#quantum abyss visions

[cosmicpack]

Au were after there time on the space whale Keith and Krolia continue to get visions.

Keith was always sensitive to quintessence.

He can feel the blue lions call from miles away even though it isn’t his lion.

Red will come for him from a distance.

He has the strongest bond with his lion up until the lion switch.

But the whale takes that and jumps kicks it. Yes Krolia still gets them to but no where near the frequency or detail that Keith does.

He brushes up against someone and gets a flash of their past or their future.

They are trying to form a plan of action when suddenly Keith will stop moving and talking and get this far away look in his eyes. Only to snap back with a gasp moments later and drastically change whatever plan they had. Snapping back from a vision from the future of one of his friends dying

It first happens once the battle with Lotor is done. It’s a surprise to everyone as it’s the first one Keith’s had outside of the whale.

One moment the group is relaxing and liking their wounds. Trying to figure out what to do next.

Suddenly Keith freezes. He was mid-sentence talking to Pidge when suddenly all movement stops. His eyes are glassy and far away, he’s obviously looking but not seeing what’s in-front of him.

Pidge freaks out. Shiro (one of her big brothers) was just discovered to be a clone, Lotor a maniac, and they lost the castle ship (their home) and now Keith (anther brother to her) has completely frozen and stopped responding.

She calls out to the other, panicking “somethings wrong with Keith!” The other scramble over to them. Krolia quick to her son’s side while the others circle around.

Lance, seeing as Shiro is down, Allura is reeling from all that’s happened today, and Keith is the one is trouble, takes charge of the situation.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. We were talking and then suddenly he just froze up”

He’s still breathing and doesn’t seemed to be in distress. He’s just frozen. He’s not responding the them in anyway.

Until suddenly he gasps. His eyes going wide and he’s whipping around trying to get his bearings. He’s breathing hard and Lance and Krolia moves to stabilize and support him.

“Keith! What was that? Are you okay?” Lance was trying to catch his friend’s eyes and Keith snapped his head to him and locks eyes.

“They’re going to earth! The Galra! They’re going to attack earth! They’re going to kill Adam!” His breaths are panic as he tries to communicate the horror of his vision.

Lance feels like the floor has open up below him. “What?”

After panic and confusion. Krolia explains the visions in the space whale. How they had been blasted with visions of both the past and the future.

Since they spent two years on the space whale, it must have warped Keith connection to quintessence. Add that to his natural sensitivity to quintessence and his connection to Voltron, which enhances his abilities. This equals to a Keith how now gets visions from the universe.

The group is quick to decide to head to Earth. Coran tells them it would take a year and a half to get there and the whole group is distressed. They don’t have that kind of time.

Lance remembers how they got up here. That the blue lion created a wormhole all on its own. No teladuv or working castle ship.

Allura has always wondered how that was possible since only an Altean should be able to open one and that in a lion it would take an incredible amount of power. Power she might have now but after saving Shiro she needs time to get that energy back.

Time Lance can’t imagine waiting. His family is in danger. That was the whole point of fighting this war. To keep his family safe. He looks at Keith, who is more shaken that Lance has ever seen (he’s hiding it well from the others but Lance has always been able to read Keith) and he knows that the vision was so much worse then Keith is telling them.

They have to get to earth now!

But he doesn’t know what to do. Everyone starts packing up. Wanting to get moving as soon as possible with the trip as long as it will be. Keith takes a moment to walk over to Lance.

“Lance. I was thinking about what you said. About the wormhole that brought us here in the first place.” Keith pauses trying to find the right words. “It was just us. No alteans, not castle, just you piloting Blue.” He pauses again Turing to look up at the red lion.

“You know Red’s always been over protective of her paladin. I think- I don’t know maybe if you reach out to her. She might be able to open a wormhole home.”

Lance looks at Keith in surprise. “Why don’t you ask Black then? Or Pidge and Green? Or Hunk and Yellow. I mean your all a lot better-” the then I am dying in his tongue as he looks down.

“What are you talking about. You’re an amazing Paladin, and you’re the only one who’s gotten a lion to one a wormhole before. Not even Allura can do that.” He moves forward to place his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Just give it a chance. The worst that can happen is it doesn’t work. Besides if anyone can pull this off it’s you.”

“Thanks Keith.” Lance smile at Keith and goes to thank him when Keith’s eyes go all glassy again. “Keith?”

Moments later Keith snaps back to himself with a gasp. His body lurching forward as if someone just struck him. The hand on Lances shoulder tightening its grip as his form starts to tremble.

“Keith! What is it? What did you see?” Keith straightens up to lock eyes with Lance again.

“It’s Sendak. He’s the one attacking Earth.”

“Don’t you mean he’s the one who will be attacking Earth?” Lance asked as he placed his hands on Keith’s sides to steady his shaking friend.

“Lance” Keith looked so scared and vulnerable “on the whale I had visions of the future and the past. I have no clue which I’m seeing now.”

Lance felt ice flood his veins. “So everything you’re see could have already happened?”

Keith couldn’t meet his eyes anymore “yes”

Lance take a moment to feel the horror of this all. Earth could already be at Sendak’s mercy before pulling himself together. For his family, who needed him to come save them, and for Keith who must have seen something truly horrific in his vision.

“Then there’s no time to waste. Let’s go home.” He makes a split second decision to pull Keith in for a hug. “We’re going to save them.” There was no other option. Not for Lance. Not when he had sacrificed so much to keep his home safe.

They separate slowly, lingering in a moment not meant to stretch.

Then there is yelling. Something is wrong with Shiro’s pod. Lance can see the fear and anxiety flood Keith system. He gently cups Keith’s face drawling his focus back. “I’ll get the others ready to leave. Go take care of Shiro.”

It’s exactly what Keith needs. The stress of the last few hours. Lotor, Shiro, clones, the battle with Lotor, his visions, and now Shiro’s in trouble again. Lance stepping in to take weight from us makes it feel like he can breath a little.

Keith rushes off to Shiro begging him to fight, to stay alive.

Meanwhile Lance helps Hunk and Pidge ready to go. He checks in on Allura and Coran to make sure they are ready. He makes sure Romelle has a place to go, she’s riding with him. She had wanted to stay with Keith and Krolia but Black was pretty full with Keith, Krolia, the wolf, and Shiro’s pod. Lance offers her a ride. He understands that she’s the odd one out right now and boy does he know how that feels.

Once they know Shiro is going to be okay. They’re ready to take off. Lance takes a moment to breath. He focuses on his bond with Red. ‘Please. I need to get home. Please help me protect my family.’

Let us protect our pride, Son of A-

Lance misses what Red was about to say when he heared Romelle gasp. In front of them is a wormhole. Lance smiles in relief ‘Thank you’ he sends to his lion.

“Lance! You’re-” Romelle is gasping and pointing at his face. He had expected her to be pointing at the wormhole but she’s looking straight at him. “Altean!”

Lances brain short circuits for a second. “I’m what!!!!”

When Lance was talking to red and asking for a way home his cheeks started to glow with the altean marks. His family had Altean blood as some escaped to Earth to hide a few centuries ago.

They head back to Earth and get there just in time to join in on the first firefight with the Galra. There are still casualties but Adam is not among them. The damage to Earth is far less than it is in canon.

Adam and Shiro reunite and recover together.

It is still a long fight as Sendak is determined to take the planet and keeps coming no matter how many times they push him back until finally Shiro and Keith end him once and for all

Keith is still having visions. Some are of the pasts of the people around him. Some are glimpses of the future.

He and Lance finally figure themselves out a get together. While Lance is introducing Keith to his family Keith gets hit with a vision. Lance explains what’s happening as he holds Keith’s hand and waits for him to come back to himself. It doesn’t take more than a minute. Lance braces himself for some horrible news, but Keith jumps up and runs straight to the kitchen. Everyone wonders why until he opens the kitchen door just in time for a pan in the stove to ignite. Someone had left the stove on and now there is a fire. Keith puts it out with no panic or surprise. Once the fire is handled, Lance walks up to him. “So your vision…” -Lance “house fire”-Keith.

Needless to say the family finds him weird but endearing.

Everything is going well until one night Keith wakes up screaming. Hagar is still alive. And she’s going after the Alteans. And Allura is going to die.

[kidge-planet]

ALRIGHT EVERYONE! HERE WE GO WITH A THEORY ! ( It's been a while since I last had one.......)

Kidge theory!

SOOOO!

Kosmo have a good instinct, like any wild animal (even tho he's now a domestic wolf...)

He has been through the quantum abyss with Keith and grew closer to him. I think that combined to the instinct would make him the right person to know who Keith would choose as a "mate" (using the word "mate" because Kosmo might see it that way...)

Plus, in the quantum abys, Kosmo might have seen things as well as Keith and Krolia (i already made a theory about this! Go check it outttt!!!!!)

Maybe he saw Pidge in Keith's future? Or maybe in his own future ever since he's "Keith's wolf"...

So that could explain WHY Kosmo has been protective towards Pidgey...

Exhibit one:

He's curious... It's the first time that he meets the girl that he saw in these "future visions"/ he felt something special between Keith and that girl//// he smelled him on her????? Idk. One of those. (Could be smelling the mice too... But he seems to stare at Pidge (i zoomed)🤔)

Exhibit two!

TOO MUCH TO SAY! OKOK...

Kosmo is smart. He moved everyone in a lion that he instinctively knew they would belong better (let's not mention how Lance grouped everyone...) then, he teleported to Pidge. WHY? He belongs with Keith! So why would he go back to Pidge ??? Plus, he barely know her...

My theory is that he understood that his owner was trusting Pidge a lot, that they have a profound bond and that Keith admires Pidge very much.

I didn't even mention the fact that he protected her TWICE. By stabilizing her with his head. AND THEN THAT LOOK THEY SHARED IT WAS SO CUTE..... It was like a mutual "are you ok?.."

And then by destroying the galra ships that were following them...

Best part is that Kosmo could have totally went with Lance, Lance was in danger too. But he decided to go with Pidge.

Look, IDK IF THIS ALL MAKES SENSE, IM SOOO TIRED... I DID MY BEST TO EXPLAIN THE THEORY, ILL PROBABLY CORRECT IT IF IT SOUNDS WEIRD...

[klance-dreams]

Okay but please imagine Keith’s reaction to seeing Lance after he’s finally spent some time at the beach again? In his natural element, bronzed like a literal god, burnished from the sun? freckles like constellations?? Lance with wavy, curly salt water-hair, eyes soft and relaxed.

+ Keith meeting back up with the paladins after too long away with the blade. 👀

He loves space of course, but even after his time in the quantum abyss, he’s still not used to the way all warmth & body heat was constantly leached away. Despite his memories of cursing his time in the relentless summer heat of the shack, he’s found himself beginning to miss the hot scorch of the desert sun against his skin.

The blade gave Keith a rare opportunity for downtime that somehow happenes to align with an impromptu holiday/break that Allura has planned for the paladins on a sunny, earth-like planet filled with tropical islands, flora & fauna.

To Keith’s surprise, Lance was the one to call and invite him to join them; sunshine already infused in his voice at the idea of seeing a beach again.

For Keith, the mere thought of getting to see Lance in his natural element? He wouldn’t miss it for anything.

He promises to Lance on the spot (he would promise Lance all the moons and stars if he could) to meet him there later in the day.

When he gets there, everyone has already been enjoying the sun & surf for hours. Pidge is sunburned and squinting at the glare against her datapad, glasses reflecting at a sleeping hunk whose legs have been covered by a crude sand castle. He’s spooning a large collection of fruits that look strangely similar to the ones Keith remembers from earth.

Shiro and Coran seem to be playing a complicated Altean beach game that Keith intends to avoid; Allura lays out on the sand, the mice resting in the shadow of her hair.

Keith thinks someone might have called out a greeting to him, but he can’t be sure, because the second he sees Lance? All thougts leave him, head empty.

It’s too soon to blame the redness in his cheeks on the sun, but he can feel how hot his face has gotten anyway.

Lance is sitting in the sand, waves lapping his ankles. His hair is wild & curling behind his ears from the salt water breeze.

The sight of him alone is enough to warm the cold ache Keith has been feeling.

Sand sticks to the bronzed slope of his back, glittering like flecks of gold, effervescent in the bright sun for Keith’s eyes to follow.

His shoulders are broad and already tanned and freckled where Keith knows his own would be red and sore.

His eyes sweep over the scar on Lances back, and the ones on his arms and sides that Keith wasn’t there to protect him from.

But here? With the blue of the ocean to rival his eyes? Lance looks untouchable.

Looks like a god, burning bright and warm and full of life, and when he turns around at the sound of Keith’s name being called out, Keith’s breath catches in his throat because this sight?

This is one he got to see in the quantum abyss. It was one of the visions into his future that he held onto like a lifeline, like a treasure.

The image of Lance’s smile, a true joyful smile, playing behind Keith’s eyelids and keeping him sane on the worst of those nights spent stranded in space.

Lance, eyes dancing bright and smile brighter as his wide mouth forms Keith’s name on a joyful laugh and he hops up to throw his arms around Keith in a hug that feels like /home/ in a way Keith hadn’t known before Lance.

For one delirious moment, the déjà vu is so strong that he’s afraid he and Krolia never made it back at all. That they were still stuck out there in the cold emptiness of the abyss. The way the vision blends with the Lance he has in front of him makes Keith want to hold on tight and never let go.

Especially when Lance leans back and their eyes meet and lock, electric.

Keith still hasn’t even said a word, but Lance only smiles brighter and knocks their foreheads together.

Says, “hey samurai, it’s been too long”

One traitorous hand drifts up against Keith’s will to trace the new freckles dotting Lance’s cheeks, which flush the lightest pink at the attention or maybe the intensity of Keith’s gaze as he floats into Lance’s orbit, pulled to him like the moon to the sun.

Lance’s leans into the hand Keith cups against his cheek, and finally, finally their lips meet; Keith’s cold and chapped and Lance’s, warm and soft, tasting of the ocean.

When he has to pull back to catch his breath, he finally murmurs back a warm and gravely, “hey sharp shooter,” lips pulled up into a crooked grin and eyes tracking the way Lance melts into him at the nickname like always.

They stay like that for a while, catching up on what they’ve both been up to when Lance says offhand, “hey where’s Kosmo?”

Before Keith can answer, they’re both knocked into the surf by 200 pounds of excited space wolf.

Keith wants to be mad, but the way Lance pops up from the water sputtering makes him grin through the hair plastered to his forehead.

Lance takes one look at Keith, waist deep and fully clothed down to the fingerless gloves, mullet drenched, and bursts out laughing at the sight

and Keith can’t even be mad. He pretends to be, crossing his arms and ‘sulking’. He tries to blow his bangs up and out of his eyes before he remembers it won’t work and that sends Lance into tears. Keith sits back watches Lance laugh for a minute, committing the sight to memory.

He’s gonna get revenge on Lance for laughing, but first he needs to level the playing field.

Lance’s laughter slowly winds down as he watches Kosmo run off to greet the other paladins, laughing again when the wolf shakes water all over Allura and Hunk.

While Lance was distracted, Keith had taken his shirt and gloves off, tossing them back onto dry sand and adding his soaked jeans to the pile for good measure.

Keith was slicking his hair back from his face when Lance turned back toward him and froze at the sight, suspiciously quiet.

// …tbc? transferring twitter treads. original thread here!

[jiveyuncle]

Fanart of different scenes from the fic I reread all over again every time it updates. Mwah. Love it so much. Read Chasing Stars and Memories by @erithel on AO3. It’s witty, heartbreaking, heartwarming, funny af, uhhggggg. Bruh the flirting has me grinning and cackling so hard every time. This story is sooo good ❤️ And then, when you’re done, go read the rest of her stories because they’re literally all just *chef’s kiss*

It was like being back in the Quantum Abyss and being shown a vision of the future he had wanted for so long. Except this was not his future, and he knew, now, it could never be. This was the future he could have had – if only he was not himself. Or, Lance and Keith fall through a rift in space and end up in an alternate reality – and in searching for a way home, they discover they may lose far more than they’re willing to give up.

Read Chasing Stars and Memories here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33811804/chapters/84056641

[regaliasonata]

I know we’ve talked about it before but hers my ideas on if we had a Power Ranger What If show, season one specifically

[Season One]

Episode 1: What If: Andros Was the Dark Prince?

Episode 2: What If: Tommy Found the Energems?

Episode 3: What If: Tanya Was the White Ranger?

Episode 4: What If: Master Swoop Found Dillon and Tenya?

Episode 5: What If: Adam Had the Squadron Powers?

Episode 6: What If: Madison was a vampire?

Episode 7: What If: Miko Survived Instead of Kanoi?

Episode 8: What If: Psycho Pink Took the Quasar Saber?

Episode 9: What If: Nadira Stole the Quantum Morpher?

Episode 10: What If: ….Psypocalypse

————

Episode 1: What If: Andros Was the Dark Prince?

-What if Andros was taken instead of Karone, a vessel both for Dark Spector and to become the new ruler of the cosmos…with a few bumps in the road and more neutral viewpoints plaguing his mind within the evil?

Episode 2: What If: Tommy Found the Energems?

-The Dino Gems, switched in universes with the Energems. Five were found by Tommy Oliver…but three were found by Mesogog, how will these forces fare against each other with a common evil approaching from the stars?

Episode 3: What If: Tanya Was the White Ranger?

-In search of a new ranger to combat Zedd’s forces, Zordon’s quest leads him to a huge surge of energy within Africa…the Zeo Crystal. Guarded by a young woman, Tanya Sloan, who seemed to be adept at wielding some of its energy. Seeing this had made Zordon certain of her being the chosen individual to become the white ranger.

Episode 4: What If: Master Swoop Found Dillon and Tenya?

-Amid Venjix’s destruction upon the world, two siblings were found by a blind master of bats. Master Swoop decided to keep Dillon and Tenaya out of harm's way in the remnants of the world, teaching them how to unlock their animal spirits while training the siblings so one day they could be ready for the fight in Corinth. The Midnight Trio.

Episode 5: What If: Adam Had the Squadron Powers?

-Within the chaos of the UAE attacking Earth, Adam is rendered powerless without access to the Morphin Grid. Desperate to find a way to aid those in need, he tampers with what is left of his coin and the remains of his Zeo Crystal…leading to a call from the beyond, sounds of the dragon filling his ears and red flames tunneling through his vision.

Episode 6: What If: Madison was a vampire?

-In pursuit of capturing the pink ranger, Necrolai uses glamours and reflections to stalk the team for the right moment, but unintentionally she sneaks through various images and photos that Madison has taken…what better way to topple the forces of good than to use the raging forces of water magic and vampirism?

Episode 7: What If: Miko Survived Instead of Kanoi?

-Left as a single mother five years after the banishment of Kiya Watanabe, Miko reminisces about her husband while trying to keep her son from following in their footsteps…unfortunately Lothor has made an eternal pact to take the Samurai Amulet himself. In an early attack, the Abyss of Evil is opened and Cameron falls through the cracks. Waking up in a dark grassland, he is greeted by a swordsman, one scorned by betrayal and left a shell of the man he once was. Denied their desires in life, the two decided to team up, an unexpected mentorship between Deker and Cameron.

Episode 8: What If: Psycho Pink Took the Quasar Saber?

-Destroyed by the Lost Galaxy rangers, Psycho Pink’s will lives on through the remnants of the savage sword. Within the team's unsuccessful in regaining Kendrix’s Quasar Saber, Psycho Pink goes on conquest to not only claim it as her own but scorn those who have wronged her throughout this cursed life.

Episode 9: What If: Nadira Stole the Quantum Morpher?

-To defeat the rangers, Ransik sends his forces to find the Quantum Controller box, Nadira sneaks through to prove herself to her father’s cause, and within the quarrel between Wes and Eric, they end up sidetracked…leading to massive destruction throughout time from Nadira’s usage of the powers.

Episode 10: What If: ….Psypocalypse

-With time damaged…dimensions in ruin, and other anomalies plaguing the fabric of existence as a dark morphin master rises with an unstable Nadira as the Quantum Ranger being chased after to spread the chaos. It’s up to various forces to stop the empress before the entire grid falls apart.

[heartmadeofmoon]

Looking for a beta :)

Hii, currently working on my first fully fleshed fic that I plan to post to a03. Its a klance fic set after season 8, set in the first ever Allura Day and kinda deals with them reuniting after the war and Keith dealing with the visions he had in the Quantum Abyss (that were related to Lance ofc).

Im still in the initial stages but would appreciate some criticism and maybe revising some plot points :)) I know its a long shot bc the vld/klance fandom is mostly dead but hopefully there are still some delusional people like me in 2024 lol. Any interested people feel free to contact me under this post or thru dms <3

[squarebill]

What shapes are your guys kids? And how did you have them?

CURIE IS A CIRCLE, TESLA IS VAGUELY HUMANOID, AND SAGAN IS A CUBE. I'D SHOW YOU PICTURES, BUT MY PUPPET IS TOO BROKE TO AFFORD THEM AND SUCKS AT COPYING. LIKE SHE SUCKS SO BADLY YOU GUYS. ANYWAY, IT SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE NEVER GOT THE BENDY ANGLES AND QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT BEES TALK. LUCKY FOR YOU, I FEEL IN AN EDUCATIONAL MOOD! YOU SEE, WHEN AN EXTRADIMENSIONAL ELDRITCH ENTITY OF COSMIC HORROR MADE OF PURE ENERGY LOVES AN ORGANIC HUMAN BEING WITH A LIMITED REPRODUCTIVE CAPACITY VERY MUCH AND DECIDES - WHAT THE HECK, LET'S MULTIPLY THAT COULD BE FUN, THEY

AS FOR WHAT TAKES PLACE BIOLOGICALLY, PSYCHOLOGICALLY, CHEMICALLY, EXTRADIMENSIONALLY, QUANTUM-MATHEMATICALLY, HORRIFYINGLY, IT WOULD TAKE CENTURIES TO TEACH YOU. LET'S JUST SAY IT INVOLVES 55 REPRODUCTIVE SPLEENS, UNZIPPING DNA, VIBRATING MOLECULES, STRING THEORY, FOUR UTERUSES, SUBTRACTING THE VOLUME OF PI AND THE SQUARE ROOT OF ANGLED EXTRA-DIMENSIONS, QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT, TUNNEL VISION, LOTS OF FLUIDS AND SCREAMING, THE GAZING ABYSS, AND LEAVE IT AT THAT! IT'S BASICALLY LIKE REGULAR PREGNANCY BUT SOMEHOW WORSE!

[elusivedaze]

The Labyrinth

The sign said it clearly: “Welcome to the Labyrinth.” 

Over the span of a dozen centuries, wanderers roamed into the valley, in search of aid for their aching limbs and worn soles. Their futile efforts to scale the cliffs dragged behind them like limp tails, hands catching on the final attempts of stone to cast them back. In the heart of the vale, all the paths they took intersected. It was an intricate puzzle that ultimately led them to the same place they began. But should one diverge from his promenade, he may find himself in a new quarter of the land. And should he continue this rebellion, he would stumble across the Labyrinth.

It was an interesting phenomenon; two-story walls diagonal to their neighbors, yet entirely sealed.  Quite like a tesseract. To one of the simple minds, it was impossible really. Perhaps an astrophysicist or quantum physicist could have pieced it together, for it was either quite a large concept to take in or perhaps one too tiny to grasp. Interchangeably it was either and both at once, if that made sense, but to you it may not. 

The insurgent certainly didn’t understand. He pondered for a while, how such a concept was fathomable, even on a scale that which he was unfamiliar with. To be told the insurgent was no expert, although supposedly he fancied himself rather of the more intelligent half of the population, for which he was proud. Harvard, if the word held any meaning here, which it did not, and anthropology on top of that, a useless endeavor. Knowledgeable in civilizations, yet not their homes, or whatever this structure meant to be. But he was mistaken; this was no house fit for a man to reside in. It was the Labyrinth. 

The boundary that stood fixed before him, a juxtaposition between the walls and himself. Forward was an enigma, and curious was he, looking forth into the abyss that appeared to be the entrance of the Labyrinth. But what little should he know, anyways, of this structure? And of little importance it was to him either way. Perhaps he may turn around, may stray back and leave suddenly. He may even find his way out. Yet the insurgent couldn’t help but call to his nature. Out there it was perhaps curiosity, here it was more of an animal instinct. This temptation of a doorway, a winding hall the ending of which was quite far out of his sight. He had previously considered eyeglasses, but it seemed useless for his failing vision after all. 

At least he may take a few steps, right? It appeared a waste of time to venture this far and cast aside the progress the insurgent had made following his heinous abandonment of the tourist marked path. Wandering away was a curse, he may as well attempt to shake it off. And so he continued, just to the end of the hall, so he told himself. The walls to his right and left were moving, meaning he wasn’t affixed to the spot in an illusion. When he looked back, the entrance was further than it had been before, meaning he moved. He wasn’t trapped, right? It wasn’t all some terrible prank from the above? But he was. And it was. He had become entangled in this from the first moment the insurgent had spotted the structure, and the sign, and the unmarked path. The insurgent was stuck in the Labyrinth. 

[klanceficatalogue]

Hey! I wanted to recommend a fic that finished this year, a post s7 rewrite. It's called aeon by hystericalcherries and super good!

yess!!! great rec - karri

aeon by hystericalcherries (6/6 | 62,189 | Mature)

Keith does not leave the quantum abyss untouched.

“Home can be anything, you know,” Lance says in lieu of a conversation starter.

Slivers of moonlight filter through the blinds above their heads, casting lines of truth across the sheets. Lance tilts his head forward and a band slides over his eyes, catching the ocean in them and drawing Keith into their rolling tides. And as distracted as he is, he doesn't put up a fight when a hand clasps his own, reeling them heartward.

“Home is just something you can come back to.” His knuckles brush against the soft fabric of a nightshirt, the v-neckline falling loose to reveal a sharp collarbone, and Keith feels his breath hitching. “Something that keeps you grounded.”

//mind control

[klance-fics]

u got any s7 klance fix-its? im in desperate need.

hey! so, some of these are grey-area s6/s7, i hope that's okay!

hey, mom, i met a boy by

mothpoem

“Sweetheart,” says Lance, his hair longer, his shoulders broader, the slope of his nose uneven now where it didn’t used to be, “you don’t know the half of it.”

growing pains keeping me up at night by shatterinseconds

There’s no wind on this planet but something brushes by Lance, and he whips his head around to find Keith cautiously approaching him, his space wolf in tow.

“So two years, huh?” Lance says as a greeting and as an invitation.

(or Lance and Keith have that much needed conversation)

may i call you my darling by heyitsave

In the quantum abyss, Keith witnesses everything he's ever wanted, everything he’s ever dreamed of. He sees things that aren’t his to see or his to have. When he returns to the paladins, he can barely make himself interact with them outside of the goal of taking down Haggar. He doesn’t have time to figure out and work through his feelings regarding the vision of the Abyss.

But then his relationship with the paladins—with Lance—gets pulled taut and he has to do something about it. Even if that something means risking losing his place on the team for the foreseeable future. (Or so he thinks.)

[corvus--rex]

So, I started this back in December, wrote about 25 words for it, and then it just sat there doing absolutely the fuck nothing. Until tonight apparently when I added 1k+ to it out of nowhere. To be totally clear, I have no idea where this is going, but figuring out cis swapped versions of everyone is interesting.

~*~*~*~

It happened gradually.  One by one they just disappeared.  All five Paladins, gone from the castle.  The Lions were still in their hangars, but neither Allura nor Coran could find any trace of their pilots.

Keith woke with a groan, uncomfortable on the hard floor.  Maybe that gladiator drone hit him harder than he thought.  He was immediately aware of a toe nudging him in the ribs.  Reflexes kicked in before rational thought and he grabbed the leg attached to the toe, throwing its owner to the floor.  His attempt to pin them was thwarted, their positions flipped, and he once again found himself on his back on the floor.  Keith felt like he was looking into a mirror, or more accurately, some hologram simulation Pidge might have come up with.  The French braid hanging over one shoulder didn’t particularly surprise him, he knew his own hair was getting long, it was the narrower jaw, softer lines, slimmer frame.  While the person pinning him to the floor looked like his clone, he knew that unless Zarkon’s witch had upped her genetic experiment game, she couldn’t be.  He also knew he didn’t have a sister, he’d had enough visions in the Quantum Abyss to tell him that.  So who the actual fuck was this girl that looked like his copy?

She released him without warning, getting up and extending a hand.  “Come on, I don’t bite.  Much.  I’m Keira.  And who the fuck are you, besides being my not-clone?”

Keith accepted the assistance cautiously.  “Keith.  And who the fuck are you?”

Keira rolled her eyes at him, the expression familiar even on a feminine face.  “I already told you.  Keira?  Let’s go, I know Lea’s going to want to meet you.”

“Who?” he asked, following her out of what looked exactly like the castle’s training deck.

“Lea.  Sorry.  Leandra.  My girlfriend.  What about you?”

“What?  Oh, right.  I have a boyfriend.  Lance.”

“Huh.  Even alt-me is gay.”

“Yeah.  Very much so.  Where the fuck are we?”

Keira turned around, gesturing to the walls as she walked backwards.  “This is the Castle of Lions.”

Keith stopped.  “And next you’re gonna tell me you're a Paladin of Voltron.”

Keira stopped as well.  “What else would I be.  But that means that you're one too.  Holy shit, I think you're from an alternate reality.  One where it’s very similar but slightly different.  I wanna know how similar.  How’s your dad?”

“He…died.  When I was-”

“Six?  That’s when my mom died.”

“And yours?  Your dad, I mean.”

“Blade of Marmora.”

“So’s my mom.  I think literally everything is flipped.  I think your girlfriend is the other version of my boyfriend.  Our parents are flipped.  Next you’re going to tell me that Allura and Coran are flipped too.”

“I need to find Lea,” Keira said as she turned around again, leading the way faster than before, “And who the fuck are Allura and Coran?”

Keith broke into a jog to catch up.  “Princess Allura, and Coran.  When we found them in cryosleep we thought they were the last Alteans.  Turned out we were wrong about that, but that’s an entirely separate story.”

“Oh, you mean Prince Allurant and Corranore.  Yeah, we thought they were the last Alteans too.  But then I took an accidental road trip with my dad and we found a secret Altean colony.  Met Romellus there.  He’s a little scatterbrained, but I like him.  Dad kind of adopted him.”

“Yeah, Mom basically adopted Romelle when we found her.  It sounds like all our events are the same.  Like, nothing is different except for this,” Keith said, waving a hand between himself and Keira.

“I think we should be able to figure this out with Pidge’s help.  He’s our tech genius, and probably yours too.”

“She is.”  He stopped again before following Keira.  “Goddammit, that means that Matt’s a girl here.  I don’t want to know what that looks like.”

Keira turned to walk backward again.  “Maddie’s a guy?  That dork?  But hold on, you didn’t call Pidge anything different.”

“No, she goes by Pidge and threatens to stab anyone who calls her Katie.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Pidge.  Ok, this was the last place I saw Lea.  She’s usually with Hana now.”

They were in front of the kitchen, and Keith could only assume that Hana was their Hunk.  Keith stopped short, suddenly realizing that Shiro had to have a female counterpart in this reality as well.  As much as Pidge liked to tease him about being the emo loner, he really didn’t know how to hide his emotions other than literally running, and he knew that this realization was written all over his face.

“What?” Keira asked.

“Your Shiro…”

“What?” she asked again, but the confused crease between her dark brows smoothed when she realized, “Oh…Shiro, Shirogane…yeah.  That might be…interesting…I’m assuming your Shirogane adopted sibling is a guy too?”

“Yeah.  Shirogane Takashi.  Six-three, built like a brick shithouse but is actually a massive dork, metal arm…”

Keira nodded.  “Shirogane Yukiko.  Or just Yuki.  Adalie, her fiancée back on Earth, used to call her ‘The Amazon’.  But that was before Kerberos.  Before Yuki, Maddie and Sam – Samantha Holt, Pidge’s mom – got captured by the Galra.”  She shook her head, clearing the memories of her last days at the Garrison.  “Anyway, we’re here to find Lea.  And probably Hana.”

Keira turned on her heel, soundlessly stomping into the kitchen.  Keith had met Lance’s sister Rachel before, and if he hadn’t known better, he would have thought it was her sitting on the counter, nearly knocking a bowl over with her storytelling.  Keith noticed the other girl moving around the space, Hunk’s twin sister if he’d had one.  He was distracted enough that he didn’t see the other two people at first.  Not until a familiar high-pitched shout of his name came through.

“Keith!” Lance yelled, leaping over the counter.  He stopped when he got closer, cautious.  “You are my Keith, aren’t you?”

“Probably?  As long as we’re still together and you still leave dirty clothes all over the floor.”

Lance made a shrill indignant sound.  “…Yeah, that’s fair.  Ok, you are my Keith.”

“Well, fuck, Lea, you’re the same in every reality,” Keira said, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend.

“Rude.  Laundry is not as important as good skin care.  Not that you’d know anything about that,” Leandra shot back, muttering something about shower soap not being anywhere near the same thing.

“What?  Soap is soap,” both Keith and Keira said at the same time.

Hunk and Hana just shared a look and sighed.

~*~*~*~

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* | 20* | 21* | 22* | 23* | 24* | 25

[kidge-planet]

HEAR ME OUT.

Keith started to show interest in Pidge right after season 7... ( Or during...)

I already have done a post about why.. ( like, keith getting mature and finally found all the answers he needed...) BUT...

I was watching vld for the 8838228742883 time and I noticed a few stuffs and thought: "wait, but Keith has been through the quantum abyss... He saw stuffs that we don't know about...

What about he saw his future and saw that he was ending up with a short nerdy girl?

What about he questioned himself about it multiple times after seeing this? (He has never really thought of her more than friends before...)

How about he realized something?......

HOW ABOUT HE NOTICED THAT HE LOOKED HAPPIER AND HEALTHIER IN THAT VISION?!!!!

And since that realization, he saw in her more than a friend, or at least a friend for now...

He gave everything to keep her safe and to spend more time with her...

And he did it! He got the girl!

Idk if that even makes sense, im tired (4am where I live... I should get some rest..)

I'll check that post tomorrow and correct everything that needs to be corrected...😭😭

[hystericalcherries]

aeon (6/6)

Pairing: Keith/Lance Words: 10.5k Rating: M Warnings: mild violence Tags:  Post-Season/Series 07, quantum abyss, Flashbacks, Flashforwards, Prophetic Visions, Visions in dreams, Mind Control, Dimension Travel, Boys Being Boys, Falling In Love, Mutual Pining, Gay Keith (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron) when the going gets tough... the tough write fix-it fics, Allura (Voltron) Lives, because fuck you jds and lm

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 

Summary:

Keith does not leave the quantum abyss untouched.

“Home can be anything, you know,” Lance says in lieu of a conversation starter.

Slivers of moonlight filter through the blinds above their heads, casting lines of truth across the sheets. Lance tilts his head forward and a band slides over his eyes, catching the ocean in them and drawing Keith into their rolling tides. And as distracted as he is, he doesn't put up a fight when a hand clasps his own, reeling them heartward.

“Home is just something you can come back to.” His knuckles brush against the soft fabric of a nightshirt, the v-neckline falling loose to reveal a sharp collarbone, and Keith feels his breath hitching. “Something that keeps you grounded.”

READ IT ON AO3

The day of the Alliance Feast comes and Keith finds himself sulking in a corner as he watches an alien chat Lance up.

Allura had stuffed them all in Altean formal wear, color-coded and high-collared, capes draped tastefully across their shoulders. The material of the suits are surprisingly breathable despite all its excess, stretching and bunching up in just the right places to cut them all into impressive figures. The princess had been very particular in how she wanted them all to look and had forced herself into more than one fitting room back at the Garrison; Shiro’s hair is slicked back, Hunk’s headband folded into the pocket of his jacket, Keith’s loose ponytail tied with a red ribbon, Lance’s waist adorned by a silver chain and Pidge’s glasses exchanged for a sleeker pair. If the star-eyed looks they’ve been receiving ever since they landed on New Altea is anything to go by then she must have succeeded.

Lance, Keith must admit, looks particularly dashing. His suit makes his shoulders look broader and it’s a problem. More so because it’s obvious that the red paladin isn’t the only one to take notice, more than one individual coming forward to introduce themselves to the friendliest member of Voltron.

Keith glares.

The alien doesn't take the hint and keeps talking, going so far as to place one of their four hands on the blue paladin’s upper arm when they laugh. Lance looks pleased.

“You should go talk to him.”

A crick forms in his neck when he jerks to attention at Allura’s voice. She fills up the once empty space next to him, having somehow snuck up on him, wearing low heels and a pale pink dress; she looks the epitome of aristocratic, with jewels dripping across her collarbone and dangling from her ears. His heart jumps at her words when they finally register, unable to help the quick glance he sends to the tables. “No,” he says immediately, turning away when he catches the unilu delegate peering at him from over the blue paladin’s shoulder. “He looks fine where he is. I don’t want to butt in.”

The princess frowns, obviously displeased at his reluctance. She crosses her arms and juts out a hip in a move that’s far too Keith-ish in nature for his liking. “You know, Lance loves to dance and—”

“Awesome,” Keith grouses.

Allura glares. “—and I’m sure he would say yes to one if someone asked.”

There’s no denying that the blue paladin has had no shortage of dance partners; ever since the band had started playing the boy had been on and off the dancefloor, spinning past him with someone new every few minutes. Some bitterness sneaks into his tone when he says, “I’ve noticed.”

“Now that’s not fair. You’ve had all evening to make your move. Don’t be upset that others are doing what you can’t.”

The words sting and Keith isn’t quick enough to hide it.

Allura’s expressions soften and he bristles a bit, less at the thought of being the recipient of someone’s pity and more knowing that he’s actively doing everything to deserve it. “Keith,” she says, and it’s soft and encouraging. “You are one of the most courageous people I know and you’ve faced things far more imposing than this.” She ducks her head to look him in the face. “It’s just Lance.”

“I know,” he says eventually, making a visible effort to relax. He sighs. “I know. It’s just… I don’t want to mess it up.”

“There’s nothing to mess up,” she assures, touching his arm. “Lance is a fellow paladin and, more importantly, your friend. You’ve been through much together and nothing could break the bond you have because of it.” She pauses, carefully manicured hands digging into his sleeve. “And if he’s the one from those visions of yours then talking to him would be the first step towards the rest of your life.”

He really regrets telling her about the flashes.

“It’s him, isn’t it.” It’s more of a fact than a question and Keith can’t even conjure up the energy to deny it.

Lance laughs again.

At his silence, Allura gasps. “I knew it! Oh! How romantic! It’s just like those books Hunk recommended to me, but better because—well, this is real, isn’t it?” Her hands clap together excitedly. “To think, the history you share is just a precursor of what is to come. It must be destiny!”

“Allura,” he warns.

“If he is from the visions, then you mustn’t just talk to him. You have to dance with Lance too! Keith, you absolutely must!”

“I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“And why not?”

“Because, well, we’re not… it’s complicated. Plus, I don’t really dance.”

Allura tuts at him, booping him on the nose as she takes on a tone of one talking to an ignorant toddler. “Not with that attitude, you don’t. Come on. It will be fun.”

“And what if I don’t wanna have fun?”

The princess purses her lips and she tugs at his sleeve impatiently. He resists when she makes a move to drag him away from his corner, twisting away from her with a scowl. Knowing of her strength and how it outmatches his by miles, he karate chops her other hand when it reaches out for him. She gasps, offended at his defiance, and then redoubles her efforts.

“Why must you be so difficult?” she growls, circlet slipping over one pointed ear as she shoves herself in his space. Her elbow digs uncomfortably in his gut as her other hand fumbles for the wrist of his hand. “I’m only trying to help.”

“Allura, I swear—”

“Well, don’t you two look cozy.”

The two freeze and it’s almost comical, getting caught like this—the red paladin and the altean princess, important figures in their own right, mid-scuffle and cursing at each other—yet Keith doesn’t laugh. Doesn’t laugh because while they had been arguing, a figure had snuck up on them. A figure with very broad shoulders.

Allura recovers first. “Lance!”

The boy belonging to the name smiles. “Mind if I cut in?”

“Of course!” Allura gushes, letting go of Keith and all but pushing him at the blue paladin regardless of the fact that he hadn’t specified who he wanted to dance with. She takes a moment to fix her appearance, smoothing down hair and adjusting her dress, looking haughty. “I’ve gotta find Coran and make sure he’s not overdoing it on the nunvill, so you boys enjoy yourselves.”

And with that, she leaves. Leaves Keith in the middle of a party with his bonafide first and only crush.

He looks up and meets Lance’s eyes. It’s been months since he came back from the abyss and the half inch he had over the other boy is gone now, making them eye level. He knows neither of them are done growing and their heights will continue to change but Keith finds that he likes it this way for now.

“So,” Lance starts, biting his lip. “Dance?”

A quick look across the hall and his stomach flutters nervously. “I’ve never really…”

But Lance is already moving right along, grabbing his hand and tugging him in the direction of the dancefloor. Dazed, Keith lets it happen, focus torn between their clasped hands and the back of the other’s head. The crowd parts easily for them, curious looks and whispers following at their heels only to be hastily hidden when he glances away from the pinking ears of his partner. Lance must be determined to ignore their audience, expertly spinning Keith around to face him and guiding their bodies in a starting position.

The music is already in full swing and Lance takes a step to match that of the other dancers, gently tugging Keith along in a strange mix of a waltz and shuffle, confident where he is stiff.

After maybe a half a minute where they steadily avoided each other’s eye, Keith speaks up. “Is this something we do now? Dance.”

Blue eyes flicker past his face and he doesn't have to imagine the silent conversation that's happening over his shoulder. Lightning quick he looks behind him, but, much to his chagrin, Hunk has already schooled his expression from where he sits at one of the many tables and is staring back at him with all too innocent eyes.

Lance clears his throat and Keith turns back to a nervous smile. “Yeah, I thought we could try it out… See how you—er, we feel about it.”

There must have been something in the drink he had earlier of his because Keith can feel himself melting.

“It’s nice,” he says, watching as the other boy’s smile turns into something more lighthearted. “I’m not very good but, yeah, it’s… it’s nice.”

Eyes twinkle in the warm light. “I think it’s nice too.”

There’s a bit of a hitch in the music and Keith spies a few of the musicians being switched out, exchanging string instruments for ones that look like a cross between trumpets and accordions. It must be getting later in the evening because some of the dancers leave, replaced by a much younger crowd. He spots a few familiar faces, both humans—Atlas technicians, old classmates, Garrison faculty—and aliens—bounty hunters, altean colonists, royal dignitaries—all unabashedly shedding their professional appearance in exchange for a good time. The energy pulses upwards, pushing them closer together and causing the weird rumbling in Keith’s chest to give way to butterflies, transparent wings brushing along the inside of his ribs in a way that has his heart thumping madly.

When the song increases in tempo Keith accidentally steps on Lance’s foot. He cringes. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Lance assures. ”Just lighten your steps and pretend it’s a training session. Move with me, not against me.”

Keith tries the step again and nearly trips over his own feet when he miscalculates how many times his partner would step back, causing a table of girls nearby to twitter with amusement at the sight of him. Lance doesn’t mock him for his clumsiness, just adjusts his hand so it presses a bit lower on his back; Keith feels the touch like a brand, barely catching onto the way his palm shifts in accordance to the next step.

It gives Keith something to focus on and, eventually, he falls in line with the steps.

“See? You’re a natural.”

Keith snorts and Lance grins, proud. “Not really—not like you anyway. How did you get to be so good?”

“I'm Cuban,” he says as a means of explanation, swinging his hips leisurely with the beat a drummer starts playing, obviously enjoying himself. It’s… distracting. Especially when the song changes to something with more bass and he lines their bodies together, starting up a heavy sway that Keith falls into after the initial jerk of surprise. Then there’s a thigh fitting between his legs and Lance is letting go of one hip to guide his gloved hand to the small of his back, casual as can be as the boy rolls back into the touch.

“This is, um.” Keith takes in a shaky breath. “I’ve never done this before.”

“Yeah, I don’t think there are many opportunities for this out in the desert. You really missed out—the Garrison dances always ended up this way. Didn’t matter how many chaperones they assigned.” Lance’s voice is level with his ear, their cheeks brushing as they move to the music, causing goosebumps when he feels the contradictory smooth-roughness of the other’s freshly shaved skin. “But we’ll count this as making up for all the ones you missed. Better late than never, right?”

Breathing is difficult but Keith manages it, if only just. “Right.”

Lance makes a noncommittal hum, pressing closer to let a couple trip pass them. Keith watches them go from his view over Lance’s shoulder, only slightly scandalized when the shorter alien unabashedly slips a hand over their date’s backside. It causes his hand to twitch, the pad of his thumb finding the indent of his partner’s lower back through his suit. With a startling clarity, Keith realizes how far his hand has fallen and tenses, waiting for Lance to notice and take offense.

But nothing happens. No one comments on how close the two paladins have gotten, probably because they aren’t the only ones to do so. The dancefloor is a mesh of bodies, all moving to whatever dance they know and hiding them from the view of the spectators sitting at the tables. He’s not pushed away in disgust, nor is he laughed at. Instead, Lance drapes his free arm over Keith’s shoulder, smoothing down the baby hairs at the back of his neck.

It gives Keith the courage to glance over; he spies half-lidded eyes and a warm flush under golden skin. Enticed by the fluttery feeling low in his gut, he settles his remaining arm over the other’s bicep, just above the edge of his elbow-length gloves. A slow inhale, followed by an even slower exhale, and the pulse under his fingers jumps.

He’s never been held like this before, as if he was the beginning of an addictive end.

The song—the fifth they had danced to and Keith deliriously wonders where the time had gone—starts to come to a climax, and Lance stirs. He looks at the band, then the other dancers and then Keith. There’s something in his eyes and it’s like taking a deep breath before diving under, adrenaline-inducing, willing to be pulled wherever the current takes him. The moment builds like a cresting wave—higher and higher, curling with seafoam and impending desire—until Keith is sure that they're going to crash together, that he’s going to lean in closer and kiss him. Involuntarily, he slips his eyes closed.

“And now, the big finish!”

His eyes fly back open. "What—"

But Lance is already twisting them around and throwing himself backwards. And Keith has no choice but to hastily lean with him, biceps flexing as he tightens his grip around Lance’s waist and hastily puts pressure between his shoulder blades. The top of his head barely misses cracking against the floor. Still, Lance cackles like it’s great fun.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Lance says too loudly when they’re back to standing normally, clapping with the rest of the crowd as the band announces their fifteen minute break. The moment officially over. “I usually drop my partners when I try to dip them.”

“That was embarrassing.”

“Eh, you liked it.”

A little called out, Keith hunches his shoulders and scowls. “I did not.”

But Lance goes on like he didn’t say anything, giving him a million-watt smile. “We did pretty well, all things considered. Probably cause we make such a good team.”

And how is Keith supposed to keep things together when he goes and says things like that? All sincere and butterfly-inducing. “Yeah,” he tells the boy, feeling brave and scared and more than himself, making it so that the back of their hands brush. “We really are.”

After that the party winds down.

The crowds thin and people start saying their goodbyes, respectful salutes paving way for hearty handshakes and more than one inebriated embrace. There seems to be a line forming in front of Allura, everyone wanting a final word with the princess before the night is officially over; Keith merely gives a wave as he and Lance pass her by towards where Hunk and Pidge dally around the buffet table, thinking nothing of the quick smile she gives in return before looking at the diplomat talking to her, knowing that he’ll see her tomorrow at their usual movie night.

Hunk is polishing off his plate of what looks to be pigs in a blanket while Pidge shoves leftover hors d'oeuvres into her shoulder pack. “I’ve got to get this recipe,” the former is saying when the pair come within hearing distance, looking up at the sound of their footsteps and doing a triple take before not-so-subtlety nudging his smaller companion with his elbow. With both gazes trained on them, Hunk gives a too-innocent smile. “Looks like you guys had fun. How was the dancefloor?”

“Crowded,” Keith replies at the same time Lance says, “Cozy.”

The yellow paladin’s eyes flicker between them. “Okay, yeah. Well, we were gonna head out soon… Are, um, you guys gonna…”

“It is getting pretty late,” Lance agrees, leaning forward to steal the last bit of the food from Hunk’s plate before slipping around Keith and draping an arm across his shoulders. He pops the finger food into his mouth and makes a show of chewing loudly when Keith frowns. “You’re going back to the Atlas, right?” he asks him, oblivious or uncaring of the two pairs of eyes that dissect the entire interaction. “Do you think I could hitch a ride with you? I’m staying with Veronica tonight and I think she already left.”

“Sure.”

“Cool.” Lance leans away far enough that he nearly topples the two of them over and Keith has to lightly brace his hand on the other’s waist to better balance them. “See you later, paladudes.”

They four exchange fist bumps and then the red and blue paladin are angling themselves towards the exit, Keith trying not to combust when their arms stay wrapped around each other. More than one eye sticks to them and even more bodies put themselves in front of them to give a deferential goodbye; Lance takes it in stride, giving a sincere wave here and an over-the-top wink there, and it more than makes up for Keith’s own stilted replies. He only blunders once and that’s when Shiro catches his eye over the brim of a champagne glass, smile smug and unbearable.

Finally, they make it to the building’s transport dock where the Black Lion sits docilely.

The forcefield dissipates before Keith even asks and there’s a low rumble in greeting when the pair walk up the ramp, which Lance reciprocates with a light pat to one of the wall panels before following Keith to the cockpit. Then it’s just a means of setting a course to the Atlas and watching the stars pass them by as the mechanical lion does the rest.

The Atlas is empty save for the night shift, all of whom pause in their work up in the control room to watch the Black Lion land and the two paladins that exit it make their way across the room. It is almost eerie how their footsteps sound like a military march in comparison to absolute quiet that reigns once the cabin pressurizer comes online but Keith doesn’t give himself any time to consider it, not when he has a preferable distraction walking alongside him. Lance fills in the silence easily, looking princely as he charms Keith with anecdotes of parties past, laughing alongside him as he recalls the time he had won the Winter Formal crown and the resulting awkward dance that had followed, set to an early century song that he attempts (and fails) to beatbox. It makes the trip up to the floor with their quarters all the more enjoyable and when it’s over, Keith wishes it wasn’t.

Lance flashes a smile at him. “Night, Samurai.”

He sighs in return. “Night, Sharpshooter.”

Then the boy is turning around, disappearing down the hallway with only one look over his shoulder. And Keith, not wanting to look more foolish than he already has by getting caught staring at the spot his crush had occupied, quickly unlocks his door and slips inside.

His mother is in the kitchen, slicing up something that looks like a blue tomato, and looks up when he lingers in the doorway. “You’re back,” she says neutrally, transferring the food to a serving platter and pointedly ignoring the cosmic wolf that watches her every move, drool starting to collect at the base of his largest molar. “How was the party?”

He shrugs. “It was alright.”

“Just alright?”

He shuffles away and into the living room, collapsing onto the couch. His neck cranes back, giving him a perfect view of the ceiling tiles. There’s a scorch mark in the top-right corner from when Kosmo had mistaken one of Krolia’s blasters for a chew toy. He squints at it, thinking, and his mind instantly snags onto the phantom brush of thighs and the strum of an alien guitar. Mouth dry and more than a little embarrassed, he squeezes his eyes shut.

The couch dips slightly and then a clawed hand is stroking his hair, pushing his bangs out of his face and behind his ear. The gesture quells the loud noise in his chest and he lets his head dip to the side, heated cheek squished against the cool felt of the couch.

“It was maybe more than alright,” he finally answers. For some reason, it’s this admission that had him blushing and curling his toes in secondhand gratification. “I had fun, more fun than I thought I would have anyway.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

She doesn’t ask, but he knows she wants to know. Better yet, he wants to tell her.

“Everyone was there.”

She hums and continues to comb through his hair.

“Shiro, Pidge and Hunk and Allura. Lance too.” A pause where he clears his throat, far from casual. “We danced.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Yeah, it was—nice.”

They sit in silence for a bit and his mind lingers on the dance he had shared that evening. He plays it on loop, going over every detail until he could sketch it out on paper, framed and made all the more real. Eventually Krolia stops her grooming in favor of offering him a slice of the strange fruit; he takes it and plops it into his mouth without question, surprised at the sweet taste.

“It’s weird, feeling this way,” he says absently, grounded but with his head in the clouds. “Weird that this is where I am. That life’s like this now.”

“The universe works in mysterious ways,” she tells him with a hum and he would scoff at such a cliche saying if it weren’t for the way his mother says it so genuinely. “Sometimes, it takes a lifetime and a half to find your place in it. I’m glad you’ve found yours.”

The flashes start coming faster and—

—Lance’s warm hand in his as they walk through a line of stalls selling alien wares. Merchants offering gossamer scarfs the same shade as the rising sun and jewelry that shines like they’ve been plucked straight from the night sky. Gaggles of children running through the streets, laughing as they dodge through the crowds. An ornate dagger purchased and gifted—

—fingers gently rubbing a sticky substance over the stretch of his cheek while a voice drones on about the benefits of skincare—

—his shoulder leaned against a doorway as he watches Lance address a class full of recruits, eyes twinkling when they catch sight of him hidden in the shadows. The loud trill of a bell and the shuffle of children eager for lunch, tempered by the arms wrapped around his neck and the kiss bestowed on his cheek—

—the shudder that goes through him as they rock into each other, skin sweaty and breathes loud. Hands gripping his thighs and his teeth nipping at an exposed neck, leaving marks so the world would know who they belonged to, now and to the end. Words whispered in the dark just as stars burst across his vision—

—eyes connecting over a crowd, secretive and happy—

—Keith fumbling with the black box in his pocket as he paces their room, repeating the words he wants to say to the man that he loves, nervous and excited and everything that comes after—

—he never wants them to stop.

They are hanging out in Keith’s room three days after the ball, sitting on the floor and leaning against his bed as they enjoy each other’s presence. Between them, Kosmo rolls onto his back, expecting belly rubs now that they’re no longer distracted by the show they had been watching, ending credits rolling after twenty-three minutes of terrible storytelling and bad animation. Lance is talking with the assumption that Keith will listen, going on loudly about how his character in the show is the main protagonist while delivering pats to the space wolf.

And Keith is… distracted.

Distracted in a sense that he can’t focus—or rather, he can’t stop focusing. On the energetic hand gestures and the expressive emotions that flit across Lance’s face as he speaks, pausing intermittently in order to coo at Kosmo and ask his opinion on things, always answered with a happy pant and an excited tail wag that has the blue paladin nodding sagely before continuing. He focuses on the way he feels now, in this moment, content like he’s never felt before.

A wet tongue licks a stripe up Lance’s cheek and he rears back, half disgusted, half charmed, and Keith can’t keep quiet any longer. Just blurts out, “We should do something this weekend.”

His friend blinks owlishly. “What?”

There’s fire coursing through his veins, invigorating him. It gives him courage to continue, to make so that the flashes are no longer flashes but memories. “I said we should do something this weekend. Do something together.”

“Yeah, okay.”

The casualness of the answers makes him think that the boy doesn’t quite understand the request. Assumes what he’s asking is for something they’ve always done. They hang out all the time, yes, but this is different. He wants this to be different.

“No, I mean we should go out this weekend.” Keith sends him a certain look, waiting for Lance to catch on.

He doesn’t catch on. “Huh?”

Dark eyes roll toward the ceiling and Keith shakes his head, and there’s that something again and oh, it’s fondness—it’s a look of fondness quirking his lips.

“What I’m saying is…” He takes a quick moment to shift on his hip so that their knees are almost touching and, after a moment of consideration, Keith slides his hand down and over until the tips of their pinkies bump into each other. “We should go out this weekend, like go on a ride out to town. Whatever you want, really.”

Lance’s blinks once, twice, three times, and—there. Comprehension floods and it takes only half a second before a high pitched noise scratches out of the boy’s throat. His eyes are wide, comically so, and he stares at Keith, mouth parting in an eclipse of a red moon. Then, just as Keith is committing the image to memory, he snaps his mouth shut and visibly shakes himself. “O-okay, I see. You mean like a scouting mission, right? For any lingering drones out in the desert. Well, yeah, um, as long as it’s okay with Shiro—”

“No,” he quickly cuts off, partially frustrated at the gap in communication and partially embarrassed that they would need clearance for what he has in mind. “I meant—a ride together—as in, you and me. No mission. Just us… together.”

The boy swallows loudly and Keith tracks the moment involuntarily.

"Oh.”

A lapse follows, not uncomfortable, but full. Keith buzzes in the aftertaste of his impromptu proposition and holy hell, he just asked Lance out. They’ve still yet to talk about the ball and how they had danced all night, and, despite the looks they receive from their teammates, neither of them have been brave enough to breach the silent agreement of keeping whatever feelings they had to themselves. However, now everything threatens to burst. His heart finally catches up to his words, beating in overdrive as he waits for an answer. But Lance seems not to care for the nervousness pulsing in his veins or the butterflies fluttering in the base of his stomach because he keeps up the uncharacteristic silence. It remains that way for a solid thirty seconds, until, finally, Keith can't take it anymore.

He clears his throat. “So, is that a yes?”

Lance jerks to attention, looking caught. “I, uh, what?”

“Do you want to go?”

Something incredible happens then. It’s wild and previously unthinkable, but Lance blushes.

He blinks and his vision doubles, half of it going auburn in a wash of caribbean light. He is by the waterfront, the sound of crashing waves dissolving into background noise when compared to the breathy laugh that washes over his face. Darkened cheeks lift in a smile that crinkles eyes and Keith goes a bit red himself at the image. The flash indulges him in a scene of utter bliss; velvety sand and supple lips, parting against his own.

Without thought he leans in, chasing the moment not yet passed. It causes present Lance’s eyes to go wide and it’s nothing like the cool burn of his half lidded gaze on the beach, salt drying on his lashes and sun-born freckles prickling his cheeks.

“I—ah, um. I—I’ll go.”

“Yeah?”

Lance looks away and then back. His voice is the quietest he’s ever heard. Almost shy. “Yeah.”

And it really is that easy.

The days go by slow after that, drawling in an agonizing pace. Second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour. Nearly stagnant, Keith hangs under time’s dispassionate influence, watching the clock and willing it to move. It’s a blessing when it finally hits five o’clock on the following Saturday. He stops the pacing he had been doing for the past hour and checks his reflection for the sixth time in as many minutes, tucking and untucking his shirt and running a hand in his hair in an futile attempt to tame it. When the results only further his agitation he gives up, collecting his nerves to the best of his ability making his way out the door with the intention of a quiet getaway.

Which makes him startle when he runs into Romelle outside his door, hand raised and poised to knock. “Keith! I've been sent to retrieve you!” He sees her gaze flicker down to take in his outfit—his cleanest pair of jeans, a corded necklace with a hanging Marmora pendant, and a leather jacket so new that its tag is stuffed in his back pocket—and he stops himself from turning back around and locking himself in his closet till the end of time. “Dinner is almost ready and Coran has made the most spectacular—”

“Actually,” he interrupts, unable to maintain eye contact, “I’ve got other plans.”

Romelle opens her mouth, but Keith, knowing the girl’s knack for rambling, is already speeding through the hallway.

Unfortunately for him, the living room is not as empty as he had previously thought. The yellow and green paladin are sitting on the couch, surrounded by a hurricane of blankets and pillows, the leftovers of a raid on Shiro’s candy stache sprawled across the coffee table.

“Aw, Keith, you look nice. What’s the occasion?”

Pidge looks up and over her screen, lips curling in a sly grin that instantly puts Keith on edge. “Yeah, Keith, where are you going?”

“Nowhere,” he says immediately. Then, “Out.”

“Out with Lance I bet. Isn’t your date today?”

Hunk gasps. “You guys are going on a date?”

“How did you…?” He spots his phone on the couch next to her and huffs angrily, stomping over and snatching it back. He quickly unlocks it, frowning when his last conversation with Lance immediately pops up, the other boy having sent a barrage of emojis in affirmation that their outing was still on. “Stop looking through my stuff and for the last time, we aren’t—it’s not a date. We’re just going for a ride, maybe check out the town market. It’s whatever.”

“I don’t know, that sounds a lot like a date to me. Hunk, any thoughts?”

Hunk has just one. “It’s totally a date.”

Heat flushes his cheeks. “Don’t you have your own quarters? Why are you even here?”

Pidge leans back, priggish smirk still in tact. “Matt and N-1 are having their rebel friends over and I didn’t want to third-wheel it, so Shiro said I could crash here for the night.”

Keith internally curses Shiro and his mother hen tendencies. Outwardly, he searches for the key card he’s pretty sure he left on the table the night before. His hair falls into his face as he ducks to check under the furniture and he brushes it back behind his ear, thinking maybe it would be more manageable in a ponytail.

“Look at him.” Pidge snickers. “What a schmuck.”

Hunk shushes her with a light pat of the arm. “I think it’s sweet. It means he cares. And don’t you worry Keith, I’m sure Lance will appreciate the effort you put into today. It’s also perfectly normal to be nervous for your first date— ”

“I’m not nervous and it’s not a date.”

Their response is lost when he goes to the office in the next room and searches there. But it’s all for naught because Shiro is a veritable mess when it comes to anything other than flying because there are papers scattered everywhere and it would take hours to file through even half of it.

When he comes back out, Allura has joined them. She perks up at the sight of him, but he ignores her in favor of checking in between the cushions of the armchair. However, Allura is not deterred. “Keith, Pidge and Hunk have just informed me of your date with Lance. If I may, I have some suggestions—”

“I don’t need any suggestions. I just need to leave or I’ll be late.” Pidge squawks indignantly when Keith shoves her to check her side of the couch.

“Yes, you’re right! Punctuality is very important for these types of things. Early duflax gets the wyvin, as Coran always says.” It seems pointless to mention that not once has he ever heard Coran say that. “But if I could impart some advice before you go. Now, I don’t know much about Earthen mating rituals, but Pidge tells me that courting is a common practice here— ”

“I’m not listening.”

“—gifts are imperative for a successful—”

“Can’t hear you.”

“—when you present, do so when tensions are high—”

“Allura, please, stop.”

“—and then, finally, you must lay claim—”

“I’m leaving,” Keith announces loudly, trying and failing to drown out the giggles that come from Hunk and Pidge’s side of the couch. Forget the keycard. It’s not worth this pain. “Bye. I hope you all have a terrible day.”

They are unfazed by his words, grinning like madmen as they wave. He stalks out of the room, shoulders hunched all the way to his ears as he desperately tries to block out the kissy noises Pidge is making. He can’t believe there was a time he was worried that they would be out of his life; he must have been having an existential crisis or something because this is a new level of embarrassing.

He’s so consumed in his thoughts that he nearly barrels into Shiro on his way out. It’s only the steady grip of his automated arms that Keith doesn’t crack his head against the doorframe and give himself a concussion.

“Whoa there. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just…”

“Looking for this?”

There, dangling from Shiro’s prosthetic fingers, is a familiar key card.

Keith lets out a deep breath, a whisper of relief cooling down the anxious fire within him by a few degrees. He sends his oldest friend a strained smile and takes them. “Yeah, thanks. Where did you find them?”

“Under the couch with one of my shoes, the holoscreen remote, Hunk’s headband, and Allura’s earrings. It seems like Kosmo’s starting a life of crime.”

He lets out a chuckle, unraveling just a little less. “I should probably put a stop to that.”

Shiro nods, patting his back in that sorta awkward, manly sort of way. It’s encouraging and he steps past the other man with a deep breath. Feeling more like himself, he secures the key card to his belt loop and turns to head down the corridor, promising himself that he’ll only start running when there’s no one to catch him doing it.

“Oh, Keith?”

Keith whips around, nerves already reinflating. “Yeah?”

Shiro fails to keep his smile in check. “Have fun on your date.”

And before he can even begin to retaliate, the door is sliding shut and he’s left there, standing in an empty hallway, red to his tips.

Lance looks nice. Really nice. Really, really, really nice. It’s actually a little distracting how nice he looks.

They had met up at the east end of the loading docks and Keith had fought to keep his cool when he had spotted the tall form of his fellow paladin casually leaning against a security rail. His white v-neck and ripped jeans contrasted with the industrial setting, his denim jacket faded and adorned with a couple of pins, sleeves rolled up to showcase the collection of beaded bracelets wrapped around his left wrist. But what had truly pulled it all together was the smile he had sent Keith upon noticing him.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hi,” Lance returns. “You clean up good, Mullet.”

The compliment flusters him a little and he nearly walks straight into a support beam, only just managing to avoid it with a side-step that brings him close enough to brush shoulders with Lance. “Thanks. You, uh, you too.”

Unsure of what to say next, he ducks his head and leads them to the area the coordinator had assigned him when he had called in the favor. Section A-26 is large and the usual aircraft that docks there is nowhere to be seen; instead, there his hoverbike sits, scavenged from the Blue Lion’s cave and restored to its previous glory. He hoists himself up into the seat with practiced ease and looks down at Lance expectantly.

Pink tints the other boy’s cheeks, but there’s this mischievous smile on his face as he asks, “Why do you get to drive?”

“Because I’m the one that knows where we’re going.”

“Wow, you actually have a plan. Um, okay, then where are we going? Or is that top secret?” He bounces where he stands, looking for all the word: giddish.

“It wasn’t until you asked.”

Lance looks pleased at the response and climbs up behind Keith.

The hoverbike dips a little at the uneven dispersion of weight and he offers his hand as a brace, blushing faintly when it’s taken. But thankfully, Lance doesn’t see, focused as he is on swinging a leg over the seat and scooting close enough to Keith that his chest brushes sparingly at his back. Then hands are wrapping around his middle, loose, and it’s embarrassing how responsive Keith’s body is to the touch, rolling in one long shiver that’s unmistakable. If Lance notices he doesn’t comment on it.

“Ready to roll,” he says, breath ghosting over the shell of his ear.

Keith puts on the goggles hidden in the front compartment and passes the extra pair he brought to his back seat passenger. Then it’s a matter of twisting the throttle and feeling the engine come to life beneath them, four hundred pounds of metal under his control. And it’s like it was just yesterday he was speeding across the desert with Shiro, tasting freedom for the first time, his hands gripping the handles like they were always meant to; the circumstance has changed but the feeling hasn’t and Keith, with the luxury knowing that he’s got time on his side, grins and drives.

“Woah!” Lance exclaims when Keith tears out of the loading docks, erupting into laughter when they take a sharp turn at the gates of the Garrison compound and startle the men stationed there.

Then it’s just the open desert road, flat and red-tinged. The torrid heat follows at their backs, rolling alongside tumbleweeds and whistling in the wind that buffets the nose of the hoverbike. Dust swirls under the speeder's anti-gravity fenders, curling over the shadowy silhouettes of cacti that they fly past. It brings the beds of the distance buttes into startling focus, massive against the clear sky and infinite horizon.

It takes twenty minutes to get to their destination.

Keith parks at the outskirts of the town nearest to the Galaxy Garrison, waiting for Lance to dismount before following. Their shoulders brush a bit as they stand side by side, Keith eyeing Lance as he eyes their surroundings curiously. The town market is already in full swing, tents set up and people bustling about, buying and selling wares; already, more than one individual behind a stand is calling out to them, offering a discount if they buy in bulk.

“I thought we could walk around a bit?” he says, hoping that the idea isn't too lame. “And after—well, there’s an arcade in the plaza a few streets down and they’ve got pizza.”

His fears are unfounded because Lance just grins. "Pizza not made out of green goo? Count me in."

Things go smoothly after that. The anxiety bubbling in Keith’s chest eases and it allows him the strength to grab Lance’s sleeve and tug him in the direction of a tent hosting a repository of wind chimes. From tent to tent, they go; browsing at board games from planets even they haven’t been to, giggling over misspelled words on shirts, daring each other to try gross-looking foods and petting every dog they see.

And it’s… fun. Keith is having fun.

Lance is great. He’s nice and funny and smart and actually seems to enjoy hanging out with Keith. He nods along when Keith speaks, insanely attentive, and offers his own input with great enthusiasm. They bicker too, playful jabs volleyed back and forth, easy and natural like it never was in the beginning but is now. And although Keith has never thought himself to be an overly funny guy, he finds that pulling a laugh out of his fellow paladin isn’t all that hard and even sort of a reward on all on its own.

It’s like they fit, slotting together like puzzle pieces—or flashes.

“Hey, Keith?” Lance’s hand finds Keith’s elbow. He had discarded his jacket just before they started eating, which is doing nothing to help the hot flush rushing to the apple of his cheeks. The corded muscles of forearms on display is near impossible to ignore and Keith’s eyes follow the dips and curves of his arm, the hard muscle leading up to his shoulder, the soft line of his neck, the defined jawline. “Your fries are getting cold.”

It’s the touch that has him pulling out of the confines of his thoughts, physically shaking his head and straightening his shoulders, not wanting to appear anything less than invested.

Naturally, the world seems to think Keith can’t have a single nice thing without a price because it’s just a few minutes into their meal that his phone starts to blow up with messages. A quick glance shows that most are from his mother, with a few from Shiro sprinkled in intermittently. All of the messages are ones of encouragement, some having been sent while they were driving and others steadily ignored when the two had browsed the stalls of the market.

Eventually all the small pings get to be enough that Keith has to silence his phone.

“You’re really popular today,” Lance notes, slathering an alarming amount of ranch onto his pizza. It’s only when he drowns the unsuspecting slice that he catches Keith’s surprised and guilty look that he elaborates, “Dude, your phone has been lighting up all day. I’d be blind not to notice.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s cool.”

Still, Keith feels the need to explain. “It’s Shiro and my mom. They’re… checking up on me.”

That gets a light laugh out of Lance. He brings out his own phone, showing Keith the mass of notifications on his lock screen. “I get that. I’ve gotten at least five texts asking if you’re secretly an axe murderer. I hope three years in space is enough time to confidently say that I wasn’t lying when I told them you weren’t. Would really put a damper on the day.”

“I don’t even own an axe.”

Lance’s grin grows and when he puts away his phone to continue eating, he doesn’t reclaim the few inches of space he had given away in order for Keith to see the screen. Their elbows knock a few times, but Keith doesn’t mind.

They leave the plaza in a good mood, making their way back to the hoverbike while they talk about nothing and everything. They only stop when they mount the vehicle and when Lance doesn’t ask Keith where they’re going he decides that he doesn’t want the day to be over quite yet, so he revs the throttle and heads toward the direction he knows his shack is. He eventually leads them to a hill that he and his father used to frequent when he was younger, an escape from the world long before the stars were something to shoot for.

It’s an easy hike up the hill and when they settle by the edge, their pinkies are touching.

“You can’t do that,” he says on their fourth game of tic-tac-toe when Lance brushes the dirt and erases his wobbly X, shifting it over a spot so that it blocks Keith’s next move. “That’s cheating.”

“No, Keithy boy, that’s what I call winning.”

“This isn’t a competition.”

“Isn’t it?” Que pursed lips and a sly side-eye. “If it’s not, then why did you dress up for today, huh? Trying to one up me in style too?”

“This is what I usually wear.”

“Pah-lease. Like I don’t know Shiro’s handiwork when I see it. Dude’s got an eye for colors and he did you a solid keeping with the red. Bet he put up such a fuss when you kept the fingerless gloves—they scream embarrassing scene phase that never really went away.” Lance laughs when he doesn’t immediately counter the accusation and it must fuel him because he continues. “I bet you were upset when you couldn’t find any eyeliner for our date—”

As if struck by lightning, Keith straightens.

“—probably used it all up making yourself look like an edgy, space raccoon going to some street race—”

Our date, Lance had said. He had called this a date. They were on a date right now. Officially. The two of them, together.

“—being emo. But, I mean, whatever works, you know? Sometimes you just gotta paint your nails black and—mmph!”

Keith’s kiss lands on his upper lip, hard and dry.

It’s quick, over and done within a matter of seconds. Lips tingling and heart hammering, Keith pulls back, soul leaving his suddenly flushed body when he realizes he can still feel the other’s breath on his face. He must remain in his catatonic state for longer than he realizes because then Lance’s giving him this particular frown and saying, “What was that?”

With nothing else to do, he shrugs helplessly. “It was a kiss.”

“I know what a kiss is.” Eyes search his. “Why did you kiss me? ”

“I wanted to,” he says simply. “Was that not okay?”

“No, that wasn’t… No, it was cool.”

“Cool,” Keith repeats.

Lance scratches the back of his neck. “Yeah. I liked it.”

“Me too,” he adds, looking down. A good portion of their game has been accidentally wiped away and he redraws it, purposefully putting all the X’s and O’s in their respective spots before Lance had decided to remake the rules. He nudges the other boy’s foot with his own, biting back a smile when they’re hooked together. “We can, um, stay here? If you want?”

“I’d like that.”

They stay long enough to watch the sun dip under the horizon.

As dates go, it’s the best he’s ever had.

Later, when he’s home and high off the promise of a second date, he walks into the kitchen to find his friends congregated despite the late hour.

“So,” Allura starts as soon as he walks in, boots loud on the linoleum floor, trying to appear casual as she leans against the counter and just failing. It doesn’t help that the space mice are nearly tripping over her hair as they peer at Keith from over her shoulder, adding four tiny pairs of eyes to the many already scrutinizing his every move. “You’re back awfully late.”

Romelle is no better, inspecting her nails even as her ears twitch in his direction. “Yes, how did it go?”

There’s a plate of cookies on the island counter, comically shaped like the lions and dressed in an assortment of colors. He picks up the only red one on top and bites into it, humming at its surprising sweetness. Knowing his audience still expects an answer, he attempts an aloof shrug and nails it. “It was fine.”

There’s a pause and Keith can tell something is coming. He doesn’t know what exactly, but the warning signs are all there, flashing neon when Allura steeples her fingers and gives him a look.

“And the other… thing?”

“What other thing?”

“Why your kiss with Lance, of course.”

He nearly drops the sweet in his hand and immediately goes to look through the kitchen pass-through, spotting the rumpled state of the pillows and blankets by the living room window looking out to the barrack’s hallway. That and the smudge of chocolate on the window sill, coupled with the candy wrappers sticking out of Pidge’s hoodie pouch, can only mean one thing. “Were you watching?”

“No,” Romelle and Hunk immediately deny just as Allura and Pidge say, “Yes.”

Keith fumbles for a plausible reaction. His friends had undoubtedly seen the goodbye kiss that had been exchanged between him and Lance when the latter had insisted on walking him home; it had been a memorable kiss and Keith had maybe lost himself to it for longer than he’s willing to admit, but that’s something else entirely. A little helplessly, he searches the room for a means of end for this absolute embarrassment. He finds none. “That’s—I can’t believe—uncool!”

“Lance texted me almost immediately after,” Hunk offers, as if that makes up for his eavesdropping and then denial of said eavesdropping. “He hasn’t stopped talking about how you sprung one on him. You don’t really beat around the bush, do you?”

Shiro, the traitor, nods. He ignores Keith’s death glare and takes a sip of his tea, eyes crinkling with mirth over the rim of his mug. “Keith has always been very straightforward in what he wants. A real go-getter.”

It’s at that time that Coran makes an appearance, dressed in an obnoxiously orange pajama set with a matching hat, but any hope Keith has of the older man causing a distraction and, by default, a new topic change dissipates when he asks, “Oh, are we talking about Keith and Lance’s kiss? Congratulations Keith, I hear it had quite the impact.”

Pidge looks like she’s barely holding back a laugh. “Yeah, way to go in for the kill, Keith.”

“Can we stop talking about this?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “Stop talking. Just stop talking. I don’t want to hear another word.”

Thankfully, they listen and grow quiet. It doesn’t stop the looks that are thrown his direction, especially with Allura nearly vibrating in her slippers in the effort to capture his gaze, but it’s easy to scowl and turn away. He snatches the drink Shiro holds, ignoring the other’s surprised whine, and takes a sip, ready to head to bed and purge this conversation from his mind, never to be brought up again—

“Did you use tongue?”

Keith chokes.

Hunk merely hums. “Yeah, didn’t look like it.”

Keith thought he knew what love was.

It had been an easy thing, once upon a time. It had been his dad’s hugs after a long day, the blade left to him from a mother he didn’t know, a pat on the back following a perfect maneuver from a brother he found. It was as simple as looking up at the sky and letting himself get lost, for space was everything he had ever wanted, vast and exciting and impossible. Constant and safe and easy, a look to the heavens that held every dream.

But this is new.

New in that he is utterly blindsighted and unprepared for when it happens. A change in heart, from wistful ache to hopeful relief, sudden in the wake of new love. Stitched together through time and soft words, it beats again. Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump, it goes, drumming loudly against his chest, swelling at touches that burn like supernovas, thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump.

Even more goosebump-inducing than the fire in his chest is the response it gets. Because, startling enough, the feeling is reciprocated.

No words have been said but the thought is there. It comes through in the accidental brushes that turn to lingering caresses. It’s the stretch of an arm thrown over wide shoulders, heads dipped closer as casual words are exchanged. It’s the lack of space as they sit, thighs pressed firmly together and feet idly kicking. It’s the pluck of pink petals out of dark hair, absent-minded, curling in the breeze. It’s the hand pressed against a lower back, feather-light as it guides them closer and onward.

Everything is the same, but different.

Following the date, they are still Lance and Keith, still stubborn and opinionated and more than willing to call each other out, but now—now, they’re more. Keith can talk strategy for restoration while their hands are clasped under the table; can steal a kiss during a spar and, while the other is distracted, sweep his legs right out from underneath him and ensure his victory; can argue the integrity of putting pineapple on pizza for three hours while cuddled under Lance’s arm; and can even sneak the boy into his room when Shiro and his mom are out on call, leaving the door closed and the lights off. He’s allowed to do these things—encouraged, even, if Lance's pleased as punch looks are anything to go by—to look, to touch, to hold. It’s a recently discovered niche in which they fall into, each eager to explore, and once they find their line, Lance makes a point of tiptoeing it. And Keith—well, Keith can't find it in himself to complain.

(“Like this,” the Lance of his flashes murmurs to him one night as he gets ready for bed—only for the words to be spoken again three days later as they curl into each other on the beat-up couch in his shack. “I like it like this.”)

Life shapes into something remarkable in the days of after. It becomes a certainty that the flashes had promised and Keith sometimes can’t believe it, that he gets this. Gets this and more. Because not that long ago, he had nothing—he was nothing—scraping by, sneering at everything he couldn’t have just to hide how it hurt to be denied the love he so desperately craved. But that’s the past and though it shapes him, it is not him. He is here, today, and soon, tomorrow too.

Tomorrow and every day that comes after.

In a menagerie of light, meteor showers and space whales, Keith dreams.

Even so long apart, the abyss is a physical thing inside him. It curls inside in the space behind his heart while he sleeps, coveting each heartbeat like a dragon to a horde; time does not exist in this plane and each heart beat, a remembrance to what he has lived through and what he will live through, is too enticing to pass up. It croons out a soft lullaby, asking for one last look.

Keith gives it.

It’s the sand between his toes and lips meeting his own, sun-warm and pliant to the lazy breeze. It’s the hot puff of breath at his neck while frantic hands explore. It’s the ring on his finger and the sip of champagne, glasses clinking in a toast made. It’s the weight of a child on his chest, calm and innocent, snoring lightly as a small hand fists his shirt. It’s the dip of a mattress every night, for the rest of his nights.

Keith wakes up and knows that’s the last flash he’ll ever have.

On the first day of the rest of his life Lance challenges Keith to a race.

It’s not the first time one of them has issued such a dare and it surely won’t be a last, but Keith still treats it like it’s the most important thing he’s ever done. He squares his shoulder and steps up to the plate, toe to toe, staring Lance in the eye as he accepts. It’s like old times, even with the newness between them, rearing up in the deliberate way Lance tilts his head, chin jutting out in that stubborn fashion of his, the crook of his eyebrow and the curl of his lips dangerous in ways Keith is only just getting used to.

Nevertheless, the day finds them back at the loading docks, convincing the Atlas crew to let them borrow another speeder. When Keith has signed the proper paperwork he turns to find Lance already seated on one of the hoverbikes. The red one.

Keith squints and Lance grins, but lets it go with a soft huff. He walks over to the gray bike and hoists himself with little effort, straddling the sleek seat and making himself familiar with the controls.

“Ready?” he asks once he's done.

“Born ready,” is Lance’s answer.

And, well, Keith can't let a challenge like that stand.

Without further ado, he revs the engine and shoots down the catwalk. He hears the beginning of a surprised squawk before the wind is boxing his ears, tugging at his hair, chasing away everything until it is just him and the road.

Flying is in his blood. It’s been a part of him since as long as he can remember. It was there when he sat atop his father’s shoulders, arms spread wide and leaning back as far as he dared, staring up, up, up. Fondly, he recalls the way big hands had grasped his tiny ankles and the voice, deep and honest, quoting, Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.

He had been too young to understand the words then, but he thinks he understands them now.

Though the most air he gets this time around is a particularly steep ledge over a slim ravine a quarter of a mile east from Galaxy Garrison property, it still feels the same. Like he’s taking a deep breath for the first time, lungs expanding until he is weightless, free. Free to be who he is, even if that is a boy quick to anger and slow to love.

And Keith likes who he is now. Likes who he can be—with Krolia, with Shiro and the team, with Lance.

In the end, Keith wins the race.

It’s a close call and his heart races at the thought of it. Because Lance is grinning that absurd grin, eyes crinkling with the force of it, and his hair is a mess, windblown and highlighted gold by the sun. The white shirt that clings to him is twisted and Lance makes a halfhearted effort to fix it as he quiets his hoverbike’s engine and starts talking in compensation, mouth moving a mile a minute.

“I almost had you at that last bend,” he is saying, leaning back in his seat so that his torso is one sleek slant. “I shouldn't have hesitated on the acceleration—I guess I’m just not an adrenaline junkie like you, but hey, now that I know the angle, it’ll be different. So I say we go around again. Two out of three wins. Loser has to help Coran clean the—Keith? Hello? Are you even listening to me?”

It’s not a flash, but it feels like one.

“Keith?” Shoulders rise as Lance angles his head to catch his gaze, honest concern coloring those beautiful eyes. They aren’t that close, hovebikes parked perpendicular to one another, but he swears he can see the universe reflecting in dark navy. Planets colliding and forming, spinning in orbit around a dilated pupil. “Hey, man, what’s wr— ”

“Date me.”

The words are out of his mouth before he has time to really think about them and what they mean.

Lance splutters. “What?”

But now that the idea has been introduced. Keith can't deny its appeal; to keep what they have, in all its stubborn sincerity and wild attraction, going for as long as they live. Perhaps even further than that. “Date me,” he says again, with more conviction. A pause. “Please. Please date me.”

A moment, then—

“You just have to beat me at everything, don't you?” Lance starts, loud enough to be considered yelling, but having none of the thunderous anger usually associated with the volume. “Can't even give me this one thing, can you? Well, the joke’s on you—cause it was going to be great! I had everything planned out and it was going to be the most romantic thing ever! Would've blown this disaster out of the water, I'm telling you!” He stands and, uncaring of the wobble it gives under his weight, marches purposefully across the wing of his bike until they’re parallel to one another. One of his hands waves madly about, flying across the entire range of their surroundings before gesturing to Keith himself. “Candles and rose petals everywhere! Hunk was gonna cook something nice and we would've danced and—and you were gonna swoon! Straight into my arms! There would've been kissing and everything! The whole shebang!”

Keith furrows his eyebrows, lost. “What?”

But Lance blows past his confusion and slumps to the side in an expulsion of energy, mumbling, “God, you're such a jerk.”

Hands move to grip the front of his shirt, the only warning before the entire weight of his maybe-boyfriend is forced upon him. Keith feels the wisp of eyelashes fluttering against the column of his neck as Lance smooshes his nose into the junction there, mumbling words and noises he can't hope to translate. He returns the clumsy embrace automatically, winding his arms around the other’s waist and resting his cheek on a soft, brown crown of hair.

“So… yes?”

Lance laughs a watery laugh, deliriously happy, and leans back to stare him straight in the eye, a whirlwind of blue caught in a crystal ball of stars. The grip on his shirt loosens, fingers trailing up his chest until they tease the nape of his neck. “Of course it's a yes, you absolute loser.”

Keith frowns even as his heart sings, melody erupting into fireworks so loud he might go deaf. “See, it's stuff like that last part that really mix me up.”

“Oh my gosh, just shut up and kiss me.”

So he does.

Time, like most things in Keith’s life, is something he keeps close.

[hunterguyveriv]

Sometimes a Stranger can help you Heal

Another 2 day combined into one for the Day 5 (Conversation in Black Lion) & and Day 6 (Battle Injury/Angst/Healing).

Both Keith & Acxa may seem out of character, but this is how I see the span of time between the time of Zethrid’s ship and when the lions land on the planet Acxa was stationed. It is meant to only center on Keith & Acxa

"What if she makes a move against him? We barely survived our last ground encounter with the Generals, let alone them in the Sincline ships!" The voice of an older female could be heard, "I trust my son enough to hold his own. One of our training regiments was close-quarters combat to simulate an attempted Cockpit takeover. Besides, if this Acxa DOES makes a move against him, I won't need to worry about him..."

In a matter of seconds, the mouth was pressurized and filled with oxygen. Keith landed with the full force of their weight on his left shoulder, causing it to dislocate. The cockpit pathway was now available to both of them as Black turned and rejoined the other lions. He grabbed his numb unresponsive left wrist, picking it up from the area between her navel and waist, letting it drop to the floor. Keith grimaced as the angle his arm was in caused more pain, which he couldn't focus on. 

He jumped up, holding his left arm, rushing to the cockpit. Once in, he greeted his wolf, and delicately stepped over him. He was quickly hitting some buttons on the console. The console had a loading wheel before flashing off. He promptly sat in his chair, grabbing his left wrist again and resting his arm on his hip, hand limply hanging between his legs before holding the right-hand joystick. He shifted black to regroup and take the point in the formation.

Acxa was a mere 50 seconds behind him when she entered the cockpit. She saw Keith deliberately not using his left arm but saw some movement out of the corner of her eye. She saw and wast both shocked and startled that he had an injured Tlvdatsi Wolf. She looked back at the paladin, trying to figure him out. Figure out how the ruggle he got an animal supposedly extinct due to Zarkon hunting them down, wanting to unlock their teleportative abilities. She sat down slowly next to the wolf, not to seem aggressive or to jostle it, causing more pain. As she sat down, the wolf whined in pain, causing her to instinctively stroked his fur and prove some sort of comfort.

Over the comms came the voice of the one she knew from the Weblum as Hunk "Guy's we need somewhere to do close by to land and charge the lions! They can't take much more." A soft voice came from the floor, "I know of a place you can hold out." Keith looked at her as she typed on her gauntlet, "Go to Planet Verolgah-VI. You can lay low for as long as needed while they charge up."

Keith typed in the Planet's name and saw it would take 8 hours at their current levels to get there. Plotted a course, and everyone followed. He turned to face her and thank her for everything she had done, but she had fallen asleep next to his wolf. Stroking his fur gently, she had one of the most peaceful looks on her face.

She was woken up by some strained grunting. She looked up and saw a helmetless Keith standing near the cot for the Black Paladin. He had his hand in between the railing to get in it and the wall. He had is bayard in his mouth, chomping his teeth, which some looked Galra, and some looked human on it as he tried twisting his arm. She heard a growl escape his throat, which prompted his wolf to lift his head and look at him cocking his head. She saw him twist his arm relatively fast and yank. She heard a sigh come from him as he reached up and stroked his shoulder a little, telling her it was dislocated. She watched with abated interest then horror as she saw him take his arm from between the wall and railing and then slam his left shoulder full force into the wall. She winced, hearing a blood cruddling pop and a Yelp-like growl from being his bayard.

She watched as he flexed his left arm, even open and close his hand. He took his bayard from his mouth and let it dematerialize into its storage area in his leg armor. He turned, seeing her watching him, causing his cheeks to burn "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." She waved her hand slightly and stiffly got up "It's all right, but if you needed help you should have asked." She got up and felt his left shoulder region for any severe damage.

Keith stopped feeling heat around his neck, "I know, but I'm still not used to asking for help." She rested a hand briefly on the space between his chest armor and shoulder pad. They stood there in awkward silence for a group of seconds before getting flustered. Keith went back to the pilot's seat. Acxa sat on a small ledge to his right, "But you are the leader of Voltron." 

Keith typed on his console's right panel, transferring power and controls back to the left side. He flexed his arm briefly before taking the left joystick releasing a sigh of relief. He looked back at her with a somber look, "Ever since my father died and and my mother-Krolia was out of the picture since I was a mere baby, all I could rely on was myself." Acxa to tell he was still hurting from his past as he looked back to his view screen, "Sure I had Shiro after he recruited me for the Galaxy Garrison and eventually became a type of brother figure to me, but��"

"You still remained an outcast." He nodded as she finished his thoughts. "Even now, when I am with the team it feels like I am still kept at a distance." She sat there intently, "but what of the one called, I think Hunk, from what I remember of the Weblum, he seemed like he was trying to get close."

She saw Keith reach up and touch the area of his right trapezoid and breastbone area. "Yeah, during a trying time, besides Shiro filling that brotherly role, of the team he was the only one who bothered trying." She looked at him, puzzled, causing him to sigh and looked at her. "I was in a dark place leading up to the battle in which Voltron fought Zarkon. Up to possibly a week prior to that battle, I had gone my entire life believing I was human. That was until I met a Blade member by the name of Ulaz."

He reached a concealed compartment that had mostly chewie snacks for his wolf, which prompted his wolf to get up and sit next to his arm, nuzzling it for some, along with his knife. He grabbed a couple of pieces of dried meat for the wolf and his knife. The wolf eagerly took the chewies and ran to "Daddy's Cot" and jumped on it.

Acxa, in a very long time, giggled at the defeated sigh but put her attention back on Keith. "My beliefs that I was completely human started to falter when Zarkon said, 'I fought like a Galra Soldier' which don't get me wrong was quite a compliment in itself." He saw her nod, "As you should." He held his knife forward, the same knife that transformed into a large sword at the Kral-Zera "But it was seeing this emblem on Ulaz's weapon that shook my foundation."

"Once we met with the Blade of Marmora to be potential allies against Zarkon, but things nearly spiraled out of hand until Blade-Master Kolivan put me through the trials in which I awoken the blade." As he put his knife in a secret hilt, he had specially made for his armor, "That is when you learned you were Galra?" He looked at the timer to reach the Planet that her base was on compared to the remaining power time for the lions, it was cutting it rather tight "Correct." He went back to piloting Black. "How did the others react?" 

She could see she struck a still-raw nerve with his demeanor change, "Sorry…" He politely waved her off, "No, no, it's okay." He initiated the auto-pilot, he shifted to face her. "Lance, the loud pain in the ass actually didn't insult me about it. He said it even made sense since I made Galra consoles work, and the jacket I wore before leaving for a time reminded him of Sendak's armor. Pidge, she looked at it from a scientific standpoint and Coran. Coran told me he already knew, but felt it wasn't his place to tell me.

"Is that why you helped me out in the Weblum?" She saw him smirk, "Yes and no." She gave him a puzzled look. "Honestly I had no idea you were Galra until I saw your insignia. But my father who was a firefighter, had taught me from a young age that if I saw someone in need regardless of who they are you help them." "Sounds like he was an honorable man," she placed a hand on his forearm. "He was, infact that is how he met mom. Watching a vision from the Quantum Abyss, she crashlanded on Earth preventing a scout from revealing the location of the Blue-Lion…" Smirking quite ironically "something that still irks Allura quite a bit."

That last bit, she barely caught, but something definitely caught her attention "It seems, we are destined to keep crossing each other's path." He looked at her, "Oh?" "Affirmative. According to you, we met the same way your parents and ever since, we have been crossing each other's paths." His face in a matter of Milliseconds to a sudden realization, "You may be right!"

"But why… wait, what about Allura's reaction?" "Maybe because of it? We had grown close before the revelation. We were always stealing glances from one another when others weren't paying attention. Of all the Paladins she was always eager to join me, even was the toughest on me because Red was her father's lion. But it all changed after my trials..."

Acxa could tell he was still hurting. Hurting that, he experienced something that she, Lotor, Narti, Zethrid, and Ezor grew used to in nearly a quarter of a century. "All she saw was me as a Galra. Keep in mind I had a lot on my plate, I needed support from my team, my ENTIRE, team. But she cut me so deep that I was willing to take a suicide mission. Even after her… attempt of an apology, how could I lead someone who didn't want me there in the first place." Acxa nodded, sensing there was more anger and bitterness under the surface.

"Well it's her loss." She placed a hand on his and squeezed it softly. "You will find someone worthy of your devotion." Turning to hide the blush on his face, "Maybe I already have." He flipped his hand over, so their fingers intertwined. They gazed into each other's eyes briefly faces slightly red and purple before the proximity alarm brought them back to the immediate reality.

Planet Verolgah-VI was approaching fast, with systems starting to shutdown. Acxa uploaded a map to her base, which Keith sent to the rest of the lions. She even announced over the comms that they have to be careful entering the atmosphere due to Ion storms that had a tendency to appear out of nowhere. Keith gave the order to put their helmets back on and divert life support and any other unneeded energy to thrusters. Seconds before entering the upper atmosphere, more and more systems start to fail in the lions, "Anyone who isn't piloting, strap in! This is going to be rough!"

[subtlehysteria]

CHAPTER 3: THE SPACE WHALE CHRONICLES

Space and time works differently in the Quantum Abyss. Keith and Krolia have to learn to adapt to their new surroundings as they await passage to the next stop on their mission whilst also experiencing flashes of the past and the future. With so much time on their hands, can Keith and Krolia finally connect as mother and son or will sharing painful memories of the past only cause a greater rift to grow between them?

Find out what visions of the past and future await them in Part 7 of the Surviving Space With Your Ex-Fiancé series

[troglodytemonologue]

kiss me goodnight, not goodbye (6916 words) by TroglodyteMonologue Chapters: 1/2 Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron) Characters: Keith (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Krolia (Voltron) Additional Tags: Family, Romance, Fluff, Hopeful Ending, Pining Keith (Voltron), Quantum Abyss (Voltron), Angst Series: Part 2 of tonight, tonight, it all began tonight Summary:

Keith nods back at the record player over his shoulder. “You are so old school, you know that? With your hair like that and your taste in music, people are really gonna think you’re an old man,” he jokes and he wants, desperately, for Shiro to look up with a grin and give him a cheeky, yet graceful retort.

“It’s classic, not old school. Maybe you should broaden your musical horizons,” he imagines Shiro would say. But he doesn’t.

That’s when Keith sees it. The gold ring on Shiro’s left hand; warm and shiny and terrifying.

Chapter 1: On day two-hundred and thirty-seven, Keith finally sees Shiro in a solar flare vision and learns more about his best friend's future than he wanted.