#like okay fine I GUESS i’ll keep pidge but idk for how long

[moikey-croikey]

when i want to put my netflix pfp as one of the straw hats but i can’t bare to part with my pidge voltron pfp :( sighhhhh………… decisions decisions

[justheretobreakthings]

Welcome to the Family - Chapter 3

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Word Count: 2,151 (Total Word Count: 6,340) Read on AO3

Story Summary: Lance had been excited about his family taking in a foster kid, eager to get to meet his brand new little brother or sister, who would surely adore and idolize their super cool Big Brother Lance. What he got instead was a sullen, quiet, temperamental teenage housemate with a criminal record and a disastrous haircut.

Lance: hes here. car just pulled into the street

Pidge: Tell him hi from us.

Lance: he doesnt know u

Pidge: So that means we can’t be friendly?

Hunk: what’s he like?

Lance: idk hes not even thru the door yet. text u back soon

Lance shut off the screen of his phone and shoved it into his pocket as he got up to bound down the staircase where he’d been perched on the top step. “Rachel!” he called as he descended. “Keith’s here!”

“You don’t need to yell,” Rachel spoke up from where she’d been lounging across the couch in the front room. She sat up, closing her laptop and setting it aside before she stretched and looked over to where Lance had landed and was now trying to peer into the driveway through the frosted-glass window of the front door. “You spotted him?”

“Yeah, he’s getting out of the car now,” Lance answered, face still pressed to the glass.

“What does he look like?”

“Blurry.”

“Should have guessed. Step back from the door, would you, Lance? You’re gonna freak him out.”

Right as she said it the doorknob began turning, and Lance jumped back, narrowly avoiding being hit in the face by the door as it swung inward to usher in his broadly smiling mother. “Lance, Rach- oh, good, you’re both here,” she said. “You two ready to say hi to your new brother? Come on in, Keith, come meet the family. Well, two of the family.”

She stepped aside to make room for the other figure walking up the front steps, and Lance got his first good look at his new brother.

The first descriptor that crossed Lance’s mind at the sight of Keith was ‘emo’, but that wasn’t quite the right fit. The pale skin and black hair looked to be their natural tones, not makeup or hair dye, and he also didn’t have any jewelry or nail polish or decals on his clothes to indicate that he may have been going for that sort of aesthetic. He just had the colors right, what with the black of his tee shirt and scuffed shoes and jeans that looked to be growing too small on him, and the red of the red zip-up sweatshirt he wore over it even in the middle of August in Arizona.

He did, though, do a great job of pulling off that distinctly emo ‘don’t talk to me, don’t look at me, don’t look in my direction, life is pain’ scowl that he wore across his face - a face which, with its smooth features and bold indigo eyes, could have been good-looking if it weren’t for the thick brown-pink mark slicing through one of his cheeks and the surrounding mane of hair that was so uneven it looked as if it had been cut with gardening shears.

Still, Lance had seen worse, and appearances could be deceiving; this could still be a great, fun guy to have around. So he kept up his smile as he said, “I’m Lance, nice to meetcha.”

Keith nodded silently in greeting, and did the same to Rachel when she introduced herself as well, but didn’t offer his own name in return. “So, uh,” Lance said, “Mamá said that you’re going into sophomore year too, yeah? So the two of us, we’re gonna be classmates as well as brothers. That’ll - that’ll be fun.”

Again Keith was silent, just shrugging in reply, and Lance frowned and turned to his mother. “¿Puede él hablar?” he asked her. Can he talk?

“Sí,” she answered. “Y él no habla español, así que no seas grosero.” Yes, and he doesn’t speak Spanish, so don’t be rude. A glance back toward Keith confirmed this, as his eyes were narrowed and darting back and forth between the two of them, brows bunched in confusion. Lance simply clicked his tongue, settling back with hands on his hips. There was nothing rude about speaking his own language in his own home.

“Now, Keith,” his mother continued, “Do you want me to give you a tour of the house first, or do you want to start unpacking your things?”

“Um, tour’s fine,” Keith mumbled, faint but still loudly enough for Lance to finally get to hear his voice. It was low and just a little raspy, although the rasp may just have been from the low volume.

“Excellent!” his mother said. “I could have Lance or Rachel drop you duffel into your room so you - ”

“No,” Keith said sharply, pulling his bag back and moving to grip the shoulder strap with both hands.

“Suit yourself,” she said with an easy shrug, as if there was nothing even remotely unusual or suspicious about that sort of response. “We’ve got the family room here, and you’re free to use the family Netflix account on the TV as much as you want, and there’s a Nintendo Playstation hooked up to the - ”

“Those are two different things, Mamá,” Rachel interrupted. “And we have an Xbox, which is neither of those.”

“Oh, well, whatever it is, if you want to play video games, you can use that. The dining room’s this way - mind that coat rack, dear, it tips easily, I keep saying that we need to get a new one, maybe hooks on the wall instead or something, just never do get around to it - and through here is the kitchen, I’ll show you where everything goes - ”

She guided Keith through the dining room, initially trying to put a hand on his shoulder to steer him, but simply leading the way touch-free after he grimaced and shrugged the hand off of him. Lance followed, idly pulling his phone from his pocket to see a handful of new texts from Pidge and Hunk asking for more details about Keith. He shot them a quick response.

Lance: hes quiet

He watched as his mother opened and closed drawers and cupboards one after another, showing Keith where they kept the cutlery, bowls, plates, canned goods, cereal, pots and pans, instructing him on what goes where in the fridge and demonstrating which burner on the stove didn’t work, all while Keith maintained that perpetual scowl, answering only with soft grunts, before adding:

Lance: and kinda grouchy

He shut his phone’s screen off and tagged along as his mother and Keith moved on to the home office and bathroom and then downstairs to the basement, waiting until the tour had made its way to the laundry room and his mother began explaining how their washer and dryer worked before looking at Pidge and Hunk’s two very different replies.

Pidge: Of course he’s grouchy, he just discovered he’s going to be living with YOU.

Hunk: He’s probably just nervous.

Lance made a face and texted back.

Lance: im a DELIGHT to live with jsyk. & hes def giving off sort of an emo vibe

Pidge: How emo?

Lance: what do u mean

Pidge: On a scale of 1-10.

Lance: u cant quantify emo

He nearly didn’t notice the laundry crash course wrapping up and his mother and Keith heading out the door of the laundry room, so he saved the texting for later and hastened to follow as they started upstairs toward the bedroom.

His mother didn’t give a thorough tour of the rooms, to Lance’s relief, just quick peeks inside and naming which room belonged to whom. “Excuse the mess,” she said when she opened Lance’s door. “I swear, mijo, you have more clothes on your floor than you wear in a year.”

“Oh, it’s not that bad,” Lance said, rolling his eyes. Honestly, his mother had once seen Pidge’s room when the Holts had had the McClains over for dinner; she should have forfeited all rights to complain about messes on that fateful night.

“And here’s your bedroom, Keith,” his mother said, reaching the door at the end of the hall and opening it to reveal the skeleton of Luis and Marco’s former room, now empty with bare surfaces on the dresser and desk and bookshelf from their long lack of occupancy. “Once you’re settled in we can do a bit of decorating to help it feel more homey, if you’d like. I mentioned that shopping trip we could take sometime soon, get some new things for you?” She glanced toward Keith’s duffel bag before asking, “Does this room work all right for you? You need anything?”

“I’m fine,” Keith said softly.

“That’s good, that’s good. Well, now that you’ve got the lay of the land, I’m going to get dinner started up. Veronica should be coming home any minute, and Manuel will definitely be home for dinner, so I’ll make sure they stop and stay hello when they show up. Lance, be a lamb and help Keith get his stuff unpacked and in their places, would you?”

“Sure, Mamá,” Lance replied as his mother sidled out the room. “There more bags in the car for me to bring in, or - ?”

“No, just the one.” Lance raised a brow, about to ask why Keith would need help unpacking just one bag, but his mother leaned in to whisper, “Talk to him, okay? Just make him feel welcome.”

That made more sense. Lance eased his way into the room as his mother left. Keith had already set his bag onto the bed and was removing a little stack of shirts from it. “You, uh, need any help with that?” Lance asked.

Keith scowled over at him. Which was fair; that stack of shirts probably weighed two pounds at most. “Ah, I just meant, you know where that stuff goes?”

“... The dresser?”

“Yeah. You - you got this, sorry.” Lance rocked on his heels as Keith moved toward the dresser, the latter still eyeing him cautiously. “So, uh,” Lance tried again, “Where you from?”

“Around,” Keith answered with a shrug.

Right. Foster kid. Probably moved around a lot. He was on a roll with stupid questions. “Well, uh, where are you from, like, most recently? Before here?”

Keith paused, frozen halfway through setting his clothes down in a dresser drawer, and it was several seconds before he quietly answered, “Holbrook.”

“Don’t think I’ve heard of it,” Lance said. “You like it there?”

This time Keith didn’t answer at all, instead simply slamming the dresser drawer shut and moving back to his bag. He fished into it and pulled out a toothbrush and comb. “Where’s the bathroom again?” he asked.

“Second door on the left,” Lance answered, and Keith turned to leave the room without so much as glancing at Lance.

Lance simply rolled his eyes and strolled over to the bed, where he sat and glance into the open duffle bag. He nudged a gray sweatshirt aside to see a number of balled-up pairs of socks and boxers, a faded stuffed hippopotamus, and a few CDs in cases scattered across the bottom of the bag. He tilted his head to look at the titles. John Mellencamp, The Clash, Blue Cheer, a Chuck Barry CD with a spiderweb of cracks across the plastic case. Lance picked up ‘Janis Joplin’s Greatest Hits’, examining the remains of the garage sale sticker still covering the singer’s face. “So you’re into the old-timey, rock, huh? Funny, I would have pegged you more for MCR or Linkin Park or - ”

He hadn’t noticed Keith’s footsteps thundering down the hall until the other boy was already in the room, practically shoving Lance off the bed and yanking the bag back toward him. “Hey!” Lance yelped, grabbing onto the bedpost to keep from slipping onto the floor.

“Why were you going through my stuff?” Keith snarled, pulling the bag back further.

“Wha- I dunno, I was just, you know, seeing if you had, like - like, any interests or anything, that’s all. Calm down, man.”

That was probably the wrong thing to say, because Keith’s glare just darkened further. “Don’t touch my stuff,” he growled.

“I’m sorry. Is it, uh, is it because of the hippo? You don’t have to be embarrassed, I sleep with a stuffed animal too, lots of people do.”

Keith huffed and turned away from him. “I can unpack by myself. You can leave.”

“Are you… are you sure you don’t wanna, like, hang out, chat a bit?”

The scowl that Keith leveled in his direction was as firm a ‘no’ as humanly possible. So Lance sheepishly straightened up and headed out of the room, Keith shutting the door firmly behind him.

With a sigh, Lance pulled his phone back out, turning the screen on to see that Pidge had proposed an essay’s worth of criteria to quantify emo onto a ten-point scale. Ignoring that for now, Lance started to text.

Lance: hey hunk remember when u said keith was gonna be a cool friendly guy who will love hanging out with me?

Hunk: yeah? why?

Lance: guess what, im starting to think u were wrong

[poor-sickies]

hey I'm the anon who asked for braces Lance, i was thinking maybe he had to get when he's like nineteen and feels kinda upset about having them so late when usually people get them in middle or high school? And idk he just feels self conscious and uncomfortable, plus he's hurting, so Keith tries to distract him because he went through having braces too?

Ahh this is such an old request and I’m so sorry I’m only writing it now! It was kind of a quick thing, so I hope there aren’t any mistakes. It’s also a fic that happens in my band AU. I hope you like it!

Also kudos to @cinquefoilelove who left some replies that gave me ideas for this one :)

*

“Can I come in?”

It’s Keith voice from the other side of the door, and despite their usual and familiar bickering, Lance can be sure he hasn’t come to make fun of him.

But he still wants to be alone.

He knows he’s probably making a big deal out of this – and really, it’s not even that bad, all things considered. All in all, it’s nothing worse than a simple teenage drama, in Lance’s opinion.

Except he isn’t really a teenager anymore, he’s nineteen, and nineteen year olds shouldn’t be getting braces.

It had started with some dull pains in his lower jaw, the joint clicking each time he opened his mouth, getting worse and worse until he was avoiding eating and singing because of the discomfort.

While visiting his family on Thanksgiving, his parents had noticed the problem and dragged him to a dentist. The outcome was…not pleasant. Something about a bad positioning of his jaw that needed to be fixed? Lance can’t recall the details over the dread filling his stomach, but the only solution was braces, and he was not happy.

And just because some days just kept getting worse, this morning, on his way to the dentist, he receives a call from Hunk, about a last-minute scheduled show Allura had got for them tonight, at the local University bar.

Two hours later, returning from the dentist, and he’s starting to wonder if he’s brave enough to go through with the show at all.

Just talking feels difficult enough, with all the wires and foreign pieces muddling his speech, and the new sores around his cheeks and tongue stinging at every little movement of his mouth. Not to mention the annoying and constant pressure all over his gums and jaw. If Lance had the night to himself, he would probably head to bed right after dinner with a couple of painkillers and hope it all felt a little better tomorrow.

The prospect of singing for fifty people isn’t nearly as appealing as usual when he’s in this much pain.

And looking in the mirror only reminded him of why this all had bothered him so much in the first place.

It’s no secret to anyone that Lance puts a lot of effort in his appearance. Even before stepping up as frontman of the band, his image has always been something he pays a lot of attention to. And even though he’s seen a lot of cute girls that look adorable in braces, he’s wasn’t exactly confident about how it all would look on him.

Now that he has the answer, he feels an urge to hide any mirror in sight.

How is he supposed to talk to his fans? To sing for them? He feels so unattractive and awkward, and not even his upbeat personality will help. Lance’s confidence is enough when he’s wearing his best shirts, glowing skin, crooked smirk that leaves the girls swooning, but that’s where most of it comes from.

He doesn’t care if his mother said he looked fine, these braces make him feel awkward and young all over again. He doesn’t know if he’s more embarrassed about the way he looks or the extent to which he’s taking this drama, but either way, he wants to be alone.

So no, the last thing he wants to do is to talk, even with Keith.

“I wanna be alone.”

But Keith was nothing if not persistent. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself and open the damn door.”

And brutally honest, for that matter.

Lance opens the door and Keith goes in, quickly taking a seat on the edge of the bed, his arms crossed against his chest.

“So,” he starts, “you wanna talk about it?”

Lance sits cross legged in the floor, leaning against the bed. “You just told me to stop feeling sorry for myself.”

Keith is caught off guard for a moment. He was expecting Lance to just spill things out, like he usually did, but apparently, this was getting to him a bit more than usual.

“I- look, I’m just trying to help, okay? Talking usually makes you feel better, right? So talk to me.”

“It’s uncomfortable,” Lance sighs, looking down at his lap, “and my speech is all fucked up, and my tongue is cut up all over, and my teeth hurt and - it looks bad. I look like a middle school kid. It just looks so awkward…so yeah, that’s it. You happy now?”

“I think you’re being dramatic,” Keith says, “I mean, I get the pain, I’ve been there - your teeth are moving, of course it’s gonna hurt for a while - but you don’t need to feel self-conscious about it. Besides, you’re only wearing them for like… a year, is it?” Lance nods, looking down, and Keith carries on. “Try wearing them for three years, maybe then you’ll have a reason to sulk.”

Well. It’s nothing he hadn’t expected from Keith. Trust Keith to be blunt.

“You had braces for that long?” He manages to ask.

Keith nods, eyes rolling involuntarily at the unpleasant memories. “Yeah. It sucked. I’d show you pictures if I had them - I’m sure you’d feel a lot better about yourself after seeing them.”

“That bad?”

“Oh yeah,” Keith continues, “Yours look somewhat discrete, actually.”

Lance scoffs. “Yeah, they sure are really invisible,” he trails off sarcastically.

Keith sighs. This isn’t working so well.

“Do you remember last summer when you were drunk and Pidge convinced you to get a death hawk for that rock festival, and you shaved half of your head?”

“Wow Keith, is that how you’re trying to make me feel better? By bringing up all the times I looked freaking terrible?”

“Would you just hear me out?!” Keith interrupts loudly, clinging to every last ounce of patience he still has. “Do you remember what you said at the time? The next day, when you saw yourself in the mirror?”

“That I would hide in my room and never see the sunlight again…?”

“Exactly. But you got over it. Do you remember why?”

Lance rolls his eyes. “Uh, cause… hair grows back?”

“No. Because you get used to it,” Keith says, “look, I’ve been there, okay? I know how much it sucks. But I can promise you, it’s not always gonna feel like that. And honestly, people don’t care that much.”

“Ugh. I hate it when you actually sound reasonable.” Lance sighs. “Alright. I’ll try to keep positive. And hope the show doesn’t go terribly.”

Keith chuckles with a fond smile. “Now will you come? We still have to get some dinner before.”

“Ah, that’s gonna be fun..” Lance rolls his eyes, and gets up. “Let’s get moving.”

*

“Hm. I see you’ve added something,” Shiro says as Lance takes a seat beside him, at their usual table at the bar.

“Yeah,” Lance chuckles, still looking down, “lucky me.”

“Oh Lance,” Allura says, “you have such a nice smile. I’m certain that’s what people notice right away.”

“I - thanks, Allura,” Lance blushes, feeling better for the first time since the day started.

“So, we were talking,” Pidge says, “and we agreed that if you’re not feeling up to it, Keith can do the vocals for most of the songs and hand you the guitar for a while.”

Keith nods, fingers still busy tuning the strings on his guitar.

“My voice is working fine,” Lance explains, “I can still do it.”

“Yeah, but we know it’s not comfortable yet, so just let us know if you need to stop, okay? And maybe take a painkiller.” Hunk reassures, giving a gentle squeeze to Lance’s forearm.

“The show starts in half an hour, we should probably have dinner now,” Shiro points out.

“Oh good, they have those amazing burritos, I’ll be set for the night!” Hunk grins, before calling the waiter.

“Ugh, guess I’ll order some water then,” Lance grumbles, rubbing his cheek, “ice cold.”

“Aw, buddy,” Hunk looks over at him, placing a hand on his shoulder, “you should really eat something before the show…did you even eat lunch?”

The waiter stops at the table and starts taking note of Keith and Pidge’s orders.

“Maybe some scrambled eggs?” Shiro suggests, leaning closer. He then turns to the waiter, “make them soft.”

Lance manages to eat, slowly and carefully. The painkiller starts kicking in, and the pain isn’t as bad, but talking is still uncomfortable, and he really doesn’t want to imagine how singing will turn out. The thought gives him some unusual stage fright, and it’s not a sensation he likes. He puts down his fork, and tries to relax. He’s done this dozens of times. Why is he so anxious now? The stage is usually his happy place, and it really sucks that such a tiny problem is making him feel like this.

“Hey, Lance,” Pidge calls out, tapping his shoulder. “Calm down. Your leg is bouncing like crazy.”

“I – yeah. Sorry Pidge.”

“Oh, I think we have to go now. The stage is set up,” Shiro announces, and they all get up, walking to the back to get ready.

“It’s okay, Lance,” Pidge says, plugging her bass to the amplificator, slinging the strap around her neck. “It’s gonna be fine. You’re an amazing singer. How terrible can you be? And why does it matter if it doesn’t go well? I mean, we’ve done tons of great shows, it’s not a huge deal if this one doesn’t go that great. Just relax and have fun, like you always do. That’s usually what makes our songs great.” She argues. “Besides,” she lowers her voice with a sly smile, “this place doesn’t have amazing acoustics. So even if you mess up some words, the crowd will most likely not notice. You’ll be great.”

That’s some kid of security Lance can lean on. He trusts his bandmates. This is not some new situation. He just needs to relax and have fun. Feeling revigorated, he nods. “Thanks, Pidge. Let’s do this.”

[kalira]

Word: "Him"

Hedging your bets pretty securely there Mousie. XD

(Okay I limited myself to WIPs I’ve actually opened to work on lately. Er. This is still . . . a lot. You have definitely fulfilled my request to distract me.)

Harlock/Yama

Harlock rarelyresisted him very hard - he enjoyed being coaxed, and even more so spendinglazy mornings tangled up in bed and half dozing with his lover . . . or fuckinginto him warm and slow.

also this one

Yama yawned and letHarlock’s sleepily insistent arms tug him back down.

and this

Harlock claspedYama’s shoulder and directed him down a slightly narrower corridor.

Sterek

“Oh, is kiddo upset I was there first?”Kate said, tsking at him.

Alucard/Trevor

Adrian’s eyes swept over him admiringly - he had yet to donhis clothes beyond breeches, particularly that godawful shapeless heap he called a cloak, leaving a rathernice view.

and this one, same line from M’s word

“Would it kill you not to leave your filthy articles ofclothing flung everywhere?” Alucard asked dryly, flicking a neatly-patchedshirt that was half-sodden in demon guts at Trevor and making him duck to getout of its path.

TaiBani

Kotetsu carefullydisengaged his faceplate, pulling it away, and a bit of tension seeped out ofhim along with a sigh when he saw Barnaby’s bright eyes were open. 

Lee Hwon/Woon (The Moon Embracing the Sun)

Woon had grownquieter since the Crown Prince had chosen him to be companion and guard, everat the Prince’s side.

Okay there’s a lot so . . . Naruto, ATLA, and Voltron WIP lines are all beneath the cut.

KakaGai

Gai has touched damnnear every inch of him through one challenge or scrape or another and there’sno one Kakashi trusts more in the world.

more KakaGai

“Kaka- I- I wouldnever-” he stuttered out as Kakashi cocked his head, eyeing him.

and again

Kakashi identifiedthe presence immediately, of course - his sleeping brain had categorised theintruder as Gai and thus not a threat even before the bright shout had wokenhim.

oh look again >.>

Kakashi stared at himas he postured a little more.

and this one is part two to the one before

“Jan Ken Pon!”Kakashi said hurriedly, because Gai looked like hell, everyone in the villagewas still giving him half-confused, half-pitying looks, and . . . well, Kakashiwasn’t actually great at reacting in a hurry outside of battles.

Gaara/Lee

It was a warm, softvoice calling him, one he didn’t quite recognise, though there was a strange,barely-there edge of familiarity.

also this

Lee leapt out of bed,tangled in the blankets enough that he stumbled and it took him a moment tofree himself, though he managed to do it without crashing about.

KakaIru

Iruka unrolled thescroll and only long experience with pre-genin and jounin - and no tellingwhich group was worse than the other - prevented him from reacting.

and this one!

Iruka only pulled him in closer, tuggingthe blankets over him, ignoring the fact that he was still mostly dressed and,indeed, cold and wet.

MadaKaka (that’s a new one for me and IDK if I’ll write them again after this request is done or not. . .)

Madara bounded overthe fence without touching it, following the silvery streak of Kakashi’s hairthat was the most visible part of him as he fled into the shadows under theheavy canopy.

NejiHina

It will be all right she willed him to realise, assuring him with her eyesthat she knew what she was doing, as best she could without giving any hint orground to the Elders before her.

as is this one

“You shouldn’t be here.” she whispered, moving towards him, her kimono rustlingaround her.

SasuNaru

“I’m . . . sure he can be romantic if hetries!” Sakura said, trying to sound more certain than she actually felt,because she remembered Sasuke, andshe knew him now - or liked to think she did - and. . .

so’s this one

Beside him Kanamisnickered and stretched out her forelegs, then slid slowly onto her side, hermuzzle almost reaching his ankle.

and this

Hatred and confusion resonated through him,and he allowed his strength to seep through to his jinchuuriki.

ZabuHaku

Zabuza approached himand trailed his hands up over Haku’s arms.

Kataang

His strong armsturned and tugged gently at the ribbon binding him to the headboard, but hedidn’t fight too hard.

Zukka

Sokka doesn’t knowwhy this feels like a revelation; Zuko has alwayssmelled like fire, since the first time Sokka faced him, hot and angry in thesnow.

Zukka again

Zuko had made thechoice and gotten caught, Sokka had gone with it, abandoning it now wouldn’thelp and would only land him in acell too.

again

Zuko looked at him,and Sokka’s attention refocused.

you guessed it!

He grabbed Zuko’sshoulders to hold him closer, then cupped his jaw with one hand, tilting hisown head to mesh their kiss a little more comfortably.

yep still (I’ve been poking at a lot of my Zukka WIPs lately trying to get back to these boys)

It felt way too soon for him to be woken up.

still Zukka

Katara just stared athim, and Sokka fidgeted uncomfortably.

yes still

When Zuko might notbe able to get to him.

look there is a reason I’ve been trying to get back to Zukka and that reason is I need to finish some of my bajillion WIPs for them

“Is your prospective title really what you’re worried about,Sokka?” she asked, watching him even though he was making her slightly dizzy.

yes this one as well

He ducked his headpolitely and slid the cups in front of the two merchant ladies sitting primlyat one of the tables, murmuring a reminder to call for him if they neededanything else.

several of them are requests too! (although not this next one)

Although perhaps itwas best he hadn’t spouted that off at Suki, she had laughed at him enoughalready this summer - he had a tendency to put his foot in his mouth when shewas around.

whoops not done yet

He had spokenhonestly when he offered her respect, and when he said she was welcome, it wasstrange for him to be troubled now.

I don’t really like kid!fic that much why do I keep writing it? (well at least for Zukka there kind of needs to be offspring at some point for royal heir purposes)

“There there. . .” hecrooned, scooping Kiran up and cradling him close with a gentle pat.

this one is sort of Zukka but actually it’s labelled Sokka/Zuko/Mai

Sokka would haveknocked, but the royal guard waved him in through the doors without pausing -they were standing ajar, but . . .royal quarters?

Maiko (and the first one I ever started for them still not done)

He would learn, she knew, and she supposedshe didn’t really know how to please him,either.

That concludes the ATLA portion holy sheesh.

Sheith

“I am from Altea.”Allura told the child, bending down to come closer to eye-to-eye with him.

okay brace yourselves because here we go again

They all turned tolook at him.

yes there will be a lot

His throat tightenedwhen Keith patted him lightly and switched back, pushing him into flexing hisarm at a different angle - Shiro felt like he was dragging the weight of hismetal arm painfully, barely able to move - before beginning again.

even filtering out WIPs I haven’t worked on lately

Shiro ignored him,and Hunk sleepily shoving at him from his other side, probably in attempt toget him to be quiet.

I have . . . a lot of Sheith you guys

Kuro woke feelinglike his bones had been electrified until he shut down, and it took him a whileto realise he had other hurts as well.

I think it may be the only ship I have more of than Zukka in fact

Pidge shooed herbrother gently forwards onto the Castle, feeling bubbly and delighted tofinally have him here with her.

the series/AUs may have something to do with that

“He wouldn’t rest ifI left him alone. He kept crying.”

like that one and this next one are both from The Empress’ Elite

Allura would have himsubdued if necessary, but if he recognised Pidge enough to let her help,recognised Allura enough to let her touch, then he would be no hindrance, andAllura wouldn’t spare the time.

but mostly not actually

I could change it, Shiro thought, eyes wide as the possibility yawnedbefore him.

this one is connected to the last

He bumped into thefirm feeling of someone else’s skin and leaned up, then froze as more lightfiltered around him.

okay I think that’s it for Sheith with this one

Keith punches him in the face as hard as hecan.

Kureith

Her paw was curledinwards, offering him support and sheltering his body behind the metal of herleg.

Sheithro

“Fine, I won’t puthim in a prison pod, but he’ll be locked in his bunk.” Allura said sharply.

all of the ones for this ship are from the Unbalance series

“Keith?” Shiro looksconcerned, for him, and that’s-

I am actually still trying to work on that

“I knew that . . . sort of; she wasn’t alwaysvery . . . happy with him.” 

a couple pieces are just so close to ready to post, too. . .

“Kuro,” Shiro began,the name feeling oddly comfortable on his lips, though he still twitched to seeKuro, to see an almost-me, turntowards him with a familiar movement, strange golden eyes gleaming, “I... May Ispeak with you?”

there’s also this one frigging Klance piece from 80s Voltron

Keith let the doorsslide closed behind him.

Holy cow how many sentences even was that oh lord I have so many WIPs *mad laughter* 56 holy fuck. So. That’s not even all the WIPs I’ve worked on lately there were a handful that didn’t have him in them. . . (Including some femmeslash. :P)

So hey! Send me a word and I’ll share a line from my WIPs!

[yuki-setsu]

12 Days of (Lance) Whumpmas! - Day 11 [Pneumonia]

idk why it was so hard for me to think of a story i actually wanted to write out for this prompt but loRD here we are;;; i’m weak for lance w/ children

i think it’s because i was more excited brainstorming for the free day LOL hopefully i get that out before the 7th ahhHH

part of the 12 Days of VLD Whumpmas hosted by @vldwhumpmas2017! you can still submit up until january 7th, so check out more info on the challenge here if you want to participate!

“Guys, I think I'm really sick.” Lance moaned from the sofa, trying to wrap his hoodie tighter around himself.

“Yeah, you've said it like fifty times already.” Keith grumbled. He blew out an irritated breath as he typed at his laptop a bit too aggressively. “There are seriously no good sources on this topic.”

The others didn't reply, busy typing or scrolling away on their own respective laptops with an air of exhausted resignation. Lance watched them gathered around the table from his spot on the safe with half-open eyes. They'd all gathered at Hunk's apartment that morning in a last-minute rush to finish this group project before the midnight deadline. Quite frankly, Lance was more impressed that they all managed to sign up for the same Communications course.

“Hunk, buddy. You got any cough medicine?” Lance called out again. He coughed for good measure, grimacing at how wet and gross it sounded. Geez, his colds were never this bad.

“Uh...” Hunk furrowed his brow as he scanned something on his screen before slumping back against his seat. “You can check, but I think I ran out.”

Lance groaned, his head falling lightly against the cushion. “Guess I'll just wither away, then. Bring flowers to my funeral.”

“Lance, sorry you have a cold, but we're literally trying to save our grades right now.” Pidge said, her fingers still in constant motion over the keyboard as she talked. She looked like she was running on less than 5 hours of sleep, which was probably true. “Help us finish and I'll buy you all the cough medicine you want afterwards.”

“Hey, I did my part and more by yesterday night.” Lance sniffled, rubbing at his arms in a slight attempt to get warm. “Not my fault the rest of you decided to procrastinate. And looking at computer screens would hurt my head right now.” Another cough, this one harsh and raw against his throat. “I'm not trying to be dramatic, but I think this is worse than a cold.”

Pidge groaned as she ran a hand through her hair. “Look, Lance, please let us concentrate for a bit. We're already gonna be cutting it close at the rate we're going. If you're just going to complain and not help, do it somewhere else.”

Lance winced at her words, a sharp jab in his chest. But then irritation settled in, and Lance pushed himself to his feet, swaying a bit when the blood rushed to his head. He already felt crappy enough—he wasn't in the mood to feel worse. He grabbed his jacket, slinging it on as he headed towards the door.

“Fine,” he said. “I'm heading out.”

Shiro finally tore his gaze away from his laptop, a pitying look in his eyes. “Lance, we didn't mean—”

“Nah, I get it. Sorry for feeling sick. I'll go deal with it on my own.” Lance grumbled, tugging the door open. “I'm gonna go buy medicine. Don't worry, I'll take my time.” He slammed the door shut before he could hear anyone else respond. Or maybe they didn't.

But when the early winter breeze hit his face once he stepped outside, Lance almost considered giving up and making the walk of shame back up to Hunk's apartment. It wasn't cold enough to start snowing yet, but it was definitely chilly. Lance shivered as he coughed again into his elbow. He felt phlegm come up in this time, and he grimaced as he dug into his jacket pocket. Fortunately, he felt a few wadded up tissues in there and he spit into it.

“Ugh, gross.” Lance trudged past a garbage can, tossing the used tissue ball inside before shoving his hands into his pockets. At least the convenience store wasn't too far. He took one hand out to pull up his hood, grumbling when the wind pushed it back off his head.

The store was only two blocks away, yet by the time Lance passed through the automatic doors, he felt like he ran a mile. He bent over to catch his breath, feeling it rattle in his lungs in an unpleasant way. A stab of pain hit his chest when he tried for a deeper breath, something he probably should've paid more attention to. Another cough built up, just as loud and wet as before. He should buy portable tissues while he was at it.

After a few seconds, he pushed himself back up and headed towards the aisles. He went towards the pharmacy area first, picking out a box of extra-strength cold medicine first. He blew out a sigh, turning to peer down the rest of the aisle. Heck, he'll just walk around the store and see what else there was. Better to stay in here than walk around outside, anyways.

Halfway through his tour, he passed by a row of portable tissues and grabbed one for himself. He felt his throat itch, tempted to open the tissues right then and there before another cough hit him. The phlegm felt nasty, to say the least. He resumed his pace around the store, trying to get warmth back into his body. He was still cold, despite the noisy heater he could hear blasting air down the aisles.

He reached the register right when his eyes caught a row of mouth masks. It took only a bit of contemplation before Lance grabbed a blue one, adding it to his pile of purchases. Maybe it could keep half of his face somewhat warm once he was back outside.

One purchase later, Lance stepped out into the streets, managing to open the wad of tissues and coughing into it in time. Phlegm would never not feel disgusting. Lance grumbled, opening the package for the mouth mask and sliding it on. It helped, but it still felt cold as hell.

Lance started to walk again, bag of cough medicine hanging loosely from his wrist as his hands found their way back into his pockets. How long had it been so far? He was too cold to dig out his phone from his pocket and check the time. He was pretty sure it had only been a few minutes. Lance sighed, heading back towards the apartment nonetheless. Whatever, he'd just take the medicine and nap it off. At least he'd be quiet.

But the sound of someone crying stopped him in his tracks. Lance tore his eyes off the sidewalk, eyes easily locating the source of the noise just ahead. It was a little kid, bundled up in a bright orange jacket and green hat. He literally looked like a pumpkin. Lance would've found it adorable, had the kid not been bawling his eyes out, standing off the side as people passed by, not batting an eye to the commotion.

Lance felt his stomach tug at the sight. It was obvious no one even stopped to try and help so far. Maybe it was too cold, or they were all busy, or no one wanted to deal with the situation. Lance frowned, walking over to the kid and stopping right in front. An older man nearly crashed into him, grumbling out something Lance pointedly chose to ignore. He bent down, trying to look friendly despite the mask covering half his face.

“Hey kiddo, what's wrong?” Lance asked, ignoring the exhaustion settling in his legs at the strain.

The child quieted down once he spotted Lance, the cries quieting down to whimpers and loud sniffles. Lance waited, giving the kid a few seconds to catch his breath.

“I—I lost my mom.” He finally said, voice trembling.

Lance bent down a bit more so that was looking up at the kid instead. He smiled, hoping it at least showed in his eyes. “Well you're in luck! How about I help you find her? I'm sure she's worried sick looking for you, too.”

The boy sniffled. “My mom said I shouldn't follow strangers.”

Lance nodded, biting back a shudder when another strong gust of wind passed by. “Yeah, your mom's right. I'm glad she taught you that.” He thought for a second. “Do you know your mom's phone number?”

The boy's eyes widened, and he nodded. Lance shifted, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. His hands felt numb, fingers trembling just slightly even as he went to unlock his screen. “Can you tell me her number? I can call her for you.”

Another nod. Lance smiled again. “You're a smart kid, you know that? What's your name?”

The kid smiled at that, small and tremulous. “Connor.”

“Awesome name. My name's Lance. Alright, how about we call your mom?”

Connor recited the number, and Lance managed to punch in the digits before bringing the phone to his ear. The line picked up after one ring, the voice on the other end frantic.

“Hello?!” It was a woman's voice, high and shrill.

Lance swallowed the urge to cough, his throat itchy and uncomfortable. “Hi, is this Connor's mother?”

The woman sucked in a harsh breath. “It is. Have you seen him?! Is he alright?”

“He's okay, just a bit scared. I found him standing on a sidewalk. My name's Lance. Could I ask where you are?”

He could've sworn she mumbled some sort of prayer halfway through his explanation. “Oh thank goodness, thank you so much. I'm... I'm at Grant Park. I thought he might've stumbled this way and was looking everywhere.”

Lance tried to estimate the distance. He hadn't been around Hunk's neighborhood much, but he'd passed by Grant Park more than a few times. It wasn't too far off. “I think we're a 10 minute walk away from there. If it's alright, I can bring him to you.”

“Are—are you sure?” The mother asked, hesitant. “You've already done so much by finding my child... I can try to go to where you are and—”

“It's because Connor and I are kinda blocking traffic on the sidewalk, so we're probably gonna have to move soon anyways.” Lance said, trying to warm his free hand in his pocket. “I'll get him to you as soon as I can. We can stay on the phone while we walk, if you want.”

“My battery is almost gone, unfortunately. I'm grateful you managed to call before it completely died. I'd be so thankful if you could bring him here, Lance. Thank you. Could I speak to Connor for a moment?”

“Of course! One second.” Lance turned back towards Connor, who was watching him with wide eyes. He passed down the phone. “Here, your mom wants to talk to you.”

Connor lit up, grabbing the phone and pushing it towards his ear eagerly. Lance took the chance to pull his mask down and cough into his elbow again, rummaging for the tissues and spitting once more. Geez, he'd only been standing for the past few minutes and he still felt winded. He slid the mask back up, closing his eyes as he tried to fight off the small wave of dizziness that rolled through.

“Okay. Bye mom!” Lance looked over as Connor handed the phone back. “Thank you, sir!”

Lance laughed, taking the phone. “It's Lance, not 'sir'. You're gonna make me feel old.” He pocketed his phone before holding out a hand. “Come on, let's go to your mom.”

Connor's smile was bright, even with his reddened nose and splotchy cheeks. He reached up a small gloved hand, gripping onto Lance's tightly. “Okay, Lance!”

Lance felt his grin grow as they started moving down the sidewalk. Connor reminded him of one of his younger siblings, and he felt his heart tug at the thought of his family. He hadn't seen them in a while because of school.

“So Connor,” Lance started. “What do you like to do when you're bored?”

Connor hummed, swinging their hands a bit as they walked. “Watching TV!”

“Oh yeah? What kind of things do you like to watch?”

“Cartoons! And space!”

Lance laughed again, although he couldn't stop the small processions of coughs this time. “Space? I like that too! Do you wanna go there one day?”

“Yeah! I wanna fight all the aliens and fly a spaceship!”

“Sounds awesome. You can be a defender of the universe or something.”

Connor nodded, eyes sparkling. “Yeah!”

The conversation was cut short when another coughing fit came, and Lance had to stop to deal with it. His chest throbbed painfully at the motion, and he bit down a groan as he fished out some more tissues with his free hand. He pulled his mask down, spitting again and wadding up the tissues into a ball.

He felt Connor tug at his hand once he tossed the wad into a trashcan they passed by. “Are you sick, Lance?”

Lance gave a small smile, pointing at his mask as he pulled it back up. “Yeah, it's why I'm wearing this. So other people around me don't catch it. Like you.”

Connor frowned. “Mom said you should rest in bed when you're sick.”

Lance huffed out a laugh, gently tugging Connor back into step with him. “Yeah, she's right. I'm gonna go home and rest once we find your mom.”

Connor stopped in his tracks and Lance looked down to catch him tugging his hat off, revealing a mess of short, brown hair. He held it up towards Lance, a determined look on his face. “Wear my hat. It'll keep you warm.”

Lance's eyes widened, and he took the hat, only to quickly put it back on Connor's head. He tried to pull away, but Lance was persistent enough to succeed. “I'm warm. Don't worry about me, buddy. You should worry about yourself.”

Connor's frown pulled down into a pout. He held up the hand that was still gripping Lance's. “But you're shaking.”

Sure enough, he was. Hard enough that even he could tell with the wind stinging at his eyes. Wow, that was embarrassing. Lance gave Connor's hand a light squeeze, straightening up. “I'm okay, promise. Besides, your glove is warming me up plenty.” He glanced a bit down the road, spotting a familiar sign at the corner. “Oh, I think that's the park over there! Let's go. Your mom's probably worried sick.”

It was a relief that kids got distracted easily, and Connor whipped around towards where Lance was pointing, his eyes brightening at the park sign. He walked a bit faster, tugging Lance along insistently. Lance wouldn't have minded, except he really did not have the energy to be moving faster than the pace he'd been going. But they were almost there, and so Lance let Connor lead him.

By the time they passed through the park gates, it was miracle that Lance was still standing. He felt like he was going to throw up, even though all he'd done was speed walk a block. He bent down, letting his legs press against his chest as he tried to take a full breath. His chest ached with each attempt, and all he could manage were small wheezes.

Someone—Connor—was tugging at his hand again, and he heard him yell something before another pair of hands were on his shoulders. He glanced up, spotting a woman in front of him. She looked frazzled, her brown hair in a messy bun as she mouthed something that looked suspiciously like his name.

“—re you alright?” A hand pressed against his forehead, remarkably cool against his skin. “Goodness, what a terrible fever. Are you alone? Where do you live?”

“He's sick, mommy.” Connor said from somewhere to the side. “He said that's why he's wearing the mask.”

She rummaged in her pockets before glancing back up. “Lance, can you hear me? Could I get your phone? Mine's out of battery. I need to call an ambulance.”

Lance jerked at the mention of an ambulance, falling back onto his butt. He coughed, shuddering at the stabbing pain in his chest. “N-no ambulance. I just... need to rest.”

Her brow furrowed with concern. “Are you sure—”

“Yes,” Lance curled his legs close against him when another gust of wind passed by. When he tried to wrap his arms around his legs, he realized that Connor was still holding fast onto one of his hands. “My—my friend's apartment isn't far from here...”

The mother's eyes widened. “Friend? What's his name?”

“Hunk...”

Lance felt someone suddenly dig into his jacket pocket, and he looked over just as Connor straightened up, triumphantly holding up his cell phone. “I found it!”

His mother took the phone with a slight smile. She looked at Lance as she unlocked it—Lance really should put a passcode on his phone—as she shifted a bit closer, as if to try and block the wind from hitting him too much. “Is Hunk in your contact list?” Lance nodded, shuddering in another slight breath. “I'm going to call him over here to pick you up. You're in no condition to move.”

Lance didn't have the energy to respond, letting his head fall lightly against her stomach as she tapped away at his phone. He thought it might be rude, but she didn't seem to mind. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder as she began to speak, not to him. Guess Hunk picked up.

And then came the wait. He was pretty sure Connor's mom told him that his friends were on the way, but he didn't know what she said exactly. Halfway through, Connor had decided to drape himself over Lance in a small version of a bearhug in his attempt to “warm Lance up”. It was adorable, and Lance might have appreciated more had he not been so out of it. But it was too hard to breathe, and he was so tired.

He didn't remember falling asleep, but when he woke, it was to the rumbling of a car. He'd barely gotten his senses oriented enough figure out what was happening when another cough ripped its way out, and he reflexively brought a hand up to cover it. His mouth mask was gone, he realized. And he was lying on his side.

Someone was rubbing at his back, and Lance craned to see who it was once the cough left his system. Hunk stared back, looking more stressed than when Lance had left the apartment. Oh, he was lying on Hunk's lap.

Lance grinned weakly. “Did you guys finish the project?”

Hunk actually winced, which Lance didn't understand. “Keith and Pidge are finishing it up right now. That's not important. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let you leave. None of us should have.”

Lance shifted back so that the side of his head was resting against Hunk's lap again, his breaths coming out in short wheezes. “... 's fine. I was being annoying.”

“It's not fine.” Hunk hissed. “Do you not see yourself right now? You told us you were feeling really sick and none of us did anything. Us stressing over the project shouldn't have been an excuse. Pidge feels terrible about what she said, just so you know.”

“Hunk's right,” Shiro called out from the driver's seat. Lance could only see one of his arms from where he was laying. “We all need to apologize, but let's get you to a doctor first.”

Lance groaned, too tired to move and do anything else. “I don't need one...”

“You look like you're about to die, so you do.” Hunk said. “We're not taking any chances.”

To be honest, Lance didn't want to either. He felt like complete shit, and he wasn't sure if the cold medicine he bought was going to be much help. Hunk kept a helpful drone of chatter to keep him distracted, rubbing at his back every time he coughed and sometimes rubbing at his arms as if to try and warm him up. Guess he was still shivering.

When they got to the doctor, Hunk had to piggyback him in, but Lance was too exhausted to feel embarrassed at this point. He thought it was just going to be some bad case of the flu, but after a couple of tests and a diagnosis of mild pneumonia, Lance was glad they ended up going to the hospital. Clearly Hunk and Shiro felt the same, because they both paled when the doctor announced the results. He got an order of antibiotics and a rigid schedule of rest and hydration before Hunk carried him back to the car and they headed back to the apartment.

He must have fallen asleep again, because he didn't remember how he got from the car and into bed. He woke up to a darkened room, Hunk ordering him to drink a bottle of water and take the antibiotics before going back to sleep. Lance wanted to sleep, but he kept waking himself up every time he coughed. Thankfully, Hunk left a box of tissues next to the bed, and he didn't have to move much to grab some every time he coughed up phlegm. But nonetheless, it wasn't an easy slumber.

The next time he woke up, the lights were on. He groaned, squinting at the brightness as he rolled over to bury his eyes into the pillow. He tried for another deep breath, but the sharp pain sent him into another coughing fit. Well, he just started the antibiotic treatment. Results weren't going to come right away.

“Lance?”

Lance opened his eyes at Pidge's voice, spotting her just next to the bed. She looked more exhausted than he remembered her to be, if that was even possible. But her eyes brightened a bit when he caught her gaze, and she glanced over her shoulder towards the door. “Guys! Lance is awake!”

There was a rumbling of footsteps before the others piled in, all eyeing him worriedly. It felt... uncomfortable, to say the least.

“Uh... hi.” Lance wheezed, relaxing against the pillow. “The project?”

Pidge grimaced. “It's done. Don't worry about it.” She stepped back, dragging Keith forward next to her. “I know Hunk and Shiro kind of apologized already, but we have to, too. Especially me.”

Lance blew out a breath. “It's alright, I get it. You don't have to—”

“No, I do.” Pidge cut in. “I shouldn't have told you to leave, even if I was stressed. It was an asshole move and I'm really, really sorry. Even if you weren't sick, I never should've said something like that. I might act like it sometimes, but I don't really think you're annoying. I'm sorry for that, too.”

A brief pause, and Pidge not-so-subtly elbowed Keith's arm. He coughed awkwardly, rubbing at the sore spot. “I'm sorry for getting stressed out at you. I was so focused on trying to finish the project that I didn't take you seriously when you said you were feeling sick.”

Lance tugged at the blankets, uncomfortable. “Okay, uh, no more apologizing. Feeling a bit awkward now. You're all forgiven, it's fine.” He coughed again, loud and grating, and pulled up the blankets to cover himself. He peeked back out after it passed. “You guys should leave, though. You might get sick.”

Keith groaned. “Seriously, that's what you're worried about? You just focus on getting better. Pneumonia's serious.”

“Mild pneumonia,” Lance corrected.

“It's literally still pneumonia.”

“Whatever.”

Keith blew out a breath as he crossed his arms. “Anyways, you should go back to sleep. We'll be outside if you need anything.”

“Yes, yes.” Lance mumbled, eyes starting to droop shut. He wouldn't deny he was still dead tired, and sleep sounded just great right now.

“Oh, wait!” Hunk piped up, making his way towards the bed. He pulled out something from behind his back and set it on the bed. “The kid you helped earlier asked me to give this to you before we left the park.” Hunk grinned. “He said to wear it whenever you needed to get warm.”

Lance glanced at the small green hat, a grin tugging at his face. That definitely wouldn't fit on his head. He didn't doubt it would feel warm, though.

[dark-unimaginably-stupid-kids]

December

Another drabble. This one is....more cathartic? So lets start with a big ol’ Authors Note:

So it’s come to my attention that the way I met my ex was very /Keith/ like and as such, I’ve come to notice a few more parallels SO....

The following is pretty much how it happened. Well, sans the express mentions of Keith sleeping with Regris and Lance sleeping with Jenny. But ya know. I had to stop eventually. I also didn’t get to fit in the rune readings or the making out in the car and bs-ed a couple things to make them more Lance and Keith--

And ya know, Lance would just be a better man. Sorry not sorry.

If you’re reading this Bright Eyes: why haven’t you deleted me yet? Like you have absolutely no business still following my writing. I’d block you if I wasn’t just morbidly amused by how long you must have to scroll to get through my gay boys, kthnx.

Also, Idk, I guess Keith handled his liquor better than I did.

@meli-reads-all Look I DID IT. We can do fighting for spots later, and maybe I’ll make some ridiculous little short about the blue eyed one too cause /fuck/ my ridiculous Keith-like meet cutes/background stories.

Anywho.

Klance. College AU I guess.

Drinking and smoking (Keith is an alcoholic because I am an alcoholic. -finger guns-)

Keith gets dragged out of his house under the promise of vodka. Ends up opening the door to a boy he really should have been nicer to because wow is Lance everything he ever wanted.

3.9k words

----

The first red flag of the night should have been Jenny’s pushiness. Keith had only hung out with her one time since they’d “become friends” in middle school and now they were taking two classes a semester at the local Uni (if any) and occasionally waved at each other in the hallways.

Hell, Keith hadn’t even done that in months given the shit time he’d had at school and his absolute lack of a desire to pursue any kind of degree.

He’d taken the fall semester off and was still mentally wording the letter to Shiro in his head about how he was going to drop out when Jenny had blown up his phone.

“You’re just being a hermit aren’t you!? Get dressed! I’m coming over!”

Keith eyed the texts and rolled his eyes. He glanced down at himself in his lose Spiderman top and his boxers and shrugged. He was plenty dressed.

“I’m bringing a friend!”

God damn it.

To hang out with an annoying girl he’d technically known for years? Pj top and boxers were fine.

To hang out with said girl and a total stranger?

Fuck.

Okay.

Pants then.

She lived nearby, so he dragged himself out of bed, paused his binge watch of the day (season 8 of Criminal Minds. It had been a while since he’d gone to catch up. They already had ten seasons on Netflix. It was gonna be a nice weekend if Jenny would just leave him alone.)

But then she was there.

Shaybon or whatever her stupid name was.

Keith’s roommate Pidge was out for the day, but she’d left the living room in a bit of a state so while Jenny made herself at home and introduced her friend, Keith tidied up.

Not that he cared about a strangers opinion of his home, but because he didn’t like strangers and it was better to focus on other things while people introduced themselves. The strangers name was Regris. Tall, dark, acceptable.

He watched Keith clean and smirked a lot. Like it amused him.

Keith didn’t really care. He hadn’t planned to entertain, he hadn’t wanted to. Jenny was being a fucking pain springing this on him.

Of course, she was vaguely well meaning? During that one outing they’d been on which was only about a month ago, Jenny had told Keith all about how she’d moved in with her boyfriend only for him to dump her and disappear to go fuck his ex on the same night. Keith had offered her some solidarity in that he was also recently heartbroken.

Though, a fuck buddy who was more buddy than fuck who suddenly decided to drop you for no apparent reason, was slightly lower priority than an actual live in boyfriend; it still hurt and Keith could still vaguely sympathize.

Hell, there was a reason he was binge watching Criminal Minds and wanted to be alone.

He missed Rolo, but what was he going to do? First Rolo didn’t want to fuck anymore, then he didn’t want to be friends, go figure, shit happens.

He’d been fun. And he’d helped Keith get out of his shell for a time. And he’d been comfortable and they always seemed to be on the same page. But you know.

Shit.

Keith had started developing feelings, as it happens when you actually enjoy someone’s presence who you’re also attracted to and have decent chemistry. He’d told Rolo, but he’d tried to explain the friendship mattered more. Keith loved the feeling of being alive far more than he even remotely liked Rolo in that way. And that was what Rolo gave him just by cracking a joke and making a room full of people keel over in laughter.

Rooms full of people.

Pleasant, fun things.

No one whispering no one judging.

Everyone was weird and at their own pace.

Keith missed it all so terribly.

But now all he has was fucking Jenny.

He went into his fridge, took out two beers and sat down at the kitchen table when he’d finished cleaning. Regris eyed the beer as if one was for him but Keith simply rolled his eyes. He opened the first one and downed it, then promptly opened the second one and turned to Jenny.

“So. What are we supposed to do now? Did you come here with a plan or are you two just going to watch Criminal Minds with me?”

It was Jenny’s turn to roll her eyes and she did so with a flourish to her friend. Regris in turn glanced at his phone and shrugged, “Well my friend is having a get together. Not far.”

Keith nodded, took a gulp of his beer, “Great, you two have fun.”

“Oh come on Keith! Don’t be that way!”

Keith stared at Jenny, took another swig, and waited.

Jenny eyed the bottle and finally came up with something that actually interested Keith. She knew this because Keith had made very clear what he’d been doing to cope since the loss of his university family. He was making it very clear now, bottle in hand.

And rather than attempt to dissuade him, she enabled him, “Regris, Thace has alcohol right?”

Keith’s eyebrow arched but he said nothing. Regris laughed, “Uh, yeah? Of course?”

“Probably more beer right?” Keith grumbled, he was almost done with the second bottle now and it was pretty gross. He didn’t like beer, but he’d finished the sweeter drinks earlier and these were left overs from when he used to have friends over, people who wanted to hang out with him and Rolo anyway.

“Well. There will be beer, yeah. But Thace is more of whiskey drinker.”

Keith thought about it. Whiskey had specific side effects in him. Best to avoid around generally attractive men. He was about to open his mouth to say he’d still prefer to pass when Jenny shot up, “Vodka! Tell him there will be vodka!”

Ah yes, because Keith had been drinking when he’d told her the story and she remembered what he’d ordered.

Regris seemed a bit surprised but shrugged it off, “Yeah? Of course he has vodka.”

Keith sighed and turned his attention from Jenny to Regris, “And I’ll be allowed to drink, this vodka, right?”

He scoffed, “Once you’re in the house all the booze is fair game. Thace is cool that way.”

Keith gave himself another moment to assess, considered the fact he’d finished his last bottle and was actually quietly craving the stuff. He also considered how Jenny would never let him hear the end of it if he said no.

“…Alright. But only for the vodka.”

Jenny practically bounced out of her seat and Regris shrugged, “Cool, I’m gonna take a smoke and we’ll head out then.”

Keith watched Regris step onto the porch, cigarette and lighter in hand, and turned back to Jenny, “This your rebound or something?”

The girl looked surprised and waved her hand, “Oh no. Reg and I have been friends for years. But he did say his friend Lo was gonna be there tonight and he might be juuuust my type.”

Keith stared at her for a long moment, sure to be as openly judgmental as possible, but she took it with a proud smile, “Don’t be jealous, maybe we’ll find you a distraction too!”

“Don’t count on it.”

---

Keith was in the middle of pouring his second mixed drink when someone knocked. Jenny was in the backyard, floating around and making friends. Regris was playing pool with Thace—who was a decent enough guy even if he did keep his absolutely beautiful darling huskie locked in the kitchen.

Honestly, Keith preferred the company of the dog.

He just didn’t have it in him to socialize with these people anymore. He wanted to drink and go home and not be in his mind by he time he went to sleep.

He finished a cherry liquor before he realized someone was knocking and sadly put his cup down. He turned and popped his head outside. Thace was sitting, waiting for his turn and chatting with two girls.

“Thace, someone’s here,” Keith said bluntly.

Thace didn’t even look up, “Cool, that’s probably him now,” He said to the girls, then he spoke louder for Keith, “Go open it.”

Keith stood there, “…It’s not my house.”

“So? It’s my friend, go open it?”

Keith could hear Jenny perk up from behind the pool table, “Is it Lo?”

Regris replied to her, clarifying that Lo was still very much on the other side of town.

“Then who is it?” Jenny pressed.

Thace chuckled, “We’ll know once Keith gets the door. Go on.”

Keith still didn’t move, “…It’s not my house. Who goes around strangers houses and opens doors to total—what?!”

“Just get it, it’s probably—” Thace was speaking to the nameless girls again and Jenny chose just then to laugh loudly at Keith’s antics.

With a disgruntled puff Keith turned back into the house, picked up his discarded vodka-cherry-who-remembers-what-else and sipped at it while he made his way to the door just as the questionable someone knocked again.

Keith held the cup with his teeth and fought with the door locks for a second before, by some miracle, finally managing to turn them the right way and pulling the door loose.

“Hey—” Started the stranger.

Keith took the cup out of his mouth and gave the guy at the door a once over, cup in hand and general annoyance rumbling into his generally poor attitude, he looked the stranger dead in his decidedly pretty blue eyes and with his own half lidded in boredom said, “And who the fuck are you supposed to be?”

It was almost comical, if Keith had been paying attention to the social cues. Because the man’s eyes widened and his jaw slackened but there was still the barest hint of an amused smile on his face.

“U-Uh… Leandro?”

“Leo?”

“Lee- Leandro—”

“Alejandro?”

“N-No, my name is—”

“I don’t care.”

Keith turned around and walked straight back the way he’d come, cup back to his lips, “Everyone’s outside I guess.” He said mostly to no one, maybe somewhat to the new guy.

When he made it to the sliding glass door again he announced to the group of strangers who were eagerly awaiting the arrival of their friend, “Some.. Alex or whatever is here.”

“It’s—”

Keith heard him stumble out again but Thace had beamed instead, “Lance! Glad you could make it!”

Keith blinked at the name, considered it, and shrugged. Lance actually wasn’t a bad name. Didn’t sound anything like Alejandro though. How’d that happen.

Oh well.

He went to his corner at the far end of the yard and decided to start nursing his drink. (Though by now, this was probably a bit late)

Especially when Jenny came and joined him, still on her first drink and already bumbling, “man you really do drink don’t you?”

Keith said nothing. She put her cup down in front of him and asked if he wanted to finish it for her. She’d made it too strong. He tried it an agreed, her being a lightweight, this wasn’t going to work out.

They traded drinks.

“So Lance is pretty cute isn’t he?” Jenny started, nudging Keith in the side on his lawn chair.

He glanced across the yard where Lance had joined on the pool game, and this time Keith really looked at him.

“I guess.” Keith mumbled. He was tan, and broad shouldered, and he had a nice smile and kind eyes. He was… almost too good. “He’s the kind of hot who probably knows it and so doesn’t actually expend any effort in meeting people.”

Jenny nudged him harder, some friendly kind of reprimand, “Oh come on Keith, don’t be like that. You’re telling me you’re not into him?”

Keith glanced at him again, watched him turn to face Regris, laugh at a joke.

“I’m not saying that.”

Because he absolutely was not saying that.

But.

“But it’s not like it matters. It’s not like he’d be into me even if I was inclined to wandering into that kind of hell again. It’s cool.”

She pouted her pretty pink lips and Keith rolled his eyes for the hundredth time that night, “Jen. How about you cut to the chase. Lo’s gonna be a no show so you want to go flirt with him. Go, it’s not like I called dibs or anything.”

Her pout stretched into a smile and she clapped him on the back, “Oh, you do know me don’t you!”

Within moments she had taken up residence on a bench beside Lance as he continued to stare straight ahead, probably watching the balls roll across the felt. Keith did too anyway, from the opposite side of the table.

Keith finished her drink without realizing and noticed she’d never even taken his.

His tasted better.

He finished that one too.

At some point during the evening someone very tall came in and took Lance’s spot in the game and Jenny’s attention.

Ah, the elusive Lo, Keith thought to himself, eyeing the guy who’d come in.

Now, Lo was also attractive, but somehow had thrown off less of a…presence.

It was strange.

But then, Keith was drunk.

So what did it matter?

He caught Lance’s eye across the table, noticed how the dark blue t-shirt was just a little tight on his shoulders and made Keith want to walk over and shove his face into the mans chest.

Ridiculous.

Drunk.

Had Jenny’s cup had whiskey? That would have been a problem.

Lance pat his hand down on the empty bench space beside him and nodded to Keith. Keith blinked at him, then at his two empty cups, then at his imaginary impulse control, and decided, “…why not.”

He stood up, probably a little shakily if he was honest, and wandered over to Lance before slumping into the seat he’d been offered, “Hey.”

“Hey.”

It was quiet save for the strangers talking and the snapping of a pool stick against ceramic.

“So your friend Jenny was telling me about you,” Lance started with a little bit of a smile. Something Keith had already seen plenty of so he was aware of the restraint in the expression.

“Was she now?”

“Yeah.”

“And yet you still asked me to sit with you.”

“Oh did I do that?”

“Oh did I read that wrong?”

“No.”

Keith didn’t miss a beat, “Then own it.”

Lance grinned, a severe degree less restraint in the show of teeth, “I wanted you to sit with me.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

Jenny came by, particularly chipper as things seemed to be going well with Lo who was standing to the side chatting with Thace and Regris while a few of the still unnamed strangers had separated into other groups around the yard.

“Do you smoke Lance?” Jenny asked. “I know Keith doesn’t so—”

Lance made a funny croaking noise, like Jenny had just made a bad joke and he was trying to humor her, “No. No. That’s just Reg.”

Keith decided to keep the little mental fanfare from playing in his face. He’d never kissed someone who smoked cigarettes, but he didn’t like the smell and wasn’t inclined to it.

Jenny was about to say something, tapping a pen on Lance’s shoulder (godddd those shoulders) when Regris and the other two vaguely named strangers called her over.

“I didn’t mean—Oh alright, you two keep talking, I’ll leave you alone.” She smiled and ran off to the other side of the yard with the guys.

She’d dropped her pen onto Lance’s lap.

Keith eyed it and before looking up at Lance who shrugged and was about to reach for it, put it on one of the tiny tables on either side of them, when Keith’s hand shout out first.

With the pen now at his disposal, he pulled off the cap with his teeth and grabbed Lance’s arm with his free hand, “I feel like drawing.”

That awkward amused grin was back on Lance’s face and Keith had no idea how to describe how that stupid smile, when registered for what it really was, did ridiculous things to his heart.

“You like to draw?” Lance offered.

Keith made a non-committal noise and started to pen little stars around the freckles on his arm.

“He loves it!” Jenny announced, running back over while the guys started to wander into the house. Neither Keith nor Lance seemed to notice or care that the yard was slowly emptying.

Keith was more distracted by the fingers lightly laying on his thigh as he drew down the man’s arm. Probably would have cared about the fact she was outing him like that otherwise.

“Here, I have a blue one too.” She grinned, “In case he wants an option.” She offered another pen to Lance who smiled good naturedly at her but otherwise didn’t move much for fear of disturbing the little doodle artist.

It was a few minutes later that Keith raised his head from his makeshift canvas and realized most of the yard was empty.

“Where is everyone?”

Lance looked just passed Keith’s head and let out a long slightly high pitched noise, “I… have no idea.”

“Should we go find them?”

“Do you want to?”

“…Not really.”

Lance huffed out a laugh through his nose and raised his hand up toward the yard light, just to see what Keith had drawn.

“Nice. Like a tattoo.”

“The crappiest pen tattoo. Yup.”

“Your turn?”

Keith blinked at him, then at the pen in Lance’s other hand and laughed outright, “Oh. You want to draw on me now?”

Lance arched an eyebrow, (a very nicely formed eyebrow too. But there was no way this guy went out and got them done, right?) “Well it’s only fair isn’t it?”

Keith scrunched up his face and looked thoughtfully up at the yard awning above their heads that was blocking the night sky from view.

“Who said I wanted to be fair.”

Lance laughed again and it made Keith wither in his seat a little, made him want to be compliant. Made him want to make the other happy.

Too much to drink. Probably. For sure. Right?

“Well!” Lance chuckled, “How about I only draw a little, and you can keep working on mine?”

Keith would have said yes regardless, so he offered Lance his hand, “Have at it.”

Lance drew stars too. Equipped with swirls of space dust and crude little ringed planets.

Keith added detail to his night sky, shading and adjusting the “sketch” here and there. Lance giggled occasionally, the pen apparently tickling his skin. Keith wasn’t ticklish, but he did like the way Lance’s palm pressed against his arm as he drew.

When they did eventually walk through the house in search of the rest of the party they didn’t find them. They went out to the front yard, to see if the cars were there, but all vehicles were accounted for.

Keith wasn’t sure what was going on, but Lance pieced it together when he noticed one of the cars had very dull music playing. The window tint made it difficult to see in the dark, but there were definitely people inside.

“That kind of smoking. Damn.” Lance scoffed, motioning toward the car.

Keith finally noticed it then and realized quite suddenly what Jenny had said earlier, “…She thinks I don’t smoke?”

Lance blinked at him. Keith blinked back and then offered him an awkward laugh, “You can forget I said that.”

“Sure.”

“So now what?”

Lance glanced at the packed car, shrugged his shoulder and then motioned for a car parked across the street, “Wanna listen to music?”

“Sure.”

Keith would later try to blame the alcohol for what happened next. When Lance took his hand and pulled him across the street, reaching into his pocket for his car keys. Lance didn’t get the chance to pull them out because Keith had tugged on his hand and turned him around to face him.

Keith stepped forward and Lance stepped back until his own car blocked him in.

Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s neck, waiting for some kind of confirmation.

He got it in the form of Lance’s arms around his waist and a smile that was so very soft.

Hopeful.

An expression Keith remembered having worn himself, on occasion.

He probably wore it now.

Lance’s eyes were very pretty.

Calming.

Safe.

Lance was a stranger but somehow he was also… home.

These arms kept him stable, covered in little ink stars to match the ones on Keith’s own skin.

When he kissed Lance that night he’d blame it on the alcohol. He’d tell himself it was a one time thing. No big deal.

It wasn’t like Lance’s lips were the softest things he’d ever felt and that his warmth didn’t envelop him and take him somewhere so far away his problems felt so small. It wasn’t like standing there against the little blue sedan in the middle of the night was the closest Keith had ever been to whole.

He’ll tell himself, when they crawl into the car together and end up do nothing more than holding hands and listening to music and telling each other little anecdotes, that it meant nothing.

He’ll tell himself for weeks that he’d been an idiot to type his number into Lance’s phone, that Lance would get tired of him and that it just wouldn’t work out.

He’ll tell himself for months, when he has Lance in his arms almost nightly, that it’s not love.

It’s not love. It’s not love.

He’s not stupid enough to put himself through that again. No.

When Lance tells him how important he is, how special, how…

“God, Kitten, I knew you were mine the moment I saw you.”

It’s not…

“You’re joking right?”

“Okay, you’re right, my first thought was, “who the fuck am I? who the fuck are YOU?” But somewhere between you being a giant psycho and you telling everyone the wrong name I decided. This one. This one is definitely mine.”

“…”

“With your greasy mullet and your pajama top and your attitude.”

“…”

“Definitely all mine.”

Fuck.

“I think…”

“Yeah, Keith?”

“…I think it’s your turn to pick the show tonight.”

“Sure.”

....

.... .... ....

.... .... .... .... ....

When Keith does say he loves him it’s two cups in, Jenny’s number blowing up Lance’s phone, and from the comfort of Lance’s lap.

After the first half a dozen times he says it Lance kisses him so hard he can’t catch his breath. But he still says it hundreds of times that night. Desperate. Because the words really aren’t enough to convey what Lance really does to him. He cries the words against Lance’s lips time and time again. Says them into his neck when he’s buried his face there, trying to breath him in. Says them against his chest as if the closer proximity to his heart will mean something.

He says the stupid word so much it starts to sound synonymous to Lance’s name.

Lance doesn’t say them back.

Keith tells himself it’s because Lance is afraid of the same things he was. He’s afraid to feel things as strongly as Keith let himself that night. He tells himself that. Lance pursued him. Lance chose him. Lance wanted him.

Lance wouldn’t kiss him like that, hold him like that, make him feel like that if it didn’t mean something in the end.

That’s what he tells himself.

He doesn’t need the words. Because Lance’s actions speak for themselves.

And maybe this is the reality where Keith gets to be right.

And maybe this is the reality Jenny was just a being a good friend.

[voltronsmutt-blog]

Competition

Don’t know who the cosplayer is that used to make this “Aesthetic”  Might have small ester eggs of spoilers so carefully it kind of hinting stuff from season two of Voltron Legendary Defenders. Also Allura is kinda OC? (Idk I feel like I made her OC) and a bit of Shiro too but yeh please enjoy it's pretty sure but more are in the making Thanks -VS

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(Name) was captured by Voltron and interrogated thinking she worked for the other Galras but she wasn't really, her own parent did work for them. Her parents sacrificed their lives for her but Allura refused to believe and (Name) didn't care what the Altean had to say or think of her kind. But she did become good friends with the red paladin, and the leader of Voltron and the rest of team Voltron.

"(Name) Allura wanted to talk to you again" Keith sighed looking at her with sad eyes. "Hey I'll be fine if she wanted me dead she probably would have gotten one you guys to do it already" (Name) laughed it off as she walked past him. "(Name) please be careful... You're like a sister to me" Keith muttered clenching his fists. "Hey I promise I'll be back" she smiled ruffling his hair before she walked out of her room/cell. She arrived at another room where she thought Allura would be but was wrong when she saw Shiro. "... Shiro? Where's Allura?" She questioned. "She wanted me to interrogate you this time..." He cast his eyes to the floor. "You don't seem thrilled about it" she asked tilting her head to the side. "Why would I be thrilled?" He asked baffled "Uh...I'm Galra? I don't know" she complained "I just want to make sure you are telling the truth...I'm afraid Allura will be soon blinded by hate and do something to you" Shiro sighed. "I can take her, plus I know Voltron helps all those in need" she smiled at him. "(Name)...But when I'm asking you question can you please tell the truth" Shiro held a voice that sound like he was begging. It was true in her last few interrogations with the princess she lied, but it was because she was masked of pride she didn't want to speak to the (borderline) racist Altean. "Fine only because I trust you and you ain't racist like the bloody princess." (Name) snarled "Allura isn't a racist-" Shiro was cut mid sentence when (Name) gave him a stern look. "Okay maybe a little but you must understand that it's only natural to think that way if your whole species was whipped out by another race..." "Well I ain't like them, I'm me. I wouldn't hurt a damn bug" she glared "Well...You did kill this one bug-" "Shiro! That doesn't count" she yelled annoyed. Shiro only laughed at this finding it a little cute how the Galra acted, he found that she was no different to him and the others. "I know you didn't mean to kill it" he chuckled patting her shoulder. "Damn right I didn't mean to kill it" (Name) gave a small pout. "Now are you sure you are not working for Zarkon" Shiro said seriously looking in to her eyes. "No, if I was I am sure that they would have been here ages ago. Also you can look on the space network but I'm one of the most wanted" she held a prideful smirk on her face proud of the fact she was most wanted. "...are you being tracked?" he asked "once again no, if I was I'm sure Zarkon and his men would have kill you all, taken Voltron and killed me, wouldn't you agree?" she questioned him with a small smirk. "I suppose you have a point there... alright now what are you relations with the Galra empire?" Shiro looked at her with curiosity. "Honestly I hate the guy, Zarkon. He does nothing but kill, I mean he did kill my family. But my relationship with other Galras, I don't mind some but I will say this, when you meet another Galra don't reject him...he needs all the acceptances he can get" (Name) said seriously with the last bit empathising on him.

After many questions later Shiro brought her back to her room/cell and Allura was outside the room glaring at (Name). "You two were awfully taking a long time" she growled. "Oooo~ is someone jealous~" (Name) teased the Altean "Oh please don't even try, I highly doubt he would fall for a Galra like you" Allura glared "And I highly doubt he would fall for a Altean like you" (Name) smirked. Poor Shiro stood there in the female's feud, he just kept quiet and watched a part of him enjoyed the little argument. "Me? Excuse me but last time I check he's a human male and most likely likes women, you know females that are easy to identify as a women" Allura growled. "Grow up Allura, just because I can actually talk to men in general doesn't mean you have to act so immature" (Name) said still with a smirk on her face. "Immature? You started it, why would I be jealous of you" she glared. "?- Wait could it be? that after all this time we've known each other, is this a confession of your undying love for me? oh you are too kind princess" (Name) said with large sarcasm "Why you" Allura went to hit her but Shiro intervened. "Oooo~ saved by the Paladin" she mused watching Allura yelled in frustration and walk off "You diffidently enjoy annoying her, don't you?" Shiro sighed "I mean yeah, but I do that with people I'm comfortable with. I tease the boys all the time, heck even Pidge. Look it's just who I am...And I don't hate Allura, sometimes I wish I could but I can't" (Name) admitted. "And why's that?" Shiro walking with her in her room. "Well...I admire her greatly...I just wish she didn't hate me so much just because I'm Galra, and I hope he doesn't get treated like this too when the time comes." "(Name) you need to understand, she's still hurting give her some time" Shiro assured her but keeping in mind what she was mentioning by him.

"I know..." she sighed heavily "While you're opening up to me, mind telling me why you were teasing her before. Besides the fact for being comfortable around her? I'm sure there was something else in there" "Observant as ever Shiro" she chuckled. "Well it's clear that she has something for you, the way she looks at you at times is so obvious. And you also give her looks, but I find it hard to read what those looks mean, at time I think it's just admiration, but then at time it's hard to tell if there is any attraction you feel for her when you look at her" (Name) explained. "Attraction?" Shiro choked out with a small blush "Yeah you know Attraction but not like "oh yeah she looks pretty" or "hot" but like as in "I want to mate her" you get it?" she explained with no shame at all. "Mate?!" he was flabbergast "Yeah mating, you know it's what you humans call se-" "I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS!" he yelled embarrassed covering her mouth to keep her quiet. She stood there laughing her "ass" off as she saw the blushing Shiro. "Oh my quiznack, you so like her! Man I so need to hitch you two up. Hahaha I so need to tell Lance this" she laughed. "Lance? Why Lance?" Shiro's sounded a bit off like he was annoyed or threatened by the fact she was talking to Lance the biggest flirt. "Because he likes Allura, but then again he basically will love anything that is walking and or breathing alien or not" she laughed oblivious of Shiro's tone. "He likes you too then?" Shiro had scrunched up eyebrows. "Oh please I highly doubt he is attracted to me in any way, I'm not his type" her laugh died down a little "Not his type? You just said-" "I know what I said" she smiled softly but it was a sad one. "...You like Lance, don't you..." Shiro muttered looking at the floor. "He's a great kid, but as much as I love his personality and how open he is with with people in relationship wize, I don't feel like I'm compatible with him." She sighed. "Anyway you should get some rest I'm sure someone might need Voltron tomorrow...We don't want anyone getting hurt so... Goodnight Shiro" she smiled at him sitting on the bed in the room. "(Name)..." He sighed softly as he walked off. All these emotions flooded him and his thoughts, he didn't like the fact (Name) was giving half smiles and that she was talking about Lance. He knew Lance was a flirt and knows how open Lance is with relationships with other female aliens, he was seconded guessing what (Name) had said. She never told him a full answer of liking Lance and it annoyed him. He didn't want to lose to someone who was a flirt and who was and dare he think it...Younger than him.

[thespace-dragon]

Allllriiiiiggghhttt, knocked out the first prize for my fic give away!!! WHooo!! And of course I go overboard, because I have no freaking self-control, so here’s another 7k oneshot of fluff it was supposed to be 5k, dedicated to my dear friend and first prize winner @bluethisisforyou who wrote the amazing actor!au for klance called And, Action! Like seriously, if you haven’t read it, you need to, because damn is it amazing.

Loosely based off of these pieces of artwork by @cata-strophes : [1] [2] Seriously, they’re gorgeous and you should totally reblog those too!!

Summary: Lance didn't know what he was looking for, and he wasn't really searching either. But then Keith had to come and remind him. And boy, did he.

Word Count: 7290 (leave me alone idk what happened)

AO3

Lance stretched and took a deep breath. Fuck, it was nice to be out of the castle for like the first time in months. He hadn't even waited for the others to head out when they touched down. He'd been stir crazy for the past week and he was so done with being on that ship.

The planet they landed on was amazing. The sky was a clear crystalline blue, and the ground was a slate gray, typically boring but it was the flora and fauna that made up for the colors. It was a menagerie of color and everything practically glowed. Flowers stood as tall as him, basking in the sunlight and spilling more light off of their petals; trees stood even taller, their limbs stretching high above, laden with fruits and vines. The grass was light green and it had a mossy texture under Lance’s feet.

Slowly the rest of the team followed up out. Lance stood out in the middle of the area they landed in, face turned up to the sky, enjoying the feeling of sunlight on his skin.

“Woah, this place is… wow,” Hunk breathed.

It was wow. Everything was so lush and green, it reminded Lance of the rain forests back home.

He spun around and beamed. “Isn’t it? I can’t wait to go exploring! Like, do you guys see this? The plants are practically glowing, and – and the sky! It’s just like Earth’s!” He ran around gesturing at the plants and pointing to the sky.

Shiro watched with a bemused smile, and Pidge was grumbling something about it just being bioluminescence. Hunk smiled enthusiastically back at him, walking closer to examine the plants. Lance saw Keith cross his arms and look around. Allura and Coran were standing behind the group, watching them all react to the planet they landed on. The princess was smiling, albeit sadly. Coran placed a hand on her shoulder, reassuring her.

Lance remembered Allura and Coran telling them about the planet they were on. It was had no signals of intelligent life currently, even though there had been before Zarkon attacked. But this had been a vacation spot for Allura and her father long before the lions existed.

Lance couldn’t keep the smile off of his face, it felt too good to be off the ship. Hunk waved Pidge over, asking her to check out the flowers he was looking at. Each time he touched their petals, they glowed brighter. It was like the whole planet couldn’t contain itself and lit itself from within.

“I’m gonna go explore guys, who's joining me?" Lance turned to Hunk, his go-to partner, to see him smiling sheepishly and scratching the back of his head.

“Sorry, man, but after fighting off all the Galra, I just wanna sit still for a while.” Everyone had bags under their eyes from the constant amount of stress, yet the exhaustion that they should all be feeling was lost on Lance.

Lance laughed, “Don’t worry, bro, I get you. Anyone else?”

Pidge ignored him, completely absorbed in how the plants worked, the gears turning in her head as she mulled over why all of the plants emitted their own light.

When no one said anything, Lance shrugged. “Alrighty then, guess I’ll go by myself then.” He turned to go. Exploring by himself was going to be fun either way.

“Wait, Lance. You should take someone with you, we don’t know what’s out there,” Shiro reasoned. He looked ready to take a nap and Lance knew that Shiro needed rest more than any of them.

Lance pouted. “Well, no one seems to wanna go-”

“I’ll go.”

Lance gaped at him. Since when was Keith willing to spend time with him? It wasn’t like they spent time together on the ship outside of training and battles. Sure, they formed Voltron plenty of times by now, and they were a pretty tight knit group, but yeah, Keith never went out of his way to spend time with Lance.

Plus, there was the whole rivalry thing they had going. What was this going to do to that dynamic?

“Okay, so Keith will go with you.”

Both boys looked at each other and back to Shiro. Lance was shocked. Didn’t Shiro see the way he and Keith almost never got along? Like ever? He glanced at Keith and he just looked uninterested, almost bored. What the fuck?

“Haha, Shiro, Keith doesn’t have to come with me, I’ll be fine on my own,” Lance argued. He could already see how well that was going to go. Him and Keith crawling through the forest that surrounded them, most likely getting nowhere since they would be arguing about which way to go too much to actually go anywhere.

“Lance, you really should-”

Keith shrugged and stepped up next to Lance. “Don’t worry about it, Shiro. I’ll go.”

Shiro and Keith shared a look. Lance narrowed his eyes and looked between the two. What were they trying to tell each other? Shiro almost looked somewhere between proud and worried. Worried should have been the first thing Shiro should have felt because Lance was certain that this was going to be a disaster.

After a few moments and a slight shake of his head, Keith turned to Lance and gestured to the forest. “Which way are we going?”

Lance blinked, mind blanking for just a moment before he turned on a whim and walked a random direction. "This way seems the most interesting."

He could practically hear Keith roll his eyes, but the footsteps following him gave Lance the green light to keep forging ahead. They walked into the forest, disappearing in a flash of light as they brushed past glowing ferns and bushes.

The forest was dense, almost no light penetrating through the thick canopy of leaves high above their heads. The trees sucked up all the sunlight they could and the vines drooped from tree limbs, winding their way to the ground in some fashion. They created a network of veins that transferred the light gathered from the trees all the way down to the ground, were more plants gathered around the bases of each tree, clamoring for what light they could get to.

“Woah,” Lance breathed, stopping and staring at everything. He almost couldn’t take it all in.

Keith peeked over his shoulder and huffed, “It’s like that Avatar movie.”

“What movie?” Lance side eyed him and started to move farther into the forest.

“You know, that one movie with the giant blue aliens?”

Lance waved him off. “That movie is like crazy old, what are you doing watching it?”

Keith made an indignant noise. “It was a good movie!”

First the cryptids and conspiracy theories, now this. What other weird things was he going to bring up?

“Yeah, and no one remembered it.” Lance stepped over a fallen sapling. It was covered in more glowing plants, and as he brushed by them, they lit up.

Keith scrambled after him. “But you remembered it.”

He stopped and turned, crossing his arms. “Give me one detailed scene.”

Keith stumbled to a stop opened his mouth before shutting it again. Lance smirked triumphantly and Keith simply scowled at him. He shoved past Lance, ignoring the way Lance kept smirking at him. Lance wasn’t going to let that go now, he was going to be hearing about it for the next week if he was lucky.

The farther they went into the forest, the more colorful it became. Lights were everywhere, pulsing soothingly, blinking in and out, or flashing in patterns. It was so much to take in, Lance felt like he had to force himself to watch where Keith was going or else he was going to trip over something. The biggest surprise he found was that there were no animals. He could only hear the wind rustling the leaves high above him and their soft footfalls. Nothing was dry, the ground wasn’t littered with leaves like the forests back on Earth. It was covered in the moss-like grass that covered nearly everything else.

Both boys walked in silence after that. Keith leading the way and Lance staring open-mouthed at everything. The air was humid, and the longer they walked in some aimless direction, the more their clothes began to stick to them. Lance could feel sweat run down the back of his neck. His collar was sticky and he yanked it away from him every once and while to let some fresher air in. Keith wasn't fairing much better, pulling at his shirt repeatedly. The back of it and it clung to him, showing Lance exactly how each muscle moved and how strong Keith looked.

Fucking-

Lance looked away, he could feel the blush creeping up on his cheeks and he was glad he was behind Keith. Now was not the time to start thinking about his rivalry-crush situation.

The trees were starting to thin out, and the glow from all the plants was less visible. Lance was still off in his own little world, wrestling the emotions he thought he beat down a long time ago. He couldn't pursue anything with Keith. They were teammates and teammates who often did mind-melding exercises. Lance shuddered. Just the thought of Keith finding out about his little (read: gigantic) crush on him would be the end of him. Goodbye, Lance, it was nice knowing you.

He stumbled and collided into Keith’s back. His nose smarted.

“Dude, what the hell?” he asked, rubbing his nose.

He peered around Keith’s shoulder and the sight…

Both of them stared in awe, mouths open as they peered out of the forest.

They stood on top of a cliff, and it was open to mountains, and valleys that flowed with water. All the ground was carpeted in green, and the water sparkled in the sunlight. It was straight out of a storybook – or movie in Keith's case. The world was overflowing with plant-life, each and every single leaf glowing, and Lance couldn't believe that there was a place this beautiful in the universe.

A waterfall roared to their left, pouring over the side of the cliff, the mist floating in the air. It sparkled and glittered and the water was a bright blue, reflecting the same color as the sky. If they were actually in a movie, the background music would be really epic right now.

Lance stepped around Keith and just stared. Neither of them could find words for what this place looked like.

“Hey… do you think James Cameron knew about this place when he made that movie?” Keith whispered

“Keith! What the hell man, moment ruined!” Lance scoffed and started walking along the edge, towards the water. Maybe there was a stream somewhere. He needed a drink.

“It’s a serious question! This place is like straight out of the movie!”

Keith followed along behind him, bouncing questions off of Lance and Lance rebuffing them. It’s not like he’s seen the movie a dozen times like Keith had. He was more into the old Disney and Dreamworks classics than the sci-fi films he caught Keith and Pidge watching on occasion. Like How to Train Your Dragon and Moana were great movies, there was no telling Lance otherwise.

They walked to the edge of the waterfall, the water rushing past them and dropping off the edge. Even this close, when the water would have been white and foamy on earth, it was still that clear blue. The gleam that Lance could see in the river thousands of feet below them wasn’t as prominent with the water moving this fast, but it was still there. It was strange to see water that held its color versus water simply reflected its surroundings.

“Do you think that there’s cave system in there?” Lance called out over the water.

“Why would you want to go in there?” Keith looked mildly concerned that Lance wanted to go further. The sun hadn’t come close to the horizon yet, so they still had time to kill.

“C’mon, pretty boy, let’s go spelunking.” Lance grinned and immediately turned towards the waterfall.

God fucking dammit, he just called Keith “pretty boy”. Pretty boy. Pretty boy. Who was he? Some high schooler with a crush on the football captain? Okay… in this situation, yeah he basically was. Way to go, Lance, he probably thinks you’re a creep now.

When Lance reached the waterfall, there was a small ledge that ran along the side. It led upstream of the roaring water and the water got brighter and brighter the deeper Lance looked into the cave. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Keith was right behind him, a weird look on his face, but it wasn’t anything new. Lance said some weird shit all the time and the look on Keith’s face just said he chalked it up to that.

He started to edge along the outcropping, keeping his back to the face of the cliff and the wall of the cave by extension. It was slow going, and the cave quickly blocked out all of the sunlight that was pouring into the valley, same as the waterfall. But with the luminescent water flowing mere feet away underneath of them, it wasn’t hard to see at all. The cave wall actually glittered back, moss clinging to the walls. Together, he and Keith left a slowly fading trail of light as they worked their way farther into the cave.

By now, they were gradually finding themselves heading deeper underground. Literally, the path they were on was degrading and soon enough Lance could no longer see the entrance of the cave. The majority of the water had turned away from them, but there was a stream that the ledge followed.

“Lance, do you have any idea where we are going?” Keith hissed from behind him.

Lance looked at him, and if it weren't for the deep-seated curiosity he was following right now, he would have stopped. Keith looked honestly scared, but something was pulled Lance deeper. It… he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but whatever was pulling him farther into the cave, felt a lot like the same pull his lion had on him. He couldn't just not keep going, he had to find out what it was.

"No, not really, but that's the whole point of exploring Keith," he reassured. "Besides, all we gotta do when we’re done here is follow our lions.”

Keith didn’t look convinced but he nodded and waved Lance to keep going.

Minutes passed, and then an hour, and they were still walking along the path. The water was their own source of light. Everything was coated in a soft blue glow, almost the same shade as the blue crystals the Alteans used to power their systems. The force that was guiding Lance was a lot stronger now than it was the last time Keith had spoken up, and the fact that they hadn’t come across anything was making him worried. Worried that whatever was down here was something they couldn’t get away from. But at the same time, he couldn’t stop. He had to keep going.

They kept walking. Lance was getting antsy now. They hadn't found anything, but he didn't want to give Keith the satisfaction of going back on his word. He was going to find what was down here.

The tunnel opened up and boys found them faced with a pool of glowing water. Moss clung to the wall, glittering like jewels. There were even some crystals or gems embedded in the ceiling, imitating a starry sky above them.

“This is…” Keith trailed off.

“Beautiful,” Lance finished, but he wasn’t looking at the cave.

Keith nodded, eyes wide and staring at everything. The light from the water lit him from underneath, reverse highlighting the planes of his face. In this light, his eyes were imperceptibly dark, almost black. They shined with wonder and Lance had to quell the urge to grab onto his hand. Worst case he wanted to kiss him and make it so he was the reason why those eyes were filled with wonder.

Dammit, Lance, get a hold of yourself. He was your teammate; you can’t do that.

Lance tore his eyes way from Keith and started to edge closer to the water. The air down here was wet, but not like the air outside where it was heavy and thick. Here was refreshing and clear, almost cool.

He walked to the edge and knelt, dipping his hand into the water. It was surprisingly warm and it lit up around him. When he pulled his hand out, the water continued to glow brighter before swirling and dissipating.

“So, this whole planet glows, even the water. What’s next, a purple sun?”

“Purple suns don’t exist,” Keith deadpanned.

Lance stood up and turned to him. “Uh huh, just like water isn’t supposed to glow.”

Keith rolled his eyes and started making his way back to the entrance of the cave. “C’mon, we found out what was down here, we should probably head back.”

"You're just scared of the dark," Lance huffed but followed anyways.

The trek out of the cave and back to the castle was decidedly shorter than how long it took them to get to the cave in the first place. Everyone was gathered around a campfire, Hunk barbecuing some of the fleshier plants for dinner.

“How was exploring?” Shiro asked when both of them found seats around the fire.

They shared a look and shrugged. Lance didn’t want to share the cave, it felt like it was their place, their discovery. Something private between him and Keith. And Keith seemed to think the same thing, keep his expression neutral as he talked about the forest. Not once mentioning the cave or waterfall.

“Hey, Allura. What exactly is this place?” Lance asked. “Everything is all glowy and there isn’t anything but plants here. What’s the deal?”

Allura looked up at the sky, the beginnings of the sunset showing in its strange green to purple gradient. “There used to be life here, but the people never built anything.”

The team looked at her, not really comprehending how a civilization could exist without leaving anything behind.

“What do you mean, Princess?”

She turned her gaze to Shiro, a fond smile on her face. “The Iv’An was a race of people who lived off the forest, never taking more than they needed. And in return, the forest gave them what they needed. It was a symbiotic relationship of sorts. The Iv’An kept the forest from over growing and the forest allowed them to live then the trees, growing specifically for them as shelter.”

“So where did they all go?” Pidge asked, a flower in her hands. It was dimly lit, not near as brilliant as it used to be when it was still in the ground. “There aren’t any signs of the Galra here, but all the Iv’An are gone.”

“Well, we can safely assume that the Galra must have come here to conquer and were run off by the forest,” Coran provided. “The Iv’An were a peaceful race, and must not have stood a chance against an army such as Zarkon’s.”

“So they were wiped out?”

Coran nodded. “Our records are ten thousand years old, but their absence must mean exactly that. Normally they would have greeted us by now if they were here.”

Pidge went back to play with the flower, rolling the stem between her fingers and twirling it. The rest of the team was silent, mourning the loss of a race they would never have the chance to meet.

The quiet didn’t last long, Hunk’s food finishing and they all enjoyed conversation about everyone’s day. Complimenting Hunk’s cooking, and pestering Pidge with questions about what she learned from the plant life. Lance and Keith kept quiet about their day, the silent agreement that the cave was something to be cherished between them. Even if nothing happened besides the discovery of the glowing pool, Lance still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was supposed to go back there. With Keith. He couldn’t understand it. It was if the pool forced his feelings to the surface, that the reason why it existed was sacred and wanted him to speak up.

But he couldn’t.

He was scared of upsetting the team dynamic, that if he did ever confess to Keith that he would just be rejected. And yeah, it would hurt, but it would force him to move on. That was something he could do. Move on. Even if he would be on the same team with Keith for the rest of his life till this war was over, he could deal with that. Then go back to earth and keep living his life.

Still, he was tempted to through his concerns to the wind and go for it.

He was sitting by the fire, and the pull of the cave was there. And if Lance really dug into it, he could feel Blue pushing him to go there, encouraging him to take Keith with him. Was it really that important for both of them to go?

Soon enough, the food was gone, and the stars were out. The fire still burned, coating them in a warm glow. Lance looked around the fire, noting how everyone looked relaxed and content for the first time they started this journey together. It had been one thing after another when they found the blue lion and jumped through the wormhole. His eyes fell on Keith and his heart nearly stopped.

It wasn’t fair that Keith could look good in any lighting. The damn pool made him look blue and ethereal. Now sitting here in the orange light of the fire, he looked like a blasted angel. Lance could feel himself falling deeper down the rabbit hole known as his crush on Keith. And it wasn’t fair. Keith was amazing at everything and he was just Lance. How could he compete with that? How could he even think he had a chance?

Despite the otherworldly force trying to drag him back to the cave, Lance turned in with everyone else, heading to bed. The feeling in his chest wouldn’t go away and he just hoped that he could work it out by the next morning. They all went to bed, the doors to their rooms swishing closed.

Lance fell face first into his bed and groaned. He really needed to get his feelings in order, but they were so intense, so in his face, that there was no ignoring them. He couldn’t just let it go, and really that’s all he wanted. He just wanted to forget about his feelings for Keith and have everything go back to normal. But nothing about this was normal. He was fighting giant purple aliens for fuck’s sake. How is that in any way considered normal?

Lance sighed and turned over to stare at his ceiling. Maybe he should just be honest. Get his feelings out there and in the open. And make Keith decide. If anything, he could just go back to being frenemies with Keith and all will be good between them. But if Keith accepted him… what then?

“Why the fuck does this have to be so hard?”

He flipped over onto his side, facing the wall, trying to force himself to sleep.

But he was too high strung to even try to sleep. His mind kept going back to the cave, Keith staring around them in awe, Keith glowing in the firelight.

Fuck, he really had it bad.

Sleep wasn’t going to come anytime soon. Not with this inner turmoil.

Lance got out of bed and grabbed his swim trunks. He was going to figure out what was up with that pool. He slipped on a t-shirt and his sneakers.

He poked his head out of his room and just caught the signs of Keith ducking around the corner. Not wasting a moment, he ran to catch up.

"Keith! Where are you going?" he hissed as he caught up, grabbing the other boy's shoulder and pulling him to a stop.

Keith looked slightly dazed but snapped his focus to Lance. "You feel it too right? The energy?"

So Lance hadn’t been the only one feeling that.

“Yeah, were you going to check it out too?”

Keith nodded and started walking again. This was a little weird, but he couldn’t sleep. He might as well do something productive. Even if it was with Keith.

They exited the castle and immediately made their way into the forest. Everything was alight, glowing. It was like they were on the Las Vegas strip, lights everywhere. The sky was filled with the light reflecting off the nearby planet, coating everything in a purple haze. Again, Lance was struck by how good Keith looked in any lighting.

The other boy was leading the way, forging ahead in the forest. They left a blazing trail, all the plants they brushed past lighting up and slowly fading away. Lance felt like he was just floating through a dream, none of this was real, and he was just along for the ride. Vines glowed a bright green, ferns were highlighted with soft purples and pinks. The moss glittered a light blue. Every flower they passed was a different color, ranging from reds to purples to blues and to yellows. It was beautiful. And the way the colors splashed all over Keith took Lance’s breath away.

They found the cliff and turned to the raging waterfall, no longer hesitating to take in the sights of the valley below like before, but Lance still cast a glance over the side. It was lit from the river below, making him think that they entered some other dimensions. Lights were everywhere, blinking and flickering. It was entrancing.

The water blocked out everything and they were in the cave. Keith was plowing ahead, Lance close on his heels. The pull was magnetic, and they couldn’t resist it. Caution was thrown to the wind, their footsteps hurried. With as fast as they were going, it was a wonder that they hadn’t slipped yet.

Minutes later they were confronting the pool again. The blue light filled the whole cavern and Lance was struck by its beauty. He kept thinking that this was something out of a story, a movie, something that wasn’t reality. But they were lightyears away from home, lost in the middle of the universe, staring at something that was obviously real before them. Being this far away from home and on a planet that literally glowed with life, anything was possible.

Lance wasted no time shucking off his shoes and tearing his shirt off. He was down to his swim trunks and dove right in with a graceful dive.

That water was warm, and when he surfaced, everything was glowing. There was a three-foot ring around him where the water was shades brighter than the rest. There was no bottom and he was treading water. The energy that he had been feeling all night was gone, the water soaking it up.

He turned back to the ledge. Keith was just staring at him, stars in his eyes. His mouth had dropped open and it looked like he had just seen Lance for the first time.

Lance smiled and waved him in. “Dude, jump in!”

Keith shook himself out of his stupor and undressed himself to his trunks and slid in, not nearly as enthusiastic as Lance had been. Keith kept his head about water as he swam over to where Lance was in the middle. The water was just as bright around him as it was around Lance.

For the umpteenth time that night, Lance realized he was so head over heels for this boy.

Keith looked around. “The feeling’s gone…”

He was right. Lance glanced up at the high ceiling of the cavern, anything to look away from Keith. “Yeah, it’s weird, I almost feel-”

“Empty.”

“Yeah, that.”

They treaded water for a few moments. More emotions were being pulled to the surface. And it wasn't even as if Keith had done anything to show off, but Lance just felt…inferior.

He swam away from Keith, just putting some distance between them. He flipped to float along on his back, staring at the gems and moss kaleidoscope above them. The feelings were roiling within him, and the longer he tried to suppress them the more overbearing they became.

Eventually, he spoke. "Do you think we are all going to make it?"

He heard Keith turn quickly in the water, creating small waves that lapped at Lance’s sides. “What do you mean?”

"I don't know, but it's been bugging me for a while." He kept his gaze away from Keith. "Like, do you ever get the feeling that you weren't cut out for this? That – that maybe you were in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

Keith was silent, but Lance could feel his eyes on him, but he refused to look at him. He knew that Keith was going to look down on him with pity.

“I… yeah, sometimes.”

Keith’s voice was so quiet that Lance almost missed it. He sat up in the water, tilting his head to keep water from getting trapped in his ears.

“You, Keith Kogane, don’t think you belong here?”

Keith shrugged, not looking at Lance. “Never really felt like I belonged anywhere. Just been…I’ve been letting fate decide where I go for me.”

“Y’know that’s like the opposite what the Red Lion chose you for, right?”

Keith shot him a sharp glare, but it didn’t last long. His dark eyes turned up to the ceiling. “I know, but I trust my instincts. If it feels right, I go for it.”

Lance hummed. Either way, Keith was following his instincts, it just wasn’t as fiery as Lance originally thought. Keith had that same look on his face he had when they were all in his shack. It screamed ‘lost’ and Lance felt that right down to his soul.

“If it makes you feel better, you’re not the only one.”

Keith stayed quiet and Lance felt the need to fill the silence.

“Like, I’m just a cargo pilot if we think about it. I’m only here because you dropped out and Shiro crash landed on earth. Iverson was like one day away from demoting me back to cargo class after that last simulation.”

“You’re more than just a ‘cargo pilot’, Lance. Blue didn’t choose you just because you were a convenience.”

“Most days, I would believe you but…” Lance found the words stuck in his throat. Now wasn’t the time.

Keith seemed to understand what he meant. “But sometimes it’s hard to believe that.”

It was happening anyway.

“Yeah, and like, really what I want is to be able to make it home and just find someone who accepts me for me, ya know? Like the team is great, but we’re forced to be together because of Zarkon and what not. But once this is over, what next?”

God, where was all this coming from? What was in the water, was it some kind of truth serum?

Lance watched Keith as he mulled his words over. This was the first time he really seemed to take Lance's words to heart. He was finding out that Keith wasn't the head-strong boy fighting the training bots, he was someone who was quiet, and actually considerate if Lance thought about it hard enough. Like the time he told them it was an honor flying with them, only a day after finding his lion and forming Voltron. His was a quiet reassurance, not loud and boisterous like Lance was.

“I don’t know what will be next,” Keith said eventually. “For all we know, we could go back to earth after this.”

“What would you want to do after this?” Lance asked. He was genuinely curious, and Keith seemed to be open for this conversation, even if they both didn’t know the answers as to what was ahead of them.

“Probably something just…just like this.” Keith struggled with his words. “I just want to find someone who’s going to accept me for me, not as the red paladin, not as the top Garrison pilot who ended up dropping out for punching Iverson in the face. He was wrong about Shiro and he tried to hide it.” The fire was back and Lance felt his heart fall a little Shiro’s name, but Keith kept going, the words falling out his mouth. “I like the peace and quiet, and this is something that I wouldn’t mind doing every day.”

“What? Floating around in a glowing pool on an abandoned alien planet?” Lance laughed.

Keith rolled his eyes, grinning anyways. “Okay, so not exactly like this, but you know, like this. Relaxing.”

“Yeah I get you, man, was just messing.”

Keith chuckled. “But what about you, though?”

Lance tamped down the urge to say anywhere with you, Keith and turned the conversation away. “Pretty much the same thing as you, but with my family in there somewhere if they’re still around after this. Time on earth and in space is just weird and I never really know how much time has really gone by between us and home.” He was toeing the line of dangerous territory now.

Keith side-eyed him and swam back to the ledge. He hauled himself out of the water and turned to sit, leaving his feet on the water. Lance swam after him, but stayed in, pillowing his head in his arms. He let his legs float in the water. They were quiet, Keith staring at the water and Lance at the wall.

"Would… would you still keep in touch with all of us afterward?"

Lance looked up at Keith, his cheeks dark in the blue light. What was Keith getting at here?

“Well, I mean, yeah. You guys are like a second family to me. I wouldn’t just drop you guys just because the war is over and everything.”

Keith was quiet. Lance didn’t really know what to say after that. The weird feeling from the water had died down, but Keith looked troubled. His emotions were battling it out on his face, eyes flashing before settling on something between determination and resignation.

“I know we’re a team…” he began.

Oh god.

“…but do you – do you think that maybe…”

Fuck.

“…that some of us could be more than just teammates?”

Lance short-circuited. He could feel his brain kick into high gear and leave everything behind. His mouth opened and shut multiple times, strangled and unintelligible words fall out of it.

Did…did… Keith…?

Keith was stubbornly looking away from him, shoulders pinched up to his ears and his head ducked down. His hair was in his face, eyes in shadow. But with the light from the water, Lance could see they were shut tight like he was trying to ward off Lance's inevitable rejection.

Yet… Lance couldn’t fathom someone like Keith ever…

Lance turned his head away, looking at the wall. He could feel his emotions threatening to spill over, he really didn’t want to cry in front of Keith, but he wasn’t a person that Keith deserved. “I don’t know why anyone from the team would want to, though. I’m loud and obnoxious, my ideas are crazy. My mind is everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and all I do is crack jokes to get the attention off of my mistakes. I’m a fuck up. It’s as simple as that.”

Keith turned and kicked him in the side. “You are not a fuck up, Lance.”

“But-”

“No, shut up, just listen to me.” Keith glared down at him and Lance shut up. “You aren’t a fuck up. Making mistakes is just part of learning and you haven’t made one since you trying to kick the orb thing from the first robeast we fought. You saved Coran from a bomb. Those jokes you make keep us from thinking too much about how much of a disadvantage we are at. You keep us from getting stuck in our own heads. You’re observant, quick on your feet, and you keep a level head in tight situations. And you keep this team together when it really counts. We need you…”

And then much quieter. “…I need you.”

Lance's heart stopped and started again, painfully. Keith really felt that way about him, he really saw that in him? This whole time he thought the team tolerated him, that he didn't actually benefit that team in any way…

“Do you – do you really think that?”

Keith slipped into the water, getting eye-level with him. “Would I have said so if I didn’t?”

Lance scoffed. "For all I know, you could be messing with me and this is all some type of prank-"

Keith grabbed his shoulders and spun him around, his back against the ledge. His eyes were on fire, defiant.

“Lance, I would never lie to you about something like this.”

Lance gulped and stared back at Keith, eyes wide.

“Yeah, but Hunk does all the same things I do… we’re both the legs of Voltron…”

The grip on his shoulders tightened and Keith looked away, gathering himself before turning back to Lance. His eyes were softer, brighter even.

“Lance, you’re important,” Keith muttered. “I mean that.”

“…Really?”

“Really.”

Lance felt tears prick his eyes. He shut them and turned his face away from Keith. Fuck, he told himself that he wasn’t going to cry in front of Keith. Dammit, since when did Keith have this much power over him? He felt like putty, letting Keith's words mold him.

"But… you deserve something - someone more than…" He couldn't say it. He blinked away tears.

Keith pulled him into a hug, his chin tucking itself over her shoulder. “I don’t care what you think. I don’t need a superhero or anything like that. I’m not looking for a fairy tale, Lance. I’m looking for something real, someone I can turn to…someone I can hold on to.”

Lance wrapped his arms around Keith and buried his face into his shoulder. “Yeah, but I’m still not…”

Keith pulled back. He lifted Lance’s face up, hands caressing his cheeks. “To me you are.”

God, this was really happening. Lance felt a shaky breath leave him before Keith was there, forehead touching his, his fingers playing the hair on the back of his neck. Lance closed his eyes and breathed him. The water smelled sweet, and it made a heady mix with Keith’s own scent.

“Keith, I…” Why couldn’t he find works? He always had words, why was it so hard now?

The other boy never let him finish. He gently tipped Lance’s head and their lips met.

And Lance melted.

One hand came up to tilt Keith’s head further, letting him deepen the kiss; his other wrapping around his waist and pulling him flush against Lance. He never dreamed that he would actually get to kiss Keith, or even that Keith wanted to kiss him. It was still tentative, Keith was letting Lance lead, but their lips were still sealed closed against each other.

Then Keith was pulling away, breaking the kiss. The boys looked at each other, shocked that this was happening. One blink and they were kissing again. More desperate, hungry even. One of Keith’s hands left Lance’s face to reach behind them and grab ahold of the ledge, keeping them floating away in the water.

Lance licked Keith’s bottom lip, drawing it into his mouth and sucking gently. He felt Keith shudder against him. It was the only warning he got before Keith’s tongue was dancing with his own and his hips were grinding against Lance. He moaned into the kiss, relishing the way Keith took the lead from him. He bucked his hips forward to meet Keith and the other boy practically growled at the friction they created.

Lance tore away, gasping for breath, but Keith wasn’t done. He started to kiss down Lance’s neck, pausing to suckle gently on his pulse point.

“Keith…” Fuck was that him?

Keith hummed, but he refused to leave Lance’s skin alone. He guided his chin up, giving him more access.

“Are you… hhh, are you sure we should-”

Keith pulled away and look Lance in the eye, his own dilated and nearly black. “Lance, remember what I said about following my instincts?”

Lance blinked dumbly. “You really want to do this? But what about the team?”

“They already knew, Lance. You’re actually really terrible at hiding your feelings.” Keith smirked. “The whole team knew by the first day.”

Lance groaned, tipping his head back. “That’s fucking great…”

Keith chuckled. He tipped Lance’s head back up. He was smiling gently, cupping Lance’s cheek.

“It’s okay, no one was bothered by it.”

Lance scrunched his face up and looked away. “Doesn’t make it any less embarrassing,” he muttered.

The boy in his arms turned his face to look at him again. Lance was stubborn and refused to look at Keith, a blush high on his cheeks.

“Lance, look at me.”

He took a deep breath and looked at Keith. Keith was still smiling gently and he was still cupping Lance’s face, his thumb stroking across his cheekbone. The water around them was bright, brighter than it had been before the kiss.

“I’m not judging you for liking me, really I’m not. You’re an amazing person, someone that I admire. You’re charismatic and you show everyone that you care, which is something that I’m still working on. You’re amazing, Lance, and… and I want to be with you.”

Honestly, if Lance’s brain wasn’t fried, it certainly was now. Keith. Keith, the red paladin, the top pilot at the Garrison, Keith mcfreaking Kogane, wanted to be with him.

“I’m not dreaming am I?”

Keith chuckled and shook his head. “As real as you being the blue paladin.”

“Then I’ve died, right?”

“You’re an idiot,” Keith muttered, rolling his eyes and leaning forward to kiss him again.

Lance hummed and pressed back. He felt lighter, lighter than he ever had before. Not when he was accepted into the Garrison, not when Blue chose him in the cave in the middle of the desert. This was it. This was the peak. The epitome to his existence because this, this was what he wanted, needed even.

Keith pulled away, just enough to ghost over Lance’s lips, their noses touching and foreheads resting on each other’s.

“So, I take it that you really are serious about liking me.”

“Do I need to kiss you again to prove it?”

Lance smiled, slow and steady till it was blinding. "No, I believe you now. What do you think? We head back to the castle?"

Keith huffed his own smile on his lips – those soft and gentle lips. "Tired already?"

"Hah you wish, samurai." Lance tightened his arms around Keith. "But I wouldn't mind cuddling all night if that's ok with you?"

Keith nuzzled Lance’s cheek. “I would love that, let’s go.”

He pushed away from Lance and climbed out of the pool. The glowing had spread halfway across its surface. When Lance turned to follow Keith, the pool immediately dimmed, returning to its original level before either of them were in it. Both of them used their shirts to dry off enough to slip on their shoes. Next thing they knew, they were leaving the cave hand in hand, and grinning like children as they walked back through the forest.

Turns out, Lance actually was looking for something just like this.