#lance simultaneously caring so hard about keith and what he’s doing and what’s going on in that little noggin

[leenfiend]

we were like - rivals, you know? lance and keith neck and neck!

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

*** It’s Quiznakking You prt 3

Premise: Keith is injured on a mission and Lance thinks he’s going to lose him

Scene: Secret boyfriends. Black Paladin Keith. Hurt Keith. Soft idiots. Angry Lance. The team being dicks. Season fourish. Keith’s burning the candle at both ends. I’m a sucker for the helmets having video recording. Sorry Keith. I realised I forgot to say Lance sugar coats it for his poor pod brained boyfriend.

*

Lance wasn’t known for his patience, neither was Keith for that matter. He’d eaten a little then fallen asleep, waking with Lance wrapped around him. Feeling him move, his boyfriend’s grip tightened

“Nope, no running away”

“What are you doing awake?”

“My boyfriend tried to leave me”

“I wasn’t leaving”

“Good, gimme a kiss”

One kiss turned to two, then Lance moving to straddle his lap as they made out sloppily. He’d been so awkward the first time they’d kissed properly and still wasn’t sure he deserved all this affection. Letting his body follow its instincts, his hands slipped to grope at Lance’s arse. With the robe on, he could feel his boyfriend growing hard

“Keith…”

“Lance…”

They hadn’t crossed that line but now Lance was looking down on him, and sure he really should be shaking his boyfriend and demanding to know what happened but being in the moment with Lance felt more important

“If you don’t want to…”

It was dark inside the tent, which was lit by a few glowing stones. Keith was both glad and annoyed over the lack of lighting. He wanted to see Lance fall apart for him, while simultaneously being relieved that his own awkwardness and inexperience was hidden in the shadows

“I… think yeah…”

“We don’t have to… if you’re not ready”

“I’m ready… if you’re ready… I mean…”

“Let’s trying kissing some more, mullet. There’s no rush”

“I like the sound of that”

Sex in the movies had always made it seem so simple… He didn’t know what he was doing and Lance beneath him had his heart hammering. It hadn’t helped that Lance had thought about this, testing out playing with himself. It felt weird to finger his boyfriend, Lance really fucking tense to begin with, desire the generous amount of animal fat Keith had been instructed to use. Slowly his boyfriend seemed to get really into it… and he really got into watching him squirm.

Slowly burying himself in his boyfriend, Lance’s moans turned to groans of pain. Keith didn’t think himself that big

“Should I stop?”

“No…”

“You’re in pain”

“They do say the first time is always painful”

Starting to pull back, Lance stopped him by looping his legs around him. His boyfriend had gone limp and Keith kind of felt like he was assaulting him by still being hard

“I want this. I want this with you”

“I don’t want to hurt you”

“Babe, I’ve spent the last day dreaming about this. I want to do this with my boyfriend”

With Lance alternating between going soft and hard, Keith couldn’t describe what sex felt like, only that Lance felt really good around him and his hips wanted to do their own thing. Nervous, he slipped out twice, half expecting Lance to laugh but he didn’t. Pushing in for the third time, he started to find a slow rhythm but all of this was so new he came before he knew what hit him, hips stuttering as he caged Lance with his upper body

“Did you just…”

“Yeah…”

“Did… did it feel okay?”

“It did… but you didn’t…”

“I think I could…”

“Should I…?”

“No. No… stay like that”

His hips started moving again as Lance jacked himself off. He was mortified at coming so fast yet Lance didn’t seem to care. It definitely was not how the movies made it seem. Coming, Lance splattered his chest as he let out a string of Spanish Keith wished he knew. With the way Lance was tightening and quivering around him, Keith found him chasing his own orgasm, coming again and grateful it wasn’t so fast this time. Careful to pull out, Lance was grabbing for him and pulling him up to him before Keith’s brain could keep up. Ending up with him laying right in Lance’s jizz

“We should clean up”

“It can wait. I can’t feel my hips”

“I… if it was bad…”

“No”

“But…”

“Babe, no. I wanted to do this with you. You really had me scared”

“I’m sorry”

Kissing the top of his head, Lance squeezed his hip lightly

“I’m not… but you might need to carry me everywhere”

“You just wanted a reason to slack off now I’m awake”

“It wasn’t the same without you… ugh, I should probably tell you what you missed”

“I think Pidge said you got into a fight? And they all know we’re dating?”

“I may have lost my shit”

He’d been the one stabbed. Between blood loss and thinking of Lance’s safety… he kind of didn’t remember much

“It must have been really scary”

Sighing, Lance then kissed his hair again

“It was. Um… Pidge had muted me on the comms so no one heard me yelling for help. So… I… may have… kind of had no patience”

“She muted you”

“Apparently I make bad jokes”

Keith couldn’t deny that… Lance’s bad jokes were kind of awful

“I’m sorry I got stabbed”

“It wasn’t your fault. I watched the footage over and over. Neither of us seemed to notice the corridor”

“It must have been bad if you landed the castle”

Lance went silent. Suspiciously so. Keith starting to regret getting glued to his boyfriend with jizz as he tried to reposition himself to look Lance in the eye

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“I… Okay. So I may have gotten mad and started getting bossy. Pidge and Hunk were on pod duty so they’d never thinking muting anyone on the comms again was okay. Shiro tried to blame me and I told him no. I also told him we needed a time out and that I didn’t think we could form Voltron how we are right now”

Keith blinked in shock

“You did?”

“Well… I mean, I know Shiro’s back but at the moment you’re our leader which means you’re supposed to make the calls… but… I… kind of thought maybe I should seeing you were in a pod. And… I might have told him I’m worried about you… and that you’re taking on a lot”

If he wasn’t feeling pleasantly drained from having sex, Keith might have just smacked his boyfriend

“Laaaance”

“I know. But it made me so mad that your safety and life were in jeopardy. You wouldn’t have been in a pod so long had Pidge not muted me. Then there were the refugees. Allura reached out to our allies and a few planets did say they’d take them but they weren’t suitable atmospherically. When Allura announced at breakfast this place would work I brought it up again, that we needed to take a breather and settle after the trauma. We were all scared we’d lost you, so we need to calm back down, or risk making bad decisions out there. Shiro said we didn’t need a break, so I may have yelled that last bit at him… Anyway, they’re really nice here and we’re taking a movement long vacation. And I think there’s some things we should talk about too”

Keith’s brain had to still be broken. He’d never thought Lance would be yelling at Shiro, yet he was proud that Lance had

“You really yelled?”

“Yeah. And I’m sorry I outed us. It was on my camera footage. I was so mad I didn’t stop to think to erase the bridge footage”

Keith was honestly confused by how fast Lance was talking

“What was?”

“You know how we were joking before hitting up Yellow? When I was calling you babe? I deleted it off the castle system, but the bridge cameras recorded what I was watching. I’m pretty sure that Shiro wanted to make sure I hadn’t edited anything incriminating out. Coran couldn’t keep quiet about it… He kept hinting that I had a secret. A secret about you and me. Then Shiro goes “We know you and Keith are dating”. Pidge started screaming after that… you’re lucky you missed it”

Wow. So the team actually knew…

“And… I mean… you’re okay with it?”

“I’m not ashamed of dating you”

“But we agreed…”

“That we’re in the middle of a war and we wouldn’t make a scene. Trust me, my heart has been dying to make a scene with you”

Keith felt all gooey inside and his heart had gone from racing to giving funny beats… He was used to being seen as worth so much in the eyes of anyone other than Shiro

“Why?”

“Because, Mister Emo Edgelord, it’s quiznakking you. I’m not as good as everyone else, and I should leave the math to Pidge, but… if you can’t lead then I want to make sure it’s smooth for your return… and I know this is probably going to make no sense, but I think you need… I think you need to make that choice”

All that happiness he’d felt evaporated in an instant. Tearing himself out of Lance’s hold, he couldn’t believe his boyfriend had just said that. He didn’t get very far due to Lance’s leg, ending up on his back next to him

“What the fuck?! You’ve fucked me, now you want me to leave!?”

“I don’t want you to leave. I’d tie you down to the bed and physically stop you if I could. I’m worried about you. I want you to go with the Blades and find your mother! I was so scared when you were bleeding out, but I was more scared you’d never find your mother… I know you need that”

Oh… Between the Blades and Voltron… It was killing him trying to keep up with both. Lance had tried to give him Red back, the idiot still had stupid moments when he thought he wasn’t good enough

“If you feel that that’s what you need to do… you should”

“But what about us?”

“I’m big enough to share you… as long as you don’t forget me. I may have… told them I was worried about your mental health too. Shiro really didn’t want to land planet side… I think in a way we forget how to interact with a lot of people when it’s the seven of us…”

Rolling onto his side, Keith stared hard at his boyfriend. Everything Lance was saying made sense

“You went through a lot”

“Maybe, but it’s my job as your right hand man”

“I’m proud of you”

“Awww, mullet. Come here, come give Loverboy Lance a cuddle”

“We were having a moment”

Wrapping his arm around Lance, he was careful about his boyfriend’s hips. He’d taken plenty of huge dumps in his days and wasn’t sure how good it felt to do it in reverse

“We still are. Do you remember what happened?”

“Bits… it was bad, wasn’t it? The blood wouldn’t stop”

“Yeah. I’m still angry at Pidge”

“She should have known better”

“She’s beating herself up about it too. That’s half the reason I put them on pod duty. I wanted to be there but this planet’s population is pretty nomadic. Pidge and Hunk did some soil sampling so we’re teaching them about concrete and more permanent structures”

“Lemme guess, you used them as your coping mechanism”

“A bit. I was so mad that I kind of stepped up and got a bit bossy”

“You? Bossy, I can’t believe it”

“We both know I can be bossy”

Tilting his head up, Lance shifted to kiss him. Keith embarrassed all over again that he’d punched his v-card in possibly the worst bout of sex ever. Well, he’d enjoyed it, but Lance… He might have come… but it had to hurt

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“It wasn’t great, but it was kind of amazing because it was with you. Besides, it just means we should definitely practice”

“You’d do that again!?”

Lance snorted at him, hand coming up to smack him lightly on the arse

“I could be persuaded. I definitely liked watching how into you were getting. You seemed very very into me”

Short circuiting, Keith squeaked

“Gargh…”

“It’s fine… but I won’t be impressed if you take these new skills and try them on someone else”

“Idiot. You’re the only one who’d want me”

“That’s not true”

“I think it is”

“That’s because you need to have more faith. Seriously, I might have had dreams of being the Black Paladin, but no thanks”

“You wanted to be the Black Paladin?”

“For like a moment. I don’t think I’m management material”

“You managed fine without me”

Keith’s breath was knocked out of him as Lance pulled him into an almost rib breaking hug

“Nope. No. Not at all”

“You’re crushing me”

“You deserve it for making me worry. I don’t know what’s coming next, but I do know I want to spend this movement being ridiculously and grossly monopolising your attention now that we’ve been outed. I think I saw Shiro’s soul escape his body”

His brother had probably never seen it coming, especially with how they’d grown so close in his absence

“I thought we were here for me to heal”

“Can it, mullet. You’re mine. At least for the rest of the movement”

A movement with Lance didn’t sound so bad, but… His boyfriend knew what it meant to him to find out about his mother and why she didn’t love him enough to stay

“Would you be okay with me joining the Blades?”

“Yes and no. I’m going to miss you like crazy”

“I’ll miss you too… I…”

Shushing him, Lance could be stubborn when he wanted to be and extra stubborn when it came to talking when they cuddled

“Don’t go getting mushy on me now. We’re rivals remember. By the time you come back I’m going to an ace with a blade”

“As long as you don’t stab yourself with it”

Keith realised what he’d said as his words hit his ears

“Lance…”

“Don’t. I don’t want to ever go through that again. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent rival, let alone one I can go neck to neck with?”

There his boyfriend went using inappropriate humour to cover his pain. He really should pull him up on it, but that wasn’t what Lance wanted him to do. He was trying to be okay

“I promise you’ll be my only rival… I don’t know how I got you, but it’s… Lance, it’s quiznakking you”

“Awww, that’s my mullet. I don’t know about you, but I’m crusty. We should probably clean up”

“Now you want to clean up!”

“Hey, it’s not every day you lose your virginity to your boyfriend on an alien planet after he got himself stabbed and you had to be the interim leader, cut me some slack”

“Fine. This time. And I promise not to be stabbed and make you worry like that again”

“Good, because I’ve had some pretty whack nightmares since it happened and I needed this break as much as I thought you would”

“I think we all needed the break, but you’re the only one who realised”

“What can I say, you’re dating a genius”

“And now it’s gone to your head”

“Yep. I reckon if we go back to sleep we’ll get a few more vargas”

“Until what?”

“Dude, the whole team was worried. Now I’ve kidnapped you. They’re going to expect me to share. We all care about you”

He hadn’t had the best childhood, and some days Keith really did wonder what the others thought of him. Like Lance, he had a list of insecurities a mile long… He might need to find his mum and who he really was, but he’d found his home with all of them how he was now. Especially this long legged, caramel skinned, boy from Cuba who wore his heart on his sleeve and maybe sort of deserved muting sometimes when he started with his lame puns

“Thanks, babe”

“You’re welcome, now clean me up… I don’t think I can walk ever again”

“Oh, you big baby. It didn’t hurt me”

“I’ll hurt you”

“Is that a threat? Or a promise”

“Both… once I’m up again you better be prepared”

“Somehow I think I can handle that”

And he would because no matter happened he could always rely on Lance… Lance who sacrificed him to the team when they woke up late that morning, before getting on his case about the refugees and the progress they’d made. The same idiot who’d decided it was smart to hide the fact he’d been hurt. And the same idiot who was smacked for it, before letting Keith dress his wounds. He really liked his idiot, and really hoped someday soon he’d be introducing his mother to that same idiot, so she’d see just how amazing the support Lance gave him was.

[thathopelessromantic]

Crossing Lines

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Rating: Mature (implied sexual content + mild language) Pairing: Lance/Keith Note: The comeback no one expected with a series I thought was finished in 2018 and a fic I started in 2019 finally finished lol

There’s a nagging worry in the back of his head that this is not normal friends-with-benefits behavior, but it is easily drowned out by Lance’s sleepy smile when he shifts again to face Keith. He hides another wide yawn in his shoulder.

“Those kids wore you out, clearly.” Keith observes, trying to fight back his own yawn.

Lance smiles fondly. “It was fun to see them, to go back and be with everyone for a while. But I’m really glad you were here when I got home.”

AO3: (X) Part 1 of the series: (X)

Keith looks away from his computer as his phone buzzes against his leg. Pidge sits across the room at her desk, muttering to herself as she readjusts the device’s calibration – again. Their project was supposed to be at least 80 percent theoretical, but Keith knew the moment he was paired with Pidge that option was thrown out the window.

He flips his phone over just as it vibrates again. There’s a text from Shiro, asking him for the third time about a shirt Shiro insists Keith stole and Keith insists Shiro just lost, and a snapchat from Lance. Dismissing the text notification, he opens snapchat.

Most of the picture is just of a bright blue sky above him, but Lance’s face peeks out from the bottom, at an extremely unflattering angle. The selfie is taken at chest level while Lance looks down at the camera. His hair is pushed under a backwards baseball cap with frayed stitching along the edge and there is, what appears to be, a sparkly butterfly sticker on his cheek. Above his head it reads:

don’t blow up my apartment while im gone, mullet. i live there.

Shaking his head, he taps away the message. Pidge still appears absorbed in her tinkering and doesn’t notice as he takes a blurry picture of her.

we’re not that irresponsible

It only takes a few seconds for Lance to reply, no longer bothering with pictures and just texting back.

HA! but seriously, hunk’s been sending me worried messages all weekend

…Hunk had seemed particularly anxious the last time Keith emerged from Pidge’s room for a drink.

hm…like an hour ago pidge thought she had gotten the laser to work for real and did seem a little maniacal…

Lance replies with a supremely unimpressed expression, made, of course, all the more effective by the butterfly sticker. Keith snorts, but also half-heartedly wonders how easily he could get away with saving a screenshot of the selfie. He just saved one last night, of Lance cuddling with his parent’s dog ruined only slightly by the caption insinuating the dog had better breath than Keith, but he brushed it off with a lie about trying to lock his phone and taking the screenshot accidentally. He’s not sure if Lance believed him then, but he definitely wouldn’t believe it two times in a row.

Pidge loudly clears her throat across the room. Startled, Keith dismisses the message, and nearly drops his phone in the process. When he looks up, Pidge is looking at him over the rim of her glasses, with one brow raised.

“…Yes?”

“How’s that report coming, Keith?”

He glances back at his computer, at the three and a half pages he had finished of their ten-page report. “Fine.”

“Hm.” Pidge looks away, jotting down some other measurements on a pad besides her. “And how’s your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my-” Keith starts before he gives up with a heavy sigh. It’s a waste of breath with her. “Lance thinks we’re going to blow up the apartment. Well I guess actually Hunk does, and he turned to Lance for help.”

Pidge rolls her eyes, muttering something under her breath about worry-warts and ridiculous roommates. Keith smiles at the, somehow, simultaneously exasperated but fond tone she uses and turns back to his computer, tucking his phone under his leg again. But it takes a while to focus on anything other than blue eyes and familiar, silly banter.

It’s nearly three and a half hours later, though it hardly feels like it, when Hunk knocks at the door, tempting them out of the room and their work-stupors with the promise of pizza, the heady aroma already spilling out from the kitchen. They settle in the living room, Pidge and Hunk on the couch with Keith on the floor in front of them, legs stretched out under the coffee table. Pidge is still complaining around mouthfuls of burning cheese that they were almost done, if Hunk had just waited a little while longer, but Hunk turns on the sci-fi series they’ve been watching together and within ten minutes into the episode her complaints have turned into an analysis of how the character’s spacesuits work.

Keith relaxes against the couch as their familiar chatter falls around him. He’s a little lost in what is happening in the show, they’re further than he’s been able to get on his own, but it’s nice to share it with them anyways, especially with the way Hunk laughs triumphantly when he guesses the ridiculous plot twist twenty minutes early and Pidge keeps comparing the characters to people they know with frightening accuracy.

It only takes them an episode and a half to completely demolish the pizza, but when the third one starts up in the queue, no one bothers to reach for the remote. Full of good food and only half-paying attention to the show, Keith can feel himself being lulled to sleep right there on the living room floor. He fights against the urge as much as he can, but the last thing he remembers is the upbeat opening starting for the next episode, and then suddenly the episode is ending as he jerks awake, knocking his knee on the underside of the table, hard.

After his unfortunate waking, he extracts himself from under the table, gathering up dirty plates, despite Hunk’s protest, and taking them into the kitchen – the moving helps wake him up, even if his knee still hurts like a bitch. The stove clock reads 7:03. He slips through the living room as another episode is starting and goes to their bathroom.

As he’s washing his hands, his phone buzzes with another text. He opens the text as he exits the room. It’s a picture from Adam, Shiro’s fiancé, of Shiro sitting on the floor of what Keith is pretty sure is their laundry room, head buried in his hands. There’s a very dusty pile of something next to him.

The text says: we found his shirt.

Keith leaves the text conversation, trying not to laugh. Considering all the trouble Shiro gave him, Keith feels like he should be at least mildly annoyed by this instead of amused.

He turns the doorknob to the room in front of him and swings it open before he even realizes what he’s doing. He freezes, looking in at Lance’s dark, empty room. Distracted, he had apparently been moving through the apartment on autopilot – straight to Lance’s room. Feeling like he’s breaking some kind of unspoken rule, he takes a few steps in. Lance’s bed is still a mess of blankets and pillows, and there’s piles of books and discarded shoes covering his floor. He’s only been gone a few days, but his absence feels so prominent, especially like this, Keith can’t help but feel like something is wrong.

He’s texting Lance before he can think better of it.

when are you coming back again?

Lance’s response is almost instantaneous.

why? missing me that much already, mullet?

Yes, Keith’s head or heart, or maybe both, shout.

no just wondering how much longer we get to enjoy this peace and quiet he says instead.

whatever, asshole …….tomorrow night

Keith silently but firmly tells himself to stop being so damn happy about this news as he slips his phone back into his pocket. He takes one last look at Lance’s room before stepping back out into the hall and pulling the door closed behind him.

He just barely manages to fight the telling smile off his face before he gets back to the living room.

 Keith crashes at their apartment for the night, on the couch. Hunk and Pidge both try to convince him that he could take Lance’s bed and Lance wouldn’t care, but Keith is fairly certain he wouldn’t get much sleep if he was in Lance’s room – even if he would be alone – and insists the couch is fine. He wakes up once around 5 or 6 in the morning as Hunk is getting ready for his opening shift at a local diner but otherwise sleeps well until about 10:30. He wanders into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee before going to roust Pidge. He doesn’t mind mornings much, but he learned very soon into their friendship that Pidge is very firmly a “night owl,” and has no interest in trying to deny her nature. She’s lying upside down on her bed when he gets to her room, and somehow managed to kick all of her blankets off of the bed, except one, which looks dangerously close to suffocating her.

He stands in the doorway for a moment, just staring at her. “How do you even manage this?”

“Mmphf.” Sleeping Pidge replies, very firmly.

“Right.” Keith pauses. “I’ll come back when the coffee’s done, actually.”

With a little extra time, Keith hops in the shower. As soon as he opens the bottle of shampoo, he recognizes the familiar, fresh scent as Lance’s soap. He’s a little surprised Lance left his favorite soap behind, even if he was just going to his family home for a few days. He also isn’t sure what to do, looking around the shower space for other soap. There’s plenty, and surely none of them would care either way if he used a little soap but…

Is he totally over thinking this? Absolutely.

Does that realization help him make a decision about which soap to use? Absolutely not.

What feels like ages, but is hopefully only a few minutes, passes before he finally convinces himself to stop being ridiculous and just use the damn shampoo. He just grabbed Lance’s first, it was a coincidence and if Pidge noticed later…well, she would just have to accept that.

…Right.

He washes up quickly after wasting who knows how long second-guessing his soap choices and leaves the bathroom to the smell of coffee slowly starting to fill the apartment.

He has to break the nonexistent, unspoken rule his brain has built up in his mind a second time, and trespasses across Lance’s room to find some spare clothes he’s left behind for overnight stays. He pulls on some clean boxers and his jeans from yesterday, but after he’s pulled the worn Altea University shirt over his head, he realizes its Lance shirt, not his. There’s a small hole starting in the bottom hem and the white letters are fading and cracked from excessive wear. It was folded in his drawers, so Keith is like…ninety percent certain it’s clean, but it still smells like Lance’s cologne. Or maybe it’s his lotion or laundry soap or bodywash, but between whatever lingering scent Lance has left on his clothes and the smell of his shampoo still obvious in Keith’s damp hair, he suddenly feels overwhelmed.

He hates how much he hates that Lance is gone.

It’s just a couple of days. Why is he such a disaster? They’re friends. When was the last time he missed Hunk or Pidge this much when they were gone? Even with their friends with benefits arrangement, what made Lance that special to him?

Actually, that was a can of worms he wasn’t really prepared to open just yet.

Keith makes a hasty retreat – a calm, completely normal walk out of one room to another if anyone asks – back to the kitchen for coffee. He pours a generous amount for both Pidge and himself, before he returns to Pidge’s room to finally wake her. He’s not exactly eager to spend another full day working on this project, but he wants to get it done, and he officially really needs the distraction.

It takes another hour, even with the promise of coffee, to pull Pidge out of bed, and she insists on showering “to feel like a real person” before they can get back to work on their project.

Keith has gotten as far as turning his laptop back on and opening their report, rereading the last few paragraphs to remember where he left off, when Pidge returns to her room in some leggings and a baggy t-shirt Keith is pretty sure belongs to either Lance or Matt.

“How about food first?” she suggests.

It’s not exactly the distraction he was looking for, but he shuts his laptop anyways, pushing it off his lap before she even finishes her sentence.

 Sal’s is a small 24-hour diner just outside of Altea's central campus that makes it a popular place for both students and professors. Sunday morning, it is practically bursting at the seams, but it’s got good food for reasonable prices and Hunk, Lance, and Pidge had become regulars even before Hunk got a job in the kitchen. Within a few months of becoming friends, Keith had been invited along enough times that the waitstaff began to recognize him too.

Their wait for a table is reasonable, all things considered, and then Keith and Pidge have only been at the table for maybe three minutes before their waitress, Flora, drops drinks off at the table with a promise to be back for their orders in just a minute. Her long, red pony tail swings wildly behind her as she flits around the small space.

They hadn’t ordered anything, but Flora had been there for a long time and was used to their group stopping in, especially on weekend mornings when Hunk was working. But sitting on the table in front of them is two coffee mugs, and a tall glass of apple juice.

Keith and Pidge both stare at it for a moment, before looking to each other. Keith has a feeling the juice is making him feel a whole lot more…things than it is Pidge.

“I guess she just assumed?” Pidge finally says after a moment and goes back to the menu, as if she hadn’t memorized it within the first three months of their visits.

Keith pulls out his phone and takes a picture of the juice, sending it to Lance with a text:

from flora

Lance’s response comes in a few minutes later, interspersed with at least a dozen crying emojis.

i cant believe u traitors went to sal’s w/o me. tell flora i love her and one of u better drink that. we don’t let apple juice go to waste in this house

i am not telling her that. but i will drink the juice for u

Flora comes back to the table before Lance’s next reply comes in. “Just your usual’s today?”

Pidge hums and haws over the decision a few times, like she does every time they come, before agreeing to her usual order. Though she asks for fresh fruit as well today, just to mix it up.

He can feel his phone buzz against his leg almost the entire time Pidge is ordering. And again a few more times as he confirms that he would like his usual order as well. “But, Lance isn’t with us today so…nothing for him.” Keith adds awkwardly at the end.

Flora blinks at him a few times, surprised, before she snaps her fingers as if suddenly remembering something. “Right. I remember Hunk mentioning one of his roommates was out of town for a few days. Sorry guys, I’m just so used to your trio, or just you and him,” she says to Keith, thankfully not seeing the way Pidge wiggles her eyebrows and makes kissy-faces at him for the aside. “I’ll take that juice back for you.”

“Oh no, that’s fine.” Keith says, moving the glass closer to him. “It’s already poured, we’ll drink it.”

Flora arches a brow, but doesn’t argue with him. She promises their food will be out shortly and leaves the table.

“I can’t believe Lance didn’t request you deliver any messages to her for him, or insist we eat his chocolate chip pancakes in his honor too.” Pidge says once she’s gone.

Keith pulls out his phone, flipping it around to show Pidge the twelve messages he got while they were ordering. “Oh, I’m sure he did somewhere in there.”

 It’s hard to get back to work on a full stomach, but they power through it. Their shared determination to not have to worry about the project after today deters the usual urge to distract each other. Still, progress is slow, and they’re still working when Hunk comes home from work and peeks in to check on them. They pass on lunch when Hunk asks after his shower, and give non-committal answers to his questions about dinner plans.

Keith is entirely unaware of time and date and hell maybe even location by the time he drags himself through the conclusion but he is bordering on ecstatic when he finally saves the document for the last time and looks up from the computer only for Pidge to look up from her own work and meet his eye a few seconds later.

“Done?”

He nods, and she gives an excited “whoop!” stumbling off her desk chair to throw herself on the bed besides him. “So I just need to add in my input and double-check the details match up, right?”

He nods again, and she immediately scrolls to the top of the document to start reading. “Oh!” she jumps up again, grabbing her laptop from the desk and the notebook she was working in besides it. “Do you want to double check the equations and make sure the experiment outline matches the order you have everything in the paper?”

He is relatively confident in Pidge’s work, but he agrees, nonetheless, and the two settle against each other in the twin bed to finish their work.

 Keith isn’t sure when he dozes off, he doesn’t even really remember falling asleep, but when he wakes up, it’s dark in Pidge’s room. Both of their computers are on her desk and he’s alone in her bed. He sits up, half-heartedly feeling around the blankets for his phone to check the time.

“C’mon Mullet, you really had to move right then?”

Keith about jumps out of his skin at the unexpected voice, though he’d vehemently deny it if asked. Lance is sitting backwards in Pidge’s desk chair, pushed close to the door. He lowers his phone, smirking at Keith’s startled expression.

“I guess the deer-in-the-headlights look is fun too, but I was really going to enjoy lording the drooling-all-over-Pidge’s-sheets picture over you.” Lance teases.

Keith’s heart brain is doing some kind of stupid, fluttery thing over the boy across the room that he is pointedly ignoring.

“Shut up.” Keith mutters, even as he hastily wipes at his mouth. There’s nothing there. Asshole. He pushes himself off the bed. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Lance presses a hand to his chest in fake offense. “Really? You sleep through my grand return and when you finally bother to wake up, that’s how you greet me?”

Keith crosses the room, folding his arms over his chest and summoning the most unimpressed expression he can muster. “You know what I meant.”

Lance doesn’t seem deterred by the new height difference between them, or Keith’s attitude, crossing his arms over the back of the chair and batting his eyelashes up at him cheekily. He’s wearing the same baseball hat from the picture he sent Keith yesterday, but he’s got it on in the right direction this time, making him look minorly less like a douchebag. The baggy zip-up, which may very well be Hunk’s, over a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, and sweatpants isn’t really helping though.

“When did you get back?” Keith askes instead of commenting on his poor outfit choices.

Lance shrugs. “A little after five. Pidge said you started to doze off around four.” He adds before Keith can ask. “Hunk made stir fry for dinner.”

Taking that to mean Lance was actually sent here to wake him up for dinner, rather than simply coming to terrorize him because he was bored, Keith steps around him to leave. A moment later Lance stumbles off the chair after him, complaining all the way.

“Hey,” Lance calls after him.

Keith is already rolling his eyes as he turns around, assuming Lance has a few more jabs he wants to get out before they get to the kitchen, so he is wholly unprepared for Lance to hook a finger in the collar of his shirt and pull him close.

“Is this my shirt?”

It takes all of his self-control not to fly away from Lance’s hold, though the heat rising rapidly to his cheeks is probably giving away his embarrassment all the same. “Maybe? I just grabbed something from your drawers after my shower this morning.”

Lance has a look in his eyes that Keith recognizes as usually meaning something dangerous is in store for him. He leans in closer, stopping just before the bill of his hat brushes the top of Keith’s head. “Did you use my shampoo too?”

“I think you’re a little too obsessed with your things for someone wearing someone else’s hoodie.”

“Well I think you missed me while I was gone.”

Keith isn’t entirely sure who moves first, but one second they’re staring each other down daring the other to give in and the next he’s shoved Lance’s baseball cap off his head, burying his fingers in Lance’s messy hair while Lance’s hands have dropped to his waist, pulling him close with a bruising grip. Their kiss is uncoordinated and messy. Keith is ninety percent certain he was not the only one missing someone a stupid amount this weekend. His back hits the wall, and he faintly registers Pidge yelling something about her room from the other side of the apartment.

Lance rucks up his shirt, warm hands brushing over his sides, and Keith is dangerously close to wrapping his legs around his hips and saying fuck dinner.

They finally break apart for air and Lance laughs against his throat, the sensation sending shivers down his back. “I knew you missed me.”

“And what?” Keith asks breathlessly. “You were ambivalent about it all? I don’t think so. Not kissing like that.”

Lance pulls back to look at him with a surprisingly soft look. “I just wanted to hear you admit it,” he teases.

Normally, Keith would have a comeback for that, probably, but now he’s distracted as he runs his fingers through Lance’s bangs. “You have blue hair.”

Just the tips of his hair that are dyed, actually, not his whole head, he’s still surprised by the change. It seems a little silly, but it still looks good on him.

Lance, not one to be deterred by much, winks at him, striking a pose. “Hot, right? Rachel did it.”

“Yeah, it looks good.”

That does give Lance pause and he blinks at Keith and his easy admission a few times. “Er, well…we should probably go eat now. If just to reassure Pidge we aren’t defiling her room.”

 Dinner is great, as usual when Hunk cooks, and they sit in the living room with another show on in the background, but they fill most of the time talking about Lance’s trip and gossip in their department that Keith is somehow always unaware of.

It is well after eleven before conversation begins to fade and they start to disperse around the apartment. Keith is, maybe a little, embarrassed about it, but he doesn’t bother to hide his intentions to stay with Lance rather than going back to his own apartment now that the project is done. For once, Pidge and Hunk leave them be with minimal suggestive looks.

Considering the brief tryst in the hallway earlier, Keith isn’t entirely sure what to expect when they finally retire to Lance’s room, but Lance doesn’t seem to be in a particular rush to do anything. Keith shimmies out of his jeans and drops into bed while Lance puts on some kind of moisturizer. He strips down to his boxers after and Keith can see new, blue markings up and down his arms before Lance turns the light off. Predictably, a moment later there’s a crash and Lance swears. Keith leans over to turn on the lamp next to the bed. Lance is leaning against the footboard, rubbing his shin.

“What did you knock over this time?”

Lance sticks out his tongue. “Don’t worry about it. Move over.” He says. He doesn’t wait before he climbs over the end of the bed and flops down, half on top of Keith.

“I would have moved if you let me,” Keith says into his shoulder.

Lance hums in consideration before he shifts on the mattress. Keith lets him maneuver him around the bed, mostly curious as to what he’s doing, until they end up on their sides, legs tangled together and arms around each other. Lance’s head is pressed against his chest, and his hands are, conveniently, on his ass.

“Lance-”

“Shh,” Lance interrupts immediately. “I had to go a whole weekend without even being able to see this ass, give me a moment to enjoy it.”

Keith laughs despite himself, rolling his eyes. “You are ridiculous.”

Lance wiggles against him, sighing contently. “You like it.”

“Whatever.”

Absentmindedly, Keith runs a hand against Lance’s back, trailing nonsense patterns against his warm skin. Eventually, he looks down, just to make sure Lance hasn’t actually fallen asleep like that, and sees the blue drawings on his arm again.

“What is all over you?”

Lance lets go of him to roll onto his back and show off his arms. “After Rachel dyed my hair, Nadia and Sylvio wanted to match, but Lisa, their mom, wasn’t really thrilled with the idea, so we found these tattoo markers at the dollar store and they were washable, so we went kind of crazy.” Lance shifts so his side is up where the black outline of a shark tattooed into his waist is now black and blue. “They also colored in my tattoo.”

“Did you draw these?”

“Haha,” Lance elbows him in the side half-heartedly. “I drew the rocket ship on my wrist, and the constellations on my shoulder, if they’re still there, are from Veronica, but everything else is from Nadia and Sylvio. Oh, and Luis,” Lance points to a…something near his elbow.

“A flower?” Keith guesses.

Lance snorts. “A lion, according to him.”

“Not the most artistically inclined I’m assuming?”

Lance shakes his head. “Not at all. Nadia’s pretty good though,” he turns over his arm to show off a dog on his forearm. “That’s pretty damn good for a seven-year-old drawing on a moving canvas with dollar-store markers.”

They just spent the last few hours talking about this weekend with Hunk and Pidge in the living room, but Keith can’t help but ask more questions about his family and what they did over the weekend. He brushes Lance’s hair out of his face, and Lance settles deeper into his arms, waving his hands in the air as he talks about the piñata he had to fill for the party by himself, that was bigger than the birthday boy, and the balloon mishaps that had his mother ready to call the whole thing off more than once.

There’s a nagging worry in the back of his head that this is not normal friends-with-benefits behavior, but it is easily drowned out by Lance’s sleepy smile when he shifts again to face Keith.

“Did you guys have fun this weekend?”

Keith shrugs one shoulder. “As much fun as you can have the weekend before a Kolivan deadline.”

Lance grimaces sympathetically. “You finished everything though, right?”

“I think so. We were just checking each other’s work before I fell asleep. If there was more to do, I doubt Pidge would have let me sleep for long.”

Lance hides a wide yawn in his shoulder. “That’s good,” he tries to say, only to break off half-way through into another yawn.

“Those kids wore you out, clearly.” Keith observes, trying to fight back his own yawn.

Lance smiles fondly. “It was fun to see them, to go back and be with everyone for a while. But I’m really glad you were here when I got home.”

The admittance is so quiet in the still room, and almost immediately drowned out by the way Keith’s pulse races, blood roaring in his ears.

Lance had closed his eyes, but he opens them again and looks up at him curiously. Keith knows he has to be able to hear the erratic beating of his heart. He wonders if Lance is even remotely aware of how many lines they’ve crossed in the period of their relationship, if he thinks at all about how little like fuck-buddies they behave when they spend nights wrapped in each other’s arms saying soft things and doing nothing else and if it affects him at all or if this is just how he is casually intimate with everyone. And he wonders why he hates that idea so much.

“Can I kiss you?” Keith asks. It’s usually Lance’s question, but for once, Keith can’t help but ask, ignoring, for now, how overwhelmed he is.

Surprisingly, Lance is quiet, and just nods his agreement, watching Keith with wide eyes.

The kiss now is nothing like the ones they shared before dinner, slow and gentle where the others were rushed and near-frantic. Keith wraps both arms around Lance’s waist, and Lance cradles his face with one hand, threading his other hand through Keith’s hair.

“Good night,” Keith whispers against his lips as they break apart feeling like he’s doing something unbelievably stupid even as the words come.

Lance presses one more quick, closed-mouth kiss against his lips. “Good night.”

Keith flips off the bedside table lamp, dousing them in darkness.

He isn’t sure how long they lay in the dark before Lance finally relaxes and falls asleep, but it feels like at least another hour before Keith admits to himself, he can’t sleep yet and carefully extracts himself from the bed. Lance makes a quiet noise of displeasure in his sleep, but easily stretches out, taking up the empty space and doesn’t wake up.

Keith goes out into the hallway, thinking he’ll just go to the living room and calm down but a light shines through the crack of Pidge’s closed door and he finds himself drawn there instead. He knocks once and Pidge opens the door immediately, looking around the hall almost alarmed.

“Keith? What’s wrong? It’s almost four in the morn-”

“Pidge, I think I love him.” Keith interrupts. “I think I’m in love.”

[pftones3482]

The Smell of Juniberries

(A Klance Commission for @aquacanis). 

Under a cut for length, set about two years post season 8. Yeeeee. 

~~

Juniberries smelled like how cranberries tasted – tart, pungent, with hints of sweetness that paired well with almost any other smell they came into contact with. They were wonderful for bouquets, if one knew what they were doing, and after nearly two years of working with them, Lance was very confident in his ability to make floral arrangements.

“You just about done here? I need help with the sound equipment,” Pidge piped from his shoulder.

Lance let his hands fall from the flowers, studying them with a critical gaze for one last moment before twisting to the gremlin at his side. She’d shot up nearly four inches since the end of the war, perfect arm rest height, and Lance used this to his advantage now, leaning on her shoulder. “Can’t get Hunk to do it?”

Pidge rolled her eyes, glasses reflecting the early afternoon light of the open-aired pavilion as she nodded over to Hunk and Shay. “They’re working on lighting and the dessert table. Ask me, they’re just flirting incessantly.”

Lance smothered his grin and nodded, letting a chuckle slip loose. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be over in a minute, Pidgeon. I’ve got two pieces left.”

She gave him a two fingered salute and then walked back to the DJ booth, adjusting her suit as she moved. Lance took the second of reprieve to straighten out his own suit, a dark jacket over a soft, baby blue button down with a pink bowtie. His eyes perused the pavilion, lips quirking at the sight of Hunk and Shay laughing, at Coran and Iverson (THAT had been a surprise, but was admittedly adorable) bickering on how to hang the black and white streamers across the room.

“Need some help?”

“Quiznak!” Lance hissed, nearly elbowing Keith in the throat as he whipped around. “Don’t do that to a guy, Kogane!”

Keith’s smile was genuine, a hint of mirth in his eyes. “Sorry,” he said, though he didn’t sound it.

Lance huffed a breath and attempted to compose himself while simultaneously giving Keith a once over. He was the best man, dark suit jacket and maroon colored button down. The bow tie at his neck was pink, like Lance’s, though a different shade, more suited to match the color of his shirt. His pants were form fitting, flaring just slightly at the shoes, and Lance caught himself staring just a little too long at his thighs. He shot his eyes back up, but Keith hadn’t seemed to notice. “You good?”

Keith pulled his gaze back from where he’d been studying the room. “Yeah. Yeah, just can’t…can’t quite wrap my head around it.”

Lance nudged into him gently, smiling in the hopes of easing his nerves. “Hey. He’s basically your brother. It makes sense you’re nervous.”

Keith snorted, a small sound, but one that sent Lance back years. “I shouldn’t be. Obviously he can handle himself, and Curtis is amazing. It’s just…I spent so long worrying about him and trying to…I don’t know.”

His brows were furrowed now, and Lance let him sit for a moment in silence. Took the time to collect his own thoughts.

For two years, he’d been working on the family farm. Integrating juniberries into Earth’s atmosphere had been shockingly easy, though it wasn’t that much of a surprise, given how similar the atmosphere of Altea was to Earth. Since the war, they had been the most coveted type of flower, worth hundreds, and Lance was determined to make sure people knew about them, their history, about the woman who had made their existence once again possible.

Lance pressed his lips together and glanced around.

She was here, in subtle ways. The pink of the bow ties, at Shiro’s insistence. The juniberries in everyone’s lapels. The scattered pictures on the tables, dozens featuring goofy selfies and group photos that mostly Lance and Pidge had forced everyone into. He was glad they had done it, now.

She was there in the way Coran’s gaze lingered too long on the juniberries, in the way Iverson’s hand slipped over his shoulder and squeezed, reassuring. In the way Pidge paused at the DJ booth, eyes shut, fingers clamped around the headphones over her ears, murmuring words in Altean rather than English. The way Hunk’s fingers shook over the pastries on the table, juniberry shaped and infused cookies and cupcakes, Shay’s hands quelling the trembling.

She was there when Lance turned, to reassure Keith, the halo of light that circled his body as he looked back to Lance, a crooked, anxious smile on his face.

He knew that she would tell him to go for it. That she’d want him to be happy. It scared him to the depths of the oceans, but he knew she’d encourage it. This feeling he’d had, for far too long.

“Lance?”

He shook his head, shoving his hands in his pockets to keep him from doing something stupid. “Yeah, sorry?”

Keith’s head tilted. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail, wisps of escaped pieces dusting his forehead. “Are you okay?”

Lance countered it. “Are you?”

Keith’s lips pressed into a line, thin, looked away. “I…”

Curtis’ mother came flying into the room from the adjacent church, clapping her hands. “Chop chop everyone, let’s go! Five minutes until we need to be in places!”

Before he could lose his nerve, Lance settled his hand on Keith’s shoulder and squeezed. “Later. Help me with these arrangements.”

They ended up a little sloppier than the rest, but Lance couldn’t bring himself to care.

~~

The summer after the war, a year after the end of the Galra empire, found Lance kneeling in the dirt outside his house, hands muddy from fixing the fallen juniberries. There had been a storm the night before. It had taken out trees, bushes, roses, the like. Juniberries had never been exposed to rain until they were planted on Earth. They did well in it, as one could expect, but they were delicate. Couldn’t take a lot.

They had fallen, wilted, were on the verge of dying.

Lance couldn’t see. His vision was blurred, hands shaking too hard to move any of the flowers properly. His family was asleep - it was early. The sun was barely on the horizon.

It felt cruel. Like the universe was playing a horrible, nasty joke on him. “Here’s this plant that reminds you of your dead girlfriend! Lol time to kill it.” What kind of sick sense of humor did the universe have?

Hands closed over his. Slow. Meticulous. Uncaring of the mud and the dirt and the tears. Lance looked up to find Keith kneeling before him, still dressed in his Blade uniform. His knife was on his hip, a weird detail that set in Lance’s mind and never left. Behind him stood the others, in various forms of dress, all of them looking tired and sad.

He looked back to Keith, drowned in the depths of his gaze. When he opened his mouth, Lance found himself focusing on the way his lips moved, caught himself, very briefly, wondering what they felt like.

“How can we help?”

They spent the day cleaning, restoring, throwing mud and just laughing. It was the first time since her death that Lance had felt truly at peace. At the end of the day, they’d joined Veronica and the kids for lemonade on the porch and surveyed the saved fields.

Keith’s arm had draped around Lance’s shoulders, Blade Uniform replaced with one of Marco’s old college t-shirts. A friendly hug. The weight still registered in Lance’s head. He still didn’t know how they had known to come. “I’m sorry we couldn’t save all of them.”

A glance to the left, at the wheelbarrow of unsalvageable juniberries, and then back to the right, at Keith. The others, behind him. He knew, then. Felt his cheeks burn, but he couldn’t tell if it was a blush or those damned marks. “We never could.”

The hug grew tighter.

~~

“I do.”

“You may now kiss the groom,” Coran announced, eyes twinkling and mustache quirked.

Lance whooped louder than almost anyone as Shiro and Curtis closed together, grinning through their kiss. Hunk grabbed him and Pidge up in a tight hug and Lance sank into it, smiling so widely that he knew his cheeks would ache in the morning.

A look to his left, Keith clapping politely but smiling like he’d just seen the sunrise for the first time. Lance nudged Hunk, jutted his head, and in seconds the man was being swept up along with them, yelping in surprise but laughing as soon as he knew what was happening.

The after party went long. Speeches read, by Keith, one of Curtis’ old friends from before the war that Lance didn’t know very well. One by Coran, that Shiro had requested, one that made the old man cry even as he read.

And then dancing.

Too many partners to count. He danced with Pidge, goofily, twice. Took it more seriously the second time before nudging her off to the woman she kept eyeing in the corner. Lance thought she might be related to Curtis, but wasn’t sure how. Danced with Hunk, mock slow-dancing, and then with Shay, sticking his tongue out at Hunk over her shoulder as she giggled. With Coran, a dramatic waltz that made them both crack up and laugh like children. Coran’s face was soft when he left, his eyes settled on Lance’s cheeks. Lance knew it hurt him to look, sometimes. He didn’t hold it against him.

Somewhere into the night, Shiro approached. “Dance with me.”

Lance took his human hand in surprise but let Shiro lead him out onto the floor. Curtis was dancing with his little sister’s niece, swinging her around the dance floor as she squealed in delight. “How do you feel?” Lance asked, glancing back at Shiro. He realized, with a start, that he was just a little taller than him now.

Shiro’s smile was soft, barely there, but so genuine it ached. “The same? But different. If that makes sense.”

Lance hummed. “It does.”

“I’m sorry.”

Lance lifted his eyebrows, looking at Shiro in confusion. “What for?”

Shiro shrugged, spinning a little until Lance could see Keith over his shoulder. “For putting so many elements of her into this. I just…wanted her to be here, you know?”

Lance locked eyes with the man and softened, squeezing Shiro’s shoulder tightly where his hand rested. “Hey. I do. It’s your day. Of course you wanted her here. We all did. And she was. Here, I mean.”

Shiro’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I know it must have been harder though. For you.”

Lance spluttered out a laugh, shaking his head. When he looked back up, Shiro was watching him. Not in surprise, or irritation, but just…watching. Gentle. “It’s okay,” Lance promised. “I miss her. Of course I do. We all do. But I…”

His eyes drifted again, falling on him, on the way Hunk was trying to teach him the wobble, of all fucking things. His hair was disheveled, suit jacket gone, top of his shirt unbuttoned. He was grinning, eyes sparkling.

Shiro spun so fast Lance barely registered the change in direction until he was watching Veronica and Nadia dancing on the opposite side of the room. Shiro’s lips curled into the most mischievous grin Lance had ever seen on the man. “Oh. OH. Lance.”

His cheeks were burning again, and he lowered his gaze. “I’m…”

“Do it.”

Lance looked up, somewhat embarrassed. “What?”

Shiro’s smile was softer, now, as he took in Lance’s anxiety. “Do it. He’ll say yes. I promise you that.”

He stepped back, pushed him gently in Keith and Hunk’s direction, hand lingering in Lance’s. Shiro squeezed, once. “I promise,” he whispered.

He walked away, then, stepping in and taking Curtis’ niece from him. Lance turned back to Keith and Hunk. Hunk was gone, helping Pidge with a technical issue. Keith was sitting alone, punch in hand.

He glanced up at the night sky, crystal clear and glittering with stars. “Allura, give me courage,” he muttered.

His marks burned as he walked.

Keith looked up when he approached, eyebrows raising, and Lance held out a hand, trying for a genuine, careful smile. “Would you like to dance?”

Keith studied him for a long moment, lips parting and eyes softening into something that Lance found magical. His hand settled in Lance’s with a tension that Lance could feel in his whole body. “I’d love to.”

[echodrops]

So, just because I was rereading HaaH and a bit curious, you described Keith’s communication with Red as being mostly through visuals and scents (which was super fucking cool and a very interesting detail, btw) but I was wondering—how do the other Paladins communicate with their lions? (if it’s not spoilers, ofc) Hope you’re having a nice summer! ❤️❤️❤️

A cool ask!

Keith

The story mentions that Keith speaks to Red via a combination of visuals and scents, but I can say a little more about it here too before I go on to the others–the Lions tailor their communication specifically to match the paladin they are bonded with. If Red had a different partner, he would “speak” differently to that person. Red and Keith communicate through sight and scent because these are Keith’s strongest senses and the ones to which he has his most visceral reactions. Most importantly though, Red doesn’t just choose images and scents at random; Red’s consciousness is directly tied to Keith’s consciousness. Therefore, when Red wants to convey a concept to Keith, he can choose to reach directly into Keith’s mind and pick the exact sights and smells that Keith associates with that concept. (If Red wanted to convey the idea of “rage,” for example, he might flash Keith’s memory of fighting with Commander Iverson after the failure of the Kerberos mission.)

It should be noted, however, that Red is also a very stubborn, not-remotely-domesticated lion, and so sometimes he’ll use his own associations for concepts instead of Keith’s. This has led to a sort of half-”human”-half-(alien) animal visual/scent language where something like the concept of “humor” sometimes gets communicated as “that one time Matt Holt got stuck in a locker” and other times gets communicated as “that one time I toyed with a tiny enemy until it died.”

By the way, Red and Keith’s method of communication would be completely and utterly incomprehensible to anyone else who tried to experience it. Like… Willy Wonka terror tunnel levels of incomprehensible.

The rest are under the read more to save people’s dashes:

Pidge

Pidge and Green communicate in an extremely complex way: they “share” data like a cloud database, but the information they send back and forth to each other is a constant scrolling feed of a thousand different encryption codes and languages, from basic ciphers all the way up to DNA encoding values. When Pidge and Green link up, it’s the equivalent of Pidge’s brain being hardwired directly into the internet, if the internet was… you know… an ageless, all-knowing fragment of the universe and all combined matter self-actualized into a single physical form at one moment in space-time. It’s extremely mentally demanding, and no one without an absolutely astronomical IQ and encyclopedic knowledge of data encoding and reading could ever hope to understand even a sliver of it. Even Pidge has really only scratched the surface of the amount of information Green is able to convey; there are limits to how much the human brain can comprehend and process, and Green respects that–she has to, or Pidge would experience an aneurysm from an extreme over-activation of brain tissue and die within seconds of exposure to Green’s “full voice.”

Pidge and Green are the only paladin/lion pair whose method of communication is completely intelligible to someone who is not a paladin–Matt Holt can understand and communicate with Green as easily as Pidge can, because, as siblings, the Holts grew up sharing all the same codes. Likewise, Green is partially intelligible to Hunk, enough so that he can communicate with her if Green chooses to “speak” to him. He’d be able to fully understand Green if he saw a point in studying up on the rest of the specific languages and ciphers Pidge knows, but there’s really no time to bother with that when there’s always so much else going on.

Hunk

Remember that scene in Harry Potter where the sorting hat asks if Harry really doesn’t want to be in Slytherin because he’d be just as great there as in Gyrffindor? That’s what happened with Hunk and Yellow. Although it would have been totally possible for Hunk and Yellow to communicate in a way extremely similar to Pidge and Green (albeit more along the lines of mathematical calculations than DNA encoding), Hunk asked Yellow to pick the form of communication that Yellow himself would feel most comfortable with, and thus Hunk and Yellow do not communicate in words, data, or images–they communicate by a constant sharing of their feelings and intuition. Yellow and Hunk’s bond is deeply physically focused, with the feelings of one impacting the other as directly as if they shared one brain. When Yellow is nervous, Hunk gets goosebumps. When Hunk is resolved, Yellow’s roar can shake stars in the sky. Although Hunk often speaks out loud to his Lion, this is mostly just from habit; Yellow does not take note of Hunk’s words but instead responds to the emotional truths that exist behind those spoken words. Unlike Pidge or Keith, whose methods of “speaking” require at least fractions of a second to translate, Yellow and Hunk’s communications are instantaneous and they never experience even the slightest miscommunication. Everyone quickly learned to trust the things Hunk tells them based on what he feels from Yellow, even if they themselves have never gotten so much as inkling of emotion from the Yellow Lion.

Only one issue has arisen from Hunk and Yellow’s method of communication: there are feelings which the lions experience which humans do not, and even a few feelings humans experience which the lions do not. Once exposed to these feelings, neither one of the pair could “unfeel” them, and thus Hunk is now the only human in the universe capable of feeling certain emotions which are not native to human beings, and Yellow has been saddled with the unbearable knowledge that sometimes ugly things are actually adorable.

Shiro

The Black Lion is very different from the other lions. So different, in fact, that there’s honestly no comparison to even be drawn. Although the other lions are irrevocably still at least somewhat “animalistic” in their behaviors and functions, the Black Lion is a lion in form only, and its mind is nothing like an animal’s. The way the Black Lion and its bond to paladins works is so unique from the other lions that we might as well be talking about a totally different form of relationship. The Black Lion does not communicate with its paladin–the Black Lion IS its paladin.

The other lions are able to touch and operate within the confines of their paladins’ minds when their paladins are near or when they really want to “speak.” But Black just exists within Shiro at all times–Black has tied itself to Shiro’s life force, to his physical form, to every cell and even atom of his being. Shiro is the Black Lion’s vessel, and yet there is no separation between their identities–they are not two souls sharing one body, but an interwoven existence that is simultaneously both human and something utterly unknowable.

All the lions are “magical” creatures, as much metaphysical beings as they are robotic monsters, but Black is something else entirely. Shiro can’t explain it. Allura can’t explain it. Coran can’t explain it. Even during the process of their creation, neither Alfor nor any of the people who worked on the forging of the lions could explain it. Black is the breath of the cosmos. A manifestation of life itself. The first spark. The invisible, immeasurable dark matter that permeates the unending universe and allows all things to be. All knowledge. All energy.  

Black and Shiro do not “communicate” because they do not need to. When the Black Lion wishes Shiro to know something, Shiro simply knows it. Things that human beings should not be capable of doing, the Black Paladin can do.

As long as the Black Lion wills it, for as long as it deigns to lend power to the physical realm, Shiro and Black move as one, united in thought, purpose, and deed–seeing with the same eyes, feeling with the same heart.

Lance

Although it might sound like Shiro has the closest relationship with his lion–inextricably soul-bound and all–this is actually inaccurate. Shiro and Black’s bond is essentially one-sided, initiated by Black to suit the lion’s purpose, with an equally frustrated and humbled Shiro doing his best to reach out to the inexplicable entity, to limited success. They share an existence but not, necessarily, a “relationship.” 

The paladin who actually has the closest bond with his lion is Lance, although Lance himself is completely unaware of this. Because communication between the lions and their paladins is so unique, Lance has never recognized that what he can do with Blue (the degree of fluidity that exists in their communication) is not standard and is, in fact, the closest a lion and paladin have ever managed to personally connect before.

Lance and Blue simply love each other. They aren’t just allies, they aren’t just knight and weapon, they aren’t just guardian and charge–before any and all of that, they’re genuinely friends. Lance cares for Blue as if she were another person on their team, a person just like any other, with normal thoughts, feelings, wants, and wishes. He listens to Blue’s boasts and fears, her anecdotes, her memories, and shares his own in turn. Sometimes he has to work twice as hard with his products to hide the dark circles under his eyes because he stays up all night holding nigh-endless conversations with his lion. Although all the lions can sense their paladins across entire galaxies, Lance is the only one who can speak to his lion from any distance; there is no limit that Blue has found. Through Lance, Blue has come to understand the lives of mortal beings in a way that none of the other regular lions seem to–she is the only one that fully grasps and values the individuality of humans. Lance taught her what names mean. What family is. Destiny is a strange concept, constantly under suspicion, but it was nothing short of destiny that determined Lance and Blue should meet. Aka if you say a word about the lion swap to me I will stomp you to death with my hooves.

All of this was mostly possible because, being the first of the humans to meet his lion, Lance had zero preconceptions about what his relationship with a giant sentient catship should look like. It simply never occurred to him that the Blue Lion might not be able to talk. He expected his lion to speak to him, and so she did. Her voice sounds exactly like what Lance thinks a talking lion should sound like. (There is a lot of purring involved, because Lance was not made aware, until much later, that normal lions cannot, in fact, purr.) She reminds him, somewhat painfully, of his mom.

Blue’s voice cannot be understood by any of the other paladins, however, because she does not want it to be. If anyone else were to listen in on Lance and Blue’s mental conversations, Blue’s voice sounds simply like droplets of water, like rain on the surface of a previously smooth pond.

On one–and only one–previous occasion, the Blue Lion chose to speak to Keith. His feelings about that day, and the long, lonely months that came after it, are a bitter mix of resentment and painful gratitude.

[kcwcommentary]

VLD7x05 – “The Ruins”

7x05 – “The Ruins”

With the Paladin roster finalized as Keith in Black, Lance in Red, and Allura in Blue, and Shiro in nothing, and with the death of Zarkon, the title sequence for this show is antiquated. It now functions at the start of every episode as a reminder of what the show used to be. The opening title sequence for a show should always be a statement about what the show is, but this sequence is so far from what the show has become. The title sequence not matching the current content of the show highlights how the show has lost its sense of direction.

I like the first shot of this episode in that the nebula is pretty, the smallness of the Lions creates some of a sense of immensity for space. I don’t like the white trails behind the Lions though. They’re not shown to be moving through anything, so what’s creating the white trails behind them?

Hunk’s sleeping, and Keith yells, “Everybody up!”

Pidge is dreaming about getting “only [a] 99 on the test.” I guess some people – I’ll say Mitch Iverson, since he wrote this episode – think grade anxiety is funny. Grade anxiety comes from a lack of parental support. A kid thinks they have to earn the absolute highest grades possible to be able to keep their parent(s) from criticizing them, emotionally abandoning them, or even at the most extreme physically abusing them. Pidge has always had endless support from her family, so having her demonstrate having grade anxiety reveals this show sees intelligence as a caricature. The creators of this show, or at least the writer of this episode, included grade anxiety without having even a basic understanding of what it is. They just thought it’s funny how some clearly intelligent people are scared of not getting perfect grades. They’re mocking people with grade anxiety, not revealing character with Pidge.

Lance and Allura want to sleep some more. Romelle’s sideways on her bed, foot on the wall, head hanging off the side: her posture made me genuinely laugh.

Everyone except for Keith and Krolia have been sleeping. Keith says, “We can’t let this long journey make us soft or dull our skills.” It’s obnoxious for this show to have Keith equate the need for sleep with weakness. They have all been through really stressful events, it makes sense that they need to rest and recover.

Shiro speaks (what? he’s still a character on this show?). “Keith’s right. Routine is what got me through being Zarkon’s prisoner and being in the infinite void of the Black Lion.” What!? Having a routine can be very useful, but neither of Shiro’s citations are instances in which he created a routine for himself. Shiro was a prisoner. Prisoners don’t manage their time, those who imprison them do. If he had a routine while imprisoned, while having to literally fight for his survival, then it was because the routine was imposed on him by the Galra. As for being in the Black Lion’s psychic space, what exactly was that routine? Literally, what actions is he supposed to have done while disembodied and existing in endlessness? This line written for Shiro is ridiculous.

Keith won’t even give the other Paladins a chance to wake up, he’s already calling or them to conduct battle simulations. Krolia has programmed a new one. I still don’t feel that she’s earned the prominence this show is giving her character. She presents the challenge. “You’re on a planet with double gravity—” what does that even mean? double what? double Earth’s gravity? “—dense volcanic fog, and eight [some kind of] raptors are attacking. What do you do?” Keith thinks that “this is a good one.”

What’s the mission objective that’s supposed to be at the center of this simulation? They’re on a planet and local lifeforms are attacking. Okay, why are they on the planet? If the challenge is solely to survive the creatures, then just leave the planet.

One of the raptors latches onto the Yellow Lion, and Krolia yells, “A [whatever kind of] raptor just melted your face off, Hunk!” Krolia has not earned the position of integration into the group that she’s being written to have. It makes her presumptuous. I guess the personalities being demonstrated in this scene are supposed to make Krolia and Keith look like badass personality types, but it doesn’t work for me.

Krolia says, “Now it’s eight-on-four,” and Hunk quietly replies, “That’s fine by me. I’m eating.” If you’ve read much of my commentaries, you’ll know that I usually have a big problem with how this show writes Hunk and food, but I like his response here. I don’t blame him one bit. Hunk, you go get yourself some food.

The planet weirdly shoots like twenty-foot wide columns of lava hundreds of feet up into the air. It looks silly to me. Keith orders everyone to “split up to thin their numbers.” For a story that’s supposed to be about the development of a team, these guys don’t really work as a team often. If you’re being attacked, you have greater safety and defense as a group. That’s why a lot of animals have herds or flocks or schools. Separating from one another makes the group weaker. This is not good leadership or tactics. Keith gets hit by an energy blast from one of the raptors. What is with this show having so many animals that can emit weapons blasts?

For a place that has “thick volcanic fog,” as Krolia said and Pidge now repeats, they all can see really well. Does this show know what the word “fog” means? Pidge says that the raptors “must use some form of thermal vision to see us.” Again, this environment has been depicted as having high visibility, not any kind of fog, so the raptors could see just like the Paladins can. But also, if they use “thermal vision” on this volcanic planet, then the raptors would have a hard time seeing. Unless this show is making up something else with its use of the term “thermal vision,” what is being referenced is the ability to see into the infrared spectrum of light. Things that are warm radiate light in the infrared portion of the spectrum. If we humans could see infrared light, every time we looked at another person, they would be glowing. I like the idea of the show presenting creatures that see more of the spectrum that humans can, but what Pidge says here doesn’t make sense. She’s presenting the idea of the raptors having “thermal vision,” as their natural ability to see, that it’s somehow supposed to be an adaptation to living in “volcanic fog.” But if the raptors see infrared, then the heat of the “volcanic fog” would inhibit that vision. And the heat of the lava on the ground would be blinding. This show really cannot do science.

Lance says, “Maybe I can lure them away with my heat-rays.” Have the raptors been distracted by the large, hot plumes of lava that jet up off the surface? No? Then they wouldn’t care about Red’s fire cannon either. But Lance blasts some rock with his fire cannon, and the raptors fly off to check it out. It’s senseless, and thus contrived.

Allura, Lance, and Pidge all get taken out simultaneously by a lava plume. Krolia chastises them for having “focused too much on the raptors and forgot about the volcano.” I still don’t like Krolia. She says, “I programmed the simulator to be unbeatable. I wanted to see how long you survived.” In other words, Krolia wasn’t trying to help them with training whatsoever. This wasn’t designed for them to learn anything, not new skills, not something about their character, nothing. Krolia was just being a troll. She and Keith woke up people who needed rest in order to mess with them.

Hunk is making burritos. He packages six of them, ties them around the space wolf, who teleports them to the others. Krolia and Keith each get one. The wolf gives Alura, Romelle and Coran each one. Then suddenly, the wolf’s bundle has more than what Hunk put in it. Pidge takes two, one for her and one for Shiro. That leaves one for Lance. I guess this counts as an animation error? Hunk only put six in the bundle, but there are eight given out. Team Voltron kind of discuss the wolf, nothing that explains the wolf’s narrative importance or reason for being included in the show or anything, but his name. Hunk suggests “Cosmo.” Keith objects to the name, “I figure when he’s ready, he’ll tell me his name.” Does Keith actually think the wolf is going to talk? Keith lived with this wolf for two years while in the quantum abyss, and he hasn’t named him yet? Who has a pet for two years and doesn’t name them?

Lance likes the way the burritos taste but doesn’t want to know what’s in them, saying, “I just want to eat it and pretend that it’s my meemaw’s home cooking.” Lance is supposed to be Cuban. Why is he calling his grandmother “meemaw?” The best I can tell, Meemaw is a southern United States thing, and I’ve seen one suggestion that it’s derived from French through Cajun culture. Why is a Cuban guy using Cajun or southern United States slang for his grandmother? As a Cuban guy, wouldn’t Lance call his grandmother Abuela?

Pidge picks up a signal that she only identifies as, “a signal!” Allura reacts with, “How did you get a signal?” Unless the Lions’ communication systems are broken or the rest of the inhabitants of the universe, including all the Galra, ceased to exist, the Lions should be getting more than a few signals. Getting any particular one they’re looking for is different, but the idea that it’s such a surprise for them to have picked up any signal at all is absurd. What is the signal? A television show from Bii-Boh-Bi’s planet. Bii-Boh-Bi is not and never has been funny, can the show please stop using him and his species? Please!? Team Voltron watching the show goes on for far too long.

There is what Pidge thinks is some interference in the signal, but Krolia – because of course it’s Krolia because why have the main characters have any importance in this show when you can instead give the importance and time to a side character like Krolia – can tell that it’s not interference. She has Pidge “amplify that signal.” She then listens to it with her eyes closed. Pidge says that it’s “just deep space interference.” Krolia says that that is “just what it’s supposed to sound like. Listen to the sounds in between the pulses. There’s a unique pattern.” Only after Krolia says this does the sound design for the show actually start including a specific beep to correspond with what Krolia is identifying. That beep did not exist in the sound until after she says so. That seems like bad sound design to me; the beep should have been there the whole time.

Krolia says, “Before the Blades were unified, we would use this crude way of communicating with each other.” Uh, when were the Blades not unified? Is this some undetailed period of the Blades’ history that the show hasn’t ever presented? Why am I expecting this show to have anything be deeper than the shallow instantaneous and fleeting use of anything just because it suits the individual moment of its usage? “Not many Blades know this code,” she says. “It must be a senior member.” I guess that means that she’s also supposed to be a senior member?

She says it’s a distress signal. They trace the signal to a specific area, which Hunk says is “a pretty severe detour from Earth.” So severe that it lasts only this one episode. So, yeah, not severe at all. Dialog like Hunk’s has no meaning, no impact on the story. It’s not like diverting to check out this signal will make them late to Earth and something bad will happen while they’re on this detour. The bad thing that’s happened to Earth has already happened because of the time jump (I’m still significantly annoyed by the time jump’s plot hole).

Cut to the Lions arriving at the planet where the signal’s coming from. That was such a big detour that it happened instantly. The planet is one of the most ludicrous planets this show has done. Like, it’s bad even for this show. It’s maybe the size of an asteroid, but it’s jagged and has weird holes and slopes. This show doesn’t even try, does it? Pidge says there are signs of a former civilization, but no signs of life. There are broken buildings. Team Voltron walks around – remember how the space wolf was injured and that’s why he supposedly couldn’t help Coran two episodes ago, well that’s resolved with no resolution.

Krolia says, “The signs are all around us. There was a massacre here.” This episode is really giving Krolia a disproportionately large amount of the script. It’s just so frustrating for a side character to be given so much screen-time, but main characters, like Shiro are nearly non-existent.

Allura says, “Some of this damage looks like it’s from magic.” What does that even mean? What are the characteristics of building damage that indicate it comes from magic? Ultimately, this line from Allura is leading. The show knows that the villain of the episode is one of Haggar’s Druids, so it has Allura make this comment to foreshadow that. Allura saying this right now though feels totally forced and manufactured.

Krolia says that some of the “strike patterns,” scratches in the rock, “look Mamoran.” If this signal is supposed to be a Mamoran signal, then is it a surprise that they might have gotten into a fight here? I know this episode thinks it’s setting up some mystery, but it doesn’t feel mysterious.

The space wolf growls and runs off and tackles someone to the ground. Keith yells at the guy, asking, “Who are you? Who’s broadcasting the signal?” Why does Keith assume this guy knows anything about the signal? Oh yeah, because characters make whatever assumptions the writers need them to, rather than behaving in a way that’s actually natural.

The guy says that he’s the one who’s broadcasting it, and Keith replies, “Impossible! You’re not Blade of Marmora!” What is Keith basing that on? Keith doesn’t know every Blade in the universe. If he’s basing it solely on the clothing the guy is wearing, then that’s senseless. Keith’s a member of the Blades, but he’s not wearing a Blade uniform currently. Krolia’s a Blade, but she’s not wearing a Blade uniform right now either. Why would Keith assume this guy couldn’t be a Blade? Again, it’s the writer leading the story, rather than the story unfolding in a natural way. The writer knows that this isn’t a Blade, so I guess it’s supposed to be foreshadowing. It gives the writing an unnatural, jerky development.

They let him up, and he takes them to his campfire. Romelle calls the location of what looks like someone struggling to survive “disgusting.” Good to know that her experience hasn’t changed her pampered, privileged mindset. At least she gets called out on her insult. She tries to cover, but it’s obnoxious. “‘Disgusting’ is Altean for lovely. You don’t speak Altean, do you?” She could have been written to recognize her privilege and apologize for her insult, but no. I don’t like Krolia, and I don’t like Romelle either. Ugh.

Pidge confirms the signal is from here. The masked guy reveals he knows they’re the Paladins of Voltron. Shiro asks him what happened here. The masked guy, with an ominous voice, says, “Bloodshed happened here. Death happened here.” I actually kind of like this line and how he sounds saying it. It actually has some creepiness to it. He identifies himself as Macidus and says that this is his home planet and that he’s the only one left alive here.

Krolia finds a not-really concealed set of blades from Blades of Marmora. She immediately turns her gun on him. He says he has them arranged as they are “in honor of their sacrifice. They died trying to protect the universe.” Knowing that he’s eventually revealed to be a Druid, he’s not exactly lying in saying that, the Blades were trying to protect the universe from people like him.

Macidus tells them how this all started when Voltron disappeared. He says that the “power vacuum that ensued destabilized much of the universe.” That again makes Voltron’s turn against Lotor look totally short-sighted. The problem I have with this is that, while this does reveal consequences to the Paladins’ actions, I never get a sense of them actually taking responsibility for those consequences.

Allura asks, “what happened to Haggar, the witch,” and Macidus says, “no one knows, but her Druids continued her work.” What work is that? This is a big part of my dislike of Haggar: Whatever she does off-screen that’s supposed to be so villainous is almost never shown. What her goals are for these actions are not revealed. We know that Honerva was obsessed with quintessence, and that drove her to poisoning herself. We know she would create Robeasts to attack Voltron, but that was mostly in support of Zarkon and his dictatorship. We know she used the komar (are we to assume there was ever only one komar?) to extract quintessence from the life on planets, but we only ever see that done once. We know she had a particular interest in Shiro – “You could have been our greatest weapon,” she said to him in 1x13 “The Black Paladin – but we have no idea why she was interested in him or what she was planning in thinking of him as a weapon. Are we supposed to think that she was just accumulating miscellaneous weapons? It’s not like Voltron had reemerged at the point she had started thinking of Shiro as a weapon, so with the Galra dominating the universe, what were the Galra lacking that meant they needed more weapons? We know she oversaw the clone program, but there was never anything that suggested the Druids were involved with that; instead, it seemed more like that was a secret side project she had. And we never are given an explanation as to why she was having so many Shiro clones produced.

So, Voltron has been missing for three years. Haggar hasn’t been seen in that time either. Given season eight, we’re supposed to understand that during these three years, she found Lotor’s colony hidden in the quantum abyss, establishing a relationship with the Alteans there, hyping them up into a vengeful fury against Voltron for killing Lotor, and using whatever powers she gained from killing the White Lion in Oriande searches through all the other realities to find one that she thinks of as being perfect? I guess I’ll get to all that when I get to those episodes, but the topic of who’s the show’s antagonist is a topic relevant to now. Once we get to Earth and dealing with the invasion and occupation there, Sendak becomes the primary antagonist. But Sendak has always only been a secondary antagonist. That’s one of the many weaknesses of the story in season seven. The villains are shallow. Ezor and Zethrid were villains for two episodes because they wanted power. Sendak wants to conquer and dominate. Haggar is off-screen, at best, only slightly coming into play with the Altean-controlled mecha at the end of season. There is no character motivation grounding the antagonism of the conflict of the season. That’s not to say the show has ever been all that great at having compelling villains because it hasn’t, but at least in the first two seasons Zarkon and Haggar worked as foils for Shiro and Allura. There was a character connection there. And as much as I hate that they played the Lotor’s-secretly-been-a-villain-all-along absurdity for seasons three through six, at least he was emotionally connected to Allura. But here in season seven, anyone that can be identified as the antagonist could be easily replaced by any other character and things are really still the same. Consider this season’s story, but instead of Sendak, it’s another Galra like Ranveig or Gnov from back in season five. The story doesn’t change whatsoever. Sendak behaves the same as every other villainous Galra.

Macidus says that Haggar’s final order to the Druids was to destroy the Blades of Marmora. Another problem with this is we don’t know anything about the Druids. Who are they? Why are they Druids? How are they Druids? They all use magic, so do they come by that magic on their own, and in demonstrating magic are recruited by Haggar into the Druids? Or does Haggar teach them magic after they join the Druids? Part of me kind of likes the Druids because they’re differentiated from regular Galra, but I find them frustrating because they don’t feel like characters. They’re masks and magic, and that’s it.

Pidge says, “After Lotor took over the throne, almost every Mamoran agent was exposed.” They were? This supposedly-multiple-millennia old covert organization failed to maintain their cover because Lotor became Emperor? This is a huge deal that’s never come up before. Did the Blades suddenly become incompetent when Lotor became Emperor? I could understand maybe Kolivan became exposed because he was broadcasting his face all over the universe when communicating with the Voltron Coalition, but every other Blade took explicit measures to conceal their identities. How were they exposed? This does not make sense.

Macidus says that “all Blades were called from their assignments and sent to this base. Kolivan knew they were being hunted and wanted to make a stand against them.” Are we to assume that the Druids were just so good at magic that the Blades’ covert methods were no protection? The Blades could conceal their existence for thousands of years, but now for no reason they couldn’t? Maybe this is the problem with all this story being told through exposition. None of the logistics of this have been thought through by the creative team.

Macidus continues, “When they arrived here, my people helped them fortify their base.” So, Kolivan wanted a base for the Blades to be able to defend against Druid attacks, and he chose an inhabited planet? I know Macidus is spinning a tale here, but thinking of it logistically, this planet has been established as having once had a civilization on it. Unfortunately, this means that once again this show reduces the concept of a civilization to a few hundred people and one city – they did it with Arus, they did it with the mermaids, they did it with Taujeerians, it also feels like they did it with the Olkari. The population of planets in this show are unbelievably too low.

“The Druids […] arrived without warning.” How were there no monitoring systems for this planet or from the Blades? Throughout human history, we monitor the borders of our respective territories, but not here.

The conflict was supposedly a long one. Casidus refers to it as “a long battle of attrition.” I guess. “Casualties on both sides were enormous.” There have only ever been a handful of Druids in this show. So, these enormous casualties had to have just been regular Galra. This show has had the Paladins blow up a lot of Galra, so this “both sides” crap feels manipulative. But then, Macidus is being manipulative, but his ruse should be such that he doesn’t care about the Druid+Galra side. Is this supposed to be another hint that Macidus is not who he’s pretending to be? The Druids have never been shown to care about Galra death before; like with Haggar, the Galra have always seemed as nothing more than pawns for them to use. I can’t believe that Macidus now cares about the Galra who died under his command.

“My people were the first to try to escape,” and they’re shown running through the city streets. I thought this was supposed to have been a war of attrition? That would require the Blades and this planet’s people to have hunkered down in a strong defensive situation. That’s antithetical to escaping. Macidus says he stayed behind with Kolivan, who “led those of us who remained to battle the last of the Druids, but for each one we were able to take down, nearly a hundred Blades would fall.” Again, there have only been a handful of Druids in this show. Allura, Kolivan, and Antok – just the three of them – were able to kill two Druids while also fighting Haggar in 2x13 “Blackout.” So, the Druids are more powerful now without Haggar than they were when they literally fought alongside her? I know that Macidus is spinning a tale, but is any of what he’s saying supposed to be considered accurate? And if it’s not, if this is all a total lie, then this episode is giving way too damn much time to his telling this tale. You don’t write a character to tell a tale like this unless most, if not all, of it is true. This conflict between the Druids and the Blades feels totally disproportionate to what we’ve seen of both Druid and Blade in the past.

Krolia can apparently “recognize every one of these blades.” She’s got a really good memory then. “I trained many of them myself.” This makes her character feel even more over-important than she’s felt already. Kolivan’s blade momentarily glows. I thought a blade only glowed for its owner. I guess the way the blades function for the Blades of Marmora is another instance of the show’s magic system never being defined. Krolia concludes that Kolivan must be still alive, and Macidus, with the cliché voice of an 80s villain, says, “Just barely.”

Surprise everyone! Isn’t everyone surprised? Macidus has tricked you all!

“Your hand is looking much better,” Macidus says to Keith, referencing way back to 1x12 “Collection and Extraction,” when Keith’s hand was injured fighting the Druid and was healed when quintessence accidentally splashed on it. That happened so long ago that it feels, not like a long-range plan for the story, but like someone in the writing staff went back and rewatched the first season and realized they never really explained that moment in that episode.

“You’ve been using that signal to draw Blades in,” Keith says. Thank you for stating the obvious, Keith. The Druid cackles like an empty, cliché villain. He teleports away, and in his place a grenade falls to the ground. Krolia yells, “No!” in slow motion as it explodes. It’s silly. The space wolf teleports to Keith and teleports him away from the explosion. The explosion creates a pink bubble of energy, and everyone is stopped inside it. I guess it’s some kind of time-stop bomb?

Keith, the wolf, and the Druid are in some tunnels. Keith and the wolf initially just walk off to the side, but then are suddenly underneath the platform the Druid is walking on. I guess the Druid is just assuming that his bomb took out everyone? Despite the thin, wooden walkway he’s clomping across, the Druid stops because he hears something somehow over his loud footsteps. I guess maybe he magically sensed something since magic is whatever the writers want it to be at any given moment in this show. A canister rolls out of nowhere, and the Druid zaps it with purple lightning and walks away. Keith turns around, and boom, the Druid is behind him and stabs down through the platform. His aim with the stab is not even remotely accurate though. I guess he’s supposed to have teleported to behind Keith after having walked away. It feels more like a fake gotcha moment.

The space wolf teleports Keith away. The Druid follows. Keith slashes at the Druid’s mask, and it breaks and falls away, revealing the Druid’s face. He doesn’t look Galra to me. He has no nose and circular ears. I don’t know if he and/or the Druids are supposed to be Galra or what. He screams and attacks. Keith fights using his Marmoran blade rather than his bayard. It makes me think of how Keith gets two weapons while Shiro gets none.

A ball of energy starts to glow in Allura’s hand, and then that quick piece of a scene cuts back to Keith. The Druid keeps teleporting after Keith, Keith and the wolf run and teleport. By happenstance, Keith and the wolf end up in a room where Kolivan is suspended by ropes from the ceiling.

The Druid arrives, and complains, “Our high priestess Haggar has forsaken us because of your treachery. But after I kill you and the other Paladins, Haggar will allow me to return.” Because the show does not show us her “forsak[ing]” the Druids, this is mostly just confusing. We’re not told or shown any specifics of what happened. Did Haggar tell the Druids off? Did she just disappear? Both could be considered her having “forsaken” them, but they’re still very different. Macidus seems to connect, I guess, the Paladins’ killing Lotor to Haggar’s leaving. I guess Haggar’s supposed to have blamed Voltron for it, but we’ve never seen anything to show what Haggar knows about Lotor’s death. The last we saw of Haggar was in 6x05 “The Black Paladins” when Lotor told her off, Axca tried to shoot her, and Haggar teleported away. Is it supposed to be that Haggar irrationally blames the Paladins for the emotional rift she created when she abused Lotor? If Haggar has forsaken the Druids, if they haven’t seen her for years, then how does Macidus think he’ll be able to present his having killed the Paladins to her? I imagine the show would just say, he’s a villain, he’s not thinking clearly, thus nothing has to make sense within the narrative. That’s just lazy writing.

The Keith-wolf-Macidus teleport battle resumes. Allura’s ball of energy glows blue, the air swirls around them, and then poof. The sphere of pink energy disappears and Allura is left glowing pink. I guess she’s supposed to have absorbed the time-stop energy? Allura asks Pidge to “lock on to Keith’s location,” and conveniently, he’s “right directly below us.” Allura slams her hand into the ground, which cracks underneath her. She blasts through to the chamber Keith is in. I guess the blast vaporized all the rock because there’s almost no debris. The other Paladins join Allura in jumping down into the chamber. They fight Macidus, and he knocks them around too easily. Again, I think back to Allura, Kolivan, and Antok killing two Druids while those Druids fought alongside Haggar, and that makes Macidus seem overpowered. He teleports behind Allura and zaps her unconscious.

Macidus looks at Keith and teleports away. Keith then closes his eyes, somehow sees flashes of where Macidus is (if he’s invisible) or will be (if he finishes a teleport to wherever he’s going to appear). Keith throws his blade at where Macidus appears, hitting him. What is this power? Since when does Keith have magic sensing powers?

Macidus has a couple of blue lightning sparks and then he glows and explodes. The other Druids we’ve seen killed didn’t explode like this, so what’s causing this other than inconsistent writing and production?

They get Kolivan down. He’s injured, but alive and will recover. We find out now that Keith gave Kolivan the coordinates of the Altean colony. Why this hasn’t been brought up before now, I don’t know. Kolivan says he “sent a team. There was nothing there, just an empty facility.” Keith would have had to have given Kolivan the coordinates sometime between the end of 6x02 “Razor’s Edge” and the beginning of 6x04 “The Colony” because he was too busy with fighting the clone and Lotor after “The Colony.” Did Kolivan sit on the information until sometime after Voltron was under the effects of the time skip during the battle with Lotor (again, ignoring the plot hole that Coran, Krolia, Romelle, and the clone would have experienced the three years that passed outside the rift since the Castle Ship never went in)? When did Haggar collect the Alteans from the colony?

I know throughout the entirety of this episode’s commentary, I’ve put a lot of work into trying to understand the logistics of events that are only halfway referenced, at best, and take place entirely off-screen. I have probably put more work into understanding this than the creative team did in writing it. I really doubt that any of them cared if any of this really made sense or not. Keith got to have a supposedly exciting fight alongside his magic space wolf, that’s all that mattered to them, really.

Kolivan says that he has to “find the others. The universe needs us now more than ever.” So, did any of the battle that Macidus described in his tale even happen? Or did he only capture Kolivan and lure other Blades to this location one-by-one to kill them? The show is not clear about what has actually happened.

Krolia declares she’ll join Kolivan to help rebuild the Blades of Marmora. At least she won’t be here to take up so much of the story for a while. She goes to Keith and says, “I’m sorry to have to say goodbye to you for a second time.” Yeah, remember when she revealed herself as his mother back in 5x05 “Bloodlines” when she couldn’t control herself in the moment and said, “I left you once. I’ll never leave you again,” remember that? Yeah, that overwhelming amount of emotion that got to her in that moment no longer exists. She’s going to leave Keith. I don’t mind her leaving (beyond my being tired of her character) because they’re both adults and they’re both fighters in a huge conflict. But her leaving here makes her previous proclamation that she would “never leave [him] again” lose meaning. It takes away whatever emotion that part of the story had. It makes her declaration hollow. Once again, this show has flipped a switch narratively, and things are just different now just because. Keith gives her his Marmoran blade, and they hug. “Thanks for everything you taught me, Mom,” Keith says. Of course, we have no idea what any of these supposed things she taught him are since almost all of their relationship has happened off-screen.

“Keith, it’s time to get going,” Shiro says. Oh? Shiro’s still in this show? Of course, the show would have it be Shiro to be the one to interrupt Keith and his mother’s moment. And why are the Paladins so eager to leave right this very minute? I know they want to get to Earth, but they’re all still in the decompression phase of this conflict with Macidus. This separation feels forced.

Krolia and Keith tell each other they love each other then cut to the Lions flying away from the planet.

I like the premise of this episode. I like bringing the Druids back into the story, but that’s mostly because the show has never treated the Druids like characters and I’ve always wanted to learn more about them. While we get a Druid as an actual character in this episode, because of his lying, we have no idea what he says is true and what he says is a lie. We still don’t have any sense of the actual organizational relationship between Haggar and the Druids.

This episode having Macidus be the specific Druid that Keith fought in “Collection and Extraction,” while kind of cool to have a reference back to that early in the show, it reminds me about Keith’s hand seemingly being healed by the quintessence. If quintessence, and not Allura’s generated quintessence, but the refined quintessence ripped from living creatures can heal wounds, then how is quintessence a substance that poisons people so that they lose control of themselves? So, unfortunately, this episode just leaves me with more questions than it answered.

While I spent a lot of time trying to understand the logistics of off-screen events, and I don’t think much of it makes sense, and I know that a lot of my questions have no answers because the show’s creative team never thought to have answers for them, this episode is still way better than the past three.

[musicanddancingthroughlife]

Shklance Series 7 -- Talk

Okay um. I’m still working on links, guys haha, so hopefully these work. But here is part 7, (my longest part, and fic, yet) and so in order we have: Staring, Tears, Persist, Kisses, Cornered, Try, and Talk. I hope you guys like it, and please bear with me as I keep trying out links, and writing styles, and tags XD  

In other news, I’m also working to plan my wedding later this summer, I’m attending college (only about another year to go yay!), dealing with family issues, and working two jobs. So thanks for all the kind words this week, for the notes and for even just reading these. It’s been a fun stress reliever the last few weeks, and I appreciate everyone’s kindness and understanding. :)

------------------------------

Well. He was alive. So, that was a relief. Still, it was unnerving to see their usually bright, vibrant, and bubbly boy so downcast. He very much resembled a tiny kitten that had been kicked and beaten, and then left out in the rain to be miserable alone. At least, Keith thought desperately, he let us see him.

Right after they arrived back to their complex, the two of them went straight to Lance’s room, bypassing their own. Lance hadn’t answered the door, but his neighbor had noticed them outside and told them that Lance had only come out for classes and once for a shift at the coffee shop where he worked. At this, Keith and Shiro exchanged a worried look and pulled out a spare key Lance had given them for emergencies.

Inside, they were struck by the lack of noise, the absence of activity, the stillness that had settled over the apartment. Lance was buried in bed, hardly visible through the blankets piled on top of him, but he didn’t seem to complain at all when Keith dug him out while Shiro set to making them something to eat. However, he was quick to return when he heard Keith cry out. He was slowly easing Lance back down to his bed, Lance releasing little groans and whimpers as Keith settled him again.

“What is it, Keith? What’s wrong?”

Keith didn’t respond, except to gently peel Lance’s shirt up with shaky fingers, exposing mottled bruises along his side and chest. Keith must’ve bumped them when he was trying to help Lance sit up. Shiro barely noticed when he moved to examine the rest of Lance. They worked together to get Lance out of his sweatpants and T-shirt without jostling him more than necessary. Lance kept his eyes squeezed tightly shut, saying nothing, but also not doing anything to stop them.

              While cataloguing Lance’s injuries, Shiro had to stop several times to take some time to calm down. With the way Lance was currently, he wasn’t sure how well that would go over. Anger from either of them might just make the situation worse. Still, it was hard to remain calm when he saw the cuts on Lance’s face, above his eye and on his lower lip. Lance’s upper arms were badly bruised, as was his right side and all across his chest. More cuts were visible across his chest, too, and it looked like Lance’s left leg was swollen and tender. When Shiro brushed his fingers against the skin there, Lance had let out a miserable little mewl and tried to pull his leg up and away, only to stop when it jarred his ribs too much. Tears began to spill down his face.

“Shiro,” Keith could feel more tears welling up in his own eyes, “what happened?”

Shiro could only shake his head. Until they got Lance to open up to them, they had no way of knowing. Keith wiped his eyes, turning back to Lance. “C’mon, kitten, we’re gonna go cuddle, mkay?” There was still no response, but Keith just bit his lip and scooped Lance up as gently as he possibly could. Lance mewled a small protest, but once he was safe in Keith’s arms, he nuzzled up to Keith’s chest, seeking comfort through the pain and misery.

Shiro moved with them to the couch, starting up a quiet conversation with Keith as he did. They talked about how Shiro’s finals had gone, how Keith’s trip and performances, and every once in a while they attempted to draw Lance in with comments like “Is that one girl still being a bitch to the rest of you?” and “I wonder how Lance’s project for Iverson’s class went” but Lance did nothing more than sometimes burrow closer to Keith’s side, or bury his face in the crook of Keith’s neck. And Keith didn’t mind, but it was worrying both of them.

It wasn’t until a couple hours later, when Lance had appeared to relax in Keith’s arms completely that Shiro decided to focus again on feeding his boys. He stood up. “Keith, does soup sound okay to you?”

Keith twisted on the couch as best he could with Lance still cradled in his arms. “Shiro, your recipe for that is a four hour project.” Shiro ignored him, rummaging through Lance’s cabinets. “What do you think, kitten? Soup sound good to you?”

“Shiro.”

Shiro pulled out the pot and set to work dicing vegetables.

“Shiro. Please, could you just relax?”

“Keith. I have to do this for him. I need to work on something, okay? So just. Sit there with him, okay? Be there for him, because that’s what you need. But, I,” Shiro sighed. “I need to make something so we can feed him. All right?”

Keith sighed, but didn’t push the issue. Lance was snuffling softly in his sleep, weakly pawing at Keith’s arm. With a rush of fondness, he began threading his fingers through Lance’s hair. It was slightly greasier than normal, but Keith didn’t care. He was just glad that he was able to finally be here with him.

“Here, baby.” Keith blinked his eyes open, pleased to see that Lance was still in his lap, though he was sitting up and accepting the bowl that Shiro passed to him. If he realized it was more broth than anything else, he didn’t comment on it. After eyeing Lance to make sure he planned to actually sip at the broth, Shiro passed Keith his own bowl and then sat next to them. Lance had finished most of his soup before he actually tried to move from Keith’s lap. Keith resisted until he realized what his real goal was.

“Here, Shiro. He wants you.” He smirked when he saw Shiro’s face light up. Despite what he had said earlier, all he really wanted was to cuddle Lance. He just knew that Keith was just as desperate and was willing to take a step back to let Keith have the time he needed to reassure himself of Lance’s wellbeing. Well, screw that. It was his turn now.

Keith moved to take care of their bowls and the mess in the kitchen, leaving Shiro and Lance huddled on the couch together. Shiro ignored the noise in the kitchen, gazing at the beautiful boy curled up on his lap. He pressed his palm on Lance’s cheek, and Lance hummed quietly as he leaned into the touch. Shiro’s fingers settled on his jaw, thumb under his chin, tilting Lance’s face up. The cuts still sent a wave of anger through Shiro, though it was tempered by the love and gratitude he saw shining in Lance’s eyes.

“Hey, baby,” he murmured quietly. “How’re you holding up, huh?” Lance blinked at him, slow and lethargic. “Not up to talking, hm? That’s all right, kitten. But hey. I’m sorry, Blue. I’m so sorry.”

Lance mewled, tried to tug his face from Shiro. But Shiro wouldn’t let him. “Hey, hey, hey,” he soothed, “none of that, mkay? I just wanted to say it. And I’ll say it again later, when you’re ready to talk. But we’ll take care of you, all right?” Shiro was surprised at the soft tone of his voice. It wasn’t ever something he’d really had to use before, but he was glad he was able to be here for Lance like this.

“I’ve gotcha, kitten.” Keith came up behind Shiro, drawing a hand across Shiro’s shoulders as he rounded the couch to sit with them again. “We’ve got you,” Shiro corrected with a wry smile at Keith. “We’re here, baby. Shhh.” Shiro kept up these quiet platitudes as Keith queued up one of Lance’s favorite TV shows for when he was in a quieter mood, for those days that were a little harder than usual.

 Lance had initially been confused when he saw it was Keith and Shiro who had entered his apartment, but he also was too hurt and upset to waste energy caring or wondering at it. He just quietly let them do what they wanted, which oddly enough had been taking care of him, which was a little weird. But he didn’t say anything when they reapplied medicine and bandages to his various cuts – even though that had stung like a bitch and the only thing that made Lance feel better was Keith’s hand in his hair, lightly scratching and tugging at his scalp.

Even when they moved and got him settled on the couch and applied an ice pack to his throbbing ankle, Lance couldn’t bring himself to do much more other than react to the pain that spiked through his aching body when he was moved too quickly. Despite himself, he couldn’t help but let himself relax into the comfort Keith was offering him, and after Shiro made him his amazing soup, Lance felt like maybe it would be okay to go to Shiro.

When Keith resisted the move, Lance felt simultaneously like giving up because duh why the heck would Shiro want Lance anywhere near him, and like breaking down into tears because he had missed both of them damn it and he needed to know that he and Shiro were okay, and he needed to let Shiro know that Lance didn’t hold a grudge.

Luckily, Keith figured it out pretty quick and even helped Lance crawl over to Shiro. When Keith came back, Lance was pleased to see him carefully lift Lance’s feet and slide underneath them, gently rubbing and scratching at his non-injured ankle. Compounded with one of his favorite “Self-care” shows, Lance could feel himself coming back out of that shell he had stuffed himself in since he had upset Keith and Shiro. He could feel himself melting at the soft touches and quiet attention and affection being poured on him right then. Maybe it would be okay to tell them…

It took hours, but Lance finally felt that it would be okay. They wouldn’t hate him. They couldn’t, if they hated him, it wouldn’t make sense for them to even still be here.

“It was Sendak.” Shiro and Keith startled. It had been hours since they had both settled on the couch, their seventh or possibly eighth episode of Great British Bake Off, and they had pretty much accepted that Lance wasn’t going to share any time soon.

“Said that he was sick of losing to you, Shiro. I think he hated that you made the team but he didn’t.” Lance refused to look at them. His voice was so hoarse, it sounded painful. Shiro and Keith could feel their hearts break as they realized this was probably the first time he’d really talked in a while. That was never allowed, never again.

“Personally,” Lance swallowed hard eyes screwing shut again, bracing himself for whatever he thought was coming next. “Personally, I think Lotor did it. Sendak’s crew hit me, but. But, Plax said that Lotor was upset too.” Now, he looked up, those beautiful blue eyes of his apologetic, and that made Keith mad. He had nothing to be sorry for. “Keith got top grades in all their classes. Again.” Lance coughed, and Keith stood abruptly. He turned when Lance let out an alarmed noise. Immediately, he knelt next to Lance.

“Shhhh, kitten, I’m gonna get you some water. I’m not mad at you, promise, baby. Shhhh.”

They didn’t talk about it much after that. Every time Lance tried to bring it up, Keith and Shiro insisted that it was better they wait till morning. Instead, they encouraged Lance to try and sleep, which only happened after several promises that they wouldn’t go anywhere. And true to their word, they both stayed in Lance’s apartment, the three of them comfortably cuddled up on their couch. Or, at least, Lance was comfortable, and that’s all they really cared about. That’s all that mattered.

 What. The. Hell. Lance couldn’t figure it out. For the life of him, he had no idea why Keith and Shiro were doing this to him. What had happened to the two idiots who insisted on handling problems before Lance was ready? And now, Lance wanted to get the conversation out of the way, handle everything that had happened, like an adult, and they weren’t letting him. Even the next morning, after they all woke up cramped (Shiro and Keith) and sore (Lance), they wouldn’t touch on the subject. Every time Lance tried, they shushed him. Shushed him! They insisted he wait until after breakfast, or some bullcrap like that.

Yeah. That was bullcrap. Screw it.

“Okay, guys. I’m fed, I’m watered, I got sleep, we have more French toast sitting literally right in front of me, can we please just address the issue here? You two are stressing me out.”

Keith immediately sat his ass back in his seat, unwilling to let Lance stress anymore than he already had these last few days. Lance had to hold back a chuckle, but panic was still fluttering in his stomach.

“I think we need to report—”

“Shiro, wait,” Lance interrupted abruptly. “That’s not, no, that’s not the problem. It’s been reported. Hunk heard about it from Plax, and he and Pidge dragged me out long enough to report it the day after it happened. That’s not what we need to talk about, right?”

Keith shook his head, “No, you’re right. We had some communication errors. Lance, you did everything right. You tried to tell both of us, and we didn’t pay as much attention to you as we should’ve. We’re sorry.”

Now Lance was shaking his head, unwilling to let Keith and Shiro take all the blame for what had happened. “No, I am, if I wasn’t bothering you two every few hours—”

“No, nope, we’re not going there again, sweetheart.” Shiro’s voice was warm, affectionate, firm. Lance risked a look up, forcing himself to meet Shiro’s eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to talk to us daily. It doesn’t bother me at all. Keith, does it bother you?”

“Nope. I might act like it does, but… I really like it, Lance. It makes me feel loved and looked after.” And because Lance was nice, he politely didn’t mention the way Keith’s face was now turning pink.

“But then, why…” Lance took a deep breath. “Okay. So… I don’t bother you?” The insecure look in his eyes stabbed Shiro straight through the heart, and he heard Keith’s breath catch.

“Never.”

“Impossible.”

“Okay.” Lance sat quietly for a minute, and Keith and Shiro let him have his minute, giving him space. “Okay,” he finally repeated. “So… it wasn’t me. It was the timing, right?” God, their little kitten had come so far in this relationship. Keith nodded so hard he looked like a stupid bobblehead. “What could we have done differently?”

Did Lance even realize how huge that was? He just kept sitting there, looking solemnly at Shiro at Keith. Shiro could tell that Keith was ready to burst, pride shining in his eyes. His leg was bouncing, body working to contain his joy with his boyfriend. But Lance deserved an answer right now. They could save the rest for another day.

“I know I need to be more open with you, Lance. I’m sorry I didn’t even tell you about all the work I had so you weren’t too prepared for what you walked into. Then I would’ve at least known if you were trying to talk to me, it was about something serious. And I think it would help us to avoid other possible issues we might’ve had if this hadn’t happened first.”

“I think,” Keith added slowly, “you just happened to catch me at a bad moment. It was bad luck. Maybe if we had agreed on a set time to call, I could’ve worked harder to calm myself down before then so I didn’t end up taking it out on you like I did.”

Lance nodded slowly, eyes focused, lip tugged that adorable way he did when we was thinking hard. “Maybe even some kind of, I don’t know, maybe this is dumb, but maybe we could just, um. Maybe we could use a, uh…” Keith reached across the table, taking Lance’s hand in his own. He squeezed tightly and Lance took another fortifying breath. “A codeword? Maybe it’s dumb, but it might help. It’s just. I know we’re all busy and we all have our own problems, but if we ever really, really need the other two to listen and pay attention, maybe we could have a word to express that.”

Shiro could feel a grin threatening to break out. He reached across, too, grasped Lance’s other hand. “Baby, I think that’s a great idea.”

[hazelandglasz]

Voltron Legendary Patissier (A Shklance AU)

I came across a wonderful drawing by @lemonjuiceday when visiting a con and I was immediately inspired to write this little fic. Nothing major, just a bout of fluff and food porn for our favorite boys (strictly food porn, you pervs ;))

On AO3

Lance didn’t expect to find himself in such a position, caught between two hard chests while working his part-time job.

Then again, he didn’t expect his part-time job to be in a bakery.

“A pâtisserie, not a bakery,” his boss insists, his fond, exasperated smile growing less and less fond and more and more exasperated with each time he has to repeat it to one of them.

Lance doesn’t blame him, he would be very specific too about his craft if he was … well, as crafty as Takashi “Shiro” Shirogane, his associate and their apprentices.

While Shiro splits his time between the kitchen and the till, Lance strictly works behind the counter, serving the customers and writing down the special orders.

And daydreaming about the way Shiro’s biceps flex so wonderfully in his tight shirt, and how mesmerizing are his eyes when he watches someone trying something new fresh out of the oven …

“Lance?”

And just how beautiful he is, inside and out.

“For Apicius’ sake, Lance, snap out of it!”

Lance blinks back into the moment and back to the voice calling his name in such a pissed off manner.

Sure enough, Lance’s binome glares at him, angrily shoving delicate little chouquettes in a paper bag while their customer smiles at them, her eyes moving back between them as if watching a tennis match.

“Yes, my dear colleague, how can I help you?” he replies sweetly--too sweetly to be subtle, if the intensification of Keith’s glare (and of the customer’s giggle) is any indication.

“For the third time, since we apparently lost you in the void between your ears,” Keith replies in the same dulcet tone, “can you, please, if it’s not too much of an imposition for you to move, get in the kitchen and get back mille-feuilles for the showcase?”

“Since you asked so nicely,” Lance says, winking at the still-giggling customer while simultaneously hip-checking Keith out of his way, “of course, of course.”

Keith’s sigh still reaches Lance’s ears before the door closes between the two rooms. Lance takes a moment to breathe.

As much as he finds Shiro attractive and amazing, he cannot shake the itch that has crawled under his skin ever since he met Keith Kogane.

A need to punch him in his perfect face, with his fist or with his mouth, the jury is still out on that one.

Keith has seniority over Lance but he also works only in the front of the store. 

And thus lays Lance’s problem.

While he can escape Shiro’s … shironess every now and then, Keith’s mindfucking keithness is always around him, hovering, glaring, grumbling in a way that should not be as sexy as it is, dammit.

So, yeah, Lance is in a hell of his own making and, heartache be damned, he loves every minute of it.

##

Okay, this has gone on for too long.

Lance cannot prove it, but he would bet his favorite nerfgun that Shiro is doing it on purpose.

It here serves as a summary of everything that Shiro does around the shop: carelessly shaking his hips to the sound of the music drifting from the records shop next door, licking the tip of his fingers when he accidentally gets cream on them.

Accidentally, right, as if.

And he supposes Shiro also left a flour handprint on Keith’s ass by accident.

By all that he holds dear, Lance is not mentally equipped to deal with the image of those two together, together.

Separately, they are already forces to be reckoned with and Lance tries really har--ahem--he really tries his best to stay professional and not do something stupid, like drool all over them.

But if they are together?

Well, that takes care of his fantasies of dating either of them, but that sparks a fire under the possibility of dating them both.

Madre de dios, he’s only human and that’s just, to quote the great 21st century philosopher Bruno Mars, too hot, hot damn.

Lance sighs before shaking his head.

He needs to focus. If he cannot have the man, men, whatever, of his dreams, then he’s going to work, and have one aspect of his life that will be successful.

Oh, they’re out of Divorcés.

As there are no customers in the shop at the moment, Lance skips to the kitchen to get a tray of the delicious pastry.

Except that there is a conversation taking place that he is not supposed to hear and cannot resist any way.

“... insane, Shiro.”

“It would be complicated, sure, but--”

“Complicated? Try disastrous. You know that I agree with you on how attractive he is, but bringing him into our relationship? Let me spell it out for you: D-I-S-...”

“Keith …”

“Shiro …”

“Come on, babe,” a soft, wet sound pauses the conversation, “you’re always ranting about ways to shut him up.”

A soft laugh answers that, one that Lance would definitely characterize as a giggle if it didn’t come out of Keith “Badass” Kogane’s lips.

“You think that would do the trick?”

“No,” Shiro replies, laughter in the back of his voice, “but maybe you wouldn’t object if what came out of that beautiful, pouty mouth was moans and your name.”

“Or yours.”

“Or both.”

“God, Shiro …”

More wet sound that leaves little to Lance’s overactive imagination, and he flees the hallway to get back to the safety of the bright shop, where no one talks about threesomes and moaning and beautiful bodies intertwined …

Lance snaps his eyes shut and takes a deep breath just as the bell over the door rings.

“Welcome to Paladelicious, how can I sweeten your day?” he says reflexively, putting a smile on his face.

If he focuses on his job, he’ll find a way to bury his feelings, be it his lust or his jealousy over the man Shiro and Keith apparently want to bring into their bed.

Lucky bastard.

##

Or he can quit.

Lance doesn’t want to, he really likes this job, especially since he adores the world of pastry and really could see himself thriving in this field.

But.

This is just too painful.

He knows that neither Shiro nor Keith saw him eavesdropping on them, but ever since that day, Keith’s glare only intensified and Shiro is …

Well Shiro is Shiro, welcoming and warm like a cozy sweater and a hot chocolate with cinnamon sprinkled on top, but there is something behind his gaze that pulls on Lance’s heartstrings.

It’s with a heavy heart indeed that Lance came to the conclusion that he has to leave Paladelicious, and he’s not the only one already regretting it.

“Dude.”

“Hunk, don’t try to change my mind.”

“B-but, Lance!” Hunk still continues while Lance keeps on writing his resignation letter to Shiro--yes, he’s taking the cowards way out of writing to instead of facing Shiro, but can anyone really blame him?

“Lance, Lance, Lance, Lance, I’ll continue to say your name until you stop and look at me, Lance, Lance, Lance, L--”

“Hunk! Stop it,” Lance replies, making the rookie mistake of looking up at his best friend.

Because in spite of his height and bulk, the only real danger coming from Hunk Garrett is his puppy eyes.

“You don’t really want to leave us, do you Lance?”

“Of course I don’t want to!” Lance explodes. “But the alternative, it’s just too … too much for my--”

Before Lance can finish his sentence, his mouth finds itself otherwise occupied.

With an oversized chou, which is definitely on the petit side.

“Hmph!!!”

“Eat.”

“Hunpbdfrr!”

“You’ll thank me later. No one can be as moody as you were after my praline’d crème pat. And then we can close this silly conversation.”

As reluctant as he may be, Lance has to admit it: Hunk’s crème patissiere could ungrump the grumpiest of Grumps.

“Grumph.”

“Swallow.”

Lance laughs, most of the chou soothing his soul and filling his stomach already. “You know I always do.”

Behind them, at the piano, Pidge tsks as they boil several caramels in copper pans.

“Now, do you still want to leave? That means no more free goodies.”

“You’d still feed me some goodies when we get together, Hunk, don’t lie to yourself.”

Hunk blushes. “You’re probably right. But no more trying out my ideas if you’re not here.”

“You wanna leave?”

All three heads turn toward the door where Keith is standing, face even paler than usual and, oh dear Lord who has no mercy on Lance, hair tied in a messy bun.

Hunk and Pidge turn to Lance, a question in their eyes. What are you going to do now?

“I--I have considered it,” Lance mumbles. “May be best for everybody, all things considered.”

Even though I don’t want to. Even though it will hurt like a thousand knives dipped in hot sauce.

“But, I thought we--we bonded ...,”Keith opens and closes his mouth repeatedly, eyebrows going from a frown to sad before settling on anger again; funny how Lance never noticed how expressive those eyebrows were before.

“Fine,” Keith finally says, voice a lot colder than it ever was. “Do whatever you want, like I care. Not having to deal with you will bemmph?!”

Apparently, chou-shoving is Hunk’s move of the day.

“Do not. Finish. That sentence.” Hunk’s voice is frighteningly normal. Lance would be glad not to be on the receiving end of that tone if his mind was not replaying Keith’s words on repeat, with added acidic commentary.

Like I care. See, silly, he really does not need you in his life, not even as a co-worker so can you imagine dating him? It’s a wonder how you can even walk and breathe at the same time. Time for you to be useless somewhere else.

“Hunk, what the hell?!”

“We want Lance to stay and you are being mean.”

“You could have killed me!”

“With a chou? A deadly weapon for sure.”

“Guys?”

“What?”

“Lance left.”

Hunk glares at Keith. “Go fix what you broke.”

“But …”

“I am not afflicted with Lance’s obliviousness. Go; get him back. For everybody’s sake.”

Keith repeats his goldfish impression before giving Hunk a firm nod and rushing out.

Hunk picks a chou from the plate and munches on it. “Stupid men being stupid, amiright?”

Pidge nods vigorously, opening the chou open to suck on the creme. “Men being men, then.”

“Hey!”

“Not all men are as wise as you, Mr Garrett.”

“A’right, can’t deny it.”

##

Shiro doesn’t say a word, once Keith is done explaining what just happened in the lab.

He doesn’t frown, he doesn’t glare, he doesn’t yell.

He stands, shakes his head and opens the door to his office, aka the door to the back alley behind the store, nodding toward his bike.

Overall, Keith feels shittier than he did when he heard Hunk talking about Lance leaving, which is saying something.

He almost would have preferred for Shiro to scream at him.

At a redlight between the store and Lance’s place, Shiro pats Keith’s hands crossed over his stomach.

In Shironese, that pat means “it will be okay but you fucked up, my love.”

Keith tightens his hold on him.

In Keithan, that means “I am so sorry I got scared I fucked please forgive me.”

Since Lance took the bus back to his place, the three of them arrive at the same time.

Keith can see the moment Lance spots them on Shiro’s bike: Lance’s eyes widen and he stumbles.

“Lance, can we have a word?”

God bless Shiro for keeping his cool.

“What more is there to say?” Lance replies dejectedly with the saddest shrug Keith has ever witnessed. Now that he’s closer, Keith can see how red his eyes are and how pink his nose, and he cannot help the mixed feelings of guilt and adoration for the man standing in front of them that threaten to submerge him.

“I think Keith here has something to say,” Shiro replies softly, not so gently nudging Keith forward. “And I wouldn’t mind adding my two cents to what seems to be a classic miscommunication-provoked mess.”

Lance considers them, the unhappy downturn of his mouth increasing until he sighs, dropping his head to his chest. “Fine, come on up.”

Shiro and Keith exchange a look before following Lance up the flights of stairs leading to his apartment.

Keith spares a second to take in his environment and he has to repress the smile that threatens to appear at the sight around him. Lance’s place looks, well, it looks like him, warm and just a little bit messy but inviting and comfortable.

“Keith?” Shiro calls him, one eyebrow raised perfectly to push Keith to get on with his apology already.

Keith turns to Lance with a deep, strengthening breath. “Lance, I--I’m sorry for what I said back at the shop. I felt, um, I was hurt by the idea of you leaving us so suddenly, because, well, I--I, err, don’t want you to leave. The shop. Or,” he pauses, blidnly reaching for Shiro behind him, “or us, really.”

Lance’s eyes drop to their joined hands and if anything, his arms tighten around his torso.

Almost as if he’s trying to hold himself together.

“We don’t want you to leave,” Shiro repeats, taking a step toward Lance while still holding Keith’s hand. 

Lance’s frown increases. “‘S not like I’m such an important cog in the Paladelicious’ machine,” he mumbles, turning his back to them.

Shiro blinks before sighing fondly. Keith is familiar with that sigh.

It’s Shiro’s “God knows why I am getting myself in such a mess, but boy do I love every minute with you” sigh.

“Lance,” he says quietly, letting go of Keith’s hand to put both his hands on Lance’s shoulders, “I didn’t say a word about my store.”

Lance freezes before following the motion Shiro’s hands are provoking.

When he faces them again, his eyes are wide and shiny. “What are you sayin’?”

“I’m saying that we,” Shiro moves his hands from Lance’s shoulders to his cheeks, “want you in our lives.”

Lance’s mouth parts open, eyes darting to Keith. “Both of you? You--with me?”

Keith takes the one step separating him from the two other men and cups the back of Lance’s head. “Both of us, with you,” he whispers before leaning over Shiro’s arm to lightly press his lips to Lance.

Pina colada flavored lipbalm. Of course.

Lance laughs and hiccups at the same time, resulting in an adorable “meep” sound. With one hand, he covers Shiro’s hand on his cheek while the other reaches for Keith’s waist.

“What do you say?” Shiro asks, voice barely above a murmur as he runs his nose along Lance’s temple before pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“I--I say,” Lance starts before pausing, eyes fluttering shut as Shiro continues on kissing odwn his cheek and jaw, “I say that I’m all in, baby!”

Both Shiro and Keith lean in to kiss Lance, which results in quite a messy situation where noses are bumped and lips don’t necessarily meet the previously aimed for location, but neither of them would have it any other way.

“Hey!” Lance exclaims, pushing both men away. “Does that mean you want to shut me up? I resent tha--mph!”

As a matter of fact, it turns out that Shiro was right.

Kissing the living Hell out of Lance is a perfectly efficient technique to shut him up.

The End.

[i-write-shakespeare-not-disney]

Just a Beat of Your Wings- A Klance Soulmate AU

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15685173

Trigger warnings for domestic abuse and implied abuse.

Looking in the mirror felt hollow. The feathers with streaks of red and black ruffled, looking sticky and tattered because of the rain. It was weird to think that everyone had these, that everyone’s look different. Being unable to see the wings of others always made Keith feel like a freak when he stared in the mirror. Sure, he was meant to see someone else’s one day, but… when?

He was twenty years old, a junior in college, and he was watching everyone find their soulmate. Meanwhile Keith’s wings slowly began to curl around him a little more like he could hide in them. Of course he couldn’t- no one else could see his wings.

Still it was a little comforting when his wings fluttered around him to help him feel a little less alone.

Keith braced himself then expanded his wings, letting each side dart out quickly, shaking off most of the water. He grabbed the oil he used to keep his wings from smelling damp and gently slathered it onto each silky feathered wing. They were a little damp still, but Keith knew they’d dry quickly. He allowed them to flutter slightly, lifting him off the ground if he didn’t pay attention.

Supposedly, a person’s wings reflected who they were. Keith knew his wings looked scary. Red and black? The only thing that would’ve made them seem more eerie or demonic would’ve been if they weren’t feathered wings, and instead remained a leathery-membrane wing like a bat’s.

He wasn’t sure what that said about him. The wings hadn’t always been black. And they hadn’t always been red.

Keith distinctly remembered his wings were a softer shade of pink when he was young. And when his father died, they began to take on a shade of gray. Then, altogether, his wings began to darken. They became more red than pink, the gray became specks of black. When he’d been taken in by Shiro, his wings began to lighten again.

Then he found out Shiro was sick. And the wings darkened, this time with more black, like someone had spilled ink all over them. Now, they were a deep blood-red with voids of black. They were menacing. They reminded Keith each day that he was tired. That he was guarded.

A knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts. He opened the door and saw Shiro, smiling tiredly and he heard the flutter of wings getting rid of rain. He always wondered what Shiro’s wings looked like.

“Where’s Adam?” Keith asked, letting him in.

“He’s getting our luggage. You sure you don’t mind us here? We can still get a hotel.”

“No, of course I don’t mind. I’ve been missing the company.” Shiro smiled at that and hugged him tightly. Keith could feel the feathers of his wings tickling his fingers. “Have you guys eaten?” Shiro nodded and sat down on the couch.

A few moments later, there was a knock on the door and Keith opened to let Adam in. There was a flutter of wings and a sprinkle of rain drops as he fanned his wings out before coming in, a duffel bag in each hand.

“Hey, Keith! How’ve you been?” he greeted, immediately dropping the bags and hugging Keith. “God, we’ve missed you!” Keith laughed and hugged him back before untangling himself.

Adam was an affectionate guy once he got used to you, and while Keith appreciated that, he also didn’t like getting touched too much or too often. Which Shiro usually had to remind him of.

Keith really had missed them, and he loved Shiro and Adam; they were his family. But after a couple hours he remembered why he had to get away from them with his own apartment to begin with. It was no secret that Shiro and Adam were soul mates. As soon as they’d met, Keith had seen the wonder and relief on their faces. The nervous way they began talking to each other, knowing they belonged together, but not knowing anything about each other.

Keith believed in love and soulmates because of them. Because of how well they fit together, and how happy they were. But it also made him feel lonely.

The way they touched so nonchalantly had something so intimate about it, Keith always felt the need to look away, feeling like he was intruding. Even if it was just a two second whisper or a quick tuck of a hair strand, Keith felt like he was looking at something too private for him.

It reminded him again and again that he didn’t have his soulmate. That he had no idea how to find them. His wings began to curl in around him, providing the ghost of the comfort he wanted and didn’t have.

“We should go to the mall tomorrow,” Shiro suggested. “We can eat at that place in the food court you like.”

Keith smiled, knowing that Shiro could read him like an open book, knowing he was trying to make him feel better, feel included.

“Yeah! Sure. We can do that,” he answered. “You guys can take my bedroom, I’ll sleep here on the couch. Just no freaky shit, or your washing the sheets.” Shiro and Adam simultaneously turned the same shade of red despite their different complexions and Keith couldn’t help but laugh.

---

The next day, the three of them watched movies on the television for most of the morning. They asked Keith about his classes and how he was faring. They asked about his friends- Keith reminded them that they were more like acquaintances. They asked about how he felt living on his own.

Keith tried to be lighthearted about it, insisting that he enjoyed his time alone and liked the space he had to think and breathe, which was true… he just left out the part where sometimes he felt so lonely and forgotten that he would end up watching TV numbly all day.

It wasn’t that Keith didn’t like people. He didn’t mind them, really. It was just hard to build friendships. Keith was blunt, he was straightforward, he was honest, and that didn’t tend to fare well with others. It was easier to keep to himself, easier to just be on his own.

Somehow, Keith managed to embellish enough to the point where Adam and Shiro looked genuinely happy for him. Maybe even a little relieved.

Around lunchtime, the three of them went to the mall downtown. Keith had never been comfortable there with the varying stores of fancy brand names that he couldn’t even try to walk into because there was no way he could ever afford anything. It was slightly intimidating seeing other people walking around with several bags in hands, and Keith wondered how much spending went into shopping sometimes.

Still, this was the only mall that had Keith’s favorite kimchi stew. Keith expanded his wings a bit to get a little bit of a space bubble as people passed by. He got a few annoyed looks when people bumped their wings with his, but Keith didn’t care. He just wanted to get his food and enjoy his time with his family.

While they ate, Keith found himself slowly forgetting about school and people and loneliness. He was just happy being with his brother. He was happy joking with them and laughing about the most inconsequential things.

Keith kind of hated his laugh. It was loud and he knew it was a little annoying. It was embarrassing. But he loved being made to laugh, and he couldn’t help it with Shiro and Adam. Especially when Adam started doing his impression of Shiro, much to the latter’s dismay. Instead of holding back, he allowed himself to laugh without reserve and let himself enjoy that.

He heard a clatter and nearly everyone in the seating area turned to look. Keith only saw a dark, heavyset guy staring wide-eyed at nothing in particular before smiling awkwardly and picking up a few trays. Keith frowned and looked away, not wanting to be part of the many people staring and making the guy feel more uncomfortable.

“Alright, I’m gonna head to the bathroom. Do mind going to pay, Keith? I’ll give you my card.” Shiro pulled out his wallet and Keith took it. “Be right back.”

Shiro left and Adam stood up with the bag of what little leftovers they were taking back as Keith left to go to the counter and pay the bill. By the time he was getting back, Shiro and Adam were waiting by a kiosk. Keith pulled out his phone to check the time, and when he looked up again, there was a girl with large glasses looking at him uncertainly, hesitating in her steps like she was deciding whether or not to go near Keith.

Shiro and Adam noticed Keith’s confusion and looked over at the girl who huffed and walked toward him, stuffing her hands in the pocket of her hoodie. “Uh. Hi. Um. My friend… I think-”

“Can I help you?” Keith muttered, feeling his wings beginning to creep around him uncomfortably, wanting to hide.

The girl’s nose scrunched and she scoffed. “There’s no way Lance- whatever. My friend-”

“Pidge!” The heavyset guy from earlier came up beside him, looking panicked. “It’s a no-go.”

“Wha- really? I’m already here!”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows and considered expanding his wings to get the strangers away. “Um. I’m gonna… go now.” He walked away from the two as quickly as he could, and rejoined Shiro and Adam.

“What was that?” Adam asked.

“I don’t have a clue.”

“Weird. Well, I want to stop by Starbucks before we go,” Shiro said. “And Adam wanted to stop at the Disney store for a gift for his niece.”

“Alright,” Keith said with a shrug. They stopped at a large Starbucks kiosk before they went in search of the Disney store. None of them were familiar with this mall, so it took a while before they realized they were on the wrong floor and found the Disney store.

It looked incredibly crowded, so Keith told the pair that he’d wait outside for them. As they went in, Keith leaned on the railing and looked down at the floor below. It was pretty fascinating to watch people walking along. Keith tried to imagine all the different wings folded in tightly to everyone’s backs. He wondered what colors there were, what textures, what types. He didn’t think it was fair that so many people were so diverse and Keith would never be able to see it.

His eyes skimmed the crowds and he was getting so hypnotized by the movement, he was starting to fall asleep, leaning against his hand.

And then he saw someone walking out of a store talking animatedly with their entire body. Their hands, their face, their wings.

Keith froze and stared, wondering if he was mistaking it. But no. They were there, large wings with tattered feathers in different shades of blue folded in neatly to his back, fluttering and twitching slightly as the person spoke. They expanded a little, enough for Keith to see how damaged the wings were. The wings were about 50% deplumed, and what feathers there remained looked frayed. The membrane looked scabbed and bruised.

Keith noticed the girl with the glasses and the guy from the restaurant beside him, both of them talking to him with uncertain expressions.

There was no way Keith was going to be able to wait on Shiro and Adam to get back. He didn’t even trust himself to be fast enough to make it to the escalators. So he did the next best thing- he jumped over the railing.

His wings expanded to help him land gently, though he did startle enough people that others began to look over. Including the boy with the wings and his friends.

His eyes widened, and Keith saw him begin to retreat. The other guy grabbed his arm and tried to stop him. The girl started gesturing frantically, and Keith started walking. He brought his wings in tightly and began rushing past people, his eyes locked on the boy with frightened eyes and fluttering, damaged wings.

As he got closer, he slowed, not wanting to frighten the boy any more.

“Lance, buddy, come on. This is a great thing!” the other guy said.

The girl frowned and looked at Keith. “He’s… he’s nervous,” she explained.

Keith looked back at the boy- Lance- and took in the tattered wings. Of course. Wings were a reflection of self. If his wings were that damaged, it meant Lance had been treated that way maybe for a long time or maybe just that badly. Keith took a step back. He could feel his wings pulsing, urging him to get closer, to meet his soulmate.

“I won’t hurt you,” Keith whispered.

“Lance, just talk to him,” the guy said.

“Y-You can see my wings,” Lance whispered. Keith felt a shock go through his body at the sound of his soulmate’s voice. He nodded slowly. Lance gulped and stood a little taller. His posture suggested confidence, but the look in his eyes suggested the opposite. His wings spreading slightly. “They’re not very nice, are they?”

Keith took in the patches of feathers in all shades of blue and the scraped leathery membrane. He took in the bright blue of the boy’s eyes, the dark skin, the soft brown of his hair, the gentle curve of his nose and sharp edge of his jaw.

He was beautiful. He was frightened and wary, and his wings were damaged in a way that hurt Keith more than anything had before, but he was beautiful.

“You’ve been hurt,” Keith noted.

Lance scoffed and spread his wings out further, showing Keith a few tears in the membrane, and Keith noted how one wing rested a little crookedly near the top bone. Something fierce and protective surged through Keith, even though he didn’t know this guy. “You think?”

“Um… you two should talk,” the girl said. Keith thought he recalled her name was Pidge. “Lance, me and Hunk will be over here, okay?” Lance frowned, but he nodded.

Lance tucked his wings back in and crossed his arms. Keith took a hesitant step forward. “Your feathers are blue,” Keith noted.

“Yours have black,” Lance responded. “What’s your name?”

“Keith.” Lance hummed and looked him up and down. “Do you… want to sit down?” Keith gestured at a bench and waited for Lance to nod before he sat down. Lance sat too, but he kept a fair amount of space between them. “So… we’re soulmates.”

“I’m sorry you have such a fucked up soulmate,” Lance whispered.

Keith frowned and shook his head. “You know what your wings tell me?” he asked. Lance rolled his eyes. “They tell me that you’re strong. Because you took all that hurt and you’re still here.” Lance looked over at him, and Keith felt a little breathless with the way those eyes bore into him. “They tell me that you have a beautiful soul.”

Lance’s mouth twitch slightly, like he wanted to smile. “You’re a smooth talker, Keith.”

“No, I’m really not,” Keith said, letting his wings curl around himself a bit. “I’m horrible. I have no clue how to talk to people. I’m known to be abrasive and awkward. It just… feels easy to talk to you.” Keith gulped and tried to meet Lance’s eyes. “I’ve looked for you for a long time. I thought I’d never find you.”

Lance stared back at him with wide eyes and then looked away. “My wings don’t… disgust you?”

“No!” Keith insisted. “Lance-” Suddenly his phone started ringing, making Lance jump slightly. Keith apologized and answered. “Hello?”

“Keith, where the hell did you go? I thought you were waiting outside?” Shiro said in his ear.

Keith scratched his head and chuckled. “Um… yeah. Sorry. Funny story, I’ll um… explain in a bit. Stay by the store, I’ll be there in a bit.” He hung up and stared at his screen for a moment. “I… have to go. Can I see you again?” he asked hesitantly.

Lance it his lip. Keith knew Lance could feel the pulsing of their wings. They were drawn together, they were… meant to be together. “Yeah,” he finally answered. Keith smiled and held out his phone. Lance was careful not to touch his fingers as he took it and put in his number.

When Keith got the phone back, he pressed call and Lance frowned as his phone started ringing. He raised an eyebrow at Keith. “Just making sure it’s not a fake number.” Lance rolled his eyes, but he smiled and watched Keith as he stood. “I’ll text you, okay?” Lance nodded. He walked past Hunk and Pidge who were waiting anxiously, watching the interaction, fluttering about like only soulmates could. He waved awkwardly at them and tried not to feel watched as he walked away.

He made it back to the Disney store with a dopey smile on his face. Adam looked at Keith over his glasses and raised an eyebrow. “Are you okay?”

“I saw his wings,” Keith said softly. Shiro and Adam gaped at him, but Keith could only look down where Lance was now standing with his friends, his frayed wings beating weakly.

---

“Explain this again,” Shiro insisted. “You were just… standing there, you saw him… and you jumped?”

Keith sighed and tossed his phone up, catching it as it came down. “Yup.”

“But you’re not with him,” Adam noted.

“Obviously.”

Something- or rather someone- hit his stomach and Keith yelped. “Keith! This is a big deal! You just met your soulmate! Why aren’t you freaking out more?” Shiro exclaimed.

“Why aren’t you with him?” Adam added. “When Shiro and I found each other, we didn’t want to part the whole day.” Keith snorted, remembering perfectly well how enraptured the two had been right off the bat. “Keith!”

Keith sighed and shrugged, looking at his phone. He had yet to text Lance, but he also didn’t want to bug him. “He’s… hesitant.” Adam raised an eyebrow. Rubbing the back of his neck, Keith said, “Lance’s wings… were really messed up. He’s been hurt a lot. He was scared to even let me sit with him. So no, I wasn’t going to force him to stay around me.”

Shiro and Adam shared a look then returned their attention to him. Keith hated when they did that. It was such a couple-y thing to do, the whole sharing an entire conversation with a glimpse. He didn’t want to go into detail with Lance’s wings. He felt like that was only for him to know about. Not because he was embarrassed, but because Lance obviously felt self-conscious about his wings.

“How… do you feel?” Shiro asked.

“Um… normal, I think. Stuck, I guess. I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do now. I barely know him, I just know I’m meant to be with him. It doesn’t feel like enough to start a relationship from.”

Adam sat beside him and gestured to his cell phone. “You got his number right? Why don’t you just… text him. See if he’ll go to coffee with you tonight. Get to know him.” Keith hesitated, staring at the blank screen of his phone. Adam put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Keith, I promise it’s not as scary as you think. Once you’re there, talking to him, it’ll just flow.”

Keith took a deep breath and nodded. He unlocked his phone and went to Lance’s contact to begin a message.

Hey, it’s Keith. I was wondering if you wanted to get some coffee and talk later tonight? Or whatever you wanna do.

He sent it before he could second guess it and began to hide himself in his wings with each passing second. It seemed like everyone was holding their breaths, waiting for the buzz of the phone to indicate a response.

Suddenly, the buzz came, along with his screen lighting up from the incoming message. Keith struggled to unlock his phone with shaky fingers.

I don’t like coffee much. But I like ice cream. Baskin Robins on Bentley Rd @ 7?

Adam smiled widely. “Looks like you’ve got a date with your soulmate!”

---

Keith waited outside the Baskin Robins. He didn’t want to go inside and be stood up, and it would be easier to walk away if he didn’t go inside to begin with.

He began to panic about fifteen past seven. Then he saw a pair of red Converse come to a stop in front of him. He looked up and stood when he saw Lance. Again, his wings started pulsing, trying to urge Keith closer, but he fought it off.

“Hi.”

“Hey.” Lance bit his lip and stuffed his hands in an army green jacket he was wearing. “Sorry I’m late. I was… getting cold feet.”

“That’s okay,” Keith said. He was here. His soulmate was here. “Let’s go inside.” They walked in and stared at the ice cream uncertainly, a fair amount of space between them before they ordered and sat down with their respective ice cream.

Lance had gotten blackberry cheesecake. Keith went for the daiquiri ice.

“You like that flavor?” Lance asked, watching Keith scoop a large amount into his mouth. Keith nodded and Lance furrowed his eyebrows as he chuckled. “So…. You’re not gonna ask about the….” He trailed off, but the soft, arrhythmic beat of his wings spoke for him.

Keith skimmed them over again and then settled his gaze on Lance’s eyes. “I mean, I’m curious. I’m worried. But I don’t want you to feel like you have to tell me something you don’t want to tell me about.” Lance hummed and took a spoonful of ice cream. “Can I ask one thing, though?” Lance raised an eyebrow. “Are you safe? Going home and everything, are you… safe now?”

Lance laughed shortly through his nose. “Yeah. I’m safe.” Keith nodded. “Do you know the symbolism behind red?” Keith hesitated, wondering if this was a trick question. Red was relatively easy to decode. “It symbolizes fire, rage, anger, passion, love, seduction, danger.”

“Very extreme opposite symbolism for one color,” Keith muttered, his wings rustling anxiously.

Lance nodded and poked at his ice cream. “So where do you fall? Why are your wings such a concentrated red? Are you full of passionate love or… raging violence?”

Keith winced and stared at the table, his wings curling around him unconsciously. “Um. I’m not sure, really. I think they kind of go hand in hand.” Lance narrowed his eyes and stared at Keith expectantly. “I just mean- for example, I got into a lot of fights in school. But they were usually because someone was using something against me. My family, my past, my talents. I’ve told you, I come off as abrasive, but if you get me to talk about something I’m really into, then I’ll talk for hours about it. I don’t love a lot of people, but the people I do love, I love them with everything I have. And I’m willing to do anything to protect them.”

Lance thought that over for a moment, the two of them falling into silence. Then, after a while, Lance nodded. “I guess that makes sense. So who are those few people you love, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Keith smiled and took a breath. “The first person I ever loved was my dad. He died when I was eight.” Lance hummed and Keith noticed his eyes dart to his wings. Keith knew he was looking at the black splatters on his wings. “Then I loved the agent that took my case in the foster care system. She was always making sure I was okay, and she made sure she was absolutely certain I was safe in a foster home before putting me in one. It wasn’t like on TV where I bounced around with bad families or anything. And I think it was thanks to her and how much she cared.” Lance’s posture began to relax a little. The stiffness in his spine and mostly his wings began to fade.

“After that, I found Shiro. He took me in. Adopted me permanently when I was fourteen. He’s like my older brother, and… I’d do anything for him.” Keith furrowed his eyebrows and stared at the table, feeling a knot in his throat. “He’s sick. Something that’s making his muscles deteriorate slowly. We’ve been trying to just live normally, but… I’m terrified of losing him.”

“He’s all the family you’ve got, isn’t he?” Lance asked, his voice heavy with understanding and compassion.

Keith cleared his throat and ruffled his hair anxiously. “Well, I have Adam. But he’s Shiro’s soulmate, and I don’t really know what either of us would do if Shiro…. But Adam’s great. He’s the other person I came to love. He’s really funny, and he makes Shiro really happy.” Before Lance could ask more about his family or about Shiro and his illness, Keith directed the conversation to him. “What about you? The people you love?”

Lance smiled. It was a bright, honest smile full of affection. His entire face softened at the question. “I love a lot of people. I love Hunk and Pidge. They’re my best friends, and I don’t know where I’d be without them. I love my siblings. Veronica, Marco, Luis. Marco’s oldest, then Vero, then Luis, then me. I have a bunch of memories with each of them, and I just… they really are the best siblings I could’ve asked for. I love my mom so much. She’s so strong. And my step-dad. Because he didn’t hesitate to take us all in and he’s always treated us like his own. I love my abuelita. She’s the sweetest, most generous person you could ever meet.” Lance chuckled. “I love my kindergarten teacher. I still catch up with her sometimes. And my dog. She’s a sweetheart. My godmother is amazing. She lives back in Cuba, but when I was younger, I’d visit and she’d always, always make sure to see me when we arrived and right before we came back.”

Keith smiled as Lance talked, captivated by the affection in his voice as he spoke. It did make Keith wonder why his wings were the way they were if he was evidently so happy with his life and the people in it. He loved a big family, and it was clear that family loved him back. Still, Keith didn’t want to ask if Lance wasn’t divulging in the information. Instead, he took what he was given and used it to figure Lance out.

Adam had been right. Once he was there, it was easy to just keep talking. He found out Lance loved soccer- he used to play it, but now he just loved watching it- and dancing. He loved food, but his favorite thing was dessert. He found out a lot of little things about Lance from what they talked about to what Keith managed to observe. Like how his bent wing tended to twitch randomly, but if Lance was really into what he was talking about, both wings would twitch along with the rapid movement of his hands. Or the fact that he was always moving his leg or his foot.

He learned his favorite shows, his sense of humor, how he’d met Pidge and Hunk, had gotten into a debate about whether pineapple belonged on pizza, over personal hygiene and haircuts, and found out that Lance liked to use face masks. He claimed that it started when his sister bribed him into a spa day with her because she wanted to vent without being the only one wearing green goop on her face, but something told Keith it hadn’t taken much convincing to get Lance to do it.

Keith tried his best in keeping his laughter contained; he didn’t want to embarrass himself. Lance was good at making him laugh. He was good at impressions and funny voices as well as funny faces. It was funny how quickly Keith had gotten so comfortable around him.

The entire time, his wings were pulsing, beating gently, the feather ruffling and smoothing down every now and then. They reacted to Lance.

“Are you surprised?” Keith asked after they’d lapped back into a comfortable silence for a while. Lance tilted his head. “That I’m your soulmate.”

Lance thought that over and shrugged. “I… don’t know yet. I’ll let you know when I figure that out. You?”

Keith smiled and looked down at his empty cup. “No, but… because I never thought about it. I never let myself. I was always looking for you, but I didn’t want to make myself think of what I was looking for because I was scared I’d miss out on you.” Keith shrugged. “Part of me was scared I’d never find you.”

When he looked up, he was surprised to see a worried look on Lance’s face. Everything had been going perfectly well. Had he said something wrong?

“It’s… getting late. I should get home. My mom doesn’t sleep until I get home.” Lance stood up, and Keith followed after, insisting on walking him to his car.

They left the shop and Keith followed him to a black Ford truck, but that was about as much as he knew about cars. “Um, hey,” Keith said, hoping to stop him before he got in. Lance turned to him with that same worried look. His battered wings rustled in the breeze, spreading a bit before tucking back in quickly. “I had a great time talking to you. Besides Shiro and Adam, I think that’s the longest conversation I’ve ever held with someone.” Lance smiled and shifted on his feet. “Um… I’d really like to see you again-”

“Keith, I….” Lance sighed and rubbed his face with one hand. His body started tensing again, and he kept glancing around like he was scared. “I know we’re s-soulmates and all, and I had a good time too. But….” He shut his eyes and grimaced before he opened his eyes and took a breath. “Right now… I don’t think I’m in a space where I can… be in a relationship. Or go on dates. I… Part of me is just ready to bolt, and that’s not fair to you and it’s not fair to me. I don’t want to force myself into this just because I know we’re supposed to be together. I-I’m not ready to-”

“Whoa, Lance, hey,” Keith interrupted, trying to be as gentle as possible because he could see Lance’s wings straining to spread. He held his hands up in a placating gesture and smiled. “I get it. It’s okay. I don’t want you to feel forced, so if you don’t want to go on dates or be in a relationship, that’s okay. I can wait for when you feel ready.”

Lance’s eyebrows bunched together like he was in pain or maybe just frustrated. “That’s the thing. I don’t know when I’ll be ready….”

“Oh,” Keith said, understanding what he was saying. He nodded and shrugged. “That’s alright. But I looked for you for a long time, so… do you think it’s okay if we’re friends? We can hang out with groups, or… y’know pay for our own stuff if we hang out alone.” Keith gave him a sad smile. “I do want you to be part of my life now that I found you. If that’s okay.”

Lance stared at him, eyebrows furrowed, eyes darting back and forth between Keith’s. “You’re not… mad?”

Keith scoffed. “No. I’m kind of relieve you clarified that now instead of… you know dragging it out.” He shrugged. “And I won’t be mad if you don’t want to be friends either. A little sad maybe, but… I won’t be angry.”

Lance’s lips parted and then he began to smile. “Well, if you’re gonna be sad, I don’t want to say no,” he said playfully. Keith smiled. “Friends sounds good. Me and my friends usually go bowling on Saturdays, so… if you want to join us that’d be cool. You can bring Shiro and Adam too.”

Keith smiled and nodded. Lance chuckled and unlocked his car. Keith started to step back so he could turn on the engine and leave, but he stopped when Lance turned to him and said, “The answer’s yes. I’m very surprised you’re my soulmate.”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what had made him decide so suddenly, and why he was surprised, but Lance was already in his truck and ready to drive away.

---

Sure enough, by the following Saturday, Keith went bowling for the first time. Pidge’s brother and Hunk’s cousin came as well, so it didn’t feel like a weird triple-date thing. It felt like a group of friends, and Keith could tell it helped settle Lance.

He became a little more outspoken than he was one-on-one. He was loud, and he made countless jokes, and he didn’t seem so coiled up and anxious. He seemed relaxed. He greeted Shiro and Adam with an easy, “I heard a lot about you both, it’s great to meet you.” And the couple immediately took a liking to him. They found him “charismatic.”

After that, Saturday bowling became a routine. They’d eat chili-fries and mozzarella sticks and drank bottomless sodas. Then whoever lost at bowling paid for the food at the winning team’s food joint of choice. There were times when Pidge’s brother or Hunk’s cousin wouldn’t go. Shiro and Adam couldn’t come each weekend because they only visited every couple of weeks.

But each weekend, Keith joined the group, and they also seemed to have taken a liking to him. They didn’t expect him to talk a lot, but they still managed to include him in conversations.

One Saturday, a few months later with summer around the corner, Keith was driving back from having dropped Pidge then Hunk off at their houses. It was easier to carpool, and he and Pidge had won that day’s game of bowling.

As he neared Lance’s house, Keith put his car in park and looked over at him. “Can I ask you something?” Lance looked at him with bright, innocent eyes, curious and friendly. Keith hesitated, knowing that this could easily set their friendship back or maybe bring them closer. “I said I wanted to wait for you to feel comfortable talking to me about your wings. And I stand by that,” he said quickly noticing the way Lance began receding into himself. “I’m not asking you to tell me now. I just… wanted to know if you’ve thought about it. If I can expect a day in which you do tell me.”

“What does it matter?” Lance asked. “If you’re not disgusted by them and if we’re soulmates anyway, why do you need to know why they look the way they do?”

Keith tried to meet his eyes, and when he finally did he offered him a smile. “Because I want to understand you, Lance. I want to know what I can do to help you feel comfortable and what not to do so I don’t fuck this up. If you don’t want to tell me yet, that’s okay. But do you think you’d be able to one day?”

Lance stared at him for a moment and then slowly nodded. “I think so. But not tonight.”

Keith nodded in understanding and fought the urge to grab his hand. He knew Lance didn’t like being touched. At least not by Keith. Hunk and Pidge could hug and tug and nudge and grab him as they pleased and Lance didn’t mind it. But he always flinched if Keith got too close, or he’d ask Keith if he didn’t mind stepping back a bit. If it was a particularly good day, Lance would instead ask if it was okay he was sitting so close and their shoulders would touch.

“Okay. That’s all I wanted to know.” Lance smiled slightly and opened the door. “Sleep well,” Keith said before Lance shut the door.

“You too, Keith.”

Keith smiled and waited for him to get into his house before he drove away.

Halfway through the week, once Keith had gotten out of his classes, he got a text from Lance.

Are you free tonight?

Keith stared at the text uncertainly because Lance didn’t usually ask to hang out during the week out of the blue. If they met up during the week, Lance would mention it on Saturday so Keith could plan for it. An impromptu meetup was… new.

Yea, why?

I wanna take you somewhere. I’ll pick you up when I get off work.

Keith couldn’t help the anxiety that gripped him. He kept bouncing back and forth between the best ideas- like Lance picking him up for a surprise first date that would end with them sharing their first kiss- or the worst- like Lance panicking after the last thing Keith asked and now he was going to cut him out of his life. He didn’t know what to expect, and he was getting slightly nauseous.

He ended up calling Shiro in hopes of him being able to calm Keith down. Which he did, at least while they talked. Adam, ever the voice of reason, assured him it should be a good sign especially since they’d be riding together and not separately.

Then Lance messaged him he was on his way, and all the nervousness came crashing back, making it hard to focus or stop pacing.

When Lance arrived, Keith went out to greet him and got into the car. He couldn’t help but notice Lance’s rigid posture or the awkwardness of their small talk as they drove.

After a while, they came across an open field with a jogging path. “Come on,” Lance said, getting out of the car. Keith frowned and followed. They walked beside each other and Keith let Lance guide him down the jogging path until they came along the outskirts of some trees. Lance walked around them with Keith following behind.

Then they came across a bayou large enough to be confused for a lake. Cattails and moss and lilyponds covered the water that was probably not safe to swim in. But Lance didn’t make a move for the water. He just plopped down on the dirt and wrapped his arms around his knees. Keith did the same, angled to face him and managing enough distance so their wings wouldn’t touch.

“How’d you find this place?” Keith asked.

“I came here with someone. We were just running around the field, but we got curious and decided to explore. I thought it was beautiful here. She thought it was gross and we left.”

“She?”

“Girlfriend,” Lance said. “Back when I was… maybe sixteen? Fifteen?” Keith nodded in understanding, but he didn’t really understand it. What was the point of dating someone you knew you weren’t going to end up with? “I’ve been thinking about what you said Saturday. Telling you about my wings.”

“You don’t have to, I don’t want you to feel pressured-”

“No, I don’t. I just… feel like it’s okay to do it now. You’ve been really patient, and really respectful about my boundaries, and… I really appreciate that.” Keith managed a smile and then looked out where the sun was setting. “My wings used to be white. Really soft and feathery. My mom liked to pet them so I could go to sleep when I was a little kid. She couldn’t see them, but she liked to feel them.”

“White… is innocence, right? Purity. We all had white when we were kids.”

Lance nodded. “Yeah. But I think mine stayed white for longer. I’d keep getting asked what color my wings turned into and I’d say ‘They’re still white.’ And everyone would look at me funny, like they were supposed to change already.” Lance took a breath and ran a hand through his hair. Keith saw his wings twitch anxiously. They stayed quiet for a second, Keith waiting patiently for Lance to feel ready to keep talking. “The first time I remember getting hurt… the day my wings started to change….” Another breath. “I was six I think. Veronica was fourteen. Marco was eighteen, so he wasn’t there. And Luis was… eight? Yeah, he’s two years older.” Lance sniffed. “Veronica had been out with friends, I think for the first time. My parents told her to come home at ten, but… something happened and she got home a lot later. My dad didn’t like being disobeyed, and he was… scary. That’s how I remember thinking of him.

“He’d fight with my mom a lot, but Veronica and Marco always kept me and Luis from seeing it, trying to distract us. But I always wished I could defend my mom. I was so certain… that if my dad saw us being afraid of him he’d stop.” His wings flapped weakly. Keith looked at him, but Lance was looking out at the lake. “Vero came home and I was supposed to be asleep, but I was watching the clock. I heard him using that voice. That calm, angry voice. And then I heard him yell and I heard my sister cry and my mom yelling for him to calm down. I heard- I don’t know if you’ve ever heard a belt being whizzed through the air, but it sounds like a whip almost.” Keith shuddered. “I heard that. Then I heard the impact at the same time I heard my sister shriek. Then again and again.”

Lance was holding back tears at this point. The memories were hard for him. Keith could hear it in the tremor of his voice. And with what little he knew about Lance, he had an idea of where this was going.

“I couldn’t take it. Hearing my big sister screaming and crying like that, begging my dad to stop. She’d always protected me, she played with me, she taught me how to play video games. I was her favorite, even more than Luis, and she was always….” Lance let out a shaky breath and sniffed, forcing himself to stay together. “I had to protect her this time.

“I ran out of my room and saw my mom crying, hiding her face. I saw my dad bringing down the belt on my sister. Vero was crouched on the ground against the wall, shielding herself as best she could. And I just moved. I spread my wings around her and hugged her. The belt hit my wings instead. Maybe it made him angrier that I interfered. I thought he’d stop, but… he just hit me harder.

“Veronica kept trying to push me away, she kept asking me what I was doing, and my when my mom saw me, she tried to pull my dad away.”

“You were six when that happened?” Keith whispered. Lance nodded.

He pulled at his wings and gestured to the engrained scars, long healed but still visible. “I was bleeding for a while. Veronica never stopped hugging me as my mom tried to heal me. She wouldn’t stop crying either. Ever since then, she would call me her hero.” Lance smiled. “’Donde esta mi heroe? Como le fue en la escuela a mi heroe?’ Where’s my hero, how was school for my little hero. She still does it sometimes.”

Lance wiped at his eyes and began poking at the dirt beneath him. “After that, I became a target for my dad. He’d hit me, or he’d hit my mom or sister, knowing I’d intervene. Marco had left the house as soon as he could, so he couldn’t stop me. Luis preferred to hide in closets or under the bed. Eventually, he just came for me when he pleased.” Lance shrugged. “Before I knew it, my wings were a midnight blue. Indigo, I think is the right color. When I turned seven, my dad left my mom. Veronica began taking care of us so she could work full time. My abuelita came to live with us for a while, but she couldn’t do much in terms of cleaning. She liked to bake though. And she always made us scarves and hats for the winter.”

Lance shook his head, and this time tears started to streak down his cheeks. “She had moved in with my grandpa. He wasn’t a very good guy. I try to just focus on the good things with my abuelita. Then they got deported when I was almost eleven. We didn’t have the money to visit as often as when I’d been younger, so…. My abuelita passed away when I was eleven and we couldn’t make it to the funeral. I think what I hated most about everything was that… I felt guilty because I was… relieved they weren’t living with us anymore.”

Keith frowned and looked at Lance in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Lance took a deep breath and his face crumpled as more tears fell down his cheeks. “I was so… relieved to be rid of my grandpa. I missed my abuelita, I was heartbroken when she got sick and when she passed away, but… I never wanted to see my grandfather again. I never got to say goodbye, but I also never had to see him and I never knew how to handle that mix of emotions. My wings took on a weird purplish color mixing with-” Lance pointed at a clump of feathers. “that blue. The purple faded and eventually this was left.”

There was a part of Keith that wanted to ask why Lance had felt so differently about each of his grandparents. But something in his core, something in his wings told him Lance would’ve explained if he wanted to. So Keith didn’t press. Instead, Lance continued to explain, telling Keith about the people he’d dated in hopes of finding someone who would care for him without feeling like they had to see his wings to be happy. He didn’t want them to see his wings. But each one left because everyone was in search of their soulmate. And each one left Lance’s heart a little more broken.

“I mean, it’s not all bad. Like I said, I love my friends, and they’re amazing people.” Keith nodded in agreement. Hunk and Pidge were really great. “And when my stepdad came into the picture, everything was better. My mom said that she had been able to see my dad’s wings at first, but that eventually she couldn’t anymore. And when he’d left, she thought she was supposed to be alone. But she saw someone’s wings again and… it was my stepdad. And he’s done nothing but treat her like a queen. And he’s cared for all of us, even Marco even though he was an adult already.”

“I thought we only had one soulmate,” Keith said.

Lance shrugged. “I think people’s souls can change. And that changes your soulmate. That’s why I wasn’t really… looking for you.” He shrugged again and rested his head on his knees. “So… that’s all the damage. And this is where I am now.”

Keith nodded and looked at Lance’s wings. “What do all these shades of blue symbolize? You said you knew the meaning of the red in mine. What about yours?”

Lance touched the few feathers he had lightly. “Some of them, like the indigo, I think that was sincerity and justice. Blue overall is stability and loyalty. The different shades vary between suffering, mourning, or hope and compassion.” Lance shrugged. “I think if they weren’t so damaged, if they had all their feathers, then they’d be a whole palette of blues. They could have looked so nice.” Lance traced a patch of his wings that had no feathers and remained a rough section of tender looking muscle.

Keith felt his wings trying to spread to encase Lance. He had an urge to shield and protect him. Keith wanted to hold him and show Lance that he could be safe with him. He thought maybe Lance noticed it too, because he raised an eyebrow in question and maybe a challenge.

A challenge Keith wanted to accept.

He pulled himself up on his knees and scooted closer to Lance who watched him with caution. The sun had long since left them encased in moonlight and cricket chirps. Keith held up a hand near Lance’s face and whispered, “Do you mind if I touch your face?” Lance kept his eyes steady on him before he leaned forward a bit, just enough until his cheek brushed with the tips of Keith’s fingers. “I need you to say yes or no,” Keith said softly.

“I don’t mind,” Lance answered.

Keith bit his lip and let his palm spread along Lance’s cheek, his thumb swiping back and forth. “I was right,” he said. “When I said that your wings told me you were strong.” Keith though of everything he’d been told. Of the times Lance had been beaten and bruised and hurt and broken. Of how it reflected on his wings, but it didn’t make him any less handsome, any less magnificent. “I’m so lucky to have such an incredible soulmate,” Keith murmured, hoping his voice held the sincerity he needed it to hold.

Lance shut his eyes and sighed, pressing into the hand on his face. “This feels nice,” he said in a low voice.

“Lance,” Keith said softly. Lance opened his eyes, sapphire gems boring into Keith’s soul in a way that made it hard to breathe. “I want you to know that I will never hurt you. And I will do everything in my power to never hurt you for as long as you’re in my life. I know you’re scared to let me in too much, but I want you to know you have nothing to fear from me. I’m temperamental, and I can be stubborn, but I hope you know that will never mean you’d be in danger around me.” Lance stared at him, not saying a word. He looked a little unsure, a little hopeful and afraid at the same time. Keith smiled and stroked his cheek again. “Relax. I’m not asking you to date me. I’m happy being your friend, and I’m happy you trusted me enough to tell me all of this.”

Lance gulped and shrugged, his wings expanding slightly. Keith’s mirrored them. “What if I wanted to ask you… to date me?” he whispered. Keith chuckled nervously and looked at Lance uncertainly. “I mean it.”

“Then ask me,” Keith said.

Lance smiled and bit his lip. “Do you… want to be my boyfriend?”

Keith smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I do. Very much.” Lance laughed and suddenly, Keith felt his arms wrap around him as Lance pulled him into a hug. They fell back against the ground in a fit of laughter and lightness. Keith laid on his side, Lance’s arm serving as a pillow. After getting approval, he had taken to stroking Lance’s wing gently where it was pressed under them as a cushion. One of Keith’s wings was brought in tightly, but the other spread out widely, beating gently in time with Lance’s free wing.

---

After that wonderful day at the bayou-lake, Keith and Lance hung out more often during the week. Away from the friendship outings on Saturdays, they went to movies or carpooled for fast food. One day, Lance told Keith his family wanted to meet him, and they were going to have a cookout anyway.

Keith went, feeling a little nervous about meeting so many people. But Lance’s family was excited to meet him, and they were a very touchy family, hugging him with ease and giving him wide smiles.

Veronica was the one most intrigued by Keith, and she asked him tons of questions. Lance’s mother was a sweet looking woman and she showed him pictures of Lance when he was younger. The days he played on a soccer team, the time he won an attendance award at school, his first day of high school. Lance claimed embarrassment, but he didn’t try to pry Keith away. They just sat together, hand in hand, looking at the photo albums and reminiscing.

That day, they shared their first kiss. It was something incredible that shook Keith to his very core. The feathers of his wings rustled, and the pulsing in them became a pull that was too strong to resist. Their wings wrapped around each other of their own accord and it created a sense of vulnerable invincibility in Keith. He felt a wave of strength that he’d never felt before and he never wanted Lance’s lips to leave his own.

What surprised them was that when they opened their eyes, Lance’s eyes had been glowing and Lance said Keith’s were as well. Their wings finally parted and the residual shock from the experience mellowed out into a feeling of serenity.

It was easy to be with Lance. It was easy to talk to him and turn to him when he needed it. Keith didn’t feel afraid to let his guard down, to show all the emotions he felt when things went awry. Lance was so good with him, so good at maneuvering him. It just made sense. And when things went well and there was a cause for celebration, Lance was easily excitable and it made Keith feel like the most important person in the world.

Lance had come around to being comfortable enough to let Keith touch him without having to ask, and Keith often had his hand in Lance’s if he wasn’t stroking the damaged wings idly.

One day, well into Keith final year in college, Keith and Lance were huddled together on Keith’s couch watching reruns of Christmas movies on TV.

“Can I tell you something?” Lance yawned, pulling the blanket they had draped over them in a little tighter. Keith hummed and glanced up at him from where he was laying on his chest. “I saw you before you saw me.” Keith frowned and sat up, confused. “That day we met at the mall,” Lance clarified. “I saw you first. And I ran off, hiding from you.”

Keith scoffed and crossed his arms. “What are you talking about? Why?”

Lance took his hands and smiled. “I was getting food. And I heard the happiest laugh I’d ever heard in my life.” Keith groaned and felt his cheeks warm. “So I turned around and I saw you. I saw your wings. And I ran off without even explaining to Pidge and Hunk. I just… bolted.”

Keith grimaced and looked at his wings. “Yeah. These things are scary. I mean, they’re the most menacing color combination-”

“Not because of the color, you idiot,” Lance chided playfully. “It was the fact that I could see them at all that terrified me. It meant you’d be able to see mine. Pidge tried to convince me to just talk to you, but they had no idea how bad my wings were. They knew I was self-conscious about them, but I never really explained what they looked like. I had hoped I’d never find you.”

“Did you think I wouldn’t like you because of your wings?” Keith asked, holding Lance’s hand tightly.

Lance shook his head. “I thought maybe… you’d end up hurting me. A lot of people came into my life and caused so much pain. I was certain my soulmate would do the same.” Keith looked at Lance sadly and sighed. “I don’t know if you remember, but… you asked me if I was surprised that you were soulmate. And I said yes.” Keith nodded, recalling the first time they hung out. “I was surprised because your personality was completely different than I expected. I guess I thought I’d end up with someone who would treat me like the people I’d been running away from. But you didn’t do that. You were so good to me from the start.”

Keith smiled and leaned in to kiss him lightly on the lips. “I never want you to feel that fear again,” he whispered.

Lance hummed and kissed him back, nipping lightly at his lower lip. “Okay, alright, so…. A lighter subject. I have a question for you and it’ll probably freak you out.” Keith frowned and pulled back, looking at Lance nervously. “See you’re already scared!”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Come on, what’s the question?”

“Would you… ever want kids?”

Keith froze, staring at Lance in shock. He had no idea what he expected, but he knew it wasn’t that. “Kids?” he repeated. Lance nodded. “Um. I never thought about it. I don’t know if I have what it takes to be a dad.” He looked at Lance pushed his hair back. Lance’s eyes fluttered at the touch. “But if I’m gonna be with you? Then yeah. I think we could raise some awesome kids.”

Lance smiled and bit his lip. “Cool. Because I’ve always wanted kids. But we can talk about that later. Way, way later.”

Keith laughed and nodded. “Okay, my turn for a scary question.” Lance arched an eyebrow. “Would you ever want to get married?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “If I want kids, then duh! Come on, that’s not scary.”

“Wow, okay. Alright, alright, let me try again.” Lance huffed and looked at Keith with a teasing smile. Keith bit his lip nervously and touched Lance’s cheek. He swallowed and looked into Lance’s eyes. “Do you love me?”

Lance’s expression dropped.

Keith wasn’t sure if he should move away or not, especially since Lance had decided to freeze, which meant keeping a hold of his grip on Keith’s sides. Keith looked into Lance’s eyes and tried not to panic at the way he was staring back at him.

“You can say no,” Keith reminded him gently.

“I…. I- I mean you’re my soulmate.”

“Yeah,” Keith said with a smile. “Which is why it’s okay if you don’t love me yet.”

Lance’s eyebrow knit together and he kept stammering, shushing Keith’s reassurances that he didn’t have to say yes. “Keith, I- wow. Um…. I’ve loved a lot of people. But I’ve never known what it was to love someone romantically.” Keith nodded, understanding. Lance stared at him quietly. “Do you love me?”

Keith hesitated for a second before he nodded. “I know I want my future with you. I know I feel comfortable with you. Seeing you makes me happy and being near you makes me happy. I want to make you happy every day, and I want to be whatever you need me to be. I still can’t believe that I was lucky enough to have a soulmate so amazingly selfless and wonderful. Someone who would become my stability. I know I want to experience everything with you. And I understand if you’re scared, I get that. Which is why I’m telling you it’s okay if you don’t love me yet. Because I know you will someday.”

Lance leaned forward and cupped Keith’s face, kissing him lightly. On his forehead, on his eyelids, on his nose. His lips brushed against Keith’s and in a soft breath, he said, “I do love you.” Keith opened his eyes, doubt coating his features. “I want all of that too. I feel all of that. I was terrified of letting you close to me, or bringing you into my life, but now I can’t imagine my life without you. My wings didn’t scare you away. You stayed, and you made me see them as more than damage. You made them sound beautiful. You make me feel strong when I feel like I’m too broken. And you make me feel loved. Every day. And maybe I won’t show it as much as you want me to every day, but I love you, I do.”

Keith nodded, suddenly desperate to kiss him again. He pressed his lips to Lance’s, pulling him closer and letting that feeling of what he knew now was pure, unadulterated love. Their wings pulled towards each other like magnets.

Only this time, they both an electric shot course through the point of contact to the very tips of their wings. They fell apart and Keith tried to shake off the shock. Lance on the other hand doubled over and groaned.

“Lance? Lance!”

He staggered, trying to stand. Keith went to try and help him up, but a bright shimmering from his wings made him freeze. Lance let out a shout of pain that made Keith want to cover his ears. Then the scream faded into a gasp. Lance breathed heavily as his wings continued to shimmer, spreading until they were fully expanded. The light faded away and Keith gaped, frozen to his spot.

Lance was breathing heavily, struggling to stand. Keith hurried over and helped him up, checking him for any injuries. “Lance. Your wings.”

Lance spread his wings tentatively. What had one been a pair of torn, bruised, scarred, nearly featherless wings was now a beautiful, large pair of multicolored wings with soft new feathers that shone silky and smooth. Shades of red and blue melded into purple. No more bent wing, no more tattered membrane, no more proof of the damage that had followed Lance for so long.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked, looking at him worriedly.

“Y-yeah,” he said breathlessly. “What… why did this happen?”

“I don’t know,” Keith admitted. “Did I hurt you? I’m sorry.”

Lance looked at him and smiled. “Hurt me? Keith I think… I think you helped heal me.” His wings began to beat steadily, gently in the confines of the apartment. “Could I get another kiss?”

Keith smiled and threw his arms around him as he pulled him into a kiss, his own wings beating in rhythm with his soulmate’s.

[transguykeith]

Lance flirting with space babes while Keith pines?

Here you go! A little heaping of Keith pine!

Words: 2159

By his best estimate, it had been two years since Keith had last seen Earth. A bit over a year with Voltron and a half a year with the Blade. The last few months he had bounced back and forth between the two like a galactic ping pong ball. During this time he had seen the tide of the war slowly turning as he fought alongside the Blade, Voltron, and various groups of Rebels.

The Alliance was growing stronger every day, and it was only a matter of time before they would overpower the Galra. Keith liked this, he liked working side by side with these people and helping them fight for their homes. What he did not like were the gatherings he was forced to attend every so often.

At first they had just been diplomatic meetings that he had little business with but soon they grew larger and more frequent. These get together were meant to boost morale among the fighters, but Keith found them tedious and boring. Or at least that’s what he told himself.

As a celebration for freeing the last Galra-occupied system of a sector, the Alliance decided to have a meeting followed by a party of sorts. Voltron had offered up the castle as the meeting place and Keith couldn’t find an excuse to get himself out of it. It was one thing when the party was held on some planet, it was something entirely different when held in the closest thing he had to a home.

Keith fully intended upon hiding out in his room for the duration, but he had hardly even settled in when a knock sounded at his door. “The party’s this way Mullet,” came a familiar voice. “You’re not hiding out in here, come talk to us!”

Keith cursed his bad luck and sighed before making his way out into the hallway. “What do you want Lance?”

“You to have fun, follow me,” Lance smiled and started off toward the sound of people gathering.

Keith swallowed thickly and tried not to stare as Lance walked ahead of him. It had been a month or so since he had seen him outside the battlefield. Lance had gotten taller and his hair was longer and starting to curl at the nape of his neck. His frame had filled in with a bit more muscle and his new clothes…well, Keith wasn’t staring for nothing.

Lance seemed completely oblivious to Keith’s internal crisis and chattered the whole way to the party, probably catching Keith up on all the fun stories that had happened recently. Keith didn’t hear a word he said until they were surrounded by other people. “The others are all spread out around the room,” he said. “Make sure to say hi to them, we’ve missed you.”

“Yeah, uh, me too,” Keith smiled nervously, almost certain that his face was bright red.

“Well, that punch bowl and those cuties are calling my name,” Lance gestured toward the group of Rebels standing around the drink table. “I’ll catch you later man.”

Keith watched as he walked across the room and easily inserted himself into the conversation, occasionally throwing his head back in laughter. It was a familiar scene.

Keith didn’t like large groups of people, especially when it was people he didn’t know. He was hopelessly awkward at best and not much of an optimist when it came to socializing. It was Pidge who managed to find him next after he found a good corner to stand in. He saw her from halfway across the room, weaving through people with a small robot following behind her.

“Keith!” Pidge grinned up at him. “Lance said you were in here somewhere, I’m surprised you haven’t run off yet.”

“I wanted to stay in my room,” he said, frowning slightly. “I don’t exactly like it here.”

“I don’t blame you,” she agreed. “Too many people,” she wrinkled her nose. “But at least it means we get some good food for once.”

Keith nodded, he couldn’t stand the food goo either. “So what’s that brain of yours been up to recently?”

“Oh everything has changed around here,” Pidge grinned. It was odd to hear her say that, considering that she looked exactly the same as the day they left Earth. “We revamped the defense system and all the hangars got a makeover, I’m working on our comms right now. The signal needs to be stronger so we don’t lose it during battle, that’s happened too many times for comfort.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Keith said. “Hunk helping you?”

“Everyone is,” she nodded. “Even Lance, and you know he doesn’t care much about this tech stuff. He’s only there to grab tools when they’re needed, well that and talk.”

“What does he talk about?” He asked, his curiosity getting ahead of him.

“What doesn’t he talk about?” She rolled her eyes with a laugh. “Home, places we’ve been, battles we’ve fought, you. I think he misses you more than he’s willing to let on. You should talk to him.”

“Oh,” Keith smiled. “I guess I will,” he leaned forward, looking for Lance.

“Good,” Pidge shot him a thumbs up. “Now if anyone asks, I’m with Hunk,” she grinned deviously before dashing off to an exit with the robot still following.

Keith shrugged and made his way toward where he last saw Lance at. It was never hard to find him, he liked to be the center of attention as these sorts of things. He found him close to where he was earlier, though he was sitting now.

Lance was straddling a chair backwards and leaning forward, with his hands propping up his chin as he spoke. The others seated around the table seemed entranced. Keith couldn’t blame them, he was too.

Lance was talking to all of them, narrating his stories with hand gestures and sound effects the way he always did. Every so often he’d punctuate a statement with a wink to one of the others. Other times he’d lean in close to a person and touch their hand or arm as he spoke.

Keith wanted to join in, he really did, but he found he could do nothing but stare. The longer he stood there the more his stomach fluttered and his teeth clenched whenever someone touched Lance for longer than necessary or whenever Lance let his hands linger.

That was the thing about two years, it was a long time. They had done so much and met so many people. But Keith had never met someone like Lance. Lance had an air about him that lured Keith in and left him asking for more, he was enticing in a way that nothing else was. Lance had a way of simultaneously stealing his breath away while being the very air he needed to breath. Keith was stuck on Lance, but Lance seemed to have eyes for everyone but him.

So Keith stayed back and watched, unable to stop the smile that spread across his face the more he saw. Two years had shown him that there was no one in the universe like Lance, there was no way he’d deprive himself of getting to see that up close. Even if it did hurt to know that Lance would never look at him the way he did others.

He decided to leave after the sixth or seventh time the table burst into laughter due to a joke Lance made. There was only so much he could take before it hurt too much. It was later into the night now, and almost everyone had grouped off and was talking. This made it easy for him to slip out unnoticed and start the lonely walk to him room, the happy sounds of others fading as he got farther away.

He didn’t hear the sound of footsteps behind him until a hand landed on his shoulder. “Are you not enjoying yourself?” Lance asked. “I saw you leave.”

Keith turned to face him, keeping his gaze steadily on the floor. “It’s not really my thing,” he shrugged. “You should go back, I could tell you were having fun.”

“Nah, that doesn’t matter,” Lance shook his head. “I’d rather hang with you.”

Keith smiled slightly. “I’m afraid I’m not doing anything tonight. Go back.”

“No,” Lance said. “I haven’t seen you in months, I want to talk to you.”

“What about?” Keith asked, slowly lifting his gaze. Lance had a scar on his cheek that wasn’t there before.

“I don’t know,” Lance shrugged. “Everything. I…missed you. It’s not the same without you here.”

“What? You need someone to make fun of?” Keith asked, the words coming out harsher than intended.

“No…I,” Lance trailed off with a sigh. “I can’t do anything right by you can I? I ask you to come to the party and you stand off on your own, I tell you I miss you and you act like I don’t. Keith I want to spend time with you, okay?”

Keith flinched and stepped back, the sudden change in attitude taking him by surprise. “No it’s not…” he trailed off and took a deep breath. “It’s not you. Lance I, I missed you I…never mind,” he shook his head, “go back to the party, you were clearly enjoying yourself.”

Lance sighed again and stepped toward Keith. “I would rather do nothing with you than go back to that party, I don’t know any of those people I was talking to. I thought we were friends?”

Keith swallowed and looked down, trying and failing to not let his gaze trail down Lance’s body. “We are friends I think,” he said quietly. “I mean, I want us to be friends. I liked when we used to talk, you always seemed so confident in me as a leader. I don’t think I would have lasted without you helping me through it,” he bit his lip to stop himself from babbling.

A smile slowly spread its way across Lance’s face and he set a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I was confident that you were going to kill us all,” he joked. “But really, you are a good leader when you take even a moment to think your actions through.”

Keith laughed softly, slowly lifting his gaze to look him in the eye. “Thanks, you’re real funny,” he rolled his eyes. “I missed you,” he added, his voice and expression softening.

Lance’s expression softened as well and his hand slid from Keith’s shoulder to his back much slower than necessary. “I missed you too,” he said. “It’s not the same without you here. I know you do important work but…”

The silence hung for a long moment before Keith bit at it. “But what?” He asked quietly.

“But I ne…the team needs you around,” Lance flushed at his verbal misstep, averting eye contact.

“You need me?” Keith couldn’t help but smile at that, the butterflies in his stomach doing backflips at the notion. On sudden impulse he reached out and took Lances hand in his own.

“Yeah I…” Lance looked at their now joined hands with wide eyes. “I, um,” he swallowed thickly. “I actually kind of like you yknow, like uh like you like you, as more than a friend.”

Now it was Keith’s turn to flush and gape at him. This was not the way he expected the night to turn out. “Oh shit,” he whispered to himself. “Okay um, this is real right? You aren’t joking with me?”

“No, I would never,” Lance shook his head, looking hurt at the notion that Keith thought he was lying. “You’re too impor-” he was cut off by Keith crushing his lips to his.

If grabbing Lance’s hand had been impulsive, Keith didn’t even know what this classified as. He hadn’t realized he was doing it until both his arms were around Lance’s neck and Lance had tangled a hand into the hair he so loved to tease.

Keith kissed him until he was out of breath, when they finally pulled away all he could manage to do was open and close his mouth repeatedly, his face dark red. “Uh, I’m sorry,” he spluttered after several minutes of gaping like a fish. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Lance laughed, the sound genuine and happy. “I’m glad you did,” he admitted. “I’ve wanted to do that for over a year and never had the courage to.”

Keith stared upon hearing that information. Lance had wanted this for over a year? That was so much time they could have been together and weren’t. That was unacceptable.

He grabbed Lances hand once again and started dragging him toward his room before he could complain. He kissed him again once the door clicked shut behind him. “I think we have a lot to talk about.”

“Yeah, yeah we do,” Lance answered between kisses.

Neither of them returned to the party.

[classyklancey]

The Thing | High school AU |

Pairing: Keith x Lance Genre: Angst Warnings: Possession?, somewhat self-harm (it’s The Thing causing it), anxiety mention Summary: Keith has something inside of him that he can just barely control. Lance helps keep him level-headed A/N: I made this forever ago and it wasn’t intended to be Keith and Lance. It used to be a lot more angsty but since I changed it to Keith and Lance, my poor heart couldn’t handle it the original version. If you want the other version too let me know!! If you want the original version where it’s not Lance and Keith, also let me know lol. Enjoy!!

Hundreds of screaming voices pierce my ears. The noise is so loud that I can barely focus on my own thoughts, beating down on me from all directions. My nails dig into my knees through the fabric of my black jeans, so hard that they threaten to draw blood.

“It’s a pep rally, Keith,” Lance says from my right side, where he is jumping, screaming, and just generally making a fool of himself as usual. “You know, fun stuff.”

Lance laughs and slings an arm around my shoulder, my torso slouching from the sudden weight. Sometimes, I forget just how much bigger he was than me. Lance didn’t have an abundance of muscles or anything, but his shoulders were significantly broader than mine and he was at least three inches taller. 

“Get off,” I say gruffly, my face deadpan.

That earned a laugh from Lance. He looked like he wanted to say something, probably make a joke about my “dumb emo face” like usual, but the Headmaster’s booming voice interrupted him. He was announcing a school spirit contest, where the class that screamed the loudest won bragging rights. The freshman, my class, was first, and in typical freshman style, they gave a weak attempt with what sounded like only thirty students cheering and a few claps here and there.

“Better cover your ears, Keithy baby,” Lance said, before leaping to his feet again, clearing his throat in preparation. I go to respond when the Headmaster beats me to it. 

“Now, let me hear my sophomores!” The Headmaster bellowed over the microphone, making me flinch from the loud volume. ‘Why is he talking so loudly when his voice is already being amplified?’

“The seniors are going to win,” I say, but he can’t hear me over the sound of his own obnoxious screeching. His voice could be heard over every other sophomore in the gym. I might have been impressed if I wasn’t preoccupied with a splitting headache that was only intensified from the noise.

I had been having an okay day for the first time in quite a bit. I didn’t have to run to the bathroom and vomit when I woke up this morning, which is an improvement from the past few days. I took some medication for my migraine and it had actually gone down a bit. For a little while, I actually believed that I was going to make it through the day without anything going wrong. But, of course, every time I think the universe is on my side, something happens and ruins everything. This time, it just so happened to be a surprise pep rally celebrating some kind of important win. Maybe football…or was it basketball? It could have been a chess tournament victory for all I care. All that I know is that I’m sweating out every bit of moisture in my body, Lance’s racket is going to make me deaf, the fluorescent gym lights are blinding, and I think I’m going to throw up my lunch. Every little thing is like a weight pressing against my head. 

It’s all just another excuse for The Thing to show up.

I can’t remember a time when the Thing wasn’t with me. Ever since I was small, I was always plagued with migraines, but it wasn’t a stabbing pain like you get when you’re sick. It was a pressure, almost as if my skull was too full. Like there was something in there that wasn’t supposed to be.

The Thing rules my life. It keeps me awake at night, tossing and turning for hours. Even when I finally manage to fall asleep, it speaks to me in my nightmares. It digs around in my deepest insecurities and forces them into my head over and over again, so much that I dread going to bed at night. Whenever I wake up, there is always a fresh set of self-inflicted scratch marks on my abdomen and dried up tears in the corners of my eyes.

It doesn’t leave me alone during the day either, though. The migraines have become a constant at this point, along with a feeling of nausea, like The Thing is trying to escape from my body. It likes to play around with my personal anxieties, pointing out every little detail in the hopes that I will let my guard down enough for it to take control of my body.

The worst symptom of all happens whenever I get angry. The Thing thrives off of anger. Even the slightest hint of irritation is enough to feed its hunger for violence. The angrier I get, the more power I give it. It likes to whisper actions into my head and scream obscene words at my teachers and peers. Sometimes, if I’m angry enough, it can make things move without anyone touching them.

I’ve never been able to experience the things that most kids my age do. Up until this year, my first year of high school, I’ve never been able to keep a friend.

‘Except for you,’ I think to myself, glancing over to the boy next to me, a joyful grin plastered onto his face.

We met at the beginning of this school year, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by the way Lance acts around me. Out of all the people he could have latched onto, he chose me. A pale, shifty-eyed little freshman. I’m still not sure whether I should feel honored or extremely unlucky. Hanging around with me was probably a mistake on his part.

Lance is an idiot in the best of ways. He never noticed the way that my eyes would dilate so much that only a small sliver of gray-blue was left when I was struggling for control. He never took note of the self-inflicted scratches and picks that marked my arms and legs. After all of those times the two of us walked home from school in the afternoons together, he never realized that my shadow fell six shades darker than his own. All that mattered to him was that I was a fresh face and I could carry on a decent conversation, and he thought I was cute. I was thankful for the company, but sometimes I wondered whether extra stress was worth it.

The Headmaster is talking again. Though his voice is distorted by the aging sound system, I can still make out the words “relay” and “volunteers”.

At first, I pay no mind, but when Lance’s grin widens into something mischievous, my body tenses in a sudden sense of panic. Before I can stop him, he’s jumping up in the air and waving his arms to get the Headmaster’s attention.

“Lance, what are-”

“You can run fast, right?” he cuts me off. He already knew the answer to that. Before I can stop myself, I think back to one specific time when we were walking home.

“Keith! Start running! It’s about to start raining harder!” Lance shouts from far ahead of me, his long legs carrying him faster and farther away from me. 

I roll my eyes at Lance’s shouting, figuring he was just over exaggerating since barely any rain was falling from the sky. 

Suddenly, it started to pour, startling me. I gasp before quickly starting to run after Lance, almost instantly catching up to him. The Thing has given me strengths in certain aspects, such as running. 

“Woah! You caught up quick!” I don’t say anything as I pass him, running all the way to my house. After a couple of minutes, Lance catches up to me, coming up to my patio instead of continuing to his house. “Thanks for leaving me...” he says sarcastically, panting as he tries to catch his breath.

I give him an apologetic smile as I unlock my door. “At least I waited for you. Want to come inside?” 

Lance shakes his head as he points over his shoulder. “Nah, I shou- oh, you’re freezing.” My brows furrow at his words before I feel it, the shaking racking my body. It wasn’t because I was cold, but I couldn’t tell him that. Sometimes when I use my new strengths, it wakes up The Thing. I start to panic but try to keep it off of my face, praying he wouldn’t accept my offer to come inside. 

“I’m fine,” I reassure with a soothing smile, hoping it looked soothing to him since in reality, I was panicking. Lance shakes his head as he takes off his jacket, draping it over me. “Nope. You’re cold. It’s okay to admit it.” 

I roll my eyes and grumble to myself, feeling a blush take over my face as I look down at my wet shoes, momentarily forgetting about The Thing. My eyes widen as Lance’s lifts my face up to look at him, his bright eyes meeting my shocked ones. 

“Red is a pretty color on you,” he whispers, his eyes moving to my cheeks. My blush only grows worse at his compliment. ‘Is he...no. He wouldn’t flirt with me. He could never like a monster like me...’ 

At the last part of my thought, I frown as I pull away. “Thanks for walking me home. Here’s your jacket. Be safe,” I say as I toss him his jacket back. Before he could respond, I close the door in his face. His hurt expression was all I could think about for the rest of the day. “I did him a favor...” I mumble before I let out a hefty sigh. 

I quickly snap out of my thoughts when he grabs my hand. “I-I can’t!” I try to hide the desperation in my voice, but I can’t stop it from cracking. “I really don’t want-”

“Yes! Headmaster’s looking over here!” he cuts me off again, waving our clasped hands and his free hand into the air. 

A spark of foreign anger pangs in the back of my head, a sickeningly familiar emotion.

Of all the times for the Thing to wake up, it has to be right now. Right now, when my nerves have already been ground down to nothing and the wild Cuban next to me has finally caught the Headmaster’s attention. I want to simultaneously scream at the top of my lungs and burst into tears. I loathe this feeling of being helpless. Lance is suddenly dragging me towards one of my biggest fears, and The Thing is dragging me towards the other, and I have no control.

‘Get rid of him,’ It says, ‘I don’t want to go out there.’

“Shut up, just shut up for once,” I hiss under my breath. Pain blossoms in my torso like a punch to the gut.

The Headmaster waves us over with a smile, and I’m suddenly pulled onto my feet. I try to resist Lance’s pulling, but he is quite persistent in getting me onto the gymnasium floor. As a final desperate attempt, I plant my beaten, dirty sneakers into the ground as hard as I can. Lance looks back at me, a little confused.

Our eyes meet for the briefest of moments. “Please,” I beg, “Please don’t do this to me.” Lance flashes me that signature bright smile and begins dragging me by the wrist to the center of the gymnasium floor. “You need to do something fun!” 

It is far too late when I realize that the words never left my lips.

The hundreds of voices have turned into hundreds of eyes. I’m shrinking smaller and smaller, and everyone else towers over me menacingly. I look to Lance for support and comfort, anything to help ease this feeling of anxiousness. But he doesn’t even notice my gaze. He’s waving up at his other friends, completely enjoying the spotlight. At this point, The Thing is practically clawing at the inside of my skull, begging to be released.

I make the mistake of glancing down at my shadow on the polished floor. My eyes are frozen in horror on the dark silhouette of my left hand. I watch as the fingers clench and relax, clench and relax, clench and relax in a steady repetition. My actual hand is gripping onto the fabric of my hoodie and had been the entire time. The dread in my stomach drags every second into an hour as I realize what’s coming. Every instinct in my body is telling me to get out. I cannot break down here, not in front of these judgmental eyes, not in front of the only friend I’ve ever been able to keep.

“Don’t look so scared, bud.” Lance nudged my ribs gently with his elbow, “It’s just a little race.”

Time froze. I stared at him, my eyes blown wide and black from the dilation. “Don’t look so scared.” His voice was happy when he said it, completely carefree. Everything was just a game to him. He never took anything seriously, including me. Surely he could see the pain on my face. How could he not notice the way my body shuddered under this pressure. Maybe he just didn’t care enough to open his eyes.

I hate him.

The thought resonates in my mind, something I’ve never felt before. It wasn’t really true, well, for me at least. The Thing hated everyone and everything. 

I hate him.

The phrase repeats in my thoughts, over and over and over again. It bounces around my skull in an awful dissonance until I can barely make out any words, mingling with the cheering voices of the student body.

I hate him.

Lance thrusts an object into my suddenly freezing cold hands. It’s a relay baton. The noise in my head is so loud I can barely hear him tell me that I am supposed to run first. My spine is stiff and I can feel my body go completely still, red creeping into the edges of my vision.

He gives me a look, I couldn’t tell what kind of look it was though. Concern? Confusion? 

“You okay, Keith?”

I shake my head quickly, trying to control my breathing that was starting to become labored. Lance removes the baton from my hand with a nod of his head, dropping it to the floor.

“Okay, it’s alright. Let’s get you some air,” he says quietly to me, only loud enough for me to hear him over the roaring crowd. I nod my head as I let him lead me outside, leaning against him as we sit on the stairs that lead up to the gymnasium. 

“Sorry...” I mumble. I don’t know why I was apologizing to him. I tried to tell him, no, but his stubborn self didn’t want to listen to me. He hushes me as he runs a hand through my slightly damp hair, rubbing my back with the other. “Don’t apologize. I should be the one apologizing. I didn’t realize you’d react like that. You have bad anxiety or something?” I sigh with a nod of my head, leaning into him more. 

“Something like that...” 

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.45

Lance had been nearly deafened. He hadn’t been able to change back at all the previous day. Keith carrying him around as he was forced to be cooed over. He carried him to the kitchen, the bathroom, the living room, basically wherever Keith went, Lance had gone with him. He’d changed back in the middle of the night, curled up against Keith. His poor boyfriend hadn’t had the best day, and he’d ended up hearing everything between him and Shiro. Shooting Hunk a message in the middle of the night, both his friends came by barely after the breakfast dishes had been put away. Pidge was either talking a million words a minutes, demanding answers from Matt, or screaming over seeing her brother again. The touching reunion was too much. Pidge’s voice was too much. He’d never had such a reunion with his siblings, so he ended up feeling half deaf and crying his eyes out in the kitchen. He was happy for her, but the weight of Matt’s secret was dragging him down, as was the pathetic jealousy of feeling on the outside again. Feeling strong arms wrap around his waist, Lance turned his head, nearly kissing Hunk thinking it was Keith. Hunk was also a crying mess

“I’m so happy he’s back. This is the best surprise Pidge could have gotten”

It was easy for him to think of Pidge as the same age as Hunk, and not two years younger. She was so brainy she seemed much older than her 22 years

“Yeah. It’s nice to see her so happy”

“I don’t think happy even comes close to describing what she’s feeling right now, man”

“That’s true”

Lance wanted to skip out and come back once Pidge had settled, but that was asking the impossible from his little gremlin. She had every right to be this happy. He’s be happy to if his siblings would accept him back. He missed them. He missed Marco most of all. Marco had loved having a vampire for a brother when everything had been new. Before he realised he had to keep things a secret and deal with a brother that had screaming nightmares and sometimes was too traumatised to talk

“Man, you okay? You’re shaking”

Lance smiled as he wiped at his eyes, knocking his glasses as he did

“I’m really happy for her. But it’s making me miss Miriam”

“Have you seen her lately?”

“Not as much as I’d like to. I didn’t go last weekend, and this weekend’s probably going to be out seeing Matt’s here with Rieva”

“Have you called her?”

Not as much as he’d like to have... Simultaneously wanting to be with her and keep her away from what was happening to him

“It’s not the same as seeing her”

“You could always to tomorrow?”

“Nah. Keith and Shiro are off to Platt tomorrow. I can’t just ditch Matt and Rieva here for the day with Curtis”

“I was wondering who he is... He hasn’t said much”

No one had said much other than Pidge and Matt. Shit... Curtis needed a cover story... His mouth moving without much thinking

“Cousin. Definitely a cousin... of mine... My house has turned into a damn bed and breakfast”

“Man, you have cousins? You never talked about any one other than Miriam”

“Oh, he’s like distantly related. Miriam thinks I need company”

“We never enough?”

Lance turned in Hunk’s hold, hugging him back

“You and Pidge are always, always, more than enough”

“That’s good enough for me. Man, all these people have my creative juices flowing. I think we need a feast”

Pidge stopped talking, spinning towards the pair of them

“Did I hear food?”

Hunk laughed, Lance still hugging him

“Yep. Lance and I are going to make you guys the biggest meal you’ve ever seen! Matt’s home, it’s time for a real party!”

“Whoop whoop! Okay, that’s our cue to vacate the kitchen. I want to hear all about how you snagged Rieva. She’s totes out of your league, you know that right?”

“I do. Let’s head to the living room. I want to hear all about what you’ve been up to here”

The kitchen vacated at near vampire speed as Pidge pulled Matt along with her. Lance watched them go from over Hunk’s shoulder. The only one who stayed was Keith, which Lance found reassuring. His boyfriend wasn’t jealous over him hugging Hunk. He took it as Keith making a real effort to be involved more with Hunk and his stupid emotions nearly made him cry again. Keith was like the missing piece none of them knew they needed. Breaking the hug, Lance wrinkled his nose over his fogged up glasses

“These things need to come with a warning. Right. Well. We’ll need to head to town. We need milk, and I have no idea what’s in the fridge”

“I’m on it”

Hunk gave him one more hard squeeze before walking over the fridge, Lance feeling Keith’s fingers brushing against his hand. Turning to his boyfriend, he gave him a wobbly smile

“Hey, you. Here to help?”

Keith nodded, he looked a little lost over what’d just happened

“Pidge is a bit too much right now... are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah. All these family feels... bit much”

Lance fanned his face with his glasses, Keith nodding again. As his boyfriend started to let his hand drop, Lance reached out to squeeze it gently

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never... felt like that”

“Let me know if you need a break”

“I should be saying that to you”

God knew how much Lance wanted to kiss Keith right then. But Hunk was in the room and he didn’t want to make things more awkward for Keith

“I’ll be okay. It makes me wanna see Miriam”

“You should... You... we could go... or tomorrow. You could come with us tomorrow”

“Someone’s gotta be here to keep an eye on things. I’ll call her tonight”

Keith frowned of him

“You’ve wanted to see her for days... it’s not fair...”

“Sometimes things mean you can’t do what you want to do. I once went three months without seeing her and it was the absolute worst”

“I can’t imagine that”

“I know... anyway, you ready for another cooking lesson?”

“Yeah... Yeah, it’s like you said. It’s a good skill to have”

“Careful there, Keith. That nearly sounded like you were saying I’m right”

Keith snorted at him, Hunk calling out from where his head was still in the fridge

“What was that?”

“Keith admitted I’m right”

“As shocking as it seems, it happens. You’ve got a lot in here, so you can go to town while I get started”

“Sounds good. Wanna come for the ride?”

Keith nodded quickly, Lance smiling at the thought of Keith wanting to escape all these damn people, as he’d say

“Perfect. Hunk, gimme a list. We’ll be back once the shoppings done. Better pick up some wine while I’m at it. Pidge does love an excuse to party”

“That she does... I’m already dreading tomorrow morning”

“It’ll be fine. You’ll see”

*

Keith hated shopping. He hated shopping even more when it meant going up and down each isle, but today that was the plan and he was grateful for it. Both he and Lance needed a moment away from all the family stuff. Keith was “allowed” to push the cart, as Lance walked beside him, hands brushing occasionally in a way that made Keith want to hold his hand in public. Nudging him with his hip, Lance was definitely feeling better. It wasn’t fair he wasn’t able to see his Mami because of everything going on

“What?”

“Nothing. Felt like it”

Keith huffed, hiding his budding smile in the sound

“You’re so annoying”

“Yep. Still. This is nice... kind of like a da-... like none of that drama is waiting for us back at home”

Keith had heard that “da”. He didn’t know what the “da” was leading to. Nudging his boyfriend back, he took a guess

“We’re you going to say date?”

Lance couldn’t have meant date. What was date like about shopping together? They’d shopped together before...

“Pffft. Who said date? I didn’t say date. Just two dudes, two bros, doing bro things like shopping together...”

That wasn’t fooling Keith. He’d heard the way Lance called Curtis his cousin when Hunk tried to ask more about him

“How is this a date?”

“I didn’t say it was a date”

“You clearly said “da”. “Kind of like a da-...“”

“Nope. I have no memory of that. Oooh, look, we need that”

Keith intercepted Lance reaching for cake mix. The hunter had a feeling Hunk would be insulted if they brought the premade stuff home

“We don’t need that. If this was a date, wouldn’t I know about it? Does shopping for food even count as a date?”

“Noooo. Ugh. Fine. I mean... like, because we’re alone. Not alone, like “alone” alone, but it’s the pair of us hiding together”

“You’re making even less sense”

“I mean we haven’t been alone for like a week now... and it’s like... nice”

“It hasn’t been a week...”

“You know what I mean. With that many people around it feel soooooo much longer”

So their alone time at home did count? This dating thing was confusing

“That’s true”

“See. And we have to be only a little bit careful and not fully careful in front of people”

“It’s still not a date. You’d know if I took you on a date”

“You’d be cranky because you’re all flustered and awkward?”

Keith nodded, that was the most likely scenario

“Pretty much”

And pretty much how he normally was around Lance when Lance started paying too much attention to him

“Maybe when you’re settled we can go on a date. I mean, only if you want to. Totally, zero pressure. We can totes just go as friends... two bros hanging out...”

Keith really liked this awkward side to Lance. It reminded him Lance was nearly as human as he was

“I’d like that... as friends... or whatever”

“I like the sound of that “whatever””

Keith felt himself growing red, especially when he realised he was the whole conversation happened with his hand around Lance’s wrist. Quickly letting go, he turned away from his boyfriend. Being alone with Lance was dangerous. He wanted to kiss him, or at least slip his arm around Lance’s waist, but Garrison had already proven backwards enough. There was just something about when they were alone together that made Keith feel stupidly comfortable. Tomorrow they’d be off to Platt, and Shiro’d force him through a full medical, but that wasn’t even bothering him like it usually would. Normally he’d fixate and work himself up before those kinds of things, no matter how much he tried to deny it. Lance had a point about needing someone at the house in case something happened. Matt could easily mess up all their cover stories when being pestered incessantly by Pidge over things. Lance was needed there to keep things running smoothly, but it wasn’t fair he couldn’t see his mother when he really needed her right now. Maybe they’d get the chance on Monday? Shiro could stay home with Matt, Rieva and Curtis, while they went to Platt?

“I’ll “whatever”. What about Monday?”

With his thoughts in his head, Lance had every right to look confused as Keith’s sudden suggestion of Monday

“For a date?”

“What? No. You could go see your mother on Monday”

“Oh... do you think Shiro will be okay with that?”

“I could say I’m going with you, then find some way to kill time?”

“Or you could come with me?”

Keith was touched that Lance would invite him, but he didn’t want to crash their alone time

“I think there’s a lot you want to talk to her about that you should do on your own”

“What about a compromise? You come pick me up and stay for a bit?”

“I could do that... I don’t what to say though”

And what if he said the wrong thing? What if he upset Miriam?

“You’re overthinking things again. Mami knows you’ve been with me and that we’ve gotten close. I want her to spend time with you too, but only if you’re comfortable with it”

“I’ll think about it”

“Okay, I don’t want you feel pressured... but... I do want to tell Mami that I’ve found someone I like”

“You want to tell her about us?”

A vampire and a hunter seemed a bad joke

“I want her to know that even with everything going on, I’ve got someone by my side and on my side. I’ve been as honest with her as I could about everything from day one”

“Yeah. I know that... but won’t it bring up questions?”

The way Lance sighed hurt to hear, Keith feeling bad for prying

“Probably. I’m not going to tell her about Luis. I hate to admit how old she is now, but I don’t want to drive them apart. Mami is so full of love for her family. She doesn’t need to know what he did to me... besides, if you think about it, he hates me so much that he brought you into my life”

“I feel like he’d have a heart attack on the spot if he knew”

Keith maybe kind of wanted to see Luis lose his shit again

“As much as he’s a dick, let’s not joke about that. Some people never get over that fear. Luis couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t control his fear and... well, my sister Rachel wasn’t much better. My other sister Veronica used to reach out, when I was in university the first time around, but Luis didn’t like it. He just wanted to keep everyone safe. Especially with the thought that monsters really do exist. He had to grow up realising anyone could be a vampire and he wouldn’t know until it was too late. You know that kind of pressure. Plus he had a super traumatised brother, so most of Mami’s attention was constantly on me”

“But you’re like the least vampire vampire in existence”

“And you saw what happens when my ego gets too big. Imagine your kid brother not able to control that and constantly being scared of everything. No matter how hard it was to adjust, it took time that humans just don’t have. Life goes on. That’s why I’m so nervous with you. I don’t want to bind you to me. I don’t want you to suffer because you chose to date me. It still feels like a dream”

Yeah. It was probably going to be rough, but Keith had never wanted anyone like he wanted Lance. Things had been so shaky getting to where they were, he wasn’t going to give up now

“I don’t regret it. We’re still working things out”

“I know. But if you ever feel like that, I want you to be honest with me”

“I’ll try. What else is on Hunk’s list?”

“Milk, which we both knew we needed... ugh, that reminds me, there’s a mug of hot chocolate in my room still and it stinks”

“Is that why you threw up yesterday?”

“Nah. Food’s gotta come out someway. It’s honestly fine”

“That’d suck, if you asked me”

“Okay, so it does, but I’d rather eat like a normal person”

“Says the guy who’s started bringing blood to the breakfast table”

Lance shrugged, bumping Keith again with his hip. Keith was about ready to grab him by the hips and kiss him like they weren’t in public. Having all of Lance’s attentions was going to his head

“My house, my rules. I’m turning into a slob”

“I think you’ve earned the right to rest”

“It’s more like I can’t find effort to gather up my scattered fucks and get things together with everything so up in the air”

That was true. For both of them other than Shiro and Adam he’d never really had anyone he’d felt like he was leaving behind, and even that felt different to leaving Lance

“Fair call. I’ll see if I can get phone while we’re in Platt tomorrow. You can show me how to set it up”

“I’d like that... plus, Pidge won’t be there to order you a crazy expensive one. Like, all I need it for is talking to everyone and taking photos of Blue. I don’t need so many damn features”

Keith snorted, he could appreciate that

“Yep. Pretty much. I’m kind of nervous about being in a chat with everyone”

“It’s mostly memes. Everyone appreciates a good meme. Sometimes Shay and Pidge get pretty savage. Just don’t make the mistake of getting caught up in Pidge going on a new conspiracy craze. She’s been so focused on Garrison lately that we’re about due for her to pick some new interest on the other side of the country and decide we all have to go road-tripping to investigate”

“So don’t feed the gremlin?”

“Exactly. See. This is why you fit right in. You’ve already developed that healthy fear of Pidge. And Hunk, man, he’s the ray of sunshine you need in your life. Shit day? He’ll be there right when you need him”

“I’m not good at making friends”

“Neither am I. But those two are like us, you just can’t seem to stay away”

Keith felt all stupid again. His heart was being stupid again. Sure, Shiro said it was a crush and sure it mostly went stupid around Lance, but this was ridiculous. Coran better give him answers tomorrow or he might just go insane with how Lance was making him feel and react. Would it always be this way with him? Or would moving cool things off between them and turn them back to strangers like the last month meant nothing? He didn’t want that. He didn’t want to be strangers with Lance... or Pidge, or Hunk... Matt was a little “eh” but he came with Pidge, kind of like a package deal. Keith couldn’t help but think about Lance describing this as a dream. He didn’t want to wake up if it was... because... he kind of, maybe, really didn’t want to be alone anymore.

[pixiesstolemyapples]

Stormy Nights Chapter 5

A/N: Sooo I am simultaneously hyped and extremely nervous for S7, so I’m just gonna post this and leave!! Deep breaths, people, deep breaths. Nonetheless, please enjoy the chapter!! If you want to read this on my FanFiction or my AO3, please click the links!

Chapter 1/Chapter 2/Chapter 3/Chapter 4/Chapter 5

               Pidge was running through a dark tunnel, her legs so hot and painful she thought they would give out before she made it to the end. Almost there. I'm almost there! She was so close, so close she could almost feel it in her grasp. She had been waiting for this moment for so long, her whole purpose up to this point was only a few long strides away and-

               There he was, standing at a desk with his back to her, his messy brown hair sticking out in all directions, exactly the way hers does. She couldn't help but smile ear to ear, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. He turned around, his amber eyes on her, a wide smile appearing on his face as he opened his arms to her.

               "Matt!" Pidge cried, running towards her brother, tossing her helmet to the side and throwing her arms tight around him. Tears streamed down her cheeks, pressing her face into his shoulder as she sobbed, so happy to have her brother back in her arms.

               "I'm so happy to see you, Katie," he said, setting his hand on the back of her head. "But you're too late."

               "Wha-"

               His hand, like a blade, cut straight through her stomach. Her breathing haggard and labored, she set her hand on the forearm penetrating her abdomen, shakily looking up at her brother as blood spurt from her mouth.

               "Mm-M-Matt....." she stammered, wheezing as he yanked his arm out of her. She fell to her knees, hot tears falling over her cheeks, clutching her stomach as she felt warmth spill through her trembling fingers, slowly looking up into his dark, empty purple hued eyes.

               The sound of the witch Haggar's voice resonated from Matt's mouth, a low, sinister laugh penetrating Pidge's ears. "All is lost, Paladin. Suffer at the hands of your own flesh and blood!" the voice screeched as Matt's razor sharp hand drew back and flew right at her face.

               Pidge gasped, opening her eyes with a start, huffing as she realized it was just a nightmare. Maybe the worse nightmare she'd had yet. She'd always only ever had nightmares about her family getting killed in front of her by an enemy, but this was the first time Matt... had been the one to kill her.

               She closed her eyes, reorienting herself, opening them back up to view her dark room. Why was her room so dark? Why weren't the lights around her bed on? Finally fully waking up, she realized she was tangled in bed with another person. Literally. Tangled.

               Pidge was squeezed against Lance as close as she could be, her arms folded up to his chest. Her legs were curled around his, one of his arms under her head like a pillow as it wrapped around her head, the other arm draped over her side, his hand resting on the middle of her back. She was almost going to freak out just a little until she realized that it was her idea to sleep in the same bed as him. She also remembered that this was not her room.

               She peered up at Lance's sleeping face. He looked so calm, steadily breathing in and out, feeling his chest move against her with every breath he took. Even through the dimly lit room, her eyes adjusted enough to almost clearly see Lance's dark face. He had tiny freckles that speckled his face in random places, his lips were slightly parted as he breathed, Pidge still smelling the hint of spearmint from his toothpaste. She tentatively reached her hand to his face, cupping his cheek in her hand, gently rubbing her thumb under his eye. His skin was so smooth, likely from his hygiene regimen, Pidge carefully running her fingers down his cheek, just barely letting her thumb touch his soft, smooth... inviting... lips...

               Lance suddenly stirred, a groan escaping his throat as Pidge quickly removed her hand from his face before he cracked an eye open. His deep blue eyes stared into her amber ones for only a moment when the two quickly untangled from each other and sat up, staring away from each other. They sat in silence for who knows how long before Lance finally spoke up.

               "Soooo..." he began, pulling his leg up to his chest and setting his elbow on his knee. He wasn't exactly sure what to say. He'd woken up next to this girl several times now with little of an explanation as to why they were still doing it. "What exactly... happened last night, Pidge?"

               Pidge had a hard time looking his way, embarrassed that she could already feel a hot blush reddening her cheeks. She huffed, reaching down to grab her glasses from next to the mattress, crinkling her eyebrows in thought.

               "Well, I haven't been able to sleep properly for weeks," Pidge stammered, careful not to look in his face. "I slept fine when you, ehm... helped me during the last nights on Quaid, a-and I finally fell asleep after helping you play Killbot Phantasm a while back."

               "I remember that," Lance spoke up. "I fell asleep without even noticing not long after I beat that dungeon."

               "Y-Yeah, well..." Pidge desperately tried to find the right words to say next. "It's been weeks since then and I haven't been getting much sleep, so when you said you hadn't been able to either, I... I-I..." she trailed off, tentatively glancing toward him. His face was awash with concern, his eyes getting big for just a moment.

               "You wanted to try to... sleep with me again to see if we'd actually fall asleep this time?" he finished for her. Pidge sheepishly looked at him once more, sighing and squishing her hands to her cheeks.

               "Next to you, sleep next to you," she stammered. "I'm sorry, it was such a stupid idea, I-I didn't mean to force myself into your bed, I should have just stayed in my room and counted to one thousand or something instead of pushing you around so-" she started babbling.

               "I'm gonna stop you right there because I'll be honest, it was the best sleep I've had in weeks," Lance interrupted.

               Pidge looked up at him in shock. "Wha-What? The best what in what?"

               Lance couldn't help but laugh, nudging her with his shoulder as she stared up at him in disbelief. Finally getting his composure back, he said, "Pidge, 1. You didn't force anything. If I was gonna be even a little uncomfortable, I would have told you, 2. Even before that, if I thought you'd be uncomfortable, it wouldn't have happened in the first place, and 3. As always, you were correct."

               "C-Correct?"

               "Yeah," Lance said. "Remember, after you pushed me onto the bed, you said 'I want to try something'. This had to be it, right?"

               Her face got red as she pushed up her glasses. Well at least he listens to me. "So.... I guess my conclusion to this experiment would be..."

               ".... that we sleep better if we're.." Lance stammered, "next to each other?"

               "Well, how many times out of four have you slept better when next to me?" she asked him. At that moment her amber eyes glowed despite the dim light of the floor paneling, as if they were sparkling with both nervousness and curiosity. It made Lance's stomach flip over just a little bit.

               "Um," he said, biting his bottom lip. "Well, four, I guess. Fallen asleep faster, even."

               "I'm the same..." Pidge said quietly. She hugged her legs, setting her chin on her knees as she sat in thought a little bit more. It was ludicrous though, right? How could she possibly sleep better next to Lance of all people? Although she didn't really mean the 'of all people' part; he was an incredibly empathetic person, able to know exactly what one is feeling at any given moment. He gave amazing bear hugs, his hands were always so warm. And as awkward as it was, waking up tangled in his arms made her feel immensely secure, as if nothing could hurt her in his enveloping, protective embrace. And he smelled so incredibly good, the mixture of avocado and aloe vera making her heart almost skip two beats. Everything was an important factor in why she was able to sleep better next to him, but it still made her feel very awkward. She could remember wanting to sleep in between her parents in their bed when she was younger, so what exactly was the difference there? Besides maybe the fact that those were her parents and this was an incredibly tall, cute olive skinned seventeen year old boy sleeping next to her instead.

               Did I just admit he was cute? Pidge thought to herself. What is wrong with me lately?

               Lance spoke up, shocking Pidge out of her whirlwind thoughts when he touched her arm. "So.... what do you want to do now?" he asked her curiously.

               Pidge put her thumb to her lip in thought, a little afraid at what she was going to say next. "I guess... we could try again...?"

               A blush made its way to Lance's cheeks, looking away and scratching his cheek. "W-Well, if you want to, I mean.." he trailed off.

               Pidge huffed, slapping her hands gently to her cheeks a few times before throwing her legs over the side of the bed and standing up, holding a hand out to him. "For now, let's just get up for the day and get there when we get there," she said as he took her hand, tensing her arm as she helped him up from the mattress. He side smiled and nodded, the both of them heading for the door.

               As the two walked out, a person suddenly rounded the corner, nearly bumping into the two.

               "Pidge?" Keith said, his eyebrow quirking up as he saw her walking out the door, noticing she was still in her pajamas. "What are you doing in Lance's room so early in the morning?"

               Pidge blanched, panicking to find words that don't scream 'Oh I was sleeping in his bed with him'. It wasn't like they were doing anything bad, but it still wouldn't go over well with everyone else if they found out Lance and Pidge were sleeping together.

               Next to each other! NEXT to each other!!

               "We uhm," Pidge stammered. "I, w-we..."

               "We were up late playing Killbot Phantasm," Lance said nonchalantly.

               "And you just left Pidge to sleep on the floor while you slept in your soft bed?" Keith asked, crossing his arms over his torso as he scrunched his face.

               "What, no, of course not," Lance shot back.

               "So she slept in your bed and you on the floor?"

               "No, I-"

               "In your bed with you?" Keith asked heatedly, uncrossing his arms and his hands balling into fists. Lance put his hands up in defense.

               Uh oh, Pidge thought, her eyebrows going up in shock. At that moment however, Pidge noticed something off.

               "No no!! It's not like that!!" Lance stuttered, trying to find his composure as the black haired paladin stared him down. "We just, I, we both, on the floor, both of us fell-"

               "Hey, why are you in your Blade of Marmora armor?" Pidge suddenly asked, crossing her arms and scrunching her eyebrows in irritation.

               It was Keith's turn to get defensive this time. "Oh, I..." he breathed through his nostrils, knowing that he was going to get backlash afterwards. "Kolivan has a mission for me. He notified me late last night and I was hoping to slip out before anyone woke up. Just..." he looked down, a strain in his gray eyes before looking back up to Pidge and Lance. "Just don't tell Shiro and Allura until after I've left, please." He had a pleading look in his eyes. Pidge sighed, flicking her head towards the end of the hallway. Keith smiled, relief washing over him as he started stepping down the hall once more, pulling his hood over his head. "Thank you. I'll be back soon." And with that, he was gone.

               "I wonder what he's doing on these missions," Lance said quietly to Pidge.

               Pidge sighed. "It's none of our business, apparently," she said sadly. She grasped Lance's sleeve, looking up at him shyly. "Um, so...?"

               "Just, meet me back here tonight before you go to sleep, and we'll..." he trailed off for a moment, trying to find the least embarrassing words he could for their situation. "Corroborate your theory tonight."

               Pidge laughed, holding her hand to stomach as she tried to stifle her giggle. "Yeah, we can do that," she said, walking along to her room. She stood in front of her door as it whooshed open, glancing back at him. At that moment, his dark blue eyes gazed back at her, his lips curling into a smoldering smile that set her heart on fire. Her eyes got wide, quickly stepping into her room and shutting the door as fast as she could, setting her back to it and slowly slipping down until she softly landed on the floor. She grasped at her shirt over where he heart was, feeling the frantic beating underneath. She glanced over at her two blue and green space caterpillars, sleeping and snuggling next to each other on one of her trash paladins. As visions of his olive skin, the smoothness of his cheek, his unbelievably deep blue eyes began flooding her mind. She wondered what it would be like to tangle her hands into his silky chocolate brown hair, what it would be like to press her lips to his soft, warm mouth.

               Her face was incredibly hot, pressing her hands to her fiery red cheeks.

               Oh no.

[firewindmill]

Hi Nemo! I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I totally trust your analyses and your views on things, so I was just wondering what your thoughts were on the Hypable interview with Lauren and Joaquim? (If you have read it). Someone I follow has said that they noticed some fellow Sheith shippers declaring our ship as ‘dead’ following on from that? What did you take away from it? Thanks in advance, hope you’re doing ok today!

Yeah, I checked out Donya’s article! And I’m starting to recover from the stuff going on at my pics of shiro blog, steadily. 

First off, I respect her as a entertainment journalist - I’ve written in Entertainment and Arts newspapers myself in my local community in the past so I understand and know the tone and how it should sound and she’s very professional in her work and writing that I’ve read.

Secondly, because it’s a professional article, she asked thoughtful questions to things we wanted to know as an audience without baiting for specific info that we “want to hear”. What LM and JDS offered in answers is how they interpreted in answering the question and I think we got a lot and there’s a lot of nuance we can/could pick up from. It’s also a Shiro-centric article so, given that, it’s going to be focused on him and the people he’s closely connected to, and in this case, Adam, his ex as revealed in the recent season premiere and Keith, his best friend at his side this whole time.

Here’s my take on it (putting under the cut cause I tend to yammer but like, try to be thorough in my reasoning, effective about it, and starting with what we know prior to this particular interview which I WILL get to.):

Let’s remember that in prior interviews, that romance wasn’t a big thing in Voltron, the focus is obviously on the paladins strength individually, and most importantly, together. Romance, if any, would be written organically, and if so in that writing process, signs of it come in as early as possible from the very first episode. To skip to the end that summarizes what I’m saying for arc analysis for sheith and to my interview analysis, CTRL + F “TLDR”.

With how far we’ve come and only S7 & S8 left, 13 and 13, we’ve already seen what that means for the original intended arcs of S1(13ep technically), S2(6ep)+S3(7ep)+S4(6ep)+S5(7ep), and now S7 and S8 as two other arcs from what I could guess. Examining each plot arc, we see things grow in that organic way. We know that in S1, it establishes that Shiro and Keith already were friends and knew each other and were good friends, and oftentimes even the others EXPECT them to team up in pairs because they’re closer to each other than the others and Haggar voices this closeness later on in the last part of the second arc of Voltron.

Hunk:

Lance:

Pidge:

They’re inseparable even in the paladins minds from S1-2.

Thinking of S2-S6 puts Shiro and Keith’s friendship to the test. Keith’s Galra reveal, Shiro’s unconditional love for him and doesn’t change the fact that Keith is still his best friend, Keith mourning Shiro’s absence and searching for Shiro for months until he found his clone, and pushed the role of Black Paladin back to him because as far as he knew, this is the Shiro he knows from before that is still affected by his disease, and he doesn’t want to take away a single chance for Shiro to do what he loves, which is being a Paladin of Voltron, and even if it meant being away from him for a while. Keith took time for himself to recenter and to immerse himself amongst Galra, and some time with his mother which really helped complete the parts of his past that were missing but were vital to his identity. As someone who’s witnessed what happens to people who grow up without their parents or never meeting them - it’s a lot of psychological damage that can reflect on the individual’s behaviors if those gaps aren’t filled. Simultaneously, we now know that Shiro has been under pressure before between choosing what he needed to do for himself and his relationship which we speculated and in this interview (yes I’m getting to that!) was being compared to his previous relationship and he had to do what he needed to do with or without Adam’s support. But we know it might have been nice if Adam had chosen to do that. He hadn’t. In this case, Shiro did his best to support Keith’s decision, and didn’t want to stop him from doing what he needed to do while also reminding him that he and the team were there in case they were needed.

S4 contintinues more quietly, but we as an audience have felt weird about Shiro’s behaviour prior to Keith’s departure, his behavior being on edge, undermining Keith’s leadership he earlier wanted to encourage should something happen to him, and then we wondered if he was a clone, a sleeper agent, or both, which we suspected since s1 as a early possibility with Hunk’s thoughts on Shiro’s arm being connected to his brain similar to a USB of information feeding him his memories and so on. S5E3 he acts up and yells at Lance and then a clone, speculatively doesn’t appear because of lack of soul and only Shiro’s actual soul appears attempting to warn anyone who has a strong enough bond to hear him about the imposter, and the clone also deciding to not make decisions as a team but with him as leader when in s1e1 he consulted them as a team regardless of rank, it didn’t matter to him anymore undertaking the journey. I describe all this because even though Keith is his close friend, confidant even, he did not reach out to him so he wouldn’t distract Keith from what he needed. Keith at least knew something was gonna happen with the vision he had in Razor’s Edge, and confronted it very well in S6E4-5.

TLDR - S1: Keith and Shiro are friends S2, 3, 4, 5, 6: nothing will break that bond and will be stronger for what they’ve gone through together and apart.

Addressing the first set of answers to the first question: So knowing all this, planning early on (but not in the pitch) as mentioned for Shiro being the gay representation for the LGBT community, is really nice, really natural with the steps they’ve taken to make Pidge a girl and then Shiro being gay as addressed in that first question. It’s nice that they’re being careful about this without ruining future chances for representation for marginalized communities.

Regarding the second set of answers in regards to Shiro’s degenerative muscle disease: Shiro overcomes adversity despite all his perceived weaknesses and flaws - a respected leader, the champion, compassionate, a paladin of Voltron defending the universe. The other paladins only knew about Shiro via word of mouth, whereas Keith knew about his disease for a while and gave Shiro every chance to try anything. This fact added a layer to Shiro’s character as well as defining the fact that Shiro at one point shared this information with Keith who never outed him to the team in the entire course of the show and that’s helpful because it treats Shiro as the rest of the team even though he has his down times.

Looking at the third question, we look carefully at Shiro’s relationship with Adam. According to JDS, it felt like the last straw. LM basically described Shiro being a workaholic, doing what he loves in the time he has. They both wanted different things, and went their separate ways, which happens. People wanna do their jobs till the day they die, some people wanna do other things. As someone who’s observed Shiro’s character, I’d side with Shiro in the break up doing what he wanted to do, it’s his life after all, and he doesn’t want to feel fragile or babied. Adam was limiting in that respect while I personally observed his closed off body language, unwilling to budge anymore than he had in the past where he might have, and saying “You’ve already broken all the records there are to break.” I’m of the opinion that you can always improve and the biggest competitor you can have is yourself or someone that matches you extremely well and is able to grow with you. Either way, I don’t think either of them felt respected or heard, and when you’re communicating in a relationship and its not working out…it’s over. Communication is vital and it was lost here.

Fourth question…if you read my yammering before the Too Long Didn’t Read section, then you’ll pick this out even more, and this is where I’m seeing a lot of people panic and say the ship is dead when it really isn’t (it’s only dead if nobody is shipping it lol) and still has a possibility of becoming canon and you have to understand relationships to understand it or have been in at least one yourself, friendship and romantic one. JDS made it quite clear that the comparison of the relationships was intentional and different. Their friendship started at this stage of their lives where Shiro was likely in his first loving relationship with Adam but started to not work out and in Keith’s formative years that really shaped who he would later become because it meant to much to him. I’m sure with the way he acted, Keith was looked at like some charity case, the trouble kid, or the one that didn’t deserve what he got when it was good even though he worked hard for it. Shiro has this disease, is likely one of the best pilots but he worked hard for it and broke records for it and without a doubt there were peers jealous of his talent and hard work honing it. Shiro saw that in Keith and nurtured that strength that Keith had.

Here’s the part where you understand relationships. The example is look at yourself in your family relationships. Your relationship with your parents will be different than they are than with your friends or siblings, vice versa, and scrambled, but relationships are only ever between 2 people, even if certain groups of 3 or more work well together - 2 individuals will always vibe more strongly in some ways than others. Of course they’ll be different. They will also evolve so keep note of this. Shiro and Adam’s was loving and wonderfully healthy before things evolved into different directions and it didn’t work out and while it didn’t end well, it was handled in a typical adult manner. Shiro and Keith met as mentor and mentee and grew into friends that would somehow lead to Shiro bringing Keith to the launch site, a moment usually reserved for family or significant others, so at that point, Keith is a very close friend of Shiro.

Their relationship is already evolving…into something much deeper, echoing similar relationships to theirs that have either succeeded or failed and the steps they’ve taken in their friendship that has worked for them and made it stronger that others have taken notice. Shiro and Adam is a failed relationship because Adam no longer wanted to be there for Shiro, and chose to walk away because he couldn’t handle it, and not everybody can even if it’s frustrating for someone like Shiro, and I know how that feels because I have a chronic illness myself and get pity or hear whining that it’s so difficult to deal with. Keith has never once complained and does everything he can for Shiro to make sure he gets to do whatever he wants or needs to do and is happy to be there beside him to be a part of it.

Which is why I think this will work because Keith is so supportive and likes it when Adam did not, nor did he want to. Shiro was Keith’s hero in his time of need, so now Keith will always support and be Shiro’s hero in HIS time of need. We’ve seen a lot of action on Keith’s end of things, supporting Shiro, and sure, we know Shiro had done the same to bring Keith where he is, but every time that Keith has used the safe words “You’re like a brother to me/You’re my brother, I love you” Shiro has NEVER VOICED how he feels about Keith nor commented on it in any certain terms, but it does show in his actions that he cares a lot or shows concern for him, especially when he didn’t react until he heard “I love you”. My speculations for S7 or S8 for something to happen to Keith that might trigger this definition somehow, which is what I’m looking forward to because Shiro is very much a reserved person as much as Keith is at times and has only ever been vulnerable to him.

I hope this personal interpretation of mine helps somehow! I don’t think the ship is dead and to be funny I’d say “y’all weak”.

[calligraphist-artemisia]

I’ll Take Her Place (Chapter 16)

Summary: AU. When Allura breaks the news that she is to wed Prince Lotor in order to continue the peaceful relationship between Altea and Daibazaal, Pidge knows that she has to do something to change that. And so, with a little help, she comes up with a new plan. A better plan

Pairings: Keith/Pidge (main) ; Shiro/Allura (minor) and Hunk/Lance (minor) ; one-sided Lotor/Allura

Chapter 1 - Previous - Masterpost

Also posted on AO3 and fanfiction.net

I don’t know what it was about this chapter that was so difficult to write, but I honestly had a hard time getting it finished. (Maybe because I wrote 98% of it at home, with lots of distractions, instead of focusing on it at a table at Barnes and Noble cafe like I usually do?)

Chapter 16

The plan was a simple one – go down and ask Keithir and Keith to join them for breakfast and then unveil the gifts she'd picked out for everyone. The tapestry would work as the perfect excuse, since it was unwieldy enough for her to ask for help, but she really wanted Keithir to be able to spend time with everyone outside of training.

She'd already taken the presents to the kitchen and hid them away with Hunk's assistance and the sworn promise that he wouldn't let Lance have his ahead of time, no matter how much he pleaded. All that was left was to pay a visit to the two half-Galran's and hope they didn't already have plans for breakfast.

She knocked on the door and it wasn't long before someone answered. Pidge smiled brightly at Keith, who seemed surprised to see her there.

“Have you and Keithir had breakfast yet?” she asked before he had the chance to say anything. “Because I was hoping you both could join us.”

Keith hesitated, glancing back at someone in the room behind him before speaking. “Prince Keithir has something to take care of right now, but I can join you.”

“Oh.” Pidge tried not to sound too disappointed. She really had hoped... She pushed that feeling aside. “Well, I hope you're hungry. Hunk's cooking extra today.”

Keith quickly bid goodbye to whoever was in the room and gestured for Pidge to lead the way. He fell in step next to her. “Does Hunk cook all of your meals?”

Pidge shook her head. “Not always, but he does enjoy it so he cooks as often as he can. Breakfast is always shared as a team, but lunch and dinner vary depending on what everyone is doing.”

“Are you sure I won't be intruding?” Keith asked.

“Of course not,” Pidge said. “The others will be happy that you're joining us and if anyone does have a problem, they just won't get the gift I picked for them.”

“You don't have to do that. I... It's not worth it,” Keith said.

Pidge didn't miss the unspoken words. Her eyes were soft as she glanced up at him. “You're my friend, Keith. Of course you're worth it. And that's why I also have a gift for you.”

Keith tripped up in surprise. “For me?”

Pidge hummed, refusing to say more. She didn't want to give away the whole surprise and she knew if he got her to talk more about it, she wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to drop a hint about what it was. She was never very good about giving hints. Hers were always so obvious they couldn't even be called that.

They reached the kitchen soon after. Hunk was the first to spot them and his face broke out with a wide smile. “You're here! But where's Prince Keithir?”

“He couldn't make it,” Pidge told him, once again struggling to keep her disappointment from showing.

Okay, so her betrothed was busy that morning. She'd spent the entire day before with him! She couldn't monopolize all of his time, even if she kind of wanted to. She never could have imagined she'd come to enjoy his company as much as she was.

“So what's this I hear about presents?” Lance asked from where he sat at the table with Shiro and Allura.

Pidge grinned and eagerly walked to her hiding spot to open the cabinet door. “I thought you guys might want some souvenirs. Here, Hunk.” She picked up a flat, rectangular box wrapped in plain paper and handed it to the Yellow Paladin, who eagerly began to tear into it the moment he had it in his hands. He got as far as ripping one corner before he stopped and sheepishly looked up at Pidge.

She laughed. “Go ahead!”

Breathing a quick sigh of relief, he removed the rest of the wrapping and beamed when he saw it was a box full of unusual assorted candies for him to try. Pidge knew it was one of his favorite things to get when they went someplace new.

Lance was next, eagerly reaching his hands out in a “gimme” gesture. For a moment, Pidge was tempted to pick out Allura's next instead, but it was a little too early in the day to handle Lance's overdramatic reaction to that, even if he was doing it just to be funny.

“Oooo!” Lance looked delighted as he pulled the first jar of lotion out of the bag. “Is there any-? Yes!”

Pidge grinned as he found the face masks, which made him more excited than anything else she'd picked out. She'd expected it to be a difficult find, but even that far out in space they had products designed for Alteans, who luckily had a similar skin-type to humans.

After him was Allura, who happily cooed over her new silken scarf. Pidge had to turn back to the cabinet to keep herself from laughing when the princess turned to Shiro and let him feel the softness for himself by rubbing it against his cheek.

“Aww,” Hunk and Lance teased in unison.

Allura withdrew with a small blush and Shiro faked a cough as he looked away.

Pidge's hand brushed against the next gift – a small, square box. Suddenly overcome with a bout of shyness, she silently held it out for Keith, who took it the moment he realized it was for him.

He slid the lid off and lifted up a thin chain, on the end of which was an orb. It was primarily blue in color, with swirls of white swirling across the glass surface and stationary segments of green and pale brown.

“That's Earth,” Pidge said quietly. “You mentioned you were born there, but you don't remember much, so I found that for you. So you can have a piece of your first home.”

Keith struggled to find words – any words, but all he could do was stare at the orb in silent awe. That was Earth. Where he was born. Where his father was from. Where his parents met and fell in love. It was home to half of him, no matter how much he pretended otherwise.

“Keith?” Pidge asked softly, her voice so low he could barely catch the whispered words. “Is it okay? I... I can get something else.”

“No. No, this is perfect. Thank you, Katie,” he said, slipping it over his head so it could rest against his heart.

Pidge's shoulders relaxed, pleased that her gift had gone over so well. She had feared she'd overstepped a boundary.

She turned to get Shiro's present next, lifting it off of the counter with slight difficulty as one end weighed down and threatened to tip the whole thing out of her arms. Keith hurried to pick up the falling end and Pidge gave him a grateful smile.

“Help me unroll it?” she asked.

Keith found the free edge and nodded, moving with her so it would face Shiro once revealed.

“I thought you could use something nice to decorate your room, Shiro, so we – Keithir and I – found this for you.” Pidge looked to Keith and they simultaneously released the roll, unveiling an image of the Black Lion in mid-flight, her wings spread wide in their full glory.

Shiro slowly stood and made his way over to them, his eyes fixed on the tapestry the whole way. “It's incredible, Pidge. Thank you.” And then, to Keith he said: “Could you give Prince Keithir my thanks as well?”

To his credit, Keith gave no outward reaction to the subtle jab. Shiro knew he still hadn't told Pidge the truth and he wasn't afraid to express his disapproval, but at the same time he was going to keep his word to leave it to Keith to tell her the truth.

It was a warning, though. Keith couldn't see it as anything less.

Tell her before it's too late.

Pidge's gift suddenly felt ice cold against his skin.

Keith shoved those thoughts away as he and Pidge worked to roll the tapestry back up and hand it over to Shiro. After that, it was a struggle to get through breakfast without feeling an intense wave of guilt every time he looked at Pidge.

Soon, he swore to himself. He just needed the right moment.

It felt wrong the leave Nyrydya without acquiring proof of Lotor's surprise attack on the communication satellite. Not even the knowledge that the Blade of Marmora would continue to quietly investigate was enough to put Allura's mind at ease.

Their official report was that an asteroid of unknown size and origin had impacted the satellite, taking out the life support and causing all systems to shut down. It was completely fabricated, of course, but it would keep people suspecting any of the less-friendly planets in the area and hopefully keep Lotor from suspecting that they knew. It was a long shot, after Pidge and “Keith's”little excursion onto the refueling station.

Allura sighed as she took her place at the helm, ready to pilot the Castle of Lions home.

There was so much happening that she didn't know where to begin. Lotor's goal was the most pressing matter, but the mess Keithir had tangled himself in was a ticking time bomb that she feared would go off with spectacular effects.

She'd have to leave that to Shiro. He'd promised to handle it and she trusted him to keep his word.

Allura looked to Coran, who couldn't keep his hands off of the strange gadget Pidge had given him. She didn't doubt it would keep him busy until he discovered all of its secrets.

Just like the mystery surrounding Lotor would keep her busy. Allura wouldn't rest until she put an end to whatever he was planning. Nothing was so important that it was worth the loss of fifteen innocent Alteans – or any number, for that matter.

Allura closed her eyes and steadied her breath.

First she'd focus on getting them home safely. Then she could worry about everything else.

Lance paced back and forth in the kitchen, arms crossed over his chest as he glared at the floor as if it had done something grievous to offend him. Hunk watched him from the table as he slowly munched on some chips he'd made.

“Babe, are you going to tell me why you look like you've just been told garlic knots are banned from the Castle?” Hunk asked. He hoped that either the use of pet name or the mention of Lance's favorite snack would get his attention, but neither worked.

He narrowed his eyes and popped another chip in his mouth. Lance was thinking deeply about something, which rarely turned out well for him. The last time Lance cooked up something that made Pidge mad enough to ignore them for two whole days before Shiro stepped in and intervened.

Hunk really hoped they weren't about to have a repeat experience of that.

“So, what do you think Blaytz needed to tell Shiro and Allura about?” he asked, making a second attempt to get his boyfriend's attention. “It must be important if he came back to Altea so soon.”

“Yeah, I guess...”

Triumph! Lance was clearly still lost in thought, but at least he was responding.

Hunk pressed on. “Do you think it's because of what happened in the Napamku Quadrant? Maybe he came to see how he could help.”

Lance continued pacing, but his glare lessened and he uncrossed his arms. “We can ask them about that too.”

“Too?” Hunk repeated in confusion. “What else are we asking them about?”

Lance stopped and turned to look at Hunk. “Look, I know I wasn't the biggest fan of this whole marriage thing between Pidge and Keithir, but I'm actually starting to be okay with it. I mean, Keithir seems like he's alright, but... Just keep that in mind when I say, I think there's something weird going on with him.”

“Weird how?”

“Like... like...” Lance flailed his arms as he tried to articulate his thoughts. “Okay, the last time I brought this up, everyone shot me down like I'd suggested something ridiculous – and yeah, fine, people can have similar names or the same name, it's not that weird. But Keith and Keithir? Seriously? Has no one noticed how they're never in the same room together? They even look the quiznaking same! Same color eyes, same height, same stupid mullet!”

“Should I be worried about you looking at some other guy?” Hunk tried to tease.

Lance scowled. “I'm being serious, Hunk!”

“Okay, okay. Maybe... maybe they chose Keith to act as his servant because he also makes a good body double. The name could just be a coincidence,” he tried to suggest.

“There's no way!” Lance exclaimed, shaking his head. “C'mon, Hunk, you agree with me, right? There's something weird going on!”

Hunk hesitated. He didn't disagree. He'd had his suspicions as well, but he couldn't say for sure that they were the same person. Keith was clearly part human, as Pidge had told them, but Prince Keithir was the son of Emperor Zarkon and Empress Honerva, which made him half-Altean.

Something wasn't adding up.

“I think you might be right,” Hunk cautiously admitted. He quickly continued before Lance could cut in. “But I think it's something we should talk to Shiro and Allura about before we jump to conclusions.”

Lance looked pleased just to have someone who believed him. He wasn't just imagining things!

The two waited as patiently as they could, knowing their leader and the princess would at least stop by to let them know how the meeting went. Then they'd be able to question them in the relative safety of their private kitchen or one of the more secure rooms nearby, if the news from Blaytz was more serious than they thought.

Lance resumed pacing for a few minutes, before sighing and sitting down with Hunk. He scooted his chair close enough that he could comfortably rest his head on his boyfriend's broad shoulder. “Can we go back to two months ago when we didn't have to worry about any of this?”

Hunk gave Lance a chaste kiss on the cheek. “We'd have to relive it again.”

“Yeah, but at least we'd know what to expect,” Lance grumbled. He was silent for a few minutes, content to just relax. “Hey, Hunk?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think Pidge has noticed?” Lance asked.

The question gave Hunk pause. Had she noticed? There were so many other things she had to worry about that it wouldn't surprise him if she hadn't. It would probably be best if they talked to Shiro and Allura without Pidge, at least until they found out the truth.

“I don't know,” Hunk murmured.

Not long after that, they heard Allura's voice as she and Shiro approached the kitchen. Lance sat up straight as they walked in.

Shiro raised an eyebrow when he saw them sitting there quietly. “Is something wrong, you two?”

“Yeah, what's the deal with Keithir? Why's he pretending to be another person?” Lance demanded, jumping right into it. “Please tell me you two have noticed! Me and Hunk can't be the only ones who see it!”

Shiro looked taken aback for a moment. He glanced back at the door and then shook his head. “Not here.”

“Shiro's right. There are a few other things we need to discuss as well and I'd rather not be overheard,” Allura said, turning back around and gesturing for the three of them to follow her down the hall to another room.

Hunk waited until the door was shut before he asked a question of his own. “If Keithir is Keith, why does he look human?”

Shiro held up a hand to stymie the next wave of questions before they could start. “I want to make it clear that none of this leaves this room and I don't want either of you to tell Pidge what we're talking about. It's Keithir's responsibility to tell her the truth.”

“Ugh, I hate this,” Lance grumbled.

Hunk half raised his hand. “So, uh, why does he look human? Shouldn't he look more Altean, like Lotor?”

“I can answer that,” Allura spoke up. “As Shiro said before, none of what we say here leaves this room. I need both of you to promise me that right now.”

Hunk and Lance both swore to keep it a secret and Allura squared her shoulders as she prepared to tell them what little she knew.

“The first thing you need to understand is that the Galra have a very different way of determining who will lead as Emperor or Empress. A natural-born heir is always the first to be considered, but if they lack the respect of their people or don't want to lead, then another may take the challenge at the Kral Zera.”

“What's a Kral Zera?”

Allura smiled at Hunk's question. “It is tradition for the new Emperor to ascend the steps of the Kral Zera and light the beacon with the eternal flame to symbolize their rule. The point is, royal blood isn't something that greatly matters to the Galra.” She paused, letting the information settle. “The second thing is, children are very precious to the Galra. If something happens to the parents, there is always a member of the family or close friend who is more than happy to adopt them as their own. There are no orphans in the Empire.

“I don't know the full story, but from what I've heard, Empress Honerva had a difficult time with her pregnancy. It was recommended that they not try for a second child after Lotor, though both wished for another.”

Hunk made a questioning sound. “Keithir's adopted?”

Allura nodded. “Prince Keithir is not their biological son. His mother was Galra, but his father was of Earth.”

Stunned silence fell over the room.

Pidge couldn't sit around any longer. She couldn't focus on any of her projects as long as her gift for Keithir was sitting on the corner of her desk, taunting her. Not even the sight of Rover spinning like a top in midair was enough to distract her for long.

She sighed, looking at the door and parts scattered across the desktop. It didn't matter what she tried, Rover just wouldn't work. There had to be some pivotal piece of information she was missing when it came to Galra tech. Maybe Keithir would know the answer...

She groaned and pushed back from the desk.

A little walk would do wonders to clear her head. And just in case her walk happened to take her past Keithir's room, she'd bring the present along with her.

Who was she trying to kid?

Pidge was excited to see his reaction to what she got for him. He'd sounded so disappointed when he told her that Thace wouldn't approve of the jacket. She grabbed the package and hurried on her way before she could talk herself out of it.

Pidge passed several Alteans on her journey, some of whom she recognized. She waved to Romelle and her brother as they returned to their rooms, ready to get back to work with the Castle of Lions firmly settled on Altea. It was good to see all of the civilian families returning. It made the Castle feel more welcoming.

There were fewer people as she got closer to Keithir's quarters. She knew it was part of the security measures to decrease traffic where he was staying, but that didn't make the abnormal quiet any less disconcerting.

Regris was standing guard at the door. He inclined his head toward her as she approached and stepped aside to allow her access.

“Find anything interesting at the market, Regris?” she asked as she knocked on the door.

Regris shrugged. “They had good food.”

Pidge gave a small laugh as the door opened to reveal Ulaz, who blinked down at her. She smiled up at the older Galran. “Is Keithir here?”

“He is. Please, come in,” Ulaz said, moving over so she could pass. “How is your shoulder?”

“Much better. It was a little stiff right after the healing pod, but I haven't had any problems since then,” Pidge told him. As she stepped inside, she cast a quick look around, hoping to see her betrothed. Her smile grew bigger when she found him standing near the couch, where he'd evidently been sitting when she arrived.

“I am glad to hear it. Should your injury give you any trouble, feel free to come to me,” Ulaz said.

Pidge thanked him before he left the room to give her and Keithir a little more privacy. She slowly approached the couch. The package felt heavy in her hands.

“Hey,” she greeted. “I, uh, wanted to give you this the other morning, but Keith said you were busy, so...” She held out the gift when she was close enough for him to take it.

Keithir curiously felt the package, his furry ears perked forward as he turned it over in his hands. “I wish I had something to give you in return. It's almost ready, but there's one last piece I need to make,” he said, sounding regretful.

“There's no rush. I just picked this up while we were out. I hope you like it,” Pidge said.

She really needed her heart to stop beating so fast. There was no reason for her body to be reacting like that! Except that she honestly had no idea how he'd react, and it was making her nervous.

Maybe the jacket was a bad idea.

Maybe she should have designed upgrades to the shield she made him. That would have been much more useful! Or even one of those daggers she saw at the market! Sure, those weren't as nice as the blade he already had, but it seemed more like something he'd enjoy.

It was too late for that. Keithir was already opening it.

Pidge swallowed, watching for his reaction as he removed the wrapping to reveal the fabric inside. His eyes widened and his mouth parted slightly in surprise, and for a moment she was reminded of Keith's stunned reaction when she gave him his gift.

“Katie, this is...” Keithir's words got stuck in his throat as he held the jacket up for a better look. It was primarily red, except for the top portion of the sleeves, the cuffs, and the high-neck collar, which were all white. Across the front were two bold strips of yellow.

He couldn't wait to try it on and quickly did so, enjoying the way it didn't cling to him like the majority of his clothing did. He wouldn't be wearing it to any royal functions, but it was nice and comfortable for everyday use.

“It's a good fit,” Pidge complimented.

Keithir turned to her, unable to stop smiling. It was a shame his present for her wasn't ready, but maybe there was something else he could do to show his thanks. It wasn't a gift, but a way to express how he felt.

He took a risk when he reached for her hand, watching her face to make sure he wasn't pushing boundaries, and then lifted it to his lips, placing a quick kiss to the back.

Pidge's breath hitched and her face turned bright red all the way to her ears, but she didn't yank her hand away or turn to run.

“Thank you, Katie,” he murmured.

NEXT

[a-most-peculiar-mademoiselle]

For headcanon meme, pidge hunk and/or lance

hello, gentle anon! thank you for dropping the note! I’m feeling ambitious today, so I’m gonna answer all three of ‘em!

Pidge:

2-4 songs that are probably on their iPod: “The Genius Next Door” by Regina Spektor; “Aerodynamic” by Daft Punk; “Right?” by Xenia Rubinos; “Brass Goggles” by Steam Powered Giraffe 

the one place they sometimes end up falling asleep — where they’re not supposed to: the bridge; she gets so caught up in looking at all the stars and constellations that she forgets to head back to her room before zonking out from being tired after a hard day’s work.

the game they’d destroy everyone else at: Cards Against Humanity. although she may appear innocent, Pidge somehow ALWAYS gets the best hands dealt to her when she plays CAH and her answers are SAVAGE. 

the emoticon they’d use most often: •̀.̫•́✧

what they act like when they haven’t had enough sleep: simultaneously slap-happy and grouchy. make sure she gets plenty of water, well-fed, and that she gets enough sleep that night, otherwise it’ll be baaaad news.

their preferred hot beverage on really cold nights. or mornings. or whenever: black coffee. the darker, the better. death before decaf. it doesn’t matter what time of day it is; if she doesn’t get at least 4 cups a day, may Space Jebus have mercy on your soul…

how they like to comfort/care for themselves when they’re in a slump: taking a bubble bath, doing jigsaw puzzles, listening to the sounds of ocean waves, stimming by flapping her hands. 

what they wanted to be when they grew up: computer network programmer

their favorite kind of weather: rainy! perfect weather for reading the hoard of books that’s been accumulating in her room, nesting herself in a pile of blankets, and listening to the sound of rain hitting the roof 

thoughts on their singing voice (decent? terrible? soprano? alto?): she’s not *terrible*, but she’s not necessarily the best, either. it’s somewhere between mezzo-soprano and alto, and it does have a tendency to be a bit creaky. there are moments where she REALLY shines, and that’s when she sings stuff from Janis Joplin and Loretta Lynn

how/what they like to draw or doodle: her beloved Rover (RIP), clouds, swirls, cubes, and pyramids

Hunk:

“Happy” by Pharrell; “Dog Walkers of the New Age” by Breathe Owl Breathe;  “Look For the Silver Lining” by Leslie Odom, Jr.; “All This and Heaven Too” by Florence+The Machine

the Castle library. Hunk gets so absorbed in finding out about Altean history that he often spends hours in the library poring over the hundreds and thousands of books that he ends up getting drowsy and falling asleep face down in a book

Once Upon a Time; Hunk is MAD good at storytelling and using all of the story element cards that are given to him in each round. the stories that he wins are often the funniest ones, but they often keep the other players on the edge of their seats ‘cos of all of the twists and turns he uses throughout.

(๑´ㅂ`๑)

an overly-emotional mess, tbh. who let him stay up all night?! you know he gets weepy when he doesn’t get enough sleep! my god, just let my poor boy sleep for however long he wants! 

yuzu-ginger tea, with a little bit of honey

yoga, baking one of his favorite desserts, face masks, going for a run

pastry chef

sunshine, ‘COS MY BOY IS LITERAL SUNSHINE, OKAY

his singing voice is VERY good. before he joined the garrison, he was the best baritone in his high school choir. one of his favorite styles of music to perform was showtunes, particularly stuff by Stephen Sondheim, such as “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Into the Woods”

he likes doodling pictures of things from nature, like mushrooms, storm clouds, trees, and birds

Lance:

“I Like It” by Enrique Iglesias; “Horseshoe Crab” by Slothrust; “Starman” by David Bowie; “Very Few Dancers” by Sons of an Illustrious Father

if there’s a couch somewhere, don’t let him lay on it and close his eyes for too long. there’s a good chance that he’ll be out like a light in like 5 minutes time…

Cluedo; this boy is the ultimate sleuth! he’s very good at deducing which cards are in the envelope, based on the ones the other players put on the board. each game lasts for only about 10 minutes, much to the confusion of the other paladins

( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

trying to get ANYTHING out of this boy is damned near impossible. if Lance is lacking on sleep, he’s basically nonverbal. also, he tends to get a bit overwhelmed by sensory stimuli. overly bright lights in particular are hell for him. 

hot chocolate with big, fluffy marshmallows and a few chocolate shavings on top

long, hot showers, charcoal face masks, SOFT EVERYTHING (slipper socks, bathrobes, sweaters, you name it!), coloring books, listening to soft jazz

his career goals were all over the place, depending on what his special interest was at the time. first he wanted to be a painter, then he wanted to be an architect, then a fashion model, and then a zookeeper. the list goes on and on, really… 

he likes his weather hot, but NOT humid. if it gets too humid, he gets very cranky and holes himself in a room with air conditioning

 his tenor voice doesn’t turn heads very often, as Lance is surprisingly quite shy about his singing voice. when he does sing, his favorite styles of music are jazz and bachata 

BOY IS A GOSH DARN WEEB. he likes drawing his friends in a decidedly anime-like style, especially Allura and Keith, who are the ultimate bishojo and bishonen in his eyes