#please tell me if you also laughed from the way Shiro talked

[midoribobatea]

Akuneko's 3rd anniversary: Seal of Glory - Shiro's card

Part 1 & Part 2

(Not 100% accurate translation ,So sorry in advance for any mistranslation and any missgramer)

Two Worlds - part 1:

*Notice: before reading the Butler Story ;This story contains spoilers from the "Seal of Glory" event story.

We recommend that you read up to Episode 19 of the event story before reading it.

If you wish to avoid spoilers, please return using the button at the top left.

.........

After the audience with Lord Elboa was over...

We stayed in the ancient forest village for now... and decided to take it easy for a while.

One day, When I was walking through the village.

I suddenly noticed that Shiro was nowhere to be seen in the village.

<(I wonder where did he go...)>

If it's Shiro I probably didn't have much to worry about...

but even so I still decided to go ahead and look for him.

Step...step...step...

Chenoa: Oh? Why, Hello [Your Name]

<Hello>

Chenoa: It seems like you are looking around a lot... Are you looking for something?

<I can't find Shiro anywhere>

Chenoa: Ah I see, So you are looking for Shiro

Chenoa: I saw him earlier... walking ahead into the woods. He probably did go towards the shrine

Chenoa: I'm sure he's still around there.

Chenoa: It's not too far from here... If you want, I can show you to the shrine of the forest.

<Then..only if you don't mind>

Chenoa: Sure. Now, follow me.

And so, with Ms. Chenoa's guidance, I headed towards the shrine in the forest.

[The Forest's Shrine]

-after a while-

Step...step...step...

Chenoa: Here, you can already see the shrine from here

Chenoa: Ah, and there is Shiro, I knew it so he were here after all.

I looked in the direction Ms. Chenoa was pointing and there was standing a small stone shrine.

And in front of the shrine... Shiro was on his knees with his eyes close.

Shiro: .............

Chenoa: it looks like we caught Shiro just in the middle of offering his prayers.

Chenoa: In the west area, we have a custom of offering prayers in front of a shrine in the forest.

<Oh I see>

Chenoa: Hehe. In any case, I'm glad you found Shiro.

Chenoa: Well then, I'll head back to the village.

<Thank you for showing me here>

Step...step...step...

After Ms. Chenoa leaves, the place was quiet.

Shiro was still praying in the silence.

Surrounded by nature and with his eyes closed, Shiro showed a very sacred atmosphere.

Shiro: .............

<(...It probably would be a good idea not to speak for now)>

Shiro: .........Hey.

<(...Huh?)>

Shiro: come nearer.

<(I think...He's talking to me?)>

Shiro: .............

It was then that Shiro opened his eyes for the first time and looked at me.

Shiro: To think you would ignore my call...you surely have some nerves.

<Um so... you were talking to me?>

Shiro: whomever else you see? Clearly you and I are the only ones present here.

<I didn't know you'd notice me>

Shiro: Are you trying to imply that I seem so unaware to my surrounding..that I do not even notice anything approaching me?

<T-that's not it...>

Shiro: Hmph...well, be it.

Shiro: Then….how long are you intending to keep standing there for?

Shiro: If you realize these words are meant to you.. then quickly, come closer.

<O-okay>

I did as Shiro told me and approached him.

I could see the shrine more clearly than before. I felt like I sensed some mysterious power.

<...It's really a magnificent shrine>

Shiro: Indeed...

Shiro: For us, the inhabitants of the western area... this shrine holds a great significance.

<What significance?>

Shiro: In the western area... It is believed that the spirit of light lives in the forest and protects the ancient people with its divine protection.

Shiro: All the inhabitants of the Western area grew up hearing this legend over and over again...

The time when I visited the west area together with Boschi and Ammon came to mind...(midori: referring to episode 4 of the main story)

Back then Ms. Chenoa was reading a picture book about the spirit of light to Muu.

Shiro: This shrine is... the "Shrine of the Spirit of Light" that mentioned in the legend.

<I see>

Shiro: The inhabitants of the western area treasure the spirit of light.

Shiro: In order to honor the spirit of light... we offer our prayers to this shrine.

<So that's the reason>

Judging from the way Shiro was praying, this is something that is truly important to the residents of the western area.

The residents of the West area... welcomed us and let us into their sacred ancient forest.

That's why I want to respect their culture. This feeling wells up in my heart.

<Can I pray too?>

Shiro: You, you mean?

<Only if it's not disrespectful>

Shiro: ...Actions speaks louder than words, and Respect is known when you show it

Shiro: and I suppose the Spirit of Light... will not reject you.

Shiro: If you want to pray, then do as you wish.

<Okay, thank you!>

I knelt down next to Shiro... and closed my eyes like he had done earlier.

<(...May the spirits will continue to protect)>

Shiro, Ms. Chenoa, Mr. Aro, I hope that the people who lives in the Western Forest can live peacefully.

I didn't know the proper way to pray, so I simply prayed from the bottom of my heart.

Two Worlds - part 2:

- After A Few Minutes -

After offering my prayers... I slowly opened my eyes.

Then, out of nowhere, a butterfly appeared and landed on my hands, which were clasped in prayer. (Midori: oh a surprise bonus, come come I need magic butterflys)

<Ah...>

Shiro: Stay quiet... And don't make any move.

<Sorry, I was surpised>

Shiro: Surprising indeed...I myself was a little taken aback too.

Shiro: This kind of butterfly that sits in your hand barely shows itself to the public eyes.

Shiro: I have lived in the western area for the longest time, yet I have only witnessed this kind of butterfly only a few numerous of times.

<Is it really that rare?>

Shiro: Truly, it is...

Shiro: ...Perhaps it is a sign of will from the Spirit.

<What do you mean?>

Shiro: Your prayers may have reached the Spirit of Light and had been granted.

Shiro: perhaps it is a sign of acknowledge that you are worthy of stepping on the land of the western area.

Shiro: However... that may also be a mere convenient interpretation...

<...Does Shiro acknowledge me?>

Shiro: You mean myself? Why would you ask such a thing?

<For some reason, I'm just curious>

Shiro: Hmph... It is a foolish question..

Shiro: I wouldn't let someone who I do nott acknowledge offer prayers in the shrine in the western area.

Shiro: and I observed you praying.

Shiro: There is your answer. satisfied?

<Y-yeah, thank you>

Shiro answered in a matter-of-fact tone,like it was nothing.

But Shiro acknowledges me...and that simple fact made me happy.

Shiro: ..........The western area is truly peaceful.

Shiro: quiet and calm... it is truly a beautiful place surrounded by nature.

<Do you like it here in the west area?>

Shiro: Clearly. It is my homeland.

Shiro: After all, this is the best place for me.

I was reminded of what Shiro said the other day about his wishes for the future, After the angels are going to be defeated...

Shiro had said that he would return to his hometown...

<I guess you'll really go back home someday>

Shiro: Whichever you mean by 'someday'. I can always go visit my hometown, As I wish.

<That's not what I meant>

Shiro: Then what it is.. explain.

<It's about what you told about the future where angels are gone>

Shiro: Indeed. I do recall there was a discussion about this matter.

Shiro: My will remains unchanged.

Shiro: Once the angels are defeated... I shall return home and protect my brethrens.

<Right...>

Shiro has friends he wants to protect, and those friends need him too.

I had the great chance to get to know him, but if he returns to his hometown, we may never see each other again.

<(That makes me a bit sad...)

Shiro: .............

Shiro: ......Hey.

<...What is it?>

Shiro: That's rather what I should ask.

Shiro: Why are you making that face?

<W-what face are you talking about?>

Shiro: Are you trying to fool me?

Shiro: I shall ask again, why are you looking like that?

Shiro: Answer me. that's an order.

Shiro's sharp gaze made that impossible to continue hide, so I gave up and decided to speak.

<…I just felt a little lonely>

Shiro: Why is that? I do not recall I've said anything that might have cause you feeling like that.

<If you'd go back to your hometown, I won't be able to see you anymore>

Shiro: .……what?

Shiro: We haven't known each other for long... yet you still will feel lonely after parting ways with me?

<Yeah…>

Shiro: ......You truly are a strange one.

Shiro: .........good grief.

Shiro: ...Whomever did said that?

<What?>

Shiro: Whoever said sould I return back home and that would be the end?

Shiro: I recall no one mentioning something like that.

Shiro: If you wish to remain by my side...then come with me.

Shiro: ...I will not deny you.

<But...is it really okay?>

Shiro: indeed.

Shiro: …Clearly, not just anyone is welcome. However I'm bringing you rather because you are an exception.

Shiro: You are the one who saved my life.

Shiro: Besides... I observed your prayer earlier and I have a feeling you shall not have any problems fitting here.

Shiro: As an attempt of someone trying to respect the faith of the western area... it was not bad.

<Shiro...>

Shiro is not the type to joke around.

And the serious look in his eyes... told me that his words weren't a lie.

<Thank you, Shiro>

Shiro: Hmph...

Shiro: As long as you understand then... stop with the nonsense of me leaving your side.

Shiro: Aside from your act of saving, and the respect to the culture of the Western area...

Shiro: I grew fond of you.

<What...?>

Shiro: ...I shall not tolerate it for you being apart from me without my permission. am I clear?

Shiro: Whether the angels disappear...

Shiro: Do not go return to that other world... Stay besides me forever.

<But that’s…>

Shiro: ...What is it? What's seems to be the problem?

Shiro: Do you not wish to stay by me?

<It's not that I don't want to stay with you...>

Shiro: If so, I do not see problem.

<umm well...>

Shiro: ...That response suggests you do still have something in mind.

Shiro: Hm... What exactly are you worried about?

<S-sure>

Shiro: Do you wish to come with me to the western area?

Shiro: Then do not hesitate.

Shiro: Whether it is the people of this world... or the people of your world...

Shiro: No matter who gets in our way...I shall silence them all.

Shiro: Then rest assured and come with me.

<…Silence the people in my world…>

Shiro: Are you implying it is difficult?

<But you can't go to the other world...>

Shiro: I will somehow find a way to get to your world.

<But, it's impossible..>

Shiro: Why do you assume it is impossible? Are you not travelling between two worlds.

Shiro: If you can do it, there's no reason why I should not too.

Shiro: If the reason you are hesitating lies in the other world... I shall cut off those ties.

<Shiro...>

Shiro: ...Unless. there's someone in that world you can't bear to apart with.

Shiro: for It is not that someone is getting in your way... If you yourself are troubled and can't stay in this world...

Shiro: I suppose......it can't be helped.

Shiro: I would like to tell you to choose me, however I cannot force you.

He wants to be with me so much that he even goes so far as to plan out a way to enter my world.

I was happy about Shiro's feelings, but... I found it a little strange that he was so attached to me.

<Why would you go so far to stay with me?>

Shiro: That...

Shiro: .............

Shiro: ...Let us go.

<Huh?>

Step...step...step

Shiro suddenly started walking, and I hurriedly followed after him.

<W..wait..!>

Shiro: .............

Shiro walked a little slower so that I can catch up. It doesn't seem like he's angry.

Shiro: .............

<Hey Shiro>

Shiro: .........What it is?

<Why aren't you answering?>

Shiro: ......Be quiet. There is no particular reason to answer, and that's the end of conversation.

Shiro: Now keep walking in silence.

Shiro: .............

I saw Shiro's expressionless profile and couldn't help but smile.

<...hehe>

wondering what kind of time I will be able to spend with Shiro from now on.

And before all the angels are defeated... Will Shiro really be able to find a way to come to my world...?

While thinking about many things... I started to look forward to the future.

- End -

[pierslover061]

sorry not a request but i will get onto those when i can >_<

KLANCE THOUGH YAYAYAYAY

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

Lance was sitting in the kitchen, chatting to Hunk and Pidge, those three could yap as a sport if they tried.

Keith makes his way into the doorway of the kitchen, he leans against the wall and just watches Lance from the distance. He smiles to himself as he gets lost in the sound of Lance's voice.

Before Lance knew it, Pidge and Hunk started whispering between one another, not including Lance in this conversation..

''HEY? What are you two hiding from me?!'' Lance shouts, raising an eyebrow.

''Nothing man!'' Hunk persists.

Pidge laughs to themselves before nudging Hunk.

''Do we tell him?'' Pidge asks Hunk.

''No.. no.. Let's not burst Keith's bubble.'' Hunk giggles, still not turning to face Lance.

''Huh??'' Lance is puzzled by this whispering, and did he hear Keith's name?

Lance turns his body to the doorway and sees Keith stood there staring.

Keith suddenly snaps back to reality and his eyes widen, his arms drop to his sides and he grows tense, running away, anywhere he could.

''HEY WAIT KEITH-'' Lance shouts as he joins Keith in running, where? he has no idea.

Lance runs right on Keith's tail until Keith realises he has nowhere else to run, but he finds a small closet he can hide in so he just runs in.

Keith sighs of relief, believing he lost Lance.

Lance trailing not far behind opens the door and barges in.

''KEITH! Why did you run??'' Lance pressured Keith.

''I- umm'' Keith didn't really know why he ran, maybe he was slightly embarrassed, thought Lance would start arguing with him for staring.

Little did these two know, following them was Pidge and Hunk.

''Should we..'' Pidge looks at Hunk with a menacing grin across their face.

''No no! That's too mean.. they'd kill us.'' Hunk pleads.

''That's if this doesn't work out in their favour!'' Pidge insisted.

Pidge then with not another word, drops a broom across the door handle.

''Whoops!'' Pidge said, giggling as they waited to hear a reaction from inside.

Lance turns around, reaching for the handle.

''We should go back to the kitchen and talk this o-'' Lance's face turns wide eyed.

''What?'' Keith asks, puzzled.

''We- We're locked in.'' Lance says, turning back to face Keith.

''WE'RE WHAT?'' Keith shouts, met with loud laughter from Pidge on the other side of the door.

''PIDGE I SWEAR OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!!'' Lance pleads, but the laughter had stopped, in fact, Lance thinks he can hear small footsteps running away.

Lance sighs to himself and turns back to face Keith, leaning against the door. ''Well, I guess you should start talking since we're stuck here.''

''Talk about what?'' Keith questions.

''Don't gaslight me Keith?! You know what I'm asking you.'' Lance pushes further.

''Nope. Don't remember! Didn't happen.'' Keith mocks, referencing a certain something in the process.

''Oh come ON Keith are we still pissed about that?'' Lance rolls his eyes.

''Seriously, Lance. There is nothing to talk about.'' Keith assures Lance.

''If you're so sure, then why were you staring?'' Lance questions.

Keith's face turns bright red, nearly perfectly matching the colour of his jacket.

''Well? Spit it out, it's not like we're getting out of here anytime soon.'' Lance says, growing slightly impatient.

Keith puts his hand to his forehead, scrunching his face up before uttering,

''I like you, Lance.''

''Haha very funny Keith.'' Lance mocks.

Keith just stares at Lance, fidgeting with his lip piercings by his teeth.

''Oh... Oh you're serious.'' Lance uttered, shocked.

Keith pushes Lance out of the way and starts frantically trying to open the door, also banging on the door, screaming,

''SHIRO?? SHIRO ARE YOU OUT THERE?? LET ME OUT!!''

''Keith.''

''PLEASE ANYONE CORAN? ALLURA?? PLEASE.''

''KEITH.''

Keith turns to face Lance, tears welling up in his eyes, he felt nothing but pure embarrassment.

''I like you too.'' Lance says with a nervous look plastered across his face, like he'd longed for those words.

Keith stood there, shocked. It felt like his heart had stopped beating for a moment while he was here, in this small room with Lance, nobody near to interrupt.

Keith, without thinking, grabs Lance by his face and pushes his lips onto his own.

Lance for a moment was wide-eyed, but quickly leans into Keith's kiss. He never knew how desperate he was to do this but this moment, this moment confirmed everything.

The two kiss messily, making a mess of the closet they were in until they were on the floor, taking each others presence in in a way they never had or could before.

They became one. -------------------- hey thanks for reading! i was thinking of going further with this on wattpad and ao3 but probably only if one person says they want more of this specific timeline.. LMAO so erm idk the fate of this is up to anyone who enjoyed thus far!

[monstersinthecosmos]

please make longform sheith posts on tumblr 😭😭😭 (if you so wish ofc)

hjaklgd I hung onto this ask because I was waiting for the right time to talk about Sheith and I got such an insightful comment on my fic Tonight the Stars Revolt! that I decided I wanted to talk a little meta about the thought process that goes into this fic and so here you are and it's time to utilize this invitation !!!!!!!!!!!!

The comment from DocYo5 as follows:

It feels like reality, the feelings and thoughts Keith has, fitting for someone who had to grow up without close relationships, with Shiro being closest to a family member before he left for Kerberos. Understandable that he's able to open up to him, because he trusts him and somehow understandable that they can have sex together without hard feelings... At least from Keith's point of view. We can only guess how Shiro feels about this, probably more than he lets out. For me it's surprising to have sex with someone repeatedly without considering to love him, to announce it as weird to like him when I think it's much more weird to fuck someone often without love, only to get release. In this fic I think it's possible that it stays that way. So I am curious what you will make of it. The way you put it it would make sense.

So!!!! This is exactly the dynamic that this fic is ABOUT, okay? And while some of this pertains to my fic specifically and the places their relationship goes behind the scenes of canon, I did build it off of canon, so a lot of this speaks to the way I’m reading them on the show.

Since the fic is Keith’s POV we’re spending more time with his interiority, naturally, but I’m going to get to Shiro in a second lol. But I think Keith is someone who really compartmentalizes his feelings. I think he, more than the others on the show, sort of has an ON and OFF switch in which he’s either a grumpy little shit or he’s simply dealing in facts. It’s SO rare to see him smile; I think he laughs, like, once? Even in the shitshow of S8 he can’t enjoy himself on their day off at the carnival.

Compartmentalizing can be a useful tool, especially given that the characters are at war, but it can be so harmful, as well. And Keith, unlike the others, tends to have sort of violent outburst from time to time and does lose his temper. I know the creators one time ascribed this to his being half Galra, which I think really opens a fucking can of worms when we talk about Keith’s emotional intelligence as well as being neurodivergent; it’s a popular fanon read that Keith is autistic, and there’s a lot of clues!, but I also have to ask like, how much of his Galra half is driving in his brain? And if his brain is only half human, that literally means he’s neurodivergent from a typical human.

I strayed from my point a little but I’m trying to say that Keith perhaps relies on anger a little too much, whether it’s genetic or not, and sometimes I think compartmentalizing looks like him being angry all the time because he won’t interact with any of his other feelings.

THE EXCEPTION TO THIS of course, is with Shiro! There are so many moments of him and Shiro where he’s vulnerable and soft in a way he doesn’t show to other characters! And I think it’s easy to overlook this when we watch with shipping goggles—of course we ARE SEEING IT because we’re shipping it lmao but it’s easy to forget that he doesn’t show this to anybody else.

So anyway I’ve been very intentional in this fic to try to write Keith as obsessively compartmentalizing and trying to keep a hold on all of his emotions and have control over the way other people perceive him. I’ve ranted & raved about this before but I read Keith as a person who makes himself deliberately unpleasant so that he can control when people come & go from his life, rather than ever trusting anyone or relying on them or having his feelings hurt when he inevitably gets abandoned again.

I often struggle in this fic with the line between showing and not telling because I am very aware that a lot of the text IS telling, but this is intentional! Keith obsesses over every feeling, every interaction with Shiro, he questions everything he says and does and worries about it for days! This is part of his anxiety around the whole situation and not knowing if he’s behaving correctly! He doesn’t want to compromise his relationship with Shiro, because it’s the ONLY meaningful relationship in his life AND Shiro is the ONLY person he has the stomach to trust, but on top of that he simply does not understand how he’s supposed to act. So every interaction between them is this huge puzzle for him to figure out and he’s stressed out as fuck!

And this fic is about him trying to compartmentalize all these human emotions and needs, like, his need to have sex, his need for companionship, maybe even his need for love? And he has the drive to want these things. (Does his growing and uncontrollable horniness have anything to do with same non-human half that dictates his temper? We shall see. 😏)  But how does he navigate “I am horny and want to get off” vs “I need the companionship of my best friend” alongside “having sex with someone is actually very intimate” and in the end "sexual intimacy makes me uncomfortable because in some ways this thing with Shiro is everything that I want, but if I admit that and lose it I will be destroyed” ?? How can these things coalesce for him???

The idea for this fic was me trying to subvert some tropes I was seeing all the time in Sheith fic and the main one is like, we have a habit of making them such soulmates and making it so seamless! WHICH IS FINE AND GOOD, I LOVE THOSE FICS TOO LOL, but I wanted to ask like, what if it was messy, what if they were just fucking? And I think part of me wanted to keep the illusion going for longer, when I was first planning the fic, and it wound up like growing a life of its own and taking me to a lot of places I didn’t intend to go. And I say that because, where we are right now in the story, I don’t think either of them are denial about their feelings, or withholding on purpose. I think Keith is compartmentalizing, and I tried to get at this a little bit when he has the conversation with Pidge about what love means. He loves Shiro, he already loved Shiro. He will love Shiro regardless, as a friend. And he’s also fucking Shiro. And he’s keeping these two things separate. And I don’t write it as if he’s pining and WANTS more (just yet) as much as he’s just found himself in a tricky emotional space and doesn’t know where his boundaries are.

The complication of the perhaps-alien-half dictating his libido trying to co-pilot with his very human half that is demisexual is a problem, too. Like he asks Pidge in Chapter 8: . “If you love someone as a friend, but you’re fucking them. When does it become, like. I don’t know. Romantic?”

He doesn’t know! We don’t know! Let’s keep going and see what happens lol.

SHIRO ON THE OTHER HAND.

What makes him such a great character (for me lol) is that like, he could so easily be such a 2D character and just, the fearless leader who is always chill and nice to everybody, and we DO get that to an extent, but they were generous in making him so multifaceted. He has PTSD. He struggles with his disability. He even loses his temper sometimes! When he gets back (as Kuron) he has a lil depression cave sesh in his bedroom in his PJs. Like he’s a very well rounded character and it makes him extremely realistic and human to me!

I don’t think it’s as fair to say that he compartmentalizes the way that Keith does, except what we can glean from his canon timeline. Meaning: He fights for the Kerberos mission despite his disability, he makes it up there only to be abducted, he survives the arena, he escapes to lead Voltron. And ALSO him being canonically queer; I think this starts getting into headcanon territory because I don’t think we get any clues in canon that they’re navigating homophobia in their universe, but we absolutely still see ableism and sexism. (Put a pin in the racism conversation as well when it comes to like, alien species and systems of oppression because there’s a lot to unpack and I’m trying to focus LOL.) So like, we do know that their world isn’t perfect, and Shiro is someone who had to work his ass off and fight for his rank and for his career. He’s someone who can put his feelings aside and focus on the task at hand, and we know this because he’s NOT perfect, he does occasionally lose his temper, and he has PTSD!

Basically, I think we have to assume he compartmentalizes to function, because he comes out of a year of INTENSE trauma to immediately lead a team, and lead them with kindness and patience, and the writing tells us that it’s not a matter of him being Perfect Cartoon Man, because he’s not a perfect person and he’s traumatized as fuck.

Because the fic is Keith’s POV I’ve tried to communicate this by Keith noticing that Shiro wears “masks”, or uses different voices. Sometimes it’s even about his clothes, like as they become more intimate and Keith starts seeing more of Shiro’s scars, and how Shiro is self-conscious about them. But it’s also moments like in Chapter 7 when Shiro is crying.

I feel that Keith and Shiro have some like sort of equal-opposite relationships to trauma and grief that balance each other in the end. Like, Keith lost his dad at a young age and had a horrific childhood, but that’s been his reality for most of his life and he’s learned how to carry it day-to-day.  Even though he’s a messier and more immature person, he’s used to shouldering it and it’s sort of baked into his personality at this point. But Shiro’s trauma is SO new. Shiro’s is a ton of shit ALL AT ONCE, vs. Keith’s 10+ years of grief and disappointment, and it’s so recent!  Even though Shiro is, on paper, a more mature and emotionally intelligent person, this is very new to him!

So Shiro in this fic also has some feelings he’s juggling, like, “I am touch starved and have physical needs” and “my mentee grew up kinda hot” and “I have to be very careful with him and his feelings”. He sees Keith for the mess that he is, and he’s patient, and he can wait for Keith, and take Keith’s lead.

I don’t feel that Shiro is pining necessarily, either—I think he’s a lot more grounded and realistic, and their encounters aren’t causing him the same level of anxiety because he can read Keith so clearly, even when Keith can’t read him back. But I think, he is pining a LITTLE lol. I think because he’s smart enough to know where this is heading, and he’s being patient, but he’d speed it along if it were up to him. They’re both so sensitive in different ways and I think they’re both so vulnerable to hurting each other’s feelings!!!! And Shiro is trying so so hard not to crush Keith like a little egg!!!!!!!!!!!

😊

Anyway !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for coming to my lecture! I don’t say this often about my fics because it makes me squeamish but I LOVE this fic, it really is where I put all my Sheith love, and all the thoughtwork I do about them is FOR THIS FIC lol it’s my lovenote to them, I’m putting my whole Sheithussy into it ahskjgdlasd

[shigarakis-cumdump]

An Unhealthy Obsession- Shigaraki x reader

https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shigarakiscumdump/works

(If you like what you read, consider supporting me on Ao3!)

Summary: Short yandere fic based off the song “An Unhealthy Obsession,” by The Blake Robinson Synth. Orchestra. 

Cw: yandere and stalker tendencies

Word count: 1.9k 

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*..✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.★.*｡･ﾟ✫*..✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*..✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.★.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

Many people would call Shigarki the creepy type if they saw him on the street. Slouched over, face always buried in his phone with his hoodie covering the rest. He looked like your local creep who hung around popular stores and malls by himself. He would go to one mall in particular, even more so after he realized they had a Game Stop there. He would frequently go in to browse, and while he was checking out one day, he met you behind the counter.

“Will this be all?” you ask in your sweet customer service voice, with your head slightly tilted. Shigaraki froze in place. No one this pretty has ever talked to him before.

“Um, yeah, that’s all.” he says quickly, looking down to the ground while you're bagging his games.

“This one’s my favorite; I’ve been playing non-stop since it came out, have fun with it!” you say as you hand the bag back. And you play games? Could it get any more perfect?!

“Thanks,” he managed before walking out of the store and finding the closest bathroom. He locked the stall door and sat down. With his heartbeat in his cock, he couldn’t stop thinking of how innocent your voice sounded, and how pretty you looked. He decided from then on you were his next obsession.

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Shigaraki visited the store so often he learned your schedule. He would watch others make small talk with you, and it made him want to steal you for himself. His blood boiled when someone else would make you laugh. Soon enough, seeing you at your work wasn’t enough. He wanted to know more about you. So he followed you home one day. He kept his distance, being too scared of appearing creepy to people around him. You lived a few blocks away from him, who knew!This made it very easy for Shigaraki to stake out across the street and just watch you for hours. You always kept your windows open, maybe for the natural light? He appreciated it though; in his eyes, you left your blinds open for him. So he could watch as you dance around your room with your dog, and then relax and watch tv, hugging a pillow as you accidentally fall asleep. You were precious, and he realized all you wanted, all you needed, was someone like him to cuddle up into, to make sure you were safe. After all, there were too many creeps who could hurt you- he was just making sure they didn't get to you.

Shigaraki made it back to his place, but you never left his head. He went from sitting in the bushes, to sitting hunched over his desk, looking up your name on every search engine imaginable. “Bingo!” he says once he finds your socials. He scrolls down your page, seeing your stories about going to conventions earlier in the summer, spending time with your friends and- oh? What’s this? You were hugging a boy in this picture. Shigaraki zoomed in to get a good look at his face. “Why would you want a bastard like him?” he grunted angrily. He clicked on his profile and saw a post of you two eating at “your favorite restaurant” together for his birthday. The post was from the beginning of this year, so maybe you weren’t still with the guy. I mean Shigaraki didn’t see anyone while he was stalking you, which was a good sign.

Over time, his camera roll would fill up with screenshots of you off of your profile, shaky pictures he snapped of you while you were working, etc. He was in the store just when you worked now, because any other time he was following paces behind you to wherever your pretty feet were taking you. Stepping up to the counter with a few games, you began checking him out. His voice low and quiet as he asked, “Do you play games often?”

“Oh sure! Whenever I have free time, really. But lately I’ve been too busy. We should totally play together sometime!” you beam. Play together? He wanted to do a lot more than that .

“C-Cool, then I’ll see you through a screen next time,” Shigaraki scratches his neck awkwardly. You give him that practiced smile you show to all the customers. “Oh, what time do you get out?” he asks, and you give him a confused look. “S-so I know when to hop on! Just in case..” he drifts off, trying to keep cool. You tell him around 8, and he leaves. That’s perfect. Gives him just enough time to run some errands.

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Shigaraki went to the hardware store and got the smallest cameras he would find. He hurried over to your place, and prayed the key was still under the rug where you left it. And it was! He unlocked your door, and your small dog ran up to him, jumping on his leg. “You’re a friendly little guy, aren’t you?” he says, leaning down to pet the dog. Don’t get distracted ! He reminded himself. He began by setting a few cameras up in your room, one facing each corner. This gave him a perfect view of your bed, desk, and closet. While he was in there, he picked up a piece of thin red fabric off the ground. He inhaled deeply, to smell a sweet and salty scent. He shoved them into his pockets for later, and finished placing the cameras.

Back out in the living room, your dog was following him around. Shigaraki knelt down and gave him a pat. He read the dog's collar; apparently his name was Shiro. Cute. “You want something, Shiro? You need some food?” he asked, looking around for his dog dish. He found it and filled it up and then sat on the couch. He took your panties out of his pocket, giving them another whiff. The smell shot straight down to his groin, heating him up. He pulled his phone out and went to his album just for you and scrolled through the pictures. He loved you so dearly, and one day you would know just how much he cherished you. He played back the small interactions the two of you had, and all the memories you’d have together in the future. He palmed his hardening cock, head leaning back on the couch.

It was 6:30, he still had a few more hours before you were back. He revealed his dick from his sweatpants, his tip leaking pre. He put your red panties in his hand, and started to jerk himself off- the soft lace brushing against the underside of his dick. His breathing became hitched and sporadic at the thought of you underneath him making the same noises. No, he wasn’t experienced, but you would teach him everything he needed to know!

“Y/N… god you’re so tight..” he groaned. His hips thrusting up into you as you let out lewd noises for him. He grabbed your face and whispered sweet nothings into your ear.

“God please- fuck, I’m close, Shiggy!” you whined under him, twitching with your back arched and a tit in his mouth. The thoughts that filled his mind went directly to his cock. Shigaraki humped his hand, wishing it could be you, waiting for when it was you. Maybe you’d even fuck on this couch, who knows. He quickly finished and made sure to leave nothing behind before heading out and staking out behind the bushes again.

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You throw yourself on the couch as always, sitting where he sat just an hour ago. You made yourself some tea as you turned the tv on. It wasn’t too late, meaning Shigaraki could watch you for a bit.

A little later, you make yourself dinner. You take the trash out and leave it by the road. Shigaraki, being the weirdo he is, makes his way across the street, dangerously close to your front window, to snoop through your trash. There had to be something good in there. . He rummaged through your trash to find empty take out containers, some paper, and- chapstick? He wasn’t big on using it himself, but if it was yours, it was automatically going on his lips. He thought of it like an indirect kiss from his one and only. It had a taste of sweet strawberries, probably what you would taste like if he ever had the chance to kiss you. One day, he keeps telling himself. He pulls out his phone to check your room cameras and he sees you starting up your pc. Right! You asked to game with him earlier!  Shigaraki raced back home to load his game, praying he would find you in one of the local servers. There was FlameThrower2050 , TheRadicalDude , SuckItRight , and Shiro’sCloud online. You had to be the last one. He shot you a direct message, asking if you were up for a game, and you said yes. You actually said yes! Of course, you didn’t know it was him. You went into a private lobby and you turned on your headset. “Hey, can you hear me?” you asked innocently. Your pure voice went right through his heart. “Uh yeah, you sound great,” he blurts out. “Oh, Shigaraki?” you remembered his name?! This left him ecstatic. The game starts and you play a few rounds, Shigaraki being in heaven. You ended up beating him. In every. Single. Round. A bit embarrassing for him, but you laughed it off and didn’t make fun of him for it. Oddly, that stuck with him. You were so nice the whole time- he couldn’t wait to talk to you at work tomorrow!

It was getting late, which is why you had to go, which also meant Shigaraki got to watch you on the cameras. He pulled out his phone, switching to the view of your bed. You crawled in with just panties and an oversized shirt on, how cute. You scrolled on your phone for a little, until it dropped on your chest and you fell asleep. Your phone battery is gunna die, silly… Shigaraki thinks to himself. He could always go over and plug it in for you. No! That was too dangerous!! What if you wake up when he’s standing over you? Certainly that’s not a good impression to leave. He argues with himself for a bit before he’s out of the house, running down the street. His feet carry him all the way back to your place. He grabs the key and goes for the door. It was unlocked. You left it unlocked for him? How nice of you! He sneaks in and Shiro is quick to jump on him. Shiro took quite a liking to him. He tiptoed over to your room, looking at your sleeping body through the door crack. He opened the door slightly, going in and looming over you. He pried the phone from out of your hands and plugged it in for you. You would thank him later; tomorrow! When you’d see him next. Shigaraki zoned out, watching you sleep soundly for a good hour, stealing pictures of you while you were snoring, and getting a quick sniff of your hair. He had stayed there a lot longer than intended, the sun starting to rise. He snuck out of your room and locked the door on his way out.

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“Oh, hey!” Shigaraki hears your pleasant voice call out to him from the counter. “Last night was a lot of fun; how about we play again tonight?” you ask him. He immediately says yes, his heart doing flips in his chest. This was the start of something good.

[legendary-assassin-stance]

(for the sake of my sanity, pls gloss over how supremely self-indulgent this all sounds / is written. i’m here for a good time not a long time, if you want to argue ooc characterization, i’ll have to refer you to the CEO of Ghostly Grandpas, @legendary-alliance-stance

edit; taking el’s tags for context cus i didn’t think to explain it: #also for context yes they are still ghosts. they just manifest in a semi-physical way about orion (and noriaki) during their downtime lmao)

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  The muffled bustling from the floors below floated up through the hallways of the Arborstone inn, settling a low buzz to the background. Noriaki was busy watching the fledglings today, so Orion and his ancestors had the room to themselves, without Shiro grumping and grumbling about nothing and ruining the otherwise boisterous mood.

  Viktor had settled himself into a chair in the corner of the room hours ago, his attention taken by a book from the library that Orion had fetched for him. Orion himself was lounging on the bed, arms crossed underneath his head. Archemorus was leaning against the wall, arms and legs crossed casually as he and Orion chatted enthusiastically about the fishing trip they’d all taken to the Jade Sea a few days ago.

  Despite his reading, Archemorus could tell that Viktor was listening to their conversation with far more interest than he was outwardly letting on, and it was only when Orion lightly cleared his throat that Archemorus realized he’d allowed their back-and-forth to drop suddenly in favor of watching Viktor flip through book pages.

  “So…” Orion started, clearly trying to sound as casual as possible and failing spectacularly for multiple different reasons. “What’s up with you two anyway? I mean, are you guys…?”

  That prompted Viktor to finally raise his eyes up from the pages, giving Orion an uncomprehending look.“You are going to have to be a bit more specific, Orion.”

  The younger man huffed, shifting on the bed to sit up, draping his legs over the edge. He swung the limbs idly for a moment before speaking up once more. “Are you guys fucking or what?”

  That, evidently, was not what Viktor was expecting for a response, if the sharp inhalation followed by choked noise was any indication. “I– Excuse you–?!”

  Archemorus barked out a laugh at Viktor’s reaction, as well as the mildly bemused expression on Orion’s face. He turned his attention to the still-flabbergasted (and affronted-looking) Viktor, gesturing towards him with a hand. “You did ask him to be more specific, Vikky,” he rumbled, unable to keep the grin off his face.

  Viktor’s expression grew more flustered, obviously not expecting to be ganged up on by the both of them; he stood, book held tightly against his chest as he wheeled towards the doorway and moved quickly. “I– I need to go do something, if you would please excuse me.”

  Orion’s gaze followed the man until he rounded the corner of the doorway, eyes flickering to land on Archemorus once Viktor vanished. “So…?” he prompted again, interest piqued.

  Archemorus felt the phantom feeling of his face flushing, coughing lightly. “Well…” His gaze wandered the room for a moment before he sighed, letting it land back on Orion.”Me and Viktor, we’re… just friends.”

  Orion snorted in surprise, the noise seeming involuntary. “Wait, really? I genuinely thought there was something going on between you two!” Archemorus shifted awkwardly where he was standing, his gaze wandering around the room again – he’d been content…. to an extent… to let the matter fall to the wayside, and having it suddenly under scrutiny by his very stubborn descendant wasn’t how he’d expected to talk about it. Or at all, really.

  “It’s, ah… complicated.”

  Orion tilted his head, staring at the other man for a handful of seconds before he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together. “Wanna talk about it?”

  Archemorus couldn’t stop the grimace that pulled at the corner of his mouth, but he blustered out a sigh before moving across the room to sit heavily on the bed next to Orion. “Sure, why not. I suppose we can.” He inhaled, leaning back on his hands to stare resolutely up at the ceiling, feeling uncharacteristically self-conscious. “I’m just not sure how to talk to him about it.”

  “So you are into him, huh.” He couldn’t see Orion’s face, but he could hear the smirk in his voice, and Archemorus huffed out a chuckle, shaking his head slightly.

  “That’s one way to put it.” Archemorus flexed his fingers against the bed, exhaling slowly. “I’ve been in love with him for… a long time, honestly. I mean, how could I not be?” He shifted his weight so he could gesture helplessly with his hand towards the door that Viktor had fled through minutes before. “He’s not actually as much of a stick-in-the-mud as you’d think, once he loosened up a bit; he’s a bit snooty, yea, but he’s also brilliantly skillful, kind, gorgeous–” He stopped himself, flustering slightly at how he carried on, and coughed. “It doesn’t matter, I can’t tell him.”

  Orion hummed, finally drawing Archemorus’ gaze towards him. “Too nervous?”

  “Not… exactly. It’s more.. I wouldn’t want to scare him off, you know?” Orion tilted his head, questioning eyebrow arched, so Archemorus elaborated. “We’ve been together for so long now, since finding each other in the Mists. I’ve gotten used to having him there all the time. If I tell him everything I told you, and he doesn’t feel similar, it would most definitely make things… strained. Or worse, he’d just outright leave.” He didn't mean to let the hint of bitterness slip into his voice, but it did all the same, causing Orion to frown.

  “You really think he’d just leave?”

  “I… I don’t know.” Archemorus sighed, letting his head fall back so he could stare up at the ceiling again. “It’s not something I’m willing to risk; it’s not like I’m unhappy! I treasure the friendship we have as it stands, so why risk ruining that?” He gave a shrug of his shoulders, and his next words resonated lowly with the true, discontented feeling in his heart, despite the sentiment they held. “I can live with what I have now.”

  Orion exhaled a noise that didn’t sound convinced by Archemorus’ words, and the bed creaked underneath his weight as he shifted to get more comfortable, and to prod a finger against Archemorus’ shoulder. “I dunno… I really don’t think he’s the type to just leave over something like that, y’know? You should tell him.”

  That drew an involuntary laugh from Archemorus; he straightened up and partially turned to look over at Orion. “Since when did you become an expert on relationships, anyhow? You had a rough time coming to terms with how you felt about Noriaki, after all.”

  The tiniest of pouts crossed Orion’s face, and he huffed indignantly. “Doesn’t mean I can’t have an opinion on your situation, old man. You agreed to talk to me, after all.”

  Archemorus rolled his eyes, though his expression was amused. “Watch yourself, kid. Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I can’t still kick your clever ass.”

  Orion barked out a jubilant, challenging laugh that was so similar to Archemorus’ that it made his heart ache. “Uh-huh, yeah, I’d like to see you try, Gramps, I’ll–” Orion’s voice faltered as his eyes snapped to stare at the doorway, and Archemorus felt his stomach drop as Viktor’s voice spoke up.

  “Archemorus, please refrain from battering our descendant. Even if he does agree to it.”

  Even despite knowing he was there, Archemorus’ entire body jolted, and he whipped his head around to look at the other man, who was seemingly making a concentrated effort to not look in his direction, gaze planted firmly on Orion.. “Viktor! I, ah…” he tried to speak, but his tongue felt like unwieldy steel in his mouth.

  “Orion.” The young man’s spine stiffened and he straightened his posture, Viktor’s gaze never wavering. “Would you mind giving… Archemorus and I a moment alone to speak, please?”

  “Yea, sure! I don’t mind, I need to go find Noriaki anyhow,” Orion’s voice was chipper as he quickly got to his feet, but his posture was still held stiffly, and through their bond, Archemorus could feel a small twinge of guilt – he could only assume that the young man felt bad for bringing the topic up when it was very likely that Viktor could overhear them at any point. Orion turned his head to give Archemorus an encouraging look before he moved to slip past Viktor.

  Viktor kept his silence until Orion’s footsteps faded entirely, only turning his attention to Archemorus once it was obvious the man was gone. “I…” Viktor cleared his throat and crossed his arms, shifting on his feet in an uncharacteristically sheepish manner.

  Archemorus felt anxiety prickle up his spine, already knowing where this conversation was going to go, and he got to his feet slowly. “How much did you overhear?”

  The other man flinched slightly, his usual mask of poise and indifference slipping the further they strayed into uncomfortable territory. “... Enough.”

  “Ah.” Damn it, this was exactly what he didn’t want happening–

  “Archemorus.”

  “I’m sorry, Viktor, I– fuck, I was trying to avoid this–”

  “Archemorus…”

  “I don’t want to lose our friendship over this, really, I don’t, but I understand if you–”

  “Archemorus!”

  His words died in his throat as Viktor snapped his name, and he simply stood there, staring at the other as the anxiety moved to squeeze his heart. He’d faced battles with only fire and excitement drumming in his veins, faced certain death with nothing but conviction, charged at Shiro Tagachi with nothing but resolution and a prayer.

  But this? Facing Viktor, right now, with the man knowing a secret he’d kept smothered close to his heart?

  Archemorus’ ceaseless bravery faltered.

  He watched as Viktor sighed, walking forward so there was a little more than an arm’s length between them. “It is okay, Archemorus. I am not angry.”

  “I– you’re not?”

  “No.” Viktor inhaled a measured breath, eyes falling closed as he seemed to center himself. “I am… a little frustrated, perhaps. But no, I am not angry.”

  “Frustrated…?”

  “Somewhat. But not at you.”

  Archemorus slowly let his tensed shoulders relax, though he couldn’t erase the concerned expression from his face as Viktor opened his eyes once more to meet his gaze. “Okay. But… you did hear what I said to Orion, then. About how I… feel.”

  The other man’s composure faltered again and his attention flickered around the room. “I– well, not quite the exact words, but–” His voice trailed off, and he seemed to take a moment to collect his calm and meet Archemorus’ gaze once more. “Yes, I did.”

  “And you’re not upset by it?”

  “No.” Despite the tenseness in the air, Viktor laughed as if he couldn’t help himself, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair; Archemorus couldn’t help but be enraptured by the movement and Viktor’s voice, losing his own for a moment as he stared. “Dwayna above, I am far from upset by it.”

  Archemorus’ heart flipped, and he managed a quiet, “Does that mean–” before Viktor interrupted him, having fallen back into his crossed-arms stance.

  “Archemorus.” Viktor stood as still as a statue, the only signs that he was not as steady as he seemed being the slight shake to his hand resting on his arm and the restless flickering of his gaze.

  “Yes?”

  “All this time…” Viktor sighed, fingers tapping lightly against his bicep. “I could never… tell the nature of your feelings towards me.”

  Archemorus felt the incredulous look crawl onto his face at those words. How could he have made it clearer? Between the endearing pet names, and talking about the man like he hung the moon in the sky–

  Viktor’s expression seemed to soften at the look he got from Archemorus and he offered a small gesture with his hand. “I do suppose, in hindsight, it is a little… silly that I did not realize, but, in my defense, I had assumed that because you never said anything to the contrary, your… affectionate behavior towards me was merely platonic.”

  Archemorus was silent for a handful of seconds as he chewed that new information over in his mind. Exhaling through his nose finally snapped something in his control and a chuckle escaped him, soon turning into uproarious laughter. The expression of Viktor’s face was startled by the change in demeanor, and he kept silent as the other man’s laughter flustered his stoic expression. He waited as Archemorus attempted a few times to speak, only to fall victim to his laughter once again each time.

  Finally, after a minute, Archemorus calmed himself enough to finally breathe out a coherent sentence. “By the Three Queens, you’re telling me that we’ve both been dancing around this for… what, how long now? Hundreds of years?”

  “I–” Viktor huffed with a small bit of indignance, though his expression betrayed how off-kilter all of this was making him feel; after a moment, he also laughed, though far lighter than the booming of Archemorus’. “Yes, I believe we both have been.”

  Archemorus shook his head, running his hands through his hair much like Viktor had minutes before. “Wow.”

  “It is a touch embarrassing, isn’t it?”

  Archemorus snorted lightly. “A little bit. But…” He took a step forward, closing the distance between them in a single stride and reaching out a hand to Viktor, startling the man slightly as Archemorus’ fingers grazed his cheek; he leaned into the contact, and Archemorus grinned lightly.

  “Yes?”

  “Even if it did take us this long to finally figure things out, I’m… glad we finally talked about this.”

  Viktor’s eyes scanned Archemorus’ face for a moment before the smallest hint of a smile tilted the corner of his mouth upwards. “So am I.” He lifted his head away from the man’s touch, stepping forward to close what little distance was left between them, to the point that Viktor was brushing against Archemorus’ chest. “I… I love you, Archemorus.”

  The grin on Archemorus’ face grew, and he moved to wrap his arms around Viktor, pulling the man into a tight hug, leaning back seconds later to press an angle-awkward, but passionate, kiss against Viktor’s lips, which the man returned after a tiny bit of blustering. Unwilling to break the contact, Archemorus rumbled a gentle, “I love you too, Vikky,” against Viktor’s mouth, chuckling when the other man gently flicked his ear in response to the pet name.

[raziroo]

Cotton Candy

Pairing: Lotor x gn!reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: Saying "Shit" twice

Word count: 2,076 (yay) (also, I edited this, I still need to update the word count)

Author’s Note: I'm crap at writing dialogues, and this is my first time writing for a gay couple. I'm so sorry if it seems forced or unnatural or shitty. Don't be afraid to call me out.

Story Moodboard!

It’s with a grunt of effort that I manage to lift the carton containing the cotton-candy-maker.

‘Here, dad,’ I say as my dad takes the box from my hands. ‘That’s all?’

‘Yep, that’s all of it. We’ll conquer this carnival with our delicious cotton candy,’ I nod, doing jazz hands while saying the last part. Dad chuckles. I grin.

‘Hey, Honey!’ I turn back, squinting to spot where my other dad is in the crowd of bustling people. Where, where…? Yep, there he is – in his embarrassingly brilliant sunshine yellow and bottle green striped shirt and hot pink trousers, a sharp contrast to his natural bright red hair. Don’t say that it can’t look that bright; you’ll never know just how blindingly bright bottle green can really be until you see the shirt my dad’s wearing. And trust me, he usually dresses in simpler tones; such bland tones that you’d be surprised to know he was capable of wearing colourful hues as well. It’s only that he’s very passionate about his job, and so whenever we set up a booth in fetes such as the current one, he never misses to match the shop logo.

‘Hul-lo, father dearest, how seems to go your day?’

‘Oh, quite lovely, if I do say so.’

‘Well, that’s simply charming –’

‘Alright, enough,’ my other, not redhead dad snaps with an exasperated sort of smile on his visage. You see, my not redhead, a.k.a. brown-haired dad happens to be British. And that means that me and dad would rather paint our teeth blue than to not tease him. ‘You both need to shut it and start helping me with the decorations, now. You know I’m trash at all that.’

‘Aw, now don’t get discouraged,’ I say, patting dad on the back. ‘After all, not everyone can be as blessed as me, can they?’

‘Hey, why don’t you go look around for a bit? You’ve been helping out since before I have.’

‘Yeah, he’s right, pet. You should.’

I huff, rubbing my palms on the fabric of my jeans. ‘You guys sure? I’m not tired, if that’s what you’re worried about.’

‘We’re not worried, we’re just saying you should also get a look, you know? There’s a lot of surprising booths this time around. I mean, there are aliens participating too, so…’

‘Hmm,’ I play with my bottom lip a little, then, ‘yeah, okay. I’ll be back in like, an hour? Forty five minutes? Sound okay?’

‘Sounds great.’

‘Bye, then.’ And with that, I turn on the heels of my Converse, wandering about the pretty stalls and eager children and kissy couples and aliens with curious features.

It really feels bizarre, just how astonishingly fast mankind has accepted the existence of aliens. It seems simultaneously ages and just a day before when conspiracy theorists raged all around the world, presenting baseless theories and concepts as to why and how the three-man squad on the Kerberos mission disappeared. Then came the Galra, bringing along with them global terror – because alien life, intelligent alien life existed and humanity remained oblivious all these millennia, and now they were actually attacking us. It could’ve been, perhaps even was, in some other dimension, the end of Earth. But then a defender appeared; Voltron appeared in all its glory, bringing along with it proof that however much these purple aliens claim that humans are scum of the universe, humans were, in the grand scheme of things, the ones that saved the universe too.

It feels even more puzzling to actually be on a first-name basis with the leader of Voltron; that’s right, I’m personally acquainted with Keith Kogane. It was around six months after him leaving the Garrison did I come across him. He’d been loitering around the neighbourhood, had ended up in a fistfight with some other kids, and along with that a split lip and bruised cheek. I’d been watching. When the fight ended, I (somehow) persuaded him to come along so that I could at the very least provide him with a band-aid.

Long story short, we’d bonded over how our moms were no-shows and how dads were the best and we became surprisingly close friends; the only difference was that after the death of his old man, he lived alone. I’d been adopted by my two current fathers. I told him about how when they’d initially adopted me, I was excruciatingly shy. I wouldn’t even come out of my room except meals. It was only when I came to know that they knew how to make candy floss had I timidly approached them if I could have some, because previously I’d always been grossed out at the thought of having to eat that. I’d overheard this group of kids saying that cotton candy was actually just dyed granny hair, so that’s where that came from.

I love cotton candy now. So much so, that even at the age of twenty-six, I will pout if someone takes some of mine without my permission. As if I’d ever allow them to.

Speaking of Keith, I haven’t seen him in years. We lost all contact when he turned eighteen, and then he went off into space, and even when he came back, I didn’t get a chance to meet him. I bear no ill will, though. He must have formed some close relationships. Our past friendship is comparatively much more trivial.

I spot a booth selling grilled corn. I instantly head there.

As I’m about join the crowd of humans and aliens who also want corn, a familiar call of my name leads me to pull a three sixty.

Lo and behold. Keith Kogane.

Despite him having obviously grown a lot, the face was still the same. I’m sure that, if he gets a split lip and bruise on his cheek right now, he won’t look all that different.

There’s a questioning hesitance on his features; he’s probably wondering if he’s got the right person. My pleasantly surprised smile and raised eyebrows assure him. As I step away from the grilled corn stall, I notice a motley crowd behind him; some are purple, some are holding Voltron plushies, and some look way too curious to be in a carnival. The introduction is going to be fun.

‘Keith! You're gonna live a hundred years - I was just thinking about you. But anyways, it’s – it’s great to see you,’ I say with a little giggle. ‘Though I am kind of surprised you actually approached me. The sixteen-year-old you would never.’

He smiles awkwardly in return. ‘Y – yeah… I, just… oh God, this is – I’m sorry,’ he says, his inner turmoil evident.

‘It’s all good. I know you’re shit at small talk, so… like, introduce me? Maybe?’

He nods rapidly, brows furrowed. ‘Yeah, um,’ he turns to the people behind him, telling them my name, how we met, the whole affair. I give them a wave. Most of them greet me back.

‘And, this is Shiro and Curtis,’ he points to the tall, white-haired yet young man, holding hands with a tanner guy, ‘Lance, Pidge and Hunk,’ he points to a lanky, bright-smiled guy, a buffer, kind-seeming person, and a short chestnut-haired woman who, despite wearing baggy jeans and a baggier tee, looks somehow better dressed than me. ‘Then that’s Allura, Coran, and Romelle, they’re Alteans,’ a woman with enchanting beauty and a regal aura surrounding her, a redhead who’s significantly older than the rest with an impressive moustache, and a youthful appearing girl with a big grin, ‘and Lotor, he’s Galran. The Galran Emperor, in fact.’ Lotor is a tall, lilac-skinned man with aristocratic features who shares the same cheek markings as the Alteans. Oh, and he’s unfairly gorgeous, his hair a luscious mane of white which I just know will be soft. It’s hard not to stare. You remember how I said Allura looked like royalty? Yeah, the way this man carries himself, he has the aura and visage of a God. Even in a white tee-shirt and jeans he looks way better than should be legal.

I rip my eyes away.

‘So…are Noah and Oliver here too? I’d love to see them. I mean, I never did get to thank them to permit a possible criminal to sleep in their house.’

I laugh. ‘Never mind that, but we actually sit up a stall here. I could, you know, maybe even get you guys something to eat.’

‘Free? Please don’t.’

‘It’s nothing, really, just… I don’t know, accept it as a small thank you present for not letting the planet go to shit.’

A bit of thinking. Even after a nod from Shiro, it was Lance who said yes. Good ol’ Keith.

When we reach the stall, my British dad is the only one we find there. He looks up, about to say something to me, when he notices Keith.

‘Dad. You remember Keith?’

‘Your possible criminal friend who turned out to be the saviour of the universe Keith?’

‘That Keith. He wanted to see you.’

‘Oh? Well then,’ he dusts his hands, stands up, and greets Keith. Both of them engage in a conversation.

‘You guys wanna try something?’

‘What do you got?’ asks Pidge.

‘What do we got? Um, we got chocolates, candy, marshmallows, jellybeans, tortilla chips, ice cream, popcorn – butter, cheese, caramel, peri peri – Lays, like, a lot of Lays, and the good old cotton candy. What d’you want?’

So, after providing the humans with two Cream n’ Onion Lays, a pack of tortilla chips, a double scoop of butterscotch and chocolate, a small tub of popcorn, and three cotton candy sticks, I turned to the aliens.

‘I’m assuming you guys aren’t familiar with a lot of this stuff, so you could either pick whatever looks to be good, ask your friends, or I could recommend something. What’ll it be?’

Romelle was the one who asked, ‘What’s ice cream like?’

‘It’s sweet. It’s cold. And it’s like… heaven in mouth.’

‘Ooh. I want an ice cream. The… pink one?’

‘That’s strawberry. You can eat it in a cone, or in a cup.

‘What’s the difference?’

‘Well, the cup you can’t eat. The cone is like a crispy biscuit,’ judging by her face, she didn’t know what biscuit was. ‘I’ll just give you a cone. It’s all on the house, so no worries if you don’t like it.’

I watched eagerly as she licked the ice cream. An unreadable look crossed her face. Then – ‘This is almost as good as Hunk’s cookies!’

‘Really?’ Coran asked, twirling his moustache. ‘Well, then…’ he squinted to read the names of the various flavours. ‘I would like “cookies and cream”. Yes.’ A cone of cookies n’ cream was served.

‘Allura?’

‘Do you have something that isn’t sweet?’ That was a plot twist. I’d have taken her as someone who appreciated sweeter foods.

‘We do. You want spicy?’

‘…Sure.’ Peri Peri popcorn was given and enjoyed.

And last… ‘Lotor. What would you like to have?’

It takes me a lot of will to not laugh at Lotor’s way too analytical expression. ‘What would you recommend?’

‘Me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Out of all this stuff, candy floss is my favourite.’

‘Candy floss… the item that looks simultaneously like a cloud and an old woman’s hair?’

‘Yeah.’

‘I would like a helping of candy floss, then.’

As I hand Lotor a stick of cotton candy, I wait with anticipation for his reaction.

‘How am I supposed to eat this?’

It takes me a moment to process that. ‘Uh, you just… pinch a little of the stuff in between your fingers, then eat it. Or you could just, um, go in directly, which I’m thinking isn’t really your style.’

He narrows his eyes, but follows my instructions nonetheless. Only a second after putting the stuff in his mouth, Lotor purrs.

Everyone around him, being me, Coran and Romelle (Allura’s off telling Lance how great Earth food is), looks with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. Lotor appears as if he’s just died inside. The berry-shaded blush on his face is adorable, though.

'I didn't, like, poison you or something, right?'

'No. It's that... I would never in my lifetimes have expected something so tooth-rottingly sweet to be this delicious.'

'So you're okay?'

‘Yes. In fact, I quite like… this cotton candy.’

I grin.

[cjtheghost-14]

Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans - Pidge Gunderson x Reader

Requests: None (but please give me some)

Notes: This came to me while I was eating chocolate covered espresso beans at 3:42 am last night, why do you ask?

Summary:  Your the White Paladin on team Voltron, and you also happen to be dating the little gremlin piloting the Green Lion. Pidge Gunderson. Lately, you haven’t been able to have much alone time, what, with saving the Universe and all. The only downtime the two of you have is at night, and the castle has run out of coffee. Your body can’t handle it, and you pass out as soon as you get in bed with your girlfriend. Pidge, on the other hand, doesn’t need coffee to stay awake. It’s not like she has a choice, anyhow. She’s always up late working on upgrades for the castle. You’ve been upset about the lack of contact the two of you have been having lately, and mad at yourself for always falling asleep. What are you meant to do without coffee? Then you remember something you smuggled aboard when you left Earth.

Warnings: Some good old fluff, being sleep deprived, stress, caffeine over load,  swearing

(sorry this took so long, blame my hectic life!)

Is it 11:00 pm already? How could that be right? You check your watch again, your vision beginning to blur from exhaustion. You take a sharp breath in, being able to just make out the time. It was, in fact, 11:00 pm. You rub your eyes in an attempt to just simply wipe the sleepiness away. Today was an unusually long day for the whole team. Zarkon apparently didn't know the meaning of sleep since his attacks have been relentless. Just today the team saved two planets. Although afterwards, the castle had been so severely damaged that we spent the rest of the day trying to fix it. Coran only let you stop a few minutes ago. He could’ve kept you longer, if not for that fact that you were practically falling asleep while re adjusting the teludav. You didn’t know if your girlfriend, Pidge, was even going to be in her room but you drag your feet in it’s direction anyway. She was always the busiest when it came to castle repairs, leaving you alone with your thoughts. After leaving your family, maybe some quality time with your depressing brain wasn’t the best idea. You have never felt more alone. Loneliness was corrosive, eating away at your heart until it left only a shell of a human. It could arguably be the worst feeling someone could feel. And ever since you left earth to become a paladin, that very feeling has taken over your already fragile mind. You depended on Pidge to pull you through, but you’ve barely been able to see her lately. Now, of course, you had the rest of the team beside you. You loved cooking with Hunk, listening to Coran’s weird stories and Allura’s beautiful ones. You loved spending time with Lance, he was your best friend after all, and you grew up with Shiro and Keith. Shiro was like a Dad to you, as Keith was like your brother. You loved them all with your whole heart. But those bonds paled in comparison to your feelings for Pidge. Your heart ached thinking about her. All you wanted to do was hold her in your arms. The thought made you walk faster, rounding the corner and not hesitating to barrel into Pidge’s messy room. You stumble over a box of electronics, your eyes landing on Pidge sitting on her bed, fiddling with something glowing. Your face breaks into a huge grin as you see her sitting there, her face bathed in blue light, glasses askew on her nose, pictures of you and her stuck on the wall behind her.

“Pidge!” You exclaim, surprised that she was actually here.

Her head shoots up, the lazy smile you love making its way onto her face. “Y/N!”

You run over to her, jumping on the bad, grabbing her face and slamming your lips onto hers. She laughs, pulling away slightly to look at you. “As much as I loved that, Y/N, I have work I need to do.”

“But I haven't seen you in days!” You say, your hopes sinking like lead.

“I know, love, but I really can’t relax now. Coran needs this by tomorrow morning. Just give me a few minutes, I’m almost done.” She says, turning her attention back to whatever she was working on.

You sigh, laying down. You can feel all of the anxiety from the past month weighing on your chest, crushing you with no hope of escape. You had hoped to talk to Pidge about it, but she was too busy, yet again. It wasn’t her fault, of course. It was Zarkons. But it didn't matter, you just needed someone to talk to. You knew that wasn't going to happen tonight though. When Pidge says she only needs a few minutes, she means she needs a few hours. Yet you decide to try to stay awake anyway, her presence was enough to make you feel better. But before you get to have any say in the matter, sleep grabs you by its claws, dragging you under.

***

You peel your eyes open, only to be met by complete darkness. You blink once, twice, trying to understand what happened. Then you realize, you fell asleep. You sit up suddenly, slamming your hand down on the mattress.

“Quiznak!”

You bring your watch up to your face, squinting, reading with difficulty the numbers 5:33 AM. Not again! How did you fall asleep again? Every rare time Pidge is actually in her room when you are, you end up falling asleep before you can talk to her. In a rush of adrenaline you bolt out of bed, maneuvering through the dark and into the hallway. Your footsteps echo through the castle as you round a corner into Lance’s room. You power off his white noise machine with a slam of your hands as you shout, “Lance!”

He bolts up, his eye mask sliding off of his face as he cries out in alarm. “I remember our bonding moment!” His head whips over to you, eyes widening. “O-oh! Y/N, w-what are you doing here?” He asks, voice rising an octave in embarrassment.

“I fell asleep!” You shout, throwing your hands in the air as you plop down on the bed next to him.

“That's why you woke me up?” He yells in exasperation, laying back down. “Go back to bed you freaking maniac” He says, kicking you off the bed with his foot. “I need my beauty sleep.”

“Too late for that.” You say sarcastically, standing up and grabbing his pillow from under his head, hitting him. “Get up!”

He yells out, bolting up, grabbing the pillow out of your hands. “I will shoot you!”

“Noted. But Lance, I fell asleep again. Now who knows when I’m going to even see Pidge again. Weeks? Months?” You sigh, sitting back down on the bed, staring at your hands.

Lance’s expression softens at the tone of your voice, resting a hand on your shoulder. “I’m sorry Y/N, I know it's been tough. But don't we have coffee in the kitchen? I swear Hunk smuggled some in.”

“We’re out.” You say sadly, shaking your head. “I have no way to stay awake, bu-” Your eyes widen suddenly, an idea forming in your head. “Wait, Lance, you're a genius!”

“I know.” He says triumphantly, crossing his arms with a smug smile. “Wait, why am I a genius?”

You chuckle, getting up, beginning to walk out of the room as you explain your idea. “The coffee Hunk smuggled in might be gone, but I totally forgot about what I smuggled in. Chocolate covered espresso beans, my mom made them. God, it's perfect! Thanks for the idea Lance!”

“Anytime. And, oh, Y/N?” He calls out after you.

You stop before you reach the door, turning around. “Yeah?”

“About what I said… I absolutely do not remember Keith and I’s bonding moment that didn't even happen.”

“I’ll be sure to tell Keith you remember, he’ll be happy to hear.” You smirk, running out of the room.

“Y/N! I said I don't remember! Y/N come back!” Lance shouts, sticking his head out of the door. “Y/N!”

A Day Later

You skip into Pidge’s room, a new sense of energy engulfing you. To your delight, you find Pidge sitting on her bed.

“Hey, lovely.” You say, plopping down next to her.

“Hi, (Y/N)” She says, looking up momentarily from her project to kiss you on the cheek. “Sorry to do this again, but I’m gonna be busy for a while” She explains, frowning slightly, her nose scrunching up in the way that you adore.

“It's alright, I’ll be waiting.” You say, leaning back on the bed to watch her work. She smiles softly before turning her attention away. You watch her slim fingers for a moment, fiddling with another glowing object before you decide to pull out your small packet of chocolate covered espresso beans. Pidge stops for a moment, turning to look at you.

“Uh, whatcha got there?” She asks, peeking into the bag.

“Some chocolate covered espresso beans.” You say, smiling softly before popping one into your mouth.

“Oh.” She says, reaching a hand into the bag before stopping, looking up. “Can I have some?”

“Of course.”

She smiles brightly, taking a handful, popping a few in her mouth as well. “Ooh, these taste like the ones your mom makes. These will help me stay awake for this project, actually. Thanks love.”

“And these will also help me stay awake long enough to spend some time with you.” You say softly, your eyes drifting over her lips.

She smiles more, leaning forward and kissing you, sending an electric jolt through your body. This was just what you needed. You melt into the kiss, running your fingers through her soft hair. You were convinced this had to be what heaven felt like. And when you pull away, theres a lingering taste of chocolate covered espresso beans.

[angst-in-space]

let your waves crash down on me (and take me away)

vld | klance | 18.5k | T+ | oneshot/complete

tags: hotel au, keith works at a hotel, lance is staying at the hotel, they flirt a lot, alternate universe - modern setting, pov alternating, mutual pining, awkward flirting, fluff and humor, background adashi, background hunay, broganes, very brief miscommunication, this is extremely silly and self-indulgent

[excerpt below the cut]

It was only Keith’s third day on the job, and he could already tell this summer was going to be terrible.

For the most part, working at the front desk of the Red Lion Inn was simple—just checking guests in and out, answering phone calls, and giving people directions to places in the area. And at least it was a small hotel, so there weren’t too many guests to handle at once. Plus, he knew he should be grateful that Shiro had given him the job in the first place. But talking to people wasn’t exactly his strong suit, and standing on his feet for hours was draining.

Things were pretty dead around this time in the afternoon, though, so Keith could lean his elbow on the desk and rest his chin on his hand without anyone noticing. He had doodled on his notepad on his first day, but Shiro had frowned upon that—you have to look professional, Keith—so there wasn’t much for him to do right now except stare across the empty lobby.

Keith inhaled and let it out in a drawn-out sigh. The bright, tiled floor was starting to hurt his eyes, and he squeezed them shut and opened them. There was no sound except for the low drone of the air conditioning and the trickling of the mini waterfall sliding down the wall behind him.

Something hit him lightly on the shoulder. “Look alive, kiddo.”

He looked up, irritated, to see that Shiro had stepped out of the back office and was holding a clipboard—probably the offending object that had hit Keith.

“Hey, don’t give me that look,” Shiro admonished. “You’re the one sleeping on the job.”

“I’m not sleeping.”

“Well, at least buck up a little. You’ve only been here …” Shiro glanced at his phone. “Forty-five minutes. You’re gonna have to survive the rest of the evening.”

“Don’t remind me,” Keith said, but he stood up straight anyway.

Shiro put his clipboard down on the other end of the long, marble-top desk. He had a familiar furrow in his brow, which usually signaled that he was about to give Keith a lecture. But just then, Shiro’s eye caught something over Keith’s shoulder.

“Couple of guests coming this way. Would you mind checking them in? I have some paperwork I need to finish.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Keith said. When Shiro gave him a stern look, he added, “I mean, yes. No problem.”

Two figures walked in through the front entrance, silhouetted against the bright daylight as the glass door slid open to let them in. One of them said something Keith couldn’t make out, and the other let out a laugh that echoed through the lobby. Keith tried to compose himself, turning his attention to the computer next to him and bringing up the list of reservations.

As the two people stepped up to the counter, Keith cleared his throat. “Hi, welcome to the Red Lion Inn,” he said, trying to sound professional but also not like a robot—a balance he was still struggling to find. “How can I help y—”

He stopped when he looked up and saw the two people standing in front of him. They both looked to be about twenty—so, around the same age as Keith. The one on the left was a bit taller and bigger, had dark skin and brown eyes, and was shooting Keith a friendly smile. An orange headband peeked out from under his black bangs. The one on the right had a lankier frame and sported a crooked grin. He took off his sunglasses and tucked them into the pocket of the short-sleeved, button-down shirt—which was a pastel blue that complemented the brown shade of his skin.

Their gazes met across the counter, and Keith didn’t realize he was staring until the stranger cleared his throat.

“Hi, there. We’d like to check in, please.”

>> read the rest on ao3! <<

[whump-protocol]

Helpless

The premise is that an enemy captures Keith, injects him with a slow-acting poison, and tells him he’ll get the antidote if he lures the paladins into a trap. Instead, Keith goes back and warns them, at the potential cost of his own life.

And has a heartbreaking conversation with his husband.

This is not a fluffy snippet. Please don’t read this unless you want dark and somewhat despairing. It’s also incomplete because I hurt myself writing it.

It's now complete (as best as I can manage) and it broke my heart.

Keith doesn’t even know the name of the Galra resistance leader who poisoned him. All he remembers is a grating voice telling him about a slow-acting poison running through his veins.

“Don’t worry, I have the antidote, but you’ll have to earn it.” The asshole laughs. “I’m going to let you escape, and I want you to lead your team back here. Once I’ve finished with them, you’ll get the antidote. You have three cycles. Deal?”

The Blade doesn’t even hesitate. “Deal.”

He ends up in a broken single-person flier at the nearest coalition base with coordinates he’s supposed to share with the rest of the paladins. Instead, they get on a video call, and he’s up-front about the whole ordeal. He knows he can’t avoid discussing the consequences, but in his mind, protecting the team comes first.

“It’s an ambush, nothing else. The leaders aren’t even there.” He can see Kolivan in the background, muttering to himself.

“And they let you escape?” Lance asks because of course he does.

“They said they gave me something.” Keith doesn’t elaborate. “It doesn’t matter. What does is that my ship came from their actual base. Its flight plans and navigation are scrambled to hell and back, but maybe Pidge can do something with them.”

“Already on my way,” says the bright-eyed engineer, “and I can tinker with it remotely while en route.”

“Gave you something?” Shiro asks slowly.

At this moment, the admiral is aboard the Atlas and parked somewhere around Earth. He’s ferrying Allura and Lance back to New Altea, and it’s almost time for their scheduled departure. Keith doesn’t exactly relish the upcoming conversation, but he doesn’t dwell on it either.

“He claimed it was deadly but slow. All I know.” The Blade nods to the door. “Medics took a blood sample in case they can figure out what it is.”

“And if they don’t?”

Keith shrugs. “Something, something honor. They will. Or I might get lucky. Or not. Regardless, none of you are stepping into a fucking trap setup by literal madmen on my behalf.”

Kolivan pings him privately about a debriefing. If his lifespan will be counted in hours, possibly complete with mental decline, they need to get as much information out of his head as physically possible in the meantime. He’s not relishing this part, either.

He shakes his head. “I need to talk to Kolivan. I know this is hard.” Keith takes the tone of a leader, the one he fucking hates. “I will speak with all of you later, I’m sure.”

He’s not looking forward to the friendly interrogation he’s about to walk into, but there’s just no time. It’s all necessary for the Blades to figure out the next steps. Kolivan’s on the other line, ready to grill him for as long as he breathes, presumably, so they can take down another separationist cell.

But all Keith wants is Shiro’s comforting warmth in his arms, and he can’t have that across the space of the universe.

Later, after the debriefing is done, Keith calls Shiro directly and asks for a private connection. He doesn’t know what to say, but silence doesn’t appear to be an option. Not when he has a dozen unread messages, and more missed calls than he dares to think about it.

He’s also married to this man, and he can’t avoid his husband for long.

“Keith!” It’s a bellow, and maybe he deserves that. “What the actual fuck?”

“Sorry.”

“I love you, Atlas and I are on our way, so you… better be there when we land.” Shiro’s expression is caught somewhere between righteous anger and endless fear. “Stars above, what happened?”

Keith doesn’t think Shiro wants another mission debrief. “I don’t know. I was careful, followed the protocol to the letter, it was supposed to be a diplomatic engagement. Blades don’t fuck up like this.”

“Shit, baby, I know. I know you. You’re not careless, and you don’t miss red flags.”

“Yeah, so…”

“Do you think they were telling the truth?”

Keith nods hesitantly and chews on his lip. “They injected me with something. I heard them whispering something about how they’ve seen this shit fuck up Galra twice the size. So, probably.”

“Fuck.” Shiro paces his living quarters like a lion trapped in a cage.

“Shiro…” Keith’s voice comes out soft and the words catch on his tongue. “I love you. I always have and always will. If I don’t get to say it again.”

“Don’t! Please, Keith.”

Keith can’t promise not to die, not when he didn’t set the timetable. The Blade feels tears burning in the corners of his eyes. He’s hollow inside like reality hasn’t quite settled in. He knows he’s dying, and understands rationally that his body is sick, but emotionally he’s still catching up.

“I miss you.”

“We’ll be there in just under three cycles.”

Neither of them mentions that it will be too late, that the cold equations of space travel and living bodies don’t lie.

“I’ll see you when you get here,” Keith offers, thinking that perhaps pretending for another five minutes that everything is fine is good enough.

Shiro looks downright horrified. “No. Keith, not, that’s not what I meant. I would rather talk to you for as long as have than sit here. I just…” He sobs. “I’ve known a lot of helplessness in life, and none of it felt like this.”

“I wish you were here.”

“What about the space wolf?”

“He’s with mom on a rescue mission, and they’re still trying to get ahold of them. On account of… you know.”

“Are you OK? Do you feel sick?” Shiro asks.

“Not yet, at least not any worse than when I got here.” That was already a flavor of awful, bruised, battered, and dehydrated.

“You should lie down. Rest. Shower. Take care of yourself.”

Keith is definitely looking forward to all of those. They’ve assigned him a room with a private restroom, small mercy that, and he plans on not letting it go to waste. “You, too.”

“Just don’t hang up, OK?”

Keith looks down at what remains of his tattered uniform and starts stripping out of it. Shiro has seen him naked plenty before, and the new bruises are what they are.

“Yeah, OK. Of course. I’m here. How was the peace accord renewal whatever it was?”

Shiro laughs through his tears, and it’s dark and agonizing. “More bullshit in one day than I usually see in months. I’m surprised Lance didn’t punch anyone given how the ambassadors behaved around his wife.”

Keith shakes his head in sympathy. “Thank goodness it’s over then.”

“For all involved,” his husband agrees. “Are you… going to say goodbye to the others?”

“I feel like I kind of should, you know?”

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Keith.”

“I know.” He takes his PADD to the bathroom with him and starts the shower running. “But… closure will help them more than it’s going to help me, and I want that for them.”

“Don’t you dare say goodbye to me!”

Keith smiles and closes his eyes. “It’s going to be all right, Shiro. No matter what happens, you’re going to be all right. I know it.”

“Not without you,” Shiro mutters as his husband steps into the shower and shudders with pain.

Keith sleeps fitfully for a few hours and wakes in pain. It’s a new, dull ache that covers his whole body in a way no bruise ever has — the poison, if he has to guess. His mind feels like he’s swimming through a fog, and it takes a few minutes to get his bearings.

Still at the Coalition base, still safe, still… alive.

Shiro’s already calling him like he knows Keith is awake. “How’re you feeling?” are the first words out of his mouth.

Keith hunts his nightstand for a bottle of water. “Not great.”

“You look like you didn’t get any sleep.”

“I think I dozed. Bad dreams.” Keith drinks water and sighs. He feels fatigued despite the nap, his limbs heavy. “How’d you know I was awake?”

“I might’ve called in a favor to get access to your vitals.”

“Nice use of expensive technology.”

“Shut up. You should go to medical if you’re not feeling well.”

“And do what? Everything hurts. Them handing me pain meds won’t solve the problem, and my head already feels like cotton candy.” He shrugs and lies back down. “Talking to you is nicer.”

"Keith, let them help."

"If they can find an antidote, I'm sure I'll be the first to know. Have you slept?"

Keith's husband doesn't lie. "No. Just sitting here, thinking about you. About our wedding. Remember Kosmo nearly eating the damn wedding rings?"

"Far too well. 'Bad wolf,' never sounded more appropriate."

"And then the honeymoon. I didn't think the Garrison would let us leave for long enough to actually enjoy it."

The Blade chuckles. "I still don't know what Pidge told them to get them off our backs. I'm glad she did. I think those were the best two weeks of my life."

Tears stream down Shiro's face and Keith wishes nothing more than he could hold the man he loves, could wipe those tears away. They'd gone camping together, drove across a country, marveled at the night sky in each other's arms. Keith only wishes for more time, more chances to make happy memories. He looks down at the wedding ring, dangling on a chain around his neck alongside his dog tags. 

He hopes both make it to Shiro if he doesn't.

"I love you," he says into the silence. "You were like a brother to me, when I was a kid and desperately needed someone in my corner. And then you were an unwavering friend, a leader. I don't think we would have survived the war without you. But most of all, I treasure your love. I don't know where I'd be without it, without you."

"Keith... I... More than anything in the world, in the universe. I love you, too."

"I'm tired," Keith admits, eyes fluttering closed.

"Rest easy," Shiro prompts him just as another call comes in and a familiar face appears on the screen.

Later, while Keith is once again dozing, Shiro is plotting a painful demise for the ones responsible. He will find them and end them in ways that the galaxy is unlikely to ever forget.

And if he has his way, Shiro will do it with his husband by his side.

[aprxl-showers]

i was feeling a bit sad yesterday and this is the result...

Keith huddles on his bed, hugging three soft pillows at a time to his chest. He takes a deep breath, willing the tears away. He hates this.

Fighting with Shiro always sucked. He and Keith always seemed to be in angsty moods around the same time—more often than not being the cause of each other’s ill tempers—and they’d yell and slam doors until Keith inevitably stormed off. He always ended up in the same place: he and Lance’s bedroom, pressing himself against the wall in order to be as far away as possible from everyone.

His jaw is achy, signalling another impending onslaught of tears and Keith knows it’s probably a losing battle. However, Lance always said letting emotions out was good and healthy and not to worry, he would always be there to give Keith hugs.

Lance isn’t here, though. He’s been away at his parents’ house all weekend for a birthday of some sorts. He had whispered promises through kisses that he’d be back before Keith knew it. But it’s already nine thirty and Keith is reaching a breaking point.It isn’t like he relies on Lance to stop him feeling certain ways. He had made sure of that when they’d moved in together two months ago after ten months of dating. He never wants Lance to be burdened with all his issues and be unloaded onto all of the time. Nevertheless, they still talk. They’re boyfriends, of course they’re there for each other, and sometimes nothing beats being held tightly in Lance’s arms with soothing words pressed to his hairline.

It’s a Friday night which should be a relief but Keith is working all of Saturday and Sunday, meaning he has to get up far too early tomorrow, and he feels like he hasn't been able to take a break this entire week. His teachers have suddenly amped up the intensity of classes and assignments with the upcoming exams. His anniversary with Lance is also on the horizon and he’s trying to save to take him somewhere fancy.

Whenever he does catch an extra moment Keith tries to watch something on Netflix but then the hours fly by like minutes and he’s left feeling shitty again. He initially tried that method when he’d slammed the door shut earlier, angrily tossing his bag off and letting his head fall into his hands. He’d tried to put on a brave face, blinking through tears at the laptop screen as some young, star crossed lovers made eyes at each other across a classroom. It did nothing but remind him of Lance’s absence which didn’t improve his emotional state in the slightest.

He ducks his head into the crease in the pillow closest to his chest as if it will soak in the ball of negativity swirling in his chest, the lump in his throat, his heavy heart. Take it away.

There’s the sound of faint footsteps and jangling keys and Keith hears the door click open as Lance makes his way into their apartment. Keith listens to him as he moves through their home, dumping his suitcase on the sofa, fetching a glass of water and approaching the bedroom door. Keith realises too late that the light isn’t even on.

There’s the sound of a flick and suddenly he sees Lance’s eyes clearly. He watches in horror as Lance’s happy, beautiful expression slips from his face and he places the glass on the chest of drawers.

“Keith?”

He doesn’t want to be a downer on Lance’s day, especially when he’s only just arrived looking like sunshine itself, so he attempts a smile. He also attempts to reply but all that leaves his mouth is a choked, pathetic sob. Lance is diving forward before he’s even registered. Warm hands cup his face and Keith collapses forward into his boyfriend’s chest.

“Lance.”

“Hi, sweetheart.”

“I’m sorry. I just—” His breath shudders.

“It’s okay. Just breathe, I’ve got you.” Lance reaches up to stroke Keith’s hair, shushing him quietly. Keith softly nudges his head into the crook of his neck, breathing deeply and calming for the first time in hours. Lance’s fingers wipe away his tears gently as he presses fleeting kisses to his eyelids. They stay like that for twenty minutes, in silence. Until:

“Fuck.” Keith’s voice is no longer garbled and he rubs his eyes, exhaustion hitting him like a wave.

Lance tucks his bangs behind his ears over and over and over and over. “Seems appropriate. Do you want to talk about it?”

Keith leans back, offering Lance a more genuine smile. Lance returns it. “No. It’s just Shiro. I’ll call him tomorrow and work it out. How was your family? Did you enjoy seeing everyone?”

“Yeah, it was great.” Lance isn’t fully at ease yet, Keith can tell. He cradles Keith’s neck, running his thumb up and down it. “I’m sorry I didn’t get here earlier.”

“No. You don’t have to apologise, you didn’t do anything wrong. By the time you came in I was feeling the last of it. I would have been fine in another hour.” Keith shuffles over, pulling Lance into a proper sitting position on the bed beside him. He gathers his boyfriend’s long, slender finger in his own. “Please, tell me about your weekend. You looked so happy when you came in.”

Lance hesitates but Keith squeezes his hands once more and his angelic grin slowly returns. Keith feels a weight lift from his shoulders.

“If I’m being completely honest, I missed Mama so much,” Lance says, dropping his head onto Keith’s shoulder. Keith doesn’t blame him. It’s almost impossible not to miss Mama McClain. “There’s nothing quite like hugging your mama, you know? I mean—”

“Yeah, I know.” Keith kisses Lance's forehead, banishing the returns of the worry lines. Although Keith misses his parents every day, he loves hearing about Lance’s huge family—who he had met several times for some bigger, plus one events—and encourages him to speak about them whenever he can. Lance’s passion and love for them always shines through, sending swoops through Keith's stomach every time without fail.

“They asked about you a lot, by the way. Nadia, Sylvio are keen to see you again. I’m certain that even baby Elena perked up when I said your name.”

Keith’s smile arrives unbidden and he chuckles. “I miss them.”

“I bet you do,” Lance agrees, laughing lightly. “I’ve been apart from them for ten hours and I already miss them. The last time you saw them was when we moved in and they gave us all those weirdly specific gifts.”

Keith smirks at the memory. Funnily enough, though, he’s used all the McClain gifts on countless occasions. They obviously knew what they were doing.

“I’m happy you’re back, Lance,” he says. Silence settles for a little while.

Lance shifts, lifting his head from Keith’s shoulder and taking a seat in his lap, facing him. He places a tentative kiss on the corner of his lips.

“There’s no place I’d rather be, babe. I love living with you—it’s the highlight of my life so far, hands down.” Lance runs his hands over Keith’s sides. “I love being able to hug you when you’re sad and beat Shiro’s ass when one of you takes it too far.”

Keith lets out a startled laugh.

“I love it when you do that,” he mutters, leaning forward and brushing Lance’s lips with his own. “And I love you, too, so that’s a plus.”

“A big plus,” Lance reiterates.

“Huge.”

“Massive.”

“Absolutely.”

“I love you.”

“You, too,” Keith replies before he slips an inch forward and they’re kissing softly.

Lance always knows exactly how to calm him down and make him feel that much better. Keith knows he would do—that he does do—the same for him if something was ever remotely wrong. Because they’re a team. And Keith loves him.

He’ll talk to Shiro tomorrow, smooth things over, lick some wounds. Ask him if one year is too soon into a relationship to consider marriage. Maybe it is but Keith can’t find it in himself to care.

It may take them months more of emotional breakdowns on both sides, years more of comfort and cuddles, but Keith has no doubt he and Lance will get there. He already knows this is it. Keith pulls him close, a little emotionally drained but happy, smiling wide against Lance’s lips.

[sundarika]

Hey yo! :D For the requests: how about a vld post-canon fanfic in which the reader helps Lance to move on, while still remembering Allura with respect and fond memories, which ends up in a sweet love confession? :3 If you need more details, please don’t hesitate to ask. Thanks, and have a good day!

[Lance McClain] “Under The Sun”

———————————————————————

“It’s been quite awhile now, I wonder when Lance is coming home?”

You pondered without so much as a doubt that he’d be back eventually, but you were a bit worried about your long-time best friend. It was late into the summer evening now, and the gradient dark blue was only just beginning to peek over the horizon. He was out late far more often now, though you supposed it was because Allura’s death had hit him hard, but you were in disbelief in seeing the usually peppy and flirtatious boy so…. depressed. It was heartbreaking to witness.

Staring out the farmhouse window, you watched the tall grass sway in the fields beyond and the slight breeze ruffle through the distant image of an apple orchard. The sun was nearly set by now, and soon the stars would be clear in the sky—a constant reminder of the paladins journey across the galaxy.

Knowing that there was so much life out there beyond the Earth you knew, you could barely comprehend just how significantly small your life was in comparison. You hadn’t travelled with the paladins or engaged in conversation with Allura beyond briefings during the Galran invasion, but you understood that the universe they witnessed was oh-so-incredibly vast and endless.

And now you felt oh-so-incredibly lonely in it. You weren’t close with many of the other paladins, besides Hunk and Pidge of course. Shiro had his new husband, Coran was too iffy for your tastes, and Keith…. well he was always off and away. With Altea restored to its rightful glory, commerce and politics between itself and Earth were bustling and swell, never better, and many of the paladins, including Lance from time-to-time, were busy making deals and new friends.

And you felt left out and abandoned because of that. It wasn’t fair that you hadn’t been accepted into the space academy, only because there was a limit to the number of accepted students, and it wasn’t fair Lance left without a single word to you, on some grand adventure for years on end without so much as a word, and it wasn’t fair that you were helpless in all things besides cooking or cleaning or feeding the animals out in the barn, or giving Lance a hug when he needed one, or looking after his siblings while his parents were gone or just—being there. It just wasn’t fair that they’d all experienced so much of life, and you hadn’t done anything in the meantime. Your meagre living was nothing in comparison to their heroism and praise. You felt selfish for thinking this way, so you never voiced your concerns to anybody, especially Lance.

“I wonder what he’d think of me, thinking this way,” you looked out unto the glimmer of stars appearing beyond the clouds, “he’d look at me and think ‘Life is never fair, you should deal with it.’ What a joke.”

You suppose you were satisfied for now with just being able to be near Lance, as a friend and support for when he needed you most, even if he didn’t know it.

“Oh Allura,” stepping outside, your eyes had an even clearer view of the skyline, and the sunset appearing within your vision, and you could almost feel the expanse of the universe looking down upon you, Allura among the vast amount of stars blazing within it, “tell me what I should do to help him. Tell me how I should be there for him, in the same way you were and in ways otherwise. How can I make him happy now you’re gone?”

Of course, you would never receive an answer beyond a pregnant silence, and the echo of your own voice over the hills and through the house where the children were asleep. You kept your eyes on the stars, hoping they’d give you some form of sign, an astrological message that could guide you, a vision of some kind, but there was only emptiness, the soft yet visible twinkle of each individual sun, burning lightyears away.

Sigh. You really should’ve expected this you suppose.

“Speaking to the sky, I’m selfish and an idiot!”

You gripped your [H/c] hair and yanked it downwards, chanting ‘idiot’ over and over again, like a mantra or a prayer, hoping it would relieve some of your many frustrations, until you heard a small sound from a hay bale around the side of the house, near an old trough used to store feed.

“Hello? Anybody there?”

Silence was all that answered at first, but then a small series of whimpers came from the area. You grabbed a pitchfork and slowly made your way over to the bale, creeping closer and bringing the pitchfork up to your chest, ready to strike.

“AAAAAAAAAAH!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

A terrified Lance dunked himself into the trough, getting his backside stuck before tipping it over and having it land on top of him while attempting to crawl away.

“Dios mío [Y/n], you scared me!” Lance stood up and dusted off his jacket and pants, rubbing at his eyes and making an awful attempt at hiding his face away from your sight.

“Well I’m sorry, oh merciful Lord Lance, but you being secretive and not answering me when I asked has a lot to do with that.”

He looked away from you for a further moment before responding.

“Well, I uh…. just wanted to be alone for a minute y’know? All my siblings and family n’ stuff, kind of makes my back stiff and mind numb from time-to-time.”

You watched solemnly as he tried to laugh it off, sitting back down on the edge of the trough, head leaning in his hands and staring off into the distance, obviously bothered by something. You were curious, but you didn’t have any right to pry if he didn’t want to tell you first. You’d respect his wishes if he really did just want to be alone.

“Well, alright then,” you smiled softly at him, forcing yourself off your knees and turning around to head back inside, “if you want to talk, I’ll be back inside. I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

You began to walk away, adamant on getting back upstairs to the comfort of your bed and laying awake all night, when you felt a small weight on the back of your shirt. Lance’s hand had managed to grasp the fabric while you were walking away, and though you turned around to ask him why, he had barely moved from his position on the trough, only gazing at you with unshed tears in his eyes.

“Can you stay for a moment,” he pleaded, “please? It’ll only take a minute [Y/n], I swear.”

‘Allura give me strength’ you thought, letting out an exasperated sigh and seating yourself beside him on the ledge, barely glancing at him again, preferring to turn your sights to the horizon once more. You knew it’d be another nightly session of listening to his fears and sorrows, meanwhile drowning in your own self-doubt and anxieties. This also meant that tomorrow you’d wake up questioning your worth again, comparing yourself to the woman you’d come to respect and admire, and a woman who was now gone off to the afterlife, long before you.

“Tell me what’s up Lance. What’s eating away at you this time tonight, huh? Lemme guess, is it your girlfriend again?”

You watched as Lance fiddled with a piece of straw, rolling it back and forth between his palms, keeping his gaze on the sunset ahead.

“No,” he muttered, “more of an apology really.”

You nearly did a spit take, staring at him like he was a chicken with two heads. You never thought you’d be hearing an apology from the Casanova himself, let alone one aimed at you. Usually he was too cocky to have second thoughts.

“Sheesh Lance, what’s gotten into you? Did your mom finally drill some manners into that peabrain of yours?”

You jokingly put him in a headlock and started ruffling his hair, Lance desperately trying to remove your arm so he could fix his ruined part.

“[Y/n] c’mon! I styled my hair hours ago, I nearly kept it perfect for the whole day!”

He began running his fingers through his hair to put it back in place. Concentrating on perfecting it once more.

“Oh Lance, what kind of farmer like you needs styling gel? It gets greasy in a couple minutes anyways so why even bother.”

“It’s the thought that counts [Y/n]!”

You snorted as he huffed at you, the two of you quipping at each other reminded you of the days before he left off to the academy. Then you remembered,

“Oh right, the apology. Glad to see you learned some common courtesy, but what’s this all about Lance?”

You really needed answers. He suddenly went quiet and seemed to contemplate something for a moment. He worried you, and he knew it too, that you were expecting an explanation for an apology he probably wasn’t ready to give.

“Well you see [Y/n],” he stared directly at you, “I know that I’ve been down recently, and that you’ve always been…. there, I guess, for me when I needed you to be. And I know that I’ve never even thanked you or given you something in return, and that by using you as a way to escape my own problems, I’ve given you some of your own,”

He stopped for a moment to see if you were still paying attention, and seeing you looking at him with encouragement, he continued,

“I’m so sorry, [Y/n]. Really, I am. I was being dumb like always and pouring out my feelings onto someone who had difficulties of their own to deal with, and I never really thought about how I was hurting you…. I’m sorry. When Allura was here, and I was back out in space, battling alien hordes and saving the galaxy…. I felt like everything was right in the world, and that I was living my best life, being beside all the people I cared about, with friends I could trust. I didn’t realize until later that I completely forgot about you in the process, the best friend I left behind, who mattered maybe even more to me than I thought. I never meant to forget you, and I never meant to hurt you.”

He began to get nervous, losing the cocky persona he developed over the years completely, turning downtrodden and forcing out a final “I hope you can forgive me.”

Then he went quiet.

“….I never hated you, y’know,” you began, finally responding, “I never once despised you for leaving without me. I knew you’d come back someday, when I heard a lion took off from the desert that day, I just didn’t know when.”

You kept going, “If anything, I hated myself sometimes, for being selfish and wanting you to come back sooner, or blaming you in my mind for not taking me with you. It always felt unfair to me, that I was stuck here in a constant cycle of boring life, while you were out patrolling the universe, fighting Galra and going on cool missions-”

“-and nearly dying, like, 50 times!” Lance interrupted.

“….and nearly dying 50 times, yes.”

The sun was nearly gone now, disappearing quickly before you, clocking the time you’d been outside conversing in the summer heat—the pale moon climbing the sky behind you.

The stars shone ever-brighter, and the breeze had settled down, the grass at your feet stamped in and no longer swaying, and the crickets in the field were chirping, with the cows grazing in the meadow below, almost ready to head in for the night.

“I’m jealous Lance. And frustrated. But I never spoke a word of anything to you, because I loved you too much to bother you with any more problems than you already had. Nothings your fault, I was only emotional, and I have no disrespect for any of your friends or partners, including Allura. I only wish that you could’ve been happier.”

Ending your rant, you faced Lance again and shrugged, acting nonchalant, like nothing you said mattered at the moment. But he knew that whatever he said next would make a large impact on you.

“You loved me?”

You relaxed a little, “Still do Lance, never stopped even after you left. But, you came back with a space alien girlfriend, I knew I had to let you go.”

Allura was the light of his life, and he was the happiest you’d ever seen him in the weeks before her death. If she hadn’t needed to make a sacrifice, they would’ve probably grown old and had a life together, a family too, and he would have become the Altean King, with you far out of the picture. The little markings on the ridge of his cheekbones still detailed just how loving of a relationship the two were in. Even after her passing, you wouldn’t make a move when Lance only thought of you as a friend.

Both yourself and Lance were gazing at the sky now, completely silent, and yet there was an underlying comfort in the stillness, one which permeated through the air around you and invited a conversation to be had. Lance seemed to wish to speak in order to break it, scratching at the markings whilst trying to find the words to talk to you.

“Oh quiznak, words are too hard!”

Lance reaches across the trough to grasp the hand you’re using to stable yourself on the ledge, bringing it up to the space between the two of you and wearing the most serious expression you’ve ever seen on his face.

“When I was in third grade, I ran into a small child in the hallway and accidentally spilled their thermos of soup all over the floor. That tiny [H/c] kid became my desk-mate for all of third and fourth grade, and I remember having to give them my baloney sandwich because they wouldn’t stop crying till I did. In fifth grade, that same kid switched our lunchboxes because I had the better pizza pops, and in sixth grade, while taking a math test, they threw up all over the floor and I laughed like crazy; ended up going with them to the office because the teacher ‘didn’t like my attitude’. In seventh grade, I went to their birthday party and popped all the balloons, I stole half the cake and made off with three goodie bags before anyone could catch me. In eighth grade we became friends, and played pranks together on the other students during April fools, tipped an outhouse, and did each others homework because we both sucked at school. When I was in ninth grade, I gave them a Burger King crown and told them they ruled my world…. I know you know who I’m talking about.”

You began laughing the hardest you had in years, looking back on all the memories you and Lance had built up over the years, times when neither of you knew what would happen, and had big dreams and hopes for the future. The future had turned out to be far different from what both of you had expected.

“To be fair Lance, you were the one who threw up during that math test, not me. You cried for your mom all the way through the school and passed out on a couch in the lobby.”

“Shut up [Y/n], I’m attempting to be sentimental!”

When the laughter died down, and the world was quiet again, you gazed down at the entwined hands that rested between you two, and lazily swung them back and forth to see if he’d let go. When he didn’t, you smiled a bit,

“So what, this means your willing to try? To move on from Allura just like that? Forget everything you had with her and stick with me for awhile?”

He smiled brightly at you, as bright as the sun that could barely be seen, the final slivers fading away over the prairie.

“Allura’s not entirely gone,” he taps his markings, “these babies are a constant reminder of that. I’ll never forget the happiness she gave me, but I don’t want to keep dwelling on the fact that she’s gone. You’re here with me, more than anything, and I hope that we could stay this way for as long as we can.”

“I’d like that.”

It’s far too late to keep outside you realize, and the night brings with it a chilling cold that practically freezes your clothes to your skin, and tinges the air with frost. The fall season is coming, and summer is nearly over, and with it comes the colourful leaves, and the frosted grass, and the wilting flowers. You stand up, dragging Lance with you, and dust off the seat of your pants, preparing to head inside to bed.

Now the darkness has settled, the sun is gone. You take your hands and guide Lance around the house to the doorway. The door creaks open and shuts behind the two of you, and as you say your goodnights, you head off to your room. And as the glow of the moon enters through your window, enshrouding the walls in a pale light, you lay there and ponder.

Truly, you hope that you can spend many more days with Lance down in the fields, and with the cows and the tall grass, and out in the apple orchard, where the two of you will lie, down in the top soil, under the sun.

———————————————————————

BONUS:

“[Y/n], know that you’ll always be my Burger Queen.”

“Lance please. Shut the fu*k up.”

———————————————————————

✨ Hope you enjoyed ✨

[im-definitely-not-trash]

Here’s day three, thankfully on time. :) I tried to do less dialogue because my stories usually rely on dialogue a lot and I wanted to try something different.

Prompt #3: “Who did this to you?”

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

TW: referenced self-harm, infected injuries

Word count: 1536

Lance and Pidge were chilling playing video games. As they laughed at a characters death, Lance elbowed Pidge’s left arm playfully. She winced, quietly enough no one would hear, but Lance saw her face scrunch up in pain. He dropped the controller and pulled up her sleeve to her shoulder, Pidge protesting the whole time, trying to wiggle away. There were three long scratches on her upper arm, scabbed over and starting to scar, but Lance could see that they had been deep.

“Who did this to you?” he asked.

Pidge went quiet, shuffling away and pulling her sleeve down. Then she just stood up and walked out of the closet. Lance called after her, but she didn’t listen.

~~~

Over the next few days, Lance noticed that Pidge was treating him differently. She was fine around literally everyone else, but she hung out with Kosmo more than him. It was as if he’d done something to offend her, not worrying about her and what happened to her arm.

He tried several times to confront her again, wanting to find out why she was treating him like a disease and also to figure out what had happened and who had done it. But every time, she just ignored him and locked herself in her room so he couldn’t get to her.

Lance considered talking to Shiro about it, but ultimately decided against that. He wouldn’t have a clue what was going on. So he decided to leave her alone until she came back to be friends again.

~~~

His waiting time was cut short after about a week when Pidge showed up to breakfast looking exhausted and kind of green. She left her arm hanging by her side while she ate breakfast goo with her right hand. Her hand shook as she ate and Lance had to bite his tongue to not mention it in front of everyone. But after she excused herself without eating even half of her bowl, he knew something was way worse than it was before and he couldn’t just leave her to her own devices anymore.

He followed her out of the kitchen and snuck into her room with her (what a mess). She went into her bathroom, and Lance tried to watch through the crack in the door and the mirror what she was doing.

Pidge pulled her arm out of her sleeve, biting her lip to avoid making noise as tears spilled over. The three cuts in her arm had seemingly grown bigger, and they were discolored and oozing. Lance couldn’t take it anymore. He threw the door open, making Pidge jump.

“Come on, Pidge, who in the quiznak did this to you?? I’m going to kill who did this, I can’t believe anyone would hurt you! And why didn’t you ask for help at all?! It’s been at least a week that you’ve been hurt, and I know you haven’t said anything to anyone, and it’s pissing me off!”

Pidge was sobbing now, lightly grabbing her arm to curl up in a ball.

“Pidgey, I want to help you! Everyone does! Who did this?! We can’t just let someone like this to roam free to hurt anyone else. Just tell m—”

Pidge cried. “It was me!”

Lance shut up very quickly.

“You?” he asked in a whisper.

The tears wouldn’t stop streaming. “It distracts me, and I didn’t mean for it to get this bad, but I can’t stop thinking about Matt and my dad and my mom whenever Zarkon is going to make his way to Earth to hurt her and anyone else, and I can’t keep pretending that I’m not worried because I am but if I was worried, it would distract me from being a Paladin and so I needed to distract myself from getting distracted and when I distracted myself by my own terms it made it easier to fulfill my tasks as a Paladin, but it got bad and now I don’t know what to do because I can’t let anyone know and I’m still upset that you know and—”

“Pidge.”

She shook while looking at Lance. “What?”

The way her voice sounded, crackly and tired, made Lance want to cry too.

“We can help you. You don’t have to keep anything a secret from us. We can find other ways to distract you to focus, if that’s what you really need. But please, please, don’t hurt yourself as a distraction.”

Pidge sat stiff for a second, then just broke down crying again. Lance gathered her into a hug, carefully avoiding her arm.

“Can I tell the others, please?”

Pidge shook her head.

“Then can you tell them?”

She shook her head more frantically.

“They need to know, Pidgey.”

Her voice was muffled in Lance’s shirt. “They’ll think I’m not a real Paladin. I’m not worthy for it.”

“Shut the quiznak up, Pidge, you just told me you were doing this to be able to focus in the first place! And apparently it worked, at least until recently because of the infection. Now, call me a psychopath, but I’m glad the cuts got infected.”

Pidge went quiet again, stifling her sobs, but still shaking against Lance.

“Pidge, can we at least tell Coran? We need to treat the cuts.”

She was silent for a minute, then finally said, “Okay.”

“Okay. Good.”

Lance felt her grab onto him. “Can we stay here for a minute though?” she asked.

“Of course.”

~~~

When she told other Paladins as a group, they refrained from smothering Pidge because they could see how ashamed she was. But that didn’t stop them from individually going to talk to her.

Hunk was the first who showed up. He knocked on her door and came in when invited. They talked for a long time, Hunk telling her he somewhat knew how she felt but he wasn’t invalidating her experience. He asked if making foods from home would help, or make it worse, and she laughed, saying it would help and be delicious. His helpful distraction was food.

Allura showed up next. Once invited in, she simply asked if she could give Pidge a hug, and they sat together for a while. They talked about random things while always touching, and made plans for just the two girls to follow through with, no boys allowed. Allura’s helpful distraction was physical comfort.

Coran came in without permission, but he thought it was okay because it’s technically his castle. He joked with Pidge about anything he could think of, and sincerely asked where milkshakes came from if not from Kaltenecker herself. Pidge laughed at almost anything he said, and tried her hardest to explain how cows (and mammals in general) work. Coran’s helpful distraction was his natural humor.

Lance had already gone in several times, in between everyone, trying to not leave Pidge alone. If she wasn’t alone, she’d be distracted. Pidge understood the real reason why he was spending so much time with her, to prevent her from going back to her unhealthy distraction, but she appreciated it anyway. They played card and video games, talked, had spa nights, and did basically anything at anytime. His helpful distraction was quality time.

Keith came in and just sat on her desk while she sat on her bed. Pidge occupied herself messing with some gadget, and Keith awkwardly sat, waiting for the right moment. When he finally started talking, Pidge almost jumped. He explained how after he was left alone, sometimes his mind would run wild and he wasn’t able to focus on surviving. Even in the space cadet program at the Garrison, he had to distract himself so he could focus on being a pilot. He had chosen the same way, and he thought for sure that it was helping. Keith showed her his scars on the back of his wrists and the inside of his elbow. He told her how he lost sleep over it because his arms always hurt and his attitude got worse until he got kicked out. He had to distract himself more to avoid thinking about how disappointed Shiro would be and how he would live by himself. It wasn’t until he had gotten invested in finding what turned out to be the Blue Lion that he had stopped. He offered his help in the way that she could ask for literally anything, help cleaning her room, someone to talk to, anything that he didn’t have in that period. Keith’s helpful distraction was himself.

Shiro was the last to confront Pidge about anything. And confront her he did. He didn’t offer any distraction, only a listening ear so she could face what was always on her mind. Shiro understood more than anyone, because he was with Matt and her dad, and he left someone on Earth. And because of how he knew that, he knew that she needed to face it as well as distract when it was appropriate. He was helpful by not offering her a distraction.

And with all of these people around her, so willing to help, Pidge knew she’d be okay and she’d be able to work harder and in turn, defeat the Galra.

She can do it.

[rosesnvines]

Hi @niazelki!! I’m your Secret Santa!! I did not do this lovely piece of art, I commissioned it from the ever so talented @Nyastyle from DeviantArt, and wrote this short story to go with it. I did post it on DeviantArt as well. Hope you enjoy!! @idyllchatter-plance-and-kallura

Pidge let out a sigh. Beezer came rushing to her and a worried expression appeared on his screen. The two were in Pidge’s room and Pidge was curled up on her bed. 

“Hey Beezer, I’m . . .” She paused. Should she say exactly what was going through her mind or lie? She sighed, Beezer was a robot, but it would be nice to talk to someone. “Beezer, are you recording?” 

Beezer shook his head. 

“Ok, do not record this, I just want to get it off my chest.” Beezer watched her as she took a moment to gather her thoughts. “Lance . . . I like Lance, a lot. I think, I think maybe even love him.” 

Beezer let out an understanding beep. 

“Wait, you knew?” 

Beezer nodded. 

“Really? I didn't think I ever showed an interest in Lance.” She smiled. “But you do know me pretty well. Then you'll understand that I, I wanted . . . I wanted to . . .”. Tears began filling in her eyes. “I wanted to be the girl Lance asked out, not Allura!” The tears fell. “I-I mean, Allura’s great, don't get me wrong, and, everyone should like her, but, but I wanted it to be me!” She placed her head in her lap and sobbed. “I wanted it to be me! But I should have known, I really should have, Lance only notices the pretty girls. I'm just not that pretty.” She chuckled as the tears continued to fall. “I mean, he didn't even know I was a girl until I told him! He can be so dense!” She paused as the tears slowed. She wiped her eyes, sniffled, and then wiped her nose. “Yeah, yeah, he can be really dense, and an idiot, and a show off, but, but he's fun to be around. He’s nice, and caring, a great listener. And he is cute.” She giggled as she blushed. “Those blue eyes of his . . . I always feel like I'm flying, or swimming. I just, I just feel so free when I look into them.” She picked up a mermaid plushie and fiddled with the arms. She looked up at a picture of a sunset. “I just wish he would look at me the way he looks at her.” 

Beezer let out a sad beep. 

Pidge patted his head. “It’s Ok, this is only a relationship. Hey, he could still look at me that way, I just . . . I just need to give him time.” She rubbed her chin. “Hey Beezer, could you go take a picture of them on their date? 

Beezer gave her a surprised beep. 

She chuckled. “I know, I know, I just poured out my whole heart to you, that I want to be the girl going with him to his special place, but, I also want him to be happy. I want them both to be happy. And, I want them to commemorate it. Will you do that for me, please?” 

Beezer gave an affirmative beep as he saluted her. 

“Thank you.” Pidge watched him go before turning back to the picture of the sunset. “Sure, technology’s no sunset, but it has its purpose. It can capture that sunset and give you something to remember it by.” 

...

It had been a few years since they had defeated Honerva, since Voltron was last needed to defeat a great evil, since Lance and Allura broke up. They had spent a good deal of that time trying to bring peace back to the galaxy and help rebuild what had been previously destroyed. Pidge was surprised to see more and more of Lance during that time, but didn’t think much about it outside of enjoying his company. She did note that Hunk and Shay went around doing stuff, so were Keith and Allura, and Shiro was going around with that guy whose name she couldn’t remember. Romelle was helping Coran with the Alteans, the three former generals of Lotor were working with the Galra, and her own brother Matt was off traveling with Rolo and Nyma. Pidge enjoyed every minute that they spent together, but didn’t want to push her luck. Besides, there were other things on her mind. So when Lance suggested a return to Earth for a quick vacation, she jumped at it. A vacation sounded like a good idea. 

After going through the usual check-ins, check-ups, and catch-ups, Lance pulled her to the side. 

“Hey, I, I was wondering if you could come with me somewhere?” 

“Uh, sure, I guess,” Pidge replied with a shrug. 

“Tonight, meet me at Red.” 

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “Uh, Ok . . .” 

“Great!! See you tonight!” He gave her a quick hug before dashing away. She watched him leave, blinking in confusion. Where exactly did he want to go? She shrugged and went about other things before getting ready to go. 

Later that night, Green landed near Red. Lance was lounging against his lion, watching the sun set. He was wearing his old blue and white t-shirt and a pair of jeans, but the way the lighting was, Pidge thought he was the most handsome she had ever seen him. She blushed as butterflies filled her stomach, but quickly got rid of the feeling by the time she exited her lion to meet up with him. 

He smiled at her, and the butterflies returned. “Great, you made it!” 

Pidge scoffed. “I told you I would come.” 

Lance ran his fingers through his hair as he chuckled. “Yeah, you did. Now, um, do you want to follow me, or just come with me in Red?” 

Pidge’s eyebrow went up as she blinked. “Uh, does it matter?” 

Lance shrugged. “No, not really, but, I would prefer it if we just took one Lion, doesn’t make sense to have both.” 

Pidge shrugged. “I mean, you have a point, if anything were to go wrong, we can get back here pretty quick, and I can call on Green.” 

It was Lance’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Is there really anything wrong going on at the moment?” 

Pidge chuckled. “True, but you never know.” 

He laughed. “Good point. So, what shall it be . . .” 

Pidge blinked at the cutting off mid sentence, but when he didn’t say anything else, she shrugged again. “I guess we can go in Red.” 

He grinned. “Great, come on!” He grabbed her hand and the two dashed into the Lion’s mouth. Lance sat down at the controls and they took off. Pidge let out a soft giggle. Sure, they had done things together while no one else was around before, but this felt different, and she was liking it. 

“So, where are we going?” she asked. 

He smirked. “You’ll see. Just wait.” 

“What? Why can’t you tell me now?” 

“Because it’s a surprise,” was his reply. She pestered him some more, but couldn’t get any more than that out of him. The more she got more grumpy, the more excited he seemed to get. 

Finally, they landed, though it had only been a couple of minutes away from the garrison. Lance grabbed Pidge’s hand and walked like he was on cloud nine. 

“Ok, seriously, where are we going?” asked Pidge with a laugh as she allowed herself to be led around a park. 

He glanced back long enough to shoot her a grin. “You’ll see, just wait!” They walked through a grove of trees before lance came to a stop at the base of the largest one. Pidge raised her eyebrow. This tree looked rather familiar. Where had she seen it before? Lance let out a sigh and pulled out a picture. Then it hit Pidge, this was the same place Lance took Allura out on their first date! The picture was of that moment, Lance and Allura standing in front of the tree. Pidge’s heart went into her throat. Lance sighed. “Yeah, I miss her, and I really wanted her to be the one, but . . . well, as you could tell it didn’t work out.” He looked at Pidge, a sad smile on his face. “I’m really happy for them.” 

Pidge chuckled nervously. “Right. Who knew a TV show caught on that they were best for each other?” 

Lance chuckled. “Yeah, I really should have paid more attention . . . to a lot of things.” His hand went through his hair. Pidge followed it with her eyes, wishing that could have been her hand. “And well, now I realize that she wasn’t the one for me, because there’s this girl who is.” 

Pidge’s heart just about stopped. Who was this girl? “Y-yeah? What’s she like?” 

Lance glanced up at the tree, a soft smile on his face. “She’s really smart, kind, and is very passionate about her work. She puts the needs of others first, and, well, she’s just awesome! And pretty too. I should have noticed before, but I think I let my starry eyed crush get the best of me instead of allowing myself to actually fall in love. Though, in a way, I did fall in love while I had that crush on the Princess, without knowing it.” 

Pidge turned her head to hide her tears. “Then why didn’t you invite her here?” 

“But I did.” Pidge’s head snapped back to Lance, eyes widening. She barely dared to hope, but he was looking at her earnestly. “That’s why I asked you here, Pidge, I, uh, I wanted to ask you out. I mean, sure, this isn’t the same way that I asked Allura out, but, this just felt right, because you’re the right one for me.” He looked back down at the picture. “And, well, to let you know that I have finally let go of Allura.” He stuffed the picture back in his pocket and scratched his head. “Ok, that didn’t quite come out the way I wanted it to, but it also wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.” He grinned sheepishly. “That must have sounded stupid.” 

Pidge laughed as the tears came down. “That’s because you are stupid.” 

“Hey!” 

Pidge ran into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. “But you’re my idiot, and I love you!” 

“I don't know if I should be happy or insulted,” said Lance. 

“Don't be insulted, you just try too hard. You're really not that stupid.” 

Lance scoffed. “Oh, good to know.” But then he chuckled and returned the hug. “But right now, I’m the happiest man alive!” He kissed her.

[calligraphist-artemisia]

Finding Courage

Written for the Kidge Spring Event! 

Prompt 6: Edelweiss | Courage, Devotion

Summary: AU - Canon Divergence. Five years after the end of the war, Pidge finds herself wanting to go back out and see the universe with her own eyes. Luckily, she knows someone who can help with that, but only if she can find the courage to ask.

Also posted on AO3 under the username Kishirokitsune

❀ - ❀ - ❀ - ❀ - ❀

The time had come.

Pidge looked in the mirror as she ran her hands down the sides of her shirt, trying to smooth out the few wrinkles that had accumulated. She wanted to look nice, but not too nice. Lance and Hunk would notice if she was trying too hard and they would poke and prod until they were satisfied with the answer she gave, and that wasn't something she really wanted to deal with. (Shiro was likely to notice as well but at least he would be polite enough to keep it to himself.)  

Which was why she'd selected a pair of jeans, her signature green shirt (at least according to Lance), and her nicer lab coat that didn't have oil stains all over it. And while for most of their Team Voltron get-togethers she would forgo the lab coat for something nicer, she had plans to drop by the hangar where Project Lionheart was in the works to grab a few things from the lab she shared with Matt.

Text appeared at the bottom of her glasses.

Matt: I leave in 10 minutes if you want a ride.

Pidge pressed her finger to the right side of her frames. “Send message: I'll be down soon.”

Her new glasses were a labor of love that were nearly five years in the making. She'd spent countless nights trying to link it to her computer and then to get the voice recognition to work and then to devise a lightweight battery that would both hold a charge for a minimum of twelve hours while also having the capability of being wirelessly recharged. She'd wrangled Matt and Hunk into helping her, which sometimes involved 2 am conversations when she couldn't sleep because an idea wouldn't leave her alone, but she needed someone's brain to pick and see if she was crazy or on the right track.

She still had a hundred new ideas to try out for it, but for the moment it was the perfect way for her family to contact her when she was eyeballs deep in some new project. (Not to mention, it was also remarkably helpful in displaying measurements and any other schematics when she needed them.)

Pidge slung her bag containing her laptop over her shoulder and then headed downstairs to join Matt and tell her parents they were headed out.

Colleen pulled her in for a tight hug, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears. “I'm so proud of you!”

“Mom, I haven't even asked him yet,” Pidge complained, her voice muffled against her mom's shirt.

“Oh, please, like he's going to say 'no'?” Matt remarked from the doorway. He grinned at the glare his sister cast in his direction. “I'm just saying that I talk to Shiro a lot. And you know who else talks to Shiro? Keith does. Trust me, he'll be tripping over himself to agree to let you join him.”

Pidge rolled her eyes. The very idea of Keith being anything other than composed and unshakable by something she had to say was silly. Maybe it would have been different when they were younger and just starting out as Team Voltron, but not after all of their experiences during the war and throughout Reconstruction.

“You're all getting way ahead of yourselves,” Pidge said as she extricated herself from her mom's arms. “And making way too big of a deal out of this. All I'm doing is asking if I can go with him and help with the Outreach Program.”

With Kolivan serving as the interim Emperor of the Galra until he either stepped down or Reconstruction reached its ten-year mark, it had fallen on Krolia to lead the weakened, but not fully depleted, Blade of Marmora. She split the Blade into two separate but equal groups – one to continue their undercover work and root out any insurgents before they could cause too much trouble and the other a much more public branch dedicated to reaching out to affected planets and offering aid in whatever way they could.

Pidge, who felt like she was stagnating by staying on Earth and doing the same thing day in and day out, thought that going back out and seeing the universe with her own eyes was exactly what she needed. And sure, she could ask Hunk if she could tag along with his crew and he would gladly welcome her on board, but she wasn't sure she'd really find what she was looking for on a ship devoted to the culinary arts of the universe. Pidge had thought about it for a long time and, in the end, came to the conclusion that asking Keith was the way to go.

That was months ago and she'd seen him twice since then. She'd chickened out both of those times.

Because maybe she had a second motive for wanting to go with him. Something beyond wanting to explore the universe and even more of a... personal desire.

“Leaving already?” Sam asked, poking his head into the entrance hall.

Matt nodded. “Yeah, I have a few things to check on in the lab and Pidge wants to get to her meeting on time, so I figured we should head out.”

Pidge and Matt wrapped up their goodbyes and then set off to the Galaxy Garrison, where Matt dropped her off close to the Voltron Memorial before continuing on his way to the parking garage. Pidge watched him leave before she began making her way up the gleaming white stairs, which led to the top of a hill where a massive stone sculpture of Voltron stood watching over the land.

Normally the area was crawling with tourists, but once a year it was reserved for a group of 7 as they celebrated the day they first met.

As Pidge reached the top of the steps, she saw most of her friends were already there and seated at a round patio table. Shiro was smiling as he listened to whatever story Lance was enthusiastically telling, while Hunk leaned back and occasionally interjected.  Lance paused his story as she approached.

“You're on time!”

“Like you haven't been late a time or two,” Pidge shot defensively shot back. Seriously, she was late once or twice (or a lot) because she got wrapped up in something she was working for and the man would never let her forget it.

Lance grinned at her. “I was just telling Shiro and Hunk about the time you came out to visit the farm.”

“A memory I'd rather forget,” Pidge said with a wince. She sat down between Hunk and Shiro and gently set her bag down on the floor at her feet. “Where's everyone else? I figured Allura and Coran would have come with you, Lance.”

“Dropping the twins off with Romelle. She agreed to babysit,” Lance responded.

“Even after last time? Brave woman,” Hunk joked.

Pidge couldn't help but smile. The twins were Lance and Allura's 3-year-old children, Alfor and Maribel, and were a handful even for the most experienced and patient people. Romelle was practically a saint for being able to watch them on her own and Pidge wished she could know how she did it. (Maybe then she wouldn't end up covered in mud or running from bees or locked in the attic, all of which had happened during her first and last visit to the farm and was undoubtedly the story Lance was telling when she walked up.)

“You could have brought them along. I would love to see Alfor and Maribel again,” Shiro said.

Lance shook his head. “No, trust me. This is the better option. If we take our eyes off of them for even a second they'll have climbed to the top of the Voltron statue. Somehow. And good luck getting them down.”

Shiro made a sound to indicate his disbelief. “They're not that bad.”

“Yes, they are,” Lance and Pidge deadpanned in unison.

And honestly, they were sweet kids, but the amount of trouble they could get into was staggering and, in some ways, only reinforced Pidge's feelings that she never wanted to have any of her own.

Lance soon launched into a series of stories of the more interesting antics of the twins, which Allura and Coran backed up once they arrived. Pidge found herself laughing over some of the ones she hadn't heard before and because of that, she completely missed Keith's arrival via one very special cosmic wolf. He easily inserted himself into the conversation as he took a seat between Shiro and Coran – directly across from Pidge – and it was like he'd been there the whole time.

They soon branched off from stories about the twins so everyone could describe what they'd been up to since the last time all seven of them were together.

Lance and Allura, of course, had the kids and their farm on New Altea, which they ran with the help of Lance's family. In the beginning, Allura tried to split her time between them and trying to rule as Queen, but it eventually became too much and she turned to Coran for help, who suggested a council of trusted individuals to run the day-to-day duties that were necessary for the new planet to flourish. No one was surprised when he was elected Head Chancellor of the Council.

Even once things calmed down, Shiro retained his role as Captain of the Atlas, if only for the fact that he was the only one the ship responded to. The big, bulky ship didn't have much use outside of exploration and assisting with Reconstruction (sometimes by providing extra muscle for goods, sometimes just for transporting more sensitive or bulky materials), but Shiro spoke of his job and crew with pride. He even mentioned that he started seeing someone, though he wouldn't say who.

(“It's still new to both of us,” he said in response to Lance's begging. “We want to wait and see where things go before we start telling everyone.”)

Hunk had a myriad of new stories about all of the new recipes he created, as well as some of his worst failures. He had them all laughing so hard that it brought tears to their eyes at some of his descriptions. He then spoke of future plans and how he was looking to hire more chefs to help with the increased demand for their food before turning the conversation over to Keith.

“There isn't much to say,” Keith said with a shrug. “It's not like anything has changed since the last time we talked. You all know what I've been doing.”

“Are you really going to sit there and say that nothing interesting has happened to you? You're traveling with Zethrid and Ezor and yet you have no stories?” Lance asked incredulously. “Nope. I don't believe it.”

“You don't have to believe it, but it's true.”

Some things never change.

Pidge tried not to laugh as the two bickered. They only stopped because Shiro stepped in to put an end to it and then it was her turn to gloss over what she'd been working on. Project Lionheart was largely still a secret, though they'd be ready to announce its existence in a few months.

Hours bled together as the seven friends sat and talked and laughed together. Eventually, the sun began to set and Allura and Lance stood to say their goodbyes and go collect the twins from Romelle. Shiro followed soon after, giving the excuse that he had a “hot date” to get ready for, and then Coran and Hunk left together, talking about food supply and whether or not Hunk was willing to make a stop by New Altea during his next round trip.

That left Pidge with Keith.

Alone.

With no one else around to watch her make a fool of herself.

“Are you alright?” Keith asked.

Pidge jerked her head up to stare at him with wide eyes. “Y-yeah, of course! Why wouldn't I be? Everything's great!”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “You've been more quiet than usual.”

Pidge opened her mouth to protest and then immediately shut it. He wasn't wrong. She'd spent most of the afternoon trying not to blurt out her question in the middle of someone else talking and she was dying to get it over with. Finally, they were alone and it was the perfect chance, but everything she wanted to say had suddenly fled her mind.

It was ridiculous!

Keith was her friend!

Her rather handsome friend who she'd developed a large crush on, but her friend nevertheless. Talking to him was easy. She just needed to keep it simple.

“I was wondering... If I asked to go with you the next time you head out, what would you say?”

She watched as Keith sucked in a breath as her words registered in his mind, his eyes widening slightly, and then...

“I'd say that I'd be lucky to have you by my side. You're welcome to come along whenever you'd like.”

[willadisastercry]

Appendicitis in space...

tw: emetophobia, appendicitis symptoms described, surgery, anesthesia, anxiety.

Coran is secretly shitting himself when the scanner lets him know that this particular human condition requires actual surgery. Most serious injuries they sustained did, but most also could be mended in a pod. This one was an exception, though. Because nothing needed to be fixed, something needed to be removed.

Lance tumbled forward awkwardly as the simulator sputtered and powered down.

“What gives, Shiro? I had that round!”

“Oh yeah? Then that wasn’t me just watching you getting your ass handed to you? Right,” Shiro laughed and he began packing up the equipment that had been pulled out.

“That’s enough for today anyway. Good work, everyone.”

Lance couldn’t even find it in him to continue his protests as he leaned over on his knees to catch his breath while he waited for the cramping in his side to dissolve.

Training that morning had been rough for everyone. Shiro wanted to ensure that the lull in active missions did not leave his team thinking they could kick back. So they worked on hand to hand combat and trained on as hard of a level they could tolerate until they became proficient in whichever skill they were focusing on.

Everyone did pretty well. They all made varying degrees of progress, but progress nonetheless.

Well, everyone except for Lance.

And he was pissed.

So he determined not to quit until he improved from his navice standing with a short sword, running the simulation countless times but barely making a dent.

He fought sloppily, all desperation and no strategy. Actually he did have sort of a strategy if you counted fighting simply to survive and that was not how you were supposed to train, but Shiro gave up on driving that point home early on.

Because Lance was visibly off.

Shiro had chided him earlier for picking at his breakfast, that he would regret it once they began training, but he just shrugged.

Lance barely spoke the entire morning of which Shiro was very wary of given that he was usually the most energetic of the bunch in the mornings.

But he assured the older boy he was fine.

Shiro knew that he had been feeling crappy the last few days so at first he attributed the weird behavior to him probably still feeling gross.

So when he fought sloppily he knew it was because he was fatiguing much quicker than his teammates. That when he got hit by an obvious blow it was because his brain quite literally couldn’t keep up with the battle.

He’d start off okay only to spend the rest of the simulation narrowly feigning off every strike after the first few parries and getting properly clobbered by way too many.

Shiro was glad he was able to recognize his shoddy performance for what it was before he exacerbated the issue, making a mental note to check in on him later that day as he finished cleaning up.

The paladins stalked off to the showers, Hunk and Pidge engaging in a riveting conversation explaining to Keith how the castle’s ‘waste’ was plumbed and disposed of.

He was horrified to say the least.

Lance lagged behind, the exhaustion from the session making his limbs feel so very heavy. Not to mention the knot in his side had never gone away and the trek was only increasing his discomfort as the adrenaline high wore off.

But he resigned that he was just overly tired and that a hot shower would likely help.

And it did, for his aching muscles. But his abdomen was still taut, the steady pulse of discomfort making him a little queasy.

He detached the removeable shower head and held it on his side for a moment. The water was boiling and so the heat seemed to numb the spot, but the pain was still there.

He gingerly began probing the area as he tried to work out what exactly was hurting, thinking maybe he’d pulled a muscle.

His stomach had been feeling weird for the last couple of days, but it had never been a concentrated pain like this.

And as he pressed around he was able to pinpoint the exact spot that was smarting the most so he could rub out whatever the issue was.

But as soon as he put pressure on it he knew he’d messed up.

It wasn’t even the pressure so much as the lack of it because when he removed his fingers to work out the soreness he grunted loudly as pain erupted at the site.

He was so caught off guard by the sudden sharpness that took over the dull ache that he dropped the shower head and it clanged on the tile, just narrowly missing his foot when he hadn’t even made an effort to avoid it.

His vision went white for a second and he stumbled into the wall, mostly due to the intense fear that was now upon him, and it took a second for the blood rush to settle before he could hear his friends knocking on the door of the shower stall.

“—ance? Lance!”

“The fuck is going on in there...”

He took a shuddering breath and called out that he was fine, he was just tired.

“Are you like weak in the knees tired or what? Because if you pass out in there and we have to help you while you’re butt ass naked, I swear—“

“I’m not going to pass out,” he groaned as he leaned his head back against the wall with a hand hovering carefully on his side.

“Okay, you’ve just been in there forever.”

“And Shiro said to keep an eye on you for suspicious behavior.”

“He’s not a suspect, Pidge, he’s just stubborn.”

“Well I am very much okay, so you can tell Shiro that and leave me alone.”

“Jeez—“

“Damn, well if you take a header you’ve gotten your wish, you’re on your own.”

Hunk and Pidge started off and Lance sighed, about to apologize when his side twinged, stealing a more pained sound from his throat.

He leaned his head back and tried to breathe through it, the worst muscle cramp of his life, once again not really being able to pay attention to what else was happening.

The pain wasn’t spreading, it was intensifying. Twisting and burning under each harsh pant, like someone was holding a fire poker to him and moving it around.

It was making his head swim and his stomach churn. He had been nauseous all morning and hadn’t eaten, so he was very confused as to how he could possibly need to throw up now, but there was no questioning it when he almost choked on the saliva rushing to fill his mouth.

He didn’t know when he’d grabbed the towel thrown over the door and tied it around his waist or when he’d made a break for the toilets across the room, he just knew he was moving and that he wouldn’t make it there.

And then he was hunching over one of the many sinks heaving, his side in a fiery protest with each contraction in his stomach.

The blood rush was back in his ears, so he didn’t know that Keith was talking to him or that he was even there until he was hitting his back when he couldn’t breathe in between gags and almost choked on his own sick. The shock of the hit allowed his stomach to break its cycle of relentless clenching.

He spit up the last of the bile that made its way up his throat and ducked his head further between his shoulders as he leaned on the sink while he caught his breath.

His lungs ached and he was dizzy. Everything seemed to hurt from that, all temporarily dulling the bite of the worsening throb in his side.

“Ok, what the fuck was that?” he could hear Keith asking after a minute.

He started to speak, to give an explanation, but he didn’t even know what to say, he wasn’t sure what was wrong. But when he went to talk his side pulsed rather aggressively and he was instantly gagging again.

Not much came up this time though as his stomach had already divulged itself of all its contents.

After he calmed back down, he looked up at himself through the mirror.

He was really pale except for a splash of red across his cheeks, his muscles tight and straining as he suffered through his discomfort and the pain, skin glistening in a mix of sweat and water.

And then he found Keith’s pointed gaze in it.

“Should I get Coran? You look like shit.”

“Ah—uhyh huh...” he struggled to formulate his words through his ragged breaths but got there eventually.

“Ye-yeah, please...”

“Okay, you good here or do you need to sit?”

“I-I’m gonna put... something on,” he stated before pushing himself up from the sink uneasily. Once he was up straight he wobbled a little and Keith grabbed his arm, but he shook him off saying he just needed a second and waited for the swirling black dotting his vision to disappear before heading for his pile of clothes on the bench.

Keith stayed next to him the entire way, making sure he got there without splitting his head open, more worried now then he was when Lance was choking on his own puke.

But he hid it well for the most part, except when he was actually being really nice. That was his tell.

“I’ll be back before you know it. Don’t try and get to the toilet if you need to yak again, wouldn’t want anything to happen to that amazing brain of yours—“

“Hey...”

“Kidding, i’ll be really quick though. And seriously just stay there.”

“Yup, not going anywhere...” he assured, returning his hand to hover over the fire that felt like it was burning a hole in his side, the other waving Keith off.

Lance pulled his hoodie from the pile first. His skin was covered in goose bumps from how cold he was and he didn’t have the energy to put his entire post workout sweat suit on so it would have to do for now.

He shrugged it on carefully, it took a while because lifting his right arm up aggravated his side, but once it was on he felt better. He was still really cold and his hair was still wet so that wasn’t helping.

Pants next. Well underwear first. He found his boxer briefs in the pile and got to his feet wearily. He was still really dizzy and so he decided to proceed with caution and moved over to lean against the wall for this.

He took a deep breath and leaned over to put his feet through. It hurt. The orientation made his head pound dangerously and he straightened up only to feel a twinge from his side.

Fuck, he remembered thinking as he leaned heavily on the wall. But he very much needed to have underwear on when Coran came back, so he tried again.

This time he just dropped his arms down in front of him, keeping his torso straight as he raised one leg at a time through each leg hole.

Success. He breathed a sigh of relief and released his towel then started for the sweat shorts but his body did not like that.

He was none too kindly reminded of how lightheaded and dizzy he still was in that moment and he staggered forward, his foot catching a wet spot on the floor and the momentum of the error took him to the ground hard.

He landed very much on his ass but the fall jolted through his side like he’d gotten shot. If he thought it was on fire before, he was very wrong. This heat was excruciating and nauseating and blinding and gosh it was hard to breathe.

He hadn’t known when he’d laid down but he was suddenly very aware he was writhing on his side, feet kicking and searching for purchase on the tile as he arched through the pain piercing his abdomen.

And then there was a shadow over him. It sounded like robots were talking over him, their cold hands gripping his shoulders and face and turning him to lie on his back.

He had just been so cold but their hands felt so much colder because he was not aware he had started sweating. That wasn’t the only thing coming back to him, so was the nausea rippling through his stomach just as intensely as the fire raged.

He tried to focus his eyes, tried to see the faces over him. It was hard with how everything seemed to be spinning but eventually he could make them out.

“C-Coran, please... p-please”

“I will my boy, but you’ve got to tell me what’s wrong. What’s hurting?”

His hand moved from scratching at the tile to tug on his sweatshirt pocket.

“Where on your stomach? Show me,” Coran ordered as he lifted Lance’s sweatshirt up to his chest.

From the outside everything looked perfectly fine, aside from his abnormal parlor.

So Coran was dubious when he watched the sick boy move his hand cautiously over his side right beside and a little lower down than his belly button, his fingertips barely brushing the warm skin but producing a stiff breath anyway.

“Hm,” Coran mused, muttering a quick ‘forgive me boy’ before he pressed down on and around the spot.

Lance’s scream was drowned by his gag and then Keith was beside Coran, his hands tilting Lance’s face to the side and then pulling his torso that way as well. He thrashed and tried to wriggle out of their grips as he struggled, the pressure of being on the side that was on fire too much as his gut wrenched up nothing but yellow.

“Calm down Lance, you’re okay!”

“Breathe boy, you’re working yourself up and it’ll only make it worse. I think your appendix has ruptured, we’ll need to get you to the infirmary immediately...”

He wasn’t sure what was said after he that, his memory of getting to the infirmary was hazy because of how much it fucking hurt.

He was vaguely aware of curling up in a wheelchair, one hand clutching his stomach and another barely holding open a vomit bag up to his mouth. Nothing was coming up then except for saliva.

He didn’t even remember being lifted into a bed in the infirmary because the movement had unsettled his stomach once more, stealing his breath while he struggled against the vice wrapping around his empty stomach.

They had to put a cannula around his nose to get him extra air while he dry heaved, but he only calmed down after he quite literally almost stopped breathing and Keith ignored Coran’s protest to hit him on the back like before.

He was also sort of aware he had started crying at some point and was reminded of that when Coran was pressing onto his side once more.

At this point he didn’t even have the energy to struggle, he just continued to tremble violently under the touch as fresh tears spilled down his face.

“Hey, shh you’ll feel much better soon,” a new voice assured as they ran their hands through his damp hair. He leaned into the touch and saw that both belonged to Shiro.

“Shit, if I had known you had freaking appendicitis I would never have made you train today,” he laughed sadly.

He shut his eyes closed at that and tried to breathe through the waves of nausea against his pounding headache all topped off by the fire poker in his side.

“Coran what’s the estimated time in the pod for this, you think?” Keith asked as the others were just arriving.

“I’m afraid he cannot go into a pod just yet,” Coran said gravely, not once lifting his face from his tablet.

“Lance!”

“Woah, what the quiznak happened?!”

“He’s so freaking pale, oh my god.”

“It’s his appendix,” Keith offered.

“The scans show that the organ has completely ruptured and is leaking into his abdomen. It is something that can only be remedied with—with surgery.”

“Oh, Coran... is that—something we can even do here?”

“It’s going to have to be.”

The time between when Shiro explained what was going to be happening to Lance and when they were about to put him under went impossibly slow and too fast all at once.

He would gag occasionally but nothing came up with it. They had since attached a bunch of wires all over him and put an IV in his arm that was giving him pain medicine and antibiotics.

It seemed to help a lot with his discomfort and he eased into the bed after they finally kicked in, his body relaxing for the first time in a while.

“I’m n’gonna feel an’thing right?” He asked Coran, his words sloshing together from the mix of utter exhaustion and drugs.

“Of course not my boy, this will take care of that as will the pain medicine,” he assured as he held a weird altean breathing mask in his hands.

“I’m going to put it over your nose and mouth now, just breathe normally and we’ll do a little count down while you fall asleep.”

Coran motioned to place the mask on him, but he turned away from it.

Lance looked around wildly as if he couldn’t see the multiple friendly faces looking at him and the machines recording his heart rate began to pick up, and then was reaching for someone, anyone.

“We’re here! We’re all right here,” Keith said taking up his hand with a wire attached to his finger, Shiro was grabbing the other.

“I-I don-I don’t”

“You’ve got to buddy, you’re really sick,” Shiro soothed as he ran his hands through his hair once more. The touch calmed him only somewhat, his breath hitching once more as he continued to worry.

“I k-know, but I-I’m scared I w-won’t...”

He was crying again.

“Won’t what buddy?” Hunk asked tenderly as his hand fell to Lance’s leg.

“What if I d-don’t wake up,” he managed before his breathing took a turn and Coran rushed to go find a remedy for it, not quite understanding it was mostly him just being anxious.

Pidge was pushing past all the bodies looming over the bed and sufficiently blocking her from being able to help Lance, but once she shoved Shiro forward she was scrambling onto the bed and nuzzling herself against Lance’s good side.

He gasped at her presence but seemed to melt into it soon after he realized what she was doing. She pulled at the hand clutching Shiro’s and placed it on her back so he could feel her calm breaths and ground himself.

“Slow and deep, you’re okay,” she urged and leaned her head against his chest, his sweatshirt was still on but folded up under itself to expose his stomach, a circle had been drawn around the location of his appendix.

He leaned his head against hers and breathed slow shaking breaths.

“Coran it’s alright, he’s calming down on his own,” Keith urged just as Coran turned up with some strange altean herb that was purple and emitting some sort of low cooing sound.

“You’re going to be just fine, Lance. Coran would never let anything bad happen to you.”

“Yeah, and if you feel like taking an extra long snooze we’ll be here to rudely wake you up like we always do,” Pidge added and she could feel Lance relax under her weight.

“I’m s-sorry for being so mean earlier, guys—“

“Shh, no more saying ‘i’m sorry’. Just accept the cuddle and zip it.”

Lance could almost summon a laugh but the pain in his side prevented it.

“Let’s try again with the sleepy time mask, yeah?”

“Yeah...”

He reached for Shiro’s hand again and all of the other hands on him tried to soothe him as best they could as he tensed when the mask descended on his face.

“We’ve gotcha bud.”

“You’ll be just fine Lance.”

“Nothing bad can happen to when you’re being cuddled so viscuously.”

“Okay, let’s start counting back from 10.”

“10, 9—“

“Easy, count slower. You’re alright.”

A second hand was on his head, pushing his hair back and trailing behind his ear. He closed his eyes at the sensation, it was something his mamá would do.

“9... 8... 7...”

“That’s it number three, easy...”

Around 5 he stopped counting. He felt his body becoming heavier and heavier as he breathed through the strange mask, he could feel the gentle but firm touches of his teammates, the only constant as he breathed deeper and deeper, a pleasant haze falling over him.

He could feel the level in Pidge’s breath, and tried to match it, his eyelids feeling so heavy they were hard to keep open.

And then he felt light.

The last thing he saw before his eyes fluttered shut was Allura and Hunk smiling while they said something that was lost on him.

He didn’t care though, he didn’t need to hear it to know what they meant.

He remembered feeling really safe in that moment.

He wasn’t scared anymore.

[corvus--rex]

Another one that's soundly asleep and not abandoned. Non-canon compliant, and all 7 of them are lgbt+ (I also may, possibly, be projecting onto Keith - just a little). And Lance is a they/them enby.

~*~*~*~

Liberating the planet Artrax was the easy part. Eliminating the Galra presence was simple. Voltron’s Paladins had done their job in securing the planet’s freedom. No different from any other occupied planet they’d been to. The Artraxians were holding a celebratory festival both in honor of the Paladins and in anticipation of joining the Voltron Coalition. Not complicated. It wasn’t something they hadn’t done many times before. And while every planet’s traditions and customs were different, they more or less knew what to expect. At least, they thought they knew what to expect. They were apparently wrong about that.

Allura dropped into her usual seat at the head of the dining table with a heavy sigh, the tablet in her hand clattering to the table’s surface. A lack of her usual composure was evident in the way her shoulders slumped, the annoyance and displeasure clear on her face. She sighed again before facing the Paladins.

“I’ve just spoken with Artrax’s leaders. They are going forward with the celebration in our honor and over joining the Coalition,” she said, heavy with exhaustion.

“I’m sensing a ‘but’,” Lance said cautiously.

“The Artraxians have a very rigid society when it comes to gender roles and sexuality. They are also insisting that, as distinguished guests, we are to dress according to their standards. At the very least I got them to agree to modify their fashions to our anatomy. But they will not back down from their views on gender. Not even for us. Alteans may not believe in those strict lines, but they do.”

“And combined with their enhanced sense of smell, especially when it comes to hormones and pheromones, there’s no way we can get around it,” Pidge noted disappointedly.

“Unfortunately. Please know that I would never ask any of you to do something that makes you uncomfortable in that way. But they would consider it a personal insult not to attend, or abide by their customs. And their trade routes are invaluable to the Coalition. I am so sorry.” Allura slumped back into her seat, gaze dropping to the table.

The room was silent for a long minute as they all considered their options and what the Artraxian societal standards meant for them. Three fifths of the Paladins didn’t identify with their assigned genders and none of them, Allura and Coran included, were straight. Hiding their sexual orientations was manageable, their gender identities far less so. Neither Lance nor Pidge in any way liked the idea of being forced into presenting as their assigned genders. After expanding their wardrobes beyond what they had worn into space, there was no telling what Lance would appear in on any given day, while Pidge’s remained as non-gendered as physically possible.

It had only been a few months since Pidge had come out to the team as agender, aromantic, and asexual. “Triple-A Queer” they had called it. They had known for some time before, but their disguise to get into the Galaxy Garrison was important to their self-imposed mission to find Sam and Matt, and so allowed everyone to believe that they were male. Lance, on the other hand, had never made their semi-fluid nonbinary identity a secret. Being bisexual and nonbinary at the Garrison had been an unpleasant experience at times, until the day when Tommy Bailey was harassing them for it again and Hunk simply appeared behind Lance without a sound, glaring. Tommy was too afraid of Hunk after that to try anything again.

While Lance and Pidge – as much as they hated it – could power through the discomfort of dressing to their physical sex, it was a little harder for Keith. He had kept it a secret at the Garrison, Griffin’s homophobia and “teasing” about Keith’s parents was bad enough. The only ones who had known were Shiro, Adam, and Garrison medical staff. He figured his life was hard enough being the gay, orphaned, golden boy without adding his trans status on top of it. His recovery time after top surgery was dismissed (by him) as having been sick, and hormone shots as being for specific, undisclosed allergies. (“Yeah, I’m allergic to being female,” he’d told Shiro with a laugh when they decided that was going to be the “official” story.)

He’d been off hormones since not long after leaving the Garrison, and told the team shortly after settling into the castle. He wanted to, but even if he hadn’t, it was going to show itself sooner or later. He’d rather they were prepared for bitchy, PMS-ing Keith, followed by angry, period Keith. It was not a side of himself he liked anyone seeing, but without access to his hormones, they were going to whether he liked it or not. He had the grace of the gods in that respect. Shiro handled it the same way he always had – from a distance and with care. Pidge was right there with him, commiserating over a bodily function neither of them wanted. Hunk had two moms and a younger sister, so he understood, even if it was from the outside. It was the same for Lance, with both of their sisters, one of whom was their twin, so they’d seen what she went through a little more closely than they’d wanted. Allura and Coran didn’t understand human reproductive cycles, but understood that it was an uncomfortable process, and did what they could.

But all that meant that he was going to be the one out of all of them in the most discomfort. It had been years since he’d had to pretend like he wasn’t in the wrong body, and now he was having to face that all over again. He knew that if they’d had any kind of leeway, Lance and Allura would be there to help him to be as comfortable as possible while stuck in a dress. But they didn’t. They were going to be in a modified version of the planet’s inhabitants’ traditional costume. None of the paladins knew what it looked like, but from how upset Allura was, it couldn’t be good.

Keith decided to rip off the band-aid. “So, what do these outfits look like?” he asked.

Allura played with the tablet she’d brought with her for a moment before turning it on. The images projected over the table were of the Artraxian people modeling their traditional clothing. Their race was in an eternal transitional period between reptilian and avian. Mostly scaled, and more closely resembling their reptile ancestors, they also had patches of brightly colored feathers and slightly wing-like arms with retractable membranes. The feathers that grew along their shoulders, forearms, and thighs were short, and nearly mistakeable for scales if it weren’t for their texture. They also had feathers that grew in a swath from forehead to neck, but these were longer, some trailing down their backs. Artraxian scale colors ranged from pale, leaf green to deep forest, those colors determined by regional origin. Unlike what the paladins would have expected of either reptiles or birds, Artraxians were a live-birth species, and so had some features more like Earth mammals, most notably two close-set rows of three breasts. Six-titted aliens was not what they were expecting. But combined with their long, thick, tapering tails and wing-arms, the paladins could see why their clothes would have to be adapted for human and Altean anatomy.

The clothing itself was as brightly colored as their feathers. It appeared light, soft, and silky, but was wrapped around their bodies like bandages, ultimately not leaving much to the imagination. Some of the wrappings were sheer, showing off the scales beneath. The females wore a two-paneled, A-line skirt over their leg wraps that ran to mid-calf, completely sheer and split at the sides to the waist. Males wore something similar, but slightly shorter and opaque. Both sexes went barefoot, no doubt a necessity due to their sharp claws. All five paladins looked over the projection with varying degrees of curiosity, anxiety, and fear.

“We’ll be providing the Artraxians with our physical measurements from here, and they will send us our…outfits,” Allura said, eyeing the female Artraxian with trepidation.

Keith was sorry he’d asked; he felt sick.

Lance was sitting directly across from him and was the first to notice it. Leaning over the table slightly, they nudged his foot. “You ok?” they asked quietly.

“No.” It was all he could get out before bolting from the room.

Shiro started to get up, but Lance stopped him. “I’ll go. No offense, but I don’t think a cis guy is what he needs right now.”

“Want me to come too?” Pidge asked.

“Maybe in a little bit. I think too many people will be too much for him.”

Pidge nodded at the same time Shiro spoke. “I’m not offended, Lance. You’re the best suited out of all of us to talk to him right now.”

“Thanks, man. I’ll call if I need anyone.”

Lance paused in the hallway, considering the possibilities of where Keith was most likely to be. Training deck? Always a possibility, but it didn’t seem as probable at that moment. He’d been genuinely upset, not just aggravated or frustrated. So not there. Holed up in his bedroom? Maybe, but it felt a little too obvious. The shock of seeing what he was expected to wear had made him bolt, and Lance knew he’d gone to ground. Ok, so not his bedroom either. The castle was not a small place, but there were only a handful of places Keith would go. If not the training deck or his bedroom, he had most probably run for his favorite of the observation decks, and that was where Lance set off for.

Walking the halls of the castle, Lance enjoyed the feeling of the soft fabric of their long skirt and fluffy cropped sweater. They liked the way the silky material flowed around their legs, and how their sweater floated and felt like it was made of clouds. It also made them think about their own coming out process. How their twin sister Rachel was the first person they’d told at age 12. Barely a month before their thirteenth birthday, Lance had taken Rachel on the short walk to the beach, to the spot away from where even the locals stayed. Their favorite place where they went swimming all summer long. Where their older siblings taught them to surf, and where their mother had shown them the constellations and sparked a love of space in Lance.

That’s where they’d gone with Rachel on a hot day in June. Lance remembered standing ankle-deep in the warm, clear water. They couldn’t look at her, too nervous about what she’d say. But looking out over the Atlantic, they’d found the courage they needed, and told Rachel everything. About how they’d been thinking about how they noticed they liked girls ok, but also boys and nonbinary people too, and considered themselves bi. It led them into talking about their own gender. That they didn’t feel much like a boy, but that they felt kinda like a boy sometimes, kinda like a girl sometimes, but mostly felt nonbinary. Lance told her that they felt like gender didn’t matter as much to them, and that while they didn’t feel the need to change their name, their preferred pronouns going forward were they and them.

Rachel had sat on the beach and listened. She thought it over while Lance was talking, and when they were done, she got up without a word, left her flip flops on the sand, and joined her sibling in the water. She crushed them in the tightest hug of their life and told Lance that they were her twin, nothing in the known universe could stop that, and that the absolute most important thing was that they were comfortable in their own skin. If there were a few tears before they left for home, no one needed to know. With Rachel firmly beside them, they told the rest of the immediate family that night, getting almost the same reaction from them as they had from their twin. Their father Diego was only a little more reserved, admitting that he didn’t understand the nonbinary part, but as long as Lance was safe and happy, that was all he cared about. By the time Lance had left Earth, Diego had come to understand what being nonbinary meant and that those five years of expressing themselves freely had been the happiest of Lance’s life.

The memory of that summer day made them smile to themselves as they walked, but also made them miss home and family all over again. With a sharp shake of their head, they remembered what they were coming up to the observation deck for. They knew Keith understood how important this party was, but being forced into that was more than enough to cause that kind of reaction. Ironically, Lance thought, the Artraxian male fashion sense was actually feminine-leaning, non-gendered by human standards and didn’t bother them as much as they thought it would, although it still did upset them. But that was them, not Keith. Especially with what Artraxian women wore, they knew how much it upset Keith. And that was why they were there. Not to try to convince him to wear it, but to be supportive. Let him know that both they and the team had his back with this. That Lance would be there for him however he needed.

Lance knocked on the door, walking in when they didn’t get an answer anyway. Keith was sitting on the floor with his arms wrapped around his knees as he watched the stars. Lance curled up beside him without looking over.

“Hey. It’ll be ok. I know it really, really, sucks, and I wish we didn’t have to do it, but we do. We’re all here for you, you know that right?”

Keith sighed, rolling his head from where it rested on his knees to look over at Lance. “I know you are. Doesn’t make it any easier. I thought I was past all that. Having to pretend to be something I'm not. It’s been hard enough being out here without even the possibility of access to my T shots. And now this. I think I would have been more ok with it if it didn’t look like that.”

“Yeah, I get that. Kinda exposes almost everything. None of us like it, even if I know Allura and Shiro are gonna look amazing in it, but Pidge and Hunk will be really uncomfortable. Hunk doesn’t like going to the beach without a shirt on unless he’s really comfortable with the people around him. And I don’t think I can even imagine Pidge in anything girly, let alone that. And even I’m not really comfortable with it. Way too much skin on display, y’know? I mean, I say this while wearing a crop top, but…” they trailed off with a soft laugh and turned to face Keith. “Really what I’m saying is that we’re all uncomfortable. I know it’s not exactly the same, but you’re not alone. If you need to stay close to one of us for the party to feel safe, it’s ok. No one will mind.”

Lance thought that the soft huffing sound that came from Keith might have been a laugh until they heard the sniffle and realized that he was wiping away tears.

“Thanks, Lance,” Keith said softly.

“Anytime, Samurai.”

It was barely a day after transmitting the team’s measurements to the planet’s surface before an unmanned shuttle landed onboard the castle. They realized that color preferences hadn’t been asked of them, and that their “outfits” were all individually wrapped in black tissue and labelled with their names. Coran busied himself with handing out the packages and sent Allura and the paladins off to change.

“Hey, Lance?” Keith called quietly.

They turned to him and immediately saw the discomfort and anxiety all over his face. “Hey, it’s ok. What do you need?”

“I think I need to call in that favor.”

“Ok. Would having Allura there help?”

Keith thought for a few seconds. “…Yeah, I think so.”

Lance turned to where the princess was making her way across the pod bay floor. “Allura, I have a question for you.”

She stopped and waited for both of them to catch up with her. “Yes? What is it?”

Lance looked to Keith first for his silent confirmation before continuing. “Keith’s gonna need some help with this. I figured you being the only girl here would help with making him as comfortable as we can.”

“Oh, yes, of course. Allow me to change and then we can meet.”

“My room?” Lance suggested.

~*~*~*~

Links to the rest of the series:

1 | 2 | 3* | 4 | 5* | 6* | 7 | 8 | 9* | 10 | 11 | 12* | 13 | 14 | 15* | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19*