#vld luis

[autisticlancemcclain]

parts 1 2

———

For most of Luis’s life, he’s known walking through the faded purple front door of the house he’s grown up in means he will be assaulted by noise. For so many years, he would even hear the sounds of yelling and banging and general chaos before he even made it up the steps. Several siblings tended to to that, he supposes. His key in the lock meant prepare for a whirlwind of motion and sound, for rapid Spanish and crashing sounds of clumsy people walking into each other and the calamity of home.

He tenses, even now, walking through that front door, reflexively preparing for an onslaught of noise that doesn’t come. Even though he struggled to get the key through the lock with one hand, the other holding a tired Lance, he prepared without realising what he was doing, only to become violently aware of the silence as he kicks the door shut behind him.

He freezes, right there in front of the door, keys and diaper bag clutched in one hand, Lancito gently cradled in the other, head resting on Luis’ shoulder and thumb stuck in his mouth.

It has been months, since his parents…since his parents. A new year has passed. A quiet, silent Christmas, locked in their own rooms. He has walked in with a child in his arms, after stopping at the campus daycare for the first time this semester, no different than what he’s been doing for the entirety of last semester. There is no reason for him to have walked into his home and forgotten, however briefly, how empty and quiet their home has become. (It feels, vaguely, like one of the first crisp days of autumn, stepping out of your house in the early morning and smelling the almost-frosty air, and blinking away the sudden memory of October when you were eight. Like the sudden snap out of your past, the trippy feeling of walking up in the present without realizing how far your nostalgia had driven you out of it. Startling and aching, really, the direct comparison).

Lance makes a whiny noise in the back of his throat, startling Luis into action. He starts to bounce the toddler, pressing a kiss to his forehead as he slips off his shoes and sets the diaper bag by the door.

“I know, I know, baby. Let’s go sit down for a bit.”

Lance is very…clingy.

All of them are, in some way. Rachel has just turned fifteen years old, but Luis wakes up to find her curled up at the foot of his bed more than twice a week, driven out of her room by something she refuses to voice. Marco spends every lunch period situated in the school office, hogging the phone to methodically call the rest of them to make sure they’re alive. Veronica cleans, obsessively, sorting through everyone’s things and scrubbing everything she can get her hands on like she can leave her imprint on them for when she’s not there.

“Yes, yes, I hear you.” Lance whines louder when Luis sets him down on the couch, babbling something nonsensical but stern enough on Luis’s direction that he cracks a smile. “Yeesh, do we need that tone? I’m just putting a movie on.”

He nonetheless tries to hurry things up, lest Lance get too antsy and start to cry. Once Finding Nemo starts playing — and Jesus fuck everyone in the household hates that movie so fucking bad, at this point, but it is the only fucking movie that Lance will watch and that keeps him calm — he scoops the toddler back up, collapsing back on the couch and tucking him under his arm. Lance snuggles into him easily, little elbows digging into Luis’ skin as he settles himself, and let’s put a huge, long sigh once he stills.

Luis snorts. “Stressful day at work, pal?”

“Shhhh,” Lance hushes, flailing a hand at Luis’ face area, presumably aiming for his mouth. “Nene. Sh.”

Worryingly, even at fourteen months old, Lance hasn’t really begun to talk. They’ve yet to hear him form any actual words, let alone a real sentence, in either of the languages used around him. But he has several vocalizations for things he wants — nana for food, nene for Nemo, and regular old toddler ‘no’. Lots of ‘n’ sounds. They’re saving up to take him to a specialist, but for now they just try to encourage any sounds he makes that are word-like.

“Okay,” Luis mumbles, kissing Lance’s palm. He hums, distractedly patting Luis’ cheek, eyes trained on the blue of the TV as if it’s the first time he’s seen the movie instead of the three billionth. “I’ll be quiet for Nemo.”

He lets his eyes unfocus on the screen in front of him, mind wandering, slow and lethargic. He can hear the ticking of the clock from the kitchen, almost echoing in how loud it is. It makes him tired, slow; the only time he used to hear it as a kid was on late summer nights, up late, falling asleep on the kitchen table as his mother hummed in the kitchen, making fried plantains with the fruit she’d gotten in the morning market. Lance’s weight is heavy on his side, tired and burnt out as he is, and the ebb and flow of the movie is numbingly familiar, and clock ticks steady. Tick, tick, tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

———

“Luis.” He whines, low and rumbly as something pokes his shoulder. “Luis, dorkbrain, get up.”

He groans, louder this time, cracking open one bleary eye. His eyes burn, contacts dried out, but he can make out the blurry outline of his sister, mouth twisted in a half-smile, grease smeared across her nose.

“Get up, doofus. You left the baby unsupervised.”

The words take a moment to register, but he shoots up in panic when they do. He looks frantically around the room, sighing in relief when he finds Lance sitting quietly in the corner, playing with his toy planes. He’s making tiny little crash noises every time he crashes then into each other, walking one of Rachel’s old Polly Pockets across the scene and giggling to himself.

“Jesus H. Christ,” he mutters, dragging a hand down his face as the panic starts to seep from his heart. “You fuckin’ scared me, Ronnie.”

She smirks. “And I’ll be doing it again.”

Luis decides not to tell her about the face grease. He was going to, but now she can suffer for being a dickhead. Maybe she’ll even break out.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

He glances over at Lance again, just to double-check, but he’s still playing happily by himself, so he gets to his feet.

“C’mon,” he says, inclining his head towards the kitchen. “Kids’ll be home soon. Let’s make dinner.”

“Dibs on not doing cooking!” Veronica’s hand flies to her nose, cackling at Luis’ indignance.”

“Hey! Dinner is a shared endeavour! You can’t just dibs on not doing it!”

“Can too, loser! C’mere, Lancey-baby.” She scoops him up, planes and Pollys and all, and lugs him too the kitchen.

“Using the baby to avoid arguments is illegal.”

“Eat my farts, lunch boy.”

“That’s a stupid insult,” Luis mutters to himself, glaring at his sister one last time before turning to the fridge. She ignores him gleefully, picking up a plane and gently crashing it against the one Lance is holding. Instead of any amusement, he looks at her in such comical offense, gobsmacked that his sister would have the audacity to smack around his planes, that the young mechanic’s apprentice bursts out laughing. She hunches over, wheezing, as Lance scolds her in baby-talk.

Rolling his eyes fondly, he turns back to the fridge, finally opening the door and glancing inside.

If his life was a cartoon, there would be tumbleweeds rolling through the white, cooled shelves. That’s how fuckin’ bare it is.

“Well that’s…not good,” Veronica says when Luis fails to say anything.

Luis swallows roughly. “We forgot to budget for fucking groceries this month.”

Veronica hangs her head. “Fuck.” Even little Lance goes quiet, look between them in concern, bottom lip stuck out and trembling. Veronica reaches out a hand and brushes through his hair to comfort him, which kind of works. He abandons his toys to curl into her, thumb back in his mouth.

Luis opens and closes the fridge three separate times, hoping food will magically appear. When that doesn’t work, he wonders if he can make soup out of ketchup, or something. Add onion skin for flavours.

“We’re not cut out for this, Ron.”

She laughs sharply. “Yeah, no shit.”

She opens her mouth again, and from the look in her face Luis knows she’s about to say something dumb, so he beats her to the punch.

“I’m quitting school,” he blurts.

She blinks in shock. A second later her eyes narrow, and her face goes steely. “Like fucking hell you are.”

Luis sighs. He turns, slightly, reaching over and grabbing Lance from her arms. He bounces him gently, leaning in and blowing raspberries onto his cheek so he doesn’t have to look at Vero.

“My tuition eats up half of our funds,” he says quietly. “And the library job barely puts a dent in it. I can’t…if I don’t have as many hours in school, I can get a job that’ll get me money fast, and I can —”

Before he can finish, and before Veronica can argue, the sound of the lock turning in the front door interrupts them both. There’s no giggling, no banter, no even squabbling as Rachel and Marco walk through the door.

There hasn’t been.

Luis would trade anything to have it back.

“Hi,” Marco says slowly, reading the tension in the room. “Everything…okay?”

Luis smiles tightly. “Fine, buddy. We were just talking.”

Marco’s expression flattens. “I’m not stupid, Luis.”

“I know.” A beat. “It’s just nothing for you to stress about.”

Marco says nothing for a moment, staring at Luis flatly, before he tosses his backpack agains the wall and squares his shoulders.

“We are four and six years younger then you,” he starts. Rachel nods resolutely beside him. “We’ve been — obviously we’re not doing super stellar. I know the fridge is empty. And that you cried over the mortgage last night. And we heard you arguing from outside.”

Luis and Veronica look at each other guiltily.

Rachel stares at them, eyes flat and annoyed, fingers pinching the bridge of her noise. She hasn’t spoken in months, but Luis has learnt to read her unspoken — that’s a bitch, please if he’s ever heard one.

“Stop apologizing for stupid shit,” Marco says for her. “We’re not trying to make you feel guilty. We’re trying to say that we can help.”

“Not your job,” Veronica says immediately. “Your job is graduate highschool and develop your brain.”

“Not a single person here is done developing!” Marco explodes. “All of us are still fucking growing! We lost our fucking parents, all of us, and instead of letting us be a part of the solution you’re blocking us out and treating us like babies!”

“Wanting you to be safe is not babying you,” Luis says shortly.

“Oh, did you read that in one of your parenting books?”

Yes, actually. He did. But he’s annoyed that Marco knows about those, so he pretends he didn’t hear like the mature grownup he is.

“Piss off,” he says, like an adult.

“Yeah,” Veronica agrees. “We’re the adults, and we say cool it with the crazy talk.”

Marco glares harshly at them. Rachel joins him. Lance makes a short, cut-off whine, turning to shove his face in Luis’ neck. His hands come up to pat his back reflexively.

“I quit violin lessons,” Marco says eventually.

Luis’ jaw drops. Veronica joins his indignation.

“What?!” she shouts.

Luis feels like something is wrapped around his throat, choking him. His heartbeat pounds in his ears. The desperate hope he’s been clinging too, the goals to get Marco and Rachel and Vero everywhere they want to go in life, come crashing to the ground around him.

“Julliard,” he says weakly. He can’t force his voice to say anything further.

Marco juts put his chin. “They were two hundred dollars per session. I talked to my tutor. She said…” he trails off slightly, voice getting gravelly, but gathers himself again when Rachel grabs his arm and squeezes. “She wrote a reference letter for me,” he continues softly. “Even though I’m only a junior. And she’s apparently been talking to the admission staff since I first started taking lessons with her. As long as I keep practicing every day, she says I have nothing to worry about. But I’ll have time for a part time job, now. On weekends at least.” He locks eyes with Luis. “Don’t fucking quit school, stupid.“

Luis holds his gaze for several minutes. He wants to contest it all. He wants Marco to take his lessons every day and come back exhilarated, like he always used to. He wants Veronica to focus on building projects in the garage in her free time, instead of picking up hours to blow through her apprenticeship as quickly as possible. He wants to hear Rachel’s voice again. He wants Lance to stop flinching every time things get even playfully tense.

But there are things he can get, and things he cannot.

“Okay,” he says softly. “Okay.”

Plans will have to change. He graduates in a few months, so long as his final courses go well. The original plan was med school, but that’s obviously no longer an option. Not with everything.

But if Marco can adapt, so can he.

“We’ll work things out,” he says, trying to channel his father’s voice. It must work, somehow, because Veronica smiles in that bitter way of hers, that she does when she remembers.

“Of course we can.”

[purplina]

i think about the McClain’s siblings so much it’s not funny anymore

(from left to right : 17yo Luis, 13yo Veronica, 7yo Rachel, 7yo Lance, 16yo Marco) this is not canon backstory, it is for the fanfic thingy i’m working on

(i also have an instagram now wow : purplina_drawing.book)

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Does anyone ever wonder just how fucked team voltrons teeth would be? Like do Alteans even have toothpaste specifically for human teeth. I imagine Haggar most likely fixed Shiro's teeth cause like hell she'll let him die of tooth decay. Keith and Matt and Sam's teeth though, they'll be gone by now, just rotting. Especially Keith's.

[seraphimfawn-fallen]

Helping Love - Character Database on Lance Altea | VLD - Omegaverse AU

SeraphimFawn-fallen Character Database/ Voltron Team - Universe.

Warnings: Abuse, Neglect, Kidnapping Mentions, Dark topics, Rape and body breakage, Mentions of Drugs, Dehydration and Mentions of Lack of eating, Mpreg.

Lance Altea - Male - Omega - Mother - Paladin, Prince, Heart of Voltron. Database Info on Lance: Lance is the youngest child and only son to King Alfor of Planet Altea and the only sibling to Allura of Altea, Lance was kidnapped as a child by a Galra commander named Yjok and was taken to a not known planet called Earth, there for 10,000 years Lance went through much torture and abuse after he was taken from his family as a 5 year old child. His supposed brother named Luis had raped him when he was 14 years old making him produce two children, they are 5 months apart, one boy and one girl that Luis then lied to his wife that they were from a surrogate while Lance was just a toy to him. Being an Omega gave him the ability to create children with his own body however, Luis had taken advantage of his heat twice and later had given birth too his first two children.

Lance, because of how he was raised from 5 years old, is short for his age at a standing 5'4, while other males are higher in height varying from 5'7 to near 6'3. Because of not being allowed to eat his growth became stunted and he did not grow much even with the small amounts of food he would eat just to prevent his cheek bones to show through his skin. His is also extremely skittish, doesn't like loud noises and flinches when someone comes into contact with him, this is the effects of PTSD he obtained as a child that followed him into his teens. Gradually his bad habits went under once he was surrounded by caring people but ultimately fell back into bad habits when he was once again kidnapped by Prince Lotor of the Galra Empire and raped once more and fell back into his old habits.

Lance considers 3 females his sisters, his biological sister Allura, his mother figure sister Veronica McClain and his last sister being Rachel McClain. He has four children, his first two being because of Luis and his last being because of Lotor, his youngest daughter was from his mate who is an Alpha, despite his bad past with Alphas, he doesn't consider Keith in that list of his bad past. He has one child that is by consent while his other three weren't by consent, but he still loves all his kids equally.

His mate is Keith, and he somehow resurrected his dead sister, Veronica from being fatally stabbed and then reunited with her in space due to both of their surprises. Lance achieved his dream of being among the stars but in reality, he just returned back to the feeling he had before he was kidnapped by Yjok.

Lance has a few scars that are the results of burns, his back was burned a bit from the explosion he prevented Coran from getting hurt but was injured in the process. His right arm at the top of his bicep, was burned by a blow torch and the same to his left thigh. He also has a few breakages, but he makes sure he doesn't overwork himself to the point he causes another breaking in his bones. He also hates being babied, Veronica used to do when he was little, and she came home from one of her many jobs and ended up finding him injured everytime.

His kids rank from oldest to youngest: Sylvio is his oldest son, Nadia and Mela are the middle children and Cole is his youngest son, however there was a time difference between Cole and Mela. At 7 months old, Mela was the oldest of Cole but because of the three year time difference, Cole who is the youngest became the second middle child and Mela the youngest.

Lance is the heart of Voltron and managed to unlock something no paladin had ever even hoped to achieve, he can feel all of the lions and the lions can feel him. They have a connection like no other, it's different from pilot to lion, it's more soul focused. If he could so much as think about it, he can see through a lions eyes and call to the lions if he much as wished.

Because he was kidnapped, Allura was forced to accept the title of next ruler of Altea but she didn't want that, she was fine with being just a princess while supporting her brother to the best of her abilities however once he recovered his memories after going to Oriande, Allura and their advisor worked a full Quintant (Day) to change everything back to the way it was before Yjok had gotten his hands on him.

Lance considers team Voltron, a certain amount of rebels (Including Matt and Veronica) and a certain amount of Blades his family.

OLD VERSION

[corruptedplaylist]

looking out for you: act ii behind the scenes

just pretending like im on a talk show i am both the interviewer and the host <3

motivation for writing the lance and keith solo chapters

i've been raring to write the solo winter break chapters (i just called them the winter break interlude in my head for a bit) since september/october actually. i viewed it as my reward for finishing act ii 💀 not just because i love angst but also i love a good character study/character development heavy chapter and i really got to dig into each character and their home lives.

the foundation of this fic is entirely based on my dissatisfaction with how the show progressed and ended and subsequent self-indulgence— i've just been addressing a lot of the issues i had with vld. one such issue for me was the lack of in-depth character development. i enjoy a good romance as much as the next person but i really wanted to understand keith and lance as individuals who functioned outside of each other and the context of the group, and the solo chapters were a great writing exercise for me in terms of characterization and character-driven storytelling. so let's get into it baby!

lance's section (chapter 11) first.

we never got to see lance's growth as a character beyond "the dumb one" or the guy who cracks jokes for the sake of the team. the smaller vulnerable moments lance had, where he broke down and felt like he was useless and tried to leave the team or when he admitted he missed his family and Earth— they never got properly resolved. i think lance's identity as a 1.5 generation immigrant (immigrating to the States as a little kid) as well as his status as the youngest in a large family impacted his thought process and self-perception and i wanted to showcase that.

for children especially, immigration can be traumatic. i know "trauma" is an oversaturated buzzword used in pop psychology these days but i refer its definition as something established in one of my classes: "an event or series of events that is perceived as frightening, distressing, or life-threatening and has long-lasting effects on the survivor's emotional, social, mental, and physical processes." i imagine that for a 5-year-old lance, who has always been family-oriented and prone to bouts of homesickness, he experienced his immigration as traumatic when he had to leave behind everything he knew in cuba (his house, his friends, his neighbors, most of his family members) and start his life over in america. like, that's a LOT for anyone, let alone a little kid, to have to deal with. and that's where i extrapolated the notion that lance is afraid of being left behind— he didn't really have a choice in whether or not he got to leave cuba and so he's carried this fear that everyone in cuba will move on without him.

on top of that, i think lance acted as a sponge for his family's negative emotions related to immigration (stress, anxiety, sadness). that's partially where he developed the conception that he had to perform, to always be on and distract them from their negative feelings. ofc, it also doesn't help that as the youngest, he really has to jockey with his siblings for a Thing (i.e. Luis is the family man, Marco is the athlete, Veronica and Rachel are the career-driven women).

i knew from the get-go i was gonna make this bitch have daddy issues lol. first and foremost, i do not want to dismiss the very real fact that there are tons of immigrant parents who hold homophobic notions and ideals because that is 100% real. however, the way that it's portrayed in media can sometimes flatten a lot of the potential for a nuanced relationship. i'm not excusing homophobia by any means but i am coming from a place of engaged empathy. our parents are a product of a society and culture that has ingrained in them homophobic ideals and fucked notions of gender expression. it's difficult to break a way of thinking and acting when you've had that logic shoved down your throat since birth. i think there's a lot to be said on the concept of masculinity and the "strong silent immigrant parent," which i haven't seen much in the voltron fanfiction i've consumed. i wanted to craft a relationship between lance and his dad where it can be boiled down to: "your love hurts." their conversation at the end of chapter 11 is by no means fixing everything, but it's a step in the right direction.

i also just really love lance's relationship with his siblings. i'm the oldest so it was a fun exercise to just see how lance interacts with his siblings as the youngest. also that's not the last you'll be seeing of the McClan in this fic......

let's talk about the keith section:

ok first, we've been able to view shiro from keith, lance, and adam's pov thus far. the thing is, though, is that lance still kind of views shiro as his idol/someone he's looked up to, and i wrote adam's pov primarily so the audience could view klance as a unit. shiro's character felt a little flat, and that was kind of on purpose thus far. keith and shiro are obviously incredibly close since they're brothers in this universe, but there's been an underlying tension so far because keith feels distant from shiro and i wanted to address that finally.

i think it's a natural thing for relationships to change once people hit college/move out. keith's mom left when he was a kid and his dad died and he bounced from foster home to foster home so ofc he's going to develop a huge complex about forming attachments to other people. i think it makes sense that one of keith's biggest fears is that shiro will leave him or grow tired of him, which obvi isn't true, but when you get in your head about something, after years of trauma and reinforcement of a spiral of bad thoughts, it's hard to get out of it. so keith's chapter was kind of confronting this idea that he deserves good, and that he might be good, and maybe he should stop running and learn to accept that he is loved.

i'm sure y'all have picked up on the whole thing i have for keith about showing the evolution of his willingness to be vulnerable and open up through cooking. at the end of keith's chapter, he is making kimchi fried rice with akemi which holds a lot of nuance.

1) keith is slowly but surely exploring his own heritage. (i know i haven't touched on keith's korean identity in a bit but dw that's coming in later chapters). fried rice isn't an entirely new concept to him bc he was raised in a japanese household (and also just exists in the world) but he's embracing positive change within himself and even initiating it himself by trying out a korean recipe, using kimchi, a korean food

2) not only is he trying out a korean recipe, he felt safe enough to attempt it for the first time at college, in a shared house with all his friends, and even served it to them, which is a HUGE step in his willingness to be perceived.

3) he is sharing this recipe with akemi, his japanese kind-of mom. it's the fact that cooking is kind of a love language for keith and akemi, and he wants to share something he's found for himself, away from the texas house, and integrated it into his old life, mixing what he knew with what he knows now.

akemi, who has shared her own recipes she learned from her family with keith and took on the role of teacher, is now the student. she's learning a recipe from keith and engaging in his explorations of his koreanness through cooking. and keith is sharing his culture with her because he tried it on his own with his own little found family, like "hey look at this thing i tried out for myself can i share it with you?"

tl;dr for chapters 11 and 12

i wanted to use the solo chapters as ways to show how lance and keith react to change— the ways they view it and the reasons they fear it. it can be boiled down to this:

lance: i am afraid of being left behind and i wish things would stay the same so i do not have to address the fear of being left behind because that implies i am not good enough for someone to stay for. keith: nothing has ever stayed the same for me and i am afraid of getting comfortable in the love that my community has for me because that could all be ripped away at a moment's notice. i will leave first as an act of self preservation.

allura 💖🧚🏿‍♀️🥰

i love you allura!!!! i got to have keith and lance each have a little moment with our fave princess because 1) keith and allura didn't interact a lot in this supposed found family in the canon other than when allura found out keith was galra and 2) i really liked the friendship between lance and allura in seasons 3-4 and i wish there were more moments like that. i think keith and allura could both connect more on grief and heritage since they both lost their parents, bridges to their respective cultures (keith korean, and allura jamaican). that little moment in ch 6 between both of them was very special for me as well— as an adoptee, i felt disconnected from a lot of traditions and holidays and foods that were a part of my birth culture but i didn't have anyone to celebrate it with. having keith and allura kind of discuss that together was not only a great character development moment but also was me projecting a lil 😗

side note: allura saying goodnight to keith in chapter 8 after halloweekend shenanigans parallels chapter 2, when they're outside the bathroom and she goes to touch his shoulder but he ducks away. i thought it'd be a nice little easter egg to show the progression of their friendship— in chapter 8, keith lets allura touch him and affirm their status as friends who have fun together.

i like lotor as a character but i had to nerf him a bit in this fic in regards to his relationship with allura. i think allura's relationship with lotor adds to her depth as a character— she's seen as the strong girlboss who doesn't take shit but hinting at her toxic relationship and portraying its affects was important to me. yes, allura is a badass but also she is not immune to shitty stuff, and even the most badass of people can get into bad situations. it doesn't make them weak, it just makes them human. i wanted lance, who def has this image of allura that's different from reality, to kind of find allura in this vulnerable moment and 1) realize that she's a person first and foremost, not an infallible goddess and 2) comfort her wholeheartedly because lance, to his core, is a very kind person and even when drunk, he's going to try and find the right words to say.

allura is a side character in all of this but i wanted to give her some complexity as well, since lance hangs out a lot with hunk and pidge and keith is closer with shiro and adam.

ch 9 klance development

ok look everything everywhere all at once left a fucking imprint on my brain when i saw it. "in another life i would have liked just doing laundry and taxes with you" ok stab me in the gut. that being said, i know i really wanted to give klance a moment to just be friends who run domestic errands together, to start nudging them in a direction where they're both like, "hey i kinda enjoy hanging out with this person one-on-one, and im comfortable enough to feel like i dont have to perform in front of them." klance just being domestic and folding laundry together at a laundromat and sharing airpods askgjakdjghlkadjfhgadf.

i also wanted to include the little adam and lance moment toward the end, because let's face it, adam would have absolutely adored lance (i say from the 2 minutes of screentime canon adam w got). lance has hunk and pidge and he's friends with allura but i wanted to give him someone to look up to and rely on the way keith has shiro. esp since lance is the youngest and away from home— adam probably reminds him more of his siblings initially, because lance has a more grounded perspective of adam than shiro, who's a microniche celebrity.

about the beach episode

i love beach filler episodes so fucking much. it's just a great time to get the ensemble out of the typical college setting and see how they function as a unit in a different environment. from the car rides, to stopping for food at some dingy ass fast food chain, to fucking around on the beach and chasing birds and sharing lunch ugh i love it so much it was lovely to write. mirroring adashi's relationship development with klance's was fun, i've had that idea in my head for awhile now so it was gratifying to see it come to fruition. i knew that i would have lance realize he liked keith first simply because keith takes a bit to process his emotions. dw this isn't gonna be some one-sided, drawn out pining for too long.

this beach chapter was a way for me to simultaneously reflect on how things have progressed with klance's relationships. not just with each other, but the rest of the group as well. i wanted them to have gotten a natural dynamic where they're all close enough to go on a beach trip and just fuck around and be normal college kids taking a break for finals. it also allowed me to plant the seeds for further klance development, as well as hint at the central conflict that would follow lance in chapter 11. chapter 10 was a great wrap up for the overall dynamic of the group and a way to end the fall semester.

what was it like to write in adam's pov?

that was so much fucking fun ahhhhh. for one reason, klance aren't together yet and i wanted. to write. domestic bliss. second, it's a great narrative tool to kind of zoom out a bit when viewing klance. we can see how the boys interact in a group setting from an outsider's perspective, without all the gay panic or inner monologues, as fun as they are to write. they just exist as they are, and adam takes note of it. third, i love adam and the potential of adashi and i am so so so sad that adam got killed off after less than 90 seconds of screentime. nothing against curtis, but i've just been more attached to adam since his character was revealed in the show (even if it wasn't for long). shiro deserves a loving partner and healthy relationship and i think adashi are so fucking cute. and yeah, i'm paralleling adashi's relationship development with klance, i just couldn't fucking resist.

when tf are lance and keith gonna get together?

LMAO yeah i knew this was gonna be a slowburn but damn i really am drawing it out. i do want to follow a somewhat logical progression and pacing, though. act i was building klance up as people who could find some common ground and humanize each other instead of just butting heads. act ii has been following the development of their friendship and planting the seeds for romantic attraction, as you might have seen from chapter 10. dw, there is a spike in the klance development in act iii as i focus on their navigation as a couple, and as y'all know, i already wrote the confession scene. it's coming!!!! soon!!!!!!!

multilingualism as a plot device

i've talked about it before but i love!!!! using language as a plot device to demonstrate a character's personality/development/interpersonal relationship!!!

i'm not a fluent speaker in any of the languages that have appeared or been mentioned in this fic (spanish, japanese, korean, jamaican creole, tagalog). i've studied most of them lackadaisically and i'm sort of fuzzy on grammar and cultural nuance. i've been consulting with actual native speakers of these languages to try and make it as authentic as possible but ofc, if you do speak those languages and something sticks out with the translations, please let me know!

i studied spanish in high school, but it was a mix of mexican and castillian spanish because i had different teachers between the years. diving into cuban spanish, which is an entirely different dialect because of its history in the caribbean, has been really fun (and also a lot of work my god i haven't had to bust out my spanish in years). learning all the different curses has been sooooo cool, i love profanity in other languages.

that being said, i think it's really interesting when writing from keith's pov and incorporating language. i have this idea that when keith first moved in with the shiroganes, akemi and shiro tried to encourage him to go to korean school but he probably got embarrassed because he was put with a bunch of little kids due to his speaking ability and stopped going.

the linguistic and cultural barrier was fun to craft between keith and akemi because when they first met each other, keith probably spoke 0 japanese and akemi was more comfortable in japanese and less in english. from the flashback in chapter 12, we see that keith has already been studying hard to work to a conversational level of japanese, and he can understand basic phrases (akemi tries to accommodate him as well). even so, keith still uses 丁寧語 or teneigo, the standard level of politeness for japanese, when he's speaking with akemi. it shows that even though he's progressed in his japanese, he still puts some distance between him and akemi, like he sees himself as a long-term houseguest. ofc there's layers of respect that are interlaced with teneigo, but close family units don't use teneigo when they speak to each other.

this has been a disorganized and rambling behind the scenes of looking out for you act ii. thanks for tuning in and see y'all next time <3

[swiftwind3]

Finally

lance-centric but yall already know lmaoo

So anyway, season 7 is about to destroy all our hopes and dreams and i'm not ready so here i am initiating my last line of defense

also no translations yall die like men lmfaoo --- Samuel Holt receives a much better welcoming committee compared to Shiro's. Granted, his ship didn't hurtle through the atmosphere and crash near a school campus. But after quickly gaining the attention of not just the Galaxy Garrison, but the entire world, Sam Holt eloquently explains the situation. Governments and countries fall into a panic. However, it's their space exploration garrisons that pull them together.

They need to reach their humans up there, provide aid and ready and brace their planet for the worst. Intergalactic Garrisons all over the world begin contacting each other, forming tight networks and rallying their forces. Better to be safe than sorry, even with all their preparations, the paladins of Voltron inform Earth of their victory and of their return. The Earth welcomes them back with relief. Their Lions land on designated pads at the Galaxy Garrison in the United States, their pads labeled by color for their convenience. But before they can even relish the sun and earth of their own planet, they're quickly ushered into one of the buildings and the paladins whisper about themselves. "What, no welcoming committee?" Lance cries out. "At least let me enjoy the sun for a minute..." "You would think we'd get some press coverage," Keith mutters. "At this Garrison?" Pidge scoffs. "Yeah, right." "Security here's tight," says Matt, shrugging. "I think we're lucky not to have been shot down in our own airspace." "Commander Holt told everyone we were coming, though." Shiro frowns. "Apologies for the seemingly cold welcome," interrupts an officer. "Earth is still in a state of...uneasiness regarding your return." Another adds, "The sensationalizing of the return of our heroes can wait, of course. Right now, we need to gather further information from you." "Further information?" Lance echoes. "For what?" "For the record," Shiro answers. "Most likely on the probability of a Galra invasion sometime in the future." "Well, that's zero, right?" "There are still Galra colonies looking forward to another Kral Zera, Lance." Says Keith. "We need to tell them that." With a defeated hum, Lance looks ahead of him. They pass a board with signs pointing to the different factions of the building. A shudders clambers down his back when they turn an all-too familiar corner. "Dude, they're taking us to admin!" He clings to Pidge's arm. "Do you think Iverson's still here?" "Man up, Lance. I doubt they're going to give us lifelong detention for saving the very universe we all live inーlet go!" Hanging on to Hunk instead, he pouts. "Is lifelong detention a real thing or is it lifelong as in high school-lifelong? Like, we just have detention for as long as we're in this school and graduateー" "I'm kidding," she smirks over her shoulder. "My dad should have already told the captains and everyone what's good." "Yeah," Hunk nods. "I don't think Mr. Holt's going to advocate for us getting punished, Lance." "True," he sighs. "Commander Holt was pretty cool. I mean, he’s your dad." "Both those things, he is." Matt smiles next to Pidge, crossing his arms. "Yeah, and while you're all worried about detention or whatever," Shiro snorts. "I'm here worrying for any charges I might get for breakout and inferred child kidnapping." They all exclaim. "What, noー" "ーShiro, come onー" "ーThey can't call it a breakoutー" "ーIt wasn't even kidnappingー" "ーThey cannotー" "ーOh, yeah, they canー" "ーKeith, if Shiro goes to jail, I'm blaming youー" "ーShiro's not going to jail!" Lance lets out an odd squeal, clinging off Hunk as he backs away. Keith's voice had snapped loudly, his eyes glowing a truly concerning shade of yellow. He points a shaking finger. "What kind of Galra nonsenseー" Pidge giggles while Matt hides behind her. "He even has fangs..." Shiro puts a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head with a smile. "Relax, Keith. It was a joke. I think Commander Holt wouldn't advocate for me going to prison either." "I'll let him have it if he has," Pidge responds immediately, locking herself around his waist protectively. "No one's taking my Space Dad to jail." Shiro grins, ruffling her hair. "Space Dad, huh." "So, you replaced Dad while you were up there, Kate?" Matt blinks. "Had to project on somebody, Matt. He was all I had!" Shiro snorts into his hand, sounding a little bit like he was crying. Keith scoffs, smiling. Their walk ends in a rather empty lounge. With a huge, floor to ceiling window, they stare at the activity across the arid land. Cadets and Garrison-issued golf carts, as Lance called them, run across the terrain, kicking up sand into the air. "The legendary admin lounge," Lance smirks as Hunk swoons and whines. "Ugh, I'm craving Earth food. I'd so raid their kitchen, but if Iversonーor anyone really, walks inー" He gulps. "I'd rather not." "I feel ya, bud, I'm starving, too. Man, but I also feel for Allura. She had to come all this way with us and leave her kind behindーby the way, where'd they take her, Coran, and Krolia to anyway?" "Some officers are registering them as foreign allies, I think? And she'll get to go back," Pidge shrugs, plopping down with a tablet on the couches. "It's just for a few days and we'll be doing, what? Press tours or something? Then, she'll be off on one of the Lions to try and find a planet for the last of the Alteans." "Oh, yay. Publicity events." Keith slides down next to her. "Hey, you don't get to complain," she pokes his knee with a sneer. "You were lucky to be with the Blades of Marmalade while Coran had us dance like monkeys for the Voltron Coalition. It's your turn to suffer with us." "Marmora," Keith pouts. "Marmalaaade!" Lance and Matt chortle. "She said Blades of Marmalade..." "It even rhymes!" "I think she'll be alright, Lance." Hunk interrupts. "She seemed pretty stoaked about getting to see Earth." "Was she really?" "I still am, actually." Allura enters the lounge with a large grin on her face, two children hanging off her armor. Krolia, Cosmo, and Coran follow her in. "Ahoy, number three!" Coran calls. "Or should I call you number four now? Well, anywho, you have company incoming!" Lance's heart drops. Then it soars as the children sprint in his direction, squealing. "¡Tíííooo!" "What the cheeseー" They knock the wind out of him, tackling him to the floor. Cosmo scampers after them, a herding instinct. "What," he gasps. "Are you guys doing here? Cosmoーquit slobbering!" The kids laugh, and it's then Lance sees the tears in their eyes. Even after two years, he recognizes the chubby, round faces of his niblings. The boy, with his large grin, still has teeth growing in. The girl has a couple of bandages on her face, her eyes bright behind a few stray locks of her even-longer dark hair. With a whistle, Cosmo joins Keith and Krolia on the couch. Its tail wags as they all give the space pooch a good rub. The boy whines. "Aw, I wanted to pet it moreー"

“Don’t worry,” Krolia smiles. “You can pet him all you want.”

“Really一ow!” "Caleb," the girl elbows him, hissing quickly. "Lance is right here, you can waitーHi, tío!" "Welcome back!" They grin hugely. "Caleb, Andrea," Lance chortles. "What are you guys doing here? How'd even leave the island?" Andrea opens her mouth eagerly, only to click it shut as their faces to contort with fear when a voice at the lounge door commands their attention. "Where is he?" A woman with a Garrison Administrator uniform asks, eyes on fire. The children jump away from him, the boy wincing comically. "¡Ay, ahí va a morir!" Lance gasps. "Tití?" "AdminitratorーSelena?" Shiro gapes slightly. "Good to see you again, Captain Shirogane." She salutes. "Do pardon my demeanor. I just clocked out. And I have a rather pressing personal matter to attend to." "You're the personal matter," the girl whispers in Lance's ear, poking his side before bolting back to a safer distance. He winces, giddy fear tickling his stomach. "¿Pero quéーtúーhacesー" He yelps as Selena manifests in front of him, taking a tight hold of his ear. "Montandote en una nave extraterrestre sin permiso oficial? Did you not read the cadet handbook I gave you? It says clearly, that you nor any other cadet are not to board any foreign ships without superior and or administrative clearance!" "I know, I know!" He wants to cry and he wants to laugh. Her no-nonsense countenance was still sharp and mounted with rectangular frames. But it looked as if age and something else had touched her usually bright skin, a few grey hairs streaking through that floating cloud bob of hers. Meanwhile, she was right. It really was in the handbook. He had read every single leaf of it, from cover to cover. Not like he was heading off to one of the most prestigious piloting schools in the world, it was nothing to worry about. Of course he read it. Not reading it felt like an act of sacrilege when she first gave it to him. That's why he read it all in one night. And reread it again three more times for good measure. "Oh, you knew? Pues, ¡no parece!" From a teary eye, he sees Shiro trying to wrangle a smile yanking at his lips and Lance had never felt more embarrassed. But he was happy about it. The children snicker a little bit more loudly, giving him dark smiles as he suffers. "Please let go, tití," he tries. "I'm sorryyy, I swear!" "You should be grateful," Selena humphed, crossing her arms. "I'm giving you a fraction of the physical lashing your mother can't give you. Yet." The kids giggle. "She's gonna kick your butt." Selena caresses his cheek, eyes assessing his face. With a nod of satisfaction, she turns away, taking in the rest of the faces in the room. "You must be Princess Allura," she greets expertly, readjusting her glasses. "It is an honor." "Please, no need for formalities." Allura smiles, joining their hands in a firm shake. "I apologize for my rudeness. Iーmy family has been waiting a long time since we saw his video and I'm just about out of patience." "You saw my video?" The skin on his ear is hot. "Everyone back home saw it!" The woman cups his face firmly. "Broke our hearts all over again. If you don't call your superiors next time, ay, Dios mío..." He laughs, teary-eyed and pulling her into an embrace. "He's a crybaby! It really is him!" The children join them, locking like monkeys around his legs. They barely reached his knees last time he saw them. His throat stings harder. "You owe me ten pesos, Caleb." Andrea smirks. He whines. "Acho, manooo..." "Wait, you guys made a bet to see if I lived?" Lance pouts, his voice cracking. "And to see if you weren't some chameleon alien?" She adds. "Yeah? There was no way you could have just died when you disappeared." "He could have been killed in, like, an explosion or something!" Caleb argues. "Did you even see how that Lion was moving? Only he could drive it like that." Lance splutters. "Wow, okay, rude. I risk my life, fight a war, help save the universe and this is the thanks I get?" "Uh..." He laughs again. "I'm justー" "Oigan, respeten." The command comes from Selena and the door. They look to see a young woman walk in. She's in a short, sporty dress, the white fabric speckled with dirt. She's tailed by two large men, one tall like Lance, fair skin still intact and the other, large and stocky like Hunk. A freezing joy thrashes in Lance's gut, and he almost really does burts into tears. "VeronicaーLuisーMarco!" He chokes. "The minute we heard you were coming back, they hashed me to let them come with me. Not everyone got a pass," Selena smiles tiredly. "Abu wouldn't have been able to hold the trip," says the taller man, giving Lance the playful smirk he had learned to mimic. "Neither would Elo, but we managed." "Luis," Lance sniffles. "Do I know you?" The man grins and picks him and Andrea up, knocking their heads together. "Come on, man!" He laughs. Andrea growls and squeals. "Paaa, nooo! Cut it out!" "Oh, so you prefer getting squeezed to death? Okay, then. Marco, you take them." Lance's stomach drops delightedly as his largest, eldest brother gathers him and poor Andrea in a bone-crushing hug, cackling loudly at his own display of strength. With a quick glance at his niece, they let their bodies slack, ragdoll mode activated. "We're dead," they wheeze. "Come on, Lance, I know you're stronger than that!" Marco cackles. "But it's not like I was concerned for you or anything," his wide shoulders shrug and he puts the two down. "I mean, you did survive a category five huracán by yourself." Luis chuckles. "Oh, yeah, he did." "Well, I wasn't really alone," Lance rasps with a smile. "You got stuck in the shed at the end of the fence, Marco." "Still, I consider a child without an adult within five feet alone. You were very much alone." "Wait wait wait, when was this?" Veronica frowns, skeptical. She crosses the lounge, picking up Caleb with ease. The boy starts to twirl her long, dark hair, enthralled. "Hurricane Cobalt," they chorus. "You were at a dig in Europe, remember?" Luis says. "Way out of the way." "Oh," her face relaxes before morphing into a scowl. She shrieks, "Wait, he was alone?" Lance grins while rolling his eyes. "Noー" "Yes!" Marco takes Lance's head in his large hands and nods it. "Yes, he was." He struggles to shake his head, voice muffled. "Nup. Vasn. Fe vas in de shed!" "Doesn't count," Marco lets him go, grinning. Veronica's eyes are wide and she presses her fingers to her forehead. "Ay, Dios mío, este nene solo..." "Veronica, I'm fiiine! It was years ago!" "Doesn't change the fact that these idiots left a toddler by himself during a category five hurricane!" "He wasn't a toddler," Luis mutters, pouting at his daughter. "He was like, six. But, like you said, Marco. He's got to be even stronger now. After fighting in a war and everything." "A war," Veronica looks distant as she shifts Caleb on to her shoulders. Her gaze pins Lance and he shrinks, giving her guilty-dog eyes. He would be lying if he wasn't scared out if his wits even more now. "Vero, I'mー" he takes a breath. And it's a good thing he does. Otherwise, she probably would have broken something after slamming him into the floor. Caleb cackles on her shoulders, pointing a finger. "I'm doing you a mercy, leoncito. If we don't something now, your grandchildren are going to feel la chancla in their DNA." He whimpers into the floor, smiling. "Sounds good." Pulling him to his feet, she brings him into a hug, lifting him off the floor. Caleb hugs his head. "You have no idea how much we missed you." "Tell me about it, please. I missed you guys, too, you know." He runs his hand through her hair, holding her tightly and blowing a raspberry into Caleb's chest. Setting him down, the kid goes into his arms and he nuzzles their faces together. "No, but we really missed you a lot, tío. After you left, we all got so sad." He pouts. "They're lucky they got clearance from the board to even be here after you said you were coming back," Selena looks distant. "Those words made life start running back through the house." "That house, Lance," Veronica gestures vaguely, shaking her head. "That house was an absolute, unemotional wasteland. For months after you left. Luis and Marco had to learn to cook for everyone, to replace Ma, Abu, and Ela." "Whatーreplace?" "Abu, Ela, and Nina wouldn't leave their rooms. Neither would Papa Tío or Elo. They stayed shut up for a long time." "They wouldn't smile, they wouldn't laugh. None of us did, really. For a reeeally long time." Caleb adds, going back to his mother. "I was afraid the grief would take them eventually, but they pulled through. It got really close, though." "Abu stayed in bed for almost a week after you left." Andrea says from atop of Luis's shoulders, drooping over his head. "Elo stayed next to her while Papa Tío and Nina missed work a lot of days. They almost got fired." "If it wasn't for us," Luis gestures to themselves. "I really think they might as well given into the grief of losing you." "You're that powerful, leoncito. It took all of us to try and fix the hole you left behind. But, I don't why we're all talking about what's in the past," Marco shakes his large head with a pout. "Are we going to call them or what?" "We are. They're expecting us. And we have time to kill while the officers decide who's doing what," Selena rolls her eyes. She shares a glance with Shiro and Matt, who smile pleasantly. She nods then, taking out a device. "Let's make it fast. So, let's try now." With excitement, Lance shakes off the guilt in his chest, throwing a sheepish smile to his team. They smile back with understanding, finally grasping a bit of the caliber of their teammate's homesickness. He really had a lot of people to get back to. When the transmission reaches its target, the face of a middle-aged woman greets them. Lance inhales sharply. Her hair touches her shoulders, a few lines of age engraved under her eyes. Her eyes widen and shine at the sight before her, her own small intake of breath echoing in his ears. He keeps his cries at bay, sniffling and giving her a smile. His voice is strangely quiet. "Hola, mami." The woman's hands fly over her mouth, muffling her own noises. She almost seems to choke on her words as she tries to speak, chuckles and whimpers wracking her shoulders. "Nina, say hello to your son." Selena smirks, ruffling his hair. "Hola, mi amor," her voice whispers. The view shifts away from her and the feed presents them with a view of a living room. The image of a large built woman sitting on a couch with three other people sends more tears down Lance's face. "Ela," The children call. "Papa Tío!" "Elo!" "Abu!" Their heads turns around and their eyes widen. The eldest man grins widely and he hoots, clapping. His wife wipes at the tears on her face with a shaking hand and the broad woman stands, swinging herself around. Her apron flows about as she sings and hoots, clapping her hands loudly. "¿Qué les dije? ¿Quéーlesーdiーjeee? ¿El Señor es?"  "¡Bueno!" They cheer. "¿El Señor es?" "¡Bueno!" "¡Así es! Alejandro!" She takes the shoulders of the man sitting next to her, his eyes bulging as she shakes his shoulder. "Say hello to your son, for God's sake!" "Papa Tío一Pa, it's him!" Andrea says. "It's really him!" "We checked!" Caleb grins. Chuckling, the man taps on her wrists and looks forward. "I don't doubt you for a second. ¿Cómo haz estado, mijo?" Lance nods weakly. "Bien. Bendición, pa." "Dios te bendice, hijo." "If that's not the truth," Ela laughs. "He's finally come back to us in one piece!" "Me imagino que nos extrañó," the elderly woman smiles, tucking her white hair back with a trembling hand. She sniffles. "Look at his face. Says everything." "He's still a crybaby, Abu," Andrea smirks. Lance pouts at her for a moment, wiping at his tears before putting a sad smile back on his face. "I really did miss you, though." "Like your father said," Abu smiles. "I don't doubt you for a second. ¿Y tú?" She puts a hand on her husband's. He stares at Lance with the wisdom he feared he wouldn't get to see again. "Get your butt back here, young man. I want to hear every single last part of whatever story you have for us. I've told you so many stories. It's your turn to tell us some." "Elo wants to hear a story?" Caleb gasps. "No way!" "Lance, you luckyー" Andrea's mouth is covered by Luis's hand. "Lengua," he rolls his eyes. "I'll一I’ll tell you so many stories when I get back. So many一I promise,” he wipes fast arm  over his face. “You're一you’re probably going to want to send me back up there. I'm going to talk your ears off!" "We sure hope so, hijo." Nina speaks again, joining the frame with several tissues in her hand. "I would have talked more, but I was too busy crying." "It's okay, ma." He grins. "It's really not," she sniffles. "But it will be, now that you're back. Try and hurry, alright?" He nods. "I'llーI'll be back," he gives them a smirk while his relatives scoff and roll their eyes. "Ridiculo," Selena mutters with the same smirk she had given him. They wave and chorus a goodbye as the feed shuts off, leaving them just a couple thousand miles apart again. But, at last, Lance heaved a wet sigh. A weight falls off his shoulders. He really had missed his family. Granted, they weren't all here, but he would reach them eventually, and then, he would hug them, too. For now, he focused on the ones here, right next to him. Excitement rushed through again. His old family would get to meet his new one. It looked like being apart from his old one, for what seemed like a while, paid off. He'd actually been blessed with an even larger one. And he couldn't wait to introduce them a little bit more properly. But, as he hugged his aunt, niece, nephew, sister, and brothers, the nerves, the fear and anxiety in his mind silenced themselves in the sigh he had let go. His mind quieted. Finally. The doors to the lounge opened. "Welcome back, Defenders of the Universe!"

[parchmints]

JuLance Day 6 - Music

Check out my thread on twitter to see all the prompts at once (the tumblr app messes with formatting so I recommend twitter if you’re using mobile)! All prompts connect together to form one overarching story!

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day 6/31 - Music

Set the morning after Lance and Veronica’s chat on the roof. 

(My hc for Luís is that he’s the Shiro to Lance’s Keith and partially raised him, so he looks up to him a lot and now I’m super attached to the idea)

Day 6: Music

It’s in the late morning peace of the McClain household that Lance hears music from the top of the stairs. The house should be empty of everyone by this hour (all of them already at work or school), but Luís is the one exception. He works nights as a bartender and musician, so at this time of day, he’s here alone.

Lance comes down the stairs with as light of a foot as he can, not wanting to disturb the serenity of the moment--refracted light illuminating patches of the floor from the windows, dust particles gently floating through the air, and Luís softly playing his well-loved acoustic guitar.

He’s seated on the benched window that overlooks the ocean with a small smile as he hums along to the song he’s playing. Lance thinks he looks straight out of a painting with the sunlight showering around his wide frame.

Lance sees him by the time he’s halfway down the stairs, but Luís hasn’t noticed him yet. For just a moment, Lance watches him play. He’s a skilled player and he makes it look so easy with the way his fingers effortlessly glide from fret to fret and pluck at the strings without ever looking down or missing a step.

He was born to do it, Lance thinks as he gazes fondly over at his oldest brother. He’s missed Luís and his music so much, but seeing him so completely in his element and so enveloped in his own little melodic world, Lance is realizing now just how much.

Finally, Lance steps all the way down into the living room and that’s when Luís finally sees him. He flashes Lance a big smile and says--still playing--“there you are.”

“Morning,” Lance says as he sits opposite of him on the bench.

“You slept late today. Did you have trouble sleeping?” he asks and Lance holds back from rolling his eyes. Luís has always been the mother hen type, something he clearly picked up from their, well, mother.

“Naw,” Lance starts, leaning against the wall, “Veronica and I were just up late talking. That’s all.”

Luís hums at that with a knowing smile. “Mamá will kill you two if you keep going up on the roof, Lancito.”

“Mamá doesn’t have to know.”

“She’ll find out.”

Lance can’t argue with that. The woman has a sixth sense; you have to when you have six children.

“Yeah, she probably will.”

Luís lets out a small chuckle at that, still plucking away at his guitar until he finds a pleasant place to stop.

“You still remember how to play one of these?” Luís asks, turning behind himself to grab a second acoustic guitar. It doesn’t surprise Lance at all that he has a second one at the ready--Luís has been collecting them since before Lance was born and the house is littered with them.

“Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m an old pro,” Lance says, taking the guitar by its neck and settling it on his lap. Lance begins strumming immediately, the desire to impress his brother ever present, to play the first song Luís ever taught him.

And, of course, he botches it.

On a clearly wrong and jarring note, Lance winces. “Okay, maybe I’m a little rusty.”

“Not bad for not practicing for two years,” Luís says, and if that isn’t just so like him. Out of all his siblings, Luís is the gentlest, not feeling the need to tease Lance over every little thing, even when there’s ample opportunity.

“I think I’m mixing up the chords. What is it again?” Lance asks and patiently, Luís explains it to him. He’s always been a great teacher and Lance is filled with warmth to be able to learn from him again.

It reminds him of when he was little, following Luís around like a duckling and clutching at the hem of his shorts. With a twelve-year difference between them and their parents always so distracted, Luís partially raised Lance. It was Luís who taught him how to shave, taught him how to talk to girls, and how to find X in algebra equations. When he was really little, Luís would even tuck him into bed and sing him a song to help him sleep.

When Lance starts to get the hang of the song again, Luís joins in with his guitar and begins singing with the same rich, full voice Lance remembers from his childhood.

And hearing Luís sing almost has Lance in tears again.

He realizes just how much of a comfort Luís’ song has been to him over the years. When he was spooked by a big, mean dog snapping at him, Luís calmed him down with Lance’s favorite song. When Lance was rejected by his first crush in middle school, Luís forced him to learn guitar. When Lance was nervous about leaving Cuba for the Garrison, Luís bought him a guitar of his own to practice with while he was away.

It hits Lance then that this is how Luís shows his love--through music.

Lance joins in with the singing then, hoping that it’ll help keep his eyes dry somehow. He’s cried countless times in front of Luís, but he doesn’t want to break the magic of the moment. Plus, he’s always loved singing with Luís; Lance’s voice is higher than his and when they sing together, they harmonize well.

The words to the song come much easier to Lance than the chords did. There’s a buzz in the air as their duet fills the empty house with melody and harmony, words and song. Lance’s playing is still a little sloppy, but Luís is so good that it’s hard to even tell.

The song is soft and sweet, something about a deeply devoted love, and singing it again feels like being wrapped up in a big bear hug. It makes him feel safe, makes him feel like he’s home.

The song slowly comes to its end and when Lance lifts his head up to look at Luís, he’s already staring at him with one of his signature warm smiles.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Lance asks with an embarrassed smile.

“I was just thinking,” he starts, eyes growing softer, “you’re so grown up now.”

Lance groans.

“Luís! God, you’re such a mom.”

The comment gets Lance one of Luís’ best belly laughs and he can’t help but join in.

“I know, I know. It’s just...I always knew you’d do big things, but saving whole planets? I didn’t see that one coming,” he says, looking off into a memory. “Though, if anyone would be saving the world, I’m not surprised it’s you. You’re really turning out to be a great man, just like I always knew you would be.”

A lump forms in Lance’s throat at the praise and he can’t meet Luís’ eyes when he says, “Yeah, well...I wouldn’t be half the man I am if it wasn’t for you.”

And it’s true. Lance looked up Luís more than anyone else growing up. He was strong, smart, and kind, and Lance wanted to be just like him. Still, it’s a pretty sappy line, the kind he likes to stay away from, but he’s only been back for one day, and okay, maybe he’s feeling sappy.

Suddenly, there’s a rough hand on his head that ruffles his hair with enough force to push his neck back into his collarbone.

“Ayy, Lancito, you trying to make your big brother cry? What’s up with that?” Luís asks with amusement, but Lance hears the subtle catch in his throat.

Lance’s eyes are wet too, but he blinks the tears back as he slaps Luís’ hand away. “Hey! Watch the hair! That took me all morning.”

“Oh, forgive me,” he says with a big grin as his hands wrap around his guitar again. “One more song? Then I’ll make you breakfast?”

Lance smiles, unable to contain it after he realizes how grateful he is to be able to spend time with Luís again, to play with Luís again.

“Yeah, one more song.”

[bleusarcelle]

My little brother

……….welp

Lance was the photogenic one inside the family.

Marco has known this since his little brother was born during the last few days of summer. He remembers he has been at his cousin’s house for a sleepover when his aunt got a text from his parents early on the night.

“Marco, Luis, Vero!” Their aunt had called them happily, telling them to come over with her hand, a big grin on her face, “Come on, guys, don’t you wanna meet your new little brother?”

The photo she had shown them was a little blurry but Marco could easily make out the small new born baby that occupied the entire frame, being held in what he could recognize his mom’s arms.

“He looks squishy.” Vero had muttered in confusion while Luis started to squeal in excitement, begging their aunt to take them to the hospital to meet him.

But Marco had stayed silent as he took the phone from his aunt and stared at the picture, a small smile growing on his lips as he took the image on the screen.

“This is Lance.” He had said proudly to his cousins once they finally came down to see what was all the commotion about, “He’s my new little brother.”

It’s years later; after family photos, christmas cards, school graduations and multiple, multiple selfies, that Marco can’t help but wonder if Lance would like the photo they have chosen for his poster.

It’s one of the last photos they have taken of him on his last visit before his start of his third year on the Garrison; boy already in his uniform but brown hair messy like he had just rolled out of bed with smile on his lips as he looks straight to the camera.

The red bold letters on the poster seem to scream back at him but Marco can’t do much but blink tiredly at them, hand tracing the top of the poster and pressing slightly for the glue to stick into the wooden post before looking away as his fingers trace the word ‘missing’ above the photo.

Despite the multiplies photo frames on their home, one of Lance’s alone sits near the living room’s entrance; Marco doubts that Lance would have approved of said photo, saying that it doesn’t favors him in the least, but those would be lies.

Because Lance looks at his happiest in the photo that sits in between two small candles with his favorite green jacket wrapped around his waist as the rest of him is covered in mud stains after a being outside in the rain, his entire body frozen in a laugh that no matter how much Marco concentrates he can’t remember the sound of.

It’s late at night on the same day, as he relights one of the candles, that he wonders how many photos filled with Lance’s life they have missed since he disappeared.

He wonders if they will ever get to see them.

Death can’t take photos, that much he knows, but he still hopes.

[autisticlancemcclain]

prev chapter

———

Seven in the morning on September 8th, the mourning doves gently cooing as the sun rises, the walk to the minivan is as silent as a graveyard.

“C’mon, guys,” Luis tries, but not that hard. “Let’s try for a good year, okay?”

To her credit, Veronica does her best to muster up a smile. Marco manages a nod.

Rachel does nothing. She hasn’t so much as spoken a word since the accident.

The half-hour drive to where everyone needs to do is completely silent. Luis tries initially to put on the radio, but he hears Marco’s sharp inhale when he averts his eyes from the road to change the station and stops immediately.

It’s been three months since Mamá and Papá passed. Sometimes Luis feels like none of them are ever going to be okay again.

Rachel and Marco are dropped off first.

“Remember to check in with your guidance counsellors,” Veronica says. “Luis and I talked to them last week. They’re aware of the…situation.”

Not that it did much. They’d made an appointment to talk to the school administration as soon as the high school opened, just before classes started, but they’d made it to the office and neither of them knew what to say. ‘Hey, there’s a very good chance that both of these kids are going to have extreme drops in performance or even fail because they both just lost their parents in one night?’ No, of course not. ‘Please be aware that Rachel has regular panic attacks at the sounds of car horns and brakes squealing, and that Marco sometimes just gets up and leaves and you don’t hear from him again for hours?’ Probably, but still. How the hell were they even supposed to breach the subject? Luis and Veronica aren’t fucking guardians. They’re barely even legal adults. Hell, neither of them can fucking drink, yet!

But there was no one else to do it. So they mumbled their way through an explanation — parents dead, kids traumatized, go easy — and high-tailed it the hell out of there. Both of them have been hanging up the phone whenever the school calls.

“Love you guys,” Luis says as they wrench open the side door and hop out of the van, slinging their backpacks on behind them. Veronica repeats the sentiment. Marco mumbles something in return, Rachel says nothing, and then they’re both off.

Before they can fade completely out of sight, Veronica calls Marco’s name.

“Watch out for your sister.”

Marco hesitates for a moment, eyes shining like broken glass, and then he nods. He turns back around without another word and disappears into the crowded mass of teenagers.

“We knew today was going to be rough,” Luis mutters, starting the car and carefully navigating out of the parking lot. “We expected this. That’s what all the parenting books said.”

Veronica’s silent for a long moment.

“Doesn’t make it any easier.”

It takes them a little farther to get where Veronica needs to go. Her apprenticeship is entirely dependant on whether or not she can find a welder willing to take her on — it’s 2003, for fuck’s sake, it shouldn’t be that hard, but some people suck. Some people will be completely incapable of seeing her as valuable as she is, and they won’t even bother. It’s a shit reality, and frustrating as hell, but it’s their best bet for money in the long run. Veronica’s always been good with her hands, and with Luis already eating up funds in tuition and God knows how much savings they have left with Mamá and Papá gone, Veronica working as she’s learning is their best bet. The trades pay well, too, and they’ve got three more kids to save up for.

Luis swallows the lump in his throat. Marco has always wanted to go to Juliard.

How the fuck are they gonna afford that?

“Drop me off here,” Veronica says, pointing at a shop just down the road. Luis slows to a stop in front of it, peering through the windshield.

“…That place?” he asks skeptically. “You sure?”

If it weren’t for the two people arguing just inside the garage doors, Luis would assume the shop is abandoned. The sign’s paint is so faded and scuffed up that it’s impossible to read, and several windows are boarded up. The walls are more graffiti than brick.

“I looked it up online,” Veronica explains. “They don’t have a website, but I found a couple blogs mentioning it. Apparently it’s the most competent shop in town, and it’s run by a woman.” She shoots him a small smile, grabbing her bag and opening the passenger door. “I’ll be fine, you big loser. Or have you forgotten that I’ve kicked your ass in every fight we’ve ever had?”

Luis snorts. He has not forgotten. He’s pretty sure he has minor brain damage from the time Veronica slammed his head into a side table when they were fighting over a girl in middle school (who didn’t like either of them, go figure).

“Believe me, asshole. I didn’t forget. Keep your cell on, though, okay? Call me if things get weird. I’ll be here, you know I will.”

She smiles at him again, and seeing some genuine happiness and excitement bleed into her expression for the first time in months is more relieving than Luis has the words for.

“I will, Luis. Now get lost. You’re gonna be late for class.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He waits until she’s inside the shop and talking to who he assumes is the owner before carefully peeling off, mindful of the early morning traffic around him. Once he’s well on his way and a little more comfortable behind the wheel, he adjusts his rearview mirror slightly to see the baby seat strapped tightly in the back.

“You and me, now, huh, Lance?”

Lance grins at him around the thumb he’s got stuffed in his mouth, babbling happily.

“Yeah, that’s right, buddy. You’re going to be the first college-educated baby, because we sure as shit cannot afford daycare.” He grimaces. “Sorry. I shouldn’t say shit around you. The parenting books say you pick up on bad language and are more likely to be using it when you’re older.”

Lance does not seem to be too terribly offended, continuing to stare back at Luis through the mirror, brown eyes big and wide and knowing.

The parenting books say that he will have just barely gained a sense of self and awareness in July — 7 months — but Lance has always appeared so knowing. He’s ten months old, now, and sometimes Luis is convinced he already knows how to speak in full sentences and just doesn’t feel like it.

Babies grow at their own rate, Mamá had said years ago, when Luis asked why Rachel wasn’t walking yet. She’ll get there, mijo. Don’t worry your pretty head about all those milestones your textbooks tell you about.

It hurts to remember her words. Even now, months after the accident, thinking of his parents makes something like bile rise up in his throat.

But he’s never known anyone wiser than his mother. And certainly no parents better than his own, so he might as well get used to thinking about them.

He pulls into the first available parking spot he sees, in what has to be a fifteen minute walk at least to the main buildings on campus.

Oh, well.

He turns off the car, running through the checklist in his head — windows up, lights off, no check engine light, keys in pocket, seatbelt off — before getting out and opening the back door.

“Alright, Lancey-pants. You ready to come sit through Calculus III with me? Huh? Yeah, I bet you are, you little nerd. Let’s go.”

Lance’s carseat is big and clunky and heavy most of all, and combined with the diaper bag and his own backpack he feels like a fucking packhorse. He feels like a freak, too, with all the stares and giggles from other students he walks by.

He swallows, ignoring the burning of his cheeks, and walks on.

He just barely makes it to his class on time, sliding into one of the only available seats just as the lecturer starts speaking. He keeps Lance strapped in his carseat, rocking him gently with his foot as he takes out his notepad. He prays that Lance falls asleep so that he can get through the next couple hours without incident.

“…and hopefully you’ve all read the first chapter of your textbooks, and we can dive right in…”

———

They almost make it.

They get so close.

For the first two hours of the lecture, everything is fine. Luis is paying as much attention as he can, scrawling down notes to keep up with his rapidly-speaking professor. Every so often someone shoots him a dirty look when Lance says something in baby-talk, but they can fuck right off. Lance is being an angel, by baby standards. He’s almost completely silent, brown eyes wide as he observes the world around him, vastly different from the home he’s been confined to for the entirety of the summer. Any sound from him is no louder than the occasional whisper of any confused students. He’s fine.

And then the sniffling starts.

Luis isn’t quite sure what sets him off. He made sure to feed him just before they left, so he shouldn’t need anything else for another two hours. He’s obviously not sleepy. It might be a diaper thing, but Luis doubts it. He took care of that before he left, too.

Regardless, Lance begins to sniffle, and then he begins to cry, and no amount of desperate shushing and cooing from Luis does anything before Lance truly begins to wail.

Like a scene from a nightmare, the professor stops what she’s doing. Every eye in the classroom turns to him.

“Is everything all right?” the professor asks.

“Fine,” Luis chokes out. He doesn’t even take the time to gather up his bag, he just scoops Lance from his seat and flees as quickly as he can. Hopefully he can come back for his stuff when the lecture ends.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Luis soothes, gently bouncing an inconsolable Lance as he walks the campus grounds. Numerous people give him nasty or pitying looks as they walk by, but Luis ignores them. They’re not his concern right now. “What’s wrong, huh? You miss your parents? Me too, sweetheart. Fuck.”

Lance gets like this, sometimes. He just cries and cries, like his heart is breaking. Veronica thinks his heart is a little broken, and he needs time to heal, like the rest of them.

“It’s okay, Lancito. Let it out. Let it out.”

By the time he sees his class file out of the lecture hall, Lance has finally calmed down to hiccups and sniffles.

“Let’s go get our stuff, yeah?”

Luis tries to slip back inside as inconspicuously as possible, making a beeline for his seat and is relieved to find his stuff untouched. Thank God.

Lance protests when he tries to rebuckle him in the carseat, so he just dumps all his books into the seat and holds Lance instead. It’s fine. If Lance wants to be held, he can hold him. It’s the first day of classes, after all, so he probably won’t miss too much, note-wise —

“Excuse me, young man.”

Luis startles at the voice, whipping around to face whoever’s approaching. His professor stands a few feet away from him, straight-backed and tall, orange saree almost reaching the ground. Luis turns to face her, setting down the carseat and holding out one hand.

“I’m so sorry for interrupting the lecture earlier, Professor. I’m Luis Sanchez.”

“Sarah Lee,” she says. “And no need to apologize.” She smiles kindly, letting go of Luis’ hand and extending hers out to Lance. “And you, little one? What’s your name.”

Lance giggles. He doesn’t remove his hand from his mouth — thankfully — but leans forward to bat his head gently against her hand.

“This is Lance.” Luis pokes him in the stomach, making him giggle again. “He’s noisy. I wouldn’t usually bring him to class, I swear, but I had no other option and I already paid tuition —”

“Walk with me,” Professor Lee interrupts, and then she’s out the lecture hall without so much as a glance behind her. Luis frantically throws the rest of his stuff into the carseat and scrambles to follow her. She doesn’t speak again until they reach the campus gardens — the projects of fourth year environmental science students.

“You’re nineteen, yes? Twenty?”

“Twenty,” Luis affirms.

She hums. “Thirty years ago, I was in your exact situation.” She leans forward and plucks a sprig of mint from the garden, holding it towards Lance. “Good for digestion,” she explains, at Luis’ wary look. “And soothing the mind.” Luis nods once, and she hands it to Lance, who immediately shoves it in his mouth. He makes a face initially, but seems to decide that he likes it, gnawing on it slowly.

“You were in my situation?” Luis prompts. This is…not what he expected, but he’s so lost and the professor is speaking so kindly that Luis is willing to take any helping hand, at this point. Plus, Lance seems to like her, so.

“Yes,” she continues. “Twenty years old, freshly married with a newborn baby, desperately trying to get my degree so I didn’t throw away everything my mother sacrificed to get me where I was. Not an easy task.”

“Oh.” Luis feels horrible for misleading her. “Lance isn’t…he’s not mine. He’s my brother. My parents —” his voice cracks — “my parents passed, early this summer. I have no one else to watch him. My other siblings can’t take him right now and it’s not ideal, but I figured university has other adults, you know? People will be mature about it. I just — I dunno. It’s — I’m sorry if I implied our situations were the same. I can’t imagine what you had to go through.”

“Luis,” she says gently. She stops, facing him fully. “I am so, so sorry for your loss.” She considers him carefully. “You are carrying a lot on your shoulders right now, child. You don’t need to carry unwarranted guilt, as well. True, our situations are not identical, but they are very similar, no?“

“I guess,” Luis says weakly.

“I’m trying to offer my help, child,” Professor Lee says, reaching out and squeezing his hands. “Just like I was helped when I needed it. Accept it.”

Luis shudders, then nods. This is almost too good to be true, and he’s in no place to refute it. He’s not sure exactly what she’s offering, but anything is better than dragging poor Lance to class every day and hoping for the best.

“Good. Now, thankfully there are much better systems in place now than there were in the seventies. Did you know the university offers on-campus childcare for reduced rates, to help train the student educators? Come. Let me show you where to sign up.”

[voltron-goldmine]

Lance: ugh, here comes my rival

Marco: what did he say?

Veronica: pretty sure he said here comes his boyfriend

Lance: whAT?!

Rachel: yup, he did

Lance: I DID NOT!

Luis: nah, you totally did

Lance:

Lance: we are no longer related

[formderptron]

Lance’s family hugging Allura has all of my goddamn heart

[thesufferingsapphic]

What if lance never guessed pidge was a girl because he was raised by girls so he thought men doing things normally seen as feminine things were completely normal

I mean his brothers were teenagers when he was a kid his sisters were the only people around his age so he would spend most his time with them.

face routines and shaving? ladies like feminine men

[pqwder]

people saying Luis from ant man is peak latino rep......................the bar is so low

[yelmor-boots]

Friend in My Head

Its brilliant art, This was the very start If he could find the person on the other side, Their fate would instantly be tied

Trigger warning: There will be mentions of abuse, suicide, and death. Tread carefully or don't tread here at all.

This is a story for @gentronlegendaryfriendships . A late entry for day 3: Soulmate AU/Handholding with hints of Day 7: Long-Distance Friendship/"I Love You". Please enjoy the story and I apologize for the bad poetry. I tried my best.

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Warning: Major Character Death

Category: Gen

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

[zharpzhooter]

You know that thing where people recreate their old family photos? Lance’s family are those people

This is Lance’s favorite family picture and when he went to the beach with them for the last time before heading back to the garrison he absolutely demanded they recreate it, he was so dedicated he even politely asked his baby niece if he could use her pacifier

I imagine their ages were around (L to R): Marco-13, Lance-2, Luis-8, Veronica-5, and the bottom photo was right before Lance’s 17th birthday

seconds after the original photo was taken toddler Lance yanked his brother to the ground with his buff baby arms as Marco tried to avoid his entire ass being bared to the beach, while an unfortunately sunburned Luis looked on in disgust and little Veronica wasn’t paying any attention

Fun Fact: Lance keeps the old picture pinned on his corkboard at the Garrison while the other stays in his wallet that he luckily has in space xx

but yeah this was the super cute idea that i had like 2 weeks ago and i still love it and i hope u do too!!!!

[kneipe]

halle 2019