#lotor week day 1: abandoned

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Lotura Week 2024: Day 1, Fairytales and Mythology

The Jinni in the Bottle

Rated: T

Lotor sits upon the beach, the waves crashing over his bare calves as he holds the strange bottle in his trembling hands. Behind him, makeshift living quarters out of his prison pod gleam in the three suns. “Come on,” he breathes desperately.

His lavender skin is darkened from many days of little shade, his skin scarred from grappling with the sharp bark of the planet’s trees and the fanged sharks of the waters.

“I sense the power within,” he says. His voice carries an unsteady edge as he struggles to open the bottle. “Perhaps you are a lost belonging of other previously stranded souls on this gods-forsaken planet. A civilization like mine that knew quintessence.”

He has grown fond of speaking to inanimate objects. The nearby rock structure is now named Varzax, and the bottle itself is quickly cruising toward a name of its own.

(But if he cannot open the bottle, he may end up naming it Annoying.)

With his Galran strength, he crunches the metal top and wrenches it away, tossing it into the tide. But as he peers into the bottle, instead of seeing a Balmeran crystal or other quintessence-based artifact, all that flies in his face is pink smoke.

Lotor coughs, then his eyes widen as the smoke storms out more intentionally.

The next thing he knows, a warm and hard body slams him down into the tide, lithe figures crunching in on his throat.

His claws protract.

He swings to attack his strange new opponent—only for another hand to slam his arm down above his head, splashing the water hard.

Lotor stares up into purple and blue eyes from a beautiful, feminine face as soft thighs press against his hips.

His cracked lips drop open as his cheeks flame.

(Surely, he has lost his mind.)

The woman’s white curls tumble down her shoulders, her flowing shirt and pants glittering with royal finery. “A Galran,” she hisses, alto voice twisted in fear and hatred. “With the eyes of Zarkon. You must be of his blood.” She looks up in paranoia. “Are there more of you?”

Lotor struggles for words as the magical woman holds him down, the tide washing over them. “Ah,” he says in mild disbelief. “Apologies, I’ve only had conversation with rocks as of late. I thought you’d be a stone, a fragment of quintessence.” With a wily move and twist of his unnatural joints, he slips his wrist away from her sharp grip, only to pat her face. “And you are far too tangible to be a hallucination.”

She sputters against his fingers, jerking her face away.

With a huff, she grabs for his hand and forces it back down. “I am no hallucination,” she declares haughtily. “Emperor Zarkon imprisoned me in that cursed bottle after overrunning my planet, and I have sworn to annihilate his blood for it.”

A little at a time, Lotor’s sun-addled mind catches up with the blush across his face. “A jinni,” he whispers. “That is what you are. A demon who must grants wishes for the one who releases you.”

The magical being holding him down tilts her head, her eyes swirling with the power of entire universes.

Her lips quiver. “And you are blood of Zarkon.”

Lotor huffs at her, half-amused. “Are you to kill me then, or will you grant me a wish as the one who has freed you?” He searches her eyes. “Admittedly, a death by your hand would be far lovelier compared to life on this planet.”

Water crashes against her, spinning her white curls as she sits in the water beside him. “Is that a wish, then?”

Lotor sits up, rubbing his abused throat. His face remains flushed by the memory of her heat upon him. “No. I wish only to know your name.”

The word wish revs up the power that emanates from her, of its own accord.

She hesitates before whispering, “Allura.”

He leans his elbows on his knees, not quite caring that he sits in his underclothes before her, having long lost his shame. “Why did my father also abandon you here to die forgotten, Allura? I wish to know it.”

Allura grows more apprehensive the more he uses the word wish. “I was a princess once,” she says, voice halted. “When he—when he invaded, I…gave up my mortal life in exchange for great power. But it came at great cost and with unusual weaknesses.”

Lotor searches her face again. “Yes, jinnis are easily captured and manipulated, according to legend.” His head tilts. “And yet also devious and wily."

She scoots away from him, as if suddenly realizing he is a man. “You will not wish for me to perform any sordid acts for you, son of Zarkon,” she demands in fear. "For the legends are true that jinnis make many regret their wishes."

He quirks an eyebrow at her.

And then tiredly, he leans his long arms on his knees and says, “Allura of the Djinn, I release you of the conditions that bind you to me. Your presence alone has given me my heart’s desire, which is simply to hear a voice besides my own.”

In that moment, the universe resettles around her, markings upon her face and arms lighting a bright pink before softening once more. She closes her eyes, her throat tightening with deep emotion. “You would release me so easily? Am I not some…some asset that your father wanted you to find?"

Lotor turns to glance out at the horizon, placing a hand over his eyes to block out the sun. “My father marooned me here after I turned against him. I suspect after his many years of pillaging planets, he forgot that he also left you here.”

Allura stares back at the crashed prison pod and clothes hanging to dry from a makeshift wooden structure. She swallows hard and repeats, “You turned against him?”

His wide mouth splits, revealing fangs, but humor does not light his eyes. “I tried to kill him. But I am not sure who is the weakest between us—my father for not killing me, or myself for not successfully completing my mission.”

It falls silent between them.

The demon princess eventually stands, the silver and gold strands on her pink clothes flashing in the light. “The Galra still reign, then.”

“Yes.”

She places a hand on her hips, pressing her full lips together as she paces in the water beside him. “You are a strange Galran man for returning my freewill to me,” she says. There is a sudden, demonic darkness in her eyes. “Now, I will decimate your father’s empire with the power of ages.”

Lotor quirks an eyebrow. “Oh, Allura,” he says in delight. “I’m afraid he’s still protected by his favorite little witch, who no doubt was the one to imprison you. If you are captured again, who will be there to reopen your bottle and free you from a lifetime of granting wishes?”

The woman steps back, face tight.

Lotor stands from the waters, his own white hair a tangled straggle. “Allura of the Djinn, I propose an alliance to take down my father once and for all,” he says. “So long as no one but me sees you, we could corrode his authority from the inside out—obtain the revenge we both desire.”  

She eyes him now with genuine, wary curiosity. “In what way, son of Zarkon?”

There is a wildness and slight insanity in Lotor after a year of solitude. “Make me a prince once more,” he pleads. “With your infinite power, you can manipulate quintessence in ways that not even the witch can. You can build spaceships with a snap of your fingers and change my very appearance so that my father does not recognize me. Through me, you could wage war once more, without fear of your weaknesses being used against you.”

She is actively considering him now, softening. “What is your name, strange man who desires to be my marionette?”

“Lotor of the Galra.”

Her eyes lower to the tides, and then she glances back up, the power of the stars swirling in her gaze. “Very well,” she says, voice echoing. “I will raise you a throne, Lotor of the Galra, and I will provide you the weaponry to kill your father when he least expects it.”

She reaches out, her fingers kind as they press against his cheek.

The instant they touch, his lavender skin bleeds a soft brown, his white hair darkens to an inky black, and from his broad shoulders streams the clothes of a rich and powerful Altean prince.

“Just like this,” Allura whispers, before pulling away in admiration of her work.

Power fades from Lotor as he stares down at his brown hands, his sharp wrists lined with gold. For one brief tick, an aching revelry lights within him, for his entire life, he had been denied finery.

And then he makes a strangled noise as Allura grabs onto his collar and pulls him out of the tide. “Come along, marionette,” she says merrily. “Let us take down an empire and break a few hearts with your new face. We’ll have to think of a new name for you, of course. I once had a mouse named Chulatt, but I do not think that is the name of a prince.”

Water sloshes against his royal boots, his golden robes streaming behind him. “It is not,” he agrees, voice strained.

Allura’s grip is strong, even beyond that of a Galran’s.

And then just as quickly as she had conjured his new clothes, she waves her hand, and in the distance of the beach, a sharp-looking golden spaceship builds itself before Allura’s form itself wavers out.

Before he knows it, a little pink bird settles upon his broad shoulder, chirping at him merrily and preening his dark hair.

Lotor scratches at the golden circlet upon his forehead, his fingers blunt without claws. “Do you not think it is rather ostentatious for all things to be gold?”

The little bird chirps at him petulantly, and Allura’s alto voice echoes in his mind.

Oh, son of Zarkon.

If we are going to kill an emperor who also happens to be your father, then we are going to do so in style.  

@loturaweek2024

[evil-but-refined]

So I finished Voltron a few days ago and I have some thoughts.

For context, I started the series a few times between 2018 and 2020 but only ever got to the middle of season 3. After a few years I decided to finish it and binged it over the course of maybe 3-4 weeks.

1. I really do love how the aliens aren't all just humans with unnatural skin and hair colors. Of course some are and some just look human, but there's a lot of creativity put into the aliens and it's very impressive. Another thing is that they didn't sexualize any of the female aliens, something that happens way too much in both children and adult media.

2. Getting into this so late feels like exploring the ruins of an abandoned civilization. I'm too late to understand the fandom jokes, and I'm too late to really participate.

3. I'm glad I watched it as a 16 year old, because younger me would not have appreciated it as much as I do now.

4. I really only liked the first 3 seasons anyway. I don't have strong opinions on the rest, but they seriously could've done better.

5. Allura shouldn't have died. There was literally no reason for her to have died, and it's frustrating as hell to have her get so close to her goals and a happy ending just for a useless self sacrifice.

6. On that note of self sacrifice, why was it so glossed over that Keith was literally about to end his own life in season 4 ep 6? It's so casually brushed aside and I feel like it shouldn't have been.

7. Lotor really didn't have to be evil. Having him go from 'evil' to good to evil was kinda unnecessary, especially since they were being very obvious about a possible romance between him and Allura, which would've worked if they didn't make him actually evil.

8. DreamWorks is a bunch of cowards for implying but not making canon.

9. I need to be brought together with other people through fate, and go on crazy adventures with them and bond and all that sappy stuff.

10. Krolia is so fine, and younger me would've definitely adored her and then find out later it was a fictional crush.

[lynfantasy]

Seeing Potential

For Lotor Week 2017 @voltronweeks Day 1: Abandoned AO3 link

Genfic, no shipping, Lotor & Ezor (platonic), Lotor & generals (platonic)

Rated for general audiences

Warning: canon-typical endangerment of minors, mentions of past abuse including child abuse, implications of “rape culture”

See AO3 listing for full warning

Fires raged. Smoke rose up from the ruins of the city – another rebellious colony now destroyed. Of course, Lotor did not care. Why should he be concerned about the state of the empire or the welfare of a few colonies that were more trouble than they were worth? He was only here because he needed supplies, and the battle’s aftermath would leave plenty of scraps and useful objects lying around until the salvage crews arrived to clean up the mess.

As he carefully waded into the remnants of the chaos, now as still as a ghost town except for the fires, he watched his small crew out of the corner of his eye. Acxa, naturally, was unaffected by the flames and chaos. She had been through worse, and she, oddly enough, seemed to rather like fire. Of course, the sight of the burning town gave her no joy, but it did not seem to strike the same kind of instinctual fear in her that most Galra had around fire.

Zethrid displayed a snarl that was likely hiding a wince of pain as she examined the wreckage around her. Almost nothing fazed her in all of their fights and travels, but a sight like this, a colony in ruins, always brought back bitter memories for her. Lotor would likely have to give her some extra training time later to help her channel her rage so that it would not affect her performance.

Narti was, as always, reactionless. The only indication of how she may have been feeling came from Kova, who hissed at and crouched away from the flames surrounding them. Narti simply picked her way through the rubble, avoiding the fires as well as she could.

Their little band was complete, in Lotor’s opinion. He led them, Acxa backed him up and strategized, Zethrid was a pure force of power, and Narti was an excellent rogue and lookout. Why would Lotor need anyone else?

A small whimper of pain drew Lotor’s attention. He made his way over and found someone still alive among the wreckage. The person seemed to be female, possibly a young adult, though Lotor suspected from her gangly appearance that she was still an adolescent. She looked native; however, her purple markings were unusual, and, when she looked up at Lotor with wide, fear-filled eyes, her yellow sclera demonstrated her Galra heritage, even though her blue irises were a native feature. Half-breeds were not unheard of, but this planet’s people had taken a special disliking to the Galra, so Lotor was mildly surprised that any of the natives had cross-bred with Galra. Unless, of course, it had not been by choice… such a thing was unusual, but not unheard of. It disgusted Lotor that the perpetrators of such acts usually got away with it, and that the children of such unholy unions were usually abandoned to a fate of disgrace or torment if not death.

As Lotor looked at the girl more closely, he determined that she was most likely only one-quarter Galra, which was even more unusual. He wondered who her parents were and how their society had received them. Judging from the old scars mixed with the new wounds on this girl, the answer was most likely not one that Lotor would enjoy hearing. Additionally, her wounds were far from fatal, which suggested that she had been abandoned on purpose, not simply left for dead.

Lotor did not often feel pity, but this strange girl elicited that very reaction from him. Still, the prince would not act on pity alone. Perhaps he could get Zethrid to carry this girl out of the wreckage, but that would be where his assistance ended. Before he could give the order, however, the girl spoke first.

“Sir, please,” she began as she struggled to get up, “allow me to become a soldier. I can serve the empire. I can… I’m strong, I know how to fight, and I’m stealthy. Please, please…” She trailed off, beginning to lose her composure, though she’d managed to stand. In her eyes, Lotor could see desperation, but also determination and some confusion with a small glimmer of hope as she looked from him to his generals. After all, they were all clearly not fully Galra.

Lotor considered the situation. It was obvious that she thought that she would be better off as a soldier than as a captive, which was correct, however… “The empire rarely accepts any soldiers who are not of full Galra blood,” Lotor answered honestly enough, “and never anyone with less than half.”

“I’m half-Galra,” the girl answered firmly and without hesitation.

Lotor raised an eyebrow at her, and he was impressed that she managed to hold his gaze until he said, “I am certain that you are not. Even if you are, you do not look nearly Galra enough to join the ranks of soldiers. Your best chance is to hide and hope that the main fleet does not find you and throw you in the arena or a work camp.”

Her expression became more intense, her eyes shining with determination as she challenged him. She forced herself to straighten to her full height and to stand firm as she declared, “Sir, I can be a valuable asset to you. Let me prove myself. Give me a chance.”

Lotor gave her his best ‘really now?’ expression, and he watched as she backed down somewhat, though she did not look away. “Why do you want to join?”

“To serve the—”

“Why do you really want to join?”

The girl paused, considering. Finally, her façade of resolve visibly crumbled, and she admitted, “I know it’s my best chance. My mother was abused and eventually killed by the people here for being half-Galra. My father met the same fate for defending her and me. They’ve abused me ever since then. I’ve barely managed to survive here by acting cute and making myself useful, but when the rebellion failed, they left me, saying that I should join the invaders like the ‘Galra scum’ I am.”

“Were you part of the rebellion?” Lotor asked, keeping his expression neutral. “Do not lie.”

She had the nerve to scoff at him, further suggesting that she was still quite young. “Do you honestly think they would have accepted me?” she retorted.

“No.”

“There’s your answer.”

Well, she definitely had spunk. Lotor could appreciate that. This attitude suited her much better than the ones she had displayed earlier. He could see bits of his younger self in her, and he knew he could train her and help her reach her full potential. “Well then… I think I may indeed have a bit of an offer for you,” he drawled with forced casualness.

Her eyes widened with surprise and hope laced only with a bit of suspicion. “Yes?”

“You see, my crew and I operate on… the outskirts of the law.” Lotor paused, waiting for her reaction, and was pleased to see her expression shift to interest. He continued, “I am still, for the time being, technically a person of high rank in the empire, but I have rather fallen out of the emperor’s graces. I use this to my advantage, staying just on the periphery of the emperor’s view. One day, I may be completely exiled—”

“Again,” Zethrid cut in.

Lotor shot her a glare. “Yes, again, but the point is that my unique position offers my followers certain freedoms that are not afforded to regular soldiers. To a certain extent we… subvert expectations. I am sure that you noticed that none of us are fully Galra?”

“Yes,” the girl agreed, looking increasingly hopeful and even a bit excited.

“While we are all half-Galra, I personally see no need to discriminate. As long as you can operate Galra technology, it makes no difference to me.”

“I can!”

“Excellent. I should warn you, however, that our operations often put us in very difficult situations. We cannot have someone holding us back because of inability. Can you keep up?”

“I’m fast,” the girl insisted, “I’m great with hand-to-hand combat, and I can be really stealthy. I’m also a quick learner.”

Lotor nodded approvingly, though he was actually most impressed at how unfazed she was by everything he had said so far. “To join us, then, is to pledge your loyalty to me, not to the empire. If you make mistakes, or if you need to leave, know that I will strand you where you cannot tell the empire anything about me or my plans.”

She looked a little nervous, but she nodded all the same.

“If you betray me or any of my crew, you will die immediately.”

Again, she nodded, swallowing harshly but still maintaining eye contact.

“Excellent. Do you know who I am?”

She froze, looking incredibly nervous as she slowly shook her head.

“That is alright,” Lotor reassured her with a small smile. “I do keep a low profile on purpose. I am not surprised that you do not recognize me, though I imagine you have probably heard of me. I am Prince Lotor.”

She inhaled sharply before saluting and bowing. “Your majesty, vrepit sa.”

Lotor could not quite hold back a wince. “Please, don’t,” he said, dropping the formal language and tone for a moment. “The salute is fine, but the rest of it… that is how people address my father, not me. Refer to me as ‘Prince’ or ‘Sir’ if you must, but drop this ‘your majesty’ business, and do not say that pledge to me.”

The girl’s expression was the clearest visual representation of ‘I’ve quiznacked this up already’ Lotor had ever seen as she quickly stood up straight and nodded, maintaining the salute.

“It’s alright,” Lotor reassured her, “at ease.”

She dropped the salute.

“Now, do you still wish to join my crew?” He locked eyes with her, watching her expression carefully for any emotions it might betray that she would rather keep hidden.

The girl paused for a moment, considering, before she nodded and confidently declared, “Yes.”

Lotor looked back at his team, gauging their reactions. Acxa’s expression was unreadable, but she gave a slight nod. Zethrid gave a half-shrug that indicated ‘eh, why not?’. Narti, of course, had no reaction, but Kova did not show any aggression toward the girl, so that was answer enough in Lotor’s opinion. He turned back to the girl. “Then, on your life, swear your loyalty to me,” he commanded.

She put her arm across her chest in a standard salute and declared, “I, Ezor, swear on my life to be loyal to Prince Lotor and to follow his commands.” Her expression faltered as she realized that she had just talked about him like he wasn’t standing right in front of her. “I mean, loyal to you…?”

Lotor did not hold back his amusement at her fumble, instead allowing himself a small chuckle and warm smile to reassure her. “Thank you, Ezor. Welcome to the team,” he replied gently. Ezor. That was actually a Galra name. Lotor wondered why her parents had given her a name that emphasized the part of her most likely to be hated by the locals.

Ezor gave him a smile of her own in return, full of hope and gratitude. Lotor felt a pang in his chest – she was certainly a bit younger than his other three generals, and she seemed to trust him so easily. He hoped that he could protect her.

“Come along,” Lotor told her. He turned to lead the way out of the ruins, but he could, thankfully, still see Ezor out of his peripheral vision as she took one step and immediately stumbled. Lotor quickly caught her and tried to help her stand, but she winced in pain. “Is something broken?” he asked gently as he shifted to better support her weight.

Her face was scrunched up from the pain, and she barely managed to grunt out, “Doubt it, but probably sprained.”

“Zethrid,” Lotor called, “can you gently carry her?”

“Yeah, of course I can, sir,” Zethrid answered casually, strolling right over and easily lifting Ezor up into her arms, carrying the smaller girl bridal-style. “This good?” Zethrid asked her.

Ezor nodded. “Go easy on the ribs – I probably dislocated a few – but yeah, this is okay.”

Lotor sighed, glad to have resolved that minor crisis. He checked the time, then scanned the horizon for any signs of Galra ships. “Zethrid, take Ezor to the ship,” he commanded. “Acxa, Narti, let’s finish up quickly.”

 Later on, after everyone was aboard the ship and flying away, the questions began. Ezor was curious about everything, but especially about how the team got together.

They answered her questions. They were hesitant at first, of course, to reveal any particularly sensitive information, but as the conversation flowed more easily, they all found themselves telling her nearly everything.

They told her about Acxa first. They started off with explaining the many interesting quirks she had gained from other side of her heritage, especially for dealing with danger, but that led to explaining where the other half of her genetics had come from and why. Acxa’s mother had been a criminal, a traitor to the empire, and had fled to an uncharted, primitive planet, thinking she could hide from the empire. There, she had procreated with one of the natives. Of course, no one can hide from the Galra empire forever. The empire had found both Acxa and her mother, and both had paid the price for her mother’s crimes. Lotor counted himself and Acxa alike lucky that he had found her – she had gained a chance to be something more than an experiment, and he had gained his most loyal soldier.

They then recounted Zethrid’s story, which was particularly interesting to Ezor. Zethrid’s home colony had participated in a similar rebellion, and her father had been one of the leaders of it. Zethrid herself had been arrested by the empire and forced to fight in the Arena. Lotor had wound up there – partly against his will, as punishment, but also partly by his own choice, to prove a point – and had noticed Zethrid’s fierce, unbreakable spirit. He had more or less befriended her by the time Acxa carried out the pre-arranged plan to break Lotor out of there, so he had invited Zethrid to come with. Since then, she had proved to be to loyal and trustworthy as well as brave and powerful.

Lotor had discovered Narti entirely by accident when looking into the druids’ experiments. She had been locked away in the deepest experimentation chambers the druids had – Lotor suspected that she had been Haggar’s personal project, at least at some point – for stars-know-how-long. Lotor told Ezor that he had noticed a spark of ability in Narti, decided to take chance on her, and had never regretted it since. This was mostly true, but something about Narti still kept Lotor on edge, though she had been unwaveringly loyal and incredibly useful so far, so Lotor kept her on the team. He wished it was a little easier to communicate with her, since she was entirely mute, but her actions spoke loud enough, and Lotor knew that she was a highly capable soldier.

And now, they had Ezor. Lotor was not entirely sure where she would fit into their little dynamic, but he had no doubt that she would find her place. All of his generals had been lost when he found them, and Ezor was no different. All of them owed him their lives, and Lotor knew that he could trust them with his. It would take the impossible to break them apart.

 If anyone asked Lotor why he had taken in his generals, he would have answered that he was the type of person who could see potential, which was true. Perhaps a more honest answer, however, would instead be that Lotor had been lost and abandoned once, in the chaos of a war and the debris of a planet that had been the key to half of his heritage, in the fallout afterwards as the people he had once loved as his parents revealed themselves to be monsters, and now he was stronger for it. He could see potential where no one else could – the forgotten, the lost, the broken, the unwanted, the abandoned – and he knew how to make that spark of potential into a flame of ability. Lotor found broken scraps and fashioned them into deadly weapons. Lotor found abandoned people and made them into warriors.

[ladyemberswrites]

"A Touch Is All I Ask"

-

Summary: Basically, an Au of Au wherein an accident Lotor ends up traveling through the rift only for him to met and fall in love with Allura from another reality, but because life refuses to give him a break the rift creatures destroy both that Allura and her reality along with her leaving Lotor to travel the rift for centuries trying to find his way back home. Fortunately, he ends of being saved the Princess Allura from his reality. Which makes things all the more awkward as Lotor has to force himself to differentiate between this Allura and the Allura he had loved. The plot only thickens once Allura starts to develop feelings for him as she nurses him back to health.

Rating: T and Up

Words: 2k

Chapters: 1/?

-

He had lost everything in a single fleeting moment. A breath, a heartbeat, and soon nothingness consumed him. It ate away at the flesh and the bone, and pierced his dreaded, cold heart. His fingers reached for nothing, tiny cosmos, stars that have already long passed, and they bleed through his fingers. His fingers, these hands that have done nothing but bring about horrors, that only bring about destruction. Perhaps they were right, he is a curse. A blight on the world, a filthy obstruction. He felt the world around him drown, his body as heavy as lead and as weightless as a cloud. In space-time is obsolete. His mind and memories fragmented, and the voices that haunt him whisper in his ears in continual repeat.

The rift is relentless, a cruel, twisted mistress. An abomination, an unknown horror and they like a siren singing sailors to their deaths upon the steep rocks sing to him too as he wanders, and he drifts to nowhere. Howling, and lulling sweet tunes that fill the silence of his travels where there is nowhere and no one, and as the presumed days go by they fill the aching silence. He‘s long tuned them out-but-

~Lotor~ their eyes are amber like hers. Their hair a dark silver like hers had once been. Though, he had never heard her voice, he assumes that must have been what she sounded like. But, he knows that they aren’t his mother. Their image of her is picture perfect, not a single detail missed, but he knows. He’s no fool. He knows their games he knows their lies. They hiss when he pays the cheap imitation no mind, growling, and sneering.

~How dare you!~ they screech in union, a kaleidoscope of dissonant voices. His ears run red when the shrieking refuses to come to an end, but again he disregards them and simply keeps going, he keeps moving because he does not know when to give up. Because death is too easy, no matter how tempting it is to just collapse and sleep an endless dream. But, dreams offer him no repute, no reprieve instead they are nothing more than a reflection-a mirror world-a gateway to his own insanity. There is no peace. So, he must walk even though there is nothing.

~ 

“That's absolutely disgusting, Lance!” Pidge grimaces, her nose wrinkles as she spat out her tongue.

“Yeah, well, try actually being there and seeing it in person" he leans into her, his shoulder, bony and sharp, cuts into her side "let me tell ya, that changes a man" 

“Just because you experienced it, doesn't mean I want to hear it” Pidge mutters into her palm "and can't you sit on your side of the ship?" she shoves him.

He brushes aside her last comment making himself comfortable “I thought we were friends, Pidge? Besides you who else do I have in this big lonely castle?" 

"Why can't you bother, Hunk for a change" the girl surfs her screens in boredom.

"I would, but he's been too busy with his new girl-friend" he emphasizes his point by making quotation marks with his fingers "to hang out anymore-I mean whatever happened to the bro-code!?" 

Pidge rolls her eyes "so, what? He can become a lonely, desperate misogynist, womanizing jerkhole?"

"I prefer the term lover man, Pidge" 

"I think you missed the entire point of that statement..nevermind-the point being is that there are other men on the ship you could socialize with" 

"I rather get stabbed in the spleen again than hang out with Keith out of my own volition" 

"I wasn't talking about, Keith." 

"Shiro's way too serious to do anything fun with. It's all Lance stop. Lance your drinking way too much. Lance you can't spike people's drinks. Shiro's awesome and all, but he doesn't have a single fun bone in his body" 

"I don't think perpetuating liver damage is something I would personally consider fun" 

"It's not about the drinks, the drinks are just secondary, where there's alcohol there's hot women, come on get with the program Pidge"

"Shiro's gay" 

"I was gonna hook him up" 

"With a dude?" She rose a dry brow. 

"Of course a dude, unless he goes both ways, I can get him both" 

"...Y'know it's a wonder why your single?"

"Is that sarcasm?" 

"What about Coran" she dodges the question " he's a guy"

"Coran's fun-until he goes overboard. Y'know like the time he nearly killed us"

"That was your own fault y'know"

"How was I supposed to know pot would drive him into a murderous rampage-" The hiss and beep of the bridge door interrupts him. Hunched and bleary eyed, Allura wanders onboard in a complete daze, her heels clicking against the paneled walkway. Her characteristic bun hung lopsidedly off the side of her head, her ends frazzled and uncombed. Her eyes sunken with dark bruises and her favorite white jacket hangs haphazardly off her one shoulder.

Lance whistled “Boy, you look awful, Princess-or is that a new look your aiming for” 

Allura snaps her head towards him with lethal speed,  barely restraining the urge to strangle him 

“I’m far too tired to deal with your nonsense this morning, so please do shut up unless you’d like be placed on toilet duty again” 

The threat hangs in the air for a few minutes before Lance snorts, brushing her off awhile tugging at the hem of his turtleneck sweater in a nervous bout “Y-yeah, but no thanks, Princess, I've cleaned enough toilets and vomit to last me a lifetime" 

Allura didn’t bother to comment but casts him one last warning glare before turning back to the teleduv, reaching out she taps it lightly bringing the ship's screens to life. The skies were all clear except for a bach of asteroids floating in the distance, but to her relief so far no enemy ships or anything remotely suspicious, as they travel the cosmos to Planet Greta off hidden on another less known side of the galaxy.

Even so, she didn't wish to take any chances and made sure to double check her assessment, while ignoring Pidge and Lance's continued conversation  Bits and pieces dribble into the forefront of her thoughts here and there, but there's nothing she can make sense of being that the topic relates back to Earth. 

Her checks repeat nothing new-Sighing, she cuts the feed to rub her face in annoyance. Everything hurt. Her body aches in a way that's more aggravating than truly painful. But, sleep has been hard to come by lately, the moment she closes her eyes-the nightmares began again. Her father’s blood upon her hands, splattered upon the blue silk of her gown, the sight of his mangled corpse lying at Zarkon’s iron boots. His face darkened, indistinguishable from the other bodies that littered the marble floors-

 She clenches her fingers listlessly fearing that if she didn’t pay attention she’d find his blood on them again.  Her skin burned, having spent the night trying to scrub the red away. Now, they just itch, the skin of her hands rubbed raw and dry. And yet, there's that lingering feeling of wetness  that she just can't shake, despite knowing that it isn't there. Yet, she kept scratching her wrist as she stared out over the bridge watching nothing but stars pass them by.

“Lura?” she didn’t hear Pidge pace up to her. She turns in the girl's direction “you okay there? You’ve got that dead look in your eyes again?” 

“I’m fine, Pidge. Don’t worry” she wonders if her voice always sounded hoarse, or is it just her, and she’s hearing things again. Whatever the case she just shakes her head attempting to ignore it. That and the throbbing headache that pounds at the back of her skull.

“If you say so….” Pidge didn't  know what else to say or do other than offer the woman her space, and awkwardly returns to her seat.

"What's her problem?" Lance whispers.

"....I don't know. She looks sick-"

"She's not going to pass out again is she because-"

Perhaps, it’s time to give up and ask Doctor Alibhe for some sleep aid? Her nose wrinkles at the prospect, but what else can she do. She's tried everything: training until she's exhausted to the bone. Meditation only abandons her to her own traitorous thoughts which only leads to exasperation and a wish to lobotomize herself. So, no that was a no go. She's tried tea, acupuncture, oil massage. Worse case scenario, well, partially out of desperation a chiropractor who only charged her an exuberant amount of money and a nasty crick in her neck that took weeks to go away. Trial or error aside, she can't continue like this; people will notice, people are already noticing, if it keeps going the questions will never end. Pressing a fist to her brow, she huffs-if only the night didn't dreg up past horrors-

*Ping*

*Ping* 

Her temples throb, cracking her eyes back open Allura finds herself thrown from her musings back to reality. The pinging of the teleduv continues causing her to pause and blink for a moment flicking the scanners back on.

"What?” out of bloody nowhere something pops up upon the monitors signaling a disturbance in the area. Brows tightly pinched together, she didn't see any ships-

“Enemy ship?” Lance asks in a brief moment of seriousness. Both his and Pidge's eyes dart from her to the screens above, bracing themselves for impact.

“It’s-" she squints "no” she shakes her head 

“whatever it is-it’s far too small to be a ship-it’s-oh, 

no” her heart plummets to the pit of her stomach. 

“Oh, no what?” 

“It’s another rift opening….” 

“Well,  that's just flipping fantastic!” Lance barks “More rift creatures! Is it bad that I rather deal with Sendak, heck even Zarkon himself any day over dealing with those walking-talking living embodiments of nightmare fuel!” 

Allura swallows dryly. A lovely start to already dreary day-oh, stars, she's not sure how much more she can take of this insanity.

~ 

“Maybe we’ve been blessed by the Altean space gods!” Lance cries to the heavens “because I don’t see a single thing or y’know I'm not vomiting up my own entrails”

“Not if you don’t jinx us” Keith snaps. As quickly as it had come the rift had immediately snapped shut. Yet, no creatures of the rift made it out through the small opening. No horrifying illusions or imagery, just nothing. Just dead-end silence that did little to comfort her as she stares out among the stars and the blackness of space.

In their rush they took their respective lions on ahead with Allura placing Head Commander Hira at the helm and with the ship on high alert. When nothing assaulted them, Shiro suggested they take a look around by hand. Jetpacks loaded with full and pistols set on lethal everyone disembarked only to greeted by nothing. 

Allura worries her bottom lip out of nervousness, she’s only glad that she hadn’t eaten anything for breakfast or else she would have vomited in her own helmet. Holding her pistol close, she prepares herself for anything by as the minutes trickle on by, besides the cluster of  asteroids, nothing bizarre happens. An hour of searching and checking and rechecking the area's clear of any  potential danger.

“I’m starting to think it was a false alarm, Princess” Keith calls out to her. 

“Yeah, I’ve got nothing. Nada , zilch” Hunk tapped his scanner “besides the glitchy connection, I don’t see anything out of the ordinary” 

“Me neither” Pidge mutters “it’s all just empty space as far as the eye can see.” 

“Same here” Shiro adds, perplexed.

“Same with my end” Matt floats back to them “looked all over those asteroids over there, but like Hunk said zilch. Nada.” 

“Perhaps, something was trying to get out, but couldn’t” Hunk states with an uneasy hitch in his voice. 

It isn't unlikely, and it's probably the case, too. Though that does beg the question-if something were trying to claw its way out the rift what stopped it? Allura isn’t sure if she wants to find out.

“Hunk’s probably right” Allura agrees quietly, holstering her pistol “we should probably head back to the Lions. Oxygen's running low.” They weren't that far from the castle ship, but it's still a pretty good distance even with the lions.

"About time! This place gives me the creeps" 

"Second that-"

“...more like it was a waste of time…” everyone moves on ahead of her as she can't help but linger, taking one more glance over her shoulder she scans her surroundings. It's times like these that remind her how vast the galaxy is. Enormous and all consuming like a sea with no bottom, no end. Left could right, and right, left. Shoving down the existential dread, she moves to to turn and head back until a twinkling light catches the corner of her eye. Stopping, she swivels back to look again-this time the twinkling is hard to miss, she squints, it isn't a star, as the source of the glittering is a top an asteroid closest to her. With bated breath she slowly, carefully maneuvers herself over to it. It's rocky texture is rough, the cold seeping through her gloves. With a grunt she heaves herself upwards, her thoughts oddly quiet as she focuses on climbing and hauling her weight until she reaches the top. Heaving enough to cloud the glass of her helmet, she stills to inhale a deep breath before she decides to lift her head up and freezes-

A massive body is collapsed upon the mountainous structure.

It-can't be-

Galra?

Hesitantly, she crawls towards him on all fours both curiosity and fear churning in her gut. Carefully, she reached over to quickly tap his shoulder to snap it away fearing a swipe of his large hand. Or a lunge. Squeezing her eyes shut she expects the worst, but when nothing came she instead hears a low, pained groan.So, low that if it weren't for her being so close she probably wouldn't have heard him. Placing a hand to calm her erratic heart, Allura steadies herself before gently extending both her hands to flip him on to his back, however it isn't without some difficulty. He's super heavy. With a grunt she manages and once he's on his back she's met with a rather gorgeous face, but unfortunately one she did not recognize. Examining his body, his armor is old. Eroded with rust and dented all over with the color of it faded. His face as handsome as it is, is marred with bruises painted black and dark blue, and dried blood dribbles down his obviously split lip. Yet, strangely enough she didn't find anything indicating his rank. No badge or medallion, no even a family crest holding his cape together. There's a satchel hung around his waist, but it wouldn't be wise to open it out here. He definitely looks the part of a high ranking galra general, but that begs the question, if he is, what is a seemingly distinguished general doing out here in the middle of an asteroid field? Did someone dump him out here?

Frantically her eyes dart around- but, she was so sure she hadn't detected a galra ship in the area-

Breathing heavily, she only finds emptiness. 

-unless-

Her eyes fall back to him-the rift.  Her eyes widen as she eyed him closer now noticing the markings on his face, a telltale sign of quintessence exposure. They weren't too bad, but it isn't something that can be ignored without consequence. Frightened out of her mind, she shouts back to her team over her shoulder.

 “I found something!” drawing all eyes to her. I've definitely found something; she whispers to herself.

[guernsey-island]

Klance Fic Recs

These are probably all pretty well known but oh well. 

The Marks We Make---------- 7/? 145k  Soulmate (what you write/draw on your skin appears on your soulmate’s skin) and college au. 

Follow My Lead---------- 14/14 171k Keith is a rich and forced by his foster parents to be a businessman even though he wants to be an engineer. Lance has run away from his family in order to become a basketball star. 

Ambedo----------  12/12 53k Keith moves to a small beach town and meets Lance, a photographer who is bored with the familiar scenery. 

Nightmares---------- 1/1 14k Lance has been having nightmares for awhile and it’s affecting his perfornace within the team. The only solution is to sleep with someone else, and that person is Keith. Keith discovers that with Lance by his side he is able to overcome his insomnia. 

Dirty Laundry---------- 9/9 85k Lance tells his family the lie that he is coming home for winter break with a boyfriend. Although Keith thinks Lance is annoying he accepts being Lance’s fake boyfriend for two weeks in exchange for free laundry. During the two weeks Keith learns a lot about Lance and even develops a crush...

Drummer Boy----------10/10 50k Lance can't stop thinking about the talented drummer boy he meets at the local pub.

Full Moon Roast----------12/12 51k  After a vicious fight with the alpha werewolf, Lotor, Keith wakes up in an abandoned warehouse. Disoriented and hurting all over, Keith stumbles into a coffee shop where he meets Lance, who with strange tactics is able to save Keith from Lotor. Lotor, who lacks a decent sense of smell, thinks that Lance is challenging him for position of alpha, although Lance has no knowledge of the were race in New York. It becomes Keith's job to save Lance. 

Unknown----------  14/14 82k  After his parents divorce, Keith moves to a new school. From the first day he eyes a boy named Lance. He tries repeatedly to get his attention, but keeps getting interrupted. Keith instead uses the school messenger app to talk to Lance under the name Unknown. Although Keith hadn’t intended for Unknown to go so far, Lance makes it his goal to find who his secret lover is while Keith tries to hide his identity. Texting and hs au.

Hearts Don’t Break Around Here----------  13/13 135k The ultimate friends to lovers fic. 

Shut Up & Dance With Me---------- 15/15 249k Dance au. Enemies to lovers au. 

[vld-trash]

Season 4 Reactions

So, this is for my own personal reference. If you enjoy it, great. It might be kinda odd, but I’ve seen people do this before and wanted to try it. Below, I’m going to post all of my reactions to each individual episode. I meant to do this starting with season 3, but, well, that obviously didn’t happen

Episode 1: 😭😭😭 WHO THE FUCK THOUGHT THIS WAS OKAY?! I AM LITERALLY SOBBING RIGHT NOW. KEITH, MY POOR, SWEET KEITH, COME BACK!!! Okay, I knew he was gonna leave at some point, but. What. The. Actual. Fuck. I thought it’d be like between seasons or something. Not during a season where I also have to miss him! And those speeches, oh my lord they were so touching and sweet. Lance even said his own version of “I’ll miss you”. My Klance heart is actually hurting right now. I don’t know what would have been a good outcome, though. Poor Keith kept getting pulled in both directions, something had to give. I feel so bad for him. 💔 And, there WERE more paladins than lions now... But there still had to be a better solution. Also, Keith, what’s the other part of the reason you’re leaving? 🤔 (Why do I get the feeling I’m gonna be saying “Poor Keith” and crying a lot throughout the rest of the series?)

Episode 2: YES!!! Yes, yes, a million times yes! I needed a Pidge-centric episode. Especially after the heartbreak of the last one. On the one hand, yay she found Matt! On the other, did it only take her a day? Or is time supposed to be longer and the show just didn’t convey that very well? Either way, oh my goodness, give me the Holt siblings bonding any day of the week! They were so cute together, they really look like each other. Trust nerds to bond over electricity currents and defeating their enemies by shocking them. I truly love how this episode showcased how smart Pidge is and how she never gives up. That was some good character development. I do still have a question, though. What’s up with the glasses? Does Pidge actually need them to see or does she just wear them because of Matt? Has she been straining her eyes this whole time? Did she just not care she couldn’t see before he gave them to her? Or, do they now have just regular, clear glass not meant to help someone see? The world may never know...

Episode 3: Um. Okay then. First, Matt may be my new favorite character. (At least, while Keith is gone.) He acted just like an anime character when meeting Allura. That year-ish while he was in hiding really did a number on his suave levels. Or, maybe he was just like that all the time. Kinda wondering what everyone else saw/thought while he was geeking out. Like dude, your sister is right there. Speaking of Pidge, Matt is just so proud of her and everything she does, and I love it! I live to have someone who brags about me like that. Coran and Allura provided some much needed comic relief during all of this. I would love to be able to not get brain freezes. Hopefully, Hunk will be able to get them to eat something milk related again. Wonder if Pidge knows that Lance figured out how to set up the video game. I’m seeing a hint of why Lance ended up becoming a farmer in the end. (Just a hint, mind you, I’m still wondering about that decision.) Really not sure how I feel about Lotor at the moment. I’d WAY prefer him to Zarkon, but still. I would say poor Lotor for his father abandoning him AGAIN, but... he might have planned that? It’s still kinda sad, though

[sunnybimbo]

happy hunk ship week, lovelies >:3c

@hunkshipweek for Day 1: Warmth/Strength

ship: lotunk (lotor/hunk) with a hint of a minor ship or two here and there

word count: ~2950

Read it on AO3.

Lotor falls for the boy in yellow before he realizes it even happens.

He wakes up one day, in a bed not his own, with heavy arms wrapped around him. He watches as Hunk’s chest rises and falls almost in tandem with the soft pulsing blue outlining his quarters, filling the room with its artificial warmth.

He realizes, as he presses a kiss against Hunk’s nose to stop him from snoring (or maybe just because he has the opportunity to), that he is inalienably in love with him.

Lotor stumbles upon Hunk quite by accident one night. The others are supposed to be asleep— or atleast in their rooms, according to what Coran says humans do— but Hunk is curled in his seat, tinkering at a small device in his hands.

He’s so focused on tinkering that he doesn’t notice Lotor hiding in the corner. Lotor peeks at him, blending with the shadows as he cautiously follows the borders of the room until he gets close enough to see what Hunk is doing.

Hunk is mumbling softly to himself, one hand twirling some sort of tool and the other fiddling with his headband. The soft whirr of machinery echoes through the chamber, but Hunk seems unbothered by the occasional hiccup in the gears.

He flips a switch, and the gravity turns off.

Lotor absolutely does not yelp in surprise. It’s more of a startled gasp, if anything.

Hunk’s attention is pulled by it nonetheless, and he fumbles with the device enough that it floats a few paces away from him before he thinks to grab it and flip the gravity back on. “Sorry!”

They both land on their feet, but Hunk has to catch himself on his desk so he doesn’t crash on his chair. “Didn’t hear you come in.” His hand is pressed against his chest— something the paladins do often whenever they’re surprised to find Lotor behind them— but he still levels Lotor with a smile. “Need something?”

“I thought humans were meant to be sleeping now.” Lotor says, carefully.

Hunk shrugs a shoulder, reaching for his toolbox to clean up. “I just wanted to finish up, but I got a little distracted. Artificial gravity is incredible, man.”

“I see.” Lotor didn’t understand the fascination, but he also didn’t want to hear about it, either. Still, despite himself, he continues on with, “I didn’t realize you were a scientist.”

“An engineer, technically. Pidge is more the science-y type— plus she has the hair for it.” Hunk rakes his fingers through his own hair, fluffing it out until it was tangled in his headband. Then, Hunk squints up at Lotor with a conspiratory whisper of, “So do you, actually.”

“I wasn’t aware hair was a determinant.” Lotor has to resist reaching up to tuck it behind his ear as he’s ushered closer, leaning over Hunk’s shoulder. He presses his hand down upon it, to keep himself steady, but he doesn’t miss the way Hunk’s eyes dart over to his fingers.

He doesn’t mention it, though, so Lotor doesn’t move his hand away.

“Speaking of being science-y,” Hunk begins, cracking open the lid of his device. “You wouldn’t mind helping me real quick? I was going to get Pidge in the morning, but since you’re here…” He shrugs, the opposite shoulder as not to knock Lotor away.

And, well, it’s not like Lotor has much else to do in the middle of the night.

---

The middle of the night leads to the early morning, but Lotor finally finishes with his assessment and repair of Hunk’s gravity controller. It was an incredible build, really. The only thing missing that stopped it from working the way he’d wanted was just a matter of mechanics (and hacking), but it was a good thing Lotor was a man of many skills.

Now Hunk would be able to have whatever (or whomever) he wanted float to the nearest sun. Or, just to the ceiling. Whichever was closest.

He isn’t able to tell as much to the engineer, though, because Hunk is sound asleep in the corner. Lotor was so wrapped up in the work he doesn’t even remember when he’d wandered over there.

Hunk has his knees hugged to his chest, squeezing himself down in an uncomfortable looking ball, but his spine is lax like jelly and his breathing is deep, so it must be doing something for him.

Lotor finds Hunk’s abandoned data-pad and scribbles out a quick note for him to find when he wakes, leaving it atop the tiny cube. He writes and rewrites it enough times that the words blur together, stuck between something sentimental and not, before he decides on a simple ‘This should work. - Lotor’ and wipes his hands of it.

When he turns back to Hunk, he’s managed to shove his headband further up his scalp, sprawling his hair out much like a bird’s feathers mid-flight. Lotor feels his mouth warble in a near smile, which he hurriedly shoos away as he takes his leave.

Still, though, a warm feeling settles in his heart as that image stitches itself in his brain and refuses to leave.

---

Some other day, a long time after his and Hunk’s midnight rendezvous, Lotor follows the princess to the common room.

She’d insisted that he and the paladins meet in a more relaxed environment, to bond. Lotor hardly saw the point of it, but he could hardly say no to her either.

Most everyone in the castle seems to have converged on the couch. Shiro and Keith have squatted off to the side, the latter on the floor and the former on the couch. Keith’s eyes are half shut with a grin as Shiro struggles to braid his hair, but that’s hardly the main attraction to this event.

In front of the viewscreen— a television, as they call it— are Lance, Pidge, and, of course, Hunk. They’re playing some sort of game with loud colors, and Coran seems to be cheering them on (or rather, cheering Pidge on. Seems she’d pulled into the lead and refuses to let it go.)

Lotor watches from the sidelines as Hunk soundly slaps Lance on the back as he pulls ahead of him. It’s apparently a friendly gesture, because Lance reaches over to hook his arm around his neck and give him what they call a ‘noogie’, effectively knocking the controller from his hands.

Which, apparently, is also a friendly gesture.

Lotor had no idea it was going to be such a spectacle, or else he would’ve stayed on the bridge. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t intrigued, though.

Allura leaves his side to plop next to Shiro, teasing him by the looks of it. “Braid me, next?” To which, Shiro flusters but eventually agrees to.

Which, unfortunately, leaves Lotor alone in a group filled with factions he’s not a part of. Lotor shifts his weight from one leg to the other, but that only catches the attention of Hunk. Of course.

“Hey! Welcome to the party.” Hunk ushers him closer, similar to last night, and pats the spot beside him. He seems to have been completely knocked out of the race after Lance’s stunt, but he doesn’t seem angry about it. How peculiar.

“Hello.” Lotor greets. Nothing more, nothing less.

“Wanna try?” Hunk dangles the controller, moistened with the sweat from his palms even through his gloves.

Lotor bares his teeth in a grimace. “No.”

Hunk leans in anyway, pressing their shoulders together. “C’mon, don’t be a party pooper! Let me show you how to play.”

Uncaring of Lotor’s personal space— or perhaps, he didn’t realize he was encroaching in it so much— Hunk drapes himself across his shoulders and steadies the controller in his palms. “It’s partially motion-controlled, so you’re gonna have to rock a little.”

The character on-screen respawns, hopping on their vehicle, and Lotor belatedly realizes that they’re playing some sort of racing game.

Pidge and Lance are merciful on them and let Hunk help Lotor practice while they take a water break, which leaves Lotor with nothing else to focus on other than the fingers pressing against the back of his hand, smaller but thicker than his own, and the intense heat at his back that threatens to run him through.

“Lean a little to the right.” Hunk murmurs, arms tightening around Lotor’s shoulders as he tilts the both of them. “You wanna do it early, so you can drift.”

Lotor hums thoughtfully, acutely aware of the faint tickle of breath across the crown of his head.

The quick run through of the controls are simple enough to remember, but it’s all too soon that Hunk is pulling away to join Coran as the audience. “You can do it, Lotor!”

His cheeks feel warm as he glances away from the beaming grin offered to him, and he hopes it doesn’t show past the glowing, pulsing neons from the screen.

---

Lotor ends up winning.

Turns out that being the underdog helps just as much virtually as it did in his past. Pidge and Lance were so busy competing with one another that he slid right past them on the second lap, and stayed far ahead three laps later.

It didn’t help that he kept getting incredibly lucky with the items randomly generated for him. Lance had loudly screeched something about hacking, but Lotor was too distracted with Hunk yelling instructions from behind him to respond.

He wins, his little beaten buggy puttering across the finish line just as Pidge steals second place from Lance, and the resulting cacophony leaves him reeling.

Pidge jumps up with some sort of victory scream, just as Lance shouts curses at her. They elbow into one another’s space, sweaty and full of adrenaline, and Lotor wonders if this is how they act after a successful battle.

Coran is there to toss towels over their heads, cooling them off, and Allura chimes in with something diplomatic that Lotor misses because Hunk is there, suddenly.

He’s lifted off the ground, arms around his waist, and for one chilling moment, he thinks he’s angered the yellow paladin. It’s uncomfortable enough, being so close to someone so suddenly, that Lotor nearly lashes out. He expects to be shoved to the ground, forced to defend himself, but, no— Hunk just twirls him around and laughs in his ear, loud and joyful. “You won!”

He gives him a firm squeeze that wrings a surprised grunt from him. The tight grip is maybe… kind of pleasant. Not so tight to break a bone, but secure nonetheless. He leans into it, stiffly, politely, but it’s over before he has a chance to get used to the soft heat radiating from the human’s skin.

Hunk turns to his friends, bragging about his ‘apprentice’, but his smile stays in Lotor’s mind.

He makes a swift exit.

---

“You’re avoiding me.” Hunk accuses him, a few weeks later. Then, he winces at his tone and backs up a step and a half.

Lotor is startled enough that he doesn’t have a response ready at the tip of his tongue. That happens a lot, when he’s around Hunk.

He was in the kitchen, somewhere he frequented regularly. Lotor didn’t know why he didn’t avoid the place better, but he was self-aware enough to realize he missed watching Hunk move.  

“I get it, I think.” Hunk confesses, stirring a bowl of something thick and crunchy. “Shiro said I was in your personal bubble too much. Didn’t even realize it was happening, actually.” He tastes a bit of the mix, sticks out his tongue in displeasure, and adds a few more sprinkles of seasoning. “You gotta let me know if I do it again. I don’t wanna ruin our friendship, you know? We’ve just started talking!”

Friends. “Of course not, Yellow Paladin. It wasn’t a problem, I’ve just been…” Lotor racks his brain for an excuse, but all that comes out is a lame, “Busy.”

Hunk fixes him with a look, eyes half-lidded in the most expressionless of expressions as he shakes his head. “Sure.”

Lotor’s hand twitches as he forces it still, lest he reach forward to rub away the barely-there wrinkles between Hunk’s eyebrows from the look on his face. He’s in deeper than he first thought.

Hunk rambles on a bit longer, oblivious to the fond look creeping across Lotor’s face until he finishes measuring out the biscuits and arranging them on the tray.

When he turns around, Lotor belatedly snaps out of it. “I’ll… leave you to it, then.”

“Uh, but first…” Hunk hurries to intercept him, blocking the doorway as he unties his apron. “I just want you to know that I won’t get mad if you tell me I’m all in your cheese, you know?”

The strange phrasing makes Lotor smile, as reserved as it is. “Of course, my friend. I don’t mind your touching.”

Hunk’s relieved grin makes him go giddy in the chest, which is soon overthrown by his nerves as Hunk extends his arms on either side, for a hug.

And really, he doesn’t mean to be nervous. It may be one part reactionary, where in his past touching another has not been friendly, and it may be two parts that Hunk just makes him nervous. It makes him want to curl up inside himself and shield away from the intense heat Hunk offers.

Lotor steps closer nonetheless. Hunk is shorter than him by quite the amount, enough that Lotor would have to lean down so that his arms could wrap around his shoulders. Hunk doesn’t ask for that, though, and seems perfectly content to squeeze his face against Lotor’s chest and run his heavy fingers down Lotor’s spinal cord.

It’s electric across his skin, even through his layers of clothing, burning a path straight through his veins. Not just where his hands pass, but where Hunk’s arms are hooked around his sides, where their legs knock together, where his head rests just between Lotor’s two hearts.

He stiffens. It’s habit, maybe, or maybe the feelings get too overwhelming for him to hide. Hunk gently urges him closer still, guiding Lotor’s hands wrap across his back, to hug him back.

“You’re kinda bad at this.” Hunk teases, muffled beneath the fabric. It doesn’t sound as poisonous as the words should mean, so Lotor takes no offense from them.

Instead, as Hunk angles his head up to look him in the eye, he offers him a strained smile. “I’ve not had many hugs in my lifetime, so you must forgive me.”

That look alone, paired with a lonely smile, tugs at Hunk’s heartstrings until they weep, but the softly spoken confession does nothing less of emotional murder. He squeezes tighter, until Lotor gets winded.

“Well…” Hunk starts, testing the words thrice over on his tongue before he throws them out, “I guess that just means I’ll have to pick up the slack.”

---

Lotor learned after that encounter that when the Yellow Paladin makes a promise, he goes through with it until the end.

They meet privately, mostly because Lotor was too embarrassed (read: anxious) to be seen so vulnerable in front of so many people at once, and Hunk respects that.

Their hands tangle sometimes, in the shadows when they sit next to one another. Hunk had once described it as a ‘hand-hug’ and had even showed him how they did it on earth— using the thumbs as arms to wrap around one another’s palm. It was pointless in the best of ways, but Lotor had melted at the sentiment anyway.

Somehow that had extended further, before Lotor even realized how far in they were. Hunk often led him to his personal room, distracted with a story from his past or about something silly another paladin had done the day prior.

It was… domestic. An entirely new thing for Lotor to experience, and more was thrown at him until he was soon snugly pressed against Hunk’s side one night, half-dozing as Hunk chatters about his day. His head is cushioned against the soft firmness of Hunk’s arm, and his own are wrapped around Hunk’s midriff.

(“Like a kid and his teddy bear.” Hunk had once teased, carding his fingers through Lotor’s sleep tangled hair.)

He isn’t exactly sure what prompts it, and for that he blames how comfortable Hunk is to drowse against, but Lotor finds himself dipping low to press a kiss against the exposed part of Hunk’s shoulder, chest rumbling in a content purr.

He freezes when Hunk does; pulls back when Hunk sits up, but Hunk only rolls over onto his side to look him in the face and to cup his hand against Lotor’s cheek and pull him close. Their foreheads press together, and Lotor can acutely feel Hunk’s heartbeat pick up just from being near his temples.

The gentle touches, as if Hunk is careful not to scare Lotor away, makes him flustered, but he basks in it anyway. Fingers trace the pointed shape of his ears, prompting them to twitch until Hunk has passed them by. A thumb traces along his jaw, straying high enough to smooth out the creases of his lips as Hunk studies him.

Hunk leans forward to kiss him. On the forehead, where they’d been pressed together, and it leaves Lotor’s chest so feverish that his hearts drown in it, sweltering like Hunk had ignited stars beneath his ribcage. He never wants to leave this moment.

They fall asleep like that, Lotor first because stars Hunk is so comfortable.

And when Lotor wakes, watching Hunk breathe and pressing a kiss against his nose, he doesn’t resist the lovestruck smile that steals its way on his lips.

[bionicdragonguardian1]

Day 3: Mermaid AU

I think I broke it because I didn’t realize until I saw it on my dash that most people were making both of them Mermaids, I kinda just did a historical one too. Also this is angsty.

Keith is captain of a ship

Obviously, as per plot, he and his crew catch Lance in their nets

They almost think they’ve struck the legend when Lance has feet by the time he and the other fish in the net hit the deck

Keith can’t explain why he’s drawn to Lance but he brings the young man to his quarters, offering him proper clothing

Lance clearly has no grasp on the language Keith is speaking

Keith tries three that he knows his crew speaks, but he spent so long away from his crew’s mainlands that he can only use them minorly

Lance doesn’t seem to understand any of them

It’s a bit slow in the beginning but by the week’s end Lance has the ability to understand what’s being said to him, even if he hasn’t tried to say a word

Pidge is a little shit and frequently confuses Lance by changing their language to their native tongue

But there’s one thing they’re all hiding from Lance

Why they steer clear of any other ships

They aren’t just sailors

They’re pirates

After a month Keith has learned four things

1) Lance has no concept of personal space

Which the entire crew has grown used to over the course of the month

2) Lance is deathly afraid of the water

Which Keith supposes is fair, considering he was caught up their nets and was coughing up water on his deck that made Keith how the tanned man was still alive

3) Lance, for some reason, is extremely attached to Keith

Pidge loves to call him an idiot whenever he asks them about it, Shiro just looks to Adam with a fond smile before ruffling his hair, Hunk is blatantly quiet about the topic, Allura laughs fondly, and Coran is Coran

4) Lance may not speak, but he can sing

The first time it happened Keith was wondering if the legends of women to drag him into the water were not just legends, but he found Lance in the Crow’s Nest

He also now understands why Lance has issues learning their language

His seems to be mostly done with inflections and no true consonants or ends to the words

He wonders briefly if Lance’s people sing to each other, he couldn’t think of how someone could have a conversation at normal speed in that language

When Lance’s kisses him for the first time his brain completely stops

Before returning it and realizing why Pidge thought he was an idiot

They were right and he wonders how he went this long without it

They run into another captain that Keith has run into a few times

Lotor

Needless to say the white haired man holds a grudge

Somehow in the commotion Lance ends up on the business end of Lotor’s sword

Keith screams and begs for anyway to get Lance back

Willing surrendering and agreeing to Lotor’s terms

Their ship, Voltron, has to be abandoned and only one row boat of theirs attached to the Oriande

Everyone but Lance is tied to the front mast

Lance is held against the largest member Lotor’s crew, a woman named Zethrid

Lotor ties Keith’s arms behind him and makes him walk the plank

The first time Lance actually speaks their language he’s screaming his throat raw with simple words of “NO/STOP/DON’T” and most heart wrenchingly his name.

But Keith keeps his face forward so Lance can’t see him crying

Then steps off the edge

[beware-of-spoilers-my-guy]

A Trip to the Floor

Just a little langst I never finished bc I didn’t know how. There was more but it sucked so... it’s fine. It works even better with this new ending.

Don’t worry, it’s not that bad. Really.

Lance leaned against the wall, heart pounding so hard he was sure it would burst right out of his chest. His fingertips skimmed over the bloody gash just above his collarbone. He had long ago abandoned his armor plates in a weak attempt to ease his movements. He was out of breath and out of energy, but most of all he was terrified of being found. The ghost of a footstep echoing on the hard tile was enough to coax his exhausted legs into carrying him again, sprinting with all he had until he collapsed on the cold metal beneath him.

Shiro shuffled into the kitchen, yawning and feeling for the light switch. Keith bumped into him as he came through the doorway.

“...Oops...Sorry...Shiro...”

Shiro only nodded sleepily and clumsily made his way over towards the couch before crashing onto it and curling up into a ball. Keith came over to him and spread himself over the couch like space peanut butter.

“I’m so sorry guys, I didn’t mean to wake you all.” Hunk apologized.

“That’s alright Number 2, we all have nightmares sometimes.” Coran said by way of comfort.

“But most of us don’t scream at 1 am because we dreamed about expired pickle juice.” Pidge said.

“Hey, it was scary ok?” Hunk replied as he went off to make pancakes.

“Guys, please...we’re trying to sleep here.” Matt responded as he flopped over the back of the couch.

“You are all so lazy.” Allura said from the doorway. Somehow she was already dressed and her hair had been brushed until it was silky smooth. Krolia let out a soft laugh as she followed her in.

Lotor entered next, his hair somehow perfect even though he had not touched it.

“The morning is no time for this.” he declared, rooting through the cupboard for a coffee mug. 

Upon discovering that there were none to be found, he made his way over the couch and squatted on the arm before tipping himself over so that he looked like a big purple beetle on Shiro’s head. Then Pidge wearily launched herself into a faceplant on Keith’s stomach and let the rest of her body melt into the floor.

“Team, this is no time to rest!” Allura called over to the mess of bodies on the cushions.

“This is exactly the time to rest Allura!” Keith retorted.

His comment was met with a bunch of feeble “Yeah”s from the others. Allura just glared.

“Hey guys, breakfast’s ready!” Hunk said, bringing in plates and plates of pancakes.

After a hearty meal, the team seemed much more awake. That’s when Shiro noticed something was off.

“Where’s Lance?” he asked. “Has anyone seen him?”

The group thought for a minute.

‘He’s probably still asleep.” Pidge reasoned.

And with that, they continued to go about their day.

It was hours before Hunk brought it up again.

“Is Lance still asleep?”

“He didn’t look all that tired last night...” Coran remarked.

“We should to see if he’s alright.” Krolia agreed.

Shiro had a bad feeling in his gut and he didn’t like it. He stood up and left the room in a hurry. It wasn’t two minutes before the others heard footsteps rushing back. The doors barely had time to part before he came bursting through them.

“Lance isn’t in his room.” he yelled. “His bed hasn’t been slept in, his armor’s gone and there’s blood on the floor!”

The room went silent. Then the whole group got themselves together and began the panicked hunt for Lance.

It was another 20 minutes before a cry rang out through the comms.

“Lance!”

Matt’s face turned ashen as he set eyes on the battered body of the missing paladin. Lance looked the definition of the words small, vulnerable and frail as he lay there alone, curled up on the floor, shivering and drenched in his own blood. He fell to his knees with an audible thud and extended a shaky hand to Lance’s altogether too-pale forehead. He gasped and pulled it back in surprise at the searing heat that met his skin.

“Oh quiznack.” he breathed.

“Matt, what’s wrong? Where are you?”

Matt snapped back into focus at hearing the concerned calls of the team.

“I’m by the hangar. Come quick you guys, whatever it was that happened, it was bad. Lance needs a healing pod and he needs it now.”

“Hang on Matt, we’re coming.” Shiro responded. “I hope we make it in time.”

Lance almost didn’t hear voices calling his name. He barely felt hands pressing against his forehead and cheeks. He hardly noticed the drops of salt water dotting his skin. His brain too foggy to register the strong arms lifting him from the floor that had been his home for the day. He didn’t hear the pleas of his teammates begging for him to be ok. And he never felt his feet take his weight again in the healing pod.

“At least they’ll never find me.” he thought.

“No one cares enough to look.”

It had been weeks since they’d heard Lance’s voice. Weeks since the tension was broken by a dumb joke or a crack at Keith’s hair. Weeks since there had been a flirtatious comment directed at Allura. Keith, Krolia and Lotor battled as hard as they could, not letting up until one by one they blacked out on the training deck, the sparring bot towering above them. Hunk and Coran “accidentally” broke various things around the ship just so they could fix them and forget about it all. Allura engrossed herself in planning their next attack. Matt and Shiro found some alcohol and locked themselves in a separate room to drink it all. Pidge cried herself to sleep.

They whiled away the time, waiting for the happy reunion that deep down, they all knew just wasn’t coming.

And Lance stood still as stone behind the turquoise glass.

[safeklancewriters]

Fic Rec #3

Date ending: April 21

Sorry all that this is late! Next months should hopefully be on time if life doesn’t get in our way. But this month she’s a long one and we have some stellar fics for yall this month! As usual, the fics will follow below the cut

bring him home by 221bdisneystreet Rating: Teen Pairings: Keith/Lance Additional characters: Hunk | Pidge | Shiro | Allura | Lotor Tags: Angst | Hurt/Comfort | Angst with a Happy Ending | of course there's gonna be a happy ending i'm no sadist | klangst | Brainwashing | Blood | Violence | the blood and violence isn't very graphic tho | it's somewhat mild | Post-Season 4 | Canon Divergence | i guess?? idk where this could be in the timeline exactly | just pretend it's after s4 | anyways i hope you all love dying cuz i sure love dying | Minor Injuries Stats: Words: 1713 Chapters:1/1

Summary: This isn’t Keith. This isn’t the Keith he has fought alongside as a fellow teammate. This isn’t the Keith he used to call his rival and now can consider his friend. This isn’t the Keith he has slowly grown fond of with each passing day, with each passing second. This isn’t him. But maybe…

Keith’s been brainwashed and Lance hopes he can snap him out of it.

red skies ch. 4 by angstinspace Rating: Teen Pairings: Keith/Lance | minor Hunk/Shay Additional characters: Hunk | Pidge | Keith | Rover | Zarkon | Haggar | Shiro  Tags: Alternate Universe - Space Opera | heavily influenced by star wars | but not exactly a star wars au idk | broganes | au where rover doesn't die | Slow Burn | pew pew laser guns | plot twist heavy | spot the golion references | adding characters and tags as i go | white haired keith | lance is basically han solo | POV Multiple Stats: Words:39,121 Chapters:4/?

Summary:

Lance's fingers hovered over the talisman, an inch away from brushing against it. His mind went blank as he stared down at the other boy, who stared back at him with wide, questioning eyes that were a startling shade of violet.

The dazed look on the boy’s face transformed into a frown as his breathing quickened. The more his eyes focused on Lance, the more a wild panic started to set into them.

"Who are you?" he asked sharply. It sounded like he'd meant it to come out with more ferocity, but his voice rasped on the words like he hadn't spoken in weeks.

Lance doesn't know where he comes from––only that he was found in a forest on a distant planet when he was an infant, with no sign of his origin except a blue talisman around his neck. Nowadays he's content to travel the universe with his best friend Hunk, scavenging and selling goods. But that all changes when a girl named Pidge hitches a ride with them, and in the same day the trio finds a crashed ship carrying nothing but a boy with no memory of who he is ... and a red talisman that matches Lance's.

the stars are bound to change by angstinspace Rating: Teen Pairings: Keith/Lance Additional characters: OCs Tags: Kidfic | Angst with a Happy Ending | Fluff and Angst | Pining Keith | Minor Injuries | Slight Canon Divergence | Slow Burn | like....really slow burn i'm so sorry Stats:  Words:50,828 Chapters:9/9

Summary: Both paladins turned to their new, small alien companion. She lifted her head to look at each of them in turn, her eyes round. Keith laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“How about you, Zola?” he said. “Are you ready to go?”

She didn’t answer right away. Then she hesitantly asked, “Where are we going?”

As he made eye contact with Lance over her head, Keith could have sworn he felt something electric in the air: a simultaneous resurgence of determination.

“We’re going to take you home.”

Keith and Lance rescue a little alien girl from a hostage situation and bring her home ... and learn a few things about themselves and each other along the way.

Sunlight by bepsicola Rating: N/A Pairings: Keith/Lance Additional characters: Shiro | Allura Tags: Drabble | Alternate Universe - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Setting | Pining Keith | Pre-Relationship | Listen. It's tender. Stats:  Words:1,015 Chapters:1/1

Summary: Lance had made a mistake, but he could also make flowers grow.

Learning About Strays by Katsudonace Rating: Teen Pairings: Keith/Lance Additional characters: Red Lion | Blue Lion | Black Lion Tags: Established Relationship | Alternate Universe - Modern Setting | Trans Male Keith | Trans Male Lance | Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD | Abandonment Issues | Emotional Hurt/Comfort | Fluff | Light Angst | Nightmares | blind cat | three-legged cat Stats: Words:5,780 Chapters:1/1

Summary: It's been two weeks since Keith and Lance started dating, and they've begun preparing to move in together. They decide to tackle one hurdle before they go any further in their relationship, sleeping in the same bed. However, there are still aspects of themselves that they haven't told their partner. What starts as a peaceful night turns into one of discovery as they learn more about the baggage each of them carry.

Cheetah Tongue by mishcakes Rating: Teen Pairings: Keith/Lance Additional characters: everyone else on team volron Tags: Alcohol | i mean it isnt but it makes them act like it | so just to be safe Stats:  Words:2,680 Chapters:1/1

Summary: In which Keith and Lance go on a journey to find out why they woke up alone together in a closet.

Glow in the Dark by mishcakes Rating: Teen Pairings: Keith/Lance | mentioned Hunk/Shay Additional characters: Shiro | Pidge | Hunk Tags: ghost au | Real estate au | ghost lance | broganes | supernatural au (not the show) | keith | is bad at feelings | Slow Burn | i guess this counts as one now | Angst Stats:  Words:35,571 Chapters:9/9

Summary: Keith and Shiro are real estate agents tasked with fixing up a once abandoned house. It's a mystery why the house was abandoned, until Keith realises that it's haunted by an annoying ghost named Lance.

The Stars Above Nevada by quasarii Rating: Teen Pairings: Keith/Lance | Keith & Shiro | Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Keith & Pidge Additional characters: OCs | Iverson | Keith’s Father Tags: Major Original Character(s) | Gay Keith | Bisexual Lance | Laundromat AU | a dash of angst | lowkey slow burn | Gays In Arcades | Wannabe Contemporary Novel | Coming Out | Lance Likes Philosophy | Bilingual Lance | Cuban Lance | Texan Keith | Pretentious Philosophy | Alternate Universe - Laundromat | Don't Ask Me How This Fits Into Canon | Galaxy Garrison | Keith has Social Anxiety | Shiro Is Flawed But We Love Him | Pre-Canon | i guess | Don't | Examine This Too Closely | some time skips | finished fic | Greek Mythology References | if nevada-boo was a thing like weaboo i'd be it | a ton of broganes Stats:  Words:77,957 Chapters:28/36

Summary: “Tell me,” Keith asked, finally tearing his eyes away from the sky to look at Lance. Lance frowned in confusion. “Tell you what?” “What the desert whispers into your ears.” – One night, a few hundred years into the future, in a dark laundromat in the middle of the vast Nevada desert – Keith ends up meeting Lance by a turn of fate. When they meet again in Galaxy Garrison for their junior year, an unlikely friendship blooms between them, as lively as the star-scattered skies, and as strong as the desert wind. 

The stars, the moon (they have all been blown out) by Talking_Bird Rating: Teen Pairings: Keith/Lance Additional characters: Pidge | Shiro | Narti | Kova Tags: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts | Room of Requirement | One Shot | First Kiss | Pining Keith | Love Confessions | patronus reveal | Tooth-Rotting Fluff | gryffindor klance | beater keith | chaser lance | liberal use of the room of requirement | Patronus | Friends to Lovers | Best Friends | Amortentia | POV Keith  Stats:  Words:9,700 Chapters:1/1

Summary: On the night before Lance and Keith graduate from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they decide to sneak out one last time to the astronomy tower.

or

Keith tries to find the courage to tell his best friend he's in love with him.

[[Updated with art!!]]

New Endings ch. 4 by thatreallyshittydude Rating: Teen Pairings: Keith/Lance Additional characters: Allura Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence | Black Paladin Lance | yeah you heard me Stats:  Words:11,004 Chapters:5/?

Summary: For the last two years, Keith has been completely alone. Nothing in his life meant anything. He simply kept going without any purpose, serving a faceless organization that hardly got anything done. But one day, he receives a call. A call to join Team Voltron, a call to become the Red Paladin, a call to meet new people. Though begrudgingly, he answers it.

polaris by VaraderoBeach Rating: Teen Pairings: Keith/Lance Additional characters: Shiro Tags: Alcohol | Underage Drinking | Keith is Bad at Feelings | Pining Keith | gratuitous imagery of constellations | Keith Has Anxiety | rating for alcohol use | Garrison AU/Modern AU Stats:  Words:6,513 Chapters:1/1

Summary: Keith looks down at the stereotypical red solo cup in his hand, filled with some liquor he found in the fridge. Someone named Rolo had put in his hand almost an hour ago. At first, he hadn’t had any of the mystery liquid out of fear of the unknown, but the second he saw Lance he chugged half of it’s contents. It’s fruity, but sour.

Keith looks up from the cup as he brings it to his lips again. His eyes, almost as if they’re trained to do so, find Lance. Lance is speaking to the short girl — Katie, he thinks is her name, but he isn’t positive — and the larger man he knows to be Hunk. He and Hunk have physics together. They’ve never spoken. Lance laughs at something Hunk says, and Keith finds himself smiling into his cup. He hates it and downs the rest of the cup’s contents, and then grimaces at the taste.

Keith decides he needs a refill.

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Chink in the Armor

Title: Chink in the Armor - Kidge Week Day 1 Prompt Fill Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Pairing: Kidge Summary: Adjusting to new roles and positions can be difficult for anyone; however, sometimes it isn’t adjusting to your own position that can be difficult to deal with. Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more. AN: Gonna start out Kidge Week with something on the kinda angsty side of things! After all, I’m sure that Keith probably has some issues with seeing the team dynamics from the outside now. :3

Kolivan had brought him along with him to visit the Paladin’s and discuss their next move. It had been a while since last Keith had seen the others and he was a bit excited. Even though Krolia hadn’t come along with them, he was excited to tell the others that he had met his mother and started to learn more about his family; especially Pidge, whom had always been very supportive of his growing curiosity over the maternal side of his family tree. He remembered her offers to do some digging and searching on missions for him, insisting that she would help him in any way that she possibly could.

He took comfort in knowing she had his back.

Once they’d gotten more comfortable with their positions on the team, she always seemed to have his back, really. She was the shield of Voltron, but in a way she had also become his shield. When he needed her, she was there for him. When he had been leader of Voltron, she had tried her best to sway him from making risky, harmful decisions; and not by way of force or yelling, but simply by bringing up facts to him. He tended to go by instinct and baser emotion as opposed to logic or reason. Pidge herself tended to be a bit more emotional about certain subjects, but she was ultimately better at knowing when to use her wits as opposed to her heart.

He admired that in her.

He, in turn, did his best to offer her that same comfort. He looked after you and took initiative for making sure she made it back to her room when she’d been working too long. He would take her food and drinks while she was working, and sometimes simply join her and watch her work. Sometimes they swapped stories while other times they simply enjoyed a comfortable silence between them. If she was being stubborn about eating or sleeping, he was right there, ready to lock horns and bicker with her. Sometimes she wore him out and he’d leave, too frustrated to deal with her any longer, but other times he would manage to wear her down into doing what was best for her health.

He felt good, knowing that he could be of use to her.

Coran and Shiro led them to the observation deck above the training deck upon their arrival, the trio of older males chatting idly about a successful liberation the Paladin’s had recently undertaken with the help of Blade intel. Keith slipped past them to watch the training exercise playing out below, uninterested in what exactly they were talking about, and let his eyes settle on the training grounds below curiously.

The training exercise was one he recalled all too well; a tag-team match to work on team dynamics and making sure that everyone could play off of one another well. He had gone through it multiples times himself, as well as observed it multiple times as well, and figured it made a good amount of sense. While they had started to build a decent strategy back when he was Red Paladin, though they hadn’t run the exercise nearly as oft as they should have back when he was Black Paladin. Things had changed a lot since his tenure on the team as a whole so it made sense that this exercise would be needed. Shiro had returned as the Black Paladin. Allura was the Blue Paladin now. Lance was the Red Paladin now.

Keith chose to ignore a sensation that ached deep inside, speaking to him of a familiar cockpit and familiar purr in his mind. Lance was the Red Paladin now.

He was a bit curious, though, how things worked out for Lance and Pidge as teammates. Lance was a sniper and a pretty decent mid-range shot. Pidge, meanwhile, used a grappling hook-Taser hybrid to help her clean house in a fight. She was good at close combat and long range, but if she was going in close and fast then she needed a good partner. Keith, being comfortable with close combat himself, as he preferred fisticuffs and fought with blades, had always been a good match for her. He couldn’t even recall how many times the two of them had wrecked the training bots together simply by knowing how to move around one another.

His eyes keyed in on Pidge immediately, watching as the training bot swung at her with its staff. His hand twitched at his side, clasping at his luxite blade on his hip on instinct. It held the same post as his bayard had once before. He watched, stunned, as the scene before him played out, identical to how it would have if he’d been down there beside her.

She ducked, leaning backwards to the point her back almost brushed the floor of the training deck.

He surged forward from where he’d been posted a few feet back, firing rounds at another training bot, his bayard shifting to a long sword. He pushed off the ground, sending himself upward, and blocked the staff of the bot and pushed it back a bit.

She rolled aside, sending her own bayard out to hook around it’s foot, and yanked hard.

He shifted, landing evenly on his feet, and pierced the bot with his blade.

He offered her his hand with a proud laugh. She took it eagerly, laughing herself, and then high-fiving once she was up on her feet again. They started talking, animated and eager, and all Keith could do was sit there and watch from the sidelines.

How many times had that scene played out between he and Pidge in the past? Back when he was an actual member of the team?

“They’ve gotten pretty good as a team,” Shiro said, beside him suddenly, and he spun around a touch too quick to look at him. The other had his arms crossed and was looking out at the other Paladins as well. “Allura’s always been a natural fighter, but she works surprisingly well with Hunk. I think her being a bit more offensive works well to Hunk’s more defensive position most of the time.”

He stared at him the watch the other four as they convened, Lance making some grand display and using his sword more like a wand to demonstrate his point. “Neat trick he’s got going there,” He said, nodding his head in the other’s direction, trying to keep the bitterness from his tone.

Judging by the slight twitch at the corner of Shiro’s lips, it wasn’t successful. “You mean the broad sword? Allura says it’s most likely due to his heightening abilities. The bayard adapts as its user needs it to, so it’s safe to say the other bayards would be capable of something similar if the other’s ever needed a different weapon. I mean, back when he was using the blue bayard, he was able to shift between which gun model he needed, too,” He explained, as if that would somehow soothe Keith’s irritation.

It didn’t.

“Must be nice to have a weapon that changes as necessary. Can help compensate a bit, I’m sure,” He grumbled quietly.

“Your Blade dagger can do something similar,” Kolivan pointed out as he approached as well.

He flinched then turned to glare at his commander. “That’s different! I had to earn the ability to have access to both of its modes!” He snapped back.

The older Galran seemed unperturbed by his little breakdown. “It sounds like he had to earn that right as well. Or are you trying to imply that you think the current Red Paladin is unfit in his position?”

Keith growled while Shiro held up one hand. “Woah, I think that’s a bit much, Kolivan. I think it’s more that Keith has worked with Lance in the past and just hasn’t had the chance to see how much he’s progressed since Keith decided to focus on his work with the Blade,” He said evenly.

And by “decided to focus on his work with the Blade” he really meant “abandoned Team Voltron because he couldn’t hack it as leader”.

He turned on his heels and headed out with another word, ignoring Shiro calling him back over or the mildly irritated scowl Kolivan flashed him. He didn’t need to stand there and tolerate them talking about his decisions like he didn’t know how they both judged him by it. Shiro, he was certain, saw it as proof that he was still too foolhardy to be trusted with authority or exceedingly high amounts of power. He remembered the way his brow had twitched during the update of the missions they’d taken during Keith’s tenure as Black Paladin. He still remembered how, even when he hadn’t been in any Lion or out on the battlefield in even a cruiser, Shiro had tried to dictate how they proceed when they intercepted Lotor all that time ago. He still remembered how the other man had tried to lecture him after he’d nearly crashed his ship into the shields of Haggar’s ship.

Sometimes he felt like he was back at the Garrison, but Shiro wasn’t Shiro; he was Iverson, constantly on his ass about what a waste his natural talent was. It took all his self-control to not let that same searing rage burn him from the inside out. It took him telling himself over and over that it was Shiro and he was only saying it because he cared to keep him from outright decking him in the face, just like he had with Iverson a few years back.

And, he thought, something about the hypocrisy of the whole thing bothered him. How dare Keith be willing to sacrifice himself to save everyone he cared about, while Shiro willingly allied himself with Lotor against the wishes of his entire team? He saw through that in two seconds. Shiro was just as bad as Keith; he just got off the hook because he was the Garrison’s Golden Boy, even when he was galaxies away from the damn place.

And Kolivan? He wasn’t much better, either, with how he constantly rode Keith about falling in line with the Blade ideals. That made even less sense to Keith after meeting Krolia and finding out that the stunt she had pulled to save his skin wasn’t the first time she’d taken action like that. In yet she was still a relatively high-ranking Blade operative! When he had tried to call him out on it, Kolivan had waved him off with an air of indifference and claims that Keith was still too new to war to understand. He had refused to drop it, though, and tried to argue further.

Shortly after Kolivan had finally barked at him to shut his mouth, they’d left for the Castle of Lions. A move, he suspected, meant to try and calm Keith back down.

He skid to a stop outside the doors of the training deck and stared. As if being here, the place of his greatest failures and greatest losses, would be able to sweeten him back up. He was about to keep going, to maybe find one of his old haunts on the ship, when the doors slid open and he came face to face with the others.

“Keith!” Pidge chimed excitedly, ducking out from under Lance’s arms before all four of them lunged at him.

He blinked then laughed a bit, shifting one of his legs back a bit so that he could keep his balance as they all hugged him. It was still a challenge, but thankfully enough Hunk was a pretty solid guy that kept them all grounded by sheer force of his embrace. They were all excitedly babbling at him, talking over one another and making it nearly impossible to really understand them.

After a moment, Pidge suddenly huffed and pushed on him, sending them a bit farther from the other three. “Okay, enough of that! If Keith’s here to visit, then I call dibs first!” Pidge declared.

Lance blinked then snorted. “How is that even fair? Maybe I wanted to show off that he isn’t the only sleek sword master around here!” He said, flashing a haughty grin at the other male.

Keith blinked once before scoffing a bit. “I saw you guys from the training deck observation area. Your form was sloppy, which hinted that you haven’t been using the blade very long, and if it wasn’t for Pidge having your back, that training bot could have very easily disarmed and defeated you,” He deadpanned.

Lance flushed while Pidge laughed and stuck her tongue out at him. “Told you I was carrying your sorry tail!”

“Oh please! Keith’s just jealous that I’m blazing a trail he’ll never be able to catch up to!” Lance snapped back, crossing his arms over his chest and sneering down at them.

Keith watched as he and Pidge had their back and forth, something he’d gotten use to watching, but something in him ached dully. A sense of dread was rushing through him the longer he stood there and observed them all interacting with one another. The team was fine – Hell, maybe even better off – without him around him. What would they care about what he’d done in his time with the Blade? Would Pidge still hold any interest in his discovering who his mother was?

After all, he wasn’t a Paladin. He was no longer the Sword of Voltron. What use could he possibly serve to her, now?

[ringlov]

Lotor week, day 1 — Abandoned

Leave it to Lotor to look gorgeous even when all beaten up

[sillyshiro]

let me know you’re okay, okay?

for Lotor Week Day 1 - Abandoned | @voltronweeks

Pairings: Lotor & Team Voltron (Gen)

Tags: post season 4, emotional hurt, Lotor-centric, illness, injury, Lotor joins team voltron

Words: 1087

Summary: 

Lotor steadies himself over his knees, sits forward in a bid not to pass out. The drink comes with a straw, but he’s too unsteady to pierce the film in the right place, he tears the side of the packaging with his teeth instead. He places his mouth over the corner of the pouch and squeezes miserably, his eyes watering for no other reason than he’s exhausted, the liquid is unbearably salty and his chest feels painfully tight. He presses his palm below his ribs, gives an involuntary twitch as he swallows.

Aboard the castleship, Lotor isn’t as okay as he seems.

posted to Ao3

[stumbling-while-balancing]

Mission (Not) Abandoned (AO3) Lotor Week, Day 1: Abandoned Keitor T

***

“Hunk?” Pidge called across the room, “Did you leave a data chip on my desk?”

“Wasn’t me. You know who it’s from?” Hunk got up from where he was currently fiddling with repairs on a Marmora ship to come over to her work station, peering at the chip like it would suddenly come to life and answer the question itself. Not that unlikely, considering, well- space.

Pidge frowned as she placed the chip into her computer. It was risky, but Pidge was confident enough in her code that she thought any nasty surprises the chip may have in store would be easily handled. At the very least, her computer wasn’t currently hooked up to the mainframe and she had backups of backups, so the damage wouldn’t be too bad.

And she was curious.

A beep drew her away from her inner justifications, and she surveyed the data that had been loaded onto her computer. It was immediately obvious that it was intel from the Blade of Marmora. It was just as obvious that the intel was from mission plans that had been abandoned due to the low likelihood of completion without capture.

Pidge closed her eyes and let out a slow breath, even as Hunk let out a low groan from behind her.

“Coran,” she commed, “Can you tell me where Keith is right now?”

***

Keith, apparently, was nowhere to be found. Correction, Keith was nowhere to be found where anyone could directly get ahold of him. Judging by the looks on the team’s faces, and even by the frowning, disapproving visage that Kolivan’s face currently sported, everyone knew where he probably was.

“At our last correspondence, he said that Voltron would need him for the next quintant.”

Lance snorted, “Yeah, and the last thing he told us was that he was going back to you guys for a mission.”

“So the Coalition has lost track of your most valuable Paladin. Are we going to continue discussing what he told all of you, or are we going to go find him?” Lotor said, loftily impatient.

Lance flinched before turning to face the (really fucking unwelcome) commenter from the peanut gallery. He really didn’t like that guy, something Lotor had made clear was mutual in that annoyingly posh way of his. He wished that Allura and Shiro didn’t insist on including him in things like this. Weren’t prisoners supposed to be locked up in cells, where they remained hidden away from the people they could annoy? But, ‘Lance, Lotor’s an ally we need to be careful with, not a prisoner!’ and ‘Lance, please stop being rude to our guest.’ and ‘Lance, if you can’t be respectful, then please be silent.’

Lance respected Allura more than he could say (she was so, so amazing!) and only about a tenth of that was because he wanted her to be his girl, but sometimes… sometimes he just didn’t agree with her choices.

Especially since-

Wait.

“Most valuable Paladin?!” He burst out, unable to keep the incredulousness out of his voice and interrupting the conversation that Allura, Shiro, Kolivan and Lotor were currently having. “Keith?! He’s not even a Paladin anymore!”

Lotor’s glance at him was about as warm as an iceberg’s, “He is capable of piloting both the Red and the Black Lions, so yes, still a Paladin. As well as being one of the youngest members the Blade has ever had, completing missions that would give even experienced Blade’s trouble. You may try to compete with his talent, but even you cannot deny that it exists.”

Lance drew himself up in righteous fury, ready to let loose his response to all that, when Shiro broke in.

“Guys, this isn’t a popularity contest. It doesn’t matter who the supposedly ‘most valuable Paladin’ is, what matters is that Keith is our friend and could be in trouble right now, so please.”

Well that took the wind right out of Lance’s sails.

“Fine.” He muttered, crossing his arms and deciding to take the high road of ignoring Lotor’s existence.

Shiro turned to Kolivan and continued their discussion, “So you said that the plans were abandoned because of the high risk factor.”

“Yes.” Kolivan said, face still set in disapproving lines, “While the battleship is itself unaccompanied by other ships, it does contain a high number of sentries and drones. However, those aren’t the problem. The problem is the druid on the ship, one of Haggar’s top officers and one who is very good at sensing when traitors to the Galra Empire are near. This druid has some sort of ability that psychologically breaks any who is on the receiving end of it, and the Blades that have encountered him… the few that came back did not do so mentally sound, and they all died shortly afterwards. While the intel on the ship would be invaluable, the risk with low chance of success was far too high to carry through with it.”

Well, fuck.

That actually sounded��� really bad.

Lance’s arms uncrossed subconsciously as worry became his strongest emotion.

And Keith was planning on throwing himself at this guy?

“Alzak,” Lotor growled from beside Allura, “I’ve come into contact with him before. His ability traps the recipient of it in a hellish mindscape, where they are tortured by creatures both of the druids design and by their own minds fearful wonderings. He takes pleasure in watching them suffer until they break. If we’re going to go save Keith, we need to do so now.” He finished grimly.

For once, Lance agreed with the jerk, and he was relieved to see Shiro nod.

“I think we’ve prepared as much as we can for now. Kolivan, how many of the Blade will be able to join us?” Shiro asked.

Kolivan grimaced, “Too few, many are currently engaged in missions elsewhere. Ten, at the most. I’ll have them meet you there.”

Shiro nodded, “Thank you.” He said, before ending the transmission and turning to walk toward his Lion, Lance and the other’s quickly following suit.

“I’m going as well.” Lotor interrupted, starting toward the door.

“What! Uh, yeah, no. The last thing we need to worry about while we’re saving Mullet is you stabbing us in the back!” Lance burst out, worry and frustration waring within him.

“I am the one that knows best how to deal with Alzak, and thus am the most likely to be able to bring Keith back without his mind in tatters. Please. Try to stop me if you wish.” Lotor snapped, open hostility uncharacteristically in place as he regarded Lance, a freezing, deep anger present in his eyes.

And was… was that worry in his eyes, as well? Holy shit, what had Keith done to get Lotor to worry about him. He knew that Keith had been spending a lot of the time he was on the Castleship with Lotor, but enough to get Lotor- Lotor!- to care about him? What the quiznack?

“Enough.” Shiro interrupted once more. “We don’t have time for this. Lotor, thank you for the offer. We accept. Lance, get to your Lion.”

Lance hurried to his Lion, for once being willing to leave the situation without the last word. He may not like or trust Lotor, but Keith was his friend, and Shiro was right when he said they didn’t have time for arguing. Maybe trusting Lotor was going to be a mistake, but it was one they were apparently going to make.

***

Hunk’s mind was practically swirling with worry, even as he determinedly forced himself to focus. This was really bad, and with no way to contact Keith without potentially putting him in danger, there was also no way to know what they were going into. Was Keith okay? Were they going to get there in time? What if they got there just in time to see the druid use his ability on Keith and they couldn’t stop it?

Coran and Allura had moved the Castleship as close as it could get to the battleship while still being outside the ship’s radar, and they were halfway to said ship when the Red and Black Lion’s abruptly went dead.

“Guys?” Hunk exclaimed, instantly pulling Yellow to a stop beside them.

“What happened?” Pidge asked, doing the same with the Green Lion.

“I don’t know.” Shiro replied, “Black just… stopped responding. I can’t connect to him, he feels like he’s somewhere else.”

“Red, too.” Lance replied, before adding angrily, “Lotor, if this is something you did-“

“I did nothing.” Lotor snapped, voice openly annoyed, “If the two of you are unable to continue, the rest of us should go ahead.”

That… was a bad idea if the ship had something that could invisibly take out two Lion’s, and he was surprised that Lotor, of all people, was willing to risk it. Hunk didn’t really trust the guy, but… he really did seem like he wanted to get to Keith as soon as possible. (Of course, Lotor could just be trying to betray them, but Hunk determinedly kept his mind away from that thought.)

“That’s a bad idea.” Pidge said, echoing his thoughts, “We don’t know what we’re going into or if they can disable our Lion’s just as easily. We need a plan.”

They argued back and forth about it for a few doboshes, before the Red and Black Lion’s abruptly came back online to Lance and Shiro’s exclamations.

“Everything okay, you guys?” Hunk asked, confused yet relieved to see the Lion’s working again.

“It seems to be, but let’s be cautious. We don’t know why they stopped.” Shiro replied.

“If we can continue, now.” Lotor interrupted, and the team nervously began moving toward the battleship once more.

***

Pidge wasn’t sure whether the drones floating lifelessly around the battleship were a good sign or a trap, and she didn’t like being unsure of things.

The rest of the team seemed similarly nervous, slowing their Lion’s to a slow glide as they approached the darkened battleship.

“Anyone else feeling really nervous about this?” Hunk asked.

“Their lack of response is concerning. We should approach with caution.” Allura said, her voice that careful cool it got sometimes when she was preparing herself for things to go sideways.

“Agreed.” Shiro replied, moving his Lion in front. “We’ll continue as planned, but keep aware of your surroundings. The Blade joining us are still ten doboshes away, so we can’t count on them for backup right now. Pidge, are we still in route to the ship’s main control room?”

Pidge checked the readouts, “Yeah, all we have to do is go to the right a bit and we can break into the ship. Then two rights and a left down the hallways and we’ll be there.”

“Good. Let’s go, team.”

Breaking into the ship was almost frighteningly easy once they reached their drop point, and even Lotor seemed, not exactly nervous, but like he was expecting a difficult fight ahead.

The way that sentries peppered the halls here and there, slumped over like someone had cut their power off, still didn’t put their minds at ease.

Until they reached the control room.

And there was Keith.

At the main computer, typing quickly at it while disabled sentries and a gasping, twitching druid lay beside him.

“Son of a bitch.” Lance cursed from beside her, and Pidge silently agreed.

Keith had given her one of the most frightening scares of her life, and he was apparently fine? And had apparently managed to take on an entire battleship by himself and win?

What the fuck?

She was simultaneously filled with the urge to run up to him and hug him, and run up to him and slap him on the head for taking that huge of a risk.

Keith had stiffened when they entered, and he whirled to face them at Lance’s exclamation, before relaxing at the sight of them.

“You’re early, I’m not finished getting the data yet. The cloaking you added to the ship and my suit works great, Pidge.” He added casually, like his team wasn’t currently freaking out while trying to get over the amount of worry he had put them through right in front of him.

“We’re- Cloaking- What the fuck Keith?!” Lance growled from beside her.

Shiro stepped forward then. “How did you manage to keep the druid’s power from trapping you?” He asked, sounding relieved yet confused.

Keith frowned back behind his shoulder, where his Marmora Blade lay beside the control panel. “It was the Red and Black Lion’s, and… the Blade, I think. They were able to help me reverse the druid’s powers somehow, turn it back onto him rather than having it trap me. After that, I was able to turn off the ship’s security before too many sentries got in.”

Pidge opened her mouth to ask a question, but then Lotor was moving toward Keith, his strides almost predatory as he walked. He reached Keith within a few tick’s time, and before anyone could say anything, he-

Well, he-

He jerked Keith into a deep, intense kiss that wouldn’t look out of place in a porno.

Pidge let out a choked sounding cough before abruptly turning her eyes anywhere that wasn’t their resident Galra prince trying this best to massage Keith’s tonsil’s with his tongue. And from the sound of things, to Keith’s enthusiastic appreciation.

Her eyes awkwardly met Hunk’s, and they stared at each other in shared trauma for a bit before she bit her lip to repress a sudden burst of laughter. It was just so awkward, so incredibly awkward. Did they even realize the rest of the team was still there? She winced at the sound of ruffling clothing, Please don’t let them get undressed, please don’t let them get undressed, please…

Well, at the very least she didn’t have to worry about Lotor’s intentions. After the way that Lotor generally was with Keith, and how he had been acting today…

she was pretty sure that he had it bad for her friend.

***

Keith groaned into the hot mouth that was consuming him, knowing that he needed to pull back but not wanting to. The team was there, the team was right there, probably shuffling around and avoiding looking at Lotor and Keith while they… were busy. Keith should definitely stop this, now. He moaned as Lotor’s mouth attacked his neck. In a dobosh. He should stop it in a dobosh.

***

Allura coughed politely into her hand as she considered her options. She really couldn’t think of anything she’d rather be doing less right now than listen to Zarkon’s son… express his attentions on her friend, but, as Lance sometimes said, there she was.

Doing exactly that.

She probably really should think more kindly of Lotor, as he had been of great service to the Coalition so far. But it was hard, having to work with the son of the man that killed her father.

It was even harder seeing her friend dance around a relationship with said son.

She turned her eyes to the couple (were they a couple now?) in front of the control panel with a frown. Lotor and Keith had actually stopped their activities and were just… looking at each other. Keith was staring up at Lotor with a million different expressions, the strongest a desperate hope, and Lotor…

Lotor was looking at Keith like he was something precious. Like Keith was the most amazing thing he had ever seen, and he was awed by it. Like Keith was something he treasured enough that he would fight the universe to protect and keep it.

Like he was in love with Keith.

Her mind now decided, Allura began to collect and nudge the other Paladins out of the room. She may not know everything in this new, strange universe so different from her home, but she did know one thing.

There was not nearly enough love in the universe, and there was no one more deserving of love than Keith. And she would protect her friend’s right to it, no matter her own feelings on the matter.

Besides, she thought as she risked a glance back and watched Lotor run a tender thumb over Keith’s cheek, I think… I think someone like Lotor might actually be something that Keith has needed for a long time.

And Allura shut the door behind her to give the two the privacy they needed.

End

***

Notes:

This was started a bit ago and finished now. I think it counts as an entry to Lotor week (it's meant to be), but it's definitely not entirely Lotor focused, so if Mod's want to not count it, that's okay!

May contain a sequel with Lotor and Keith working out their relationship, but no promises.

[savetheblackpaladin]

Could you do headcanons for how the paladins might react to their s/o telling them theyre going to have a baby and what gender their baby will be?

Round 1 in the pregnant S/O series!!!! More to come after vacation!

Also I’m adding Pidge to this under my HC of her as a trans woman so that’s that.

This would take place when each paladin is about 22-25. I ain’t about to advocate teen pregnancy (i’m a result of one so don’t worry, I’m not shaming. I just want what’s ideal for the smol children)

Under the cut bc it’s long

You looked at the offending stick in your hands, to scared to turn it over and reveal the truth. Maybe your period was just super late? Like 6 weeks late…Unlikely, but totally possible. Also, who knew what space did to the human body? Being in anti-gravity could totally mess with your uterus, right?

You groaned and dropped your head. You knew better. There were only two options here, either you were pregnant or you weren’t. “Fuuuuuuck!”, you groaned before quickly flipping the stick over before you lost your nerve, again.

A smiley face looked up at you. A purple, offending smiley face. The audacity! How can it be so happy when it was going to turn your weird space life upside down! You sighed out your nose and flipped the other three tests sitting on the counter, maybe this one was wrong?

But nope, not today. Three purple smiley faces looked up at you. Well, four for four. It was time to find your boyfriend/girlfriend. There was definitely a baby on board.

Hunk:

you found him tinkering away in his workshop, fully occupied with his work but he acknowledged you with a quick nod so you sat down and waited. You’ve been dating for 6 years now and you still never tired of watching him work. You’re heart swelled with pride at the knowledge that he was going to be your baby’s daddy

he finished up within a few minutes and turned towards you

“What’s up, Cupcake? You’re looking a little…” he didn’t finish the sentence but held up his hand and wobbled it in the universal “eeeh” gesture.

You took a deep breath, this was going to be like ripping off a band-aid. “Hunk, Sweetness? I’m…I’m pregnant…” You held up the four tests for him to see.

He looks to the sticks. He looks to your face. Then he looks to your lower stomach; he thought it was growing but he didn’t think anything of it. Sometimes space was stressful. 

Then he faints. Like straight up faints and falls off his chair with a solid smack onto the floor.

You immediately rush to his side and attempt to wake him up by shaking him, this was not the reaction you wanted and now you were Panicking

He comes to pretty quickly and gingerly sits up, a little dazed until he spots the innocent tests sitting one the floor where you tossed them.

“Holy quiznack. You’re pregnant?”

“Yep.”

“I’m gonna be a daddy?”

You smile, “Yeah, yeah you are.”

“Oh my god,” he starts rubbing his hands together, “We’re gonna be parents!?” He smiles and pulls you to him with a laugh, careful not to squeeze you too tight, he’s not sure what’s okay or not with a pregnant lady.

He definitely starts crying. He’s gonna be a daddy! And you! You beautiful creature you! You’re gonna be carrying his child!? Truly, you are the pinnacle of creation!

his sobbing causes you to start sobbing and now you’re both sitting on the floor, clutching each other and sobbing into each other’s shoulders

he eventually moves a large hand to your abdomen, truly enthralled that there’s a little bean in their that’s going to be his kid!

he tells you to sit on the bed so he can plant kisses all over your tummy

for good luck

he celebrates by cooking all your favorite meals and throwing you a small party

cries a little every time someone mentions he’s going to be a daddy

You end up having a girl, a very chubby and adorable baby girl with skin like her daddy and your hair and eye color

Lance:

You found Lance sleeping soundly in his room, clearly tired from the day’s training. You take a moment to take in his handsome face, how it’s changed from when he was a pointy chinned-teen to the strong jawed adult he was now. Now he rivaled Shiro in the looks department and you really couldn’t believe your luck.

You sit on his bed and run your hands through his short hair and it doesn’t take long for him to blink sleepily up at you, his face lighting up like it always did when he saw you

“Heya, beautiful. Wanna join me?” He yawned and rolled over to snuggle into your lap.

“Actually, I have something to tell you Lance.”

“Could it wait? I’m ssooooo tired. Shiro might be getting on in years but he still can kick my ass.” He yawned as if to prove his point.

You bit your lip, “Actually Lance, sweetheart, it can’t.”

The seriousness in your voice causes him to immediately sit up. He’s very concerned and places a comforting hand on your cheek, “Yeah, ok. What’s wrong babe?”

“You nuzzle his hand with a chuckle, “Well, it’s nothing wrong per se. It’s just…well, Lance…y-you’re gonna be a daddy.”

A pause, “A wha-at?” his voice cracks.

“You’re gonna be a daddy, Lance. I’m pregnant.”

He takes the four tests from your hand and stares at them in disbelief. And then the floodgates unleash, he’s a sobbing mess and he’s pulling you into his arms and talking to you in rapid Spanish and you only pick up enough to understand the key words “happy” and “father”

he’s ecstatic! he’s always wanted to be a dad and have a big family just like his own

he might have liked to be a little older than 23 but if he wants to get his 4 kids in before 30 then there’s no time like the present

Then he’s running to his door, popping his head out to scream at the top of his lungs, “I’M GOING TO BE A DADDY!!!! AHAHAHA! YES!!!!!”

then he returns to you, dipping you in his arms to give you a sloppy kiss

he’s so happy, so so happy and excited!

“Is this why you’ve been throwing up so much?”

“You know about that?” You were trying to hide that.

“Babe, where you’re concerned, I know everything.”

Celebratory sex (which wow, sex is really freaking good when you’re pregnant as you two find out in the coming months)

He’s calling himself ‘Daddy’ every opportunity he can, he just loves it!!!!

“You just got straight up murdered by this dad!”

“This is Lance, Blue Paladin, Defender of the Universe, Best Father in Space, expert marksman, at your service.”

“Hey lover boy, get in here.” “That’s lover DAD to you Pidge.” “I’m not calling you dad.”

“Move over Shiro, there’s a new Space Dad in town!”

Pidge and Keith take to carrying a little bean launcher and shooting him every time he calls himself a dad bc his child isn’t even born yet

You end up having a little boy, a little on the small side and he looks just like his daddy

Keith:

He’s on the training deck when you find him, like always, but he stops the droid the moment he notices you.

“Hey you, wanna spar?” He walks over to give you a small chaste kiss and nuzzles your nose with his.

You look up at his handsome face, remembering when you used to be the same height before his last galra induced growth spurt at 22. “Uhm, actually Keith, I have something to tell you. Something important.”

“Yeah, ok. You wanna talk about it now, or can it wait until I shower?”

You agree to wait for him in your room while he showers. 

He comes back quickly to you pacing back and forth, biting your lips and holding your hands behind your back, clearly nervous. Which makes him nervous too. 

“You’re scaring me Y/n.”

His voice pulls you back and you stop pacing, “Right. Sorry. It’s just I have something very important to tell you. And I’m a little worried. But it’s going to be ok! All ok!”

“Riiiiight.” Keith remains unconvinced and slips his hands into his back pockets.

“Ok, so…I don’t really know how to say this. So I’m just gonna say it. Ready?” Keith nods. “I’m pregnant! Ta-da!” You show him the tests.

He looks to you, to the tests, back to you, back to the tests, back to you and the panic comes creeping in

“Oh no,” he moans and sinks into the nearest chair, “Nononono, Y/n! This can’t be happening!”

he’s taking it exactly like you though he was going to

He’s scared. He still doesn’t know who his mom is. His dad abandoned him to the foster system and is still MIA. He’s terrified he’s going to be just like them.

he doesn’t want to abandon his kid and he’s terrified he’s going to be an awful father

when the tears start up you move to comfort him, rubbing his back in soothing circles and kissing the top of his head, letting him cry it out as he clings to you, mumbling constantly about how he’s not ready for this

it takes a long time, but eventually he calms down enough to realize how hard his reaction must be on you since you’re the one growing a living being in you

*sniffle* “I’m sorry, Y/n, that was–I shouldn’t have reacted like that.”

“Well, it wasn’t ideal, but I figured this would happen. You’re not going to be like your dad Keith. You’re going to be so much better than him. You’re going to be a wonderful dad.”

“Dad?” His voice is a little broken when he looks up at you. 

“Yeah, Keith. You’re going to be a dad. We’re going to have a little child calling us Momma and Poppa.”

That brings a smile to his face, “I think I like that. Poppa.” He tries the word and likes the feel of it on his tongue, “I’m going to be the best damn Poppa in space!”

A tall order, but if anyone can do it, Keith can

still panics whenever his future fatherhood is mentioned but he’s got this, totally, he’s not worried at all (lies)

You end up having a boy who’s average weight and length, but has white hair

shocked, you both agree it must be from his Galra heritage

Shiro:

You find him in his favorite alcove in the library, going over the most recent proposal from planet Amalthea who was petitioning Voltron to join their Alliance

he doesn’t notice you at first, so you take the time to enjoy his profile. He’s still just as handsome as the day you met him but the 2 years of battling Zarkon and Lotor had taken a small toll on him in the form of white now appearing in his sparse 5 o’clock shadow. 

eventually he looks up, smiling as his favorite person in the world walks over to him. You’ve been glowing recently and he loves it. He’s been meaning to ask Lance if he gave you a new face mask, because he wants in on it.

“Hey you, are you busy?” Shiro shakes his head in response and opens his arms for you to crawl into his lap, giving you a small kiss as you get comfy. “Great! Because I have some news for you.”

“Better than petitions?” His voice is a low, proper library voice as he rubs a thumb along your cheek.

“Well I hope so.” You pause and Shiro hums thoughtfully, waiting for you to continue, “So, you know how everyone calls you Space Dad? Welp, it’s going to be true now. In about nine months.”

He’s confused, looking like a lost puppy until you whip out one of the pregnancy tests and wave it in his face. Then it clicks. Space Dad. Nine months.

“You’re pregnant?” His voice is hopeful, “I’m going to be a father?”

When you nod and smile in response and he releases a deep laugh in shock and pulls you tight to him

He’s very excited! At first. After the initial makeout and gentle touches to your abdomen it really starts to hit him what pregnancy actually means

“Oh my god. What if I’m a bad father? I’ve killed people, Y/n, I can’t be a good father!”

It’s up to you to shush him and convince him that he’s going to be a wonderful father because he’s so sweet and considerate

he remains on the fence but is definitely excited throughout the pregnancy

he’s probably just as eager as you are to have the child out of you because he want’s to hold his precious child!!!!!!

Just to make his life hell you have twin girls, because he needs more stress

Pidge:

You found her with the green lion, busy typing away on her keyboard. You smiled at her, enjoying the way her laptop highlighted her profile. This was going to be easy.

“Excuse me ma’am? Have you seen my girlfriend? She’s super short, wears glasses?”

Pidge looked up from her work with a smirk, “Nope, but she sounds like a keeper. Please, describe her more for me.”

With an opening like that, this was going to be a piece of cake. “Sure! She’s super smart, has cute curly hair…she’s gonna be a mom.”

Pidge.exe has stopped working and she slowly turns to you with wide eyes, “Say that again.”

You smile, “You’re going to be a mom. I’m pregnant.” You hand her the pregnancy test and she holds it like the holy grail herself

“It worked…artificial–it WORKED!” She jumps up and down and latches around your neck, screaming in your face, “WE’RE GOING TO BE MOMMIES!!!!”

She’s practically vibrating as she kneels down to be eye-level with your stomach, as if she could see through you to her precious bean inside

“This is amazing. You’re amazing, Y/n.”

She’s truly astonished, and from this moment on she is at your side 24/7

she’s got all your health checkpoints down, she’s constantly making sure you eat correctly and stay properly hydrated, she’s become a true mother hen.

she’s enthralled with your body changes and also she’s not missing out on one movement of her child

Matt of course, is the godfather, Allura the godmother 

You end up having a girl who’s the perfect mix between you two, albeit a little on the chunky side. 

[jaedentheking02]

Stankyyyyy

We are on the home stretch, TWO MORE WEEEKKKSSS GUYSSS!!!! But today we will talk about Racoons

Scientific Name:

The raccoon, sometimes spelled racoon, also known as the common raccoon, North American raccoon, or northern raccoon, is a medium-sized mammal native to North America. The scientific name is Procyon lotor

Taxonomic Classification:

It is Classified as a mammal

Common Names:

Common raccoon, Procyon lotor. The common raccoon (Procyon lotor) is the largest extant species of the procyonid family and also the most widely distributed. P. lotor also goes by such common names as "North American raccoon,", "northern raccoon,", the "raccoon,", and colloquially as "coon."

Nutritional Requirements:

Raccoons will eat almost anything, but are particularly fond of creatures found in water—clams, crayfish, frogs, fish, and snails. Raccoons also eat insects, slugs, dead animals, birds and bird eggs, as well as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Around humans, raccoons often eat garbage and pet food.

Growth and Development:

Raccoon kits or cubs are born very lightly furred, with a faint mask. They typically weigh three to five ounces and 4-6 inches long with 2-2 1/4" tail. Pigmented tail rings will be present or will appear at about one week of age

Behavior

Nocturnal in nature, raccoons are mostly active at nighttime. They are most active in spring, summer and fall, and will sleep in their dens for most of the winter. Reproduction: Reproduction begins in late winter. Females, or sows, usually give birth to 1-6 baby kits in April or May.

Reproduction:

Raccoons mate in the late winter or early spring. The gestation period is approximately 63 days. Females give birth to the annual litter of 1-8 (average 2-5) in the den, which in the case of tree cavities, may contain sparse bedding of shredded wood.

Evolutionary Origins:

The raccoon is native to North America and can be found throughout the United States, except for parts of the Rocky Mountains, and southwestern states like Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. It can also be found in parts of Canada, Mexico and the northern-most regions of South America

Habitat:

Traditionally, raccoons prefer heavily wooded areas with access to trees, water and abundant vegetation. There, they make their dens in the hollow parts of trees as well as abandoned burrows, traveling up to 18 miles to forage for food. Raccoons are extremely adaptable.

See You Next Week On The Possible Series Finale of Jaedenś Blogs????