#shiro's expressions are so perfect here lol

[ruvatia]

Sorry if this is a bit much with everything going on, but could I request a scenario where the Paladins + Matt & Lotor have a black s/o and they’re scared abt everything that’s happening in their country and are sad that racial injustice is happening? I’ve been rlly worried the past few days, but if this is smth too uncomfy I understand ;w; Thank you 💖💖💖

This got really long, I apologize but I turned it into half-headcanons with just the main paladins-- i apologize for not doing all the characters you’ve mentioned, but I don’t think they would fit all in a single post anyways www

On another note I hope you and every other reader take good care of their mental health; it’s important to be aware of what’s going on but it’s also important to be in the right mindspace to be able to tackle everything that’s being shared. It’s pain that’s been boiling for a very long time and there is absolutely no shame in taking some downtime to recover before heading back into current issues.

SHIRO:

If you were saddened, Shiro would suggest that maybe you switch to something else; if there was something that he knows will distract you and temporarily have you be a little more at ease, he’d do that!

But also maybe add a little twist-- extra soft blankets (fresh out of the oven! Screw the bills you’re worth it), extra cheese on your favorite dish, whatever it is that can make your smile a little wider, bigger or brighter just let him know!

Would give you hugs if you asked, but usually Shiro pets your head and brushes your cheek for comfort

He also does this when he wants to ask something of you, but thats another story

Why the TV was still on was a mystery to you, you’d stopped listening a long time ago. Your partner besides you noticed, and you felt the hand around your shoulder tighten his grip a little, bringing you out of your thoughts.

“Hey, maybe we should watch something else?” he asked softly, brushing your cheek with his hand. “I can’t really listen to this anymore.”

“Yeah… Sure.” you replied, though it felt like an automated response more than your actual opinion.

“Okay, I’ll switch to that weird show Pidge recorded the other day, we agreed to watch it, right?” he replied, quickly grabbing the remote to change the program.

The first episode started playing, but the moment that it did, you felt cold as Shiro left your side.

“Where are you going?” you asked, your interlaced fingers the only thing keeping him close.

“Ah, I thought I’d make us something. We both kinda skipped dinner….”

He’d thought about putting something together that you’d like, maybe order dessert to surprise you but seeing the look on your face, leaving your side was the hardest thing to do right now.

So he gave in, and your both fell asleep until the doorbell rang with your delivery.

KEITH:

I have this headcanon that Keith isn’t very good with physical touch but after the end of voltron and after enough time of humanitarian relief, he learns how important it is for someone that’s in a specific state of mind

So the best he has to offer when his words fail is physical touch

Over your time together he’s learned what you need depending on your mood, and it helped him out lots when you were more vocal about it-- if anything he liked it when you asked for things that he could easily deliver, he’d do anything to see you smile

A hand came over your phone screen, Keith’s fingers lacing into yours and making you drop the device onto the crevices of the sofa.

“Why did you--”

“You’ve been staring at that thing for the past hour, biting at your nails.” he said in a worried tone. “That’s enough. We’re going to bed.”

“But it’s just--”

“We’re going to bed.” he repeated in a harsher tone, lifting you off your seat.

Keith sat down onto the bed first, pulling you into him. You both fell onto the bed, Keith quickly pulling the covers over your shoulders before his arms came around you.

“My alarm is my phone.”

“That’s nice, but we both know we have nothing to do tomorrow.” he replied right away, making you chuckle.

“Keith…” you called, your hands sneaking up to his face.

You brushed away some of his hair from his face as he gave you a complicated expression, unable to reflect the small smile you wore. He knew things were shit outside, that being apart from your family and other loved ones was a toll on both you and that lately negative thoughts have plagued you more often than not but Keith, despite his good intention was still somewhat of an awkward man.

“Thank you.”

He kissed you in reply and you both left it at that, glad that he had someone like you to meet him halfway.

LANCE:

Lots of hugs the moment he feels something is off with you

Will be a brat™ for the sole purpose of distracting you, bET

I feel like post-series Lance tries his best to be as observant as Allura and tries to understand others better-- but it didn't take a genius or incredible empath to know why your eyes looked like they were about to overflow at the sight of the news.

I’d like to think that Lance, with a big connected family is one of the paladins that very easily gets what you’re going through, wouldn’t be surprised he’s been called one or two things in his past either

That being said it doesn’t mean that he completely understands your personalized struggles with racial injustices that you encounter everyday; as another minority himself + coming from a culture and upbringing that might be different than yours, its a very different experience.

Memories flooded as the news anchor spoke about “lootings” and as you scrolled down your feed to see feeble attempts at sympathy from local peacekeepers. You sigh and retweet another thread, only to find something equally as shocking right after. You stopped commenting in quote retweets a while ago, you felt like you were constantly repeating that none of this was okay and that a reform was desperately needed. Rather than typing out your thoughts you typed out your name, address and email over and over again, signing one petition after the other.

Hearing sigh after sigh, Lance eventually put an arm around your shoulder. He startled you, but his soft voice made both your shoulders and your guard lower.

“Hey, do you want to make a midnight snack with me? I’m getting kinda hungry.”

“What about that new rule we were talking about? Not eating 4 hours before we went to bed?”

“Every diet has one or two cheat days, don’t they?” he replied, kissing one of your eyelids. “Come on, I’m sure your neck is sore from being like that for so long.”

In the end you both made some soul-food until a food-coma knocked you out until tomorrow. In the morning, you realized that Lance must’ve woken up in the middle of the night because you remember cuddling on the couch, and yet you’re waking up on the bed. Of course, still in his arms.

HUNK:

Having a sensible heart, I feel like both you and hunk would struggle a little about maintaining a healthy distance with current events.

Though overtime he would understand that keeping in touch with everything that’s going on is important, but not at the sake of burning out

His best bet, to him, to pull you out of a such a dark space is with comfort food

“Ok ppl feel like they want to eat a horse but they actually cant when they’re in that mind space Hunk, let’s make something sweet and small; something direct and straight to the point! Let’s add smiley faces on it!”

Your turned down the volume from the news, let your head fall backwards and brought up your forearm over your closed eyes. It felt warm and made it you realize that you had probably been staring very intensely at the screen as a wave of comfort hit your eyes the moment they were drowned in darkness. Letting out a deep breath, you stilled and let yourself bask in your thoughts until a familiar voice brought you back.

“Maybe a little bit more sugar? No, then it would be disbalanced. The base is already so sweet-- Ah, I have to take the cupcakes out or else they might get burned!”

You felt a smile grow on your lips, making you ignore the horrid news being broadcasted to turn to your partner that as usual, seemed to juggle ten thousand things to create a whole meal.

“What’s going on over here?” you asked, leaning over the counter to note that one of your favorite dishes was made and machines that were mostly used for baking had been brought out.

“Oh you know, just a little pick me up for my most favorite person ever.” he shrugged, but a smile soon came to his face. His hands were full but he leaned over, his lips meeting your cheek. “Things outside are a little dark, so I thought we could both use a little something nice.”

He turned on the machine after dropping a drop of dye to make it your favorite color and within a few minutes the icing was finished. Hunk scooped up a small amount on his finger and brought it to his lips and nod.

“Wanna taste?” he asked you, his finger dipping into the icing.

A mischievous grin spread on your features as you took his wrist and let his finger fall on your tongue, the sweetness quickly spreading through your mouth. The yellow paladin shivered as you let his digit hang in your mouth for longer than necessary, letting out a satisfied hum when you returned it to him.

“Tastes perfect.”

PIDGE:

She knew what could be fixed, she knew how to fix it but this meant she was also aware of how long such a transition would take

I think Pidge would be similar to Shiro: whatever she remembers that helps you be at ease, she would defect to that in hopes to maybe distract you for a while.

I don’t think Pidge is a very touchy person either, so if she reaches out to you _physically_ in worry, it’s a very clear sign she’s serious/anxious

I feel like she would reach out in other ways and then if she knew you were in a specific state of mind where touch was not useful, or if she just also wanted to try things out lol

As you watched the twisted information that was being shared on screen, another message caught your attention. Rather than a small red icon in the corner, a small window appeared in the middle of your computer screen.

<I found a way to modify notifications sent to another device.>

The video had stopped, every horrible gif about police brutality was paused and there was nothing else but the small window pidge had thrown onto your screen. You chuckled, and felt a pressure behind your working chair.

Another message popped up.

<You’ve been catching up with twitter for the past two hours. Surely you’re done now?>

A soft laugh came from you, making Pidge release a breath she didn’t know she was holding. You typed out an answer:

<Is it possible to be completely caught up with twitter? I follow like 500 accounts.>

<Okay, but half of them are just cat videos and the other half are just retweets of said videos.>

<Oh here I was thinking that this was an intervention to brighten my mood. We’re dragging each other’s follows now?>

<Oh please like you don’t want to be dragged, with that kind of follow list.>

<I can’t believe you’ve done this.>

You both laughed, before Pidge turned around and tapped your shoulder. She let her hand float in the air, yours coming to join it as a soon as your turned her way.

“Wanna take a nap?” she asked, letting her head fall onto your shoulder. “I had Chip make some hot chocolate, Hunk style.”

You squeezed her hand, putting your computer on sleep mode.

“Yeah, that sounds nice.”

[tbartss]

vld hcs from question on curious cat

My response to this question was too long for curious cat so I’m posting it all here :’))

Lance: so many different headcanons that i love. - that his dad died in an accident when he was young (like about 7) and he was mostly raised by his mom and his uncle, his mother's brother. - his uncle taught him how to shoot. Started off with shooting cans in their backyard with a shotgun because Lance's pre-diagnosed adhd was running wild, and he needed something to distract him so that he didn't drive his already busy mother crazy - he played soccer before the garrison and was actually pretty good at it - there is only a years difference between him and rachel - he is bisexual - he has adhd - he misinterpreted his jealousy/attraction of Keith as hatred/rivalry - Insecure about his position but gains more and more confidence through Voltron - Met Hunk at the garrison (but sometimes i also like to imagine them as childhood best friends :')) ) - had a reputation at the garrison as a flirt, but he never let that deter him really - he's a flirt sure, but he's just trying his luck with love. I don't think he doesn't care about the people he flirts with, he actually cares a lot, and i think if anyone would just give him a shot, that he would make a great boyfriend (I am not counting canon allurance here bc there's so much wrong with that and this is already so long) - His love language is words of affirmation and physical affection - he has a giant scar on his back, either from the explosion in s1 or the lighting electricity thing from s6 - he has scars on his hands as well from practice - someone said that he throws knives with perfect aim and honestly i love that so much i'm gonna steal it - he has brown eyes :')) - he has glow in the dark stars in his childhood bedroom and a guitar that his grandmother painted a wave on

OK LET'S MOVE ON

Keith: - His dad died when he was 10 and he ended up in foster care directly after that - He self sabotaged the good homes because he didn't feel worthy of their love/because he still had hope his mom was gonna come after him - he loves his dad so much, like so fucking much - he's a lowkey artist. like,,,, he doesn't talk about it or anything, sometimes he just doodles, or he thinks about painting, you know stuff like that - his love language is acts of service and quality time - He met shiro when he was 13 - he's homodemisexual (fav hc) - He's asian (either japanese or korean, but really any east asian is good by me) - He's never been kissed - He's never drunk before - He went to the garrison to stay with shiro and because he didn't really have anything else to do. I don't think he was particularly interested in space tbh, like yea his dad might have been vague about the stars once but i don't think it really became a drive until after he met shiro or shiro disappeared - He's emotionally mature, but expresses his feelings rather agressively - he's blunt - has multiple scars on his person, not sure whether i'm fond of his cheek scar because of the context - not really into music as such (listens to a song here and there maybe, mostly the radio but even that is like,,, eh)

Pidge: - NON-BINARY (most important one) - asexual - is a literal child, so this means she still has a lot of maturing to do in regards to how she handles things - she may be a genius, but intelligence does not equal emotional maturity - i don't really have many headcanons for this gal unfortunately :((

Hunk: - raised by his mom and his dad - has an aunt that his mother doesn't liek to talk about because she's in a scandalous relationship with her boss - LOVES gossip - sunshine, friends with everyone - samoan --> learned to cook from his mother and his grandmother (mostly grandmother) - has an uncle who's a single father of one son - has two aunts that are raising two children together - lets only shiro into the kitchen to help (he simply doesn't trust the others) - Met Lance at the garrison (although again, childhood best friends :')) ) - sexuality... i've seen some people headcanon him as pansexual but idk,,, i can't really see him with a guy despite my love for heith and hance so im conflicted ToT - i don't have a lot for my boy hunk here either im sorry :'(((

Shiro: - raised by grandpa - parents died in an accident - wanted to become a pilot/astronaut bc of his grandmother - doesn't know how to cook for shit - was goofy when he was younger - realized he was gay when he was 15 and had his first gay crush (adam) - fedora phase - japanese obv - free-spirited until he eventeually began to settle down - suffers from ptsd - that's all i have so far aaaa

Allura: - was SUPER into philosophy back on altea - bisexual - super STRONGE - organized - night owl - badass in combat training - meant to pilot the black lion after shiro u CAN'T change my mind - best friends with Shiro - is shiro's age (sorry but i don't buy the teenager bullshit, it literally doesn't make sense, i don't care what they said in canon) - LIKES SPARKLY THINGS - has trouble sometimes leaving her father's shadow

Coran: - secret love affair with Alfor or some shit idk there's a weird tension there that convinces me they were together somehow - loves Allura SO MUCH - loves dressing fancy just for kicks - knows so many unnecessary facts - SUPER funny - doesn't know how to cook either lol - banned from the kitchen by Hunk because he lowkey sabotages his food out of spite lmao - likes to think of himself as young even tho,,, he isn't,,, really,,,, - that's it i think

AAA THIS WAS SO LONG BUT IF YOU'VE READ IT ALL UMM OMG U DESERVE A MEDAL OR SOMETHING ANYWAY BYE LOL

[imashayne]

Of Clouds in the Night Sky

Just a short quick Klance thing I wrote up the other night when I should have been working on bang fics XD This idea hit me and wouldn’t leave me alone, I had to get it out. It’s rough and I plan on doing more with it later, but for now I’m really happy with how it turned out lol

“That’s a wrap!” Coran clapped his hands, voice reaching the entire stage crew, including Lance where he stood up on the bridge. Beneath him the dancers broke their poses, chests heaving and sweat glistening beneath the lights as rehearsal ended. From his vantage he could see the handful of journalists from the school newspaper gather up their things as well.

To his left one of the other spotlights went out, and Lance followed suit. He breathed a small sigh of relief as the air around him cooled without the heat of the 500 watt bulbs. As he made his way over to the lift, gantry shifting with each step, Hunk and Pidge joined him.

“-I can’t believe the university doesn’t replace any of this old ass equipment-” Pidge huffed, folding her arms as they descended. Lance rolled his eyes, this conversation again. He liked working with the old spotlights, after all it was the closest he’d ever get to them he figured.

“We should bring it up to this century ourselves.” Hunk stated in a matter of fact manner, glancing down at Lance as he fanned himself, burnt orange shirt dark with sweat, “how do you not die of heat stroke next to those lamps in that sweater?”

Ignoring how his own clothes stuck to him Lance grabbed the collar of his signature green jacket and tugged it. “Are you kidding? I’m so cool it radiates from me.” Pidge snorted as the lift jarred to a halt.

When they reached the bottom he waved the two of them off, “I’ll catch up with you guys later!”

He began to cleanup, putting props away and hanging up the haphazard pile of discarded costumes. Taking his sweet time.

“Thank you my boy, always such a help. Once you’ve finished, lock up.” After Coran handed him the keys he left. Lance scanned the deserted backstage area, dashed to the left wing of the stage and glanced out into the seats.

Finally alone.

In the quiet Lance could almost pretend, as he stepped out onto the stage from behind the heavy red curtain, that it was the hush before a ballet began. On poised limbs Lance settled in the middle of the darkened stage. He slipped his jacket off in one motion that shifted like fluid into the next and the next.

Lance began to hum as he danced, arms arching and swooping, legs spinning him before he leapt into the air.

It was the almost imperceptible sound of a camera clicking, shutter closing to capture a moment, and the flash, lighting up the empty audience seats, that broke Lance’s concentration. What should have been a perfect landing ended with him falling, knees skidding across the glossed wooden floor.

But he ignored the pain, head snapping around to find who was there, pounding of his heart the only sound he could hear.

Lance didn’t have to look hard, from the wings a kid with pitch hair that looked as if it was in need of a trim rushed towards him, a look of concern on his features. It wasn’t until he was closer that Lance recognized him. Kevin or Keegan or something like that. They’d had a few of their general classes together. A pretty boy who’d never given Lance the time of day.

He held out his hand, “are you al-”

“What are you doing here?” Lance snapped, face flushed as he knocked the offered hand away and stood on his own. He couldn’t meet the other’s gaze, hyper aware of how bare his arms were. Blue eyes flashed back and forth, trying to find where he’d dropped his sweater. There! Center stage.

“Not that I owe you an explanation but I’m taking pictures for the article.” He spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lance tried not to lung for his jacket as he snatched it up, breathing a bit easier as he jammed his arms into the sleeves.

“Why did you take a picture of me?”

Smart guy didn’t have an answer for that one, by the way his mouth slammed shut.

“Well I don’t really care why, but you better delete it.”

The other scoffed. “Fuck no, you’re not my boss.”

“Yeah, and you didn’t ask to take my picture!”

Lance grabbed for the camera, but the other dodged away. Though he looked torn. Lance tried not to think about how cute he was as he bit his lip.

“Tell you what Lance-” That stopped him up short, this guy…. This super cute popular guy remembered him? “This picture will go away if you stop by my place.”

“Wha-no? Why?”

It was the other guy’s turn to blush, but he didn’t answer Lance’s question. “You know the Gama Zeta house?” Lance could only nod. “Meet me there, Saturday, 10 am.” He turned and started out of the theater, and was halfway down the middle aisle when Lance fell out of shock.

“Hey wait what about the picture?”

“I’ll delete it when you show up!”

***

Lance’s alarm went off, but his eyes were already wide open. All night, no, all week he’d been wondering why in the hell that guy asked him over. After what he’d seen that afternoon…

His thoughts ran wild as he brushed his teeth. What even possessed the guy to ask? The nerve. His own jittered in anticipation as he blended the foundation across his cheeks. He donned his jacket to cover his arms and headed out the door.

Anxiety was like electricity through his veins as he walked the campus.

By the time he reached the fraternity he felt lightheaded. It didn’t help that as he knocked on the door he held his breath. A tall guy answered and Lance’s eyes widened as he looked up at the handsome man.

“I’m uh… I’m here for…” Lance realized he never got a name.

“Oh yeah Keith said you’d be coming by for him. His room is up the stairs, second door on the right.

Lance followed the directions, but his fist hovered, hesitating to knock. The door opened regardless.

“Hey Shiro have you- Oh hey Lance you’re early.”

Lance could feel the warmth in his cheeks, “yeah uh…”

“Come in,” Keith stepped aside and as Lance entered he tried not to be too impressed with the mullet’s setup.

“What do you want.”

“Wow okay, no pleasantries.” Keith crossed his arms, “I want you to model for me.”

Lance was speechless, something rarely seen. Not that Keith would know.

“Can I take that silence as a yes?” Keith asked, mouth turned up at the corner. Lance sputtered, turning his gaze away from that adorable expression.

“Why in the hell would I say yes to that? I told you I wanted the one picture you took of me deleted.”

Keith pulled in a deep slow breath, running his fingers back through his hair and hell if Lance didn’t want to do the same thing.

“I’ve wanted to ask you since that class with Iverson-”

“Wait, you’ve wanted a picture of me for that long?” Lance wasn’t quite following.

“Yes-No! I mean…. I’ve wanted to ask you out. It wasn’t till I saw how fucking, Lance just breathtaking you were when you were dancing that I wanted to take your photo.”

For the second time that day, Lance was speechless. He wanted to call Keith a liar. To look around for the others who might be in on this prank.

The hopeful look that shone upon Keith’s features darkened with each second that passed.

But Lance had no idea how to reply, he searched for words, but the only ones that came to mind were “lets get this over with.” Before; “wait wait! I mean…. I don’t understand, like, at all. How you could be into me, and even less so about the, wanting a picture of me front but…. But sure to the date… and the photos…. So like, lets get this over with.” These sentiments rushed out of him before he could organize them.

“Slow down.” Keith chuckled, placing his hands on Lance’s shoulders. Keith began to slip the jacket down the other’s tensed shoulders. Though a part of him wished too, Lance didn’t stop him. It wasn’t until Keith’s hands slipped beneath Lance’s shirt that he did anything at all.

“Uh, what are you doing?” They were so close that Lance could feel the other’s breath hot against his lips.

“Getting you ready for the shoot.”

“Here I thought I was already-” His heart stuttered as the shirt lifted over his head, leaving him the barest he’d ever been around another, “ready.”

“Not for what I have planned.” Keith stated, tracing a part of lighter flesh upon Lance’s torso, hopping to the next pigmented discoloration, and the next, as if connecting stars to make a constellation. Until he reached Lance’s neck, pausing at his pulse, feeling how swift his heart beat.

“Make up?” Keith murmured.

Lance swallowed and nodded.

“It’s uh… it’s called vitiligo…” Lance answered, though Keith hadn’t asked. “It’s a skin condition….”

Keith nodded, taking a step back, leaving Lance feeling even more vulnerable than before.

“Go wash your face and take the rest of your clothes off.” He gestured towards his bathroom.

“No way!” Lance squeaked, covering his chest.

One eyebrow raised and a crooked smile graced Keith’s face. “Would you like my help again?”

The door slamming was his only answer as Lance stormed to the room Keith had pointed out.

When the door opened next Keith barely glanced up as he fiddled with his camera. Lance cleared his throat, unsure of what to do now.

“You can go and sit on my bed, I’ll pose you in a sec…”

Lance glanced between Keith and the neatly made bed.

“You sure do think you’re a smooth fucker huh?” Lance’s voice was tight, and he tried to will himself to calm.

“Yeah but only when I’m really into someone.” He shot a smirk up at Lance, eyebrow raising, “you’re gonna have to take the towel off.”

“I bet you say that to all t-the p-pretty…” his voice stuttered to a halt as Keith took all of him in.

“You’re beautiful.” He stood and pulled Lance’s hand out of the death grip it held on the towel. As the terry cloth fell Lance imagined how Keith’s lips would feel beneath his own. What would happen if, instead of sitting on the bed, Keith moving his limbs into a suggestive air, he grabbed the other boy and tumbled them both onto the blankets.

But then he tried not to think of that, because god forbid he have a damn boner while Keith was taking pictures of him.

“Take a deep breath Lance, hold that position for as long as you can.” He was on his knees, one hand between his legs, hiding his stiffening member, and one splayed back. He had no idea what sort of expression he was making, nor what he should be. But Keith didn’t say anything else as he stepped back, camera clicking away, each time from a different angle.

“Now hang your leg off the bed, but keep the other up and bent beneath you…” Keith walked around the bed, “straighten up, arch your back a bit…” click, “move your left hand to your hip…”click, “now to your shoulder.” Click.

Keith was behind Lance. “look back at me…perfect.” The last word was but a breath. Silence reigned and Lance grew sore with stiffness.

“Oh you can totally move now.”

He almost fell off the bed as he turned to find Keith sitting at his desk, camera already hooked up to his computer.

“Can I see?”

“Not yet, you can leave if you want but-“ Keith’s smile was bright as he looked at Lance again, before his eyes flicked back towards his screen, “I’d enjoy the company.”

Lance blinked before the flush that had never dissipated flared up. He nodded, though Keith wasn’t looking. “Yeah I’ll stay.” He got dressed, touching his face as he exited the bathroom. Of course he’d forgotten his makeup at home. The thought of leaving without any hiding his complexion had the anxiety that flirting had buried resurface. He needed a distraction. But talking with Keith seemed out of the question, he was so focused. Instead Lance began to wander the room. Everything was so tidy, each item had a place, from the boring physics books to the wicked looking knife. It all was a puzzle, like the boy himself.

Being as impatient as he was Lance quickly exhausted every diversion. With a sigh he fell onto the bed, satisfied that the covers mussed. He groaned, rolling onto his stomach, feet kicking up behind him.

Keith’s head fell back. “OMG Lance.”

“I’m bored! Are you done?”

“Ya know I said you could leave.”

“And you said you wanted company!” Lance was standing and didn’t remember doing so.

“Yeah before I knew you’d just be complaining the whole time.”

“I haven’t said a word! But okay whatever, I just wanted to see… I’m going.” Lance stomped over to the door, but a hand closed over his wrist and Keith spun him, leading him to the desk as he sat down he pulled Lance into his lap. Hushing his protests with a kiss. Lightning crackled down through his system but before he could deepen the exchange Keith was already pulling away.

“The edits aren’t done, but…” Keith turned the chair so that they could both look at the screen. What he saw stole Lance’s breath away.

Keith had changed the lighting of the photo to look like evening. But it wasn’t like nighttime around Lance, he’d made Lance the night. He had somehow made the lighter areas of pigmentation on Lance’s skin appear as clouds drifting through the sky. There was one across his right eye, and upon his hip. The one encompassing his shoulder looked as if it were being shaped by his own hand. The freckles that peppered his cheeks and back were brightened to look like stars and the blue of his eyes looked like deep pools.

“Woah.” He murmured, “Keith…. This is amazing.”

“You’re amazing Lance.”

“No way I don’t look like this!”

Keith’s arms tightened around him, “That’s how I see you.”

[sparklebitch]

A Happily Ever After

Summary: Keith and Lance are getting married! Wedding shenanigans are sure to follow as they prepare for the ceremony.

A/N: This is a fic for one of my patrons!  This took me a long time to write because I wanted it to be p e r f e c t but I'm super proud of it! If you support me on patreon https://www.patreon.com/prince_yoongi you can gain access to all my patron-only fics and many other cool perks such as a personalized fic!

Trigger warnings: none

“You are stressing me out” Lance cried, tugging on his hair. He knew it was a mess. He was a mess. “Keith, do we even have time to change all of that? The wedding is tomorrow” Keith scratched the back of his neck as he considered Lance’s words.

“I just… It would be really cool if Kolivan could do the ceremony. He said that members of the Blade of Marmora have special bonding ceremonies that are kind of like weddings” Keith explained. He leaned into Lance’s side. They were curled up on the couch of their temporary apartment. They had been back on Earth for almost a year, now that the war was over. They had successfully defeated the Galra and freed all their prisoners. It had taken a while for all of them to readjust to civilian life back on Earth, but everything seemed to be working out alright. The five of them stuck close together on Earth, Allura and Coran returned to space shortly after the war ended, wanting to spend time finding the rest of the lost Alteans.

“What is the ‘bonding ceremony?’” Lance asked. “That sounds dangerously close to something sexual. I’m not doing tha—” Keith elbowed Lance in the said.

“Get your mind out of the gutter” he grumbled. “Kolivan will do the speaking, talking about how big of a decision this is and how lovely it is that we choose to be bound to each other for the rest of our lives” Keith explained, curling further into Lance’s side. “I’ve heard it’s really beautiful. After he’s done we exchange blades and—”

“But I don’t have a blade” Lance pointed out. “Most families don’t just have like… pretty knives like you” Lance pointed out. Keith nodded quickly.

“I know that!” he said, a hint of excitement in his voice. “So… I talked to Kolivan and he created one for you” Lance lifted his eyebrows. “I- I know that I hadn’t asked you yet but… I was pretty sure you would say yes…” he said in embarrassment. Lance opened his mouth to say something, but Keith cut him off. “I have the knife here, so you can see it!” He rushed across the room and reached into his bag by the front door. Keith pulled out a small knife, around the size of his own, with a gleaming silver blade. He placed it carefully in Lance’s hands. The dark gray twisted metal weaved in and out as it wrapped around the hilt. Buried in the base of the handle there was a dark blue gem.

“Keith…” Lance said in awe as he stared at the beautiful object in his hands. Keith settled back onto the couch.

“I know… I know this is super last minute. I know the wedding is tomorrow, but it would mean a lot to me if we could do this” Keith said vulnerably. “But… I completely understand if you say no. I mean, it is last minute and—”

“Keith” Lance said again, resting his hand on Keith’s arm. “Babe, I love it” Keith lifted his eyes to meet Lance’s.

“Really?” he asked cautiously. Lance laughed quietly and nodded.

“Yeah. I think it would be awesome if Kolivan does the ceremony. And I can tell it’s really important to you—”

“It really is” Keith said, a smile spreading across his face. He curled into Lance’s side, Lance snaked his arm around Keith’s waist instinctively.

“Then I think we should do it” Lance said. “Besides, it sounds fun. And then we can say that we were the first people on Earth to have an alien wedding” Keith smiled fondly at Lance.

“I love you” he said. Lance laughed.

“Well I should hope so. We are getting married tomorrow”

 ~   ~

 Lance opened his eyes the next morning to an empty bed. He pouted and reached around for Keith. Lance rolled over onto his chest into the empty space where Keith should be. “Keeeeith?” Lance mumbled sleepily. “Get back in bed” There was no response, so Lance lifted his head and peek his eyes open. The room was empty. Lance frowned. He rolled back over and grabbed his phone off the bedside table and saw that he had a message from Keith.

‘Hey, sorry for leaving before you got up. I’m meeting up wth Shiro for breakfast and we’re going to check the wedding venue to make sure it’s ready for today. I’ll probably be busy all day and won’t see you until the wedding. (Besides, you’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding, so I couldn’t let you see me lol) I love you <3 Xoxo’

Lance read the text over a few times and smiled to himself. He shot a text back immediately.

‘1st of all how dare u assume ur the bride,, its very obviously me and 2nd of all ily 2 ;*’

Lance laughed to himself as he curled back up on the bed. It wasn’t until a few moments later that he realized it. He bolted upright, his eyes widening.

“I’m getting married today”

Lance got out of bed and took a shower and then began getting ready. He had just put on a fresh facemask when someone knocked on the door. He knew that it was Hunk and Pidge, they had texted him a few minutes before and said they were coming over to help him get ready.

Lance ignored their knocking and braced his hands against the sink, staring at himself in the mirror. He looked ridiculous, he knew that, standing there in his blue bathrobe with a green facemask on. He wasn’t sure how long he had been standing there, staring at his reflection. It was starting to hit him what was happening that day. He was getting married. Married. It was huge. Lance didn’t want to admit it to anyone, but he was freaking out.

Pidge and Hunk stood outside the bathroom door, waiting for Lance to emerge. “He’s freaking out” Pidge stated as they stood near the door.

“I am not!” Lance protested loudly.

‘He is’ Hunk mouthed to Pidge. Pidge nodded. “You love him, remember that” Hunk said out-loud. “But if you decide to call it off I will one-hundred percent support your decision” Lance blinked in shock.

“Break off the- Hunk, I’m not going to break off the wedding. I love him!”

“I know that!” Hunk said, pressing closer to the door. “We all love him. You two are amazing together. I’m just saying that if for some reason you decide that you can’t go through with it, or even if you just can’t do it today, we’ll understand. But I, for one, think that this is the smartest decision you’ve ever made” Lance cracked a small, nervous, smile.

“I really love him” Pidge and Hunk gave each other a knowing look.

“We know” they said simultaneously.

“I just want this day to be perfect” Lance continued. He rolled up the sleeves and bent down to wash the goo off his face.

“Don’t worry, everything will be perfect” Hunk said confidently. “Shiro texted me a few minutes ago. He said the venue is gorgeous. Everything’s all set for the wedding, aside from a few odds and ends. The reception hall is decorated, and the food is being cooked as we speak”

“You double checked the menu, right?” Lance asked, water dripping from his face.

“Of course!” Hunks said indignantly. “The chef is the best of the best, and I picked out foods that you and Keith will both love, and that are appropriate for a wedding”

“So, no—”

“No! There will not be waffles at your wedding, Lance. We’ve been over this” Lance huffed as he dried off his face.

“I’m just… I’m worried that something’s going to go wrong. Everything’s got to go perfect because if it doesn’t, I’m afraid that Keith might not want to marry me” his words were met with silence. “Guys?” he said after a few moments.

“Lance, come out here” Pidge said. Lance readjusted the towel on his head and cracked open the bathroom door, peaking his head out. Pidge and Hunk stared back at him with blank expressions.

“What?”

“Keith is not going to dump you if the wedding goes bad” Hunk said gently.

“And besides, everything’s going to be fine” Pidge assured Lance. “Nothing is going to go wrong. So, just go finish getting ready, and don’t worry about a thing” Lance nodded his head, the towel swaying on his head precariously.

“Right, thanks” Lance said as he ducked his head back into the bathroom and closed the door.

“We have a problem” Pidge said the moment the door was closed. Hunk frowned.

“What problem?” Pidge looked around and then grabbed Hunk’s arm and dragged him into the next room.

“I may have… lost their rings?” She said, phrasing it like a question. Hunk stared at her dumbly.

“You what?” he said, squinting his eyes. Pidge flashed a nervous grin.

“Keith gave them to me yesterday because he was afraid that he would lose them in all the chaos today. And then in all the chaos today I… lost them” It took Hunk a few seconds to fully process what she was saying. She had lost the rings.

“Please… tell me you’re joking” Hunk said, slumping his shoulders. He knew she wasn’t. “Pidge! How did you lose the rings!” Pidge shrugged and made an I-don’t-know sound.

“They’re just… gone” Hunk tugged on his hair.

“What are we going to do!? We can’t tell Lance about it, and the wedding is in a few hours!” Pidge frowned and pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Do you think we can find them?” Hunk asked.

“No, I’ve looked everywhere. But I think I have an idea…”

 ~   ~

 “So, how did he take the news?” Shiro asked as he and Keith strolled through the isles of the wedding venue, making sure everything was in place.

“He was all for it, obviously. He said that as long as I was happy, he was happy” Shiro smiled.

“I told you” he said. “He loves you so much, I’m pretty sure he would marry you in a dumpster”

“Are you comparing our Blades ceremony to being married in a dumpster?” Keith asked, quirking his eyebrow. Shiro began sputtering.

“Wha- I- No! I wouldn’t- I mean, I didn’t mean to- That’s not what I—” Keith snorted and shook his head.

“I’m kidding” he said. Shiro scratched the back of his neck and laughed awkwardly.

“Yeah, I knew that” Shiro was silent for a few moments as Keith bent down and straightened up the bouquet of flowers that was at the end of the row of chairs. “So, how was the blushing bride this morning?” he asked. Keith smiled briefly.

“Uh, I left before he woke up” Keith said, rubbing his arm nervously. Shiro noticed.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asked. Keith flashed a weak smile.

“Ah, yeah, of course” he lied. “Just… pre-wedding jitters or whatever” Shiro wasn’t convinced.

“Really?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“It’s just… What if he gets tired of me?” Keith said in a small voice. He sat down on one of the decorated chairs as he spoke. Shiro sat down next to him. “Like, I know he loves me right now, but what about in a few years? What if he gets tired of me? What if the only reason he fell in love with me was because I was his only option in space? And now that we’re back on Earth and he’s not limited to just me… he changes his mind” Keith hunched over and put his head in his hands. Shiro could see by the look in Keith’s eyes that this was something that had been bothering him for a while.

“Keith, I can tell you right now that that’s not going to happen” he said confidently. “Lance loves you, that’s never going to change”

“You don’t know that” Keith argued.

“I do. Did you know that Lance came to me a month after we arrived in space and told me that he had a huge crush on you? He said it had formed at the garrison, but now that you were always around it had gotten worse” Keith peeked up at Shiro with a frown. He hadn’t known that. “He told me how much he looked up to you, and how you made him want to be a better person. He’s been in love with you longer than you know” Shiro said. “And it’s not going to go away just because you’re not trapped on a ship together anymore” Keith dropped his hands.

“Do you really think so?” he asked. Shiro smiled and put his hand on Keith’s shoulder.

“I really do” he said. Keith let out a breath. He had been worrying over that for far too long. He knew that the thought wasn’t gone forever, but for now, he felt better.

Now he had to finish preparing for the wedding.

 ~   ~

 “Are you ready?” The words sent a chill down his spine. A good chill, but a chill nonetheless. He was beyond nervous, and beyond ready. He couldn’t stand another minute not being married to Keith.

“I was fucking born—”

“—I swear to god if you say ‘I was born ready’—”

“—Ready” Pidge groaned. “I take everything I’ve ever said about you back. You don’t deserve Keith” Lance elbowed Pidge in the side and laughed shortly.

“Not helpful right now” he said hoarsely. “Pidge, I’m freakin’ out man” Lance said, nervously adjusting his tie for the eighth time.

“We’ve been over this, Keith is not going to leave you if the ceremony isn’t perfe—”

“No, I know that” Lance said, running his hands down the front of his suit jacket. “I’m just… fuck. This is it, man. I’m getting married. Keith’s going to be my husband” Lance gnawed on his lip as he thought about it.

“Yeah, that is… that is how weddings generally work” Pidge stated, not knowing what else to say.

“I feel like I’m forgetting something” Lance said as he nervously tapped his foot against the ground. “Like I’m going to get to the end of the aisle and realize that I forgot to put on pants or something” Pidge looked down and then back up at Lance’s face.

“You have pants on” she stated.

“Not that exactly! Just, something like that” Pidge put her hands on Lance’s cheeks and pulled his face down so that he was at eyelevel with her.

“Listen, Lance” she said. “We don’t have time for you to freak out now. Everyone in there is waiting for you. Keith Is waiting for you. Everything is perfect. The hall is decorated, the food is ready, you have all your clothes on, and I found you some new rings. So ,get your shit together and get your ass down that aisle” Pidge ended her pep talk by smacking Lance lightly on the face and then letting go. Lance straightened up and cleared his throat.

“Right” he nodded. “Thanks” He turned toward the door and waited for his cue to start walking. “Wait… what did you say about the rings!?” Lance said, his eyes widening. Pidge opened her mouth to respond, but at that exact moment the music began playing, signaling that it was time for Lance to walk down the aisle. Pidge shook her head.

“No time to explain” she whipped open the doors and strode down the aisle to her spot by Keith’s side.

The minute the doors opened in front of Lance, all his thoughts disappeared. He was no longer fretting over how the ceremony was going to do or worrying about whether or not Keith was going to have second thoughts about the wedding. All Lance was focused on was the man standing at the end of the aisle. He was Lance’s future.

All Lance’s worried disappeared, even if just for a moment.

As Lance proceeded down the aisle after Pidge, everything seemed to fade away. The people, the music. All he could focus on was Keith. Keith was wearing an ordinary black suit, but he looked far from ordinary. Lance’s eyes never left Keith’s, even after he arrived at the front of the room and was now face to face with his husband-to-be. Keith’s eyes darted from Lance’s face as he checked out Lance’s tux. They hadn’t seen each other’s outfits before the wedding, relying on Allura to reassure them that they would look good together. Lance was wearing a light pink suit with a white button up shirt. He knew it was flashy, but he didn’t care.

“Damn” Keith breathed quietly, so only Lance could hear. “You look good” Lance blushed. Kolivan, who was standing behind them, began the ceremony. Pidge and Hunk stood to their sides, both dressed in matching suits.

Lance didn’t hear a single word that Kolivan said. He knew he should be listening, but he couldn’t. All he could do was stare into Keith’s eyes. They were filled with so much love, Lance was sure his were as well.

It wasn’t until Pidge tapped Lance on the shoulder, that Lance snapped back into reality. Pidge shoved the ring into Lance’s hand. Lance repeated a few standard words after Kolivan, and then slipped the ring onto Keith’s finger. It wasn’t until Keith was putting a ring on Lance’s that Lance realized that it was not the gold bands that he and Keith had picked out. They were red and blue crystal rings, the red on Lance’s finger, and the blue on Keith’s. They were breathtaking.

“Now,” Kolivan said. “We are at the part of the ceremony where these two will be bonded according to Blade of Marmora traditions” Kolivan announced. He turned and took the two blades, both Keith’s and Lance’s and held them in his hands. He handed the respective blades to their owners and then began to recite the bonding ceremony to them. “By exchanging these blades, you are committing to one another. This is a promise, a promise to stay be each other’s sides. To always be there for one another. And to always, always love each other” Keith and Lance exchanged the blades. “I now pronounce you, husband and husband” he announced. A grin spread across Lance’s face. It hurt, but Lance didn’t care in the slightest. “You may now kiss” Lance didn’t even hesitate to pull Keith toward him, crushing their lips together. Keith grabbed the back of Lance’s head and pulled him closer. Cheers erupted from their friends and family all around them.

After they finally broke apart, they descended the steps and began to head to the back of the room. “What’s with the rings?” Keith whispered into Lance’s ear as they headed down the aisle. Lance shrugged. He didn’t know. And he didn’t care. All that mattered was that he was married to his best friend. His first love. His soulmate.

“Don’t care” he replied, his eyes shining brightly. Keith grinned broadly at him. Keith looped his arm with Lance’s as they walked through the arch way at the end of the aisle. Lance didn’t care about the small stuff anymore. He had fought in an intergalactic space war, and won, nothing less than space terrorism was going to bother him any longer.

Now, all he was going to worry about was his happily ever after.

~   ~   ~

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[sicklylittlesnowflake]

•You never really go to parties and are always really uptight and we made fun of you for it/expressed frustration at this so you forced yourself to go to this party and shit you’re so sick and you won’t go home because we made you feel bad I’m so sorry how can I make it up to you?? (Keith is not a fan of parties but his friends eventually pester him into going to one despite being sick as a dog.)

(I started this fic with the intention of having it for whumpmas, so if that is not a testament to how slow I am as a writer, idk what is! Also, btw this is weird but I love when sicknarios I write get back to me, lol! And I did write this scenario with Keith and E from les mis in mind, so this is a great prompt! This is college au, btw, I find it kinda difficult to write alien parties lmao!)

Parties are the perfect culmination of everything Keith hates in life.

Bright, strobe, head ache inducing lights with a wide variety of flashing, psychedelic colours, ear piercingly loud music with a tremendous beat that makes his heart thump and thump and feel way too overwhelmed, warm, sticky bodies way too close too each other and making him feel suffocated, too much people, having fun and feeling free when Keith can only feel more trapped.

Too much people.

Too much.

Keith has spent so much time in solitude, in simplicity. And being thrust into a situation where there is too much all at once is alien to him, and he can’t help the rapid beating and thumping of his wild heart when he looks around for some sort of serenity.

Keith feels trapped in this room, the overwhelming humidity and heaviness of this air weighing down on him and compressing his lungs so he can’t breathe.  He hates watching all these people exhilarated, vibrant, alive. When he can only feel more lifeless by the second.

He feels like an alien like this. Like he isn’t part of this world. Keith doesn’t even feel like here’s here. He can’t even feel his body, he doesn’t feel like he’s connected to it, and he’s floating away. Looking down.  And he hates what he sees.

All Keith can feel is the pounding and raging headache that seems to pierce into his skull and the pain is only worsened by the tremors of the pulsating waves of sound from the obnoxiously large speakers that litter the place.

He didn’t even want to be here; Shiro had told him this would be good, that college was great, and he needed to start living that college life. Shiro said he needed to be more sociable, because he would make the best friends of his life here. Pidge would tease him , and so would Lance. And Hunk encouraged him kindly, and Keith did not have any energy to fight them. So he went. And he could not have regretted a decision more than this very moment.

Keith stumbles around the night club like he’s drunk, and he doesn’t have one single drop of alcohol in his body. If he can be drunk on a fever, he definitely is. Due to his feverish haze he’s lost Shiro and Pidge, and his only hope is finding Lance and Hunk who are probably the life and soul of the party.

In this haze he hasn’t even realised the tickle blossoming within his sinuses and before he knows it he’s doubling over with one loud, powerful sneeze that grates against his throat with no time to cover, and just aim towards the floor. He gets a slightly irritated look from some person, and honestly, he doesn’t even mind. Keith feels awful being this germ incubator in this tightly knit space. This cold is horrendous, and he’s probably just passed it on to a good three people and he feels terrible.

Keith stumbles and wobbles around the night club dizzily, the technicolor lights seeming like an acid trip he did not consent to, and it seems to be sending waves of messages to his brain to hurt and throb. He feels a tad bit of anger and bitterness towards Shiro, Allura and Pidge, and maybe a little bit towards Lance and Hunk, but in fairness to them, they hadn’t pushed him to go this particular evening, but they had in the past.

“You need to enjoy your college experience, Keith! Get out of your room for once, embrace your youth!” Shiro had told him, in a way that was so middle aged dad he wanted to tear his hair out but so perfectly Shiro he couldn’t help but be persuaded into it.

“Don’t be such a stick in the mud, Keith,” Pidge had whined.

“It’ll be so much fun, Keith! Plus, I heard that Lance is wearing a pretty cute outfit tonight,” Allura had teased, causing him to scowl knowing she had played with his heart and manipulated him with the promise of his crush looking cute.

And Keith couldn’t even find Lance, so there was about zero reason for him even being here.

As Keith continues to feverishly navigate around the crowded night club, pushing past bare, sticky skin and profusely overheating, he is suddenly tapped on the shoulder.

“Hey, will you kiss my friend?” A girl slurs, an arm sluggishly wrapped around her equally as wasted friend, giggling to her heart’s content.

Keith opens his mouth to politely refuse, but before he’s even aware his nose is itching horribly and Keith is doubling over with one loud, almost obnoxiously, heavy and sickly sounding sneeze he doesn’t cover.

The girls take a step back, giggling and backing away from him and fading away worth the crowd.

“Too bad, he was pretty cute though, just gross,” He hears one of them say before they disappeared entirely.

Keith sighs sadly, the girl was pretty, and he didn’t swing that way but he still felt kinda bad for being so gross. But his guilt doesn’t last long before he’s back to pitying himself and reembarking on his quest to find Lance.

He doesn’t even know why he’s so keen on finding the guy, he doesn’t really know what he’s expecting and maybe it’s his fever talking, but he’s not leaving this damn club without seeing his cute as fuck crush who is the reason he’s in this hellhole to begin with.

And it’s almost like a fairytale but it’s the sound of a beautiful melody, like a mesmerising serenade that captivates him him and lulls him over to the source.

He knows that voice anywhere.

He would know Lance’s melodic, tenor voice anywhere, it’s sweet and enthralling and it makes him feel all warm inside. Everything the little shit does makes him feel that way, but Lance’s voice is a siren’s song calling him and putting him on this spell and he’s forever his.

His voice has taken on an edge, a kind of rock and roll gruff to it that he finds insanely hot–maybe the fever adds to it though, he doesn’t know–and it’s sure tell sign that Lance is drunk.

“I guess I got what I deserved, kept you waiting there too long, my love. All that time without a word, didn’t know you’d think that I’d forget, or I’d regret, the special love, I have for you, my baby blue!” Lance sings, people dancing and bopping and head banging to his song.

Keith  manages to get a glimpse of Hunk who was jamming it out on the drums, and then he saw what he was looking for.

“Fuck,” Keith breathes out, “Allura was right.”

He did look pretty great.

He had his hair tousled and ruffled in a way that made him look so irresistible and adorable and these strobing lights that he hated served one purpose, and that was making his skin glow and his eyes twinkle and pop. His blue t-shirt hugged his body and his jeans were flattering and he looked so great. Keith wanted to faint.

Partly because of how attractive he looked, but also because he was now super light headed.

Lance looks beautiful and radiant, flashing a random girl watching one of those charming, flirty smiles that makes Keith jealous every time he does. He understands Lance isn’t his, but god he wished he was.

Keith shakes his head angrily, he’s never  his sentimental or sappy over Lance, maybe he really is that sick.

Then Lance looks over and they lock gazes, and this stupid lazy grin wipes across the boy’s face and any jealousy or bitterness or illness Keith is feeling seems to disappear when he does.

However Lance seems to realise his current state because his face drops. He quickly passes the mic to the random guy who’s playing the guitar and rushes over to Keith, albeit in a zig zagged direction as he seems to be tripping over his own feet.

“Keith?” Lance greets worriedly, only he can still remain appealing despite reeking of alcohol.

“Hey Lancey-Lance,” Keith slurs feverishly, before his nose twitches and he’s doubling over and aiming two harsh sneezes towards the floor.

“Lancey-Lan–god, you look awful! And Jesus, for you to be calling me that you must be running a–” Lance cut himself off and placed the back of his hand against Keith’s forehead and frowned.

“Dammit, Keith! That’s not good, we gotta get you,” Lance hiccups, “–home!”

“Why did you come, anyway, while you were this sick?” Lance frets, hiccuping again.

“M'not a stick in the mud,” Keith mutters feverishly, leaning into Lance’s side and nuzzling his face against his chest in exhaustion.

He pulls Keith into his embrace and kissed the top of his head, eyebrows furrowing in confusion, “What? What are you–oh.”

Lance’s heart sinks, “Keith. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for teasing you, I didn’t mean to hurt you at all, I just..I wanted you to be with us. When you’re not here..I miss you.”

Keith shakes his head, “Not you.. you didn’t make me come tonight.”

Lance bites his lip, “Still. I contributed to make you feel like you were uptight and boring when you are nothing but exciting and lovely. I’m sorry Keith, please, let me make it up to you.”

Keith cant help but crack a weak smile, “I didn’t know you were an emotional drunk. I’m glad I came here tonight, now I can blackmail you.”

Lance can’t help but laugh a little, “But we’re taking you home right now.”

Keith sneezes loudly into Lance’s chest, muttering, “Sorry.”

Lance smiles softly, tapping him on the nose, “Alright, Mullet. Enough, we’re going home.”

“But they’re having so much fun..look at Hunk..he’s jamming out..” Keith points over to Hunk.

“And you..need to keep singing..” He insists tiredly.

“No way, you’re too sick!” Lance protest as he began to walk Keith out, simultaneously pulling out his phone to order an uber.

Once they arrive outside Keith let out a sigh of relief to feel the fresh air, basking in all the space and the soft lighting. His head seemed to ease up a little bit.

However the cold quickly began to seep in, causing him to shiver violently. Lance pulls off the jacket he had tied around the waist and helped Keith out it on. He then pulls the boy into a hug to share his warmth.

“Thank you,” Keith manages to choke out before erupting into a series of harsh, heavy coughs.

Lance could only smile weakly, obviously feeling guilty but pushed it aside to wave over to the Uber driver and guided Keith in.

***

Lance hauls Keith onto his bed, with him muttering about taking out the aspirin because they’ll both need it the next day, and heads straight towards the bathroom to collect a damp towel for him. Once he returned he laid the cloth gently over his forehead and pulled a chair over, sitting beside him.

“Shiro called. He was wondering where we were, I told him you were sick and he feels awful. They all do. Pidge says Korean takeaway is on her tomorrow, if you’re up for it,” Lance explains softly.

“You’re not a stick in the mud, Keith. Okay? You’re not boring. You’re not any of these things we made you feel and I’m so sorry we ever did. You’re sweet and kind and such a great friend and– I’m so sorry, Keith, we should’ve understood. I love parties but there are days where I just don’t even want to get out of bed, I should’ve understood, showed you some compassion. I should’ve..”

“Lance, stop.”

He looks over Keith, feeling guilt and feeling responsible for Keith being this sick. He feels awful, he had made yet another mistake. He feels so stupid for being unable to read in between the lines, his jokes going too far and he hadn’t even noticed it. He just wanted  Keith to be with him, to be happy. And he had to go and fuck it up.

“You’re really good at hiding how you feel, Lance, but you can’t hide it from me, stop feeling so guilty,” Keith croaks.

“I can’t help it, I was hurting you and I didn’t know,” Lance murmurs.

Keith coughs harshly, feeling his chest rattle from the force of it, “I’ve felt worse pain.”

“That doesn’t make it okay.”

Keith smiles softly, “But you didn’t mean to hurt me. I know you never would try and hurt me. ..you said..you missed me when I’m not there. Yeah, I was hurt, but now I feel wanted.”

Lance manages a smile, “Always. You’re always wanted.”

“I hope you know that.”

“I know now,” He slurs feverishly.

Keith coughs again, and when he finishes he looks over at Lance with bleary, glazed eyes, and giggles, “You looked very hot tonight.”

Lance blushes hard, his eyes widening, “U-uh..n-no, you’re the feverish one, you’re hot.”

Keith scoffs before yet again coughing, “Don’t play dumb, you’re smarter than you give yourself credit for. You know what I meant.”

Lance shakes a little, so unused to being the one flirted with rather than the one initiating it, Keith did this thing where he shook his entire world and turned it upside down and he’d lose control.

“You’re not..you’re..you’re..uh..pretty. Uh, pretty cool. Pretty handsome. Whatever,” Lance blurts , extremely flustered.

Keith grabs at his hand with the sweetest look in his eyes, “Sing for me, please. It makes everything feel okay again.”

Lance swallows as his hand was grabbed, but he let himself relax into his touch and let it happen. He smiles.

“I’ve got no use for moonlight, or sappy poetry. Love at first sight is for suckers, at least it used to be. Look, girls are nice, once or twice, til’ I find someone new..but I never planned on no one like you.”

[ravenvsfox]

Hey Meghan. Have you seen season 7 of Voltron yet? I'm seeing a lot of mixed reviews. I watched it and was disappointed in some ways (though not surprised), and a little bored at parts (parts of it reminded me of the politics of Order of the Phoenix), and I loved some other parts. Cosmo for MVP this season. But what was your take (if you watched it)?

Okay holy shit!!! I literally just finished it this instant right now and I have many many thoughts if you’ll indulge me

(obviously there will be spoilers below so uhhh....... watch out)

Firstly I want to be clear that like everyone’s critiques of this season?? beyond valid. so absolutely justified.

I’m mostly disheartened to my bones that the writers think they exist in a creative vacuum that’s somehow out of reach of the bury your gays trope, and that they assumed hyping up a two dimensional gay character destined for death would be.... okay

“here’s a dead gay man that we did not mourn for nor care about plEASE clap”

plus I don’t like.. care about allurance and I thought it was boring and unnecessary lol but like it is what it is and I’m not surprised by it

I think their relationship scans the same way that Aang and Katara’s did in atla, you know? like they’re together bc they’re both..... there.... blue and pink, boy likes girl, girl gives in eventually (when OBVIOUSLY zuko would’ve been a better and more interesting match for katara 👀👀)

making allura a blushing schoolgirl who’s like.. forgotten lotor I guess?? weird. making keith seem straight??? curveball. homophobic

All that said though? I love love loved this season I thought it was hopeful and rallying and emotional and connective

Here are some of my favourite things!

- Shiro and Keith’s brotherhood is such a key emotional force and seeing a vulnerable furious rebel find himself a family and a purpose all at once was SO  effective 

- Keith is a superb leader, like. everything about him is beyond s1 keith’s wildest dreams. He fosters emotional connections and commands respect, he’s a mama’s boy and a deeply awkward friend as well as being the utter coolest and thinking so quickly on his feet that he’s a blur my dude

- the war feels like a war!! there are such interesting stakes, military proficiency with a healthy dollop of alienness and magic, quirky pilot personalities, interpersonal drama, and endurance of human spirit. When it’s the Earth on the chopping block everything seems more frantic and flawed and personal

- I totally get what you mean about kinda boring politics, but it actually felt the most compelling to me of any season’s shop talk, maybe because there were familiar faces on home turf, and we got to see the way the Holts or Iverson or Veronica worked through their fear and hope

- I loved that there was some lost time, I love that people grew up and grew apart, the implications of time flushing out years and lives from the resistance instantaneously

- now like.. the paladins are unquestionably soldiers, saviours, legends, and they’re also kids who will never really know how old they are?? like they’ve suffered all of this loss and blinked in and out of existence, and when they face Earth again, both they and their home are unrecognizable, and everyone is struggling but also more capable than they ever thought possible

- Hunk is the bravest gd kid and he got to actually hear and feel and understand that (Keith is so fatally honest and wildly action-driven that I think it was critical that he was the one to tell Hunk his worth as a soldier). He has incredible ideas and unshakeable heart and he went from relating to Romelle to relating to Keith? like from poking fun at his own fear to understanding that bravery and terror are two sides of the same coin

- Allura wrestling malfunctioning technology to the floor and gifting altean tech and being metal as fuck but also embodying this steady kind of gentleness?? unreal. give her more interesting lines.

- I heart Coran, my alien kiwi dad

- all of them being vulnerable and sleepy and bored and confused, roadtripping and participating in a game show and spiralling out into hallucinations in space. interesting arcs for interesting kiddos

- Pidge is a child in the war of a lifetime and we got to see her vulnerability and brilliance coexisting in the same scenes. When she leapt out to hug her mom with all four limbs and when the Atlas was under attack and she like whimpered ‘dad?’ she was so so young we really weren’t allowed to forget it

- Cosmo (Kosmo??) you’re absolutely right, a true MVP, head and shoulders above the rest of the animal sidekicks, my apologies to mademoiselle kaltenecker. That scene where lance guides keith & pidge through guarded terrain and they teleport around on the back of a wolf? TIGHT as HELL

- everything about lance, everything everything

- the way he always stands up for his friends first, before anyone else, with that determined mouth of his, “don’t you touch her”, the way he thinks mixed heritage and leadership are the future, the singleminded tenderness for and reliance on keith as “team leader” even though it makes him second in command

- his pristine marksmanship, the focus and seriousness and planning, his ease in battle scenarios, slapping down a shield in front of Veronica to free his arms for fighting or swinging out a rifle to cover Keith’s back, the way war looks on him

- and the way it isn’t all of him!! his gnawing worry for his family, the way you can see him shrug off his trauma when he sees them again, how much kids and animals adore him, his willingness to die for his cause or his sister or his people, self sacrificing over and over again without hesitation, looking so sad and grave when no one’s looking

- his strength at Keith’s side, their constant fizzing energy in battle, their trust in each other, turning their bayards in tandem and creating magic together, voting each other out of purgatory

- (calling him the dumb one is patently untrue and pretty shitty in general lol)

- Veronica? exactly perfect. strong and annoyed and fierce. The only person who makes sense to be lance’s sister, so exasperated and kind and willing to die

- Shiro’s gorgeous character design, his blinding strength, (like..... he shouldn’t have to be this strong and he should’ve gotten big gay married and never been hurt again but) his expression when he finds himself at the helm of a sinking ship and the sheer grit that allows him to win anyway

- his victory is (as always) borne from his generosity for the people he loves and always always believes in

- the last episode?? the coalition of survivors, Shiro’s rousing speech, the sweeping music, the way everyone looked at ruin and division and got immediately to work? hurts. exactly the right emotional punch. 

- unity, shiro says. unity, the universe echoes.

[nimji-s]

Klance, and the importance of ‘Bonding’ in Voltron: a small(ish) language analysis

Okay, so I don’t normally contribute much to fandoms, but this is something I’ve been thinking about all week and anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for looking in depth at lexical and semantic choice. 

One thing I’ve noticed about the Voltron fandom is that when it comes to the breaking down of scenes is that a lot of focus goes into the animation itself, as well as the choice of colour, camera angles etc. - and trust me, I love reading all of this. But I also think it’s really important to look at the language used, and I’m really sorry if this has been done before, but I just really want to get my thoughts down in writing.

So, let’s go I guess!

This might be kinda jumbled, but I mainly wanted to focus on The Bonding Moment™, the language choices, and why they might be significant later on (perhaps season 6?)

But first, let’s look at the definition of ‘bond’ as a verb and as a noun: 

bond /bɒnd/ 

verb

join or be joined securely to something else

noun

a force or feeling that unites people; a shared emotion or interest 

Both of these definitions are vital to know when looking at how ‘bonding’ is used in Voltron. 

The Bonding Moment is first dubbed this term in Season 1 Episode 6 by none other than Keith himself, in order to express his distress for Lance not remembering their tender moment the episode prior.

So, the reason why I find the use of the word ‘bond’ so interesting, is mainly because of the alternatives that could have been chosen. For example, Keith easily could have said ‘we got on in that moment!’ - although come to think of it that sounds a bit weird. But, Keith could have told Lance what he said: ‘you said we made a great team!’. My point is, there are different ways than saying “Bonding Moment” of all things.

But, Keith did, in fact, use ‘bond’ - and this was a deliberate choice from the writers (we’ll come to this later). What Keith is actually saying here is, we both connected emotionally in that moment.

Another thing to point out is the use of the past perfect progressive tense. This is typically used to indicate a completed continuous action that happened in the past. Bonding, in this case, is the completed continuous action. Usually, when using this tense it implies the action was interrupted. E.g ‘I had been working...’, and this is when you would expect an explanation. And, although not necessary for Keith’s line, it still does suggest an interruption occurred - like Lance having to go into a pod.

Why do I find this necessary to point out? Well, to me, this implies that Keith wants this to be a continuous action.

To back this up, just look at how Lance refers to it:

Bond-ed.

Here, Lance could easily have said “Oh, come on! I thought we had a bonding moment!”. But instead, he goes past simple. I think this is an indicator of how Lance is not emotionally ready to bring The Bonding Moment back up. I’m sure we have all seen that tweet (sorry I don’t have the link but I have a screenshot lol)

Okay, to quickly sum up so far, bonding is a keyword between Klance and Keith wanted to connect with Lance, but Lance wasn’t emotionally ready. But I’m sure you all knew that, so let’s move on to the next point: “Bonding” elsewhere in Voltron.

Obviously, ‘bond’ is the choice of word when it comes to the Paladins connecting with their Lions: 

When it comes to Paladins and their Lions, ‘bond’ is used to emphasise the deep connections they have to make - as if their beings are joined. And it’s not as if the word is changed frequently, ‘bond’ is a very deliberate choice of word.

As it was when referring to Keith and Lance.

We have already seen that Keith and Lance have been connected to each other’s Lions:

And most recently, Lance has unlocked the broadsword with the Red Bayard, a sword being Keith’s choice of weapon:

These parallels serve the purpose of visually letting us know that Keith and Lance have a deeper connection. 

They have a bond.

Just like how ‘bond’ is used to show the connection of the mind between a Paladin and their Lion, ‘bond’ is used to imply that there is a connection between Keith and Lance.

And if season 6 is going where we think it’s going, I believe that their bond will be crucial for the rescue of Shiro.

Back in season 3, Voltron gave us a lot of moments between Keith and Lance which helped to deepen their connection a lot. This has been said a bazillion times so I don’t really need to say what everyone else has said.

I’m sure you’re all already VERY aware.

So, Lance and Keith were creating a deeper bond in season 3. Then FAKE Shiro comes back and Keith leaves to join the Bar of Mimosa. 

The rest from here is mainly speculation, but the main prediction for season 6 from what I have seen is the idea of Lance and Keith going into the Astral Plane to save Shiro. And this is where the idea of ‘bonding’ comes into play.

Bonding is HUGELY important when it comes to the Astral Plane.

In season 2 episode 7, Zarkon and Shiro battle in the Astral Plane. Zarkon loses his bond with the Black Lion whilst Shiro’s bond with the Black Lion gets stronger.

In season 5 episode 3, the five paladins access the Astral Plane, where Lance hears Shiro calling out to him. But the bond isn’t strong enough - perhaps due to Lance not realising that this is the real Shiro calling out.

So, clearly, there is a connection between a bond and the Astral Plane.

And if we are correct about our season 6 predictions, then I believe that the rescue of Shiro will not only need Keith and Lance’s bond, but help to deepen it immensely. Maybe - and this might be a stretch - but if bonding is a large theme in season 6, they could potentially bring up The Bonding Moment? It would be an excellent time to do it.

So, yeah, this is a garbled mess that could’ve been developed wayyyy better if I wasn’t so tired (please forgive me it’s the first time I’ve done this lol) so let me conclude in the best way I can:

‘Bonding’ is a significant word in Voltron as it describes the soul-linking connection between the Lions and Paladins and is also used to describe Keith and Lance’s most famous moment implying a deeper connection between the two. This bond will be necessary when rescuing Shiro and might even help the two be emotionally ready for opening up to one another.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[lasersheith]

Hey everyone! Like I mentioned here and here: I decided to open a ko-fi account because of some unexpected medical stuff and I’m thanking everyone who donates with drabbles! I’ve already gotten over $100 so far and it’s helped so much, seriously thank you all, you’re incredible. I’ll pump these out as quickly as I can!

Lia @otasucc didn’t request a prompt, so I went with the sweetest, sappiest sheith I could come up with because she’s an angel and it’s what she deserves.

(this is loosely based on how my brother “proposed” to his now wife lol) 

Having a day off from the Garrison was unusual, and an unexpected one even more so. But shortly after Keith had left for the day, Shiro had gotten a call saying there was a problem in the flight lab and he had the day off. It had been a while since he'd taken a day off outside of the holidays, the last time had probably been only months after hanging up his paladin armor (hopefully) for good.

He decided to grab a few more hours of sleep, though it was harder without the warm weight of Keith at his side. He let himself have a lazy morning, reading a few chapters of his favorite book while he sipped at his tea on the back porch. Around midday he decided to do something productive, something that would be nice for Keith to come home to.

They'd been meaning to clean out the garage for weeks, monsoon season was quickly approaching and there still wasn't quite enough room for Keith's hoverbike. It was the perfect project to keep him busy for the afternoon.

It was amazing to him how much clutter two people so used to having only the clothes on their backs could collect in just a few years. Shiro made lightly organized piles of junk to sort through before tackling the large set of shelves in the corner where Keith stored all his tools. In general, Keith was tidy and orderly, but he'd left a wrench here or a socket there, so Shiro gathered them up to put them back in their places.

He paused as he opened the third drawer. A small black box sat at the bottom of it, unobscured. Shiro grinned as he dropped the hex keys in his hand and picked up the box instead. Just as he'd thought, there was a ring inside.

It looked like it was made in tungsten and Shiro had to smile at Keith's thoughtfulness. He would know that Shiro would want something sturdy, something that wouldn't break or scratch. He held up the shiny dark gray ring to the light to see the inscription. As many times as it takes.

Shiro swallowed back the lump in his throat. It taken years for him to admit how much those words had meant to him at the time, and Keith had acted like it was nothing. As though, “of course I'll always be there to save you, how could I not be,” was just a given. He smiled as he slipped the ring on- it was a perfect fit.

..

Keith opened the garage door and smiled as he saw the neat stack of broken down cardboard boxes in the recycling, the freshly hung kayaks on the wall, the tidied shelves. He pulled his bike into the now clean spot just big enough for it to fit.

He hung his helmet up on the hook just inside the door as he walked in. “Shiro? Thanks for cleaning out the garage!” He called as he headed for the bedroom to change.

He found Shiro in the kitchen when he was finished and pressed a kiss to his cheek in greeting. Shiro turned and caught his lips playfully. “How was work?” He asked fondly, stir fry suddenly forgotten in favor of staring at Keith.

Keith laughed and turned the burner off. “It was fine. How was not work?” Shiro grinned at him as Keith grabbed a pair of bowls from the cabinet. “What?” Keith asked, setting them down on the counter before moving to sling his arms around Shiro's shoulders. “You're being weird.” He accused teasingly.

“I love you.” Shiro replied, leaning down to kiss him again. He wrapped his arms around Keith's waist to pull him closer.

Keith chuckled into the kiss. “I love you, too. Even though you're being super weird.” He piled both bowls high with the slightly undercooked food. It was better than Shiro's other setting, which was burnt to charcoal. Shiro grabbed them each a glass of water and headed to the table. He handed Keith’s glass over very slowly and exaggeratedly with his left hand. Keith shook his head but didn't ask.

He glanced across the table at Shiro as they ate and smiled. It was nice having a quiet, home cooked meal together. He frowned a little as he saw a glint of light reflected off of Shiro's left hand. His not-usually-metallic left hand. His eyes widened when he spotted the ring. “What… what is that?” He asked, blood running cold.

Shiro grinned. “Oh, you know, I was cleaning up your work bench and saw it. Excellent choice, by the way.” He held his hand up and smiled at it. “Exactly what I would have picked out myself. I love the inscription, that was a good touch.” He reached across the table and grabbed Keith's hand, squeezing it lightly. “The receipt was almost a year old, though, I hope you didn't change your mind.” His smile was bright and the hints of blue in his steel gray eyes sparkled with fondness.

Keith looked down at Shiro's hand wrapped around his in shock. He’d been trying for months to come up with the perfect proposal but he hadn't been able to come up with anything concrete.

Now it looked like he didn't have to. “I…” he couldn't make himself look away from the glittering band on Shiro's finger. “No, of course not!” He finally blurted out, wrenching his eyes to Shiro's face and his body from the chair.

He was in front of Shiro in a flash, years of peace had done little to dull his skills or his reflexes. Shiro turned slowly to smile at him. Keith wasn't sure exactly what his face was doing, the thudding in his heart was taking all his attention. He knelt down on the spot, crouched between Shiro's legs in their small kitchen.

Keith reached for Shiro's hand at the same time Shiro started lowering it and they met in the middle. “It… it looks good on you.” Keith whispered out quietly.

Shiro smiled again. “It does. You did great, Keith.”

Keith swallowed and licked his lips, mouth suddenly dry, before looking up. “Shiro, will you… will you marry me?” The earnest, worried tone in voice and the serious and determined expression on his face made Shiro laugh.

“Of course.” He cupped Keith's face in his hands and leaned down to press their lips together. “Of course I will, Keith.”

Keith's smile lit up the room and his eyes welled with tears as he wrapped his arms around Shiro's shoulders.

[panda-noosh]

hi! could you write a keith x reader where there is a sixth, purple lion and allura describes the qualities someone would need to have to pilot that lion and keith realizes his s/o back on earth would be perfect for it? so they go back to earth to get her and keith x reader reunite and it’s fluffy/angsty? (like she’s not mad at him, she was just so worried and is so relieved to see him and lance is all like lol there’s no way keith has a gf and boom there she is)

Words:  2140

 Genre: Angst – Fluff

  Notes: Here you go! x

  ***

   Keith hadn't realised he had been waiting for this chance untilthe chance actually arose.

   It was a weird feeling for him. Caring so much about something –someone – he had left behind in his old life. Most thingsback home, he craved to forget. The run-down old estate he lived in,the violence he grew up around, the missing chunk of his childhoodthat only his parents should have been able to fill, but failed to doso. He wanted to forget about all of that, concentrate purely on hisnew life in Voltron.

   It was funny how the moment Allura started describing thecharacteristics for the purple lion, you were the first person whocame to mind.

   He thought for sure it was over. He hadn't contacted you since hedisappeared in the desert all them years ago, and he had to admitthat he felt bad about that. Though he wanted to forget his time onearth, it was easier said than done whenever the one person he evertruly loved was still stuck there, waiting patiently for Keith'sphone call which never came.

   As Keith and the other Paladins arrived on earth and startedwalking towards the smoothie bar you worked at, Keith began to doubthimself. Whenever he had agreed to this, it had been because ofbusiness; the team needed someone to pilot the purple lion, and youseemed to have the characteristics down almost perfectly – someonepatient, someone comforting, but also someone who wouldn't take shitfrom anybody.

    Keith immediately thought of you, and that was why he was here.He was here to offer you a place in Team Voltron.

    But now that he was actually here, surrounded by the familiarsceneries of his childhood, he was beginning to think that perhapsthis wasn't a good idea afterall.

   What if you hated him? What if you had gotten another boyfriend?Of course, you had every right to do so. It had been over a yearsince Keith had left, over a year of absolute radio silence betweenthe two of you. But the thought of walking into this smoothie bar andseeing you hugging someone else, smiling with someone else,had Keith half tempted to say there was no point and turning back.

   Shiro pushed open the doors to the smoothie bar, and Keithrealised there was truly no turning back now.

   He inhaled deeply as Lance shoved him in first; he was theone who knew you. It only made sense that he was the one who askedfor you.

   “I cannot wait to see if he's actually telling the truthabout this girl,” Lance chuckled, nudging Hunk playfully. Keithcould barely hear him over the sound of his heartbeat as heapproached the counter and asked, shakily, for you.

    The girl who had served him disappeared into the back for amoment before reappearing with somebody by her side. As soon as Keithlaid eyes on you, his mouth grew dry and his fingertips tingled withthe need to reach out and touch you, feel your skin on his just likehe used to.

    But you were frowning.

   “Keith?”

   His name coming out of your mouth felt like a ton of brickstoppling on top of him; it had been so long since he'd heard his namesound so sweet, been so long since a single word had triggered somany memories. He bit down on his lip to fight the urge to kiss you,looked down at the floor and allowed Shiro to take over.

   “Are you Y/N L/N?” Shiro asked, nudging Keith to the side alittle bit.

   You didn't reply to Shiro. Instead, you kept your eyes firm onKeith, who was now trying to make his way as far to the back of thegroup as he possibly could. He wanted to escape your gaze. He wantedto run and turn back, let the guilt eat him up in peace. Maybe if hedisappeared now and let the others handle it, you would forget he hadeven been standing in front of you and you could get on with your-

    “So you're really just gonna ignore me, huh?”

   Keith's eyes snapped up, catching yours immediately. Eye contactwas not Keith's strong-point, but it was a known fact that he oftenfound it difficult to break away from yours.

   He swallowed thickly. “We came to ask you something.”

  “Woah, woah, woah, woah, wait!” Lance suddenly exclaimed,barrelling through the middle of the group. “This is thegirl you were talking about?”

   You frowned, narrowing your eyes in confusion. Keith flushed,stuffed his hands in his pockets as he slowly nodded – there was nopoint in lying. He had been gushing about you for the entire ridehere. It was only when he actually landed did the nerves start to getthe better of him.

   “Keith, are you stupid?” Lance continued, spinning around andgrabbing the red Paladin by the arm. Keith yelped as Lance pulled himto the front of the group, and now there was no backing out. You wereright in front of him. He could reach out and touch you if he wanted.He could smell the familiar vanilla body spray you used to alwayswear – it almost made him smile to think that you still wore it,even after so long.

   “I'm sorry,” Keith mumbled. “I didn't – I couldn't getin contact with you. I'm sorry about that.”

   Your lower lip trembled, the first sign of emotion you showedsince Keith had walked in. “Can we talk in private?”

   Keith nodded, despite not entirely wanting to. He was awkward.There would be a long, out-stretched silence, or perhaps he wouldmake the situation worse by talking and saying something idiotic. Buteither way, he needed to explain himself. He wasn't sure hecould leave without you knowing that he loved you still, that himbreaking contact with you hadn't been entirely his choice.

   And so, you stripped off your apron, walked around the counterand led Keith outside, leaving the other Paladins to stare after thetwo of you in shock. None of them could believe that Keith hadactually had a girlfriend before leaving for the Garrison. They allthought he was lying, and yet there you were.

    You stepped outside and turned to face Keith, arms folded overyour chest. He smiled awkwardly, tucking his hands into his pockets.

   “What are you doing here, Keith?” you asked immediately.“Where have you been?”

    “I've already apologised,” Keith replied.

   “That doesn't answer my questions.”

   Keith sighed. “I'm here because we need you – relationshipaside, we need you. As in, the entire group. Not just me.”

   You nodded slowly. Keith raised a brow – you seemed so calmabout that fact. “And my second question?”

    Keith swallowed thickly, trying to fight the urge to look away.“I've been – busy with some stuff. Stuff you'll only understandif you come with us.”

   “Come with you?” you exclaimed, making Keith jump withthe intensity of your tone. “Keith, you walked in in the middle ofmy damn lunch break! I work at a smoothie bar, for crying outloud!I'm just trying to have a normal day and my ex-boyfriend walksin after a year of not talking to me, suddenly asking me to join himfor a damn day trip with him and his gang of buddies?”

    Keith's eyes widened. “Ex-boyfriend?” And he wasn'tentirely sure why that was the first thing he could hear within yourjumbled array of awkward sentences. He should have been offended,perhaps even a little understanding, but the word ex rattledhim – he had expected it, of course. He wasn't special enough forsomebody to wait for him for over a year, but he at least had somehope.

   You seemed to realise what you had said then, your face droppinga little bit. “Yes, Keith. Ex. What did you expect?”

    Keith scoffed. He could feel his unnecessary hostility risingup, clawing to the surface. “You don't even know what I was doingthis entire time. Things I've done, people I've saved – I didn'tjust disappear, Y/N. If I had the time to pick up the phoneand call you, god knows I would have. But I don't think I've seen amoment of peace in over a year.”

   “That is not myproblem,” you growled. “You can't just walk back in here andexpect me to wait on you just because you're a little bit busy.I've been busy, too, Keith. Busy trying to get over you. Busytrying to tell myself that it wasn't my fault you stopped talking tome completely.”

   Keith blanked. “You thought it was your fault?”

  “Well what else was I supposed to think?” you exclaimed,trailing your hands through your hair. Keith could see a thin sheenof tears glossing over your eyes, making his heart break.

   “Anything,” Keith mumbled. “You could have thoughtanything. You could have assumed I was dead. But you should haveknown you weren't the reason I left. You should have known that,Y/N.”

   The first tears fell. You reached up to swipe them away, butKeith was quicker. His hand shot out, grabbed your wrist, dragged ittowards his chest and placed it over his heart. He wasn't sure why –he had never been one for soppy moments like this, but there wassomething about you that made him want to be soppy. You made him wantto express his love, shout it from the rooftops in a way that nobodyhad ever made him feel before.

   But the most he could do was let you feel it, beating softlybeneath your palm through the fabric of his shirt.

   You closed your eyes, fingers instinctively curling and grippingonto the material.

   “You left,” you said, voice cracking. “You let me fall inlove with you, and then you left.”

   And if Keith'straumatised, shattered, destroyed heart could break all over again,it did. He felt it like cracking glass – small at first, but asingle hit could shatter it.

   “I loved you,” Keith whispered. “I love you, Y/N. Ididn't just forget about you the moment I left. I couldn't justforget about you. You were the only thing keeping me sane whenever Iwas on this god forsaken planet.”

   You raised a brow – Keith quickly moved on before you could askhim about what other planets he had been on in the past year.

    “I never wanted to break contact with you, and it was one ofthe worst decisions of my life. I know I shouldn't expect you to comewalking back into my arms after so long, but if there's one thing youtake from this conversation, it should be that I love you. I neverstopped loving you. You could never be the reason behind me leaving –in fact, you were one of the reasons I was going to stay. The onlyreason I was going to stay.”

   You bit down on your bottom lip, more tears pooling around youreyes and rolling down your cheeks, though you made very little effortto wipe them away. You kept your hand curled in Keith's shirt, hisfingers still burning holes in your wrist.

    “I was so worried about you, you know,” you whispered. Keithlet his eyes close, an airy breath escaping his mouth that soundedclose to a sigh of relief but was anything but. “I thought you'ddied. I thought the Galaxy Garrison had – had done something toyou. We called them up asking to talk to you, and they just said youweren't there and hung up. We didn't get answers for months, Keith.For months, I thought you'd died and they were covering it up orsomething. It was torture.”

   Keith nodded as if heunderstood, but he didn't. “I'm sorry.”

   “It wasn't your fault.”

   “I should have told you.”

   You shrugged. “A little warning would have been nice.” Yousmiled then, Keith opening his eyes just to gaze at the newexpression on your face. “B-But you're here now. And you're goingto explain yourself, aren't you? You're going to tell me all aboutyour travels, about all the people you met and about that crazy bunchof people we just left.”

   Keith nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, of course.”

   You grinned. “It'll be like two friends having a catch up.”You shrugged. “Only we just happen to be two angsty teenagers whoare in love with each other.”

[dani-in-the-daniverse]

Black, Voltron, Sun, Moon, Planets, Love. :)

Black: what’s your favorite aspect of this ship? If I have to pick just one, it’d be how they’d never give up on each other. Shiro did it in their Garrison days, when everyone else advised against it, and Keith literally went to his death for him.

Voltron: Which part of the show is your favorite sheith moment?Can I paste the entirety of Black Paladins here? The “I love you”, Shiro’s soft, pained “Keith” after his arm is severed along with his connection to Haggar (may I remind you it was the clone’s last word), and just how… calm Keith looked as they fell, before the real Shiro inside the black lion saved them.I also love that little moment after they rescue Shiro in s3. “As many times as it takes”

Sun: How do you headcanon how they first met, and/or fell in love?I think this is basically canon, but Shiro was a recruiter for the garrison. He went to Keith’s high school and took an interest in him after casually seeing him fly his father’s hoverbike. As to how they fell in love…? I’m not sure, I don’t think there was a moment where they went “oh shit I’m in love with him”. Keith probably liked Shiro already before Kerberos, and Shiro fell for him in between seasons ½.

Moon: Who do you think is more into physical affection? subtle shows of affection? I’d say both of them. They’ve shown they have no problem with hugging and casual touches while the others are around, I don’t think that would change if they start a romantic relationship (cue incessant teasing from Pidge and Lance, lol. But they don’t mind).

Planets: What do you think would be their perfect vacation spot?I’m gonna be self indulgent here, but there’s a little, quiet town in the mountains where I used to go on vacation when I was little, full of small wooden cabins and beautiful wildflowers. There’s no light pollution so they’d be able to look at the stars, and a river nearby where they could swim, maybe kiss in the water (or more) because there’s nobody around. I don’t know, it seems like a place they’d enjoy, and if they went to space they can come to Argentina too, right?

Love: Express how Sheith makes you feel, why do you like/love it?I love it because it’s one of those relationships you just can’t deny. They love each other. It’s a fact, not speculation, not a headcanon. It’s pure, unadulterated love, something you don’t often see portrayed so beautifully in media.

Thanks for asking, now I’m emotional but what else is new when it comes to Sheith.

[ahumanintraining]

handoff (ch. 4 of “follow up”)   a shallura modern era hospital au ft. dr. allura and patient shiro  [link to ao3]

notes: I do this weird thing where I can’t write third person omniscient so I change perspectives every now and then but I’m pretty terrible at it, lol sorry in advance. honestly i'm not even sure this chapter makes sense lol.

as always, thank you all so much for your support for this fic. again, multichaps are definitely out my comfort range for me, so seeing all this encouragement has been incredibly amazing.

chapter four: handoff

“Wait... what do you mean?” she asks.

And her voice sounds so disappointed that it makes him realize that “I’ve had a bit of change in plans” can also mean “I’m canceling our dinner.”

Wait! Fuck, he didn’t mean that. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“No, no! I mean, sorry, I mean we’re still on for tonight,” he corrects immediately. “I just.. well, I won’t be able to drive you.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Oh, okay,” she replies slowly. “Do you… want me to meet you somewhere then?”

“No. I mean, I’ll still meet you at your place,” he explains, desperate for words, but he’s tensing up and the words are spilling out of his mouth without abandon. “I just…” and unable to figure out what else to say, he apologizes again. “I’m sorry. When I told you I’d drive to your place, I forgot I was still going to have a splint.” He paces back and forth. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t want to risk driving you when I only have one functional arm.”

Ugh, he totally fucked up.

“Oh, I see.” She laughs. “Why’d you make it sound so serious?”

He opens and closes his mouth many times as he hears her laughter die down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that we’re not on for tonight,” he blabbers. “I spoke wrong, and I’m sorry about that.” He pauses. “I really want to see you soon.”

“Me too,” she says.

And hearing her say that might have just given him an extra ten years of life. He smiles uncontrollably, pressing his phone hard against his ear.

Then he suddenly remembers he probably should tell her that he’s right outside her apartment door.

“Um, actually,” he then awkwardly adds. “I’m already outside your building, I think.”

Her heart jumps out of her chest.

Outside her building?! Already?!

Composing herself, she calmly replies, “Oh! Okay, I’ll meet you downstairs. Give me a few minutes.”

“Yeah, sure. Sorry for not giving you a heads up.”

“No, no, no, you’re fine,” she assures him, her left hand grabbing eyeliner and some lip gloss. She leans over her counter, resting her phone on her shoulder and popping open the eyeliner.

“Okay, then,” he says. She hears him smile. And even in the midst of her rush, something about his silence on the other side of the line is calming. She momentarily stops her rummaging to experience the quiet. “I’ll see you soon.”

She smiles, and she can see in her reflection in the mirror that her smile reaches the corners of her eyes. “See you,” she replies.

She waits for him to end the call, hanging on for a second, but he doesn’t. Gingerly, she bites her lip, watching the timer for their call still ticking before she presses the end call button.

What a rollercoaster of emotions, she thinks to herself as she draws over her eyelids with the eyeliner. In the last five minutes, she went from thinking he was canceling their date to realizing he’s been right outside of her door the entire time.

He would be the death of her before the night was over, she was sure.

“Takashi Shirogane,” she says softly to herself. She holds up her chin, unscrewing the gloss and brushing the clear pink wash over her lips. She squeezes her lips together and smile at herself, replacing the makeup into her bag and stands up straight, looking at herself once more in the mirror.

Experience from past first dates warns her to not get her hopes up too high, but she can’t help this gut feeling bubbling within her that tells her she’s going to have a good time today.

And maybe she hopes that by the end of the night, he thinks the same.

She grabs her clutch purse from its hook on her wall, dropping her phone and wallet into it, slipping on white flats as she walks out of her apartment. With every step closer to the elevator, then closer to the entrance of her building, she feels her pulse growing stronger.

She recognizes him right away, even in the dim yellow streetlight. He’s wearing a dark sweater, leaning over the short fence surrounding the small flower garden in front of her apartment, body half-turned toward her building, face turned to the street, left hand tucked into the front pocket of his black jeans, and right arm casually rested against his waist. From this angle, she can still see the unmistakable white streak of hair at the front of his head.

She takes a deep breath and walks out.

He meets her eyes right away, and he straightens, taking a step toward her.

All of sudden, she doesn’t know what to do, but she waves to him as she approaches, taking in more and more of his details — the crinkles around his eyes, the silvery scar line over his nose — as he comes closer. A white shirt peeks out from the collar of his sweater, in a crooked way that makes her want to adore him even more.

“Hi, Takashi Shirogane,” she greets, and then realizes she blurted out his last name by accident because she’s been repeating his full name to herself for the past few hours.

He doesn’t seem to notice. “Hey,” he replies, stepping forward.

This makes her stop in place. She was not planning on coming this close to him, but now he’s within hug reach and she’s wondering if she should hug him? Hugging is not something she does naturally but now she’s standing too close to him for no reason.

But at this distance, she suddenly remembers the smell of his skin, and damn it, she really does want to hug him because she craves it, but she represses the desire immediately because — well, that would be weird of her to do.

“Hey,” she says instead.

They stand there for a moment. He looks like he’s taking her in from top to bottom, and she admits she doesn’t mind this at all. His eyes meet hers and he offers her a small smile.

“So, I was looking around your area and there’s actually a few places to eat around here we can walk to,” he starts, pulling out his phone. “But I was thinking you might have been to them already, and if that’s the case, we can go someplace else and I can call us a ride there.”

She thinks quickly. “Oh, no, not at all,” she replies. “For how long I’ve lived here, I haven’t explored every much around here. I know there’s an Italian place, an Ethiopian place, some kind of Middle Eastern place, and maybe a Korean barbeque place too.”

“Yeah, I saw that on my way here. What are you feeling?”

She wants to say Korean barbeque, but she’s been told by colleagues that Korean barbeque was never a good place to take first date.

Does she really care? Not really.

“How are you on KBBQ?”

“Love it.”

“Yes! Perfect,” she says, clapping her hands together.

He looks at her with a soft gaze and an uneven boyish grin. “Alright, ready?”

She looks at him once more, half-dazed by his smile. She secures her clutch over her shoulder.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

“So how long have you lived here?” he asks.

He’s really only making small talk because otherwise he’d find himself distracted just watching her walk beside him. She’s walking next to him. This beautiful doctor is next to him and he’s taking her to dinner and honestly his brain can’t fully process that yet.

“Hm…” she replies, musing a moment.

He likes the way she tilts her head up and slightly purses her lips when she’s thinking. He likes how the ends of her hair bob as she steps forward, ever so gracefully. He likes everything about her, really. She’s even more beautiful than he remembers — her white dress and matching shoes and tied-up hair — he doesn’t even have the vocabulary to describe what she’s wearing or how she’s wearing it but whatever she’s doing, he really likes it.

“In this specific building? About two years,” she continues. “I first moved to this city to work in Olkarion General about three years ago but for the first year, I was crashing between sublets trying to find a proper place to stay.”

“Yeah, it can be hard to find a lease around here.”

“But then I found this apartment and if everything works out, the plan is to stay here for the rest of my life — or at least as long as Olkarion General will keep me.”

He laughs. “I’m sure they’ll keep you around.”

He likes the sound of her staying here.

“What about you? Where do you live?”

“Oh, not too far from here. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the Beta Traz District, but I’m right around there.”

“Heard of it,” she says. “Haven’t ever been.” She turns and gives him a joking frown. “Doctors don’t get out much. That’s why I haven’t even been to this place that’s literally down my street.”

He shrugs, chuckling. “That’s fine. I don’t get out much either.”

He still doesn’t know where to put his hands. He can’t help this excited teenaged feeling of wanting to reach forward to hold out her hand, and suddenly he realizes he’s been looking for too long down at her hands. He looks up to her face in case she’s noticed, but she doesn’t seem to know at all, having the most calm and peaceful expression on her face, but then he realizes that now he’s just staring at her face – so he keeps his eyes to the sidewalk and his left hand deep in his pocket…

…only to later find his eyes veering to the gentle swish of her dress as she walks and how the light folds of her dress fall over her legs as she steps forward.

“I’m glad you suggested walking somewhere nearby,” she starts, looking over at him.

He meets her eyes briefly, but then realizes that her blue eyes are way too pretty for him to look at without blushing. He focuses on continuing her conversation.

“Oh, yeah, I mean, thank you for being open about doing this,” he says. “I, um, wish I had a more impressive reason to walk instead but I have a lame excuse of a broken arm.”

She shakes her head, smiling. “No, it’s good. Walking is great for the cardiovascular system,” she says, but then quickly adds, “And for your mood.” She pauses. “Well, for a lot of things, really. I mean, it’s great for the environment, too. Well — compared to us driving. I mean, you driving me.”

Seeing her trip over her words, he looks over at her and he sees her bite her bottom lip.

He hides a quiet laugh. She’s adorable, and he loves it.

“It’s a great temperature outside,” she says quickly, looking over at him.

“Yes,” he agrees, not letting her catch his gaze.

“Speaking of which, how is your arm anyway?”

“Oh, well, I was able to talk with my doctor today,” Shiro quickly recalls. “He just got me in to see an orthopedist for tomorrow but he didn’t mention anything bad about my arm. Just told me to try not to use it until tomorrow.”

“You look like you’re doing fine,” she says.

“I’d gladly take your second opinion,” he jokes, but then he realizes that might come off weird. “I mean, I don’t need you to check or anything. I don’t want to be that person asking you about random things just because you’re a doctor.”

She laughs. “Don’t worry about it,” she assures him. “Everyone does it anyway. And I’d rather that then people self-diagnosing based on internet articles.”

“Yeah, for sure,” he laughs.

They fall back into silence.

Damn. He didn’t mean to make this awkward. Why did he even say anything about his arm in the first place? She’s not at work right now and she probably wants a break from treating people — and he’s not even her patient anymore!

…or is he? Technically? It doesn’t feel like she’s treating him like a patient, but at the same time, maybe she’s just getting dinner with him because she was being nice after he, as a patient, offered.

He looks over at her and she is completely expressionless. He breathes in and continues walking, looking down briefly at his phone to check how far they have still to walk. He glances at her once more, and she still carrying the same neutral expression.

She’s not interested in him, he’s pretty sure. If she actually is interested in him, she’d definitely be more… flirty? … with him, right?

Besides, who is he kidding? Doctors must get this all the time. People wanting to thank them and such. This dinner must be pretty much all the same. And besides, this doctor-patient relationship thing is all his own wild fantasy, isn’t it? Isn’t it all just an overused romantic trope in those Korean dramas his mother watches?

Did she even wink at him in the first place? He’s not even sure if she had even winked at him when he was in the emergency room. He thinks she winked at him, but… well, even if she did, did that mean she was actually inviting him to call her? Some people just wink because they’re being friendly.

But she did accept dinner with him… right?

Stop it, Shiro, he thinks to himself. Now you’re just extending the silence and making this even more awkward…

Or maybe he should just ask her to be clear, his brain suggests. Just ask her what exactly this dinner is for.

He shakes his head.

No, don’t be stupid, Shiro. Don’t kid yourself, she’s just being nice.

He turns to her. “Hey,” he says, without thinking. “Um…”

Damn it, Shiro.

Allura cannot believe she started talking about medicine.

Why is she like this? Why is every other sentence she says has something to do with being a doctor or about some organ system? She hates it.

Doctors don’t get out much. Walking is great for the cardiovascular system? How is your arm?

Don’t say anything medical-related, she reprimands herself. At least through this dinner.

But then in these past seven seconds of awkward silence, she’s been unable to say anything not medical related. She’s been thinking of conversation topics but all her funny stories are about medical school, her medical colleagues, or random fun facts that she discovered in recent literature on PubMed.

Grimly, she reminds herself this is probably why she hasn’t had any successful dates with anyone since undergraduate.

Not to mention she had actually gone ahead and briefly looked over at his arm — which, although covered by the long sleeve of his sweater, looked visibly less swollen and a lot better even just a few days later — and told him her assessment, as if this dinner was a follow up visit. He even had to tell her that she didn’t have to check up on him.

Ugh, she is not doing well on the dating front right now.

She sneaks a furtive glance at him. He doesn’t look at all concerned or anything — honestly, she can’t tell what he’s feeling right now.

Probably awkward. And she doesn’t blame him. She made this entire conversation about medicine so far, and he’s probably not interested at all in what she’s talking about.

What kind of doctor goes to dinner with their patient anyway? He must be thinking about how awkward this all is because he probably didn’t expect her to say yes when he offered dinner. She’s had plenty of patients offering her things, but she’s never actually accepted anything — after all, it wasn’t quite right to accept the gifts and kind gestures. But she said yes, and now, he was probably going through all of this just because he was nice enough to follow through with it all.

Suddenly he looks over at her.

“Hey, um…”

She looks back at him. “Yes, Takashi?”

He hesitates. She sees him lick his lips. “Just to be clear… I’m not taking you to dinner as my doctor or anything,” he says. “In case I wasn’t clear.”

“Oh, well, no, no,” she replies quickly. “I’m not doing this as your doctor or anything. I thought we would just go out for dinner as… like, you know, friends or something.”

Wait.

“Oh, okay,” he says, nodding. “Right.”

Wait. Did she just…

She just friend-zoned him.

Damn it, Allura.

Friends or something.

Right. Friends or something.

That’s fine. That’s okay, right? Friends can date, right? And friends can become something more, right? That trope is in his mother’s Korean dramas, too, right?

Shiro really likes her. He really really likes her, and he wants so bad for her to like him too — and it’s crazy. He likes her so much even though he doesn’t know a single thing about her. But she has such a magnetic personality… is it wrong for him to want to spend as much time with her as he can?

This is fine, he convinces himself. At least they are having dinner.

Maybe if tonight goes well, he can toe the friend line.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he composes himself as the KBBQ restaurant comes into sight, stepping forward to open the door for her as they approach.

Despite what seemed like a very busy night, they’re immediately seated by the server, who grabs a couple of menus for them. They’re placed off to the side in booth seats and Shiro quickly takes a seat, watching Allura take her place across from him.

“This was a great idea,” she says, a little excitedly, pointing at the grill at the center of the table. She looks around at the atmosphere of the restaurant. “I haven’t had KBBQ in months, and I’ve actually been kind of craving it.”

He laughs. “Yeah, me too.”

She pours water from the pitcher in front of them into the two empty glasses, sliding one over to his side and taking one for herself.

“So, Takashi, tell me a bit more about you,” she says, folding her hands over each other and leaning over the table.

He tries not to notice how her cleavage grows as she does this. That would be terribly inappropriate of him, but —

He clears his throat, keeping his eyes on hers, even though his peripheral vision is offering him temptations. “Well, I grew up in Kerberos. I went to Puig for university and have moved around a little bit after that, but a year ago, I came here to Olkarion and yeah, I’m here now.”

He’s purposefully avoiding talking about what he’s doing now — frankly, because he isn’t doing anything now. And fortunately, she doesn’t focus on that last detail.

“Really?” Her eyes pop open. “I went to Puig University — did you…?”

“Oh, yeah, same. Class of ’07?”

She shakes her head. “’08,” she replies. “I’m fairly surprised I never met you while we were there.”

He shrugs. “It was a big school, and I chose to live off-campus.”

She nods. “Hm… and I was a hardcore premed, so unless by chance you happened to be doing anything biology-related or volunteered for the student clinic, I’m pretty sure I had no chance of meeting you.”

“Not at all. History major,” he says.

She smiles, her eyes dropping to the table. “I wish I met you back then, Takashi.”

Never mind what she just said, about wanting to meet him back then — this is maybe the third time she’s said his actual name.

Strangely, hearing her say his first name makes the whole conversation sound incredibly intimate. After all, no one calls him Takashi, and he doesn’t even remember hearing it in his past relationships. And when she says it so gently in her soothing voice…

“Shiro,” he suddenly blurts, then clarifies. “You can just call me Shiro. No need to be formal or anything.”

“Shiro?” she asks.

“Yeah,” he replies.

Maybe he’s being super Japanese about it. Like the whole you-called-me-kun-and-not-san thing. Whatever it is, he’s being weird about it.

“It’s short for my last name,” he explains. “Shirogane. People usually call me that.”

She arches her eyebrow. “Well, what if I choose not to, Takashi?” she asks, mischievously.

He almost gets a boner.

“I— I mean, you call me whatever you want to,” he says, choosing not to elaborate that he may have just discovered he has a weird first-name-basis kink. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat, reaching for his glass of water.

“I’m kidding,” she says, also holding her water out in front of her and taking a sip from the straw.

“Hi, good evening, sorry to interrupt you two,” a server says, coming up to their table, laying out some side dishes out in front of them and turning on the grill in the center of their table. “I was going to take any orders you had?”

“Oh, sorry,” he apologizes, completely forgetting about it all. He looks to Allura, but she has the same oh-crap-we-forgot-we-were-ordering expression. “Um,” he says, flipping over the menu. “Maybe we can start with bulgolgi and the saeng galbi?"

Allura nods, looking over the options. “And maybe pork belly and uh… if we could get an order of japchae?”

He’s about to compliment good choice in food, but then he feels a familiar vibration in his pants pocket of someone calling him. He reaches over and grabs his phone out of his pocket, seeing the kanji.

Oh, his mom.

He slowly stands to his feet.

“Anything else? You can get up to three things at a time.”

“Oh, maybe just add beef brisket on both of ours,” Allura answers for the two of them, noticing the phone in his hand and him getting up.

“Sorry, I have to take this,” he mouths, making his way out of the restaurant.

Oh, of all the times for his mother to call.

Allura likes him.

She really does. She knew she thought he was cute, but somehow just in the last hour, she thinks she wants to get to know him much more.

It’s all too bad she more or less friend-zoned him earlier.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why did she do that? Maybe she should clarify and tell him she wanted to date him —

But wait, when she recounts back to when she friend-zoned him, he didn’t seem upset or surprised at all… so maybe he’s already on the friend-zone page… except the only problem is that she’s not on that page…

This is fine, she convinces herself.

In fact, this might turn out for the better. Maybe by the end of the night, she’d realize she actually doesn’t like him at all. And then that would make things easier.

Somehow though, she doesn’t think she won’t fall for him — because she already has, and she can’t stop it.

She watches him now as he returns through the restaurant, laughing with one of the restaurant employees that stops him on the way back to the table. He has some kind of charm disarms anyone, and she is just as susceptible.

As he approaches, she pretends she hasn’t been staring the entire time. She takes a piece of kimchi and chews it, pretending her eyes have been on all the side dishes and waits until he comes back to the table for her to lift her eyes up to him.

“Sorry about that,” he apologizes.

She shakes her head. “No, don’t be sorry about that. You needed to take that call.”

Sitting himself back down, he shrugs. “It really wasn’t that important. My mom just called because she wanted to see another picture of my arm.”

She laughs. “I don’t blame her. If my son broke his arm, I would probably be the exact same way.” She lets her laugh fall quiet. “You’re close to your mom?”

He wrinkles his nose. “It’s something I’m embarrassed to admit.”

“Hm,” she says, nodding quietly.

“Are you?”

His question strikes her out of the blue. “Am I…?”

“Close to your parents?”

“Yeah…” she replies, looking up from her hands and smiling at him. “Yeah, I was.”

He looks back at her, concerned. “Oh, I’m sorry… did something happen?”

She shakes her head. “My mom passed when I was younger but I was always close with my dad. He passed a few years ago.” She sips on her straw and flits her eyes up to gauge him. “It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize for asking. You didn’t know.”

His mouth twists. “Well, yeah, but… I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean to get that deep that fast.”

She laughs. “Well, I asked about your mom first,” she reminds him. “And I didn’t know anything about you so I think I risked just as much going into that question.”

He gives her a careful smile. She really wants him to be comfortable and not intimidated. She really hopes he doesn’t just see her as ‘the chick whose parents died.’

In almost perfect timing with their silence, their server stops at their table, delivering their orders. She watches the dishes get placed onto the table, the clink of the dishware the only sound between the two of them.

She thanks the server then quickly takes the prongs. “So, what keeps you busy these days?” she asks Shiro, dropping some meat onto the grill. “Work or hobbies or anything?”

“Well… I’m actually on the search for a job,” he explains slowly. He follows her lead and drops his own meat, onto the grill, immediate sizzles emerging from underneath.

“What were…” Quite honestly, she doesn’t expect him to be unemployed and she tries her best not to sound judgmental or like she expected him to be doing anything. “What were you doing before?” She corrects. “Well, if you were doing anything before?”

He doesn’t seem to take offense. “Air Force,” he replies simply. “I quit though.”

She doesn’t expect this either. “Oh, uh,” she struggles, trying to see if her past interactions with veterans from her VA rotation in medical school would help her. “Was there a reason you quit?”

He shrugs. “I didn’t mind the first few years, but then the last two years, I hated with a passion and I wanted out. I felt like there wasn’t much freedom, and there was a lot of bullshit.”

She nods. “I see.”

There’s not much more there that she knows how to get into or even wants to get into. Suddenly she’s not completely confident about making good conversation with him, and it’s a feeling she’s not used to. She stirs the straw in her glass for a little bit.

“Sorry for asking, and maybe I don’t know,” she starts on another subject. “But are you Japanese? I’m just assuming because Shirogane seems Japanese.”

“No, you’re right,” he says, and this question seems to break through. “That’s better than most people assume.” He nods his chin in her direction. “And you? How do you identify, if you don’t mind me asking?”

She shrugs. “Black,” she says. “Or African-American. Nothing special.” She tilts her head. “Do you speak Japanese at home, then?”

“I’m Japanese. I have to speak Japanese,” he groans. “My mother would never let me go without it. Japanese at home. Japanese school on Saturdays.” He looks at her. “What about you? Do you speak any other languages?”

She wrinkles her nose, smiling. “No, not really. And I don’t count the Spanish I took in high school. I’m quite language-less aside from English.” She recounts a little back. “Although, one of my high school friends and I made this elaborate language we used to communicate to each other while passing notes in class.”

She sees him almost spit out his drink, laughing. “This must be before texting became a thing.”

She smiles wide. “Yeah. I’m sure you remember back then.”

“Oh absolutely,” he says. “I mean so few of us in high school had phones that could actually text, and the texts were so much money per character that we didn’t even try to transition from paper.”

“And then there were the cool kids that had the Blackberrys.”

“Don’t even remind me about how snobby they were.”

She laughs. “I was only cool enough to get a Blackberry when I was in college,” she says. “But I’m glad I hung on until then because the smart phone revolution started and by then my family hadn’t invested in all the ‘new’ tech was ultimately surpassed.”

“Yeah. I’m still waiting for holograms to come out.”

“I’m sure a more intelligent alien species out there has already invented some form of that,” she says, taking a bite of the acorn jelly on the side dish. “It’s only a matter of time for us.”

“You believe in aliens?” He looks at her, amused.

“There’s infinite possibilities out there in the universe,” she replies easily. “How can you not?”

“Whatever the doctor says,” he teases.

She rolls her eyes. “What about you?” she asks.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a hardcore believer,” he replies. “One of my roommates in undergrad really sold me on it though. He was studying astrophysics or something and he used to tell me all the time about alternate universes. He had a ton of formulas and equations that proved all of it.” He thinks to himself for a moment. “Honestly, he was kind of weird. He’d always be calculating a ton of probabilities of things and probably had some form of agoraphobia. He never left the room.”

Allura considers. “Not leaving the room,” she says, nodding. “That sounds a lot like it.”

“Yeah,” he says, before changing the subject. “So. You still need to tell me about this elaborate made-up language you used to write notes to your friend in class.” He leans back into his chair. “Aside from majoring in history, I low-key studied a lot of linguistics in my undergraduate, so I’m not letting you off the hook for that detail.”

“Oh no, you won’t find it interesting,” she replies. “It was literally just English with character substitutions. We just didn’t want anyone reading our messages.” She softly confesses. “I actually still remember it from A to Z.”

He shrugs. “Memory works in the strangest ways.” He watches her for a few seconds, with a thoughtful look. She tries to focus on cutting her broccoli, pretending she doesn’t notice at all. “Was there a name for this language that you had?”

She clears her throat, smiling to herself, thinking back. “Altean,” she says, looking up at him. He’s listening intently, and she takes a deep breath and carefully explains, “Well, it was called Altean because it was my last name.” She pauses and clarifies. “It was just a code that two of us shared. This is a little embarrassing, but we thought we would get married and that my last name was the better one to take on, so that’s why the language is my last name… because we thought we’d share that.”

He softly smiles. “Romantic,” he says. “No wonder it had to be secret.”

“Yeah,” she says. She looks at him, and he’s still looking at her intently. “We didn’t eventually get married,” she adds with an embarrassed smile. “It was just a high school romance. She —” She quickly corrects herself in a split second. “We broke up freshman year of college.” She continues to add more substance. “You know, long distance is hard and all.”

She holds her breath and watches him. She had been so comfortable talking to him that she completely slipped.

“It happens,” he says, and if he had heard that, he was good at acting like he didn’t care.

Or maybe he didn’t actually care that she’s dated girls.

She struggles to find something else to say. “Ah yeah,” she eventually agrees.

She watches him flip around a strip of meat on the grill for a little bit before he makes a weird scooping motion with the chopsticks and plops the meat on his plate.

“Damn,” he mutters. She hears it.

“Struggling a little bit there?” she teases. “Chopsticks not your thing?”

He looks at her like she’s shitting him. “My left hand is getting there.”

“Do I need to teach you?”

It’s just a joke, but he actually arches his eyebrow at her. “Yeah, sure, go ahead,” he challenges.

She doesn’t, sticking her tongue out instead. “For some reason, I feel like this should be the opposite of how it should be going. You know, you being actually Asian and all.”

He smiles, waving off his left hand. “Honestly, I’m about to just fuck it and use my right arm.”

“No, no, no!” she reprimands him, laughing. “You need to keep that arm as still as possible until you get your cast tomorrow!”

“Whatever the doctor says,” he teases again. He tries for a piece of pork belly this time, instead getting the ends of his chopsticks stuck between the slits of the grill. He tries a couple more times.

“Here,” she says, automatically, reaching over the table and grabbing the piece in her own chopsticks and raising it up to mouth level.

Her eyes meet his eyes and then suddenly, she realizes she’s feeding him.

He seems to realize it, too. His eyes don’t leave hers.

Her heart shivers. “Um…” she hesitates, looking away from him and back at the pork between her chopsticks. “Careful, it might be a little hot,” she finally says. She tries her best not to look at his eyes and waits, staring at the bite of meat.

His head ducks down and his lips come into view just behind her chopsticks. He slightly angles his mouth to better accommodate the morsel and opens his mouth. She cautiously places the meat forward between his lips and waits until he withdraws before she releases the pork from her chopsticks.

She exhales her held breath, immediately going back to the grill to pick up some remaining pieces of meat, placing a couple on her plate. Feeling a light flush on her cheeks, she keeps her face down to the table, trying to pass all of this as normal as possible.

“Uh, thanks,” he mumbles, doing the exact same.

Suddenly, his left hand is much more capable with the chopsticks.

A few silent minutes between them pass.

“S-Sorry if that was weird,” she can’t help but say.

He looks up at her and smiles, shaking his head. “I did need the help,” he replies. “Otherwise we would have been here all night.”

“Oh, yeah, that was definitely something I was trying to avoid.”

“What?” he teases. “You’re not enjoying my company at all?”

She narrows her eyes, a playful smile on her lips. “Nope. Not in the very least bit,” she declares.

But that is very much a lie, and Allura is sure he knows it — even if he was that dense and immune to sarcasm to not know otherwise, he would definitely know with how many more hours she passes with him for the rest of the night.

Shiro’s cheeks hurt from laughing. They’ve been hurting.

He thought dinner might not have been going the right way after his mother interrupted and after he accidentally uncovered both her parents passed away, but the conversation very quickly led other ways and he discovered much more they had in common than not.

And she’s hilarious. Blunt and straightforward, and not afraid to just tell it how it is. He loves that.

As he laughs off this last remark she made, he checks his phone and is surprised to find just how late it is — half past midnight.

She seems to note the time as well, and they both agree to get going, calling over their server to split the bill so they can be on their way.

“I’ll walk you back, yeah?” he suggests as they’re walking out of the restaurant. He’s trying his best to hold onto as many minutes with her as possible. It’s been a while since he’s felt this desperate to spend time with anyone.

“Sure,” she replies, taking her purse and following up behind him. She reaches out to him, and for a moment, he thinks — with widened eyes and held breath — that she’s going to take his hand, but her hand reaches past his body and pulls open the restaurant door handle in front of them.

He quickly tucks away all the thoughts he has about her fingers intertwined with his.

She opens it wide and a light spray of mist falls over his face.

“Ah,” she announces, almost nonchalantly. “It’s raining.”

He sees a few clusters of people huddled within the restaurant’s overhanging roof to avoid the rain, hearing some chatter about calling an Uber or how far away their parked car is.

He turns to her, taking out his phone. “I can call an Uber or something.”

Allura looks at the rain. “Nonsense, it’s not that bad.”

She looks back at him with a bite of her lip, and then she suddenly reaches and takes his left hand. Before he can even process it, she’s locked her fingers between his.

“Come on,” she says, walking off at a quick pace.

There’s many things that Shiro’s done without thinking — and this, running into a storm with a woman he’s very much enamored with, isn’t very much different — but like all things that he’s done without thinking, he very quickly realizes doing so was a very bad idea.

In fact, it only takes two steps into the rain to register this.

“Oh my god!” she screams, probably realize the same. She starts laughing, her pace slowly as she almost falls over giggling, clutching her stomach.

“This is definitely really bad rain,” he sputters, unable to keep himself from laughing with her. He pulls her forward, keeping her moving forward as she tries to catch her breath. He squints some rain out of his eyes and sees an open convenience store a hundred steps up ahead. “We can probably get an umbrella in there.”

“Yeah,” she agrees, with another laugh.

He’s sure his shirt is almost completely soaked through, but for once in a very long time, he doesn’t care at all. His heart is light and unburdened. She picks up the pace after another short episode of laughter and he lets her guide him until they reach the convenience store, rushing inside with the frazzled excitement of teenagers at prom. The door rings as they enter, both tracking drops of rain in.

He hasn’t felt this carefree in ages.

“Sorry,” Allura apologizes loudly to the cashier as they walk, dripping, through the narrow store. “You don’t happen to be selling umbrellas, are you?”

When the cashier nods and points behind them, she pulls her hand out from his and reaches behind her, placing a large umbrella on the counter and reaching into her purse for the wallet.

“Oh,” Shiro realizes, reaching his hand back to his wallet. His mind is still foggy and his hand is still warm from her touch.

“No, no, I insist,” she says, with a slightly embarrassed smile. “I was the one that decided to run out into the rain like a crazy person, after all.”

“Okay,” he agrees, returning a smile. He watches a small drop of water fall off a stray strand of her hair and fall onto her shoulder.

No, he’s pretty sure he’s the crazy one to be still running after her.

“Here, come,” she commands him, walking out of the convenience store as she opens the umbrella wide. She waits for him to stand next to her before she starts walking again. “This should keep us much drier,” she says. “Much better idea than my other idea.”

He laughs softly, reaching his left hand up to comb over his bangs, feeling some drops of water falling over the back of his neck. “Yeah,” he agrees. “I hope your clothes are okay.”

“It’s just water,” she says, looking up at him. “Come closer so you don’t get wet,” she tells him.

He’s already very close to her, and he can’t imagine closing any more distance — but she shifts her umbrella more to his side and presses her arm right up against him, her right shoulder bumping into his left side.

“I’m fine,” he insists, his hand almost automatically reaching up for the umbrella handle. He takes it to relieve her, but she doesn’t let go, and his hand overlaps hers as he takes the umbrella — and he swears he feels a spark between their fingers.

His eyes shoot over to look at her, but she just smiles up at him, continuing their walk like everything is normal and like they do this every day.

And for once, under the same umbrella and in the same space, he feels at ease. The downpour all around them and all the traffic rushing by on the street fades away, and all that is left is her arm brushing against him and her occasional sigh, the smell of her hair and rain, the warmth of her hand against his.

It feels like a small separate world made of just him and her — and he wants this peace to last forever.

All too soon, she slows to a stop and Shiro quickly realizes, much to his sadness, that their walk is coming to an end. She leads them to the front of her apartment’s main door, steering with the umbrella.

“So…” she asks as they come under the overhang of her apartment building. She collapses the umbrella and hands it off to him. “How did you get here?”

“Oh, um,” he says, retrieving the umbrella. The start of the evening feels so long ago he’s almost completely forgot. “I walked.”

“Hm,” she nods, looking off to some empty space as she fishes out her keys from her purse without looking, in that same way she did whenever she was thinking about something.

Adorable.

“How about I drive you back to your place?” she suggests.

He wants to say no, but she doesn’t let him refuse her offer, tapping him from behind and pushing him forward as she turns the key to her apartment lobby.

“Wait inside here,” she tells him. “I’ll go upstairs and get my car really quickly. I have to drive it down from parking. I’ll meet you on the street here.” She points in front of her building, leading him to a bench inside.

He sits himself down and finds her looking down thoughtfully at him.

“Actually, you’re soaking wet,” she says. “Just come up with me. I’ll get you a towel to dry off.”

“Uh,” he hesitates, but his body stands back up under her command.

“Come on,” she calls to him, slapping the up button to the elevator. The elevator dings and she slips inside, keeping her hand between the doors to keep it open.

And of course, like any lovesick person, he follows right along.

As the elevator doors shut, he finds himself again alone with her. He looks over at her, catching her gaze, and she smiles at him. He returns the smile.

Half-soaked and her hair wind-and-rain swept, she still looks like the most beautiful thing he’s seen in ages. The tops of her shoulders and sleeves are drenched in rain, and some parts of the hem of her dress have rain spots over them — but her bright smile reaches her twinkling eyes and she looks like she’s never been happier.

He has the strongest urge to just rush over to the other side of the elevator and kiss her, but he knows better. He knows he shouldn’t read into the fact that she spent hours with him over dinner, even helping him with his chopsticks at some point. He knows he shouldn’t read into the fact that she held his hand before running out into the rain or that she’s inviting her up to her place.

God, he likes her so much that he’s not thinking clear. All of this — everything from her okay to dinner to her driving him to his apartment — she isn’t doing any of this because she likes him, he’s thoroughly convinced. She’s just doing all of this out of the goodness of her heart. She’s a doctor, after all! She chose a career dedicating her entire life to helping people.

She’s the prime example of an incredibly friendly, undoubtedly selfless, and utterly perfect person — none of everything tonight could really mean anything and he really shouldn’t kiss her, as much as he wants to.

Besides, they’re just friends, right?

He breathes in slowly, watching the numbers climb up to the eighth floor.

The elevator dings again, and he follows behind her as she walks down the hallway, stopping in front of an apartment. Her keys jangle as she turns her keys, and he hears a faint mewl coming from the other side of the door.

“You have a cat?” he asks her, as she leans against her door to swing it open.

“Yes,” she says, immediately crouching down to pick up the cat that comes up to her as she enters. She turns to him and rocks the cat up and down in her arms. “Her name is Blue.”

“Blue,” he repeats, finding himself with nothing else to say.

“You like cats?” she asks him, slipping behind him to close the door behind him.

“Yeah…” he says.

Allura smiles and then carefully drops Blue back to the ground, who approaches him curiously. He puts down the umbrella, putting out his hand to the cat’s nose. Blue sniffs him cautiously, before rubbing her face over his fingers. Allura watches their interactions for a moment.

“She likes you,” she observes.

Shiro looks up at Allura, continuing to pet her cat. He smiles up at her. “I like her, too.”

Allura smiles.

“I’ll get you a towel,” she says, slipping away to her bathroom.

Shiro lifts her head to look around. He doesn’t know what to think of it — it’s about as normal of an apartment as he would expect any apartment to be. There’s a few extra-large textbooks scattered over her couch, a leftover mug on her coffee table, and a small scattering of plants on the window.

“Here,” she says, coming back to him with a white hand towel.

He stands, taking it with his left hand and one-handedly dries his head. “Thanks,” he says, when finished.

She snorts when seeing his messed-up hair. She takes the towel, reaching up to smooth out his hair, then rubs the towel over his shoulder, carefully around his neck.

He realizes he’s holding his breath, watching her so close to him. When she takes the towel back, she looks up at him.

He could kiss her.

She smiles. “Let’s get going, yeah?”

He swallows, nodding. “Yeah,” he agrees, watching her walk off to drop the towel in the bathroom.

This is the second time he’s thought to kiss her tonight.

He has to stop thinking this. That, or get home right away before he risks doing anything stupid.

“I’m surprised you walked this far,” she says, pulling up to his apartment building.

She looks at the time. It’s late. Incredibly late.

“It must have taken you a quite a while if it took us fifteen minutes to get here,” she continues.

He shrugs. “Some doctor I know told me walking is great for the cardiovascular system.”

She smirks. “A good doctor?”

“Oh, the best one I know,” he replies.

He watches her eyes lighten as she takes the top of the steering wheel with both hands, leaning over and tilting her head onto her hands, giving him a tired but content smile.

He needs to go. It’s been a long night.

He looks at the umbrella at his feet. “Here,” he says. “I’m leaving the umbrella with you. Thanks so much for everything. You really didn’t need to do all this.”

“Take the umbrella so you can at least stay dry getting to your door,” she insists.

“Alright,” he says, placing it between his knees. He starts to turn his body to open the door with his left hand, but he pauses, looking up back to her.

She looks back at him, quietly, still leaned against her steering wheel.

A beat.

“Um, thank you,” he says.

She smiles. “Of course.”

He nods, and then turns back to the car door, opening it and slipping himself out of the car, snapping open the umbrella and holding the stem between his shoulder and neck as he waves goodbye to her and shuts the car door again.

Should he have kissed her?

He should have kissed her. He should have fucking kissed her.

Damn it, Shiro. You missed your chance.

No, it’s okay, he reminds himself. This would have been the third time he thought to kiss her tonight, and he’s not supposed to be even thinking about kissing her.

“Hey, Shiro?” she calls out to him, rolling down her car window.

His heart stops.

“Yeah?” He turns to her, unable to resist. He holds the umbrella out between them, ducking down slightly to meet her level.

She smiles. “I had a really good time with you today,” she says.

“Yeah,” he agrees, returning the smile. “Me too.”

“And keep the umbrella,” she insists.

Before he can protest, she adds, with a wink, “You might need it the next time you take me out.”

notes: they are literally just awkward nerds but at least allura’s pulling through at the end, hah. also I’ve definitely put in a bunch of random tropes in there so forgive me.

[kirishwima]

how about Grace Kelly by Mika and the ship is klance? (ofc i'd pick that xD)

ok but please tell me that im remembering this right and this song was used for years in a Cadbury advertisement? I heard it an immediately got flashbacks of that LOL ;u;

send me a song & a pairing/fandom for a short drabble based on the song!

*******

“Keith? Dude come on, you’ve been in there for two days. Can you just like, unlock your door before I ask Allura to smash through it?”

Lance’s knocks seemed to fall on deaf ears, another knock earning him a muffled ‘Go away’ from across the door.

How long was Keith planning to keep this up anyway?

It started after their latest mission, an easy success for the team that led to high fives and fist bumps the moment they got out of their lions, even going as far as to receive praise from Allura.

Keith seemed alright at the time, but the moment he went to tug his helmet off, Lance noticed his eyes widen, hands shaky where they held the helmet, before he ran off, leaving the rest of the team to stare after him.

Shiro was the first to run to Keith, telling the rest of the team he’ll try and see what’s wrong, but to no avail; Keith bolted his bedroom door shut, refusing to let anyone through.

Allura tried, knocking gently on his door before Hunk and Shiro had to pull her back when she started prying the door with sheer force.

Pidge tried bribing him with gadgets for Red, Hunk with sweets and hugs; yet Keith persisted, either via giving them the silent treatment or by yelling at them to go away.

Lance tried a few times, knocking so softly he wasn’t sure if Keith heard him, only to get a whimpered ‘leave’ in response.

He let it slide the first time, figuring it might just be nerves from a mission or some of Keith’s typical broodiness.

By night, he felt more agitated, pacing back and forth in his room, leaving a few times and standing short outside Keith’s door, only to hesitate when his knuckles reached the door, shaking his head and leaving with a huff.

On the second day, Lance had had enough.Keith got his broody-time, and frankly? Two entire days of teenage angst were more than enough in Lance’s mind.

When Keith yelled another ‘Go!’ Lance clicked his tongue, and took one, two, three deep breaths before steadying his voice, trying to be as straight-forward as he could.

“Keith, you either open this door right now and give me proof you’re alive and well, or I will go down to the hangar and shove Red here if I have to.”

He heard a gasp from inside the door, figuring that might’ve just done the trick; hell hath no fury over a worried Red Lion after all.

Yet there was no distinct sound of footsteps, no mullet in sight for Lance to breath in relief.

Lance counted his options, figuring there weren’t many left.He could continue the empty threats, or go for a teasing so bad Keith would have no choice than to open the door and give him that cute glare of his, the one where his eyebrows furrow and his bottom lip sticks out, arms folded and back slumped.

Or….Or he could be sincere.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Look man, we’re all worried okay? I’m worried. I get that sometimes you need some alone time, it’s okay and it’s healthy, but pushing everyone out like this, trying to face things alone when there’s so many people here that want to support and take care of you? That’s not the right way to go about this.”

There was silence in the room, so Lance continued, leaning his forehead onto the door.

“You’re…you’re my friend. Honestly, maybe a little more than that. I mean it’s kind of impossible not to fall for you when you got that cute stare and are literally the coolest person on earth you know?”

Not noticing the sound of footsteps, Lance continued with a soft chuckle, feeling his heartbeat increase with each word that slipped his mouth.

“Like honestly, you’d think the mullet and the whole My Chemical Romance angst would kill it but honestly? I actually like that about you. Oh my god I-I just said I like your mullet Keith do you realise how much I gotta like you to say that?!”

He didn’t get to continue his shocked monologue, because a moment later he heard the swishing sound of doors opening, finding his body falling forward and into a sturdy surface, warm hands gripping his back.

He. He fell onto Keith. Onto Keith’s chest. Right after confessing his gay, undying love to him.

Lance, to this day, has no clue how he didn’t immediately combust at that.

He felt Keith take a deep breath, unable to turn his head to face him with Keith’s jaw resting over the top of Lance’s head, arms holding him in place.

“You…you won’t like me when you see this.”

“See what?”

Keith slowly, hesitantly let his arms fall away from Lance’s back, letting the taller boy lean away and finally face Keith after two days of radio silence.

Keith looked…normal, more or less.His face was somewhat blotchy, the underside of his eyes littered with dark circles, eyelids red and puffy, gaze downcast, posture more recluse, arms wrapping around himself.

What was odd was that his usual mullet was-it was-

It wasn’t there.

In fact, except for a few stray hairs, Keith’s wonderful, luscious mullet, was hidden under a neon red beanie, reaching down and covering Keith’s forehead.

Noticing Lance’s confused expression, he brought a hand to the beanie, taking it off with shaky hands, and Lance was wondering why the hell Keith was suddenly so self conscious of his mullet until-

Oh.

Oh.

The mullet was indeed gone, replaced by choppy short hair that oddly enough made Lance’s heart both leap in loops and cry in mourning for his favourite mullet-head, but it wasn’t that that made his jaw drop, oh no.

Atop Keith’s head, his hair turned from black to shades of purple, extending up into what Lance could only describe as…ears. Fluffy, purple, Galra ears.

He must’ve been silent for a while, because Keith huffed, fiddling with the hem of the beanie before moving to put it back on.

“I told you you wouldn’t like me after this. I look disgusting, I’m-“

“Keith. Keith buddy no, put that beanie down and let me look at your…fluffiness for a sec.” Lance managed, tugging Keith’s wrist down from his head and taking the beanie from his hands.

He noticed the way Keith’s cheeks tinted pink, how his ears, his new Galra purplish ears twitched to the sides in Keith’s self-conscious efforts to stay still.

“Keith, babe. I think…I think I’m turning into a furry.”

They stared at each other for a moment before Keith broke, giggling behind his hand at first before laughing loudly, to the point of tearing up.

“You don’t think I’m hideous?” he asked when he calmed down, when they sat side by side on Keith’s bed, hands intertwined.

“I think you’re perfect as you are, always. Even if I tease you all the time.”

Keith hummed, looking down to his feet before peeking up at Lance, ears perking up.

“I…I like you too. I was so scared that you’d change your mind when you saw me, that if you were already teasing me about my hair, that I wouldn’t hear the end of it about this” he said, pointing to his ears.

“About that..” Lance said, willing his heart to still, his mind to stop replaying that sweet, sweet ‘I like you too’, “what happened to your hair?! Why is it short? Is it a Galra thing?”

Keith absentmindedly run a hand through his hair, as if that didn’t make Lance’s entire life essence melt into a flustered happy puddle.

“I freaked out when I felt the ears so I kind of chopped my hair off? I don’t know, I guess I thought it’d make me feel a little better or something.”

Lance nodded solemnly, keeping oddly quiet.

Keith leaned closer, tugging at their interlinked fingers by his side.

“Lance? Is it…is it bad?”

He turned to Keith at that, face stoic.

“You’re gorgeous. But we need to hold a mullet for your funeral.”

Keith snorted, rolling his eyes.

“I’m serious! I’ll make a little coffin, put some locks of hair in there. Hunk will do the eulogy, we dress in all black-not that you’d have to change or anything, and we have a full week of mourning.”

Lance knocked his forehead with Keith’s, letting a teasing smirk roll onto his lips.“That, or you can maybe kiss me and we forget the whole mullet-teasing ever happened?”

Keith happily obliged.

Even if they still held a funeral for the mullet after all, burying the tiny coffin, the words on the tombstone saying;

‘In memory of Keith and Lance’s ridiculous mutual pining. Oh, yeah, and for Keith’s bad hair decisions.’

******

this was so ridiculous LOL sorry, but short hair keith WITH galra ears?? um?? heck yes??

[shatterinseconds]

I need a thing where Keith is afraid of water/ the ocean and can't swim. Like the classic beach episode. So they Land on a planet that is kinda like earth and everyone makes their way to the beach. Keith stays on land in his swim trunks cause he was forced by Shiro to put them on because, "You need sun." but then Lance being the little shit he is, forces him into the water where Keith nearly drowns. Shiro being the only one who knows Keith can't swim sees Keith fall into the water and yells(PT1)

(PT2) “Lance! Keith can’t swim!” In panic because his little bro is about to drown. Then lance is like “Oh fuck” and swims down to get Keith. He brings him to shore and everyone is shitting their pants (Mostly Hunk tho.) Lance saves his life and shit happens where Keith avoids Lance then Lance apologizes a day later. Then romance. (This was long, i basically wrote the fic lol)

Hope you don’t mind that I changed some things; I had an idea and went with it

“I think I’d rather stay in and train. I mean, who knows when the next Galra attack will be and–”

“Keith, you’re on a beach!” Lance explains, cutting him off with a large wave of his arms. Crystalline water spreads out as a vast expanse behind the boy, the twin suns hanging high in the light blue sky, and their rays shimmer on top of the waves.

Sand prickles Keith’s feet as he buries them in the sand while rubbing his bare arms, feeling slightly subconscious with only red swim trunks on. It’s too hot already, sweat beading over his pale skin and at the base of his neck. His hair has been tied into a loose ponytail but that does little good.

“So? I hate the beach,” Keith says, eyes narrowed, quickly darting to the water and back, hoping Lance hadn’t noticed.

“You can’t be that much of a party pooper,” Lance grumbles, crossing his arms across his chest. It doesn’t help that he’s partially naked too–and yes, Keith can admit that Lance has a nice figure; there’s no point in denying it. Unfortunately, his mind is too caught up in other things to properly enjoy the sight before him.  

Lance’s ocean-like eyes,  mirroring the water behind him, glisten as he waits for a response.

“I said, I don’t want to be here,” he whines like a child, barely managing to not stamp his foot and pout. This is completely unfair.

“No, nope you’re not ruining my day with that attitude.” Without warning, Lance grabs Keith, throwing him over his shoulder, hurriedly sprinting to a cropping of rocks that serve as a good jumping off point. Keith tries to fight, even going as far as trying to claw his way out of Lance’s superhuman grip.

In the end, nothing works, not even his shouts of “Put me the fuck down, Lance, right now!” He had thought his voice had been commanding enough, apparently not.

It takes a moment for Keith to realize he’s weightless, flying through the air and catching sight of Lance’s amused expression before hitting the water, the waves cutting into his skin as he submerges. It closes in around him, the salt stinging his eyes as he struggles to find some sort of way to breathe in space where one is not able to. He pops up for air for split second before being dragged back down by another set of unrelenting waves. Something brushes past his ankle–an alien version of a fish would be his guess if had been in a logical state of mind–but now he panics.

On his third attempt to break the surface for air, he can hear scattered, choppy bits of a conversation.

“La–” That is probably Shiro. “H–an’t swim.”

“Shit,” and that is definitely Lance.

Keith isn’t quite sure when, but at some point, strong arms wrap around his body, hauling him to the surface. Coughing and sputtering out a few mouthfuls of water, he throws himself onto his savoir as he slings his arms over their shoulders as his body continues to shudder. It takes him another moment to realize he’s hanging onto Lance, slowly gazing at flattened and soaked brown hair and worried eyes and an uncharacteristic frown.

“Are you okay? Shit, I didn’t know. Keith, I–”

“S-so wh-at are you,” Keith rasps before clearing his throat, “the hero? Making me your damsel in distress?” he lightly growls, not having the energy to muster much else. His face is too close to Lance’s, able to count every freckle scattered across his brown skin–there’s a denser patch of dark spots on his nose; they’re a little distracting–and see every hue that swims in his blue irises.

“That about sums it up.” Lance smirks, realizing Keith  is indeed okay, hand flat on his back, sparks rising from the point of contact, warming his chilled body.

“You’re unbelievable,” Keith scoffs, shaking his head. His long hair whips his cheeks in matted, salty clumps, and he frustratingly pushes back his bangs. “I could have saved myself.”

“You literally couldn’t have because you can’t swim,” Lance replies as they tread water–well more accurately, as Lance treds water; Keith practically hangs onto him like a koala bear. This scene is quite embarrassing but he pretends not to notice.  

“I could’ve tried to doggy paddled or something,” Keith mumbles, turned away from Lance, a light blush on his face–though it’s more from mortification of this whole situation than how close he is to Lance, who still has an arm locked around his waist.

A finger travels on his jawline, subtly guiding his head back to Lance. “Look, I’m sorry for pushing you in. That wasn’t cool of me. Sometimes I get carried away with our… arguments. I should’ve left you alone.”

The sincerity in Lance’s eyes is almost overwhelming but he can’t look away. “I accept your apology,” Keith mutely nods.

A lull of silence follows for a brief moment–he can tell that their friends on the beach are probably beyond worried, but Keith is also quite happy where he is right now, not that he would admit it, so he makes not attempts to move. Breaking the silence, Lance’s voice soon fills his ears. “Would you like to learn how to swim? My nephews and nieces would rate me five stars, though too bad I can’t get proper references from them.”

Keith chuckles slightly at that. “Alright, I’ll take you up on your offer.”

His reward is a dazzling smile, a dimple appearing on his left cheek. “Perfect.”

Send me a Klance Prompt

[ariannadi]

As Luck Would Have It (1/5)

My take on a post-Revelation story, with lots of feels, fluff, and angst >:D 

Leokamu, Leorrin, or whatever, if that wasn’t obvious enough lol xP (Can also be read on Ao3, but thanks to tumblr’s stupid tagging system it will be in the source link on this post. I’ve also put the link at the end of this post.)

“So… what are you planning to do now, Leo?” The question had been simple enough, but it left the prince at a blank. Peace had been acquired between Hoshido and Nohr, the true threat between the two countries finally at an end, and with that peace came drastic changes on both sides.

Ryoma, now king of his country, had taken Camilla as his queen during the war, their son Shiro barely a year old at this point. In the land of dusk, Xander and Hinoka had happily settled as king and queen, their own son Siegbert only a few months younger than his cousin but almost nearly as rambunctious.

Prince Takumi and his wife Oboro had restored her family’s kimono shop to its former glory, all the while seeing to the restoration efforts present throughout Hoshido and sitting in for Ryoma and Camilla when they were away from the country. Princess Sakura and her husband Kaden, wanting to assist their homeland in their own way, had traveled to almost all of the clinics and hospitals within Hoshido, tending to the wounded and sick.

Then there came the three remaining royals - four, if you counted Azura.

After the war, Kamui had become the queen of the now-restored Valla. Although she had insisted that Azura was the rightful heir to the throne and deserved to be its ruler, the songstress had politely rejected the notion, instead becoming Kamui’s personal advisor on everything regarding their homeland, now that they could speak freely on the topic. She, along with her husband, Kaze, chose to stay out of the limelight; but both were willing to help out with anything, should they be called to it.

Elise, not wanting to depart from Kamui’s side “ever again”, had also remained in Valla with her former sister, becoming sort of a beacon of hope and joy to the growing population there, something the kingdom truly needed. She and Odin, the latter having remained with his liege, had begun something of a courtship after the war, though both were far too immature to even consider the next step.

Leo, meanwhile, had come to a standstill in his life.

He hadn't needed to return to Nohr necessarily; war wasn’t on the horizon and Xander had a pretty firm grasp on everything at hand. He could travel to Hoshido if he wanted, being close friends with Takumi and all, but he reasoned he would simply feel out of place.

So, he had stayed in Valla. It was the most logical conclusion, after all, and had absolutely nothing to do with the young woman who sat on the throne.

“So… what are you planning to do now, Leo?” Camilla had asked him on one of her and their family’s (many) visits to the new kingdom, and he found that he really didn’t have an answer.

Well, he did, but he wasn’t about to go and voice it. Especially to someone like Camilla.

In the time during the war, he and Kamui had become inseparable, spending long nights reading together or discussing events that had occurred during the day. Before Leo could even fathom what was happening, her kind heart and quirky behavior had won him over completely. She was beautiful beyond belief and even the sound of her laugh lessened his burdens by a mile.

He had grown to care for her; not as a sister, but as a woman. And despite every objection that rose at the very notion of remaining with her, he couldn’t stay away.

“Well, to be honest, I was considering teaching lessons on war strategy here in Valla, seeing as Kamui learned so much back when I tutored her.” Leo finally replied, glancing up at his sister. “I haven’t run the idea by her yet, however.”

Camilla seemed quite pleased by the thought. “Oh, that sounds perfect for you! I’m sure the people here will benefit greatly from that talented brain of yours.”

It was something, at the very least. A footstep in the right direction.

“You? A Teacher?” Elise nearly guffawed, and Leo managed the deepest scowl possible.

He should’ve known his younger sister wouldn’t take the thought seriously, but Kamui, blessed Kamui, had the complete opposite reaction.

“Now, Elise,” she tutted at the girl, “Leo did wonders in improving my tactical skills during the war. I think he would do great in tutoring others, should they wish to learn.”

Elise shrugged, her mouth going slightly sideways. “If you say so, Big Sister. So long as he doesn’t lose that temper of his.”

“You honestly think I’d be so incompetent?” Leo asked, and Elise shrugged again.

“Perhaps you could even attend such lessons, Elise,” Kamui suggested. “You did mention wanting to understand battle formations better a while back.”

“Yeah, I could sit in on a few, I guess,” the girl said in what sounded like surrender, which, where Kamui was involved, wasn’t out of the question. She looked over her shoulder toward the exit to the library, then announced, “I’m gonna go find Odin; he said something about wanting to tell me a story about time travel or the like. See you both later.” And with that, the youngest Nohrian princess bounced away, leaving Leo and Kamui alone.

“Thanks for defending me,” Leo said sheepishly once the space was silent. Kamui turned to him, offering him a little smile.

“You did so all the time back in Nohr for my sake, I felt I could step in for once,” she explained, crossing her arms and wandering to the ornate window at the far end of the room. Leo took a moment to observe her, the way the sunlight practically reflected off her silvery hair, but a moment was all he allowed.

“Something the matter?” he asked as he moved to her side, and Kamui shrugged.

“Ryoma and Xander mentioned wanting to speak with me after dinner this evening. I can only assume it’s in relation to foreign matters, but…”

“But?” Leo pressed. Kamui sighed and turned to face him. Her face was distraught, an expression the prince was not expecting to see.

“I… Camilla and Ryoma were speaking in their chambers the other night, and I happened to overhear them as I passed by. Camilla was entirely upset, and Ryoma was comforting her as best he could, but reasserting his stance all the same.”

“What did he say to her?” Leo questioned, a sinking feeling starting to form in the pit of his stomach. Kamui looked him directly in the eyes, the vibrant red of her irises glistening with moisture.

“Valla will eventually require a king.”

Try as he might, Leo couldn’t help but glare at the two kings sitting on opposite sides of the dining table, conversing like they’d been friends for years. He wanted to demand why they thought it so necessary to leave Kamui so distressed, but like always he simply held his tongue.

A king. He knew the matter would come up eventually; Kamui was queen to Valla and as such would require ties to the surrounding lands - not to mention an heir to secure her lineage. Leo just hadn’t assumed it would be so soon.

No wonder Camilla had been so upset. The mere thought of seeing her on the arm of some… deplorable left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Leo, you’ve been scraping at nothing for the last two minutes and my ears are starting to bleed,” Elise hissed at him from her seat across the way, and only then did the prince notice the lines his knife had left in the delicate china in front of him.

He set his silverware down, crossing his arms instead. “Apologies,” he muttered, not sounding sincere in the slightest. Elise just rolled her eyes, going back to eating the tart currently sitting on her own plate. Leo hadn’t even touched the dessert platter once it was passed around, and even now the minimal dinner he had ingested sat like a brick in his gut.

“Kamui,” Xander suddenly addressed the girl sitting at the head of the table, and rose from his spot, “Your brother and I wish to speak with you, in private.” Leo felt a chill creep down his spine, and quickly found himself rising, as well. All eyes flew to him, but he simply cleared his throat.

“If I may attend this meeting as well, brother,” he requested, and Xander quirked a brow.

“Surely Leo can be present,” Kamui seconded. “He’s been my right hand up until this point, after all.” Both Ryoma and Xander eyed one another, but acquiesced the request, following Kamui and Leo out of the dining hall and into the queen’s study.

“Sister,” Ryoma began once the doors were closed, already looking uncomfortable. “It should be no surprise that this matter come to attention, but we both felt it plausible to discuss everything now rather than later.”

“And, that we want you to understand that this is only with your best interest in mind,” Xander followed, staring at the floor.

“Brothers, please,” Kamui stepped in, holding up her hands. I already know what it is you wish to address.”

“You do?” the kings sputtered at the same time, and Leo would’ve smirked at their shared dumbfoundedness had he not wanted to beat some sense into them both.

“Yes,” Kamui answered, chewing at her lip. “It’s about my… position as a single ruler, yes?”

Both Ryoma and Xander seemed to deflate, if only slightly. Both returned to their full height but a moment after, appearing steadfast once again.

“Kamui, we understand this is the last thing you wish to think about, but the problem still stands. Valla is a decrepit kingdom in need of alliances, and Nohr and Hoshido’s affiliations can only go so far. Without a solid tie to another foreign body, your kingdom will not thrive.” Xander explained, his brow pinched in worry. Only then did Leo understand that his elder brother was just as uneasy with the idea of marrying Kamui off to some stranger in another land.

“I know,” the queen quietly replied, fiddling with a loose string on her sleeve. “More than anything I wish to see the people of this kingdom whole again, and if my marrying someone can secure that desire, then so be it.”

“Kamui,” Leo’s voice cracked, her words piercing his heart like a knife. He understood the girl had a widespread reputation for her selflessness, but for this?

“I’m glad you understand, dearest sister,” Ryoma said with a smile. “Already you have proven to be a ruler of worth. It makes me proud to witness such firsthand.”

“I, as well,” Xander affirmed, nodding slightly. “As I’m sure you’re already aware, the best means of going about this would be to host a gala of some kind, allowing any interested suitors a chance to travel here and interact with you personally. I’ll see to it that Camilla and Elise start arranging such; they’ve always been expert in such matters.”

“Of course. Thank you, Xander. Ryoma.” Kamui replied. “If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to take part in some quiet reading before bed.”

“Of course, sister,” Ryoma agreed, moving to take his leave. Xander followed suit, and then it was just Leo and Kamui present once again.

“Kamui,” Leo repeated, his voice shaky. “Please tell me you aren’t actually considering this.”

The girl let out a halfhearted laugh, her eyes falling shut as she shook her head. “What choice do I have, Leo? They’re completely correct in their argument, and I can’t be selfish in a time like this.”

“I can’t recall a single time you ever were,” Leo stressed, stepping closer to her. “You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your happiness for anything.”

The young queen looked visibly touched, and Leo’s breath hitched when she reached for his hands, lacing their fingers together. Her skin was like a furnace in comparison to the chilly air of the study, and just the mere brush of her fingers against his offered him a sense of comfort.

“You’re so sweet, Leo,” Kamui murmured, her rosy lips turned upward in a sincere smile. “But this is my legacy, and that won’t change. I understand the consequences, but… for the sake of these people, my people, I must do what is necessary.”

“Kamui…” Leo swallowed thickly, his jaw tight. It was then that the doors to the study flew open and Elise bounded in, Camilla following close behind with Shiro on her hip. Kamui released Leo’s hands, turning to acknowledge the unexpected guests.

Already, the prince missed her tender warmth.

“Ah, here you are, darling,” their elder sister said with what looked to be a forced smile. “Xander said we would find you here, I hope you don’t mind the interruption.”

“Not at all, Camilla,” Kamui replied, managing a smile herself. Elise skipped to the queen’s side and clasped her hands in her own, swinging them back and forth with a bubbly giggle.

“Xander says you’re looking to get married, Big Sister, and he wants Camilla and I to help you out!” the girl chirped in excitement. “Oh, this is gonna be so fun! You’ve never been to a betrothal ball before, have you? We’re gonna arrange the best one ever for you, I promise!”

Kamui laughed at the girl’s enthusiasm, but even in the dim light of the study, Leo could make out the sadness and worry behind her eyes.

Thanks so much for reading! Or, if you are looking for the Ao3 link, it’s right here :D

Likes, reblogs, anything, are always loved and appreciated!!

[maychorian]

Sewing Patches ch.9 from: ["I know this may be asking too much..." Slowly, Coran reached into his back pocket. He pulled out the last items he had gathered before coming to Blue's hangar. He held them out for Lance to see. A packet of black thread and several small, shiny sewing needles.] to ["Yes."]

Gosh, I am so proud of that scene. You ever make something that actually gives YOU goosebumps? It was just a perfect confluence of things that came together in a way that felt so perfect and right and fulfilling. @ardett had written in the flashbacks about Zarkon poking a hole in the Shiro plushy with his claw, and in @cosumosu’s art (which the entire series is based on) Lance was sewing the same plushy, while in his pajamas surrrounded by the rest of the plushies and a couple of the mice. That whole chapter as I wrote it was all about Coran actively seeking ways to help Lance heal (and Allura, secondarily), and that man is SMART. He had the idea of gathering the lion plushies and bringing them to Lance, to meet him on his level and do some play therapy, and at the last second, he had the inspiration to also bring that needle and thread.

“I know this may be asking too much…” Slowly, Coran reached into his back pocket. He pulled out the last items he had gathered before coming to Blue’s hangar. He held them out for Lance to see. A packet of black thread and several small, shiny sewing needles.

“You don’t have to if you’re not ready. If you prefer to leave that hole as it is, that’s up to you. But I thought… That is, I hoped…” Coran closed his eyes for a moment, then met Lance’s eyes. “If you want to,” he said gently, “I thought it might be time to mend this wound.”

He set the thread and needle on top of the black lion, then held the lion out, flat in his hands. He held it midway between he and Lance, offering but not demanding. Lance stared at it for a long moment, then looked up into Coran’s face, then back again. His expression was open and longing. Though he said nothing, Coran understood everything he meant.

Finally, Lance reached out. His hands were trembling, but he moved with purpose. He took the black plush lion and the sewing materials from Coran’s hands with the delicacy of a bird, then brought them back and perched them in his lap. He stared at the black lion for a long moment. As Coran had done, he trailed his fingers over the soft face, the textured fabric, and then over the hole with its little overflow of stuffing. He smiled down at the lion, soft and sweet, then looked up at Coran and nodded.

“Yes.”

And mind you, I came up with the title “Sewing Patches” LOOONG before I wrote that scene. I like the symbolism of the Voltron team patching Lance into their lives, following along the theme ardett had set with her title, “Dream, Seam.” But here, in this scene, it took on a whole new meaning for me. The team wasn’t just sewing patches with Lance, HE was sewing patches, too. Slowly learning, bit by bit and piece by piece, discovering new parts of himself that had been buried under the trauma and the abuse and reintegrating them back to himself. Enjoying food with Hunk and movies with Pidge and training with Shiro and talking with Keith… He was learning so, so much, and it was such hard work, every step of the way, but he was determined to keep trying.

And here, finally, at last, with Coran’s help and support and nudging, he is able to find the courage to actively seek healing for the harm Zarkon had done to him, personally, and to his ability to connect to the rest of the team. He CHOOSES to sew that hole, knowing full well that he could refuse. But he wants to do it. He wants to heal, and Coran’s assistance was necessary, but Lance did that on his own. He took the needle and thread and he patched that hole, and it made him happy and comfortable. He felt safe and loved, and he asked Coran for a hug afterward, and he knew he would get it.

Of course in the last two chapters ardett messed that up, lol, but I knew that was going to happen since she wrote the ending before I finished Chapter 9. I kind of purposefully set you readers up for a fall, sorry. But that does not negate Lance’s growth and healing here, the strength of his choice and the courage of his soul.

Writing this scene felt so, so good.

(I’m doing DVD commentaries for fic passages.)

[carpemermaidtales]

Klance 16 for the prompt!

I tried so hard to keep this short, but Klance and otp, so....here, have a 2.2k fic lol!Hard R/Light NC-17 sexual content ahead, folks!-----Keith pushed Lance, making him stumble back in the minimal space between them. He immediately followed, crowding Lance’s personal space.“You got us into this mess!” Keith accused, his finger pointing aggressively in Lance’s face.They were trapped in tight quarters in the middle of a Galra base, practically standing on top of each other. They’d been sent in on a reconnaissance mission, but just as they were about to locate the room Pidge had loaded into their maps they had taken a wrong turn and ran into a patrol unit. Keith had acted before Lance could do anything, and had grabbed his wrist and dragged him on a wild chase with him occasionally getting a shot off over his shoulder to cover them.There was barely even enough room for them both to stand up straight in the tiny, dimly lit compartment. If Lance took a deep breath, the chest plate of his Paladin armor brushed against Keith’s. He had to stand with his back propped against the wall and his legs spread slightly so Keith could stand between them—there wasn’t enough room for both of them to stand normally if they wanted to fit inside the room. Any move they made, even the tiniest one, was easily noticeable. Lance might die before they made it out.“No, that would actually be you. I’m the one that snuck us into the base. You’re the one that pulled us into this compartment,” Lance corrected irritably, batting his hand away. He wasn’t in the mood to have this conversation with Keith. He kept getting distracted by what little distance there was between their bodies. He blamed everything on the rising heat in the room. “If you hadn’t just dove into the action, they wouldn’t have even noticed us here. I had a perfect plan, man, what gives?”They both paused their bickering to listen as a patrol sentry marched by their hiding place. When he thought it sounded like the sentry was gone, Lance opened his mouth to make another point in his favor, but Keith’s hand shot up to cover his mouth. Lance inhaled sharply, and Keith shuffled closer to whisper to him.“Shh. They might circle back,” Keith said in a quiet murmur. He tilted his head, listening intently. He was so close that Lance could practically count his eyelashes.Lance felt his face heating up with Keith’s warm palm pressed against his lips. His entire body felt like it was attuned to Keith’s every move in that moment, like he was a sunflower and Keith was the sun he was seeking.An immature part of him wanted to dart his tongue out and lick his hand, just to get a rise out of him, but he reeled the urge back in and focused on the situation they were stuck in so he could figure out how to get them out of it.Lance fought the urge to fidget. And the urge to hold Keith’s hand harder over his mouth, among other things. Not now, inappropriate thoughts, Lance reasoned in his head desperately. It didn’t help that Keith was unknowingly ticking at least three of his top fantasies at the moment. He could feel keen interest stirring in his groin. He suppressed a shiver and turned his attention to listening for the Galra guard with Keith.When the coast seemed clear, Keith nodded and pulled his hand back from Lance’s mouth. Lance ignored the slight niggle of disappointment at the loss.“We have to get out of here,” Keith said in a urgent undertone. In the dim lighting, Lance could just make out the way Keith’s eyes were darting all over the small room, presumably looking for a way to escape.“No, wait, I think if we just wait this out the others will come to extract us,” Lance reasoned. “Pidge knew the timeline we were supposed to be on, and that we should’ve been out by now. She’ll take our not sticking to the plan as a distress signal and figure something out.”“So—what, you just want to wait here in this little room?” Keith clarified, sounding slightly incredulous.“Uh, yeah? Do you have a better idea?” Lance asked. “Oh wait, let me guess. Bust our way out with force and eject ourselves into open space and hope the homing beacon Red has on your ass kicks in so she can save us?”“I…” Keith trailed off, narrowing his eyes and jutting his chin out stubbornly. Lance hated that he found it kind of an attractive look on Keith.Lance rolled his eyes. “Thought so. How about this: what would Shiro do in this situation?”“Oh,” Keith breathed, sounding a bit like Lance had punched him. He frowned sympathetically; they didn’t bring Shiro up often outside of the team’s direct search efforts.“Sorry,” he added as an afterthought, patting Keith’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean it that way, buddy. But he would be able to figure this out, since he’s spent so much time in Galra territory, you know?”“Right,” Keith said tightly, his hands flexing into fists at his sides.Lance had to distract him from himself somehow. He wracked his brain for something and blurted out the first thing that came to mind.“I bet I shot out more sentries than you took down while we were on that chase before you shoved me in this tiny closet.”Keith’s head shot up and after a beat he raised an eyebrow at him. “Really, Lance?”“Yup,” Lance answered, popping the ‘p’ quietly. He puffed his chest out confidently and ignored the way it made their armor brush together.Keith stared at him in silence, his lips pursed tightly. Keith was either going to lose it and blow their cover in the compartment, or he was going to just stab him. Lance wasn’t sure if he was ready for either of those things to happen. Not with the way every minute shift Keith made unconsciously, the snug lycra under suit of his armor felt tighter in the groin thanks to the proximity and teasing friction. He wanted to drop his head back against the wall and let out a satisfyingly loud groan, wanted to pull Keith against him completely so that he could feel every inch of him.Keith was studying him with an inscrutable expression that made Lance want to squirm. “What?”“I never noticed,” he said, sounding intrigued and surprised.“Never noticed what?” Lance asked.“A lot, apparently,” Keith said, as if that explained everything.Before Lance knew what was happening, Keith darted forward and pressed their lips together. Lance jumped, but managed to keep his shocked squawk from giving away their position. Keith was kissing him a little too roughly—Lance wondered who he’d been kissing like that, or if he had ever even kissed anyone at all—and pressed him against the wall. After a minute, Lance gripped Keith’s shoulders and gently, but firmly, pushed Keith off of him.“What are you doing?” Lance hissed.Keith blinked and hesitated. He looked vulnerable for the span of a heartbeat before his expression hardened again. “Well, if we’re going to follow your plan and wait out the rest of the team, then I guess I was killing time. It was better than listening to you—plus, you have a pretty obvious boner, so I thought you might be into it.”“You—you—wha—” Lance sputtered, making sure to keep his disbelieving voice hushed. He glanced down at his traitorous dick and then back at Keith. “Fine. Fine. But if we’re going to just sit here and kiss, we’re going to do it right. Where the fuck did you learn to kiss?”Keith looked sheepish and embarrassed for a minute, his cheeks flushing in the minuscule light.“I didn’t,” he admitted.Lance pulled up short. “You’ve never kissed anyone before?”Keith shook his head, trying to cross his arms across his chest to close himself off, but failing with the restrictive confines of the room. He ended up jabbing Lance in the stomach with his elbow.“Oof,” Lance coughed. “Watch it. Okay, then that was really weird of you to kiss me just because my dick is hard, dude. Jesus, it’s just the friction…you keep moving around when you don’t realize and you’re rubbing up on me. Proximity boner, you know?”Keith looked mortified now and Lance’s heart lurched. Fuck, now he wanted to hug the surly idiot and run his fingers through his long hair. Why was this his life? Why did he have to be crushing on his teammate? Lance grumbled under his breath and put a tentative hand on Keith’s shoulder.“I didn’t mean—It’s not like you’re unattractive, I just—oh my god,” Lance sighed, breaking off of his fumbling explanation. He rubbed his free hand over his face. “I like you,” he mumbled through his splayed fingers.“You do?” Keith asked.Lance nodded. “Why did you kiss me?”“I like you, too,” Keith said easily.Lance whipped his hand away from his face and gaped at Keith. “What the fuck?”“What’s wrong? You like me, I like you…can we kiss now?” Keith was blinking at him.Lance struggled to find words. He finally settled on the only thing he could think of. “Keith. You sweet summer child. This is a fucking ridiculous plan.”Lance cupped Keith’s face with both of his hands and leaned in to kiss him, softer and slower this time. Keith made a faint sound in the back of his throat and pressed his whole body against Lance’s so they were completely connected. Keith was a quick learner, it seemed. He was already sliding their lips together, sucking on Lance’s bottom lip and grazing his teeth over it in the exact way that made Lance’s knees go a little weak. He leaned back against the wall for support and drew Keith closer between the bracket of his legs, biting back a satisfied moan when Keith brushed their groins together.Keith broke their kiss for a moment, glancing down and watching while he ground his hips into Lance’s instinctually. Fuck, that was hot, Lance decided. His dick gave a throb in agreement as he rocked back against Keith’s growing erection.“Shit,” Lance muttered under his breath.He tucked his fingers under Keith’s chin and pulled him into another kiss, licking into his mouth. His breath hitched at the first touch of Keith’s tongue against his own.  He guided Keith into tilting his head for a better angle and kissed him deeper, their tongues sliding together slickly. Keith’s hands started to roam, exploring Lance’s waist and squeezing his hips to tug their bodies impossibly close together. Lance made another strangled sound and Keith hushed him.The hard ridge of Keith’s cock tenting the skin-tight material of the under suit was possibly the hottest, most erotic thing Lance had ever felt. God, feeling Keith rut against him eagerly made him want to tear off their armor and suck his dick right here in this tiny ass closet, surrounded by their enemies.Keith’s hands were gripping Lance’s shoulders, his grip flexing with each roll of his hips as he ground their cocks together. Lance was mouthing down the side of his neck, nipping at the underside of his jaw. He was actually getting close; the combination of arousal and the high stakes of their predicament had Lance teetering on the edge of coming.They were making out again, kissing as if their lives depended on it, when their comms crackled to life in unison. They leapt apart, both of them smacking into opposite walls with a muted thunk as Pidge’s voice filled the small compartment.“Guys? Guys! Come in! Keith? Lance?”Lance covered his face with both of his hands for a minute, trying to re-route some of the blood that had rushed southward to go back to his brain so he could answer.“Yes, Pidge, we’re here,” Keith said, only sounding slightly breathless.Lance looked at him in surprise, raising an eyebrow. Keith shrugged, his eyes darting to stare at Lance’s mouth for a second before Pidge was interrupting them again. “You didn’t check in at the rendezvous point.”“Yeah, we got into a sticky situation,” Lance explained, biting back the hysterical laughter that threatened to bubble out of him at his phrasing. “We’re hiding out in some kind of crawl space or something in the middle of the base.”“Okay, hold on, I’m pulling up the base’s coordinates so I can lock onto the signal and hack into the live feed of the schematics,” Pidge said. “We’ll come extract you, but you might need to cause a diversion so they don’t pick us up on their scanners.”Both of their gazes met and Lance knew immediately that they were thinking the same thing. The corner of his mouth quirked up in amusement. They did make a good team, after all. Keith reached out and hooked his pinkie finger around Lance’s, shooting him a shy smile that made Lance’s stomach do acrobatics.“Okay, I’m in,” Pidge said. “The best access point is going to be the north bay at the cave entrance. Get to that point and Allura, Hunk, and I will be able to get you out.”Keith and Lance looked at each other once, calling up their bayards.“Ready?” Keith asked with a smirk. Lance grinned back at him and nodded.“Oh yeah, partner. Let’s get ‘em.”-----You say no space between us, and my mind says forced proximity! Thanks for all of the awesome Voltron prompts, sugar!