#it was either this or when Keith begs Shiro not to die on him again

[shezit]

What's your favorite moment between Shiro/Keith

Mines is when despite Shiro being in the Black Lion and protected Keith still tries to deactivate the bombs. Great job Keith, it doesn't quite make sense but great job. (Also his clutch on saving Lotor)

[rangoatemybabynsfw]

Alien aphrodisiacs that makes Klance unable to keep their hands off each other. Keith fucking Lance's brains out. Lance riding him to hell ans back, all because if they don't they feel like their skin will burn off

Fuck or die! Fuck or die! Fuck or Die!

How many times has he come? Feels like dozens and yet Lance is still hard and dripping. He can’t stop moaning and begging for Keith to fuck him more. But this angle isn’t getting deep enough.

As much as it sets his body on fire he pushes Keith off him. Within seconds he’s straddling him and dropping down onto that cock, each drop pushing come out of his already creamed asshole. Seems like Keith can’t stop coming either. Keith grabs his thighs in a death grip and pulls Lance down onto his cock hard each time he goes up. The both of them erupt with moans in volume they have no control over.

“D-Don’t stop! Don’t fucking…stop!” Keith moans and sweats.

“I can’t…I couldn’t–f-fuck Keith!” Lance whines and comes again. He feels come pulsing into his ass from Keith’s own release. “G-God that’s…I’m still…”

“Don’t…D-Don’t stop, Lance,” Keith begs and pulls his ass down on the cock in hard slams. “I’ll…I need more.”

“M-Me too,” Lance moans into his mouth, kissing lips and licking his skin. “M-More,” he moans and begins dropping again on that cock.

It takes hours for them to finally come down and pass out. 

When Lance wakes his ass is killing him and he’s sore. Both of them are covered in scratches, bites, and bruises from holding too hard. There’s a few days of awkwardness around the entire ship (as they weren’t the only ones who got hit with that aphrodisiac at the alien party. Poor Shiro doesn’t leave his room out of shame for DAYS). It’s agreed that no one eats anything alien until it goes through Pidge’s homemade mass spectrometer beforehand.

That said…Lance mentions to Keith that, other than the ridiculous soreness of his poor ass, he actually wouldn’t mind doing something like that again. Keith finds that he’s in agreement.

[littlewhitetie]

In Loving Memory

“Just a little further,” Lance says. “We’re almost there. At least, according to Hunk’s geiger counter thing.”

Keith is too busy trying to stay upright to respond with words as he drags his feet across the jungle floor. Sweat drips from the bangs plastered to his forehead, stinging as it falls into his eyes. He’s exhausted. The nausea that’s been building since they got to this damn planet is reaching a point where it might make good on its threat soon.

Lance eyes him with concern. “Do you want to take another break?”

“No,” Keith says. “Let’s just hurry up and get this over with.”

The Xanorian jungle is creepy as hell. It’s far too quiet, especially considering all the movement in his peripheral vision. Vines creep and slither, ready to ensnare. Tree branches sway without wind; their cloud-shaped clusters of leaves should rustle but don’t. Flowering plants turn to face them, tracking their movements with invisible eyes as they get deeper and deeper in.

And yet Lance seems to think the place is perfectly lovely. It’s so calm and peaceful, he says. The plants are so pretty, he says. Nothing’s watching us, he says.

So either Keith is seeing things that aren’t there, or Lance is just oblivious. Really, it wouldn’t be the first time for either of those options, but given his climbing fever, Keith is willing to admit it’s probably the former.

Keith keeps his eyes on the ground, focused on keeping one foot in front of the other. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left…

“Hey, look,” Lance says, pointing through the trees. “There’s a clearing up ahead. That’s gotta be where the ygdranite is.”

“Mm,” Keith says, not looking up. He’ll take Lance’s word for it.

They get a little closer, and Keith almost runs smack into Lance when he comes to an abrupt halt.

Lance looks ahead, then down at the pinging geiger counter, then back ahead. “Uhhh, okay, so… we found the Xanorians…”

Keith steps out from behind Lance to get a better look. Ahead of them, the trees open up, replaced by rows and rows of glass coffins erected as far as the eye can see. A shudder rockets down Keith’s spine.

“Apparently, it's this way,” Lance says with a grimace, leading them forward into the graveyard.

The Xanorian corpses all around them are humanoid, each with dark hair and pale skin. They all look the same. Exactly the same. This place, it's almost like…

 Keith pauses, gags.

Lance puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Seriously, man. We can take a break,” he says. “The ygdranite can wait a few doboshes.”

“I just want to get out of here,” Keith says, past the point of trying to put up a front. Lance might not know exactly why this place is so horrifying—Keith hasn’t told anyone about the clone facility beyond its existence—but he’s well aware Keith has been on edge since they set foot on the soil.

“Fair enough,” Lance says. “Just let me know if you need to stop.”

They walk past row after row until a towering stone statue comes into view, a scaled up version of the bodies in the coffins. The geiger counter leads them right to the base of the statue.

“Coran said the stuff would be pink, right?” Lance asks.

“Yeah.” Keith’s head spins as he looks around them. The only pink around is a magenta stone embedded in the crown atop the statue’s head, glittering from the centre spoke.

“So I guess we’re, like, grave robbers now?” Lance says.

“Not like they’re getting much use out of it,” Keith says.

“True.” Lance looks up and down the statue. “I’m guessing you’re not feeling up to pulling your super ninja moves to go get that crown.”

Keith frowns. “My what?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lance says. “I got this.”

Keith takes a seat and rests his back against the base of the colossal statue while Lance circles around, muttering to himself as he surveys it from different angles. Keith’s teeth chatter. He’s freezing. He hugs his knees in against his chest in a feeble attempt to warm himself, and closes his eyes.

He doesn't fall asleep, but he must get halfway there because he startles out of something when Lance calls his name. His eyes snap open, and the sight of the rows of glass coffins hits him all over again. He struggles to fight back a wave of nausea.

“We’re good to go,” Lance says, waving the glittering, baseball sized gemstone in his face. He frowns as he takes a closer look at Keith. “You really don’t look good, man. We can see if someone can come get us. They might be able to land a bit closer than we did.”

Keith shakes his head. “They have other things to focus on. I’ll be fine.”

Lance purses his lips. “If you’re sure. Just let me know if you need to stop to rest.”

He helps Keith to his feet, and they head back the way they came, back through the rows of preserved corpses.

Lance prattles on about something or another—probably recounting how he managed to obtain the gemstone—but Keith’s too exhausted and distracted by their surroundings to actually focus on what he’s saying.

It’s slow going, and by the time they’re back in the thick of the jungle, Keith is barely standing. Lance ducks under Keith's arm to bear some of his weight. It helps, but only for so long.

“Lance,” Keith slurs, vision blurring past the point of recognition. “Think I… need a break…”

Lance starts to say something in return, but Keith passes out before he can make sense of the words.

... 

“Hello, Keith.”

Glass pods flicker and light up all around him. They cradle cold bodies, all wearing Shiro’s face. Unscarred, dark-haired, two-armed. They’re younger, softer than the Shiro standing before him, the one awaiting Keith’s arrival with a predatory gleam in violet-infested eyes.

Keith’s heart hammers in his chest; he’s been afraid of this moment for two years. Still, he tries to keep his voice steady. “Shiro, it’s gonna be okay.”

“Yes. I know.” Shiro’s voice is wrong, all wrong, sucked dry of any semblance of warmth or kindness.

“We just have to get back to the Castle.”

“We. Are not going. Anywhere !” Shiro snarls, charging forward. Keith barely has time to throw his shield up before he’s slammed into the wall, air knocked from his lungs.

Shiro doesn’t let up. There’s no holding back; he's aiming to kill. His attacks are relentless, lethal strikes that leave rubble in the wake of his fist.

Keith tries to get away, but Shiro comes after him. His Galra arm shifts and forms a pink plasma blade, extending his range. There’s no escaping. Keith has no choice but to fight back.

“I’m not leaving here without you,” Keith vows.

Shiro’s lips twist into something vicious. “Actually,” he says, “neither of us are leaving.”

Something overhead activates, and violet lights turn fuchsia. Shiro falls to his knees, crying out in pain as his Galra arm comes alive. It tears its way up his arm, metal and cracks of pink light devouring the flesh of his shoulder. The new monstrosity forms a laser cannon that obliterates everything in its range, breaking the facility to pieces. Massive chunks of the structure fall around them.

“Keith?” A panicked voice comes from somewhere behind him—Shiro’s voice, muffled by glass. “Keith!” an identical voice says, this time on his left. “Keith, please!” Another joins on his right. “Keith!” And another, and another. Hundreds of voices all around him converge in a desperate chorus.

Keith takes his eyes off the fight for a half-second to glance at one of the pods. The Shiro inside has his hands pressed to the glass, eyes wide. He’s alive, and terrified.

“Keith, please, help!”

A laser blast fires, and on instinct, Keith dives out of the way. The blast hits the pods he was standing in front of instead. The clones inside scream as they’re incinerated.

“No!” Keith cries out. “Please, stop this,” he begs, but his words have no effect. Shiro raises his arm again.

Another blast. More screams. The Shiros around him are crying, pleading, they don’t want to die, but there’s nothing Keith can do. He can’t protect them.

“Keith! Keith!”

Keith just barely manages to avoid the blasts head on. Shiros are killed, left, right, and centre, in his stead. Some are hit directly, some crash to the planet below as the structures supporting them are destroyed. Eventually, every single pod is decimated.  “I’m sorry,” Keith gasps. “I’m so sorry.”

Shiro switches weapons, drawing his plasma blade once again. He circles in and lunges. Keith can barely move, but a burst of adrenaline at the very last second gives him enough strength to reach for his blade and parry.

“Shiro, please,” Keith begs. He’s in there. He has to be. “You’re my brother. I love you.”

Shiro’s eyes widen, and he falters for a fraction of a second, but it’s not enough. He pushes down harder, and Keith’s vision goes white as the plasma blade sears his cheek. The scent of burning flesh fills his nostrils, and the pain only gets worse. The blade’s about to melt straight through his face.

It’s hard to focus—everything hurts so much— but he manages to summon the black bayard, forging a sword strong enough to cut through even the strongest of metals. Keith takes a desperate swing. It slices through metal—

—and flesh, and bone. Shiro lets out an agonized scream as blood gushes from where Keith has severed his arm. More pours out from between his ribs, where the sword’s trajectory continued deep into his side.

“Shiro!” Keith scrambles to his knees and presses his hands to Shiro’s gaping wounds in a futile attempt to stem the bleeding. That—that wasn’t supposed to—

“Keith,” Shiro whispers, resting his remaining hand over Keith’s. “You know that won’t do anything. You’ve already killed me.”

“No, just—just hold on—”

Shiro smiles. It’s a touch bitter, mostly sad. “I thought you loved me. But I guess when it comes down to it, you always put yourself first.”

“No, no, Shiro, I— ”

“How many times are you going to let me die?” Shiro asks.

“I-I’ll get you out of here somehow. I’ll find a way to save you, I just—”

“Goodbye, Keith.”

“No, I can’t— Please, don’t leave me—”

The floor gives way. Keith reaches for Shiro, but his blood-slick hand slips out of his grasp.

“No!”

Shiro plummets toward the planet below. Keith dives after him, but he can’t catch up. Everything goes white as they enter the atmosphere and burn, and burn, and burn…

 ...

Keith wakes with a strangled cry. He’s choking on air—too much, not enough.

He can’t—can’t breathe. He doesn’t know if he’s just gasping for air or full out sobbing, but the animal sounds tearing their way from his throat refuse to be suppressed.

His skin is on fire; he’s being burned alive. The scar running from his jaw toward his eye throbs with remembered pain, and he claws at the wound with desperate, shaking hands.  

Something in the distance calls him—no, some one . A familiar voice guides him back with strings of soft words: Shh, Keith. You’re okay, you’re okay.

Gentle hands pry his fingers away from his face— let’s not make that worse —then slide beneath his shoulder blades to pull him up to sit. Dizziness rushes him, but the hands don’t let him fall. One hand holds his upper arm at the junction where pauldron meets rerebrace; the other snakes around his shoulders.

They stay there, just like that, until Keith comes down from his panic enough to form words. “L-Lance?” he rasps, between ragged breaths.

“Hey,” Lance says, tone gentle.

“Shiro,” Keith gasps. “Shiro, he’s… I-I couldn’t…”

“Shiro’s fine,” Lance soothes. “You were having a fever dream, but you’re awake now. Everything’s okay.”

“Just a… just a dream,” Keith says, shakily.

“Yeah,” Lance says. “Is your face okay? You were...” He makes a vague scratching gesture at his own face. “Does it hurt?”

“It’s—it’s fine now,” Keith whispers. “It just comes back sometimes when I… have dreams about…” He shudders, wrapping his arms around himself. Tears lick his cheeks, his scar.

Lance holds him tighter. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to. But if you do, I’m here to listen.”

“...Thanks,” Keith utters, voice hoarse.

When it becomes apparent Keith doesn’t have anything further to say—he appreciates the offer, but reliving it is the last thing he wants to do right now—Lance asks, “Hey, do you… want to talk to Shiro?”

Just his name sends a surge of fear through Keith’s veins, but that wasn’t real. It was just a dream. Keith shakes his head. “I-I’m fine.”

Lance’s face is a gentle mix of disbelief and pity before he rearranges it into a smile. “Maybe. But it might be nice to check in with him anyway, yeah?”

Keith grits his teeth. He can’t bother Shiro, not with this . Shiro’s busy, and Keith’s not a little kid anymore. “It was just a… just a dream.” A dream rooted in a very real memory, one branded into his cheek. A memory of a fight that could have ended very differently.

A surge of nausea hits Keith hard. He pushes Lance’s arm away from his shoulders as he leans over and retches.

Lance holds Keith steady as he vomits. The act leaves Keith panting for breath and shaking all over again, but Lance doesn’t let him collapse. He helps Keith back to a seated position, letting him lean against him, and runs a steady hand over his back.

It’s unusual, having someone here with Keith like this, comforting him when he feels downright awful. There’s only one person who had ever done anything like this for him before, back when he’d gotten sick at the Garrison. “Shiro,” Keith whispers.

“I’m gonna call him,” Lance says.

Keith snaps his head up. “N-no, don’t. He has more important things to worry about.”

“More important than you? I don’t think so,” Lance says.

“I—I’m fine. I’m fine .”

Lance tries a different tack. “I’ll just call to let him know where we’re at, alright? Update him on the mission.”

“...Okay,” Keith relents.

Lance flashes him a smile and opens up his wrist console. Soon enough, Shiro’s face appears on the screen. “Lance? What’s going on?”

There’s no trace of malice or pain or despair in Shiro’s voice. There’s no purple in his warm, grey eyes, no Galra arm crawling up his shoulder. He’s alive. Breathing. He’s okay, just like Lance had promised.

Keith lets out a choked sob in relief.

Shiro’s brows furrow in concern. “Keith?” Shiro’s eyes widen as Lance tilts his wrist to fit Keith in the frame. “Keith! What’s wrong?”

“You’re… you’re safe,” Keith breathes, forgetting to answer. Shiro’s safe, in both senses of the word. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Keith’s sick,” Lance explains. “He’s got a pretty high fever.”

“Keith, I...” Shiro pauses to shift the concern in his face to something gentler. “Yeah, I’m safe. You always make sure of that.”

“We got the ygdra-whatever,” Lance says, holding up the pink stone for Shiro to see. “Is anyone available to come get us?”

“I’m on my way,” Shiro says.

Keith shakes his head. “No, I’m—I’m okay. You don’t have to.”

“But I can, and I want to,” Shiro says, calmly.

“But…”

Lance turns to Keith. “Don’t you want to get out of here?”

“I… I don’t want to be a burden,” Keith says, quietly. Shiro’s gone out of his way to help him more than anyone should ever have to.

“You will never be a burden, Keith,” Shiro says, with enough conviction it’s impossible not to believe him. The way he says it is so typical of him, so Shiro , that it makes Keith’s heart swell with relief all over again. “Hang in there. I’ll be there soon, alright?”

“Thanks, Shiro,” Lance says. “See you in a bit.”

The video screen closes. Lance gives Keith a gentle nudge and a soft smile. “See? Shiro’s fine.”

“Yeah,” Keith says, quietly. He’s no less sick, but he does feel better. He presses his cheek to Lance’s shoulder. “Thanks, Lance.”

“Just rest up,” Lance says, bringing his head to rest against Keith’s crown. “I got you.”

“I know,” Keith murmurs, and lets himself fall back asleep.

[This fic was originally written for @vldwhumpzine! The zine features some brilliant artists and writers, and there are a few extras for sale! Check out their page for more details.]

ETA: Check out @zharpzhooter‘s GORGEOUS art that accompanies this fic!! It’s incredible! I’m so glad we got to work together for this zine! :) 

[greenteafiend]

hi! i'm loving your badthingshappen series!! are you still taking requests? if you are, can I get "human shield" with pidge and keith? maybe this time it could be pidge who protects keith? but i would love it either way, your writing is beautiful

Here you go anon, hope you like it :)

@badthingshappenbingo

And also, a bit late but @keithgenuary for Pidge, day 12.

Even though Pidge only has a split second to make her decision, it is an easy one to make.

These are the facts:

The Galra is aiming for Keith’s head.

If Keith gets shot in the head, he will die.

If Keith doesn’t die, he will most certainly be rendered unconscious at the very least, and will therefore be unable to make it back to his lion under his own power.

Paladin training has made Pidge stronger, but Keith is heavy. It’s doubtful that she’d be able to move him anywhere quickly.

Even if she does manage to outrun their enemies while carrying an unconscious/possibly dead Keith, she can’t pilot Red, the lion that is their ride out of here.

When leads to her justifications:

She can move, and take the shot somewhere that isn’t her head, like her shoulder or something.

She probably won’t immediately die from a blaster wound in the shoulder.

If that renders her unconscious, it won’t matter because—

She is a tiny human—as loathe as she is to admit it—and Keith is strong. She had no doubt that he can carry her and run if necessary.

Keith is the Red Paladin, the Red Lion is his to fly.

So Pidge jumps in front of him, and the world explodes into pain.

—

“Pidge!” Keith screams. Watching her fall feels like slow motion. Her knees hit the ground first, and then she tips forwards, torso following. The thud reverberates through the inside of Keith’s skull, and then Pidge lays still. Dangerously still. Everything inside of Keith contracts in horror and denial.

No—

He barely feels the motions he goes through to end the fight. Slash the sentry in front of him, pivot and hurl his whole fucking bayard at the one across the room that had aimed for him, but hit Pidge. Shot Pidge.

The force of the throw impales the sentry through the chest, right up to the hilt, and it goes down, but Keith doesn’t wait to watch it fall.

He scrambles to Pidge’s side, rolls her over onto her front, and gasps.

His hands curl into fists and he swears viciously under his breath, because this looks bad.

The shot blew clear through her armor, leaving the edges blackened, and blood seeps out of the hole like water out of busted pipe.

Should have been me.

Her eyes are wet and clouded with pain and confusion.

This is my fault.

“K-Keith?” she stammers weakly, trying to raise herself, only to fall back with a pained gasp.

“I’m—I’m gonna get you out of here,” Keith vows.  

Without thinking about it, he raises an arm in the direction of his bayard, and it materializes in his hand. He’s never done that before, but it doesn’t matter. Time is of the essence.

He gathers up Pidge’s limp body, trying to be careful, trying not to jostle her injury, but still, she fights him.

“Ow! Hurts—p-put—lemme down—” she cries, words slurred, squirming weakly.

“I’m sorry,” says Keith, hitching her higher in his arms so that he can run.

She whimpers, a pained sound that reaches directly into Keith’s chest cavity to stab at his heart. But he can’t stop, no matter how much she begs, or tells him it hurts.

“Just stay with me, you’re gonna be okay,” Keith urges.

He runs so fast he’s practically flying.

—

Pidge’s memories after that are fuzzy and indistinct. An outraged growl. Panicked words urging her to keep her eyelids open—they feel so heavy. Being lifted, weightless, as fire and agony assail her shoulder. Struggling against it, trying to push it away.

And then blissful cold, dark, nothing.

—

When proper consciousness returns to her, she is falling out of a cryopod, and into directly into Shiro’s arms. He hugs her tightly, with a desperation that surprises her.

“Is she okay?” That’s Keith, and he sounds impatient.

“She’s fine, number four.” It sounds like that is not the first time Coran had said those words.   

Shiro finally steps back, holding her at arm’s length.

“You gave us a scare,” he says. 

“We’re so glad to see you back on your feet,” says Allura, stepping forward to gently press her glasses back onto her face. 

It lets her see that behind them the whole team is assembled. They were all worried enough to be here, waiting for her to get out… it makes Pidge feel warm.

“I knew Keith had everything under control,” she says, grinning.

To her surprise, her words make Keith’s face crumple in distress, and then he covers his face with both hands as his shoulders start to silently shake.

Pidge can only stare at him in shock, because—is Keith—? Is he crying?  

Hunk sets a hand on Keith’s back, giving him a comforting pat, and Lance says “There, there, mullet, she’s fine,” and they are the first words Pidge has ever heard Lance say to the other boy that contain no hints of meanness or teasing.

Pidge stumbles forward unsteadily until she’s right in front of him.

“Keith?”  

Keith sniffs, and lowers his hands, revealing red eyes and tear-streaked cheeks.

“That shot was for me, they were aiming for me, but you—you—” he hides his face in his hands again.

“They were aiming at your head specifically,” Pidge points out, and then she starts to ramble, scratching the back of her head because this is awkward. Keith is their resident emo hotheaded loner, and here he is crying. Over her.

“I’d do it again, you know. I knew a shot to the shoulder wouldn’t kill me, and I knew you’d get me out of there, and I couldn’t fly Red anyways so we’d have—oof.”  

Keith lunges forward and swallows her up in a hug.

“Don’t do that again,’ he growls, squeezing her so tightly she can barely breathe.

More arms pile around them as everyone joins in on the hug.

“But… thank you,” Keith whispers, just to Pidge.

[tunasama13]

VLD Whump idea (My honey nut feelios edition)

Basically the clone story line but instead of going berserk in S6 and all the mushy gushy brotherly bond, S4 is when Haggar is like, “Hee hee time to ruin Project: Kurons life!” And controls Shiro to (attempt to) kill Keith. Keith gets out alive but doesn’t come out unscathed either, suffering major injuries. The Paladins can’t help but notice that Shiro’s eyes look a little off when they find him about to do the killing blow, but someone thinks fast and knocks him out. Allura and Coran tend to Keith immediately, the Paladins stay with Shiro until he wakes up, when he does, before unlinking her connection to him, Haggar places the hallucination in his mind that the remaining three Paladins are berating him and saying all that, “How dare you!” And “What’s wrong with you?!” shit that makes me sob. In reality, the Paladins are asking if he’s okay and trying to check for injuries. But Shiro, being the angsty baby he is, says “I’m sorry” repeatedly and running off, locking himself in his room. Keith recovers a few days later but freaks out at the team, saying they have better not have sent Shiro back to the Galra. The team explains everything, how Shiro must have been possessed. Keith grabs his Blade and intends to kill Haggar for what he’s done to his brother. Shiro has locked himself in his room, not able to get over what he’s done to his little brother. Hunk leaves meals at his door but he never takes them, he only ever comes out to walk around the Castle sometimes. Occasionally, the Paladins see Shiro crossing the halls looking depressed and all that, but whenever they point him out, Shiro bolts away. One time, Shiro has a nightmare and he decides to walk in the halls, thinking no one is awake. However, Hunk and Allura are having a sleepover and watching a cooking show and it isn’t until Hunk hears footsteps that he investigates and sees Shiro, who doesn’t notice. Allura however notices and she says, “ShEeWo??? 0w0?”. Shiro whips around so fast that Hunk shits himself and the Oreo boi tries to run away, but Allura somehow catches him and pulls him back to Hunk’s room. Shiro, of course, is again hallucinating that they are going to take him back to where he thinks he belongs, the Galra Empire, and of course, he’s screaming and begging that they don’t take him back, Allura gets super confused, and Hunk is like, “Why would you think we’d take you back to that living hell? :’(“. Shiro breaks down and starts sobbing that he’s sorry and that he should die. This is when Allura definitely decides Haggars fate to be death, and Shiro is all wrapped up in a soft blanket and cradled against Hunk’s chest. Maybe mix the “shh-ing” and the gentle gestures and words. Lance and Pidge are still sleeping and Keith is at the Blade’s base. In the end, Hunk and Allura are snuggling Sheewo close to them while all three watch the show. The next day, they coax Cookies and Cream hair boy to reveal himself to the other two, he hides behind Allura at first but then Lance runs up and hugs him. Male Scorpia is confused and he is a little intimidated but Pidge yeets herself into him and at that point his fear just melts away. Keith in the meantime, pretty much crushes Shiro’s ribs with how hard he hugs him, and Haggar if you ask? She is still fearing for her life at this day.

[asian-hero]

hey its the prev anon (the tumblr eating asks one) yeah thats not mine, can i get a shiro x fem reader with prompt 67? Thank u !! Sorry if it seems like im pressuring u ^w^

this sounds more gender neutral i hope you don’t mind

#67: When One Stops The Kiss To Whisper “I’m Sorry, Are You Sure You-” And They Answer By Kissing Them More

send me a kiss prompt! (vld, tdp, ml, dbh (i’m begging you, send me connor kiss prompt pls))

Your friendship with Shiro was always sort of rocky. It wasn’t that you two hated each other, it was more of a double sided love-hate relationship. You were constantly angry and worried about all of the stunts that Shiro pulled and he was annoyed with how you were always watching him. Ever since you two were little, you’d always hurl insults at each other, trying to see who could say the most vile thing to the other. This occurred so often that your parents, teachers, and other classmates thought you actually hated each other. Of course, this wasn’t the case, and if either of you said something that crossed the line then you’d apologize, because deep down, really deep down, you cared for each other. 

That’s why you found yourself in the med bay of the Garrison, waiting right outside of the surgery room that currently held Shiro in it. He had been reckless. The Atlas was losing power and the paladins of Voltron were in a tight spot, not being able to fend off the Galra by themselves. So Shiro, ever the self-sacrificing hero, decided to take one of the MFE fighter pilots and rushed right into the fight. He managed to help take down two of the Galra’s ships, but he was shot down by the cruiser, crashing down right in front of the Garrison. 

You remember rushing alongside the medics to the emergency room. Seeing Shiro with blood pouring out of his head, bruises and burns littering his exposed skin, will forever haunt you. Seeing his face contort into one of pain while trying to talk, blood trickling out his mouth as well, is etched into your memory. The feeling of his blood seeping onto your skin and clothes, the warmth that it provided, had now been burned into your flesh, and you couldn’t wash the feeling away, no matter how hard you tried. You know that you’ll never forget when he looked at you, even though he’d been through hell and he was a certified mess, he smiled at you. A peaceful smile, full of warmth and love that, once he slipped into unconsciousness, still rested on his face. That one damn smile was the sole reason of the blood curdling scream that tore itself from your lips. 

Looking down at your arms, you took in a deep breath. Although you’d scrubbed away at the blood on your skin and burned the clothes tainted with his blood, you could still feel it linger. It felt like a constant reminder that you failed him somehow. No matter how much your brain tried to convince you that his injuries weren’t your fault, that you aren’t even a soldier, you couldn’t help but think that you could’ve prevented this. Maybe, if you had joined him in the fighter pilot division instead of the medic division when you were younger. If you had been trained to fight in this type of combat, then maybe this could’ve been you, and not him. 

The quiet “swish” of the door opening and closing caught your attention. Glancing up, you noticed one of the operating doctors standing next to you. Springing up to your feet, you looked at her curiously.

“How is he?” You croaked out, your voice damaged by your screams earlier in the day.

The doctor smiled at you, activating the door to open it. “He’s no longer in critical condition, but he’s still unconscious. You can see him, if you’d like.”

You nodded your head, not trusting your voice to speak any longer. Stepping inside of the room, you were quick to sit down in the seat next to Shiro. Seeing the rise and fall of his chest, a quiet snore coming from him, made you sigh in relief. Brushing his bangs away from his face, you smiled, gently caressing his face in the process. Looking over your shoulder, you smiled faintly at the doctor.

“Is it okay if I stay here?”

She smiled, nodding her head as she exited the room, leaving you to slowly fall into a light slumber. 

———

The sound of sheets rustling is what woke you up. Opening your eyes groggily, you noticed that Shiro’s eyes were finally open. Snapping up, you analyzed his face, making sure that he wasn’t in immense pain. He seemed to know what you were doing, as he turned his face away from you.

“Stop looking at me like that. I’m fine,”

You huffed out in annoyance. “You know, for once in your life can you just shut up and let me worry about you?”

When he didn’t respond, you sighed. Grabbing his face gently, you forced him to look at you. Leaning in, you examined his face once more, making sure that there were no cuts or bruises in more important places. After a few seconds had passed, you slumped back in your chair, tears threatening to spill from your eyes. 

“Do you know how stupid you are?”

Shiro blinked, clearly not expecting that from you. “Wow, I just woke up less than five minutes ago and that’s what you want to say to me?”

You crossed your arms, sending a harsh glare at him. “Look at yourself! Do you have any idea how worried we were?”

Shiro sat up slightly, wincing at the pain that shot up his side. “I did what was necessary for the team’s success,”

You could practically feel the steam rolling off of you because you were so angry. Your hands balled into fists, your blunt nails indenting the skin of your palms.

“What if you died? You do know that you’re not immortal, right? I don’t care if you thought that you were ‘helping’ the team, your life is just as important as their’s!”

“They’re our only chance to defeat the Galra! I’m not going to sit by and do nothing if I can help!” Shiro yelled, not looking at you.

You felt your tears streaming down your face freely now. “There are other ways you can help! You don’t have to continuously put yourself in harms way!”

You couldn’t help the sob that ripped through you. All you could think about was how lifeless Shiro looked, how terrified you were when you tried to help him up on the stretcher. Taking a deep breath, you tried to calm down your sobs as you spoke:

“Did you even think about the consequences that would happen if you did die? What would the Garrison do? What would the paladins do?” You took a second as hiccups began to arise, “What would I do?”

Shiro snapped his head towards you, his eyes softening at the sight. He scooted over on the hospital bed, patting a spot for you to sit. You obliged, slowly moving over towards him, rubbing at your eyes in the process.

He gently took your hands away from your eyes, resting his forehead on yours. You looked at him, your face heating when you realized how close he was. 

“I’m sorry for making you worry,” He whispered, not wanting to break the peace you two had.

You smiled, shaking you head slightly, causing your foreheads to bump. “I know you are. I also know that after this you’ll still put yourself in danger, so, just, please be careful. For me.”

He stroked your cheek, silently making a promise to you. Leaning in ever so slightly, Shiro slowly moved until his lips were on top of yours. 

His lips were rough and chapped, partially due to the cold hospital air. You gripped his shoulders, making sure to not damage him even more so. Carefully, he wrapped his arms around your waist, hoisting you up onto his lap, deepening the kiss. You sucked his bottom lip into your mouth and he groaned, before pulling away slightly, looking at you with concern.

“I’m sorry, are you sure you—“

Instead of answering him in words, you pressed your lips back on his, your nose bumping into his cheek slightly. His hands were immediately on you again, gripping your waist tighter. His tongue pressed against your lips, silently begging for entry. You allowed him to, tasting your shared breath. 

You absolutely could’ve done this for an eternity, if it weren’t for the “swish” of the door and a round of horrified gasps. Jumping off of Shiro, you turned around, groaning when you saw who were the intruders.

Standing in the doorway were the paladins, with Lance and Hunk staring at the two of you in shock, Allura covering her and Pidge’s eyes, and Keith, leaning against the door with a bored look on his face. Shiro cupped the back of your head, hiding you in his chest. He narrowed his eyes at them.

“Haven’t you heard of knocking?”

“Haven’t you heard of bed rest?” Keith countered, a smirk on his face.

You groaned, pushing yourself further into Shiro’s chest. He laughed at your antics, pressing his lips to your hairline. Looking up at him, you smiled.

You were thankful for him being alive.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Caramel Skin Under A Vanilla Sky prt 48 full draft

Shoving his way out the observation room, Keith was running. The stupid hall looped around, meaning other than breaking through the glass there was no way he could get to Lance as fast he wanted to. The moment Lance had begun to sink down, Keith was pushing Shiro out the way to get to his boyfriend. Shiro who was still in shock over what he'd heard. His adoptive brother breaking down into silent tears when Lance had thrown being raped back into Kre'el's face. The absolutely gutted expression in Shiro's face had been something Keith never wanted to see again. No doubt so much more made sense in Shiro's mind now. Lance's aversion to the Galra beyond weariness of strangers. The things he'd said about what Allura had done to his body... But Keith couldn't care about any of that. Not when Lance crumbled in on himself. He'd tried to fight Shiro to let him go the first time Lance had stood up, yet let himself be reassured that Lance was strong enough to do this. The second time he'd tried to bolt was Lance sat back down, the third when Lance begged Kre'el not to talk about the positive test. Shiro had no idea... but the words cut through Keith's heart. Soft growls coming from the back of his throat as he was forced not intervene. He hated being on the wrong side of glass. He hated that the didn't care that Kre'el's arm literally tore off before their eyes. He hated her stupid backstory, and the way it make him hurt.

 Rounding the corridor, Veronica was startled as Keith didn't slow, slamming his hand down on the hand pad and rushing into the room to his crying lover. Gathering Lance up in his arms, his boyfriend was limp. His eyes red rimmed as he stared past Keith's face. Tapping his face, Lance didn't rouse, his scent overwhelming Keith's rationality as he hurled him up with him as he rose to stand. He didn't know what would have been better for his Lance to hear, but he knew his boyfriend had shut down because he was trying to process everything he'd been told. Kre'el had developed feelings of friendship for Lance and tried to push him away, only to fail, or for her to have simply hated Lance all along and it'd been a lie. She must have been beyond desperate to turn around and try to kidnap both of them on that ship. Or had that been an act for Lasandi's benefit? What would have happened if Lance hadn't interfered with the wormhole? And where was this new home? They were supposed to be the last of them, her and Lasandi? Or was this another lie of hers? Another misdirection in her scheme? It wasn't like she could go anywhere.

 Medical staff were shuffling into the room as Keith tried to carry Lance out. Lance felt frozen in his arms, Shiro and Veronica were waiting outside the space, Veronica being scolded by a very worried Shiro. Turning to him both stared at Lance, Veronica's face morphing into something akin to fear

"What happened!?"

"I think it's a panic attack. I'm taking him back to my room"

"I'll help..."

Veronica might be Lance's sister, but his instincts were going crazy. Growling at her he exposed his sharpened teeth and slightly yellowed eyes, as he hiked Lance up in hold

"I know you're his sister. I know you want to help him, but he doesn't need it. He's an adult. He's not your baby brother, but a fucking bounty hunter. He's not the same little kid. He doesn't need you coddling him. He doesn't need your help. I've got him. If you want to help, make sure that bitch doesn't die before I get my hands on her"

  Lance's body temperature continued to fall as Keith carried him back to his room. The Telula was too far, and Lance was clearly in shock. Getting him into the bathroom, Keith settled Lance down in the tub, cautious as he started undressing his lover. Water and being touched... Lance feared both and he didn't want to push him over into snapping with no control over his "fight or flight" instincts. Starting with his boots, he worked his way up, talking to Lance the whole time to let him know it was him. Lance continuing to stare past him, the occasional tear rolling down his cheek.

 Pouring in a generous douse of bubble bath that Lance's mother had bought for them on Earth, Keith started the taps, slowly warming the temperature until it was on the warm side of lukewarm. Lance still shaking too much for his liking. Cursing softly, Keith struggled his way out his boots, throwing them and his communicator across room toward the door, before moving Lance forwards to climb into the tub behind him. Sliding down, the half-Galra positioned his husband so Lance was laying along him, forehead tucked protectively just under his chin as he hushed his boyfriend gently, his features losing their Galra twinge the longer he held Lance. He really needed to stop swapping between the boyfriend and husband in his head. They'd agreed on boyfriend's while they worked this out, and this was definitely not worked out or something their friends needed to know in further detail.

  A varga or so passed before Keith was happy with Lance's body temper. His eyes had slid closed and he seemed to be sleeping off the strange panic attack. Nearly asleep himself, the knock that landed on the bathroom door jostled him back away. A growl on his lips as he held Lance tighter

"What?!"

"It's Shiro. Do you need help? You've been in there a while now"

He didn't want Shiro in there. Lance wouldn't want Shiro in there, but he didn't know what had happened in his boyfriend's mind. Sure, Lance could get spacey, but this was like super spacey. He didn't know what the best way to handle this was or if it was normal for Lance to sleep this off. Or if it was safe for him to sleep it off. Making sure Lance's modesty was covered, Keith kissed his boyfriend hair

"Come in... he's sleeping"

 Dried tear tracks remained on Shiro's face. His white hair a tussled mess, adding to his washed out appearance

"How... how is he?"

"Sleeping. I've never seen him like this before. That wasn't a usual panic attack. I don't know what to do"

"Is his breathing and his pulse rate regular?"

Placing his fingers on Lance's neck, he felt for his pulse

"It's a little fast. He's breathing normally"

"Then he's probably sleeping the attack off... I'll get you a towel for him. I doubt he wants me touching him"

This is what Lance feared. Everyone treating him differently

"No, but Shiro. You can't... you can't blame yourself and you can't treat him any differently. He's so fucking scared of you all finding out. He doesn't want to be treated any differently. Coran's helping him find a therapist he's comfortable with. The first one was a flop, and Coran doesn't have what Lance needs in a therapist... and..."

 Grabbing his towel off the rack, Shiro held it towards him

"Keith, you're panicking. This is a conversation we should be having with a clear head. What do you want me to do?"

"I want to sit him forward so I can get out, then get him out"

"Do you have spare towels?"

"In the cupboard"

Bending down Shiro draped the towel over Lance's mid section, before guiding him up off of Keith's legs. Sliding out from behind Lance, water sloshed over the floor, Shiro supporting Lance longer enough for Keith to gather him up and lift him out the bathtub

"I'll grab you out some towels"

"I'll dry him off in here, then I can put him to bed out there. Can you wait outside for us?"

"Want me to grab you something to wear?"

They didn't have clothes in the bathroom... Lance was far too naked for his liking, and far too naked in front of Shiro, even with the towel covering most of him. Being runt sized to most Galra had its advantages, towels were practically single sheets

"Yeah. Some sweats and shirts. He can take vargas to come back from a normal attack, but..."

"Keith. I've seen his attacks before. I should have stepped in, but I thought he deserved answers to his questions... None of us could quite expect what Kre'el had been through"

Glaring at Shiro, he didn't want her name spoken near Lance, let alone thought

"That doesn't make her actions alright. You have no idea how hard it's been to bring him back... He's fucking fighting so hard to stay strong. He was out there with none of us for 6 phoebs... I want to fucking kill her... I want to killer but now I'm stuck sympathising with her... I can't take the truth away... and I have no idea what he's going to say when he wakes up"

"For now, worry about getting dry and cleaned up. I'll find those clothes for you"

"Thanks, Shiro"

Keith knew he didn't need to ask Shiro to keep this to himself, but was sure they'd be having that conversation whether about what had happened he liked it or not

"You're welcome. Anything either of you need, you know I'm always here for you"

"We know... Um... maybe don't mention this to Lance. He's... he doesn't like people touching him when he's unconscious"

"The secret's safe"

  Lance roused as Keith was drying his hair. His boyfriend was sitting on the toilet, the best place to keep him stable as he dried him down. Letting out a sniffle, Keith pulled the towel down to find Lance's pained eyes staring at him. Leaning in, the half-Galra kissed his boyfriend's forehead before resting his own against it

"K-Keith...?"

"You're ok, baby"

"What... what happened?"

Lance's voice was soft and broken, stuttered with disorientation

"You had an attack. We're back in my bathroom. You were freezing cold so I got us warmed up. Do you understand me?"

"She was a mother..."

"Babe. Babe, hey. I need you here with me. Did you hear me?"

Lance nodded, raising his head to kiss Keith's forehead before settling back against him

"We're in your bathroom"

"Good. That's good. We're going to have a little lie down until you're feeling up for talking again"

"I feel drained"

"Yeah, it was a bad attack. You were really out of it"

"'m sorry"

"It's ok. Let me just get you dry and warm"

"And we'll cuddle?"

"Yeah... Oh, quiznak!"

Lance jumped lightly, whining at Keith's curse

"What?"

"I forgot to put Kosmo out last night... I don't know if he'll be here or with mum"

"It's ok... I'm ok... I just need to process what she said... you and... oh..."

Lance's breath hitched. Keith gave him the best smile he could

"No. No, stay focused on me. It's ok"

"He knows... too..."

"We'll talk about it after you get some rest"

"I'm so fucking stupid!"

Lashing out, there was no real bite, but self derision

"You're not..."

"I am! She... she went through so much! She had to watch her daughter die... what happened to me..."

Lance wasn't up for this, not when he was too out of it to

"Babe. No. What happened to her, she had decaphoebs to find another way. Any other way. You're going to work yourself into another attack in you don't calm down for me"

Sighing, Lance raised his left hand to his face Keith narrowly missing having his eye impaled on his fingers

"Sorry. My head's all messed up"

"It's alright. You're alright, just let me take care of things"

Lance gave a small nod

"Yeah... I feel... out of it"

"Maybe a little bit"

"I... want to see her again"

No way was that happening. She hadn't given them much of anything in terms of her operation. She'd only served to break Lance's heart further

"Ok, that's enough talking for now"

"Still want to see her..."

"We'll talk about it later"

 Carrying Lance out the bathroom, he was awake and cuddly. Nuzzling into Keith's neck, Keith wouldn't be swayed. Lance was resting, and he was resisting his cuddly charms. Pulling back the covers for them, Keith pulled a face at Shiro who was looking at them like he'd seen the most precious baby animal video in existence. Slipping in under the covers, Shiro covered them back up, Lance yawning as his nuzzling was disturbed

"Hi, Shiro..."

"Hey, Kiddo. I thought you were sleeping"

"I am..."

Shiro gave a soft chuckle, about to sit on the edge of Keith's bed until Keith let out a warning growl. Smacking him on the chest, Lance scolded him

"Bad Keith. No growling at your brother... Shiro... don't take it to heart... he gets growly"

"I'll give you growly"

Nuzzling at Lance's hair, Keith kept it up until Lance started trying to push him off, twisting himself to face away, but burrowing back into Keith's hold

"Ok. Ok. Shiro, can you stop this?"

"Sorry, Lance. He's yours now"

"Ugh... ew!"

Licking the side of Lance's face, Lance wiped at the spot with annoyance. Keith was kind of trying anything he could to keep Lance's attention on him and not his brother. He didn't want Shiro touching his boyfriend, or near their bed. He wanted the bed to be Lance's safe place to hide until he bounced back. The half-Galra couldn't stop his instincts or desire to monopolise Lance for himself

"Shiro's trying to ask me if I'm ok, and I want to sleep. Can you stop it long enough for me to tell him ok, and I'm sorry"

"Babe, you don't need to apologise"

"I do. I was supposed to do better"

Shiro moved his hand, going to place it down on Lance's forehead before stopping himself. In his hold, Lance deflated. So much for not treating Lance in anyway except for normal

"It's fine Shiro, you're not going to get dirty... I saved that for your brother..."

 Keith and Shiro's hearts broke. Climbing onto the bed, Shiro pulled both Keith and Lance into an awkward hug. Keith was sure the hug was for Lance, but he wasn't letting go. Even if his body was protesting how he had to move for the hug

"Don't ever say that about yourself. I didn't want to upset you or cross your boundaries after a panic attack. You're not dirty. You're not... You did well, you got her talking. She spoken more to than to any of us"

"I lost my head"

"It happens to all of us. Whatever you need, Lance. You can rely on us"

"Please don't tell anyone... I don't want to be different. I don't want any pity"

"I won't. I promise you that I won't. You get some rest for now. I remember how exhausting it was coming face to face with Sendak again was. You're safe and allowed to rest"

"Thank you, Shiro... I'm sorry I f-fucked everything up"

"You fucked nothing up. Don't think that for a moment"

Lance sniffled, trying to lighten the mood like he did when things got too much

"Space Dad swore. Did you hear that Keith?"

"I did. Whatever would the others say?"

"I don't know... I'm so sick of resting"

 Shiro released then both

"Rest is important. Take some time and talk things through. If you can't talk to Keith, or myself, then talk to Coran. Don't keep it bottled up inside"

"Keith's been... he's been good. Better than I deserve..."

"Don't say that either. You nothing deserve to be happy. I'm going to let you rest. I need to check some things out and check them with what Kre'el said. I'll let you both know later"

"Thanks for keeping us in the loop"

"You're welcome"

 Left alone with Lance, Keith pulled him back down to spoon up with him. Rubbing his hand up and down Lance's right arm, his boyfriend let out another yawn

"Shiro's right, you need rest"

"That's all I've done since I got here... I don't know why I'm so tired"

"Because you had an attack"

"It's not even lunch time"

"That doesn't matter. Take a nap and we'll talk about it all later, ok?"

"Matters to much"

"That's because too much matters to you. You're too kind for your own good"

"Something else to fuck up... Dios... I'm shutting up now"

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You heard Shiro, you did good. Now stop avoiding sleeping, I'm right here"

"So bossy..."

"I thought you were shutting up..."

Lance grumbled under his breath as Keith held him tight. For all their travel, he'd swap it all to be able to go back to that morning and find a way to be by Lance's side in that room with Kre'el.

    *

Lance napped for a few vargas before waking again, shifting around in his hold as he tried to fall back into a nap, then gave up. It was only early afternoon, Kosmo having teleported in while Lance was dead to the world. A note attached to the wolf's fur that his grandmother wanted to talk to his father at his earliest convenience. Scrunching the note up, Keith tossed it across the room. His mother wasn't going anywhere, and he wasn't going anywhere without Lance. Still sleepy, Lance rolled in his hold. His lips pushed against Keith's before Keith knew what was happening. The kiss was small, but filled with love. Breaking the kiss, Lance raised his hand to cup Keith's face, his thumb tracing the edges of Keith's lips in a caring, yet ticklish way

"Hey you"

"Hey. How do you feel?"

"Mmm. Like I have lot on my mind"

"Wanna tell me?"

"I... I think I need to talk to Kre'el again"

"Babe..."

"Please, Keith..."

Keith knew he should let Lance talk, but his heart was starting to race. The little bell going off in his head, telling him this was bad idea

"No"

"Keith, please..."

"You had a panic attack! You stopped functioning and you temperature dropped! You don't owe her anything!"

 Screaming at his traumatised boyfriend was definitely not how to handle the moment. His soft and loving boyfriend racing to get out of his bed and away from him. Pushing himself up, Keith closed his eyes. He had to calm down. Counting to three, he opened his eyes again

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled"

Wrapping his arms around himself, Lance didn't come closer. A thick lump forming in his throat at the rejection

"Babe. I know you think you need to be strong, but she got into your head"

"Of course she got into my head! You heard what she said..."

"She ordered Klearo..."

"She didn't order him to rape me"

"No! She ordered him to torture you"

"I know! I was fucking there... but Keith... I need to talk to her again"

"Why? What could you possibly want to know?"

"I want to... I want to know what happened. I want to know what happened to Helo. I want to know why she couldn't tell me. I want to know... I want her to know I kind of get it"

 Keith was staggered. Lance "kind of got it". What? What did he get? That even though Allura gave her life, nothing could have been done for Kre'el or her people because they'd been affected by the radiation a bad wormhole had bathed the ship in? Because that was the only thing he got. Things went to shit for them. They tried to make it on there own out of sheer stubbornness and hate, but that got them nowhere at all. Lance had been a last ditch attempt to selfishly save themselves.

 No. He didn't really think like that. Not deep down... But he did. Kre'el wasn't there to piece Lance back together. She'd been right there. She should have protected him from the beginning, not felt shame after the damage was done. If he was parent, he'd never wish this on his kids. Did other people's kids not matter? Because she hadn't birthed him... The smiling shifted Kre'el looked in her late twenties at the most... Her being more than 50 times their ages refused to sink in. How long ago had she lost her daughter? His thoughts were getting off topic again.

 "What the quiznak do you mean you get it?! She could have stopped him at any time! She could have stopped all at this at any time? Or have you forgotten she cut your finger off? Or that she had that thing put in your head! I love you! I love how fucking brave you are, but I can't... I don't know how to keep letting you hurt yourself! You weren't talking. You were ice cold. You weren't even blinking, just staring like you didn't see anything at all! How do I pick you up from that again? I refuse to let her hurt you again"

"I'm hurting because I'm confused! I'm confused!"

"You're hurting because she tried to fucking kill you!"

"I'm hurting because I was pregnant too! How could she not tell me? I tried to do the math on Altea and I ended up fucking wrong, but I would have been giving birth there if that was still inside of me! She was a mum. She wanted to save her kid and had to watch her die. She... she said she wouldn't wish rape on anyone... and... she's been there. I don't know how... but she's been there... She's been there and she's been so full of hate. She could have said it out loud, but when I asked if she cared she stopped... I want... I need to know if she was just stopping because she remembers or if she did care... I need to know if she was ever my friend, or if she was trying to let me down gently. I need to... I need to know if she killed everyone. She said they were taken care of. The ones I didn't kill... she... she promised they had all gone away... Keith... they could be out there. More of them with that tattoo... I need to know... and I... need to know if they filmed it... What if they survived? What if there was more than I remember? I have to know. How can I be with you, if that's out there? How can I be with you if I always have to wonder? I want to start a new life with you, Keith. Which means I need to leave my past behind. I can't leave it behind when it's constantly clawing to be let in..."

 Keith groaned, covering his face before sliding his hands up and his fingers into his hair

"I don't want to smother you. I don't want to act like I own you. Like you're some damn pet. So why can't you get it already? How much I love you. That when you hurt, I hurt too. I want to be your husband. I want to make you happy, but when you do things like this, put yourself in harms way, I don't know how to protect you or help you. You always want to do everything alone when you're trying to spare someone the pain of being hurt, but babe, that's not what you wanted from a relationship. You wanted us to be equal. I'm telling you I'm scared for you. I'm scared that seeing her again, is going to... is going to break you so badly you won't come back to me"

"Can't you have faith in me?"

"I do"

"Then let me talk to her again. Let me ask what I need to know. How do you think it would look if the media got the videos? How would it look for a former Paladin acting like such a slut? And for you... people might turn their backs on you and the Galra again... That would ruin everything you've worked for. The Galra are still called brutes. Having four of them rape... having four of them touching me... If people see it, they're not going to see them as just a small section of the Galra. They're minds are still healing from the war... and this... this going to send it all back there. I need to know. And I'm going to talk to her..."

 Lance trailed off, arms still firmly wrapped around himself

"... Keith"

"I don't want you in there with her alone. Can you understand why? You've old just woken up from an attack. You're shaky and vulnerable to another straight after... what if it all goes wrong? What if... you get stuck in your head. I'm doing everything I can to support you. I'm trying my fucking hardest. I don't know what you want from me"

 The problem wasn't having faith. He had faith and trust in Lance. He was just... he was so tired of walking on eggshells because of Kre'el. Lance was the one having the attacks, he could soothe Lance through the attacks, but it made him feel so weak and helpless. He couldn't handle things he didn't know how to handle

"What I want from you is to understand I'm doing this for both of us... I want my boyfriend to understand that I want to leave this behind. I want to... I want to understand, Keith... Why don't you come to see her with me? I know it's going to be hard for both of us, but you deserve as many answers as I do. I... I couldn't have... I probably would have been dead by now, without you"

 Climbing off the bed, Keith walked over to Lance who instantly reached for him. Hushing him, Lance nuzzled into his neck

"I want to put this behind us. I want to make sure it doesn't get even bigger and I want to make sure no one else is suffering. I know this hurts... I know you never asked to be dragged into my mess. And if I could take it back, I would. I would, because I know you're taking all this pain on as well as mine. I hate talking about it. I hate feeling weak. I hate having this between us. You're the one who forced me to confront this, so come with me a little further"

He'd take it back? How much was he taking back? Them?

"Would you take back us being together?"

"No! Not for a single tick. You're the... you're the only one for my pining bi arse. Out of everyone, you're the one who's opinion mattered to me the most. That's why I couldn't tell you I was out here... I was so fucking ashamed... you... you kept talking to me, even when the others gave up. You made me open up. Open up to my team. Be honest with them, with you, with Coran and myself. We're so close to the end with her. Come with me? Let's see this through to the end together?"

"I lost this argument the day I realised I'd fallen for your stubborn Cuban arse"

"So you'll come with me?"

"I'll be there with you... but if I stab her..."

"Can you wait until it's over first? Until we've heard her out?"

"If she even looks like she's about to hurt you..."

"Babe, I think she just wants to get everything off her chest first"

"Fine... but at least let me carry my blade"

"Deal. I know how attached to that thing you are. Most people choose a soft toy for comfort, but you wouldn't be you without your knife"

Keith nuzzled into Lance, pressing kisses to the skin just shy of the hickies he'd given his lover that morning

"You're more comforting"

Lance gave a soft chuckle

"I thought I was a stubborn pain in the arse?"

"You are. The most quiznakking, overbearing, loud, idiot, that means more than life to me"

"Then for this idiot, why don't we finish this?"

"Yeah. Lance and Keith, neck and neck to the end"

"Then we ride off into the sunset like the accidental husband's we are"

"If we ride off into the sunset, what happens to all the chocolate you bought? I'm not riding off into the sunset with out it"

"Lucky for you, most of it's peppermint"

 Lance hissed as he pushed him away

"Peppermint! The travesty! It's a traitor to its race!"

Walking over to their bed, Lance threw himself down dramatically

"Babe?"

"Moment ruined. Why would you ruin chocolate that way?"

Coming up behind Lance, Keith prodded him in the side. Lance's mood changes were just as confusing as the rest of him

"I'm joking. I'm joking... The chocolate can come with us. The peppermint is limited"

"Can we take some with us? No one can say no to chocolate... maybe if... we show her that what happened before doesn't faze us, it'll give us the upper hand"

"But it did faze you"

"Keeeeeith"

"Fine. Fine. Let's get some chocolate and go see the she-devil"

Rolling over, Lance glared at him

"I'll decide if she's a she-devil or not, once we have answers"

Keith huffed. He didn't want any of this, but for Lance he'd be there

"You already know my answer. I'll get the chocolate, you get our boots out of the bathroom"

Smiling at him, Lance moved to stand back up, kissing his cheek as he started off towards the bathroom. Kre'el might be a woman of mystery, but no one would ever be as mysterious as Lance. What he wouldn't give to know what the quiznak went on his head at any given time.

[echotovalley]

we rule the kingdom inside my room // king of my heart

modern royalty au

“Wait, you’re a what?”

The word has more bite than he means, the sound causing Lance to flinch as it slaps awkwardly against Shiro’s clean, off-white walls. Keith’s fighting panic - not because of the word itself, but the possibility that this is some horrible prank he’s being slapped on the end of.

Wouldn’t be the first time he just walked right into one of Lance’s jokes or puns. But they had stayed pretty tame, Lance never took it past a certain degree and Keith had gotten Lance to fall for a few of his own. It was some personal mantel Lance had taken up against Keith that turned into their one and only outlet for flirting before they had the Good Ol’ Feelings Talk.

This isn’t how he wanted to end their night, he demands soft and comfortable and fucking adorable because they deserve this.

Their date was supposed to be dinner with Shiro, then cuddling on the couch while they bummed off of Shiro’s Netflix account and Shiro washed the dishes (he adamantly insisted on them not helping him - in hindsight, it was blatantly obvious as a ploy to conveniently be absent at the scene of the crime). They were supposed to watch a few episodes of a show and kiss intermittently until Shiro kicked them out of his apartment to go make out on one of their own couches. Even though they did a pretty good job about keeping themselves in check as guests or if other people were around them together at either his or Lance’s. They didn’t just disappear behind a bedroom door every time someone turned around and that’s supposed to mean the universe meets them halfway because honestly, have people seen Lance???

Keith deserves a medal for this kind of self-control.

For what it’s worth, Lance looks physically pained by the audible gulp as he swallows around a lump in his throat. The one in Keith’s damn near cuts out his breathing entirely.

“I’m a prince?”

Keith raises his eyebrows, bites the inside of his cheek. “Are you asking me?”

Lance scrubs his hands over his face - Keith bites back the urge to tell him his face is going to get red and splotchy, catches himself from reaching into Lance’s hoodie that he’s wearing for the stem toy in the pocket or from handing over the good hair tie on his own wrist. A part of Keith enjoys seeing Lance sweat so much because if this is a joke...if this is Pidge and Hunk barreling out of the closet with the washer and dryer armed with a camera in the next twenty seconds, he wants this moment to not be easy.

Eventually, they were going to have their first fight.

So like, if it’s tonight, Keith’s...He doesn’t wa-

He ignores another urge to beg Lance to just forget it and call the ultimate forever truce on the joke-rivalry thing they used to exhaust the unresolved tension they stored up. He feels heat flush the back of his neck because this is dramatic, he’s being dramatic, everything’s going to be fine. Lance will backpedal and Keith will stand to punch him in the arm and call him an asshole for all of the grief and Shiro will quip in with some sage dating advice that assists Lance and Keith in the development and maturity of their relationship because his life is a sitcom.

That’s not what happens when Lance abruptly goes back to pacing Shiro’s living room, muttering under his breath in Spanish. “Verónica hizo esta mirada fácil.”

Shiro’s head pops around the corner of the kitchen, sweeping his gaze over them and Keith begs, wills, him to understand and do what Keith needs without him verbalizing it.

To tell Lance this isn’t funny.

Demand to know how he thought it would be okay.

To kick him out.

To make him stay until Keith could sort out whatever nightmare he was in and for reality to fall back into its rightful place where Lance would kiss him just short of breathless and ask if he wanted to go out for ice cream or have an impromptu sleepover in their PJs watching cartoons until they fell asleep.

Or tell Keith that class and work had reduced him to a feverish haze that induced hallucinations.

Instead, Shiro is Shiro.

“Hey.”

Keith holds his breath, lets it out and allows his heart to break a little when he realizes he isn’t talking to Keith, but to Lance. With that soft, “Go, be great.” look that softens the corners of his eyes and stretches the scar across his nose.

“Deep breaths, Lance.”

It’s just so...hurtful.

The way it instantly gets Lance to relax his lanky frame in a whoosh before he’s squaring his shoulders again. Shiro doesn’t offer anything for Keith before he’s ducking back into the kitchen and the sound of the tap echoes throughout the room.

“I...Well technically, Rachel and I, are- We won the birth lottery? Fuck, I’m doing the question thing again. Okay, so. I’m a prince. My parents are the King and Queen of my home country, but not as absolute monarchs? We encourage our people to vote for their leaders in a government that was formed when my great-great grandparents were kids and make their homeland a good place and we do fancy shindigs with really old money and jewels to raise money or bring attention to issues we care about and build relationships with other world leaders outside of UN proceedings. We’re just figureheads with antique china, but I digress.”

Keith drops his head in hands and swears.

“Language.”

He glares in the direction of the kitchen before cutting his gaze back on Lance. “H-how did you keep this a secret? Why did you keep this a secret for so long?”

Lance shrugs, a moment of nonchalance weaving through his frame before the tension settled back over his shoulders. “England shoulders most of the spotlight, but also, we’re a small Latino country most people aren’t aware have a royal family. Especially Westerners.”

Grime paints the inside of Keith’s mouth as he breathes out an, “Oh.” He recovers, scowls. “That only answers one of my questions.”

“Well, it wasn’t just my secret to tell now, was it? Rachel and I are here for school, this university has one of the best engineering programs out there and we wanted to travel without the hassle. Plus, I was dying to go to Disney World. It isn’t something I just want to tell people right off the bat, you get treated differently. People expect perks of being chummy with a royal. Gets even weirder when you’re being hit on by one. Also, I’m pretty sure you would have punched me if I hit on you then followed that up with the ���I’m a Prince’ spiel.”

Keith folds his arms and flops back on the couch. “If memory serves, you got my number from Pidge’s phone to ask me about an assignment for a class I wasn’t even in.”

A small smirk tips the corner of Lance’s mouth up and warms his eyes. “I had to get creative with you, you were exceptionally good at deflecting and I have a desperate need to embarrass myself in front of you - if your memory serves more than one dish.” Lance takes a step toward the couch and nods to the spot beside Keith, waits for Keith’s whatever shrug in return before sitting down heavily. “I wasn’t going to bring necessary drama into it if by chance we didn’t work out and you blocked my number and stole all of my friends with your bad haircut and cool fingerless gloves in a few weeks.

“I knew if and when I started seeing someone, I would wait until a certain point to make sure mutual attraction and dating interest were still a thing. But I also knew that waiting longer would make it worse and hurt someone I really care about. Kind of sucks because in action, I’m hurting them either way. I didn’t want to just shove all of this onto you if I didn’t have to, but this-” Lance points at the space between them, hand staying a measured distance from Keith’s. “-is going somewhere, so I need to. This isn’t some grandiose plot for me to live out some Disney prince fantasy where I whisk you away on some breathtaking journey.”

“So, what is this then?”

Lance takes a deep breath and nods his head in the direction of the kitchen. “I wanted you to be somewhere you’d feel safe and familiar, near a person that has managed to get through your thick skull how validated your convoluted, mullet head is in everything you think and feel. You deserve to steer the course of your life and, if you’re with me, I can’t promise either of us will be in charge at any given time because of my responsibilities and the scrutiny that comes down with it. And like, as much as it would hurt to watch you go...if you don’t want to see me again, I can do that too.”

Keith knows his eyebrows are doing that thing where they disappear behind his bangs, opens and closes his mouth a few times hoping the words would rearrange and settle in his head long enough for him to unpack it...somehow. Shiro with his winning timing and eavesdropping abilities saves them both the trouble with a long-suffering sigh from around the corner.

“Dial it back a bit, Lance.”

The breath Lance sucks in shakes and rattles in his chest, jerks his knee in a disjointed reflex that knocks against Keith’s. “Right, yeah. Promised I would try being less dramatic.”

Keith feels the right amount of sorry for himself - he figures he’s owed that because they’re either breaking up or well, Keith honestly has no clue what the other option means. What it will lead to. What it will do to them. But the aborted laugh Lance tries for sounds wet and his dumb heart twists violently in his chest, tries to drop kick one of his lungs, and beats at his ribs like a xylophone.

Even after Lance has run his fingers through his hair so many times by now that it sticks up at odd angles and his color looks a bit off, there’s still the smart press of his shirt and subtle hints of cologne that Keith would die for at this point. He thought this would have been easy, he managed not to beat around the bush with Lance - even though he was terrified Lance wouldn’t feel the same way and it would grind their friendship into dust. God, the first time they kissed?

The first time Lance ran his fingers through Keith’s hair and brushed his nails lightly over his scalp at the base of his skull?

Earlier that day when everything had still been simple and the only surprise was the full body shudder that caught both of them off guard at the press of Keith’s mouth against the soft corner of Lance’s jaw.

He needs to realize this was never simple, especially for Lance. It means Keith has to deal with a lot of feelings a lot sooner than he anticipated. But now there was this time crunch? Keith needed to either get very serious very fast or end this with Lance.

And he really, really, really did not want to end this.

Keith takes a deep breath, buries a hand in the pocket of the hoodie to ghost his fingers over the familiar stem toy. “You’re giving me an out at any time?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want me to take it?”

“To protect you? Yes. Honestly, though? I can be pretty damn selfish when it comes to you. I want you to stay. I want to work through this so I can take you back home to make out in the huge hall full of period artwork. There’s a pretty comfy antique couch that’s right under this huge painting that was gifted to like my sixth great-grandparents.”

And there was the magnetic energy that had Keith’s fingertips buzzing under Lance’s hooded gaze, just like that.

“I figured we could keep doing this, y’know? We have four more months of the school year left and if we survive finals week, that’d put us at six months of dating. That’d be okay-ish time, I think, to ask my boyfriend of six months to spend his first week of summer vacation with me to meet my family doing cool rich kid stuff to impress the shit out of him.”

That gets Keith to smile, Shiro’s chuckle rounds the corner. “Much better.”

Lance presses their legs together as he shifts closer to Keith. “If my family doesn’t drive you up the walls or run you out of town, then we could do some public outings as a group with my siblings to see how you feel about press and stuff. Then....we’ll see?”

He watches Lance pick at a loose thread in Keith’s jeans, near his knee. Stares the movement down instead of meeting Lance’s gaze and catching his fingers when Lance starts to make the pulled thread longer. He wants so badly to voice his thoughts, communicate his fears and the crushing weight of nervousness on his chest and comfort Lance, but he isn’t that brave or well-spoken. He feels a little bit better when Lance pulls his hand out from Keith’s to wrap his arm around his shoulders and pull him awkwardly into his side, a quiet understanding that neither of them has a clue what they’re doing.

Keith melts into his touch, welcomes the warm fuzz that takes over his brain when Lance begins to brush his shaggy bangs away from his forehead and ghosts his thumb over Keith’s temple.

Lance ducks his head closer to Keith’s to whisper in his ear. “Hm, I do want you to know that I’ll never be sorry for beating your top score in Space Invaders at the arcade, though. Royally handing you your ass will be one of my - if not the - greatest feats on the mainland.”

Things don’t really change all that much.

At least, not yet.

Lance still invites him over to eat ungodly amounts of junk food while binge-watching shows on Netflix and they wind up hopelessly tangled up on the couch after fervent kisses. Rachel still comes back to their shared apartment precisely at times like those and teases Lance relentlessly until he’s burying his flushed face in the crook of Keith’s neck.

Rachel still talks to Keith and they study together for a statistics course they share.

Lance gets onto him occasionally for trying Not To Inconvenience His Royal Highness. For example, he stopped texting or calling Lance in the middle of the night if he couldn’t sleep because insomnia or stress from school because he knows Lance would always drive over to Keith’s apartment, crawl into bed with him and let Keith talk it out or talk to Keith about anything and everything - sometimes in Spanish if Lance was too tired to notice the dialect swap and Keith didn’t point it out. It’s cathartic for both of them, but that was also when Lance was just a tired undergrad like him that enjoyed lavishing physical attention on Keith when he wanted it.

‘If you stop texting me for midnight cuddling, I will literally move into your hallway closet and never leave. I’ll eat all of your snacks and take back my hoodie.’

The only thing that did change that is driving Keith insane?

The floodgates to prince/royalty puns have opened and Keith is this close to never speaking to Lance again because they’re godawful and constant. It takes Keith a few weeks to pick up on a portion of them being to normalize the situation and to remind him that Lance is still Lance.

Oh, and apparently their ‘uncle’ that lives in town is actually a chaperone/bodyguard Joe-from-The-Princess-Diaries type. Keith had met him before and they got along, he liked Keith as far as he knew but now he’s rethinking every single interaction and every possible wrong step he could make because while Joe was wise and patient and kind and supportive - it was apparent he’d cut a bitch for the Queen and Mia.

Keith doesn’t want any trouble.

Weirdly enough, Lance and Rachel will randomly complain about royal things in front of him that he doesn’t really get, but it’s an opportunity for Keith to hit them back with snarky comments about royal life versus his as a mere commoner. Those always have Rachel and Lance laughing at themselves and begin the round of stories of increasingly convoluted social situations they’ve been in or had to witness.

This is the easy part, the calm before the storm, but Keith thinks he’s making great process accepting the fact that he doesn’t actually know a huge chunk of Lance’s life while simultaneously working through the minimal pain of needing to relearn the person his boyfriend actually is.

Their biggest hiccup to date was one night while they were all three crammed into Shiro’s kitchen cooking dinner, Lance asks for some seasoning and Shiro produces it with a cringe-worthy flourish, adopting some terrible combination of accents. “Your wish is my command, Your Majesty.”

Keith is willing to accept that this has to be how Nick felt the first time he heard Gatsby say Old Sport and every thousandth time after and move along with their evening when Keith looks over his shoulder to see Lance’s hand still outstretched for the shaker and his eyes resolutely glued to the floor. A second later, Lance shakes his head to pull himself back into the moment and offers a stilted grin to Shiro in return.

“Can we, uh, not do that? I-uh. Yeah.”

It gets them a free pass at cuddling on the couch, wrapped together like a burrito under Shiro’s good blanket, and Lance’s favorite dessert as an apology. Keith gets Lance to joke in hushed whispers, making up new dialogue or doing bad lipreading over the show they’re watching as he runs his fingers through Lance’s hair.

Things He Has To Relearn About His Boyfriend, A Prince

just because he wanted to go to Disney, doesn’t mean he wants to live there

[amelee23]

Love goes beyond stars

Art belongs to @catneylang (I’ll take it down if I’m not allowed to use it.)

Prompt: Can you do Keith proposing to reader?

Number of words: 7,549

Genre: Heavy Angst, Fluff, Lotta Romance, Referenced/ Implied Smut, Comedy

Tags: Proposal, Adult Love, Hurt and Comfort, Lance being hot under the collar, Hard Decisions, Season 7 based, Dialogue Heavy

Summary: They’ve been apart for five years, but they didn’t mind.

The fluorescent flowers on the left of the shelter would give out perfume everyday at the same hour; they couldn't possibly know what hour that was, there was no such thing as a sun in the quantum abyss. Therefore, they had to make do with that more visual than audio alarm - even the fragrance was too faint to feel from inside the cave, but the pink mist was visible on clear days. They figured the substance wasn't toxic by purely living next to it; of course they wouldn't go inhale it directly, but they surely upped their immune system in the two months they've been leaving on this creature's back. Either this abyss was really large, or the creature was moving extremely slowly, but it seemed they barely advanced a few inches. With the amount of gravitational pull, anything was possible; how Keith wished to hear Katie's voice again, rambling some calculation he surely wouldn't understand until they were finished and he asked her to explain how she got to that conclusion once again, slowly, as for a not-so-keen-on-learning boy that he was. Every day, the same scenery, same broken planets and celestial mass, same routines except for a few times when he had to defend the base from intruders. If he was alone, he would've gone insane, but fortunately he wasn't.

Even with Krolia beside him, there were things that both of them together couldn't understand. How this animal  - a mammal by human interpretation - could have water provisions on its back; even if the water was red, and honestly looked very scary and toxic, it truly wasn't. It took complete dehydration for them to try, but it was worth it in the end, they saw no side effects to it, which was the first and only thing served on a plate in this habitat. It was a vicious circle of thoughts, but it at least kept him occupied: there were plants, so there was oxygen. That was obvious considering they didn't dry like a raisin in minutes; and with a hopeful amount of hydrogen, wherever it came from, along the eons probably water was created. It's not like they had a filter either, besides the rain catcher on the roof, so whatever came from the river was part liquid part soil, disgusting but necessary. Nature was a blessing, he wasn't only now realizing it but, he surely felt it vibrate inside him harder. The lake was his paradise, where he washed almost every single day, watching that red glassy colour contour his muscles.

Still, even with water provisions, there was one more thing to care about, which was food. The giant crab-spider creatures weren't exactly hard to kill, but the heaven knows the first few meals ended up with Keith puking out his guts. It wasn't that it had a bad taste, actually it could have been considered a delicacy because it did taste close to crab meat. It reminded him of his 2 year anniversary, in which he planned something romantic and expensive, ate crabs for the first time in a Houston restaurant; he was so embarrassed, him being in casual clothing and his girlfriend in a fancy dress -it brought a smile to his face at least. A smile Krolia couldn't understand, not even Shiro sometimes, and he was the only one to know.  With Shiro, it was a silent understanding. They both lost their lovers to their fate here, in the endless cavity of space. With one glance in Keith's eyes he would know, why he had turned for the worse again, why he's sulking, why he's quiet yet screaming exactly when he shouldn't. Keith lost his pillar, his anchor, and to top it all off, he's been keeping it a secret for over a year now. A year so full of everything, of things he wanted to tell someone, wanted to surprise her kind eyes with things they'd usually laugh about at three am turning to be true- wanted to let her know he found out what was wrong with him all this time, to take her to meet his mom, to fly her into space, to ask for forgiveness and tell her he loved her at least once more. The castle of lions, his chamber, Red, Black, this animal, they all know the shape of his tears. He could imagine her pout when seeing him like this, the little wrinkling on her chin, her pointy lips. But that image, in the literal point of the abyss, will surely be forgotten. His memories were meant to get as blurry as his eyesight filled with tears.

The fire crackled, probably because Keith couldn't help poking at it with a stick; the space wolf was cutely chasing his tail in the back of the cave, dirtying his shiny fur with dust again. Keith sulked, he sulked like a child would do best, perhaps to attract the attention of a parental figure. It worked, even without intent, but Krolia couldn't possibly know it was something else but his feeling of entrapment on this creature. She felt her baby needed caring, but didn't how to exactly deliver it - should she hug him? Massage his shoulders? Or at least make him talk so she could listen?

"Mom?" His voice was so fragile, his jaw contoured by the shadows of the fire. He looked miserable, ready to break Krolia's heart with that word that was supposed to make her a woman, a title she had but felt she didn't deserve.

"Yes?" She sat down next to him, and even the space wolf seemed to calm down, laying down as if to listen to him talk.

"It took me meeting you to see how much I followed in your steps." As a parent, as a failed one at that, it was the cruelest thing a son could have ever shared.

"I left the person I loved most." Keith used the heel of his hand to push at his eyes, dragging it down his cheeks and then tangling it in his hair.

"You did?" It felt natural now, to move closer and embrace him, even just partially. He didn't flinch, in fact, he seemed to hold on to his mom's fingers.

"Well, I didn't do it for a good cause like you - at least it wasn't my intention to become the fucking saviour of the universe! I, I just hopped inside a flying mechanical fucking space cat and ended up in this hellhole without realizing." Keith yelled, then whispered. He was tired, he was sick, but his pain was making him delirious.

"She, she wasn't even there! She was away, forging her future, our future.." Keith chocked on his words, and he begged his voice to stop, to go mute.

"I was supposed to move out of state with her when she finished highschool... She'd join the university of her dreams and I'd enroll into a high school there for my last year, since- since I couldn't go back to the Garrison." How could Keith have hidden this for so long?

"What happened? At the Garrison." Like a broken record, Krolia just asked questions. Knowing about her son's past just by him emotionally breaking down, it was the hardest. Maybe if she was there for him, things would have been different. But then again, it seemed like whoever this lady was she took good care of her son.

"I punched a teacher in the eye. Had a bad day." Krolia couldn't help the chuckle, and hid her face in Keith's shoulder.

"But I didn't fucking care! Garrison was behind me, all of it was. Life was good, we were young, but we knew exactly what we wanted." Young love was truly irreplaceable, but at the same time it was the most deceiving. Krolia wasn't one to talk, considering she knew nothing about her, and for sure she wouldn't want to bring him down. She had no choice but to believe him, with all her heart, that he knew what was better for him.

"There's one thing I know for sure about you Kogane men; once you fall in love you never let go. You might find her again one day if you search hard enough." That's when Keith couldn't take it anymore, and left his feelings boil into tears. He clenched his teeth and squeezed Krolia's fingers, curling his body forward.

"Will I? Out of thousands of people, will I ever see her again? She'll move on, I know she will, I'm no fucking saint-" Krolia has been caressing his curved back, offering him at least the amount of warmth she could give.

"Keith, look at me." In all seriousness, Krolia held it together to not weep along with his son, the memory of her lover, Keith's dad, now so fresh in her mind. They were cut from the same cloth, going through the exact thing, so if one made it, so could the other.

"There's nothing wrong with having hope. I never gave up on loving you, and now we're here." Keith cried out for his mother, and launched himself in her arms. For the first time, she was able to offer the motherly embrace he'd been missing on for so many years.

"How do you do it? Her face is getting blurry-  I can't... I don't want to forget her! How, how do I-" He pleaded between his sobs, scratching at his mother's suit.

"It's in the stars." Keith froze, hooked around Krolia's shoulders.

"What do you mean?" He let out, softly, as if scared.

"Love goes beyond stars or the universe itself. If you can learn to see her in every star, you'll never feel alone again."

Is this what it means to become strong? To accept, to trust and to move on? These two years, of nothing but thinking and fighting for belief, finding one self and the one next to him, the constant primal instinct, hunting, deprivation and white noise, all washing out whatever happened in his life before this abyss. Mistakes were forgiven, lies were forgotten, she became something more alike to a myth than a reality, her shine and spark lying in every star Keith set eyes upon, sending out all his heart. It might never happen, and he was okay with it. He will at least hold on to the last facial feature he could remember, so that if he dies in battle, he'll want to die thinking of his family. She, undoubtedly, was his family. For over two years, before fate pulled them apart, it was them against the world. Keith showed a genuine smile whenever he thought that she might've found the ring he engraved for her. A simple silver ring, with a K and her initial next to it, hidden in his pillow case. If he was honest, he purposely put it there for finding.

"We should call the sergeant now, shouldn't we? Cadet Griffin, would you like to do the honours?" Iverson looked at the boy, who was purposefully keeping his distance from the herd, and sighed without saying anything, rotating his soles on the sand dust and taking off. Old man Iverson seemed to grin at Keith for a reason unbeknownst to him; it surely set him off, giving him some uneasiness. He didn't ask, he preferred not to, looking around at the others being with their families after so long. He noticed Hunk's loneliness and urged to go comfort him, but before he could do that the sliding doors to the Garrison center opened. A figure walked out besides James in the heat of the sun, surrounded by a fiery orange aura. As it got closer, as she took her gaze off the documents she was holding, Keith's throat turned to sandpaper. The forms of her body seemed so foreign, a touch of death on her as well, bags under her eyes, drier, sicker skin. Even her hair seemed to lose pigment, but maybe it was Keith's eyes playing tricks on him. His mind - grown up somewhere else, estranged of the human ways, he was trying to process this woman before him, that had yet to notice him; where in the world had time gone to? What had it done with her, and why do her changes bring out old, yet fresh, yearnings and desires in Keith's body?

He didn't flinch a toe, even when she discovered his gaze. He waited for her to come to him, alike a ray of light. Luckily, desperation acted differently in her, as she dropped all her papers and pen before her feet, taking big yet careful steps towards his silhouette. With her right before him, he couldn't help move his eyes around, searching for something to hang on, something familiar, that would prove authenticity. She put a hand on his shoulder, looked him dead in his eyes; scared of his lack of reaction. She didn't want to feel rejected, but she was tortured by uncertainty. All questions were answered when, suddenly, a low whisper of her name left Keith's lips and heavy eyes shortly followed. He began crying, wailing to let everyone know, that it hurt, that it hurt for too long. He hugged this frame, this body that still seemed an illusion to him. Even his fantasies of seeing her again ended badly, this was something taken out of fiction. But it couldn't lie, and it surely didn't; the warmth behind her clothes, the shape of her shoulder blades, the soft whimpers that mangled with his. It was all real, but it was hard to believe.

He fell to his knees, his head burrowing in the shape of her belly; clinging on to anything he could, her waist, her legs. Unwillingly, one of her streaming tears fell on the top of Keith's hair. Shiro attracted her attention with a touch, whispering her name. Her eyes became even more watery; seeing his existence, his presence right there. She may have let out a cry when noticing his missing arm, his white hair, his tired look... But she was glad he, they, were all alive. Every single missing cadet was home, and that was wonderful. Gathering everyone's gazes, she fell along with Keith and snuggled closer in his embrace, grasping at his curved back. Breathing in his scent once more was something only dreams could achieve, hearing his voice - even if it was cries, feeling his heart beat against her forehead.

"I promised I wouldn't cry." Keith tried to laugh it off, chuckling between his cries and attempts to cling on even tighter.

"We're both crying so it doesn't count." She completed his words, like she always seemed to do, softly pushing away to look him in the eyes. They locked foreheads together, so close their lashes were fluttering against each other, until their fingers sought each other's face to wipe off the tears.

"You're back." She whispered, half in disbelief.

"I'm back, baby." Keith tested the waters, it was now or never anyways. He wouldn't and couldn't believe if she didn't move on by now, find another man, but something about the cold feeling on her right hand's ring finger told him she found the little present he left for her.

"Welcome back, love." He had no time to process what transpired, before his lips were enveloped by hers. An animalistic hunger bid his demise, he held her nape with force, his fingers racking her hair and forcing her body closer than humanly possible.

It was all too good to be true.

The first thing Keith did when entering her personal room, after a long debriefing and getting together with every lost friend and relative, was lie on her bed. It wasn't as comfortable or relaxing as he thought I'd be, as his armor was nudging at his hips and back, the feel of, well, padded plastic - but still hard plastic - being pushed into him because of the mattress. It wasn't awkward, although it seemed so, how she watched him from the middle of the room. She'd never thought she'd see him again, much more resting on her bed. She didn't want to bother him either, considering the brief story of their journey that she overheard being told to Sam Holt.

"Did you leave for college?" Keith grunted getting up to a sitting position, fixing his eyes on her. His gaze was somewhat intimidating. He was no longer her adolescentine lover, it was a man that just came back from war. He wasn't unfamiliar, but she indeed felt smaller compared to him, and not just in height - a difference that grew exponentially as well.

"I did. But Garrison called me back."

"And you became a sergeant?" He was proud of her, even if his question sounded more on the disbelief side.

"Strategist. I'm not... I don't participate in fights." Keith hummed, approving greatly to that. Least thing he wanted, battle scars on her body.

"What's with the scar?" Keith touched his cheek and smiled, seemingly falling in thought for a couple seconds.

"It's a long story, like the rest of them." She went ahead and sat next to him, signaling for him to go on.

"But can't I take a shower first? I stink and I really need to groom myself, space isn't forgiving." She sighed and let her head drop on his armored-covered shoulder, and Keith reached for her hand to hold in his.

"What's wrong?"

"This might sound stupid, but even letting you leave for a shower breaks my heart by this point." That was the moment when Keith's heart melted, when his dreams finally felt like they became reality. She was cold, even after they kissed in front of everyone, and maybe thought that was just the heat of the moment. It still wasn't clear, if they had the same intention, but he was for sure gonna try even if it meant his demise.

"Join me in the shower then." She looked surprised, speechless surprised, but not exactly pleasantly.

"Keith! I-" She retracted her hand from his and started flinging them around, making Keith grin at her cuteness.

"Did you date anyone while I was gone?" Unlike her disheveled, panicked state, Keith was calm, reaching out to hold her chin and gaze focused.

"No, I- I couldn't even crack a smile for an entire year, that's how much I-" His thick-skinned lips touched hers, ever so briefly, resulting in an instant calm-down. The taste of his breath was still there, the corners of his mouth, but his grip seemed somewhat harsher.

"Same here, baby." He guided her to his lap, and she was enveloped by his cold armor.

"Every night, I'd look at the stars and think of you... How much I wanted to talk to you, to tell you my stories." She cradled his face in her hands, especially running her fingers on the length of his dark scar.

"That I will listen to gladly." She pecked his lips with a grin, but screamed when Keith got off the bed with her hooked on his hips. She clung to his neck hastily.

"After we take a shower, that is." She wasn't completely content with the idea, but continued to hold on to him quietly as she was carried to the bathroom.

He didn't waste time starting to work on his armor after she was put down, struggling with a tight mechanism that seemed a lot simpler than she imagined. It was all happening too fast, but she didn't want to say it. Keith seemed in ninth heaven, almost like nothing went on, like no time had passed. She couldn't complain much, it wasn't like she was the one stuck in space for five years, but exactly because where he was and what transpired, she couldn't get over it so easily.

"I know what you're thinking." Keith voiced, finally being able to take off his chest piece.

"This is crazy, my lover from 5 years ago is forcing me to have sex with him, I haven't seen him in so long, he lived on alien planets, we can't just get back to where we were." When did Keith become so intuitive?

He propped his legs piece on the wall as well, having no shame or remorse in showing his body. His tall, barefoot figure advanced towards her and softly lain his fingers on the collar of her shirt.

"But we're adults now. We have the maturity to make and manage such a decision; I know we grew apart and can't forget those lost years, but I believe anything's possible. And I'm surely not giving up easily." Keith's speech made her whipped, calming down her insecurities. She never thought he'd be the one smart talking her, considering it was always the other way around.

"You're so mature now." She spoke, with a hint of mischief, starting to unbutton her shirt from bottom up. Keith did so as well, from top to bottom.

"It's hot." He chuckled and kissed her neck, then proceeded to take off her pants as well.

"Best things come with time, babygirl." He ate her giggles with a kiss, one that left her wanting more; then stripped off his boxers and entered the shower, turning on the hot water. The fast drops rained with stings, making him feel like he was finally home. He was ecstatic, his eyes shone with glee even while closed, lashes heavy with fervid water. She admired his bare back and tippy toes struggling on the warming tiles; then she took off her bra and panties and stepped in, so that the warmth wouldn't be lost.

Hugging his bare back felt like fantasy. It's all she ever dreamt of, all she ever wanted for so long. It was unbelievable how adulthood changed someone, how raw yet emotion-filled lust for someone could get. She was sure Keith felt the same.

He guided her, slowly, by the hand, to stand in front of him, water jumping on his head and landing on her body. After he bit his lips and told himself not to, he drank the poison and dared look her up and down, in all her glory.

"Forever young and beautiful." He mumbled, pushing closer and reaching for her hips.

"I'm not young anymore tho." She responded, holding and tracing his wet chest.

"But you grew beautifully." He started easy, closing his mouth on the side of her neck. He licked the water off, sucking her skin all the way to her ear.

"We didn't grow up together like we promised." Keith couldn't ignore her sad remark, sighing and looking her in the eyes.

"But we're here now." That reminded him of his mother, even if it was a little unholy while being naked with a woman in the shower.

"If there's something I leaned from mom after so many years, is that some things in life happen for a reason." He devishly waited for her perplexed expression, which she gave without hesitation.

"Your mom?" She almost screamed, eyes wide as the ocean. Keith simply chuckled and tried to avoid the subject for now.

"I'll tell you after; right now I want to feel every inch of you under my fingers." She squirmed under his forceful pull, under his kisses leading down her chest.

"But what about body wash? Uh, shampoo? You said-" She fought back, only verbally and mockingly, as her hands truly were tangled in his hair.

"I'm sure the shampoo knew this was also an excuse to get you naked." Her mouth was agape in disbelief, but she wasn't hiding her smile.

"New Keith has some tricks up his sleeve, babygirl."

They didn't even bother to put on clothes after the shower, laying in bed under a thick, white blanket, cuddled and talking all throughout the night. Her reactions to his every word and story filled his stomach, how she knit her eyebrows and asked him question after question. After finding out her lover was an alien, a Garla, a Blade of Marmora? ; his mom such a scary woman, what lies behind Kerberos, quintessence and what not, she voiced out that she would surely not be able to sleep. Therefore, Keith made love to her again, tiring out her body completely. And all this time, he was holding her hand, running his fingers on the his ring.

"Do you think this table is sturdy?" Keith asked, tapping the wood to catch her attention from the files she was going through. Still concentrated on them, the rationing of supplies and re-directioning of water and electricity, she wasn't exactly looking his way or trying to catch onto what he was saying.

"I believe so? We had some heavy weapon prototypes on it before."

"So you'd think it'll hold... laying you down on it and pulling a Christian Grey?" Keith spun her around from the digital screen, edging her into the table. She laughed dearly at him, resting her elbows on the wood and looking up at Keith.

"It'd hold, but people are gonna see." He smirked, leaning closer to flirt in her ear.

"And? I'm pretty sure everyone knows what's going on from two nights ago." She rolled her eyes and pushed him away, to glue her eyes back to the screen.

"You disappear in space for five years and come back a hungry animal, huh?"

"It was four for me, but; yeah, and I'm not ashamed of it. I'm hungry babe, don't starve me." Keith hugged her back, leaning his front body on her and talking from the crook of her neck with a whiny tone. Someone's voice and curses were heard down the corridor, and soon Lance froze in doorframe.

"Is this the right conference room? Oh, I guess it is since Keith and his girlfriend are about to have sex in it!" He puffed out sarcastically, thumping on his seat at the table.

"Hey Lance" Keith said unaffected, letting just a small distance form between him and his lover.

"Hi, Keith. You're living the good life, aren'tcha? I'm sure sex is the most important to you right now, not like, you know, saving Earth!" Lance almost spit forward, attacking his leader with a fury that was of course, directed at himself more than them. He knew all too well Keith was taking care of both his team and responsibilities even with a lover, but the surprise of her existence and Keith's success in love racked his ego.

"Lance, please don't take out your jealousy on us. It's not my fault you weren't a man to Allura from the beginning." He glared at Keith, childishly, and retorted back in seconds.

"Shut up, mullet! Your hair isn't even a mullet anymore, fuck!" A female giggle was heard, easing out into the air. Lance was a little remorseful, and also felt like he was being taken as a joke, so he shut up. He watched them have small lovey-dovey interactions while discussing some economics, boiling on the inside. Keith noticed him, even just with the corner of his eye, and knew Lance wanted to continue this fight, or hear anything at all that would ease his nerves.

"You see that? If you ever get embarrassed with me, think that you're not the only one in love with an alien." He told his lover mockingly, but Lance's reaction was weaker and less rage-filled.

"Ha, right! Have you seen the Galras? They're fricking ugly. Your man is gonna turn into a purple man-beast and chew on your flip-flops." Letting her neck fall backwards then hiding her face between her arms on the table, she laughed whole-heartedly.

"You're a funny man, Lance. Does Allura like funny?" He was flustered, and pretended not to think that this stranger's laugh wasn't adorable, like Keith wasn't such a lucky man.

"She's serious almost all the time, but I think she secretly adores funny. And Lance." He jumped out of his chair and slammed a hand on the table, but then fell back down with a sigh and spoke quietly.

"Can you not? I appreciate it, you're trying to encourage me. But I really don't wanna hear it from "the perfect couple". Stop reminding me how stupid I was for only taking my feelings seriously now." She hummed, walking over to pat Lance's shoulder. The gesture wasn't taken lightly.

"How did Krolia use to say? Some things in life happen for a reason?" She walked back into Keith's embrace, who was grinning happily.

"Perfectly quoted."

"You've already told her about your mom?" Lance was trying to hide his curiosity until now, considering that it really wasn't his business who this woman was. Keith didn't say anything either, so he figured he didn't want to talk about it, or didn't want to share; but truly, he wanted to know what was going on.

"She's heard me talk for years about how much I hated my mom for leaving me. Of course she's the first one I wanted to tell." Some gears started moving in his brain, he began understanding how exactly they became a couple on the first day of coming back home.

"Woah, so you guys go way back?"

"Yeah, we were 15 when we met." When Lance was fifteen, he became an uncle. He's never had the joy of having a true girlfriend, considering all the responsibilities he had at home.

"15? Oh man, you were still in the Garrison then!" Keith ignored the low kick Lance just did, playing it like he didn't understand it.

"Yeah, we started dating when I was still in school."

"And you stayed with him even when he was kicked out?" Lance was already on the edge of his seat, dying to ask more and more questions.

"Yep." Her answer was short and sweet, looking up at her lover with a pride that she could never express in words. He might have been a dawdler then, but every choice had its reward.

"You chose to love a man with no education, an ugly jacket, a rat mullet and shed in the middle of nowhere? You have some weird tastes, woman." Laughter rose up in the room again, this time Lance falling for her contagious sounds, making Keith feel like it was two against one.

"Hey, don't laugh at that!" He whined, crossing his arms around her waist to lift her up, but before that, someone else found the conference room.

"I see you guys are having fun."

"Hey, Shiro!" She chirped, moving around the chairs to go give him a side hug. He had just one hand to hug back with, but he did it anyways.

"Hey sweetie."

"You too? You know Shiro as well?" It was funny how awkward Lance was at the beginning of the conversation, how he only referred to her as "Keith's girl" and now he was shamelessly throwing questions and accusations at the woman.

"There wasn't a Keith without Shiro, especially back then." She felt safe between the two of them. It brought back the smell of the floor wax Shiro used to use in his apartment, long nights in front of the TV, all three of them and Adam. She tried not to think of Shiro's pain, and only bring positivity to him.

"Well, if it wasn't for Keith, there wouldn't be a Shiro today."

"Thank you Keith!" Hunk chirped then ran off, saying he's going to go save his parents. She heard everything from around the corner, and couldn't be prouder of her man. A leader, a friend, a lover - Keith was exceeding at everything now. It was mesmerizing.

"Oh, hey." Hunk almost clumsily bumped into her, stopping his heels barely.

"Hey, Hunk." She greeted him back with a smile, but noticed the swing in his feet.

"Uhm, you look lovely today!" He didn't want to seem rude, nor drag it on. He blubbed something out then took off running down the corridor behind her, with the most determined look he had.

"Hunk, wait!" Keith also came out of the kitchen, ready to run after Hunk but hailed as well when spotting her.

"What?!" Hunk shouted from the end of the corridor, only turning his head back slightly.

"Meet me in the bay in 15 minutes! I'll come with you!"

"Okay!" Only after he was done screaming, it dawned on him - she was right there. She might not agree on this idea.

However, besides the obvious sadness showing, she gave a kind smile.

"Baby..." Keith began, but wasn't able to finish.

"I know, I know." She stepped forward and buried her face in his chest, holding on to his shoulders.

"I'm proud of you. You're a great friend." Keith sighed and caressed her hair, kissing the top of her head.

"Just; get back safely, please." He noticed she was scared, but he couldn't back out now. She had to yet see the extent of his skill in battle, so maybe if she knew she wouldn't worry that much. He hated it as much as she did, leaving her behind to fear for his life.

"I will, baby; I promise. I'm never leaving you alone again." He hoped with his entire being that it wasn't an empty promise.

"I'll wait for you. I won't close an eye before you get back in bed with me." Keith grinned at her words, hugging her tighter.

"Just like old times."

Keith didn't even knock, he stormed inside the room in the quiet, dreadful evening before the storm.

"Baby?" She saw something was wrong; he was panicking, he was all over the place. It brought back memories.

"It's the last day, isn't it?"

"Before the mission?" He paced around, not giving attention to how anxious he was making her feel. She was bottling it up; like she wasn't terrified of what was about to come.

"Yeah." He breathed out, messing up his hair, then finally resting on the bed, but still moving his hands all around his knees. He was impatient.

"I tried talking about this with Shiro, I would have even gone to Lance if he was any help, but I don't think he'd be; but then I realized this is something between us, and there's no one else I could ask but you." Keith spoke hurriedly, letting off weight from his chest cryptically, and for the first time in the last two weeks, he was avoiding her eyes.

"Keith, slowly babe, I don't understand. What do you want to ask?" She caught one of his hands in both of hers, attracting Keith's attention to the shine of the ring.

"What I want to ask, uhh..." Keith trailed off, lowering his head on her lap.

"Baby?" He was freaking her out somewhat, but she tried to keep calm and leave her smooth voice soothe him. He rose again and looked her in the eyes for a brief second, before closing them and dragging some air into his lungs.

"It's this and we're done. But it's not an easy target, it's fucking Sendak... that motherfucker almost killed us all before. Plus, calling the lions; I'm worried, I am."

"Ihmm..."

"I feel so selfish, living my best with you while in this time of crisis, but I'm so damn happy I found you I could die happily now."

"Keith..." He knew he shouldn't say things like that, he shouldn't sadden her now, before the bad even happened...

"I'm sorry, I'm trailing off... Us, we, we only got together two weeks ago, five years passed by... but for me, for me those could as much be inexistent. It's like I fell asleep next to you, in the old shack, then woke up here, on our first morning together."

"Yeah...?" She's been searching his face for clues, but still couldn't figure out what he was going on about.

"I've lost you, haven't I?" She nodded, sucking in her lips and giving him an apologetic look.

"Frankly, yeah, I don't know what you're building up to."

"Okay, I'll try this again." He slapped his thighs, filling his cheeks with air. She did nothing more than smoothly continue the conversation with the responses he hopefully wanted to receive.

"Okay."

"I need some advice from you."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Should I, uhm. Ask you to marry me?"

"What?" She let out as a whisper, watching him quietly in disbelief.

"Please don't overreact, I just... I regretted all my days for not doing it before I left.

I mean, would it even be logical to? It's been so long, we still don't know our differences, and I'm worried-" Instead of overreacting, she fell into thought as Keith ranted his insecurities. But she felt like the answer was formed on her lips since years ago. Like they were molded to say one thing only.

"I'd say yes." The look in his eyes couldn't be described, it wasn't happiness nor fear, it was something in between. He got what he wanted, but a wicked side of him hoped she wouldn't have agreed.

"And what if I die? If I don't make it out of this mission? Or any other, for that matter?"

"Then I'll proudly carry your name till the day I die."

"Oh, fuck. I think I'm gonna cry again." Keith lowered his head, supported only by his hands that were now deep buried in the sheets and mattress. She hugged his frame, laying her head on his back. She almost didn't notice Keith fidgeting with her fingers, pulling out his ring from her right hand.

He rolled off the bed, drying his eyes with his sleeve, looking up at her, propping himself up on one knee.

"Would you... would you put up with me for the rest of your life? With this apparent hero, that you turned into a man so long ago? Would you be ready to lose me again? Would you think of me even long after I'm gone, smiling?

Would you like to be mine and mine only, my miss Kogane?"

"Yes." His hands shook as he put on the ring, this time on her left hand. It looked perfect there, finally not out of place.

He climbed back on the bed, kissing her lips like it was the last time, because truly, it might be.

"Sooo, you guys are getting married?" Pidge nudged her side, in the dimly lit hospital room. Everyone gathered in the same room, to rejoice their victory in their recovery time.

"Yeah." Keith brought her hand to his lips, kissing her ring.

"Can I be your bride's mate?" Pidge excitedly wiggled her eyebrows, continuing to push into the woman like a kitten.

"I mean, I don't know you for long, but we have to have a ladies' night if you really wanna spend the rest of your life with this dweeb. Right, Allura?" She took a minute to process that she's been addressed, and also because she had no idea what the word 'dweeb' meant.

"Yes, of course! We're all friends here!" Corran nodded from the side, giving the lady a charismatic wink.

Everyone turned their heads towards the door, which seemed to have been ajar all this time, without anyone noticing a certain someone was peeking in.

"Then how about you come give your ol' friend a hug then?" He maneuvered through the beds and people, to be met with her running embrace. They squeezed each other tightly.

"Matt!" He chuckled and patted her hair, giving Keith a smirk and wink. Keith rolled his eyes.

"Missed me?"

"Fuck yeah!" He pinched her cheeks like a grandma would do, then noticed his sister looking somewhat emotionally constipated.

"Wait, wait, wait. Don't tell you too also knew each other like, all your lives?"

"Almost, haha."

"I'm suing. I'm suing all y'all. And here I was, whining all my life about not having a best friend."

"Well, you'll have one now, sis." Matt guided her back to the seat in the back, making some space in there as well. They all began talking this and that again, but in small groups rather than all together. Suddenly, she called out to everyone to listen to her.

"Okay, bear with me, but; I want to let his out.

Besides my friends, you guys are also my heroes. You've heard this a thousand times before, but thank you. Not only for saving the universe, but also for taking care of Keith while I couldn't." She cringed herself at her words, but the others seemed to smile and pat her back, those who could reach her. The others showed her a thumbs up, Lance even clapped.

"I couldn't have put it better." Krolia didn't know who's voice she was agreeing with, but she seemed to have walked in in the perfect moment.

"Mom! Kolivan!" Keith let go of everything and stepped over the people on the floor to go and hug his mom, then give a handshake to his former commander.

"Hey baby. Are you feeling better?" Her long fingers moved the hair from his eyes, careful not to touch the bandage on his head.

"Yeah, I am, but; tell me you've told me so, please." She looked confused, firstly looking around the room. She saw a new face between known people, but then again, she couldn't be familiar with everyone.

"I've told you so?"

"Good, now look who I found." He caught her hand and forcefully dragged her in front of him, in front of Krolia. She was nervous, giving off a smile that might have seen weird.

"Hello Mrs. Krolia." Things became clear soon, mainly because the possessive grip her son had on this woman's waist. She accepted it fairly easily, and couldn't be happier.

"Son, you're so damn lucky." Kolivan had no clue what was going on, so his stand was awkward next to the three of them.

"I'm actually way luckier than you think.

And please don't scream at me." Against her subtle protesting, he lifted up her left hand and proudly showed off the ring to his mom. Both females didn't react well, one bracing and on wrinkling her brows greatly.

"Keith, don't tell me you did-"

"I did." His courage to stay positive about it and not show any regret or fear towards his mom was what made her give in. From the stories he told, from all the nights he cried about losing her, she could realize this what all he ever wanted. She couldn't scream at her son for finally having his wish granted. Repercussions were to arise later, but now it was alright.

"I honestly never thought I'd see the day I become a mother-in-law. Come here, sweethearts."  Keith's glee was voiced with a giggle that showed nothing but innocence; the differences between melted in that one embrace, and suddenly they were all one.

"Welcome to the Kogane's."

"And this is Black." The last on the list to be showed off, sat calmly in the bay, with glassy eyes. Her tall presence was overwhelming.

"She's... wow." She touched her leg carefully, tracing the metal like it was fragile.

"Let us in, kitten." Black began moving, and she surely jumped a little, running to Keith's side. When the ramp was down, they walked inside, with Keith holding her tightly to his side. But once in, the fear seemed to wash off, as she began inspecting everything. He waited patiently, resting his arm around the chair in the center command. He called her over after some time, to show her the interface as well.

"Take a sit, experience the paladin life." She hesitated, but Keith ultimately pushed her down by the shoulders. She took in every button, every pedal, lever and joystick. It was all still way too new to her, but with Keith's help she'll maybe, someday, understand this lifestyle.

"Babe, I always knew you were a brilliant pilot, but how do you even? This looks super complicated." He chuckled under his breath, reaching for her left hand which he's grown obsessed with.

"And it's also in Altean."

"Oh, Jesus." She rolled her head on the chair, scoffing as if she didn't expect something like that.

"Well Black, meet my future wife. I've told you lots about her, if you remember."

She knew there was something magical, life-filled with the lions, but it surely felt weird to have her fiancé talk to the air in a robotic cat. Some sort of rustle ensued, a vibrating energy that burst into yellow lights in Black's eyes. The windows turned into direct camera feed, every button lighting up and screen over screen popping up. She was left speechless.

"Seems like she likes you." She couldn't help but accept it, grin it off as some sort of compliment. One day, she thought, one day it'll all make sense.

"Hey, Black, how about we go out for a bit?"

"Keith, wait-" For that, she wasn't yet ready. She wanted to scram off and out, but she couldn't.

"Don't worry, I don't even have to touch the pedals to pilot her. What about the moon? You always loved the moon."

"Keith, nooooo-!"

Their smiles decorated the stars, their laughs echoed in the void of the universe. And they would've forever done so, if Haggar didn't have different plans...

 Masterlist

[thepackwantsthed]

Kurance AU

Instead of all of the Shiro clones perishing, Voltron saves one of the offline ones in the hope that it’ll help them deal with the clone they already have and the situation with real Shiro in the astral plane. They think it’ll help to have an extra to experiment on, so that they can get an idea of the clones body and hopefully help “Real Shiro”.

But then Kuron wakes up and starts begging them to kill him. Because now he’s aware of who and what he is, because now he’s hurt them and he never wanted to do that and he never wants to do that again. 

Allura and Keith are all for it. Allura sees clone-Shiro as nothing but Galra experimentation - a reminder of Lotor’s experimentation on Alteans that she does not want - and a minion of Haggar. And Keith may have tried to save clone-Shiro, but that was before he realized it wasn’t REAL Shiro and now all he wants is his brother back. 

But Lance...Lance was closer to the clone than any of them. And Lance knows that while the clone is a clone of Shiro, the clone is also his own person with his own bonds. Who knows that matter than Lance? Someone who is only close to the clone BECAUSE of the differences between him and Shiro, because real Shiro is his hero but they were never friends, not the way he and the clone are, and they were definitely never each other’s confidants. 

So Lance stops them and then after several minutes of him fighting with Keith and Allura, Hunk comes to his side because the more Lance talks the more he remembers his own interactions with the clone. 

Pidge hovers between the two groups, uncertain. Because she understands both of their points, because she was closer to real-Shiro than Hunk and Lance but she was closer to clone-Shiro than Allura or Keith, one of whom was busy with Lotor and the other busy with the Blades. In the end it’s Pidge who points out that they have two clone bodies - that they can leave clone-Shiro in his and put real-Shiro in the second body. It’s not as if either of them are Shiro’s REAL body, so what does it matter which clone body he’s in?

They go with Pidge’s solution - but only because when Allura tries to yell them into submission, Lance makes it clear that the princess will have to kill him before killing the clone and Blue and Red both start growling before Allura can say anything else. 

It’s a rough few days after that - with the clone awake, Shiro in the second clone body but still not waking up, and a line drawn in the sand between Lance&Hunk and Allura&Keith. 

But Lance doesn’t let any of that keep him from staying by the clones side. He and the clone get an argument about whether or not the clone deserves to live, that ends once Lance frames his face between his face and makes it clear that nothing that happened was the clones fault and that he’ll die himself before he lets anything happen to one of the few friends he has in space. He is already galaxies away from his family, he will not lose one of his friends as well. 

It’s Lance and Hunk who help him decide to keep the name name Kuron. Lance likes the Kuro, thinks its a good way to separate himself from Shiro without removing himself completely from a man whose memories make up so much of his own, but he tries to fight against keeping Kuron completely. Kuron shuts him down, saying that keeping the name reminds him of what he is, what he was. And Lance might not think it matters that he’s a clone, but Kuron does and he doesn’t ever want to forget the horror that comes with the gift of life. 

Time goes on. Lance and Kuron grow closer in the wake of Keith and Allura’s animosity. Hunk stays close too, but there’s something more to the relationship between Lance and Kuron. A trust and bond that Hunk just doesn’t have him. Not that Hunk is particularly worried about it because he’s pretty sure that something special is something romantic and he loves his buddies, but he’s not really crushing on either of them.

 Shiro wakes up before he did in canon now that he doesn’t have to fight an active clone with a soul and personality for dominance. It takes him some time to get used to having someone around that’s identical to himself, but he doesn’t show the same animosity as Keith and Allura. He’s not happy about what happened to him, but he recognizes that Kuron is as much as victim of Haggar as he is. 

In fact it’s Shiro who, after a while, suggests that Kuron take on the name Ryou. It was what his parents were going to name him, before deciding on Takashi. He thinks it’s a perfect homage to people who Kuron has memories of, even if their not really his parents. 

Kuron is too stunned to do anything when Shiro suggests it, but that doesn’t matter because Lance is a giant ball of emotion and he bursts into happy tears for him. 

Time goes on. 

Things aren’t perfect, but Kuron....Kuron likes the way things are. Maybe he wishes Allura and Keith weren’t so cold, even after they stop being outright angry they aren’t exactly friends, since he has so many memories of them, but he’s okay with that.

Because...Because their Shiro’s and Kuron isn’t Shiro. He’s Kuron. And he doesn’t need Keith and Allura to be his best friends because he has Hunk as a friend and Lance as....something more than that. 

[redemptiionss]

Let me go over what I learned happened in s8.... this is just what I’ve learned from other people’s posts. Let me know I’ve gotten things wrong (and any further clarification would be appreciated, if you’ve seen s8)

Lotor’s corpse was shown onscreen shortly after flashbacks proving that he was a good person who grew up abused & brainwashed by his parents. His corpse was then used as a puppet by Haggar, his mother and abuser. Allura finally says that Lotor had good intentions after two seasons of not once showing regret or second thoughts on what they’ve done to him. Haggar tells her that Lotor was truly happy when he was with her. No remorse is shown, apparently nobody cares that they’ve murdered him. The fact that they created a power vacuum within the Galra Empire and caused the deaths of thousands of people all because they didn’t think twice before attacking & abandoning Lotor (aka the one who GENUINELY wanted to help bring peace & also the one who was literally the SOLUTION) to die in the rift, is never addressed or questioned. The Colony story that was the Plot in s6 was never addressed. I’m wondering what were the writers’ intention with Lotor?! It’s like they can’t make up their minds. They had people-- including those who he once most trusted-- slander and demonize him. Then they humanized him and showed us that he was a Good person who was abused and traumatized by his parents & tried not to be like them. Then they showed us a grotesque imagery of his corpse. Then they went all like, yup he was a Good Person all along who was “misguided” & he could have had a Redemption Arc, but whoops, he’s dead. His death was meaningless. It was without reason or purpose. All I’m seeing from this is a terrible message surrounding abuse victims. They ditched a story of hope, a redemption/vindication arc for a meaningless tragedy. Congrats. I can’t forgive them for what they did. I can’t.

Line from s6, from Lotor’s confrontation with Haggar, who’s kidnapped him and tries to get him to stay with her, but is rejected by Lotor. Lotor says this to her: “The end is near, witch. I know you can sense it. If you beg for your life now, maybe I will take pity on you when the time comes.”  This was CLEAR foreshadowing. But in the end? Lotor’s rotting corpse being used as a puppet. Then in the end, him immediately forgiving his parents & happily reconciling with them in the afterlife. What. The. Flippin. Heck. What was the POINT of that whole confrontation then? More importantly, what was the point of the whole colony plot?! It was the Plot of s6!! It was what led them to abandon & murder Lotor, which then led to a power vacuum in the Galra Empire & death of thousands!! & led to what happened in s7 & s8!!! The entire situation surrounding the colony plot was clearly Fishy as Hell, implied that there was a misunderstanding going on, that Lotor was likely going to get vindicated/redeemed, and also that Haggar had her nasty fingers in the PIe. But literally nothing came out of it. WHAT. WAS. THE. POINT. Clearly something happened behind the scenes between s6 & s8.

Somehow Zarkon comes back via Haggar & quintessence, but he’s Good guy Zarkon (aka pre-corrupted)? I’m not sure how this happened, but okay. I mean, if anyone could give me the full rundown on how things led up to this. He got a redemption arc. Hagerva got a redemption arc too.

I don’t have a problem with redemption arcs. I love them. I hate the whole Tumblr™ “you have to earn redemption” thing. Redemption isn’t something that is earned. Anyone can be redeemed-- even the worst person possible. However, in stories it HAS to be told well. It’s got to be meaningful. And frankly the main reason why I have a problem with them getting redemption arcs is because Lotor never got one while his parents did. He never got a redemption or a vindication arc. Zarkon and Haggar was allowed to have a voice, while Lotor was not. This just comes across as them somehow being More Deserving of a redemption arc than Lotor, which is honestly just bullshit.

Zarkon & Honerva apparently weren’t corrupted anymore when they got redeemed, so that.. makes everything they did over 10,000 years okay I guess? Since it technically wasn’t them? But like, they still did that. They got corrupted by the bad quintessence by their own direct actions, and then proceeded to commit genocide, enslave and conquer thousands of planets and people, and abuse their son. None of that has changed. I never thought that they’d get redeemed mainly because I didn’t think there would be any way it would be written well & that it wouldn’t have been able to be fit into the story’s plot well.

While Corrupted!Bad Guy Zarkon told Shiro that he was Too Weak and Unworthy to be the Paladin for the Black Lion, Good Guy Zarkon told Keith that he was a good leader & a good Black Paladin because of his Galra Lineage. Like.. uh, what? RACISM MUCH? I guess Keith didn’t say anything. What happened to him being the #1 Black Paladin!Shiro stan? Oh wait, he stopped back in like S3 or something.

This makes me think of that one Nightmare post I read months ago. It was basically “What if Shiro is not the Black Paladin because the Black Lion is racist against non-Galra?” [It cited that when Shiro was the Black Paladin, he had a Galra arm. & now that he doesn’t have a Galra arm, he is no longer the Black Paladin.] I thought it was utterly ridiculous and that it was the stupidest thing ever. But I guess being Galra is indeed what makes you great for the Black Lion after all. Oof. Wtf.

Apparently Shiro also barely had a meaningful interaction with... pretty much anyone, least of all Keith, who’s supposed to be like his little brother. This has been happening for a while even before s8. (I honestly hate that Shiro was reduced to just being mere plot device for Keith’s development and arcs. Don’t think I’ve forgotten how JDS & LM called him boring, wanted to kill him off permanently, but then was forced to bring him back, and how they pretty much got around that loophole by killing him off at least twice and finally pushing him into the background. Oh and they didn’t even give him a family either lol. WTF.)

Lance says his “I’m good at winning prizes” line at Allura. Wtf. It seems that the context is Allura asking Lance to get something for her, but I saw the screenshot and.. G R O S S. They KNEW what they were fucking doing, especially with THAT expression. *shudders* I like Lance, I really do. But I hate him for Allura. He became smitten with Allura the minute he saw him, and pretty much called dibs on her. Spent a majority of his time hitting on her while she reacted in distaste & discomfort, continually rejecting him or brushing him off. Showed jealousy and entitlement when Allura exhibited interest in other guys or when other guys seemed interested in Allura. [Lance, you do not own Allura. You’re not even with her, she’s not interested in you. BACK. OFF.] Even made fun of Allura’s Altean culture and heritage, and never once showed any signs of interest in learning about it. And I’m not even going to go over all the ways how they are not compatible with each other at all. A//urance literally plays into the trope that if the Nice Guy is persistent enough, he will get the Girl. The Girl is his Prize. Again, they KNEW what they were doing with that line. So that coupled with the imagery from S3-ish of Lance’s fantasy-- in which he is revered and praised by all, standing at the very top holding a big flag saying “Winner” with a dream starry-eyed Allura at his feet. Ugh, BARF.

A//urance happens. Apparently neither of them are very happy??? [and honestly it just confuses me why it even happened because there is such a stark difference between how Lotura & A//urance was written-- but I guess Lotura was just a stepping stone for the less well-written & clearly-forced ship after all? Tf.]

There’s some stuff about Hagerva breaking into alternate realities because she can’t cope with the fact that her son is dead, so she’s trying to enter her alternate families’s lives.

There’s some stuff about Altea & Daizabaal being brought back. I.. don’t know. I’ve seen some people say that if those could be brought back, then why couldn’t Lotor & the others be brought back too?

Allura kisses Lance twice. Tells him that she’ll always love him. (lmaoooo what? okay sure) She transfers her Altean Marks onto Lance. (What. the. HECK?! THAT MAKES NO SENSE.) She then.... sacrifices herself? To save her Reality? To save all of existence? From what I’m hearing from other people, there was no real good reason for her to sacrifice herself. She then steps into the afterlife with her father, her mother, Zarkon, Honerva, and Lotor. There’s a legit outline of her [who is clearly defined], with Lotor at her back [who is not as defined], in the stars.

I cannot believe they killed off their main female protagonist & a princess. You don’t just.. do that in children’s media. I don’t know of any children’s media in which a princess dies. I thought she was untouchable. Not to mention there was absolutely no pay off for Allura at all aside from her being dead and in the afterlife reuniting with her family. She’s had to sacrifice everything every season-- her planet & her family was destroyed, then she lost her castle, her rank, her crown, her clothes, her people. I thought there was going to be an ultimate pay off for her in end, but no she even had to lose her own life. Really?! This doesn’t speak of Hope to me.

Lance spends the rest of his life with Allura’s Altean marks tattooed on his face. He’s a farmer, growing Altean flowers (???) and it’s implied that he never gets over her. I... just can’t. The bitter irony. In giving Lance what he wanted, the writers took everything from him. Much of his character, aside from growing in his role as a Paladin, bonding with others, and dreaming of being a pilot, also revolved around Getting Allura. He was never allowed to grow out of that. Now they’ve effectively erased his identity-- he no longer has an identity separate from Allura. That isn’t.... what his arc should’ve been. Also does the marks mean he’s Altean now or what?? You can’t just change races like that. Tf. If he has an Altean lifespan now, that means that he’s going to watch everyone he loves die. His infatuation for Allura has become his curse. And while it’s been implied that he’s worked on a farm before [look, it’s canon that he knows how to milk a cow. that’s enough of an implication.], that was never his dream. He wanted to be a pilot.. and now he’s just a farmer forever pining over Allura and growing flowers in her memory, or something. They destroyed Lance’s character.

Apparently Allura didn’t just transfer her Altean Marks to Lance, but also gave him Leadership over the Alteans. WHAT. THE. FUCK? So Lance didn’t just Get Allura & then is cursed by Allura’s selfish act, but he also gets Allura’s ROLE. They seriously had Allura sacrifice HER own leadership & give it to a boy who has NEVER once shown interest in HER culture, & has even mocked it more than once. THE. AUDACITY.

“Lance will get what he needs, not what he wants.” That implies that he was Not going to end up with Allura, seeing as she is what he clearly wants. So.. what is it then? Unless him being a lonely pining farmer for all of eternity was what he needed? Either they straight up lied or like I said before, something happened behind the scenes.

Keith apparently is leading Lotor’s Generals & the Galra now or something..?? WHAT? Why TF would the Galra listen to him? And I guess he gave a speech that was essentially Lotor’s speech in S5. EXCUSE. ME.?! Also apparently Keith now has magical powers and is a diplomat dedicated to spreading good will in the universe..?? So basically he was given Shiro’s position, and then Lotor & Allura’s ROLES. Ha ha ha.

There was a line from a crack-foreshadowing episode in s7, in which Lance says Keith “is the future”-- and a lot of people came up with the Emperor!Keith theory. I quickly concluded that it was total bullshit because it made ZERO sense within canon. It still makes no sense, but then again not much makes sense in s8 apparently.

Apparently Nothing is Really Solved. The Galra still need Quintessence to survive. The Quintessence Rift is closed, so there’s nowhere for them to get their quintessence. Lotor, the only person who had the solution, wanted peace, & intended on leading an Alliance between the Paladins & the Galra, is dead. Allura, who could’ve allied with Lotor to help the cause of leading the universe & Galra into an new era of peace, is dead. But Apparently there’s Peace now. Okie dokie.

I... don’t really know anything about Katie & Hunk. What happened to them?

 I can’t think of anything else right now. All I can say is that s8 sounds vile.

[puppetmaster55]

Thoughts on the s3-s6 Storyline

So.

Yeah.

I’ve already spoken about my thoughts on the clone storyline (back when it was a theory) and on how s3 and s4 connect as a singular storyline (they do not), and on how I feel about s6, what I believe Lotor’s true endgame was, how Naxzela was absolutely a trap Haggar wanted Kuron to lead everyone into, how Acxa knew about Sam Holt, and so now comes my thoughts on all of it. All twenty-six episodes that make up s3-s6.

These twenty-six episodes were more geared toward being Lotor’s storyline while Voltron took a backseat to his arc. The war was ended, I guess, when Lotor took the throne bc we don’t see any rebel force fighting the empire after that. Heck, during the Kral Zera both Haggar and Sendak proclaim the empire is no more.

I dunno. I think the writers wanted to have the war die with Zarkon, or something. It’s very unclear, until we see the aftereffects of all of this in the next season.

I don’t think I can divide this post from how I feel about clone theory, now clone storyline. Because that whole thing was just… one clusterfuck of a mess, and one that we will never see explained. Everyone’s come forward to say that the clone storyline is done, and even watching the show I could tell that we are never going to get an explanation. Nothing about Operation Kuron is ever going to be explained.

We saw the clone reveal, and with it came… zero explanation. Every single clone is now dead. The whole operation was destroyed. OG Shiro is back and with presumably more holes in his memory than he had before, depending on how you view it. The clone served his narrative purpose and now we’ll never know or understand the in-universe reasons for there even being clones outside of speculation and fanon.

And there’s no build-up to the clone thing. All we have ever had to go on has been the vague flashes seen when he appears and as someone who doesn’t recognize clone tropes when they’re being used, I didn’t catch that they were a buncha hints that he was a clone.

Honestly, there was just… so much build-up to it being mind control (which it kinda was) than to there being clones. From Narti to the Hoktril to Haggar using the mind control to look into Zarkon’s mind (and see through Narti’s eyes), it all felt like a whole lotta build-up to the reveal that “clone” was a red herring and it was real shiro all along, just mind controlled there at the end.

But instead it was a clone, whose reveal as a clone was purely for shock value and given zero explanation for why Haggar would clone Shiro.

I still don’t like Keith as the leader, because I’ve barely seen him make tactically sound decisions that weren’t in the heat of the moment and weren’t explained to the team. Even worse, that he left the team, stopped being a paladin, for almost three years on his timeline, and he comes back and fits right in like he never left. Nobody is the same person they were after spending two years without social interaction outside of your family and a dog you raised (even if you get flashes of your whole life story in those two years).

Over the course of these four seasons I grew less and less interested in Keith, to the point where I was zoning out for entire scenes he was centered around (I… honestly will have to watch The Black Paladins several times before I can even get drawn into it and remember what happened there). Do I have anything against Keith? No. I just have nothing toward Keith either. I feel nothing for him, because there’s nothing about him that I can really relate to.

Keith has never wanted to be the Black Paladin and frankly neither do I. He’s not someone who inspires others, or can stand as a beacon of hope, or any number of things that makes him anywhere qualified to be the guy calling the shots.

To say little of the fact that Keith, just like when he was first introduced, swooped in to save Shiro when Lance had all that build-up. I do not think, at this point in the story, that that is ever going to change.

I love Krolia to bits, though. She’s amazing and I desperately hope she isn’t killed off.

These 26 episodes have felt more like they were devoted to telling Lotor’s story than to telling the continuation of Voltron’s story, or the war of the Coalition against the galra empire. The last we see of the Coalition is the opening of s5, where they’ve regained a whole third of the empire and it seems like that’s it.

There’s so much story that happens off-screen too, like when s5 opens with the minor timejump all for the audience surprise of “the generals have Sam Holt”. Or… whatever that past Lotor has with Acxa.

Really, I could stand to have an episode of Acxa’s backstory so we can understand just what in the hell the point of the s4 finale betrayal was if she was always on his side all along, as we learn in the s6 finale. Because nothing about her turning against Haggar for Lotor makes any sort of sense otherwise.  

Thata’s the crux of it, ultimately. The s3-s6 storyline was like an iceberg: we were, at any given point in time, only given ten percent of the story. Even now that it’s done a lot of us, I think, are still scrabbling to uncover just what that other 90 percent of the story we weren’t shown or explicitly told was.

Compare this to s1-s2 storyline, where by the end of s2 we understood everything that happened and everything that was going on, because it was all clearly told to us.

Ultimately, I feel like Lotor made more strides in his arc than anyone else. Allura now knows how to use the powers she discovered at the end of s2, and Lance now has a sword and a more long-range weapon, and yeah Pidge now has found her entire family but… it doesn’t feel like anyone else is at a different place than they were when they began. Unless we count the continued groundwork of the future “Lance quitting the team” arc.

I’m still not sure if I should count Lance as having an arc, considering that he went from having a lion he was super bonded to (Blue) to having a lion that he just… flew and completely failed to stop Lotor or realize the full extent of what was wrong with Shiro.

This set wasn’t great for a number of reasons, least of all the muddled storyline. Lotor’s storyline was enough for 26 episodes, while the war was enough for 26 episodes, and… we had two separate storylines that were enough for 52 episodes condensed into half that amount. Lotor had no bearing upon the war whatsoever, that when we jumped back into it in s4 it felt jarring. Almost entirely because it was a sudden timeskip.

I siad it before and I’ll say it again here: the decision to split the 13-episode seasons into smaller seasons was a major saving grace, with how little s4 follows the events of s3… for the Voltron side of things.

Because, again, Lotor had a much clearer storyline for these 26 episodes than anyone or anything else.

There were things I loved about this season set (Sven, Lance getting a sword and sniper feature, the worldbuilding among the Galra, all the new characters, THE OG PALADINS THEY HAVE FOUND THEIR WAY INTO MY HEART BLAYTZ ESPECIALLY) and some things I didn’t (clone storyline, oh my god I was so against it the moment I heard it as a theory bc I knew the show couldn’t pull it off and by god did they not pull it off).

And oh my god, Lotor. I love Lotor, so incredibly much. He was so genuine but his pragmatism and the way he bent morals to do what needed to be done made him a fantastic villain. It makes me almost wish he had been someone genuinely good who kept getting pushed into looking like the villain because of his parents. Almost.

God but I dearly hope we’re not done with Lotor, because he went full Azula and to see him undergo a redemption arc at that point would be so stunning.

Everything in these past 26 episodes went from being clear-cut to being a mess. We have the Coalition, Rebels, and Blade working to destroy the empire, the empire falling apart into a civil war, and Voltron jumping sides as they find new people to ally themselves with. Everything is going in so many different directions now, that I feel like I need a flowchart to understand it all. I can only hope that, moving forward, the dust can begin to settle so we can see where everyone stands. I can only hope that the plot finally slows down enough for both audience and characters to get their bearings.

...also I am unashamedly stating that s5 sits as one of my top three favorite seasons of the show so far, purely because of how much it focused on the interaction and relationship with Shiro and Lance. Also, Monsters and Mana is the filler episode we’ve been begging for all along. Please let us get more like it.

[herocentral]

Voltron season 6 theories  Original five ride again?

To begin I’ve recently seen the sneak peak images of Voltron season 6 and apparently as I’ve heard theres a Dungeons and Dragons based episode and it wasn't Romelle but Allura dressed in similar clothing. On the plus side though I wasn't too far off in my fan piece. I’m wondering what the storyline of that particular episode is and if I find out come the 15th June the episode is named the Fellowship of Voltron I’ll just die laughing as that is a suitable title and adds a clever reference. 

To the subject of this post, I’ve started to wonder about whats to come in Season 6. As some of the promo images have shown Kieth will soon return to The Paladins of Voltron, but the looming question is what colour Lion will he fly? I’m still hoping that he’ll realise his potential and become the Black Paladin again should the need arise. However after seeing the trailer, I’m wondering something else. Given the fact that Allura wasn't present with the others upon Kieth’s arrival in the Castle of Lions and the fact the teaser at the end of season 5 was of scenes from the first episode where this adventure began. And having seen the Momocon 2018 video on Youtube how the Voltron producers were doing it “their way” and the silhouette promo image of Kieth in Paladin armour and Allura in her original suit has made me wonder one thing.

Is there a possibility of the original five riding again in the Lions with Kieth in Red and Lance back in Blue? Its likely from this scene that something has happened to Allura such as either being captured by Haggar and the Generals or Lotor finally putting his plan into action and betrays the Paladins to achieve his goals becoming his fathers son even though he claims he isn't I have a suspicion sooner or later he will be. Either after confronting Haggar AKA his mother or coming so close to his goal. 

It’s likely the team may try to help her but given the lack of a Paladin for Blue, Lance will probably wish to take back Blue leaving Kieth with Red. Whilst this is a strong argument and it may take things back to when the series made sense I do hope that they put Kieth in Black again given his development and possible closure with his past also it would set back Lance and Keiths development as leaders and open heartedness to others. 

I also wonder about the comet ship we saw in the trailer and the Black Lion fighting it. Given from season 4 Lotor was able to escape with what was left of the comets ore is it possible the opening of the trailer showed him and Allura finishing the third ship. Why though was the Black Lion fighting it? Its possible Haggar and the Generals had gotten control of it or that in this season Lotor betrays the Paladins and reveals his true intentions. Which also begs the question who is flying the lion and who ignights the blazing sword Shiro (the clone) or Kieth and if it is Kieth its likely how he gets his Galra mark or the battle in the castle given theres a massive fire fight going on where he gets a scar in battle. 

The time grows near and many questions remain what titles will be given to the episodes?, how many left until the conclusion? Who will ignite the sword? Will the original Five Paladins ride again? and Which colour Lion will Keith fly if and when he returns?

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

CSUAVS prt 48? Start?

Shoving his way out the observation room, Keith was running. The stupid hall looped around, meaning other than breaking through the glass there was no way he could get to Lance as fast he wanted to. The moment Lance had begun to sink down, Keith was pushing Shiro out the way to get to his boyfriend. Shiro who was still in shock over what he'd heard. His adoptive brother breaking down into silent tears when Lance had thrown being raped back into Kre'el's face. The absolutely gutted expression in Shiro's face had been something Keith never wanted to see again. No doubt so much more made sense in Shiro's mind now. Lance's aversion to the Galra beyond weariness of strangers. The things he'd said about what Allura had done to his body... But Keith couldn't care about any of that. Not when Lance crumbled in on himself. He'd tried to fight Shiro to let him go the first time Lance had stood up, yet let himself be reassured that Lance was strong enough to do this. The second time he'd tried to bolt was Lance sat back down, the third when Lance begged Kre'el not to talk about the positive test. Shiro had no idea... but the words cut through Keith's heart. Soft growls coming from the back of his throat as he was forced not intervene. He hated being on the wrong side of glass. He hated that the didn't care that Kre'el's arm literally tore off before their eyes. He hated her stupid backstory, and the way it make him hurt. Rounding the corridor, Veronica was startled as Keith didn't slow, slamming his hand down on the hand pad and rushing into the room to his crying lover. Gathering Lance up in his arms, his boyfriend was limp. His eyes red rimmed as he stared past Keith's face. Tapping his face, Lance didn't rouse, his scent overwhelming Keith's rationality as he hurled him up with him as he rose to stand. He didn't know what would have been better for his Lance to hear, but he knew his boyfriend had shut down because he was trying to process everything he'd been told. Kre'el had developed feelings of friendship for Lance and tried to push him away, only to fail, or for her to have simply hated Lance all along and it'd been a lie. She must have been beyond desperate to turn around and try to kidnap both of them on that ship. Or had that been an act for Lasandi's benefit? What would have happened if Lance hadn't interfered with the wormhole? And where was this new home? They were supposed to be the last of them, her and Lasandi? Or was this another lie of hers? Another misdirection in her scheme? It wasn't like she could go anywhere. Medical staff were shuffling into the room as Keith tried to carry Lance out. Lance felt frozen in his arms, Shiro and Veronica were waiting outside the space, Veronica being scolded by a very worried Shiro. Turning to him both stared at Lance, Veronica's face morphing into something akin to fear "What happened!?" "I think it's a panic attack. I'm taking him back to my room" "I'll help..." Veronica might be Lance's sister, but his instincts were going crazy. Growling at her he exposed his sharpened teeth and slightly yellowed eyes, as he hiked Lance up in hold "I know you're his sister. I know you want to help him, but he doesn't need it. He's an adult. He's not your baby brother, but a fucking bounty hunter. He's not the same little kid. He doesn't need you coddling him. He doesn't need your help. I've got him. If you want to help, make sure that bitch doesn't die before I get my hands on her" Lance's body temperature continued to fall as Keith carried him back to his room. The Telula was too far, and Lance was clearly in shock. Getting him into the bathroom, Keith settled Lance down in the tub, cautious as he started undressing his lover. Water and being touched... Lance feared both and he didn't want to push him over into snapping with no control over his "fight or flight" instincts. Starting with his boots, he worked his way up, talking to Lance the whole time to let him know it was him. Lance continuing to stare past him, the occasional tear rolling down his cheek. Pouring in a generous douse of bubble bath that Lance's mother had bought for them on Earth, Keith started the taps, slowly warming the temperature until it was on the warm side of lukewarm. Lance still shaking too much for his liking. Cursing softly, Keith struggled his way out his boots, throwing them and his communicator across room toward the door, before moving Lance forwards to climb into the tub behind him. Sliding down, the half-Galra positioned his husband so Lance was laying along him, forehead tucked protectively just under his chin as he hushed his boyfriend gently, his features losing their Galra twinge the longer he held Lance. He really needed to stop swapping between the boyfriend and husband in his head. They'd agreed on boyfriend's while they worked this out, and this was definitely not worked out or something their friends needed to know in further detail. A varga or so passed before Keith was happy with Lance's body temper. His eyes had slid closed and he seemed to be sleeping off the strange panic attack. Nearly asleep himself, the knock that landed on the bathroom door jostled him back away. A growl on his lips as he held Lance tighter "What?!" "It's Shiro. Do you need help? You've been in there a while now" He didn't want Shiro in there. Lance wouldn't want Shiro in there, but he didn't know what had happened in his boyfriend's mind. Sure, Lance could get spacey, but this was like super spacey. He didn't know what the best way to handle this was or if it was normal for Lance to sleep this off. Or if it was safe for him to sleep it off. Making sure Lance's modesty was covered, Keith kissed his boyfriend hair "Come in... he's sleeping" Dried tear tracks remained on Shiro's face. His white hair a tussled mess, adding to his washed out appearance "How... how is he?" "Sleeping. I've never seen him like this before. That wasn't a usual panic attack. I don't know what to do" "Is his breathing and his pulse rate regular?" Placing his fingers on Lance's neck, he felt for his pulse "It's a little fast. He's breathing normally" "Then he's probably sleeping the attack off... I'll get you a towel for him. I doubt he wants me touching him" This is what Lance feared. Everyone treating him differently "No, but Shiro. You can't... you can't blame yourself and you can't treat him any differently. He's so fucking scared of you all finding out. He doesn't want to be treated any differently. Coran's helping him find a therapist he's comfortable with. The first one was a flop, and Coran doesn't have what Lance needs in a therapist... and..." Grabbing his towel off the rack, Shiro held it towards him "Keith, you're panicking. This is a conversation we should be having with a clear head. What do you want me to do?" "I want to sit him forward so I can get out, then get him out" "Do you have spare towels?" "In the cupboard" Bending down Shiro draped the towel over Lance's mid section, before guiding him up off of Keith's legs. Sliding out from behind Lance, water sloshed over the floor, Shiro supporting Lance longer enough for Keith to gather him up and lift him out the bathtub "I'll grab you out some towels" "I'll dry him off in here, then I can put him to bed out there. Can you wait outside for us?" "Want me to grab you something to wear?" They didn't have clothes in the bathroom... Lance was far too naked for his liking, and far too naked in front of Shiro, even with the towel covering most of him. Being runt sized to most Galra had its advantages, towels were practically single sheets "Yeah. Some sweats and shirts. He can take vargas to come back from a normal attack, but..." "Keith. I've seen his attacks before. I should have stepped in, but I thought he deserved answers to his questions... None of us could quite expect what Kre'el had been through" Glaring at Shiro, he didn't want her name spoken near Lance, let alone thought "That doesn't make her actions alright. You have no idea how hard it's been to bring him back... He's fucking fighting so hard to stay strong. He was out there with none of us for 6 phoebs... I want to fucking kill her... I want to killer but now I'm stuck sympathising with her... I can't take the truth away... and I have no idea what he's going to say when he wakes up" "For now, worry about getting dry and cleaned up. I'll find those clothes for you" "Thanks, Shiro" Keith knew he didn't need to ask Shiro to keep this to himself, but was sure they'd be having that conversation whether about what had happened he liked it or not "You're welcome. Anything either of you need, you know I'm always here for you" "We know... Um... maybe don't mention this to Lance. He's... he doesn't like people touching him when he's unconscious" "The secret's safe" Lance roused as Keith was drying his hair. His boyfriend was sitting on the toilet, the best place to keep him stable as he dried him down. Letting out a sniffle, Keith pulled the towel down to find Lance's pained eyes staring at him. Leaning in, the half-Galra kissed his boyfriend's forehead before resting his own against it "K-Keith...?" "You're ok, baby" "What... what happened?" Lance's voice was soft and broken, stuttered with disorientation "You had an attack. We're back in my bathroom. You were freezing cold so I got us warmed up. Do you understand me?" "She was a mother..." "Babe. Babe, hey. I need you here with me. Did you hear me?" Lance nodded, raising his head to kiss Keith's forehead before settling back against him "We're in your bathroom" "Good. That's good. We're going to have a little lie down until you're feeling up for talking again" "I feel drained" "Yeah, it was a bad attack. You were really out of it" "'m sorry" "It's ok. Let me just get you dry and warm" "And we'll cuddle?" "Yeah... Oh, quiznak!" Lance jumped lightly, whining at Keith's curse "What?" "I forgot to put Kosmo out last night... I don't know if he'll be here or with mum" "It's ok... I'm ok... I just need to process what she said... you and... oh..." Lance's breath hitched. Keith gave him the best smile he could "No. No, stay focused on me. It's ok" "He knows... too..." "We'll talk about it after you get some rest" "I'm so fucking stupid!" Lashing out, there was no real bite, but self derision "You're not..." "I am! She... she went through so much! She had to watch her daughter die... what happened to me..." Lance wasn't up for this, not when he was too out of it to "Babe. No. What happened to her, she had decaphoebs to find another way. Any other way. You're going to work yourself into another attack in you don't calm down for me" Sighing, Lance raised his left hand to his face Keith narrowly missing having his eye impaled on his fingers "Sorry. My head's all messed up" "It's alright. You're alright, just let me take care of things" Lance gave a small nod "Yeah... I feel... out of it"

[velkynkarma]

In between the show itself and fanfic and art, I can't help but feel worried that the showrunners would make VLD more similar to DotU and have Shiro die like Sven. They already have Keith and Lance in the Black and Red Lion and Allura replacing Lance as the Blue paladin. Like, Shiro's already suffered enough with the Galra and whatever happened to him post season 2 :'( What do you think?

I think it’s a little premature to start worrying at this point...especially since Dreamworks and the VLD team have proven by now the loooove to taunt us with the impending threat of Shiro’s demise. I don’t know if you were around for Season 2′s trailer release, Anon, but Dreamworks deliberately released the clip, “Keith, if I don’t make it out of here, I want you to lead Voltron,” and then deliberately cut Shiro from any other parts of the trailer. It looked, for all the world, like Shiro was going to die early. He didn’t, of course; he’s present in nearly all of the episodes. They did it again with Shiro’s disappearance at the end of the season and left us hanging until S3. Shiro is a real easy one to scare people with since they can hang prior iterations of the show over our heads. “Hey, it happened before, it coooould happen again!” But the VLD team is also very aware of just how popular a character Shiro is, so I don’t think they’d be able to kill him off as early as that. Let’s be real: he gets views. No views means your show fails. From what I understand, the higher ups at Dreamworks actually required Shiro to be in the S3/4 episodes (despite the writers wanting to cut him for a full season). And they’ve even openly addressed Shiro’s popularity in The Voltron Show episode, when Coran rather cheekily says that they can’t kill Shiro off because he’s the favored character. Is it possible Shiro could die in the grand finale, or towards the end of the series? Maybe. I won’t rule it out. Is he going to die before the show gets their money’s worth out of his appearances? I highly doubt it. Depending on how the Kuron theory plays out, it’s also possible for them to get their Shiro-equivalent death scene with his clone....assuming there is in fact a clone, and the clone is friendly and/or has a change of heart, enough to want to help Team Voltron. Then Shiro can “die,” heroically even, but at the same time the “real” Shiro isn’t actually harmed. (Personally I’m hoping this doesn’t happen either; I love me some Kuron and I don’t want him to die if he’s real).As for the evidence coming from the Lion shuffle...I’m still not entirely convinced that’s even permanent. They’ve been dropping some serious hints with Allura and her magical abilities; twice now she’s admitted she needs more training in how to use them. I have a feeling that will be a plot point somewhere down the line, and in order to use her magic, she’ll need to step back from the Blue Lion. We have also only seen Allura bonding with her new Lion. Lance’s only “bonding” with the Red Lion was offscreen, and it’s Allura that tells us the reasoning, not the Lion itself. Likewise, we never see Keith bonding with Black outside of when he begs it for help in S2E1, and we know he actually struggles with it in some cases because he’s not used to the controls. It doesn’t really feel permanent to me so far. That could change, of course; S5 might drop some bonding moments on us between characters and their new Lions. But it could just as easily mean it wasn’t intended to be permanent.

[ambivalentangst]

Time Stretches On

Okay so I saw a post that was admittedly a shitpost about Lance being immortal but then I'm like,,, , but get this,, angst. So here we are with an immortal Lance who is suffering :) This will also be posted on my ao3. - Lance had never wanted to live forever. He’d also never wanted to particularly die, but who did? No, he’d wanted to live out an albeit long, but very fulfilling life, settled down with his significant other after a time spent amongst the stars, surrounded by family and his kids until the day he hopefully passed away in his sleep. A simple, ideal way to die. Lance had never wanted to be captured either. Haggar, he swore he’d kill the witch. In those long weeks in Galra captivity she’d modified his DNA, so that his body fed off the quintessence in the universe. Never enough to harm anything, or so she had assumed as she had her fun after they found he couldn’t be persuaded into talking. Lance didn’t suspect until a year after his rescue, staring at himself in the mirror. He hadn’t changed much, the barest hints of baby fat still clinging to the hollows of his cheeks. His undiluted blue eyes met his own gaze, striking in the light of the castle. Aside from the scar crossing his left eyebrow, and another scraping the top of his lip in fact it appeared he hadn’t changed at all. Odd, but Lance pushed past it. At least he was keeping his pretty face. It probably didn’t matter. It didn’t matter, right? Over the course of the months that followed, Lance discovered he had new abilities like Allura did. The ability to manipulate quintessence, use it for better or for worse. His veins glowed the same as the energy source for weeks afterwards, until he couldn’t remember what he looked like without it. He tried to ignore the change for the time, knowing it helped. He pushed out any memories reminding of who else had that ability. Another year, and Lance knew for certain. Pidge’s hair had grown long, and she’d filled out in other places as well. Allura’s face had been thinned from war, and Shiro had a few creases around his lips, his hair shaggy and often tied back. Hunk had followed suit, and Lance was loathe to tell his friend he was now sporting the beginnings of a mullet. Keith had grown another few inches, standing a hair above him now. Lance had been frozen. He remained all long limbs, features stuck between being a boy and a man. His scars had been glossed over, undoubtedly from all the quintessence he used. In fact, it had smoothed out his features, and even without his skin care regimen he looked flawless. The only significant change that had been made at all was constant glow running through his blood, and more recently, the shift in hue it had made to the blue eyes his mother had adored. Instead, they glowed a pupiless purple. A purple the enemy they were fighting adored. He didn’t mention anything, not to his teammates, not even to himself. He locked what he knew about himself away, watching those he loved grow while he remained just as he had the day he’d been captured. More recently, he’d found he had feelings for two certain paladins too. Lance thought about it for a long time, whether to say something or not. In the end he was silent. His team hadn’t paid the time Lance did to his appearance. They hadn’t noticed he hadn’t changed, not in the midst of saving the universe. Lance didn’t blame them and knew he wouldn’t ever bring it up, similar to his feelings for Keith and Shiro. He’d never let the men grow old without him, burden them with the knowledge that they were leaving their lover with an eternally broken heart. Instead he watched as they got together instead, and pretended not to notice the looks they gave him everywhere he went. Five years after he was captured was when someone finally said something about it. Pidge had been teasing Shiro about his thirtieth, how he was getting old, to which the man responded, “Hey, we can’t all be Lance!” The boy didn’t laugh, pausing at his spot washing dishes. He hoped the comment would pass. It didn’t. The conversation went on, ignoring Lance’s silence. “True, he hasn’t aged a day,” she admitted, looking enviously to him. Physically, she was older now, at nineteen. Lance had a white knuckled grip on the plate he held, while the water dripping off it took on a familiar magenta hue, matching the veins in the hand holding it. “Lance?” Shiro asked, the same all too concerned tone in his stupid voice. The brunette set the plate in the sink, turning off the water and stepping away before he caused an accident. “She’s right,” he murmured. “I haven’t aged a day.” He looked up, casting the glow of his eyes and now tears in the black paladin’s direction. “Not since Haggar got her hands on me.” Lance cried himself to sleep that night, ignoring the pounding on his bedroom door from the six other people on the ship. He’d never grow old with anybody, he’d never have someone for the rest of his life. Seventeen he would remain, forever. Lance watched his friends slip through his fingers. As the years flew by and blurred together he watched a shock of silver thread it’s way through Keith’s hair every time he visited the planet he and Shiro finally settled on. Watched Hunk’s hands grow wrinkled and pained from years of engineering, coated with the dust of the Balmera. Even though they’d fought and won, Lance could not save them from age. Wouldn’t wish to, anyways. He wouldn’t condemn his friends to the same fate as him. He was there at each of their funerals, assumed to be a younger relative, or something similar. Voltron had been hidden away again, the location entrusted to the ageless boy who’d sobbed under the shadow of far too many gravestones. Lance never took a lover, never had anything more than simple flings despite how many had begged, pleaded with the ethereal, glowing boy to stay. He was never cruel, but he had no true interest. They were things to keep away the coldness of his reality, of knowing the men he had loved were buried across the universe side by side, lost to him forever. He wandered his way through the universe, searching and searching for the one person left who could give him a sense of fulfillment. A witch who had escaped Voltron’s grasp as the empire finally fell, and the one person Lance truly wanted dead. She was unlike him, corrupting herself with a constant craving for more. Perhaps if Lance learned to enjoy his infinite lifetime things would be different, the universe would take it out on him. Instead, it was simply how he lived. He’d saved the universe, and now the universe appeared to have chosen a form of payment someone else had negotiated for him. He scoured the cosmos for years until he found her, on a remote thing that was closer to an asteroid than a planet, harvesting quintessence from a nearby star. Lance tore her apart with it. The battle raged for days between the two of them, Haggar strong from practice and wisdom, Lance by youth and ingenuity. She screamed at him to give up, to join her and build up something greater than what he’d destroyed. Lance merely smiled, the blood dripping from his lips glowing like everything else about him. He was consumed in the light, exchanging blow for blow mercilessly. By the time he finally bested her he flared up almost brighter than the star nearby, Haggar only made immune to the unrelenting brightness from her own power. Lance annihilated her in a blaze of hatred and energy, tearing her apart molecule by molecule until she could not even be called stardust. Then, Lance set off. And after destroying the witch, he rescued instead. As the legend of Voltron faded until time called for it to rise again, a different one arose. Of a boy who glowed magenta, whose smile always seemed a tiny bit sad no matter the circumstance. Who never changed, and kept himself alive despite all odds stacked against him. Someday, Lance would lay himself to rest. After he trained the next generation, guided along by the memories of the friends he’d lost so many years ago. But for now, he traveled until he was needed again