#thinking about hunk being lance’s bi awakening | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cait-el · 6 years

Text

Keith Analysis - Season 3

Pre S1E1 + Introduction / Season One / Season Two / Season Three / Season Four / Season Five

I highly recommend reading the rest of the posts in this series to get the most out of this! But here’s my take on Keith’s role in VLD Season three!

Season Three

Boy oh boy, does S3e1 have a lot to unpack. Let’s start at the very end of S2/ the beginning of S3 where we see Keith up in arms about the fact that Shiro is gone. By this point, I’ve already established that Shiro is as close to an actual family that Keith’s got, so of course he’s upset. Also, this upset of normal is just another nail in the coffin that is Keith’s sense of safety. He was finally feeling like he had a place on Voltron, then the whole half-Galra thing happened, and that was sort of solved in Allura’s apology, but with losing Shiro, Keith is losing his own sense of validity. Season 3 will be about re-establishing that in his own way, without Shiro there to back him. It’s a huge opportunity for character growth.

Brief Lance Note

Another really good scene in S3e1 is during the fight on Planet Puig with Lance, Hunk, and the Blade of Marmora. Firstly, we have Lance starting to feel the pressure of being the face of a team that’s falling apart at the seams. He’s supposed to be the glue of Voltron or the light-spirited one that keeps things happy. Now that Voltron can’t really form, he’s starting to feel that pressure now more than ever.

We also have discrimination against the Blade for being Galra, which is understandable, but demonstrative of systematic racism/oppression. No wonder Keith feels so lost; he’s literally at the center of all of that!

Back to Keith

This is the instance that I referenced at the very beginning of this whole thing where Keith says that he won’t give up on Shiro because Shiro was one of the only people that never gave up on him. I think that startles the other paladins a little bit because they’re finally realizing that Keith isn’t just some “lone wolf” who’s full of shit. Yes, he can be volatile, but he’s really hurting now, which is demonstrated when he blows up at the diplomacy dinner.

The most important part about Keith’s outburst is what happens afterwards – this will draw on a little bit of Lance’s development as well, so bear with me. At the very end of the episode, we have Keith staring at the black lion, with the other paladins standing awkwardly in the background. They all look to Lance, who is the first to step forward and tell Keith it’s alright to be hurting.

Pidge, Hunk, Allura, and Coran jump in with their own anecdotes about how they feel about suggesting to replace someone who seems irreplaceable, but it’s Lance tying everything together that makes Keith take a deep breath and decide that he’s being irrational. This is the first in a long arc in season three that establishes Lance and Keith’s relationship in a way that goes beyond just a romantic ship. I’m going to return to what I talked about in season one with Keith having a borderline crush on Lance, which I still stand by. In season one, it was all fun and games. In season two, Keith had a lot of his own stuff to worry about with the Blade, but he had Shiro to talk to about it, both the Galra stuff and the Lance stuff, so it didn’t seem as overwhelming.

Now that Shiro’s gone, Keith is looking for something to fill the rapidly growing void that’s sucking away his sense of validation and trust, and he’ll find it in Lance, but most importantly, in himself, and I’ll prove that with my analysis of the rest of S3.

And just for fun, here are my two cents on Lotor’s introduction

Lotor is one of my favorite characters for a few different reasons that are established in this episode. Firstly, he’s crafty. He had Ezor watch Throk, and then used that to call him out in front of the whole crowd. He’s the embodiment of the honest and martyr-like villain (which will play into his romance line with Allura later, but that’s not for a while) in that he preaches that what he does will be good for the universe because it fosters loyalty rather than fear. Secondly, he’s charismatic as all fuck. He’s the villain that says “okay, I’m going to write down everything I’m about to do on a piece of paper and give it to you. You’ll know my entire plan. Will that stop me from completing it? You can bet the fuck not.” And he’s right. Even I believed him! When I first watched it, I was like “yeah, okay, this guy could actually be a good king.”

And then, the kicker, he gives all this confidence to Throk, and then demotes him to the farthest reaches of the empire under the impression that he just got this huge promotion. That’s savage. Lotor is so good at what he does. I’m thrilled to see what he does next for the sheer cleverness of it.

Back to Keith/Lance – I’m just going to start referring to them jointly for now because here’s where they start to become super intertwined

Man, S3 literally has so much in the way of character development that I’m only on the second episode and I already have so much to say. Let’s start with the discussion of who should pilot the black lion while in the lounge of the Castle. Pidge points out that everyone has their “thing,” and she calls Lance the goofball, which he doesn’t take well to (remember S2e10). He calls himself a ninja sharpshooter, to which Keith responds with “is that a joke?” Honestly he probably shouldn’t have poked the dragon, but I do believe he meant it in a good way. His eyes were nice and he was smiling. Lance was just feeling particularly insecure at that moment. Payback for S1e6 when Lance totally invalidated Keith’s tiny advance. Ugh, boys.

Anyways, Lance says that he would never follow Keith as a leader in retaliation, which sparks an argument and triggers Keith to say “that’s just what Shiro wanted.” This puts Keith in kind of a tough spot; it’s not that he’s against piloting the black lion, he just doesn’t want to 1) undermine Shiro, who is his idol, and 2) he’s afraid he can’t be what everyone needs him to be – he can hardly be what he needs for himself. This is reflected in the moment where he actually enters the black lion. While everyone else was thinking of themselves (except Lance, but I’ll get to that in a second), what caused the lion to awaken for Keith was Keith saying (about Shiro) “I can’t lead them like you.” This is the beginning of Keith learning to respect himself outside of what others project on to him.

However, he still doesn’t want to accept it. This is where Lance comes in. Lance literally tried so hard to be the one to take up responsibility of the black lion, but not for himself. This becomes apparent when he yields to Keith. Everyone is appalled at Keith’s objection to the lion even though it chose him, except Lance. Lance steps up, puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder, and tells Keith he can do it. And Keith actually listens. This shows that Keith responds well to respect; he just doesn’t have a lot of it for himself yet.

When Keith actually goes to fly the lion for the first time, he does so by saying “this one’s for you, Shiro.” This hearkens back to the idea of Keith being a self-imposed martyr – he justifies doing things for himself through the lens of doing things for others. This will be the season that subverts that, though, which I will discuss once I get to the end of the episode.

Now back to Lance for a moment. Blue shuts him out (quick interlude for some cute headcanon: Lance has referred to his lion as male in the past, but in order to get Blue to open up, he hits on the lion like he would presumably hit on a girl, as he is so famous for. Does this provide evidence that Lance is bi? Maybe if you squint and tilt your head to one side. It’s something to think about anyways). Then, which lion calls to him? Red, of course! Lance being Keith’s right hand is really elevating their relationship – it plays perfectly into all of their other interactions. They’re a messy team, but a team all the same, and they each need the other to properly function.

Also, something that starts in this episode and will continue through S5 is Lance’s reflection of Alfor and Altean values. Keith is a reflection of Galran values; this has already been made abundantly clear. We’re just setting up another parallel between the two and further entwining their paths in some way. Also, more of Lance’s insecurities show when he’s actually considering that he may not even have a contribution to the team as he originally thought, that he might just be “the goofball.” This starts to show a self confidence issue that is far from being resolved. He’ll definitely need a little help with that one. Luckily, he’s just starting to form a relationship with a little emo boy who is legitimately built out of insecurities and MCR. It’s beautiful. One last thing about Lance in S3E2 is that he says at the end “sometimes what you want is not necessarily what you get,” and I think this is starting to reference his shift in viewing Allura as an object for romance to a friend and true teammate, which is something we’ll see more of in S4 and 5.

And finally, Keith grows a lot during that battle, especially towards the end when he makes that terrible decision and rockets off to track Lotor without consulting the team. But here’s the thing about that scene: Keith made that decision of his own accord and not because he was trying to emulate Shiro. His whole arc in S3 is learning how to accept himself as a valid leader, and this is just the beginning of that. While I want to whack him over the head with a stick for putting everyone else in danger, at least he’s trying.

And now, a word on Lotor in S3E2

Lotor, you mother fucker. First, he says “mercy has never been the way of the galra…until now.” Again with the craftiness! And his whole role in S3E2 was just to gather intel on Voltron by using their need to protect to draw them out and force them to work as a team. What he doesn’t realize, though, is in forcing the paladins to make up for their shortcomings, he’s acting as a foil to the whole team. Without being pressed by Lotor, Allura and Lance would have never figured out that they needed to pilot different lions. This is the beginning to a long storyline of Lotor and Voltron working together that doesn’t actually get played out until S5.

Back to Keith/Lance

S3E3 takes us to the first real instance of the new team of paladins working under Keith’s leadership, and it’s pretty much a mess from the beginning. What I appreciate about this episode is that it further develops the bond between Lance and Keith as a team and as people, starting with Lance’s immediate opposition to entering Thaeserix (the gas planet that fucks up everyone’s sensors.) We have Keith barreling through and getting everyone lost until Allura finally can’t keep up and gets separated. Everyone’s freaking out, and Lance is the one to tell Keith they need to go back, and he finally does. As demonstrated before, Keith listens to Lance before he listens to the others. This shows that Keith has some measure of respect for Lance.

They rescue Allura, but Keith is still all hot for battle and continues forward, getting the team separated even further until it’s just him and Lance. This is the first time where Keith actually admits that he messed up, and he hits a low point for a second. He voices his concern to Lance, who responds perfectly, saying “yeah, you fucked up. But hey, we’ll fix it together.” This is what inspires Keith to keep going, and the team can eventually form Voltron because Keith is actually starting to think like a leader, and not just because of the leader Shiro was. He’s starting to become his own leader. He couldn’t have done it without Lance.

My favorite part is the cute line at the end where everyone is ragging on Lance for being dumb (not true btw, Lance is very intelligent and kind, he just has some self confidence issues, so shame on the other paladins for taking advantage of that), and Keith says “I’m glad we’re all making fun of Lance, but we have a job to do,” or something along those lines. It’s the look in Keith’s eyes that gets me; he’s teasing Lance, but not in the same way as the others. He’s really grateful to have the blue paladin there for support. It’s a different type of support than he’s received in the past; from Shiro it was support of an upper, someone he idolizes and thus tries to emulate. From Lance, it’s support from an equal, so it’s an even stronger sense of self-validation, which is something that Keith really needs at this point.

A quick note: in the episode where they enter the alternate reality and find Sven and Slav, Keith all of the sudden has the black bayard and Lance has the red bayard. When did that happen? That seemed to come out of nowhere, but I think it’s an important thing to note, especially when we get to some of the symbolism in terms of the past paladins at the end of this season. This episode also has good evidence of Keith stepping into the leadership role, which he will continue to develop over the next few episodes. I’m also glad that Keith was able to find Shiro, but as I’ll discuss in the next few paragraphs, I think he senses that something is not quite right.

The Symbolism of 6

I’m about to discuss S3E6, but begore I get into that, I’d like to talk a little bit about the symbolism of the number six as it relates to Keith and Lance’s relationship. Coran says pretty early on that he’s ordered the paladins by height, most notably calling Pidge “number five.” He doesn’t ever refer to the other paladins by these number names, but that implies that they all have a number (and they all have pretty distinguishing heights). Shiro is the tallest and the leader; he’s number one. Lance is the next tallest; he’s number two. Then comes Hunk, then Keith. Keith is number four. What’s four plus two? Six.

I already talked at length about the importance of S1E6 to Keith and Lance, with this being the first instance where Keith realizes he may have feelings for Lance (the “I cradled you in my arms!” moment). In season two, the distinction isn’t quite as obvious, but we see Lance questioning Keith running off with Allura. Granted, this is probably canonically related to Lance’s “crush” on Allura (which I’ll discuss a little more come season four and five), but the fact that he’s asking if the two of them are together and he’s so bent up about Keith doing anything with Allura could be in reference to his conflicted rivalry feelings towards Keith in the first place. He probably doesn’t realize it, but he’s just as annoyed at the idea of Keith being with someone as he is at the idea of Allura being with someone (hint: he’s bi /like meeeee!/).

Anyways, now we have S3E6, which has, in my opinion, one of the most important Klance scenes so far (save maybe the pool scene, but that was just too too cute so does it really count?).

Season Three, Episode Six

We open from Lance’s POV as he’s acting sniper for the rest of the team. He’s about to take someone out when Keith rushes in with some sword badassery (“Hey, Keith! I had that guy!”). He keeps the scope on Keith for a little while, then watches Allura do some crazy stunts with her whip, to be met with “Well, that was awesome!” Similar to what I was talking about back in S2E6, this is a neat parallel drawn between Lance’s feelings for both the red paladin and the pink paladin. This, in conjunction with the sheer symbolism of colors (red/blue/pink), practically seeps with Lance being bisexual.

Anyways, now that we have Shiro back, this episode throws a wrench into the leadership dynamic that Keith has built for himself. Throwback to season two where everything was going fine until he found out about his Galra blood, this is another instance of regression for Keith. He spent all that time building up his confidence and leadership skills, only to now butt heads with Shiro. Actually, he doesn’t even really butt heads; he yields. He completely yields the black lion to Shiro. Coincidentally, Shiro can’t use the black lion right away, and I think that might have something to do with the whole Clone Shiro arc (which I honestly still don’t understand completely, so I’m going to keep my theorizing about that to a minimum). It’s a complete back swing to his seeing himself as an invalid leader (“they need you, you know” – Keith is once again isolating himself from the other paladins in favor of doing what he thinks is right for the team and placing himself at a disadvantage).

This is interesting when we get to the major Klance scene, and I’m pretty sure you know where I’m going with this: Lance voicing his concern to Keith. Initiall, Keith is surprised at Lance’s advance, but he’s very accepting of it. It’s an interesting side to keith’s character that we haven’t necessarily seen yet. He’s soft and kind of flustered at the whole thing, which is sO cute.

Lance, on the other hand, is being so brave by voicing these concerns in the first place. We’ve seen multiple occasions of him wanting to be on team Voltron (for glory, for recognition, for the universe, etc – we saw this when he tried to pilot the black lion), but he’s willing to give all of it up if it’s what’s best for the team. Remind you of anyone? Yes, Keith!

Keith is appalled by this and instantly shuts it down, telling Lance not to worry about who pilots what. I think he’s surprised that Lance trusts him so much, but that trust gives Keith confidence. As we’ve seen, Keith responds to trust very well, even enough to make a joke (leave the math to Pidge + a bonus Klance smile). I also believe that he’s telling Lance these things just as much to comfort him as it is to comfort himself; he cares about Lance, and he doesn’t want him to leave. We see that in Keith’s initially reaction (“What are you talking about?!”). Another important line in this scene is Lance’s “this isn’t a participation game. This is war and you want you best soldiers on the front line.” Judging from Keith’s reaction, Keith honestly believes that Lance is one of their best warriors; he values Lance’s place on the team and wouldn’t think of jeopardizing that for a second. Overall, this scene was great. It had Lance’s vulnerability, and it’s the first time another member of the team has recognized that and actively comforted him for it. This will be important to remember once Keith leaves and Lance doesn’t have anyone to talk to about it anymore.

Also, when the Paladins are fighting Lotor’s generals, Keith is blindsided by Acxa, but then he is saved by a good shot from Lance and a reassuring “I’ve got you, buddy!” They really have bonded trust-wise. If romance does come out of this, it will definitely be a slow burn, built on a strong bond of vulnerability and trust. And the smile Keith gives Lance after that interaction! I headcanon that at this point he’s over his initial crush and is instead seeing Lance as a real person and teammate that he cares for deeply. Lance’s faith in him is a beacon of strength and light in a particularly dark time. And Keith switching hands with the bayard? That’s some cool shit. He just keeps getting better and better.

Side note for Keith and Acxa: I’ve seen the theories where they are siblings, but I don’t know if I buy it. We know virtually nothing about Acxa’s past except that she somehow got trapped in the stomach of a weblum for who knows how long until Keith rescued her. It’s just not enough for me to see them as related. If ANYTHING, they could be half siblings since we don’t know anything about Krolia yet either except that she’s a deep cover agent for the Blade. This versus the literal ten pages I’ve written on Klance thus far.

Okay, now back to Keith’s leadership conflict. It’s especially apparent when he starts arguing with Shiro about taking out Lotor on the recon mission. He shows off some of his old colors by wanting to run off on his own, but then listens when the team tells him to stick together. What’s important, though, is that Keith doesn’t completely give in to Shiro. In choosing between taking out Lotor’s ship and taking out the cargo ship, Keith makes a snap choice, against Shiro’s wishes, that targets both. He’s a good leader, and he’s making good decisions. The rest of the team just invalidates that, bringing back the doubt that has brought him so much trouble in the past, which we see in Keith and Shiro’s exchange at the end of the episode.

Final note on season three: past parallels

In the last episode of the season, we get some back story on Alfor and Zarkon’s relationship as well as some of the other past paladins. There’s the potential to see Alfor and Zarkon as a parallel to Shiro and Keith, but there’s also the potential to see it as a note on Lance and Keith, seeing as Lance is showing Altean traits vs Keith’s Galran traits. I’m about to try to debunk that with my own theory: there was also a scene in that episode where Alfor, in the red lion, saved Blades, the pilot of the blue lion. The connections between red and blue just keep being dredged up. There are red and blue stars in the astral plane. Red and blue are everywhere. Keith and Lance are literally written in the stars.

#klance #keith #lance #voltron #ace speaks #i worked hard on this please love me #opinion

5 notes · View notes

lxiewrites · 7 years

Text

Embrace the Gay

Prompt from @bleusarcelle crabs and tomatoes

Inspiration from @ciuucalata who refuses to let my crab dream die

Context: I dreamt that I was being chased by a giant crab before I knew about this video and Ellie hasn’t stopped teasing me since. Lance is like 90% her.

Lance was already up when his phone rang at 2:38AM.

He groped for the cell lost to the mountains and folds of his blankets, rummaging through until he felt the familiar shape. Bringing the too bright screen to his face he stared into what was causing his insomnia.

The contact photo was of the boy with a stupidly cute pout on his face. He took it sneaky-like. This boy just did not like pictures. He remembered that it was when they were studying for the upcoming math test. He was staring at the study guide like it would give him the secrets of the world, a cute little pout on his lips. It was a pretty good picture all in all. He got the angle perfectly catching his jawline that could probably cut glass. The light streaming through illuminated him like a fucking halo and lighting his purple eyes like amethysts. His friend, his buddy, his pal, his BFFL (best friend for life)… his apparently gay best friend? Keith Kogane.

It was just a few weeks ago that Keith came out to him. It would’ve been very heartfelt and touching, a perfect Hallmark moment, if Lance didn’t eat those three bean burritos for lunch and farted right after. But it was fine, Keith had got to have known Lance would accept him for who he was. Just like how Lance knew he could come out to him that he was bi three months earlier.

The problem was…now Keith is gay… and he’s been having some issues… with feelings.

Keith wasn’t exactly his bi awakening but Lance never really let himself think of his best friend in that way. Don’t fall for a straight boy, his sister told him. But what if that straight boy is now gay and he has some minor chance in hell?

No. Nope, nu-uh, not happening. What if Keith thought he was just using him? What if he thought it was creepy? What if he rejected him? What if it made their friendship all awkward and weird? What if he didn’t like him anymore?

What if he lost him?

He always thought falling in love with your best friend the greatest thing ever. The movies made it seem so natural and magical but this isn’t the movies.

It’s fine. Everything’s fine. He would just continue on like normal.

He pressed the answer button. “What’s up, Mullet?” he rasped, his voice scratchy from disuse.

“Lance,” Keith’s voice was scratchy too. “I had a fucking weird dream.”

Lance chuckled, putting an arm behind his head as he relaxed for the tale. “You do realize it’s two AM right?”

“I had a really fucking weird dream,” the sleepy boy mumbled. He must be still half asleep. Lance ignored the swooping in his stomach at the thought of being the instinctive first person Keith told.

“Okay, okay, what was it?”

“I was chased by a giant crab.”

“….Pffftttt, what?”

“Giant crab,” he slurred, “chasing me on its little feet things. Skittering. Skkkssshhh, skkkksssshhhh, ssskkkkkssshhhhh.” Lance pressed his mouth into his shoulder to muffle his laugh. Sleepy tired Keith is the best Keith. He could almost imagine him being rolling over all cute, rubbing his eyes and poking Lance in the side to mumble something about giant crab, hair all floofed out. No, no, bad Lance! “It was chasing me and I couldn’t move but it never caught me but it was still chasing me.”

God, he was ridiculous at this stage, he’d believe anything. One time he Lance called him early in the morning and demanded why he wasn’t in class. It was Saturday. He was so pissed when he got to school only to see it closed except for the janitor.

…Aw, he was mean, he was so mean. He was gonna do it. Keith was gonna kill him but he’s gonna do it. “Hold on, buddy! I have a dream book!” He reached over to grope along the floor for a random book. He heaved his literacy book onto his lap.

“Why the fuck do you have a dream book?”

He flipped through the pages, pretending to look for the meaning of crabs. “I’m allowed to have interests. Don’t judge.” His response was a muffled grumble.

He couldn’t help but smile. He gasped, loudly and dramatically. He could hear the shifting of the covers on the other side of the phone and the sleepy hum. “It says here you’re gay!”

”What?” More rustling.

“Yeah, yeah! The crab means you’re gay because it represents sexuality because it doesn’t know which way it—And! You were running from it which means you’re running from your gay!”

”What the f—“

“Were there loafers?”

“…No, not re—“

“It emphasizes the gay!”

“WHAT THE FUCK!”

“And the lightning makes it super, ultra, mega gay!”

There was a beat, bed creaking. “Oh my fucking god; I’m gay.”

“Looks like, goodnight buddy!”

“Yeah…g’night…”

Lance hung up the phone, rolling over onto his stomach to hide his smile in the pillow. He waited a second… two…

The phone lit up with his pouty face. Snickering he accepted and brought the phone up to his—

“WAIT A FUCKING SECOND!”

Lance burst into laughter despite knowing he might wake up his parents and siblings.

“Hey, guys,” Keith greeted when he sat down at the lunch table, late as usual but thankfully before Hunk came. Pidge nodded with a short “’Sup,” but didn’t look up from the notes she was furiously scribbling. Lance shot him a shit-eating grin from where he stood, hovering over Pidge, at least until he saw his lunch.

Making a face Lance stuck out his tongue. “Bleh, how can you eat that? What even is it?” He leaned bodily over Pidge to peer closer at his lunch. Pidge didn’t react other to than let herself be flattened into the table, still writing. “Chicken? Beans?” He paused, lip twitching. “Crab?”

Keith slammed his tray on the table, lunch clattering, mysterious lunch spilling, and pointed an aggressive finger at him. “YOU SHUT YOUR FUCK!”

Lance burst out laughing while Pidge finally stopped writing and stared at Keith in confusion. She then looked at Lance and deadpanned, “What did you do.”

Still laughing Lance tried to look as affronted as he could with a grin on his face. Hand to his heart he gasped past his giggles, “Why do you think I did something?”

Keith pouted and kicked Lance under the table while sitting at the table like the talented motherfucker he is. “That’s because you did do something.”

“I helped you embrace your inner gay!”

“I’m already gay!”

“What does any of this have to do with crabs?!” Pidge yelled, arms spread out encompassing the what-the-fuckness of the situation. Her hands landed on the table with a thump before looking at Keith mouth agape and eyes wide behind her glasses. “Oh my god, you have crabs.”

“No!” he shouted.

Lance proceeded to die on the dirty floor of the cafeteria. He stood up again, kissing Pidge on the top of her head while avoiding the hand she flung out. “Then what the fuck, man!”

Keith planted his face in his hands and groaned. Lance decided to be the good guy his is and explain the entire situation. “Keith had a hentai dream with crabs—“ He yelped as a dinner roll nailed him in the face. Keith’s face was deadly, already armed with another roll. Lance tore a bite out of the roll out of spite before starting over and because he’s a masochist… “Fine, he had a dream about me with Sebastian the crab—“ And there was the second roll.

Pidge was snickering off to the side as Keith crossed his arms with a pout and a red face. “Okay,” Pidge said after she calmed down. “But we need to actually work on what we’re doing for Hunk’s birthday before he gets here.”

“Stop goofing around, Keith! We need to make this perfect for my best friend!”

“You’re the one—!” He huffed and planted his chin on his fist not looking at them. “Forget it,” he mumbled.

“Okay,” Pidge said, finishing her notes with a flourish. Tearing off a section she handed Lance the paper. “Lance, you got making dinner, this is the recipe. Keith, you got buying the decorations. Allura’s baking the cake and Shiro is making sure that Hunk gets there surprised.”

“And what will you be doing, Pidge?” Keith drawled, accepting his piece of paper.

“Uh, I’m the master genius of this plan? Duh. And I’m building him a computer so I’d shut up if I were you crabby.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

Keith grabbed a spoonful of the mysterious meat, relishing in the screams of horror from his two so-called friends.

Lance browsed the aisles, list held loosely between his fingers. The cart clattered as his partner dumped his items into the basket.

“Okay,” Keith started, “that’s the decorations, I might need to get a balloon pump or something.”

Lance held a hand over his heart and looked at him over his shoulder. “Buddy, my man, my pal, my lung capacity is amazing, save yo monies.”

Keith huffed in amusement and crossed his arms. “Fine, but I’m not driving you to the hospital when you have to blow up one hundred twenty balloons.”

“One hundre—bro! That is an excessive amount of balloons! Why so many?”

Keith raised his brows at him as if to say are you serious? “Don’t you want to make a balloon arch?” He sorted through his items with a distracted hand and murmured, “We might need to get more balloons actually.”

Lance stopped his browsing, shoved the list in his jacket pocket, and turned around, deadpanned look on his face. “We are not making a balloon arch, Keith.”

His brows furrowed and he pouted his stupid cute pout. “Why not?”

“Uh, because they’re tacky as hell? Nuh-uh, Hunk would not want a stupid balloon arch that he’d have no use for.”

“You don’t know, he could love it.”

“I am his best friend, I think I’d know whether or not Hunk would want a balloon arch for his birthday.”

“Well have you asked?”

“Why the hell would I ask if he liked balloon arches?”

“Well, why not?”

”Why would that be in an everyday conversation?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?’

”Oh my fucking God,” Lance groaned, trying not to laugh. He forced the corners of his lips down but it probably only served him to look more ridiculous. He shook his head, mildly alarmed when his bangs brushed Keith’s. He didn’t realize how close they got in their argument, foreheads almost touching.

The color was high in Keith’s cheeks, but he didn’t seem to notice their proximity, only squinting his indigo eyes at him. Lance stood up straight, adding much-needed distance between their faces. He could feel his face become warm as he coughed into his fist before planting it on his hip.

“Well, when it’s your birthday we’ll make a balloon arch for you.”

Keith’s not wrinkled in a mock grimace, the slightest tilt to his lips and smiling eyes. “Ew, no, balloon arches are tacky.”

Lance lunged forward with a battle cry. Keith barely dodged those long arms, laughing as he ducked under flailing limbs, but he wasn’t quick enough to escape grabby fingers that latched onto his jacket collar.

He squirmed and escaped his jacket, leaving him in his black T-shirt he spun around to grab it but Lance yanked it out of his reach. Lance glared down at Keith, smirk dancing across his face. “HA!”

“Lance, give me my jacket.”

“Uh, how about no.”

”Lance,” Keith growled.

”Keith.”

Keith lunged for it but he was stopped when Lance used his foot to kick the cart in front of him like a shield. Keith rubbed at his stomach where it scraped against him and glared. “I could climb you if I wanted.”

Lance gasped, turned his head, and placed the back of his hand to his mouth like some anime schoolgirl. He said in an exaggerated breathy voice, “Save it for the bedroom.”

Keith turned bright red and bit his lip. Damn, sometimes Lance wondered if Keith knew of his crush and did these things just to torment him. He wants to take that bitten lip and kiss it better. Run his tongue—

“Fine,” Keith spat.

Fine? Fine what?

Keith held out his hand. “At least give me your jacket to keep warm, it’s like fifty degrees out.”

Wait, what? Keith wants to wear his jacket??

Lance scrutinized him. Does he know what he’s asking? The implication? It’s unlikely because it’s Keith. Keith who’s as oblivious to social cues and unsaid gestures as he is to the concepts of cheers. He looked almost bored, maybe expectant, hand out and wiggling his fingers.

It’s Keith; of course he wouldn’t get it.

But even if Keith didn’t know did not mean that Lance couldn’t get a little excited at seeing Keith in his jacket. Hisjacket. All cute and snuggly and warm in his jacket. He sighed, at the situation or himself he didn’t really know but he shucked off his jacket, still keeping his hand on Keith’s before draping it over the extended palm.

Keith pushed his arms through and oh good gravy it was too big on him. Only the tips of his fingers stuck out of the sleeves. He adjusted the jacket around his shoulders a pleased hum in the back of his throat. “It’s really warm.”

Did he die? Did Lance die in the canned food aisle due to the cuteness overload?

Covering how flustered he was sure he was he shoved on Keith’s jacket. The sleeves slightly too short, they didn’t even cover his wrists, and if it was a cropped jacket on Keith it fell only to his ribs.

“How the hell do you stay warm in this? This is, like, nothing. Keith, buddy, we need to get you a proper jacket.”

“Thanks, but I got one.”

Lance glared at him, still trying to make the jacket work around his shoulders. It didn’t. He took it off and tied it around his waist. “You’re a little shit.”

A chuckle was his only answer. “What else do you need?”

Lance turned around to go back to scanning the canned goods. “Mmm, I still need tomatoes… and crab.”

He flinched when a hard punch landed on his shoulder. “Ow!” he exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder and pouting at the glaring boy next to him.

“Good!” his so-called friend said before hitting him again.

“Will you—ow! Stop, dude! Will you stop? Ow, stop hitting me! We really do need it, check the list!”

The hits slowed, but Keith got one more swat to his stomach before reaching in to look at the ingredient list. “What the fuck are you even making?”

Lance snatched the list out of Keith’s hands and shoved it in his pants pocket. “Gordon Ramsey’s crab spaghetti, I wouldn’t ruin my best bud’s birthday with your weird gay crab dream.” He set his hand on Keith’s shoulder and squeezed. “Just accept your gay, Keith.”

“I’m already gay!”

“That’s why it’s hilarious!”

Keith crossed his arms grumbling. Pouting, he turned slightly away from him and muttered something under his breath.

“What was that?”

Keith side-eyed him. “I thought I was your best friend.”

Lance bit his lip to keep from smiling too big. Keith was really going to kill him one day. He wrapped an arm around him, pulling him to his side. “You’re more than my best friend, Keith.”

Keith looked up at him, those starry eyes sucking him in like no other. Ignoring his heart rate he smirked. “You’re my BFFL.”

Keith’s expression fell flat. “Oh my God.”

“Sauté! Sauté! Oh my God! What are you doing?!”

“Stop telling me what to do, Keith! I’m not taking advice from someone who reduces everything to ash!” Lance bumped Keith out of the way as he reached for a spatula. Stirring the quickly charring onions and garlic he screamed at Keith to tell him the next step in the instructions.

“Pour in the white wine and reduce it.”

“Reduce it? Reduce it to what? Water? I’m not Jesus!”

Keith laughed. “You know what that means you fucking nerd!”

Lance poured the wine in a steady stream; the pan sizzled loudly. He darted a look at Keith who was biting a corner of his lip to keep from smiling. Lance allowed himself to second or two at looking at him before gasping loudly. “You kiss your gay crab with that mouth?!”

Keith slammed his hand on the counter, pointing the other at him threateningly. “I swear to god Lance if you mention that crab dream one more time I’ll shank you.”

Lance laughed, stirring the dish in front of him. “But it’s so funny!”

“I told you I was gay a few months ago!”

“And this was just a manifestation of your gayness. Embrace your inner gay, Keith.”

A hand fisted in his shirt and brought him down a couple of inches to look into the glowering face of Keith Kogane. “I. Have. Embraced. My. Gay.” he growled.

Lance gulped, staring into those furious violet eyes. They were so close he could count nearly every single star placed in those eyes. The tips of their noses brush with every inhalation. Only a few centimeters of air kept him from taking that plump bottom lip between his own.

Any moment. Any minute now Keith was going to pull away and bring him back to reality. He was going to back up and threaten him to stop it with the crab jokes and Lance was going to laugh it off and go back to stirring. He was going to reduce the wine before he forgot himself and do something stupid.

Except Keith wasn’t backing away. The grip on his shirt lightened but still kept him right where he was. And he didn’t try too hard to step back. His breaths were shallow as he tried to keep from looking at the lips that were so temptingly close. His eyelids drooped and he tilted his head down the slightest bit.

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!!!

“Oh, fuck!” Lance lunged the burning dish to the sink, turning on the tap.

He turned around to see Keith climbing on the counter of the marble island reaching up to swipe at the fire alarm. He jumped slightly to get closer, heel coming dangerously close to the edge.

“Get down from there! You’re gonna hurt yourself!” Lance shouted, marching over. He coughed when he inhaled a lungful of black smoke from the burnt food. Keith was still trying to get at the smoke alarm but was just barely too short, fingers brushing but not enough to actually grab it and turn it off. Lance wrapped his arms around his hips, bracing himself for the shift of weight while he prepared to pick the Korean boy up.

“Hey!”

Lance dropped him to the side, shoving him in the direction of the window. “Open up the windows, I’ll get the smoke alarm!”

Climbing on top of the counter he could easily reach with his long limbs. He could hear Keith grumbling about unfair height advantages but he still opened the window, the cold bite of winter air nipping at any bare skin available.

Alarm quiet and smoke drifting lazily out the window Lance hopped down. He went to grab a towel to help flap the smoke out, ignoring the self-satisfied look Keith gave him.

“Who was it that turns everything to ash?”

“Oh, shut up, Keith.”

“SURPRISE!”

The lights came on and everyone came out of their hiding places. Leaping out at a surprised Hunk who looked close to tears.

“You guys! I can’t believe you did this!”

“Of course buddy!” Lance said, sauntering over, wrapping an arm around him. “Only the best for you buddy!”

Hunk leaned down and in a hushed tone murmured to Lance, “Okay but the cake…”

“Allura.”

Hunk breathed a sigh of relief, hand to his heart. “Oh thank God. Who made dinner?”

“Uuhh, you see, Keith and I just helped each other with our—“

“You guys burnt it didn’t you. Lance! What have I told you guys about cooking?! If it’s not perfect it’s not leaving the kitchen!”

“W-well, I kicked him out of the kitchen and then it was fine!”

“Hey, I resent that,” Keith said coming over, giving the big guy a hug. “Lance burned it without my help.”

“Uh, you totally were the reason why the food burned Mr. Crabs-for-brains.”

“Crabs?” Hunk asked.

“Keith has crabs,” Pidge said shoving Keith out of the way to leap at Hunk, hugging him. “Don’t worry I kept Shiro away from any cooking,” she whispered.

“I don’t have crabs!”

“You just dream of them.”

Keith covered his face and groaned in his hands.

“Do we need to have a talk about safe sex?” Shiro teased, ignoring Keith’s shout. He leaned over and hugged Hunk. “Happy birthday, Hunk.”

Allura hugged him next. “I made your favorite cake.” She stepped back and smiled. “Happy birthday, Hunk.”

“Happy birthday!” they all chorused.

It was a little while later when Hunk cornered Lance in the kitchen on a mission to retrieve more cake that he started teasing him. “So you and Keith, huh,” he said with a smug smile.

“Yeeess,” Lance drawled, “what of it?”

“Have you two been…sitting in a tree lately?” Lance groaned and pushed Hunk’s smirking face away from him. He cut a large slice from the freaking three-tiered cake that Allura baked, mussing the passion fruit frosting on the transfer to his plate.

”No, we haven’t.” He scraped off the extra frosting off the knife.

“Who hasn’t what?” Keith asked, hitching a thumb behind him. “And how long does it take to get a piece of cake? Pidge is setting up the video game system.”

“Oh! That’s my cue to go!” Hunk exclaimed rushing out. “Pidge! It’s my birthday, I have the right to call dibs!”

Both boys chuckled at the distant fight over characters. “So who hasn’t what?” Keith asked, leaning against the counter.

“Oh, just—hey! Get your own frosting! We’re just talking about how you haven’t accepted your gayness yet.”

“I was already gay, Lance! That doesn’t even make any sense!”

“Keith. Keith, Keith, Keith. Keith. My man, that’s exactly why it’s funny,” He placed a hand on his shoulder. “You are gay but you haven’t accepted your gay.” He placed a hand on his heart doing his best to keep a neutral face. “That’s why you had the crab dream, I’m glad I was able to help your gay awakening, Keith.”

“Lance,” Keith growled, he gripped his shirtfront and got right up into Lance’s face. “You were my gay awakening!”

As soon as Keith said it he looked horrified, letting go of his shirt and backing up slightly.

Lance’s mouth was still agape as his mind tried to catch up to his ears, hands still suspended in the air. Before Keith could turn and run he reached out and grabbed his shoulder, hand fisting in the material of his jacket. “Wha-what?” The words died in his throat. He tried again. “What did you just say?”

“I didn’t—I—I mean—“

“You said I was your gay awakening,” Lance said, still dazed. “Like, how? As in you find me attractive or…”

“I— I…” Keith looked off to the side searching for an escape but didn’t move. “I find you attractive but also I just…” He sighed and looked him in the eye, violet eyes determined but a softness was there. Something that could get hurt if handled roughly. “I have a crush on you. I’ve had a crush on you for a long time. But I didn’t really think about it until you told me you were bi. It wasn’t even something conscious I was just, ‘I have a chance’. But this is just weird. It’s weird, right? It’s stupid and gonna mess up our friendship and can we just for—“

Lance didn’t even realize he moved, only that Keith was rambling and being so unsure of himself was so out of character that he somehow had to stop it. Next thing he knew he was cupping Keith’s face and kissing him. Taking those soft lips and slotting them between his own. Soft kisses and a gentle grip allowing him to back off if he wanted. Keith sighed into his mouth and only got closer, arms encircling his neck as he lined his body up with his.

Lance groaned parted from him, chest warming from how Keith chased him. Slowly Keith opened his eyes, licking his lips as if he could still taste Lance on his lips. He looked up at him, brow furrowed, lips still wet from kissing. “Was that out of pi—mmph.”

Keith wrenched his head back, pout on his lips. “Stop that. Just answer me if—mmph.”

Keith allowed the kiss for a few seconds before jabbing Lance in the stomach with a pointy finger. He glared at him, trying to maintain the stern composure but Lance could see a laugh fraying the edges of his expression. “Just give me an answer you dork!”

“I keep kissing you! Doesn’t that give you the answer!?” Lance laughed. He rested his forehead against Keith’s. “Listen, I liked you for a long time. I don’t really know for how long but I know I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to kiss you or even hold your hand. Especially, after you told me you were gay. I thought I finally had a chance too.”

“…Well, I guess that answers my question.”

They burst into giggles, still holding the other close. A voice popped the bubble they put themselves in. “Hey, are you guys coming out of the kitchen anytime soon? We’re already on the third round!”

They looked at each other and smiled. “We’re coming!” Lance called. Keith grabbed his hand with a small smile, leading them out to the others.

“Wait! My cake!”

Lance was already awake when his phone rang at 2:40AM. Though for far better reasons than last time.

He answered. “Hey, babe, weird dream?”

He heard a gentle murmur over the phone and the rustle of the covers. “Not too weird this time,” he whispered, smile in his voice. “This time I had a weird dream about being in Goodwill and shopping for flannel. I actually got a good one before I woke up and realized it was a dream.”

“You dreamed about getting flannel?”

“Mmhm,” he hummed, more sounds of him getting comfortable under the covers.

He was quiet, waiting for the breaths of his boyfriend to gentle, a steady in and out right before he fell asleep. “That’s really gay.”

A long and loud groan muffled in a pillow was his answer. “Don’t you fucking start.”

“Your dream self finally accepted your gay.”

“Lance, you’re my boyfriend. OF COURSE I’M GAY!” In the background, he could hear the creaking of a door and the soft sound of someone else speaking. “Yeah, sorry Shiro, I’ll keep loud gay revelations to myself, sorry.” The sound of the door closing. “See what you done.”

Lance snickered into the back of his hand. “Aw, come on. You love me.”

“Can’t even tell you about any kind of dream without it going back to the crabs,” he muttered. He heaved a great sigh and Lance heard the smile in his voice. “I do. Love you, I suppose.”

Lance felt his chest fill with warm butterflies. “Good night, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He grinned. “Try not to wake up too crabby.”

”RRRAAAAHHH!!” The door opened again followed by a tired, “Keith, please.”

“Sorry, Shiro.”

Ao3

#VLD #lex writes #klance #keith #Lance #my dream #gay awakening #crabs

74 notes · View notes

amorremanet · 7 years

Text

In celebration of @blackpaladinweek — some Twinganes (i.e., Shiro and his twin brother Ryou) headcanons from the punk band/university/modern setting hot mess AU of But boys spring infernal (as of now: Mature, ~300k, 17 of 21 chapters; main ship is Keith/Shiro, with several past ships & side-ships; this AU’s previous Ryou + Twinganes post) (also dedicated to Saki @bishiro ):

Q: Which one of the Shirogane twins loves Legally Blonde more? / A: Trick question, they love Legally Blonde more or less equally

That said, Ryou doesn’t love Mean Girls as much as Shiro does. Or very much at all, really

It’s not that Ryou minds the movie? But he’s tired of it, and too many Mean Girls references at once will make Ryou want to scream

Shiro may never let Ryou live down his t(w)eenage celebrity crush on Christina Aguilera, but to be fair, Ryou isn’t going to let Kashi live down his still very much alive celebrity crush on Sir Ian McKellan, either

Unlike Ryou, who took some time to arrive at his Bi Awakening, Shiro has known that he’s gay since they were about eight and he got a kiddie-crush on a boy in his class.

Their Mom heard about this when she asked if they had any special Valentines in mind in their class, and while Ryou just said the name of the first girl in class who he thought of as a friend but was mostly non-committal about it, Shiro was very into Cameron Levesque.

Mom and Dad Shirogane talked to Shiro about this first, basically explaining that they love him no matter what and there is nothing wrong with him being gay, but that he needs to be careful because there are, unfortunately, several people in the world who disagree and could try to hurt him

Ryou’s nine-year-old opinion on this was, “Well, if Kashi is gay, then duh, obviously there’s nothing wrong with anybody being gay. How could there be? My brother is the best and anyone who says otherwise is probably just jealous, I will fight them if they try to say that he’s wrong for wanting to kiss other boys”

Excluding snowball fights, Ryou has been in five physical fights in his entire life. Four somehow involved the desire to stand up for his brother. The fifth one, on the other hand, involved Ryou standing up to said brother, and it ended in him and Shiro hugging each other while crying.

From the age of eleven until they were almost 24, Ryou and Shiro had an ongoing debate about which fictional aliens would be the most fun to get abducted by. After Shiro’s time “living with” (read: being effectively held hostage by) Sendak and Haxus, though, that whole discussion stopped being one that he could find any humor in.

Like, if Earth made first contact with the Vulcans tomorrow and Shiro was offered passage back to their home-world, he’d have a hard time saying, “No”? But he’s really lost his taste for, “abducted by aliens” fantasies

One of the biggest disappointments of their childhood was that their Mom and Dad never let them get a cat, but in fairness? Tiny Ryou could be kind of a space cadet sometimes (in that he gets absorbed in things very easily and sometimes needs to be reminded that the rest of the world exists), while Tiny Kashi was either trying way too hard to be Perfect or a mischievous, rambunctious handful who fancied himself a prankster, with very little middle-ground between those two options

—so any cats they adopted likely would’ve been loved by the twins but cared for by their parents or grandparents, instead of functioning as a Lesson in Responsibility That Is Shaped Like A Pet for the twins

One of Ryou’s current disappointments is that he is a financially stable adult who could totally adopt a cat…… but he isn’t sure how Slav and a cat would get along with each other, and as troublesome as Slav can be, Ryou does love his friend/roommate, and he wants a cat? But not enough to risk a situation that could be Not Good for Slav

Ryou is responsible for turning Shiro on to Steven Universe, and Hunk is responsible for introducing the show to Ryou.

The character Ryou most identifies with is Connie (and Shiro can see it but would also peg Ryou as having a lot in common with Sadie).

The characters Shiro most identifies with are Pearl and Lapis Lazuli — and Ryou agrees kinda but he doesn’t like it, especially because:

1. he knows that the episode “Lost At Sea” is a big reason why Shiro loves Lapis as much as he does, and considering that episode really isn’t subtle in portraying Lapis’s fusion with Jasper as an abusive relationship, Ryou’s Protective Brother Instincts get pricked up hardcore;

and 2. Ryou can’t help but be suspicious and concerned about how Pearl and Lapis have character designs that emphasize thinness and physical delicacy, given that Shiro has an eating disorder and body image issues

(which okay, Shiro understands where Ryou’s coming from here, but this is sort of a sticking point because Shiro isn’t sure how he can put Ryou’s mind at ease without risk of accidentally sounding like he’s devaluing his problems

—also, he knows from experience that, apparently, “Duly noted, but I never wanted to be that kind of skinny and that isn’t the real problem with me anyway” is not the right answer)

Neither twin will argue that Hunk is the resident Steven Quartz Universe, like…… They don’t see a case to the contrary, really. And Hunk is totally cool with that.

When they were sixteen, Shiro passed his driver’s test on the first time out while Ryou failed it twice before finally getting it right. These days, though, Ryou is the twin who actually has a car and ever drives it. If you ask Shiro why he’s so averse to driving, he will tell you, “Trying to drive a car in Chicago after barely having my license for six months” and leave it at that.

Anyone who tries to tell you that either Shiro or Ryou is the, “calm, level-headed twin” while the other is the, “temperamental, reckless twin”? ……Yeah, either they’ve only just met the twins or they are lying to you.

Like, it’s fair(-ish) to join Shiro in saying that he is the, “genius twin” while Ryou is, “the twin with common sense” — in D&D stats terms: Shiro has more Intelligence than Wisdom, while Ryou is about even on both but isn’t as off-the-charts in Intelligence as Shiro is

—but… ahaha, no, both of them can be either the, “calm, level-headed twin” or the, “temperamental, reckless twin” at different points and in different ways. Both of them are easily outraged by abuses of power and/or on behalf of other people, but even that, they do differently.

A lot (though not all) of Shiro’s outrage could be summed up as, “People who have power don’t use it responsibly and it hurts the people who have less power, or who rely on them, or similar, and Shiro has no idea why he has to explain that you should care about other people, but he is angry and offended that some people think this is optional, what the Hell, how do you just not care about other people”

However: for all Shiro will (usually) let himself be openly angry about other people’s abuse, pain, suffering, etc., he usually tries to deny, repress, or ignore the anger he feels about things that hurt him. He’s getting better while working on all this with Ulaz, but he has a history of letting that anger build up until he snaps, or only come out in his music and/or when he’s angry on someone else’s behalf.

His typical interactions with Slav aren’t even an exception that prove the rule here. It’s an easy mistake to make, given how short Shiro’s temper is with Slav… but fact is, he simply hits his breaking point with Slav faster than he does with most people.

In the opinions of several people, Shiro’s pronounced bleeding-heart tendencies might very easily be the death of him someday if he doesn’t learn to get better at managing them. Like, most people agree that his compassion, his level of concern for other people, and his desire to help people are at least some degree of admirable — but Shiro has a problem of giving too much of himself to other people.

He also has a problem of getting angry about things that he can’t really do anything about (sometimes genuinely and sometimes because he doesn’t really want to deal with any of the things he can affect any meaningful change over because they’re messy and tangled and being Complicated at him, especially when they’re emotionally complicated)

On top of those problems, Shiro also has the problem where he has trouble with insisting on some of his boundaries and asking people to respect them — and he can sometimes be really, really bad at remembering where his boundaries are when he’s faced with people who need help, or issues that he cares about (though Shiro fixates more on the people affected by those issues than on the issues themselves), or the pain and suffering of other people in general

—Because Shiro wants to help. Shiro wants to make people’s lives better. Shiro is the sort of person who endures horrible pain and trauma and comes out the other end of it, wanting to be the sort of person who would’ve helped his past-self when he was in deep shit (and one of his biggest motivations as an artist/songwriter is wanting to make music that really reaches people and affects them somehow, even if it’s “just” reminding them that they aren’t alone). Which is all great?

……But when it comes to helping people, Shiro has all the chill of a broken freezer (which is to say, “none whatsoever”), and he often shoves his own problems down or to the side in the name of trying to help other people instead, despite how this has gotten him into trouble so many times before

The list of people who have expressed concern about these tendencies of Shiro at one point or another includes but is not limited to:

Ryou

Keith

Lance

Pidge

Hunk kinda sorta, he waffles about it

Matt

Ulaz sometimes

Iverson despite the fact that he also admires Shiro’s capacity for hope and compassion

Shiro’s old roommate Mark and their friend Trevor

Shiro’s old friend Laura (whom he fake-dated when they were in high school so her parents wouldn’t find out that she’s a lesbian)

Acxa (including one incident where she was like, “Look, Lotor is my best friend and has been since we were nine — but he’s a disaster, you two are not working out together, and I know that you want to help him…… but you are probably going to kill yourself if you keep trying so hard to help him”)

Ezor

Zethrid

Narti (through the conduit of Ezor because she didn’t feel like talking to Shiro for herself)

Shiro and Ryou’s Mom

Shiro and Ryou’s Dad

Grandfather Shirogane

Grandmother Shirogane

Sendak (but he meant this less out of real concern and more as a way of going, “Why don’t you give in and just come revel in being a monster with me”)

Slav (but he expressed the sentiment to Ryou because he felt like Shiro wasn’t listening to him, which was accurate)

Shiro’s A.A./N.A. sponsor Robin

David And Miranda From Group

and Lotor, even though he has directly benefited from Shiro’s bleeding-heart tendencies more than pretty much anyone else in Shiro’s life except for maybe Sendak

—Allura only hasn’t expressed concerns like this yet because she only just met Shiro recently

So……… yeah. This is a Thing. People become aware of it pretty quickly, when dealing with Shiro.

Ryou, on the other hand, has some trouble admitting that he’s angry on his own behalf but nowhere near as much as Shiro. In general, he’s far more likely than Shiro to acknowledge that he is angry and then either try to push it aside because “there is something more important to deal with right now,” or start giving people the cold shoulder

(—this happens even if he isn’t angry with them or anyone in particular: Ryou is very much a person who feels a need to tinker with or work on something when he gets angry. He also tends to want space from other people, and unless someone is comfortable enough with him to know better, his cranky tinkering tends to look like he’s shutting people out)

When Ryou gets outraged for other people, it tends to be in a way that’s focused on their boundaries or sense of agency, or things that were taken from them. While Shiro’s outrage tends to be more centered on the pain and suffering and wanting to find some way to alleviate it (usually by doing something and finding some kind of silver lining or a purpose to dedicate oneself to), Ryou’s outrage is about the specifics of what was done unto other people and how it tried to take away their sense of power in their own lives, and then what to do about moving forward (with an occasional side of vengeance and a serious vindictive streak once roused)

He’s also much more likely to get angry about people whom or issues that he cares about personally, rather than emotionally bleeding over everything he doesn’t really enjoy about the world — like, yes, he can get upset about injustices that he has no personal relation to or stake in, and it bothers him that many people in positions of power are manipulative assholes who care more about themselves and their own security than about the people beneath them on the different hierarchical ladders?

But unlike Shiro, Ryou looks at those things and goes, “I don’t like them, but there largely doesn’t seem to be anything I can do to directly change them, and as much as they upset me, I have other issues and troubles that I need to focus on because I actually can do something about them. I’m only human, I only have so much energy and so many resources, and I care about those things? But I have no idea how to affect any meaningful change, so I’m going to go put more energy into something that I can actually do anything about”

Basically, just…… Ryou and Shiro can both be temperamental and they can both be reckless. They can also both be totally calm and level-headed. It depends on the context, since they can get upset about different things, and

True, there are other factors in play as well, but Shiro’s mental health is the biggest reason why Ryou has a longer list of times when he’s gone, “Kashi, NO” than Shiro’s list of incidents requiring a, “Ryou, NO.”

Specifically, Ryou has had to go, “Kashi, NO” more often than Shiro’s done the opposite…… because Shiro has a history of disregarding his own well-being or outright not caring about it, whether this meant, “trying to climb a precarious-looking tree to save his friend Laura’s cat when they were all about ten” or, “mixing up a ‘cocktail’ that is equal parts tequila and cherry-flavored liquid Vicodin, then chugging six of them on an empty stomach”

(disclaimer: please, for the love of god, DO NOT DO THIS. it is a miracle that Shiro lived through doing that to himself, so please, please, please do not do this thing.)

Shiro doesn’t get what Ryou’s deal is about Sven. None of them gets why people think Sven looks so similar to the twins, but Shiro’s bigger sticking point is, “Seriously, why do you act like Sven is such a life-ruiner? He’s a decent guy, just kind of a goofball, and apparently he sounds like the Swedish Chef in bed? Which is a mental image you can thank Lance for, but??? Come on, are you really that jealous of Slav having another friend”

(to answer Shiro’s question: ……well, yes, Ryou is jealous? But it’s more that he thinks that Slav may have oversold this friendship and that Sven thinks of him as a work friend only and doesn’t really care about his problems… but in fairness, Ryou gets to that conclusion by conveniently ignoring certain pieces of evidence about Sven and Slav’s relationship that he doesn’t want to acknowledge because he is jealous of Sven, so……… yup.)

At this point, whenever the twins show off any old childhood photos, they make the jokes comparing themselves to the Sprouse miscreants before anyone else can. They’ve heard it so many times, and it’s always some kind of variant on the same thing — “Wow, you guys looked practically the same until you were about twelve, then Ryou started getting fat and Shiro didn’t” — and they’re fricking tired of it

While the brothers enjoy both Star Trek and Star Wars, there are some party lines here. Ryou infinitely prefers Star Wars (and he will fight people over both the validity of the prequels and whether or not the different Expanded Universe stories are still canon in light of the new trilogy)

Shiro meanwhile thinks that Star Trek is the superior sci-fi franchise (and he will fight people who think he should’ve dressed up as Kirk or Picard or anyone but Uhura for his past Trek-themed Halloween costumes. Because…… what. He wanted to wear TOS!Uhura’s red mini-dress and Mirrorverse!Uhura’s outfit, so he did, what is your point)

That said, there are some photos of the Mirror!Uhura outfit that Shiro would rather not be reminded of. They’re old selfies from around Halloween 2012, he was dangerously unhealthy, and and he sent them to Ryou and Laura for opinions without even thinking about the possibility that their reactions might focus less on how he looked in the costume and more on the fact that: 1. Shiro had amended the costume in certain suspicious ways; and 2. he looked like he was going to pass out at any minute

“Certain suspicious ways” here means: Shiro tried to cite the fact that it was a chilly October as a reason for putting a long-sleeved black t-shirt under the red-and-gold-trimmed bra part…… except Ryou and Laura both called bullshit, because Shiro had worn the proper costume in colder weather before without caring, and they had reason to suspect that he was trying to hide something

Ryou zeroed in on the possibility that Shiro might’ve been trying to hide injuries from Sendak. Laura focused, instead, on the fact that Shiro looked particularly thin and thought that he might’ve been trying to throw people off from noticing this. Both of them were right.

Two weeks after those selfies, Shiro had a fainting spell at work — which would eventually become a huge sticking point for Keith, because he thought said fainting spell made Shiro take his well-being more seriously and made him give more of a fuck about how much his self-abuse and relationship with Sendak were wrecking him…… but Keith was other than right.

I mean, the fainting spell scared Shiro, and it briefly made him take things more seriously…… but that didn’t last

Aside from Ryou and Laura, the only people who’ve seen those selfies are: Sendak (poking through Shiro’s phone without his consent); Ulaz (specifically asked to see them for therapeutic reasons); Lotor (didn’t believe that Shiro had ever worn said outfit for any reason and unfortunately, Shiro realized too late that the first pics he’d found were those ones); and Lance (walked in on Shiro low-key moping and obsessing over those selfies after he’d shown them to Lotor and endured the ensuing awkward conversation*)

*: said conversation was largely awkward because Lotor was concerned and did want to help, but unfortunately, he has very little idea what to do with genuine emotions, which out of a lot of things in his life

—but the biggest cause is the fact that Lotor was raised by a frigid, cruel, emotionally abusive, high-functioning alcoholic chemistry professor and her ill-tempered, bigoted enabler, who is every bit as emotionally abusive as his wife (who is the only person in the universe who he loves, including their son), constantly acts like a character from a Greek tragedy, and high-key hates the fact that certain major social and political events of the twentieth century stripped his family of their ruling position in the territory formerly known as Daibazaal, which means he will never be the King or Emperor of anything

Shiro feels like he would also show the pictures to Keith, Hunk, Pidge, Matt, and maybe Allura, but only if he knew that they were in emotionally okay enough places and if he felt stable enough to deal with how they might react

If Ryou ever challenges you to a snowball fight, you probably shouldn’t accept. He plays to win and he plays dirty. Shiro pretty much only goes along with this because he doesn’t mind when Ryou plays dirty; he thinks it’s adorable and endearing.

“For the love of God, Kashi, just tell him that you like being the little spoon and let him cuddle you. It’s literally that simple. You will feel so much better if you let yourself have this bit of comfort already” — Ancient Ryou Shirogane Proverb.

A lot of Shiro’s inability to keep his cool around Slav has to do with the fact that Shiro is a very compassionate person and tries so hard to understand Slav’s perspective, only for Slav to (generally) refuse any and all attempts at compromise.

A lot it has to do with how Slav has a tendency to treat Shiro’s known stressors and triggers as buttons he can push just to see what happens.

(The usual answer to this is some variation on, “Shiro realizes what Slav is doing, grumpily calls him out on it, and then gets upset because Ryou has asked Slav not to do shit like this and Shiro has opened up to Slav in ways that made him feel deeply uncomfortable, all in the hopes that helping Slav to understand some of Shiro’s problems and struggles might get him to stop pulling stunts like this

“—and yet, Slav continues to do these things and ignore simple requests like, ‘Can you please not kick Shiro in his eating disorder just to see what happens and/or make some kind of point to him, no matter how important you think that point might be”)

And still more of Shiro’s dislike of Slav has to do with how Slav reminds Shiro of himself in ways that Shiro does not particularly enjoy (especially because both of them have some pretty huge and difficult to manage issues with control).

All up, it’s probably a miracle (or possibly a testament to how much he loves Ryou) that Shiro hasn’t given in to his petty impulse to call Slav by his full, given name because well hey, Slav insistently calls Shiro, “Takashi” when he wasn’t given permission to do so (and the only reason he doesn’t use any of the overly familiar abbreviations like, “Taka” or, “Kashi” is that he thinks they sound silly)

—so, if he’s going to do that, then in Shiro’s humble (albeit very biased) opinion, it’s only fair that he gets to call Ryou’s best friend, “Miroslav” even though he knows damn well that Slav hates being addressed by that name and only hasn’t done away with it legally because the paperwork sounds very tedious and Slav doesn’t feel like it

Ryou desperately wishes that his brother and his best friend could get along, but he also understands why they don’t and since Shiro has made an effort while Slav doesn’t get how nothing he’s done constitutes, “making an effort,” well…… Ryou’s solution is to just do what he can to minimize the amount of time Slav and Shiro have to spend around each other

This is going to make Christmas 2017 mildly complicated because Ryou is bringing Slav with him to the Shirogane family Christmas out in California (because he visited Slav’s family last year, and…… uh, no, Ryou is not sending his best friend back to deal with that, especially not alone, and Slav can’t go to Norway with Sven due to a recent failure to renew his damn passport)

But, uh…… at least Slav will have more targets than Shiro?

Also, he will be more tolerable after dropping acid, but that just raises the question of why he thought it was a good idea to bring LSD to Christmas (and Slav’s answer is pretty much, “……Well, I wanted to do it, so I did”)

Another thing that Shiro will not let Ryou live down, ever: the time when they were kids and went to Disneyland with their parents and cousins, and Ryou asked where Anastasia was and come on why had he seen every princess but her.

Shiro is still kind of Not Over the fact that Ryou is a Pottermore-Sorted Slytherin, because Shiro was totally expecting both of them to end up put into Ravenclaw (in fairness, it was close for Ryou. Not so much for Shiro, but Ryou was a Ravenclaw/Slytherin hat-stall).

On the other hand, Ryou is still kind of Not Over the fact that, when he made Kashi get a Pottermore account, Shiro didn’t see his own Sorting into Hufflepuff coming from a mile off (—and okay, Ryou will totally admit that he likes Harry Potter more than Shiro does, but still, Kashi. Come on. How did you think you would ever be Sorted into Ravenclaw).

As much as Ryou means that question rhetorically, he does suspect that there is an actual answer to it and frankly, he doesn’t like it Mostly because he suspects that the answer involves Shiro defining himself as a list of academic and/or creative accomplishments instead of working harder on applying that pesky little, “You need to have a more holistic view of yourself and appreciate who you are as a complete person instead of zeroing in on tiny pieces of yourself as if they alone define you” idea to himself

In fairness to Shiro here: most people do not think, “Slytherin” when they think of Ryou. He’s most often misidentified as a Ravenclaw (whether they get thrown off by the fact that Ryou is an obvious nerd who has a Physics PhD, went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his undergrad, and always did well in school, or by the fact that Ryou genuinely loves learning), or maybe as a Hufflepuff like his brother (Lance is one of the people who thought so).

The list of people who have correctly guessed that Ryou is a Slytherin is: Hunk (but he’d been thinking Hufflepuff until Ryou heard about a then-recent disagreement Hunk had had with Shiro and went, “Ugh, don’t listen to Kashi, go get Pidge and slash the tires on Lotor’s Maserati, I’ll keep my stupid genius brother distracted and you can go give his pet asshole exactly what’s coming to him”)

Ezor (Ryou’s ex-girlfriend, herself a Slytherin, who most loved the moments when Ryou joined her in being all kinds of petty, judgmental, vindictive, spiteful, grudge-holding, snarky at the expense of people they disliked, and openly frustrated with the things that exasperate them — but who was also like, “But why are you objecting to some of my behaviors so? I don’t think it’s mean to tell this other local band that I think their music sounds like a funeral dirge sung by a chorus of sick cats aspirating on their own vomit. Their music does sound like that. If anything, those pathetic idiot hipsters should be thanking me for messing with their equipment before their set. I made them sound better”)

Slav (who actually doesn’t really care about Harry Potter and only picked Slytherin for Ryou because he knows that Ryou’s favorite color is green)

and Pidge (literally the only member of Galaxy Garrison who guessed Slytherin within a few minutes of meeting Ryou)

Neither of the twins cusses that much, largely as a result of their parents and grandparents raising them not to. Shiro does so more than Ryou, but it’s still not a very common occurrence and more often than not, Shiro is either quoting someone else or using some variant of, “fuck” as a way to differentiate between different approaches to sexual intercourse

That said: Ryou is more comfortable talking about sex than Shiro. To be fair, Shiro can discuss sex perfectly fine when he has some kind of emotional distance with it (like when it was casual sex that didn’t mean that much to him or when he’s giving Lotor recommendations on which weird niche-interest erotica to get Zethrid for her birthday)…… but he gets flustered very easily as soon as he’s emotionally invested in the sex

Ryou, on the other hand? Just doesn’t?? see??? the point???? of that kind of attitude????? Like, if you ask him, sex is best when people are on the same page, and it’s easier to get there if you don’t waste any time on shame and tell people what you like, what you don’t, what you want, and so on

Shiro would like to point out that it’s not an issue of shame, to him?? It’s an issue of, “Feelings are complicated and difficult and often messy, and when sex with someone is important to Shiro or happening in the context of a relationship that is important to Shiro, he puts a lot of pressure on himself not to screw it up”

Sexual shame largely enters the picture whenever Shiro talks about Sendak, but those discussions are messy for reasons that include but also go beyond the sex, and Shiro’s sense of shame there doesn’t really from the sex itself or from the role that BDSM played in his and Sendak’s relationship. It comes more from things like, “Sendak was abusive, and Shiro knows this, but part of him still loves Sendak and he hates this and he feels like he never should’ve loved Sendak to begin with, so yeah, the fact that part of him still loves his abuser is something Shiro is very deeply ashamed of”

This is another of the points where Ryou and Ezor worked really well together, to the surprise of… pretty much everyone but Shiro, Acxa, Zethrid, and Narti. Because neither of them has that much of a sense of shame about sex, both of them were comfortable just telling each other what they wanted or didn’t, and neither of them got embarrassed over things like accidentally knocking something over or awkward about laughing at each other during sex

Lotor was left off of that list for a reason. He really didn’t get what Ezor saw in Ryou at all, much in the same way that Ryou didn’t see what Shiro saw in Lotor. For the most part, Ezor was fine with letting Lotor fail to get it and then periodically vent his feelings about things by being some degree of petty and obnoxious about Ryou

—until the time when Lotor was coming off an argument with his Mother and went, “Honestly, I know that incompatible orientations are an issue for you and Shiro, but how can you even stand dating the objectively less attractive twin? Never mind the boring twin since that is a subjective matter, but why would you settle for the twin who is clearly nowhere near as good-looking as his brother? I don’t get it, does he give you the best cunnilingus that you’ve ever had in your life???”

Yeeeeah, that incident ended with Lotor being held in a very painful headlock until he apologized and promised to back the Hell off and just let Ezor be happy

He was very displeased that Shiro and Zethrid ignored his cries for help, but Shiro was just like, “I’ve told you that I’m done bailing you out when you insult my brother and Ezor has asked you to stop. You earned this”

while Zethrid’s opinion was, “*shrug* She told you to stop. You didn’t. You dug your way in so you can dig your own way out. Plus, watching you struggle was funny :)”

The last conversation that Shiro had with his Grandfather Namesake was before he left for school on the day Grandfather Shirogane died of an unexpected stroke. Grandfather Shirogane’s central point boiled down to, “I know that I have not always made it as clear as I should have, but I do love you, I am proud of you, and it kills me to see you pretending to be someone you are not so that you will earn the approval of your ignorant so-called friends. Your brother, his girlfriend, Laura, and Keith are the only peers of yours I have seen treat you as friends are meant to treat each other. Always remember who you are, and remember who truly matters in your life.”

The last conversation that Ryou had with Grandfather Shirogane was shortly after Shiro’s. Their Grandfather stopped Ryou on his way out the door and the gist of what he had to say was, “Yes, the older brother is usually supposed to look out for the younger one, but… Keep looking out for Kashi. If that boy doesn’t slow down and take stock of his priorities, he is going to destroy himself over the opinions of people who do not matter.”

Neither of the twins particularly enjoys reminiscing about their last conversations with their Grandfather. They have some mixed-but-loving-even-though-they-also-criticize-him feelings about the man in general, but those last chats with Grandfather Shirogane have stuck with them.

It’s been almost 12 years since he passed, and his grandsons still periodically think about those conversations, sometimes rather off-handedly and sometimes in ways that are fairly emotionally intense because maybe they’ve grieved for Grandfather Shirogane more or less healthily, but they haven’t completely made their respective peaces with those last Talks, especially because their Grandfather Shirogane’s points have become recurring themes in their lives

Another thing that Ryou is never going to let Shiro live down: when they were kids and their Dad first introduced them to Star Wars on VHS? ……Yeah, Shiro thought that Han/Leia was just a middle-of-the-story distraction romance before Leia eventually got with Luke, then got his little five-year-old mind completely blown when they got to Return of the Jedi and George Lucas dropped the, “FYI, they are twins” reveal on everybody. Shiro refused to acknowledge ROTJ for three years because he didn’t want Luke and Leia to be twins, he wanted them to get married

Ryou has (half-jokingly) threatened to include this story in his best man speech whenever Shiro finally finds his Prince Charming and gets hitched

About four weeks before Shiro finally got away from Sendak (August 2013), Shiro attempted suicide by taking too much Vicodin with tequila. He survived because Sendak happened to come home early and Haxus, being a doctor, had taught him how to administer naloxone in the event of Sendak’s sweet boy ever overdosing (since Shiro’s drugs of choice were alcohol and opiates, and naloxone would counteract the opiates at least).

Before Shiro swallowed the pills, he called Ryou, hoping that Ryou would have something to say and could talk him out of it. When Ryou missed the call, Shiro took it as a sign and left Ryou what was essentially a suicide note in the form of a voicemail.

Before that incident, Ryou was already worried, but that message scared him more than anything else he’d ever encountered. The next little while of calling and texting Shiro without a reply — the only other time in Ryou’s life that comes close to being a horrible as that was hearing that his parents were dead. He held it together remarkably well while waiting to hear from his Kashi, then cried in relief when Shiro called him back again

—and then the relief turned into more fear and frustration and pain because Sendak was breathing down the back of Shiro’s neck while he called Ryou, and between how Shiro forced himself to keep his voice controlled (and still sounded like he was about to shatter into a million pieces) and the way that Shiro was talking about what happened, Ryou could tell, but it felt like there was nothing he could do to help his brother, the person who Ryou loves most in this world

Ryou hasn’t told Shiro so, but he still has the voicemail. He has saved it despite upgrading his phone a few times since then; any time he gets a new phone, he makes sure to never lose that one. There’s a lot of other stuff on his phone that he doesn’t want to lose, but Ryou’s biggest priority is saving that voicemail

If anyone asked him why, he wouldn’t even be able to tell them. He just feels like that voicemail might be important for reasons other than, “reminding him to keep looking out for his brother.” Ryou isn’t sure when or how or why it’s going to prove to be important, but he is completely certain that someday, he is going to need to have that voicemail

Even though Shiro is in a much better place now than he has been and even though most of the unknown numbers that call Ryou end up being spam, Ryou still freezes a bit whenever he sees one come up on his phone because he’s terrified that someone’s calling him to tell him that something terrible happened to his Kashi

Iverson is a member of the physics faculty at Kaltenecker University, and he so did not intend to become a father figure to a set of loser nerd twins…… and yet, here he is, usually seeing Shiro at least once a week (at their Tuesday night A.A. meetings) and seeing Ryou pretty regularly, despite the fact that Ryou finished and defended his dissertation already, isn’t Iverson’s student anymore, and isn’t working on any projects that fall into Iverson’s area of expertise.

Ryou isn’t yet used to the fact that he has Iverson’s permission to call him, “Mitch” now, despite how he’s had said permission for a little over a year. It still makes him get a bit giddy and giggly, like a twelve-year-old looking up cuss words in the dictionary, because alsjskshsk, this feels so special and borderline taboo.

Shiro, on the other hand, constantly forgets that most of the other characters who know Iverson do not call him, “Mitch” because they don’t use surnames at A.A., so Shiro has literally never called Iverson anything but, “Mitch.” Shiro didn’t even think that his Mitch could be the same guy as Ryou’s, “Dr. Iverson” until Ryou wanted to introduce them and the twins went, “Wait, you already know the cool older guy I respect and admire?”

Iverson, for his part, just kind of sighed and facepalmed and has himself some coffee while the twins got their head around this, because he figured out that the new “Shiro” guy at meetings was the same as Ryou’s troubled but beloved brother Takashi…… the very first time that Shiro came to one of the Tuesday night meetings at the LGBTQ community center.

Shiro and Ryou agree that there is something about Iverson that reminds them of their Grandfather Shirogane (the one after whom Shiro was personal-named), but they have different opinions on what, exactly, that something is.

Ryou, personally, thinks it’s the way that Iverson is blunt and to-the-point but it generally comes from a well-meaning place (if not always a place of concern).

Shiro, on the other hand, can never quite pin down what his answer is because it ends up changing pretty regularly, but either way, he thinks it’s more important for him to remember that Mitch is his own person, not Grandfather Shirogane 2.0

Generally speaking, Ryou feels like he has a pretty good sense of humor, and he isn’t wrong. But he gets pretty sensitive to the “jokes” that his Kashi sometimes makes about death and dying, or that even remotely sound like Shiro devaluing himself, or that feel “too morbid.” Considering Shiro’s struggles with mental health, Ryou is far from the only person who takes some degree of issue with these “jokes,” but he’s one of the people who’s had the most success in going, “This makes me uncomfortable, I know that it’s one of your coping mechanisms, but it’s frankly a pretty concerning one, whether you mean for it to be or not”

At this point, Ryou is the only one of the Shiro-Ryou-Sven triad who Lance has never done anything physical with. Lance has platonically made out with Shiro and has had sex with Sven, and although realizing how in love with Hunk he is has largely helped Lance on from his desire to do something with all three of them, “For Science,” Lance is still kind of annoyed that Ryou never made out with him, “for science.”

Which is totally fine with Ryou, Lance. You can be as annoyed as you damn well please, because Ryou is annoyed that you ignored him telling you, “No” and kept asking until Shiro told you to back off and let it go.

The fight where Shiro and Ryou actually got physical with each other happened in early October 2015. Shiro had stayed clean for six months that time, and getting there had been an Ordeal for him — and then Lotor’s parents wanted to meet their son’s boyfriend. It had taken enough time to get Lotor to listen and accept that, “I am an addict and an alcoholic, for the love of god, my sobriety is important to me”

—and then Zarkon and Honerva offered Shiro a crash course on where Lotor had learned most of his incorrect attitudes about substance about and addiction. They did not listen when Lotor tried to go, “Please stop offering my boyfriend nunvil, I know that it is a cultural thing with Mother’s side of the family but he is an alcoholic” or when Shiro said similarly. Zarkon intimidated and terrified Shiro until he accepted two glasses of the stuff, and Shiro thought that he could have that one forced slip and then keep things under control afterward

Except that things did not shake out that way. He held it together for about a day-and-a-half before he got overtaken by the feelings like, “What does it even matter, I already slipped up, everything’s easier and it hurts so much less when I’m drunk anyway, who even cares” and so on. He ran down his phone’s battery on purpose, playing Candy Crush while out at a bar — which is where Lotor found him

Despite the mutual distaste between Lotor and most of the other people in Shiro’s life, they collaborated on trying to find him. Lotor, Lance, Acxa, Zethrid, and Matt went out searching, Hunk, Ezor, and Ryou were waiting at the Shiro-Hunk-Lance apartment, Narti was waiting at the Lotor + Gal Pals’ house in case Shiro went there, and Pidge was checking her phone for updates all through that week’s meeting of the Neurodiverse Student Union

So, when Lotor got Shiro back to his, Hunk, and Lance’s place, he, Hunk, and Ezor got asked to please clear out so Ryou could Have A Talk with his brother (—which they mostly did, but “mostly” means that they awkwardly waited in the hallway outside of the apartment, in case the “Talk” started sounding like it might need intervention)

Yes, Shiro was drunk, but he wasn’t completely off his own head just yet, and he assumed that this Talk was going to be Ryou being Disappointed in him for slipping up, which made him preemptively frustrated, and he started projecting his own feelings onto Ryou as if they were actually what Ryou was feeling and what he wanted to discuss

—but Shiro was so completely off-base that he might as well have been playing a different game entirely

See, Ryou didn’t like that Shiro had slipped up, but what he really wanted to call his brother out about that night was, “Where the Hell do you get off letting your phone die like that? You always have a charger in your bag. You have one of those spare battery jackets for it. Your phone’s battery doesn’t die like that unless you let it get that low on purpose, so what in the Hell were you thinking, Kashi”

—which Shiro really didn’t want to talk about, so he threw out a mostly bullshit answer about how he genuinely just didn’t notice now excuse him, he’s going to go shower until he quits feeling like such a failure or drowns himself, whichever happens first

Ryou only meant to hold onto him to keep Shiro from going… but he yanked too hard and Shiro took it the wrong way… Being drunk is the biggest reason why he shoved at Ryou but didn’t actually hit back… The physical part didn’t really last that long, given that Shiro was drunk and Ryou was trying to restrain him rather than hurt him

—but both of them wound up on the floor and managed to land a few hits on each other before Ryou successfully pinned Shiro’s wrists and shouted at him that they were talking about this NOW, Kashi, so tell Ryou what the Hell you were even thinking

Voice cracking and eyes tearing up, Shiro snapped back, “What does it matter, what d’you even care, you have a class to teach in the morning, go do that—”

“No! I am doing this, you’re more important than Iverson’s bunch of undergrads—”

“No, I’m not! That’s your life, Ryou, quit throwing it out and over nothing—”

“Says you! How can you of all people right now tell me anything about throwing your own life out!”

“Yours is worth something—”

“So is YOURS!”

“Stop lying!”

“Why would I lie about that, Kashi!”

“You’d be better off without me, Ryou, we both know it! Your life’d be perfect if you didn’t have to take care of your hopeless, fuck-up big brother—”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, you idiot! My life would be miserable without you! I have no idea what I’d do without my brother, no matter what you’re dealing with—”

“……Let me go, Ryou.”

“No! I’m not letting you up until you understand that I love you and I care what happens to you! Even if you don’t give half-a-damn what happens to you, I do! You’re my brother, Kashi. My only brother. I will pin you to this floor until the others pull us apart, I will fight them off to pin you down again, I will keep us here until you get it through your stupid, genius head that I. am not. letting you. fall. the Hell. apart!”

“But why, why keep putting yourself through this when you could have it so much better, and don’t say we don’t both know that—”

“None of that so-called better can replace you, Kashi! Do you get me yet!”

—which was where things very quickly devolved into crying (which turned into ugly crying almost as soon as it started) and incredibly clingy hugging, and Shiro lost most of his capacity to do anything with words for a while. Once he got it back, it was mostly in the form of choking out apologies while sobbing on Ryou’s shoulder

—after Shiro accepted some water and went to take a shower, Ryou called Iverson (for both of them, since Ryou’s idea was to call in sick for the next day and although Iverson isn’t actually Shiro’s sponsor, he is one of the strongest relationships that Shiro has forged with anybody else at meetings).

Once Shiro got out of the shower, he flopped on the kitchen table and talked to Iverson about what had happened while Ryou put the kettle on. Then, Ryou slept over (and swallowed his Sven-related pride to ask him to please go make sure Slav was okay and not trying to burn anything down)

—and that’s the story of the one real physical fight that Shiro and Ryou ever had

One of the many ways that Shiro might have reconnected with Keith a lot sooner than they do in the fic itself: If Ryou had been the TA for Keith’s section of Iverson’s intro physics lecture, then he would’ve recognized Keith and gone, “Kashi, what is your Keith’s last name” (which Ryou has never remembered without prodding; sorry, Keith), and then debated how much he wanted to tell Shiro that his One Who Got Away is the freshman who’s being an unholy terror for Ryou and Iverson both.

Additionally, Keith would have recognized Ryou’s name — because he only knows one Ryou Shirogane, and he’s pretty sure that it’s not the most common name to find in Massachusetts — and tried to corner him after class to go, “What happened to your brother, is he okay, what’s going on, where is he”

Instead, Iverson didn’t have Ryou manning any classes during Keith’s freshman year, so Ryou only heard horror stories from his fellow TAs, about the nightmarish prodigy who doesn’t actually give a fuck about physics (despite being in the intro lecture for STEM majors, not the intro lecture for humanities and social sciences majors) and has apparently developed a personal vendetta against Dr. Iverson

That worked out okay at the time, because it meant Ryou didn’t have to miss a week-and-a-half of teaching at the start of a new semester while he went out to Minnesota to meet Shiro and his old roommate from Chicago, helped talk Shiro into going to an inpatient rehab clinic for a while, and then went with him for the admission because he (correctly) suspected that Shiro might be something of a little shit while checking in

(—and because Shiro wasn’t saying, “Having you there with me would make that process easier,” but mostly because he already felt like a burden. He was definitely feeling that loudly, and getting him to admit that he needed help was enough of a big deal that Ryou was fine with not pushing his brother on the, “Admit to your feelings and admit that you want me to be there with you” point)

……But at the same time, it’s probably better that Shiro and Keith haven’t made this connection yet? Because they already know of enough points where they missed each other instead of reconnecting again, and obsessing over that is really, really not good for either of them

Also, as far as Sendak is concerned, Ryou was teaching freshmen at that time, rather than periodically offering advice when some of them asked for it but mostly handling things like photocopies, mail, proofreading proposals and drafts (which Ryou took to mean, “also please offer constructive criticism,” which Iverson hadn’t meant but was willing to put up with, since Ryou usually asked questions and made points that were actually helpful), and talking to people who Iverson didn’t want to deal with himself

Not that this necessarily matters, because at present, Sendak is out of the picture. But Shiro and Ryou collaborated on a bit of truth-stretching in the bit of time leading up to Shiro getting out of Sendak and Haxus’s place, and according to the not-quite-lies they spun, Ryou was teaching freshmen

Said truth-stretching was necessitated (if you asked the twins) by the fact that Sendak would read Shiro’s texts and emails over breakfast most mornings, and listen to new voicemails if he had any.

The twins figured that if they switched to only talking over calls (and only when Shiro wasn’t in the house, because he was terrified of Sendak potentially putting bugs or monitors around the house), then there were two likeliest outcomes: 1. Sendak looks at the call-log and wonders why Shiro is talking to Ryou only during certain times, and possibly concludes that Shiro is Up To Something;

or 2. Sendak doesn’t look at Shiro’s call-log and it seems like the twins have stopped talking altogether — which would’ve definitely seemed like a sign that something was up, whether he took it to mean that the brothers had had a falling-out or a fight (which Sendak would’ve had mixed feelings about), or that Shiro is very possibly Up To Something and he might well have gotten his brother in on it (which could’ve meant that Ryou had ideas about Sendak and Haxus that could’ve gotten the two of them into the trouble they deserved to be in)

—either way, it would’ve been suspicious for Shiro and Ryou to seemingly stop texting each other. But they also couldn’t text about anything that might’ve tipped Sendak off to the fact that they were definitely Up To Something (namely, planning the eventual escape with their Aunt Satomi and Mark, Shiro’s old roommate)

……so, one of the things that they fake-texted about was the freshmen that Ryou was allegedly teaching

Still another thing that Shiro isn’t going to let Ryou live down: when they were nine, he spent six weeks convinced that John Mellencamp and John Cougar Mellencamp were completely different people

Another HP thing that Ryou has made Shiro consider: the shape that a Boggart would take when facing him. Both of them go back and forth a bit on their answers, but there are some recurring themes.

Shiro’s different hypothetical boggarts generally involve any of the people he love (especially Ryou, their Mom, and Keith) denouncing him as a broken, irreparable monster, someone who’s even worse than Sendak because he tricks people into thinking that he’s a good person when he isn’t, utterly incapable of doing anything good for anybody else ever in his life, and undeserving of love or community or companionship — and well, everyone would be so much better off without you, Shiro

Ryou’s hypothetical boggarts, on the other hand, tend to be more based on things that he’s actually seen or heard: Shiro, looking the way he did right before he checked into rehab, all sick and painfully thinned out and physically wrecked; Shiro, looking how he did the night that they had their full-on fight; Shiro, drunk and soaked through and ugly-crying, like the night when he first slipped off the wagon after rehab; Shiro, looking like he does now but then he opens his mouth to speak and Ryou has to hear the suicide note voicemail that Shiro left him all over again — and then, because this isn’t enough, there’s at least a tacit accusation that this happened to Shiro because Ryou somehow failed him

Yet another thing that Ryou isn’t going to let Shiro live down literally ever: after they first saw the Peter Jackson movie adaptation of The Two Towers when they were twelve-going-on-thirteen, Shiro’s teenage crush on Elijah Wood really kicked into high-gear, and he spent six weeks making a collage out of all the ElWood pictures Laura would let him have from the teenage girl-aimed magazines she was done reading

17 notes · View notes

lemonloveheart · 7 years

Text

Abandoned Pt. 2

Inspired by Abandoned by Mcclangst

This is a continuation of Artemis’ work, so you might wanna read that first.

Warnings: Implied Rape, Referenced Physical Abuse, Team is bad to Lance trope, implied eating disorder (kind of)

Lance doesn’t need them anyways. Sure, that’s what he said earlier, but an hour later, there he was crying to his bedsheets, mumbling about how he was just a useless seventh wheel and not even his “best friend” wanted him around. He pushed himself up off the bed and wiped at his face, feeling icky and drained from all the crying as he blew his nose. He stared at the ground, wondering what he’d do now. He knew he didn’t have any other friends. He’d just have to make some then. He took a shower, cleaned himself up, and faked a brilliant smile at his mirror. With the help of some eyedrops, it didn’t even look like he’d been crying. He pulled on a pair of skinny jeans and ignored his still buzzing phone. He perused his clothes for a shirt before finding a hoodie of Hunk’s.

He swallowed hard as he glared at it. He threw it to the side and started pulling out articles of his friends’ clothing. Pidge’s hat, a scarf of Allura’s, Shiro’s baseball jersey, Keith’s beanie. He huffed quietly and set all the clothes down, pushing them aside before throwing a blanket over them. He picked up his phone and sighed quietly, looking at all the missed calls and unread texts. In their group chat, he simply said “Stop texting me. Don’t call me. I’m only talking to my friends from now on.” He sent before leaving the chat and blocking every single one of their numbers. He took a deep breath, feeling a little better, before finishing getting dressed. He picked up his phone again and slid it into his pocket, humming to himself as he headed out to a club, determined to prove he was better off without them.

At the club, Lance felt like an ugly duckling, all alone and looking mopey, so he did something he’s good at. He faked it. He strutted inside, with a smirk on his face as he headed to the bar and ordered something strong. He sipped at his drink as he watched the dance floor pulse and flash to the beat of the songs as the mass of bodies bobbed and jumped. He considered finding someone to dance with when the bartender gave him another drink. “That guy down there ordered it for you.” He jerked his thumb at a pale main with stark white hair, a bit like Allura’s. Lance wrinkled his nose at the thought of her but quickly formed a smile and beckoned the man over with the crook of his finger.

He watched idly as the man approached him, a smile on his face. “You seem a bit too beautiful to be in a club all by yourself.” He hummed, winking slightly. Lance gave a lazy smile, “I wish I wasn’t alone tonight. I got a rude awakening that my “friends” don’t really care about me.”

“Well that fucking sucks. I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t care about you.” “Let’s see, I’m annoying, talk too much, too hyper, bi, kind of gross, I take things too lightly, and I am just usele-” He was stopped by the man putting a finger to his lips, “Nuh uh, not gonna have that kind of talk. I’ll show you yourself one day. I’m Lotor, by the way. Lotor Prince.” Lance cocked a smile, “Lance McClain; nice to meet you, Lotor.” Lotor smiled, ordering a drink and sipping it.

Lance studied him, taking in his designer clothes and expensive looking watch. “How old are you Lotor?” Lotor swallowed and laughed slightly, “I’m 25, promise. People always think I’m older because of the white hair, but it’s genetic.” He nodded. Lance smiled, leaning over to play with a portion, “Well, I like it. I’m 23, by the way.” Lotor smiled at this and moved to drape an arm around Lance’s shoulders, “Could I take you out for dinner, Mr. McClain?” He asked. “That’d be delightful.” He smiled brightly. He started to take out his wallet and pay for his drinks, but Lotor shook his head, “Oh, I already paid for our drinks. Oops.” Lance laughed. “You’re not sorry.” Lotor shrugged. “More or less.” He stood and offered Lance a hand to lead him out. Lance hesitated slightly before taking his hand and holding it tightly.

Lance was having a good time. Judging by how his afternoon had started, he figured he’d be sobbing to the bartender by now, but instead, he was sitting across from a handsome guy who was genuinely sweet and funny. They were sitting in an IHOP in the back corner where they told stories about their family and having a pretty good time. Lance gave him a look, smiling slyly. “This isn’t all some ploy to get in my pants, right?”

“Oh, no, no, Lance. I actually want to get know you before that because you seem like such a nice guy.” Lance blushed slightly at the statement. “Well thank you Lotor. And I’m paying here, by the way.” “Not if I beat you to it.” He laughed, leaning his head on his palm after tying his long white hair up. Lance laughed, “You’re on, pretty boy.” “I believe you’re the pretty one here.”

“I had a good time tonight.” Lance smiled brightly as Lotor walked him along the streets with an arm draped carefully around Lance’s shoulders. “Me too.” They walked in silence for a bit before Lance stopped, “Well, this is me.” He jerked his thumb up at the apartment building he lived in. A bit dingy and shabby, sure, but it was home. Lotor smiled, “I like it.” He decided before gently patting Lance’s back, “Call me?” Lance asked, offering a hand to put his number in his phone. “Definitely.” The phone was handed over, and Lance put his number in carefully. When he finished, he took a selfie for his contact photo. “There, perfect.”

“Perfect.” Lotor agreed, “I’ll see you again?” He asked hopefully and Lance nodded, kissing his cheek gently as he pressed his phone back into his hand before heading to the stairwell and up to his apartment.

Lance went to his room feeling light and happy which was a big contrast from that afternoon when he felt heavy and depressed. His friends didn’t need him. But Lotor… He wanted him. And that made Lance’s heart soar. He finally checked his phone after telling the group to fuck off, but he still had a huge amount of texts and missed calls, all from blocked numbers. He sighed to himself, realizing that maybe he was being overdramatic. But then he remembered how they’d acted, like it was his fault that they didn’t want to invite him. He rolled over, plugged in his phone and got ready for bed.

The next day, the only message he got from an unblocked number was Lotor, asking if he wanted him to bring him any food. He cooed to himself at his sweetness before telling him that he liked Chinese and would be happy to pay half of the meal. Lotor refused and arrived half an hour later with a bag of Chinese food and a bouquet of flowers for Lance. Lance took it graciously, grinning brightly at Lotor as he let him in. “I cleaned up, you better realize how important you are,” he teased as he put the flowers in a vase. “Aw, thank you, dear.” Lotor grinned, taking out the food and setting it on the rickety table in the kitchen. “This table is wobbly. Do you want a new one?” He asked curiously. Lance shrugged. “I’ll get a new one when I have the money for it.” That was his mentality on a lot of things, but it’d worked for this long. “I’ll buy one for you.” His companion offered, but Lance immediately stuck the idea down. But long after Lotor had left after a few hours of chatting, joking, and a bit of dancing, Lance opened his door to an IKEA box sitting on his welcome mat.

This pattern continued for the next four days. Lance got back from work, rested for a bit, then received an invitation of some sort from Lotor. Once over, Lotor would note something Lance needed, be turned down, leave, then the aforementioned item would be on Lance’s doorstep. First the table, then a package of light bulbs, a pair of sneakers, some art supplies, and finally a new comforter for his bed. While Lance appreciated the gifts, he felt guilty about Lotor giving him so much. He tried to ask him to stop, but Lotor insisted that he enjoyed giving things to Lance, that he felt he deserved it. And today, Lotor noticed that Lance’s small couch sagged when the two sat on it together, watching a movie. “Oh no, mister, you are not buying me a new couch. I like this one, and if you buy me a new one, I won’t let you over anymore because you always get me things afterwards.” Lance shook his head adamantly. “But Lance, I w-” They were interrupted by the doorbell ringing and the sound of many muffled voices.

Lance heaved himself up, “Coming!” He called, stretching out slightly. “You stay here,” He told Lotor. “And don’t you dare order that couch.” Lotor laughed and placed a quick kiss on Lance’s cheek before nodding and returning to sit. Lance felt emboldened by this small kiss and went to the door, opening it to see his… friends. He felt the smile from Lotor droop off of his face and be quickly replaced with a scowl. “What do you want?” He asked and even he was surprised by the coldness in his voice. “We wanted to say that we’re sorry…” Even bold and brave Allura looked small and ashamed at the tone in Lance’s voice. “Okay.”

“Are we forgiven?”

“No.”

“You’re being overdramatic!” Keith blurted, shattering the stunning silence that followed. “Oh I’m being overdramatic?” Lance asked lazily, feeling a tiny twinge of guilt when he saw Pidge pale at the expression on his face. “I think I’m being plenty dramatic enough for someone who was ignored by his friends for months during a friendship. I think I’m being plenty dramatic enough for someone who wasn’t even consulted or even asked if he wanted to come along. I think I’m being not dramatic enough for someone who you probably never wanted to be around in the first place. For someone who felt like an outsider because nobody. Wanted. Him. There.” He hadn’t realised it, but his voice had started quivering with anger as he stared Keith down.

For once, Shiro’s temperamental boyfriend stood down, his hands shaking. “Anyone else wanna tell me that I’m selfish? Too annoying to go anywhere with? Too loud and flirtatious and unable to stop talking?” He continued on, glaring each of his former friends in the face until he got to Hunk. He felt his heart wrench slightly at his best friend, the guy he’d loved for who knows how long, but he told his heart to shut up. “And you. I thought you were my best friend. My one real friend after everyone abandoned me. But you probably didn’t want me around from the beginning.”

Suddenly, their attention was caught by Lotor calling Lance’s name, saying something about the toaster. Lance’s face softened, and he turned to look over his shoulder with an easy smile that wouldn’t be aimed at the group for a long time. Everyone turned to look at Hunk, who looked uncharacteristically angry. Everyone knew that he had a crush on Lance, exposed during all of their worrying on the cruise. And Lance had found someone else.

Hunk was crushed. His best friend, the only person who truly cared enough about to die for, hated his guts. And it was all his fault. Throw the unrequited crush in there, and Hunk felt like a volcano, all the anger that stirred below his surface about to blow. And it nearly did when he saw a handsome man come behind Lance and loop an arm around his waist. He compared the man and himself, unable to hear anything but his thoughts and blood rushing in his ears. Skinny, rich, toned, confident, and next to Lance. All things that Hunk was not. And it pissed him off.

Lance smiled at the comforting feel of Lotor’s arms around him, as Lotor nodded to the others, “So who are your friends?” Lance glanced at them before smiling up at Lotor, “Don’t worry, they’re not my friends.” He stepped back to start closing the door, when a large dark hand on the door stopped him. Hunk looked irate as he stared Lance and Lotor down, “You know we care about you. You know I care about you. We’re sorry for messing up, please forgive us. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” His voice was soft despite the fury in his eyes. Those eyes flicked down to Lotor’s arm tightening around Lance’s waist. He could hear his heart fracturing and wondered if Lance heard it too, by the way he glanced down at Lotor’s arm. “I’ll… I’ll think about it.” He mumbled before pulling away from Lotor and heading down the hall. “I think you should leave.” Lotor frowned at the group, pushing Hunk back slightly so he could close the door. Hunk stumbled back as the door shut, and he was left staring at the door that led to someone he’d lost.

Lotor frowned at Lance after making sure the group of his former friends left. “That big guy looked like he was going to hurt you, are you okay, Lance?” He asked worriedly, hugging him to his chest. “No, I’m not, and Hunk would never hurt me. He’s my best friend.”

“They don’t really seem like your friends after what you’ve told me.” Lotor mumbled, rubbing his back lightly. “Maybe not the others. But Hunk, he’s my best friend. He’s helped me through a lot.” Lance sighed, leaning into his kind of boyfriend. In return, he got a shrug, “I just want to keep you safe.”

Three months later, Lance didn’t know what safe was. He was told that it was with Lotor, who had made him quit his job, had changed his phone number, and moved him into the luxury apartment his boyfriend lived in. He hadn’t seen his friends since that day, but he was missing them sorely. He missed them more when Lotor came home from work, screaming and ranting as he shoved Lance up against any surface and took out his anger. Lance had stopped crying during what he liked to call Lotor’s therapy sessions, but only because when he cried, Lotor left deep gouges with his nails and teeth. He didn’t think that was safe.

He couldn’t pinpoint when it had started. Probably after he’d moved in with him. Lotor got mad at him for doing things that he’d loved before and honestly, Lance was scared. And it’s not like he could contact his old friends because they probably didn’t care about him anymore. He wasn’t really allowed to leave the apartment, always scolded by the maids, and he didn’t really eat much after Lotor made an offhand comment about him becoming a little thicker. He felt hollow. He thought Lotor had cared about him, but apparently, nobody could care about him.

Hunk was worried out of his mind. Lance was gone without trace. He’d changed his phone number, quit his job, and the last time Hunk had tried to go and apologize, he came face to face with a white girl who was drying her long blue hair with a blowdryer. Seeing as he’s a huge, darker skinned guy, she looked suspicious, but he apologized and explained the situation. She wished him well before seeming to realize something. “Oh, my name is Plaxum. And I think your friend could be in trouble.”

After a brief explanation about what the name Lotor Prince meant in clubs on the other side of town, Hunk was ready to storm Mr. Prince’s castle and rescue Lance himself, but she stopped him. “All you need to do is call the police and report domestic abuse. He lives near the top floors of Galra Luxury Apartments. Good luck, Hunk.” She smiled and ushered him out with a piece of paper with an address on it. Like hell he was going to let someone else save Lance while he sat back and watched.

Lance was enjoying something. A good start. He and Lotor were lounging on the couch while watching a movie when they were interrupted by a knock on the door. Lotor growled lightly and yanked Lance’s head from his shoulder and stormed over to the door, taking a deep breath before answering the door. Lance stood, rubbing his head lightly as he came over to see who it was. Police. Lotor gave him a hard glare over his shoulder, but Lance stood still, knowing that they could see the bruises around his neck from when Lotor had choked him earlier. Then Hunk appeared behind the police officers. That’s what made him burst into tears. The horrified look on his best friend’s face is what made him break down, sinking to his knees as the police officers grabbed Lotor and manhandled him into handcuffs.

He sobbed quietly into his palm as he watched Lotor curse and scream his name, blaming all of this on him. One officer called for an ambulance so Lance could be properly checked on. He stared at the ground, feeling empty and broken once he realized that nobody cared about him now. Nobody wanted him anymore. Sure, Lotor screamed at him and gave him bruises and… didn’t take no for an answer, but at least he was there. Now he’s gone. Now Lance is alone.

Then a pair of soft, warm, familiar arms wrapped around him, and Hunk was pulling Lance into his lap and holding him tight, gently shushing his sobs. Lance clung tightly, trying to sound coherent through his tears as he tried to apologize for being overdramatic and ungrateful. Hunk heaved a big sigh and gripped the sides of his face firmly, but gently and said, “It’s not your fault, Lance.” Lance sniffled, staring up at him with big, watery eyes, “But the only reason I ended up with him was because I was too annoying to be invited on the cruise.” He whispered. Hunk shook his head firmly, “No, that was all our fault. We’re so sorry, Lance. We should’ve been better to you. I should’ve been better to you.”

“But…” He was halted by a finger on his lips. “Nope,” Hunk should his head, “Don’t blame yourself for that creep abusing you. I’m glad I found you before something really bad to you.” Lance glanced away at that, remembering flashes of Lotor leaning over him, snarling and scratching and sweating. He took a shaky breath and Hunk’s eyes widened. “What did he do to you?” He whispered forcefully. Lance shuddered and shook his head, glancing up to see Hunk’s face twisted with rage. “How dare he!” Hunk shouted, gently placing Lance down and running to go tell the officers. Lance bit his lip lightly, hoping that Lotor got what he deserved.

One trial and a few months later, Lance was supposed to be having a party with all his old friends to celebrate Lotor getting incarcerated. Instead, he was hiding in the bathroom, scared of facing them after he shoved them away. Granted, they deserved it, but now he was consumed with guilt. “Lance? You in there?” Hunk called, biting his lip as he leaned against the door. He shooed the group away as they crept closer to attempt to listen. Pidge growled, “He’s our friend too.”

“Judging by our last conversation, Lance doesn’t seem to think so.” Keith mumbled, pulling the gremlin away.

“Yeah, Hunk?”

“You okay in there?”

“No.”

“Can I come in?” The answer was the door opening for him to show a rumpled looking Lance. “Lance? May I hug you?” Hunk was careful about suddenly hugging Lance after Lance had a panic attack after finally calming down from a panic attack when Hunk had hugged him upon walking in. “Yes, please.” He whispered. He was enveloped in a warm embrace that made a weak smile grace his face. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m worried about them being mad at me. I pushed them away so rudely. Sure, they deserved it. But I feel bad for telling them off like that.” He whispered into Hunk’s chest. “I promise they’re not mad. They’re worried about you and have wanted to see you for so long.” Hunk assured him, gently stroking his hair. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Well, let’s do this.”

#langst #lance mcclain #hunk garrett #keith kogane #keith (voltron)#hunk (voltron)#vld lance #takashi shirogane #shiro #sheith #hance #lancelot #lotor x lance #hunk x lance #shiro x keith #abusive lotor

330 notes · View notes

tazumihanako · 7 years

Text

Out Of Line

Third chapter is out for Out Of Line, and we got a slow burn klance. Oc and Keith at beginning, but as the story progresses it changes. Oc is planned to be Pidge’s alien gf.

read it on Ao3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10638642/chapters/23537223

The next day everyone got a rude awakening when an alarm had sounded off through the castle. Everyone had jolted out of bed except for Lucy and Lance whom were in a very deep sleep.

“Allura, what’s going on?” Keith was the first to enter, already in paladin gear. He didn’t know what to wear as armor goes so he grabbed his usual red armor.

“Nothing, just testing out the system,” Allura smiled as she walked over to Keith. “Today is the day that we get Lucy prepared to take over the red lion, but also more team bonding so that we can get everyone to work like they use to with Shiro in charge.”

“It’s not going to be the same.” Allura covered her mouth, she knew that the topic of Shiro was especially touchy for Keith and yet she had mentioned his name.

“It will be if we try.” Allura understood what Keith was going through, she missed the black paladin as well.

“Allura, what’s the emergency!” Pidge came sprinting in with Hunk in tow, both in their paladin gear as well.

“No emergency, today is coronation day for our new team member.” Allura smiled happily as Pidge took a look around the room.

“Speaking of where is Lucy?” Pidge questioned.

“Someone else is missing too, but it doesn’t quite surprise me since this happened before.” Hunk laughed as he scratched the back of his head.

“Time to wake them up then, can two of you go and retrieve the rest of the team.” Allura questioned as Keith and Pidge both volunteered to get their respective paladin.

“It’s cool, I guess I’ll just wait here then.” Hunk sighed as Pidge grabbed his arm and dragged him along to retrieve Lance with Keith going to get Lucy.

Lucy was tired from the night before, and also embarrassed. Ever since the third day of her adventure with mullet boy sent her spiraling down from her normally independent attitude. She was strong, and could normally handle herself, but her feelings were slowly changing for the team leader. She could remember every detail of that day, the moment they shared while getting water by the river, and the second time that he had saved her life. She knew she was falling hard for him, and she didn’t want to believe that she could fall for somebody this fast. She had already screwed up on team bonding night by trying to seduce him by climbing on top of his lap. She knew the dare required sexual appeal, but as soon as she had gone over to Keith she had realized her mistake and made up for it by going to every paladin as to not make it seem like her feelings existed. She had a crush, that was a definite. She just didn’t know how to react to these overflowing emotions, they were making her act strange. She never got easily embarrassed before, but suddenly she was blushing at every single thing involving Keith. She had to shake this before it got out of control and caused her to do something she’d regret. Lucy had been so lost in thought that she did not realize that her door had opened, and before she knew it her arms had shot out around the person who walked in and pulled them closer to her.

“Um…Lucy?” The voice spoke as Lucy’s eyes fluttered open before realization struck. It had been Keith that she had latched onto, and without thinking she had pushed him away to where he had landed on the ground.

“Keith, I’m sorry,” She said as her hands fell on top of her chest in order to calm her beating heart. “I…you startled me.”

“I should be saying the same to you. Do you always hug people in your sleep?” Keith smirked as Lucy blushed, looking away from him with a pout.

“No, I must have been super tired from the truth or dare game.” Lucy commented as Keith’s expression became serious.

“I do have a question, well maybe two questions. First, it’s a bit strange that you knew how to play immediately without any explanation of the rules. Second, why did you dance like that yesterday…toward me?” Keith was genuinely curious and hoped he’d get an honest answer.

“I’ve studied a lot of earth culture. There were a couple Altean’s that had left Altea, because they were scared of the Galra empire long before the galra had betrayed the Altean’s. These people found a new place to live, and stayed in hiding for years to come. A few of them would often make travels to Earth and study their culture and write it down in books for the others to read. It’s what got me so fascinated in Earth culture in the first place. As for the dance…thing, it was a part of the dare so I was just doing what I was told.” Lucy tried her best to look straight into Keith’s eyes as she talked, but it became increasingly hard. She noticed how beautiful his violet eyes truly were, and felt that she could get lost in them.

“Lance didn’t exactly tell you to climb on my lap.” Keith answered smugly as Lucy glared at him.

“I thought humans were supposed to show off sex appeal by sitting on someone’s lap.” Lucy answered honestly. She had read in one of the book’s that this was how sex appeal was shown for earthlings, but the book also stated to only do this with a lover which Keith was not in the slightest. She hoped to god that he would never read the book of the Alteans.

“Not exactly, but I’m sure that we can show you what actually happens on earth,” Keith smiled as Lucy found her heart beating faster. “Anyway, suit up, you have a date with a lion.”

“Hope the lion’s a gentleman.” Lucy commented as Keith chuckled slightly.

“Red’s actually a girl.”

Meanwhile, Pidge and Hunk had been talking to Lance as he was having a freak out session about his new discovery. He also wanted to fill Hunk in since they were bros for life, and there was no way he’s keep this big of a secret from Hunk.

“So what do I do?” Lance questioned them.

“Well, does Keith like you back?” Hunk questioned as Lance gaped at him.

“No way, Keith is definitely straight.” Lance immediately dismissed the idea, and oh how wrong could he possibly be.

“Lance, I don’t think Keith is straight,” Pidge answered as she took a glance at Hunk who nodded in agreement. “He didn’t react when you kissed him, and normally a straight guy would have totally freaked out afterward.”

“I guess that’s true, but it seems like Lucy and him are super close.” Lance commented as Pidge frowned at this.

“Let’s just hope they don’t get together, and if they did then wouldn’t Keith be bi-sexual?” Pidge stated as Hunk pounded his fist into his palm.

“Oh my god, yes that has to be it. Lance this means you’d still have a chance.” Hunk smiled at this as Pidge gently punched his shoulder.

“Hunk’s right, but you’d have to act fast and actually try and win him over before they can become a thing.” Pidge explained as she thought of a few different scenarios in her head. She’d normally be ok if Lucy dated anybody, but it can’t be Keith. Lance and Keith belonged together, and Pidge was almost certain that it would work out.

“I guess I could try, but what if he doesn’t like me?” Lance was nervous and he was starting to let his insecurities get the best of him.

“Lance, the guy has a freaking mullet and you’re worried about him liking you?” Pidge questioned which led the three of them laughin.

“You do have a point there, what was I thinking. Falling for a guy with a mullet.” Lance laughed as Pidge took a look at the time and gestured to Hunk to get moving. She left without a word as Lance just stared after her.

“We got to go, today Lucy becomes the red paladin. The red lion needs to accept her first but hopefully it’ll work.” Hunk said placing a firm hand on Lance’s shoulder before exiting the room.

“I don’t think I’m quite ready for this change, not yet.” Lance whispered to himself before chasing after the two.

Lance looked around the hanger as he saw everyone gathered around the red lion like they were giving Lucy as a sacrifice. He had just arrived because he had to change into his paladin armor. He saw Pidge and Hunk in theirs and figured that it would be appropriate for the situation.

“Lucy, the red lion is the most temperamental of all of the lions. It will not accept you so easily, we hope that if Keith talks to his lion that we may reach an understanding.” Allura explained as Keith walked up to the red lion only to be blocked out by a force field that had appeared around her.

“I don’t think she feels like talking much.” Keith yelled in annoyance.

“I don’t think I’d let you in either after you cheated on her with the black lion, just saying.” Hunk said as he watched the boy kick at the force field.

“I didn’t cheat on her, I’m just following Shiro’s orders.” Keith sighed as he thought about his insecurities with being in the leadership position. He didn’t think Shiro made a good choice, and he had secretly hoped that the other paladin had been joking. Shiro was not much for saying things for the hell of it, and Keith knew that with Shiro, nothing he said was a joke.

“Maybe, she needs to be shown that another paladin can take care of her till you return.” Pidge suggested as Keith nodded before walking over to Lucy to give her his Bayard. He didn’t need it anymore if he had his own Bayard has the new head of Voltron.

“What’s this?” Lucy questioned.

“It’s a bayard and a weapon of sorts, each paladin has one. You’ll be red’s paladin, so it’s now yours.” Keith replied as Lucy looked up at the lion in front of her.

“How did red accept you the first time?” Lucy had been genuinely curious and had wondered for a long time. How did each lion choose their paladin?

“I took out some galra soldiers by opening up an airlock. I got sucked out to space with it and red came out to get me.” Keith explained as Lucy tried thinking of a way for red to accept her.

“Maybe we should stage a fight and prove that I’m capable of holding my own.” Lucy had suggested as Allura nodded in agreement. She found it to be a great idea and hoped that it would work. All of the paladins surrounded around Lucy as she prepared her fighting stance, but Allura stopped them for a moment before they decided to start.

“Keith, it’s probably for the best if you don’t participate,” Allura explained. “The red lion has always been temperamental, but she seems to be quite protective of you and I’d rather the castle not get destroyed.”

“Don’t worry mullet, we can have a sparring match another time perhaps.” Lucy had suggested as the paladins exchanged looks between each other. This was the second or third time that she had reminded them of Lance.

“Maybe.” Keith walked over to stand by Allura and Coran as they watched the paladins from afar.

Lance was normally better at long distance shots, being the team’s sharpshooter and all, so he stayed behind everyone else so that he had a better advantage. A part of him wanted to wipe the smile off Lucy’s face because of her relationship with Keith, but the other half hated himself for even thinking like that. Lance was not a black hearted person, he cared for everyone so much that it hurt. He loved making everyone laugh and hoped that it made the teams day. He was jealous of Lucy and that was no doubt but he couldn’t bring himself to hate her even if he kept thinking of ways to get rid of the blonde. He wanted to go back to when Shiro was still on the ship, maybe if he realized sooner he’d have a better chance. While Lance was lost in thought he had failed to see how Lucy had managed to take down Pidge and Hunk and was coming straight for him. She aimed her leg towards stomach as he blocked the blow with his arms.

“Nice block.” Lucy complimented as she went in for another swing. Lucy was nice and was never mean to Lance, but he couldn’t help how the feeling of jealousy plagued his mind. He hated it.

“Lance!” the leg had connected sending him backwards, his breath slipping away from him. He didn’t hear the voice that had yelled to him clearly as his vision went fuzzy. He didn’t realize how powerful and altean’s kick could be.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Lucy cried in a panic as she backed away. Keith had run straight to Lance and cradled him in his arms. He was unconscious and Lucy felt guilty for what had happened.

“Lance, can you hear me?” Keith questioned the boy as grabbed his wrist to check his pulse. The rate had slowed slightly but nothing serious, she had merely knocked the wind out of him. Keith sighed with relief as he smiled up at Lucy. She was already near tears from the shock, and it made Keith want to hug her so that she wouldn’t have to cry anymore.

Pidge and Hunk walked over from the spots on the floor that they had been previously. She had knocked them down, but they figured if they pretended to be wounded that the red lion would see that Lucy was strong. They didn’t realize that she could have easily knocked them out if she had gone any further. Pidge looked up at the girl as she saw the tears in her eyes, and decided to comfort her by placing a hand on her shoulder. Lucy looked over at Pidge and immediately tossed her head in the crook of her neck. Pidge couldn’t help the blush that appeared on her face from the contact.

“Whoa, my heads spinning. “Lance murmured as his eyes fluttered open to take in the view of Keith who was happy he was ok.

“Lance, your ok!” Hunk exclaimed but Lance could only focus on one thing right now and that was the soft features that were present on Keith’s face in this moment. His face turned red as he noticed the close proximity that they were in as he gently pushed away from Keith out of embarrassment.

“Glad your ok, Lucy see no worries.” Keith reassured as she peaked out from Pidge’s shoulder to see Lance wide awake.

“Thank god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen. I’m sorry, Lance.” Her words didn’t seem to matter to Lance that much, his mind had already wandered off to a few minutes before when Keith had literally cradled him in his arms like he had done before with there bonding moment. Would this be another bonding moment for them, would he have to start picking out wedding bands. Lance chuckled to himself at the thought of that, but it confused the others as they wondered what was funny.

“What’s so funny, Lance?” Pidge questioned him, avoiding eye contact with Lucy.

“No…no..nothing.” Lance managed to get out with his cheeks tinted red.

“Lance, I’m sorry for what happened.” Lucy apologized once more as Lance turned to her and gave her a thumbs up before ruffling her hair.

“No worries, so stop apologizing ok?” Lance said his feelings on Lucy pushed aside for a brief moment.

“I believe that should be enough for today, everybody get to the mind melding chamber.” Allura spoke up as the paladins nodded and walked toward the room. Three specific paladins, nervous that with this exercise, there feelings for a certain paladin would be discovered.

They all sat around the floor ready for the exercise as they placed on the head bands that would connect them. Lucy furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at the head band, but Keith had put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and all the nerves she was feeling went away in an instant.

“This exercise is to help everyone get in tune with each other. Lucy is new, and we don’t want to risk not being able to form Voltron.” Allura spoke while Hunk and Pidge took a glance at each other.

“Zarkon isn’t around anymore, so we might be ok without Voltron.” Hunk said as Allura snapped her head toward him.

“We can’t risk that. I already lose someone I care about; I can’t lose anyone else.” All of the Paladin’s eyes widened as Allura straightened her posture before excusing herself out of the room.

“What was that about?” Lance questioned as Pidge gave him a look that said ‘Really, Lance?’.

“Allura is still hurting, we are the only family she has. All of the Altean’s were wiped out by the Galra.” Hunk mentioned as Lucy looked over at Hunk. She had only ever lived with her father and then the rest of her life with the galran empire. Only sharing some of her life with other altean’s, the only things she learned before going to the galran empire were all the books she about earth that the altean’s had collected. She didn’t think they were extinct but their whereabouts are unknown.

“Lucy, you lived with altean’s for a bit, do you know if they are still out there?” Keith decided to ask as Lucy’s eyes had widened a fraction. She couldn’t help but smile a bit since Keith had actually listened to her story.

“To be honest, I’m not quite sure.” Lucy decided to leave it at that, she didn’t know where to begin with the search. The others decided not to pry as they dropped the subject.

“Paladins get to your lions; we have been contacted to help this planet. The planet’s name is Fortes, and it’s falling a part, we need a rescue team to retrieve all and any survivors we can find. I found this distress call when I left, and we’ve got no time to lose. Lucy you are without a lion, so go with Keith since you may be more comfortable traveling with him. Keith you will take the red lion down, maybe if Keith is there the red lion might warm up to you, Lucy.” Allura came back in as she gestured to the door.

“Come one, Lucy.” Keith said as he grabbed her wrist and led her to the door. Lucy tried her best to keep up with him as he dragged her along to red. Lance, Pidge and Hunk followed after, but Lance couldn’t help but wear a solemn expression as he saw Lucy and Keith’s interactions with each other.

“Ok, team get to your lions, it’s-uh-time to save some aliens?” Keith spoke hesitantly as Lucy gave his hand a reassuring squeeze which eased his nerves. Keith didn’t know how to lead Voltron, but it was nice having Lucy there to calm him down.

The paladins got into there lions as they landed on the planet. Red had surprisingly let Keith in this time, probably thinking that Keith wasn’t going to fly black like she thought. Lucy was wearing temporary paladin armor that Allura had lended her. Keith wore his usual red outfit as her’s was a purple color that looked perfect against her purple altean markings.

When they landed everyone got out of there lions, they only had so much time before the planet started to collapse. Keith directed everyone to split into pairs, but figured Lucy should branch out and talk to the others as well. He didn’t want her to be dependent on him, and wanted her to become close with the others so that forming Voltron would be easier.

“Ok, Lance and I will take the north. Hunk see if Coran would be able to go with you to scavenge the east and west of the planet and make sure you take your lion to cover more ground. Lucy and Pidge will take the South.” Keith spoke up hoping that he was doing a good job as leader. He didn’t want to let Shiro down, he believed he wasn’t the best choice for this but he believed he had done a decent job so far.

“Really? Why me?” Lance whispered as he walked over to Keith as Lucy walked over to Pidge. Keith smiled, he had figured he’d pair her with someone she was at least somewhat familiar with. Lucy had talked to the others, but she had grown closer to Keith and he wanted her to get just as close to them as she was to him.

“Pidge, let’s get out there shall we?” Lucy smiled as Pidge couldn’t help but blush at how cute she was. She was going to die from this trip, she could tell.

“Let’s save some aliens.” Pidge and Lucy started to head out as Hunk went into his lion and took Keith’s advice and brought Coran with him to go and take care of his part of the mission. This left Lance and Keith alone.

“I’m surprised you didn’t want to go with, Lucy.” Lance shrugged as he tried to start a conversation with mullet man. They had started to walk towards there destination, and he wasn’t going to just sit quietly.

“Why’s that?” Keith was honestly confused; did he infer that Lucy was his favorite?

“Well you guy’s seem really close after those couple day’s in the forest.” Lance scratched the back of his head as he took a glance at Keith.

“I mean we did, but I don’t completely trust her with everything if that’s what your getting at?” Keith turned to look at Lance who’s face was turning red. Lance had never noticed before how beautiful Keith’s eyes were.

“D-Don’t worry about it.” Lance quickly looked down at his feet as they continued to walk, so far no aliens in sight. Keith was oblivious as usual to Lance’s behavior as he turned around to continue on their journey. Lance hoped that Pidge was having an easier time with Lucy.

“Lucy, we haven’t seen any alien’s yet. Do you think we should head back?” Pidge questioned as Lucy looked around the barren land until she spotted a small cave.

“Wait, maybe they went into hiding. Look over there.” Lucy pointed out as Pidge smiled and ran for the cave with Lucy calling after her.

“Come on, what are you waiting for.” Pidge laughed until she came to a stop underneath the entrance to cave. She began to wave at Lucy but her expression changed when she saw Lucy charging at her with fearful eyes. She closed her eyes tight and shielded her self with her hands above her head as she felt a body come crashing into her. She slowly opened them but all she saw was the pitch blackness as she turned on a light from her suit. The rocks from on top of the cave had toppled down and were blocking their way out. She directed the light towards Lucy for a moment as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. Lucy was knocked unconscious and she could see a small amount of blood coming from her hairline underneath her helmet. Pidge gently took it off as her hair fell to cascade around her face. Lucy had saved her life and now they were trapped in this cave and she was losing blood because of her decision.

“Lucy, please wake up.” Pidge cried as she moved a strand of hair away from Lucy’s face. She tried her helmet, hoping she could get a signal out to someone.

“K-Keith!” A voice crackled through the helmet as Keith answered back.

“Pidge, what’s wrong?” Keith called back as Lance looked at him for a moment.

“L-Lucy, s-she’s unconscious and not moving. We need help please.” Pidge sounded desperate as Keith’s eyes widened a fraction.

“Stay right there, we will come get you.” Lance watched as Keith turned to him, it looked as if he was ready to lose his composure.

“We have no choice, the rocked tumbled over, we have no access to the outside world. We are sitting ducks, and the planet could collapse at any moment.” Pidge cried as she pulled Lucy closer to her.

“Pidge, we’re coming.”

#klance #pidgexOC #voltron #fanfiction outofline lucy klance keith lance tazumihanako #lucyisoc #lucyandkeithinbeginning #Ao3 #fanfiction

1 note · View note

sage-nebula · 7 years

Note

Top5 shows/anime/movies you'd recommend.

Ahhhhhh, so usually I try to tailor recommendations to specific people—like, I won’t recommend things to people that I know don’t align with their tastes. The issue here is, I think most of the things I’ve seen that you would like are things that you have already seen (or played, et cetera). So that makes it a bit hard for me to tailor recommendations, hahaha.

That said! I’m going to try anyway to pick out five things that I think you haven’t seen, but that I think you would like. :3

Gravity Falls — So, you’ve probably seen me reblog a lot of Gravity Falls things, and you might even know a bunch of spoilers (in fact, I think I did tell you some things when telling you how Dipper and Mabel reminds me a lot of Jude and Leia), but I’m going to go ahead and throw this out there as a recommendation anyway.Gravity Falls is an American cartoon that spans two seasons. The main characters are twelve-year-old twins Dipper and Mabel Pines, who are sent to Gravity Falls, Oregon to spend the summer with their great-uncle (“Grunkle”) Stan. Grunkle Stan runs a tourist trap (basically a really gimmicky place designed to lure in tourists and sell them things) called the Mystery Shack, which is filled with a bunch of “supernatural” things that are really just a bunch of, well, gimmicky scams. (Like, a centaur that’s obviously fake, things like that.) He employs a young man named Jesus “Soos” Ramirez as his handyman / regular employee, as well as a teenage girl named Wendy to work the cash register (whom Dipper develops a crush on).Anyway, at first the twins aren’t too enthused about this (Dipper less than Mabel), but one day while hanging signs for the Mystery Shack up in the woods, Dipper comes across a mysterious Journal that details all of the supernatural phenomenon that occurs in Gravity Falls, as well as the “darkness” that lurks within the town. Dipper is deeply intrigued, and from there on out dedicates himself to solving the mysteries of the Journal (as well as the mysteries of the town) with Mabel’s help.The show actually has a really dedicated myth arc, so while there are episodes that feel “monster of the week” ish, the characters actually develop and grow as the show goes on. The myth arc is also hinted at as early as the very first episode, and there is no drag—it doesn’t take time for the show to get good. The focus is very much on family; while the kids do get crushes on various other characters (such as Dipper’s crush on Wendy), romance doesn’t play into the show at all, and instead the emphasis is very much on the familial bonds between the Pines family, and honorary members of the Pines family (such as Soos). Finally, though there is a real supernatural element to it, and while sometimes things can get a bit creepy, there is a lot of humor to it, too, that is very often on point. Oh! And while Disney tried to act like Beauty and the Beast featured their first gay couple, they’re wrong! Because Gravity Falls aired on Disney XD, and it has a bi-racial gay couple in the form of the police officers, Deputy Durlin and Sheriff Blubbs. They’re not canon until the last episode, but it makes all the build-up before then worth it, especially since it often seemed played for laughs. (So like, had that been it I would have been mad, but since they’re very obviously canon, it’s all good.) I feel like I’m doing a bad job recommending this, but I feel like you’d like it! And it’s only two seasons (and is now completed), so it’s not like it would take very long / you’d be left in a lurch. It’s a really good show and I think you’d like it a lot. (Fandom Safety: Ehhh, depends. There are some creepy gross ships in the fandom (BillDip being the biggest one), but for the most part there isn’t any major Discourse™ at the moment, either. Pretty chill for the most part now that the show has ended.)

Over the Garden Wall — Another American cartoon, but more of a miniseries, really. This one is only ten episodes long, and is also completed, so it would be a really quick watch if you wanted to give it a shot.Over the Garden Wall follows brothers Wirt (older) and Greg (younger) as they venture through a mysterious land / forest called The Unknown. They need to get home, but they are lost, and soon they are found by a talking bluebird named Beatrice who convinces them to follow her to a woman named Adelaide, whom she swears will be able to get them home. Though Wirt and Beatrice don’t get along well at first, the boys agree to follow her, and so the three end up venturing through The Unknown together. Along the way they meet a wide variety of beings and creatures, some friendly and some not; and they are also ever-pursued by The Beast, whom a woodsman has told Wirt and Greg will do unspeakable things to them should it catch up to them …As I said, Over the Garden Wall is only ten episodes long, and to be honest it starts off kind of slow. I wasn’t really taken in by the first episode. However, it became more interesting in the second episode, and by the third I was hooked. It has a sort of fairytale or storybook feel to it, and is actually a lot more mature than it lets on at first. There’s also a nice mystery element to it, given that Wirt and Greg don’t remember how they came to be in The Unknown at first, and the reason why they’re there (and strong hints as to what The Unknown actually is) isn’t revealed until near the end of the series. As mentioned, it’s only ten episodes long, so it’s not a very time-consuming investment. I really recommend it!(Fandom Safety: Pretty safe, I think! I haven’t looked at the tags in a long while, but I can’t remember any Discourse™, and it aired a couple years ago. I think going in the tags would probably be safe.)

Voltron: Legendary Defender — This one is on American Netflix. I don’t know if it’s on Belgian Netflix, or how easy it would be to find on other streaming sites (though knowing the internet, I’m sure it could be done), but if you can find it, I do recommend it.Voltron: Legendary Defender is an American cartoon that is the reboot of a show that … was originally an anime, and then was “dubbed” (kind of? I think it was massacred when it was dubbed, though), and then had another American cartoon made after it and was just … kind of really a mess. The original anime / cartoons aired back in the ‘80s and are So Bad It’s Good, but you don’t have to have watched those to understand Voltron: Legendary Defender (I mean, I sure haven’t).With that said, Voltron: Legendary Defender has an ensemble cast and is a futuristic sci-fi show about an intergalactic war involving many different alien races, but one primary alien threat in the Galra Empire. The primary cast is made up of two aliens (Alteans, specifically), and five humans. The Altean members are Princess Allura and her guardian / personal attendant, Coran. They are the last remaining Alteans in the galaxy, and they are the holders of the universe’s greatest super weapon, Voltron (more on that in a minute), as well as a giant space castle which also functions as a spaceship (and can open wormholes—it’s pretty neat). The humans, meanwhile, are Takashi Shirogane (most often just called Shiro), Keith Kogane, Lance McClain, Hunk Garrett, and Pidge (Pidge has a full name as well, but that’s #spoilers). Together, these five are the Paladins of Voltron, and they are the most active defenders of the universe, fighting against the evil Galra Empire.And what is Voltron, you may ask?Voltron is a giant humanoid mecha robot. More specifically, Voltron is a giant humanoid mecha robot that is comprised of five multicolored robot Lions (that are also spaceships). The Black Lion forms the head, the Red Lion forms the right arm, the Green Lion forms the left arm, the Yellow Lion forms the left leg, and the Blue Lion forms the right leg. Separately, each Lion can fly and fight, with each Paladin serving as its pilot. However, when the Paladins come together they form Voltron, the only real threat against the Galra Empire and its emperor, Zarkon.And to explain the plot a little more indepth:10,000 years before the series began, the Galra Empire was ravaging the universe, with the Altean Empire putting up a damned good fight against them. However, a wrong decision on the part of King Alfor lead to the Altean Empire’s defeat. In a last ditch effort to save her, King Alfor put Allura (and her attendant, Coran) into a 10,000 year sleep, and split up the Lions of Voltron in an effort to keep them out of Zarkon’s hands. While Zarkon did manage to recover the Red Lion, the others were scattered across the universe … and the Blue Lion was sent to Earth, where it is eventually found by Shiro, Keith, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge after they all come together by happenstance, and find the Blue Lion when Keith leads the others to it (given that it has been calling to him). The Blue Lion awakens for Lance and accepts him as her Paladin, and—while they’re investigating the Blue Lion to see what it is—it ends up taking the five of them into space and to the castle, where they awaken Allura, learn that they will be the new Paladins of Voltron, and that they have an intergalactic war to fight against Zarkon.While this probably sounds like it would be a dreary (if bizarre) war show, it really isn’t. It’s not perfect, but the character banter and dialogue is very often on point (especially since Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk are all teenagers), the animation is great, the voice acting is superb, and all around it’s a very fun show to spend some time with. There are two seasons currently, and the third is set to air in September. It’s a very fun, very interesting show, and it’s very easy to get drawn into it. The characters are all great, too. And let’s put it this way: I went from, “It’s fun, but I don’t care very much about it” to one day almost missing my exit because I was too busy thinking about Voltron while driving. So, there is that. (Also, I feel I’ve done a terrible job explaining, but … it’s a fun show with robot Lions. Just trust me on this.)Also, the Lions do have some degree of sentience. The Red Lion being protective over Keith is one of the best things ever, and at one point Lance becomes very defensive when he thinks Keith is trying to take the Blue Lion from him, saying, “Blue and I are very happy together! VERY HAPPY!!” So, there is that, too.(Fandom Safety: TERRIBLE. HORRIBLE. ONE OF THE WORST FANDOMS I’VE EVER SEEN. DO NOT APPROACH. EVERY TIME I GO INTO THE TAGS TO LOOK FOR COOL FANART I LEAVE FEELING MISERABLE. ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS, WATCH THE SHOW BUT STAY FAR, FAR AWAY FROM THE FANDOM.)

The Great British Baking Show — For once, not a cartoon! And not American, either! What are the odds!! Three of the seasons are on American Netflix (seasons five, four, and six, I think, in that order). I’m not sure how to go about finding the others, but if you can, I’d highly recommend it.The Great British Baking Show (also called The Great British Bake-Off) is a reality show in which twelve (or sometimes thirteen, I think) amateur bakers compete to win a baking competition. The judges are Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood (yes, those are their real names) and the show is hosted by Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyic, a comedy duo. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Ugh, a reality show? Why would I want to watch this?”I’ll tell you why.Unlike most reality cooking shows, where there are sabotages and there is drama and a lot of nastiness, The Great British Baking Show is peaceful and sweet. It’s soothing. There is no nastiness, there is no drama; there are no sabotages to ruin anyone’s chances, and even though it is a competition, everyone is generally very supportive of each other. If they have time, they help each other out if they see one of the other bakers struggling. The hosts, Mel and Sue, often offer helping hands and encouragement as well. And even when it comes to the judges, though Paul can be rather blunt, they aren’t cruel or spiteful toward the contestants. This isn’t like cooking shows with Gordon Ramsay, where part of the appeal is him screaming insults at the contestants. There’s none of that. It’s just a very uplifting and positive show all around, even though one baker is always sent home at the end of each episode.Each episode is about an hour long, and I find that they’re very good for anxiety attacks. They’re very nice to just watch and be soothed by. A+++, highly recommended.(Fandom Safety: Very safe!! I mean, it’s a peaceful reality baking show, so I don’t think I’ve seen any Discourse™. I think the most you’d get is people not liking your favorite baker, but w/e, honestly? Pretty safe. Far better than Voltron’s fandom. Then again, so is every fandom, so like …)

And … I’m actually blanking on a fifth one that you haven’t seen, but that I think you’d like. Because like, I could recommend shows like The Office (the U.S. version), but that one can be kind of … sarcastic and realistic in tone? (Like, things often go wrong / the characters often fail at things on The Office, it has that element of realism.) And I’m not sure you’d like that. And then there’s Arrested Development, but that’s even more jaded and cynical, everyone on that show is an awful person and that’s the point. And I remember that you had trouble with Parks and Recreation because everyone talked fast and used a lot of political terms, and I feel like even though The Office and Arrested Development aren’t political, there’d be a similar issue there. I feel like they’re not easily accessible for people whose first language isn’t English (especially with all the business lingo thrown around).

But yeah, those are at least four recommendations of things I think you’d like! ^^ Let me know if you end up checking any of them out.

#top 5 meme #yume-x-hanabi #Voltron is so hard to describe wtf

4 notes · View notes