, Lance was a little confused. He leaned closer to Keith. “Buddy? What’s happening? I was too busy looking for your stupid mullet to pay attention.”

Keith scowled jokingly at Lance. “You pick someone close to you and paint them, and then once the paint is on your skin, it turns a different color based on the emotion you’re feeling.”

“Ohhh. Okay.”

They turned back to the team and saw everyone already pairing up. Hunk with Pidge, Coran with Allura, and Shiro was standing a bit off to the side, a wistful smile on his face.

Lance grabbed Keith’s wrist again. And looked at him. So easy to look at him. “You, um, you wanna be my partner, Samurai?” He grinned.

“Yeah, of course.” Keith smiled and lance looked at it a second too long so he coughed and turned his face.

Keith nudged him with his shoulder, jostling the pot of baby blue paint in his hands. “You gonna paint me or what?”

Lance laughed. “Oh I’m gonna paint you so much better than you could ever paint!”

Laughing, Keith dodged Lance’s paint covered fingers as they attempted to cover his face. “Are you sure about that, sharpshooter? I think you’re too chicken!”

“Oho! I’m gonna make you eat those words, mullet!”

And so they shoved at each other until finally Keith slathered some paint on Lance’s forehead and Lance managed to get some on Keith’s ear, they were both laughing as it slowly morphed into a soft violet color.

Lance, still laughing, asked “what does violet mean?”

Keith frowned a little but his lips still wanted to smile. “I don’t know, anger was dark blue, friendship was yellow, disappointment was orange? I think. And green was happiness, and belonging is red. That’s all I heard before you dragged me up here.”

“Oh, well, whatever. I don’t need paint to tell me you’re my bff!” The taller boy said, still smiling and violet smeared over his face.

Keith choked. “Please tell me you didn’t just say “BFF”. Only middle schoolers say that, Lance!”

“‘Only middle schoolers say that, Lance!’” Lance said mockingly. “Ugh, whatever, Keith! People still say that.”

“No, no they don’t!” Keith fired back. And they join the party and people, paint covered, began to dance.

The sun was just beginning to set when they sat down, covered in sweat but the paint still intact somehow, and the world was washed in bright reds and oranges, the sunset very much like that of earths. They were panting from the lively group dances and still giggling from some joke that Lance had said, their arms pressed together.

And it was then that, at the same moment, their eyes caught on a young pair of aliens, pressed into a passionate and happy kiss. And all over their arms was a paint of violet.

They stilled their laughter, but neither noticed the others silence, as their eyes darted to another couple, this one bashfully holding hands. Hands swirled with violet. Another, dancing slowly together, faces burning with blushes and smeared with...violet paint.

Everywhere they looked, violet, only on those who were lovingly joined. Only on...couples.

And they raised their eyes, together and slowly, to each other. To the violet paint on Lance’s forehead and cheeks, to the paint on Keith’s ear and jaw.

Keith had never seen Lance’s face so soft and open. So lovely. And with shock, he realized that Lance was looking at him like he had in his dream.

And Lance could hardly think because Keith’s lips were parted ever so slightly in shock, and his eyes were so bright.

And the sun set further, washing the town in a beautiful violet.

Neither of them are sure who moved first, but one moment they were sitting there, softly staring at each other, and the next their lips were softly pressed together.

The violet sky glowed brightly as bright floating lanterns filled the air, a part of the ceremony.

Pidge and Hunk were studying a little statue of Voltron, their hands and arms covered in bright yellow, shot through with green.

Allura and Coran were dancing happily with huge groups of aliens, laughing delightedly at the lanterns, faces covered in green and red and yellow.

Shiro was talking politely with an ambassador, and as the alien walked away from him, he smiled softly at those covered in violet paint, and he remembered warm mornings cuddled up to someone, he remembered glasses that never sat quite straight on a face, and he remembered warm honey skin, and late nights, and soft kisses. And he remembered the man he would have painted in the brightest violet. And promised himself that when he got back to earth, he would.

And Lance was pulling gently away from Keith’s lips, just enough to whisper: “don’t go. Stay here, with me. Don’t go back.”

Keith was whispering “yes” and then pulling the other boy back in.

And as everyone rejoiced and danced and laughed, no one noticed the pair tucked together on a bench, kissing with reckless joy, and softly touching the violet paint on each other’s faces.

So it began like any other day would, but it wasn’t like any other day. Not at all.

82 notes · View notes

yuki-setsu · 6 years ago

Text

#2 - Beg

Prompt: Character A has been treated by the villain like property. Character B rescues them and takes care of them. Every time A needs basic things (food, water, going to the bathroom, etc.), they plead with B. The villain only let them have those necessities after they’d begged for them, and now B has to assure A that they don’t have to do that anymore.

Link to original prompt here.

past me definitely thought i’d be more active with prompts but wOW they’re hard to write unless i’m really inspired,,, my excitement for season 7 has fueled me

“Are you hungry?”

Lance was. His stomach seemed to squeeze even at the slightest mention of food, a dryness creeping up his throat in its desperate need for something to eat. He tried to move, to get up and maybe fight his way out of the cell, but his body wouldn't listen. Or maybe it couldn't, too deprived of energy to even give his limbs a chance to work. How long had they starved him this time? Lance lost track a while ago.

“What a pathetic little thing you are.” The Galra's voice crept back into Lance's ear, grating in his mind. A foot kicked at his side, but Lance could barely react, too exhausted as he let his body slump further against the wall. Lance blinked, catching those bright yellow eyes right in front of him again. “Willing to starve yourself to death before we reach the main ship this time? Lord Zarkon will be impressed.”

He called himself Commander Xig the first time he'd met Lance after his capture. The team had split separately during a mission on an unknown planet, and Lance had been unlucky enough to venture into a hidden Galra camp. He'd barely gotten a word into the comms before his vision went black, only regaining consciousness when they'd thrown him into this cell.

“Speak up if you're hungry, human.” Xig crooned, one hand reaching out and grabbing Lance by the hair. He pulled, making sure Lance was looking directly at him. “You know the drill.”

Lance groaned, his hands useless by his sides. They'd unchained him ever since they realized he'd gotten weak enough to handle even if he did try to stage an escape, openly mocking his efforts. It was frustrating, it really was. He tried to tug his head away, wincing when the grip tightened.

“Beg.” Lance knew it was coming, but he still stiffened when he heard the word. He'd heard it too many times now. “Beg for some food, and maybe I'll consider letting your pitiful self live another quintent.”

The first few times he'd been offered the deal, Lance had been quick to refuse, too offended to even consider the thought. No way would he be ever caught begging a Galra for anything. But that resolve crumbled quickly after some time. His brain reverted back to its survival instincts, willing to do anything to keep on living. He even needed to beg to use the bathroom, which was the worst part. The guilt only seemed to swallow him once they finally gave him something to eat or drink and he felt like himself a little bit more. But then the cycle would repeat, and Lance always seemed to cave.

Lance groaned when the hand pushed his head against the wall. Xig was staring with the same expression he always had when he looked at Lance—like he was nothing more than the dirt on the ground. “This is your last chance.”

He wanted to eat. He needed to eat. Hell, he'd even take a little water if that was all he got. So many times had Lance wanted to just refuse and risk the chance of death, but he never managed to follow through. It was pathetic. So pathetic.

“P-please,” Lance whispered, his voice scratching against his throat. “Please let me eat.”

Xig grinned, eyes glowing. “You know that's not enough.” He removed his grip on Lance's head, straightening up to his full height. “You must beg.”

And Lance finally managed to move, his desperation enough to seep some strength into his body as he pushed himself up and onto his knees so he faced the floor, his hands trembling as they held his upper body up. It was almost second nature, moving into such a humiliating position to ask for the bare necessities.

“Please, Commander.” Lance choked out, eyes burning with angry tears. He hated this. He hated himself. “Please allow me to eat. It's more than I deserve, but I... I beg you.”

He heard Xig laughing above him, like he always did. “And what are you?”

“...Nothing. I'm worth nothing.”

“And why should I feed a waste of space like you?”

Lance's arms reached their limit, and he sunk to the ground, his knees against his chest and his forehead uncomfortable against the cold ground. He shivered, feeling like maybe dying might be the greater mercy at this point. “I'm sorry. Please... Please...”

There was some more laughter before he heard footsteps moving away. “Bring him some food. Not much—just enough to sustain that useless shell of a body.”

Lance barely moved even when he heard the cell door slam shut, too drained and miserable to do anything else but let himself slump onto his side, staring at the wall instead. He felt the tears pushing against the back of his eyes, but only a few drops managed to track their way down his face. Probably too dehydrated.

He thought of the others, his teammates, wondering what they were doing. Were they looking for him? It's been too long, so they must have given up. A small part of Lance hoped they did.

Because at this point, Lance wasn't even sure if he wanted them to find him like this.

Lance slept a lot. Maybe too much. But he didn't have the energy to do much else. Scenes would melt in and out view whenever he faded back into consciousness, mostly when Xig came in to taunt him again or get a few hits in just because he could. Lance didn't care anymore. He was exhausted. By that point, the only times he managed to force himself to move was when he needed to beg for food and something to drink.

He wondered if Shiro had gone through the same thing he was going through right now. Maybe even worse. Lance couldn't fathom how Shiro had survived all that time in captivity. How long had he been here? It felt like years, but it couldn't have been.

He was tired.

Someone was shaking at his shoulders. Lance shrunk away, his head rattling painfully at the movement. Must be Xig again, or one of the guards. But the hands kept grabbing at him, wrapping around his arms and tugging him off the ground. They weren't treating him as rough as they used to, and Lance fought to open his eyes, squinting at the light streaming in to see what was going on.

It was Hunk.

Hunk?

Lance blinked again, his mind a haze. He must be dreaming. Hunk was saying something, his expression distressed under his helmet, but Lance had trouble hearing what he was saying. The words seemed to filter in through bits and pieces, and Lance had to close his eyes to hear Hunk clearly.

“—nce! Please say something, buddy. Please.”

It felt like forever since he'd heard Hunk's voice. Lance didn't realize how much he'd missed it. What a realistic dream this was. “Hunk?”

Lance heard Hunk choke something out, almost like a sob. “Oh, thank God. Yeah, it's me.” The arms squeezed around Lance's body tighter, as if afraid he'd disappear if they didn't hold on tight enough. “I'm so sorry. You're safe now. You're okay.”

Lance's stomach tugged, but it wasn't out of hunger this time. Hunk was moving him again, and Lance let him, the noise growing muffled in his ears. He didn't want to fall asleep right now, but he suddenly felt so tired. His body jostled whenever Hunk moved, but the pain had grown dull, and he didn't mind it. Another hand was suddenly in his hair. But surprisingly, it didn't dig into his scalp and pull like usual. It was gentle and slow, as if checking for something. It was a nice feeling, and Lance leaned into it subconsciously.

Huh, maybe he wasn't dreaming.

Lance woke up in the pod, the cold seeping out of his skin just as the pod slid open. Someone caught him as he fell, and he felt a bunch of other hands reach at him. He tried to blink his vision back to normal, catching the rest of his team staring at him with varying degrees of relief. It was almost surreal seeing them again.

He straightened up, testing out the feeling in his legs. It felt weird to be standing up again when he could barely sit up not so long ago. But he could move his arms and legs normally now. Everything seemed normal. Everything was normal.

Someone grabbed at his shoulders again, and Lance barely caught himself from pulling back in surprise. It was Hunk, his face a tear-stained mess.

“We looked everywhere for you.” Hunk sniffled. “I swear we did. I'm so sorry we took this long.”

Lance tried to swallow, but his throat felt too dry. He tried for a smile, reaching up and squeezing one of Hunk's wrists. “It's fine, man. Sorry for the trouble.”

“No, we should be the ones apologizing.” Allura cut in. She was standing off the side, her expression openly guilty. “We didn't notice something had gone wrong on your end of the mission until it was too late.”

“We're just glad you're back.” Pidge said. She'd managed to squirm her way in front of Hunk, one arm looping around his torso in a tight hug. “You focus on resting. You've been through a lot.”

Everyone was acting like he'd done well, and it made no sense. He'd been useless and weak the entire time he'd been captured. They just hadn't seen it. Lance sighed, eyes landing on Shiro just in front. “How... How long was I gone?”

Shiro grimaced just slightly. “5 weeks.”

“Oh.”

Pidge squeezed him tighter. “The pod said you were completely malnourished and dehydrated.” Her voice sounded terrible, almost hoarse. “You're hungry, right? Let's go eat first.”

Lance's stomach tightened at the question, almost in a panic. Was he hungry? Maybe he was, he couldn't tell. But if he was hungry, he'd need to beg for food and—

“I'm not.” Lance said, digging in his heels when Pidge started to steer him towards the door. He winced at the confused looks. “Hungry, I mean. I'm not hungry.”

There was a long silence, one that Keith finally broke. “What? You have to be hungry. There's no way you—”

“I'm really not.” Lance said, slowly tugging away from Pidge and Hunk's grasp. They let him, although they looked stunned. “Maybe the pod helped me more than I thought. I just really wanna... go to my room and rest.”

For a moment, no one seemed to know what to say. Shiro cleared his throat, although he didn't look any less concerned. “Are you... sure? You don't want anyone with you?”

“I'm sure,” Lance answered quickly. He already started to step towards the doors, the sensation of walking on his own still feeling odd. “Just for a little bit. I wanna put some actual clothes on and wind down, you know? You can check in on me later, if that makes you feel better.”

It wasn't convincing. None of it was, but no one seemed to have it in them to protest and make him do otherwise. As he left, he was surprised that he managed to find his room so easily. It felt like ages since he'd navigated down the Castle halls, but guess it was all second nature now. He walked inside simple enough, only to slow to a stop when he caught sight of the bathroom, the panic rising up his throat in an overwhelming wave of nausea.

No, he didn't need to beg for things like that anymore. He was back at the Castle. Safe. He was safe.

He could eat when he wanted. He could drink when he wanted. He could use the bathroom when he wanted.

Right?

But his legs wouldn't move, trembling at the mere thought of going inside without permission. He needed to ask. That's how it was. He didn't need to go right now. He was fine. He could hold out.

But what about when he needed to use it?

Lance shuddered out a breath, walking to his bed and sinking on the mattress. He slumped forward, burying his head in his hands. After a few moments, he grabbed his blanket and threw it over himself, ignoring the fact that he hadn't even changed out of the healing pod suit.

He was fine. He didn't need anything.

Lance woke up hungry. A sudden urge that had him jerking upright in bed, the blanket fluttering off him in a heap. He felt at his stomach, feeling the familiar grumble that spread across his abdomen when it was empty. He felt hungry to the point of feeling ill. He wanted to eat.

“Beg.”

The thought sent a chill down his spine, and Lance almost wanted to throw up. He probably couldn't even do that, since he had nothing to expel. But no, he didn't need to beg anymore. He didn't.

Lance stumbled to his feet, hands shaking as he finally took off the pod suit and changed into his regular clothes. It was a comfortable feeling to wear them again, but it wasn't enough. What time was it? How long had he slept?

He stepped out into the hallway, taking in the eerie quiet of the corridors. It felt abnormally chilly, and he tugged his hoodie a bit closer around him. He'd go to the kitchen. Find something to eat. If he didn't run into anyone, he should be fine.

He kept his head down, hands clutching at the fabric covering his stomach as he walked. He'd make it a quick trip. In and out. He'd eat in his room. No one would know. He'd talk to them once he was feeling better.

“Lance? You're awake.”

Shiro's voice. Lance jerked to a stop, his breath catching in his throat.

“You know the drill.”

“... Lance?” Shiro asked again. Lance heard the footsteps come closer, and he gripped at his clothes a bit tighter, trembling at the effort not to run. “What's wrong?” Shiro sounded a bit more alarmed now. “Are you hungry?”

The question seemed to drain the strength from Lance's legs, and he all but crashed onto the ground, kneecaps burning from the impact. His arms caught him from falling face-first, and he was back in that position again. The position he hated so much. But it didn't matter now.

He spotted feet appear just in front of his hands, and Shiro's hands were suddenly on his shoulders, infinitely careful. “Lance, talk to me.” Shiro said, his voice pleading. “What's going on?”

Lance tried to breathe, his chest having gotten exponentially smaller. He ducked his head a bit lower towards the ground, hoping it was enough. He was crying, he realized. He hoped Shiro didn't see.

“Please... Please let me eat.”

The hands on Lance's back froze. “...What?”

Lance trembled at the question, pushing his head so low his hair brushed the ground. It wasn't enough. “Please let me eat, Shiro. I'm sorry, I—I don't deserve it, but just a little is fine. That's all I need.”

“Wait,” Shiro said, voice tight. “Lance, what—”

“I'm sorry. Please, just a little.” Lance let his forehead touch the floor this time, tears blurring his vision.

“Lance, hold on—”

“I beg you—”

“Lance!” Shiro's hands moved, more forceful as they pulled Lance's shoulders so that he was upright. Lance gasped at the motion, flinching when Shiro reached for Lance's face with both hands, pulling him so close their foreheads touched. His chest rattled with each breath, unsure of what it was he was supposed to do. The proximity made it so that all Lance could see was Shiro's expression, eyes almost... pained?

Oh.

Lance tried to move away, panic giving way to full-on embarrassment, but Shiro's grip was too firm. This was the last thing he'd wanted to do, especially in front of Shiro. The blood roared in his ears, oblivious to the situation as he tried to muster an explanation. Maybe he could blame it on a nightmare.

“Lance,” Shiro whispered, although his voice still carried that strong tone of authority. “Can you hear what I'm saying?”

Lance's mind reeled, too overwhelmed to make any decisions for itself. “Y-yes.”

“Good.” Shiro pulled back just a bit, searching his face carefully. “Why are you begging?”

Lance shuddered, stomach dropping when Shiro's grip tightened just a bit in response. There was no talking his way out of this one. “I... I had to.”

Confusion filled Shiro's eyes, the disbelief filtering in almost immediately after. “On the Galra ship? They made you...?”

Lance swallowed, throat infinitely dry. “Yeah.”

For a second, Shiro's expression went so dark it had Lance's blood run cold, even though it wasn't directed at him. But then it crumpled, sorrowful to the point where Lance felt guilty for answering the question. Shiro moved again, and Lance barely had enough time to react before he got encompassed into a tight hug. Lance moved then, trying to wriggle away, but Shiro had one hand wrapped around Lance's back and the other holding his head, making it nearly impossible to move. It happened so quickly, and Lance felt his short-circuit for a split second.

“Uh...” Lance's brain unhelpfully decided to forget basic vocabulary, and he stumbled for a proper sentence. “Shiro, wait... I didn't mean to—”

“I'm sorry, Lance.” Shiro said, voice heavy. It tugged at Lance's stomach, filling him with a guilt he shouldn't be feeling. “You should never have gone through that.”

Lance stared down the empty hallway over Shiro's shoulder, his thoughts a jumbled mess. He hoped no one else came down here and saw them—this was already more than enough to handle right now. “It's not...your fault.”

“We should've found you faster,” Shiro's arms tightened, and although it didn't hurt, Lance winced. “We shouldn't have let you get taken in the first place. I'm sorry.”

“It's fine.” Lance's throat felt too tight. “Stop apologizing.”

He kind of wanted to ask Shiro to let go, but he also didn't. Maybe he'll just stay like this for a little longer. Shiro didn't seem like he was going to pull away anytime soon, so Lance just... sunk into it. Just a bit.

“You don't have to do that anymore. Ever.” Shiro mumbled. “Anything you need to take care of yourself, just do it. You don't have to ask any of us for permission for something like that. Got it?”

The embarrassment had finished chipping away at Lance's panic, and it just left him bare with exhaustion. He felt another breath shudder in his chest. He'd slept earlier, but he still felt so tired. “Yeah. Got it.”

It took a few more long seconds before Shiro finally loosened up enough for Lance to pull away. He still looked upset, but he smiled as he got to his feet and held out his hand, helping Lance up as well. Shiro steered them back down the hall, one hand on Lance's shoulder as he gave it a gentle squeeze. It loosened up a knot in Lance's chest.

“Come on,” Shiro said. “Let's go eat something.”

And they did.

Lance fell asleep a bit better after that.

Lance didn't mean to, but he got into a habit of waiting until he nearly reached his breaking point before finally realizing he needed to go eat or drink something. Going to the bathroom whenever he needed was fine, but his stomach had gotten accustomed to long periods of having nothing, and it got harder to tell when he wanted to really eat until his body grew too desperate for something.

Shiro—unsurprisingly—had been the first to notice, almost aghast that Lance was almost going on his third day with no food before he called together a team meeting to talk about what was going on. Lance wasn't upset about it, but it didn't make the fact that he seemingly needed people to remind him to eat like a normal person any less embarrassing. That particular team meeting had been filled with lots of hugs and apologies, though.

And so everyone knew.

One particular day, Hunk decidedly dragged Lance to the kitchen with a stern look on his face. He'd been quick to sit Lance onto one of the chairs, giving him a pressing look.

“When was the last time you ate?”

Lance blinked, trying to recall the past day. Had he eaten? His stomach was no help, since it always felt numb these days. He couldn't remember stepping into the kitchen since the day started, so maybe he hadn't eaten yet.

“Uh... Yesterday? I think?”

“Yesterday,” Hunk deadpanned, brows furrowing in disapproval. “You think.”

A warmth started to creep up Lance's face, and he ducked his head. “Sorry, I don't... I don't remember.”

A hand fell on top of his own and squeezed. Lance startled at the touch, looking back up to catch Hunk's face, which had loosened into one of worry. “No, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make you feel bad, dude.” He pulled back, reaching over and sliding a bowl of food in front of Lance. It smelt amazing, to be honest. “I made something that tastes suspiciously like French toast this morning, so I was hoping you could try some. If you want.”

Lance looked back at the bowl, somewhat relieved to feel his stomach grumble appreciatively at the scent. He looked at Hunk again, a grin on his face this time. “Smells awesome. You bet I'm trying some.”

The smile Hunk gave out-rivaled the food he made. And the food was pretty damn good.

Lance had gotten better at prompting himself to eat at least twice a day, falling back into a familiar rhythm that felt foreign just days ago. Everyone on the team still had moments where they casually invited Lance to join them in a meal, but those grew more and more sparse as things seemed to normalize. Once in a while, Pidge or Keith would unceremoniously drag him for an evening snack “just because”, Shiro would hand him an extra water pouch during training, Hunk would go to him first whenever he decided to test out another snack, and Allura and Coran would even sneak him some fancy Altean candy that the others hadn't even heard of. It was nice.

But then the nightmares started.

They started small, little bursts of panic that woke him in the night. He never remembered why he woke, but the tremors and cold sweat coating his body told him it was good that he didn't. But they got worse, darkness melting into purple and sending him back into that cell, where the air was cold and piercing. Where his stomach churned every time he heard footsteps echoing down the hall, his limbs too heavy to even scramble away against the furthest wall. Where cruel laughter grated against his ears and all he could do was lie there, begging for relief. When he started having those nightmares, he woke screaming, thrashing, reliving. And then he would reorient himself, remember where he was. Safe, he was safe.

Right?

It was the second night of nightmares, and going back to sleep was out of the question. Lance threw the covers off, heading to the bathroom and washing his face. The cold water felt nice, startling his brain awake and driving away the foggy haze behind his eyes. He was at the Castle. He was safe.

Maybe he should eat something. Just because he could. Just to remind himself. He put on some slippers, tugging his night robe around him as he padded down the hallway, careful not to walk too noisily. He wondered how late at night it was. That didn't matter right now.

He made his way to the kitchen, grabbing an empty bowl and filling it with some space goo before he settled at the table. But when he lifted his spoon, he couldn't move it. His hand froze, held back by something he couldn't see. And Lance tried, he really did. So much that his hand trembled in his efforts to get a spoonful of goo. But he couldn't.

Lance slammed the spoon down with a groan, digging his hands into his hair. He ducked his head, breathing hard as he swallowed down the panic creeping up his chest. This was stupid. He was being stupid. He'd been doing fine all this time. It was all in his head.

“I can eat,” Lance whispered shakily. “I'm at the Castle. Xig's not here. I'm safe.”

He knew he could eat. He already knew it. So why couldn't he get over it?

He sat there a bit longer, trying to calm down enough to try again. Even if it was just half the bowl, he'd eat it and head back to bed. If he couldn't fall back asleep, he'd at least try to relax until the morning.

But as more time passed, nothing changed. It was an endless cycle of picking up the spoon, placing it back down, burying his hands in his head, and telling himself it was fine. It was kind of pathetic, really. Lance bit back a groan as he tossed the spoon away, his chest tight as he heard it clatter on the floor. What was wrong with him? He leaned back against the chair, palms pressed against the back of his eyes. He needed to calm down.

“I'm fine. I'm safe.” Lance mumbled, trying to push down the tears building up against his hands. Calm down. “I can eat, I can—”

“Lance!” Someone grabbed him and Lance startled, whipping around in his chair and tearing his wrist away from the hand. It took a second for his vision to normalize, and Lance felt the panic ebb just a bit when he caught sight of Keith standing there, hands up in a passive surrender.

“Are you... Are you okay?” Keith asked, eyes almost as panicked as Lance's.

Lance sat there, chest heaving. Why the heck was Keith here? “I'm fine. I'm fine.” His throat felt too small. He couldn't breathe. “I'm okay—I'm just...” One hand reached up at his throat, wishing his he could pry it open and let more air get through. It hurt to breathe.

Someone—Keith—grabbed at his shoulders again, but Lance was too distracted to pull away this time. He ducked his head, eyes falling shut as he felt his body shudder with each inhale, straining in the effort to give him the amount of oxygen he felt like he needed.

“—eed to breathe slowly, Lance.” Keith's voice filtered in, sounding almost muted in his ears. Lance tried to listen, the rattling in his throat almost overpowering. “Can you hear me? Slow down and breathe. Just... count out each breath. 5 seconds for each. Got it?”

They were crude instructions, but they were enough. Lance reached up, gripping at Keith's arms like a lifeline as he fought to even out his breaths, letting Keith count down each time. He was fine. He was safe.

And gradually, it got easier to breathe. His chest had loosened, air flowing through like it never got stuck in the first place. Lance peeked his eyes open, catching a nice, blurry view of the floor as he blew out another long breath. Keith was still there, still gripping at his shoulders, but his hold had loosened a bit marginally once Lance started to calm down. He'd trailed off in his counting, as if realizing that Lance at least stopped hyperventilating. After a few seconds, Lance let go of Keith's arms, wincing at how stiff they felt as he tried to relax them. Yikes, he'd been holding on way too tightly.

He was suddenly so tired. Exhausted, actually. The fear of sleeping and risking another nightmare brushed at the back of Lance's mind, but he didn't care. Keith was here, so he'd probably wake him up before it got worse. Probably. Sleep tugged at his eyelids, and Lance was suddenly grateful Keith had a hold on him before he let himself drift off again.

When Lance woke up, his head was on a pillow. His pillow. He wasn't in his room though, given the sitting position he was still in. He stirred, feeling a blanket slide off his shoulders as he sat up. There was a flurry of movement somewhere beside him before he heard Hunk's voice.

“He's awake!”

Lance turned, catching Hunk sitting in the chair right next to him, a relieved look on his face. He was still in his pajamas, too. Lance looked back, the others still in various stages of morning attire, looking more than a little concerned as they stared back at him, although their expressions loosened once they met his eyes. Keith was the only one who looked the same, still in his regular clothes like he had been when he'd found Lance last night. Had he stayed the whole time?

Lance's attention went back towards Hunk, who was busy tugging the blanket back around Lance's shoulders. He fussed with it for a bit until he nodded, satisfied. He looked up, the smile on his face not enough to cover the worry in his eyes. “Morning. You feeling okay?”

“Yeah.” Lance said, shifting uncomfortably. “Sorry, I didn't mean to—”

Hunk held up a hand, easily cutting off Lance's words. “No apologizing. Or explaining. Keith told us everything. Coran and Allura found you two here in the morning and went to get everyone else. Figured we'd let you get a little bit of sleep before we talked.”

Wow, talk about embarrassing. Lance wondered if he could make a run for it before anyone stopped him. “It was nothing. I just had a bad dream and Keith caught me at a bad time.”

“No, that's a good thing.” Pidge pressed heatedly. “If he hadn't found you, then none of us would've known. Because you definitely would've acted like it never happened.”

Lance held his tongue, knowing she was right. But what else was he supposed to do? It was something he could deal with on his own. And when Hunk leaned forward, wrapping Lance in one of those hugs he appreciated so much, it got increasingly difficult to ignore the stinging in his eyes.

“You should've told us you were having nightmares.” Hunk whispered, his own voice cracking as well. “We can help you.”

“It's stupid.” Lance's voice shook. He didn't want it to, but it did. “I should be able to handle it by now.”

“There's no deadline to get over things like that, dude.” Hunk said, gentle. “We're gonna get through this together, alright?”

Lance sniffled, nodding before Hunk pulled back, making room for the others to crowd near him. In any other time, he might have felt awkward. But he didn't mind the little smiles, the light hugs, the warm looks. It was those moments that made him wonder how lucky he was to have a team like this all the way up in space.

A new hand was on his shoulder, and Lance looked up to see Shiro, a careful smile on his face. “Let's have breakfast together and we can talk about what we can do.”

Hunk was already standing up, heading to grab some bowls for everyone as he waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, I already thought of something.” He glanced over his shoulder, a wide smile on his face. “Not sure if anyone noticed, but the lounge is a perfect place for a team sleepover.”

#langst #lance mcclain #voltron #vld lance #keith #shiro #hunk #pidge #allura #coran #my writing

210 notes · View notes

lions-in-hats · 6 years ago

Note

15 "are you seriously giving me the silent treatment" fluff prompt with Keith and allura please.

Ok so this is like… Ages late, but here ya go!

An Evening of Ruined Stars

Ao3

Word Count: 1,898

Rating: T

Summary: Conversations shine brightest on the open road and in the centre of a deserted ruin.

Her fingers dig into his side, her arms snaked around his waist and the helmet on her head sliding slightly.

But.

She’s unnervingly silent, he doesn’t know what she’s thinking about but this is the first time she’s actually come to him since… Since he left and they got back to Earth, he can feel her internal warmth as she seems to dig her face into his shoulder as the wind whips past his own and he cannot hear a thing but can feel her heartbeat.

So, he does the only thing he can.

He drives across the desert roads, something he’s done a million times, the stars shining up into the night sky and he wonders if she feels it too.

That pull.

That calling sound that echoes from the stars and sings in his ears.

“I hear it.” It’s a whisper next to his ear, “I hear it stronger with every day I’m here.”

He wanted to return to the stars.

“I want to return to the stars.” Allura murmurs, leaning her head back and looking straight up at the sky.

Keith starts to slow his hoverbike, she leans forwards again and her helmet implants itself in the center of his back.

The wind is no longer in his ears.

“Me too.”

He pulls to a full stop, Allura moves and gets off of the bike, hopping down onto the dusty plane in front of them. Her hands reach up and gently pull the helmet from her head, her hair is flying out of her bun in weird directions and he can’t help it.

His fingers close around the hairpin sticking up and he pulls it out, watching her hair tumble down her back like an unfurling ploom of smoke.

Her whole body freezes, she doesn’t move “Why… Why did you…” She’s grasping for words and not looking at him, “Why did you do that?”

“I don’t know…” He admits so quietly that she now does turn to him, “You look nice with your hair down.”

And Allura starts completely, turning towards him with her face red “Stop that.”

“Stop what?” She frowns as she fiddles with the end of her hair, “Talking like you missed me.”

He climbs fully off of his bike and stands in front of her, looking her in the eyes, he’s taller now but with the quiet night shining above him he is reminded of holding her hands in his, how her eyes echoed the stars around them and he’s…

“I missed you Allura.” Her breath hitches slightly, before he can second guess himself he’s reaching up and brushing hair away from her face, “I missed you more than I missed anyone else.”

Her eyes are storming he realises, not sadness… Something deeper, something that can’t decide if it’s rage or relief.

“I left.” Keith says, she hasn’t pushed him away, so he continues to twirl his finger in her hair, being careful not to brush her skin, “I shouldn’t have.”

She says nothing, but her lips twist as if she wants to.

“But… I’m not good at this you know that right?” He moves his full hand through her hair now, “I can’t string emotions together in words like Lance and Hunk, I can’t leave something implied as well as Shiro or Pidge… I just…”

Quiznak, he wished she’d say something.

“We need to talk.” He states it as softly as he can, he moves to remove his hand from her hair but her helmet hangs in her left hand as she reaches up to stop him, there’s wide alarm in her eyes as if she hadn’t meant to do that, “We have… So much to talk about.”

Allura looks at him, she’s just looking at him. Her lips pressed into a line, a line that scares him beyond belief.

“We do.” She agrees finally.

His sigh is of relief and before he can stop himself he’s falling forwards and landing on her shoulder, “It’s probably an argument we’re going to end up having.” “Multiple times.” There’s a note of humour in Allura’s voice he realises, the wind blows somewhere quietly, “…..Can I try driving?”

He laughs, pulling back “Sure, if you really want to.”

Her eyes sparkle, “Really? We used to have bikes like this on Altea, but I wasn’t allowed near them since they were ‘Not appropriate for proper ladies of standing’.” Her tone goes somehow even posher, “….My nanny wasn’t very giving when I was a child.”

“You had a nanny?”

Her blush returns, “…..Only in my younger years when my parents were busy with affairs of court.” She twiddles her thumbs, “When I became a young adult my Father moved her to take care of some other noble’s newborn and I joined him and my Mother in watching the affairs of our kingdom.” Keith blinks, “That must have been a good experience.” “It was so boring I would have preferred an etiquette lesson in cutlery over that.” He laughs, she smiles finally.

“Give me the keys.” Is what she says once his laughter dies down.

He complies.

She’s a natural.

“Put a bit more pressure into the accelerator.” He softly inputs, she follows his direction with ease and shifts back against him as he does, he pulls his arms tighter around her waist and for some reason her shoulders become less tense, “There we go…”

Her hair has been pulled back into a ponytail, she’s tucked it down the collar of the simple t-shirt and jeans she’s borrowed from Nadia.

But what he’s enjoying seeing in the mirrors is the smile on her face as she drives, they still need to talk. He knows that, but he tucks his head in her collarbone as the wind whips around them as she speeds up, helmet in the storage compartment after some mild bickering about safety measures.

(“We’re DEFENDERS OF THE UNIVERSE Keith, we don’t need helmets where we’re going.” “Uh-huh? And where is that?”“…………….I don’t know.”)

Her eyes were wide and sparkling the further she drove, they passed through one of the suburbs that hadn’t been reached by the rebuilding effort yet and she slowed.

“Can we walk for awhile?” She asks so quietly, slipping off the hoverbike before he can answer and just starting to walk through the desolate rubble with foliage starting to climb over the broken pieces of what were once near identical houses.

Her hair glows in the moonlight and he can’t help but follow her, the leather jacket on his shoulders is heavy as the wind blows through the area, waking up dust and rustling weeds on the ground around them in random spots.

Allura runs a hand over some of the grey brick where moss has grown in the darker patches, furniture is strewn around the place, it looks like something out of book about what happens after humanity dies out, he looks around and realises….

“We stopped the end of another planet but not without casualties.” She speaks up, turning towards him with her arms pressed behind her back, “I’m glad we saved Earth, I am but…” “We don’t belong here?”

Her eyes go wide, “We?” There’s a note of disbelief in her tone, “You haven’t said that since we ran away because we thought Zarkon was chasing us.” There’s a little fondness in her voice with the disbelief.

“Best roadtrip ever.”

She laughs, a small twinkling sound that moves with her as she continues to walk through the ruins, “We got stranded in space!”

“I got to see the stars up close.”

“You are impossible.”

He laughs this time and catches up with her, “Have you seen anything of Earth that you actually like?” His question hangs between them as she hums, jumping up in the simple boots she wears onto a stone in the middle of an empty gap.

“The Ocean was nice to see.” She admits, looking around her “….Even if I was sinking into it when I saw most of it, what about you? Anything on Earth you like to look at?”

Keith stands next to her, looking up at her on the rock though she was only an inch taller than him standing on it these days, “The Desert and the Cities.”

“Can I ask why?”

She uses his shoulder as a hand rest as she climbs down, ending up in front of him instead, making it easy for him to look at her properly, her eyes wide at him, curiosity brimming just below the surface and there they were.

The constellations.

“You’re wonderful.”

Allura blushes.

He blushes, “I said that out loud didn’t I?”

“Yes, yes you did.”

She reaches up tentatively, slowly as if she’s expecting him to disappear, her fingertips skim his cheek and back away again as she takes a step back, her eyes are downcast.

“Let’s continue exploring.”

“I think you left because you were trying to find yourself.” She begins, a little in front of him on the trail they’d located, “That and you were worried about rejection as the Leader since Shiro was back.”

He shrugs, “Mostly the latter, but it wasn’t Shiro’s rejection I was afraid of.”

“Then who’s…” Allura stops, she turns to him him her lips in a small ‘O’ expression, “Keith, the team would never reject you, you know that.”

Keith walks towards her, “Allura, it wasn’t the team’s either.”

She blinks, “….Mine?”

“Yours.” He whispers it.

She looks away and continues walking.

“I was hurt because you said Voltron couldn’t go on without me… And then Voltron did.”

Allura laughs, it’s broken slightly and less calm than before following his confession a few minutes ago, “No we did not, Voltron was a mess! We didn’t know who to follow and Shiro was acting strange, then we threw Lotor into the mix! Keith if you’d been there then I probably wouldn’t have ever…” She trails off.

“That wasn’t your fault, I’m sorry I suggested it was back when we were stranded in space.”

“…..I’m sorry it seemed like we replaced you… No, like I replaced you.” Her voice is softer, smoother, “You aren’t replaceable Keith, I was lost without you.”

He can’t breathe when she looks at him this time.

“I would very much like to be found I think.”

Time is passing and he’s not talking and she’s…

“Are you seriously giving me the ‘Silent Treatment’ right now Kogane?”

Keith admittedly does a double take, “How do you know what that is?” She shrugs, “Pidge has been doing it to Lance, she thinks we’re dating and no one’s attempting to tell her otherwise…. It’s ridiculous.”

“Why don’t you tell her?” “Because she won’t listen to me.” Allura huffs, “Pidge doesn’t listen to anyone.”

He takes a step towards her, “So, you and Lance aren’t together?” “I’ve been flirting and pouring my heart out to you for the last hour Keith, no we aren’t together…” She crosses her arms, “Honestly, you and Pidge should just be together you’re both so stubborn.”

They stand there and look at each other, before Allura smiles. She’s smiling like she’s having fun, it was a rare sight at this point.

Keith finds that he’s smiling too.

“So… You’ve been flirting with me for the last hour?”

“Thank you for noticing!” She huffs, before laughing.

Allura grabs his hand.

He never wants her to let go ever again.

#Kallura #Juniblade #My Writing #Keith Kogane #Princess Allura #TAKE THIS THING #WHICH I'M DECENTLY HAPPY WITH

51 notes · View notes

dammitadolfnomorecake · 4 years ago

Text

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.22

Channeling his outer age instead of his inner, Lance let his manners go out the window somewhere after his third glass of wine. Each glass was technically two glasses, so now he had a nice pleasant buzz going on as he sat on his kitchen counter with Blue. He’d totally been a “Debby Downer”, and if he wasn’t kind of still having a slightly premature midlife crisis, he would have invited Hunk over to hang with him and Keith... Right. Like he could do that. What was he supposed to tell Hunk if he suddenly like sneezed and turned into a bat? God... What if he couldn’t jerk off anymore and what if he turned into a bat when he tried? Wait... when was the last time he tried to jerk off? Fuck... He couldn’t remember.

“Laaaaance? Are you even fucking listening?”

Keith looked grumpy, glaring at the pizza base before him. Keith wasn’t quite ready for the whole pizza from scratch experience, so Lance had grabbed a few bases much to the disgust of Hunk

“Sorry. I completely zoned out. What’s up?”

“I asked you what the hell I’m supposed to do with this thing?”

Keith had barely spread the sauce across the base. Trying to get the woodfired oven on had been the easiest part of the whole ordeal. Keith really loved setting shit on fire. Shiro was now in even deeper shit over the things he hadn’t taught his brother, and for apparently raising an anger loaf that was also a pyromaniac

“You want to put about twice the amount of sauce on the base. Then you put the cheese on. You gotta put the cheese on the bottom because it’s like the glue that sticks your toppings down”

Keith reached out, plucking the wine glass out of Lance’s hand

“No more until you’ve had dinner”

“But...”

“Nope. If I have to cook, you have to tell me what the fuck I’m doing”

Ugh. Stupid Keith. He was ruining Lance’s budding buzz. Scooching Blue away, Lance slid himself off the counter, to move behind Keith

“Now what are you doing?”

Rolling his eyes at the hunter, Lance grabbed the squeezie bottle of pizza sauce around him

“I told you. You need more sauce. Here, I’ll squeeze and you spread”

“Don’t day that again?”

“What? Squeeze and spread?”

Keith huffed at him in annoyance. This was probably the closest they’d been in their human forms. Keith was between his arms, his heart was racing, as Lance teased him by standing right behind him

“That. You’re supposed to be the mature one here”

“Ah, young grasshopper. I’m slightly, a bit, maybe, tipsy. And I may also sound like a douche right now, but Shiro should have taught you how to make pizza. How do you live in Rome, and not know how to make a damn pizza? I feel like someone in Italy just died”

“Do you ever shut up?”

“Yep. But you asked what to do. Spread he sauce across the base, then add the cheese”

Squeezing the bottle too hard, the lid popped off, sauce going pretty much everywhere in the immediate radius

“You did that on purpose?! Can’t you just be normal?!”

Keith saw red, Lance stepping out of his personal space with his hands up in surrender

“I swear that wasn’t on purpose. Take your shirt off, I’ll put it in to soak”

“There’s washing machine...”

That there was. But Lance hadn’t said to strip and chuck his shirt in the wash

“I know that. That’s why I said I’d put it in to soak”

“I know how to soak a shirt. Whatever. This is pointless.. You can’t even take this seriously”

Lance’s mood began to fall. He hadn’t meant to piss Keith off. He’d honestly squeezed too hard by accident... Now he felt like a dick. Drunk Lance was a tad obnoxious

“You’re right. I can’t even control how hard I squeeze a plastic bottle, how am I supposed to teach you anything when I’m like this? Go put your shirt in to soak, I’ll clean this up”

“What... but...”

“You don’t have to pretend Keith. It’s fine. For the foreseeable future it’s your home too. You don’t have to go along with the things I say. I thought it might be fun, but I messed it up. I’ll be in my office for the rest of the night. Make sure you eat. Don’t worry about the mess... I’ll deal with it when I’ve calmed down”

Whatever that was, Keith was kind of sure he’d been the one who’d messed up. He’d thought Lance was genuinely mocking him when he stood behind all weirdly, and popped the bottle of pizza sauce everywhere. He’d made pizzas with Shiro before, but those had the sauce and cheese already on the base, and he wasn’t actually that keen on pizzas that seemed to swim in sauce. He wasn’t even really that mad about his shirt, considering it was black. They’d kind of had a moment where he thought things might be okay. He’d noticed Lance frowning at his wine glass, and thought dragging him out of his thoughts was the right thing to do. Now he’s gone and fucked up. Lance had fled from him.

Staring at the sauce, Keith nodded to himself. Lance might think he hated him, and he didn’t want that... not that he liked Lance, but they were stuck together and the man seemed pretty high strung, despite the way he was acting. He could totally make pizza for dinner... Alone. Unsupervised. He wasn’t some kid who knew nothing. The toaster had totally eaten his toast and was to blame went it went up in flames. He could do this. He was going to do this and Lance was going to eat pizza because fuck him and his overdramatic arse.

Scraping the sauce onto another base, Keith left a trail of mess as he figured things out. He didn’t know what herbs went on pizza, yet he didn’t have to when the herb jars came labelled and one conveniently said “Pizza Herbs”. Herbs were spilt, Blue leapt up to eat the cheese and diced ham that went the same way as the herbs. He didn’t know how Lance felt about garlic, but a few cloves wound up on both their pizzas all the same. Yeah. He could totally do this. His skill left much to be desired, but Keith was quietly proud as he slid both pizzas into the oven... both way too loaded, with toppings that’d slid into the middle as he moved them.

Waiting until it looked done, Keith had nothing else to do but play with Blue. She was cute, and she didn’t seem to have the same attitude as her owner. Licking sauce off her paw, her little tongue poked out as Keith interrupted her grooming by wiping his hand over the crumbs on the bench, knocking some onto the floor in his attempt to “clean up”. Maybe he should get a pet? Something to wait for him when he got home... He wouldn’t mind a cat like Blue, secretly feeling black cats were the best despite what people might say with their silly superstitions. Distracted by Blue and the crumbs, Keith swore as he smelt something burning, Blue jumping off the counter and running out the kitchen as if he’d insulted everything she’d held dear by semi-yelling “fuck!”.

The pizzas weren’t cremated. Slightly black around the edges, with the cheese in the middle kind of weirdly unmelted but golden enough to pass as done. He didn’t need Lance to tell him what to do. He’d done it all by himself, like the 26 year old man he was. Now all he had to do was plate up... after he reclaimed his pizzas from the oven. Shiro always did them in a normal oven, pulling the pizza out by the side of the crust, having pushed them further back, Keith didn’t fancy getting burned on the flat metal trays built into the wood oven. His go to were tongs... succeeding in ripping the crust, meaning he had to try pull them out by hand... burning his fingertips as he did. That didn’t matter. He’d proved Lance wrong by creating two edible pizzas and he was pretty damn proud. Keith wanted to try out his new camera to photograph his kitchen triumph, but he also wanted to wait until after dinner when he could crash out on the lounge and explore its features properly...

Keith came to a stop, realising what he’d been thinking. He was... first he called this place “home”, now he was making plans to spend the evening binging horror movies as he played with his camera... He was far too comfortable here... What would Lance think if he made himself at home? Would be happy? Or would he be interrupting Lance’s night by taking over the TV? Lance wasn’t in a great place... Crap. What if he’d turned back into a bat? Would he be mad if Keith ate his pizza? Maybe if he cut them up and served them on two plates in the living room, it wouldn’t be weird for Keith to eat Lance’s share? If he was a bat, he could sit on the coffee table and nibble around the edges... Shit... The hunter’s hand itched to grab his phone out so he could call Shiro for help... Buuuuut... Shiro would be cranky if he called him over the best way to casually rub Lance’s face in the fact he’d made dinner. His brother might not even believe he’d been the one who cooked... Fuck. Okay. He could do this. It was pizza night with Shiro, only Lance was Shiro, and he wasn’t that great of a stand in... but the principle of the night was the same. Beer, pizza, horror movies...

Setting up things in the living room, Keith pulled up Netflix, leaving the remote conveniently close. He’d moved Lance’s glass of red wine and blood next to one of the pizzas, and uncapped his beer beside his own. Trying to cut through the slices with the pizza cutter hadn’t worked, just like those stupid wheels never worked the other hundred times he’d tried. Running his fingers through his hair, he felt king of nervous. He wanted to do a nice thing, kind of... Plus he hadn’t destroyed Lance’s kitchen in the process, so that definitely earned him extra brownie points. Now he just had to disturb Lance and hope he wasn’t about to be attacked for doing so.

Knocking on Lance’s office door, the vampire didn’t even acknowledge his presence. Slightly miffed that Lance was being so petty, he threw it open and succeeding in scare the crap out of him. Leaning back in his chair, Lance had some weird green goo covering his face, his ears covered with headphones... or rather, that’d been the way it’d been before he’d scared Lance badly enough he’d fallen out of his chair

“Jesus! What the hell, man?!”

Stifling a laugh, Keith sucked in his lips, Lance collecting himself up as he slid his headphones down. It was time to drop that bomb

“I made dinner”

Lance pursed his lips, brow wrinkled as he paused pushing himself up

“You should come grab something to eat. We’re having dinner in front of the TV”

Lance tilted his head to the left. The position he was in didn’t look comfortable

“You made dinner?”

“You don’t need to sound so shocked”

“But I messed things up”

“Not everything revolves around your actions. Whatever. You don’t have to eat if you don’t want to”

“What? No. Dude. I mean... I didn’t think... You cooked?”

Lance didn’t seem as impressed as Keith had hoped, he seemed more dubious over the quality of the food. Now Keith felt kind of annoyed he’d mentally made a big deal of it

“Pizza, beer, and movies... Shiro and I tried to do it when we could”

“You and Shiro cooked?”

Keith wished he had something he could throw at Lance. He didn’t need to sound so damn shocked. Cross his arms, the hunter’s voice held the strong tone of a pout

“We’re not useless. It’s not that hard to put some stuff on a pizza and bake it. If you’re going to keep making a deal of it, then you can make your own dinner”

“I didn’t say you were useless. I’m surprised seeing I was a total dick”

“You weren’t a dick. I thought you were making fun of me until I remembered that you can’t actually control your strength that well at the moment, not that the wine helped. I’m heading back to the living room, you do whatever you want”

“Dude, I’m totally there. Give me a tick to wash this stuff off, then I’ll be all good to go”

That right there was why he couldn’t keep up with Lance. That sudden change in upward mood wasn’t something he was used to. Most hunters had seen too much shit to be that happy, ever. Now his whole damn face was lit up, like Keith had given him some great gift. Fucked if Keith knew what it was meant to be, and fucked if he was going to waste brain power figuring it out.

Heading back to the living room, Keith flopped down on the sofa with a satisfied groan. Blue watching it his every move judgmentally from her spot on the tv cabinet as Keith forced himself up to retrieve his pizza and his beer, slumping back then noticing the remote laying on the table, the bastard out of reach. Keith rubbed at his face with his right hand, before leaning forward again to snag the remote. There wasn’t anything in particular he had in mind, more after background noise so fill in the gaps when Lance clammed up. Keith could see it now. He’d ask, Lance would say “after dinner”, then the chance to talk would slip away. Sliding out a piece of ham, Blue came flying, straight up into Keith’s lap with both paws on his leg as she craned upwards for the tasty treat

“Don’t tell you father”

“Don’t tell me what? Blue, are you conning food out again?”

Blue was on her third tiny square of ham as Lance shuffled in, he’d changed into his pyjamas, slippers scuffing on the wooden floor

“What was that?”

“I heard you telling her not to tell”

“Oh. She’s allowed ham, isn’t she?”

Keith couldn’t remember if it was cats or dogs who weren’t supposed to have ham

“Just a little bit. Wow, it looks good”

Keith went with the topic change, it was best to let Lance think he had his guard down

“Of course it does, I made it myself”

“You must have had a great teacher. What are we watching?”

“I was thinking something horror. Shiro and I like to point out everything they got wrong”

“Now you sound like Pidge. We only watch the b-grade stuff because Hunk gets scared”

Lance sidestepped his way between Keith and the coffee table, Keith realising he hadn’t put much space between them as he’d given his new camera a whole cushion space to itself

“Does Hunk gets scared often?”

“He has a healthy fear of everything that he needs to. He’s the biggest ball of warm feels in existence”

Lance sat himself down carefully, avoiding dropping down and causing Keith’s pizza to slide

“No one can be that nice”

“Hunk is. He would have come home tonight with me if I’d let him. He’s like chronically stuck in care bear mode. No one can be mad at Hunk, it’s like physically impossible”

Keith didn’t buy it. Everyone had that point they reached when all that was left was anger

“There had to be a time he got mad...”

Lance nodded as he leaned forward to grab his plate of pizza and what was left of his wine

“Yeah. But never without good reason, and he always faces his fears. He’s not too bad with spooky movies, but when you get into in the TV shows, he gets jumpy. Out of respect, we don’t watch a lot of squeamish things, you know, those movies they make filled with bloody scenes purely to have bloody scenes. I have so much respect for him”

Lance truly loved his friends. Keith could hear it in his words as plainly as he could see it on his face

“And Pidge?”

“She’d set the world on fire with a smile if you messed with her or anyone she loved. She’s fierce, but amazing. She’s like a super hacker, and she’s never met a piece of tech she hasn’t been able to make her bitch”

It must be nice to have friends like that. Friends that had your back for no reason other than the fact you were friends. Keith couldn’t say he knew that feeling, always feeling on the outside as everyone else moved on without him. He’d worked with other hunters, and had classes and training with other hunters, yet still felt insignificant. It scared him to think about what they’d say about him.

Lance settled back, elbowing him playfully as he did

“This really does look good. I didn’t mean to get sauce everywhere. I kind of lost it for a bit when I got back to my office. Now, if we’re watching some bad horror movie, please don’t pick anything with vampires. They always get it wrong”

“You’re not bloodsucking monsters that turn to ash in the sun?”

“Nope. Some of us are. I don’t”

Keith raised an eyebrow

“You don’t, what?”

“Turn into ash. I can see my reflection. I think maybe a stake to heart might kill me off, but I’m not 100 percent sure”

“You can walk around in the sun?”

“I can sun bake and everything. Plus, no sparkles bitches”

God’s love was found in the light. Vampires were supposed to be turn to dust because God had turned his back on them. Keith was a little dubious over the whole thing, but exorcists did exist, so there had to be something there

“I thought you’d love to be all sparkly”

“Nah. It’d draw too much attention. Younger me, maybe. Current me, not so much”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m old and cranky. I want to live as normally as possible. I don’t want to turn into a damn disco ball when all I want to do is enjoy a little bit of sun”

This guy had to be an idiot. Keith forcing himself not to gape. He wanted information on vampires, and now Lance had turned off his filter completely

“What else did they get wrong?”

“I firmly believed the whole “bat thing” was wrong until I went and turned into one. Garlic doesn’t really do much. I can eat human foods, but after about half an hour I need to use the bathroom. Blood... bags are good. I mean, I prefer them over anything fresh. As far as I know we don’t survive being burned to death, I know there’s a myth about turning into a bat and grave soil, but I’ve never tried it. Wounds we give ourselves sometimes take much longer to heal than something like being stabbed. Being immortal sucks arse. They got the rage and ego bit right. Silver’s not terrible. I show up on camera... I have super human senses, and can move faster than you’d think... I don’t know. I don’t think I want to know either”

Keith did. He wanted to know everything when it came to a human who’d been turned. He wanted to understand what Adam had been through in his final hours

“I do”

Lance raised his eyebrow at him, Keith wondering he’d been sprung for pushing him to talk

“I think you’d know more about being a vampire than I would. I was never one for clans and covens. I’ve met other vampires and honestly, they scared me. The first time I saw a vampire feed on a human pet, I threw up. The way they treated people... I couldn’t do it. Vampires have egos. Feeding that ego is a dangerous game. I know I’m probably not the only one who’s trying to live as normally as possible, but it makes it hard to reach out to anyone when they’re mostly douches. Werewolves are kind of the same, except it’s all about how strong they are. There’s pack leaders, but that’s only because that’s a human concept. There’s no alpha leader, instead there’s a pack leader. Some dick that always thinks they’re the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel. It’s fucked up and enough to drive you mad if you spend too long in that world”

Krolia had spent years in that world. Keith hadn’t even known what a legacy was when Shiro showed up in his life. He’d been a burden all his life since the death of his father. Shiro had opened a whole new world to him, had given him a home and a purpose to exist. They might not be biological brothers, but being biologically related to someone didn’t necessarily make them family. Family was something you built, sometimes from absolutely nothing at all. He didn’t know how to talk to his mother any more than he knew how to talk to Lance. For Krolia her duty always came first...

“Can I ask you something?”

“I thought we were past that”

“How did you get turned?”

Lance sighed heavily

“That’s not a great topic of conversation”

“I imagine it’s not... but...”

“You want to understand what happened to Adam. What he went through. I can’t tell you that. Only that he’s in a better place”

“He’s dead”

Nothing happened why you died... Keith couldn’t say he was convinced over this heaven and hell stuff...

“I’d rather be dead than risking the lives of those I love. Turning... it brings up a lot of memories that won’t leave me alone. Some humans take the turn willingly and I can’t for the life of me think why. Maybe if they had a kind sire, and you know, they had like absolutely no choice and I don’t know... but... it’s hard to talk about. Ten out of Ten would not recommend. I guess that makes me like that 1 dentist that never recommends shit”

Keith groaned deeply, dropping his head back and staring at Lance

“Why do you always do that? Deflect like that to humour?”

“Because some things are so fucked up thay if you don’t laugh you’re gonna fucking cry. It’s my unhealthy coping mechanism, like some people have smoking”

“It’s annoying. It makes it hard to like you”

Lance beamed at him, Keith had the feeling he was being mocked again

“Aw man, you like me!”

“Go fuck yourself”

“Eh, too much like effort. Who needs sex when you’ve got pizza. Thanks for this. I think I needed it”

“You’re welcome, but you can still go fuck yourself”

Lance had the nerve to wink at him

“Only if you go first”

Keith blushed red, spluttering some kind of loud squeak before promptly shutting up. Lance could suck his metaphorical dick.

#once bitten twice stupid #oncebittentwicestupid #ashratherose

12 notes · View notes

zxrysky · 6 years ago

Link

(a keith/lance fanfiction)

It's not hard, Lance thinks, looking at Keith throw his head back and laugh, lets his eyes trace that long column of neck and the sparkle in his eyes and oh yeah, oh boy, it's not hard at all to fall in love in Keith.

Keith's long and pretty, purple gray eyes and long fingers and he's so pretty, so pretty that he can't take his eyes off the boy, can't stop himself from staring and every time he stares he think he's falling a little bit further in love.

Maybe Keith's magic, he sulks, lips curling down and hunching over on himself, arms curled around his abdomen and he leans back against Hunk, a large solid presence against his back. Keith has to be, because there's no way Lance is attracted to that, no matter how pretty he is, no matter how delicious Keith looks when he's smiling and happy.

"I'm a liar," Lance says mournfully, murmuring the words under his breath, and Hunk snorts, turning to look down at him.

"Why are you a liar?" Hunk asks, hands reaching around in the bowl, picking up a fistful of popcorn. "You're nice. You don't lie. Much."

"Gee, thanks Hunk, you're the best," Lance shoots back, burrowing further under Hunk's arm and reaching for the popcorn. He wants to chew something, distract himself from Keith tinkering with his sword a distance away. "I'm lying to myself, and it's a terrible lie, and I'm so fully aware I'm lying to myself, Jesus-"

"Are you having another crisis about Keith?" Hunk says, before throwing the handful of popcorn in his mouth so he doesn't have to reply when Lance straightens like someone ran a bolt of electricity down his spine. Lance attempts to glare at Hunk but nope, it's useless, Hunk is the bestest guy ever and with his cheeks puffed out, slowly chewing his popcorn, Lance can't stay mad at him.

He flops back, eyes closed, and groans loudly. Hunk nudges him, shushing him to listen to the movie blaring on the big screen that Coran has helpfully set up. It's another one of those alien movies, full of action and some whirlwind romance that supposedly makes all females keel over with emotions. Even Allura tears up a bit at some parts - which Lance can't understand, and neither can Hunk, which says a lot because Hunk understands lots of things, Alien movies have romances that are very different from the romcoms on Earth, and they're just, well, different.

The one they're seeing now isn't a Galran one thankfully, because Lance saw a Galra action flick once and he'd thank God if he didn't have to watch it again. There was a lot of blood. Probably fake blood, but boy, there was enough to make Keith queasy. And Keith laughs at Lance when he starts being squeamish around horror flicks and there's a bit of gore, so Keith getting uneasy means the movie was crazy.

Coran, brave man, just laughed and watched, stuffing popcorn into his mouth. He likes the salty type, the kind that would give Lance high blood pressure if he ate too much. Allura was with Shiro, who wasn't down to watch the film. Understandable, really, Lance wouldn't be down to watch something like that if he'd been captured by them either.

"There is no crisis over Keith," Lance insists, pressing lightly against Hunk. "Nope, zilch, nada. I'm a free man with lots on his mind. That's it."

"You complained to me for three hours about how pretty Keith was," Hunk points out, eyes gleaming. "I had to try really hard not to tell him, y'know?"

Lance pats Hunk, throwing his legs over Hunk's lap. "I didn't complain about how pretty Keith was, definitely not, because Keith is not pretty, he's just, I don't know, okay-ish."

"That's fine." Hunk shrugs and offers the popcorn bowl to Lance. He waits - sneaky child - until Lance has a mouthful of popcorn before casually saying, "Then you wouldn't mind if I told him, yeah?"

Lance chokes, pounding on his chest, eyes watering and he looks up at Hunk, so betrayed, stabbed in the back by the one guy he trusted most, he can't trust anyone anymore, oh man, it's exactly like Julius and Brutus, this thing. Just stabbing him.

"You okay?" There's a warm hand on his back, lightly patting him, and Lance tries not to choke even more because he can tell there's a gloved hand on his back, and only two people on the team wear gloves, and one of them has both hands in Lance's sight.

He tilts his head up warily, and he sees Keith with his eyebrows raised, fingers clenching around nothing like he isn't quite sure what to do with his other hand, and Lance feels a pang in his chest.

"I'm fine, I'm- cough, fine, Hunk just punked me-" He glares at Hunk, who shrugs and lifts both hands, very what-can-you-do and Lance pushes him, grinning. "I'm good. You wanna watch this with us?"

There's a convenient blast on the screen, loud screams and the hero swoops into the battlefield on a hovercraft to fight; Keith looks at it for a while, and settles down next to Lance. "Yeah, sure," he says, reaching across Lance's lap to get some popcorn. They love sweet popcorn, all five of them, so it's always in ample supply.

Lance stiffens, pressing back against the couch - so far back he could become one with it, with the way he's sinking in, because with the amount of squirming he's done on the couch when he was thinking about Keith, his shirt's racked up against his abdomen and Keith isn't wearing his jacket, so his very exposed forearm brushes against Lance's stomach and yeah, Lance's making a weird sound that's coming from the base of his abdomen.

Keith shoots him a look, brows raised even higher than before and tilting his head. "Are you okay?"

"Yes!" Lance yells, voice cracking. "I'm fine! Totally fine! Lance has never been better!" He shouts desperately, fingers tapping out the code for S.O.S. on Hunk's arm.

"Hey, I think I should start on making dinner," Hunk says, smiling a closed eye smile that makes Lance shudder. He grips Lance's arm, placing it back on the couch and gets up, brushing the popcorn kernels off his lap. "You two just stay here and watch it, so you can tell me afterwards, okay?"

"Sure," Keith replies, eyes on the screen, arm still flung over Lance's abdomen and groping around for the popcorn bowl. Hunk sneakily places the bowl in Lance's lap, and yeah, Lance is flushing bright red, eyes wide and staring pointedly at Hunk and most definitely not at the way Keith's hand is in his lap, albeit with the bowl in between.

Hunk grins at him, bright and happy and he's the best wingman ever, Lance's got to admit that, but Lance isn't prepared, not prepared at all and his fingers are fluttering against the couch, scrabbling against soft fabric to find purchase against nothing.

"Uh, you come here often?" Lance stammers out, face red and eyes darting from Keith's face to the wall, from Keith's face to the wall, lingering on the curve of his lips and paleness of his neck, the stickiness lingering at the side of his lips and yeah okay, time to look at the wall again.

Keith makes a confused noise and drags his eyes away from the screen, looking at Lance. "Lance, we live here, in the castle. I come here pretty often?"

Okay, see, Lance is not ready, he's not prepared, his frankly astounding repertoire of pick-up lines are leaving him in the dust, his brain isn't working well and yup, he'll just stop for a bit. He'll just shut up for a bit. Keep his eyes on the screen.

"Stupid question, sorry," Lance says, staring at the screen, watching the hero blow up a ship. He's praying that the flush doesn't show up too clearly on his dark skin. "Uh, have you watched this before?"

"Not yet," Keith says, reaching for more popcorn.

He inches closer to Lance, and Lance tries to find control over his breathing because there's no way that was on purpose, Keith just wants to get closer to the popcorn bowl, which Lance can respect. Food is always of the highest priority.

He takes a deep breath and leans back against the couch, trying to relax, and very carefully does not stiffen when Keith's shoulder bumps against his, pressing arm to arm against each other as they watch the movie.

-=-

They need to wash the lions. Clean the lions, quoting Coran. They're kinda dirty, with the amount of dried blood they've left inside, the dirt they've tracked in, etcetera, and Lance recalls how Hunk puked in Blue the first time they took her for a ride. Inside is as dirty as outside, but they’re cleaning from outside in so right now, they’re going to clean their lions’ armour.

Yeah, he needs to clean his girl. She's going to become sparkling, and way before Red will, because Lance is faster than Keith, no shit.

He turns, all ready to snark at Keith and challenge him to a fight, when his jaw drops and eyes blow wide because god damn, god damn, Keith is taking his shirt off and Lance is pink, definitely.

"Why is he taking his shirt off?!" He hisses to Hunk, who raises an eyebrow at Keith and shrugs. "He doesn't need to take his shirt off! It's just cleaning our lions!"

"It'll probably get kinda hot," Hunk points out. "Sweaty and hot, so not wearing a shirt may be cooler."

"Isn't Pidge lowering the temperature? It's cool enough!" Lance feels hysterical, wringing at his shirt and he worries at his lips, biting down and looking harried.

"Is this another crisis?" Hunk asks, brows furrowing. He braces his hands against Lance's shoulders, shaking him, and Lance keens, peering over Hunk's shoulder to see Keith tie his hair up.

"He's tying his hair up," Lance seethes, blood roaring in his ears. "He's so good looking, why, my god, Hunk, I'm not sure if I'll make it."

Hunk pats him smartly on the back, once, twice, hard and heavy, and it shocks Lance a little, shocks him back into sanity.

"You'll live," Hunk says, eyes kind. "And you should probably get back to cleaning Blue before Keith beats you."

Lance whines, swallowing tightly, and turns away, striding back to his lion with all the passion of a hundred fireballs. Keith looks so good it makes his blood burn.

He starts scrubbing, eyes occasionally darting over to land on Keith, and tries not to cry when Keith bends over to reach for the bucket, digging his fingers into the hooks of Red's outer armour and slinging up, climbing to the top. His back muscles are corded tightly, straining beneath his skin and Lance can feel the saliva pool in his mouth.

Oh boy, he needs Hunk to dump a pail of water on top of him to cool him off.

He focuses on Blue, scrubbing like he means it and Keith probably has the right idea, climbing up to the top to scrub every corner and so he does the same, slowly scaling Blue and gently scrubbing, frowning at the slightly scratched armour and petting her in concern.

Soon enough, it does get too hot; he’s sweaty and tired, lying down on Blue’s slightly cooler - but soapy, so soapy - surface. He strips his shirt off, struggling to get it off his sticky skin and he gets a little stuck on the way, shirt trapped around his head because he’s too sweaty, too sticky and the fabric insistently sticks to his skin.

He rips it off eventually, panting with the effort because god, he didn’t understand how a shirt could be so hard to get off. Peering over Blue’s side, he lets it drop, watching as it flutters to the ground, which is pretty far away because Blue is super tall, and looks Blue over. She looks appropriately soaped up, and Lance is pretty sure he’s faster than Keith.

He chances a look at Red, sees a sliver of skin and looks away, cheeks red. Keith’s still cleaning, which is good, and it means Lance’s won.

“Pidge!” He yells, leaning as far as Blue’s head will allow. “Can you start the sprinklers?”

There’s a shout of acknowledgement and the sprinklers in the roof start above Blue, spraying down and washing all the suds off. Lance moans, lying back against Blue and just stays there for a while. It feels like rain pouring on his skin, pattering against his limbs and chest and oh boy, it feels amazing. It feels like he’s back on Earth again, dancing in the rain with his mama and older brothers, wrestling in the mud and screaming when mama dumps bucketfuls of cold rain water down their backs to clean them off.

His jeans are soaked through, and maybe wearing denim wasn’t the best idea when deciding to wash a gigantic robot lion but hey, Lance never said he was the King of Good Decisions - that’s usually Hunk, or Pidge. No, Pidge is the King of Smart Decisions, come to think about it. Smart, but not necessarily good. It’s the reason why Lance gets into so much trouble when he tries scheming with Pidge.

He watches the suds runoff, collecting in soapy water on the ground, and pats the clean, sparkling surface of Blue. He can hear her purring in his mind, sated and delighted, with a slight reminding nudge about how the interior, cough, isn’t as clean. Lance smiles apologetically, standing up and shakes his head, running his hand through his hair to push back the wet fringe. He’s dripping, wet with water, and his jeans are hanging way too low on his hips. They’re slipping, and Lance peers at them, wondering if Coran’s stretching them in the high-tech laundry machine on board because there’s no way Lance is getting thinner with how much delicious food Hunk’s been making. Ever since they found out how to reverse engineer human food, Hunk has not stopped cooking. Which is a godsend.

Lance is feeling lazy after cleaning Blue like his life depends on it, so he slowly climbs down and leans against her leg, smirking at Keith who’s waiting for Pidge to start the sprinklers over above Red. He’s red faced, probably because he doesn’t have as much stamina as Lance and tires faster - hah, Lance knew it - and he’s sitting patiently on Red.

“I was faster!” Lance calls out, extremely petty, trying to get a rise out of Keith, and Keith rises up to the occasion, bristling slightly.

“Red’s cleaner,” Keith yells down, and the sprinklers start, spraying down and soaking Keith to the bone. And- jesus, Lance takes a moment to clasp his hands behind his back and pray quickly because Keith’s pants were already practically skin tight and now the water is making it stick even further, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination, and Keith slicks his hair back, wet with water, gloves slightly damp and oh boy, oh boy, Lance needs to turn around right now before he embarrasses himself.

He turns, sending desperate hand signals to Hunk, who’s humming as he cleans Yellow, entirely oblivious to the intense, very real, very dangerous, very life-threatening crisis Lance is facing.

Pidge, having taken the same classes as them, signs back for Lance to keep your eyes open, all clear, advance in response to Lance going abort mission, enemies, evacuation needed, where’s first aid base.

Lance is going to die, he’s just going to keel over and die, and it’s just his luck that Keith pops up behind him, soaking wet and gorgeous, and Lance chokes on his tongue.

“You look really wet,” Keith says, raising an eyebrow, and Lance has lost his brain to mouth filter, his mouth is running on autopilot-

“I’m dripping with good looks,” he says, loud and clear, and the words echo in the sudden lull of silence that fills the hangar. Keith blinks, eyes wide, and there’s a quiet giggle from Pidge a while away, and a snort from Shiro who immediately slaps his hand across his mouth.

Hunk laughs softly, shooting Lance a discreet thumbs up and Pidge throws some popcorn - where she got it from, Lance has no clue - into Hunk’s mouth. They’re enjoying themselves.

Keith puffs his cheeks out, eyes filled with amusement and Lance can tell he’s trying not to laugh, trying really hard not to laugh, which Lance can appreciate, but it’s eventually too much for Keith to hold in or something and he doubles over, arms pressing against his abdomen as he laughs, loud and bright and delighted. Lance is left standing there watching the long pale curve of Keith’s spine against skin, the way the rim of his pants sticks to his hipbones and maybe Pidge needs to turn the sprinklers back on at freezing temperature because Lance needs a cold shower, pronto.

There’s a flush high on Keith’s cheeks, probably because he’s been scrubbing at Red like mad, and Lance laughs awkwardly while hurriedly backing away, throwing finger guns at Keith to distract him.

“I am good looking!” He yells before he ducks out of the hangar, loud and ringing and the hangar’s filled with unrestrained laughter, with even Shiro pressing his fist against his mouth and laughing, holding his stomach like it hurts.

Keith’s eyes are bright, his hair wet and hanging low in his eyes, shirtless and dripping and so fucking gorgeous - Lance braces himself against the wall, pressing his hands against it and slamming his head on the wall.

Jesus, he thinks. I’m so fucked.

There’s a voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like Hunk, quietly exasperated, and it says, “well, that took you long enough.”

Lance presses his forehead against the wall and waits for the heat in his cheeks to die down.

[commissions are open!]

#klance #vld #keith x lance #commission

2 notes · View notes

thisiswhereifall · 7 years ago

Text

Struggling to continue but I'm back

Hi! I'm back! Maybe not for long, but here I am!

College has been keeping me busy but I promise to do my best to keep contributing to this wonderful fandom. I love this ship so much, and it needs more art and fics. I'm proud of us, guys!

Anyway, I sort of mixed the prompts Secrets, Peanut Butter Cookies, and Headphones here to make up for lost time. Thank you all for your patience!

----------- o -----------

Keith wouldn't say that he actually had an idea of what's going on, but he did have one.

Keith normally never cared about anything that didn't involve fighting, war, or his identity and he still doesn't.

Keith had a habit of not setting issues aside and he does not intend to try solving a problem later on if it could be solved now.

Keith had an idea of what's going on, and even though he would never care about what comes of it, he will most definitely not just set it aside. It might affect teamwork, after all. Might.

And it all started with one simple question.

“Pidge, can I borrow your headphones?”

Keith usually didn't borrow anyone else's stuff. He'd prefer improvising his own method and equipment than owe anyone a favor, and it wasn't because he was cold and anti-social like the girl in front of him always says. He just wasn't used to kindness, being alone for most of his life. It could use some getting used to, now that he literally lived with a bunch of people unrelated to him in any shape or form – they were full human and he was not – and he would have to make a few adjustments to his lifestyle.

And although he will never admit it – and he doesn't plan to – he really missed music. It kept him company back on Earth, when he went for days with no one to talk to or care for him. Aside from training, Keith really liked music.

But he wasn't going to ask Coran or Allura to blast his favorite bands through Altean speakers. That would blow his cover and worse, get judged for his taste. Not like his taste was bad, he just knew that someone – namely, Lance – never fails to make fun of completely normal stuff.

So, he had no choice but to ask the only person he knew wouldn’t blabber about anything unnecessary.

“What do you need my headphones for?” Pidge's emphasis on the possessive pronoun made Keith cringe a little. He almost forgot that the girl values her equipment as if they were rare treasures(they are). Keith swallowed, and the two engaged in a staring contest when Pidge looked up from the machine she was building. Keith could feel Green's eyes on him, too, and he finally figured that he was, in reality, in the Green Paladin's territory.

He didn't break the eye contact, because he didn't want to seem nervous. “Uh, I…” Oh, great. He stuttered. “I just wanted to listen to something while training…” His voice lowered and he held his head low.

When Pidge eyed him, he already knew what her answer would be.

“That's… really a good thing to know. I didn't know you enjoyed music.” Pidge commented, and Keith almost yelled at her when she smirked mischievously. “But, uh, I…” Her voice trailed off, and she started adjusting her glasses. Keith knew – she was trying to find her words and was really nervous doing so.

As much as he wanted to listen to some music – and he just found out that Coran had access to Earth music earlier during breakfast talk – he felt bad making Pidge anxious. She was never really good with words. “You don't let anyone borrow your equipment.” The sentence came out colder than he expected it would.

Alarmed, Pidge's eyes widened in panic. “W-W-Wait! Okay, so maybe you're right, I don't let people borrow or touch my stuff, but I swear it's nothing personal, like, I like you, wait no! I only like you as a friend, nothing mushy or whatever, so it would be okay for you to borrow my things, but I just really feel uncomfortable when someone borrows my stuff and I swear I really like you – as a friend! Because I like someone else, and…”

Keith's ears perked up.

“Come again?” He immediately cut her off, and he could see the terror in her eyes while she tried to adjust her glasses frantically. Knowing that she wouldn't repeat any of the things she said, he decided to cut to the chase, as usual. “ You like someone?”

“I-It's not like that!” Keith was amused now. He had never seen Pidge so flustered before. Her confident façade faded and all he could see now was a girl who was desperately trying to hide her embarrassment. “I like him as a friend, too!”

Keith raised an eyebrow. If it was a friend, he was one hundred percent sure that the person was in this ship. After all, Pidge didn't seem like she had anyone she could call a friend before. Much like him.

Before he could push any further, Pidge turned away from him, working on her project once again. “Look, I'm really busy and sorry for the, uh, headphone thing. I need to finish this today, too.” And Keith left, deciding to ignore the fact that her hands were so sweaty and the tools kept slipping from her grasp.

Of course, that didn't stop him from training. For a while, he completely forgot about the earlier incident while he was facing the gladiator, not to mention, he lost interest quickly. It was a personal matter and he didn't want to pry any further into a silly thing.

That was until he and Hunk were sitting in the common room, and the door opened.

“Hey, Hunk, got any food in the kitchen?” Keith looked up to see a certain blue idiot by the door. Nothing special. Just Lance. He would ask Hunk for food every now and then, and this was normal.

Except he came in wearing Pidge's headphones around his neck.

“Uh, I think I left some of the improvised peanut butter stuff thing on the table.” Hunk answered. “We also have the alien bread that Coran really liked. He got a whole bunch of them from the Space Mall.” The Yellow Paladin quickly followed up. Lance tilted his head, confusion written all over his face.

“I don't really like peanut butter. Did you know peanuts cause acne? Not having any of that.” Keith blinked at Lance as he talked. As the Blue Paladin rubbed his head and turned to leave, Keith opened his mouth to speak.

“Did you just take that without permission?” Keith's accusing voice caused Lance to turn around with a scowl on his face. Hunk looked back and forth between the two, puzzled.

“What?” Lance replied without delay, taken aback by the sudden random question from his rival. Keith didn't seem pleased about having to point out what exactly he was talking about, but he did nonetheless. Lance eyes narrowed when Keith raised a finger to point at him – was that his middle finger? – or not at him, but his neck.

And when Lance's hand traced the object around his neck, his scowl disappeared upon realization. “Excuse me? I asked her nicely and she told me it was okay.” He turned to leave again. “Besides, she lets me use it every night before going to bed.” And with that, Lance left, leaving Keith to wonder about what just happened.

Lance passed by the common room again soon after, holding a plate with two peanut butter(?) sandwiches as he went to enter the opposite hallway from the kitchen. Didn't he say he didn't like peanut butter? Huh.

Of course, Keith knew there was something weird going on, but he hardly gave much thought on it. The days proceeded as normal, and the battles were won flawlessly – except that one time Hunk failed to break through an enemy barrier because he thought his Lion could, and Shiro had to save him from being melted by the nuclear material of the enemy defenses. The druids were getting more creative in their weapons.

Oh, and that one time, too.

It was just one little thing, no big deal. If Allura didn't say anything, Keith wouldn't notice – he was too busy maneuvering through the glaciers covered by the thick fog in the ice planet.

“I can't seem to find Lance. Paladins, the fog is interfering with the castle's sensors!” Allura's voice was glitching through the comms and Keith could tell that the Lion's sensors were also weakening. He immediately pulled on the controls, almost hitting a huge glacier, if not only for Red's agility.

“Lance—with me…--- found--- stuck in the – requ-- ck-up now!” Pidge's voice cut through the comms and it caught Keith's attention. “What?” He heard Shiro respond. Keith made a choice to fly up and out of the atmosphere, trying to receive the message.

“I said, Lance is with me! He found the prisoners stuck in a cave, we request back-up now!” Pidge's voice was loud and clear now, and Keith stopped himself from asking something entirely different.

Hunk beat him to it.

“You didn't split up? I thought we were supposed to split up. I go close to the ground, Keith would fly across the glaciers, Shiro and Pidge were supposed to fend off the incoming Galra ships, and Lance would--"

There was an air of awkward silence in the comms. It was a very short silence, almost unnoticeable, or maybe Keith was just overthinking things.

“Never mind that now, Paladins, we've got company!” Allura shouted, and a humongous blast caught everyone's attention. Without pressing on the issue further, they formed Voltron and took on the enemies with ease.

Nobody questioned anything further nor did the two receive scolding from either Shiro or Allura. It was like an unspoken message between all of them.

The next morning(?), a pissed-off Keith stormed out of the training room to drag out a certain Paladin who was late for training. As usual. As he neared Lance's room, the door opened before he could come close, and he didn't know why, but he hurriedly hid in a corner.

“Aw, come on, Pidge! That was my favorite song!” Lance's loud voice could be heard throughout the corridor, even though he was in his room. To Keith's surprise, it was Pidge who came out of the door, and to add up to his current surprise, Pidge was actually awake this early. Everyone knew how hard she worked every night, so they don't force her to train in the morning with them.

But here she was, striding out of Lance's room with her headphones on-hand. “Yeah, sure, Lance. Tell that to Shiro or Keith, whoever comes to your room to drag you to the training room first.” She answered with a smug smirk. “Besides, I need my headphones for something today.”

“You just want an excuse to see me this early every morning.” Lance retorted, unknowingly making Pidge's face as red as Keith's jacket. “After all, who could resist my charming bedroom voi—oof!” A jab to his stomach was enough to make him shut up.

“Whatever, Lance.” Pidge rolled her eyes.

Keith tiptoed away from the scene as quietly as he could. At least he now knows why everytime he or Shiro was about to pick Lance up, he was already awake before they could even knock.

#plance #pidgance #plance month #pidgance month 2k17 #pidgancemonth2k17 #pidgance month #vld pidge #vld lance #flirtyrobot #vld #voltron #plance voltron #vld keith #katie holt #fanfic #headphones

88 notes · View notes

starryeyed-char · 7 years ago

Text

Warm

Time for some more whump! It’s Day Two- Hypothermia!

Lance and Keith (read: klance) go to an ice planet.

why do i only ever hurt lance

“Figures,” Lance grumbled. “Stereotypical ice planet. Why couldn’t the rebels have lived on, I don’t know, a tropical island? The entire known universe and we can’t stumble across some beach residents in need of rescue?”

“Lance,” Shiro’s disapproving voice sounded over the coms. “The two of them gave me their only ship. Which means we’re helping them. They’re part of a freedom fighter organization, maybe they can help us.”

“Yeah, okay, but why do I have to be the one that gets sent down here? I’m from Cuba! This is way, way below comfortable temperatures for me.”

“Quit whining,” Keith snapped, glaring at Lance over his shoulder. “Our armor’s designed to keep us warm, and this is below comfortable for anyone. And pick up the pace.”

Lance rolled his eyes, but jogged to catch up to him.

“Sorry, Lance, but the red lion is the best at withstanding extreme temperatures. And it’s smaller, and faster than the other lions, so it can better navigate the terrain,” Shiro explained.

“Wish I had help navigating the terrain now,” Lance muttered under his breath. The two of them were currently struggling through over a foot of snow. “And that doesn’t explain why I had to bring Keith with me.”

“Because going on solo missions to unknown locations is how you get killed,” Pidge pointed out. “Star Wars? Hoth? Luke almost getting annihilated by the abominable snowman? Any of that ring a bell?”

“Quiznaking ice planets. Why are we out of the lion anyway, Shiro? Red’s warm. Do you want us to freeze to death and then have to hide inside the body of a space camel?” Lance’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Star Wars, Keith. Remind me to marathon it with you when we get back to Earth. My niece loves those movies, and she’ll eat all the popcorn, but it’s worth it. Trust me.”

“Would you two take this mission seriously?” Shiro asked. Lance could practically see him rubbing his temples exhaustedly. “I know it’s not exactly high-stakes adventure, but these guys saved my life. You’re not going to go prancing around the planet in your lion and accidentally destroy their hideout.”

“Prancing? Shiro, I don’t prance, I'm—”

“Lance, look,” Keith interrupted him and pointed out towards a large stretch of ice before them. It would’ve been a lake, had the planet not had such low temperatures. “Pidge, is that the direction we need to go?”

“Yep,” she told them. “The hideout’s not far from the opposite side.”

Keith sighed. “We’ll have to go around.”

“Woah, what? Keith, that lake is huge! It’d be so much easier to walk straight across,” Lance protested. “I’m not about to freeze to death while we take the scenic route.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, that’s ice, dumbass. If it can’t support our weight and breaks then we really could freeze to death! That water’s gotta be a lot worse than this.”

“I’m not an idiot, Keith, I know that. Pidge, if I send you a scan can you see if it’ll support us?” Lance asked. Pidge made a noise of affirmation, and Lance used his armor’s scanner to send an analysis of the ice to her.

“It looks pretty thick,” she mused. “I wouldn’t jump up and down or start hacking at it with your bayards if I were you, but you’ll be able to walk across.”

“See?” Lance smirked at him. “What’d I tell you? It’s fine.”

“Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, check the lake? What if there’s a… space octopus in there, or something? Or a shark? I mean, they wouldn’t normally live in lakes, but this isn’t Earth so who knows? Are space alligators a thing?” Hunk spoke so fast it was almost difficult to understand.

“Hunk, you’re rambling,” Lance observed with a fond smile. “But don’t worry. The top of the lake is frozen, so they wouldn’t be able to breathe, right? Let alone get to us. If it makes you feel better, I’ll do a full scan of the lake.”

“Nope. No animals down there,” Pidge confirmed a few moments later. “Now would you two hurry up and cross?”

“I still have a really bad feeling about this,” Keith mumbled.

Lance turned towards him with a grin. “We are so watching Star Wars together. In fact, we should see if they have it at the space mall. But sorry, Keith, if you want to go the long way, be my guest. I’m not going to wait any longer than I have to.”

“He really is the true pilot of Red,” Pidge sounded as if she was trying to repress a laugh. “Impatient as all hell.”

“Hey!” Keith and Lance exclaimed at the same time.

Pidge snorted. “Just get going already.”

Lance wasted no time in starting out across the lake. He was several paces ahead of Keith, who still hesitated to step out onto it. As he was about to continue forward, Keith stopped in his tracks. He could swear he saw something dark moving below the ice, but Pidge had scanned the lake for life, hadn’t she? It must just be his imagination. He started forward again, but just then the ground shook, and the ice in front of Lance exploded.

He let out a strangled yelp, stumbling away from whatever had just burst out of the lake. Keith could hear the frantic voices of the others in his ears, but it all descended into white noise as he saw the vine that had broken through the ice wrap around Lance’s legs.

He rushed forward, but it was already too late. Keith watched as Lance was dragged into the hole made by the creature, and plunged into the freezing lake.

The water was murky, and dark. Lance could barely see, all he knew was that something was dragging him further and further down into the depths. He didn’t have time to activate his helmet properly before water was rushing into his lungs.

He felt the grip of whatever held him tightening on his legs, and though he tried to kick he couldn’t break free.

Lance forced himself not to panic. Panicking wouldn’t help him. So he collected his thoughts, summoned his bayard, and pointed it down. He still couldn’t see anything, but with luck he’d hit the monster, not himself. He moved his finger to the trigger, aimed for what he hoped wasn’t his leg, and fired.

Judging by the shriek of pain and how the hold on him loosened, Lance guessed the laser met its mark. He kicked upwards immediately, swimming quickly to the surface. However, with limited eyesight and dwindling oxygen, his hands met nothing but ice. Panic started to overtake him again as he desperately scrambled to find the hole which he’d fallen into.

Lance was just starting to give up hope completely when suddenly a hand snagged around his wrist and yanked him to the side, and up to the surface.

Lance sucked in a breath, coughing the water out of his lungs as he collapsed onto the ice. His vision was foggy around the edges, but he could see well enough to notice Keith kneeling over him, breathing heavily.

“Are you okay?” he demanded, hands hovering over Lance’s form. “Are you hurt?”

“What—” Lance coughed again. “What was that… that thing?”

“I… I didn’t scan for plants,” Pidge told him apologetically. “In my defense, I had no idea there would be some crazy strong… Venus flytrap-ish monster living here.”

“Now will you listen to me when I tell you something’s a bad idea?” Keith asked, sounding way to relieved to actually come off as angry.

Lance gave him a shaky smile. “I c-could ask you the… the same, S-samurai.”. Keith tensed immediately.

“Why’s he talking like that?” he asked. “He’s… breathing weird, too. And shivering. Pidge, what—”

“Keith. Scan. Now.” Pidge’s voice was suddenly alert, and when Keith complied, she cursed. “Hypothermia. I should’ve guessed. Keith, get him back to the castle. He should be fine, but he needs a pod. Allura and I will come back to the planet in Blue later.”

Keith nodded, picking Lance up in his arms as if he weighed nothing at all, before rushing towards Red. “Hang on, Lance. You’re gonna be fine.”

“You.. you were r-right,” Lance admitted around chattering teeth. “That was a… very b-bad idea.” His eyes started to slide shut.

“Wh— no, Lance, you have to stay awake. C'mon, keep your eyes open. We’re almost there.”

“’M sorry, Keith, b-but it’s… it’s freezing, and you’re r-r-really w-warm,” Lance mumbled, closing his eyes and leaning his head on Keith’s shoulder. “I think… I’ll just take a little n-nap.”

“Lance, no, you’ve got to—” Keith started insistently, but Lance had already passed out in his arms.

Lance fell unceremoniously out of the healing pod, but was luckily caught before he collapsed onto the floor. He looked up to meet Keith’s dark eyes, and promptly groaned. “So, I guess we had another bonding moment.”

Keith bristled. “That’s all you have to say? Not ‘thank you for saving my life?’ After your stupid decision-making skills got you put in a pod for the… how many times has it been now?”

Lance ignored him. “Where are the others?”

“None of them wanted to stay overnight, because, again, you’ve been in this pod way too many times,” Keith told him, unsure if he should point out that Lance had made no move to step back, so Keith was still supporting the entirety of his weight.

“And yet you stayed,” Lance grinned. “Guess I should probably start listening to you, huh?”

“Guess so.”

Lance’s smile turned quickly into a smirk. “Well, that’s too bad, since we both know that’s never going to happen.”

Keith scowled, prepared to drop Lance onto the floor. He would have to, if Lance hadn’t leaned forward at that exact moment and kissed him.

It didn’t last long, but Keith was blushing furiously, anyway. It was nice to see that Lance looked a little flustered, too, though.

“Thanks,” Lance said softly. “For saving my life.”

“Um,” Keith started, brain still trying to understand what was going on. “Did you just— you and I— is this— what?”

Lance laughed, finally stepping back from Keith and turning to walk out the door. “I’m going to go get some food goo, if you’d care to join me.”

Keith watched him go, and stammered out a few more incoherent sentences before rushing after him.

2K notes · View notes