#his sm outfit is okay but it feels a little lacking in the coolness side (trust me tho hes soOOOO handsome so coolness can be disregarded)

[aqqleshiqqing-archive]

but since im an artist i can be the one to make the red content so ☝️.... anyways my next course of action is to give red his own special trainer outfit ♥️

[pftones3482]

Waterfalls

Posting early for Voltron Positivity Day! This is written for @made-of-constellations, who said they wanted klance, and I went digging a little on your blog and saw that you were also a fan of angst, so I put a teensy bit of that in here too (mostly fluff, though. Like tooth rotting fluff). Under a cut for length. 

Enjoy!!!

In retrospect, Lance should have maybe not snuck up on Keith while he was training, especially on level three, but to be fair Lance rarely thought through his impulse plans. His lack of forethought often put him in situations like this, with Keith’s sword at the center of his chest and his hands in the air-or, more accurately, on the ground.

Keith removed his foot from Lance’s stomach instantly and pulled the sword back, stammering some apologies that might have been more heartfelt if he hadn’t been simultaneously calling Lance a moron for not alerting him that he was there. Lance tuned him out until his head stopped spinning and he was standing again, fingering the tiny hole in his shirt with a frown.

“You ripped my shirt,” he muttered.

Keith faltered, his sword dipping to the ground. “That’s what you’re commenting on? I almost skewered you!”

Lance waved a dismissive hand. “Wouldn’t be the first time I almost got stabbed.”

“WHA-?”

“You wanna go explore a waterfall with me?”

Keith faltered, choking back his sentence and taking a moment to process. “What? Why me?”

Lance shrugged. “I wanted the whole team to go, but Pidge and Hunk are helping Coran with an electrical thing in the engine room and apparently if one of them moves the wrong way everything’ll blow up. And Shiro is helping Allura with scanning and tracking the next location of Zarkon’s troops, and they both just kinda waved me off when I asked.”

Keith could hear the wistfulness in Lance’s voice, but he was stuck on one thing. “So I’m your last resort.”

Lance flung his hands up. “No! Like I said, I wanted the whole team to go! I just happened to run across everyone else first. They said no, and I figured you would too, but I thought I would at least try and ask.”

He shrugged, stepping back and glancing down at the floor. “I can just go myself, no biggie. I’ll take pictures.”

Keith watched him turn, and something in his gut twisted at the look of disappointment that flickered over Lance’s face for a split second. “Sure, why not?”

His head shot up, a smile blossoming. “Really?”

Keith willed his sword away and ran the back of his hand over his forehead to get rid of the sweat. “Sure. I could use a break, and a cool down. Meet you at the exit?”

“Okay!”

Lance bounced away in excitement and Keith followed, chuckling.

~~

They met back up ten minutes later, Lance shouldering a backpack and now wearing a t-shirt and shorts instead of his usual outfit, and Keith…well, Keith had just changed shirts and put on a more comfortable pair of shoes and shorts. Lance frowned at him. “Where’s your stuff?”

“We’re just going to a waterfall, Lance.”

“Um, yeah.” Lance dug into his bag and started pulling things out, naming them as he went. “Water bottles, granola bars from the swap moon, sunscreen for your pale ass, tiny first aid kit-”

“Okay, okay. Yeesh. Boy Scout.”

Lance grinned and saluted Keith with two fingers. “Five years and running! Let’s go!”

He waltzed out of the castle and Keith rolled his eyes but followed, a small smile on his face. It wasn’t often he and Lance spent time away from the others together, and when they did, usually one of them-or, more likely, both of them-was in danger. The elevator, the evil castle, that time on the Balmera. It would be nice for them to just…hang out. As long as they didn’t start arguing, which Keith did not discount as a possibility.

“So how far is this place anyway?” he asked, ducking under a branch as Lance glanced up from the tiny device-Keith thought it was a GPS-in his hand.

Lance squinted down at the GPS and tilted his head like he was calculating. “Fifty feet or so that way,” he declared, pointing down the trail.

Keith glanced over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “That’s written in Altean.”

“Well yeah,” Lance admitted, stepping over a rock and sidestepping a little so that he and Keith were walking together. “But on the holomap, it clearly showed a waterfall. So I just downloaded all of the information onto here. I’ve been trying to at least learn Altean numbers; it’s easier than the alphabet, and probably more useful for most things.”

Keith blinked in surprise. “You’re learning Altean?”

Lance shrugged like it was no big deal. “Trying to figure out Galra, too. But the castle doesn’t have as much on that, so I’m just going based on what the Blade gave us.”

Keith fell silent, eyebrows furrowing as they trudged along. He was starting to hear water in the distance, and his dry skin perked up at the idea. Lance nudged him. “Yo. Frowny McFrowner. What’s up?”

“Nothing,” he reassured Lance quickly. “Just…never even thought to learn Altean, let alone Galra.”

He silently dared Lance to say something about his family lineage, but Lance just tilted his head thoughtfully. “Figured I might as well be useful for something.”

The way he said it, so flippant, rubbed at Keith the wrong way, and he was about to protest that Lance was useful when the Cuban yelped in delight and pushed through the last of the brush, coming to such an abrupt halt that Keith nearly smacked into his back. He tripped around him, ready to chew him out, and his jaw fell.

“Whoa.”

“Same.”

The waterfall itself was about as gorgeous as a waterfall could get; toppling waves and splashes of liquid crystal spilling and tumbling over a mountain-side, crashing in a burst of white foam and bubbles. But the pool it spilled into…that was a whole other level of beauty.

The water was totally clear, all the way to the bottom of the pool, and instead of the ground being sand or gravel, it was covered in rocks of every color of the rainbow. They glistened and snapped in a way that suggested they might be jewels, but when Keith lifted one out of the water, it dripped plain purple, still colorful, but not nearly as alive as the rest of the pool. He let it fall and resume it’s glimmering, forcing himself to shut his mouth.

Lance looked to be struggling with the same problem, his teeth clacking together as he pursed his lips and then promptly shook his head, jaw falling again. “This is…wow.”

“I know.”

Lance gave him a side glance and grinned, teeth glimmering in the reflection of the pool water. “I’m gonna scale the waterfall.”

He was off before Keith could protest, dropping his bag at the rocks by Keith’s feet and running full throttle at the base of the falls. He jumped, and for a heart thudding second, Keith was certain he’d slip and he’d have to carry Lance’s unconscious corpse back to the castle. But he caught hold, biceps straining against his sleeves, and started pulling and climbing like it was second nature.

Keith watched with baited breath, eyes flickering over his build and form as he climbed, and before he knew it, Lance was about twenty feet up on a pathetically tiny ledge, grinning and waving at Keith. Water from the falls bounced over him, and Keith shook his head in disbelief. “How did you do that?” he demanded.

Lance’s smile widened into an almost wicked look. “I scaled buildings at home. Got arrested twice.”

Keith didn’t get a chance to comment before Lance was jumping, an arch gliding through the air with his hands slicing up to form a triangle over his head. His descent into the water was so smooth that it barely rippled, and he came up laughing in delight, tossing his hair from his eyes.

His throat ran dry and Keith glanced away as Lance trudged to shore and kicked off his now soaking shoes, peeling his t-shirt off of his skin and tossing it on top. “Come on, Mullet. Water’s great. And totally safe, according to the castle.”

Keith licked his lips and scanned the water. It was deep enough for Lance to dive from twenty feet up no problem, which meant that the shallow appearance was deceiving. He didn’t bother to ask how Lance had known he wouldn’t split his head in the dive, assuming he had already looked it up. “I…I can’t swim,” he admitted, feeling rather stupid about it.

“What?”

When he glanced up, Lance seemed more bewildered than teasing, and Keith relaxed a bit. “Uh…I’ve lived in a desert my whole life, so I never really…needed to know how to swim. So I just never did.”

Lance shook his head and tisked. “That’s not gonna do. I’m-wait.”

He frowned, eyebrows furrowing. “You can’t swim, but you were going to the pool when we got trapped in the elevator.”

Keith flushed and turned his gaze to the rocks, kicking at the rocks. “Yeah, well…Allura said that there were bots in there that could probably teach me.”

“Nope. Not gonna happen. I’m teaching you. Get your sweaty mullet in here, Mullet.”

“It’s not sweaty!”

Lance snorted and ignored him, splashing back into the pool and diving underwater for so long that Keith started to get uncomfortable. He came up on the other side almost 45 seconds later, barely out of breath, and stuck his hand under one of the calmer streams from the falls. It pressed his hand down and Lance gave Keith a grin and a middle finger, a taunt, really, to come join him.

He kicked off his shoes without really thinking and stripped off his shirt. He was glad that he had had the forethought to change into shorts, and he hesitantly waded into the water until it hit his waist, not sure how to continue from there.

Lance popped up at his side, scaring him half to death, and clapped Keith on the shoulder with a bare hand. “Okay!” he cheered, bouncing on his toes and sending ripples through the water. “You can float at least, right?”

“Uh…”

“On your back, cowboy.”

“Cowboy?”

Lance didn’t answer, merely waved his hand in a circular motion, so Keith went with it and leaned back in the water. He had seen it enough in the movies that it couldn’t be too hard, and he kicked his feet up with ease, feeling a slight sensation of smug pride as he floated for a moment. It vanished the second his hips started to sink and he lost any sense of balance, legs finding their hold on the ground and forcing him back into a standing position. Lance was trying very hard to hide a smile and Keith scowled. “This is dumb. I’m leaving.”

“No, no, no, no,” Lance chuckled, grabbing him by the bicep and pulling him back. “I’m sorry, your face was just priceless. Happens all the time. You’re used to bending your torso when there’s nothing behind you, and water isn’t sturdy. Try arching your back a little and spreading your weight out.”

Keith did as he suggested, letting his arms and legs drift a little in the water and shutting his eyes for a moment to focus. “Good,” Lance murmured, somewhere to his right. “You’re still sinking a bit though, here, let me-”

Warm hands settled at the small of his back and in between his shoulder blades and Keith almost choked, heat flooding to his cheeks and eyes snapping open. “What are you doing?” he croaked.

Lance shot him a smirk. “Uh, keeping you from sinking, dumbass.”

Keith let it go, and after a few moments of holding the position on his own, Lance pulled him into chest deep water to continue. “Okay, look, so I’m not like, an expert on any kind of stroke, but just follow my lead.”

He kicked back so that he was staring up at the sky and lifted one arm up and behind him, twisting his body slightly with it and kicking his opposite foot the slightest bit. He repeated the action on the other side, moving faster, and started to backstroke through the water neatly.

Keith watched him with interest. “I thought people usually like…do front strokes and doggy paddles first.”

Lance flipped upright and gave him a deadpan stare. “Would you like to learn the doggy paddle, Keith.”

“…no not really.”

“That’s what I thought.”

They kept at it, Keith thanking whatever deities existed that he had been working on his upper body training lately, because damn swimming was a workout. He only really noticed how long they had been working when he glanced up and found one of the planet’s two suns sinking over the horizon. The second wasn’t far behind. “We’ve been here for hours,” he muttered.

They were sprawled across a couple of large rocks at the very base of the waterfall, the spray misting their faces while they munched on a couple of granola bars. Lance hummed thoughtfully, shifting his way down the rock until he was seated directly next to Keith. “You want to go, then?”

Keith glanced at him and fiddled with his wrapper, clutching it tightly in his hand. He had a feeling this place might react negatively to any kind of litter. “Not…not this second, no.”

Lance nodded and took the trash from Keith, sealing it up along with his into a baggie that he shoved into one of his pockets and zippered shut. “Me neither.”

They stayed silent for another moment, just watching the sunset bounce off of the rocks at the base of the pool, and then Lance gave a cocky grin. “Race you to the other side.”

Keith shot him a glare. “I’m nowhere near as fast as you and you know it.”

Lance chuckled and shoved him off the rock and into the water, careful to avoid the rushing falls. Keith came up spluttering, treading the water with an angry look. “Jerk.”

“Head start. Go.”

Keith frowned and edged away from the rocks, using them to kick off of and stroke back to shore. His breast stroke was weak but getting better, but it tired him out faster than he cared to admit. He kept going though, knowing Lance would taunt him if he stopped, and was about halfway across the pool when he felt the twinge in his side. He ignored it for a split second and then it was crippling, stabbing him as if in retaliation to his ignroring. His body shut down and he twisted at the last second to shoot Lance a desperate, pleading look.

His face morphed from amusement to horror, and the last thing Keith was able to see before he slipped underwater, taking a massive gulp of air with him, was Lance diving.

He had heard about swimmers cramps, but had always thought people overexaggerated. He was wrong. His sides felt like he was back in the Blade trials all over again, late in the trials, when he could barely function. He tried to force his arms away from where they curled around his sides, tried to make his feet kick, every single thing Lance had taught him that day flickering through his head, but nothing worked.

And then arms were wrapping around him from behind, warm brown fingers interlocking over his chest, and he was pulled straight up, pressed to Lance’s stomach. The teen was panting, and he leaned back so that Keith was essentially laying on top of him, feet fluttering and one arm moving away to stroke back through the water.

As Keith came to his senses, he could hear the choked out apologies spilling from Lance’s lips, directly next to his ear. When his feet brushed rocks, he found solace in the firmness of the ground and pulled Lance back, disentangling himself from the other’s grasp and standing on his own in the hip deep water, trying to catch his breath.

The pain in his side faded and he faced Lance slowly, ready to feel ashamed, but the look on Lance’s face was wracked with guilt and fear, and he found himself slumping. “It’s not your fault,” he croaked out, wobbling a little in the water and gripping Lance’s forearms to stay steady.

Lance swallowed and grabbed him by the elbows, drawing him upright and studying him carefully. “I shouldn’t have pushed you in. You were tired, and I forced you to…”

“I didn’t have to,” Keith muttered, glancing away. “I could’ve just told you to fuck off and walked back.”

“I knew you wouldn’t.”

Keith stared at him through his dripping bangs, reading the anguish in Lance’s eyes. He squeezed his arms weakly. “And I trusted you to come save me. And you did.”

“I wouldn’t have had to save you if I hadn’t-”

“Lance?”

He snapped his mouth shut and tilted his head. “Yeah?”

Keith ran his fingers over his head, pulling his hair out of his face. “Thank you,” he said sincerely.

Lance stared at him for a moment, thumbs tracing circles on Keith’s elbows, water rippling around their hips. The second sun was on its way down now, faster than the first, and the air was growing chill and dark. “We should uh…we should get going,” Lance finally murmured.

Keith nodded and they turned away from one another, trudging back to shore and wringing out their shorts as best as possible before slipping their suns warmed t-shirts back over their heads. Lance put on his shoes without retying them, like a heathen, and waited patiently for Keith to actually put his on the proper way. “Good?” he asked, voice hesitant.

Keith glanced up at him and stood, striding over to him and cupping his face gently in his hands. Water dripped into his eyes and ran down his back, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. His towel was slung around his shoulders, Lance’s dangling over his arm, and he swallowed. “I’m okay, Lance. I promise.”

Lance nodded, a little hard to do with Keith’s hands still on his face, and then he raised an eyebrow. “You gonna kiss me, or what?”

Keith hesitated, hands slipping a little to give Lance more room to move. “I…do you want me to?”

The bob of his head was so small that if Keith hadn’t been touching him, he might have missed it. He gulped, not sure how to respond, and went with his gut, dipping in and pressing a soft kiss to Lance’s lips, water trickling over their noses and making the action a little more slippery than intended.

Keith pulled back first, letting his hands drop to Lance’s shoulders, and he squinted. “Did the rest of the team really not have time to come?”

Lance shuffled, giving him a shy smile. “Yeah. I didn’t make that up.”

“Mmm. Sure.”

“I didn’t!”

Keith chuckled and ducked in again, pushing another kiss to his lips before backing away and slipping his hand into Lance’s, squeezing gently and tugging him onto the path. “Sure you didn’t.”

“You stink.”

“Mm-hmm.”

They started back down the trail, hand in hand, just as one of the planet’s three moons lifted onto the horizon and bathed the woods in a soft, golden light. They both cursed, glanced at each other, and started sprinting, fingers interlocked and laughs bouncing off of the trees.

Shiro was going to kill them.