#this is keith's dad. to me.

[discordiansamba]

I love that in the Runaway AU, Keith can be explained by being half-galra, but then there's Heath and he's Also just Like That and it's hilarious. Poor Shiro over here is just burdened with the knowledge that yeah, Keith may be part Galra, but also he's part Heath. Just, Heath is hilarious because here is a man who had a child with an alien without so much as batting an eye and, of the paladins, only Shiro has enough context to know that. Anyway I love your fics, thank you!

It's so much fun to characterize Heath, since we know so little about him. He was only brought up three times! Personally I think any guy who decides to not only fall in love with the alien woman he pulled from her ship and have a child with her is going to be a little on the unique side. Plus he was absolutely down for fighting aliens. Needed zero convincing.

It's just fun in general to think that Heath as a kid was actually a lot like his son- he just mellowed out over time. Which is why he's more than willing to encourage his son being Like That because he was also Like That and he turned out fine!

Honestly? Once I characterized Heath as the guy who brings a shotgun to space in anomalous point, there was no going back from that. He's just like this now to me.

[hollowgl0w]

they’re rivals they’re lovers they’re best friends they’re wanted war criminals they’re girl dads they kiss both on and off the job they’re hated by thousands they’re universe wide heroes they live domestically

[celbrini]

Panthers v Oilers ... post SCF game 7 ... 24.06.2024

[yuripira4e]

I love the trope of “kid without a mother/father figure discovers magical world and gains 4 of them”

[fandomination666-blog]

As someone who lives in Texas (unfortunately) I find it SO FUNNY when people make keith overwhelmingly southern. Like, cmon yall. Texas history 101, the cowboy era ended a long ass time ago, most of us DONT wear cowboy hats anymore. Why the fuck would keith ride a horse???? Nobody does that unless they own horses??? And horses are incredibly expensive???

Like, I understand cowboy aus, and historical aus, but if Texas, in 2024, isn't like that (the stereotypes are so wild) then why would it be like that in approx 2314?

Very few wear cowboy hats or boots. Very few have horses, and NOBODY rides them to school, ffs. Keith is not a farmhand.

Some texas stereotypes that are true, however...

-yeah we say yall nonstop

-ain't, wouldja, couldn't've, etc.

-confederate flag is less common here, normally you see the "come and take it" or the "don't tread on me"

-if keith ever went to public school, 1/3 of his classmates or more are Latino

-most Texans know moderate amounts of Spanish

-we celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and most ppl think it's Mexican independence day (it's not)

-barbecue.

-chili WITHOUT BEANS YOU HEATHEN

-will fight over food, family, or football

-either you support the Dallas Cowboys or the Houston Texans. Any other team is sacrilege. Once you make this choice, it WILL have effects on your social life.

-football is basically king here lol, none of the other stuff in school gets nearly the funding

-people living in rural areas (like Keith's dad) often own guns, and not pistols either-- rifles and shotguns, usually

-NOBODY SAYS YEEHAW. at least not unironically

-Texans will ironically say yeehaw, rootin-tootin, etc bc we are aware of our history and think it's wack

-were not all racist, but everyone knows at least one person who is (usually an older family member)

-mind your gotdamn manners at the table. Get those elbows away from your food

-sir and ma'am for strangers

-open doors for old people. You don't have to be a man to do this.

-please and thank you is SO important, people will assume things about you otherwise

-if you don't have a church, you miss out on a lot of community (coming from a non-religious person)

-most people here are Baptist, on that note (Hispanic people contribute to the Catholic population, but still, Baptist is #1)

-internet service is awful unless you're in a city

-we WILL close all schools for 2 inches of snow/ice

-we laugh at hurricanes, and then do our best to help our Houston neighbors

-but everybody hates Houston and Dallas, unless you live there

-most people are okay with Austin, San Antonio, etc

-EL PASO IS TINY, AND HALF OF IT IS IN MEXICO (and is called Ciudad Juárez there)

-beer is god. And God has no problem with drinking. (According to beliefs here)

-gambling is illegal here, but we love it, so states like Oklahoma have built casinos RIGHT ON THE STATE BORDER so that we can drive a bit and gamble as we please

-everybody's dad drives a truck. Otherwise people assume he's got a small pp

[seliipi]

Voltron Season 8 Salt #1 (as well as ongoing salt from the usual people)

[klanced]

Keith walking into the holding cell greeting all the regulars by name while Lance is sobbing lamenting that his life is over and his future is ruined (they were like. Trespassing or some shit he’s going to be fine)

lance: (actively dry heaving in the corner, on the verge of a panic attack as he imagines having a permanent record)(actually what does a permanent record even look like?)(omg is he going to have to go to COURT? like in JUDGE JUDY?)

keith: remy, this is lance. lance, this is remy, she’s my favorite alcoholic :)

[autisticlancemcclain]

part one

———

Leandro Esposita-McClain, I am in love with you.

Keith’s voice, staticky and muffled, rings through his brain for hours. He barely even moves from his seat, staring into space and trying to remind himself how breathing works.

I am in love with you.

Anyone with eyes can tell that he’s hot.

It’s always the fuckin’ pretty ones that get me.

A confession. Obvious, unmistakable, clear and concise and detailed, even, maybe more words that Lance has ever heard Keith say in one sitting.

Figures, of course, that Lance wasn’t meant to hear it.

The second they land on that night’s rest stop planet, Lance bolts out of his lion, barely remembering to keep the latch open so Kaltenecker can let herself out to graze. He sprints past the Black Lion, who has yet to open her maw, and careens around Blue, barely managing to straighten himself up before he brains himself on her massive paw. He hears her cackling in his head, and doesn’t even bother rolling his eyes. He runs up Yellow’s barely-open hatch and climbs up the stairs on all fours like an animal, tumbling into the cockpit and sprawling in front of Hunk in a heap, panting, suddenness making Hunk yelp.

“Je-sus, Lance,” he scolds, hand pressed to his heart. “You scared me.”

Lance doesn’t say anything, too busy desperately trying to gulp in some air. He’s obviously pretty practiced in cardio, being a paladin and all, but he wouldn’t be surprised to discover that he just broke several Olympic records.

(The breathing struggles may also be from the Keith thing. But that’s embarrassing, so he’s just going to pretend it’s from running.)

“We landed, like, forty seconds ago,” Hunk says after a moment. “Did you fucking teleport here? Is Kosmo around?”

At the mention of the space wolf, Lance wheezes, pressing both hands to his face to attempt to cover it as it flames. It’s no use — he can’t see Hunk through his pressed-shut eyes, but he can feel the wicked grin his best friend is sporting at the mention of Keith-by-proxy.

“I need help,” Lance says quickly, before Hunk can start in with the teasing. There’s no escaping the teasing, exactly, but he doesn’t need to leave any more opportunities.

“Do tell.”

Lance peeks through his fingers. Hunk has arranged his features in a very particular, pinched expression, which Lance knows from years of experience means he is fighting down his commentary with every inch of his strength.

“Keith,” he says hesitantly, “may have just said something along the lines of a confession. To me.” Before Hunk can say anything, Lance rushes to finish: “But I don’t think it was on purpose.”

Hunk exhales for a very long time. “Explain yourself very carefully.”

Lance pulls himself upright, sitting with his back against the wall of the cockpit and his knees pulled under his chin. “So I was just chilling in Red, right,” he starts, picking at his sleeve. “And I get this audio call from Keith, outta nowhere, and before I can say anything he starts talking? But not to me. To Kosmo. And at first I was like, okay. This is a Keith and Kosmo call. Awesome. But then he kept talking to Kosmo only, and I realised he was talking about me, and he said —” suddenly Lance realises he hasn’t taken a breath in God knows how long and inhales a deep, frantic one, flopping out his legs and staring at his friend with wide eyes — “Hunk, he said he was in love with me.”

Hunk’s eyes widen just as big as Lance’s. “Dude!”

“I know!”

“Dude!”

“I know!”

“No, dude!” Hunk insists, gripping his armrests and leaning forward. “This is awesome! This means you can make a move! And I can win a lot of money!” At Lance’s raised eyebrow, he clears his throat. “But, uh, obviously your whole crush thing is priority numero uno. I’m just saying that if you wanted to make some sort of gesture in front of everyone else and in the next week, that would be awesome. For you, of course.”

“Uh-huh.” Lance sighs, dragging his legs back up and hugging his knees, resting his cheek on top of them. “I don’t know. I’m probably not going to do anything about it, really.”

Hunk frowns. “How come?”

“Well, because. It wasn’t a real confession. Maybe it was a prank, or something. I mean, I don’t think Keith’s that mean, but who knows what was really going on? I overheard him say some pretty incriminating stuff, sure, but I don’t know the context. I don’t know the situation. Maybe he was roleplaying. Maybe he was making up scenarios because he was bored. I don’t want to misinterpret things, you know. It could ruin our friendship.”

He’s my friend, I don’t want to ruin things.

Hunk holds up a finger. “Excuse me for a moment.” He stands up and walks calmly out of the cockpit, jogging down the stairs to Yellow’s barracks and storage compartments. Lance tries not to feel too hurt at his best friend’s sudden departure in his greatest time of need.

A few minutes later, Hunk returns, holding his pillow in his hand. Lance tilts his head in confusion — was his butt hurting, or something? He supposes that makes sense. This space road trip has a lot of long stretches, after all. Maybe his butt was so achey that he couldn’t focus on Lance’s tragic situation. Well, Hunk is kind of caked up, but the butt is a muscle, so Lance supposes it can get cramps, too —

Wham!

Hunk clears his throat, brushing imaginary dust off the pillow he just whacked Lance in the face with. Hard! Lance is so shocked he can’t even muster up a single thought, everything going kind of static in his head.

“That,” Hunk says, casually sitting back down in his seat and holding the pillow like he’s prepared to strike again, “was the dumbest thing I have ever heard, and I’m including my own dumbassery in that. I’m including Pidge’s peanut rant in that. You have truly accomplished a feat, my friend.”

“What.”

“I mean, he said it out loud,” Hunk continues. “Out loud, with his mouth, no one making him, he said he was in love with you. Said your full name and everything. ‘Leandro Esposita-McClain, I am in love with you.’ Those were his words And you are sitting on my floor and working yourself into a frenzy.” He tuts. For a brief moment Lance is unsure if Hunk has somehow been replaced with Mrs. Garrett, that’s how much he’s resembling his mother. “What foolishness.”

“I get it,” Lance grumbles, rubbing his face sulkily. “You didn’t have to smack me, you meanie.”

Hunk leans over and kisses Lance forehead with quite a lot of patronization. Lance leans into it anyway.

“I really did.”

“Whatever.”

He stays with Hunk while everyone else unloads, until he hears loud, frantic barking, and a panicked voice screeching after it. Seconds later, there’s a flash of bright light, and Kosmo appears in the Yellow Lion’s cockpit, bounding at Lance with full speed and knocking him right over. Lance laughs wrapping both arms around the big dog as much as he can and squeezing.

“Hell-o, you darling boy!”

Kosmo yips loudly, and Lance doesn’t have time for so much as one more word before his stomach drops, and his vision goes white, and the next thing he knows he’s falling from the sky, blipped out of Yellow’s cockpit. He screeches at the top of his lungs, wondering why the hell Kosmo has teleported him in the air, but before he can hit the ground, a voice calls out “Woah!” and he’s caught by a pair of strong arms.

When he opens his eyes again, having squeezed them shut when he realized he was falling, he locks eyes with Keith. It takes him three seconds too long to realise he’s held in Keith’s arms, bridal-style, and Keith’s face is bright red. He yelps again — nope nope nope nope nope, he is not being cradled to Keith’s chest, not happening — and stuffs a blurry memory of a strong chest and the scent of sweat and smoke and the sound of running footsteps back into the recesses of his mind where it belongs. He twists out of Keith’s grip, or at least tries to, but Keith has a strong hold on him, so when Lance’s squirms he tilts their sight forward —

“Lance, what — quit squirming!”

— but it’s too late, they’re already heading to the ground, and neither has their hands free to break their fall. Just before they hit the strange pink grass, Lance feels Keith’s hand snap over to his head, tucking it towards his neck, instinctively protecting him from getting hurt. They hit the ground with an oof, Lance on his back, Keith crookedly on top of him, face planted directly in the middle of Lance’s chest.

It takes Lance a second to fully comprehend their situation, their position, and when he does he makes this horrible kind of squeaking sound in the back of his throat. Keith makes a similarly embarrassed throaty sound, scrambling to get off of him, but their arms are kind of tangled so he only manages to chuck himself more off balance, just barely catching himself by planting a hand right next to Lance’s face and stopping his forehead millimetres away from Lance’s.

Both of them freeze. Pinned, Lance just stares at the face in front of him (the crooked nose, broken three too many times, the strong brow, dark indigo eyes like none Lance has ever seen before, high cheekbones, flush with humiliation, the new purple scar; every part of his face, every detail, like he’s commuting it to memory, like he’s devouring the image of it after being starved too long). Keith’s lips are parted slightly, and Lance traces the defined cupid’s bow with his eyes, noticing how chapped they are, imagining how rough they would feel.

Anyone with eyes can tell that he’s hot. Seriously hot. And…leggy.

“I think you’re hot, too,” Lance blurts, and then immediately wishes for death. It doesn’t help that he hears both the sound of a camera shutter and several coins changing hands. (And Hunk’s very obvious crow of victory and loud “Thank you, Lance! I’ll give you a percentage for your service!”)

“What,” Keith croaks, which is generally a bad reaction to a confession but makes sense in this circumstance.

Lance clears his throat, still hyper aware of the way Keith’s body is streamlined on top of his, the way one gloved hand is still curved around his neck.

“I heard you,” he clarifies. “In the lion. With Kosmo. You must have butt-dialed me, or something. You said you loved me.”

He sees the exact moment it clicks for Keith, because face begins to actually turn pumice, and Lance can feel the heat pouring off of him. “I must have —” He makes a cut-off, aborted noise and hangs his head, slightly, like if he closes his eyes for a second he can wish away the entire situation.

Which. Fair. Lance can’t blame him.

“I am giving that dog away to a local charity,” he grumbles.

Lance snorts. “As if. You love that dog more than anything. Also, I’ll kill you if you even try.”

Keith glances back up at him, corner of his mouth twitching, and laughter bubbles up out of them at the same time, half-hysterical and half-tense and half-exhilarated and half something Lance can’t name. Two hundred percent intensity. Lance goes hoarse, and Keith loses the ability to hold his own head up, resting his forehead on Lance’s collarbone.

“I can’t believe I’m going to have to tell people you confessed via butt-dial, you goober!”

“You could lie and say I took you on a really romantic first date?” Keith suggests, grinning cheekily.

Lance snorts. “Not on your life.”

Keith sighs. “Yeah, didn’t think so.” He finally climbs off of Lance’s person, offering Lance a hand and pulling them both to their feet. Once Lance is upright, Keith stills, visibly deciding on something, then yanks the hand clutched around Lance’s backwards, making Lance stumbling forward. He steadies him with a hand on his waist, then untangles the other one and rests it on Lance’s cheek. He holds it there for a moment, letting Lance figure out his intentions.

Lance face burns as he understands the implications, what Keith is trying to do. He glances down at Keith’s chapped lips, thinking again of their roughness, imagining the scratch of them against his own, the scratch of the slight stubble around Keith’s chin in the late evening, the tickle of his hair on his cheeks.

“Although this part is kind of smooth,” he admits quietly, eyes half-lidded. He brings a shaking hand up to rest on the one Keith has around his hip, squeezing gently.

Keith’s lips quirk up. “Point for me, then, I guess.” He leans in, no hesitation this time, and presses his mouth to Lance’s; soft, searching, gentle and curious.

Lance melts.

Lance Esposita-McClain, I am in love with you, Keith had said, accidentally.

And I am in love with you, Keith Akira Kogane, Lance thinks, on purpose.

[foursidecity]

Is it foreal never brought up again how the vest shiro wears at the beggining of the show is the same vest Keith's dad wears like I'm going insane thinking about it

[lil-melody-moon]

I'm ngl bro you projecting your incestuous love for your dad onto Keith Moon is the greatest disrespect you could ever practice against him. You are not "lil" nothing you're a grown ass woman fetishizing the extremely abusive behaviors of a real life man that died to his struggles with alcohol and your shitty fanfics are like an act of spiritual rape against him. Bruh just let him rest 🙏

Oof, someone probably read a fic about a fictional character from a musical, whereas that character was an abusive paedophile to begin with. Such a strange coincidence that I'm getting this shit of a message right after uploading the most dirty chapter of "His Sweet Candy", which is a fiction in general and have as little connection to Keith or his birthday or my general love to him and appreciation for his musical skill, as my love to my dad and it being incestuous.

I am not about to get into conversation about who I am, because here, on tumblr I'm not even half a person I'm in real life. You don't know me, nobody knows me here, maybe expect two people, but you? If you're that courageous to tell me to stop loving a guy who died in 1978 and stop celebrating his birthday out of my free will, without forcing anyone to participate as you can use a block option on this platform or just straight out not have a tumblr blog in the first place, then go off anon and tell me it right to my face.

But then again, you can't, because I would block your ass straight away and then whoops, no more anon hate, am I right?

Bruh, stfu and get your ass outside, touch some grass if you can't differentiate fanfiction or fiction in general for typical, obsessive and insane appreciation of a lonely woman who found support in a guy who was with her the entire life, through music, movies and various other things.

[fannyyann]

regardless of how you feel about keith tkachuk i think it's wild that he's still irritated a year later that the panthers lost to the SENATORS, brady's team, and that's somehow been twisted into proof brady's the favorite instead of that he was rooting for the panthers and was pissed they played like shit against a team he thought they should beat

[discordiansamba]

The paladins discussing their favorite TV shows, but Hunk notices Keith's been quiet the entire time. He asks him what his favorite show is, tries to include him but all Keith does is tilt his head.

"I don't watch TV," is what he says.

And they're like. Okay, right. Weird desert hermit. But you must have watched TV as a kid, right?

Keith just squints at them. Not really? His dad had an old TV in his bedroom, but he pretty much used that to watch the news. And he didn't exactly spend that much time watching TV when he was in foster care. He guesses he used to watch nature documentaries with his dad sometimes? Sometimes he would watch old Westerns with Adam?

Pidge: how are you even alive?

[holysheithyall]

my wife 🫶 (+my keith hcs)

————

also the sketch under the cut cuz i like it a lot

[insectduck]

My niche Keith Kogane headcanon is that "Thief" by Imagine Dragons from the Smoke + Mirrors (Deluxe) album is HIS song, no if ands or buts, it just screams mullet emo 'delinquent' in the desert bonus with space motifs. If you told me it was written by the angsty fuck himself I'd totally believe you lmao

[stromer]

"you know, to have his support is unbelievable. he’s rooting so hard for me."

[silentwillowwhisperer]

This particular galaxy that the paladins are currently in is known particularly for its wide array of animals.

So obviously, when they hear that one of the planets has a zoo on it, they absolutely have to go.

"Whoo! This is gonna be awesome! The whole fam on a trip to the zoo! You know, my nephew Sylvio was always obsessed with lions. Ironic, isn't it?"

Lance chatters steadily about his family, as he usually does. It has become almost comforting because of how often he did it.

They all load into the lions and land safely on the ground. Thankfully, this planet has not been taken over by the Galra, though that may have something to do with the planet's army of man(alien?)-eating birds.

They find the zoo rather easily, as it seems to be advertised in every part of the town possible.

And they are not overrating it. The zoo is gorgeous, with paths shaded by trees similar to willows, but in shades of purple and blue. Dragonfly-like creatures big enough to ride roam around freely. Even the inhabitants of the planet look crystalline, with antennae and glittering eyes.

They wander for about an our before they hear a sharp gasp.

The paladins turn to see Keith with a gleeful look on his face. Of course, they automatically assume that he saw a cool knife, and look around suspiciosly.

Then Keith speaks, "Shiro! Look!"

Shiro follows Keith's gaze to see a small enclosure. Inside, are a bunch of tiny, suspiciously fluffy, hippos. They're all about the size of a German Shepherd, and their colors range from cotton candy pink to sky blue.

Lance is the first to start laughing.

"Really, Keith? You of all people are freaking out over fluffy animals? Doesn't exactly fit with your-"

Before he can finish his sentence, Keith has bolted off. He is right up to the fence in seconds, and he crouches down to coo at the animals. One hippo trots (do hippos trot or waddle?) right up to him and stares up at him with big, glassy eyes.

Keith looks like he might burst into tears. Oh, never mind, there are in fact tears rolling down his face.

The other gape at him. Shiro squats down next to Keith and pats him on the back.

"Alright bud. You'll be fine."

"They were his I favorite, Shiro. He would have loved them."

And then Shiro's eyes well up too.

Lance finally gathers the nerve to join them, and hugs Keith gently. Keith turns to start soaking his shirt in tears.

Yes, Lance is slightly upset that he'll have to actually wash this shirt for once when they get home, (he usually just douses himself in so much cologne that no one could ever tell his clothing is dirty) but Keith is literally having a mental breakdown 5-year-old style right now.

"How 'bout this? I saw a gift shop a little while back, and I've been saving up for a purchase. I was going to buy myself a cool sweatshirt, but I suppose we could buy you a hippo, or Fummi as they they call them here, stuffed animal."

Keith looks up at him with saltwater running down his face, and stars in his eyes. He has never ever looked this adorable, but Lance is living for it. Shiro has already taken the others to go see other specimens, his dad-sense telling him to give the two boys some space.

"Really?"

"Sure, my love." (haHA nicknames)

10 minutes later, they have successfully purchased a 6-foot tall hippo stuffy. In other words, Lance's beanpole genes make him just barely taller than it. Keith is just not, and he looks tiny next to it. This is literally the best purchase Lance has made in years.

Back at the castle, he may or may not find Keith asleep on the floor, using the stuffy as a body pillow/bed.

And it might be possible that Lance pushes Keith over slightly so that he can join him.

And maybe he falls asleep holding Keith.

He's got some explaining to do later.