#then basically says 'well guess Keith's gonna have to come through the front door from now on w the shape of his leg'

[noussommeslessquelettes]

@ellisyd This one was super fun! I went with something of a high school AU, and the story kinda got out of control in my head. If u want to know the ending I envisioned, I’m leaving it in the tags! (also catch me subtly sneaking ADHD Lance and Autistic Keith in here. No I will never apologise)

Send me a ship with one of these and I’ll write a mini fic

3. Things you said too quietly

Preview: Luis rolled his eyes, stepping back. “Whatever, just don’t take too long. If I have to put a single fork in place, you’re switching to dishes, princesa.”

Lance sneered at the jab, but didn’t dare retaliate, slamming the door in his brother’s face. “Alright,” he muttered, spinning on his heel, “he’s gone.”

CW: minor LGBTQphobia

Lance ripped his bedroom door open just wide enough to poke his head out, fixing his older brother with a glare. “What.”

Luis held his hands up in surrender, though the smile he failed to dampen betrayed that it was anything but sincere. “Jeez, sorry. What, are you watchin’ porn in there or—”

“I’m studying,” Lance hissed, fist tightening around the doorhandle, “so make it quick: what do you want?”

He hooked a thumb towards the stairs. “Dinner’s in five, ‘n mom wants you to set the table.”

He rolled his eyes. Seriously? “Tell her I’m too busy for dinner.” He made to close the door, but Luis intercepted it with a hand (and since Lance was sixteen now, he unfortunately couldn’t get away with shutting the door on his brother’s fingers anymore.) He aired a frustrated growl as his brother tutted, pushing the door open wider.

“Abuelita will have a stroke if you skip dinner, you know that. And it’s your turn to do set-up—it’s either that or dish duty, ‘cause I’m not picking up your slack tonight.”

“Why can’t Rachel do it?” Luis’s eyebrows receded into his hairline, and Lance huffed. “Yeah I know, I didn’t believe it when I said it either.” He glanced over his shoulder, thankfully finding nothing amiss in the bedroom behind him. He turned back to his brother. “Alright, fine. Just tell her I’m finishing the question I’m on, and I’ll be right down.”

Luis rolled his eyes, stepping back. “Whatever, just don’t take too long. If I have to put a single fork in place, you’re switching to dishes, princesa.”

Lance sneered at the jab, but didn’t dare retaliate, slamming the door in his brother’s face. He rolled the tension out of his shoulders, waiting a second, then two, hearing the footsteps recede towards the stairs on the other side of the door. “Alright,” he muttered, spinning on his heel, “he’s gone.”

From behind his unmade bed, Keith sat up into view, his brow furrowed thoughtfully. “Did he call you princess?”

Lance sighed, moving towards him as Keith pushed up to his feet. “Older brothers,” he explained. “Doing dishes is gross, but apparently I’m the weird one for thinking so. I have to watch my dad lick his knife clean, then wash it with my bare hands?” He shuddered.

“Get gloves,” Keith suggested.

He scoffed. “Yeah, ‘cause that’ll make me less of a princess.” Keith frowned, and Lance took hold of his hands in a silent apology for his terseness. He felt the frayed backs of Keith’s fingerless gloves, and it pulled a smirk out of him. “They look badass on you, though. I can’t pull off the grunge look.”

Keith scoffed. “Yeah, ‘cause you’re a mama’s boy.”

“Uh, ouch?” He laughed. “I sneak a boy in through my window every day—if that’s not the pinnacle of teenage rebellion, I don’t know what is.”

“Maybe sneaking in through a guy’s window every day?” He lifted his eyes up from their hands, revealing his smug grin.

Lance snorted, tugging him close enough to press their lips together. Keith accepted it readily, the kiss gentle and lingering, tight-lipped from the smiles they both fought down. They broke apart, but Lance brought a hand up to Keith’s cheek, keeping him close as his thumb stroked idly.

“I have to go now,” Keith breathed, “don’t I?”

His smile faded. “Afraid so.”

Keith whined, soft enough that Lance probably wouldn’t have heard it were he more than a breath away. “We only had ten minutes left,” he lamented.

Lance blinked slowly, remembering only then what they’d been doing before Luis had so rudely interrupted them. “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention to the episode, anyway.”

Keith barked a laugh. “I figured.” He pulled away to arms length, then brought his hand up to his neck, brushing fingers against the bruise blossoming under his jawline from Lance’s earlier attention. “You probably gave me a hickie.”

Lance smirked, self-satisfied. “That was the goal.” He leaned in for it, and Keith’s hands landed on his chest, pushing him away with a laugh. “Wait wait wait,” he protested, wrapping his arms around Keith’s waist and trying to pull him back in.

“I have to go,” Keith reiterated, steps carrying him backward towards the window despite Lance’s resistance. “Serious, Lance. We’re going to get caught.”

Lance froze, then acquiesced, standing straighter and loosening his grip. “I thought I was supposed to be the responsible one.”

“Yeah, so be responsible then. You don’t want your family seeing me.”

Lance frowned, a sharp guilt jabbing into his gut. “I’m sorry.”

Keith shook his head, puffing out his chest subconsciously, the way he always did when he was trying to seem tough. “Don’t be.”

“They’re just—”

“You don’t have to explain it,” he interrupted. Lance had tried already, countless times now. But the words always caught somewhere on the way out, and he figured Keith was tired of half-excuses by this point. “I get it; I’m not the kind of guy you take home to mom.”

“But you’re cute enough that I sneak you in anyway,” he tried for a compromise.

Keith turned on his heel, hiding a shy smile that Lance caught only a glimpse of. “Whatever.”

Lance hummed, letting his hands drop as he followed Keith towards the window. “Yeah, you’ve got another catchphrase you stole from a punk rock band in the tank?”

Keith slid the window open as far as it could go, then reached up to jiggle the top of the mesh screen frame loose. “How about…” He tugged it free with a grunt, then eased the bottom half out of the frame. “‘I hate this town’?”

He chuckled, taking the frame from Keith’s hands and setting it on the floor. “Alright, I’ll accept it. But you don’t hate everything about this town—you like me, right?”

Keith’s expression softened, and he brought a hand up to cradle Lance’s jaw. Then he pulled Lance in, and caught him in a soft, slow kiss.

“Mm.” Lance pulled back. “What was that?”

Keith blinked. “What?”

“You…” He touched his fingers to his lips, then caught himself a moment later, swiping away at his mouth. “Didn’t you say something?”

Keith furrowed his brow. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You did,” he protested. “I definitely felt—”

“Lance!” He heard behind his bedroom door, footsteps thundering up the stairs. Keith’s eyes went wide, and he snatched his hand away, swinging a leg over the windowsill.

“Wait,” he whispered, panicking, almost. What did he say? Why wasn’t he telling me? But they’d run the clock; any second, someone was going to come through that door and see…

He leaned forward and pecked Keith on the lips, deciding it wasn’t worth the risk.

“Text me.”

Keith nodded, ducking under the frame. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He swung his other leg through and dropped, the dip of the branches just outside Lance’s window indicating that he’d safely caught himself on the neighbour’s tree.

Lance fumbled to replace the bug screen, then slammed the window shut so nothing seemed out of place. He breathed a relieved sigh, his respite lasting only a moment before the bedroom door was thrown open.

“Is your head up your ass? Let’s fucking go!”

[starglow-xx]

checklist

heyo! i wrote and posted this on my quotev for keith’s birthday (october 23, 2020) and i finally made a tumblr for my fanfiction soo here it is!!

keith kogane x f! reader

genre: fluff and slight angst!

This was what you had planned and written out coming to the Garrison.

(y/n's) Checklist: Garrison Days

Get into the Garrison✔️ extra: best friend is here too! :)

Get a license to become a co-fighter pilot extra: we're getting there!

Make new friends!✔️ extra: pidgeon, lancelot, and sunshine :D

Graduate!

Okay, granted, it's a bit short, but nevertheless it's straightforward and guaranteed to not knock you off course.

Although, this was the list that she seemed to be following at the moment.

(y/n's) Mental Bullshit Checklist

Fall in love with your best friend✔️

Sneak out of the Garrison basically every night to meet up with said best friend who just so happened to be expelled✔️

Fall in love with your best friend✔️

Keep secrets from your other best friends✔️

oh and FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND

✔️

Can't forget that checkmark.

You sighed.

'Damn him and his pretty face.'

Sighing once more, you flopped backward against your bed holding your phone out away from your face staring at the time.

11:23 p.m.

'It's still early. I'm not meeting up with Keith for at least another half hour.'

You frowned at your phone.

'I wish time would go faster. Or better yet, just skip this.'

You put the phone down opting to stare at the ceiling instead. Frankly, you were exhausted. Keith always ends up keeping you up till the very early hours of the morning, just before daybreak, leaving you with a small amount of sleep.

'I mean we do this basically every night. It wouldn't hurt to bail on him just this once right? It's not like we end up finding any clues about Shiro or "the energy source".'

Frowning again at the thought of your lost older brother figure, you closed your eyes and placed your right forearm against your eyes, leaving your other hand against your stomach holding your phone.

'A quick nap wouldn't hurt now would it?'

You shut your eyes slowly and then you were out like a light.

You awoke to light knocking at your door.

Opening your eyes slowly, you stared up at the ceiling, and you wait until your eyes get adjusted to the dim lighting of your room.

'Wait a damn minute.'

You frantically sit upright looking for your phone before spotting it on the floor. You immediately grab it before widening your eyes in horror.

12:46 a.m.

'Shit.'

*knock knock knock*

The knocking of the metal door snapped you back into your senses, making you rush all over the room fixing your appearance while simultaneously packing a small bag.

*knock knock knock*

'There's no fucking way Keith broke into the Garrison. There's no fucking way he's outside my door. No fucking way.'

'Guess we'll just have to find out.'

Taking a big deep breath, you allow the metal door to open.

And you end up staring into the blue orbs of your flirtatious best friend Lance McClain.

A sigh of relief passes in between your breath and you smile as you lean against the frame of your door only then noticing Hunk's panicky presence behind the lanky male. Ignoring his nervousness, you wave at the soon to be yellow paladin, with him exchanging a fidgety smile and wave in return. 

Taking note of your sigh and smile, Lance speaks up with a cocky, goofy grin on his face.

"Woah there pretty lady, happy to see me?~" 

Rolling your eyes with an equally goofy grin on your face you respond.

"Ha! In your dreams McClain."

"But you're always in my dreams (y/n)!" he replies cheekily.

Playfully shoving the tall teen backward, you stifle a laugh. You always enjoy your time with Lance; it's always been like this, the playful banter, everything. Even since you met as kids at the Garrison.

"Okay! Okay! Jeez (n/n) so violent."

Rolling your eyes again, you take another look at the best friend duo before asking, "So, care to tell me why you're here in front of my dorm at like one in the morning?"

Lance opens his mouth only to have Hunk shove the both of you back into your room with him following and the metal door shutting behind the three of you.

Lance not liking how he was treated so roughly, started to whine, "Hunkkkk what was that forrr- MPPFH," only to get interrupted by Hunk placing a hand on both of your mouths.

"SHHH! We have to be quiet you guys," Hunk lowers his voice, "I heard a guard walking down the other hallway, I think he might turn the way next! Oh wait! I hear him shhhhh"

The three of you stood still and quiet as you hear the footsteps of the guard get closer and closer until eventually fading. 

After that very close call, you all sigh in relief as you had done a few minutes prior.

Suddenly remembering the conversation from a few minutes ago also made you become more aware of the time. Taking a look at the clock on your dresser, you curse under your breath.

12:57 a.m.

Quickly taking out your phone from your satchel, you curse again seeing the missed calls and text messages from Keith.

57 missed calls & 6 unread messages

keef♡

where are you?

sent 12:03 a.m.

(y/n) answer.

sent 12:07 a.m.

(y/n) pick up the damn phone! I know you're tired and I always drag you out late but come on pick up.

sent 12:09 a.m.

Okay, okay I'm sorry. Don't be mad at me.

sent 12:10 a.m.

(y/n) damn it. Now's not the time to be mad at me or to be sleeping. I think we might actually find something this time, I can feel it.

sent 12:15 a.m.

Fine then. I'll go on my own this time.

sent 12:17 a.m.

Ah shit. The only time Keith texts you first, and it's because you were being an idiot and accidentally bailed on him. Now he thinks that you've ditched him. Knowing him, he's gonna feel way more upset than you think because of what happened with his mom, dad, and Shiro. 

'Ah I fucked up this time didn't I?'

Breaking out of your thoughts, you realize that you have guests at the moment.

You whispered yelled at the two taller boys, "What are you two doing here?!"

Lance sulked, "Aw (n/n) I could've sworn you were happy to see us like five minutes ago."

"That was before you almost got me in trouble!"

And that's coming from the girl who sneaks out of the Garrison on a daily basis. But they don't need to know that.

Not yet at least.

Hunk (bless his soul) interrupts Lance once more as he opens up his mouth, "Lance here wants to do some "team bonding" so we were going to get both you and Pidge, but we saw Pidge run out of his dorm, but we still needed to get you and this is the worst team-building exercise ever."

Ahh that's right.

The four of you got scolded today after failing the simulation.

Hunk puked, Pidge removed his (you're still doubting if he is really a he, but no judgment there) safety harness, and Lance crashed the jet. You on the other received praise from Iverson after attempting to pull a safer (cough cough Lance) emergency landing, and trying to pull the team together.

Well, it's your job as the co-pilot to keep Lance in check, just like how you attempted to keep Keith in check. All your teachers and other friends warned you about sticking close to Keith. They never did understand that you two had a close bond.

You two grew up together after all.

--

"Seriously (l/n) stay away from Kogane. You're a bright kid, you got real skill. Don't get mixed up with that troublemaker."

You look down as Commander Iverson speaks to you.

"Well go along, break will be over soon enough. See you in class."

He walks down the hallway as Keith approaches you carefully as he enters from the other side of the nearby wall.

"You can stop you know. You always get in trouble for sticking with me. I'll understand." He says in a low voice looking down.

You, on the other hand, shoot your head up and quickly wrapping your arms around him surprising the young teen.

"Are you dumb?! I'd never leave you Keith! We'll go through thick and thin together remember?! If anything, you might be the one leaving me! You move too fast you might just leave me behind!" you exclaim while squeezing him tighter fully aware of the growing blush on your face.

He lightly laughs before wrapping his arms around your smaller frame squeezing you just as tight.

"Don't worry (y/n), I don't plan on it."

You refuse to let him go as you don't want him to see your red face, not knowing that he hasn't let go for the same reason.

--

As you both got older, around the disappearance of Shiro, Keith gets expelled, but the both of you still manage to keep in touch seeing as you frequently sneak out.

"Why don't you two go ahead? I was just about to get some shut-eye, so tell me how it goes tomorrow okay?"

Yes, sleep would be pretty nice, but in reality, you needed them to get out of here so you can find Keith.

Please say okay, please say okay, please say okay.

Scrunching his eyebrows, Lance denies your request, "What? No! You're part of the team, we need you there!"

'Damn it.'

--

Before you know it, you find yourself on the roof checking out Pidge's equipment.

"Stop touching my equipment!"

You and Hunk pouted.

--

Now, you find yourself and the other three spying on an alien ship on a small ledge after hearing the emergency lockdown announcement at the Garrison.

You blinked. 

"Hmm hey, Lance?"

"Yes (y/n)?"

"Why the hell are we here?"

Lance stopped looking through the binoculars to look up at you.

"We need to find out what's going on! But we'll never get past those guards to take a look."

Pidge types away on his computer.

Hunk sighs, "Aww yeah, I guess there's nothing else but to get back to the barracks right?" and he gets up from his crouching position and starts to leave. 

'Good idea Hunk.'

As you yourself start to head back, Pidge speaks up.

"Wait they set up a camera in there and I picked up its feed. Look."

The three of you gather around Pidge, only for your breath to hitch and for tears to start gathering in the corner of your eyes.

'Shiro?'

You think back to Keith's message.

"I think we might actually find something this time, I can feel it."

'Damn it, I hate it when he's right. I need to text Keith.'

You snap back into reality to dig through your bag only to hear Lance say, "No, what we need is a distraction."

As if on cue, a series of explosions go off in the distance.

'Oh no Keith I swear to God.'

"Ahh are those the aliens?! Are they here?! They got here so quick!" 

Hunk continues to freak out, but Pidge interrupts him.

"No, those explosions were a distraction! For him. The Garrison is heading towards the blast, while he's sneaking through the other side!"

You could recognize that red hoverbike anywhere.

So, you quickly make your way down the small ledge ignoring the shouts of your friends.

"(y/n)! Wait! Oh that guy is always trying to one-up me!"

Lance quickly runs after you.

"Who is it?" Hunk asks.

"Keith!"

"What?! Are you sure?!" Hunk is quick on Lance's heels.

By now, you're way ahead of the three.

"Who?!" Pidge questions.

"(y/n)'s boyfriend!"

But not far enough to not hear that.

"I heard that Lance!"

--

(y/n's) Mental Bullshit Checklist

Find your lost brother figure✔️

Get chased by the Garrison✔️

Realize that your bestest friend might be mad and hurt because of you✔️

Today is just not your day.

*A few minutes prior*

"Nope, no, n-n-no no you don't. I'm saving Shiro."

As Lance makes his way over to Keith and Shiro, you find yourself locking your (e/c) eyes with Keith's purple ones.

His eyes widened, not noticing Lance taking Shiro's other arm. 

'Wait. Is that a metal prosthetic?'

"(y/n)?"

Snapping back into reality, (you seem to be spacing out a lot recently) you try and wrap yourself around this delicate situation.

Keith thinks you abandoned him on something that means a lot to him.

Keith is possibly mad at you.

Keith finds Shiro only for you, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge to barge in.

Keith might be thinking you left him alone for those three.

Keith looks hurt.

Your already teary eyes soften along with your voice, "Keith I-", only to get cut off by Keith himself.

"Who are you?" he quetions looking at Lance.

'Ouch.'

'I guess I deserved that.'

"Who am I? Uhh the name's Lance?"

Lance blinks waiting for Keith to recognize him. When he doesn't he speaks again.

"Uhh we were in the same class in the Garrison."

Keith still not recognizing him asks, "Really? Were you an engineer?"

Lance tired of his confusion clarifies, "What no. I'm a pilot. We were like rivals. You know, Lance and Keith neck and neck, and with (y/n) breaking up all our fights."

You deadpan at the brown-haired boy.

'Does he mean those petty fights where Keith doesn't acknowledge him, and I end up dragging him away?'

As if suddenly remembering, Keith says, "Oh wait I remember you. You're a cargo pilot."

"Well not anymore, I'm fighter class now thanks to you washing out."

Keith being Keith sarcastically congratulates him.

"Seriously, how are you (y/n)'s bestest friend?! You don't even know anything about her other best friends? And what's with the attitude?! I swear! I always tell her to stay away! You're a bad influence on her!"

You warn the blue-eyed boy, "Lance..."

"What?! I'm just trying to look out for you!"

*Flashback end*

Now, the five of you along with an unconscious Shiro are all on Keith's red hoverbike with the Garrison hot your trail.

Keith's driving, you're behind him, behind you is Lance, the Pidge and Shiro, and finally Hunk in the back.

Hunk's panicky voice carries through the air, "Oh man, Mr. Harris just wiped out Mr. Montgomery! No no, he's fine."

Keith speaks to you without looking back, "(y/n) hold on."

You quickly wrap your arms around his masculine chest.

'At least he isn't that mad to ignore me completely.'

"Big man lean right!"

Hunk quickly listens and leans right guiding the overworked machine to the right making it jump to another rock structure. That maneuver efficiently stops one of the two Garrison vehicles chasing you. 

Your heart is pounding realizing that you're all heading towards a cliff.

"Uhh guys?!" Hunk promptly points out what you've just been dreading. "Is that a cliff up ahead?!"

You hear the screaming of your teammates behind you and Keith leans forward forcing you to do the same. He grips and twists the handlebars making the bike speed up while confirming Hunk's question.

"Yup."

You don't even have to look at him to know he has that hot stupid smirk on his face.

'Damn it. My heart just skipped a beat, and it's not because we're falling off a cliff.'

Lance continues to scream at Keith.

"What are you doing?! You're gonna kill us all!!"

Not giving Keith the time to respond, you answer Lance with your own yell while squeezing your eyes shut and squeezing Keith even tighter.

"Lance just shut up and trust him!"

Smoothly maneuvering his bike, Keith "lands" back on solid ground and zooms away.

You guys were alive.

Barely.

But that's beside the point.

(y/n's) Mental Bullshit Checklist

Save Shiro✔️

Almost get caught by the Garrison✔️

Almost die falling off a cliff✔️

Feel Keith's masculine chest✔️

--

You, Shiro, and Keith look at the sky as the sun begins to rise.

Once again, you blank out as you try to wrap your head around what had happened in the past few hours, missing Shiro and Keith's conversation and Shiro calling out your name.

 "(-/n)"

"(y/n)"

"(y/n)!"

A sudden shake of your shoulder snapped you back into reality, making you turn your head towards Shiro who was looking at you worriedly and Keith who was looking down and his feet.

'Ah.'

'He's still upset.'

"Are you feeling okay (y/n)?" Shiro asks worriedly.

You look up at him, with a smile on your face and you cheerfully answer his question.

"Ahh Shiro, you haven't changed, always acting like a dad huh? If anything I should be asking you that question!"

His face showed mild surprise but then he chuckled and ruffled your hair making you squeal. 

"You haven't changed much either (y/n). I'll be heading inside, are you two okay out here or are you gonna follow?"

Once again your focus falls on the rising sun.

"Nah, I think I'll just stay here for a bit longer. I can meet you guys in there a bit later."

"Okay, just be careful. You Keith?"

"I think I'll stay here a bit longer too. You can go meet up with the others."

You inwardly flinched. The two of you were going to be alone.

"Alright, I'll head back inside."

Now, it was just the two of you.

A light breeze past by, and you shivered. It was only then you realized you didn't have a jacket.

'I guess I didn't realize it was cold with everything going on.'

Your thoughts were once more interrupted by something getting draped around your shoulders.

Your eyes widened and you look over your shoulder to see Keith looking away from you now only in his black v-neck shirt. 

You bashfully look away as you hold the collar of his jacket close so it stays on your shoulders, with your left arm hugging your body to keep the warmth. You mutter a quiet thanks only to have been met with silence.

It was like that for a while, until you couldn't help but speak.

"Keith I can-"

"Why were you with them?"

With your body now turned as to get a good look at him, you frowned as you process his question and because he still wouldn't look at you.

"Keith, they're my team, even if I didn't want to, I'd still go anyway. They're my best friends Keith you have to understa-"

"Are we not a team? Are we not best friends?"

You visibly irk as you get interrupted yet again.

"I never said that."

"You were thinking it."

"Dammit Keith! Let me talk!"

The purple-eyed boy finally turns to look at you with an agitated look on his face.

"Why should I?! You'll just leave like how everyone else did! It won't matter."

Frankly, you were hurt. Did he really think that you'd just leave him after years of memories and a childhood of growing up alongside each other? But, you understood why he was so upset. He was scared. 

Not wanting to lose your childhood friend and your first love, you try and defuse the situation. 

"Keith, I understand why you're so agitated right now, it's okay, I understand, I know-"

"Know what (y/n)?! You know nothing! You don't know anything! You don't understand anything!"

It's a good thing the both of you were at a far enough distance away from his shack.

He slowly walks towards you waving around his hands and arms to show how agitated he really was.

"What made you think you knew anything?!"

"Our friendship! Our trust! Our bond! Our everything Keith! Did any of that even matter to you?!"

"I don't think it mattered to you! If it did, you wouldn't have abandoned me! Especially since this was important to me!"

You couldn't believe your damn ears. You scoffed before yelling back, not caring about the tears starting to fall.

"I didn't fucking abandon you Keith! And don't you dare think that this thing was only important to you! Shiro means just as much to me and much as he does to you!"

"Then why the hell did you not show up?!"

"For God's sake, I was sleeping! Call it a lame excuse I don't care! Keith, I'm tired. Every single fucking day we're out till fucking daybreak. On top of that, I have class! I have training! It's fine for you because you don't even go to school anymore! You can sleep all day then explore all night! Me? I run every single day with less than four hours of sleep. It's a fucking blessing to even get one. I understand that you're scared! Cause I am too! We grew up together Keith! Do you know how devastated and worried I was after you got expelled?! I thought that was the end for us! Here you are yapping that you have it rough, that I abandoned you, and some other bullshit while I have it just as bad!"

        Your voice was raw and cracking, tears streaming down your face, eyes starting to puff up, but at this point you didn't care. You didn't care if the others could hear you, you didn't care that Keith stopped yelling, you didn't care that his eyes finally softened and weren't sharp and spiteful anymore, you didn't care.

        You didn't care because you felt your heart break. You want him to know. You want him to know how much you struggle every day, but most of all you want him to know how much you cared. You want him to know how much you care for him even if he doesn't really understand right now, even if he doesn't care for you as much as you do you, or if he doesn't care for you the way you want him to. You wanted him to know that you loved him. Him and only him. Even at the risk of rejection.

"(y/n)..."

"No! I listened to you, now you listen to me Keith Kogane! I understand that I hurt you! I understand that you have trust issues and that you don't want anyone to get too close only for them to leave, I understand! You don't want me to be another repeat of the people in the past; your mom, your dad, Shiro! I understand more than you think! I care about you so much so Keith...please."

At this point, Keith looked like he was going to cry too, and Keith never cries in front of you anymore.

"(Y-y/n) I-I didn't know. I-I'm sor-"

You stop him right there.

"Keith, you have nothing to apologize for. You didn't know cause I didn't tell you, I never wanted to tell you but but oh my God fuck. Keith, it's because I love you!"

There. It's out in the open. No going back now.

"I love you more than friends, more than best friends, more than siblings, Keith I love you with all of my heart! And it hurts so much seeing you like this. I don't need you to love me back, what I need you to do is to trust me. To trust me with everything you've got because there's no way in hell I'm going to get up and walk away from your life. I will always be there for you. I'm your best friend. Through thick and remember?"

You're choking on your own words, and your voice trembled with every other word you've said but it doesn't matter now. You did it. You confessed. Maybe now, your heart can be at peace.

You look up at the boy you've grown to love and you take a good look at him. His long dark locks, his captivating purple eyes, everything. 

You take a good look because you believe that this is going to be the last good one you'll have. The last one before he'll shy away from you. But that's okay. It's okay because you'll always be there for him even if he won't be there for you.

You remove his jacket from your shoulders and gently take his hands placing the jacket into them. You feel his eyes on you and you look up at him placing a gentle smile on your features. You watch as his tear-streaked face looks at yours with so many emotions. More emotions than you've ever seen on him. 

Your hands never left his and with one last act of bravery, you lean up and kiss his cheek. 

You gently pull your hands out of his, and turn towards his shack.

You turn around and bravely smile at him and say, "I'll be heading back inside now okay? If you need anything, you know who to find." 

You turn back around and you slowly walk away with one of your hands covering your mouth to cover up your soft sobs. You just really wanted a hug, and you plan on getting four big ones.

As for Keith, Keith can't seem to move.

Don't get mixed up, no no he isn't frozen because he couldn't believe his best friend just confessed to him.

Well actually that was one of the reasons, but that's not important right now.

Your confession and love? Oh boy, he thought that was only a crazy, hopeless dream. Something that he could've never thought would happen.

Let's face it, the boy's in love with you.

Head over heels really.

How could he not be?

You were a godsend in his eyes. You were kind to basically person that you've met, you're compassionate, you're intelligent, and so much more. Your good looks were only a bonus. And one of the most important things was that you were always there. 

You were there to defend him, you were there to comfort him, you there to just be with him.

You were always there. You were there when he cried over his mom, you were there when his dad died, you were there when he found out about Shiro. You were right, the two of you went through thick and thin.

Getting back to the point, he couldn't seem to move was because he hurt you.

Yes, Keith can be an ass, but he's always made sure not to accidentally hurt you in any way shape, or form, but he did.

Seeing you with Lance, Hunk, and Pidge hurt. It stung like hell, but after what just happened, he knowing what he just did hurt far worse, but it hurt just a little bit more realizing that you would've probably planned on not letting him know about your struggles and pain ever. But, something changed, something changed your mind, so you told him.

Just like you wanted, you put your feelings and inner turmoils out in the open, and now he knows. 

Seeing you standing there, pouring your feelings out to him voice raw and filled with emotions tears rapidly falling down your face, your trembling body, it, it was just too much for him.

And after you said that if he needed something, anything, he could go find you; it made him realize how he truly doesn't deserve you.

Yes, he has thought of it before. He can't help it with what seems like every single person in existence telling you that he's bad news or their doubts of him, and with his own insecurities. Truth be told, their words always end up right back into his head, no matter how long it's been.

"Stay away from Kogane"

"Don't get mixed up with that troublemaker."

'You don't deserve her.'

"(y/n) is that guy really your friend? He seems like he's a cold person."

"(y/n) that guy is trouble! Why do you hang out with him?!"

'She's too good for you.'

"Seriously, how are you (y/n)'s bestest friend?!"

"I always tell her to stay away! You're a bad influence on her!"

But even with all those words meant to scare you away, you stayed. He couldn't help but remember the words you told him long ago.

"Are you dumb?! I'd never leave you Keith! We'll go through thick and thin together remember?!"

It was then when Keith made his decision.

--

You were almost at the front door. Surprisingly not one of the four boys three actually, but you didn't know that yet checked outside after all that yelling. Not like they heard any of it

You were lost in your thoughts. Thoughts about Keith, your past, your pain, who would give the most comforting hug right now probably Hunk when someone I wonder who it could be grabbed your wrist and tugged you back so you would be facing him.

Knowing who it was you kept your eyes shut as if you didn't, you knew you were going to cry.

But Keith was stubborn. You of all people know that better than anyone.

"(y/n) look at me."

Keith was stubborn but it didn't mean that you weren't too.

Keith's voice cracked.

"(y/n) please."

Your resolve wavered, and it seems your hesitation was obvious as Keith softly spoke, "You don't have to say anything, I just want you to hear what I have to say."

You hesitantly opened your eyes and you could already feel your eyes watering again.

Keith's entire being seemed to deflate soften at your state.

"Okay, I know I don't deserve you, much less deserve you taking your time to listen to me right now but I just want you to know that I love you."

Your eyes widened. You weren't sure what you were expecting but it certainly wasn't that.

"Keith, if you're just saying that to-"

"(n/n) I promise you that I'm not just saying it because you said it to me. I'm saying it because I truly do love you."

Your voice was stuck in your throat and you gently shake off his hold on your wrist. You opt for wrapping your arms around yourself.

Your glassy eyes showed confusion and panic.

"I-I don't understand," you shakily argued.

"(y/n) you've always been there for me and that's something I will always be grateful for, and it's one of the many reasons why I fell for you."

You didn't respond. Instead, you continued to listen to him. You listened to him because he was allowing himself to be vulnerable.  Even Keith was surprised by his own actions. Yes, times and times again has this broken boy show you his vulnerability, but he always made the effort to do so in a private setting.

Not right outside his door with his brother figure and three strangers waiting for him inside.

Keith gently tilts his head, "(y/n)..."

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

You softly gasped, not expecting the purple-eyed boy to give you his thanks.

From your angle you see a small smile on the boy's face which make your eyes water even more than they already have and your tears once again fall down your face, but at a slower speed.

"I will always appreciate you, and I will always be grateful for all the things you've done for me growing up. I love you. I love you so much, but I'm so sorry that I've been hurting you all this time. I understand if you'd rather go out with Lance seeing as he looks out for you-"

You cut him off with a tight hug that is filled to the brim with love, affection, and warmth. So much warmth. Keith is remain frozen not knowing what to do.

He wants to hug you so badly, but remains from doing so because he doesn't want to hurt you again, but he hears you mumble something that gives him so much reassurance, so much that he forgets all about his insecurities involving you.

"It's okay, Keith. We're okay."

With that, Keith's eyes start to glisten and he gives in and just lets go of reality for a moment to hug you. To hug you and let his tears fall because he knows he's safe with you.

That you are his home and he is yours in return. 

--

(y/n's) Mental Bullshit Checklist

Release and spill all your feeling onto best friend✔️

Act like a crybaby in front of your best friend✔️

Confess to your best friend✔️

Think you get rejected by best friend✔️

Find out your feelings are reciprocated ✔️

--

omake!! :D

"Are you two getting inside or not?! We kinda have an alien problem on our hands!!"

You and Keith jolt out of your hug not expecting to be interrupted by your team pilot at such a vulnerable bonding moment. The both of you turn your heads to see Lance sticking himself out the window shaking his fist into the air as if he was an old geezer yelling at little kids to get off his lawn.

You see Keith visibly irk and you sweat drop seeing Lance duck back inside closing the window letting out a small shriek.

"Remind me to stab him later."

You look up at the boy who's still glaring at the now closed window and softly chuckle before letting out a small "don't" but a teeny weensy small side of you secretly not minding the planned assault.

You hoped Lance knew how dodge. 

--

[inimitable-muse]

meeting robin for the first time

[robin buckley x reader]

request: kinda. this is sort of a prelude to the other robin x reader headcanon requests i’ve received. all of them combined would be too long of a post, so i decided to instead split them apart. i’ll be finishing off and posting the other headcanons real soon, so stay tuned for that !

warning: none.

author’s note: um so i’m crazy and just went loose with this one. i wrote like a complete script unintentionally lmaooo, hope you guys like it though :) taglist is at the bottom of the post.

you guys first met each other in the middle of october

this was around the time that robin was adjusting to her new job at family video

you were a frequent customer there, swinging by every friday night to pick out some films for your own movie marathons

while at the same time trying to avoid the nuisance that was keith the sales clerk

"i will let you take out six tapes at a time if you can land me a date with nancy wheeler!"

"no keith"

robin was already familiar with your face and vice versa

she would often see you lurking between the isles from time to time, taking ages to find the perfect film

but you both never really interacted fully

until now

as soon as you entered the doors of family video on a typical friday night, it felt different

more calm and peaceful

probably because keith’s shift wasn’t on today and that made you sigh in relief

however, it was robin’s one instead

ohohohoho

from her own observations, robin seen you as the type of person who wasn’t adventurous when it came to your selection of films to rent out

for instance, there would be times where you would pick the most pedestrian choices like the breakfast club and teen wolf

but today was different

you would end up going left field and surprise her when you turned up to the front counter with the awful dr. orlof in hand

an interesting choice to say to least

robin stares at the VHS box for a brief moment

the dark and strange illustrations of the cover contrasted with your... normal-ness?

it was the perfect time to finally strike up a proper conversation with you

or so she thought

it turns out sometimes her witty comments and deadpan humour doesn't translate well with some people

and by some people meaning you

“hm, i couldn’t really see you as being a macabre fan”

you got caught off guard by her remark. “uh sorry but, what did you say?”

“well, judging by your previous purchases on the system you seem to go more for the john hughes-y type of direction, y’know, movies with rose tinted glass endings and whatever”

you were a relatively nice person, but at the same time not afraid to get feisty when you felt like someone was trying to take a personal jab at you taking risks

“right, well frankly i’m not here to be psycho-analysed through my taste in film, so just tell me how much it costs and-“

“oh god no, that’s not what i was intending at all!”

both of you go quiet

it’s almost 10:00 pm and you’re the only customer here

the clock is ticking

“look... er”

“[y/n]” you give robin your name

“okay, [y/n], it’s just that i noticed that every time you come in here you would always rent these teeny bopper films and now...”

“now...?”

“now you’re getting something completely out of your usual range”

“usual range?” you scoff, “i guess it’s a crime to get something else out of the ordinary then”

robin pinches her nose and exhales

“i'll let you on a little secret, that’s not even a good film”

you glance back at the VHS box, feeling annoyed when suddenly

“at least check out eyes without a face. firstly, it’s in the same vein as the awful dr. orlof but way less shittier. the plot is easy to understand and the characters are actually complex and well written”

as robin stops her rambling, you take a second to gather your thoughts

“do you have it in store?”

“not currently, no... but it’s gonna be returned hopefully by next week”

you ponder for a bit, “i can wait, but i’m still getting this one anyway”

you slide the VHS towards robin with two fingers

“suit yourself, that will be five dollars for three nights”

you pay, yadda yadda and then you finally apologise

“hey... i’m sorry for the hostility, it was totally unlike me”

robin simmers down, “i should be the one saying sorry, i made this whole big misunderstanding all because i was being nosy about what you were gonna watch”

you laugh to ease the tension

“you clearly know your stuff, robin, you're like a movie aficionado”

“wait a seco- how do you know my name again?

“look down at your shirt,” you laugh even harder

ffs robin your name tag

she's feeling delirious and it has been a long day

and now robin is all flustered and doesn't know what to say back aw

it wasn't really love at first sight that occurred that night per se, but for her it was more along the lines of there's something about [y/n] that makes me wanna find out more about them

so a few days later and the heated, yet oddly passionate exchange with robin stirred something inside of you

it basically compelled you to come by to family video two times a week

which soon changed to three

then four

and subsequently five

at one point keith noticed your oddly periodic visits to the store

"didn't you already rent that movie out for the second time this week?" he questions, eyebrows furrowed as he focuses on opening a bag of doritos

"nope! this one is the sequel"

robin would laugh quietly to herself as she scans the barcode

you didn't really care how some people were catching on the fact that you would come in the store nearly everyday

you just wanted an excuse to chat to robin

everyday

even if that meant that you would be wasting tons of money on renting obscure foreign films that you would never pay attention to half the time

clearly robin didn’t mind it at all

she was perhaps a little bit more excited to see you than you anticipated

"tell me how that one goes [y/n], give a review or something next time you drop by"

"well i can finish it by tonight and give it back first thing in the morning?"

"yeah, that sounds good." robin presses her lips together to suppress a giddy smile as she watches you head straight towards the front door

"b-but i wouldn't want you to rush that film though, it's almost three hours long!" she shouts from the counter

you exclaim back, "i'll manage!" as you face towards robin, starting to walk backwards

but dammit [y/n]

you accidentally stumble and bump into that blimin phoebe cates cardboard cutout

oh how the tables have turned between you both

robin tries her best to contain her amused expression in such a professional work environment

whereas you just wanted to shrink inside your sweater and die right there and then

but at that moment, she found you too cute and endearing to resist

now it was a saturday afternoon and business was slow

robin was sorting out all the tapes in the return box

but one film caught her eye in particular

eyes without a face

before you left the store, you managed to write a little message on a piece of paper and carefully slip it inside its VHS box

robin is able to get a hold of it

"you were right, this is way better” - [y/n]

she was full on beaming

robin unconsciously flips to the other side not expecting anything

but !

to her delight she sees your phone number written all prim and proper

:))))

"heya steve, can i borrow the phone for a sec? i need to make a quick order"

taglist: @ronnie-loves-bees

[i-write-shakespeare-not-disney]

Director’s Commentary- Love for You, Violet wants to go to the Garrison

My commentary is in bold <3 

Violet stood in front of them with a wide smile. “Well, today a lady came to talk to our science class and guess what?” Her fathers looked at each other with amusement then at her. This part with her talking was funny to write because I had to keep it in a little kid voice. So it always feels awkward reading over her little recap because it’s supposed to be in an eleven year old’s voice. “She was from the Garrison! She came and talked to us, and I already knew the stuff, but then she had a simulator for a ship! And everyone failed, but then I went last and they were making fun of me but guess what? I was the only one to finish it! The lady figured out who I was and she said I was basically already admitted! You guys just have to fill this out!” She revealed the packet and smiled up at them.

I imagined that the whole time she was recapping, Keith and Lance were both like... slowly feeling this wave of terror. It’s something that should have been obvious to them, but it wasn’t and now it’s blindsided them. But the expressions on their faces made her excitement disappear almost immediately.

Papa took the packet and flipped through it. “What? No. No way.” Obviously Lance takes it the hardest because he lost the most when he left. He’s the one hit by the trauma more than the others, at least in his immediate family.

Dad pulled out a chair and sat down. “Vi…. You want to go to the Garrison?”

She looked between them and her ears started flicking nervously. “Well… yeah.”

“Why?” That was Papa. He sounded angry. “We spent so long trying to come back to Earth and now you want to go and… be at this place?”

Violet felt a mixture of fear and anger bubbling in her, but she wasn’t sure which she wanted to indulge, so she tried to keep herself calm. That bit felt a little older than her, but I wanted to show this fear of not being allowed into this ideal place and the fear of her parents not letting her as well as the anger over the fact that they seem so against it and so angry because it just seems that everything has made them angry. “I wanna go to the Garrison because I’d fit in. They’d know who I am, I wouldn’t get bullied all the time. I’m good at it! Aunt Pidge taught me about the codes, Uncle Hunk taught me the machinery. I can speak in three alien languages! The Garrison is the perfect place for me and what I can do!”

“No! No, you’re not going there!” Papa shouted. It sucks, but the truth is parents don’t always handle things in the best way. Lance is very much not handling this calmly or appropriately. He’s just panicking. Charlie and Oliver froze on the floor where they were playing with some toys. And I’m also trying to slowly show the way the kids are all seeing this and kind of getting used to it in a way? Or at least it’s a norm that shouldn’t be. 

“Lance, calm down,” her dad said. He looked at Violet and sighed. “Violet, that school… you know it means you wouldn’t live with us anymore, right? And you’re only eleven. You have a whole year to think-”

“I don’t need to think!” she snapped. “Sergeant Bloom said I could be let in anyway. I thought you’d be proud of me. I’m the first person ever to beat the simulation on the first try!”

“Sweetheart, that is amazing,” Daddy said. “But you have to understand, a lot of things happened to us at the Garrison. They also haven’t exactly.... talked to her about it in depth, you know? The last thing we wanted was for you-”

“You already went! This is my choice, not yours!” she shouted.

“Violet, lower you voice,” Papa said, giving her an angry look. “You’re scaring your brothers. So this part. Although Lance is the one blowing it out of proportion, he’s using this moment to turn the blame on Violet and in a way try and stifle the conversation. Not a good thing. But again. Lance hasn’t been at his best at this point. You’re not going to that school.”

He reached for the application on the table, but Violet lunged forward and snatched it away. “No!” she shrieked. “You’re not taking it!” In my head that bit was very frantic.

“Violeta Esperanza vas a estar castigada!”

“Fine! Ground me! I don’t care!” She scowled and stomped her foot. Violet’s really good at being stubborn which she gets from both of them. “I want to go to the Garrison! I’d be good at it! People wouldn’t think my ears are weird there! Space was my home, and just because you guys want to pretend space never happened, it doesn’t mean I do!” I think the last line was a huge slap for both of them. Because honestly that is what they’ve been doing. And Violet also correlates space to happiness while Earth, to her, is to blame for her parents becoming the way they have. 

Daddy got up from the chair and held out his hand. “Give me the application, Violet.” Violet looked at him, clutching the packet closer. “When’s the deadline?”

“She just said to give it to Mrs. Singfiel when you filled it out,” she said softly.

He nodded. “Okay. We’re gonna talk about it. No more screaming. Give me the application. Let’s give this a week, okay?”

“Are you lying to me?” Violet asked, tears already beginning to streak down her face.

Daddy knelt down and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’d never lie to you, Vi.” She sniffed and gave him the wrinkled packet. “Go to your room. Take your brothers.” At this point Keith is remaining calm because well, for one, he wasn’t hit as hard by leaving Earth as Lance. He’s tired from work, and really, he’s trying to keep things calm before the inevitable blow up with Lance when they talk it through. Because the whole time the only one saying no has been Lance. Keith is more just... confused and trying to catch up. 

Her stomach flipped at that, but she did as she was told. She knows that “take your brothers” means they’re gonna argue. And she feels to blame for this argument. She gave the boys some of her old toys to entertain them then cracked the door open.

“-me the fucking bad guy, huh?”

“That’s not what I’m doing,” Daddy said.

“We’re not letting her go there.”

“Why not?” Violet chewed on her lip. “She wants to go. It’s safe there. She’s not going to go AWOL like we did. They gotta remember the whole reason they got blasted into space wasn’t because the Garrison sent them, but because they snuck out of the classes and found a robot lion. There’s no war to worry about-”

“When we came home, I thought it meant we could leave the Garrison behind us,” Papa said. Violet carefully opened the door a little more to try and peek out into the dining room. “She’s supposed to make her life here, Keith.” At this point, they kind of all have these individual idea of the best Earth life. And it’s all clashing. 

“Her going to the Garrison doesn’t mean she’s gonna leave and live on Pluto, Lance! She’s not trying to leave us, she’s trying to find her place! And she’s right, she’d be a great pilot or specialist or whatever the fuck she wants to fucking be. She has experience, she knows the languages, she was born in space! How could we have ever expected her to not want to be part of the Garrison?” I’d like to think that because Keith was the one able to actually have her, he has this softer side than he ever did with anything. For him, it’s like, “My kid is gonna be great at whatever they want and I’m supporting them.” Even when it makes him scared or unhappy. It’s a closer bond because this is all so unique and new to him (family). 

“After all the shit that came from that fucking place-”

“You met me there. We were there when we found out about Voltron.”

“And we got sucked into space for over a decade,” Papa hissed.

It was quiet for a while. “We fell in love. We had… we had Violet and we got married and we had kids. Lance, you can’t… erase the bad from something without erasing the good. Like it or not, the Garrison- space- is always going to be part of Violet. I’m not going to be the one holding her back.” I wanted this part to kind of. Show the clashing between Keith and Lance. How things are starting to unravel. And it’s kind of a big punch that Lance has all this anger and hate and fear towards the Garrison while Keith has it in his head as the root of how he started his family and found love in many ways. This back and forth was one of my favorite things to write because there’s an underlying argument there too. 

She saw him sit at the table and he started writing on the packet. Papa was staring at him with a weird look on his face. “If you want to keep her close, you can’t shut down her dreams,” Daddy said, leaving the pen on the table. “I’m taking a shower.” For Keith in this story, showers are always his way of getting away while at home. Especially after arguing with Lance. 

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

S.T. REWRITE - S2:E1; Chapter One, MADMAX - [Pt. 4 - FINAL PART]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

As the town preps for Halloween, a high-scoring rival shakes things up at the arcade. Will begins seeing strange visions as the anniversary of his disappearance creeps up.

||Reader's POV||

"Still no sign?" Dustin asked.

"Jack shit"

"Seriously, what is wrong with you guys? I thought we were coming here to play arcade games?" I ask.

"We came here to see if Max really is Mad Max." Lucas replied.

"You mean stalking?" I smirked. "Hey listen, I'm not really into the whole idea of stalking some poor girl, so I'm gonna go inside and beat some high scores, okay?" I said nonchalantly, pointing my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the arcade.

"Y/N! Are you crazy? You'll jeopardize our mission!"

I began walking backward, hands in my pockets as I spoke to the slightly panicked boys.

"Yeah, mmhmm sure. Later guys, you both are welcome to join me if you like. Dustin? If you do end up heading home, just let mom know I'll be home by 7 at the latest."

Leaving them without time to respond, I turned around and head for the arcade doors across the parking lot as I heard their fading protests.

With that, I headed inside.

+++

"Well, shit." I mumbled.

I hated going to Kieth for stuff. I had only been here twenty minutes and one of the machines already ftitzed out again and kept my money. So, I begrudgingly walked over to the counter.

"Well, well, well, look who it is. Little miss too perfect."

"And what is that supposed to mean, Keith?" I sighed, folding my arms on the counter.

"You act like your too good for everyone. It's obnoxious."

"Just because I prefer to practice basic hygiene doesn't mean I'm a snob, it means I have common sense. Who knows what you've contracted handling all these machines." I retort.

"Do you need help or not?" He asked lazily.

He looked me right in the eye and took a large, noisy bite out of his cheeto puffs knowing I hated the sound.

"Forget it," I sighed and turned around about to storm off. 

I felt my shoulder collide with another and I backed up at the sudden impact.

"Sorry!"

"Watch it," a girl grumbled, obviously startled.

I looked up to see the girl from class, Max.

"Oh, hey. Max, right?"

"Yeah, how'd you-? Wait... you hang out with those creeps, don't you?" She asked with a frown on her face.

"I should explain," I said, a weak smile on my face. "For one thing, one of those creeps happens to be my brother.  And two, yeah... they can be creepy. I'm sorry, I've been trying to get them to back off. They can be a real handful sometimes,"

Her arched eyebrow soften and a small smile creeps up and she visibly relaxes.

"I'm Y/N, by the way," I say.

"Max," she smiled reaching her hand out to shake. "But, I guess you already knew that."

Both us laughed lightly.

"So," She began. "Any particular reason as to why I'm the subject of their interest?"

We began walking side by side and found ourselves by DigDug and I pointed at my brother's name.

"Well, you practically obliterated my brother's top scores and they find it hard to believe a girl is responsible for that,"

There seemed to be a look of confusion on her face.

"Well, you play don't you?"

"Yep, but I guess to them, I don't count,"

"I see,"

I leaned in sort of close, turning her away from the windows when I caught sight of Lucas and Dustin. "Hey listen, I feel like I owe it to you to tell you that they are here right now and it was my mistake to think they wouldn't resort to crouching outside the windows and spying so would you like to go to the opposite end of the arcade where they can't be creeps?"

She looked at me with slightly widened eyes, "Wait, you knew they were here?"

"They tricked me into coming, I thought we where gonna play, but when I realized it was a stakeout to see if you were MadMax, I told them off and came inside to play, I swear."

"Oh," her face softened slightly. "Well, thanks."

She casually glanced over her shoulder and grabbed my arm. "Come on, follow me,"

With a growing smile on my face, I followed.

+++

Max and I had a surprisingly good time. We hid out in the corner behind one of the machines and messed with Keith. Eventually, Max had to leave, this gross scuz showed up blasting AC/DC who I could only assume was the notorious asshole of a stepbrother that she briefly mentioned.

She barely talked about him but with the what little knowledge I did have of him, I felt bad for her and I suddenly was reminded of how extremely lucky I am to have someone like Dustin as my brother.

Before I could even realize it, I was pulling into the driveway, parking my bike. I had biked home with Dustin who had been gnawing my ear off trying to pry information from me about Max but I tuned him out.

"Seriously,  Y/N, why can't you just tell me what she was like?"

Dustin was parking his bike as I went through the front door ahead of him, assuming he was behind me.

"Because, for the last time Dustin, I'm not some spy that's gonna feed you information because you're too chicken to reach out and talk to her like a normal human being," I shed my coat and was hanging it up by the front door.

I turned to face my brother only to see he wasn't behind me. I walked towards the front door and peeked outside to see him cautiously stalking towards the garbage can.

"Dustin?"

He nearly jumped two feet in the air and whipped around to face me.

"Jesus! Y/N, don't do that to me!"

"I'm... sorry, are you okay? What the hell happened?"

He looked over his shoulder at the trash can once more and then back at me, sighing as he trudged inside.

"Nothing. Thought I heard something,"

||3rd Person POV||

The Byers household was filled with the smiles and the aroma of popcorn as everyone prepared for movie night. Jonathan could hear the sounds of his mother's voice as he made his way to his younger brothers room.

"Well, put the future down and get me a clean bowl."

Jonathan gently rapped his knuckles on the door to Will's room before opening the door.  Will was sitting on his bed, his legs crossed as he colored.

"Hey, bud. I didn't know what you'd like, so I got a variety." He held up the VHS tapes to show his brother before putting them on a nearby shelf. "Take your pick."

Will lightly shrugged before returning to his drawing. "Whatever you want,"

"All right," Jonathan came forward and took a seat across from his brother on his bed. "What are you working on?"

He leaned over to see the picture of a boy in ripped and ragged clothing with a snarl on his face, the words "Zombie Boy" next to him.

"Zombie Boy? Who's Zombie Boy?"

Will looked slightly uncomfortable at the question before mumbling, "me,"

"Did someone call you that?"

Will didn't respond.

"Hey.  You can talk to me. You know that, right? Whatever happened. Will, come on, talk to me."

Will's head whipped up. "Stop treating me like that." He snapped.

Jonathan was hurt, not by his brother's words but the fact that his brother was clearly struggling and he didn't know how to help.

"What? Like what?"

"Like everyone else. Like there's something wrong with me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Mom, Dustin, Lucas. Everyone. They treat me like I'm gonna break. Like I'm a baby. Like I can't handle things on my own. It doesn't help. It just makes me feel like more of a freak."

"You're not a freak."

"Yeah, I am. I am,"

"You know what? You're right."  Jonathan picked himself up and sat crisscross on the bed across his brother. "You are a freak"

Will looked up at his brother, taken aback.

"What?"

"No, I'm serious. You're a freak. But what? Do you wanna be normal? Do you wanna be just like everyone else? Being a freak is the best. I'm a freak."

Will tried to make sense of this. "Is that why you don't have any friends?"

Jonathan chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "I have friends, Will."

"Then why are you always hanging out with me?"

"Because you're my best friend, all right? And I would rather be best friends with Zombie Boy than with a boring nobody. You know what I mean? Okay, look... who would you rather be friends with? Bowie, or Kenny Rogers?"

Will smiled and shivered. "Ugh,"

"Exactly. It's no contest. The thing is, nobody normal ever accomplished anything meaningful in this world.  You got it?"

"Well... some people like Kenny Rogers." Will offered.

"Kenny Rogers." Came an excited voice from the doorway.

The boys turned to see their mother's boyfriend, Bob standing in the doorway.  "I love Kenny Rodgers." He chuckled.

The boys looked at each other with matching grins.

Bob walked in with a friendly smile on his face. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing" Will giggled, and Bob picked up the VHS tapes, examining them.

Suddenly his eyes lit up once he saw one of the movie selections. "Mr. Mom." Bob loud a loud cheer. "Perfect!" And he left with an enthusiastic grin.

As soon as he was around the corner, the brother looked at each other and burst into fits of laughter.

+++

The worker at Hawkins lab only had an hour left to go on his shift. In his spell of boredom, he had brought along his Walkman and was blaring one of his favorite songs as he repeatedly bounced the rubber ball against the wall. He would bounce and catch. Bounce and catch. Bounce and then catch. Until he noticed the light dancing off the wall he had been so focused on.

He turned around in his chair and felt his heart start pounding rapidly. The control panel he was supposed to be keeping an eye on was lighting flashing rapidly. He ripped the headphones of his head and it was only then that he heard the blaring of alarms around the building.

He knew what that alarm was.

Systems were down.

There were some monitoring systems out there. Out in the Nether. To maintain and feed back information for observation.

"A fuse must of blown."  The man told himself.

But then a dreadful thought popped into his head. He had no idea where it came from, and he had no reason for such paranoia. Almost as if something whispered it in his ear like the devil on his shoulder.

"Or maybe," he dismissed the thought as soon as fast it came. "Something else was responsible for this."

+++

It was nearly two a.m. and the Byers house was dead silent. The only sounds that could be heard were the soft hum of the clock's gears as the second hand made laps around the clock and the soft rhythmic plink of the leaky faucet.

Will Byers awoke, lazily pulling himself out of bed and walking down the hallway, his feet patting across the floor to the bathroom.

The sound of the toilet flushing was slowly waking him up, but he was still plagued with drowsiness as he turned on the faucet and sleepily washed his hands.

Suddenly, he froze when he thought he heard the sound of low rumbling in the distance.  He turned off the faucet, leaving the room quiet so he could listen. Sure enough, he heard rumbling coming from outside. Warily, he crept towards the bathroom door and opened it, surprised to see red flashing through the glass window on the front door. Deep violets and reds flashed across the living room accompanied by the sound of he could only guess to be thunder.

He fearfully crept towards the front door. He came to a stop when he heard the dreadful sound of wood creaking and he watched in horror as the front door slowly swung open to reveal a reddish purple sky, and the violent winds were carrying leaves and other debris with it. Something strange was growing around the outside of the house and he felt the familiar sensation returning.

His felt his blood run cold and his skin shriveled up and goosebumps broke out all over. His breathing picked up and he could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he watched frozen in terror.

Suddenly, his body was moving without his permission, and his legs carried him through the front door and out onto his front lawn. His hair and clothes were swept up in the wind and he came to a halt when he saw the horrors in front of him. The sky was a mess of black clouds and red lightning bolts shooting from the sky like daggers with thunderous booms. The clouds swirled together like a violent whirlpool in the sky and with every flash of lighting, the blood red sky was illuminating a dark towering figure.

It stood hundreds of feet tall and looked over the fields in the distance. It almost resembled a spider, only it was all limbs. Its head was a large crescent arch and as Will stared on in terror, it slowly turned its head. And even though it had no facial features, Will knew it was looking right at him.

The Shadow Monster.

+++

Hopper pulls his car to a stop. He always hated the drive out here. He preferred his grandfather's cabin to his run-down trailer by the lake, but driving in the woods at night was not something he liked doing. Regardless, he parked in the same spot he always did and put the car in park. He grabbed his hat and placed it on his head, stepping out of the car. He could feel the mud shift below his boots as he walked along the forest floor. Without even having to glance at the ground, his foot raised itself to step over the trip wire that was rigged around the area. He walked, up the porch steps and pulled open the screen door.

It took him less than a second to remember the rhythmic knock he had come up with and began knocking on the door.

Two quick knocks. Pause. Knock. Pause. Knock knock knock.

As usual, there a beat of silence and then the sound of the locks coming undone.

The man turned the doorknob and stepped inside, he was greeted by the sounds of the TV and an otherwise empty room. He glanced over to see the spare bedroom door was cracked, soft yellow light spilling out from behind the door.

He closed the front door behind him and hung his hat and coat on the coatrack. He then made his way over to the small television and switched it off. He walked across the room to the kitchen, unbuckling his holster from his belt and setting it down on the counter and then retrieved a can of beer from the fridge.

He lazily trudged over to the kitchen table and frowned at the plate of a single, half-eaten Ego that stood out against the trays of microwaveable dinner that were placed before each chair.

"Hey, what'd we talk about?" He softly called.

He pulled the yellow chair out and took a seat in his normal spot, anxious to eat after a long day.

"No signal," a young female voice carried across the cabin from the other room. He sat down, a frown on his face.

"What?"

"No signal. It's 8-1-5. You're late." The voice scolded.

He took a deep breath, hoping she wasn't too upset with him.

"Yeah, I lost track of time. I'll signal next time, all right?" He looked up as he heard the sound of the bedroom door opening and the small patter of feet. He looked up as he saw the girl come into view and sit down across from him. "Uh, and it's 8:15. It's not 8-1-5." He informed the girl.

It was Eleven. She wore a baggy grey sweatshirt and a pair of overalls. Her hair was longer now. It was still short, but it had length. It was a mop of curly brown hair. She looked at Hopper and repeated slowly.

"Eight-fifteen."

Hopper rolled up his sleeves so as to not dirty his uniform with dinner. He looked at the girl with a soft yet stern look. "Now, what did we talk about? Dinner first, then dessert.  Always. That's a rule,"

He leaned forward, and half smiled. "Yeah?"

"Yes," she replied.

They shared a smile and got started on their dinner, silently enjoying each other's company.

++++++

Tag List: @dickkwad @aimee-lucass @iblesstherainsdown-in-africa@miscellaneoustoasts

DM me if you want to be added!

[thathopelessromantic]

but at least the war is over (2/2)

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Rating: Teen Relationship: Lance/Keith Note: A very belated part 2 to Lance wanting to return to space and feeling bad about it but with a (cheesy) happy ending. Part of the Growing Up series. *previously titled “all’s not lost yet” until I listed to In Our Bedroom After the War by Stars for the 3 millionth time and had an epiphany. 

No one expected Lance to be the first to want to return to space.

Least of all, Lance.

AO3: (x) Part (chapter) 1: (x)

I see you there and I see your faces And I see you there alone And what does a mirror show you Can you see the grey Your sadness it is quite lovely But it is the sadness of a slave Why don't you give yourself a rest Give your self some room -When the Devil's Loose, A. A. Bondy

When they wake up again, the sun is high in the sky and the small cab has gotten unbearably warm under it’s direct light, but Keith still hesitates to pull away from Lance, as if he might disappear from under his hands if he moves too far away.

So, unsurprisingly, it’s Lance who finally breaks the silence.

“Not that I’m not loving this,” he starts, and his voice still sounds oddly hoarse and broken in places. “But you’re like…right on my bladder.”

Keith lifts his head with a half-hearted glare, but stops short when he finds Lance already watching him with a watery smile.

“Hi.” Lance says softly.

“Hi. What’s wrong?”

“I really missed you.”

Keith was really determined not to cry, honestly he thought surely they were both all cried out, but he can feel it building up in his chest as Lance sniffles. “I really missed you, too.”

“And I’m really, really sorry I made you think I was leaving you.”

Keith leans down to kiss him. He can feel Lance hiccup under him as he starts to cry in earnest.

“I know,” he soothes, brushing the tears away as best as he can. Some are definitely now his too, but reluctantly he admits that maybe he needs this cry too. “Shh, I know.”

“I just...” Lance waves his hand in the air for a moment and makes a frustrated noise. “I just love you so much and I was so happy when you asked me to marry you and I never could have gotten through any of that shit without you and I hate that I hurt you and that I can’t just be happy in our stupid, idyllic married life in our stupid, perfect house on earth-”

Keith can sense he’s edging towards hysterical, so he sits up, pulling Lance with him and intertwining their fingers. With his free hand, he cups his face, running a thumb over his cheek and whispering softly until he can feel Lance calm.

“It’s not exactly…okay that you just disappeared off the grid with no warning, but I can understand it. I get it. But I don’t care where we have to be or go for you to be happy, so long as I can stay in the picture. Okay?”

Lance nods, finally, and shifts down to rest his head against Keith’s shoulder. Keith isn’t sure how long they stay like that. Through the windshield they can see waves crash against the shore while birds fly overhead. In the far distance, there’s a boat chugging along slowly.

“I actually really do have to piss now.” Lance suddenly says.

“Oh my God,” Keith lets go of his hand, shoving him towards the door. “Then get out.”

Lance looks back over his shoulder at him with a cheeky look, and it isn’t a real Lance smile yet, but it’s so much closer than anything Keith has seen in days it makes something squeeze in his chest anyways.

 They’re moving slow, but eventually they load Keith’s bike onto the truck bed, strapping it down with questionably-functional bungee cords from the tool box, and get on the road. Keith drives, insisting he’s probably had at least a little more sleep than Lance the last few days. Lance is quiet for the first part of the drive, just watching the world pass by them through the window, but by the time they’re pulling into the parking lot of a truck stop he’s started sharing with Keith what he and Allura had discussed about the paladins coming back to space.

“I think her and Coran have been really lonely, honestly.” Lance admits as they climb out of the truck. “I think it’s really hitting them, now, everything they lost. They didn’t have a lot of time to really mourn it all in between training us, fighting, running for our lives, and rebuilding, but now that things up there have finally started to slow down and they’re spearheading these changes basically all alone…I can’t even imagine what that’s been like for them.”

Keith reaches out to pull Lance close, wrapping an arm around his waist just to revel for a moment in the feel of having him there again. “It’ll be good for them, then, to have us up there again.”

Lance is looking off into the distance, but he nods. “Yeah, right.”

They pay to use the truck stop showers in the back, and even having to put the same old clothes back on after, Keith has to admit he feels a lot better. Lance meets him in the store front and his hair is still damp and wavy, the drying ends curling over his forehead and around his ears. The dark circles are still under his eyes, but they look better, better than he could have hoped for from a nap and a shower. Slowly, Keith can feel some of his pent-up stress release.

“I kind of feel like a human again finally.” He quips. He looks soft and like little by little Keith’s real Lance is emerging from the sad, lost one he found on the sand. Keith runs a hand through his hair, just because he can and Lance doesn’t stop him, just looks at him with soft, grateful eyes.

They eat in the diner next door. The whole building smells like coffee and grease and the oldie’s radio station keeps going in and out, but the food is cheap and good, and the portions almost feel like enough to make up for the meals they’ve both skipped over the last few days.

Keith is half-way through devouring his third pancake when he looks up and finds Lance just watching him. There’s a pile of eggs on the fork in his hand, but he doesn’t seem concerned about his food for the moment.

“What?”

“I love you.” Lance says.

Keith swallows his food. “I love you, too.”

“We should renew our vows before we leave.”

“Okay.” Keith agrees easily. “Why?”

“Well we talked about having a wedding here on Earth, but life…got in the way, we never had time. So, we should do it for real this time, invite actual guests, leave with one really good memory instead of my breakdown.”

“Lance-”

“I know,” Lance interrupts, not letting Keith get into another spiel. “But I’m still serious about the vows thing. Our first wedding didn’t even happen on an actual planet. Like at all. I just wanna do it right.”

“Okay, let’s do it. We’ll have to plan it pretty quickly, though.”

Lance sighs, finally taking a bite of his food again. “I know. Abuela’s gonna kill me. Or Veronica. Whoever gets to me first, I guess.”

 They fill up before they leave the truck stop, but they still have to stop a few more times before they make it back to town. Lance offers to drive a few times, in between short, fitful naps, but Keith insists he’s fine. But now, just under an hour outside of town, as he turns off the main highway, Keith can feel Lance’s suspicious eyes on him.

“Are you sleep-driving? Or lost? Because we are now going in the opposite direction of home.”

“I know where I’m going, just be patient.”

Lance makes a suspicious noise, clearly not happy about being kept in the dark about something, but he doesn’t protest further.

The desert looks familiar and foreign all at the same time. Keith spent so much of his time out here, alone, it’s weird to think about how far away life had taken him.

Lance grabs his arm suddenly, and Keith is pulled out of his thoughts as the familiar outcropping comes into view over the horizon. When he looks over, Lance’s eyes are wide and questioning, but he doesn’t look upset, so Keith continues on.

Eventually, they have to park the truck and go the rest of the way on foot. It’s been a while since any of them have been out this way. When they first came back to Earth, Allura and Coran were eager to see the cave where the paladins first discovered the blue lion, but it took them nearly two weeks to find it again. And then after a long discussion, they finally all agreed it would be best if other people couldn’t stumble upon it again by accident, and they showed the Garrison it’s location as well. Now as they approach it, there are towering chain link fences that block off their path.

Keith tosses a rock at the fence, just to be safe, and confirms his suspicions. It’s just a fence. No force field or electricity or even a posted guard. Some top-notch security from the Garrison. But he supposes, in this instance, he should be grateful.

Lance is uncharacteristically quiet through all of this. Even when Keith pulls out his Marmoran blade and cuts them a way through the edge of the fence, he doesn’t protest. When they finally reach the mouth of the cave, however, Lance reaches out and grabs his hand.

“Are you okay?” Keith asks, softly. “We don’t have to go in.”

Lance shakes his head. “No, I want to. I’m just…nervous.”

Keith squeezes his hand. “I’m right here. We’re doing this together.”

Lance sets his jaw, determined. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Hands clasped, they step inside, together.

The sun is setting behind them, and the dimming light makes it hard to see the deeper into the cave they go, but the old carvings that used to baffle Keith were still all around them, untouched and unchanged by time.

In the distance, there’s the sound of running water, and they have to step carefully, aware the ground could easily give out under them and drop them into the cavern below.

Keith came here for Lance, for a rising suspicion he had about the cave and the Blue Lion and his husband, but now that he’s here again, he realizes this was good for him too. He remembers the months he spent trying to understand this cave while looking for Shiro and hitting nothing but dead ends and the frustration when everything just seemed to effortlessly come together for the strange Garrison students who stumbled upon his rescue attempt. And when they first came back, Allura and Coran had so many questions for him as the one to first discover it, when all was said and done, he just wanted a break. But now, he feels more at ease here than he has perhaps anywhere else on Earth since they’ve returned.

The sun continues to drop further and further in the sky. It’ll be dark soon, and difficult to get through the desert back to their car. He doesn’t want to rush Lance, but he’s grateful when Lance finally squeezes his hand tight, reaches out, and touches the wall.

For a moment, nothing happens, and Keith thinks maybe he was wrong, and then, just like that, the cave lights up around them, the carvings aglow in a soft, pulsing blue.

Lance gasps, and Keith can’t help but marvel at the way he glows under the blue lights.

There he is, Keith thinks. His Lance, reemerged. There’s still a lot they need to discuss and deal with directly, but for the moment, his smile and the light in his eyes are genuine and that’s enough for now. That’s enough for Keith.

“We wouldn’t have made it to space, without you,” Keith says softly and when Lance turns to look at him, his awed expression doesn’t change. “All the times I came out here before and made no progress, and we could argue that it was because I was alone or it wasn’t the right time, but I think the Blue Lion was waiting not just for someone like you, but waiting for you, Lance, and without you there wouldn’t have been any paladins of Voltron, we wouldn’t have won the war, or managed any of the great things we did to help the universe. I think, maybe, you’ve always been destined to be a part of space, of something greater than this life on Earth.”

Lance is crying, again, but he doesn’t bother to wipe away the tears as he pulls Keith into a hug. It knocks the air from his chest, but Keith throws his arms around Lance too, and doesn’t dare let go.

“We wouldn’t have made it even this far without you, first. If I was meant to go out there, it was always with you by my side, mullet.”

Keith hides his smile in Lance’s shoulder, and he feels Lance pull him impossibly closer. “We’re better together,” he repeats softly, something Lance has said to him over and over again in the time they’ve known each other, even before they were married, even before they were dating at all. “We’re a team.”

They have no idea what’s waiting for them past tonight, past their next few days on Earth, but whatever it is, they can handle it, together.  

[baypearl]

Here’s my finished piece for the @kidgesecretsanta !!

My fic is for @piixiefawn and lemme tell you I’ve admired them for a while and was super happy I got to write something for them! Merry Christmas Piixie!!

She asked for “Maybe some sort of high school or college AU where Keith sees Pidge walking home alone in the snow? Where it goes from there is up to you.” And admittedly I modified it a bit. I hope you like it!

-——————

Katie Holt stared out the classroom window, having become bored with this professors lesson on astrophysics long ago. She already knew this information and didn’t need to hear it again in a bored monotone voice. Besides, the white fluffy clouds that seemed to promise snow were much more interesting to look at.

Katie’s attention was diverted to the campus pathways below as more students began walking along them, indicating the change in classes was soon. One particular red jacket caught her eye, the owner of said jacket looking up at the windows of the science building Katie was in.

When he located the window the girl sat at, his face split with a lopsided grin and he raised his hand in greeting. A light blush dusted Katie’s cheeks as she subtly checked where the professor's attention was at before sending a small wave back. She watched Keith duck into the building, though she knew he didn’t have any classes in this particular place that day.

After what still felt like an eternity and a half, the class was finally dismissed for the day. Katie shoved all of her pens and notebooks haphazardly into her green bag and bolted from the mundane torture chamber.

As she rounded the corner out of the doorway, she nearly ran straight into the same red jacket she had been looking at earlier. She peered up into the face of her best friend, both now grinning from ear to ear.

“Slow down there Pidge, I’m not looking to get run over just now.” Keith joked.

Katie rolled her eyes at the nickname her friends had grown fond of after hearing it from her older brother once. “We’re college kids Keith, we always want to get run over.”

Keith laughed at her joke and pulled her to the doors of the building by her arm. “Come on, we need to get back to the apartments and get ready for that snowstorm everyone is saying is gonna hit.”

Katie smiled as Keith’s grip shifted so their fingers were interlaced. Her heart stuttered at the feeling of their palms pressed together, even knowing that Keith saw nothing beyond friendship in the gesture.

She lightly squeezed his hand in hers, to which he looked back at her to shoot her a wink.

They burst through the double doors of the building, enveloped in the chilly show laden air. Katie almost immediately started shivering. She claimed she was made for warmer climates and making her endure cold like this was cruel and unusual. Then someone would point out that she had her pick of universities that would accept her, and she’d pout that this one had the best tech programs in the country. It didn’t help that she never seemed to remember a jacket while rushing out to classes in the morning. It was Keith’s turn to roll his eyes. Katie was a genius, but that didn’t mean she was smart.

He reluctantly disentangled his hand from hers and began to shrug his own jacket off. As soon as she saw what he intended, she began to protest and claim she was perfectly fine.

“Katie,” the dark haired man grumbled in exasperation, “your lips are turning blue and the apartment complex is all the way across campus. I retain heat better than you do just take it.”

Katie reached out hesitantly and took the proffered red jacket. She carefully slipped it over her arms, enveloping herself in the scent of his aftershave, deodorant, and his dog. It was so him she would never get enough of it.

He laughed under his breath at the sight in front of him. The adorable girl swimming in the coat that fit him perfectly, encapsulating the distinct size difference between the two of them. He’d never tell her that one of the reasons he decided to brave the chill and give her the jacket was that he loved seeing her in his clothing. Whenever she borrowed a shirt, sweatpants, or sweatshirts a thrill ran through him.

“Thanks.” She whispered just loud enough for him to hear. They both turned away from the other before seeing the blushes they both had.

Katie slipped her hand back into Keith’s as they continued walking through campus. They walked leisurely, neither wanting to go their separate ways at the apartment complex.

Halfway through the walk, Katie felt something cold brush her cheek. She stopped in the middle of the path to look to the sky and the snowflakes that were slowly starting to fall. At the end of her arm, Keith was pulled to a halt as well and turned back to the girl questioningly. At her upturned face, he too looked up at the clouds.

Katie and Keith both watched in wonder as the snowflakes increased until hundreds were falling around them.

Katie looked back at the boy next to her and began to giggle. He raised an eyebrow at her, watching as she reached the hand that wasn’t occupied holding his to his hair. “You’ve turned salt and pepper on me!” She laughed as she brushed the accumulated flakes off his head.

He laughed along with her. “Maybe it should be my permanent look, I’ve been told people find it very attractive.”

“Nah,” she smiled at him, the hand in his hair traveling to cup his cheek. “You look far more attractive with your normal hair.”

Shocked by her words, he stared down at the bronze haired girl. He too reached up to her face, brushing a lock of hair back from her face. He watched as her gaze travelled from his eyes to his lips and back again.

Before he really knew what he was doing, he leaned down and pressed his chilled lips against hers.

He could feel her lips smile against his as her fingers brushed through his hair. The hand that was still entwined with his squeezed as their lips moved softly against each other.

Keith pulled back from her after what felt like an eternity while also feeling like milliseconds. They just looked at each other, both of them smiling, happy that their moment had finally come.

“WELL IT’S ABOUT TIME!”

Katie and Keith both jumped three feet in the air at the sudden shout from down the path. The watched as their friends Lance and Hunk came up the path, the former practically skipping with joy.

Keith was ready to deck the happy man who interrupted the private moment. “What are you doing here” he basically growled.

“First of all, you’re in the middle of the campus path everyone is allowed to be here. Second, Hunk realized Pidge left her jacket at home this morning again so we were planning on rescuing her.” Lance then shot a grin between Keith and the girl wearing his jacket. “I guess we were a bit late for that though. Let’s get out of this snow though! It’s a hot chocolate and movie marathon day, plus we need to tell Allura and Shiro about this new development in the ‘Keith and Katie courtship ritual.’”

The two in question rolled their eyes as both their friends turned and merrily skipped back to their homes.

Katie turned to Keith, to find him looking back at her with gentle eyes. They smiled gently at the other. Katie reached out her hand and for the third time that day threaded their fingers together.

[justheretobreakthings]

In the Spirit of the Season - Chapter 2 of 4

(Previous Chapter)(Next Chapter)

Word Count: 1,960 (Total Word Count: 3,706) Read on AO3

I now present, part 2 of my @voltronsecretsanta2k18 fic for @narts-art! Hope you enjoy it!

"So," Coran said as he examined the completed gingerbread houses. "This is what houses look like on Earth?"

Lance pulled a shingle off the roof of his gingerbread house to pop into his mouth before answering, "Well, I mean, most of them tend to be a little less, you know, covered in candy and icing."

"Unless you're living in the woods trying to lure children into your home to kill and eat them," Pidge commented.

Coran furrowed his brow, turning to her in concern. "Does that... happen often, on Earth?"

"Yes."

"She's lying, Coran," Hunk said hastily before glaring at Pidge. "Stop scaring Coran like that!"

"Well, I think they're simply adorable," Allura said, smiling at her own sloppily assembled gingerbread house. She tapped on the wafer chimney. "And you humans have a part of your house specifically dedicated to being set on fire? So quaint! If ever we get to visit Earth, one of you simply must let me watch you burn your house!"

"Allura," Lance said, looking her steadily in the eye, "I would burn my entire neighborhood to the ground if you wanted me to."

"I see Lance has settled on a phrase to put on his Valentines this year," Pidge said.

"Valentines?" Allura asked.

"One holiday at a time, people," Hunk said. He reached out to the table and started picking up the tubes of icing. "Is everyone finished with their houses? We can start cleaning up."

The other murmured in confirmation and started rising from the table, gathering up their own extra candy decorations and utensils. “What are we gonna do with all this leftover gingerbread?” Pidge asked, gesturing toward the slabs of gingerbread walls and roof that were laid out in front of the sixth seat at the table, the one that had remained empty throughout the afternoon. “Wait and see if Keith wants to make his later, or…?”

Lance scoffed. “If he wanted to build a gingerbread house, he would have come and joined the rest of us. And if Keith doesn’t want to have fun, fine, whatever. But that doesn’t mean the gingerbread should go to waste.”

“You did say you told him we were building them today, right?” Hunk asked Pidge as Lance grabbed a slab of gingerbread from Keith’s spot and started nibbling eagerly on it.

Pidge nodded. “Yeah, course I told him. Don’t know why he didn’t come.”

“’Cause he’s Keith,” Lance said through a mouthful of gingerbread. “Short of physically wrestling him down, carrying him into the room, and hog-tying him to keep from running off, I don’t think there’s any possible way to get him to actually spend time with the rest of us. The mighty lone wolf doesn’t take holidays.”

“Still,” Hunk said, picking up some gingerbread for himself. “If there was anything he’d be likely to join us for, I thought it would have been this. Shiro said Keith always had a major sweet tooth.”

“His loss,” Lance said with a shrug. “More importantly, for our next holiday activity, I’m thinking: Christmas caroling. We spend a day planet-hopping and singing Christmas songs at various intergalactic embassies.”

“Interesting idea,” Coran said slowly. “Although there’s a distinct possibility that some planets could interpret such a greeting as an act of war.”

“That’s a risk we’re just going to have to take. For the sake of Christmas spirit.”

Pidge cleared her throat. “If you two are going to get into a debate about this, could you do it somewhere else while the rest of us actually clean?”

The two of them obliged, bickering softly about the perceived aggressiveness of Christmas caroling as they left the kitchen, and the others resumed their cleaning.

Pidge didn’t see Keith until later that day, when she was laying out the place settings for dinner – it was her turn to set the table according to the chore calendar Hunk had created, much to her and Lance’s chagrin – and he came wandering in, the dark patches of sweat at his collar and under the sleeves of his tee shirt indicating that he’d just finished up yet another long session on the training deck.

He nodded to Pidge in greeting as he crossed the kitchen to the refrigerator, and Pidge clicked her tongue in irritation. Keith paused, hand halfway to the fridge’s handle, and turned to her, brow raised.

“Nice of you to finally show up,” Pidge said.

“Come again?” Keith said.

“The gingerbread house party today? Hunk was really looking forward to having that as a fun group bonding time.”

“… And?”

Pidge stared at him. “And? What do you mean ‘and’? And you weren’t there!”

“I know that,” Keith said, looking, if anything, more confused. “What’s the problem?”

“That is the problem!”

Keith just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, so Pidge continued. “How come you didn’t come to the gingerbread house party, hm?”

“What do you mean?”

“I told you a couple of days ago that we were going to be making gingerbread houses, and you never came. You just stayed in here and did your stupid training - the same thing you’re always doing, non-stop, and frankly you’re going to just implode from exhaustion at some point if you keep this up.” She crossed her arms. “So, what is it? Why didn’t you come to the gingerbread house thing?”

Keith looked back up at her, frowning in silence for a moment before he answered, “I… wasn’t invited.”

“What are you talking about? I invited you!”

“No, you - you told me about it, but you didn’t - ”

“Well, yeah,” Pidge said, rolling her eyes. “That was me inviting you. Why did you think I made a point to tell you about it if it wasn’t an invitation?”

“I just thought - ” He cut himself off, his face starting to redden. He turned away, opening the fridge, removing a bottle, and slamming the door shut. “Forget it.”

“No, seriously, what the hell did you think I was telling you for?”

Keith huffed out a breath. “Well, you said - you said the kitchen was reserved for the afternoon for the gingerbread house thing so I - I thought - I thought you meant, like, stay away from the kitchen, it’s taken.”

The glared that Pidge had been wearing softened into a puzzled frown. “Why would you think that? I did say it was a group thing, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but, I mean, the group is - you guys are the group, I didn’t - I didn’t think…”

“Keith,” Pidge said slowly, “Did you… think we wouldn’t have wanted you there?”

For a long moment, Keith was silent, his finger fidgeting on the cap of the bottle he had pulled from the fridge. Then, without a word, he set the bottle down onto the counter and turned away, striding out of the kitchen.

Pidge swore under her breath, dropping what remained of the cutlery she was laying out onto the middle of the table with a clatter before hurrying off after Keith. “Hey!” she called to him as she half-jogged to catch up to him. “Hey, assface, you can’t just leave in the middle of a conversation like that!”

“I forgot to shower,” Keith snapped at her, not breaking her stride.

“And, what, the castle will implode if you don’t shower right now?”

“Pidge – ”

“Seriously, what’s going on with you?”

“Nothing’s going on with me, I just need to shower.”

“The hell you do,” Pidge growled. They turned the corner to the hallway with the paladins’ communal bathroom, and Pidge sprinted forward to stand in the doorway, feet planted and her hands on either side.

Keith leveled a glare at her when he caught up. “Move,” he said.

“No.”

“Pidge.”

“I’m not moving until you tell me what the hell is the matter with you,” Pidge said. She leaned from side to side to block Keith off as he tried to slip past her. “Look, I know you’re in a mood and all because of the whole Shiro thing, and I get it, I do, if there’s anyone on this ship who would get it it’s me, but for the love of crap man, why don’t you at least make an effort?”

“What the hell are you on about?!”

“I’m ‘on about’ the fact that you’ve got plenty of people in this castle to come to, and we’ve tried to have group bonding times and all, but you just keep going off to be miserable all by yourself! And now you up and tell me that you’re avoiding us because we don’t want you around? Where the hell did you get that idea?”

Keith’s hands curled into fists at his side, his face going a deep shade of red. “Because you don’t want me around!” he snapped.

There was silence for a moment as Keith breathed in and out through clenched teeth, Pidge blinking uncertainly at him, as if not sure whether she’d heard him correctly. “What – Keith, of course we want you around!”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, we – ”

“No, Pidge, trust me, you don’t.” Keith sighed. “Look, it’s not – I don’t take it personally, really. I don’t. It’s a compatibility thing. People are fine with having me around when I’m with Shiro, because I guess sometimes we’ve wound up being sort of a package deal, but – but when it’s just me? Come on. I – I know I’m not exactly fun to be around, and I know I’m basically a lost cause when it comes to games and jokes and all, and you don’t have to – I mean, I don’t – it’s the holidays, the last thing you guys need is me bringing you down.”

“Keith, you – you wouldn’t be bringing us down.”

Keith shook his head. “You don’t have to do that, Pidge. It’s not like this is news to me, okay? I get it. Christmas comes every year, I’ve been through a bunch of them. I’ve had foster families try to fake it, try and have ‘Santa’ bring me some generic ‘toy for boy in this age range’ toy so they can pretend I’m part of it, but God, it was so much easier on everyone with those families who were just honest, who would just tell me, stay out of the way so the everybody else can actually enjoy themselves. At least then we knew where everyone stood.

“So you guys just go ahead and do your gingerbread houses and your gift exchanges and all, and I’ll just… I’ll stay out of the way. Okay? I’ve got a lot of training to do anyway. So, it works out better for everyone, you know?”

In Pidge’s stunned state after that declaration, Keith managed to shove his way past her. He draped the towel from his shoulders over the curtain rod and turned on the water so it could start heating up before turning away. Just has he was reaching for the hem of his shirt to start undressing, though, the water shut off. He turned around to see Pidge, her arm stretched out past the curtain and into the stall, staring at him with round eyes.

“Your – your foster families seriously said that to you?” she asked softly.

“… Some of them,” Keith answered. “I’m taking my shower, now, Pidge. Could you – ?”

“No,” Pidge said. “No, they were – they were wrong, Keith.”

“Pidge, could you just – ”

“I mean it. They were – you don’t need to stay out of the way, Keith. And we do want you here. I want you here.”

Keith said nothing, so Pidge sighed and grabbed him by the forearm. “Come on,” she said, turning around to start tugging him away from the bathroom. “There’s something I want to show you.”

[ididntlookback]

Could you maybe write something where lances ends up wearing keiths jacket but not by choice. Like his gets damaged or he forgot it and it’s freezing or something. Thanks sooo much ;)

I am SO awful, I got this ask like a month ago and i’ve had this finished for like a week but i’ve been super busy im so so sorry ahhh i hope you enjoy (wc: 2,800)

Lance was a stubborn guy. He was self aware of that. He liked to be right and he hated to admit it when he was wrong.

In the hellish situation he was currently in, though, Lance had to admit that he’d been very wrong. Very wrong.

Team Voltron had gotten back to Earth a few weeks prior. Things were looking scary. When they arrived at their home planet, instead of getting the calming, heartwarming atmosphere they’d hoped to rebuild their castle in, they were confronted with fighting and- you guessed it- the Galra.

They hadn’t taken over Earth yet, but there were regular attacks and voltron were doing their best to fend them off. The Galaxy Garrison wasn’t much help, as their weapons and ships didn’t even begin to size up to the advanced technology the Galra had.

It also didn’t help that the Galra were an enigma to most earth goers. The existence of aliens hadn’t been common knowledge until voltron came down to Earth. Even then, humans were hesitant to believe it until the first Galra attack arrived

Even with the minimal help the garrison provided, team Voltron wanted to stay close to the base, as that’s where their ship was being rebuilt. For the time being, they were all cramped up in Keith’s cabin.

It was a late afternoon and Lance was laying on Keith’s very uncomfortable couch. He was eating a bag of chips while staring up at the ceiling. Pidge, Hunk, and Coran were outside fixing up Keith’s old cruiser, which had broken on the last trip to the garrison. Everyone else was over at the Garrison working on the ship.

The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, the sky tinted shades of orange and violet. Lance loved the sunsets. Ever since he got back from space he held a deep appreciation for them. Today, though, Lance would not be able to sit back and enjoy it.

Shiro entered the cabin with his signature serious face that meant ‘time to get to work.’ Pidge and Hunk trailed after him.

“The Garrison just signaled. There may be another few ships coming down,” He said. “Lance and Keith, take the cruiser and get over to the garrison. We’ll back you up soon.”

“Is the cruiser even ready to drive?” Keith asked. He was across the room from Lance, sitting against the wall.

“It should be good,” Hunk said. “Probably.”

“Probably?” Lance asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah,” Hunk confirmed. “… Probably.”

Lance and Keith met eyes, both uneasy at Hunks unenthusiastic reassurance.

“Oookay,” Lance said. “Our armor’s at the Garrison, so we’ll have to gear up over there.”

Keith got up and pulled his jacket on, heading for the door. Lance followed suit.

“Get your jacket,” Keith said, halting in front of the door and causing Lance to bump into him.

“No thanks, Mom,” Lance said, rolling his eyes. “It’s the desert. How cold could it be?”

“Pretty fucking cold,” Keith scoffed.

“I’ve been at the Garrison for years, i think i know how cold it’ll be.”

“You’ve been in the warm, safe walls of the garrison, not stuck out in the desert at this time of night.”

“Whatever,” Lance said, pushing past Keith. “I’m not gonna bring my jacket just because mr. weather guy over here says I should.”

“Your funeral,” Keith sighed, following Lance.

When Lance got outside, it was slightly chilly but nothing like what Keith said it would be like. He mentally scoffed to himself.

After Keith took the front seat and Lance climbed on behind him, Lance wrapped his arms around Keith’s waist. At the contact Keith winced a bit, as if he’d been washing dishes and his hand touched something gross.

“You don’t have to act so repulsed by me,” Lance scoffed.

Keith shuddered a bit as he turned the engine on. “Do you have to… hold me that tight?”

“Well, excuse me for not wanting to fall off this thing and die.”

Keith didn’t answer. He just started driving.  

It was a 15 minute drive to the Garrison, and Lance, like Keith, was not enthused about the idea of physical contact between the two of them.

As they drove, Lance looked out at all the passing mountains and rock mounds. When he was a kid in the car, he’d imagine a man running with the car and jumping from tree to tree, from building to building. He liked to do that on the rides over to the garrison as well. It made him ache to visit home again, as he’d done when they first arrived on Earth.

“Did you really live out here for a full year?” Lance asked. He had to speak loudly, the wind carrying away his voice.

“Yeah. Why?”

“There’s nothing to do out here,” Lance said. “Besides following weird energy stuff, what did you do for fun?”

“What were you doing while i was out here,” Keith snapped. “Failing flight simulators at the Garrison?”

Lance didn’t reply for a few seconds. “Me-ow,” Lance laughed, “What’s with the aggression, Mullet? It was just a question.”

“… Sorry,” He said a few seconds later. “Sometimes i just forget that we, like… don’t hate each other anymore.”

“Oh, don’t worry. A small part of me will always hate you, no matter what,” Lance said, his words dripping in signature Lance sarcasm.

Keith actually laughed at that. “It does make me feel better, thank you.”

Lance was glad they weren’t facing each other. He didn’t want Keith to see the smile at their banter.

“You feeling the cold yet?” Keith asked.

Lance actually was. It got really cold really fast. Still, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. They’d be at the garrison in no time.

“Nope,” He said. “I guess you’re just weak.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Keith replied. “It’ll get colder.”

“Great,” Lance said, though his heart sank at Keith’s words, “I say bring it on.”

Lance let his mind wander as the air became increasingly more chilly, becoming like small daggers piercing his skin. He started formulating a plan for when they got to the garrison, but it was hard since they knew pretty much nothing about the attack.

When they were about seven minutes away from the Garrison, the cruiser began to slow down. The drop in speed brough Lance back to reality.

“What are you doing?” Lance asked.

“I’m not doing anything,” Keith said, angrily trying to get the speed up.

The cruiser finally stopped all together and at a strange smell Lance looked behind him. There was smoke coming out of the engine.

“That doesn’t look good,” Lance grumbled.

Now that they were just sitting in the now pitch black desert, Lance was shivering, the cold making his fingers numb. Him being stubborn, he tried not to shiver. He didn’t want to give Keith the satisfaction.

Keith got up to investigate and Lance missed his warmth. Not that Keith had much warmth- his hands were like iceicles- but in the freezing desert he was basically a heat generator.

Opening up the hood of the cruiser, Lance saw Keith poke and prod around, trying to see something wrong.

“I think the oil thing is leaking,” Keith said, frowning.

“T-the ‘oil thing?’” Lance asked.

Hearing the stutter in his voice, Keith’s head snapped over to look at Lance.

“You’re cold,” Keith declared.

“What?” Lance said, taking in a sharp breath that hurt his lungs. “No i’m n-not.”

“I told you to bring a jacket!” Keith scolded. “You just had to try and be right.”

“Okay, let’s back up a b-bit,” Lance said, holding his hands up. “Did you just call it the ‘oil thing?’ Can you fix it or not?”

Keith sighed. He walked over to where Lance was sitting. “I don’t think so.”

Panic was starting to rise up in Lance at their situation. He was trying to subtly hug his own arms for more warmth. “What do you mean ‘I don’t think so?!’ It’s your cruiser!”

“This is the first time it’s broken!” Keith argued back. “I’m not an engineer, i don’t know how the thing works.”

Lance looked at Keith blankley as he tried processing things. The cold air must’ve been slowing down his brain. Keith raised an eyebrow as he watched Lance make blank eye contact with him.

“You… okay?” Keith asked.

“We’re s-stuck… in the desert… the cold desert… alone,” Lance cleared up, talking with his hands for more emphasis.

“Yep,” Keith said.

“Well… shit.”

“Yep.”

“How far aw-away is the garrison?”

“Four miles,” Keith said miserably.

“How f-far away is the cabin?” Lance asked, hoping for a better answer.

“Four miles.”

Lance hung his head down dramatically. “S-s-so all our options s-suck?”

“Yep,” Keith confirmed. “We should walk to the Garrison. The attack is still happening and they’re counting on us.”

“That’ll t-take us an hour,” Lance groaned. He’d done track all through middle school, so he was acutely aware of how long a mile is.

“Better late than never,” Keith said. “Let’s get moving.”

Lance wanted to die. That’s when he knew that for once- well, maybe more than once- in his life he’d been wrong. What he’d do for his jacket. The two were walking against the chilly winds which added insult to injury. Lance’s lips felt numb and his fingers felt practically immobile.

Keith looked cold but not nearly as cold as Lance. How warm could that jacket be? It was so short it could barely be classified as a jacket.

About ten minutes into silently walking, Lance kept feeling Keith’s eyes on him. He didn’t look over, as he wasn’t in the mood for a conversation or awkward eye contact.

“You’re freezing,” Keith declared a few minutes later.

Lance had given up on trying to look warm at that point. He let himself shiver freely, giving in and embracing the consequences of the dumbass decision he’d made.

“No, i’m t-toasty,” Lance grumbled sarcastically.

He looked over at Keith, who did the same and met Lances eyes for a few seconds. Keith sighed and took off his jacket, offering it to Lance.

“W-why?” Lance asked, looking at Keith. “Y-you need it.”

“I’m used to the cold,” Keith said. “I lived out here, remember?”

Lance hesitated for a few second, looking at the jacket as if it was a bomb that could explode at any second.

Keith, his arm still outstretched, pressed it slightly against Lance’s shoulder. “C’mon. Take it before I change my mind.”

Deciding that his pride was less important than getting frostbite, Lance took the jacket and put it on with shaking arms.

Boy was he wrong about the jacket not being that warm. It was already slightly warmed up from being on Keith’s body for so long, and the inside was lined with a delicate fleece, which Lance had not expected.

Even though the jacket was small on Lance and and ended slightly above his waist, it felt like the best and warmest thing ever in the cold desert.

“Thanks, m-mullet,” Lance stuttered out. Keith didn’t say anything in response, he just glanced over at Lance a few times.

“I do have to s-say,” Lance continued, “this jacket is so not practical even though it is kinda warm.”

“W-what do you mean?” Keith asked, starting to shiver.

“Why is it cropped? Like… w-why? Also, look at this.” He connected both sides of the jacket and zipped it all the way up so that the huge collar was hiding half of his face. “Why?”

Keith looked over and honest to god laughed at that. Lance snapped his head over to look at Keith, hearing laughter come from him being such a rarity.

Lance looked forward quickly though, not wanting Keith to catch him looking at him.

“It’s a cool j-jacket,” Keith shrugged.

“On what planet!?” Lance laughed. “You clearly got your fashion sense from your mom because that jacket is definitely not cool on Earth.”

“I like it.”

The two left it at that and continued to walk. They’d bump shoulders every once in a while, the wind and cold making them unsteady.

“How much longer?” Lance asked.

“Probably another t-thirty minutes.” Keith’s lips were turning blue, his arms shaking where he held them up to his chest. “Have I said ‘i told you so,’ about the whole jacket thing yet?”

“I don’t think so.”

Keith looked over at Lance with a small smirk on his face. “I t-told you so.”

“And I now accept that.”

Lance had a selfless thought and he hated himself for it.

He slipped the jacket off and handed it back to Keith. “I was the dumbass who didn’t bring a jacket. You should wear it.”

Keith took it but didn’t put it on. He looked in thought, as if he didn’t know what to do with the jacket. After a few seconds he looked at Lance with a glare and a sigh.

“The second we get to the Garrison, all m-memory of this leaves both of our minds, got it?” Keith borderline growled.

Lance raised an eyebrow. “All memory of w-”

His question was answered when Keith practically rammed his shoulder against Lances and wrapped an arm around his waist. With his other arm he draped the jacket over both of their shoulders like a blanket, pushing the two even closer together.

“Oh,” Lance creaked out, the blood rushing to his face. He looked over to see Keith’s face was red as well.

Their heads were right next to each other, and Lance could feel Keith’s breath. He was hyper aware of the arm around his waist. Copying Keith, he wrapped his own arm around Keith’s. He didn’t know what to focus on more, how warm he was or how muscled he was.

“Why are you so warm?” Keith asked, taking Lance by surprise.

“Huh?”

“Y-you are weirdly warm. W-why?”

If Lance wasn’t blushing before he sure was now. “I c-can’t tell if you’re looking for a logical answer. I’m j-just warm blooded.”

Lance had been wondering why Keith had said that, but when he himself randomly blurted out, “you smell n-nice,” he assumed that the cold was short circuiting both of their brains.

“T-thanks?” Keith said. “What do I-I smell like?”

“Dunno,” Lance answered back. “You s-smell very K-Keith like.”

At his response Keith chuckled a bit, causing blasts of warm breath on Lance’s cheek. Lance looked over at the boy besides him and Keith looked over as well.

They made eye contact and it made Lance’s heart stop. Lance had always seen Keith’s eyes as a strange shade of purple, but up close he found so much more in them.

“Uh, we should k-keep on going,” Keith said, his voice a whisper.

Lance hadn’t realized that they had stopped moving. He had to take a few seconds to reboot his brain before looking away and stuttering out a response. “Y-yeah.”

They shuffled on forward, fighting another gust of cold wind and pretending the earlier moment never happened.

“I can s-see the top of the garrison tower,” Lance exclaimed. “We’re almost there.”

“Good,” Keith breathed out. “And remember, not a w-word of this to anyone.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll just repress the hell out of it like I d-did to the ‘bonding moment.’”

“What?”

“What? Nothing!” Stupid hypothermia, making Lance unintentionally say things.

The two didn’t speak for the rest of the trip. They finally made it to the Garrison and Lance could practically taste the heating they’d find inside the establishment.

They got to the doors and waited for their buzz to be answered.

“Well, it’s been fun sharing awkward contact wi-with you,” Lance said, separating himself from Keith but immediately missing his warmth.

“B-back at you,” Keith said.

The door opened and the two immediately rushed inside. Lance’s skin itched as it warmed up. Both him and Keith rubbed their hands together, trying to bring feeling back to their fingertips.

“Where have you been?” Coran asked, rushing over to the boys. “The Galra ships will be here any second. Suit up!” He rushed off somewhere else, not even waiting for an answer.

Lance and Keith had to go separate ways to get to their lions. Before they split Lance offered Keith his jacket back. “Thanks for helping an idiot out,” Lance told him.

“You can keep it till the mission ends,” Keith told Lance. He started walking away until he stopped and looked back with a small grin. “It looks good on you.”

“Oh,” was all Lance could squeak out as he watched Keith walk away. HIs face was red and his heart was beating fast. He probably would’ve stood there in shock for the rest of the night until he remembered with a start where he was supposed to be.

“Right. Earth is being attacked. I should deal with that.”

[cinnamonsugarsheith-blog]

(jail)Bait and Switch

Pairing: Sheith, bg onesided Allurance, bg onesided HunkShay

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Student/Teacher, Kissing, mild dirty talk and Keith’s filthy 18 year old brain, implied blowjobs, quite a bit of curse words, Keith is A Tease

Summary: Keith’s physics class gets a new student teacher. Keith has every intention of being as annoying as possible, but Oh Shit He’s Hot.

Keith fucking hates this class. He hates math. He hates fucking "I did not spend twenty years in school for you to call me Mister" Dr Slav. He hates that it's fucking first period. He hates that fucking Lance McClain sits behind him and pokes him in the back of the neck with a pencil whenever he falls asleep.

If this class wasn't literally required for him to take for the degree he needed to work at Space X he Would Not be taking it.

So when they come back from spring break and Dr Slav introduces his new student teacher he has decided he is going to at the very least have a little fun during it by annoying the shit out of them.

He damn near chokes on his own tongue when Dr Slav introduces Mister Takashi Shirogane as his new student teacher though. No one should be able to make purple argyle look that fucking good. No one. Mister Takashi "call me Mister Shiro" Shirogane had silver hair that made Keith question if he needed to change his career path to sugar baby and dark eyes that hid behind glasses and a sharp scar across his nose that made him look just a little bit dangerous and fuck if that wasn't a thousand watt smile. Ugh. Yeah. He needed to change his plans. Scratch operation annoy the shit out of the peppy student teacher. Begin operation get the student teacher to bend him over the desk. And from the looks of the rest of the class. He had competition.

Something was on his side though, because the next day Dr Slav asked him to hang back after class. "Mister Shirogane, this is the top of the class, Keith Kogane. He has a bit of a disciplinary problem. And a mouth." Keith could feel Slav glaring. " But if you're looking at my seniors for a research assistant. This is the only one worth glancing at." Shiro laughed good naturedly. "I think you have a great group of student, Dr Slav." He adjusted his glasses, pushing them up the bridge of his nose. "But, it's good to meet you Keith. You must be some student to catch Slav's attention." Keith hoped he looked as effortlessly cool as he was trying to with his hands in his pockets and his gaze towards the door. "Yeah. Same." "Um, I'm looking for a research assistant to help me with my senior thesis. I'm an astrophysics major and I'm really hoping to help send the first manned mission to Kerberos... Its--" "One of Pluto's moons. Is it paid?" That seemed to catch Shiro off guard and he blushed. "N-no! But I'd be happy to give you rides to the lab at campus and meals and stuff while you're there. I uh... Yeah. The schedule is flexible, but you look like you're a flexible kinda guy and well if you're interested..." Keith had to mentally force himself not to Flip Out at the student teachers seemingly completely unintentional double entendre. He had no problem showing Shiro just how flexible he could be. He grunted. "Guess I'm interested. What are the hours." Shiro scribbled down his number on a sticky note with a quick "text me tonight, you're going to be late to English!" It wasn't until half way through English that he questioned how Shiro knew that’s what he had next.

The new english lit student teacher was here on a visa if her accent was anything to go by.  He thought about annoying her since Shiro had been a busy, but Lance wouldn't stop hitting on her. He pitied the heck out of her for that. Thank God his next class was not with Lance. "Heard you new student teacher is hot," Pidge stated without pretense. "Yeah, Lance says he looks like a nerdy Adonis." Keith shrugged, and passed Pidge a white powder to mix into their solution. "I guess." "And then slav asked you to hang back." Pidge wriggled her eyebrows at him. "What's up with that?" Keith smirked, hand reaching into his pocket for the sticky with Shiro's number. "Wouldn’t you like to know.

He texts Shiro an "its Keith from Slavs class" that night and falls asleep thinking about Shiro's strong hands pinning him to the chalkboard and asking him why his homework is late. When he wakes up he has a text "Hey Keith, Hope We can meet up soon to discuss specific hours. I'd love to give you a tour of the lab and observatory! --Shiro" What kind of dork signed their texts? He'd see him in class today. No point in texting back now. He scrounged through the closet for the jeans that were both the least dirty but also the tightest, a black pair, and grabbed the first shirt he found. He'd wear his jacket all day anyways. When he pulled into the school he was early and he strategically hung out on his motorcycle near the teachers lot until he saw Shiro get out of the noisiest station wagon the school had ever seen. He was shocked the thing was still running. Time to make his entrance.

Keith ran full force into his student teacher. And then proceeded to cuss as said student teachers nose started bleeding where he’d for all intents and purposes headbutted him. “Shit, Mr Shiro!” He was helping pull the man up and pressing the sleeve of his hoodie to his nose before the older man could stop him. “You okay?” He straightened the man’s bangs as he continued to press the cotton of his hoodie to his face. “Maybe we should go to the nurses office?” Shiro looked defeated, clearly not wanting to talk with his students hand pinching his nose shut. “’s go to the nurse.” Shay helped Keith slip off his black hoodie and continued to keep the pressure on Shiro’s nose. “You’re lucky Keith here knows a decent amount about first aid.” She smiled. “He’s gotten his fair share of bloody noses.” Keith snorted. “I give more than I get.” “Well I can see that.” The secretary ruffled his hair. “Now what happened here? I really hope you’re not picking fights with teachers.” “It was an accident, just ran into each other in the parking lot not paying attention.” Shiro nodded in agreement, slowly releasing the pressure on his nose to see if the bleeding had stopped. “Keith, I’ve got to go field attendance calls. You take good care of Mister Shirogane.” With that Shay slipped out of the room. “I think it’s stopped,” Shiro said hesitantly. “I’m sorry.” “It’s okay. It was an accident.” It wasn’t. But they were in the basically closet that served as a nurses office and he was close enough to see the creases next to Shiro’s eyes when he smiled and he couldn’t feel even a little bit bad. “Yeah–” Keith wetted some paper towels in the small sink and passed them to Shiro “– but I should’ve been more careful.” Shiro shrugged, and then gave a small smile as he wiped at his face and hands. “I mean if you really want to make it up to me, you can always take me up on that assistant position.” Keith took another step into the man’s space and held his hand out for the red tinged paper towel he was holding. Shiro handed it to him. He put two fingers under Shiro’s chin and tilted it up. He licked his bottom lip and dabbed the damp towel under Shiro’s nose again, gently, and then across his bottom lip. "Missed a spot.” He smiled. Shiro flushed the most brilliant red and gaped. Keith stepped back easy, tossing the bloody towels into the trash can under the sink. “And I think I’d like to see that lab, Mister Shiro.” Keith skipped first period and spent it hiding on the roof with Ezor, who was doing an art independent study and had her corner litteredp with paints and bright stained puddles where chalk pastels had been left in the rain and a smattering of scarf scraps that had been hacked up for their fringes. He couldn’t pretend to be cool in front of Shiro any more today than he had. Maybe skipping class would make think Shiro think he was mysterious or something though. Fuck it. “Ugh I wish the models Mr Iverson used in class had your bone structure. "M not modeling Ezor, I’m ditching. "Well you’re sitting perfectly still in my space, so I think that makes you my model.” She winked. He grunted and made an effort to move every thirty seconds after that. By the time lunch rolled around Lance still hadn’t seen him that day and was shocked when he plopped down next to Pidge and started shoving fries into his mouth. “Dude where were you this morning? Mr Shiro said he needed to give back your hoodie. You left it with him this morning?” Hunk choked on his milk and Pidge gave him the most conspiratorial of grins. “Yeah, so? Didn’t feel like listening to the Slave driver. Sorry.” “Are you…?” He waved his hands vaguely in the direction of the building where their physics classroom was. “Waving my hands?” Lance glared and lowered his voice. “Are you sleeping with the student teacher?” “Not your business, Lance.” Lance looked like his head was going to explode. “I’m gonna have to ditch game night, by the way, guys,” he changed topics, sort of. “Shiro has something to show me at campus.” He was definitely going to give Lance an aneurysm. “Okay. Suit yourself. We were gonna plan Monsters and Mana. Matt even volunteered to be the Dungeon Keeper.” Pidge got up to bus her tray. “Damn.” Keith did love M&M… But hot TA and fodder to hang over Lance’s head. “I’ll have to catch it next week.” He waited until most of the students had left the school to move his bike to the teachers lot next to Shiro’s car. He debated the pros and cons of positioning himself leaning against the hood of the car or straddling his bike when Shiro came out and opted for the bike. When Shiro stepped out of the school he caught Shiro’s swallow even as far away as he was. Keith grinned to himself and pocketed his phone. “Follow you?” “Yeah, it’s not too far.” Keith pulled his helmet on and waited for Shiro to get into his car before revving his engine just slightly more than he maybe necessarily needed to. It was indeed not too far. He was pretty sure this was the school Pidge’s brother went too. They parked in a garage and Shiro let him stash his helmet in his back seat while they toured the lab. Shiro talked animatedly about rocket ships most of the walk to the building and he promised he would wash his hoodie and get it back to him tomorrow. Keith shrugged.

"So you'd have to be in the lab at the same time as me since you're not a student but I'm usually here by myself unless Dr Holt comes in on the weekends--" "As in Sam?" Keith cut him off "Uh... Yeah. Samuel Holt." "Sorry, I'm just. His daughter is one of my best friends." "Oh yeah! Katie’s a sophomore now, right? And at your school too." "She goes by Pidge now, but yeah." Shiro laughed. "She used to hate when Matt called her that." Well. There went all his grand plans for trying to be the The Cool Guy. As soon as he talked to the Holts, that was going to be out the window. Shit. Might as well do what he could while he could then.

He perched on the side of Shiro's L desk kitty corner an ancient desktop as he pulled up data spreadsheet after data spreadsheet. "What--" he leaned forward, bracing one arm on the back of Shiro's chair and letting his breath ghost over the side of Shiro's neck and ear "--does this spike here mean?" He pointed out a blip in the data on the screen. He could see Shiro's shoulder tense under his thin sweater. "Um, it's a fraunhofer line from an element suspected to come from Kerberos." He leaned in a little closer. "Doesn't look like one I've ever seen." Shiro swallowed and turned his head to look at Keith. "No. No, it doesn't. Is this. Um are... Am I reading into this?" His face was positively red. Keith tilted his head just enough to question and seized this perfectly presented moment. "No, Mister Shirogane, I'm really interested in accepting this position under you..." There was only a few inches between their faces and Keith wanted nothing more to kiss this adorable man, but it was too soon. He sat up, never breaking the eye contact he had with Shiro, and slid off the desk. "What hours are you wanting me here?"

His student teacher couldn't look him in the eyes the rest of the week. His hoodie was folded neatly on his desk Friday morning, smelling of detergent and Shiro. He was probably making up that last part because he was crushing like a thirteen year-old girl. But fuck it.

His friends teased him about this as he burrowed his nose into it for the tenth time during lunch. He begrudgingly called Lance for help that night. "Black or blue jeans?" "Uh...." "Lance just tell me which one makes my ass look better. I know you know." Keith could practically see Lance putting the pieces together in his head. "Why~?" "Just tell me." "You're going to go see Mr Shiro, aren't you~?" Lance sing-songed into the phone. "Lance." Keith warned. Lance laughed. "Nah man, if this works, there's hope for me and Allura. Blue jeans. The dark ones. They bring out your eyes. And wear that baseball tee you think makes you look girly. The red one. Don't wear your bike boots. Sneakers. You've been doing that bad boy thing and it's dumb." "Have not." He hope Lance couldn't hear him pouting. "Have too. Mr Shiro is a nerd. Bad boy will catch his attention, but it won't keep it." Okay so maybe Lance had a point. "Thanks." "No problem! Let me know how it goes tomorrow!"

Keith bused to campus bright and early the next morning and could have kissed Shiro when he pressed a large iced coffee into his hands. Shiro laughed as he sucked down half the drink in five minutes. "I know, but it's best we get as much done in training as we can before Matt gets here and tries to tell you how to use a 'flux capacitor.'" Keith nodded and leaned against the wall of the elevator. "I think this is the first time I've seen you without your bike jacket. Didn't ride today?" "Too tired." "I'll give you a ride home when we are done here then." It wasn't a question, so he didn't respond, but he tried not to think too hard about how Shiro had noticed that he wasn't wearing his jacketo They ended up at a diner off campus and Keith was mildly less attracted to Shiro watching him try and fail to fit a burger covered in mac and cheese into his mouth without making a mess.

However this gave him the opportunity to reach out and wipe cheese sauce off  off Shiro's cheek with his thumb and the bunny in headlights look he got in response was so worth how disgusting he thought it was to lick it off his thumb. "What?" He asked when Shiro put his flushed face into his hands. "That was um..." "It's not my fault you're a messy eater." Keith did his best impression of Shiro's thousand watt smile. Shiro just nodded, then squeaked when he felt Keith's sneakered foot rest gently on his knee under the table. "So how do you like student teaching?" "Uh, it's good. Overall I mean. Everyone has been really great. Slav’s difficult, but..." Shiro shrugged. "And the students?" "Oh, um. You guys are a good class?" He offered weakly. Keith grinned. "Nah, I skip once a week and Lance is an ass. And I'm pretty sure half the girls have given you love letters by now." Shiro squirmed in his seat. "Well I'm not..." "Straight?" "How...?" "Straight men do not wear argyle, Mr. Shiro." "Um... You can just call me Shiro. When we aren't at school. All my friends do." "Are we friends?" Keith didn't bother to hide his smirk. "I'd like us to be.... Friends" Shiro said thickly. "Yeah?" Keith let his foot fall --dragged it-- down the inside of Shiro's calf. "Is this something..?" "I mean I'd say an assistant is more of a working relationship, but if you wanna be friends we maybe do something fun sometime." Smooth, Keith, so smooth. "Ah, I guess you're right... Maybe a movie? Or the arcade? What do people do to socialize these days?" Keith smiled. "Too much time in your books?" "You have no idea."

When Shiro pulled up to his house to drop him off he wasn't quite sure what to do. A hug seemed too forward, but nothing weird too? "See you Monday, right?" Shiro asked. "Yeah. Monday." He nodded. He hesitated for a moment, but reached for the door handle, opting to not push his luck any further than he already had. He stretched as he got out, feeling his shirt lift a bit and smiled to himself where Shiro couldn't see him when he made a noise in his throat. He'd have to make it a point to wear this shirt more often.  He almost had the door shut when Shiro blurted out his name. "Mmm?" He hummed and reopened the door. "Do you uh... Maybe want to catch a movie tomorrow?" "I think I'd like that a lot," he paused, "Takashi...." And gave Shiro what he really hoped was a sweet smile. Pidge would probably tell him he looked constipated. Definitely the most red he'd ever seen Shiro's face. Noted. "Co-ol," his voice caught half way through the word. "Text me?" "Sure thing." This time he shut the door and walked into the house before Shiro could respond. He was going to have his own personal flailing freak out and he needed the door between them when that happened.

Keith text Lance to tell him it went well and put his phone in his desk drawer to avoid texting Shiro too soon. When he did text Shiro, an hour later, it was with a short "you have anything you want to see tomorrow?" Fantasy Shiro in his head responded "You, baby, in my sheets." Real Shiro text back "there's a new horror movie out that looks pretty intense, but there's a sci-fi one that Matt says is really good too" Keith looked at the movie at their tiny local theater and could not find any horror movies. What the heck. "Horror sounds good, I can pick you up on my bike if you're not scared of riding." Also because Shiro's thighs around his hips. Keith groaned at the thought. Hell yeah. Shiro sent back an excited smiley and a "3:30 or 6?" Shiros thighs around his hips and his arms tight around him in the cool spring evening. 6:00pm. DEFINITELY 6:00pm.

He arrived at 5:30 on the dot the next evening, back in his usual leather riding gear, hair tied up in a ponytail. He handed Shiro a helmet and let him get situated before warning him he was going to want to hang on, smirk entirely devious. He was a speed demon without the desire to get Shiro to curl around him as he took sharp turns and whipped through yellow lights. Shiro was a surprisingly good sport about it whooping excitedly and shifting his body smoothly behind Keith. Having Shiro pressed against him felt as good as expected and he may have done a few unnecessary turns in the parking lot just to enjoy it an extra moment. Keith bought the tickets despite Shiro insisting that he had been the one to invite Keith. "You can get popcorn." "We are getting popcorn? What do you think I am, made of money?" Shiro tease, poking him in the ribs. Keith swatted his prosthetic hand away with a yelp. "Well I was kidding, but clearly not, since my assistantship isn't paid." Keith pouted "Hey, I offered to pay for the tickets!!" Shiro put a hand on his lower back and guided him towards the concession lines. Keith leaned into it, and practically melted when he didn't move his hand as they came to a stop at the back of the line. "Soda?" Shiro asked when they were up next. "Coke. I'm not an animal." Keith replied without hesitation. "God, you're perfect. Matt always makes us get diet fanta. I didn't know there was diet fanta." Shiro gave a shiver. Keith laughed. "Yeah, that's Pidge's favorite too. Nasty." They collected their things and Keith strategically lead them to a set of seats that already had the middle armrest raised so he wouldn't have to try to be sneaky about it. They sat shoulder to shoulder with the popcorn on Shiro's lap and the soda balanced between Keith's thighs. Shiro knew a shocking amount of movie preview trivia, which he blamed on Matt. And Keith insisted that he was unfit to teach physics because he liked Star Wars better than Star Trek.

It was not nearly as thick as he had been laying it on, which, he would later decide after a four way call that lasted the better part of two hours, was probably good. This was fun and easy and even though less direct "Takashi" was still blushing and smiling an awful lot. He did set his hand on Shiro's thigh about halfway through the movie though. And to his credit Shiro only tensed for a second before realizing Keith wasn't going to do anything else, and relaxing. The "horror movie" was actually a thriller with ghosts. It was not scary, but Shiro startled repeatedly, and Keith could feel him twitching every time a character did Something Very Stupid onscreen. Keith shifted and leaned over to whisper in Shiro's ear, "Ya know, he looks kind of like Slav... And the blonde guy looks like Mr Iverson with hair." Shiro snickered and turned to whisper back, "You're totally right!”

Keith leaned into Shiro's shoulder a little more after that. When it was over it was completely dark outside. "You want to grab food or...?" Keith let the question hang, holding the extra helmet out to Shiro again. "Sure, there's a Waffle House a few streets over?"   Keith hummed and lifted his leg over his bike. "And I will pay!" Shiro readily settles his hands on Keith's hips when he situated himself again. And his brain was telling him how easily those hands.... Ugh. Why did he think riding his bike was a good idea again?! But then Shiro's legs settled along side his and he remembered exactly why. He just had not very thoroughly thought out the nuances of this decision.

Thankfully it was a short ride to the Waffle House, but it was bittersweet. He had to turn things back up juuuuust a little when the waitress told them they were just the cutest couple. "Yeah, Takashi is gorgeous. I'm a lucky guy." Shiro fumbled, clearly wanting to play along, but missing the beat as she asked for their drink order. "It's uh... I'm sorry." Shiro fiddled with his placemat. "For what?" Keith raised an eyebrow. "That she thinks we are a couple." Keith shrugged, trying to figure out how to best play that. "I don't mind. I meant that... You're gorgeous. And smart to boot? You're a hell of a catch." He winked. "Like you're not." And there was the hand over his mouth. "Takashi, are you flirting with me?" Well that sulky glare was probably deserved.

"Are you?" He pushed. "Are you?" Shiro hedged back. "You're too smart to have any doubt that I'm not." Shiro let out a huge sigh. "Oh thank fuck. I thought I was being a creepy pervert." Keith laughed aloud at that.

"I'm 18. No harm, right?" He gave Shiro a lopsided grin. "I know. Your birthday is on the class roster." Shiro sighed. "If you weren't 18, I wouldn't have asked you to be my research assistant. Matt can get a little... Weird.... Sometimes. " "Yeah he gets it from his sister." "Wouldn't it be the other way around?" "Absolutely not." "So um...." Shiro started after the waitress interrupted to take their orders. "I know you're 18, and it's not for lack of... Ah... Attraction. " He cleared his throat. "But I think it may be best to wait until after you graduate to uh... Start anything." Keith raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Think you can keep your hands off me for that long?" "No, but I'm going to try." Shiro sulked.

"Challenge accepted." Keith grinned wolfishly and took a drink for his water Shiro groaned. "You're gonna kill me.” Keith tongued at his straw between his teeth, still grinning. "Only if you don't fuck me." "KEITH!" He laughed again. "What?"

Keith drove Shiro back to the apartment where he apparently lived with the Lit student teacher, Allura, and leaned back against him, dreading the moment Shiro would uncurl from around him and get off the bike. They took their helmets off and Shiro twirled his short pony tail, humming thoughtfully. "I had a lot of fun tonight." "I did too..." He tilted his head up a bit and Shiro made a noise of protest before he pressed a firm kiss to Keith's cheek. "See you tomorrow?" "Yeah..." Shiro watched as Keith secured the spare helmet. "See that star up there?" Shiro nuzzled his neck, a little hesitant. "Between the far one on this constellation here..." He took Keith's hand and pointed. "And this real dull one here?" "Yeah?' "That one's ours, baby..." Keith blushed and sunk back against the solid mass behind him. "It should be about... There" he took Keith's hand to another point in the sky. "When you graduate." Keith nodded, understanding. Shiro pressed a kiss beneath his ear. "That's when I bend you over Slav's  desk and fuck you until you forget everything but my name." "Oh fuck." Keith felt like the wind got knocked out of him as Shiro got off the bike. "What?" Shiro winked and grinned, looking at him over his glasses. "You started it." Keith swore the entire way home.

And that is how the next two months went, they would whisper salacious something's into each other's ears and press kisses along jaw lines and go home and pant the others name until they were an utter wreck, but Shiro kept fast on his promise of not until Keith graduated. And Keith was doing his best to break him. Prom night was close. Matt had bought Pidge a shitty handle of vodka and she had split it between the four of them before forcing her brother to drive them to the dance. They were all sloshed and he absolutely stole his chance to ask Shiro to dance with him. Shiro twirled him around, innocently enough, while Allura led Lance with a hand on his waist and Hunk roped Pidge into some semblance of sober slow dancing, staring longingly at secretary-slash-nurse Ms Shay. Shiro leaned close, and his hand tensed over the thin sweater covering Shiro's muscles. "Exams are next week. Have you thought about what you want if you get an A?" His lips just closed the barest bit over the edge of Keith's ear lobe and he about died in Thace's borrowed suit. "Shit. Whatever you're willing to give me." Shiro chuckled. "Now where's that cool, in control Keith I met the first week of class?" "You've fuckin ruined him," Keith huffed. "Tell me, baby." Shiro spun him and pulled him close. God, this man. "Want you to--" "My turn!" "Pidge, we are--" "Shhhhhhhhhhh. Best friend privileges. I have to protect your honor. Go dance with Hunk. Help him impress Miss Shay. He's trying. But it sucks." "Hi, Katie," Shiro greeted evenly. "If you hurt him, I will ruin your fucking life. Takashi Shirogane. Born 2/29/2031 to Mira and Kunikazu Shirogane in Osaka Japan. Immigrated to America in 2035. Dropped out of Galaxy Garrison's pilot program due to a suspicious training accident and relegated to Altea Tech's Astrophysics undergrad." "You've done you research?" "My brothers labmate or not. Keith is special." "I know, Katie. I mean to do right by him. I swear." She nodded and settled her head on top of his chest for the remainder of the song. "I'm gonna hold you to that...." Shiro held his pinky up. "I swear, Katie." She nodded and linked her pinky. "I trust you."

They left Shiro's station wagon in the teachers lot and Keith drove Shiro back to his house just off campus on his bike. "You uh... Want to come in?" Keith got off without question. "So uh... Katie....?" Shiro started, cracking open a beer and passing it to Keith. It was prom night. Fuck it. Keith groaned and took a long drag.  "What did she do?" "More or less? She is going to fuck me up if I hurt you...?" Keith nodded sagely, staring into the distance. "Holts scare the shit out of me." Shiro lifted his beer and they clinked in a cheers. "Shiro....?" "Yeah?" "I don't want to be cliche as hell... But... Could you. At least kiss me tonight? I mean… for real?" Shiro wasn't half a step away before he finished the question. "Thought you would never ask." Shiro sealed their lips together, trying in all his pent up frustration to not push too much, and hoping the last two months of WANT came through.. And it did, Keith was practically melting with Shiro's hand cupping his neck and his prosthetic tight around his waist.

Shiro pulled away heavily. "You have me so fucked up..." "Huh?" Keith wanted back. Shiro snorted and spoke against Keith's plush lips. "'m torn between wanting our first time to be slow and loving, on my bed 'pstairs... Show you how beautiful you are to me... And fucking you stupid over that fucking morons desk. For spite." Keith groaned and dropped to his knees in an instant. "Let me show you instead?"

Shiro couldn't look Keith in the eye during class after that and Keith took joy in asking a ridiculous amount of questions during prep for the AP exams. He passed with a 4. Probably because Slav was insane and force them to know exceptions to the exceptions. Thace and Ulaz threw a modest graduation part for him, and he was glad for the year to fucking FINALLY BE OVER WITH.

Shiro took him on an official proper date. Where he drove. To a restaurant with cloth napkins. And then to a bar with a band. Shiro twirled him around the dance floor again. Except neither of them wore an an uncomfortable suit and he could definitely roll his hips against Shiro's without another chaperone flipping their shit. Shiro nips at his earlobe when he does that. He did it again. Smirked when Shiro's thumbs dig into his hips to pull him closer. "You are the worst." "You're not my student teacher." Shiro growled against the column of his throat. "You're right, Baby. I'm not."

[justmenoworries]

Kintsugi

A/N: Watch me write a dozen fics where Kuron survives and gets to be more than just ‘the evil clone’ purely out of spite. Baby Clone was precious and deserved better, so if the writers won’t give him a happy ending, I will.

“Transfer successful. Vital signs stabilizing.”

“So this is it? That’s the clone now?”

“Don’t call him that Lance.”

“Geez, sorry. I’m just telling it like I’m seeing it.”

Loud.

Why was everything so loud?

Sound usually didn’t travel that fast in the astral plane. He knew.

It just got swallowed by the all surrounding darkness, until merely faint echoes remained.

But those voices weren’t echoes.

They were as clear as could be.

Weird.

He groaned at the sound attacking his sensitive ears.

“Is he really alright?” someone asked. There was genuine concern in that one.

“His body and mind have been under a lot of stress. If all goes according to our calculations, he’ll awaken in a few ticks. Though it might take him some time to get used to the....circumstances.”

Allura.

The one who’d said that was Allura.

Slowly but steadily it came back to him.

The two voices he’d heard first were Keith and Lance.

And the one who had asked about him being alright was...

A feeling of dread and confusion washed over him.

That had been his voice.

How...?

“Let’s leave him to  come to for a while. There is nothing more we can do at the moment.” he heard Allura say.

“If you say so, princess.”

Again that voice that was his and wasn’t at the same time.

He was dreaming.

Or hallucinating.

It was the only explanation.

The isolation had finally caught up to him.

He felt so heavy all of a sudden. What little awareness he had of his surroundings was slowly drifting away.

The last thing he heard was Keiths voice saying “Don’t worry Shiro. He’ll pull through. You did, remember?”

And he was gone again.

The next time consciousness finds him, he actually manages to open his eyes.

There is glass above him and a grey-white ceiling.

It feels familiar and yet he can’t help the uneasiness the sight of it automatically brings up. It’s all still barely a blurr.

Something is wrong and he doesn’t know what.

He can hear voices again, coming from the under side of whatever the contraption he’s lying in is.

They sound light-hearted, yet stressed, relieved, yet on edge.

Having fought an intergalactic war can cause such interesting dualities, he muses.

Even when there’s no one to be fought, you still find yourself having one hand constantly hovering over the nearest weapon.

He’d always hoped he’d remain the only one out of the Paladins who’d know what that felt like.

His vision finally sets back into focus and he can see clearly. And it takes him roughly half a minute to realize he’s in the black lion again.

He shoots up, only to whack his head on the still closed glass panel of the pod he’s in and lets out a pained groan, clutching his forehead in his hand.

“What was that?”, comes the voice that should belong to him from where he presumes the cockpit is.

A couple of hurried footsteps.

“Shiro! He’s awake!”

He blinks, unsure whether that’s relief or fear he hears in Keith’s voice. And the next thing he knows Keith is standing right above him, bayard in one hand. The red bayard, he notices.

“How is he?” comes the voice from the cockpit again.

Keith frowns and it occurs to him he should probably say something, so they know he’s not brain damaged or anything like that.

“Where am I?” he croaks.

“He’s talking.” Keith answers the voice’s question, completely ignoring him. “What do we do with him?”

Silence. Hesitance? Or just thinking about how to get rid of him best?

“We’ll be on Olkari soon,” the voice finally says. “I....I think we should put him under until then. Just...just to be safe.”

“Wait-!”

But Keith has already pressed a button on the outside of the pod and he can feel his body shut down as it suddenly grows cold around him. The last thing he sees is a look of conflict and pity in Keith’s eyes.

He awakens in an Olkarian jail cell, a plate of food standing near the door. It takes time to get used to eating with one arm, but he manages.

After the meal, he just sits on the mattress and stares at the closed door for a while, not really seeing it. The longer he sits there in silence, the more comes back to him.

Excruciating, sudden pain. The witch’s voice in his head, telling him to give in. That he is hers. And then his body isn’t his anymore. More and more images keep flooding him, each one more horrifying than the last. He sees himself fighting Keith in a place he does not know but he does. Keith is a worthy opponent, but his arm has received a few upgrades and he’s not holding back.

He hears Keith screaming that he loves him and he stops mid-movement. A little bit of the old him manages to break through after that. It’s just enough for Keith to cut off his arm. He is finally in control again, looking up at Keith, trying to explain, voice pleading.

“Keith....”

I never wanted to, It wasn’t me, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry-

And then everything goes black.

His whole body is shaking. He whimpers and curls in on himself, as if that could protect him from the horror of realization.

He is not Takashi Shirogane.

He is not the Black Paladin.

Heck, he isn’t even a person. He’s a thing, an experiment, a walking talking puppet made by the Galra to tear Voltron apart from the inside. The strange voice that sounded so much like him was the real Shiro, returned to his team at last.

After he almost murdered them.

The tears start falling without him realizing it. He doesn’t have the strength or the will to stop them anymore.

Days go by without anyone coming to see him.

Apart from the guards who routinely shove a tray of food into his cell, he has no contact with the outside world. No way of knowing what they’re going to do to him. Once he makes the mistake of asking how the Paladins of Voltron are doing. All he gets are distrustful glares and silence.

He doesn’t blame them. It’s a miracle they even let him live after all he did.

Still, there is a tiny, stubborn part of him that thinks it’s just not....fair.

He never asked to be turned into a living weapon. He never wanted to attack everyone he knew and loved. He never asked to be made.

He knows thinking like this isn’t helpful in any way. But knowing that you deserve to die doesn’t make the thought of actual death easier.

It’s about noon he deduces, looking at the tiny strip of orange light coming from a small window in his jail cell. He isn’t really hungry for dinner. Constantly waiting for your date of execution to be announced will do that. He hears the tell-tale whirr of the prison tracts doors and stands up to receive his meal.

Only to freeze mid-motion.

He’s looking right into a mirror.

Shiro - the real one - is standing right in front of his cell, a tray of food in each hand.

“Um. Hey,” Shiro says, smiling awkwardly. “I,um...convinced the guards to let me bring your rations this time. Mind if I eat with you?”

Does he? He honestly has no idea. On one hand, having company that isn’t constantly giving him the evil eye could be nice. But on the other hand.....

His eyes wander down to the plate on the tray. Could it be poisoned? Is this some sort of mercy - last meal? He immediately dismisses the idea again. Shiro would never do that to someone who is in no position to fight back. He should know. He’s unknowingly pretended to be the guy for months, after all.

Noticing that Shiro is still waiting for an answer, he finally nods slowly. What other option does he have, if he wants clarity about his fate?

Shiro’s gives a relieved smile and hands him the plate through the little trap door-like installation in the cell door.

For a while they just sit there, eating in silence and occasionally throwing glances at each other.

He can’t help but note how different Shiro actually is from him. Not just because of the undercut and the clothing. It’s the way he slumps just a little when he scoops up another spoon of Olkarian porridge, or how relaxed he looks sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the person who basically replaced him, while said person himself is stiff as a rod. They really aren’t the same.

Inevitably, they both reach the bottom of their plates at almost the same time and if the situation was any different, he would have found that funny. It is not, so he doesn’t.

The silence is slowly getting unbearable.

Just as he’s about to say something, anything, Shiro speaks first.

“You know, it’s funny,” he says, looking down on his empty plate. “When I came down here, I had a whole speech laid out in my head. What I was gonna say to you, how I was gonna say it and in what tone....but right now? I can’t remember it at all. Weird, right?”

He supposes it is. Telling a guy you’re going to axe him off doesn’t take so many words, does it?

“I...I guess I’ll just make do then. What....what I wanted to say to you was...” Shiro stops for a second and takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. When he opens them again, he lifts his head and looks him right in the eyes. “I’m sorry.”

He might as well have set off a bomb. He stares at him, blinking somewhat dumbfounded. That is...certainly not what he’d expected the guy who’s identity he stole to say to him at their first meeting.

“What are you sorry for?” he blurts out. He can’t stop himself.

Shiro shrugs and gives a lop-sided smirk that is filled to the brim with remorse.

“Everything, basically. You..you didn’t know what...who you were. You’re as much as a victim in this as all of us. And all I’ve been doing so far is treat you like you were the enemy. I....I called you “evil”, a ‘thing’!” At that Shiro looks honestly disgusted with himself for a moment. But he snaps out of it and looks at him with sad eyes. “I of all people should know what it’s like to be turned into a weapon by the Galra without knowing it. And yet here I am, blaming you for something you had absolutely no control over. Back there in the pod when you woke up for the first time, I should have just let you out, I should have talked to you or at least see if you were alright or something. Instead I just....” He sighs, rubbing his forehead. “So, yeah. I came here to tell you just how wrong I was to do that to you. And I hope you can forgive me, but if you can’t, that’s completely understandable.”

He doesn’t answer. He just sits there, staring, trying to digest what’s just happened.

“You’re asking me,” he finally says, “to forgive you? Are you quiznaking serious right now?” Shiro seems taken aback by this sudden outburst, but the floodgates have already been opened and he can’t hold himself back anymore. “It’s like you said: I’m a thing! A creature made by the Galra to destroy you and everyone you love! I infiltrated your team! I stole the Black Lion from you, I, I almost got them all killed on Narxela and let’s not forget the time when I almost blew them up! If anything, I should be apologizing to you! You shouldn’t even be here talking to me like, like I’m human or something. What do you get from that? Why haven’t you killed me yet? What do you want from me???”

He’s breathing heavily. During the time he’s talked he’s been getting closer and closer to the cell door and now Shiro and him are standing right in front of each other. There’s something in Shiro’s eyes he can’t quite place. Something like...shock? Pity? Understanding? All of that?

“Do you remember that time you had to defend a convoy of supply ships and Keith wasn’t there?”, Shiro says suddenly, taking him slightly aback.

“Y-yeah?”

“Well, it’s a little hard to explain, but...when you came to the Black Lion that day...I was there. Kinda.” Shiro pauses, looking hesitant, but then continues: “At first, I was...wary of you. I didn’t know who you were, what your plan was, what you wanted. But...then you actually talked to Black. You were asking her, no, begging her to help you. You sincerely wanted to get out there, you wanted to help the team save lives!” He shakes his head at that as if he still can’t believe it. “I was surprised to say the least. But I could feel you meant everything you said to Black. That’s why we let you pilot in the first place. And that’s why I’m here.” Shiro gives him a warm smile. “You’re not a thing, or a creature. You’re a person. And a pretty great one at that. You watched over them, when I couldn’t. You lead them to the best of your abilities, through good and bad. And you never stopped trying to protect them, even when that witch took over you. You deserve a second chance. Just like I did, when I was in your shoes. And I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that. So....if you still want to help us win this war...” Shiro puts his hand on a panel on the cell’s outside and the door deactivates.

He watches the door slowly retreat until there is nothing separating the two of them. He looks up again to see Shiro’s hand extended to him.

“I could really use a co-pilot. A lot of things have happened since we got to Olkari. Only if you want to, of course.”

He stares at Shiro’s hand, not saying a word. What is he supposed to say? Does he have to say anything? His head is a mess and he’s pretty sure Haggar has nothing to do with it this time. Here he was, expecting to be axed off soon and instead Shiro himself is standing right here, in front of him, giving him freedom and, if he wants to, so much more. And he definitely wants to. He wants to so bad. And yet.... “How do you know you can trust me?” he whispers. “What if the witch just...takes over and uses me to hurt you or he others again?”

“She won’t,” Shiro answers, holding his gaze. “We’ll do everything in our power to make sure she’ll never be able to do that to you again. I promise.”

He thinks about that for a while. Then he takes a deep breath-and takes Shiro’s hand, giving it a shake.

“I’m in.” He gives a smirk. “But don’t expect me to take over for you during long, boring political meetings again.”

Shiro laughs. “Noted.”

They walk through the prison’s corridors together and he can’t help but think how great the experience of being able to walk more than a few feet without running into a wall really is.

“Hey, I can’t believe I’m only asking this now,” Shiro says,” but what’s your name?”

“My name?”

He tries to remember a time when he wasn’t Shiro. He remembers having flash-backs of Galra scientists, speaking of “Operation Kuron” which he assumes is him, but he comes to the conclusion that that is not what he wants to be called. That’s not who he is anymore.

“If it’s not too forward,” Shiro’s says, tearing him out of his thoughts, “I’ve got an idea for one. Want to hear it?”

He shrugs. “Sure.”

“What do you think of Ryou?”

[sadlancetrash]

Abraham’s Daughter

Y’all can listen to this before, during, or after reading but I really like the song.

Lance didn’t trust Shiro. There’s been something off about him since he got back. Taking away leadership from Keith when he was the one who wanted Keith to be a leader in the first place seemed cruel, especially since Keith had come such a long way too. Not only accepting that Shiro wanted him to be the leader, but also accepting that the black lion wanted that as well. Now he was yelling at Allura for not agreeing with him on everything and wanting to think through everything and Lance for insubordination which, objectively was true, but they were a team. Shiro had said so himself when they all had initially launched into space on Blue all that time ago.

Now whenever Lance saw Shiro, he was wary and constantly alert.

It had been a few months since Allura and Lotor had found the secrets of Oriande and Shiro had admitted he didn’t feel like himself. They were working with the Blade to gather all the intelligence they could on the rift on Daibazaal. They wanted to know as much as possible and plan for any dimensional shifts that may be the result of the rift being open for so long. For the time being everyone was on Lotor’s ship. It was easier to access all the previous and current information stored on the database than trying to have Pidge transfer all of it.

Keith had come back to the team in that time. He had reconnected with his mother, kind of. He found her, and while she wanted to reconnect, or rather connect since neither of them knew each other, Keith needed time and space to think things through. Lance only knew this because Keith had told him.

Lance had long gotten over his stupid rivalry idea. Keith and Lance were a really good team once Lance stopped actively trying to make Keith mess up and subsequently messing himself up in the process.

The final debrief with video calls to Kolivan telling him what all information had been gathered. Lotor, Shiro, and Allura were leading the conversation, mostly Shiro though at this point. Keith was training, Pidge was working on improving her cloaking, wanting to make it so that not only was she undetectable on radars, but also on radio frequencies. Lance and Hunk were currently sitting in on the meeting at the back of the room passing notes back and forth between the two.

Lance: That’s not gonna work, he forgot about the excess gravitational pull around the planet.

Hunk: Don’t forget the screwy magnetism. That’s gonna throw off the radars

Lance: Pidge is gonna adjust them before we leave.

Hunk: Who’s telling her?

Lance: Me.

Lance: WHY DID HE JUST IGNORE ALLURA?? HER POINT WAS VALID.

Hunk: Yeah, I’ll work with Pidge on the bearing of our suits and make sure that they’re up to that level of radiation.

Lance: I’ll talk to Keith about going easy on the actual physical contact on the suits and what they can and can’t withstand.

Hunk: Uh oh

Lance: Oh Allura’s not happy about that

Hunk: #

They played tic tac toe while Allura and Shiro argued over where they should enter the planet’s remaining atmosphere, at the lowest polar anomaly or at the lowest radiation zone. Kolivan ended his side of the call after ten minutes of the fight, and Lotor was forced to play mediator between the two.

“We’re gonna go.” Lance called, just loud enough for his voice to travel to Lotor. He waved them off and started to scold Allura for using such language, even if it was outdated and not used anymore.

Lance and Hunk walked towards Pidge’s little tech hub that she had set up in one of the unused rooms. They walked in just as Pidge was throwing something at the door.

“Jeez Pidge,” Lance started. “I know I’m annoying sometimes but I don’t think throwing things at me is gonna work for you. It definitely didn’t work for Marco.”

“Sorry Lance I’m just,” She paused, took a deep breath, and let out a loud scream.

“Feel better?” Hunk asked.

“No.” Pidge said, turning back to her mechanics.

Hunk picked up whatever it was that was thrown at them and started to fiddle with it. “So, we just came from the meeting and we have some notes on what Shiro and Allura had planned for the mission.”

“Great.” Pidge muttered under her breath. “Should I start on the modifications now or should I wait for Shiro to talk to me about them?”

“If I were you I’d wanna start now, unless you want another Klasicoan incident.” Lance replied, following Hunk towards the table.

“Yeah, bad move on all of us for only mentioning in the pre-mission debrief that things would need to be done before we could do anything. Shiro was not happy about the delay.” Hunk say, putting the thing that Pidge threw back on the table.

“Okay, Hunk can you help me?” Pidge asked.

“Already planned on it. Lance said he was gonna go talk to Keith about being careful in the suits until you’re done.” Hunk replied.

“Oh yeah, I should probably do that. Hey Do you want me to bring you the suits?” Lance asked. He got a sound of affirmation from Pidge as his only response.

He stopped by the training room to inform Keith on what was happening.

“Do you really think Shiro won’t mention the polarity or containment security in time for Pidge to make sure everything’s good?” Keith asked, pausing his simulator.

“He didn’t last time, and he wasn’t happy with the amount of time she said it would take either.”

“That really doesn’t sound like Shiro.”

“I know.” Lance responded. “Somethings been off with him lately.”

“It could be stress.”

“That’s what I’m thinking. Especially since he’s been all touchy about what he wants done and not listening to others. Excessive over protection to try to not repeat Kerberos?” Lance guessed. Keith thought on that.

“Maybe.”

“Well, I’m gonna go grab his suit, then yours, then get back to Pidge and Hunk.” Lance waved as he left the room. He heard Keith start up the simulations again as the door closed.

If Shiro and Allura are still arguing I could probably grab his without getting caught.” Lance says. Shiro kept his suit in the chest next to the door, and if he did get caught, it would be easy to throw it back in the chest. Or that Pidge needed to do some upgrades. That usually worked when Shiro asked what Lance was doing.

That would have worked if Shiro was not already in the room. Lance thanked every kind of deity he could think of that he always knocks before entering. He can only imagine what would have happened if he had just walked in and Shiro was in there.

“Lance, what is it?” Shiro asked. His didn’t sound annoyed, he didn’t even sound upset.

“Pidge was gonna do some upgrades on the suits. Hers took some calibration damage or something and she just wants to make sure everyone else’s is all good.” Lance lied. He knew if he told the truth he’d be stirring up some unwanted trouble, and Shiro seemed to be in a good enough mood that this shouldn’t do any damage to anyone.

“Yeah, let me just,” He trailed off, grabbing his suit from the chest. “Here.” He said, pushing the suit into Lance’s hand.

Lance turned to leave, but paused. “Hey, Shiro? Are you okay? You seem kind of,” Lance had to think of the right word. “Tired.”

Lance turned back, and saw Shiro’s shoulder slump a little bit.

“I don’t know Lance. Maybe I’m tired, maybe I’m stressed, I-” He sighs. Lance had never heard Shiro sound so defeated.

“You know, you could pass on some responsibility to your team. Allura knows how to get the best deal out of any situation and Keith was a pretty good leader when you were gone. He could be useful in your strategy meetings with the blade.”

“He said that he wanted space-”

“From his mother.” Lance reminded. “Besides, I think he’s big enough to not walk out of the room if its a professional setting.”

Shiro gave out a small hm in agreement. “I’ll think about it. Do you know where Keith is though? I’d like to talk to him.”

“Yeah he’s probably still in the training room.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” Lance said. He went to go grab his armor and headed back to Pidge’s tech room to find her messing with Hunk’s armor.

“Lance, hey, I’m almost done with Hunk’s, do you have the rest of them?” Pidge asked, looking up.

“Yep, got ‘em right here.” Lance lifted his arms a little.

“Great, they should be done by tomorrow.” Pidge said. She almost sounded a little too excited. “Hunk’s been working on figuring out how to recalibrate the Lions’ sensors so that they’re not thrown off. The information we’ve got from our little research missions and the database on this castle has been a huge help.”

“Yeah, especially since we have no way to calibrate newtons into fracthm units.” Hunk added.

“Are they measured in different ways? I know newtons is used to measure the pull of gravity, but I kinda slept through fracthms in physics class.” Lance said. He mostly dodged a balled up piece of paper Pidge threw at him.

“Very funny. But yeah the Galra and Alteans apparently either didn’t think that was an accurate way of measuring gravity or didn’t think of using the pull. They measure it by the speed of the rotation and the density of the object rotating. I mean gravity is gravity but this is just a different way of thinking about it. Its basically the same but there’s more math involved for conversions and-”

“Hunk, buddy, I love you. But I’m dozing in and out of what you’re saying. What I heard was fascinating though. Maybe when you’re not busy you can give me the run down?” Lance said. He got a nod from Hunk. “I’m gonna go train in the mean time.” He grabbed his bayard.

Keith and Shiro should be talking still, Keith denying Shiro’s attempt to give him more responsibility. The training room should be long empty. Lance was surprised to see that Shiro and Keith were only just walking out of the room. He thought nothing of it until Shiro faced front, and for a split second, Lance could have sworn he saw his eyes glowing a pale yellow. 

Lance froze. He was debating ignoring what he may or may not have seen, or following them. It could only have been for a few seconds, but it felt much longer than that before he made his decision. He awakened his bayard, and began to follow them.

Shiro lead Keith down a series of hallways that could be seen as simple meandering, but it didn’t feel like it. Lance felt on edge the entire time he was watching them, and he didn’t like the thoughts of why that may be. When they paused they were in a hallway that was a ways away from any other hallway that had regular foot traffic. Keith seemed to be deep in thought, not paying attention to Shiro. Of course that made sense. Keith always had his guard down when Shiro was around and they weren’t in battle mode.

Keith didn’t notice Shiro’s Galra arm had started glowing purple. Lance raised his bayard. His aim was near one hundred per cent accurate, and he knew how to incapacitate.

Shiro stiffened, almost unnoticeable to the naked eye, but Lance was trained to see minute movements.

“Shiro, don’t do it.” Lance said loud enough to be heard.

Both Shiro and Keith looked immediately at Lance.

“Lance, what are you-”

“Keith.” Lance cut him off. “Shiro,” Lance pleaded. “Think about what you’re doing. This isn’t you.”

Shiro looked taken aback. His face dimming just a bit. “How sure of that can you be Lance. You don’t know anything.”

Lance began to slowly walk towards him. “True. But I know that you would never do anything that would hurt your team. Annoying individuals be damned you have an annoying self-sacrificing habit for your team that’s worse than mine.”

Shiro stood there for a moment. Then his eyes started glowing again. So did his arm. Lance checked his aim to make sure it was still steady.

Shiro started towards Lance. “Why do you have to question everything I do? Every single time.” Shiro was almost shouting by the end of it.

Shiro’s arm clashed with Lance’s bayard, but not cutting through it. Lance locked eyes with him.

“Shiro!” Keith yelled. Shiro didn’t even break contact. Not a flinch or a twitch. “Shiro stop. Think about this. Please.” Keith pleaded. “Let him go.”

[donnarider]

!!DISCONTINUED!!  Klance - soulmate au (part 4)

Author’s notes:

update 12th July 2019: This story is unfortunately discontinued. There will not be a next part. I’m really sorry.

Read part 1

Read part 2

Read part 3

“Bold” texts are from Keith, “italic��� texts are from Lance

„Wow, that’s… rough?“

„Yes it is! I mean… I meant what I said. I just thought he would...”

“Say that he wants to be more than friends?”

“Yeah…” Lance put his head on the table they were studying at. The library was quiet and Lance had a hard time keeping his voice down while telling Hunk about his horrible not-date date.

“So how did the rest of the da…what happened after that?”

“Well, I was dying on the inside and pretended everything was fine on the outside. So, the usual.”

“Lance!”

Lance sighed and leaned back on his chair. The library’s ceiling suddenly seemed very fascinating to him. “We talked about stuff like favourite movies and such. I asked him about his bike. I had to leave for my seminar and he said he’d text me.”

“Well that doesn’t sound too bad,” Hunk decided and squeezed Lance’s shoulder supportively. “Maybe he just needs some time?”

“And what do I do if he doesn’t? I thought I’d be fine with being just friends but-,” he waved his hands around in a helpless motion. “I was basically doomed when he told me to be nice to my coffee in Spanish. I can’t just NOT crush on him now, you know. And that sucks… big time.”

Hunk smiled sympathetically at him and continued to flip through the book in front of him. “Just take it slow. Take a break for a few days and then invite him to do something and see what it feels like then. He’ll either change his mind or you could just bring me and Pidge along to make the friends thing easier. Maybe that’ll help?”

“Hmm. Yeah, maybe.”

Hunk closed his book and got up. “You up for visiting Pidge and Matt? I don’t think we’re gonna get anything done here right now. Also I think Matt finally got that video game you wanted to play so badly.”

“Nooo, Hunk. You wanted to study. I didn’t mean to distract you, I’m just gonna-“

“It’s fine, Lance. I can’t concentrate anyways. And you helped me so much with my last essay, I think I can go a day without studying.”

Lance smiled at him and got to his feet as well. “Okay. But I swear I’ll be back to normal tomorrow and then we’re gonna take a look at the stuff from Iverson’s physics lecture.” Hunk groaned loudly and made Lance laugh with his desperate expression. “I know, I know. But we both have to get better at that stuff.” He stood behind Hunk and made a gesture over his shoulder like he wanted to show Hunk a beautiful landscape.

“NASA, dude. NASA.”

“Ugh, you’re right. But Matt and Pidge now. My brain needs a break.”

Lance swung his backpack over his shoulder. “Maybe I get one of Pidge’s hugs. I love Pidge’s hugs.”

Hunk beside him nodded. “Everyone does, man. They’re the best.”

Wednesday

 (3:15am): WTF DUDE? ???

(3:17am): I KNOW SORRY! Its our stupid neighbors having a party…

(3:18am): AT T HIS HOU R???

(3:18am): pls kill them for me

(3:20am): I would but prison isnt as appealing to me as you might think

(3:21am): So ur bad boy attitude knows boundaries? ;)

(3:22am): Dont mock me Im too tired for this

(3:24am): Yeh I can feel that

(3:24am): u really dont deal well without ur beauty sleep

(3:25am): Sorry :( And no, I really dont

 (3:31am): KEEEEEEITHH do smth!!!!

(3:32am): I have a test tomorrow !!

(3:34am): OM G IT STOPPED

(3:35am): Keith?

(3:35am): did u kill them?

(3:36am): maybe

(3:36am): KE ITH!

(3:37am): I slipped an anonymous note under their door that I would kill their cat if they didnt turn off the music immediately…

(3:38am): O M G thats cruel

(3:38am): u dont threaten peoples pets

(3:38am): NOT COOL!

(3:39am): chill, I was joking. It said Id call the cops on them

(3:40am): Oh okay good hope ur not just saying that

(3:40am): Also thankk

(3:41am): no problem. Good night, Lance

(3:43am): Lance?

 (7:36am): SORRY FELL ASLEEP!

(7:37am): Have fun at work today :)

Friday

(4:12pm): why

(4:25pm): what? u dont like it? ;)

(4:28pm): no

(4:29pm): oh come on! The queen is my best study motivation!

(4:30pm): please just stop

(4:32pm): KEITH! YOU INSULT BEYONCÉ YOU INSULT ME

(4:33pm): Can’t you study to something normal

(4:35pm): Normal normal or you normal?

(4:36pm): I dont care. Just no more beyoncé please. It’s been hours

(4:39pm): Lance?

 (4:42pm): really?

(4:42pm): Evanescence? That’s mature…

(4:43pm): WAKE ME UP INSIDE

(4:43pm): WAKE ME UP INSIIIDE

(4:45pm): I hate you

(4:46pm): No u dont :)

(4:47pm): STOP THIS MADNESS!

(4:48pm): Hunk says if you come to a college thing with us tomorrow, he’ll stop me for you

(4:50pm): What kind of thing?

(4:51pm): dunno, Hunk wont say, but its really good apparently

(4:53pm): OKAY DEAL NOW PLEASE STOP

(4:54pm): Party-pooper

(4:56pm): Tell Hunk I love him

Keith got off his bike, took off his helmet and unzipped his leather jacket. He headed towards the university building with mixed feelings about what awaited him. He had fought with himself about coming today but eventually the curious side of him had won. Keith wanted to see what Hunk had planned for them and also even if it scared him to admit it…he missed Lance.

Logically he knew that it did not make any sense. They hardly knew each other. But emotionally he just… missed him. He sighed and blinked against the bright sunlight. He lifted his hand to shield his eyes against it and bumped into someone.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“Don’t sweat it. All good here.” A friendly voice interrupted him. The tall boy in front of him looked him over and tilted his head to the side. „Hey, are you Keith by any chance?”

Keith nodded. “The one and only.”

“Oh, great! I’m Hunk.“ Keith took the big hand he was offered and returned the welcoming smile. When Hunk gestured for them to move out of the sun and stand in the tall building’s shadow Keith followed him thankfully.

“Nice to meet you. Thanks for saving me yesterday by the way.”

“Oh, no problem. Lance can get like that sometimes when he’s stressed. He didn’t mean anything by it. You know… finals and all. He’s a bit on edge around this time of the year.”

“No, I get it. NASA is a big thing, who wouldn’t freak out, right?”

Hunk gave a nervous laugh. “Yah, I guess. So umm, Lance had to pick up our friend Pidge, they should be here-“

“Exactly now.” Lance’s voice interrupted them. He stopped next to Hunk and let Pidge whom he had been carrying just now slip off his back.

“Hey, Keith. This is Pidge. They use they pronouns. I guess you already know Hunk by now.” Lance smiled at him and clapped Hunk on the back.

Keith nodded and raised his hand in greeting at Pidge. Immediately he regretted the awkward gesture and lowered his hand quickly.

“What’s up butter cup.” Pidge replied with a grin completely ignoring Keith’s weird behavior, who in return just raised an eyebrow at their choice of words.

“Lance, why did you carry Pidge here? Did you take ‘pick them up’ literally again?” Hunk asked with his hands on his hips.

“They paid me two dollars.”

Pidge shrugged. “I didn’t want to walk. It’s too early.”

“It’s almost noon, Pidge.” Hunk said while shaking his head but there was a visible smile on his lips.

“Exactly. Way too early.”

“I feel you, Pidge.” Keith threw in. “I had three coffees before I got here.”

Pidge yawned and stretched their arms over their head. “Good thinking. I only had one and I feel dead inside.”

“So, Hunk. What is this thing? Why are we here?” Lance asked and absently patted Pidge’s head while they leaned against him, eyes closed and repeatedly yawning.

“We are here, because today…” Hunk made a dramatic pause, “They are having a lecture about space for family and friends of students and-“

“AHHH STAR CEILING?” Lance interrupted Hunk excited while bouncing up and down, Hunk just smiled and nodded.

“Yep, Star ceiling.”

“What exactly is star ceiling?” Keith asked confused. Judging from Lance’s reaction this had to be the best thing in the entire universe.

“It’s only the best thing ever, dude,” Lance started to explain while taking Keith’s arm and pulling him in the direction of a big building.

“They only do this once or twice a year when they have family day for the freshmen and around finals for the really stressed out students so they don’t go all homicidal and stuff.” They entered the lecture hall and Lance directed them to a row in the back. “It’s basically just a short lecture about space and planets and what we do here at college but at the end they turn off the lights and project stars on the ceiling and walls. Dude…it’s the most beautiful thing ever. It will change you!” He gestured for Keith to sit down in one of the empty seats and sat next to him.

Hunk took the seat on Keith’s other side and Pidge sat next to Lance. It seemed like they were just in time because a man holding a mic entered the small stage. From the corner of his eyes Keith saw Pidge leaning over to Lance and whispering something into his ear. A moment later Lance bent forward so that Hunk and Keith could both hear him.

“Sorry guys, we’re gonna get Pidge more coffee. They are literally about to murder someone. We’ll be back in a minute.” With that they both left the room and Keith was alone with Hunk, which he didn’t mind that much. They had only exchanged a few sentences but Keith already liked the guy.

The man on the stage started talking about the importance of astronomy and explained the different subjects they were teaching. Unfortunately he had a really boring and monotone voice and Keith immediately zoned out. Thank God Hunk was there to keep him entertained.

“I know this stuff isn’t really interesting, especially not when he’s talking,” Hunk pointed in the direction of the stage. “But it’s really worth it. Lance didn’t exaggerate…well maybe a little… but it actually is crazy beautiful.”

“So you three all study astronomy?” Keith asked. This was his opportunity to learn a bit more about Lance and his friends without this nervous feeling he got around his soulmate. Hunk somehow managed to create an atmosphere around him that immediately made Keith feel comfortable.

“Yeah. It was actually Lance who got me into this stuff when we were younger. We met Pidge here on our first day. They are this crazy genius and got into college early. They are only sixteen but way ahead of most of the students here. Turned out they and their brother Matt live in the same building as me and Lance so we hung with them a couple of times and now we’re all basically besties for life.”

“Space nerds unite,” Keith said with a smile.

“Haha, yeah. Basically.”

“So… do you and Pidge wanna get into NASA too or is that only Lance?” Keith checked the stage for a second but the guy was still talking about boring stuff and Keith noticed that a few other people in the audience had started quiet conversations.

“Well Pidge is as good as in, let’s be real. Me… well. Of course NASA is the dream for almost everyone at this university and I would be thrilled… but I’m not as set as Lance if that makes sense. I feel like I could work anywhere as long as I’m close to my friends.” Hunk shrugged and knitted his brows in deep thought before he cleared his throat.

“Lance is working really hard for it though. You have no idea how many scholarships he had to apply for before he finally got a foot in. Didn’t stop him though.” He smiled and Keith could feel how proud he was of his friend. “You know, the first year was rough. He failed an important test two times and was sure they were gonna kick his ass but he studied harder than all of us and now he’s always in the top 5.”

“Wow. That’s really impressive,” Keith heard himself say and immediately wanted to slap himself. Way to sound like a high school fangirl, Kogane. Can we please think before we speak, brain?!

“Yeah it is.” Hunk sighed, unfazed by Keith’s inner distress. “It’s also really hard to watch sometimes though…”

Keith raised an eyebrow at him.

“Not the part where he’s top of the class, no. I mean how he gets there. You can’t imagine how many all-nighters the boy pulls during finals and he always pushes himself to get better. I mean it’s great that he’s improving but sometimes I wish he would allow himself a break.” He stiffened and gave a quick laugh. “I’m talking too much again, aren’t I. Sorry, this must be a weird first impression.”

Keith didn’t say anything for a while and chewed on his lower lip. “Is it really that bad? I mean… I haven’t noticed anything and finals are just around the corner right?” He thought back to the few times he’d seen Lance. He had always looked cheery and well… relaxed.

Hunk seemed to be pondering over his answer for a while. That’s when they heard the door behind them open slowly and Lance and Pidge slipped back into the room, Pidge holding a coffee cup in each hand. Hunk leaned over a bit and whispered just before the other two sat down. “Look at his eyes, he thinks we don’t notice…”

Keith had no idea what he meant by that and was staring at a spot on the floor absently when Lance waved his hand in front of his face to get him out of his trance. “Keith, buddy, my man. They’re about to start, don’t pass out on me now!”

Keith blushed a little and sat up straighter. “Yeah, sorry. Not passing out. Now, let’s see your space magic thing. Hope it’s as good as you made it sound.”

The boy next to him grinned from ear to ear. “Better.”

The crowd around them applauded loudly. Apparently the speech part was over and somebody dimmed the lights, making everyone go silent. It was now completely dark in the hall. Keith could feel his palms getting sweaty. Why was this taking so long? He swallowed hard.

He whispered, almost inaudible “Lance?” but in this exact moment they turned on the projectors and surprised ahhhhs and ohhhs could be heard through the entire room.

Keith threw his head back so quickly he almost hit it on his seat’s backrest.

Lance’s words hadn’t prepared him for what he was seeing now at all. It was truly just… beautiful. Thousands of little stars were dancing on the ceiling and the floor and just everywhere. He knew he was sitting in a boring lecture hall and he felt incredibly stupid for even thinking so but for a moment he really felt like he was in space. His heartbeat sped up and his eyes wander around the entire room so quickly he was almost getting sick.

Keith was trying to take it all in before it stopped. The stars danced around his fingertips as he raised his hand in front of his face and watched. He wasn’t even questioning how the whole thing worked it was just too… too everything. In a good way.

“Sooo, did I promise too much?” Lance suddenly whispered next to his ear.

Keith just shook his head and then turned it to smile at him. “No, you didn’t. This is great! Thanks for inviting me to this.” Lance smiled at him and then quickly turned his head to the ceiling again. Neither of them mentioned that it had actually been Hunk who invited Keith.

Keith was still staring at Lance’s face from the corner of his eyes, watching the stars being projected onto his skin and their reflections in his eyes. He looked so beautiful like this, it made Keith’s head spin. He wanted to say something, to tell Lance how pretty he was but he bit his tongue instead. Just friends he reminded himself.

That’s when he remembered Hunk’s words from earlier and looked at Lance’s eyes more closely. What was he supposed to see? The long eyelashes? The small freckles underneath them? The well blended but thick layer of… concealer? Something clicked in his brain. Hunk had mentioned that Lance wasn’t sleeping enough and pushing too hard. Of course he and many others were unable to tell if they didn’t know what to look for. Lance had covered up his dark circles almost perfectly. Almost… Keith turned his gaze to the ceiling again and frowned. Why was he pretending to be fine? It was normal to be tired around finals wasn’t it? Why was he trying to hide it?

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m afraid we have to end this now since our time is up,” a voice sounded from the front of the room. “Thank you all for coming and enjoy the rest of your day on campus.” They turned off the projectors and disappointment could be heard all around. Some classical song started to play and people started to shift but the lights were still out. Keith dug his nails into his palm and tried to breathe evenly. It’s fine, he tried to tell himself. They’re gonna turn them back on every second. Only they didn’t.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it appears we’re having some trouble back here. We’re sure everything will be fixed soon,” the voice echoed again. “Always a bit hard to find the light switch in the dark.” The voice said and gave a fake laugh. Some parents laughed as well. Keith didn’t. He gulped and pressed deeper into his seat.

He could feel Lance stir in the dark next to him and a hand touching his shoulder. “Keith? Are you okay?” Before Keith could even think of something to respond with the lights were finally turned back on. Keith let out a very deep breath he hadn’t noticed he was holding until now. He quickly unclenched his hands and turned his head to give Lance a small smile.

“All good, yes. I’m a bit sad it was over so quickly though.”

Lance looked at him questioningly for a second longer before he returned the smile. “Right? I wish they would do this more often!”

The group got up and headed out before the mass of people in the hall could block the aisles. The bright sunlight blinded Keith for a moment when they walked outside and he held up his helmet to shield his eyes. Someone walked into him from behind and he quickly turned around to apologize for stopping in the doorway but it was Lance he was looking at. An elderly woman complained about them being in her way and they stepped aside and walked a few feet to get away from the mass.

“Sorry for bumping into you,” Lance started, “It’s just,” he pointed at the helmet in Keith’s hand. “I didn’t notice before because I was so excited about the star thing but… did you bring your bike?” Hunk listened to their conversation and laughed looking at Lance now. Keith didn’t exactly understand what he thought was so funny and turned to Pidge for help but they were just quietly smiling at the whole scene.

“Ummm, yes? It’s how I got here. I don’t have a car, soo…” Keith shrugged a little lost.

“Awesome! I mean great. I mean...,” Lance scratched his head. “Can I see it?”

“Uhh, sure. I parked right over there.” Keith pointed over his shoulder. Lance didn’t even wait for the others. He was already on his way to the parking lot, almost running. When the others caught up with him he was inspecting Keith’s bike and admiring the details of the machine by almost touching it with his nose.

Hunk and Pidge seemed kind of impressed too and Hunk slapped Keith’s shoulder. “Sweet ride, Keith!” He joined Lance in walking around the bike to get a better look. “Lance mentioned you work at a workshop. Did you build this yourself?”

Keith nodded and then realised that Hunk wasn’t looking at him so he couldn’t see. “Yah, I did. It was the first project I did without Shiro’s help. Took me a while to find all the parts. I could get a better bike if I wanted but I’m kind of sentimental I guess.”

Lance nodded. “No I get it. It’s a bit like it’s your child, right? I mean… you made her.”

Keith smiled. “Yeah. I guess.”

Pidge gave a fake cough to get everyone’s attention and pointed at the bike. “If you’re finished drooling over that can we go get some food please?”

“That?” Keith repeated in a fake hurt tone.

“They’re secretly loving this more than Lance and me. You should see the stuff they build. We should visit you at your shop and just leave Pidge there for a few hours. They’d have the time of their life.” Hunk chuckled at the expression on Pidge’s face after his revelation.

 “Speaking of food though,” Lance looked at Keith and tilted his head, “We thought about grabbing a bite at Planet Altea. You in?”

Keith considered for a moment. He could spend some more time with them and get to know them better. He probably should. Shiro would tell him to… but he also really wanted to go home. The light incident had seriously freaked him out even if he didn’t want to show it. He’d rather calm down at home, alone, where he could stop pretending and no one would see what a mess he really was after such a small thing.

“Sorry, I need to leave. Shiro wants to visit an old friend of his and he’s dragging me along.” Lie. Shiro never dragged him anywhere Keith didn’t want to go. Apart of from that Shiro wasn’t even home right now.

Lance chewed his lower lip. “Ohh. Okay. We’ll text then?” The disappointed look on his face made Keith feel bad instantly.

“Yes definitely. It was really great. Thank you all for taking me.” Let me leave let me go.

Pidge and Hunk said goodbye and they watched Keith take off quickly. Lance waved one last time before he was out of sight, but Keith didn’t turn around to see it.

 Usually driving calmed him down but he felt himself get more anxious with every mile. He was glad he could finally take off the helmet when he arrived at his and Shiro’s place because he could breathe more freely instantly. He put the bike in the garage, unlocked the front door and took the elevator up to their floor. After hastily unlocking the front door and locking it after himself again, he immediately kicked off his boots and headed for his bedroom.  

He’d learned a few breathing techniques during his never ending counseling sessions and was really glad about that right now. After some minutes of leaning against his door he got his breathing under control. His thoughts however where still spinning, so he put his favourite playlist on shuffle and flopped down on his bed.

After a couple of songs Keith took out his phone to ask Shiro when he would be home and noticed he had gotten a few messages.

 (2:17pm): Hey, u ok?

(2:18pm): Getting kind of an anxious vibe over here?!

(2:20): Also thats an awful lot of emo music for someone who insists hes not emo ;)

 Shit. Sometimes he forgot the soulmate connection was a thing.

 (2:33pm): Sorry! Yes I’m good

There was an immediate response.

(2:33pm): U sure? Doesnt feel like it

(2:35pm): Idk

(2:36pm): Maybe not

(2:36pm): do you wanna talk? I can call u

Keith’s whole body tensed. Was he ready for that? Should he lie, maybe say he was tired and wanted to nap or something? Should he tell the truth? He frowned.

(2:37pm): I’m not… good at phone calls

(2:37pm): Np u can just listen and I’ll do the talkin

(2:39pm): that’d be ok?

Keith swallowed. Shiro probably wouldn’t be home for a while and he really needed to talk to someone. The question was if Lance was safe to talk to? Would it overstep the friendship line? Why could things never be easy…

 (2:42pm): yes, ok

 [Incoming call: Lance McClain]

More author’s notes:

This fic on AO3

Yeah after 500 years I finally updated. I could explain at length why it took my so long but it comes down to this: I was stressed, I was depressed, I’m sorry but now it’s finally here! Hooray!

As always a big THANK YOU to @alteanmoonchild for being my beta and for reading every new draft and honestly telling me when what I wrote isn’t good so I can improve and grow. I love us working together on this <3

Thank you to all of you for reading! If you have any questions or feedback send me an ask or dm me <3

Me an my friends finally cosplayed Voltron so if you wanna see me as Shiro and my awesome friends as Keith, Lance and Coran head over to my instagram.

Do you know what keeps me motivated when I so often doubt my writing and don’t know how to continue? Getting feedback! So please reblog, like, comment or even draw fanart. Whenever I read an “I love this” comment it makes me incredible happy! Also one of my goals is to someday have someone draw fanart for something wrote soo... if you wanna do that I’ll love you. Also please tag me if you do.

If you want me to tag you in the next part when I post it, just send me an ask saying so and I’ll add you to the taglist.

taglist: @alyy--caticus @princealektheorange @an-important-nobody @teddyorionpotter @spookyscaryshitstorm @ladythugs @positevelybakerstreet @meganmoo02 @atomicengineerdetective @jishwadun-is-jishwafun @anemoee

[whumpingthroughlife]

This is my Bad Things Happen Bingo card!  Go here to see how it works and to get your own! @badthingshappenbingo  

Fandom: Voltron (Klance)

Author: Whumpingthroughlife

Bingo spot: Falling Through Ice

Rating: G

Words: 1,661

Summary: Keith falls through the ice and Lance warms him up with his body heat. ;)

Keith scanned the white area.  Everything was sparkling and blinding as the sun hit the snow.  Allura had sent him and Lance on a mission alone together, but they had crash landed on this unfamiliar territory.  

“Have you ever seen so much whiteness in your life?” Keith squinted as he asked Lance, who seemed to be just as much in awe as he was.

“First time for me,” Lance said.  

Keith turned to him, dumbstruck.  “You’ve never seen snow before?”

Lance shook his head. “First time for everything I guess.”

They continued walking and saw a rundown shack up ahead. Keith turned to him.  “We should go check it out.”

Lance folded his arms. “Are you serious?  We don’t even know who’s living there.”  

Keith exhaled loudly and shook his head.  They had been arguing about everything all day since they started the mission.  He wasn’t sure how much he could take.  “Lance, we’re stranded.  Our lions aren’t functioning right now, our radios are down, and we’ve got nothing to eat.  What do you expect we should do?”

When Lance realized he was right, he set off with a huff, with Keith following right behind him.  Turns out the shack was deserted.  It was dirty, and items were disheveled around the house. It looked like it had been deserted for years.  There was a circle made of rocks that Keith assumed was for a fire.  Pots and pans were in the kitchen on the counters. They checked around, but there was no food.

Keith shivered.  It was freezing out here.  They weren’t dressed for this kind of weather.  “Brrr,” he said, rubbing his arms.

“Cold?” Lance asked the obvious.

Keith rolled his eyes. “No, not at all.  I just like hugging myself.”

“I’m just saying that if you’re cold, there’s always you know, body heat to keep us warm.”  He turned away from Keith and then added quickly, “but that’s I mean, in dire circumstances.”  He cleared his throat.

“Right, right,” Keith said, suddenly needing to cough.  After a moment of silence, he had an idea.  Maybe they could pass the time while having fun.  He cleared his throat.  “So, I was thinking.  You’ve never seen snow, so wanna go play in it?  It should help warm us up in the meantime.”

Lance had to stifle the wide smile that threatened his chapped cheeks.  “Play?  Well, I guess since there’s nothing else to do.”

The two exited the shack and went back outside.  Keith gathered up a snowball and hit Lance when he wasn’t looking.  

“Hey!” Lance said as he turned around.  

Keith hit him with another one before laughing and running away.   While Keith was making another snowball, Lance attacked him from the side.   Once he gathered enough snow in both his hands, he ran farther out.  “You can’t get me!”

His feet suddenly lost traction and he was slipping around, falling to the ground.  He realized he was now on ice.  Lance laughed and came running towards him.

Keith picked himself up and started towards Lance, but he heard a crack.  He looked down, and half his shoe was covered in freezing water. Panicking, he cried out, “Lance!”

Lance didn’t understand. He was still smiling.  He pulled his arm back in preparation to hit Keith with a large snowball, when Keith put up his hands and waved them earnestly back and forth, yelling, “Stop!  Help me!”

Lance pursed his lips and lowered his throwing arm.  Once he registered the terror on Keith’s face, he ran hurriedly over to him.  “Keith, what’s wrong?”

The ice cracked again from Keith’s weight.  He shifted his foot and he came crashing down.  His whole body went under the water right in front of Lance’s eyes. Icy water froze his muscles and he could hardly breathe.  He thrashed around and was able to get his head back above water.  He sucked in a bunch of air when he felt Lance’s hands around his wrist.  

“I’ve got you,” Lance said. With much effort, Lance pulled his body halfway out of the water as Lance lay horizontal across the ice. More ice cracked around where Keith went down, and he hoped no more would shatter.  He pulled and he tugged.  Keith couldn’t help out anymore.  His legs were too numb that he couldn’t feel them.  

Keith was a deadweight in his hands.  Another tug and Keith’s frigid body was fully out of the water.  There was another crack and Lance saw to his right that another large chip of ice was threatening to pull apart.  In order to lower the weight on the ice, he slid Keith to safety. Lance crawled the rest of the way over to him.  

He quickly got them both onto the snow and off the ice.  They were breathing heavily and their lungs ached in their chests.  Lance knew he needed to get Keith warm or he might not make it.  His clothes were soaked and already frozen.  Keith lay there shivering, lips blue.

“Keith, are you okay?” Lance said, hovering over him.

“C-c-c-cold-d-d,” Keith stuttered as his body violently shook.

“I’m gonna get you warm, okay?” Lance began stripping him from his jacket and then his shirt.  He heard Keith moan, which made him work faster. “Stay with me, buddy.”  He saw his eyelids flutter and Lance yelled, “Don’t go to sleep!  Stay awake!”

Keith’s eyes flew open in a snap.  “Tired,” Keith mumbled.

“I know you are, but you’ve gotta stay awake.  For me,” he added.  Once his shirt was off, Lance did whatever he thought would heat him up faster.  He rubbed his hands all over Keith’s chest, specifically all around his heart, hoping that would save him.  The heart was a person’s lifeline, so he had to make sure Keith’s heart was warm.

His chest felt like a popsicle.  He had to do something.  He tore off his own shirt and picked Keith up, which took a lot of effort, and placed Keith against him so their chests were touching.  Now that they were basically hugging, Lance put his arms around him and held him close as he ran his hands up and down Keith’s bare back vigorously.

Keith hung limply in Lance’s arms, his head lolling to each side.  

“Keith, you still with me? You awake?” Lance asked.

Half asleep, yet conscious, Keith replied, “uh-huh.”

“Good, good.”  He then put his t-shirt on Keith since it was mostly dry, rubbing every inch of Keith’s arms and shoulders as he put it on, trying to improve his circulation.

Now for Keith’s pants. “I’ve gotta get your pants off you, Keith,” Lance told him.  This was no time to be embarrassed, but he felt his cheeks blush nonetheless.  Keith just moaned in response.  

Lance undid the button and pulled down the zipper.  He pulled the waist of his pants down, and luckily, Keith was wearing boxers.  He slid them all the way down and then picked up the half-conscious boy and cradled him in his arms.  He walked as fast as he could to the shack, closing the door.  The only light was the sun streaming in the window.

It was cold here, too, but at least there wasn’t a breeze.  Keith began to stir and ask where he was.  

“We’re in the shack. Are you alright?”

“I’m c-cold,” Keith said, still shivering uncontrollably.  

Lance wanted to go to the lions to see if communication was working yet, but he knew that would take a while, and Keith might freeze in the meantime.  “I’m gonna try making a fire.”

He searched the kitchen, and, in a drawer, he found matches.  He gathered items around the house that he knew would burn and struck a match, throwing it in the fire pit.  Within a few minutes, he had a decent fire going.  

He placed Keith closer to it and pulled him close and kept an arm around Keith’s shivering body. Without blankets, this would have to do, and Lance wasn’t complaining.  “Are you warmer now?”

“Yeah,” Keith said, and Lance could see a bit of color returning to his cheeks.  Keith lowered his head and placed it on Lance’s shoulder and then snuggled deeper into his side.  “Thank you for s-saving me.”

Lance smiled and felt his cheeks grow hot.  He tightened his grip around his waist, feeling Keith’s shivers turning into slight tremors.  The fire was working really well. “No need to thank me.  You would’ve done the same for me.”

Keith yawned and closed his eyes.  Now that he was out of the woods, it was safe for him to sleep.  Lance ran his hand up and down Keith’s side and arm and Keith’s hand moved to Lance’s thigh as he fell asleep.  

An hour later, they both woke up.  The fire was still going but was smaller.  “Keith, I think it’s time to get back to our lions.  I’m sure Allura and the gang are worried about us.”

Keith agreed, but before they left, they looked around the cabin to see if they might’ve missed anything that they could use.  Lance opened a closet to reveal an old piece of clothing that resembled some sort of animal skin with matching pants.  The boys looked at each other, making a face.  

“It’s either this or freeze to death,” Lance reminded him.

“In that case. . . “ Keith said, and reached for it.  He put it on and Lance whistled.  “Looking good!  Come on, let’s go!”

When they returned to their lions, they were working again and so were the communications.  Lance was able to relate to Allura what had happened.

“Does he need a pod?” she asked.

“I don’t think so.  He’s pretty much recovered.”

“Well, he’ll at least need to be checked out for any signs of hypothermia to be sure he’s okay,” Allura said.  “Thanks for taking care of him.”

“Of course,” Lance said. “It was my pleasure.”  

[iadorayou-blog]

Hide - Chapter 7

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We went into the pool bathroom and Lance handed me a baggie with messy blue sharpie labeling the contents ‘clean undies’ I pulled out the only pair in the bag, “Lance, I thought you said you had multiple pairs! I can’t take your only extra pair of clean underwear.” He just ignored me to rummage through his bag again pulling an almost identical baggie to the one he handed me out

“Keeping everything separated is more sanitary.”

“Makes sense,” I shrugged as I entered a bathroom stall to change and Lance did the same.

We left the pool and started heading back walking just the way we did before, hand in hand, except surer that the other wanted the same thing.

We got back and found Hunk, Pidge, and Shay in the same room we left them in. “Hey Hunk, can you take Keith and me to my house he’s staying over.”

“Lance, I hate to be the dad here but, you and Keith are drunk you shouldn’t do anything…” he lectured.

“Don’t worry, Lance and I agreed to not do anything until we talk about things sober because we are drunk. We’re just gonna watch movies and eat food.” I interjected.

“Wow that’s very mature of you guys, I’m proud.” Hunk faked tearing up.

“It was Keith’s idea,” Lance began, “which I agreed to because I am just as mature as Keith is!” He sounded like he thought he had to defend himself.

“Okay I’ll take you but can you wait a little longer it’s only like 9:30 we’ve been here like an hour and thirty minutes.”

“Oh come on Hunk, you said yourself that Lance only came bc you told him Keith was coming and Keith only came bc you got Allura to tell him that Lance was coming. Take the idiots home!” Pidge yelled.

Lance gasped and he turned to me, “Yo we were tricked, I mean I don’t mind because I enjoy the end result but, yo we were tricked!”

“Pidge, they weren’t supposed to know that!” Hunk groaned at her.

Pidge took off her glasses to clean them, “Sorry I can’t hear you I don’t have my glasses on.” She deadpanned.

“You don’t even need them you’re not blind Matt have them to you when he got contacts and you got the lenses replaced!” Hunk sighed, “whatever guys, Shay I’ll be back I’m gonna take these two losers home.”

“See you soon Hunk!” She replied cheerfully.

The three of us walked to Hunk’s car while he grumbled, “why do I always have to be the designated driver,”

“Because Hunk you don’t drink,” Lance answered his rhetoric.

“Because it’s terrible for your liver! It’s not even enjoyable, you just get all dizzy and confused and you wake up with a headache in the morning.” Junk ranted.

“Not me I have fun when I’m drunk and then I wake up sober and have more fun.” Lance once again replied.

Hunk just sighed in response he had given up on trying to lecture the boy. The drive was only about five minutes but it would have been too far to walk.

“Okay boys,” Hunk started in a mock mothering voice, “be safe don’t stay up too late don’t do anything I wouldn’t do! And remember mommy loves you!” He joked.

“Uh, we already have done stuff that you wouldn’t do but love you too, mom.” Lance played along as we walked up the sidewalk leading to his door. Hunk just stared at us blankly as he slowly rolled up his crank window.

Hunk’s car is exactly how I imagined, a really old minivan but in pristine condition. He replaced the stereo system with a newer system that can connect to his phone through Bluetooth. Lance said the windows were all broken when he bought it but he fixed them up so now they all roll up and down. He also replaced the fabric seats with a fake leather.

Lance’s house was nothing like I expected, we were only a few minutes from the suburban neighborhood the party we were just at was in but this area was much more rural. The property seems to be mostly land with a short picket fence bordering it all. In his backyard, I could see smaller fence pens walling in small groups of animals. Further back there was a small building resembling a barn where I imagine they kept the animal that wouldn’t fit in the fenced pens. The house was a pretty pale blue with white trimming. It had a high rise porch with a closed off crawl space. There was a moderate sized hole in the criss-cross pattern blocking off the underside of the porch.

Lance let go of my hand to unhook the latch holding the front gate closed. He opened it up, gestured for me to walk in and then closed it after himself. He grabbed my hand again and said “welcome to my humble abode.”  

As we walked closer to his house a small gray cat crawled out from the small hole under the porch and ran right up to us whining. Lance immediately goes to pick it up, “Blue, what are you doing outside again?” He asked the cat whilst holding it like a baby. “Keith, meet Blue, my baby girl. You aren’t allergic to cats are you?” He asked directed at me this time.

“Oh no, I’m not. I don’t often play with cats though, do I just pet her?” I asked him.

“Well, you have to let her smell you first so she knows you don’t want to hurt her. But then you can just scratch the top of her head.”

“Okay,” I slowly reached my hand out to her face she smelt me and then visibly relaxed and rubbed her face against my hand. “So why is she named blue?” I asked as I scratched the cats head.

“Oh that’s because she’s a Russian blue, also she first came around when we were painting the house and she got paint all over her fur and we had to clean her up and she’s stayed with us since.” He smiled at me.

“Ah okay, that makes sense. I thought you were gonna say something like ‘well blue is my favorite color.’ But that’s cute I like that.” I said

“Actually blue is my favorite color, but that’s not why I called her that. It amused me that a Russian Blue cat decided to roll around in our blue paint.” He looked at his cat lovingly. “I’m gonna hand you the keys because I have to carry her in she knows she’s supposed to be an indoor cat.” He shifts blue to where she’s only in one arm to dig in his pockets for the keys and then toss them my way.

I unlock the door and let Lance walk in before me he sets blue down on the couch as I close the door behind us. The inside of Lance’s house is much more like what I imagined. Everything was a nice warm tone, the walls were a toned down sunset orange with red roses painted on the white baseboards. The wood floors were stained a deep burgundy color. The couch was a mixture of gold and beige and looked a few years old but still extremely comfortable near it there were matching chairs all surrounding a coffee table made of recycled and repurposed wood. As I scanned the room there was a cross stitch banner that read ‘mi casa, es su casa.’ above the door. In the farthest corner to the right, there was an old piano, the top of it was being used as a shelf to hold various family pictures. In the other far corner, there was a doorway I later learned led to a bathroom. Between the two corners was a large archway that led to the dining room and kitchen. Almost every wall had framed school pictures and childhood drawing to go with them. Messy flowers, bowls of fruit and redrawn family portraits. Lance’s mother kept every piece of artwork the school probably made Lance and his siblings draw throughout the years.

As I look at all the framed pictures around the room I find one of Lance in elementary school he had the hugest smile and he was missing his front two teeth. Lance came up and hugged me from behind and wrapped his arms around my stomach and I leaned into his warmth. He rested his chin on my shoulder and spoke, “right before that picture was taken I pulled out my two front teeth because I was tired of them being there. I wasn’t gentle either there was blood on my face that the teacher had to wipe off before I was allowed to take my picture. Apparently having a child have blood on their face in the yearbook was against school policy.”

In the corner closest to the door we’re some stairs and in the other front corner, there was a Christmas tree, “Lance, as much as I would love to hear the story behind all of these pictures what I’m really curious about is the Christmas tree over there? Like it’s August why is there a Christmas tree out?” I spun us around in the direction of the tree.

“Ah see my family love plants but we all have allergies so we can’t keep them in the house and my mamá always says that it’s the best tree to have. She loves God and every year she makes us read these stories about how Christmas trees are meant to be a reminder of God. So for her, it isn’t just a seasonal thing. Don’t worry though she’s not like the Westboro Baptist church or anything, she’s really accepting and kind.” He explained.

“She’d be okay with me, a full-fledged gay, being here right? Does she know that you’re… ya know?” Also, where is your family?”

“Uhh, yes, no and tonight is date night for my parents and none of my siblings live at home anymore.” He paused to turn our bodies to face the door still hugging me from behind, “See that sign right there,” he pointed to the cross stitch banner I had noticed earlier, “it says ‘mi casa es su casa’ which in Spanish means ‘my house is your house’ something that my family lives by. Basically, anyone who is important to any family member is always allowed here. Which is why I didn’t have to ask if you could come over our rule is our doors are always open to guests unless otherwise specified.” He paused again to release me from the hug and make me face him, “basically what I’m trying to say is, you’re welcome at any time and make yourself at home.”

“Lance, can I ask you something?” He quickly nodded in response. “Why haven’t you come out?”

He took a deep breath before slowly beginning, “To be perfectly honest, I don’t know. I know that my parents and siblings won’t care. But all of my family is from Cuba, which isn’t exactly known for its gay rights… I guess I’m just scared I’ll be looked at different, and I don’t want to hide this side of me from them but I don’t want anyone to try to change me.” He said weakly.

“I get that, I mean I can’t relate but I understand what you mean. Don’t worry Lance, you can come out when you’re ready. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” I rubbed small circles in his hand trying my best to be comforting.

“Thank you, Keith, I always feel ashamed that I don’t have the courage to tell my family, some people think it’s because someone is ashamed of being LGBT but I’m so proud to be bi like it’s a huge part of me. It’s just scary because you can’t help but wonder if the people who are most important to you will think of you differently.” He rested his forehead against my shoulder.

“Lance there’s no need to thank me. I like you I want you to feel happy and comfortable. I want to reassure you and help. And the people who think being in the closet equals being ashamed of who you are, are dead wrong. You can be the proudest person in the world and still be scared of how the people around you might react.” I started to rub his back as to tell him everything would be okay, “Lance I’m gonna be here for you okay.”

“You’re the sweetest person in the world,” he lifted his head and planted a gentle kiss on my cheek, “so what kind of movie do you wanna watch?” He suddenly regained his confidence.

“I don’t know I’m not really a movie person, I’ve mostly watched older movies. Like back to the future or all the old Star Wars movies.” I told him.

“So you haven’t seen love, Simon?” He asked quickly.

“Nope, what’s it about?”

“It’s gay and we’re watching it. How do you like your popcorn?” He led me to the kitchen and started rummaging around the shelves. “We have cheddar cheese, movie theater butter, caramel corn, and extra butter.”

“What’s the difference between movie theater bitter and extra butter?” I asked him.

“Movie theater is more salty and extra is more classic butter taste.” He explained.

“Uh that doesn’t help me, you choose anything but caramel corn.” As I said that he whipped around suddenly to face me.

“You don’t like caramel corn?” He shouted.

“I’m more of a savory guy, plus I like to keep my sweets and savories separate and corn is like inherently savory already.” I elaborated as he continued to stare at me blankly.

He sighed, “I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion even if it’s wrong. We’ll have cheddar.” He finally announced walking to the microwave and popping it in.

“I’ll tickle you again.” I simply stated.

He pulled his arms up in front of him defensively, “No need your opinion is valid and so are you!”

“That’s more like it you get a kiss on the cheek.” I smiled at him.

“What if I want a kiss somewhere else?” He pouted crossing his arms over his chest.

I shrugged, “I mean how can I object?” I leaned in for a quick peck on the lips and he rested his arms on my shoulders. The sweet chaste kiss gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. I pulled back and opened my eyes to the tan giddy boy in front of me smiling like he had everything he ever wanted. I was surprised when that smile turned into an uncontrollable giggle. I fake frowned at him, “why are you laughing we just kissed?”

“Your face makes me laugh.” I stared at him confusion all over my face.

“Okay, no more kisses for you then.” I jokingly scolded and backed away, but he just followed.

“No, come back,” he whined “your face is cute and it makes me laugh. Not like ‘haha that’s so funny’ laugh, an ‘aw he’s so adorable’ laugh. Like it’s just a joy-filled gut reaction. Now come here and give me more kisses.” He begged as he leaned forward, puckered up, and closed his eyes waiting for me to join him.

I connected our lips once again going for a more passionate kiss, I rolled his bottom lip between my teeth before I brought our lips back together and pulled away. He tried to come with me but I held him back. “Sorry lover boy, we agreed we’d keep it at kisses until we’re sober.”

“I know you’re right, you’re just fun to kiss. I wanna steal all the kisses. And more. But we can wait.” Lance was startled by the loud beeping of the microwave telling our popcorn was ready.

Lance poured our popcorn into a bowl and grabbed two bottles of watermelon Powerade, “step one of Lance’s hangover remedy: carbs and electrolytes.” He tossed me one of the bottles, “I hope you like watermelon because that’s the only flavor we have also hydrating with drinks high in electrolytes is like the most important part. I don’t want you to be grumpy in the morning so drink up. Also, follow me to my room.” He sauntered into the living room towards the stairs and waited for me to catch up. I followed him up the stairs and he opened the first door in the upstairs hall.

“Welcome to my room, the bathroom is right over there. Also I’m gonna build us a fort because I don’t like getting into my bed before showering so I’m gonna get the extra bedding and make us a fort and then after we eat our popcorn and finish the movie we can shower and snuggle up in the bed, maybe watch more movies depending on how we’re feeling.” He rambled before leaving the room to get fort supplies.

As I looked around this room definitely was Lance’s. The walls were a dark calming gray-blue. On the wall behind his bed he had neatly arranged Polaroid pictures of beautiful landscapes, him with friends, and other various pictures I assume he took. The tops of his walls were lined with dim blue string lights. The wall by his desk was covered in theater posters and playbills. His desk had shelves housing multiple childhood sports trophies, t-ball, soccer, track, and swim. He had post-it notes with reminders littered all around his desk, things like ‘don’t change for others’ and ‘if you don’t study for math you’re a loser and I hate you.’

“Okay, here’s how we’re gonna do this,” he began and we set up the fort, we made a comfortable cushioned area using blankets and pillows and then placed one end of a sheet on Lance’s desk and the other stretch out to the ground. “Okay now, you get in there and I’m going to hand you stuff.”

After handing me our food an extra blanket to cuddle under and his laptop, Lance finally joined me in our little fort. “You're like a pro fort builder, Lance do you often bring guys up to your room and build forts with them?” I joked while snuggling up to his side as he pulled up the movie.

“Well, you're not the first person I have built a fort in my room with,” he plays along.

“So who was the first?” I asked partially feeling insecure and partially genuinely curious.

“My niece and nephew. However, you are the first person over 10. Also the first boy I’ve kissed. I've always wanted to build a fort with someone of romantic interest but my ex-girlfriend didn’t want to do the cute fun couple things. She just wanted to have sex and go shopping, and by go shopping I mean to have me pay for things she wanted.”

“Lance I’m so sorry she sounds like a bitch, I would totally fight her.”

“Thanks, you don't have to though, we've only been talking for a week and you've already been better than her. Right away you made it clear that you didn’t want to use me. She just made me think that she would be the only person who would ever want me. I was afraid of losing that, but then Pidge caught her cheating and her and Hunk lectured me for like an hour about how shes terrible for and to me and then I broke up with her and I know I deserve better now.” he smiled at me.

“Seriously? I hate it when people lie especially to their partners like that's messed up.”

“It really is, but enough about my tragic love history shall we start the movie?” I nodded.

He started up the movie and Simon, the main character, started by explaining how normal his life is.

“Hey! Morning! It's Simon! I live right here! I like your boots! Okay, bye!” Simon yelled across the street to a boy working on the yard of another house not even hearing Simon.

Lance chuckled, “That's me trying to flirt with you.”

“Oh shut up I respond to you flirting with me,” I told him.

“Now you do, I meant before you talked. You were completely in your own little world.”

“I mean yeah I kind of was but, I also thought you were way too cool for me.” Lance reached to pause the movie.

“So what changed your mind then?”

“Nothing. I still think that but then you came out during class, and all this time I thought you were straight it made me feel like I had a chance because I knew you wouldn't just shoot me down because of things that aren't up to you. I kind of just said ‘maybe he has low standards’ and then Allura told me she'd give me food if I manned up and talked to you. I'm really happy I did. You're really the sweetest guy in the world.” I confessed my face cherry red.

Lance stared at me for a moment each second feeling longer as they passed, “Well, first of all, you're wrong you're really cool and kind and cute. And second of all glad to know you can be bribed with food.” I didn't even have to look at him to know there was a smirk on his face, you could hear it in his voice loud and clear.

“Wipe that smirk off your face loverboy, let’s get back to our movie.” I smiled up at him.

“Only if you give me a kiss,” he said smirk still there.

I leaned in, “Glad to know you can be bribed with kisses.” We connected lips for the third time that night each one felt just as good if not better than the previous.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S1 Ep28: Bakura Can Still Kill Everyone If He Really Wanted To

First off--my apostrophes work again! Many thanks to the tumblr staff who helped out and will never see this post. Now I can update without looking like my computer is encrypting itself as I go.

So guys, I’m all about weird TV and weird movies. I watched the entirety of Color of Pomegranates. I just want you to know that because when I say that “wow this got weird real fast” we are going by my metrics. It’s not as weird as Color of Pomegranates, because well...it has a plot that isn’t under four layers of symbolism and esoteric Armenian poetry, but whenever we have a Bakura episode, stuff just gets UNEXPECTED.

But first, the most wonderful thing has happened:

I mean kind of a weird choice to put some of these things together, but this was about .5 seconds of screen time, I’m just special and can pause to realllllly take it in. Mm.

(Read more under the cut for EVEN MORE FOOD)

Man!

MAN!

What did I do to deserve all this good anime food in the same episode as Bakura doing something completely nuts (again)?

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and we have to go back to cards, which for some reason is still the crux of this show...I think. This is still a show about cards, right? I’m no longer completely sure.

At the start of the season, Yugi was gifted these two cards as entrance tickets to the Island of Regret where they are now hanging out. These cards are how you collect your prizes if you win. The one with money is the prize of 3 million (or is it 300 million? It’s been a while since I’ve heard the number). The blank one is the chance to beat Pegasus. I assume your soul will go in the blank one after he beats you.

Youknow, it’s really a shame we never got to see the stats on Grandpa, Mokuba, and Seto cards. I don’t think they even had any. I mean, when Bakura turned his friends into cards, at least they had stats.

Anyways, some of our contestants have suddenly remembered that they actually have no right to this contest.

But, turns out Pegasus also has an interest in anime food, so he’s done something a little extra for...some reason.

DEAR LORD. I mean it’s not a real eyeball but think about the eye grease for a moment. Firstly, I don’t even know if you have to grease up a false eyeball and I want to look it up but I am too afraid. Secondly, now my mind is thinking of every unctuous substance that may or may not grease up a false eyeball. It does not pair well with pumpkin soup.

There’s eyeballs...in the soup...

This is when you go home. This is when you say “sorry Gramps, but...I am pretty sure that guy is a cannibal, I gotta goooooo.”

I mean, again, it’s not a real eyeball but freakin A are they having a weird halloween dinner party? Why would you do this? Why would you EVER put your own eyeball facsimiles in the soup? Is it like “eat my ass” but “eat my eyes” ?

Pegasus doesn’t get many guests and I can start to see why Kaiba hated him so damn much. Can you imagine working with this guy on a daily basis as the head of a large corporation while constantly getting pranked with his weird ass eyeballs?

Does it say “I open at the close?”

Why did they do -- what?!

This was all about a stupid bracket? What the hell, Yugioh?

The boys decide to throw caution to the wind about what may or may not be in this bizarre dinner that not even Pegasus wants to eat and they fully gorge themselves and get a real good food baby belly going.

I guess Yugi didn’t really eat because he is fully alert and his empty beacon eyes are still one of the most spooky things on this show.

Yugi decides to hand off his card to Joey right in the view of Bandit Keith, and Joey only takes it when Yugi convinces him that now they’d have twice the chance to beat Pegasus. I mean, not really, actually, but it was still a nice thing to say. Yugi is a kid of sooo many good intentions.

Mai goes to bed and says this actual line from the show.

Despite the fact that she’s so acidic about...eh...75% of the time, she really is the nicest person they have met on this horrible, terrible island. In fact, everyone is ready to tuck in to the most clearly haunted murder castle as if eyeballs weren’t just hanging out in their soup. What a bizarre heartwarming round of goodnights, as if there wasn’t clearly several people out to very much kill them living in the same castle as them.

This is how Agatha Christie novels start.

This episode does not actually dive into Joey’s gigantic donut dream, which is a shame.

Because this episode, it’s time for our B-team to shine.

I love the implication here that Tristan first knocked on Bakura’s door, woke him up with this and then Bakura clearly answered along the lines of “Bollucks, Tristan, I am not doing this right now” to which, Brakura dragged him down to Tea’s door in the hope that Tea would be at all reasonable.

Which backfired him in a major way because Tea and Tristan are desperate to chase some snipes and prove themselves useful.

I honestly can’t tell if Bakura even likes these guys. I mean, I get that they’re school friends but, this guy was introduced as totally murdering them and then getting magically “cured” with the same cure that failed on Seto Kaiba. The fact that this meek little fake-british accent can get so easily snowplowed by Tea and Tristan is never clearly just an act or just him getting snowplowed.

But, apparently there’s some part of him that is still that tiny little nice-side-of-Bakura, so dutifully, he decides to babysit, since the only other psychic they got around is currently having an eyeball-soup induced dream.

Back at the dueling arena, Tea decides to stand guard/do nothing as usual.

Tristan reveals why he has a grudge against Psychics.

Tristan’s character is pretty flat. It basically revolves around mothering everyone elses problems and pining about Serenity who is barely a character on this show. I always figured that Tristan was at least smarter than Joey and Yugi, who can be kind of...dumb, but it turns out Tristan is just as empty between the ears.

He gets completely fascinated by a beam of light shining through a window. Forget looking for cameras. Forget the fact that this room was full of Pegasus’ mooks, some of which were standing right behind Kaiba. Na. He’s gonna Sherlock Holmes straight to this window.

During Bakura’s desperate pleas to get these two assholes back to bed, Yugi is getting some crazy as hell conspiracy theories from Grandpa.

Oh, so he’s like a normal grandpa then? Once my Grandma told me that the entirety of San Fransisco would fall into the ocean during an Earthquake and she was EXTREMELY concerned about my safety (despite the fact I live inland, not in San Fransisco), so this dream Yugi’s having sounds like a pretty average dinner conversation with your Grandparents.

No one expects Bakura, not even the colorist.

And then for some reason they want Tea to go first in their climb up the tower although no reasonable girl in a mini skirt would do this in front of two boys.

Isn’t she a freakin dancer? Maybe she’s not as strong as Tristan but she’s certainly the best balanced of the two and could climb way easier because she’s lighter. And Bakura is clearly the weakest but, whatever.

Back in dreamland, Yugi’s grandpa join’s up with the other cards in card hell as if they’re some sort of Grandfather, asshole son, and ghost child card hell trinity

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot I was watching an anime for a second. Nothing like devilish blue fire to make you remember oh yeah, that’s a fine anime fire choice.

But rather than dwell too much on that artistic direction of blue fire, lets see if anything at all was inside of the red herring tower.

They’ve been slipping a picture of this chick all over the place. I’m surprised it took until now, when she’s like 15 feet tall, for them to finally notice “Hey maybe there’s something up with this random chick who is clearly a dead person Pegasus was close to”

Now I gotta get a little art nerdy on you for a moment because this storyboarder is really good at sneaking in people’s reactions right near the focal point without making them the focal point. This whole framing of Bakura’s tired face happens so quickly and I just want to spend a little moment for us to appreciate our storyboarder’s sense of humor.

Now, somehow. SOMEHOW things are going to get weirder.

Because with all this dream sequence stuff happening this looks like it’s a dream but I’m going to come out and say no, this is actually happening. They have, indeed, fallen into some tomb under the castle covered in Egyptian murals and people are chanting about sacrificing souls as offerings.

This happens SO QUICKLY.

THE HELL????

Like remember when I was like “How did all these skeletons get here? what’s up with these skeletons?” I didn’t actually really want them to tie up those loose ends but here we are.

So this has been going on this entire time!? For the past 28 episodes? When Kaiba was like “man Pegasus is the worst!” He didn’t feel like bringing up the crazy killer cult that was living under the island?

And to top it off, Bakura already knows what’s going down. He knows and is quickly getting more and more urgent to get away.

Oh, and PS, The cards we’ve been using these past 28 episodes are now giant stone tablets. Bakura mentioned once that the millennium ring was supposed to work alongside Duel Monsters. And he was like “but duel monsters is like ten years old so whatever” but it turns out that was a complete lie because there’s an ancient version that uses 10 foot tall tablets instead of cards. Their decks would be like 6000 lbs.

Also you die at the end of Ancient Duel Monsters, that part is different, too.

I have so many questions.

I mean you find out when you’re a kid that Ring around the rosies was actually about people dying of the plague and go “eh that’s sad” but it’s nothing like Ring around the Rosies killed people and made serial murderers into magical evil psychics.

I mean it’s never actually said, but there’s enough evidence here that I’d like to think Yugi was sleep running all over the castle during half this episode saying “grandpaaaazzzs” while Bandit Keith was like “OMG are any of them going to go to bed so I can finally steal their stuff?”

But back to the stuff that is actually not a dream and definitely happening. Pegasus pulls back his hood and decides to give them a quick Q and A before he outright kills them.

And so, Bakura, who has been playing dumb for...I dunno, 10+ episodes, who has been doing nothing spectacular and who has been clumsy and sort of a space cadet finally reveals that “yeah, that mind wipe did literally nothing, I’m a still an evil son of a bitch”

And they have a...shine off. Or something. It’s very hard to look directly at.

Thing is, from what we’ve learned, Pegasus is super duper powerful because he’s been killing people under here for many, many years. Every time he does a murder, his power grows. Which means...Bakura should be at a loss since he’s like 12 and...how many people can a 12 year old really murder?

Says a lot about your relationship if you can’t take 2 steps forward without getting Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-ed 4 steps right back where you started.

Welp that’s it, guys! that’s Season 1! Bakura did it! He beat Pegasus! Why Bakura decided to retcon the REAL ending of Season 1 and just put everyone (including the villain) back as if it never happened is a little weird, but hey--at least I got through it. I did it. I recapped all of Yugioh Season 1. I’m proud of me!

Bakura will go back to playing dumb probably for another 10-15 episodes until he can steal that eyeball off of Pegasus. Apparently there wasn’t a good enough opportunity for eyeball theft when he was doing the weird laser show thing.

I assume somewhere, Pegasus is also sitting on his bed in his day clothes and thinking “the hell just happened?” but rather than look at one of his zillions of security cameras is like “well, that’s psychics!”

I’d like to think that Bandit Keith saw Bakura dragging Tea and Tristan’s bodies down the hall and they just nodded at eachother like “crazy evening, amiright?”

Also, a lot of this episode would have been different if any of these people locked their own doors. Like this, for instance, wouldn’t have been able to happen.

Then five minutes later the sun rose.

I mean it’s the only explanation for all the nuts stuff that went down last night.

Next week, on Yugioh:

Will Pegasus have a splitting headache for all of tomorrow and be wearing sunglasses the whole time? Will Pharaoh reveal that in his time off he got really into All My Children? Will they seriously go the third day without washing their clothes? These kids must SMELL.

The hell just HAPPENED?