#plance fics

[cateyeswrites]

The feeling of Falling, a feeling I thought was set in stone.

(Ambiguous partner for Lance) One late night Hunk and Lance chat

Ao3

It’s late when Lance answers Hunk's video call, he still has a mountain of students' assignments to finish grading but he could always get them done at home or in the morning if he came to school early enough. Sometimes it felt surreal to Lance that he had his life, that he had, speaking with his friends and former paladins didn't make it feel any more real. 

He had been talking to Hunk about intergalactic laws that made it hard for him and Shay to adopt different alien kids that weren't Balmera when the conversation shifted to him. 

"And how is teaching going?" Hunk asked, "Are you still enjoying it?" 

He shrugs a small laugh slipping out, "Let's just say I kind of understand why Iverson was the dick he was to me" he chuckles sadly as that nagging feeling in his chest appears. 

"Lance," Hunk says his name softly, eyes no longer shining with happiness. “ We have talked about it, what he did, the way he treated you, that is not how you treat a kid.” Hunk said, “Or am I wrong? Do you ever try to speak to your students like that? Do you make them feel small and insecure?” 

Lance shrinks into himself, he knows that he would never speak to a kid the way Iverson did to him-  the unnecessary cruelty that man inflicted on Lance, the way he made him feel so sad and lonely not only that but for many years Lance truly thought he had been a useless asset, a seventh wheel, some spare thing that the rest of the team had to deal with him and God was it hard to deal with those feelings but more than anything it had been so much worse to confront his teammates about the way they had made him feel, specially Pidge. 

Pidge and he had been close at the beginning, they were part of the garrison trio with Hunk, they had been friends for a while back then but then after the revelation that she was a girl and Shiro disappearing, she did a 180 and had almost made it her mission to make Lance feel like an idiot and now as an adult he could understand that she was going through her own hell and dealing with her own demons, losing both her brother and father, looking through them in space but it most definitely didn't allow her to speak to him in a way it made him want to never speak again or how every time they interacted he wanted to hide. 

He wishes he could have talked to Allura about it too, even in the short time they were together they never really talked about intimate things like his feelings and his experience in space or… the time he died. He didn't regret, saving Allura but till this day sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night frightened, surrounded by darkness and the feeling of falling. 

“No,” he whispered and shook his head, “Of course not.” he sighed and wrapped his arms around himself. 

Hunk gives him a small smile, “Have I ever told you how grateful I am for your sister?” he says as he picks up a picture on his desk.

“Huh?” he reacts confused, “Rachel?” he asks, he knew Hunk had asked for Rachel’s help once or twice for diplomatic reasons when dealing with other planets' governments.

Hunk snorts, “ NO, Veronica,” he says putting down the photo, at the new angle Lance could see it was a picture of his family and Hunk at his engagement party.

“Oh? No, I don't think we have ever talked about it.” 

“When Allura died, no one knew how to help you or truly even really speak to you.” Hunk admits with some regret but there is also some acceptance like he had enough time to make peace with it. “What we went through, being kids fighting in a war changed us, and maybe not for the better but it did nonetheless.” He states, “But the way Allura and space change you Lance, it frightened me.” 

Lance froze not knowing how to react to this admission. 

“I had known you for so long but after coming back to earth you had shut yourself and now that years have gone through I can admit that maybe I could have done better on my end but I was also a kid.” he admits with a small smile, “ I had this fear that you were ready to give up and that Allura dying was the last straw, that you would lose everything that made lance, my best friend.” Hunk whispers and there is a sniffle and he can see Hunk whip some tears away. “ No one knew how to talk you through your grief and then you started speaking about the farm and Alluras life and message and what Allura wanted and what you wanted for her memory” 

Lance can't do more than just stare at his hands hearing about this. 

“ I rarely heard about you,” Hunk says and Lance nods feeling the tears build up in his eyes. “ About what you wanted to do”

“But one day on one of our group calls, you talked about Veronica and how she had told you about becoming a pilot teacher and all the help that was needed at the garrison and I saw it for a moment I saw the spark of the boy who found the Blue lion,” Hunk stops and takes a breath. “ Then you got the job and Lance…” He pauses again, “ It was like you were back.” 

Lance remembers he remembers very well how Veronica was the only one who didn't tip-toe around him and his emotions. How she one day burst into his room and ripped his sheets away from him and yelled at him, crying, feeling scared because even tho he wasn't dead she felt like she had lost her brother. That day he got up and spent the whole day at the garrison helping out, by accident meeting the new cadets. It had been love at first sight. He laughs thinking about Allura and his supposed love for her, yeah not even his spouse could rival his love for his job and the kids. 

Lance tries to say something but it gets stuck in his throat and gives Hunk a teary smile, hunk gives him one back, and they stay in silence for a bit when he feels his phone vibrate and there is a new message 

1 new text message 

Hey I know is a late night at the school but the kids are asking for you.

1 new text message 

And I miss you 

1 new text message 

And they are asking for your cooking. 

He snorts and wipes his eyes with his sleeve.

The sound catches hunks attention, “ Everything okay?” he asks but he has a huge smile on his face having a suspicion of who was texting him. 

“Yeah yeah dude,” he answers with a bright smile and a more cheerful tone.

“ Your other job?” Hunk jokes, amusement, and endearment in his tone. 

“Well you know what they say,” he shrugged, “ Being a dad is a full-time job even when you already have a full-time job,” he says packing some stuff in his bag, to him seems like he had done enough work for today and honestly the only thing he wanted was going home and be with his family. 

His kids and his spouse.

Hunk laughs and observes Lance getting ready to leave, he smiles proudly at his best friend. 

“You know Hunk,” he says looking at his best friend leaving on the desk, “I'm also grateful for my sister,” he says. “If it wasn't for her who knows where I would be,” 

Hunk decides to avoid thinking of that, “ I don't know buddy but you are here, you are happy and that is the most important thing.” 

“ Yeah, you are right,” he says, “ I'll see you, buddy, I expect you to come over soon, I miss you,” he says honestly. 

“I will try my best to be home soon,” he replies, “ Love you, buddy,” 

“ Love ya, buddy,” he answers and hangs up the call.

After he presses the button, he stays there thinking, where would he be if Veronica hadn't dragged his ass out of his grief? Would he be happy? Would he be alone? No partner and no kids? Would he have a purpose or a career? 

He shakes his head and smiles even when some tears make it out and go down his cheeks. ‘

He is happy, very happy. He has proved everyone who doubted him wrong. 

He is very successful as a teacher and earth's best snipper, he is the favorite teacher and sometimes the favorite parent. 

He is no seventh wheel, he was voltrons blue paladin. 

He breathes in calming his urge to cry and looks down at his phone with a picture of his kids. 

And if he feels a very cool sensation surround him almost as if blue was there again with him, hugging him. That's just a bonus to how good he feels after his conversation with Hunk.

[just-an-enby-lemon]

The Prince (the unwilling tormented antichirst of the eyepocalipse) and the Pauper (the steampunk cowboy space captain first mate pirate who sings and writes and plays the harmonica) after realizing they looked the same (au) switched places to experience each others life (were switched by forces outside their control and that they don't understand, the prince blames The Fears, the pauper thinks it was The Narrative) and wonderfull things happened (chaos) until a happily ever after (no ever is truly happy).

[jiangyanlissidepiece]

Where are all the Voltron fics where earth gets destroyed before they can return to it

[wolfiered23]

Hi Voltron fandom, I just started a brand new fic for it which takes the 80s anime, dub and the remake and gives care to the characters and their origins. If you like Kallura, Plance and Shiro NOT being a token gay, come check it out!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57375481/chapters/145959916

[adobedragon]

“So, the saying goes, ‘Something old, something new…” Allura ticked off each phrase on her fingers. “Something borrowed, something blue?”

“Yup,” said Pidge, picking at a loose thread on the bed’s comforter. She, along with a handful of other women, were in Lance’s parents’ bedroom, awaiting the arrival of Lance’s cousin Ignacio, a hairstylist. Ignacio had the herculean task of doing Pidge’s hair and makeup for the wedding.

“Something blue?” chirped Ezor. “Wouldn’t that be Lancey-Lance? Blue Paladin.”

“I thought he was the Red Paladin,” said Zethrid in her gravelly voice. “It’s so hard to keep track of all the Voltron Lion changes.”

Pidge chuckled, though deep down she found the two alien women’s presence a bit off-putting. They had eventually proven themselves good fighting companions but Pidge still hadn’t quite forgiven Ezor for trying to torture her years ago.

“Katie’s dress has blue beadwork and stitching.” Colleen Holt ran her fingers along the dress’s bodice.

The dress was draped over the bed and Pidge, who was sitting beside it, traced the arc of an embroidered vine with a finger. “My dress is also new.” One of Coran’s designs, its basic form was that of a green, 1920s flapper dress, but fashioned from an Altean fabric derived from spider silk. “‘Blue’ and ‘new’.” She grinned wickedly. “My underpants are new too.”

Veronica, Lance’s sister, arched an eyebrow at her in the same manner her brother often did. “Are you wearing boys’ underwear? Under your wedding dress?”

“Well, yeah,” said Pidge. “They’re comfy.” She shrugged. “Lance thinks they’re sexy.” Remembering that Lance’s mother was in the room, she blushed.

Elvia McClain laughed and winked at Pidge, demonstrating the origin of that Lance gesture. “Relax, mija. I have five children and none of them conceived immaculately. You think I don’t know what you and Lance have been doing in the bunk house? In the barn?”

Pidge smirked and blushed, because, yeah, there weren’t many places on the McClain farm where Pidge and Lance hadn’t had sex.

“Here is ‘old’ and ‘borrowed.’” Allura reached toward her earlobe and with a flourish and a hum of Altean alchemy, removed the gem-like earring. “These were my mother’s. From old Altea.”

“Those were Queen Melenor’s?” said Romelle reverently, the Altean woman leaning in to view the earrings closely.

“Yes.”

As Allura reached toward Pidge’s ear, Pidge leaned back. “I, uh, they’re too nice, too nice for me.”

“Nonsense. I would be honored if you wore them.” Allura held the lilac purple gem near Pidge’s earlobe, and the earring hummed, Altean space magic fastening it so it dangled beneath her ear. “Just don’t let Lance swallow them when you two start climbing each other.”

“Thank you,” said Pidge as Allura attached the second earring. She rose from the bed and studied herself in the mirror over the dresser. In her current, typical Pidge state of scruffiness—green tank top and gray sweatpants—the earrings made her look like a toddler playing dress-up with mom’s jewelry.

The McClain’s house shook lightly as the front door opened and shut. “That must be Ignacio,” said Elvia, hurrying off to meet him. Pidge grimaced, not quite ready for this; primping and preening were not Pidge’s default settings.

Earlier, sensing her nervousness, Lance had said, “You don’t have to do this. If you want, we can wear matching tuxes. I don’t care what you wear just as long as I’m the one who gets to undress you later.” This accompanied with his signature flirty eyebrow waggle.

His offer was why she’d asked him to marry her in the first place. Because he loved her as she was, her boy self, girl self and everything in between.

In the mirror, she saw a tall, dark-skinned middle-aged man enter the room. She tensed, then reminded herself she was a Paladin of Voltron, unafraid of anything, including a guy with a kit full of face goop and hair-taming implements.

Turning, she gave Ignacio a wobbly smile. “Hi. I’m Pidge.”

She wasn’t doing this for Lance or out of any need to cling to tradition. She was doing it because even androgynous Paladins of Voltron want to be a princess on their wedding day.

[rueitae]

trick or treat (;

Happy Halloween!!

More Carmen Sandiego 2019. Player and Shadowsan solidarity.

The unimpressed look that Shadowsan gives him inspires less confidence. “Using fake schoolwork as an opportunity to commit international crime?” he asks rhetorically. “Carmen would not approve.”

Player forces what he knows is a fake smile. He hadn’t yet told Carmen how he got out of his family vacation.

Shadowsan smirks. “I did the same several times in my youth. I will not tell.”

[dragon-wisteria]

Wish another fandom would make me feel the way voltron used to…

[roromir]

Read the fic

[kidge-planet]

KIDGERS!!! this is a BIG announcement!!!!

A month ago (something like that) I made an announcement about a potential kidge event!!!

IT'S HAPPENING!

Me and @justmultifandom have been working on it and we're ready to tell you that the event is called

"When green leaves meet red ones: kidge fall event"

The dates are from the 23 of October to the 31!!!

Here are the "rules"!!!

-for the prompts, you can draw, write fics, one shots, headcanons or ANYTHING that is art!!!

- don't forget to use the hashtag kidge fall event 2024! (#kidge fall event 2024)

- the event only happens on tumblr! If you are in the discord server, you can share your works there too!

- have fun! You can do only one day of the event if you feel like it! You can do every days if you want or even just a few days!!! Do it to your liking!!

- only kidge is "celebrated" during that event... BUT! You can use other couples like side Allurance, Shurtis or any other side ships as long as it doesn't imply Pidge and Keith (so no Plance, for example! Not even side one...)

NOW!!! HERE ARE THE PROMPTS!!!!

Day one- 23/10: Happy birthday, Keith! 🥳

Day two- 24/10: pumpkin! 🎃

Day three- 25/10: Love among bare branches and falling leaves!🍂

Day four-26/10: Cozy!🛏️

Day five- 27/10: Sweaters!🧥

Day six- 28/10: Rainy day!☔

Day seven- 29/10: Falling for you!🫶

Day height- 30/10: Free day!! (Write whatever you want about Fall and Kidge!!!)🧍‍♀️

Day nine- 31/10: Happy Halloween!👻🌕

HAVE FUN GUYS!!!! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU'LL DO!!!

(don't forget to share so more people see this and Kidge with us!!! )

If something isn't clear, contact me or use the ask box, it's opened and you can be anonymous! Love yall!

[vld-prompts]

This is adorable!!

Lance teaches a dance class.

[kseniyache]

What are your favorite ships in VLD?

Hi!

Oh, Voltron! It gave me so many good ships... My first love is Shidge actually. I thought about them in post canon version (because of Pidge youth) or in some AU fics. I've got a bunch of them but in Russian. Never had enough time for translation.

Like this one — it's "War and Peace" AU that I wrote. This art was drawn by my good friend for me.

Then I fell in love with Lotura. It was almost obsession. You know cosmis elves should be happy together and have many cute babies, instead of what happened to them. Lotor's story break my heart every time I think about it. On ao3 there're many of fics I wrote for Lotura's sake.

This amazing art another my good friend drew for my fic.

Plance. Of course. Two dorks in love. Ah, their chemistry even in Voltron series was great. What a potential!

Gorgeous art by @crimsonzoroark

Kacxa. From the first episod I saw them together till the last I love their interaction and communication.

Also Kidge. Sometime i joke that Pidge is some kind of universal solgier, she's good in any ship. Again I thought about them in post canon. If I don't mistake I have smth for them in Eng. I participated in Kidge Zine 3.0: Timeless. But I haven't posted my piece anywhere. Sorry.

My first fic "Stop thinking" was inspired by an amazing artisit fate221 and her comic on Insta. I tried my best to put all passion she drew to the words.

These ships are my fav. I wrote for them, even tried to draw and I transleted fics from Eng to Rus for readers in my country. As you may see they're all m/f ships and I don't especially interested in m/m ships. One time I even felt annoyance about some of them, but... Then I met an amazing Sheith authors, Klance artists... I even translated huge oneshot for Klance and this was so good story and wrote some Sheith fics. Well, I absolutly fine with any ship until their fans push me for loving their ships over mine favourite. As I fully respect other people feelings and preferences, I never told anybody who they should or shouldn't ship.

I hope I didn't dissappoint you by my answer. In Russia we say "For taste and color there is no friend" which means that we all different and we all have a right to have different opinions.

Thank you for your question. It was good to talk about Voltron. Sometimes I miss it very much.

[imjustheretoseetheprivateblogs]

what! You're doing VLD again? Can you do a Plance fic something cute and cuddly?

Sure. Why not?

By the time Hunk found them, they were on their third Hammer Horror film and they'd passed out on the snacks he'd made. Hunk never cared for horror movies of any kind, but he'd overheard Pidge and Lance planning a "Monday Macabre Movie Marathon" and had volunteered to make them something to snack on.

"Just so long as it doesn't have anything to do with blood... or eyeballs... or anything like that."

Lance would probably razz him about how he could prepare things like sweetbreads and be bothered by eyeballs.

But at any rate, Hunk leaned down where Pidge and Lance lay on a jumbled pile of piles on the floor and tucked their blanket closer around them. As he went to fetch the remote, Hunk noticed out of the corner of his eye that Lance pulled Pidgecloser and she nuzzled into his chest. Hunk shut the tv off and considered extracting the food from under them.

It wasn't sticky, he thought to himself. It could wait until morning.

[maplesyrupptarmigan]

The three-body problem

The three-body problem (1637 words) by maplesyrupptarmigan Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Hunk & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt Characters: Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron) Additional Tags: Pre-Relationship, Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Colleen Holt is a supportive mother, Matt and Sam and Shiro are mentioned too Series: Part 1 of Signals Summary:

The three-body problem is the problem of taking the initial positions and velocities of three point masses and solving for their subsequent motion. Unlike two-body problems, no solution currently exists.

Or, Katie Holt becomes Pidge Gunderson. And, whether she wants to or not, makes some friends along the way.

- - -

first (public) fic, blahblahblah. years on this hellsite and i still dunno how to use it. testing the waters on actually being publically active in spaces.

anyways, this fic is pre-plance shit. i dunno how good it is, or how "accurate" it is. it's a rewrite/canon-divergence, so i can do whatever i want, like making everyone explicitly queer.

if i actually knew how to use tumblr this whole spiel would be in the tags, but i refuse to do that. that's weird. kinda funky.

maple out. thanks for being...wherever

[quintessenceofdust73]

My fanfic, “Defenders of the Multiverse” is a crossover story featuring the characters from three different versions of Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Voltron Force, and Legendary Defender. Observant fans will notice that I put VLD’s Keith and Allura in a scenario similar to what DotU’s Keith and Allura faced in the Fleet of Doom movie. This movie was also an inspiration for the whole novel-length fic that I wrote. The movie has two different Voltrons teams teaming up for an adventure, specifically the Lion Force and Vehicle Force teams. My story details a team up of the heroic Voltron pilots of three different universes, with the primary focus on developing the young Legendary Defender characters.

“Defenders of the Multiverse” began as a VLD Plance fanfic, an AU which is a revised version of the “Clear Day” VLD episode. I decided to continue that story with a second chapter called “The Greatest Gift” which led right into my Multiverse crossover fic. The two Plance fics became official preludes to the larger storyline.

In “Defenders of the Multiverse” I also emphasized that Kallura is canon in both the DotU and VF universes. I think VLD Kallura shippers will enjoy both the Fleet of Doom movie and my fanfic. 😉 Besides the Kallura scenes, I really enjoyed writing the Keith vs. Lotor sword fights and the space battles.

Spoiler alert: the “Space Angel” character in DotU was referenced in this story along with the Omega Comet DotU storyline, so look for that when you’re reading.

[a-chip-in-inosukes-nichirin]

Blooming in My Chest

Fandom: Voltron Legendary Defender

Rating: Mature

Genre: Angst, Tragedy

Pairings: One-Sided Pidge/Lance, Lance/Allura

Tags: Sad Ending, Character Death, Hanahaki AU, Death, Self-Sacrifice, Post Season 8, Body Horror, Blood, One-Sided Plance, Pining, Death Fic, Suicide by Silence

Wordcount: 4.1k

Pidge has managed to quell her feelings for a while, but seeing Lance again stirs up old feelings. He still misses Allura, but Pidge loves him. She tries to hide the fact that she's dying, her chest filled with flowers, but fate has other ideas.

Cross-posted from my AO3 account.

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

Pidge couldn’t say exactly when it started. Maybe it was when they were digging through the fountain at the space mall for GAC to buy the videogame system. Maybe it was when he blocked her from an explosion during a mission. Maybe it was on one of their many nights staying up late gaming and talking trash. But at some point, she started feeling light when he was nearby. Pidge brushed it off, thinking it was nothing. She watched as he flirted with alien girls and rolled her eyes, feeling a slight pain in her chest.

It wasn’t a big deal.

The first blow was when he and Allura started dating. Pidge smiled and congratulated them, but her chest was tight. She couldn’t find it in her to hate either of them. After all, Allura deserved happiness after everything that had happened. And Lance… he seemed happy too. Pidge put her jealousy to rest and forced her feelings down. Each time she saw them together, a cough tickled her throat, but nothing happened.

She crushed her feelings enough to enjoy her day out with Romelle and Allura shopping. The highlight of her day, finding Killbot Phantasm, was quickly blotted out as she traded the game for Allura’s clothes for her date with Lance.

It doesn’t matter, she thought to herself, It’s just a stupid game. Not like I’ll have anyone to play it with anyway…

And then Allura was gone. Everyone was thrust into a dark chasm of shock. It was unexpected, and yet they all knew this could have happened at any time. Hell, Lance almost died, and so did Keith. Pidge felt nothing but sorrow at her passing. It hurt her even more to know that Lance was hurting. He was devastated; crying at night loud enough for her to hear two doors down, no matter how he tried to hide it. His smiles were replaced by melancholy grimaces. Pidge just wanted him to laugh again. She’d do anything to see him flash that familiar grin and hit on a hot alien chick.

The third blow came the night the lions left them. Of course, everyone was sad. Pidge felt as if there was a gaping hole in her chest. She was only seventeen, and already it felt as if she lost so much. The morning after they all went their ways. Pidge returned to earth and buried herself in work. She applied to college and was accepted, only to drop out a year later due to PTSD, anxiety, and depression. She refused to go to a therapist or a doctor even when her parents begged her. She moved out shortly after.

Her apartment was a little under five hundred square feet, on the third floor of a brick building. There was little natural light, and Pidge spent most of her free time sleeping or working on a project. Since school didn’t occupy her time she put in extra hours at work.

Pidge lost contact with the other paladins. Hunk and Shiro had called her up while she was still in college, but that was months ago. Now she sat, hunched over an overflowing desk in her small apartment, scribbling furiously. Her abode was littered with clothes and mechanical parts, half finished projects. Oftentimes, she’d wake up to find that she’d fallen asleep at her desk. Life passed by, day by day; numbly.

Pidge had a coworker who she blackmailed into buying her alcohol. Some nights she drank herself into oblivion whenever she thought of the past and her teammates. Nobody needed Voltron anymore: what was she even doing? Dropped out of college, working third shift as a mechanic at just above minimum wage sixty hours a week, not seeing anyone… Pidge reached for the bottle and felt a tear slip down her face. Best to drown your feelings before they get to you.

She could only do so much, though, when Shiro called her up to ask if she was coming to the yearly reunion since she’d missed last year’s due to finals. He’d woken her up from a drunken stupor, but luckily didn’t notice if her voice was a little slurred. She said yes before her rational brain could catch up.

Three weeks later, she sat at a round table underneath the statue of Allura. Hunk sat on her left, Keith on her right. Shiro and Lance were across the table while Coran seated himself next to Hunk. There was a little conversation on what each of them had been up to. Pidge kept quiet. Her throat felt tight whenever she looked up. Especially when she glanced in Lance’s direction. He’d lost a little muscle, and there were those altean marks on his face, but otherwise he looked the same as before… before Allura was gone. He still had that wistful look whenever he spoke of her. Pidge felt a twinge of jealousy. Not now, she told herself.

Hunk said something she missed, but it was apparently hilarious. Lance’s face stretched into the biggest smile and- oh god- he let out a laugh. Pidge was pretty sure her heart stopped beating for a good minute while she stared at him. It was a glimpse of the old Lance: carefree and happy. Eventually he stopped and she resumed scribbling on her napkin, a tickle in the back of her throat.

“How about you Pidge?” Shiro turned to her, “What have you been up to? How’s college?”

Pidge’s head snapped up. How was she to answer that question? They had all moved on with their lives. She was stuck in the past, reliving the nightmare of the war each night.

Drinking to forget love and heartache.

They were all staring at her, waiting for an answer.

“Uh, college is fine. I’m just working on projects.”

“How’s Chip doing?” Hunk asked.

She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she’d stopped working on the robot after dropping out.

“Good. Gotta reprogram him though. Too much sass.”

They all laughed and Pidge felt guilty lying to them. The night passed slowly, each paladin recounting their last year. As soon as it was acceptable, Pidge excused herself to her room. It was strange sleeping on New Altea. Her mind drifted back to Lance. She fought the urge to cough. She must be coming down with a cold.

Pidge sat up and hacked, covering her mouth with her hands. She coughed and coughed until something came up. She spat it out into the garbage, fully expecting it to be some glob of mucus. Instead, something soft fell limply into the trashcan. She reached in and picked it up. It was a little slimy with mucus, but undeniable: a single white petal.

-

Morning came and Pidge confirmed her fears. The moment she sat up, the coughing started and two more petals fell from her lips. She threw them away and reminded herself that this would pass, just like last time. She just needed to get home and forget about Lance again.

The following days she was plagued with a persistent cough. Sometimes there were flower petals, sometimes not. Pidge spent more nights drinking, begging her feelings to leave her. Lance should not have been so forefront in her thoughts as he was. Her coughing worsened about a week and a half later. She started hacking up bigger pieces of flowers, and even an unopened bud. It had started becoming more painful. The petals, she figured, came from roses and peonies. The roses weren’t too bad to get out, but once the larger pieces came, the peonies nearly choked her. Breathing was getting difficult, and she could feel thorns starting to prick her lungs.

Three weeks into this agony she lost her job due to downsizing. Pidge had enough to cover rent for two more months. She laughed bitterly.

If I survive this.

She hadn’t spoken to anyone since the gathering three weeks ago, not even her family. So it was unexpected when Matt called her up.

“Hey Pidge,” he smiled through the screen, “How’ve you been?”

She pasted on a weary smile and replied. “Good. How about you?”

“Just finishing up on one of the planets in the Rheldanian system. I’ll be home in a few weeks.”

“That’s great!” Pidge said before coughing again.

“Hey, you okay?” Matt’s face was etched with worry.

“Just a cold,” she waved him off, discreetly dropping the petals in her hands to the floor which was littered with them.

“Well, be sure to get some rest. Hey; I gotta go, but I’ll see you soon.”

Pidge said her goodbyes and shut off the tablet. As soon as it was off, another cough wracked her body and half a rose came out.

-

Laughter echoed off the walls as Pidge lifted a small child from the floor. She planted a kiss on the toddler’s face and settled them on her hip.

“Lance!”

“What is it Pidge?” a familiar voice called back.

“Are you ready yet?”

“Hey, beauty takes time!” he appeared in the doorway, straightening his tie. “And I want to look my best for our fourth anniversary dinner.”

“Well we’ll lose our reservation if you dawdle any longer. We’ve got to get Lex to my mom’s house.”

“After you,” Lance bowed and smiled, eyes crinkling.

Pidge laughed and headed out to the car where she buckled Lex into the seat. Lance opened the door for her to get in and she made a show of being aghast.

“Oh, just get in,” he kissed her forehead.

They dropped Lex off and drove until they were out of the city. They threw out a blanket and some pillows, lying back to watch the stars.

“Some reservation,” Lance snorted.

“Shut up. You were taking forever,” Pidge laughed. “And this spot is reserved. Just nobody knows it is.”

Lance rolled over to face her.

“Katie…”

Pidge turned her head to face him.

“I love you, Katie,” Lance reached out a hand and cradled her face.

Pidge leaned into it. It was warm and soft. She wished she could stop time in that moment.

“I love you too, Lance,” she replied.

Pidge woke with a violent fit of coughing. She thought she was choking as she spit out two halves of a peony and three white rose petals, speckled with something dark. Pidge picked it up and held it to the light. Blood.

It was getting worse.

-

Pidge spent the next week holed up in her apartment. She didn’t answer any of the calls from Hunk or Shiro, or the one from Keith. She found herself unable to eat anything, but always thirsty. She guzzled water like there was no tomorrow. And for her, there might not be.

Petals and partial flowers littered her floors and bed. There were even one or two entire roses in the living room. She didn’t bother to sweep them up. It wasn’t as if anyone was going to see them. After her dream about Lance, she’d felt the thorns start to take hold of her heart. The pain was constant, and her breathing had become labored. Not only that, her voice was fading. The plants were starting to reach for light, meaning they were making their way up her throat, digging thorns into the soft flesh of her trachea. It wouldn’t be long now before the disease took her over completely.

A month and a half after leaving New Altea, there was a knock on Pidge’s apartment door. She peered through the peephole to see Shiro outside. Pidge glanced frantically over the petals littering the floor.

“Pidge? I know you’re in there.”

She didn’t answer.

“Why haven’t you been answering our calls?”

“I’m busy,” she managed to croak out.

“We’re worried about you. I went to check on you at school but they said you haven’t been enrolled since last year. Why didn’t you tell us?”

Pidge felt something in her throat. She struggled not to cough.

“Pidge?”

There was a choking noise and a forceful cough. Something heavy fell with a wet plop! to the floor.

“Pidge! Open up! I’ll cut the door down if you don’t!”

Pidge struggled to stand, her legs feeling weak from lack of food. She unlocked the door and Shiro barreled in. He stopped short, surveying the petal-strewn apartment. Turning to Pidge, he saw the trickle of blood staining her chin.

“Pidge…” he knelt down. ��How long has this been going on?”

She looked up, feeling miserable, before holding up six fingers.

“Six days? Weeks?”

She nodded. Shiro cursed under his breath.

“Who is it?”

She pursed her lips and shook her head. She was not going to lay this burden on Lance. She remembered very specifically three years ago when he’d referred to her as his “younger sister”. There was no way he was romantically inclined towards her.

“We need to get you to a doctor.”

She shook her head again. She didn’t want to lose her love for her teammate. Even if she died. It was stubborn, she knew, but the rational part of her brain failed to work with these tendrils crawling up her throat. Besides, it was probably too late anyway.

“Come on; I don’t care what you say. Let’s go.” Shiro picker her up like a child and carried her down three flights of stairs to his car. He even buckled her in, but she didn’t have the strength to fight. They made it to the hospital in record time. Shiro had called her parents on the way over, and Hunk while they waited for a room. So far the words “hanahaki” had not slipped his lips. He had just said that something was wrong.

Something was wrong with nineteen-year-old Katie, and it was urgent. Pidge fought the urge to laugh. Here she was: nineteen, a dropout, washed up and dying of unrequited love. Only two years ago she’d been saving the universe. Two years ago, she’d still been whole. Her life had been simple: defeat the Galra. Now… now there was nothing. No goal, no point in living. Especially since the one person she loved was still pining over their dead lover. A dead lover she could never hope to live up to.

Tears began to spill from her eyes as she sat in the hospital bed. Shiro glanced over from his call to Keith. He quickly ended the call and handed her a tissue.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

Pidge shook her head.

The doctor came in and whisked her away for x-rays. And then an MRI. And a shitload of tests that all pointed to the same thing: it was too late to stop it. Had it been two or three days earlier? That would have been a different story. But the roots had already latched onto the heart and alveoli. There was no way to take out the plant without removing her heart and lungs as well.

Sam and Colleen took the news harshly. They begged Pidge to tell them who was causing this, but she stubbornly refused. She would not saddle Lance with the guilt. Not even as she coughed up a handful of blood-stained petals.

Matt flew right home after hearing his baby sister was dying. He vowed to personally kick the ass of whoever had done this to Pidge. His Pidge.

Keith and Krolia both showed up to the hospital half a day later to see Pidge. Luckily, they had been nearby doing relief work. Pidge cried upon seeing them, prompting Shiro to ask her if it was Keith. When she vigorously shook her head, he sat back, brows furrowed.

Hunk came to see her the same day Keith did, still being on earth. He sobbed, holding her hand and begging her to tell him who was causing the disease. Pidge only patted his shoulder and smiled sadly, turning away to choke out another flower. The thorns had made their way to the back of her throat, so breathing was nearly impossible. She refused to have a tube put down her throat, but allowed them to give her oxygen.

Lance was the last one to make it. It was two days after Keith and Hunk had gotten there, and three days since they confirmed there was no way to remove it. The doctors doubted that even reciprocated love would fix someone this far gone. He burst in the door, panting, as the altean marks stood out against his tanned skin.

“Where is she?”

“She’s right here Lance,” Shiro pointed to the bed where a deathly pale Pidge lay, eyes closed, cracked lips parted to take in as much breath as possible.

Tears welled in Lance’s eyes as he moved to clutch her limp hand, holding it to his chest.

“Pidge…”

Her eyelids fluttered and opened halfway.

“Lance?” Her voice came out barely a whisper. She reached up to brush his cheek.

“That’s the first time she’s spoken since I got here,” Keith told him, arms crossed.

“Who’s doing this to you?” Lance demanded, “Tell me right now; I’m going to go drag their ass here!”

“I’ve already said the same thing,” Keith frowned, “She won’t spill.”

Lance turned his gaze to the small frame next to him. Pidge offered a strained smile, her breath rattling and wheezing.

“Pidge, you have to tell us; it’s the only way we can save you,” Lance pleaded, “We can’t go on without you!”

Pidge’s dry laugh set everyone on edge.

“You’ve been doing fine without me,” she wheezed. “You’ll be fine after I go.”

There was a shocked silence.

“No, we aren’t!! You’re going to stay!” Matt shouted.

“Matt,” she turned her head and coughed out two blood stained rose petals. “I’m dying. You can’t stop it.”

“We could if you would just tell us who it is!” Lance jumped up.

“He’d never return my feelings,” Pidge gasped and felt thorns digging into her chest. She put a hand to her heart and tugged at the hospital gown. Shiro stepped forward, unsure of how to help.

“You don’t know that!” Hunk said, “Maybe he loves you and you just don’t know it!”

“He loves someone else!” she shouted, her hoarse voice cracking. Tears threatened to spill.

There was silence.

“We.. we could still try. Are you sure he loves someone else?” Shiro put a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah, he’s probably head over heels for you,” Lance crossed his arms. “You’re just oblivious.”

Pidge laughed, and it quickly turned into a cough. Suddenly she was choking, and she couldn’t breathe. Her face went red, then purple. Hunk panicked. Krolia smacked her back, but Pidge only struggled, hands to her throat, tears streaming at the pain. A large flower forced itself past the thorns and vines digging into her throat and out. It landed heavily on her lap. A full bloomed peony, perfect except for the copious amounts of blood soaking it, lay staining the white sheets.

Colleen’s hand was at her mouth, and Matt was holding Pidge’s head to his chest, stroking her hair and telling her it was going to be alright.

“Pidge, please… I don’t know how to convince you to tell us, but you have to,” Matt pulled away to look her in her eyes.

“I… I can’t,” Pidge choked. “I can’t do that to them.”

Another cough brought forth something less bulky than before, but still painful. A rosebud and four petals slipped from her mouth. She felt something hard, and spit it out. A rose thorn landed on the floor, smearing blood in a semicircle.

Hunk gagged and Matt pulled her tighter to him.

“They deserve to know,” Lance said, “Give them a chance.”

“Is it someone we know?” Shiro asked.

Pidge looked down, tracing one of the petals from the peony.

“So it is…” Keith narrowed his eyes.

“Is it one of us?” Hunk looked up. “Oh god, is it me? Pidge I’m so sorry~”

“It’s not you Hunk,” Pidge put her hand on his.

“Who is it?” Keith leaned on the edge of her bed. “You didn’t answer Hunk: is it someone in this room?”

“N-no..” Pidge crossed her arms as she felt something prodding the back of her teeth.

“That’s you’re lying face,” Matt accused.

Pidge was about to object when she dry heaved. Hunk recoiled at the sound and Colleen lurched forward. Pidge coughed, feeling something roiling up from her lungs. She was breathless for several moments as she practically vomited out three roses, half a peony, and handfuls of bloodied petals. Not only that, but lying on top of the whole mess was a blood-stained juni-berry flower. Her face went pale and she looked up to where Lance stood, mouth agape.

“You… you love Allura?” he gasped.

Pidge found herself wondering how he managed to make it this far in life. The others were looking at her with curious gazes.

“But I thought you said it was a guy~”

Matt was the first one to figure it out. He had Lance pinned against the wall within seconds.

“It’s you dammit!” he growled.

“Wh-what?” Lance blinked, looking dazed.

“It’s fucking you!” Matt roared. “She’s dying because of you!”

“M-matt!” Pidge coughed and spewed another handful of petals. “Please, stop~”

“Like hell!” he seethed.

Shiro pulled them apart, leaving Lance stunned.

“How long?” Hunk asked Pidge.

“I…” she gasped, her breathing erratic and shallow, “Since… b…beeeeef….”

Matt grabbed her by her shoulders.

“Katie?”

“Before coming back to earth,” she managed.

“Lance!” Keith turned on him, “Confess. Now.”

Lance stood dumbly. “But… but I don’t love her~”

Too quickly Pidge felt her throat constrict and sharp pains in her chest.

Lance realized what he’d said and desperately tried to fix it.

“It’s not-not that I don’t love her! I just don’t think of her like… like that,” he wrung his hands. “I… I love Allura… even though she’s gone I can’t… can’t stop~”

Matt grabbed him by his collar. “Fucking take it back!” he snarled. “My baby sister is dying because of you! Can’t you find it in you to love her even a little bit?”

“That’s not how love works,” Shiro put his hand on Matt’s shoulder, “You can’t force it.”

Meanwhile, Pidge was struggling to breathe. She grabbed onto Keith’s shoulder, body wracked with pain and the need to breath. She opened her mouth to reveal thorny stems curling out. Petals dropped right and left as she choked on nothing, vines blocking her airway.

“Katie!” Colleen and Sam lunged forward.

Keith screamed for a doctor and Matt was at her side in an instant. Pidge writhed as Hunk cried, arching her back. Shaking, her body tensed… her eyes widened and a tear slipped out. Slowly, as if time had slowed, her body relaxed, falling limp in Matt’s arms.

The heart monitor let out a piercing shriek and Hunk wailed in harmony. Matt buried his face in Pidge’s chest, her head falling back, mouth stuffed full of peonies in full bloom. Colleen and Sam had turned to each other’s embrace, Krolia put her arm around Keith, and Hunk was folding in on himself while Shiro put a hand on his shoulder with a solemn expression. Lance stood, dumbfounded.

Pidge. The green paladin. Resident tech nerd.

Gone.

Forever.

He sank to the floor, head in his hands.

“Katie!” Matt cried, “No! Come back! Please!”

He pulled back to look into her pale face. Pidge’s eyes were open, empty of the life they used to hold. Vines curled out of her mouth, tiny thorns poking into her soft, nearly translucent skin. Her mouth bloomed blood speckled flowers, the largest of which brushed the bottom of her nose. Her caramel hair lay limp around her shoulders, having grown out over the past two years.

She didn’t look like an angel.

She didn’t seem at peace.

She looked small and broken.

Matt brushed one of the flowers with his fingertip, tracing it down to her cheek.

Pidge had known Lance wouldn’t return her feelings. She was trying to spare him. It had all been in vain when her body betrayed her with the juni-berry flower. Now her suffering had been in vain. If this had happened a week or two earlier, she could still be alive. She might not have feelings for Lance, but she’d be alive.

Love could be so cruel, Matt thought bitterly as he watched a blood-soaked flower slip and fall unceremoniously to the floor. No matter how beautiful it looked, it could end at any moment and slip out of your fingers, leaving you at the mercy of life’s whims. For Pidge, it was hanahaki.

[adobedragon]

“You’re saying the chabbit spoke to you?” Pidge cocked her head at Lance, sardonic mirth in her honey brown eyes.

“Well, not spoke-spoke.” Lance sat up and set his beer on the coffee table. “More like, gave me vibes, like the Blue Lion.”

“Like the Blue Lion?” Keith, who was sitting on the right end of the couch, arm around Pidge, arched a dark eyebrow. Lance sat on the opposite side, with Pidge tucked between them.

Keith’s face was impassive, though humor twinkled in lavender-gray eyes. “Are there more magical chabbits? Will they form a tiny Voltron?”

At this Pidge snorted and dissolved into laughter. Lance had just returned to the trio’s apartment on Mars after a week of piloting a Blade of Marmora transport and they were sharing a dinner consisting of the two basic food groups: pizza and beer.

“You’re drunk.” Lance shook a finger at Pidge and reached for her beer which she managed to keep out of his hands.

“I’m not the one talking about telepathic rat lizards from the planet Daizabaal,” she said and giggled. Yeah. Pidge was tipsy. Only drunk Pidge giggled.