#snack-thief-keith

[my-various-aus]

The Smiling Critter PJO AU Nobody Asked For!

Except me. I wanted this.

So, let's start with the goodest boy, Dogday! Named Daisuke and a son of Zeus, a natural-born leader, with all the weather manipulation and everything a child of Zeus can do.

Catnap is a child of Hypnos, named Cassander. He eepy. Able to induce sleep, manipulate dreams, shadows, and even create illusions. So, not too different from canon!Catnap, except he's not evil, just eepy.

Picky is named Pauline; her friends call her Polly. As a child of Demeter, she always has some snacks on her, which she grew herself.

Bubba is now Berthold, son of Athena. He's Daisuke's go-to for strategy in a fight or games. He's a crafty one.

Kickin and Craftycorn are now Keith and Mariah, respectively, as the only siblings* in the group. Both are children of Apollo, with Mariah having an affinity for art in all its forms and Keith being more of a healer and musician.

Bobby is a child of Aphrodite named Rosa Maria. She's not too different from her canon self, except she can Charmspeak and isn't afraid to throw hands with anyone messing with her friends.

Last, but certainly not least, is Hoppy, now Hope, a daughter of Hermes. She's really more attuned to the athletic abilities she's inherited from her father, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have some thief aspects to her. Both Keith and Rosa have complained about her stealing their stuff.

*The only siblings that are blood-related; Cass and Polly are step siblings.

And that's it, for now! I just wanted to get the idea out, because it's rotting my brain.

[kae-karo]

For dialogue prompt:

Xiao: do I look like a cat to you?

y’all i’m losing my mind over this sdlfkjsdfjlskdlk the cat!xiao hivemind is REAL (also tagging @plot-hole-ventilation thank u love!!)

[send me a dialogue prompt from this list and a genshin character!] 

tags: cat,,,,xiao,,,,,, and a bit of xiaoven as a treat, canon divergence

----

“Hey, hey Xiao?” 

Xiao lifts his head to find Venti rushing up to him, a bottle in hand and a wide grin on his lips. Xiao tips his head, lets himself appreciate Venti and all his brightness for a moment. The sun to Xiao’s moon, if he’s feeling particularly sappy, though he would never say so aloud. Even now, he keeps his expression pointedly even, with the exception of a subtle quirk to his brow.

“Hey,” Venti says again as he slides to a stop, a little breathless and with a sun-kissed flush to his cheeks. “Will you taste this for me?”

Xiao blinks at the bottle Venti sticks in his face, brows furrowed at the unusual blue-green hue of the liquid inside.

“What...is it…” He glances up, past the mysterious drink, to find Venti’s eyes wide and pleading.

“C’mon, taste it for me?” Xiao narrows his eyes. “I dunno what’s in it,” he says as he pulls back a bit, tips his head and focuses on the bottle. “Juice or something, probably.” And then he turns those wide eyes on Xiao again, pleading and hopeful and-

Xiao sighs, pulls the bottle sharply from Venti’s grip. Unfair that he has such an easy time convincing Xiao of anything, but Venti grins and sits back on the grass and tips his head and archons, Xiao would do almost anything for that smile.

“Thanks, Xiao.” 

Xiao drops his gaze to the bottle, ignores the warmth he can feel quite suddenly on his cheeks. He uncaps the bottle, sniffs experimentally. Something...fruity, maybe? Or tangy, or perhaps bitter. Maybe all of the above, it’s hard to tell for certain. He casts a quick glance at Venti, whose expression flashes with a hint of hope and excitement.

It’s so strange, how easily he feels. How easily he shows those feelings, even when it bears little relevance to the situation. Stranger still that Xiao can make him smile, feel some kind of happiness. It makes his chest warm, as though Venti has planted a tiny sun there, glowing bright.

He takes a short sip, just enough to taste, and regrets it when an unsettlingly slimy texture coats his tongue. He coughs, and a grimace overtakes his face as he shoves the bottle at Venti.

“Not juice,” he manages, recoiling and dragging a hand across his lips, hoping to erase any residual- eugh, this might be worse than some of his darkest nightmares. He turns a glare toward Venti, but Venti’s eyes have gone wide, and the bottle falls from his hand.

Xiao watches with furrowed brows as it lands on its side, as the remaining contents spill out and onto the grass. 

“Xiao, um,” Venti coughs out a nervous sort of laugh, “I don’t really know how to say this, so, uh…” He leans in, and Xiao freezes, heart hammering at the hand that reaches toward him. Toward his face- no, his head? And-

And fingers brush against something there, something that was definitely not there a few minutes ago. Xiao’s hands fly to his head, and panic drips down his spine at the- at the pointed ears he finds suddenly attached to his head.

Venti falls back on his elbows when Xiao leaps to his feet, and Xiao notices movement in the corner of his eye. Spins quickly, catches sight of- 

“You have a tail!” Venti shouts, though he seems to be finding this far more amusing than Xiao.

“What on Teyvat did you give me,” he growls as he spins around to glare at Venti, but Venti’s eyes go wide in panic and he shakes his head sharply. Raises hands in surrender. Xiao’s anger recedes a fraction, but only because it is Venti.

“I was just- I was in Albedo’s lab-” Archons, that is not a good start. Genuine concern settles heavily in Xiao’s stomach. “And I saw this, and it looked like it’d taste good, but it had a little note by it,” Venti continues, though he doesn’t look as panicked as before.

“It said ‘cat’, so I thought maybe it would make cats follow someone around...” 

Xiao blinks - that is the first thought he jumped to? Now that Xiao’s aware - rather hyperaware, in fact - of the ears and tail, he can feel them twitching with his agitation. 

“And if it did, well,” Venti tips his head, twists his lips and focuses more on Xiao now, “I’m allergic to cats, y’know. So I figured it’d be better if someone else tried it? Or,” he adds, gaze going distant again. “I thought maybe it was actually for a cat-”

“Do I look like a cat to you?” Xiao snaps, but regrets it immediately when Venti recoils. His startled panic disappears after hardly a second, though, replaced with a tight-lipped sort of look, one that barely conceals his obvious laughter.

“Well, you do now,” he gets out just before a giggle escapes, though he at least has the common decency to slap a hand over his mouth and prevent any further laughter. A sudden wave of embarrassment floods Xiao’s veins, and he turns on a heel to stare somewhere that isn’t at Venti.

Gods, he’s a- a cat. A cat, of all things. Ears and tail, though at least he doesn't have fur everywhere. How mortifying.

“I’m sure Sucrose and Albedo can help us fix it,” Venti says quietly, then, and Xiao exhales a slow, steadying breath. He is irritated, yes, but Venti had admitted he didn’t know what the bottle contained. Xiao could’ve been a little more intelligent about the situation himself. 

“Let’s go,” Xiao grits out, keeps his gaze pointedly fixed on the ground when he turns around. He’s surprised to find Venti on his feet already, and he lifts his eyes just enough to find Venti’s lips pressed into a tight line again. The same as earlier, when he’d been trying not to laugh.

“Forget it, I’ll go myself,” Xiao declares, embarrassment flooding his body with heat. His tail- archons, he has a tail - thrashes behind him, and he stalks off past Venti before he can say a word.

He is then immediately pounced on, and Venti drags him to a stop and rushes around to stand in front of him.

“Nonono, I’m sorry, please let me help? You’re just-” He stops short, lips pressing into that too-telling line again, and it makes Xiao’s chest ache. “You’re just so cute!” 

Cute. Xiao swallows.

“Ah! I mean…” For some unknown reason, Venti’s face turns red at his own words, as though he hadn’t just called Xiao cute. The word leaves Xiao paralyzed, and Venti stammers for a moment longer before clearing his throat.

“I mean, not that you’re not...always, uh. Cute.” 

Always...cute? Xiao blinks in confusion, both at the statement and Venti’s nervous expression. The meaning hits him a moment later, and his eyes go wide, and he feels warm-

Warm from the inside. That tiny sun glowing in his chest, the warmth caused always by Venti.

“Let’s go,” he grits out quietly, and Venti follows when he marches off in the direction of Dragonspine. 

“I’m- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“You too.”

“Wh- huh?” Venti rushes to catch up to Xiao’s side, and Xiao swallows. Glances at Venti from the corner of his eye, then turns back to watching his feet as they walk. His tail flicks unpredictably, and he feels it catch Venti’s arm before twitching away.

“You. You’re, um. Cute. Also.”

Venti stops dead in his tracks, and Xiao curses his own idiocy. Why would he say something so stupid? So-

An arm loops through his unexpectedly, and he nearly pulls away until the warm, sweet scent of Cecilia flowers washes over him. Venti smiles wide, bright as the sun when Xiao glances over, and Xiao’s chest glows with warmth.

[yourfavehatesautismspeaks]

The Worm from The Labyrinth hates Autism Speaks!

Requested by @snack-thief-keith

[greenflamedwriter]

Galra Lance

Lance is a galra, and Ex-Mamourian (He was kicked out because he was suicidal and kept getting attention to try to make Zarkon afraid which was the opposite of what mamoura wanted so Lance is a rebel doing his own thing, bounty hunting stealing, raiding and above all about to steal a red Lion on the ship hailed under Sendak and he’s going to get a boatloud of it. Then a cocky kid in a red suit slashes in claiming it’s his lion. Lance wonders if any of this was even worth it?

1 Flash to mind meld plus suspicion lances memories of him in water with mermaids and pre-galran.

2 Flash to “surprise, not a galra.” Lance is exposed and returned and nervous.

3 His father is Blatyz the previous blue Paladin and his other father the Galra whom Blatyz married. (Wait how were you born?) Pidge asked and Lance grinned his tail flickering back like a cats (I was a test tube baby)

4 Keiths initiation Lance returns to the Mamoura.

5 they take down Zarkon then realise his son appears and find out it was hagger when plot twist the whole family were puppets a chaotic energy anti quintescence gains a form and almost possesed the galra but some (Maourans) Resisted and the galra were so soft, so easily corruptable they fight that thing with Fusiontron. They save Honerva and Lotor and they find a planet and make it habitable and release everyone from enslavment but some planets are merged some want the Galra gone and some need their galra to remain so Allura and Lotor try to fix things. Lance goes to his planet which is hidden and Allura gasps to see Alteans, Mermainians and Galra there in hiding in a warped hole.

On a spacecraft floating on the edge of an arus solar system, an abandoned Galra named Lance, was taking a pit stop.

His ship consisted of junk, the pilot hanger cluttered making even hoarders feel disgusted open drinks and snack bars littered here and there and Lance had to squeeze in just to get to the pilots chair, the craft only had one room and a bathroom that stopped working. And his room was the only place that was clean it had an assortment of guns, rifles, snipers, you name it, along with a discarded blade that has seen no use in years with a strange symbol on the hilt.

Lance had music blasting from his speakers some album he bought from an alien shop, the album was called ‘Queen.’ And so far Lance was a fan.

He was flickering through a data pad as many reports scrolled past with anflick of his finger. Galra operations, cargo shipments, military vessels, open channels with radio chatter that Lance ignored. He was looking for something easy.

The life of a thief had its perks, steal medical supplies and weapons and give them to a rebellion and make a profit. Usually he sold to both sides just to live more dangerously. A recommendation opened up and Lance smirked behind his mask with the three circles on the front.

A vessel captioned by Sendek was hovering outside Arus, sliding the panel right and lots of data began to download at lighting speed , appeared and Lance’s smirk grew.

It had some precious cargo on it, a Lion of Voltron to be exact.

Lance was having the time of his life knocking out guards ninja style was just so easy, he had the red lion in his sights.

“Well hello gorgeous, mind dropping down that barrier and getting out of here?”

Suddenly he heard a nose and hid behind a pillar in the shadows, just as more galra guardsran into the hanger.

Lance turned and frowned to see a boy in red and white armour (like thats not inconspicuous) and took them down, Lance grew more suspicious this kid fought like a galra. But he didn’t wear mamorian armour or any rebel armour that he knew. Could be a threat.

Until the kid went to the barrier “Alright open up.”

…it did nothing, the boy growled in frustration “Ugh-we don’t have time for this! It’s me keith! You’re I AM YOUR PALADIN!”

Lance couldn’t help it he laughed, more like busted a gut.

The kid whipped around activating a weapon, a sword.

“Stay back!” Lance shook his head “No, wait,” he was still chuckling holding up his hands “I’m not-”

Suddenly more guards made themselves known and the two found themselves with their hands full.

Lance wasted no time shooting the Galra, even took care of the kids blindspots, this jlb was bigger than he thought maybe if he helped the kid out they can split the money fifty fifty.

That was until.

“You’re not getting this lion!”

Keith slammed his hand against the panel, and opened up the interlock, the vacum

Shot the galra forward and Keith was barely gripping onto the panel.

Lance cursed then used his grappling hooks to latch onto a structure beam.

Suddenly Keith’s slipped and he was pulled into space.

Lance acted on instinct he unlatched grapplings and shot out of space after the teen. He easily grabbed him stopping them both from slinning.

“Let go!”

“Shut up, I’m trying to save your life.” Until the kid screamed Lance turned in time to see big metal jaws clamp shut around them.

Both screamed as they tumbled along the inner corridors, Lance was usually could at improvising- but this was going so far out of left field!

He had no clue what was even going on anymore.

Both were on their hands and knees panting from the sudden death experience, until Lance heard a high pitched sound and turned his head slowly.

Keith held his red sword against his face. Lance could only stare- oh well, stare in his mask and ex-Mamourian armour as much as he could.

“Who are you?” Keith growled. Lance knew he could knock the kid out and take the lion. But he’d have no idea if it’ll even respond to him, and Keith is a fighter and wouldn’t let this thing go, heck heleaped out of an airlock for this thing.

A crash outside saved his interrogation. “A rebel, against the Galra,” he rushed out (which was sorta true)

“Honestly I would tell you more but we don't have time!”

….It turns out Lance got involved in something much bigger than him.

This...this was Voltron.

His childhood stories, the one his dad told him about. The universe’s last hope before Alfor hid them away.

They returned!

Kinda, with one blue lion shot, it just sat there with it’s barrier up. Useless. Not doing a thing….sounded like his type of girl. Chilling alone while the whole universe wasn’t in chaos.

But even with four lions they were able to take down a fighter craft, one with Sendek attached as it crashed onto the planet before him. Colour Lance impressed.

Keith wasn’t too bad either during the battle. He was an excellent pilot and a fighter, but he had a very bad habit.

“Green is wide open,” Lance said with a sigh as he watched how obvious it was that the green Lion had three fighters on their ass.

“Help them out.” Dumbass, he left unsaid.

Keith seemed to hear it.

“I know-” keith instantly covered them and Lance saw fighter ships approach from the main craft. “Your right-” Keith barely managed to dodge.

“Will you quit back seat driving!?”

Lance almost stopped until he saw the black paladin was in distress “The Black lion-”

Keith was moving before he even finished. Keith was good, just had to see the bigger picture.

Once they defended Arus and went planet side, Lance had already made a decision, as he left the red lion trailing behind Keith he saw the others landed beside them.

A woman appeared out of the castle looking relieved, until her eyes clocked his and Lance almost ran back up the mouth of the lion.

“Who is he?”

Allura demanded once all the pilots had landed.

Lance brightened behind his mask, his lilac tail flicking back and forth as he descended the mouth of the lion and held his hand out.

“Oh hello, I’m Lance.” He over exagirated his movements the more big and dumb he looked the more trusting, Allura took his hand tentively.

“You can’t tell with the mask, but I’m winking.”

Allura pulled her hand away still suspicious. “Keith!”

Keith glanced at him curiously. “He was with the red lion,”

With no warning, Lance felt Allura grab his arm and twist him around onto his knees, Lance yelped.

“Ow, ow ow- that hurts lady- ow!” His hand was trembling and clenching as Allura dug her palm into his shoulder.

“What were your intentions with the red lion?”

“I was planning on stealing it,”

Allura looked very alarmed, until Lance gasped on. “But now? wouldn’t dream of it!” Allura growled “Why should we trust you?”

“My dad told me about Voltron,” Lance wheezed god this lady was tough.

Allura let him go surprised and Lance fell over with a yelp just barely catching himself, he turned and pointed at her with a scowl (That she didn’t see)

“Look I know what this looks like but I know that, this,” he gestured at the lions as he stood up ”This isn’t some collectors item, this is VOLTRON! The people’s hope, if anyone found out I-” Here he slapped a hand to his chest “-was responsible for sabotaging Voltron I’ll be doing the Galra a favour, Which is the opposite of what I want to do.”

Allura and the others who looked defensive, straightened once Lance said his piece.

“Is there anyone out there fighting Zarkon?” She asked, Lance placed a hands on his hips “Still? Jeez Lady where have you been? There is no more fighting, Its just surviving at this point.” He flapped his hand lazily “I already gave up on that freedom pipedream long ago, but yes other rebels are trying. Chances are if you make a dent in Zarkons oppressive system the rebels will come flocking.” And if the Mamoura catched wind of Voltron Lance wanted to be out of there ASAP.

He waved at them taking a step back “Good luck to you,” He patted the barrier of the blue lion and continued to walk away, hoping he could get enough of a signal to his ship to get him as far away from this planet.

Until the barrier collapsed with a swish.

He stopped walking as the others gasped. No.

Lance turned to see the others gape at the lion (Now free) then their gazes turned towards him.

Coran came to himself before the others. “It seems we have found our blue paladin.”

Lance looked around then back at them, wait they meant him?

Oh Gaia, no.

[theriverpersonshadow]

Lamia Drama: Side Session (2)

Like I said, this got suuuuuper long. Also, I have no idea if I can even live up to the potential chaos I’ve set up XD

All the species belong to @vex-bittys

Previous | Next(?)

           Nikolai had been rather thorough in his consideration for the troublemaker of the night. It sounded like the entire gimmick was to be around pygmy’s natural playfulness, so might as well play it up. Their games might have had some darker tones and general swearing, but they could tone it down for one night; a child would be best. But not too young. They needed to at least be old enough to comprehend that they were playing a game of make believe and hadn’t actually become a dragon or whatever silliness was going to happen.    

           So Piper was perfect. One of the older children, but still very much a child by both human and lamia standards. Really there were many candidates, Piper just caught his eye first, possibly because he was easy to pick out. He’d developed a mostly harmless condition where he had patches of scales on some of his bones, most notable on the forehead and back of his skull. It tended to itch a bit, but a little bit of extra hygiene and some topical creams fixed that right up. The little one wasn’t quite old enough to start looking for a home yet – socialization with other younglings was important for development after all – but he would be fine spending a few hours away from the others.  

           Piper was curled around Nikolai’s left forearm, little hands clinging to the fabric and tail coiled tight as he stubbornly hung upside down, giggling and chirping as the world went by. He was still small enough that falling wouldn’t actually hurt him even if he hit the floor.

           Nikolai stopped in front of the door, looking down at Piper, “Remember how the game goes?”

           Piper nodded, “I the boss!”

           Keith had decided that Piper would be a sort of Co-DM. It was going to be an interesting session…

           “Keith – the Chain – is also the boss. And remember, it’s all pretend, but pretend how you want.”

           “I knoooowwsss! Not a hatchling!” Piper huffed, pouting and glaring at Nikolai.

           Nikolai chuckled, “No, no you’re not.” He mentally added, but you’re not much older. “Tell me if it gets to be too much, okay?” He’d be keeping an eye out anyways – overstimulating a pygmy was harder than it might be with other breeds, but not impossible.

           “It won’t!” Piper chirped. “Go in now!” He was pawing at the underside of Nikolai’s arm, wiggling restlessly.        

           “Alright, alright,” Nikolai said, opening the door to the break room. Everyone else had already taken their seats, snacks and drinks at the ready. It looked like someone had already set out a cup of Chai tea for him. “Why thank you,” he said has he settled into his spot, setting Piper down to wander the table.

           Piper immediately went for Nikolai’s mug, curling around it and peaking inside. Before Nikolai could stop him, Piper stuck his tongue into it and hissed, darting away.

           “BIT ME!” Piper cried, glaring at the offending mug from behind his hiding place… which was ironically Alex’s cup of tea – green and hibiscus instead of chai.

           Nikolai sighed, reaching out to give Piper a few little pets, “It’s chai tea. I could’ve told you you might not like it. It’s spicy, bitter, and still hot.”

           “Why?” Piper said.

           “Um… because it has spices?” Nikolai said.

           “Why drink?”

           “Because I like it,” Nikolai said.

           “No,” Piper said, crossing his arms. He was now holding Alex’s drink hostage instead, but had the good sense to not dunk his tongue in immediately. “Lady’s smarter. Smells good!”

           “Aaaaw, thanks. That’d be the hibiscus. Gives it kinda a fruity flavor. Not sure if you’d want this either though. I don’t put sugar in it… And you might be a little young for caffeine at all, honestly?” Alex said. “Geez… and I though Trousle was small! You’re so little!”

           “Mm hmm. I’m cute,” Piper said, rolling over to show the softer scales of his underbelly. Alex squeaked at the cuteness, gently stroking the softer tissue as Piper purred.

           Oozy huffed and leaned over, gently headbutting Alex’s other hand. Alex chuckled and started petting him too… And then Trousle looked over, and Keith was trying to pretend he wasn’t, but Nikolai could see his tail trying to sneakily capture Alex in a snuggle.  

           “… I don’t have enough hands for all these lamia,” Alex said. “Who designed humans? I have some questions for them.”

           “Me too! You need more hands! For more cuddles! But you’re very warm, I like it!” Trousle said, slithering over to lay beside her arm.

           “You guys are so desperate,” Hux said with a deadpan expression. “It’s fu…” He looked over at Nikolai, who was giving him a death glare, hood fully spread and tail coiled, “…uuuuuuppernuttering embarrassing.”

           Piper laughed and, as children do, immediately chirped, “Fuppernutter!”

           “Fuppernutter,” Alex echoed.

           “What is a fuppernutter?” Trousle said, head tilted in honest confusion.  

Oozy said, “Is it related to peanut butter?”

           “Maybe it’s cousins with flutters or shutters,” Keith said.

           “Does it give nuts to fuppers?” Alex said.

           “I think I’m having a stroke,” Hux said, looking desperately to Nikolai.

           Nikolai smirked, leaning with his elbows against the table. “You brought this on yourself, now deal with it, you fuppernutter.”

           Hux let out a loud grown. “Whyyyyy… Ugh. Aren’t we here to, like, game? Let’s do that. Please.”

           Keith nodded, “Yeah, guess we are. Alright, let’s see the insanity! And remember, keep it clean.” He gestured to the kid. “Let’s start with… hmm… Nikolai?”

           Nikolai straightened up and pulled out the character sheet, “A level 10 sorcerer who believes magic isn’t real. I’ve named him… Steve.”

           “Steve?” Keith said, clearly trying to hold back a laugh. “Oh boy- heh… Why the heck is that funny? Oh my gosh.” He snickered into his hand as Nikolai rolled his eyes. It wasn’t that funny.

           “Alright. So we’ve got Steve. Hux?”

           “Eh… I figured I’d go rogue and go Rogue this time. Level 20 changeling thief!”

           “Branching out a little, eh? Sounds like fun!” Keith said, apparently not caring about the lack of name or any background info.

           Hux was going to steal absolutely everything from everyone, wasn’t he?

           “Alright, Trousle?”

           Trousle grinned and quickly sent something to Keith, notified by a little ring. Keith’s eyes scanned it, nodding along, then grew wider, then he started laughing, “Dude. I know it’s dungeons and dragons, but… Oh man. I love it.”

           “What?” Hux said. “C’mon, tell us!”

           Trousle had a proud grin as he typed, “I’m a level 14 half dragon, dragonborn weredragon monk taking path of the ascendant dragon.”

           “That is so much dragon,” Alex said. “I think he wins. He’s the dragon in Dungeons and Dragons. It’s him. He’s all the dragons.”

           “I don’t know if that’s legal, but I kind of hope it is,” Nikolai said.

           “The monk subclass is in playtesting still, and weredragons are from 2e. So very much no, but it’s a one shot and I do not care.” Trousle had his little arms on his hips as the voice app finished speaking for him.

           “Oh man. This is, oh boy,” Keith said.

           Piper was looking at Trousle in awe, “You’re dragon?!”

           Trousle shook his head, typing, “Not really. But my character is!”

           Piper nodded. “I pretend dragon too! RAAAAWR!!!!” He slithered over to Trousle and play-tackled him, chirping and giggling as Trousle snaked around the table in a little game of chase.

           While that was going on, Keith continued, “Alex? What about you?”

           “I’ve been meaning to try cleric, but, well… Personal issues, I guess. But hey, tricksters are awesome, so I’mma trickster cleric! Sounds like some fun little bit of chaos chaos,” she said. “Maybe I should’ve gone higher level… I’m only level 10.”

           “Nooooob,” Hux said, tail end twitching.

           “Nooooooooom!!!” Piper said. He’d managed to capture Trousle, getting a sort of impromptu piggy back ride on the other lamia. Trousle seemed more confused than distressed about this occurrence.

           “And… Oh boy. Do I even wanna know, Oozy?” Keith said.

           Oozy got a shit-eating grin as he passed a paper forward. “Memelord.”

           “A what?”

           “Found it online.”

           “… Oh thor have mercy…” Keith said.

           “Level 20.”

           “Why did I let you just make whatever.”

           “Because it’s hilarious.”

           “You’re never playing this again.”

           “That’s fine.”

           “You can pickpocket Anubis mid-combat.”

           “Yeeeep,” Oozy said. “It’s great, ain’t it?

           “You’re proficient in all the saving throws.”

           “You should know better than to tell me to go nuts.”

           “Whyyyyyy” Keith hissed, rubbing away an anatomically impossible headache.

           “Because it’s hiss-terical.” Oozy laughed out loud, and Kieth was trying to hide it, but he was joining in.

           “I’m never doing this again,” Keith said, blatantly lying as he did every single time he more or less told them to be as ridiculous as possible for a noncanon oneshot.

           “Yeah you are,” Hux said. “’cause you looooove us or something. Ya dork.”

           “Heh, could say the same about you.”

           “Nope. My soul’s just ice.”

           “Ice soul?” Piper said, looking up from the captive Trousle. “Doctor’s here! Tha’s bad! Gotta get you warmed! Get the fire!”

           “No. No fire,” Nikolai said. “He’s just being himself.”

           “Hmm… okay! We play now? I’m the highest! Level 40!” Piper chirped. “I win all the things! ‘Cause I’m the dragon! Or the dungeon!” He was lightly bouncing in place, hands outstretched.

           “Heh, there’s not really a win to this game… It’s just about having fun and playing pretend,” Keith said. “C’mon, I’ll let you on my side of the screen.” He gently scooped up Piper and draped him around his neck.

           “I have the tall!” Piper yelled. “FEAR ME!”

           “Oh nooooo!”

           “Alright here we go…”

Memelord is a joke class I found online.

I’m actually using Path of the Ascendant Dragon in a campaign! Or I’m planning to, haven’t started yet.

[roseszain]

I was tagged by @anjalibutch to do this adorable tag game, to make a moodboard out of jellycat stuffed animals from jellycat.com . It was so hard to choose!!! Theres so many cute ones! I went with some of my favorite animals (gryphon, red panda, and porcupine, anteater), and aesthetic/cuddly looking ones.

I tag @witchezgetstitchez @projectbia @messofthejess @snack-thief-keith @a-little-sprout @evanesdust

[finnickodaiir]

@alteritymonster 's ST2 rewatch suggestion

My unedited thoughts under the cut:

S2Ep1

Kali and her gang are off doing their thing...

I miss Kali, she was an interesting character

Why do they all wear animal masks? Were furries a thing back in the 1980s?

Someone should revoke the cops' and the gang's driver's license.

Ding-Dong! The cops are dead.

Dusty-boy is looking for his cash now...

Their (Dustin and his mom) way of communicating is funny.

Hey, Lucas no need to shame Dusty-boy for being lazy.

Emo Mike is back!

Should we call him Thief!Mike as well?

How are you gonna pay her back, Michael?

Mike and Nancy are running now...

You kids have a lot of energy.

And they're at the arcade...

They were so smol! Bring me back the kids, Duffers!

I wish I had friends like that when I was their age 😔.

Everyone needs a mom like Joyce.

And the knight is dead, good job Dustin.

"I hate this overpriced bullshit" *proceeds to kick the machine*. I mean, same Dustin.

This Keith guy is weird.

"Better than you" That was cold, Keith.

And Keith's a perv.

We know that Mike cares about Nancy, can we get some scenes of them?

And Will is back on the Upside Down. Still has creepy vibes.

Can we get back the Mike who used to care? No offense, S3 Mike. I just don't vibe with you.

And a new day begins...

Here comes Hopper. And middle-aged Jughead Jones (the Riverdale version), better known as Murray.

They should have elaborated on the butt alliens. Wasted opportunities.

"Russian kid with powers" Well, at least you tried. Your theories are interesting, but lack constitency, Murray.

Hopper's out.

At the school...

Yes, Steve work on your essay.

Hot take (or maybe not, Idk): Stancy wasn't like a problematic (like toxic or abusive) couple, they just weren't compatible.

Here comes the jackass with bad hair, aka Billy, if Billy was a Friends episode, he would be called "The One with the bad hair". And here's Max! "California girls, we're unforgettable!"

It's like there is a sign on his butt, that says: "Douchebag! Get your douchebag, ladies and gentleman!"

And the kids are being mean again. Are we never going to find out who left the Zombie boy note?

Damn, Mr. Clarke you need to learn how to keep your audience entertained.

Been there done that. We all hate socializing, Max.

And the boys put 2 and 2 together.

At Joyce's store....

Bob is out there, looking like a snack for the Demogorgon! Too soon?

That's not how you check, miss.

And they stopped making out.

And Hopper is at the Farm

Those pumpkins do not look good.

Curiouser and curiouser.

And that scarecrow is not doing its job.

At the school again...

Come on, Jonathan you need to socialize.

Steve looks good.

Jonny boy is out.

I wonder exactly when Max wrote that note.

Mamma Joyce is back.

Will apologizes a lot. I mean same.

At the Lab...

And he is getting examined. Alexa play "Welcome to my Life". "To be hurt, to feel lost, to be left out in the dark, to be kicked when you're down. To feel like you've pushed around".

"Worse and worse, we are supposed like it's not happening" I mean, yeah that's the way teenagers deal with their grades.

Random thought: S2 Joyce looks younger than S1 Joyce. Idk why.

Time to burn the vines!

At the arcade...

Yes, Dustin use the pearls. She won't resist you. I miss the Dustin/Lucas dynamics.

Was Dustin taller than Lucas?

And the boys have a crush. "California girls, are unforgettable"

At the Wheeler House...

Damn, Mike really misbehaved in school. Such a Gryffindor.

Was Ted a baseball player as a teen?

Meanwhile at Barb's parents' house...

Great, now I'm hungry.

Now I feel bad for them. You have to tell them, Nancy.

Don't cry, I'm gonna cry too.

Meanwhile at the Wheeler House...

Don't give away your dinosaur, Mike. That's a good boy.

And Lucas is the logical one.

There's something wrong with that trash can.

At the Byers House...

Now I want popcorn

I miss the Byers brothers.

We are all freaks, just trying to survive, Will. Don't give up.

"Is that why you don't have any friends?" Can we get snarky Will in S4? Please, Duffers. I'm not asking much.

And I miss the Byers brothers.

Jonny boy is bored. Joyce/Bob/Will are having the time of their lives.

Who is calling them? Are we never gonna find out?

Back at the Lab...

Don't care

Back at the Byers House...

And the Upside Down is at again. Stalker much?

At El and Hopper's cabin...

The secret knock.

Don't leave the TV on, if you're not watching, kids.

You act like you never ate dessert before dinner.

I miss El's curls. She looks so small and cute.

And that’s it, I’ll be back tomorrow with more thoughts on the next episode.

[silvertip-studio]

Promise of a Thief

Fandom: Voltron

Pairing: Keith x Lance

Requested by: @shiranai-atsune

Summary: Keith is a beat cop who is sick and tired of chasing down the same shoplifter seemingly everyday. However, in the world of cops and robbers, love can be found in the unlikeliest of places.

Words: 827

“C’mon, not again.” Keith groaned as he watched the all-too-familiar shoplifter take off through the back door of the store. He could hear the shop owner shouting at him to chase after him. With a sigh, Keith holstered his gun and sprinted off after the perpetrator. When he reached the back, bursting through the heavy door with a grunt, he couldn’t see the crook anywhere. So, he took his best guess and continued his pursuit.

He was part way down the alley heading back to the street when he heard a crate of something fall from the alley in the opposite direction. Keith came to a screeching halt, and turned to race after the sound. The maze of back alleyways seemed endless as Keith chased the retreating footsteps of Lance McClain. As he rounded a corner just in time to see the Cuban man scrambling over a fence, Keith grumbled, “When I catch him, I’m gonna fuckin’ strangle him!” However, he didn’t let his complaining delay him in any way. Instead he climbed the fence with speed, and landed on the other side only a few paces back from Lance.

Keith felt like he was chasing this man every single day, and he was sick of it. So, he found himself closing the distance between them faster than usual, determined that this would be the last time. When he finally got close enough, he grabbed Lance by the arm. “Stop!” he shouted, shoving Lance against the nearest wall.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Lance put his free hand up in surrender, the back of his hand scratching roughly against the brick wall, “Relax, I surrender, buddy,” he chuckled, flashing a bright grin at Keith and putting his hand on his shoulder.

“This is the last time, Lance.” Keith sighed, still holding Lance against the wall, “No more stealing.”

“I don’t think so,” Lance smirked, plucking Keith’s hand from his wrist and slipping away from him. However, before Lance could get far, Keith pulled him back and pushed him against the wall again. His usual scowl deepening in frustration.

“No, Lance, it’s over.” Keith took one hand off of Lance, reaching for the handcuffs at his waist.

“Whoa, no, no, no! I’ll give it back, all of it!” Lance’s eyes widened and he raised his hands in sincere surrender. “Please?” he pleaded, bringing his hands down and pressing his palms together in mock prayer. Keith pressed his lips together, staring unconvinced at Lance.

“Gimme what you stole,” Keith demanded, holding out his hand to Lance. Quickly, Lance piled two packs of gum, a Snickers bar, a Reese’s peanut butter cup, beef jerky, and a small toy water gun into Keith’s hands. The police officer simply stared at it all in dismay. “Why the fuck did you steal…this?”

“I was hungry.”

“The water gun?”

“Impulse?”

“You’re the worst, did you know that?” Keith grumbled.

“Shut up, you love me.” Lance leaned forward and planted a firm kiss on Keith’s lips. For a second, Keith pressed back into the kiss, a pleased hum rumbling in his chest. Then, he remembered where they were, and pulled away abruptly. “What!?”

“Not here, Lance.” Keith backed away from him clutching the stolen goods to his chest and blushing as he turned away from his boyfriend.

“Oh, come on, when are you going to tell people about us?” Lance cried, his playful tone replaced by frustration.

“When you stop stealing.” Keith turned on his heel and started marching back towards the shop he had chased Lance from. Before he could make it far, Lance grabbed him by the arm and spun him so that they were face to face. The pile of snacks nearly fell from Keith’s arms at the sudden jolt, but he somehow managed to maintain his hold on them. “What?”

“I’m done.”

“What?”

“This is the last time, I swear.” Lance’s voice was low, sincere. “No more stealing.” Keith’s eyes widened at the promise, and now he did drop the mountain of stolen items to the dirty alley floor. They hadn’t even clattered to the ground before Keith’s hands were on Lance’s face pulling him into a kiss.

When Keith pulled back he whispered against Lance’s lips, “You promise?”

Lance nodded, leaning in to kiss Keith again.

“No, I need to hear you say it.” Keith resisted, a frown beginning to turn down the corners of his mouth.

“I promise.” Lance assured, resting his forehead against Keith’s. As soon as the words had passed Lance's lips, Keith released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. They stayed like that for what felt like forever, yet when Keith finally pulled away it didn’t feel like enough time.

“I’ve gotta go return all of this.” Keith scooped up the scattered pile of food and turned to return to the store. “You’re coming over tonight, right?” he asked, keeping his eyes forward, despite throwing the question over his shoulder.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

[the-goose-ferret]

The Night We Met

The first night the four younger paladins all met. Lance doesn't trust Keith, though, so the desert boy has to prove his worth.

There was a heavy silence as the three cadets sat awkwardly in the kitchen of the shack. Hunk’s eyes were anxiously moving over the dark room, switching back to Lance most of the time. Lance seemed the most chill out of all of them, leaning back in his seat and staring at the ceiling. Pidge was softly tapping her fingers on the table as she observed the others in the room.

She could see Keith in his spot near the door where he’d just returned from the bedroom he and Lance had taken Shiro too. He had his arms crossed, eyes trained sharply down at the floor. The silence lingered long before Hunk’s stomach grumbled. Keith jumped right into a defensive stance, knocking his shoulder loudly into the doorframe.

“What was that!?” He demanded.

“Sorry,” Hunk said, putting his hands up and blushing slightly, “Just hungry.”

“Oh.” Keith didn’t completely relax, though.

“Well, Mullet, got anything to eat in this place?” Lance asked.

A flash of annoyance crossed Keith’s face, but he seemed to change his mind before he said anything else. He walked over to the fridge, looking around.

“I don’t have much in here,” He confessed, “Usually I either hunt or… uh… or I buy food every now and then.” Pidge had an idea he was lying but let it drop. She made note to confirm the 'Garrison kitchen thief' theory, though.

Hunk stood up and hesitated before approaching the mullet-headed emo.

“Uh… you don’t mind if I… if I cook?” He asked.

Keith blinked at him, “Uh… sure, go ahead.”

Keith stood aside as Hunk looked through the fridge for something to make.

“I think there might be some spaghetti in the cabinet… don’t know if it expired yet or not,” Keith pointed out helpfully. “Well, here’s a can of corn… in the fridge?” Hunk looked confused.

Keith shrugged, “It’s too hot in the cabinets,” He said curtly simply.

Pidge could see Lance getting ready to defend Hunk. She begged whatever god there was so Keith doesn’t say anything wrong. She wasn’t in the mood for any of that. Keith quickly showed Hunk how his stove worked and where the pots and pans were before realising it might be a little hard doing all of this in a room with only a dim candle for light.

“I’m gonna search for a lightbulb,” He said, “There might still be one in the living room.”

He left the room quietly. Pidge sighed, pressing her forehead into her hands.

“So… what are your plans for dinner?” Lance asked.

“Well, I was thinking a simple corn soup or something? There���s stock here as well and a sack of potatoes. I could whip something up.”

Lance gave a laugh, “I suppose we’ll get your ‘late night snack’ after all.”

“Yeah,” Hunk said, “I’m starving, though. I wonder if Keith found a lightbulb yet.”

Lance groaned, “I still can’t believe we’re stuck with Mullet. How is our fate so cursed?”

“He’s not that bad,” Hunk said, “He’s been mostly quiet after almost killing us by flinging us off a cliff at high speed.”

“That was uncalled for,” Lance moaned, “He could’ve killed us.”

“Yeah, but if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have gotten Shiro out of the Garrison hospital,” Pidge spoke up, “He’s obviously been planning this. Somehow he knew.”

“It’s sketchy,” Lance said, “I don’t trust him.”

“Well, we kind of have too for now,” Hunk said, leaning against the counter, “Anyway, he allowed us into his hideout, let us use his food and he seems to know Shiro first hand.”

“Still doesn’t explain where he got explosives and how he knew he’d need them tonight,” Lance said in a singsong voice.

“Lance, let’s just deal with one thing at a time now, alright?” Pidge reasoned, “We don’t have the time to ask all sorts of cryptic questions right now. Keith let us into his shack, he's quiet and so far only tried to kill us once.”

“How’s that supposed to make me feel better?” Lance asked, “And how do we know Shiro’s safe in the same shack as him? Seriously, I’m getting some bad vibes off that guy.”

“Like that time you got bad vibes off that squirrel?” Hunk asked, “Or the chicken that was looking at you funny?”

“That was different,” Lance said, “Anyway, the chicken did end up stealing my fries, so I was right.”

“Found one,” They heard from the door. Keith walked in, dusting off a lightbulb. He jumped onto the table, placing the bulb near his feet.

Pidge could see Lance’s fingers itching to push the lightbulb off the table, but she could already see how this could go very wrong. She gave him a warning look, and he held his hands up to show he meant no harm. She didn’t take her eyes off of Suspicious-McClain, though. She hadn’t known Lance too long but if Hunk’s stories were anywhere near accurate, then better safe than sorry.

Keith replaced the bulb and jumped off of the table, walking over to the light switch. He flicked it on, and Hunk screamed. Pidge’s head turned to the reason, and she saw it instantly. A giant spider with eight furry legs was sitting right next to the oven. The spider was agitated by Hunk’s scream. Before Pidge or Lance could react, Keith had taken a few long strides across the room and grabbed the creature by three of its legs and opened the window, tossing it out like an old soda can.

He dusted off his hands and closed the window.

“Sorry guys,” He said, “I probably should’ve warned you. This is a desert, and there are spiders whenever I leave the windows or doors open too late. Trust me, I know.” His eyes flicked over to Lance as he said the last sentence. “Be right back. Yell if you need me.” He left the room, probably to check on Shiro again.

The Garrison Trio was silent after that encounter. Pidge turned to Lance, “So… trust him now?”

Lance was still staring at the window. “Dios,” He whispered.

Hunk nervously went back to making the soup, weary for spiders this time. Pidge didn’t think Hunk would have to worry too much, though. Especially after Keith came back a while later, announcing he’d cleared a bedroom for them and checked twice for any spiders. You know; so they can trust their surroundings.

[kae-karo]

mdzs asks: 6, 21, 28 💕

ahhhh hello kai !!!!! for context (x)

6. unpopular opinions?

okay so i just answered this one (x) but honestly not really lmaoooo

21. what do you think lan wangji named his bunnies?

he absolutely self insert named his bunnies wei wuxian and lan wangji whichever two got along best or became mates those are the ones he named wwx and lwj. mans named his guqin 'wangji' he doesn't have a single creative bone in his body there's probably an entire bunny-au version of every person lwj has met - his brother is the calm bunny, his uncle the grumpy one, etc etc

28. make some mdzs memes, go!

sdlkfjjklsdf i've already done this at least a little so here:

(the do it for him meme is legit rose's background on her work computer lmao)

i'm truly so awful at coming up with stuff on the spot so this will have to do i hope!!

send me mdzs asks from this list!

[roseszain]

153, 134, 66! 💕

153: Drunk or highI’ve only ever been kinda buzzed, so I have next to no experience with either? Can i say both or either?

134: Singing or dancingI love doing both, though I get big anxiety doing either in front of people. And it’s been so long since I was in dance classes, I more choreograph stuff in my mind. But singing is my main love. Singing along to songs, belting songs when no one’s around. Fantastic.

66: People that make you happy

@floral-enby, @malevolentmouse @marauders-mess @sterekdyke, @rae-punzel, @snack-thief-keith. Love yall. You’re such amazing friends and significant others to me. Also shoutout to fic writers for making me happy too

[voltron-fics]

heith rec list

for the anon who requested it & reminded me that I haven’t yet recced this lovely & pure ship???? i hope at least some of these are ones you haven’t already read lmao

Soft Touch | g | canon | 10K | galra keith | fluff | pining

When the team finds out Keith is a Galra, the response is mixed to say the least, but one person stands by him from the very beginning.

Take it Easy | g | canon | 5K | fluff

Keith doesn’t register much of what Hunk is saying, his mind preoccupied with wondering if he’s actually supposed to blurt out everything he’s feeling. He’s never had to deal with anything like this before and Keith is honestly completely lost on what he’s supposed to do with... with this.

Feelings. Damn them.

Damn them all.

Alternatively: the one where Keith works too hard and Hunk puts a stop to it.

Ignite | m | au | 50K | humor | wip | this fic includes past sh/eith/

A week. A whole week had gone by and The Thief was still there.

During this time, Hunk had quite adamantly studied him. Coffee every morning, bag in lap, red jacket every day. Sometimes he'd wear his hair back other times it would look like he hadn't even brushed it. Hunk noticed he never had headphones in, only looked at his phone and smiled every once in awhile.

On the next Monday morning, The Thief looked up.

I Might Need You | t | canon | 5K | touch starvation | fluff | this fic includes side sh/ance but it’s very subtle/

Keith just wants to spend some quiet time outside. But then there's Hunk and rain and an offer of a dry shirt to replace his wet clothes.

How To Carry a Keith | t | canon | 5K | 5+1 | injuries | fluff

6 times Keith ended up carried one way or another by the rest of the team

mod note: this fic could use a beta but overall very cute

Blew Away My Storm | t | canon | 5K | bed sharing

Keith and Hunk crash land in the middle of a blizzard. Hunk is extremely not happy about this.

it’s not your fault | t | canon | 5K | fluff

It’s not like Keith is intimidating, or that the idea of asking for help is particularly daunting either, but he’s looking at Hunk so intently - and Hunk is suddenly very glad that he’s got a few inches on him, so that he can look above Keith’s head into the air.

Lessons in Hand-holding and Hugging | t | canon | 5K | angst

When a mistake from Keith in the battlefield causes Pidge to get hurt, he withdraws from the team, spending his days overworking himself in the training room.

Enter: Hunk, armed with the power of love.

Count On Me | g | canon | 5K | fluff

It’s not until a couple of weeks after the Weblum incident that Hunk realizes how much time he and Keith have been spending together lately.

Or, rather, it’s not really spending time together per se, just that Keith seems to always wind up wherever Hunk is in the evenings, whether he’s cooking up a late night snack in the kitchen or lounging in the common room with a bowl of Altean cracklepops and a movie.

The Great Pumpkin Incident | t | au | 1K | humor | injuries

Keith has, frankly, a pathetically distracting crush on Lance’s friend Hunk. So distracting in fact that while carving pumpkins he manages to slice his hand open. Lucky Hunk is there to give him a ride to the ER. …lucky. …Keith would rather be left to bleed out.

Alright, I'll leave you alone | t | canon | 5K | angst

Hunk comforting Keith after a particularly bad argument with Lance

Look Me In The Eyes and Tell Me How You Feel | t | canon | 5K | fluff

gay and emotional heith because we need more gay, more emotions and more heith in this god forsaken fandom

Slowly, and in no Hurry | t | canon | 5K | fluff

At some point, Keith had just been there.

That was the only way Hunk could explain it. One day, he’d just looked up, from whatever he was tinkering with, or whatever he was stirring, and Keith had been there, and it hadn’t been a surprise.

aaaand a few explicit fics under the cut (descriptions are nsfw)

A Romantic Guy | e | canon | 5K | smut

“You like that?”

Keith nods eagerly, looking down on Hunk’s hands wandering to the inside of his legs. The skin is more tender there, more sensitive, and wow, Hunk’s complexion is a nice contrast to his own skin—

I want him to grab me so hard that it’ll leave bruises. The sudden thought goes straight to his cock. He really, really wants that. “More,” he breathes, and can see Hunk smiling at him.

Hot Chocolate and Thunderstorms | e | canon | 5K | abo | smut | this fic includes hints of sh/ance/ and one-sided sh/eith

Keith has his heat in the middle of the space mall thanks to some Nyma lookalike that sprays him with rare perfume that reveals what he desires and who desires him

mod note: this is not my fav fic but heith is kind of a rarepair & so I don’t want to leave it out if it’s up some heith shipper’s alley

The Red Paladin’s Curse | e | canon | 5K | fluff | smut

Keith was afraid.

Of Hunk? No.

Of what Hunk was doing to him.

[katya-is-here]

Letters from Lance - Chapter 2

Hey guys! Thanks so much for your support with LETTERS FROM LANCE! I’m having a ton of fun writing it! I’ll also be posting this on AO3 and will have updates about it on Twitter! Feel free to follow me there too! 

Many VLD characters show up in this chapter, like the Galra, etc., but since this is an AU feel free to picture them as humans too, or think of them as they are! This story can be viewed in many different ways because it’s really just Lance writing letters to you! 

Be sure to also listen to Youth Lagoon while reading! And as always have an amazing day!

⬅ Read Chapter One

Summary: Lance gets a ton of text messages and some, oh no, were from Keith. Not bothering to answer him, he goes about his day, but as fate would have it ends up meeting the entire basketball team on the school rooftop. 

Dear you,

Thank you for taking the time to read these letters. It makes me feel like someone out there actually gives a damn, without calling me a fool or idiot. Sure, I have weird puns and all, and yes, sometimes Pidge is right that I can get a bit ‘sexist’, but don’t ever think that I’m that kind of guy. Yeah, we all know what type of guy that is.

I slept through my alarm the next morning, waking up to a drooling Hunk. It was bad enough we had to share a bed because of his dream kicking and snoring. And he always complained about the crumbs I left hanging around after binge watching Netflix shows or some overly dramatic teen drama. Hey, can you blame me? Binge watching calls for an all-around snack fest.

“Hunk,” I mumbled, nudging him in the gut. “Dude, we overslept.”

Only one of Hunk’s eyes shot open. “Wha? Hm? Who’s there?”

I sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. I stretched and yawned. My breath tasted and smelt horrible. Last time I ever ate stale pizza rolls and coffee from the pot.

“When the heck are we going to ask the school prefects to get us another bed? I can’t live like this anymore.”

Hunk shot up from the bed, his hair all frizzed and curled. “No, no, no, no, NO!” he shouted. He grabbed his phone and looked at the time. 9:30 AM. He lunged over me and gathered his uniform and backpack. “I had an exam at 7:00!”

“Relaaax, dude.”

“Don’t DUDE me, Lance. NOT now!” He shoved his books into his bag and, believe it or not, still made everything look organized. He sighed. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

I patted my stomach. “Damn I got a food baby.”

“LANCE!”

I shrugged and stood. “I dunno. You looked…peaceful.”

Hunk shook his head and threw on his uniform jacket.

“What?” I said teasingly, “No shower?”

“Ha, ha,” Hunk said, “Don’t use my tricks against me.” He looked at the clock on the wall. “You’re lucky I have a free period to make up this test.” He grabbed the doorknob. Stopped. “Oh, and Lance.”

“Hm?”

“Check your phone. You have about thirty new messages.”

I gasped. Hunk closed the door behind him leaving me alone with my phone. I turned on the phone and boy was he right. Bringing the phone closer to my eyes I read some of them. A chill ran down my spine when the name KEITH appeared. I skipped ahead.

SHIRO [6:00 AM]: Hey, Lance. It’s Shiro. I’ll be sending you daily links and little positive tidbits of advice on how to deal with your anxiety. It’s my job as the school counselor to make sure every student at the academy gets special attention. As Toy Story says, “You’ve got a friend in me”. Talk later. –Shiro

I laughed at his dad-like text messages. And I thought my puns were bad. I scrolled through the messages.

ALLURA [8:09 AM]: Lance, make sure you return my notes on Quantum Physics today and my collectors addition of The Hunger Games. And please, no more flirty pick-up lines. They aren’t amusing. Good day.

Under the stacks of clothes and papers were Allura’s books, but I didn’t have the motivation to find them. I typed.

LANCE [9:39 AM]: You must be a hell of a thief because you stole my heart from across the room.

ALLURA [9:40 AM]: Funny, Lance. Just please return them.

LANCE [9:40 AM]: No sweat, sweetie.

ALLURA [9:40 AM]: Don’t make me hit you.

A bunch of other messages were from my parents, spam, and even my naggy professors urging me to get my papers turned in on time. I read them all, taking about fifteen minutes, but then stopped. For five more minutes I just stared at KEITH’s name. Hands trembling, I opened it:

KEITH [Yesterday 11:12 PM]: Look I know u don’t want to talk to me or hell even see me but we can’t leave things like this. It’s awkward for both of us. I mean what r u just gonna ignore me in the halls? Or what about English Lit? What if we get paired up or something?

KEITH [Yesterday 11:20 PM]: I can’t do this Lance. Missing u is shit

KEITH [Yesterday 11:21 PM]: Don’t you even remember our bonding moments?

KEITH [Yesterday 11:21 PM]: Don’t answer that

KEITH [Yesterday 11:22 PM]: Whatever.

The period in the messages made my stomach churn. He was pissed. I turned off my phone, not even caring if he knew I read the messages and got ready for the day. This time, I took a shower.

___

Lunch was the usual cafeteria slop that they expected us to survive on for hours. I sat up on the school’s roof, staring down at all the students. On the track, Pidge was running with her classmates, beating them with her tactical pursuits. Shay, Hunk’s biggest fan and hopefully soon-to-be girlfriend, ran right behind Pidge, supporting her in whatever relay they were doing.

I leaned against the railing, sipping at an orange juice box and sighed. Wind whistled through my hair. The breeze was cool and nice. The roof’s door opened behind me. I chuckled. Must’ve been Hunk.

“’Aight big guy, I need to apologize for this─”

The wind blew again. I turned. Keith and his basketball team walked onto the roof, stacks and bags of food loaded up under their arms. Sendak, the team’s captain, shoved Keith forward. The other team members, Prorok, Morvok, Throk, Haxus, Thace and Myzax surrounded him, grinning.

I didn’t bother to hide like a little damsel this time. Instead I leaned against the railing and watched the team banter, groan and complain about Coach Zarkon’s training.

“Keith,” Sendak started.

Keith looked up, all raggedy and tired looking. “Hm?”

“Team Galra can’t afford to lose a game. We’re going to make it to nationals if it kills me.”

Keith pouted. “Don’t make me punch you.”

The team ‘oooohed’ at him, making mocking faces.

“All of you,” Keith mumbled.

Sendak grabbed Keith by the collar of his shirt and groaned. “Nothing will stop me from winning these games but victory or death."

Keith shoved away. “It’s just a game, SENDAK!”

Sendak whacked Keith across the face and spat. He smirked. “Coach Zarkon wouldn’t agree, now would he Keithy-boy.”

“Well hiya, fellas!” I shouted.

Sendak dropped Keith and raised a brow. “Who the fuck are you?”

Keith’s eyes widened, trembling.

“McClain,” I said, “Lance McClain.”

Prorok cracked his knuckles. I smirked.

“No need for a fight, boys,” I said, “You don’t want to tarnish your famed reputation now do you?”

Sendak laughed. “Like it would matter if we fucked up your face.”

I folded my arms. “Wanna go? I’ll take you on.”

Sendak pushed forward. Keith shot out his arm.

“Oh, you don’t want to get in between this Keithy-boy.”

Keith shook his head. Eyes on me. “No. Let me do it.”

“What?” the team gasped.

He looked up at Sendak. “If I get in trouble for this it wouldn’t matter. It’s expected from me to be some kind of badass ruffian anyway.”

Sendak folded his arms. “Well, looks like you’re actually looking out for me, kid.”

Keith shrugged. “As if. I’m just not risking the whole team because of your temper issues.”

Sendak scowled.

Keith cracked his neck and threw off his jacket. Rolling up his sleeves he approached me. Brows furrowed. “Let’s go, McClain.”

I pouted my lip. “We seriously going to do this right now?”

Keith got into a defensive positon and raised his fists. “NOW!”

I jumped and dropped my jacket to the ground. “Persistent bitch,” I mumbled.

Keith swung at me first, his fist socking against my chin. I fell back against the railing. Gasped.

“W…wait, you’re serious about this?”

Keith swung again. I dodged and screamed. Almost tripping I raised my fists. “C’mon idiot, you know I can’t fight!”

Keith shouted and lunged at me. He pinned me to the ground and kept pounding at my chest. I spat.

“Ah! Ouch, dude!”

Fist to face he kept pounding me.

“Hey!” someone shouted.

Keith didn’t stop. My cheeks bruised. I spat up some blood.

“HEY!”

Someone grabbed Keith’s wrists. Through my hazy eyes, I saw Shiro standing there, his hand clasped around Keith’s forearm.

“Enough! Both of you!” his voice was low and serious.

I sighed in relief and looked back up at Keith. His eyes were focused on me. His breath unsteady. I focused on my own breathing and closed my eyes.

___  

“This is completely unacceptable!” Shiro shouted, pacing back and forth in his office.

Keith and I sat side by side, arms folded and backs slouched.

Shiro slammed his palms onto the table and stared at us, serious, but with a patient gaze. “You two can’t fight like that on public property. Especially at a school. Do you WANT to get expelled?”

I shrugged. “He started it.”

Keith almost fell out of his chair. “I started─ If I didn’t jump into that fight Sendak would have KILLED you. I fucking saved your life, you moron!”

“Saved my life, huh? You were just trying to show off to your captain!”

“I did it for YOU!”

“Exactly. You did it for you.”

Keith grabbed my collar.

“ENOUGH!” Shiro shouted.

We broke off of each other.

Shiro rubbed his nose bone, his scar standing out to us. “Now I don’t care what kind of angst you two have with each other, but please, enough with this bickering. Go back to class and don’t even think about starting another fight in the halls because I will expel the both of you myself.”

“Yes, sir,” we mumbled.

Shiro gave us both passes and we left the room. The halls flooded with the everyday faces of freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors. And, of course, the occasional class pet. Keith looked at his pass and crumbled it up. He shoved his hands into his pockets and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“I gotta get outta this hellhole.”

I grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. A chill ran up my spine. I tore away. He looked…nice without his mullet.

“What?” he groaned.

I blushed and scratched the back of my head. “Th…thanks, I guess.”

The bell rang. Keith walked closer to me. I felt…warm, kind of captured by his gaze.

“You really are weak,” he teased.

I tensed. “Oh stop patting yourself on the back, stupid! Next time I’ll beat your ass for sure.”

“Next time?” Keith asked.

My face heated. Throat choked up and palms sweating I gasped. “I…no. It’s not like I’m gonna see you again, ‘er anything.”

Keith took out his phone. Showed it to me. “You read the messages?”

I nodded and looked away. “So?”

A few students walked by, looked at us and giggled. I winked at a cute girl.

Keith sighed. “Hey, focus.”

I pouted. “Hm?”

He shoved the phone in my face.

“I can see, y’know?”

He sighed. “I wanted to say sorry.”

“For?”

“I was drunk.” He rubbed at his neck. A habit of his.

“What?”

“I went to some college party with Sendak and the guys and ended up drunk texting you. Sorry if it got weird.”

I looked at the phone. So he didn’t intentionally text me? My heart sunk to my toes. Wait. Why did I care? “Yeah, kinda weird.”

Keith facepalmed. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Yeah.”

He scowled at me. “Not helping the situation, Lance.”

Students rushed through the halls, hurrying to their next class. Shay, whose books and papers were falling all over the place rammed into Keith so hard that we both tripped. We fell behind a janitor’s rack of supplies. Keith hovered over me, his nose brushing against mine. We stared at one another for what felt like…forever. His eyes were wide, watching me.

I blushed even harder. His heat mixed with mine.

The bell RANG.

Keith sat up and looked at his watch. “S…so again, sorry about whatever the hell I sent you. Won’t happen again.”

I nodded, in a daze. “’Kay.”

When my thoughts came back to me, I noticed Keith was blushing too. It was so embarrassing. I wanted to curl up into a little ball and hide.

“Hey, uh, Lance.”

“Y…yes?” My voice cracked.

Keith helped me to my feet. He looked like he kept getting shorter every time I saw him.

“Always be prepared for a fight.”

I looked down at him. “Pfft, sheesh, you talk like I don’t know how to─”

“LANCE MCCLAIN!” someone shouted. Keith and I jumped. In front of the janitor’s rack was Allura, hands on her tips, lips scowling. She raised a finger and took a deep breath.

“Ack!” I shouted. “Your books.”

“Yes, sir, my books is right.” She went up to me and pulled my cheek. I squirmed. “I’m going to walk you back to your dorm and you BETTER get them ready for me.”

I nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I walked down the halls with Allura and looked back at Keith. Rubbing my pinched cheek I stopped.

“Lance?” Allura mumbled.

Keith, for the first time in forever, smiled.

“Earth to Lance,” Allura said.

“Hm?” I looked back at her. “Yes, babe?”

She whacked me over the head.

“Ow.”

I threw my hands behind my head and felt kinda happy. My phone rang. I picked it up.

SHIRO: Work things out with him, okay? – Shiro

Click.

[kae-karo]

🥺🥺🥺🥺 HELLO BB THANK U I HOPE UR HAVING A LOVELY DAY say hi to tim for me as well!!! 💜💜💜💜

[greenflamedwriter]

Galra Lance Official Notes

Check List:

Blade of Mamoura, Lance and Keith go to the trials, Lance re-does the trials along with Keith, to prove his loyalty to Voltron and is salty.

Lance is exposed as a Galra when he's injured, others are surprised and Allura doesn't talk to him OR Keith. Lance gets the brunt of it. But Shiro is a bit more iffy and Lance decides to leave.

Lance reveals he's a test tube baby that Blaytz and the galra servent is his father surprise Kolivan is that servant. He's super old but time dilations happened.

Lance does his dads proud, blaytz and Lance's family died and that caused the riff.

https://voltron.fandom.com/wiki/Voltron_(Legendary_Defender)

(Okay- Voltron upgrades-Have three upgrades to unlock

Blue _Laser_Jaw Blade_ +Sonar Scan. Bayard+Console=

Yellow _Laser_Jaw Blade +Extra Armour Shoulder Cannon

Red _Laser_Jaw Blade +molten lava Saber (Double Sword Ability

Green _Laser_Jaw Blade_ +Plants Arm Cannon

lack _Laser_Jaw Blade_ +Astral Project Saber

Voltron _Can shoot lasers out of it's eyes. (Oh god Bayard combinations create different things owch my head) Green Lion [Shields] [Wings create Shield] Red Lion [Sword] Blue Lion ...? Green+Yellow+Red+Blue = Enlarged Cutless Red + Green = Dual Sabers (Shiro and Keith)Red+ Black = Blazing Sword (Lance and Keith) Red + Black = Flight Boosters

(Possible Abilities)

Blazing Sword. Shield. Lasers. Missiles. Sabers. Cloaking Device. (My own) Energy Whip. Electric taser blast. grapple hook.

(Lion heads can de-tatch from voltron then reaatch)

"Wait the lions head just dettach? Are we still INSIDE when that happens?"

"Oh good if I wasn't motion sick before." Hunk sighs

________________________________________________________________________

Bayard Unlockables:

Ultimate Lockable ALL WEAPONS: Zarkon has- Whip, Sword, Schythe, Blade, Gun, Lance : Sword/ Gun Allura:Whip Keith: Sword Shiro: ??? Katie: Taser Hunk: Canon

___________________________________________________________________________

(Two) Galra Lance Story.

Lance is a galra, and Ex-Mamourian (He was kicked out because he was suicidal and kept getting attention to try to make Zarkon afraid which was the opposite of what mamoura wanted so Lance is a rebel doing his own thing, bounty hunting stealing, raiding and above all about to steal a red Lion on the ship hailed under Sendak and he’s going to get a boatloud of it. Then a cocky kid in a red suit slashes in claiming it’s his lion. Lance wonders if any of this was even worth it?

1 Flash to mind meld plus suspicion lances memories of him in water with mermaids and pre-galran.

2 Flash to “surprise, not a galra.” Lance is exposed and returned and nervous.

3 His father is Blatyz the previous blue Paladin and his other father the Galra whom Blatyz married. (Wait how were you born?) Pidge asked and Lance grinned his tail flickering back like a cats (I was a test tube baby)

4 Keiths initiation Lance returns to the Mamoura.

5) The talk. Shiro comes out of Alfor's room and see;s Lance and instantly feels ashamed after the trials the two talk and begin the

-Next morning- go over bayard upgrades and try to test them out- get inturupted by Kolivan as they have a mission they couldn't do alone but now with VOltron they can now pursue it. It's time for the Blade to make a stand its a gamble their willing to face. next morning with a mission to bust Slav out of jail. This is where Lotor appears straight af, he wants slav for himself for his little pet project that he won't disclouse UNTIL he see's allura and reaks the F out and realises he can use- her ask her for help. (turns out Lotor is a double agents working for the Galra since he was an exiled prince) Lotor and Lance were an old time fling but both only did it for information. Shiro asks Keith if he should grow his hair out...flirts with Lance then gives up and see's allura and they both get along.

6) Lotor reveals the robo beasts and Zarkon creating his own anti-voltron all he needs is a reality comet and he would be unstopable. Until the new robobests are...different they leak into Voltron and almost corrupt the paladins, Lance and Keith take a hit freaking out.

7) Keith is fine he's able to snap out of it, but Lance goes feral and almost doesn't come back to himself until Lotor and Allura pull him back, seeing Shiro taking care of Keith almost makes him lose control again. Coran and Lotor look at the substance and find out what it is.

"Quintescence in its purest form, it can- it can make you mad I think...thats what happened to my parents."

Lotor, we can't change them back it's been thousands of years. I know- I- its for my people not them. Some can't control it.

Lance feels like crap and avoids the others, missing his packmates. Shiro finds him and the two talk. Introducing Fusion tron, Keith and Lance fuse and both co-pilot the red/blue now mixed lion "What the hell? it's like Voltron but less. "It's weird as fuck." Lance said "Is what it is." But at lease he and Keith didn't fuse like that cartoon Pidge said, now the two had seats side by side like Voltron but it wasn't a leg or an arm it was two sides of a body wait.

"Was this what Voltron was supposed to be? If we got closer?" Keith blinked up at him "Um,"

"I mean I see us as brothers kinda, we went through the trials together and rely on each other- or am I wrong?"

"No! No that's...that sounds right." Keith said with a small smile on his face his ear turned pink Lance could only beam and glance back to the others. "Heh, Pidge and Hunk want in."

6) They save Honerva and Lotor and they find a planet and make it habitable and release everyone from the Galra, but some planets are merged some want the Galra gone and some need their galra to remain so Allura and Lotor try to fix things. Lance goes to his planet which is hidden and Allura gasps to see Alteans, Mermainians and Galra there in hiding in a warped hole. She cries and hugs Lance "Why didn't you tell me."

"It would've been safer for them and us, if we lost I didn't want the Galra finding them."

"Thank you," She said watery smile in place.

On a spacecraft floating on the edge of an arus solar system, an abandoned Galra named Lance, was taking a pit stop.

His ship consisted of junk, the pilot hanger cluttered making even hoarders feel disgusted open drinks and snack bars littered here and there and Lance had to squeeze in just to get to the pilots chair, the craft only had one room and a bathroom that stopped working. And his room was the only place that was clean it had an assortment of guns, rifles, snipers, you name it, along with a discarded blade that has seen no use in years with a strange symbol on the hilt.

Lance had music blasting from his speakers some album he bought from an alien shop, the album was called ‘Queen.’ And so far Lance was a fan.

He was flickering through a data pad as many reports scrolled past with anflick of his finger. Galra operations, cargo shipments, military vessels, open channels with radio chatter that Lance ignored. He was looking for something easy.

The life of a thief had its perks, steal medical supplies and weapons and give them to a rebellion and make a profit. Usually he sold to both sides just to live more dangerously. A recommendation opened up and Lance smirked behind his mask with the three circles on the front.

A vessel captioned by Sendek was hovering outside Arus, sliding the panel right and lots of data began to download at lighting speed , appeared and Lance’s smirk grew.

It had some precious cargo on it, a Lion of Voltron to be exact.

Lance was having the time of his life knocking out guards ninja style was just so easy, he had the red lion in his sights.

“Well hello gorgeous, mind dropping down that barrier and getting out of here?”

Suddenly he heard a nose and hid behind a pillar in the shadows, just as more galra guardsran into the hanger.

Lance turned and frowned to see a boy in red and white armour (like thats not inconspicuous) and took them down, Lance grew more suspicious this kid fought like a galra. But he didn’t wear mamorian armour or any rebel armour that he knew. Could be a threat.

Until the kid went to the barrier “Alright open up.”

…it did nothing, the boy growled in frustration “Ugh-we don’t have time for this! It’s me keith! You’re I AM YOUR PALADIN!”

Lance couldn’t help it, he laughed.

The kid whipped around activating a weapon, a sword.

“Stay back!” Lance shook his head “No, wait,” he was still chuckling holding up his hands “I’m not-”

Suddenly more guards made themselves known and the two found themselves with their hands full.

Lance wasted no time shooting the Galra, even took care of the kids blindspots, this jlb was bigger than he thought maybe if he helped the kid out they can split the money fifty fifty.

That was until.

“You’re not getting this lion!”

Keith slammed his hand against the panel, and opened up the interlock, the vacum

Shot the galra forward and Keith was barely gripping onto the panel.

Lance cursed then used his grappling hooks to latch onto a structure beam.

Suddenly Keith’s slipped and he was pulled into space.

Lance acted on instinct he unlatched grapplings and shot out of space after the teen. He easily grabbed him stopping them both from slinning.

“Let go!”

“Shut up, I’m trying to save your life.” Until the kid screamed Lance turned in time to see big metal jaws clamp shut around them.

Both screamed as they tumbled along the inner corridors, Lance was usually could at improvising- but this was going so far out of left field!

He had no clue what was even going on anymore.

Both were on their hands and knees panting from the sudden death experience, until Lance heard a high pitched sound and turned his head slowly.

Keith held his red sword against his face. Lance could only stare- oh well, stare in his mask and ex-Mamourian armour as much as he could.

“Who are you?” Keith growled. Lance knew he could knock the kid out and take the lion. But he’d have no idea if it’ll even respond to him, and Keith is a fighter and wouldn’t let this thing go, heck heleaped out of an airlock for this thing.

A crash outside saved his interrogation. “A rebel, against the Galra,” he rushed out (which was sorta true)

“Honestly I would tell you more but we don't have time!”

….It turns out Lance got involved in something much bigger than him.

This...this was Voltron.

His childhood stories, the one his dad told him about. The universe’s last hope before Alfor hid them away.

They returned!

Kinda, with one blue lion shot, it just sat there with it’s barrier up. Useless. Not doing a thing….sounded like his type of girl. Chilling alone while the whole universe wasn’t in chaos.

But even with four lions they were able to take down a fighter craft, one with Sendek attached as it crashed onto the planet before him. Colour Lance impressed.

Keith wasn’t too bad either during the battle. He was an excellent pilot and a fighter, but he had a very bad habit.

“Green is wide open,” Lance said with a sigh as he watched how obvious it was that the green Lion had three fighters on their ass.

“Help them out.” Dumbass, he left unsaid.

Keith seemed to hear it.

“I know-” keith instantly covered them and Lance saw fighter ships approach from the main craft. “Your right-” Keith barely managed to dodge.

“Will you quit back seat driving!?”

Lance almost stopped until he saw the black paladin was in distress “The Black lion-”

Keith was moving before he even finished. Keith was good, just had to see the bigger picture.

Once they defended Arus and went planet side, Lance had already made a decision, as he left the red lion trailing behind Keith he saw the others landed beside them.

A woman appeared out of the castle looking relieved, until her eyes clocked his and Lance almost ran back up the mouth of the lion.

“Who is he?”

Allura demanded once all the pilots had landed.

Lance brightened behind his mask, his lilac tail flicking back and forth as he descended the mouth of the lion and held his hand out.

“Oh hello, I’m Lance.” He over exagirated his movements the more big and dumb he looked the more trusting, Allura took his hand tentively.

“You can’t tell with the mask, but I’m winking.”

Allura pulled her hand away still suspicious. “Keith!”

Keith glanced at him curiously. “He was with the red lion,”

With no warning, Lance felt Allura grab his arm and twist him around onto his knees, Lance yelped.

“Ow, ow ow- that hurts lady- ow!” His hand was trembling and clenching as Allura dug her palm into his shoulder.

“What were your intentions with the red lion?”

“I was planning on stealing it,”

Allura looked very alarmed, until Lance gasped on. “But now? wouldn’t dream of it!” Allura growled “Why should we trust you?”

“My dad told me about Voltron,” Lance wheezed god this lady was tough.

Allura let him go surprised and Lance fell over with a yelp just barely catching himself, he turned and pointed at her with a scowl (That she didn’t see)

“Look I know what this looks like but I know that, this,” he gestured at the lions as he stood up ”This isn’t some collectors item, this is VOLTRON! The people’s hope, if anyone found out I-” Here he slapped a hand to his chest “-was responsible for sabotaging Voltron I’ll be doing the Galra a favour, Which is the opposite of what I want to do.”

Allura and the others who looked defensive, straightened once Lance said his piece.

“Is there anyone out there fighting Zarkon?” She asked, Lance placed a hands on his hips “Still? Jeez Lady where have you been? There is no more fighting, Its just surviving at this point.” He flapped his hand lazily “I already gave up on that freedom pipedream long ago, but yes other rebels are trying. Chances are if you make a dent in Zarkons oppressive system the rebels will come flocking.” And if the Mamoura catched wind of Voltron Lance wanted to be out of there ASAP.

He waved at them taking a step back “Good luck to you,” He patted the barrier of the blue lion and continued to walk away, hoping he could get enough of a signal to his ship to get him as far away from this planet.

Until the barrier collapsed with a swish.

He stopped walking as the others gasped. No.

Lance turned to see the others gape at the lion (Now free) then their gazes turned towards him.

Coran came to himself before the others. “It seems we have found our blue paladin.”

Lance looked around then back at them, wait they meant him?

Oh Gaia, no.

Lance lay ontop of the bed that the princess graclessly gave him, they all had rooms of their own. The Paladin rooms. He was a paladin.

Oh Gaia.

He shuffled over his armour digging into his side, no way in hell was he not wearing his armour, especially with the company he kept, he had no idea what they would say if they knew.

That he was a Galra, an ex-mamourian.

He placed his hands over his mask and groaned, if what they said was true then he would run into his ex-cult sooner or later.

Gaia, he respected them but if you don't agree with everything they say do you cancel you, he tossed and turned in dread.

And his team, the ...humans he was with, some were nice but others made him wary, Shiro. He was the galra's champion. Lance wondered if he remembered everything he'd done in the Arena.

It was the reason he hadn't revealed himself to them yet, he knew the leader of Voltron would hate him and Allura lost her family.

Lance turned on his back and gave a nod, he'll tell them once he gets close, when they get to know him and hopefully won't be afraid.

He shut his eyes, he doubted it.

The alarms blared and Lance sat up straight his dagger in hand at the threat his heartbeat in his throat, "What the hell?"

He barely slept at all during the night and this was jarring, he leapt out of bed and almost ran into Shiro, who was already in his armour?

hmm....

Lance kept up and both ran to the bride to see Allura and Coran turn around.

"What's happening? Are we under attack?" Shiro asked his eyes tense, Lance had to internally grimace, how was the man even staying together he'd never know.

"No, that was a test." Shiro's shoulders slumped "Test?" Lance looked away, ouch.

"At least Shiro was in his armour." She gave Lance a pointed look and he flinched his tail flickering "What? I have armour! And blue isn't my colour." He crossed his arms.

Also their armour had a clear helmet so you could see the persons face, no thank you.

She huffed then glanced at her data pad "We just have to wait for the others." Lance glanced at the door and crossed his arms, he had to admit if these were going to be his new pack mates fighting against voltron he felt worried.

He had no idea while he gazed at the door, Shiro was watching him.

Lance's tail flickered back and forth in agitation, he had a large build and long legs if Shiro could describe him, Lance almost looked like Deadpool, he glanced at his belt at the blade hanging from his thin hips, it had a symbol and Shiro squinted, it looked familiar.

"Okay lets make a bet," Lance spoke suddenly shocking Shiro out of his thoughts. "In order, I think it was be the...Red Paladin, then Green then Yellow."

Shiro raised an eyebrow "You do know their names, right?" Lance glanced at him and Shiro tensed, he had no idea if he was looking at him directly it was...weird not looking someone in the eye.

"Psh- Yeah, defiently...I know their names....um, Hank?" Shiro felt himself smile despite himself "No,"

"Kleve?" Shiro shook his head "Not even close,"

"Podge?" Now Shiro laughed, looking away "Don't let them here you say that."

"Well then, who do you think is going to come through that door?"

"Keith first, defiently,"

"The red Paladin?"

"yes, then...Hunk the yellow paladin."

"Ah, the Podge the green Paladin?"

"Pidge, yeah I think they would be last."

"Okay, your on."

Just as they finished Keith ran through the door, with a blade in hand and his civilian clothing. Lance had his arms crossed then tensed as he saw the blade.

"Whats going on?"

Allura sniffed "We'll wait till the others are here." She looked very disapointed, from what Lance learned being admist a war zone then waking up in present time Allura was still battle ready like no time has passed.

The others? not so much.

Then Hunk walked in and Lance cried out "NO! argh god dammit!" Hunk was still in his pajammas and paused "What-" He cut himself with a yawn "What'd I do?"

Lance shook his head "Nothing bud," he glanced at Shiro and held out a hand, he did not miss the flinch the Black Paladin did but continued like he barely saw it.

His wrist activated and a hologram appeared "Well you won the bet theres a twenty." Shiro blinked "What?"

Did...humans not use Gac?

"Oh, thats amazing! Did technology move to contactless?" Coran asked leaning close to the holagram that had 20 [GAC] on the screen, Coran looked amazed "We might need to use this to replicate, maybe we could transer Gac to the other Paladins," Lance shrugged "Well I'll get it to you later,"

"What's Gac?" Hunk asked his eyes squinty and dead looking, guess the poor fella missed out on some sleep.

"Space currency." Keith guessed and Lance shot him a finger gun "Got it in one," Then Pidge walked in, in her casual clothing.

Lance stared them down.

"What? Why's he looking at me?"

"You lost me 20 Gac, Green Paladin."

"Paldins."

All discussions ceased as they turned to Allura, her eyes looked thunderous. Lance ducked his head as she took in a breath.

"This was a test, which you all have failed! If zarkon attacked we would be dead!" Lance glanced at the others and saw most looked disapointed, except Hunk, his dead eyes only gazed at Allura.

"Well sorry, but in a few hours we were on Earth and now we're here in a space ship fighting an intergalactic war we had no idea even existed it takes a while to get used to." Lance had to admit he had a point and their leader, he glanced at Shiro his eyes tight and...nobody noticed.

Changing enviorments with no control, he was surprised the guy hadn't had a break down yet. Lance saw it in other soldiers, some became numb and suicidal.

"Enough, this is war and you have an obligation to be a Paladin, now suit up we're forming Voltron I want to see if yesterday wasn't a fluke." She turned around to Coran an obvious dismissal and Lance had to shake his head.

It's like he never left the Mamoura, geez.

"Hey," He jumped with a yelp his tail spiking up. Pidge looked uniterested "You're an alien right?" Lance lowered his arms "Yes- no...technically you guys are the aliens! I'm normal."

"So what are you?"

Quiznack um-

"Uh Aquatica Species," He saw Coran jump then turn "What?"

Lance shrugged "The reason why I wear this armour, I can't breath....this." he gestured around and the others looked surprised then understanding. Pidge nodded "So you're armour has ulti-functions? it can work in space and breathable air."

"This air is not very breathable to some people."

"Paladins. Lions, now." Pidge jumped and scurried away and Lance chuckled until he passed Keith and almost faltered at the look on his face.

Keith was watching him with...suspicion, his eyes flickered to the blade at Lance's hip and Lance felt himself pale, Keith knows- Keith knew he was lying.

Keith turned around and left and Lance felt tense through the duration of the day.

Trying to form Voltron? Did not work, mostly because Lance had no idea what he was doing and the first thing he did was grab his ship.

"Lance- Where are you going?" Shiro growled and the ex-Mamourian grimaced "I can't just leave my ship out there, it has my stuff in it- two ticks."

"Ticks?" Lance grabbed his ship with the blue lion and began his descent back to the castle.

"Wow is that you're ship?"

Lance preened "Why yes it is-"

"It looks like shit." Lance frowned, he had a feeling that...wasn't a compliment.

"Hey don't diss my ship, it got me through enough scrapes with the Galra and pirates."

He went into the hanger bays and depositated his ship, then turned tail and leapt back into the air. Before the others could ask questions they heard Allura through the screens.

"There is too much chatter, does this mean you formed Voltron." Lance internally grimaced.

"Um, we're getting there, Princess. Don't worry we'll get this before dinner." He bopped his head then paused "I'm winking in case you couldn't tell." She ignored him and glanced away "We are teting the castle's defence systems, maybe during duress you might form Voltron."

Shiro cut in "Allura I don't think-"

A laser shot out and the ground exploded next to Pidg'es feet the others yelped and scattered dodging blasts and such, they barely had time to even think of Voltron their first thought was to dodge everything the castle was trying to throw at them.

Lance had no idea how Voltron even worked he heard stories from his parents before they...But they were supposed to be close- like pack mates. They were new, they were strangers. Aqquantiences in one of those space malls with spritsers how could they be open with their bonds for their lions and each other in the span of a few vargas?

The lasers stopped and the shield around the castle went down, the others glanced at one another.

"Maybe if we..." Hunk padded to Keith and shoved him.

"ow- Hey!"

"Sorry I thought we could...combine!"

"Well we could try that..." Shiro said speculating.

"What slamming into each other?" Keith growled avoiding Hunk and moving away.

"No a pyramid."

"Like cheerleaders." Pidge intercepted and Lance leaned back in his chair. He had no idea what they were talking about.

"Okay, the legs of Voltron," Hunk moved and Lance just stood there glancing at the others, who was the other leg?

"Lance?"

"hmm?"

"Can you move beside Hunk?"

"huh- wait I'm a leg?" Lance gasped "oh, I had no idea." He padded over to Hunk and stood next to him.

"how do you not know?" keith asked and Lance scowled "I don't know what Voltron is Keith, I heard stories but I have no idea-"

"It's okay, we had like a mind meld with the lions they should us what Voltron looked like." Lance pouted "That sounds like fun, shame I missed out."

Long story short, the 'pyramid'? As the humans called it, tumbled and collapsed.

Hunk called it quits and stormed into the castle, "Alright, we'll take a break and try again in an hour."

Lance had no idea what an hour was but decided not to ask.

"I'll stay out here, bond with blue- it might be me since this is the first time flying a lion."

"Okay, don't stay out too long," Shiro said and he watched the others fly towards the castle and Lance sighed and gazed down at the controls.

"Okay beautiful, lets see how you can fly." He pushed forward on the controls and yelped, this thing was faster than what he was used to and...easier to use.

But at the same time "Why is this in archaic altean!? Such outdated language- what does this button do?" Lance graced a panel and yelped when the lions tail shot out a bolt

"Oh so that's what that does," Lance activated his mask and swiped through the options before his eyes, in space he created virtual stratergys from his previous missions, one for combat and another for flight. He activated it and braced himself.

"Time for some manouveres".

The others collapsed onto a couch "This is so freakin hard." Pidge groaned covering their face and Hunk glanced their way "I know I thought Voltron would be cool but this is just...urgh it's worse than math I just don't get it."

Allura opened the door and the others tensed "What are you doing? Have you formed Voltron?"

"No, we came in when the castle lost power." Her gaze was murderous "Are you telling me you havn't formed Voltron?"

"Where's Lance?" Coran asked as he saw the room lacked their dark large counterpart.

Allura tensed when Keith spoke "He's still outside with the lion-"

"And you left him? What if he stole it?" She growled and Pidge shrugged "Don't know why since he dumped his ship in our space garage."

"Whats a...space garage?"

Shiro just walked in and saw Allura - shit.

"Hey we're not taking a break." Keith glared his way and Shiro crossed his arms.

"Let's get our blue paladin," Coran said once he realised how tense the atmosphere was "Maybe if we do training excersises together it might make you closer as a unit."

They all stood to go to the control room to get Lance, but all of them paused to see Lance outside during his formations.

"Oh wow, he's good." Lance did a corkscrew in the air and did a manouver even Keith struggled with.

"Um, Lance?" Allura asked and the visual of Lance appeared with his hood up and his mask glowing, it was...omnious.

"Oh hey Allura hold on-" He patted his mask and the light dimmed "Did you want something?"

"Return to the castle, we decided to try something different."

"Okay, gotta say- Blue works like a dream kudo's to the archetecture." Allura flushed "T-that would be my father."

"His work is amazing, so simple to use and powerful except for the Altean text- I can't understand half of this." Lance admitted flying through to the hanger bays.

"What do people use these days."

"Galra script, everyone speaks Galra since they colonised everryyy- shutting up, I'm gonna stop there." Allura blinked she had no idea what her face looked like but he must of noticed.

"Can you come to the control room?"

"sure thing."

Lance was passed a mind meld and glanced at the others "um,"

"I can see you number 2."

"Number- what?"

"I numbered you all in height, you and Shiro are close in height but since Shiro's the head that makes him the winner." Lance could only stare and saw Coran begin to sweat and moved away "SO the mind melds! The give inside into your minds there is nothing you won't be open to it will be a short cut to make you all intimate with one another, the previous paladins fought together in war and combat and opened to one another in time...time we DO not have!" He said perky but Lance was stuck on Coran not looking at him was he...intimidating?

Nah, that could be it, Lance was the regular goofball others told him that plenty of times.

Wait- mind melds.

Pidge put it on and already flashes of someones life appeared through she gasped taking it off.

"Concentrate, you don't want to reveal too much."

Lance's tail began to fuzz with agitation, he couldn't wear that- how could he get out of this?

Shiro saw Lance looking calm and relaxed...if it wasn't for his tail bristling like a ghibli character, his eyes narrowed what did he have to hide?

Lance took a breath and accepted the meld "Think of something important and use that to concentrate on Voltron."

Something told him even Coran had no idea how Voltron worked. How do you bond with the lions? with your paladins is it wishful thinking, is it...like family?

No one knew. Maybe they were just team mates, strangers who had one goal...maybe it was that one.

He saw the others put on their melds and Lance took a breath then placed his on- wait memory.

He thought back long and hard on a memory something that kept him going, that made him help people as much as he could.

Keith's was a...wooden hut in a desert? But something about it felt cozy the house was intact and the doors opened with a child running out (Keith) and a older man, at first Lance thought it was Shiro then saw he looked different, maybe they were related but then again all humans looked the same to him.

Hunk was food, okay but then it exapanded a table a feast with other humans all looking at him warmly oh he made the food that was amazing oh gosh now Lance was hungry...Shiro was of a craft it was a weird design and pointed up? how strange he had his arms around two people one was of Keith looking up at him with pride and the other was a man of the same colour as Hunk with a soft brown hair and eyes. He could feel it, their love and pain with these memories. These were not good memoiries maybe they missed their planet.

Then Pidge with a smaller human with longer hair, they looked cute for a furless speicies.

He could feel them through the bond and shivered wow, is that how their were supposed to feel like through the lions? This without devices that was some high pyschic powers he wondered if humans were gifted with it.

"Lance? Is your meld supposed to be blank." Lance flinched "Well they do call me empty headed- just thinking." He took a breath and focused on his oldest memory.

One were he was underwater with his father, he could only breathe under for small amounts of time, he glanced down the soft waves reflecting of his skin before his fur grew in, the Aquatic man was speaking but Lance was too young to remember what he said on that day, his other father was above the waves with his feet Blaytz put a finger to his lips and gestured up and Lance watched as he swam upwards and grabbed the feet and lanked him into the water the water rippled and bubbled around the other so the others couldn't see.

Lance was crying thankfully the masked kept it hidden but by their faces they could feel it, Lance straightened up "now what?"

"Use that memory to form Voltron."

Was it a reason? His memory shifted into the blue lion as the others changed as well, the lions moved and Lance peeked an eye opened to see the visualization, So thats what Voltron was supposed to look like....Until the green Lion glitched back into the image.

"Pidge stop thinking of your girlfriend!" Pidge growled "shut up I'm not!" It changed back but that disrupted them all Lance could feel it that tranguil bittersweet feeling was gone and in it's place was stress.

It flickered again "Pidge!"

"forget this!" they slammed his mind meld down and the others flinched and even Shiro saw the tears at edges of their eyes.

"Lets...take a break."

Lance took his meld off and gave a sigh of relief, he hoped the Paladin bond wasn't on all the time he doubted he would be able to keep this up for long...

Lance sat at the table with Allura and Coran gazing at the others, this day felt like a huge waste, he could see the panic setting in but he had to admit this was overkill.

"You know I can't eat because of the mask? Can I go to my ship?"

"No this is a team excersize." lance sighed he had to feed Hunk thankfully Keith didn't have to do anything.

"Okay um, how about we make one hand lax and the other eats." Lance demonstrated making his hand with Hunk limp and raised the other in a demonstration.

"We can try."

Who knew it would be so difficult Lance shoved his food goo forward since Keith had too many close encounters and Shiro just looked so sad that he couldn't eat properly.

Lance was so focused on feeding Hunk he missed the whole alteraction with Pidge and the princess until he was suddenly hit in the face with food goo, he cried out as he heard the others laugh.

"Oh it's on!" Lance shook his head to dispel the goo and was slammed back again by another one and felt both his arms raised to start throwing food goo without his permission but they were laughing.

What was even happening?

If he did this in the blade they would be in trouble, he saw out of one eye the princess laughing and Coran was going crazy and moving around which was not fair.

He grinned using his tail to chuck food goo on the floor to trip him up,

"Nice one Lance!" He felt himself flush at the praise from Shiro and soon enough it died down.

"Enough don't you realise what you're doing!?" Lance's tail lowered between his legs but puffed his chest up, he already yelled at a leader of a rebellion before he would do it again there was drill sergents but then there was this.

"You're working as a team!" She beamed and Lance had to blink.

"What?"

The others laughed "Who feels like they can form Voltron!?" Keith yelled and even Hunk laughed "heck yeah I can- I can feel that we can do this, y'know?" Lance wiped the goo of his mask then scowled as it smeared around making his vision blurry, he gazed around looking for a cloth still attatched to Hunk and Keith he reached out and sudden movment had them tumbling "oh!"

"ah!"

they all fell over in a heap and Lance may have realised it was his fault. "I didn't do it!" Like quiznack he would admit it though.

___________________________________________________________________________

Chapter Two.

Working with Voltron was...an experience. Loads of things happened, Coran almost died in an explosion, Shiro- how did the green Paladin put it? Yeeted him out the airlock. Admist the whole panic when they finally had a moment Lance could finally relax.

But something Lance enjoyed the most, was training. He was always the runt of the litter in his packmates always the baby blade.

So bossing people around right now? Was awesome, they did a usual team exercises and saw the team weren't improving, it made Lance worried that the team stuggled against his simulations even the ones for begginers. If they fought the Galra now.

Panic, that was...he was feeling panic right now.

"Okay, team meeting, Allura can you come in please?"

Allura slipped through the doors as Lance had the team standing.

"Okay good work today team, but I noticed alot about all of you individually and you have strengths and weaknesses we have to work on. But we don't have the time, so Ive worked on a training plan."

Hunk and Pidge groaned "No!"

"Seriously!?"

"Ah-ba-ba!" Lance hushed them he turned and pointed at Shiro and Allura and moved them to stand before the group.

"Here's the top tiers, Shiro and Allura. They are the only ones that can take a Galra in a fight." Both flushed at the praise until Lance barrelled on "But Allura has inner rage that clouds her judgment and leaves her open and Shiro tends to....space out." Shiro glanced away and Lance patted his shoulder. "It's okay, Buddy."

"Keith your middle tier. I would've put you with Shiro and Allura but you tend to rush in on missions recklessly and forget your fellow Paladins are struggling." Keith scowled and Lance gave another shoulder pat "We'll work on it."

"Hunk and Pidge." They both stared as Lance stared "Lower tier."

"Dammit."

"These tiers are based on the level you have to reach to not only beat the Galra," Lance turned his arms locked behind his back "But to stay alive no ifs buts or maybes. The Galra will kill you, they don't discriminate."

Here he glanced at them all "So, here's a demonstration all of you guys are going to have to attack me. If you can beat me then you're ready to face the Galra it's as simple as that."

The others glanced at one another. Shiro frowned "Lance I don't think-" Shiro leapt back when Lance lunged his fist missing Shiro's shocked face he felt Allura move behind him and crouched sweeping his leg and she yelped falling to the floor, he heard Keith more than saw him and reacted still kneeling he grabbed Keith's arm and took a step pulling Keith and slammed him into Shiro just as he realised what was happening and the two collided and stumbled, he faced Pidge head on evading each punch and throw and pushed them hard making them tumble onto their backside.

Hunk was next and Lance actual felt treipdidtion, Hunk would've know if he saw his tail twitch.

But thankfull Hunk was not overly confident and was holding back, Lance was able to trip him with his tail making him fall on his stomach.

Keith came back and Lance had to admit, he wasn't that bad, Allura grabbed him around the neck and Lance fell making her stumble as he dropped his weight, he backrolled through her legs and kicked her backside making her stumble into Keith.

He ducked when his armour sent a warning and almost cried out when Shiro gave him his full attention.

The others weren't getting up, their focus was on Shiro and wondered if he would beat Lance, no one wanted to get in the way.

Shiro grabbed his arm and spun Lance around and pushed holding his arm in a deah like grip, Lance jabbed his stomach and Shiro pulled back and Lance kicked him once, then again Shiro blocked his punch then the next Lance spun with a leap and kicked him in the sternum- Shiro grabbed his leg and spun him around and Lance fell back with a cry until he grabbed Shiro's arm breaking his hold and pushed making Shiro bend down in pain as his arm was twisted. He cried out and Lance's fingers twitched almost wanting to let go, until a weaponised hand sliced across his face, Lance pulled back in time and behind his mask he smirked.

Now this was getting interesting. He wasn't fighting Shiro anymore. He was fighting the champion.

The others must of sensed it, Keith almost took a step forward until Lance held a hand out, he had this. Shiro took that as a sign of attack and lunged.

it was desperate and chaotic, it took Lance everything not to get impaled- hah, and not in the fun way. All he had to do was...wait for an opening.

He could tire Shiro out and wait for an opening, but it came when Shiro's movements became too wide and unfocused.

Easily when the arm grazed Lance's torso he grabbed the appendage and pulled.

He...may have forgotton how light humans were, Shiro went flying.

If Lance still didn't have hold of his arm Shiro would be half way across the room.

Shiro fell to the floor in a pained yelp and Lance grimaced.

He let go immedietly and circled round to the fallen leader, thank god he was in Paladin armour.

"Shiro are you alright?"

Shiro's face was flushed his eyes wide but not unclear, at least he was back in the right mindspace now.

"I uh that." Lance chuckled "You did amazing, a few more practice's and you'll pinning me soon enough." He held his hand out and Shiro blinked, his hand around Lance's hand twitched. "What?"

Lance pulled Shiro up and tilted his head "Are you okay? Not concussed?" before Shiro could even speak, Lance jumped back as Pidge with a battle cry tried to skewer him then yelped tripping over their feet.

"Whoa- Spider-monkey!" Lance yelped looking at Pidge and body tense waiting for anymore spider attacks. Pidge groaned "Really!? not even a surprise attack!?" Lance chuckled and stroked the back of their neck.

"It's no problem Pidge, you all did well." He turned back to the team and nodded "Not bad. Not good, but could've been worse. Hunk." The Yellow Paladin stood up straight "You could've beat me." Hunk blinked surprised "Wha no way-"

"Yes...way, I'm smaller and weaker than you, you held back your punches and hesitated you need to be more confident with your body to use it as a weapon. Pidge." they turned with a raised eyebrow.

"You almost had me, you're small and quick if we hone that down you could take out an enemy in just a few jabs. Luckily you have your bayard to shock a Galra but bigger Galra with..." Lance huffed a breath "Speical enhancers a shock won't be enough."

He glanced at Keith "I see why the Red lion choose you, but you need to think out your attacks a bit more, wait for an opening like Allura did I almost lost there. You two make a good team." The two flushed and that's when Lance realised the humans were all panting and flushed.

"Are you guys okay? I mean- you're not dying are you?"

Hunk laughed "Dude, I feel like I've been put through olympic training that killed me."

"Even so, this has gained new insight on us as a team and what we should work on." Shiro said placing a hand on Lance's shoulder. He had to admit he felt warm and fuzzy helping the team.

Allura nodded "This has been insightful, but I think our human friends should take a break."

"How are you not even affected- damn you!" Pidge directed at Allura and Lance who glanced at one another.

Lance shrugged "Well I've been fighting since I was a kid, not so sure about Allura." She sniffed "So have I? Fighting is essentiel in Altea." Keith crossed his arms "Really? I thought Altea was supposed to be peaceful?"

"Peacful doesn't mean we are a doormat, if we are threatened we defend as simple as that."

Lance glanced away, okay that went awkward fast.

Allura seemed to feel so.

"Lets have a break, you have all worked hard today."

"Awesome," Pidge fist pumped and turned to Hunk "I thought we would never have free time."

Lance's tail flickered "Well that gives me enough time to clear through my ship." He stretched feeling his stomach pull. "I need to get rid of some junk." Pidge and Hunk glanced his way and Lance tilted his head.

"What?"

"On second thought, we're going to your ship."

"What?"

And that's how Lance found himself with the paladins of Voltron + the alteans looking at his ship.

"My it looks..." Coran saw Lance turn to him and flinched "not that bad." Lance sighed, he had to admit it was a piece of junk but it was his ship dammit!

"Alright, lets give you the grand tour!" Lance gestured broadly and practically skipped towards his ship "This baby has got me through so many scraps so be nice." he patted the control panel that fell off and he jumped trying to shove it back onto the slot.

He could feel the others staring at him. "Mind he mess I never had to show off my- well to anyone," Here he paused and gazed up "I've been so lonely..."

He shook his head and kicked the door and it opened with a whoosh, and a pile of junk fell out, Pidge grimaced.

"On second thought I think I might- wait is that a Queen CD!?" She grabbed it and Lance jumped "Careful thats the only existent one in the entire moon swap!"

"Moon swap?"

"Where it's a space mall, it has so many cool stuff from other planets their's one shop that has many strange things." Lance picked up a t-shirt that had martians on it.

"I got a bunch of stuff from there,"

Pidge frowned "This....this is from Earth?"

"Earth? huh, is that where you're from?" Lance stepped over the trash and yelped when his foot concaved and he almost fell over before going further in, the others peared around not sure with wanting to go in, Until Lance starting throwing everything on the floor outside the ship to clear the way.

Allura sniffed "i hope you're cleaning that up." Lance waved his hands "i will- oh, Allura since you're here!" He ducked under a desk and reached under for a box and dragged it out.

"Found them," He had no use for these, he had them from....the mamoura and realised he probably won't be using them anytime soon well, until today.

"Here is everything me and my blade have on the Galra, schematics of all known buildings, fight simulations, physical combat key codes, the works everything till current day I always updated it whenerver I could." Allura's eyes shone and unlike Lance that was stuggling with the weight she easily held it.

"I...thank you."

"No worries."

"Boy you live like this?" pidge asked becoming ore adventerous and grimaced at the food cups and mold growing in places. Lance scowled about to yell that it wasn't that bad.

"Pidge, I've seen you're room. You still have those floating ghibli things in there." Hunk said and Lance chuckled.

"God everything is so messy-oh." A door swooshed open and there was Lance's bedroom, clean pristine and full of guns.

The others stared, it was obvious the weapons were next to his bed. They turned back to him in a silent question and he shrugged "I was in space with Galra and pirates, sleeping with weapons is normal."

Keith peared in "It's kinda amazing..." he trailed off what he saw a dagger and froze, he leaned down and picked it up, it was so familiar and....his eyes widened at the symbol at the hilt. Lance snatched it "Don't touch that." He shoved it under his pillow and slammed the bedroom door shut. The others barely saw the interaction too busy trying to manouver the mess of Lance's ship.

Keith could only stare, his hands sliding to his own Dagger, the hilt covered in bandages to hide the symbol.

Hunk glanced down and gasped "Oh my gosh-"

"Hunk no!"

"Is this your family?" He asked, there were photo's, of Blaytz and his father.

"Who's that?"

Coran gasped "I know who that is!" he took the photo and Lance easily grabbed it "Careful-" He snapped and the others stared and his tail lowered "it's the only photo I have." Coran's smile waned "Sorry my boy, may I?" Lance hesitated then gave it to him.

Coran thumbed the photo.

"This, is the previous Blue Paladin, he piloted alongside your father." He aimed at Allura who gasped and Lance's tail flickered he knew this, but for the Paladins to remember.

"When you said Blaytz I wasn't sure how- it's been thousands of years." Lance shrugged "Time/space Dilation? A thousand years to you could be like a month to the Galra, and they were put in sleeping pods."

"They...who is this one?" Allura asked her lips turned downwards, Coran glanced at him and brightened "Oh Kolivan! He was a server at our Paladin meetings the two took a shining together they - are they still?" Coran asked and Lance shook his head.

"We were, on a planet it was hidden away from the Galra but they found us and everyone..." Lance trailed off but he knew they got it and shrugged "Well that's why I joined the mamoura to help others like he did y'know."

But he knew he was letting him down, he just lost the will to care. Now he was flying his fathers old Lion? What were the odds in that?

"Well, looks like you have a full day ahead of you cleaning..." Shiro glanced around "This."

Lance jumped back "What!? You wanted to look at my stuff then leave me? This could be a team bonding excersize!"

"Nope."

"We're good."

"I think the mice are calling me," Allura was so fake it looked plastic.

Shiro patted his shoulder "Good luck, Buddy." Lance slumped until he felt Pidge tug his tail he turned snatching his tail and curling it around his body.

"What!?"

"Don't trash everything, I might want to keep some of it." Lance crossed his arms.

"You could help?"

"No thanks, Deadpool."

Lance eyes followed Pidge out beyond confusion "Deadpool?"

It took him all day, he had huge piles Junk and maybe savagable, Coran gave him some sort of trolly to take his stuff into his new room although- he did leave half and half in case he had to make a quick get-away...better safe than sorry.

Funny thing though, Pidge pretty much took his junk and everything he thought was salvagable ended up getting tipped. Humans were weird.

"Lance?" Allura called on the com and Lance perked, thank god anything away from the hoarders nightmare that was his ship.

He raced to the training room and saw allura downloading all the info he had "Yes, Princess?" She smiled his way and Lance had to calm himself down, be still his beating heart.

"I saw some of these programs and thought they were intriging but...this file it's not true is it?" She asked and Lanced glanced at the file in question and grimaced.

"I'm sad to say it is true, Hagger she along with others experimented on other intelligent or non-intelligent life forms and created robo-beasts." The hologram shifted revealing the know robo-beasts that were stationed around the universe.

"If a Galra fails their mission they are taken and reprogrammed into a robo-beast." Allura looked disgusted "Its horrible what the Galra have done..." Lance tilted his head then shrugged, he could say 'not all galra' but he doubted Allura would care.

There was always a few bad people in every group that reflects badly but when the whole group acts a certain way is a cause for concern. Allura probably wouldn't want to know that half the Galra were groomed and punished if they spoke out against the Galra.

She had to be clear and focused any hesitence could cause them everything.

"You also did flight simulations?" She asked and Lance perked "Yes, here. I think Pidge can download them into the lions so we can practice and hone our abilities. I hate to say it princess but...they're no way near ready for the Galra Shiro and Keith maybe but as a team..." He had the Mamouran blade to fall back on as a point of reference but they were so laid back as if they weren't in a war it was werid and anyone else would be mad but-

Lance had to love the for it, it's exactly how he would've acted to deal with the impeding doom that is the Galra and he liked them. Kolivan would pop a blood vessel at them.

"I feel the same," Allura spoke watching them in the training room, Keith and Shiro sparring while Pidge and Hunk fiddled with the training bots to make their own sentries.

"But they are so talented, I have faith in my Paladins." Lance nodded "Humans are amazing aren't they?"

"Annoying, but yes, they are gifted." Lance took a step back "Well if there's anything else-"

Saved by the Alarm Allura tensed then used the speaker "Paladins they're is a distress signal- suit up and report to the control room."

And that's when everything went sideways.

Lance had to admit he went a bit above and beyond for his pack-mates, in the midst of battle Pidge was downloading data from the Galra prison they were trying to rebaliatate.

"Is it normal for you guys to do side missions."

Pidge grunted and that was answer enough. He glanced nervously at the door then cried out when the whole base rumbled his feet leaving the ground for a second.

"What the quiznack!?" Pidge shot up "It's a self destruct- we gotta go!" Lance scowled and picked Pidge up "Ah- HEY!"

He ran and saw the others running towards their lions, until he saw Shiro getting trapped by the Galra Keith and the others were in their lions at that point.

"shiro!" Pidge cried out Lance placed her down and shoved her towards her Lion.

"Go to your lion, Stop those fighters." Pidge glanced up and saw the Galra escape in pods or fighter ships and were now attacking the lions.

"Go!" He yelled when Pidge hesitated, Lance turned and sprinted towards Shiro seeing too many Galra crowd him.

Shiro was fighting like his life depended on it his arms gloweed purple illuminating his face, Lance had to admit, for a human he had a striking form impressive even to Galra standards.

All of these guys were impressed as well but they were more focused on their job than courting a human enemy of Voltron.

Lance slid in and shot at any Galra that got too close paving a path for Shiro to get to his lion which luckily was in a barriar. Shiro faltered "Lance-"

Lance waved "I'll be fine, boss!" He fired at another Galra and turned back before Shiro could say anything all Shiro could do was get in his lion as the base rumbled again, Lance barely had to fire as the Galra suddenly....retreated.

He paused "What the...?"

Hold on.

He turned too late as the base suddenly exploded throwing him backwards his suit taking the most impact. And a floating Prison base in space crumbled into debris.

Lance never thought he would die like this, falling through space his body numb and in constant pain from the impact his vision going blurry. He died doing the right thing, saving people at least, he chuckled but even that felt weak he was worried. That he would die being a coward, proving Kolivan wrong that he cared for no one but himself.

Everything went black.

The others found him floating in space, if it wasn't for Keith they might not have saw him since his dark mamouran clothes blended into the dark stars of space.

"We- we need to take him back- now!" Shiro ordered and the others moved like demons, Shiro watched the body limply being held by Keith and when they got to the castle of Lions and ran forward Coran already had a pod up.

"Put him here, luckily his suit took most of the damage, but his air supply was damaged that's why he's unconcious-"

"He's not-"

"We have to open up the armour just to check, then put him in the pod before irreparable damage goes to the brain." Shiro nodded using his arm he sliced open the front of the armour chipping away, it felt painstakingly long to open.

"Paladins! What has- oh my Gaia!" Allura cried out at Lance's prone body, Shiro tried to focus, the guilt the overwheling anxiety that this was his fault kept assualting his thoughts.

Then the armour slackened and fell away and their relief was cut short at the body inside, it was not an aquatic alien they expected but a Galra.

The others froze unsure how to proceed until the Galra groaned his voice higher pitched that the armour allowed.

"Put him in here-"

"No! He's a Galra!" Allura hissed and Shiro growled "Who saved my life!" He reached in and gingerly took the prone body and balked.

He was...smaller than the armour, he was the same height as Shiro but here he was a head or so smaller, his form not as bulky he was thin with small fur covering his arms, and his face was squished in pain and Shiro placed him in the pod delicetly. All of the Paladins could only stare at the alien unconcious in a pod vunerable for all to see.

Lance thought these were his pack-mates but once he woke up, he had no idea what would happen next.

Pidge and the others watched his vitals, Lance's skin was pale before but now brightened to a more purple hue. Shiro had his arms crossed and had no idea on what to think. From what all the Paladins knew the Galra were the bad guys, this whole time, was Lance a spy?

Was he sent to infiltrate Voltron? Shiro could feel himself begin to pace at the thought that they were almost tricked, was he going to betray them later on or-

"Shiro- Chill." He stopped as he watched Pidge glance up from her laptop.

"Lance has done nothing suspicious in the time that he was here, we were all watching him like a hawk." Shiro sighed "But he didn't tell us, shouldn't we be concerened."

Hunk looked up "Maybe that's why he didn't say anything, I mean the Galra are terrible but what if Lance isn't? what if he's like a good Galra?"

Shiro would love the benefit of the doubt but the Arena...he had too any bad experiences with them.

"I wish I could believe it, but we can't blindly trust anyone, Lance could be on our side but he might not be."

Allura nodded "He needs to be placed in a holding cell once the pod opens up."

"Wait-what?" Hunk cried out looking shocked "We can't do that- he's it's lance he's our team mate I thought it meant we were a family?"

Shiro took a breath "Hunk it's for our safety if he reacts violently-"

"So what? You need us to form Voltron but if we don't look like a human we get the boot?" Hunk scowled and Shiro grimaced. "That's not..."

The pod opened up before the others can work up a fight, Lance slipped out the pod his eyes fluttering, the others were startled that his eyes were...different from galra's. Not fully yellow, he still had a pupil and were still blue.

He fumbled and Shiro reached out on instinct to steady him then drew back, glancing at his Galra prostehtic Shiro grit his teeth and looked away.

Lance was still out of it to realise what was wrong.

"Urgh I feel like I crushed then brought back to life," Lance moaned leaning back against the pod, he gazed up a gesture he did all the time, he always looked serious and no nonsense but his lips quipped up into a smirk. "So what happened?" His tail flickered back and forth.

It was weird, before in his armour they had no idea what Lance looked like, the faces he pulled behind the mask the only clues they had was the ticks and moveents of his tail.

It was swishing side to side, relaxed.

Then he saw no one was looking at him "What?" He raised a clawed hand to his face "Is there something on my-" Mask, he would've said until his hand brushed through dark purple hair he stiffened eyes wide in shock and his tail began to fuzz in distress.

"Lance-"

He bolted, dived straight over them and began to sprint towards the corridors, Shiro tensed he knew it.

They gave chase the others splitting up to find him faster, Shiro gained on him and saw Lance moving towards his ship- he was going to escape.

"No!" Lance faltered and Shiro lunged colliding with the Galra and both tumbled to the floor in a heap with Shiro on top his arm activated and glowing against the lilac form, Lance looked petrified.

"Are we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?" Lance's eye's flickered then sighed closing his eyes and slumping against the floor.

"Does it make a difference?"

Shiro hesitated "It does, why ask?" Lance smirked "I'm a Galra, either it's slow torture for information or 'yeet' me out in an airlock."

Shiro gaped offended "I would never do that!" Lance opened one eye "You did for Sendek." Shiro clenched his fist and saw it was still activated embarresed he settled down and heard footsteps.

"Shiro- oh." Keith paused and slowed to a stop, "Should I leave you too alone?"

Shiro scowled "Keith-"

Lance shoved him off and sat up, Keith pointed his bayard at Lance "don't move." Lance froze then growled when Keith bent on his knee took the Galra's hands and tied them up in cuffs.

"We have questions."

They were in the kitchen, because Hunk was stressed and wanted to bake and gave a plate of weird goo cookies for Lance. The Galra perked now thankful to eat without the armour getting in the way. His room was full of crumbs.

Pidge grabbed the plate and pulled it back "Snacks are for talkers." Lance pouted "Fine, okay um, surprise I'm a Galra!" He did jazz hands which looked odd on his over compensated armour but it suited him.

"Okay- why are you so small?" Pidge asked and Lance straightened up "I am not! Bigger space suits were safer, the lithe ones were always cut to pieces and being alone in space I was not chancing it."

Allura cleared her throat and Lance ducked his head his tail flickering, "Um yeah." He sat up Straight as Allura placed her hands on the table.

"All this time you were Galra and you said nothing about it?" Lance blinked glanced down at his cuffed wrists then back up at Allura.

"From what I heard when I joined the team," He glanced at them all in turn "Allura your father and people were masacred from the Galra." He turned to Shiro "You were captured and forced against your will to fight to survive, Pidge you lost your brother to the Galra." He then leaned back "Keith and Hunk and everyone was fighting the Galra when you first got your lions- I would've left you too it, but the blue lion responded to me." He raised an eyebrow "Wouldn't you think the blue lion would accept me if I was your enemy?"

Allura slammed her fist on the table "Zarkon was the black Paladin and look how he turned out!"

The silence was deafening, Allura realised her mistake when Shiro spoke his eyes hurt "What-"

She turned to him looking panicked "I uh,"

Lance almost wanted to say who was keeping secrets now?

but everyone looked upset even Pidge jumped of the table "And you think we should'nt have KNOWN THIS!?"

"Zarkon flew the black lion!?" Lance eyes flickered over all them but then his eyes slid over to Shiro and swallowed, Shiro looked close to losing it.

Lance took a deep breath "Shut it!"

They all stopped and turned his way his tail flickering in agitation "Last time I checked I was being interogated here or being a galra." The others seemed to come back to themselves and Hunk who was in the back spoke up.

"Um If you I mean you're a Galra of course so I um," Lance smiled his way "Yes Hunk?"

Hunk stared "Man that is so weird and jarring usually the big suit makes you look so serious but...you look kinda cute." Lance's face fell into a frown. "Your question, Hunk?"

"Oh right, why are you- y'know fighting the Galra? Aren't they you're family?"

Lance raised an eyebrow and took a breath.

"Don't you always know right from wrong? What the Galra are doing is wrong but it's not like I can walk up to Zarkon and Hagger and go hey can you stop being a quiznack and let people go? People fight back," Lance hissed leaning forward.

"My father was the blue paladin and he told me all about you and Alfor princess." Lance said "That Alfor was a coward and hid the lions away-"

"Hw dare you-" Allura growled as Lance stood up.

"Blaytz was defencless I had to watch my father DIE without you- without Alfor from Zarkon all because Alfor was his number one fan I wouldn't be surprise if Alfor worked for Zarkon himself!"

"Enough how dare you lie about y father that way you-"

"Who built the lions, Allura?" That drew her back "What?"

"Who. Built. The. Lions."

"Alfor."

"And who did he give the Black lion too, Alfor could've piloted black everyone knew this. But he gave the Black Lion to Alfor." Lance sat back in his seat "Almost romantic, isn't it?"

"Wait-" Keith started ignoring the seething look Allura was giving him "If this Blaytz guy was your father how are you...?" he gestured and Lance glanced down "Oh!"

He beamed up at them "I was a test tube baby! They took Blaytz DNA, and my other fathers and combined the two, but Galra DNA is much more dominant so yeah." Coran nodded.

"You do look like him." That stopped him short he ducked his head "Thanks." Coran placed a hand on Allura's shoulder "I think I can take it from here, Princess. The rest of you disperse."

"I think I'll stay," Shiro said and Coran nodded.

"Coran I don't think-"

"You can watch the castle footage if you need, I don't think Lance would cause a problem." Lance shrugged in a cute 'who me' gesture and Allura scowled and left the room with the others followed. Keith faltered but then left with the others.

Coran sat before him and paced him the plate "You spoke alot, I think you're allowed a cookie." Lance perked and took one he wasn't half way down before Shiro spoke.

"Who do you work for?"

Lance paused "Mfh Hol om." He swallowed then tried again "I told you, I worked for Blades of Mamoura."

"Worked?" Lance glanced away "We had a few disagreements so I left."

"What were those disagreements?"

Lance's eyes flickered up "Knoledge or Death," He sneered "It's their cult mantra, it literally means die for the mission any chance you have if it'll give you a sliver of the chance to stop the Galra." Lance leaned back "No one helped me, I had to save myself, I had to get stronger and smarter on my own and watched younger blades die because they weren't lucky." Lance took another cookie "If I believed that I would'nt have gone back for you Shiro, you would've had to fend for yourself and Voltron would have left you behind." Lance beamed "Lucky that I didn't believe in that garbage." Shiro fidgeted under the stare and Coran spoke up.

"Who is the Blade of mamoura?" Lance's eyes moved to Coran.

"The survivors. The ones left behind when Alfor sent away the lions and hid his daughter away, the Aquatic speicies and the Galra who rebelled against Zarkon." Lance shook his head "Coran, you knew Alteans and the Galra were together, families children terrified that their loved ones would die since Zarkon was all anti-altean." Lance sighed leaning back his eyes shining "My dad - he sacrificed himself and the ones left created the Blade of Mamoura that self sacrifice has dictated our way of life to the point of suicide when that's not what he wanted." Coran reached out and touched his wrist Lance flinched and saw Coran.

"I'm sorry," Lance shrugged "It wasn't your fault."

"No but I was there, I....I knew Blaytz and Alfor, we would always go on space adventures together."

"You miss them." Coran nodded "I miss all of them."

Shiro suddenly felt like he was intruding, but....even though what Lance said was emotional it hit too close to home for Coran too similiar. Lance could've worked on this story for a while some sort of cover up if he got caught.

"You said you let the mamoura. what did you do then?"

Now Lance couldn't look him in the eye, "I um, not really proud of what I did after, I went solo trying to help people but...I ended up getting stabbed in the back, they- they were probably nice people but they almost gave me up to the Galra even though I just saved them. And well, I stole supplies from the Galra and gave them to the rebels." Lance said and Shiro nodded

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"Then I stole weapons fro the rebels and gave it to the Galra."

"You...What!?"

Lance held his hands up "Don't judge me!"

They both looked horrified and Lance's tail bristled and his teeth gritted into fangs his hand clenched.

"You want to defend people? I am the people, we are bitter and hopeless and will sell anyone to the Galra to survive if you can't handle that then maybe we don't need you to be the defender of the universe."

Shiro leaned forward "Is that what you're going to do? Help Voltron then give it to the Galra when you get bored?"

Lance tilted his head "No- what do you take me for, Shiro I did what I had to because there was no getting rid of Zarkon don't you think we tried? He has a witch for a sidekick everyone not killed or tortured was turned into robo beasts." Lance brushed a hand through his hair "I said Voltron it's actually- it's actually packing a punch it's- the Galra are scared that's never happened before." Lance looked at both Coran and Shiro and knew they didn't believe him. Why would they?

"Look, if it's going to affect Voltron then I'll leave. I mean Zarkon was the Black Paladin so now you are so Paladins can get replaced. If you guys think I'm going to betray you then why not just cut your losses and abandon me on a planet somewhere and leave?" Shiro shook his head "There is no replacing, we just want to know if we can trust you."

Lance blinked "You can download my memories like you did with Sendek? Would that help?" Coran paused.

"We could- it wouldn't take long we can hook you up to the castle and it would tell us if you had bad intentions or not, nothing can hide from Altean Alchemy."

"Alright so when can we do that?"

Coran beamed "right now Number, ah....you've shrunk Number 4."

"What I've been demotted in height! that's no fair!"

Coran chuckled as he turned and Lance followed the way Shiro stood too and when Lance got too close, Shiro flinched.

Lance moved away "Ah- sorry I...Sorry," He walked faster towards Coran and Shiro could only slump in dismay.

Getting used to...lance...that was going to take a while.

[kae-karo]

Self Love Retrospective

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought to the world in 2021. Tag as many creators as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

tagged by @epistemologys hello hi thank u love 🥺

i wrote quite a lot this past year (my 2021 fic roundup here - x) but i'm always glad for the chance to talk about my stories. here are some that i especially loved but haven't talked much about before:

a shattered heart of ice

kaeluc heartbreak and reconciliation

Would it not be better to freeze over entirely? Perhaps that is the true gift of his Vision. The gods saw his heart- his entire world falling apart, and they gave him the means to survive it. To stay in this heartless stasis for as long as he’d like, to remain frozen, but here, alive.

Kaeya fears that if he thaws, he might very well shatter.

With Diluc's disappearance, Kaeya is left to attend to all of Crepus' funeral arrangements himself. But Diluc will certainly return for his own father's funeral, won't he?

human enough

albedo x impostorbedo (or platonic, if you'd rather) during the shadows amidst snowstorms event

He hums - Albedo hums. He gave himself a name. How quaint. How indulgent. Are humans like that, all of them? Albedo was always the better human, after all.

Albedo comes to him with a sword in hand, prepared to defend those he holds dear. Is it human to love like that? Has he ever had any chance of being as human as Albedo?

lay down your weapon

zhongluc fake dating during diluc's fatui murder spree era

“Welcome to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor,” the man says in a low voice as smooth as honey.

In his rush to escape the Fatui currently pursuing him through the streets of Liyue Harbor, Diluc stumbles into a particular funeral parlor, and his visit suddenly takes an unusual - but unexpectedly pleasant - turn.

kings and gods and nonbelievers

evil crepus !!!! (with future kaeluc)

“Who was he?”

Behind her, Crepus hums, and she exhales a shallow breath of relief - he is not irritated by her question. If anything, he sounds amused.

“That was the very last dregs of a godless empire.”

If there is one thing that Adelinde has come to understand in her time working for the Ragnvindr family, it is that Master Crepus will do anything to earn the favor of the gods.

watch me as the ashes fall

chiluc enemies while lovers? sort of?

How very ironic that he should be seeking pleasure from the true cause of his pain. Or perhaps it’s a kind of reparations instead, that Childe owes him comfort today.

It's Diluc's birthday, a night he'll gladly do anything to forget. Fortunately, he knows exactly the kind of distraction he needs.

tagging @prince-liest @snack-thief-keith @natigail @ffluv @crowning-art @rainbowrider1290 @plot-hole-ventilation @ethydium and anyone else who sees this and cares to participate!!