#what if they made klance canon and made shiro straight?

[yourplaceinaugust]

ok so like a live action voltron legendary defender remake would be a monumentally bad idea and i have literally no idea who would even be cast for the characters in a hypothetical except the only person i can see playing pidge is mckenna grace

[harukamitsuki]

Okay... I am currently back on my Voltron bullshit and continuing my rewrite of Voltron. And I'm constantly reminding of HOW MUCH I HATE LANCE.

Don't get me wrong. I am still treating Lance fairly in my fic, making sure he gets screen-time and a proper character acr and stuff.

But by GODS. This man pisses me off so much and that's only made worse by his stans. I was scrolling through Keith's tag here on tumblr. I also have Kl@nce filtered out. I cannot see a single post without at least three pages of scrolling and then it's only ONE POST. AND IT'S STILL KLANCE BECAUSE IT HASN'T BEEN TAGGED CORRECTLY.

Anyway. Onto the actual things I hate about Lance and not just his fandom.

Lance is a fucking asshole. I mean that on the deepest level. Let's go through it chronologically because I cannot rank it from least to most assholery, because some things are on the same level.

1 - Allura wakes up from the cryopod and Lances catches her. She's confused and dazed and the first thing you should do is ask if she's alright. Oh, but Lance is above that. Instead, he flirts with her. Karma given immediately as she calls his ears hideous and puts him in a submission hold, which is why I kept that scene in my fic, but that was still wrong. I know it was played for comedic effect, but that doesn't make it not canon. It's canonically accurate that if you've awoken from a coma, Lance's first instinct is to flirt with you if you're pretty.

2 - Literally throws Hunk into the middle of a battle. I get that Hunk was supposed to leave the Lion anyway, but just shoving him out when there are lasers everywhere and Hunk has no protection? Yeah. So much for 'best friend'. Add on the fact that Lance never really treats Hunk like a friend. At all.

3 - Okay. Season 1 Lance isn't bad outside of those two examples, even if he has his dumb moments, so let's jump to Season 2. Starting shit with Keith for no reason. People can go 'oh, Keith obviously did something to him at the Garrison' but he DIDN'T. The writers themselves confirmed that Keith did nothing to Lance, he just started shit with Keith all the fucking time. Like accussing Keith of wanting Blue and cutting him off when he tried to explain what was actually happening, even though Lance is the one who was outraged initially that Keith had Red. Or how about Lance getting up in Shiro's face and screaming his head off about how Keith would rather kill people than listen to them, as if he knew Keith at all after bullying him the entire time.

4 - Okay. This one pissed me off the most and is the biggest reason I'm making this post. The fact that Lance used Shiro's death/disappearance against Keith. Keith outwardly expresses his lack of desire to become the leader and accidentally let it slip that Shiro wanted him to do it. To which Lance is all 'convenient that you say that when Shiro's gone'. What. What the fuck. Stans really say that Lance is precious but how the hell are you justifying that? A blind man could see how much Keith loves Shiro, and Lance has the fucking gall the say that Keith is USING his death/disappearance for a position he doesn't want? He didn't even apologise for it. He just told Keith to suck it up later on. This is one of the reasons I hated Lance as the Red Paladin, the others being explained in an earlier post of mine.

5 - Oh, yeah. We're not done. Because after Keith, it's Allura. Allur@nce is probably the worst ship that could have happened, apart from Kl@nce. If you wanted a straight ship, how about what was canon for the past Voltron series? Kallura? Anyway. Yeah, Lance treats Allura like a prize instead of a person. He's posessive in a way that he has no right to be because they were not together. He glares at Matt for flirting with Allura, something he only does once. He gets mad at Lotor and tries to stop them from spending time together, EVEN THOUGH LOTOR IS HELPING ALLURA AND BONDING THROUGH ALTEAN THINGS. HELPING HER KEEP IN TOUCH WITH ALTEAN CULTURE. In Season 8, he literally yells that it should be Lance and Allura?? What a fucking weirdo?? You can't claim that you're destined to be with someone without being together. That's not how healthy relationships work. That's how a stalker's mind works. Lance is constantly flirting with Allura throughout all of Voltron and she never once reciprocated until Season 8 where it's so obvious that Lance is just a rebound but the writers wanna make it so that it's 'true love' and they want Lance to be happier than anyone so they just gift her to him like some sort of trophy. Lance didn't care about loving Allura, he cared about winning her. At least Lotor actually cared for and respected her. I still don't like canon Lotor, but that's mostly because the writers didn't want to deal with gray morality. Cowards.

1 - Honestly the worst example of a leader. It's shown from episode one. Now, there is the argument of learning to become one, but Lance just never learns? He's never facing the consequences of his actions and, if he is lectured, he ignores it. Keith actually takes lessons to heart and tries to improve and he does. If Lance became the Black Paladin, the universe would have been doomed because he can't get over himself for a single moment to even bother listening to anyone else's advice.

So. Yeah. Those are the main reasons why Lance is an asshole. Now to make the Lance stans really pissed.

Reasons why Lance would have been a terrible leader and could never have been the Black Paladin.

Remember episode one? Remember how the hydraulic stabiliser was out in the simulator and Lance still tried to push on, even though Pidge and Hunk advised him not to? Totally great leadership qualities there. There's nothing better than a leader that refuses to listen to you. 'Oh, but Keith is stubborn and didn't listen--' yes he did. He's stubborn and unrelenting at first, but he eventually realises that they're right.

Remember episode three? Remember when Lance bragged about kicking, which made Voltron fall, then proceeded to try it again and failed again even when Keith advised him not to? Yeah. Lance does not make good decisions and does not listen to any advise. Even from the leader's right hand man.

Remember Season 1 Episode 12? Remember how they were waiting for Shiro and Allura to get back and then Keith saw someone taking quintessence so he decided to follow them? Remember how Lance said no and was ignored but did nothing more to stop Keith? He has no authority and no charisma to keep anyone at bay. Pidge herself mocks Lance for being the pinnacle for leadership. Sarcastically. Because he's far from it.

Pidge doesn't respect Lance as a leader, Keith never would considering Lance treats him like shit, Allura can't take Lance seriously with him hitting on her every ten seconds, and Hunk is always questioning Lance's decisions. If nobody respects you, you cannot be a good leader.

2 - Easily distracted. Yes, it's a very popular headcanon that Lance has ADHD, and I agree with that, but that doesn't make it okay. And he's distracted in the easiest ways. Just shove a pretty girl and he'll instantly get distracted and lead the entire team to doom. Remember Nyma and how easy it was for her to steal the Blue Lion? How he didn't even warn anyone that he was taking her out for a ride because he didn't want anyone contesting his conquest? Yeah.

Don't get me wrong. It's fine to have ADHD or get distracted easily. Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece is a great example of a leader who gets easily distracted, but the second he sets his mind on something, he blocks everything out. Lance just doesn't have the capability to do that, nor do I think he'd be able to learn how to.

3 - Gets jealous really easily. As in. Really fucking easily. He's jealous of Keith from the get-go, starting a one-sided rivalry that he's constantly on the losing side of because Keith doesn't care. He gets jealous of Matt when he flirts a bit with Allura. He gets extremely jealous of Lotor for having actual chemistry with Allura. He's constantly jealous and a good leader is only ever in competition with himself. A good leader will only strive to become better for the sake of the team, not to say that they're better than someone else, much less if they're someone that you are in charge of. It's a horrible trait to have.

Jealousy in and of itself is not a bad thing. It's when that jealousy overrides your logic and controls you, instead of you controlling your jealousy: which Lance struggles with a lot. And getting jealous over anyone who even looks at your crush is a very bad thing to do because you do not own your crush. It's okay to be jealous, but not posessively like Lance is. Not to the extent of trying to scare off any potential suitors.

4 - Nowhere near as skilled as Keith or Shiro. Sure, the writers may claim that he is better, but the proof is in the pudding. Keith and Shiro are fucking unmatched. I've defended Lance's skills in a previous post, but I also said in that post that, while he is skilled, he is nowhere near Shiro or Keith's level. I mean, Shiro was the golden child of the Garrison and set so many records. He was known as the best pilot. Keith beat those records and his flying capabilities are always, always noted. I haven't heard a single character comment on Lance's skills, other than to point out how bad they are. Keith was the only one who could have flew through the astroid field, he was the only one who could fly into the Marmora base which was in a blue star surrounded by two black holes, he was able to fly a Galra jet just by pushing the right buttons and knowing what the do, and he's the one who unlocks the warping abilities of the Black Lion. Shiro was able to connect with the Black Lion far before anyone else, able to see through Black and connect with Black to the point of his soul being saved by her.

Lance hasn't done anything spectacular. And, no. He was not 'done dirty'. He was given almost everything he wanted except the Black Lion. The writers claim he's the best pilot, but have not shown it at all. In my eyes, Keith and Shiro will always be the best.

5 - Selfish. Again. Nothing against being selfish. It's perfectly fine to be selfish, so long as it doesn't actively harm others. But for a leader? You should be as selfless as you can be. The team comes before you. And that's exactly what Lance isn't.

Lance is selfish and that's okay, but it's not leadership material. The whole reason Black rejected him is because he wanted the position out of selfish reasons. When he enters Black, he says 'Come on, Lance. You can do this'. In other words, he wants to pilot her because he wants to prove himself. He wants the acknowledgement. He wants the title of the Black Paladin and leader. Black accepted Keith, both at the start of Season 2 and Season 3, because he piloted her for purely selfless reasons. For Shiro.

Lance wants things for himself. Keith wanted things for Shiro. It was only after Shiro came back, (or so they thought), that Keith started focusing more on himself. Even then, he put everyone else before him. He distanced himself from the team so that Shiro could pilot Black again, and he was constantly risking his life for the Blades.

Lance just... isn't the type. He has put others before himself, but he expect things out of it. He expects a parade and acknowledgement. Nobody knew what Shiro went through to rid Zarkon of his connection to the Black Lion. Nobody knew what Shiro went through in his imprisonment because he doesn't want to burden anyone with that. Nobody knew what Keith went through to save Black and Shiro from Zarkon. Nobody knew what Keith went through when they were all mad at him for missing an attack. Lance doesn't withold that sort of stuff. The only thing he doesn't talk about is his insecurities, which he ends up spilling to the mice and Laika (the Yupper) anyway.

6 - Last one. Promise.

Nothing fucking happened. While Keith was gone, nothing of importance happened surrounding Voltron specifically. There was the Lion mind meld and Lotor joining, but all that served to prove was, with the mind meld, if Keith was there, he would have heard Shiro. And with Lotor joining, all it proved was how immature Lance was.

The second Keith gets back, things start happening again. Lotor gets outed as cruel and manipulative (still an ass-pull, by the way), Shiro gets outed as a clone, and so on. If Lance was leading, they all probably would have died ages ago. I'm talking Season 3 Episode 2, ages ago. Because Lance just isn't cut out for it.

So. Yeah. Those are the main reasons I hate Lance and why Black Paladin Lance is an awful idea. Screw the people who believe in it. It is awful.

Like I said, this won't affect my treatment of Lance in my rewrite, because I can fix those issues that come up. I don't have an issue with Season 1 Lance, it's later on that gets problematic. I just hate people building Lance up by bashing all the other characters, then claiming that Lance is the most traumatised, sad character when SHIRO AND KEITH ARE RIGHT THERE. NOT TO MENTION ALLURA, WHO LOST HER ENTIRE SPECIES, AND CORAN WHO LOST EVERYONE INCLUDING ALLURA AND NEVER GOT TO SAY GOODBYE TO HER.

Fuck. I hate Voltron so much but I can't help but love it.

[princelance]

a movie........

time for a rant that has been a looong time coming because

the FUCK??? NOOOOOOOOOOOO PLEASE NO NO NO PLEASE GOD IF YOU'RE OUT THERE NEVER LET THIS MOVIE SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY NEVER EVEN MENTION THAT SHOW EVER AGAIN IN MY PRESENCE it should fucking DIE and stay DEAD

the WORST fandom i've ever come across/been part of. everyone was so fucking braindead. god the bullying here was So Bad. vld fandom was the epitome of 'you can't enjoy what you like'. and the bullies were like, some of the most popular blogs here. the content creators (among others ofc) here were NASTY. the people making decent art were so fucking rude to almost anyone that didn't bow down to them and agree with their views on the show, sitting on their high horse like they were fucking gods or something when they were like, 17 or something. mind u voltron was a show about ugly transformers lions and a bunch of kids in space meant for 7 YEAR OLDS. like stfu it's not deep, it's not important. i get that this is the internet i really do but apparently everyone was a pedo and homophobic and racist and needed to be cancelled because they weren't pure angels. i hope the people who liked the show, both teens and adults alike, have grown up and learnt what those words actually mean and why you shouldn't just casually throw them around. i hated you all. u had to be so careful about what you said on here, it was like north korea or something. i remember how kids got bullied into deleting their harmless fanfics, the fucking voice actors got bullied on a daily basis, it was BAD. i remember i got hate for having shiro as my icon and the background was the bi flag colours. I AM BI. also, so what if i had headcanoned shiro as bi, you couldn't have stopped me or anyone else from thinking that, and also IT WOULD NOT HAVE MATTERED, HE'S FICTIONAL, HE'S JUST LINES AND PIXELS. i know this is going to shatter some of your worlds (or at least would have back then), but a random ass nobody on tumblr headcanoning a character as bi when said character is "actually" straight/gay/whatever is NOT going to affect irl queer people in any way, it does NOT have real life consequences. who gives a fuck. since when has the fandom given a shit about canon anyway? fuck you.

okay, i've been bitching about the fandom enough (no i haven't, there's no way you can ever bitch about the vld fandom enough). what about the actual show? well. once again it's meant for 7 year olds. who cares if it was good or not. i've seen seasons 1–6. i liked season 1, didn't really like anything after that since the show seemed to change so much. the first season kind of has a different vibe completely? idk how to explain it, it just kind of feels like the actual show and then the rest was just a long fanfic by someone who was in love with keith's character. but since i was watching the show with my sister who was 10 at the time, it was fine, otherwise i wouldn't have kept watching after seeing season 2 i don't think.

here are a few negative things about the show imo:

making keith the main character out of nowhere after s1 (where he definitely wasn't the main focus) was so dumb. god the showrunners loved keith sooo much, it was so stupid. keith was nooot a leader. whatever.

making keith the black paladin was also so fucking stupid my god. and yes, everyone here wanting LANCE to become the black paladin just because he was the fandom favourite (don't get me wrong, he was my fave too) was so fucking braindead too honestly. shiro or allura. no one else made any sense.

canon allurance SUUUCKED. like holy shit that was so bad and horribly written, even lotor and allura had a better love story and had waaay more chemistry (and their relationship ended badly, rightfully so). and NO klance was never ever ever going to be canon, you were so delusional. like lmaooo did we even watch the same show? i just really enjoyed their dynamic and that's why i shipped them together, whatever. but yeah, like i said the bullying here was disgusting and everyone was cancelled, great, klance seemed to be the only thing you were allowed to like so in that sense i was lucky.

everything they did with allura in the later seasons............ you know what? i'm not even going to start. because wtfffffffff, as a storyteller myself i ?????? what in the world were they thinking. but yeah whatever it does not matter.

the point of this post is that EW EW EWWWW FUCK THAT SHOW AND FUCK YOU, if you were in the voltron fandom in 2017/2018 i personally hate you

[ssasides205]

had a realization that's making me insane but we as a fandom weren't angry enough abt sunshades

also, this is entirely related, so I'm dragging them here too, but the voltron fandom was not angry enough abt Shiro's sudden gayness

now, the similarities are these:

both were retconed gay during the second half of their series

both were given their "endgame" romantic interest at the very end of their series (yes I know TOA exists now, but it came out in 2016, 2 years after BOO)

both fandoms became really weird abt those who dared to have shipped the character with a girl (Nico was canonically gay for longer than Shiro was in their respective media, so it's very rare to see those old ships, but they exist all the same)

both fandoms were all too happy to start extreme shipping them with their last minute love interest (the voltron fandom latched to Adam so hard it makes the sunshades seem tame, Curtis way less so)

the differences:

the voltron fandom should've been angry bc Shiro hadn't had any buildup as a gay character (whatever shippers saw notwithstanding), the problem being that if the show had gone with it's original Shallura plans (I saw this in like a commentary on how the show got made), they would've had to make someone else queer (for bait reasons), and they couldn't make hunk queer cause they did the whole thign with Shay, and Pidge was the youngest so like,,, they couldn't make keith queer cause he's the only "white" character and therefore has to be the token straight protag, and if they made Lance queer without makign klance happen I think something would've exploded.

so last minute gay shiro, burry your gays trope included! but oh, don't worry, he gets married to this random two seconds background character in the end!!

the PJO fandom, on the other hand, went through more than half of HOO watching Nico and Jason be like thatTM and then just, acepted will? the same ppl who tell you valdangelo wouldn't happen cause they had only one interaction? those ppl??

what, they just took the 1.5 bit at the VERY END of BOO and ran with it? I know lack of representation was a lot worse back then, but if that thing came out now I don't trust y'all to call it out like you should

like, I remember spending that whole scene being like "who the fuck's this guy" cause I didn't register background characters unless they were plot relevant, and nothing about that scene was all that romantic either

it makes me so angry, and when they announced the show I hoped they'd make it as close to the books as possible bc then maybe more ppl would see it two, but apparently Riordan added to the first series post-fact? and the tv series is already making changes?? and they'll probably work sunshades into it earlier bc of TSATS but gods, even if they don't it might still not happen, bc y'all just settle for scraps.

anyway, sorry for the rant, I jsut wanted to get it off my chest, and sorry if I offended y'all, I just think you deserved better.

[thaliagrayce]

i've been talking abt my voltron playlists and @iveofficiallygonemad asked to hear them and i want to share with anybody who wants!! i know they're not perfect, i'm working on them & trying to make them better. if you have any recommendations for any of them, let me know!! there's like A Lot and i want to give a lil explanation for most of them, so i'm putting them under the cut ^-^

SO first i have my favorite one <3 it's just. all of them. it's the whole team. it's a mess and it's a bunch of different genres because it's them fighting over the aux cord on a road trip. it's them trying to make each other laugh or annoy each other or play something catchy enough it will infect everyone in the vicinity with brain worms.

Hunk: i'm pretty happy with my Hunk playlist! chill vibes. he strikes me as the kind of guy who listens to calm music to try to find his own calm, and that's what i got here :)

Pidge: this is messier and less cohesive than my usual playlist because frankly i think pidge would have a shit taste in music. all over the board. this is a mix of meme songs and 8-bit covers and vocaloid and stuff that i think pidge would genuinely connect with, and i think pidge listens to all their music on shuffle without any regards for genre or mood because they're a gremlin. nobody gives pidge sole control of the aux.

Coran hears 80's music for the first time and loses his mind. He thinks ABBA is humanity's single greatest achievement.

Lance: i have ideas about where I'm going with this but haven't really settled yet. Lance seems like the kind of boy that loves to dance (is that canon? i forgot) so most of these are Bops That Make You Move in some way or another. he likes to present an upbeat face to the world, so there's no angsting in this playlist! we are clinging to the things that make us happy with both hands until our knuckles turn white!

Keith: i'm gonna be honest. i made him a playlist but i honestly don't think he cares about music very much. it's very important to some people! he's just not one of them! i haven't cracked this playlist open in a while but i'm pretty sure it's full of songs that i think he would conceivably train/work out to.

Shiro: this playlist involves the dumbest headcanon i have for shiro that has just not left me alone since i first thought of it. most of the playlist reflects the fact that he had an emo phase in middle school (that one isn't a headcanon, you just have to look at him to know) but BUT there are a few songs on here that are on here because. little known fact. he also went through a Twilight phase that he told nobody about. (keith knows. keith was there.) he has the entire twilight soundtrack memorized. he moved past the story but the music stays forever. he used to daydream about slow dancing to Flightless Bird, American Mouth. the first time Coran mentions that they have to avoid a place because there's a supermassive black hole there, he has to bite his tongue in order to keep a straight face. do NOT ask me why i believe this so wholeheartedly.

Allura's playlist sucks right now. I think it's because in my heart of hearts i know that, were she on earth today, she would go fucking nuts for taylor swift. i have ambivalent feelings for taylor swift. i cannot do allura justice like this. if you see my vision and have recs as to what might actually fit her, PLEASE.

Klance: i haven't done it yet but i'm gonna go through this and sort it to be a sort of progression of their relationship, starting with the more combative Rivalry songs, then slipping into "oh shit oh shit" songs, then maybe ending on the more lighthearted purely romantic songs <3

(i have two songs in a shallura playlist which does not at all encapsulate how much i'm obsessed with them. the tiny cop inside my head is just constantly screaming at me that i'm going to get yelled at for liking shallura. i am going to kill the cop inside my head.)

[korolrezni-nikolai]

klance starter pack fic list

making a klance fic rec list of the absolute must-reads all in one place! this will be in no particular order and is mainly for my use since the fandom is p dead lol.

Nightmares by Trashness

Summary: Lance's nightmares are getting out of control. It's affecting his and the team's performance, but he's at a loss for how to fix this. Apparently sleeping next to a warm body helps.

This was the first klance fic I read and it made me fall in love with this ship. I’ve re-read this fic multiple times since then and it’s a one-shot, quite short and sweet. I love it! 

never saw you coming by dimpleforyourthoughts

Summary:  Three months in space on his own would have been fine. Three months in space with Lance McClain is a whole other fucking story.

This fic. This fic ruined me and literally left me sobbing at 3 a.m. It’s also a one-chapter fic but has a hefty word count of 45K+ words and functions more as a drabble than anything. It’s a giant character study into Keith and his relationship with Lance and just how he grew up, met Shiro, etc. This fic made me fall in love with Keith as a character and is so so stunning. 

so why don’t we fall by aknightley

Summary: Five times Lance used a pet name for Keith, and one time Keith used one for Lance.

Keith has no basis for having a relationship with someone, so he's trying to follow Lance's lead.

So anything by aknightley is pretty much a masterpiece but I especially adore this fic because its one of their much more lighter, softer ones and has Established Relationship Klance, so if you want a short 5+1 things fic that skips over all the angst and pining and goes straight to fluff, this one’s perfect for you! It’s such a sweet portrayal of Keith and Lance and just had me smiling at my phone.

part 1: there nestled against his pulse by hiuythn

Summary: "Found you!" Lance says, vaulting over the back of the couch. He lands with a soft thump that bounces Keith up in his seat. "Hey, I've got a question for you. You don't have to answer it, but, uh, have you met your soulmate?"

"No," says Keith, "I haven't.”

I shouldn't.

part 2: this is what love looks like: by hiuythn

Summary:  Unlike Keith, Lance has to be dragged by his feet, bound and gagged, into this love. If there was a contest for the art of self-denial, he’d be the reigning champion.

part 3: roll credits by hiuythn

Summary: When Allura said, “You will explain everything to me,” she wasn’t kidding. “Can you still hear him?” she asks. She’s got a fucking datapad. She’s taking notes. “Yes,” Keith sighs. “He’s still singing Backstreet Boys.”

[post-TNAHP/TWILLL. Some asks from tumblr, some headcanons/extra scenes I haven’t shared yet.]

SOULMATES KLANCE!! That is definitely my favorite Klance trope and this is definitely the fic that started that obsession. Very famous in the fandom, this is a good 55K+ word, soulmate AU set in canon verse that has everything you could ever want: Enemies to Lovers, Langst, Regular Angst, Pining, Almost Major Character Death, etc. You should also definitely check out the sequel that follows major events from Lance’s point of view. To be honest, I actually love the sequel more because it’s such a beautiful deep-dive into Lance’s psyche and what makes him tick and also explores Lance’s experience at the Garrison and deals with out of fic events. But you definitely have to read TNAHP to understand the sequel! The sequel honestly made fall in love with Lance and he’s now my favorite character in VLD so. The sequel is also actually longer than the original fic word count-wise (the sequel cuts off at around 59K words, the original is at 55K+) and is a must-read if you enjoyed TNAHP!

There’s also a third part that I’ve linked, which has extra scenes and drabbles and is honestly so so cute and such a good dose of fluff after the angst and hurt/comfort of the first two that I couldn’t NOT include it. 

katabasis by hiuythn

Summary:  Keith's jetpack malfunctions.

So this is definitely the most angstiest and saddest fic I’m reccing so far. It absolutely ruined me and made me cry and re-evaluate all my life choices. That’s all I’m going to say. If you’re in the mood for some straight-up, hardcore Langst, this one’s for you.

skin hunger by hiuythn

Summary: Keith is touch-starved to the point of stupidity. Lance helps. Lance tries to help. Lance tries.

akjdjdjdjd THIS FIC IS SO SOFT AND SWEET AND CUTE. at this point, this list is basically just becoming hiuythn fics but I can’t help it! I had to include this fic after the damage the last one did. If katabasis is everything sad, skin hunger is everything happy. its a s3 AU with no clone!shiro and is more of a crackfic than anything, dealing with Keith going through Galran puberty and is hilarious and sweet all at the same time. we also get broganes and the way Klance’s relationship builds up is j *chef’s kiss* It’s a p short one-shot (only 12K+ words) and definitely the best thing for a pick me up! Slav and Keith’s interactions are also hilarious.

nothing’s quite as sweet by dimpleforyouthoughts

Summary:  Keith is a barista who hates his job. Lance works at the cat shelter across the street.

So this is another gem by the amazing dimpleforyourthoughts and this fic is literally a ray of sunshine in this cold, dark, desolate world. It has kittens, coffee, side Shallura and cat cafes. Need I say more? Definitely an A+ comfort fic for the bad days.

Hearts Don’t Break Around Here by klancekorner

Summary:  Lance and Keith have been best friends since first grade. Lance’s brain is always on overdrive and Keith’s blunt, realistic ass can never keep up. They both come to realize that sometimes you can learn a lot about loving yourself by loving someone else.

This is literally my favorite Klance fic ever, I’m sorry to all the masterpieces on this list and to all the others as well but this fic has my heart for all of eternity. It’s a 135K+ word monster of a fic and took me a good 2 days to finish and took my sanity as well. It’s such a raw and real fic and the way it captures Lance’s anxiety really hit me in the feels and made me fall in love with him further. I know what most of us are thinking- a friends-to-lovers fic? Really? But trust me give it a shot, the pining, the writing, the resolution, EVERYTHING is so good, you *have* to read it.

On Thin Ice by anonimina

Summary: This multi-chapter fic chronicles the lives of a hockey player named Keith who gets enlisted into figure skating lessons by his brother, Shiro, to "work on his footwork". There he meets a pompous - yet talented - figure skater named Lance and gets swept away by both the sport and the skater.

Or: the not-so-simple story of two people trying to navigate the complexities of living in an ever changing world and face the traumas they've buried far away from the sunlight.

(Russian Translation https://ficbook.net/readfic/5434480)

THIS FIC IS INCOMPLETE! I know most of you all will skip this because of that but it’s such a good fic that I had to include it despite that fact. It perfectly captures my Winter Olympics obsessions (Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno ftw) and has such good broganes and side Shallura. It’s also one of the few fics that acknowledge how talented and brilliant my Lancey boy is and has Keith showing him the appropriate amount of respect and amazement. I loved it and I do hope you love this incomplete 200K+ word fic too!

Not that Bad by varelsen

Summary: “Am I really going to have to explain this to you?” “No, I’m totally fine with you shutting up right about now.” Hunk cups his hands around his mouth. “You. Are crushing. On Keith.”

Or, a college AU featuring coffee shops, silly rivalries, motorcycles, arcade games, friendships, and lots of warm, fluffy feelings that are both confusing and delightful all at the same time.

One of the best Klance College AUs out there! It has awkward first impressions, Influencer Allura, and Keith on a motorcycle! It’s such a readable fic. It also sees the relationship slowly sort of dissolve into a benefits one and has such a natural flow to the relationship. It’s one of my most re-readable favs so defo check it out!

just come to me once by laallomri

Summary: Lance’s smile widens. He leans forward, and the prickling in Keith’s chest gives way to butterflies, fluttering wildly in his stomach, and oh wow has Lance always had this many freckles, has he always had eyelashes that long, has he—

Lance pokes his cheek, right over the Galra mark. Keith blinks.

“I can’t believe you and your mom have matching face tattoos now,” he says, and it’s so fucking dumb, but it’s exactly the kind of dumb thing Keith has longed to hear, and before he knows what he’s doing he’s surging forward, almost knocking Lance back against Red’s paw, and throwing his arms around him.

In which Keith lives on a space whale, goes on a road trip, and (eventually) gets a boyfriend.

I don’t even know how to encapsulate what this fic made me feel. It feels like the last day of school, the feeling you get when the ending credits roll on a really good Pixar/Disney movie. The feeling that songs like Fireflies or I Lived make you feel. 

This fic also features a lot of POC, trans and queer rep and I for one loved all the Indian stuff in it. It’s also one of the few fics where Krolia and Keith’s relationship is explored in canon without being depressing so ofc i love it!!

Something Blue by starlightment

Summary:  When Lance gets dumped by his fiancée just days before his entire family is flying out to visit, he finds himself trapped in a monumental lie. Now, with no bride-to-be, and no guts to admit the truth, he’s in desperate need of a pseudo-sweetheart — and fast. And Keith just so happens to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Fake dating Klance!! A truly blessed trope. We also see pining Keith and this is just such a well-written Modern AU, it had to go on the list!

part 1: Read All About It by starlightment

Summary:  Keith is Altea High’s star athlete. And Lance, a wily reporter for the school newspaper, is crushing hard. The only problem? They’ve never actually met before. So when Lance decides to broadcast his long-hidden feelings in an explicitly romantic exposé, he ends up accidentally sparking a school-wide epidemic. Suddenly the entire student body is in on the drama, but are words truly enough to win over the school’s enigmatic heartthrob?

part 2:  Read All About It: part 2 by starlightment

Summary:  With a year of college and long-distance dating under their belts, Lance and Keith return home for the summer only to realize that life still has a few more challenges in store. Sequel to "Read All About It".

This is another masterpiece by starlightment!! I honestly can’t decide whether I like this better than Something Blue, but if you’re in the mood for high school feels and public confessions, this is definitely for you! Lance is also portrayed in such a talented light and I truly loved his characterization in the fic. Here, we have very heavy Langst and Lance pining instead of pining! Keith for a change too. 

Part 2 is incomplete as of now but what’s there is very funny and sweet and a must-read if you loved the first one. Honestly, it’s kind of an extra scenes/moments work and has some post-fic things as well which I love to see since it has College Klance.

open your arms to me by aknightley

Summary: Lance quickly finds Keith’s communication signal and hits call.

A few seconds later, he realizes what he’s just done, panics, and immediately slams the 'end call' button.

“Shit!” he hisses through his teeth, throwing the tablet on the bed and recoiling away from it like it’s a poisonous snake rather than innocent alien technology. Its screen goes blank again, wiped clean the way he wishes his impulsive action could be. “What am I doing?”

So like I said, I love aknightley’s stuff (seriously- they could write their grocery list and I’d eat that shit up) but I love S4 fix-it fics with Long Distance Klance and BoM Half-Galran Keith and this one honestly takes the cake. It has such a nice build-up to the relationship and the pining is just amazing.

pushed up the window to kiss you off by aknightley

Summary: A series of conversations between Keith and Lance when they're apart but together, and the effects unrelenting thoughts can have on a very confused boy.

The worst part of deciding to leave had been telling Lance his plans -- no, the worst part had been that Lance had understood.

Another Klance S4 fix it fic by aknightley but this one is my more preferred one since it skips all the pining and goes straight to Established Relationship Klance, which aknightley honestly writes so beautifully!! Their relationship is also a secret and I truly loved the humor and how we see Keith deal with being a BoM member and all the bloodshed and sadness that comes with it. 

all my reasons why, by tylerproposey

Summary:  It starts off as an infatuation, nothing more than admiration for the entrancing blue eyed boy. It turns into a crush - something he’s never had - and suddenly every shade of blue reminds him of Lance. It ends with love, something deep and turbulent, really he never stood a chance.

This fic is very similar to never saw you coming and is honestly one of those hidden Klance gems that everyone HAS to read it. It once again shows Klance from Keith’s perspective in canon and the way the author captures Keith and Lance both is just stunning. I’d recommend reading the other fics by tylerproposey as well- I’m not including any on the list except for this one since it’s just *that* good. Their other fics are more Modern AUs and more plot, less pining than this one but equally as fun to read!

Tramps Like Us by PVB

Summary: “Do you play guitar?” Lance asks, holding up the pick.

“Yeah,” Keith replies

.“Are you good?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you just saying you’re good, or are you actually good?”

“Actually good,” Keith says defensively. “And why do you care anyway?”

Lance narrows his eyes at him. “I don’t know if I believe you.”

“I’ll prove it,” Keith says before he can think.

(High school marching band/Battle of the Bands AU. Keith is the new kid, Lance is trying to prove himself, Pidge is a musical prodigy, Hunk’s tired of stereotypes, Shiro and Allura are just trying to get people to stop calling them ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’, and Bruce Springsteen is still the Boss. Don’t ask about the lions.)

this is a fic very similair to the feels invoked by just come to me once by laallomri and I enjoyed this so much- it had me laughing out loud and rolling on the floor with all the shenanigans of the gang. I also love the side Shallura and Pidge, Hunk and Lance are just the right amount of crazy and weird in this!! The way Keith slowly finds a family in these crazy weirdos and also opens up to his dad is so sweet and made me cry. Such a good HS/band AU! It’s also perfect for 70s/80s rock n roll music geeks and really explores the music aspect of things!

all of these stars will guide us home  by mayerwien

Summary:  The space museum volunteers au, aka "my God, it's full of snarks."

Okay, damn I just can’t stop coming with all the Klance HS/teen AUs. But this one I had to put in because it’s just another one of those funny, smiling at my screen ones and I also adore the angsty broganes we see in this fic- once again, a Keith POV that shows him finding a family amongst Lance, Pidge and Hunk. It doesn’t have much (any) Allura in it but I can excuse that for how good it is!

Fake It Til You Make It by nikkiRA

Summary: “No, it’s not that –” Keith tries to backtrack. “We just – we –” he isn’t sure what he’s going to say, he just knows he has to say something before he and Lance are forced to have sex with some weird alien species, while also keeping the weird alien king happy enough to create an alliance with them.

But not for the first time and not for the last, Lance pulls through.

Of course, this time pulling through almost gives Keith a heart attack, because Lance slips his fingers through Keith’s so that they’re holding hands.

“What Keith here means to say,” Lance says, and although his voice is steady, he is gripping Keith’s fingers so tightly it’s painful. “Is that we can’t mate with your people, although we, um, appreciate the offer, because, well. We already are. M-mated, I mean. With, you know. Each other.”

Fake dating Klance once again! In canon this time and I mainly read it because it was written by nikkiRA (whose Solangelo stuff I adore) but I truly loved it! It is quite explicit though, since it has a (sort of) sex pollen trope as well so if you’re in the mood for smut, I’d definitely recommend this!

part 1: house on fire by ilgaksu

Summary: When Lance McClain is eighteen, he qualifies for the Olympics.

When he's nineteen, he meets Keith.

Correlation does not mean cause, until it totally does.

part 2: two ways to skin tonight by ilgaksu

Summary: “You can do this,” Keith’s coach tells him at seventeen, hand on his shoulder and nerves in his eyes. Keith looks down at the chalk against his hands, stark and messy against the black of the gloves. He adjusts one of the straps again. Flexes his hand. Nods.

This is definitely one of the best fics I’m putting on this list! I originally read it because I found aknightley’s drabbles set in the same universe (which you should ALSO read it- soo good) and I honestly did not expect to love it as much as I did! If you’ve had a huge Olympics or AFTG phase like me, this is perfect for you. It also so nicely incorporates Social Media into it- which is one of my favorite tropes and this fic has to be one of my favorites under that trope. It’s such an inspiring collection (called ‘the greatest’) and truly captures the vastness and importance and beauty of the Olympics/competitive sports and interweaves so many conversations about LGBTQ+ athletes into it that I love it. The author creates such a realistic and fleshed out world that I kind of got RWARB vibes. All in all, a must-read if you love AFTG- it’s actually inspired from the really famous AFTG fic about the Minyard-Josten rivalry!

it grows stronger by tylerproposey

Summary: College campuses are a cesspool of awkward encounters. Some more unnerving than others, as Lance comes to find. He thinks it’s important to note that in all those instances, Keith is there to witness them. Actually, that’s unfair. Admittedly Keith happens to be useful in getting him out of those situations. Affection, as it goes, grows stronger when you’re constantly being “saved” by a protective rival – but mostly friend at this point.

Ok, so I know I said I wouldn’t include anything else by tylerproposey but I couldn’t help it- this fic is definitely one of the best College AUs out there. It’s so much more than a 5+1 fic!

i need someone like you to lighten the load by slowklancing (notanannoyingfangirl), sunnyjolras

Summary: Another scrap of parchment shot out of the cup, a fourth scrap of parchment, which made no sense at all, and the Headmaster grabbed it from the air, unrolling it and reading it quietly.

The entirety of the Great Hall remained silent. It was as quiet as a tomb.

“Lance Álvarez?” The Headmaster whispered, and then again, louder. “Lance Álvarez.”

Wait, what?

// Lance and Keith have always been battling it out: on the Quidditch field, in the duelling club, for the best marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Keith always manages to come out in the lead.

Now, the Triwizard Tournament has been announced and Lance knows that Keith is going to beat him for the only open spot, even if he pretends that he thinks otherwise. But it doesn’t quite go the way that Lance expects, and everything changes from there.

Hogwarts Klance AU!!! For the Twiwizard Tournament!! Such a long ride but so worth it- all the ups and downs of their relationship and Lance’s life is EXACTLY like an HP book and I loved it. We also see Hagrid! Coran and DADA prof! Shiro so what more could I ask for? It also features Allura from Beauxbatons and Lotor from Drumstrang! It does follow HP canon in its ending, so it might be a bit lacking in that but i just adore the exposition of the plot so I couldn’t not include it!

say my name (and every color illuminates) by parchmints

Summary: “Well, that’s what you are, right? My subconscious talking to me? That’s what my aunt says dreams are, but it’s kinda weird that my subconscious hasn’t seen the ocean before since I’ve been around the ocean my entire life.”

“What? No! I’m--I’m not your subconscious, I’m your--” Keith starts, but he slams his lips together in a tight lock, then looks at the waves, while Lance sits up taller and leans in closer to him.

“My what?”

“Just--!” Keith starts, getting frustrated and pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m real, okay? We’re not--this isn’t--we’re having a shared dream.”

Lance never thought he had a soulmate, but when he finds himself dreaming about a boy on Varadero Beach and in a southwestern desert, he learns they have an incredibly rare soul link–-one that allows them to form an unusually strong bond before they meet, but also exposes their greatest vulnerabilities to each other.

SOULMATES KLANCE!! this is also a fic by parchmints, who is another one of my fav klance authors and this is definitely my favorite one of theirs- its a must read if you’re a sucker for Soulmates Klance like me. The way they eventually meet also had me smiling at my phone so much!

they're gonna watch me disappear into the sun by basicallymonsters

Summary: Lance turns his face towards the tree line meandering off to the edge of the coast, feeling every system in his body light up simultaneously. “Keith.”

He lifts his wrists and Keith’s hands follow them up. He shifts closer on his knees, mouth turned down, desperate.

“So you can’t expect me to leave you here,” Keith says, “I know that I’m asking you to walk away from your home. But you’re asking me to walk away from mine.”

(prompt: when they get to Earth, Lance wants to stay)

this fic is very similair to katabasis, in the sense that they both made me want to die. im not even joking, this fic put me off of reading klance for like the next 2 months because it was that fucking sad. so of course i need everyone to share in my misery.

no, but all jokes aside, this is an amazing fic that will absolutely change you forever. it is such a good exploration of lance as well, and how much his family means to him and for a fic of only 7K+ words, it sure has an impact.

life after death by taylortot

Summary: Fear clambers into his mouth and tastes bitter on his tongue. “Who are you?” It takes him a moment to register the sound of his own voice.

She stares at him. Blinks. “Lance, please, this isn’t time for one of your jokes-”

He furrows his eyebrows and struggles to sit up, to stop leaning into the cradle of her arms. “I’m not--I’m not...joking.”

*

After sacrificing himself to save Allura, Lance wakes up in a strange new world where the only thing he knows is a deep connection to a boy he doesn't remember.

so this is another amazingly angsty beautiful fic WHICH IS ALSO INCOMPLETE by the way but the author is still replying to comments and there’s only 1 more chapter left so hey, there is hope for us all! i just really love the deep love lance has for keith in this and how everything unravels slowly by slowly and we learn about how they fell in love, along with lance himself. you *have* to read this!

it's all in my head by aknightley

Summary: "Uh," Pidge said, "Lance? Buddy? What's the deal?"

"That's Lance?" Hunk shouted, somehow still ramming ships away from the castle; Keith felt like bubbles were bursting in his head, effervescent pops of giddy fear mixed with conviction. 

Lance, he thought, Lance feels like this. "Thank God, I thought I was going crazy for a second."

Another amazing must-read fic by aknightley that explores the paladin bond as a much more psychic connection and shows Keith and Lance both struggling to hide their feelings for each other through it! Must more be said? Go read it!

pepsicola by corydalis  

Summary: It starts like this:

 Lance looking up at the scoreboard only a few days into his Garrison training and muttering to himself, “What the hell kind of a name is Keith?”--

Or, Keith and Lance fall in love. Eventually.

corydalis has the absolute best klance drabble fics but i especially enjoy this fic because of the dual POV and how we see both characters grow from the Garrison itself and the slow build to a friendship and then eventual romance is to die for! very similar to never saw you coming, by the way.

Like Devo by surveycorpsjean

Summary: As rival jammers, they're rough, skating around the rink, giving bruises, bloody noses, broken ribs and snapped fingers-

But when the cops show up, Keith grabs his hand and yanks Lance into the storm drain.

And that’s how they start dating.

The adrenaline rush I got from this is unparalleled! Both Keith and Lance are also absolute BAMFs and I love how fucking rogue the fic is. It’s just a one-shot so I’d defo recc it, but it is quite explicit so if that’s not your thing, go ahead and skip it!

this is my idea (of love) by the-noble-idiot (noblegambit)

Summary:  The first meeting between Crown Prince Lance of Altea and Prince Keith of Daizabaal was, to put it mildly, less than perfect.

ARRANGED MARRIAGE KLANCE GALTEAN AU!! this fic is so so so good and the build-up of their relationship over the years that we see in glimpses is so precious and amazing- and the enemies-to-lovers in this is to die for. My only complaint is that I wish it were longer!

you should date me by petalloso

Summary: “I can read you, Keith Kogane. You’re tired and maybe a little sad, and this mask will lift your spirits, heal your aura, align your chakras. Trust me.”

“I chrusht myou,” Keith says through his fish lips, Lance's hands warm against his squished cheeks, his heart pounding ridiculously in his chest.

This fic is the defo THE best College AU out there and has SUCH similar vibes to Hearts Don’t Break Around Here and Tramps like Us that I adore it. It’s so kooky and weird and hilarious and lovely- exactly like college and I LOVE it. Klance’s relationship dynamic in this is to die for and is so fun to read! It also shows Keith with dyslexia and ADHD, which is a new take since its usually Lance with ADHD but one I loved equally and the portrayal of ADHD is so refreshing to read if you have ADHD (like me) but can be hard for people without it to read since it’s a bit erratic and random. I’d still highly recommend it!!

Love Bite(s) by  ArchetypeOfAdespota

Summary: In which Keith gets bitten by a Love Bug, and Lance is less okay with this than anyone honestly expected.

This is literally the best Lovebug Klance AU out there and definitely started my obsession with that trope- Alas, there are none as good as this one! I loove how we see Klance trying to hide their real unrequited feelings and the amount of misunderstandings was so frustrating but written so well- the resolution was to die for! I’d definitely recommend it! The author’s writing style is very good and there is a second part to this fic that deals with a ‘what-if’ where Lance was bit instead of Keith but that’s incomplete so I didn’t include it but you can check it out if you like this fic!

Objects in Motion (When Unbalanced) by Mytay

Summary: Lance and Keith are constantly being mistaken for a couple. Lance is highly offended. Keith is quietly outraged.

Pidge decides if she can’t have peace, then she can write an epic scientific dissertation on the romantic failings of two exceptionally dense paladins.

This fic is going to be the last of this very extensive list and its honestly one of the most re-readable fics and is such a good crackfic with outsider POV on Klance! It also has 4 more parts that are one-shots/sequels set in the same ‘verse and you can definitely check that out if you want more Matchmaking Science Pidge.

Some other Klance authors I’d recommend that didn’t make it on this list:

jilliancares

Katranga

wittyy_name

Zizzani

mothpoem

Purpleneutrino (mackerelmademedoit)

Queerklancing

[the-ferocious-kittyrose]

My complicated opinion on Keith Kogane

Keith Kogane is definitely one of the more popular characters in the VLD fandom. People love brooding emo bad boys.

My feelings on Keith are... complicated. I definitely don’t hate him. I have a lot of problems with the character but I don’t think I could ever bring myself to actually hate him. Mainly because I kinda relate to him. We both have problems controlling our emotions, interacting with people, and making friends.

And we both have trouble believing there are people who truly have our best interests at heart and won’t abandon us because we’re a burden.

What I do hate is the way his character was written and the way it negatively impacted the characters around him.

There are definitely a lot of factors that contributed to VLD ending up the way it did. But to me, Keith and the writers insistence on pushing him to the forefront was the poison that killed the show.

Ok, before we get into this whole rant I feel like I should talk about the things I do like about Keith.

I like the premise of Keith’s character. He’s half Galra and never really fit in on Earth. He didn’t act like the other “normal” kids so kids made fun of him and adults didn’t want to deal with him. So in order to protect himself from the pain of rejection he would put up a tough angry facade and push people away and reject them before they could reject him.

This is something that really resonates with me personally having grown up neurodivergent. It’s awful growing up in a world that isn’t made for people like you and not knowing how to interact with or connect with your peers. Especially when you don’t know why you’re like that.

You learn to avoid social interaction because it always ends up negative. You put up walls because you don’t feel like anybody understands you or what you’re going through.

I know the writers probably didn’t intend to code Keith as neurodivergent. They just wanted Keith to be a hothead with abandonment issues, but nonetheless, this interpretation means a lot to me.

I also really like his relationship with Shiro. Keith is so used to being left behind and abandoned that when he meets someone like Shiro who’s patient and genuinely cares it’s new and strange. He’s so ready for Shiro to abandon him, even telling Shiro to send him back to the home, but Shiro refuses to leave him and tells Keith ethat he’s never going to give up on him.

It’s also interesting to see how their relationship develops over time. It’s clear Keith trusts Shiro, but you can tell that that fear of abandonment is still there deep down. In S2, Keith tells Shiro that he’s like a brother to him, and then in season 6, he takes the extra step and tells Shiro that he IS his brother and that he loves him. And for someone like Keith, telling their friend they love them is a big scary thing.

And also it’s just great to see a platonic “I love you,” especially between two guys. Don’t be afraid to tell your bros you love them!!!

Now let’s talk about the stuff I didn’t like.

Keith doesn’t have much going for him in terms of personality. He’s just sorta brooding and serious all the time. He does make jokes occasionally but it’s rare. The writers were more focused on making him cool and badass rather than fun.

I always loved the idea of Keith as a cocky carefree asshole who doesn’t give a shit about rules/laws and is kinda rude/aggressive but has a heart of gold deep down and would do anything for the people he cares about. (Just like a cat.)

I would also make him more alien esc. In terms of design I like the idea of Keith having red eyes with narrow pupils and fangs. And also just small things like the way he walks and holds himself. He growls and bears his teeth when he’s angry, his hair puffs up when scared, he’s fast and agile, disappearing and reappearing without making much noise, small things.

Then you have his race and sexuality. I have no doubt in my mind that Keith was intended to be a straight white dude. A lot of people see him as gay and Asian but there’s no evidence for this in canon. Acxa was originally intended to be his love interest and his race was never mentioned in canon. His name isn’t even Kogane in canon. (And the race of the voice actor doesn’t equal the race of the character. If that was the case Shiro, Hunk, and Lance would be white.)

They should’ve totally made Keith Japanese like he was in the original. It would’ve been so easy! Just canonize Kogane as his last name and have the book say he’s half Japanese half Galra. They could’ve also done what they did with Shiro and keep his og GoLion name. Just have him be Akira Kogane. Definitely cooler than “Keith.”

And as for his sexuality, I definitely think they should’ve had Keith be gay. But well get to that Later...

I also don’t like how they handled the whole Krolia thing. Not only was it crazy rushed, but it completely goes against the shows theme of found family.

Keith’s arc should’ve been about overcoming his abandonment issues and learning to accept the paladins as family. But instead they just get rid of the abandonment issues by just giving him his mom back.

I know a lot of people love Krolia but I don’t feel like she should’ve been introduced in anything other than flashbacks. Because Keith’s mom isn’t really that important. The show is about found family and friendship, not blood relation.

You can definitely have Keith learn about his mom and his family, but I feel like giving him his mom back was too much.

Personally, I always headcanoned that Kolivan was Keith’s grandfather or just a close friend of Krolia’s, and when Keith showed up at the Blade’s base Kolivan recognized the blade as his Krolia’s. Keith could learn about his mom through Kolivan telling him about her, how she was a great person and warrior who died fighting to make the universe a safer place for her son.

Another thing I didn’t like was the whole Keith leaving the team for the Blades thing. I know why he did it, he felt like the team was gonna reject him, he wanted to be more useful, and wanted to learn about his family, but I feel like you could’ve touched on all that without having him abandon his team.

One of the biggest problems with the show is that they did a bad job at establishing the paladins as friends, they feel like coworkers more than anything, and I feel like Keith being absent for two seasons contributed to that.

And his absence is hardly addressed. The team forms Voltron perfectly without him and no one ever says they miss him. Keith doesn’t even seem like he missed them after being gone for two years.

And a lot of the weight was taken out of that Keith v Kuron fight by the fact that Keith and Kuron hardly interacted.

That whole thing amounted to four things, Keith meeting Krolia (which I don’t think should’ve happened), them finding the colony (which was a dumb plot I don’t think should’ve happened), Keith aging up two years (which was weird and unnecessary), and Keith meeting Kosmo (which is... complicated).

I don’t think this plot was necessary. Keith should’ve stayed with his team.

Then you have his relationship with Lance. I know people are very sensitive about this topic. People have very strong opinions about whether or not Keith and Lance were intended to be romantically coded.

Personally, I do like Klance but I don’t believe they were romantically coded. I think if you want them to get together some things would have to go differently.

For example, the bonding moment. In canon, Lance tells Keith, “we make a good team.” I don’t see this as referring to him and Keith. I think he was talking about the whole team. If you want it to be about the two of them, I feel like it should be Lance telling Keith something like, “ya know, you’re not so bad after all,” and then Keith smiles and responds, “you’re not so bad yourself.”

Another example could be the scene where Lance comes to Keith with his insecurities. (Whether it’s as a leader or a friend.) This scene was weird in canon, Lance comes to Keith for advice and Keith basically tells him to just stop thinking about it.

I would prefer if Lance brought up to Keith how he doesn’t feel like he’s good enough or that he doesn’t have, “a thing,” and Keith is completely dumbfounded like, “what are you even talking about?” He goes on about all the good shit about Lance. Talks about how Blue chose him, how he’s a great shot, how he’s good at dealing with people, meanwhile Lance is standing there in shock as Keith says all these nice things about him.

Over all you would just have to develop their relationship more. More meaningful interactions. And if you want the relationship to be romantic you would have to establish that early on. Establish that one or both has romantic feelings for the other in like S1/S2 because if you wait too long it’s gonna feel forced/out of no where.

And then... you have the Black Paladin arc... I’m gonna be real with y’all, this is the arc that killed the show for me, for a few reasons.

One, even ignoring the whole quintessence bond thing, it makes no sense for Keith to be the bp. He doesn’t fit the role. I adore Shiro but choosing Keith as his successor was a dumb move. I get that he saw potential in Keith but they’re are fighting a war, there’s no room for favoritism.

Shiro should’ve chosen Allura as his successor. Not only does she have actual leadership experience, but you would only have one paladin in a new Lion instead of three.

If a lifeguard breaks his leg and can’t work, he should choose an experienced swimmers to take his place, not his little bro that’s still in water wings in the hopes that it’ll teach him to swim.

Two, Keith being the bp doesn’t help his arc. Keith’s arc is about overcoming his abandonment issues and learning to be a team player, he doesn’t need to be the leader for that.

VLD should’ve been about the paladins growing into the best versions of themselves they could be. Their development shown by unlocking new abilities in their respective lions, new forms for their bayards, and new Voltron bayard power ups. They shouldn’t have to change lions and themselves.

Keith and Red have a strong bond and work great together. Keith and Red are both temperamental, unpredictable, and have issues with trust. Keith having to fight to get Red to trust and open up to him mirrors how others have to fight to earn Keith’s trust and get him to let down his walls.

It would’ve been interesting to see them grow together. Keith has no emotional connection with Black.

We never even get to see them bond. Keith just suddenly becomes the “perfect” bp/leader because he got over his mommy issues

Three, it’s a MASSIVE disservice to Shiro’s character. Shiro put all the work in earning his position as the bp, he literally fits fought Zarkon on the astral plane to earn her trust, yet Keith is the true bp? What?

It sucks. Sendak told Shiro that a monster like him could never be a paladin and the writers went and proved him right. Hell Shiro didn’t even get to kill Sendak, Keith got that too.

And don’t tell me, “but he got the Atlas!” REALLY!? A massive Deus ex machina that required absolutely no effort from him to acquire!? Filled with a bunch of rando background characters no one gives a shit about!? You’re totally right, that 100% makes up for it.

I could go on and on about how the treatment of Shiro in this show (and fandom) is blatantly ableist but that’s a rant for another time.

It sucks. I want to like Keith! He had the potential to be an amazing character but the writers just kept on trying to turn him into something he wasn’t and it ruined him for me.

They kept trying to turn Keith into the main character and ignored that ALL the paladins are the main characters. It’s an ensemble cast! You don’t have to have everything come back to one guy.

[teatimecrumpetsandsugar]

ethereal (voltron fantasy/royalty AU) (set up; part zero)

Heyo! It’s your friendly neighborhood Voltron fanfic aficionado- now your friendly neighborhood Klance writer but that’s honestly besides the point I don’t even know why you’d bring up my increasing obsession with them in this Klance fanfic that I swear everyone else will be in, too-

Today, I’ll be writing from a fantasy royalty AU with my favorite show cast ever, even though it may or may not be solely because I want to put water elemental!king!Lance in pretty dresses and makeup and just go crazy with my descriptions of gowns and other things.

I imagine, here, Lance would be from a kingdom with strong ties to Pidge’s kingdom, who has strong ties with Hunk’s kingdom, making them a powerful trifecta. I also imagine that Keith and Lance’s kingdoms are on very thin ice with one another, so Pidge encourages Lance to sit down with fire elemental!king!Keith. 

I also imagine that Pidge’s kingdom is closely allied with Allura’s and that the two of them grew up together, while she didn’t meet Hunk or Lance until she became queen. Also, I’d like to have my beloved Ruler Pidge go by she/they pronouns, simply because I see a lot of myself in the way she dresses and carries herself and I actually believe that these pronouns would fit her, alongside all pronouns.

Hunk and Lance likely grew up together in a very close ally ship and continue to be close friends well into adulthood because that’s just how they are. I can imagine Lance is very vaguely aware of Allura’s kingdom and would never dream of picking a fight with hers since, by default, allying with Pidge made him allies with Allura, but he probably doesn’t know her very well pre the canon timeline because I kind of want to build that relationship from the ground up to make up for what the show did to me-

Keith is definitely allied with Shiro, and Pidge and Shiro were always friends through her older brother, who, along with her father, abdicated from the throne and joined an adventurer’s guild instead (because they believed that Pidge would be a better fit for a ruler and decided that, given how they are, reconnaissance and exploration fit them better. She agreed with this insight, deciding to rule the kingdom the best way she knew how). Shiro, being a much more experienced king and friends with their brother, likely prepared them for the role as they grew into it; the two are on friendly terms, but allied isn’t exactly the right term as none of the people in their alliance knew Keith, so they weren’t sure they could ally with him. 

Lance met Keith at a gala years into his reign; they did not get along.

The system of Magic here will likely be dictated by what element one is born in the kingdom of, (i.e., Lance’s kingdom being the Aqua Kingdom, Pidge’s being the Spiritus Kingdom) and the strength of it in each person will be chosen based on a random set of variables that usually depends on the mood of the Gods corresponding to each element.

Lance- Water (Aqua Kingdom)

Keith- Fire (Ignis Kingdom)

Pidge- Life (Spiritus Kingdom)

Hunk- Earth (Terra Kingdom)

Shiro- Moon (Luna Kingdom)

Allura- Light (Lux Kingdom)

I imagine the reason an alliance is called for with Keith and Shiro’s kingdoms is because a traitor to Allura’s kingdom, either Lotor is planning on starting an entire mutiny with the ranks he’s managed to gather and then, consequently, conquer all of the rest of the kingdoms by force in the name of a long-dead kingdom- the Tenebris kingdom. His parents having died in the midst of a total economic crash caused by a codependent relationship with Allura’s kingdom whilst it was under her father’s rule, he was taken in by the state of Lux by Allura’s request, since they grew up together; unfortunately Lotor held lingering feelings of resentment- towards Lux, for causing the destruction of the only thing he could’ve ever considered his own by right, and towards his parents for always making him feel as if he was of no worth. He wants to conquer the entire world just to prove to himself that he is worth something, though, unfortunately, he’s on a path straight to death.

Might redeem him, might kill him off, might exile him- who knows at this point?

Hunk, I imagine, was a commoner who won the title of king through a series of magic-based trials (upon the death of the last ruler) and now keeps his entire family in the palace with him, using his title to take care of his family and citizens as a benevolent ruler. This likely happened when he was quite young- likely when he was 9 or 10, since magic is an innate thing and, in this kingdom, it’s tested in the youngest members of the kingdom in order to deem who is the most connected to their Goddess Terra.

Allura inherited her title when her own father died in the conflict with Tenebris- he went to battle with the people they’d unintentionally doomed in order to protect his daughter and his people, and died in the process; similar to her story in Voltron except her kingdom survives and Lotor and a select few survivors of the Galra become refugees.

Keith became king by beating the previous king’s son in a battle- his mother, being one of the higher ups in the government, sent word to him that the prince didn’t want to be king, so Keith wound up challenging him for the title. He won, successfully making his way into the world of prestige and getting closer to his mother. The prince left the kingdom shortly after- it’s believed that he ran away to be with someone, but no one is quite sure. All anyone knows is that he’s happy.

Lance wound up being king at a really young age- I’m imagining that, prior to his reign, his kingdom was incredibly strictly patriarchal. The previous king likely only had daughters, and the day of his death, Lance was born with incredibly powerful water magic. As a result, at the age of 6 years old, he was forcibly taken from his poor family and raised strictly to be a perfect king- however, he still saw his sister Veronica frequently in secret, the two of them sneaking around to eat baked goods and try on dresses together. When the palace staff found out, they tightened security and warned Veronica that she was no longer allowed to see him unless she wanted to be publicly executed. After his coronation (at age 8), however, he started making drastic changes to the laws that made the laws against commoners interacting with royalty more lax, and, once allowed to dress himself, started wearing dresses and makeup because it reminded him of home and made him feel as beautiful as he knew he was. He gets quite homesick quite often, and he’s still battling to get his family into the palace with him- he has, however, stripped the kingdom of its strict patriarchy. He constantly tells the kingdom that he hopes to one day pass the throne down to his own future daughter and still keeps the three princesses as his trusted advisors because he believes what happened to them was horribly unjust. The story will be told primarily from his perspective.

Shiro became ruler of his kingdom by fighting his way through gladiator ranks when he was only thirteen, winning the entire kingdom by brute force alone and leaving him with a lot more experience and trauma than he’d have liked. Being the oldest of the current generation of rulers and having inherited a kingdom that was closely related to Pidge’s and Keith’s, he guided them both through the process of becoming a ruler and the process of ruling, no matter how difficult it gets. It’s taken far longer with Keith than it has Pidge, since Pidge was raised a royal and has an innate sense of leadership and Keith is... interesting at the whole being a royal thing. Shiro, having grown up with Keith’s mother on the streets of the kingdom of Tenebris, was more than happy to take Keith under his wing- it helps the both of them come out of their shells more, so they have a mutual appreciation for one another.

I imagine this world will be vaguely futuristic and medieval at the same time- they’ll be able to have video conferences and reach other via communicators, holographic calls, things of that nature; but they’ll also be pretty old-fashioned in their manners of dress, their social systems, their currencies, and the vast majority of their laws. I hope that makes sense.

I wonder if it’s visible here that I spent three hours winging this and started getting more and more into it as I went, or if it’s obvious that I spend most of my time working with really obscure fantasy concepts. 

BAHDHAAHAHA I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY THIS- 

If you’ve got any suggestions for relationship dynamics (platonic, romantic, or otherwise), any pitches for traits you think the characters may have based on their slightly altered backstories, or any feedback in general, feel free to share- I hope you all find this as fascinating as I did while I was writing it!

Also, @keefsteefs It’s happening, I’m doing it, it’s gonna be so fricking awesome-

[applechausson]

what do u think about canon

YOU HAVE OPENED THE CAN OF WORMS *bangs pots and pans*

short answer is: it had a lot of potential. this is in terms of character development, story arcs, relationships (with each other and themselves), and queer/bipoc representation but it fell extremely flat. now, i don't know how and why it suddenly did because it was doing so well in the first few seasons, i believe but everything just fell apart....

some examples that i can think of on the top of my head is under the cut

- lance's character: he's one of the most well-set-up characters I've seen in media in a LONG time. he's so complex and so human that it would've been worth exploring the ins and outs of his character but NAH they wasted a perfectly good character/story arc/etc just to make him the butt of a joke in every episode which makes me cringe and angry on his behalf (i'd say more but maybe in a different post)

- changing the lion color thingy: lions are sentient beings with centries old souls which is a fascinating and, frankly, cool concept that could've played so well but they fricken messed it up with shiro's disappearance and keith's decision to join the blades. what's all that bonding for???? like if you're gonna give some fricken cool lore, then stick to it????

- keith's decision to join the blades: look, i get it. i honestly think it was necessary (to some extent) for him to join the blades to get to know his galra side better and eventually to meet his mom and stuff but he was gone for a long time narratively and as a writer, that sucks?? he's a well-loved character and a main character at that so it makes no sense for him to decrease in screentime so dramatically. i think he could've joined the blades for a hot sec but come back for narrative purposes only. also the direction it took made keith seem like this asshole who doesn't care about team voltron which he's not!! it's so ooc!!! but they just had to because they didn't want to bother developing him more!!!!! it was RIGHT THERE BRO

- allura could've been more of a badass but dr**mworks are cowards: this might be a controversial take, but i'm disappointed in the way they wrote her character. i know that allura is a teenager at heart and mind and she already has so much shit she's dealing with (and some, she already dealt with with badassery!!!) but they treated her like this... "prize" that could be won and that's so gross and she deserves better

- clearly queercoded characters with amazing chemistry but boooo cowards again: sure, we, the fandom, headcanon the characters' sexualities and gender but keith and lance are so very not straight??? i mean, i guess dr**mworks didn't make them explicitly straight or anything but there was a wonderful opportunity to put two very queercoded characters who care very deeply about each other in a blossoming relationship but nah, they nipped that right at the bud

- canon!allurance: just want to preface this by saying that every ship (except for sh@ladins and pidge x p@ladins, duh) are valid but i just hated how canon treated allurance. this is just from an objective pov and not because i ship klance. like i said, allura was treated as a prize to be won, her boundaries were consistently crossed (which is super ooc for lance because he's a considerate boy but nah, dr**mworks made him be this douche just to push this relationship), etc. allura deserves better than canon!lance. on the other hand, lance was always her second choice. he was never truly heard by her and always felt the need to wear even more of a mask around her. lance deserves better than canon!allura. canon!allurance failed immensely because the way the characters were portrayed canonically didn't allow for allurance to happen healthily.

[lightningskey]

How to bring Klance, Sheith and Adashi Fandoms together in solidarity.

Queerbait the fuck out of us. Bury the gays trope. I'm a Klance shipper but i would have been okay with canon Sheith too since it would have meant gay Keith/extra representation.

What makes me angry at most is killing off Adam like that. AND NOT TOUCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP AT ALL. LIKE. Wtf is this representation? Ok, Klance and Sheith weren't that touched upon/they're still ships/weren't alluded to be confirmed but. To also even bait us with the ACTUAL LGBT REP IN THE SHOW. IM WOW DREAMWORKS. YOU ARE A COWARD WITH NO BALLS WHAT SO EVER.

Allura suddently paying attention to Lance is so.... i would have been ok as well if they were progressive. But why is Lance made the rebound? :) also Keith and Acxa???? Talking about the heterosexual stereotypical no sense ship that's shoved down our throats in the nick of time just to have the male lead in a romantic relationship. Allurance and Kacxa would have been cuter if they wouldn't have been handled this way. Rebound Lance and Keith shoved in a hetero ship just to be in a romantic relationship.

One thing Klance and Sheith shippers always agreed on is straight Keith is a no go.

And even if they're just make believe ships, you cannot tell us they didn't queerrbait us with them.

But alas the thing that outraged me the most is Shiro. You make him LGBTQ+, canon. Rep. Give him someone. Kill him off screen. Give a small scene to show he's dead and that's it?? THAT'S OUR LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION DREAMWORKS?? MY BISEXUAL ASS IS MAD AND THIS IS TEXBOOK QUEERBAITING. HOW MANY PEOPLE JUMPED ON VOLTRON NOW JUST BC SHIRO IS CANON GAY? HOW WOULD THEY FEEL.

Your Honor. This is bullshit. And with this i complete my rant. Fuck Dreamworks and Voltron.

Edit: DON'T TELL ME THESE PICS AREN'T BAITING!

Edit 2.0: Now this doesn't mean to go send death treats to the cast/staff etc. We all mad. But don't cross the line people.

Also just bc our ships aren't canon doesn't make the show/season bad. It was just handled badly for the canon ships. Mostly bad writing. Lallura and Kacxa would be fine if they had a healthy progressive road. They lowkey feel thrown in bc the show's ending.

[hazelandglasz]

Kiss It All Better

A little fluffy Klance fic for @milkymaitrash who was not feeling so good

I hope it helps ;)

Somehow it works in canon, in a future fic, I swear these boys took the wheel

On AO3

Even though he travels through the Universe with the Blade--helping populations in need or training new members into the organization--Keith makes sure he comes back to Earth regularly.

To check on his fellow Paladins (once a member of Voltron, always a member of Voltron, he supposes), that’s what he tells himself.

An inner voice that sounds suspiciously like Shiro’s tells him that he’s being ridiculous.

An outside voice that sounds suspiciously like Slav’s tells him that he should admit the truth to himself “to save this reality”.

(And to tie his hair with a blue scrunchy, apparently very important.)

The truth is …

The truth is that Keith needs to go back to Earth every now and then to check on one slender, Cuban man and to remind himself of the sound of his voice.

Because Lance is …

Lance’s laugh is what gives Keith strength on the days where he would just want to wrap himself in his bed and against Kosmo and forget about the world.

Lance’s frown is what keeps Keith from lashing out at frightened people who don’t follow the guidelines the Blade gave them.

And Lance’s soft touch on his bruises is what makes them hurt less.

“Keith, Keith, Keith,” Lance tsks softly, gently cleaning up the scratches on Keith’s hands when he comes back to Earth after a rough encounter with aliens who didn’t know about the end of the Galra dictatorship and manifested their opposition to Galra help with their claws.

And clubs, as Keith tries to explain, only to be silenced by Lance’s soft smirk.

“And that was some diplomatic gesture, I suppose?” Lance asks as he brushes his antiseptic gauze against the bruise on Keith’s cheek.

Keith wants to retort something, anything really, like he was not the one asking to be on the receiving end of that stick to begin with.

But his words don’t find their way out of his mouth.

All because the tip of Lance’s fingers brushed his ear and Lance’s eyes are shining just the way they always do when he’s teasing and …

And by all the gods in the universe, he’s just so lovely Keith cannot remember how to breathe to begin with.

Keith snaps his mouth shut and looks away, to Lance’s chuckles. Hopefully, his crush is disguised as hurt pride and not as obvious as it feels.

Lance shuffles to his bag, throwing the soiled gauze in and pulling bandages out. “You’ll have to forgive me, Mullet,” Lance says with a crooked smile, sparkles already in his eyes, “but since I have a lot of kids around me these days, I have kiddie band-aids.”

“Can I pick?”

“Why, of course!” Lance exclaims, putting out different bandages. “You have the classic Disney princesses, some superheroes and--oh, you’re going to love this!”

Lance holds up a box of …

“Voltron band-aids?” Keith can’t help but laugh as he takes in the designs. “Is that from the show they made about us?”

“Yep,” Lance replies, popping the last sound with a satisfied smile. “Here, let me see if I have any Keith left.”

“Uh?”

“What can I say, Mullet, you’re wildly popular with the young ones. Makes them feel like heroes,” Lance replies, looking up with a soft smile that goes straight through Keith’s heart.

“Do you have any Lances?”

Lance’s cheeks get flushed. “Hey, I am quite popular too.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

The words are out of Keith’s mouth before he can control himself.

Lance freezes for a split second, but it’s enough for Keith to want to slap himself silent.

“Aging agrees with you, Mullet.” Lance plucks a vivid blue band-aid and winks at Keith. “Made you all nice and mellow.”

Keith has a flash of him kicking the shit out of the Gabian who attacked them and gave him his bruises and snorts. “Right,” he replies, wiggling his fingers to show his scratches and bruises, “as mellow as can be.”

Lance laughs in response, carefully applying the band-aids to Keith’s different wounds, finishing with the one on his knuckle.

And then, out of the blue (no pun intended), Lance kisses the back of Keith’s hand.

“Kiss it all better,” Lance says softly.

Keith somehow manages not to die on the spot but he can feel his face heating up.

And then, in a surge of forwardness he doesn’t recognize, he points at the band-aid (a Hunk one) on his cheek. “Work your magic then.”

Lance’s lips stretch slowly into a smile Keith has never quite seen before, feline and dangerous for his mental health. Lance tilts Keith’s head upward to get better access to the area and slowly, deliberately almost, presses his lips to it.

“Are you hurt somewhere else?” Lance whispers, fingers still cupping Keith’s chin.

Keith turns slowly his head and Lance is just so close, and his eyes are so bright, and his lips are just so--so, and he can’t help himself, Keith leans forward.

It’s barely more than a peck, a matter of second and a brush of their lips. Nevertheless, it feels like an eternal embrace.

“Oh,” Lance breathes as he moves away. Before Keith can apologize or run away (or both. Both sound amazing), Lance smiles and slides his hand to the back of Keith’s head.

“You should have told me your lips hurt, Samurai,” he purs before pulling Keith in for a deep kiss that eclipses all others.

Keith kisses Lance back, shifting so he can face him properly and comfortably put his hand on Lance’s waist.

Lance hums into the kiss, tongue brushing Keith’s lips flittingly. His thumb brushes Keith’s ear and a moan happens. Keith would be damned to say who is responsible for sure for that noise, but he has an embarrassing feeling that it might be him.

“About time,” Lance whispers against Keith’s lips.

“I didn’t want to rush you.”

“Thoughtfulness has never been your strong suit, Mullet.”

“What can I say,” Keith says with a beaming smile, “aging agrees with me.”

Lance groans and lightly slaps Keith’s shoulder.

“Hey, I’m all injured here!”

“Don’t worry, Mullet, I’ll kiss it all better.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

[echodrops]

Why Do Certain Ships Become So Popular? (And Why Should Writers Rethink When They Do?) - Part 2

<- Start back at part 1 or you’re going to be very confused!

This time my victim of choice example is Klance (and Allurance and Lotura too).

In a previous post, I established the premise that shippers focus their efforts and attention on ships between characters who exhibit the most compelling dynamism, the greatest amount of emotional energy--good feelings or bad--that directly relates to one or more of the characters’ growth arcs... or the two characters whose emotional interactions most significantly affect a story’s main plot.

This idea (that shippers are looking for strong, dynamic emotional interactions that are directly tied to plot) feeds directly into my second premise: part of the popularity of slash ships comes from the fact that, very often, the strongest and most plot-relevant emotional events don’t occur between male characters and female characters, but between male protagonists and other male characters--due to a combination of 1) a much smaller number of female characters, 2) a majority of writers for anime/manga and American shows being male; 3) under-developed or poorly written female characters, and 4) the tendency to situate males in the hero, sidekick, and villain positions, increasing the chance that their actions will have greater importance in the story’s main plot.

In short, writers can unintentionally cause fans to prefer non-canon slash ships by writing more dynamic, better developed, and more plot-relevant interactions between their male leads than between the main character and his designated female love interest.  

Now hang on. Before you get all up in arms, yes, I’m perfectly aware there are plenty of other reasons slash ships are popular, including:

A huge desire among LGBT+ fans for positive representation

The fact that m/m interactions appeal to straight women/others the same way w/w interactions are sexy to straight men/others

The tendency of shows, particularly from Japan, to deliberately queer-bait

The fact that many women vicariously ship male characters together because it allows them to imagine a relationship of “genuine equals,” particularly in areas where women feel they are still not treated equally to men

The tendency for “pair the spares” to result in m/m ships simply due to a lower number of available female characters

And so on

This isn’t written to negate any of those reasons or to imply that they aren’t major factors in the popularity of slash ships, not at all, but it has always, always struck me as reductive when I hear things like “Slash ships are only popular because girls think two dudes together is hot” (the fetish argument) or “Girls will ship any two good-looking male characters together regardless of canon. They just hate het ships” (the fetish argument with a side dish of misogyny).

In particular, this last one--an argument I’ve heard from a lot of male fandom members (but of course not all)--has always gotten under my skin, because it implies that girls who ship aren’t capable of critically analyzing the media we consume and identifying characters who have meaningful interactions and interesting potential. That we, unlike those viewers who adhere to the canon (typically heterosexual) relationships, are somehow reading these stories wrong, blind to “real” romance (namely the one between the male hero and his best girl/waifu), and/or misusing male characters with zero regard for their personalities--worse, this argument also implies that female fans deliberately hate or under-appreciate oh-so-perfectly written female characters whose romantic subplots are totally natural and not at all an unfortunate side effect of their position as the token chick on the team...

At its best, the statement: “Girls will ship any two good-looking male characters” is demeaning in its dismissal of a majority of slash shippers and their ability to read characters. At its worse, it’s this exact dismissal that continues to allow so many (primarily male) authors to write under-developed, unimportant, token female love interests: “It’s the girls [or the slash shippers] who are weird; there’s nothing wrong with the way we’re doing things.”

But guess what happens when well-written female characters whose actions are central to a story’s main plot are introduced and highlighted? Guess what happens when the emotional energy between a female lead and her male counterpart is the most compelling and dynamic in the series?

The (often canon) het ship suddenly--somehow--magically becomes well-liked by fans!

Zutara and Kataang vastly out-strip any slash Avatar pairings in popularity. Noragami’s Yatori commands a staggering following in the fandom. Is there anyone in their right mind who thinks Alucard/Integra wasn’t the best pairing to end Hellsing with? No one debates whether or not Ahiru and Fakir from Princess Tutu are true love. In Doctor Who, Rose and the Doctor reign so far supreme in the fandom that none of the other ships even need to exist though I actually prefer River. Terra and Aqua from Kingdom Hearts beat out every other Terra or Aqua ship by a mile (and this is in a series notorious for hating and under-shipping its female characters). Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun has no problem juggling three very well-accepted het ships--even while having a scene in which two male characters sit down and draw a gay manga together. Ain’t nobody suggesting Mr. Bates and Anna from Downton Abbey should be with anyone else, right? And this is just in the handful of shows I personally have time to watch. Anyone who reads or watches a series with well-written female characters can play this exact same game!

The obvious conclusion? Female fans are perfectly willing to ship heterosexual pairings--if they’re well-written.

It’s the same story all over again: when the real emotional energy, the dynamic core, the most plot-relevant interactions occur between a male and female character, they too can become the fan-preferred couple. (Shocking!)

Yes, yes, I hear you saying “B-But wait, sometimes the m/m ship is more popular even though the het love interest is well-written!” or “Sometimes girls ship guy characters who have never even met!” or “So what you’re saying is female fans wouldn’t ship slash if there were better het options available?”

1) Don’t get me wrong--there are certainly always exceptions. I’m pointing out a trend, not a rule. Sometimes a fandom has a separate, specific reason for elevating a non-canon slash ship above a well-written canon het ship. (Someone who is actually in the Fullmetal Alchemist fandom might be able to explain why Ed/Roy is more popular than Roy/Riza, probably?) And in situations where a slash ship and a het ship in a series both have equally strong emotional energy, my bet is that the slash ship will always come out on top because it gets the added benefit of people liking LGBT+ rep and straight girls (and anyone else) who just think m/m is hot.

2) Crack ships definitely do exist. But usually when a crack ship actually manages to become popular, it’s because fans have recognized the potential for a strong emotional energy between two characters. If the two characters could reasonably have strong tension because of similarities, differences, or other elements of their characters, then crack ships are still following the trend of aligning with emotional energy, even if that energy is only anticipated at the moment.

3) I definitely don’t mean to suggest that slash ships are shoddy seconds to fans who would “naturally” prefer het ships if good het ships were available. What I’m suggesting is only that it’s no surprise slash ships are so extremely and consistently popular across so many fandoms, because in terms of plot relevance, depth of writing, and meaningful interactions with each other, male characters so rarely have any real competition. A desire for LGBT+ representation and people living out power or equality fantasies through slash are certainly motivating factors and good and worthy reasons to write slash. But one unfortunate contributor to the popularity of slash ships is that male characters continue to occupy a place of privilege in modern narratives. Our heroes remain overwhelmingly male. Our sidekick/lancer/buddy characters remain overwhelmingly male. Our villain characters remain overwhelmingly male. That is to say: male characters continue to dominate all the most “plot relevant” roles in our narratives, and so long as male leads continue to be placed in roles where their most compelling emotional interactions and greatest sources of character growth are other male characters, slash ships will continue to dominate fandoms’ online presences.

(Hilarious: the dude bros who complain about the number of slash ships in their favorite series are often the very same ones supporting and becoming the writers whose shallow portrayals of female characters further bolster the popularity of said slash ships in the first place...)

Okay, I’ve made you wait long enough.

What does all of this have to do with Voltron?

Well, you’ve probably figured that part out already, actually.

If we consider the “emotional energy” and tension among Voltron’s main characters, there’s absolutely no question who is at the core, where the most plot relevant and meaningful emotional interactions have occurred, where the “heart” of the story is, in essence...

Hint: It’s Keith.

(Just a heads up: I’m going to use Klance as the example because it’s the most popular Voltron pairing according to the numbers, but any Sheith fan worth their salt could obviously very, very easily apply these ideas one-for-one to that ship, because clearly Shiro’s interactions with Keith are some of the most emotionally tense and compelling in the entire Voltron series--they are a consistent core of feeling energy for the show which naturally leads many people to support this ship. A large part of the reason that this post is tagged Sheith is because I am absolutely inviting Sheith shippers to use the theory and lens in this essay to analyze Sheith--using this idea to analyze Sheith will reveal a lot of intense emotional energy to discuss and validate that ship. I’m very tempted to put this paragraph in all caps or something so the Sheith shippers will actually read it and stop badgering me...)

Keith (and his relation with other characters) is the core of Voltron’s main plot, both in that he is positioned as the leader/the hero/the protagonist, and because, obviously, almost all of the series’ emotional high points (with the exception of “Crystal Venom” and Pidge’s search for Matt) somehow feature him. 

Keith isn’t just central in the main plot though; he’s also central in the individual arcs of two other characters: Lance and Shiro. He’s a motivating and driving factor in both of these characters’ stories and change throughout the series, affecting their actions, attitudes, and self-worth, and so it should come as absolutely no surprise that Sheith and Klance are the series’ most popular ships.

But since Klance is the most popular pairing, the person I really want to talk about is Lance.

You can say a lot of things about Lance and the raging debates that occurred over whether or not Lance is a straight loverboy trope or not, but I don’t think any viewer of Voltron would deny that, if we consider the main cast members (Team Voltron plus Lotor), the core of Lance’s emotional energy and tension is Keith. His interactions with Keith--not even in a romantic sense, simply in a storytelling sense--are more important and dynamic than his on-screen interactions with any other main character.

From his laser focus on Keith at Garrison that caused him to invent a rivalry (this word is basically just a synonym for “emotional energy” at this point):

To comedic banter:

To the infamous bonding moment:

To a fledgling “right hand man” partnership:

To Lance’s insecurities:

The story of Voltron itself continuously reiterates that Lance’s interactions with Keith are more dynamic, more intense (even if we’re talking about “Rawr, I hate you, we’re rivals!” emotions instead of lovey-dovey stuff), and more plot relevant than Lance’s interactions with other characters in the series. Lance’s emotional arc is irrevocably centered on Keith until very, very late in the series.

More importantly: Lance’s motivation and personal plot line as a whole are centered on Keith. At it’s most basic, Lance’s character arc seems like it was supposed to center on Lance’s sense of self-worth--despite acting confident, Lance was actually insecure about his ability to help save the universe. Theoretically, his narrative should have focused on him becoming confident about his place on the team and his value as both a friend and fellow paladin to the other main characters. His arc should have been (and I guess theoretically still is? It’s just not... ever given much attention?) about him overcoming his insecurity by learning to recognize his own unique talents and discovering the things that only he can do to help Team Voltron succeed. (Hell, the entire Allurance thing could have been framed as “She’s completely out of my league” ---> “Whoa, originally I was putting Allura on a pedestal but actually she’s as much a member of this team as me--we’re in this together, side-by-side.”)

Whether or not the semi-incoherent narrative of Voltron actually delivered on this promise is iffy, but the set up in season 1-3ish is all there and all Keith:

At Garrison, Lance viewed Keith as a road block in his quest to becoming a fighter class student. Keith’s achievements and talent became a measuring stick for Lance’s own capabilities. He imagined a rivalry to make himself feel better/less insecure. His drive not to lose out to Keith is what dragged Hunk and Pidge along to Shiro’s rescue and ultimately led to the discovery of the Blue Lion. Lance comparing himself unfavorably to Keith as a paladin and pilot contributed to (mostly) one-sided animosity throughout the early seasons that gave way to a scene of Lance attempting to step down from the team because he didn’t see himself worthy of the position in comparison to Keith:

The logical conclusion that I think most fans would draw from these many scenes is that, as part of Lance’s overall character growth across the whole series, he needed to have a moment in which he recognized that he isn’t--and has never been--inferior to Keith.

Ultimately, the first five seasons continually reiterate the idea that, in terms of interactions, energy, and dynamic character growth, the most important main character in Lance’s story (other than Lance) is Keith.

Keith’s interactions with Lance are directly and immediately tied to Lance’s individual character arc/growth, and Keith is definitely the focus of Lance’s most meaningful emotional tension throughout seasons 1-5 at least.

Which means it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Klance is the most popular Lance ship, particularly when you set it side-by-side with the (increasingly canon) Allurance.

I just want to make this abundantly clear before I begin: I have absolutely nothing against Allurance shippers and, until it was done so poorly in season 5-6 (and potentially 7, I still haven’t even finished that one), I actually was okay with the possibility of Allurance being endgame because I thought there was potential for it to be done well. After what we’ve been given, I actually feel the Allurance shippers have been horribly shortchanged by the show’s real writing, and that I can’t personally support the ship the way it’s being written, but that’s not the fault of the characters themselves or anything inherently “wrong” with the ship. So please don’t take the rest of what I say here as ship hate--this is just observations from a literary analysis standpoint.

What has prevented Lance and Allura from gaining significant traction with the fans despite the fact that it’s edging close to canon territory if it isn’t canon already?

Well, one problem might be that Lance’s emotional energy has no bearing on Allura’s individual character development--and Allura’s emotional peaks have no bearing on Lance’s personal arc either (at least as far as it was established in early seasons and then left essentially unresolved).

Allura’s arc has, throughout the course of the show, centered on her ability to defeat her family’s foes, her grief for her lost people and planet, and her desire to follow in her father’s footsteps as a leader and in the Altean traditions as well. None of this has much of anything to do with Lance. Her growth as a character occurs--with the exception of the single shining scene on Naxela--completely independently of Lance. She lets her father’s memory go on her own in “Crystal Venom.” She faces Zarkon head-to-head by herself after rescuing Shiro. It’s Shiro who stops her from over-working herself to aid the coalition, not Lance. It’s Keith’s whose Galra blood forces her to re-examine and overcome some of her universal hatred for the Galra. It’s Lotor who helps her reach Oriande, and her own ingenuity that allows her to tame the White Lion and learn the secrets of Altean alchemy.

With the exception of the scene on Naxela where it was specifically Lance’s speech that motivated Allura to save the day, virtually all of her most charged emotions occurred elsewhere and with other characters, and there’s nothing in her personal goals--to be a strong leader, to revive her culture, to save the universe--that is intrinsically tied with Lance. He can encourage and aid her in those pursuits, but so can Shiro, Keith, Pidge, Hunk, and Coran. The role of fellow paladin and supporting ally isn’t unique to Lance. His interactions with her don’t fill a niche that drives her personal plot lines outside of the romance subplot.

And the same thing is true in reverse.

We get this nice scene of Allura encouraging Lance and helping him work on his insecurity... And then it is promptly never mentioned again. (Where did the sword go, guys? Where???) Lance gives up Blue to Allura and she’s almost immediately gifted at piloting the Blue Lion, while Lance is shown struggling with Red (once more in Keith’s shadow) and still hadn’t, as of the end of season 6, seemed to have mastered it to the same extent as Keith. It’s Keith, Laika (an alien dog--not Allura guys, an alien dog) and the SPACE MICE that Lance expresses his insecurities to, and it’s Coran who is there for Lance’s touching scene expressing his longing to return to Earth. Lance’s personal arc about growing into the paladin role and becoming a selfless person who puts the team before his own desire for glory once again occurs independently of Allura, with little to no interaction, and even fewer emotional high points between them, in the entire first half of the show.

For both of these characters, their “real emotional energy”--their tension both positive and negative--occurs with other characters. The “believability” and energy of this ship is diminished by the fact that it simply isn’t the most well-written of character pairs in the series. The romance subplot isn’t organically tied to either of their personal plot lines, and the depth of their one-on-one interactions pales in comparison to their, particularly Lance’s, interactions with other characters.

But huh... would you look at that... When a potential romantic interest came along whose interactions with Allura were both directly tied to her personal arc, her central character motivations, and her emotional high points...

Isn’t it amazing how well it was received by the fandom--despite the fact that no one was really sure whether Lotor was evil or not? Now of course, I’m not going to ignore the fact that Lotura was probably helped along by leaving Keith, Lance, and Shiro free to ship elsewhere, but I don’t think the actual chemistry in the series’ writing itself should be ignored.

There was significantly, significantly more tension and nuance to Allura and Lotor’s interactions that any of Allura’s interactions with any of the other main cast, and their interactions operated not just in a romantic capacity, but also as a vehicle for Allura’s personal character growth:

The push and pull of these two characters and their scenes together sparked change in both of them, which augmented and increased the quality of their romantic arc while also furthering both of their own individual goals as characters.

The story painted them as equals with mutual interests, a shared interest in Altean culture, both victims (at least initially) of their parents’ war, both distrusting but ultimately lonely people who were longing for connection to, in Allura’s case, what had been lost, and in Lotor’s case, what he theoretically had never been able to have (except the writers did him dirty so jk).

I just don’t think there are many people who would argue that Allurance--or Allura’s interactions with any other male character--have been written with near as much depth, engagement, and integration with her motivations as Lotor and Allura’s were. Their plot literally got more screen time one-on-one in a single seven episode season than Allura and Lance did in the 43+ other episodes...

And for the the short time that it lasted, this pairing was embraced by many fans. I might be biased because I immediately went out and followed every Lotura blog I could find, but to me it seems like it was well-liked and generally well-regarded among shippers until the colony reveal (and by many still after). I was very excited by the writing of this ship and definitely wanted something meaningful to come out of it. Part of the fandom’s immense outrage at Lotor’s reveal was, I think, linked to the fact that this ship had been so convincingly written into the series before it.

This, to me, is a perfect example of a situation in which the emotional exchange between two characters exceeds the strength and depth of their interactions with others, leading to immediate adoption and approval as a ship by the fandom. Where the real energy is, there are the shippers.

PHEW! Let me take a deep breath and come up for air. There’s a lot going on here, but boiling it down to the basic point I’m trying to make, and which I’ll address in a lot more depth in the third and final part of this: the way that a story is written profoundly affects what ships will or will not become popular with fans. Shipping isn’t an unpredictable beast that grows completely independently of its source material. The ways writers craft interactions between their characters--and the places where they invest the most and infuse the most life--are powerful tools that impact how fans view and come to love seeing characters both separately and in romantic relationships.

To that end, while there are numerous reasons slash ships are popular and continue to grow in popularity, one reason that should be considered seriously by all creative writers--fanfiction authors or aspiring original novelists--is the notion that shipping often aligns with the core of a story’s or character’s emotional energy, the pairs with the highest tension, the electric pulse of the story’s most meaningful moments. Non-canon ships of any sexuality swell to mega-popularity when fans perceive more depth and significance in the interactions of characters outside the canon pair, when the emotional work of the story is happening somewhere outside the intentional romantic plot line. Sometimes this is fine. But more often, this is a bad sign for creators--a sign that you’ve fumbled in the writing of your main romantic leads.

As writers, questions we rarely ask ourselves but often should are: “Where is the core of the tension in my story? Whose interactions are deepest and most central to the development of my main character?”

In other words: Where is the real emotional energy in my story?

In part 3 I’m going to provide one more excellent case-in-point, and then close out with a discussion of some take-aways for writers from all this that might help strengthen your romantic subplots, whatever your genre or whoever your characters.

Go on to Part 3 ->

[everythinginslowmotion]

The End is the Beginning

So, like everyone else, I was very dissatisfied to say the least with the ending of Voltron. And people kept saying, “just ignore canon, fanon has always been better than it anyway”. Which is true, but sometimes for me, especially as soon as a show ends, canon is pretty hard for me to get out of my mind. However, the one thing I did like with the ending of 8 was the openness of it all. The fact that Klance could be canon for all we know somewhere down the line and we really wouldn’t ever know. So I decided to write something. Its just under 10k words and it is NOT a fix it fic (that would imply that I fixed the things that I found wrong with season 8, when really i just kept everything from canon despite how wrong and painful it is, and instead extended the openness of keith and lance’s endings into the future and wrote off of that). Enjoy! This takes place in the future after the war, right before Shiro’s wedding.

ao3- |x|

When he received the invitation in the mail, it almost didn’t seem real. His life now had become so slow and different from where it was when he was 17 years old that he had almost forgotten that the war was real. Had it really been five years since the end. Since her. He knew time had passed but even with their yearly meetups, it hadn’t completely caught up with him yet.

He was completely fine the whole day leading up to him opening the letter. His mom had called out to him while he was weeding the juniberry garden from the house letting him know there was an envelope addressed to him from Shrio. He had a feeling he knew what it was going to be. He was sitting at the table reading the back of the invitation when Veronica walked in.

“Oh hey, is that for Shrio and Curtis’s wedding? I was wondering when he was going to ask. It’s been, what, like four years that they’ve been together. It’s about time they just made it official.”

“Five years,” he whispered softly. “They’ve been together five years now.”

He wasn’t sure when his mood shifted. Coming inside he was perfectly normal, he had only come in for a glass of water and then he would be back off to work. While his cup was filling with water the white of the envelope caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He shut off the water and carefully picked it up. Lance McClain was carefully written on the back in Shiro’s neat handwriting. Sitting down at the table, he opened up the top and pulled out the black and white save the date card that had a picture of Shiro and Curtis on the back with their foreheads pressed against the others. Behind it was a letter asking him to be one of the groomsmen. After reading the note, he just sat there at the table alone, staring at the cards laying out in front of him. He doesn’t know how long he was in there before Veronica entered the room.  

“Oh wow, five years. Yeah it really is time then that they just get married. They sure act married enough when they are at work.” Lance just softly laughed at that. It’s not like he would know. He really only goes around the garrison a handful of times a year anymore. “I’m guessing that other letter is him telling you he wants you as a groomsman. When was the last time you even saw any of them? It’s been a couple of months since Hunk and Shay came to visit. And I’m its been at least half a year since you’ve seen Keith.”

Keith.

It had been awhile since he had last saw him. Lance had been too busy with the farm and Keith had been off in space on missions and it just made it hard for them to see each other outside of their scheduled once a year meetups. In fact the last time he saw him was when they got together for their yearly dinner on the anniversary of the end of the war about four months prior.

He missed Keith. Besides Hunk, he was the closest one to Lance on the team. He was Keith’s right hand man. They could always count on the other to be there when they needed each other most. Lance would still trust him with his life, but everyone on the team feels so far away, but Keith just feels completely out of his reach for so much of the year that Lance just tries to not think about his former “rival”.

“Keith probably got the spot of best man, do you think? He is practically Shiro’s brother but I cannot imagine him planning a bachelor party for the guy. You’ll probably have to help him out with that one,” she said. Lance stopped really listening to her ramblings about the nearing future of the wedding after that.

He was happy for Shiro, he really was. But seeing the invitation in front of him seemed like a real end to the past. As if the end they had before wasn’t real but just a start of a transition period in their lives. And seeing this, no holding, this physical invitation in his hand started something in him. A reminder of what all had happened to get them to this point. And it hurt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Veronica had ended up being right about Keith needing help.

Five and a half months had passed since he received the invitation. Since then Lance had seen Hunk and Pidge. They got together for a small birthday celebration. Shiro had been off on a diplomatic mission and Keith was somewhere off in space. So it was just the three of them, his family, a cake that Hunk made. Nothing special. Nothing huge. And now they were just five days away from the wedding.

Lance had just started packing his stuff for his weekend away for the event when he got the call.

It was 11:30 at night and everyone else in the house had fallen asleep already. The sound of his phone ringing across his room came blaring through the silence surrounding. He quickly ran over to answer whoever was calling so late at night. Turning the phone over in his palm the name Keith showed on the screen over a picture of his friend holding the middle finger up at the camera.

“Kei...”

“Oh thank god you’re awake. Lance I need your help.” His voice sounded rushed and panicked. Something that was almost unheard of from Keith. Keith, who was always so sure of what he was doing. Keith, who could do almost anything they put their mind to. Panic washed over Lance. It had been months since he had heard his friends voice, and he answers to just hear chaos.

“Keith are you alright? What’s the problem? Why are you calling so late? Help with what?”

“Lance, I have a big problem. I need your help planning Shiro’s bachelor party. Like now.”

“What the fuck, Keith. That’s in like two days and you are telling me that you don’t have something planned?”

“I didn’t know I was supposed to be planning anything. I’ve gone with him to a few things to help him with small wedding details but he never mentioned anything about me planning a bachelor party.”

“You do realize that the bachelor party is like the main thing that a best man does, right?”

“I do now. But before about three hours ago, no, I had no fucking clue. I just arrived at Shiro’s apartment and he was talking about last minute details and then suddenly goes ‘And oh, I hope you have something good planned because the last few days have been so stressful with getting these last few details ready’ and of course I had no idea what he was talking about and he just gave me a look and said ‘Keith… you do have my bachelor party planned, don’t you?’ And then I panicked and said of course I did then spent the next two hours trying to come up with something for this stupid thing and I still have nothing. Please help me, I don’t want Shiro to know that I am basically the worst best man ever.”

“So let me get this straight… you need me to help you,” he said smirking. It was always fun when Keith actually asked for his help. And now that he knew that Keith wasn’t dying and that the world wasn’t ending again, he let himself have fun with this.

“Ugh Lance, not now. Please just help me before I hang up and call Pidge.”

“Fine, but you so owe me one buddy.”

“Yeah yeah I know, I know. Now just tell me your ideas before I lose my mind. Or my head after Shiro finds out I lied.”

They spent the next three hours on the phone coming up with Shiro’s bachelor party. He could finish packing in the morning before he left.

Two days later he found himself back in New Mexico with his family. When they arrived, they went to the hotel and Lance made his way over to Shiro’s apartment where everyone was at already, waiting for him. After just one knock on the door, Hunk swung it wide open for him, immediately pulling him into a bone crushing hug. Pidge, Shiro and Matt were next to greet him. When he finished hugging them he searched around the room for the last of them, but Keith was nowhere to be found.

Down the hallway he heard a door close, followed by the familiar voice.

“Hey does anyone know when Lance is getting here? We are going to be…” he looked up as he came around the corner. Lance froze, taken aback from how different Keith looked from when he saw him. His hair was significantly longer, and also pulled back into a ponytail. His face had matured as well. He was wearing tight black jeans, a red shirt and his leather jacket. He looked good and it suddenly made Lance feel very out of breath for a moment.

“Hey man,” he manage to breathe out before taking a couple of steps forward to greet him. Keith pulled him into a quick hug.

“Okay everyone, let’s get a move on. I’m ready to see how Keith managed at pulling together a party,” Pidge exclaimed.

“Hilarious Pidge. I’ll have you know that I actually pulled this together fine.” Lance gave him a look but Keith just ignored it and took a couple of steps towards the door. “Besides, you won’t even get to experience all of it because someone is still too underage.”

“Barely, by like five months. No one would even be able to tell the difference. Plus Matt is here and he will help me get in,” she said gesturing at her brother who just looked shocked as well as guilty.

“Pidge, I wish you could go, but I’d rather not get killed by your mother just three days before my wedding day.”

“Ugh, fine. But only because I know the wrath of my mother. Also I’m still going to complain about it the rest of the night.”

All of them made their way outside, Keith going towards his bike and the rest of them making their way towards Shiro’s car. As they got closer to it, Shiro looked back at the four of them and back at his car.

“Uhh, one of you guys might want to ride with Keith. Theoretically we could all fit in the car, but the back is kind of a mess and it’ll be tight for all three of you.”

“I’ll ride with Keith,” he said before making his way over to where Keith and his parked bike were. “Guess I’m stuck with you,” he said to Keith, who had his back turned.

Keith turned around and looked at Lance, obviously not expecting him to be there. “Oh, uh, yeah. Okay, cool. Cool. Well, uh, hop on then. And here, you can take this helmet, if you want it.”

Lance straddled over the back of his hoverbike. It was much newer than the one that they rode on all those years ago when they found the blue lion. Still red and similar in design, but definitely more high tech. Keith got on in front of him and Lance put his arms loosely around his waist. Keith powered up the bike, turned his head to the side to say “You might want to hold on tight,” and then took off, Shiro following closely behind as they drove out to the city.

It had been a while since Lance had been out here. He forgot how pretty the desert could be at night. There was nothing but the mountains in the background, the distant lights of the only city around for miles, and the stars shining above them. The November air was so fresh as it blew against his face and through his hair as they made their way down the empty road out towards the middle of nowhere.

They finally arrived at their destination. Lance was sure Shiro must have figured out where they were taking him by now. It seemed like only a place that Keith would be able to think of, where him and Shiro used to race back when Keith was a student at the garrison. There, were two parked hoverbikes Keith had managed to borrow from the garrison. Keith and Lance dismounted Keith’s own bike and looked at them.

“This was a really good idea, Lance.”

“I didn’t come up with it all on my own.”

Pidge ran out of the car and up behind the two of them. “Keith, how did you manage this! Did you steal these from the garrison?”

“What? Why would I steal them? Your dad let me borrow them for the night.”

Shiro came up behind them and put his hands on their shoulders. “This is great guys, thanks.”

Lance just gave Keith a look of how does he know? and Keith just looked back at him just as confused, shrugging a shoulder before shoving Shiro’s hand off of him and moving forward towards a bike.

“So, who’s first?”

Keith and Shiro had gone first in racing. Shiro won despite Keith’s insistence that he cheated. After that they split up into teams, him, Pidge and Hunk on one and Matt, Shiro and Keith on the other. Overall, the three of them got crushed. Lance was the only one that won a race and it was against Matt. Hunk had thrown up on his when he went off the side of the hill and decided he would stick the rest of it cheering from the sidelines.

Keith and him ended up racing once. Lance had mounted the bike and looked over at the other boy before putting his helmet on.

“Ready to lose, mullet,” he said smirking.

“Oh, I think you should be asking yourself that question, Blue,” he said. Right before slipping his helmet on over his head, Lance could’ve sworn he saw the other boy wink quickly followed by a small smile. Lance just started back in disbelief before putting his helmet on. He didn’t even hear Pidge say “Go”. He was still trying to figure out if he had really seen a wink from Keith or if it was the darkness and his mind playing tricks on him. He heard Keith’s bike rev and then saw his vision blur from the dust kicking up in front of him, knocking him out of his thought and allowing himself to take off as well directly behind Keith. By the time they made it back up to where everyone else was, Lance was only slightly behind Keith, but he still lost. Keith dismounted from his bike, making his way over to Lance’s where he held out his hand to help Lance down.

“Better luck next time, buddy.”

Lance took his hand, feet hitting the ground soon after. Lance didn’t snap back a response to his friend about how he would have beat him if… well if Keith hadn’t caught him so off guard. He still doesn’t know if what he saw was completely real or not.

“It’s getting pretty late, so if we are going to go out more then we should probably go unless someone else wants to race,” Keith said. Lance looked down realizing that his hand was still locked into Keith’s grip. His palm was warm through his gloves, a pleasant contrast to the cold November air. Lance was thankful it was dark outside because he felt the heat rise up his arm up to his face that he was sure was bright red by now. He slowly took his hand back from Keith’s and took a step closer to Hunk.

Matt and Pidge were the only ones to want to race again, Pidge insisting that their last one hadn’t been fair. After that they loaded back up in the vehicles and made their way back into the town. Shiro dropped Pidge off at her parents house and followed Keith and Lance to the bar. It was a small one that was a few blocks down the road from the garrison. It wasn’t something that someone would just know was there, but Shiro had found it when he was a student and it was the place where he and Curtis really first connected after the war ended. Keith figured it would be the only bar that Shiro would really want to go out to if they were going to one.

They walked into the crowded room. They found a spot in the corner where they could all fit. Matt had already begun begging Shiro to go dance before they had even made it through their first round of drink.

“If you are going to make me dance at least let me get a decent amount of alcohol in me first,” Shiro groaned.

“Ugh but drunk Shiro gets all cuddly and handsy. And we don’t need that a couple of nights before you get married to another man now do we?” Matt replied. Hunk just gave Shiro and Matt several glances back and forth.

Shiro’s face fell flat, unamused, “Ha ha, Matt. You’re hilarious. Let me at least finish this one before you subject me to your awful dancing.”

After Shiro finished his drink, as promised, Matt dragged him out to dance. On his way out of his seat, he latched onto Keith’s wrist. Keith’s face filled with panic as he struggled to free his arm from Shiro’s grasp.

“Shiro let go of me,”

“Oh nononono you don’t hotshot, this is a bachelor party and we all get to participate in the humiliation,” Lance said as he stood up from his spot beside Keith. He put his hand on Keith’s shoulder and nudged him forward. “Come on, Hunk.”

“Aw man, Lance, that’s not fair. I can’t even drink anything to make this any easier.”

“What are you talking about dude, none of us are even drunk right now. If the rest of us have to suffer sober, then you, as the dd, gets to also.”

It didn’t take long for Hunk to get pumped up like Matt and Lance were. They all danced around an awkward Shiro and a pouting Keith. At least Shiro was trying to dance. Keith just stood there with his arms crossed tapping his foot and lightly bobbing his head to the beat of the music. Lance grabbed his arms to uncross them and started to swing them around.

“Lance what are you doing,” he deadpanned at the boy in front of him who was still shaking his arms around to the beat of the music.

“Uhhh, what does it look like, Keith. I’m helping you dance since you are incapable of having fun.”

“What! I am not incapable of having fun,” he said as his scowl hardened as Lance continued to haphazardly flop his arms in random directions.

“Well considering I have to do this,” he waved Keith’s arms in front of his face, “in order for you to move any part of your body, I would say that you are pretty incapable of fun.”

Keith just shook his head in disbelief as he ripped his arms from Lance’s grasp. “I’m more than capable of having fun,” he said. Lance just raised an eyebrow at the boy in front of him before Keith started swaying back and forth, matching the rhythm of the song.

“You call that dancing? Come on man, loosen up some,” Lance said to him, putting his hands on the others shoulders and shaking him a little. Keith just took a breath in and started slowly mimicking the movements that Lance was doing in front of him. As the song continued on, he did in fact loosen up. He got less awkward with his movement and more into what he was doing.

Lance watched as the boy in front of him closed his eyes and let the music move through his body. He watched as the long bangs that hung down in front of his eyes bobbed up in down with the movement of Keith’s body. Some of his hair was beginning to stick to his forehead due to sweat beginning to form in the warm room. He stopped for a minute just to watch Keith dance. It had been awhile since Lance had seen his friend so free. He was usually so run down by the duties he had been carrying around since he was 17, but now, in this small moment, none of those were present. Keith just let himself go. He was dancing, awfully, Lance might add, but he was still dancing. And it was the most beautiful thing Lance had seen in a really long time.

After a while, Lance started to get pretty tired. He gets another drink and then makes his way back over to their spot. By this point, Shiro and Matt were getting pretty drunk. They had more drinks in between every few songs, but Lance had just stayed dancing with Keith and Hunk. He almost never wanted that feeling to end, the one that he was getting from watching Keith dance horribly in front of him as if he hadn’t ever had a care in the world. It was so unlike the hard cold Keith that usually was present during these types of situations. He almost felt like he was living in a dream, until of course something had to come and wake him up.

The song switched and he opened his eyes and stopped dancing for a moment to catch his breath. He was looking at Keith again when a girl walked along the back of the room behind Keith. White hair, fastened neatly up into a large bun on the top of her head. Ears coming to a point on the side of the head. Dark skin contrasting to the mark glowing just under her eye. Allura.

Lance’s breath seized up inside of his chest. He took a better look at the girl passing by in the background. No, not Allura. Allura was… It was just an altean that looked so much like… like her. Lance felt his chest drop and he looked down at the ground. His head suddenly feeling very heavy. He was just… tired. So he took a break and now he was sitting alone in their corner trying to catch a glimpse of the girl who was now long out of sight. He took a sip of his drink and sighed. Keith and Hunk were still dancing. Matt and Shiro were nowhere to be found at the moment.

He is still searching the crowd to try and get just one more look at her, but Lacne can’t find the altean girl anywhere in the room. He looks down at the ground when he feels an elbow hitting his shoulder. He looks up to find Keith with a drink in each hand, bangs stuck to his forehead and hair draped messily on his neck, having come loose from his hair tie. Lance moves over to make room for the other boy to sit next to him. Keith hands him the full glass, taking a sip of his own at the same time.

“You’ve been over here by yourself for a while now, is everything alright?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine buddy. Just got a little tired.” Keith just gave him a look but took another drink rather than pushing the question any further. Lance took a glance out onto the crowd of people and aliens dancing in front of them. “Where’d Hunk go?”

“He went to go find Matt and Shiro. I told him to look in the bathroom. Shiro tends to end up there pretty quickly after he gets a few drinks in him and Matt definitely put more than a few in him.”

They dropped the conversation after that, continuing to drink their drinks in the comfortable silence that had fallen over them. After they both finished, Keith offered to go get another round and Lance didn’t turn it down. Maybe after a few more this feeling would fade away. Keith quickly returned handing his friend the new glass.

“I never thanked you for helping me the other night with this.”

“You don’t need to thank me dude, I figured it was only a matter of time before the panicked call came in begging me for my genius help in party planning.” Keith shoved Lance over, spilling some of both of their drinks onto the ground. “Now look what you did.”

“Shut up, Lance. I’m serious. This turned out great. Everyone is having a good time and we all get to do it together. I would’ve never thought of anything like this without you, hell, I didn’t even know I was supposed to plan anything in the first place.”

“It’s nothing. Besides I just led you into the right direction. You came up with the bikes and bringing Shiro to this place. But I will accept your gratitude because I really don’t want to know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t called me.”

“Honestly, neither do I,” he said laughing under his breath. “I’m glad you still have my back, Lance.”

“Hey man, we’re partners. I’ll always have your back when you need me. I don’t know what you’d do without me.”

Keith just looks up at him and gently smiles. “Yeah. I don’t know what I’d do either.”

They stay like that for a while going through a few more drinks, talking about nothing in particular. Eventually Hunk walks out from a hallway with Shiro and Matt following behind. He makes them sit down for awhile but they tell him that he isn’t any fun and that this is Shiro’s night so when Hunk turns his back for a second they are up and gone back out to dance. Hunk just lets them go, but doesn’t take his eyes off of the pair the entire time they are up.

Lance’s mind is now turning into a stronger buzz, the feelings that he felt when he originally sat down now replaced by a bubbling happiness that really acted up everytime Keith looked at him, accidentally brushed his arm against his own, or even talked to Lance.

“Keeeeeith. Let’s go dance again,” Lance said leaning his body against Keith’s as if he were trying to push him out of his seat.

“I’ve done enough dancing for a lifetime,” he mumbles pushing back against Lance’s weight.

Lance continues to push, but eventually he begins pointing the other boys side. “Pleeeease Keith. I like it when you dance. You start to look pretty.”

“Fine, but it's too hot in here for me to keep this on,” he says as he begins to strip off his leather jacket revealing the tight red shirt underneath. Lance feels his breath catch in his throat again, and the room suddenly does feel very warm as Keith had suggested it did. “Hunk, hold this for me pleeease. Thanks I love you.” Hunk looks shocked and slightly annoyed, but takes the jacket from Keith’s hand nonetheless.

“Please be careful you two, you are starting to look almost as bad as Matt and Shiro,” he warns them. Lance just takes Keith’s hand and scoffs at Hunk.

“We’re fine, buddy. We are just going to go make Keith pretty again.” With that, Lance tugs on Keith’s hand and drags him out to the area where Shiro and Matt are “dancing”.

He grabs Keith by his other hand and they start to dance as they had earlier but now hand and hand. Keith’s eyes are already closed as he lets himself go once again, but Lance doesn’t close his this time. He keeps them open the entire time watching as the others hair flies in all directions with the motion of his head and as is body moves in -sort of- time of the song. Their hands start to get slippery in the grip of the others, but neither one of them lets go of the others while they are out there. Shiro and Matt make their way more over to where Lance and Keith are standing and try and dance along with them, but Lance doesn’t pay much attention to what they are doing.

It doesn’t take much longer for Hunk to decide that it’s time for everyone to go home. He rounds them all up and takes them out to Shiro’s car where he piles him, Keith and Shiro into the backseat after Matt had whined about not sitting in the front yet.

“Waiit, Hunk. Keith’s bike, someone’s gonna steal it from him. What are we going to do?”

Hunk buckled himself into the driver's seat and just looked at Lance through the mirror. He looked tired. Lance suddenly felt a finger touch his lips.

“Shhhh, I’ll just get it in the morning. It’ll be okay,” Keith whispered into Lance’s ear.

“Remind me never agree to be the designated driver again. All of you are weird drunk.”

Lance decided to ignore his friends comment about them and just leaned his head against the back of his seat letting his eyes begin to close. Right before he started to slip into sleep, he felt the gentle weight of a head resting on his shoulder, bangs gently tickling against his neck.

The next thing he knows is that he is being shook awake and helped out of the car. They all slowly make their way up the stairs of Shiro’s apartment complex and over to his place. Matt just falls onto the couch and Shiro takes the chair next to it, curling up and immediately falling asleep. Lance is about to sit down and pass out on in the middle of the living room with the other two, but he feels a warm hand curl around his wrist, pulling him into the hallway leading to the two bedrooms. Keith guides Lance into the guest room where he is staying for the weekend and pulls back the covers of the bed in the middle of the room. Without a word, he strips down his pants and removes his jacket, leaving him in just his boxers and his red shirt, before climbing into the bed and pulling the covers up over his head. Lance doesn’t put much thought into deciding that what Keith did would be the most suitable option for sleepwear before doing the same and going to the otherside of the bed. As soon as his head hits the pillow, he starts to drift off, again only feeling the draping of an arm over his side before he completely falls into the darkness of sleep.

The next morning, Keith wakes up first to the morning light coming through the blinds that he forgot to close. He brings up his hand to cover his eyes from the blinding light that is causing his head to pound. As he slowly begins to wake up more, he realizes that his body was curled up into Lance’s side, head resting on his shoulder, hand draped over his stomach. He looked up at the sleeping boys face before slowly removing himself from the bed. Quietly, he slipped on a new pair of jeans and a new shirt, grabbed his jacket, closed the blinds and left the room deciding that it was best to do so before Lance woke up.

The light eventually starts to make its way under Lance’s eyelids, slowly waking him up. The first thing he notices is the pounding sensation in his head. The next thing is that he is alone, and the covers on the other side of the bed are messed up. He carefully and slowly sits up in the bed grabbing his head in his hands as the pounding gets harder with every movement. He eventually makes his way out of the bed and grabs his pants that were laying on the ground next to the bed.

Keith.

That’s who he shared the bed with.

Then it all came back to him. The wink, the lingering hand holding, the dancing, the touches, how pretty Keith looked when he was free. Lance looked back at the unmade other side of the bed.

Oh.

He puts his pants on and makes his way out to the kitchen where Shiro and Matt are sitting at the table with Curtis who must have returned this morning. Hunk was in the kitchen making pancakes at the stove.

“Oh hey Lance. Nice of you to join us.”

“Geez, buddy, can you keep it down some. Pounding headache over here.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry Lance. Forgot you guys were totally wasted last night. There is some aspirin on the counter,” he said. Lance made his way to over to him where he took the two pills and grabbed a plate of food that Hunk had made up for him. He sat down at the table in the last chair and began to dig into his food with the rest of them.

“Does anybody know where Keith went this morning?”

“Oh, I think he slipped out to go get his bike earlier. He’ll probably be back soon if you want to talk to him,” Hunk mentioned as he pulled up a spare chair to the table and started on his own food.

“No, uh, I need to get going after this. Me and Veronica were going to go do some stuff around town today. I don’t want to keep her waiting.”

He took the last few bites of his food before getting up and taking his plate to the sink.

“I’ll see you all later,” he told them making his way over to the door. Shiro stood up from his chair and made his way over to the door along with Lance. Shiro opened it up and Lance stepped outside.

“Hey Shiro, let Keith know I said thanks for letting me use his bed last night.”

“Will do. And thanks for helping him plan the party.”

“Uhhh…”

“Don’t act like you didn’t help him. There is no way Keith had anything planned when I asked him the other night. Are you sure you are good to drive back? Does your head feel alright and everything?”

“Well my head still hurts, but I think I’ll be good. It’s starting to go down some. Alright, see you later tonight for the rehearsal,” he said before turning and making his way to his car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He doesn’t know why, but seeing the altean two nights before had brought back the nightmares. The memories. The last of their teenage years wrapped up in the middle of a war they hadn’t even existed before they had found Blue. But worst of all, it brought back the hurt that came after her.

The feelings that usually dragged him down from thinking about his life before were being repressed. Pushed back by something. Something familiar yet new all at once. They were being drawn away by the red, fiery nature of black hair and violet eyes. By the electricity that ran through his veins when their arms brushed. The smile that burns brighter than any star he ever saw out in the universe. The vague memory of an arm wrapped around him, holding him close as he drifted off into sleep.

Feelings for Keith weren’t something he was unfamiliar with. For years he felt his heart race as they challenged one another over something ridiculous. When Shiro went missing and suddenly their rivalry morphed itself into something more. The feelings of loneliness after Keith disappeared with the blades. The soft flutter that reappeared in his chest when he returned. But by that point he had himself convinced he had moved on from Keith. That Allura was who he needed and that Keith obviously didn’t see him as anything other than his friend and teammate. Overtime those feelings faded completely into the background, unnoticed by Lance among the new ones that had taken their place eventually. That is, until two nights ago. And all it took was a wink.

Now it’s the night of the wedding and they haven’t gone away. He feels weird now after having shared the bed with Keith and then not being able to speak to him since. The familiar feeling of possible rejection climbs up his throat every time he passes by the other. That, followed by the undeniable guilt that builds afterwards. As if Keith is somehow a betrayal to what he felt towards Allura. And he hates it.

He wants Shiro to be happy, but he wasn’t expecting something as simple as his friends wedding to bring up so many emotions that were extremely unwanted.

It’s an hour until the ceremony starts and Lance still hasn’t had the courage or the time to talk to Keith about the other night. The night before at the wedding rehearsal and dinner, he avoided most eye contact with him. That of course got him several worried glances from Hunk but never an actual question of what was going on. And today, while they were all putting in place decorations and getting ready, Keith was gone almost the entire time helping Shiro prepare. When him and Shiro finally showed up, Keith was already dressed in his white tuxedo with his red vest and bowtie. Keith spared him one glance before ushering Shiro into the next room. Lance’s eyes followed, stopping and staying locked on the door, breath hitched up in the back of his throat, until an elbow nudged him gently in his side.

“Hey dude, you okay?”

Lance looked up at his friend who was fastening his own yellow bowtie on his neck in the mirror next to where Lance was standing.

“Uh yeah, I’m good. Totally fine.”

“You sure because you sure have been acting weird everytime Keith is around ever since you woke up at Shiro’s the other day. Did something happen between you two that night? I noticed you guys were pretty close all night long. Oh my god, dude! Did you two…”

“What!? Nononononononono. We didn’t do anything except share the bed. I swear, geez Hunk. And I am not acting weird around Keith. Why would I be acting weird around him?” Hunk just stopped what he was doing and stared at Lance who could feel his face heating up by the second. He just turned around avoiding his best friends intense and knowing stare that always got to him eventually. “I’m fine dude, promise.”

“If you say so, Lance,” he said placing a hand on Lance’s turned shoulder. It dropped almost immediately after, footsteps falling in its place, leaving Lance alone and lost without the comfort of his friend to distract his mind from the red that he can't seem to shake from his mind.

The ceremony was beautiful. The room was decorated in white and black with purple flowers occasionally standing out against the white ones they were surrounded by. Lance stood next to Keith on the stage, but his mind never wandered over to thoughts about him. His entire focus was on his friend who he had never seen happier as he vowed to be with the love of his life forever. Everything went relatively perfectly throughout the entire thing and tears were forming from the corners of his eyes almost from the moment that he saw Shiro’s face as Curtis started walking towards him.

They make their way over to the reception after they get in a few pictures of the new married couple. The decorations here are more purple, the rooms lighting is dim and the music is already playing the background. The moments directly after the wedding were full of a high. Everyone was crying and laughing, happy that their friend finally gets to experience permanent happiness after everything that he had to go through. It was the reception that started the low from that.

The lights were dim and the feeling floating around the air was one of light happiness. The room was crowded with people, some dancing, some sitting and chatting, others mindlessly eating away at the food laid out on the tables along the wall. He should have been happy. And he was in a way. He doesn’t think the happiness he felt for Shiro would go away for a long time. But at the same time the nagging is creeping up from the back of his mind again. Gnawing away at his thoughts slowly, making him think of what could have been, or even what could be. Reminders of the past and how they shaped the future and their current lives. He hates it. He hates being like this. Especially in a place where he is really not supposed to be like this.

Lance missed Keith’s speech. He was there, sitting at the table with him and the others, but he completely missed everything he said. He had spent the entire time staring. At his face and how his mouth formed carefully around every single word he said. At how his brows would twitch when he had to think a little longer about what his next sentence would be. At his hands and how they nervously intertwined themselves together throughout the entire speech. He had never seen Keith so nervous about speaking in front of a crowd before. Usually he was so confident, calm and collected as he spoke out among a crowd of people. But this was different. This wasn’t a talk about how they would come back triumphant in their quest to save the universe or a speech to unite alien civilizations. It was his best friend’s- his brother’s- wedding, and Lance picked up on how it was cutting through his confidence in a way none of them had ever seen.

The night carried on like that for a while. Hunk held his wrist and walked him around to different spots in the room to chat with people, took him to get food, and even took him out to dance. He felt fine while he was with Hunk, but something was still digging its way through his mind and even Hunk’s persistence couldn’t rid of it completely. They were dancing to a song Lance had never heard when Shay asked if she could cut in. Hunk just gave Lance a look, but Lance just smiled and nodded, moving out of the way so that Shay could take his spot.

“Have fun you two crazy kids. And don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.” He continued to smile as a blush covered Hunk’s cheeks, but he turned around without another word and walked back to his seat at the table.

He looks out at the dance floor for a while, watching as his friends and the other guests dance along to the music. He hears the chair next to him slide out and feels the presence of someone next to him.

“You know, I just spent 10 minutes listening to Slav go on about how many realities there were to get us to this wedding and about how my bowtie being crooked would alter so many realities after this and now I feel like my head might actually explode.”

Lance turned his head to look at the man sitting beside him. His bowtie was crooked.

“You spent 10 minutes listening to that and you didn’t even think to straighten out your bowtie? Here, let me help you,” he said reaching his arms out to connect with the bright red bow around Keith’s neck. He looked up at Keith’s face briefly before concentrating back at his task. “Why were you talking to Slav anyway?”

“He had been talking to Shiro and I figured I should go save him since it was his wedding day and we don’t need this to turn into a crime scene today.” Lance finished straightening out the tie and slowly took his hands back, looking up at Keith and smiling. “Thanks. Maybe now realities are altered back to how they should be.”

“I don’t know a lot about the alternate reality thing, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.”

They sat there after that, once again falling into comfortable silence as they stared out onto the crowd. Even with Keith sitting by him in the moment, there was something still clawing at his mind. How could everything here seem so right but wrong at the same time? As if something was missing from it all, changing the way everyone was experiencing it.

“You are thinking about her, aren’t you.”

Oh. It’s her. The guilt, the pain. The missing piece from today. Her.

Lance just looked back at Keith.

“Yeah. I guess I was.”

“It’s been bothering me all night. I was trying to figure out what it was and then it hit me. It just kind of seems wrong without her, but this is what she would want for him. For all of us actually. To be happy and living out lives as we should be.” Lance didn’t know what to say to that. So he just picked up his cup and took a sip from it. “Oh, I.. sorry. You probably really miss her right now.”

“Yeah I do, but not like I used to. Just sometimes when we are all together, experiencing things, it just gets a little hard.”

“Yeah I understand. But she would want this for you most of all, you know. To be happy, and to move onto new adventures as they come to you.” Keith is really looking at him now, face soft and comforting.

“I’ve moved on from her.  Really, I have. But you’re right, it’s just hard sometimes to do that second part. With the new adventures and all. I just, I don’t know, I think I feel like if I stop what I’m doing now, it’ll be a disservice to her.”

“Allura cared so much about you Lance. She liked you for who you were, for the Lance that knew exactly what he wanted in life. She knew from the moment she met all of us that we were destined for greatness and I don’t think that you could anything that would ever be of disservice to Allura and her life. You are capable of new adventures, Lance, and you will never convince me otherwise.”

Lance softly smiled back. “Thanks. I, uh, I really needed that Keith.” His mind was starting to calm. He didn’t know if it was the reassurance about Allura or the look that Keith was giving him in the moment, but it didn’t really matter. “Now I guess I just have to figure out where to start, “ he said laughing lightly with it. Keith turned his head away from Lance and back out to the crowd of dancing people, then stands up, holding his hand out to Lance. Lance’s eyes follow up his arm and find his face. It’s still soft and appears confident, but he can tell there is something hidden in his eyes- nervousness.

“How about right here,” he says softly keeping his hand extended. Lance feels the blood rise up to his cheeks.

“What do you mean?”

“You can start right here. With me.” Lance goes back to looking at his extended hand. He then looks down at his own and back up at Keith. A smile forms on his face as he reaches out with his own and takes hold of Keith’s hand, letting himself be pulled out of the chair and led back out to the middle of the room into the crowd of people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Half a year later~

He was out in the garden weeding the juniberry garden when the roar of the ships engine began to grow louder as it came closer. Lance smiled down at the large pink flowers in front of him, picking one from the ground before standing up and wiping off his hands. He threw the rake that he had been using earlier over his shoulder and looked out on the fields of his family’s farm. It was beautiful outside, sunny and clear but not hot so that it was miserable. They were all outside working today. His mom, niece and nephew were gathering flowers that had been ordered for bouquets and arrangements. His father had been milking Kaltenecker. Everyone had a job to get done but there was no stress out here. Everything out here was exactly how it was meant to be.

Lance had been out working since the sun rose in the horizon. He was always up earlier than anyone else on these days because it was hard for him to stay asleep. It was pickup day. The day that was guaranteed to be his favorite of the whole week every week. It had been since mid-November. He had finished all of his usual daily chores early on in the morning and went out to the Juiberry garden to pass the time. It always calmed him, working out there. Made his excitement tone down for a while so he wouldn't be restless the entire day.

He made his way down to the barn where all of the crates that were ready to be picked up were located. He tucked the flower behind his ear for safe keeping as he leaned over the boxes, counting to make sure they were all there and labeled correctly.

He stood up and straightened his back when he heard the barn door open up behind him, the soft creak of the hinges acting as a warning. A smile spread across his face and his heartbeat picked up as he pretended to continue counting the boxes. Eventually, two strong arms found their way around his waist followed by a head full of long and soft, black hair nuzzling its way into the crook of his neck. Lance wrapped his arms over Keith’s, his hands molding perfectly over the others. He opened up the arms around him and turned around, looking into the face of his boyfriend.

“I brought you something,” he said pulling the juniberry from behind his ear and pushing Keith’s hair back so that he could move it to stay behind Keith’s ear. “Beautiful,” he whispered to him before leaning in to kiss him gently on the lips. And it was true, Keith was beautiful and Lance didn’t think he could ever get enough of it. He pulled away, slipping his hand into Keith’s and turning back towards the crates.

“Everything’s ready to load up, partner.”

After Shiro’s wedding, Lance decided it was time to start his new adventure- baby steps at a time. Him and Keith started dating not long after the wedding and everything started to build from there. Keith eventually decided that his humanitarian efforts throughout the universe could really use some good, homegrown products, thus starting their partnership. Lance’s family was all for giving what they produce towards Keith’s cause. They’d do anything for Keith. All of them already treat him as if he were a part of the family.

The best part of the pick up days was that after everything was loaded into Keith’s ship, they had the rest of the day to themselves. Keith usually ended up staying the night since he didn’t really have to take off again until the morning.

The last crate of the day gets loaded into the cargo hold and Keith takes Lance’s hand in his own.

“So what is on the schedule for today?”

“I was thinking that we could just have a do nothing, chill day. Maybe walk around later. I’m fine with anything just as long as I get to spend all of it with you.”

Keith looked at him, smiling that smile that made Lance’s insides feel as if they were about to explode. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

So that’s what they did. They laid around inside, watched movies, and helped his mom cook and set up for dinner. After they ate and helped clean up, they went outside for their walk.

The sun was just starting to set, the sky changing from blue to a painting of yellows and oranges as the sun began to disappear behind the hills in the distance.

“Look at us, babe. Lance and Keith, hand in hand,” he says, holding up him and Keith’s entangled hands to admire them.

“I like that a lot better than Lance and Keith, neck and neck.”

Lance laughed, “Yeah, so do I. We’ve come a long way since then, haven’t we.”

They sat down next to each other on the top of a hill, sides pressing into one another's. Lance put his arm around Keith’s shoulders as Keith rest his head on Lance’s.

“Do you remember our last night on earth before the war ended?”

Lance paused at the question, looking off into the orange sunset.

“Yeah, of course I do.”

“And how you came and found me on the black lion watching the sunset?”

“Yeah.”

“That was the night I was going to tell you how I felt about you.”

“Wait, you were going to do what?”

“Shiro had told us all, spend the evening with the ones you love. I had gone up to Black with Cosmo to think about it, and I came to the conclusion that I wanted to spend that night with you. And I got to, because you came and found me, but obviously after that I couldn’t tell you how I felt. But it was fine, I was really happy for you.”

“Oh, I… I didn’t know that.”

“No offense, but I even then I had a feeling that we would always end up here anyway. I mean, not necessarily on your family farm watching the sunset, but together. You were always the flame that I was drawn to, that I couldn’t resist. And from the moment I met you in that tent in the desert I had a feeling I was going to be stuck with you forever, I just didn’t realize at the time that forever isn’t enough time for me to spend with you.”

“That’s… that’s exactly how I felt back at the garrison when I first heard of you. Keith Kogane, the pain in my ass who was always one step ahead of me. Keith Kogane, the boy who didn’t even bother to remember my name. Eventually I realized that all that anger I had towards you was just a stupid crush that I thought I would never get over, and to be honest, even when I thought it was gone, it was still there. Just waiting for me to realize that I need you in my life always.”

They stayed there on the ground until the sun set completely, laying down in the grass after that to count the stars. Lance turned on his side, resting his head in his hand to look over at his boyfriend. His face was lit up under the dim light of the moon, his black hair was spread out over the soft grass, and his face was filled with job as he gazed up at the stars above them. He quickly noticed Lance’s staring and turned his head slightly to look up at him.

“What?”

“I just…”

“You just…?”

Lance paused for a moment, looking back up at the stars and then out onto the hills in the distance as they faded into the dark sky. Everything out here was calm, exactly as it should be. He had never been happier in his life than he was in this moment. He thought back to the past several years of his life, the end of the war, starting up the farm with his family, the wedding, Keith. When he first boarded Blue all those years ago, never in a million years would he have thought this is where he would end up. He was so young and full of life and curiosity. Ready for the next adventure to come as the last one passed. But it’s where he is, and it was what he needed. He needed a break from the thrill of life for a moment, where he could be surrounded by what he loves most. He is truly surrounded by everything that he loves, and everything is completely clear now.

“Marry me,” he says quietly, looking back down at Keith now. Keith’s eyes go wide with shock and his mouth falls open. He sits up so that his body is more level with Lance’s.

“W..What? Are you joking?”

“No, I’m completely serious. It’s time for another new adventure and you said it yourself, we are meant to do this together. So, Keith Kogane, marry me, because I have never been so sure of something in my life,” he said taking Keith’s hand in his own and holding it close to them. He said it as a statement rather than a question. Because he knows Keith. Even if he doesn’t get a clear yes right in this moment, he knows one will come soon and no matter what happens that is where they will end up. Keith’s face is still filled with shock, but soon it starts to soften into the look that he saves specifically for moments like this with Lance.

“Of course I’ll marry you,” he says throwing his arms around Lance’s neck, tackling him back onto the ground. Keith’s weight is on top of Lance and he leans down so that their foreheads are touching.

“I don’t have a ring right now, but I’ll get you one. And then we will get married and we can go off and do whatever the hell we want.”

“I love you, Lance, so much.”

“I love you too, Mullet.”

Six years after the war had ended, their lives were really just beginning.

end.

archive of our own- |x|

[shima-draws]

Alright

I have a lot of things to say so it’s all under the cut

First of all, wow. What a finale. What a fucking finale, man...

I’m warning you now this is not a nice rant so if you really love Voltron and don’t like seeing other people hate on it do not read this lol

Let me be honest, Voltron really isn’t that great of a show. I’ve pretty much stayed here watching the new seasons out of obligation and my love for the characters. Even then the writers still fucked that up so I’m stealing them all and they’re mine now. I’m not even sorry.

Voltron has always been a really tough show to keep track of and follow along with;; I never really know what’s going on and they introduce characters and planets so quickly that I forget about them right away and there’s like maybe 3 that are really memorable. So honestly the whole series has just seemed like an EXCESSIVE amount of filler that nobody needed. Even starting season 8 I had no fucking idea what was going on because the end of season 7 was just THAT unmemorable lmao. And they brought back so many characters I was like “Who the FUCK are you??” And it just made it ten times more confusing.

There was just so much unnecessary content we didn’t need in there. In season 8 they fought Honerva in her giant robot for like three or four episodes straight and that got really tiring really fast. Honestly most of s8 was just robot fights and I’m like “Are they writing a meaningful story or just 7 billion eye candy action sequences” TAKE THE TIME TO DEVELOP YOUR CHARACTERS, UNIVERSE, AND PLOT MORE INSTEAD OF DEDICATING 15 OUT OF 20 MINUTES OF SCREENTIME TO ROBOT FIGHTS THANKS. There are SO many plot holes and questions left unanswered that we’ll never get answered so that’s fantastic. Not to mention all of those fights were so fucking repetitive I got so bored watching the same thing happen over and over again. Voltron always wins, what’s fucking new?

Also man jesus christ they fucked over their characters SO MUCH. I’ll get into Allura last but let’s go down the list, shall we?

Lance was reduced to not only the comic relief but the super boring love interest. His relationship with Allura felt so forced and unnatural and there was no chemistry between them whatsoever. It was almost as if the writers were like “We need something for Lance to do in season 8” and then they decided “Let’s just make him a foil for Allura and make him her boyfriend!!” Like it was SO unnecessary and I’m sorry to any Allu//ance shippers out there but I felt so uncomfortable watching their romantic interactions. And I’m not SUPPOSED to feel that way. I actually did ship them until I watched this season but now I’m just really put off by it because WOW they wrote that romance horribly. I know people hate comparing Voltron to ATLA but take Sokka/Suki for example. Their dynamic is very similar to Lance and Allura’s and it’s a PERFECT example of what a good healthy relationship is like that isn’t forced or super awkward. If the writers had written their relationship like Sokka and Suki’s I’m sure I would like it SO much more! I was so upset to see Lance lose pretty much ALL of his development and be reduced to just a foil or a background character they could beat up on and use for fodder about Allura’s death. So fucking uncool. On top of that Lance became a FARMER?? REALLY?? He had dreams of becoming a famous pilot and yeah a war will do shit to you but I CANNOT imagine him living that sort of boring life it’s just not Lance at all!! So immensely out of character and not what he deserved. Lance deserved a real, true happy ending kicking ass in space and being in love with someone who really loved him back.

And Shiro—god, they fucking abused the shit out of him and treated him like a punching bag. Not to mention the awful queer baiting with Adam and then, to rectify their awful mistake, the writers made it so that he got married at the end of the series. Great. I don’t even know who the other guy is. Congrats Shiro, but it really doesn’t mean fucking shit if it was added on last minute and seems like a way to appease fans rather than to actually give Shiro a good ending. They could have brought Adam back and let Shiro marry him but nope!! They fucked that up too

Also all character development for Hunk went down the drain and he was also reduced to comic relief. He didn’t end up with Shay like I was hoping and just god so much racism I’m too irritated to even get into that

Keith and Pidge were the only ones who really got semi-decent endings and even still they were written badly too. (Doesn’t mean I’m not proud of them tho, good kids.)

And Allura.

FUCK. THE WRITERS.

They absolutely did not need to kill her off like that it was so pointless and utterly stupid that I’m sitting here rolling my eyes into the back of my head. They literally killed her for dramatic effect and that’s it. Yeah whatever she saved the fucking universe but they could’ve done that another way! That’s just lazy ass writing and it really offended a lot of people including myself so yeah! Not happy about that! It’s really racist and also pretty misogynist too?? Also Allura during the last season was not my favorite character at all she was written so terribly and out of character that I just ended up hating her and she deserves so much better than this absolute fucking bullshit

If they wanted to have a good final season, they should have kept Allura alive, given everyone actual GOOD character development, not threw in a super forced and uncomfortable relationship, and gave the characters proper happy endings with the people they SHOULD have ended up with. Not that romance is that big of a deal since Voltron isn’t about that but man they could have satisfied so many fans doing that but they just took the show and spit on it

So yeah I’ve had a really great experience being part of the fandom and creating content, and there’s definitely some good parts to the show. Voltron is a bad show lmao but I still had fun, and I’m still gonna make content that the fans actually deserve and want—and forget canon even exists. I’m salty and disappointed but I’m not surprised. Even so the show did end on as good as a note as it could have considering the circumstances and while I’m not 100% satisfied it was what I was expecting so. I’m like, iffy about how I feel towards the finale.

Anyway Klance is canon king, Adam and Shiro are married, Hunk is a universally famous chef with his gf Shay, Allura and Romelle are the new Altean Queens, Pidge is fucking amazing being herself and everyone’s happy the end

[lefttwiix]

Possible foreshadowing for future seasons,,

So i was re-watching S3 when Lance said something that caught my attention.

“Sometimes what we want isn’t what we get.” 

  This was the second episode of the season and I think it can foreshadow many events upcoming in future seasons such as season seven. We all know that Jeremy has mentioned Lance will in fact have a romantic endgame, and has said this love interest will be someone that we’ve known throughout the series. To add to this, he’s also stated Lance will find someone that he needs, not wants.(in the current time period.) Lance has repeatedly attempted flirting with Allura and it’s been made very clear by Lance that Allura is clearly who he wants currently. However this relationship would most likely not flourish and develop in a healthy way considering Allura just had her heart broken by Lotor and is still has to deal with her emotions of betrayal and loneliness. Lance and Allura getting together would show her vulnerability and the doubts she has in herself considering even after she found out Lance’s true emotions, she went on to kiss Lotor indicating that she does not retaliate Lance’s feelings for her. Allura’s VA, Kimberly Brooks has also mentioned that Allura does not have an official romantic endgame leaving us with the information that can help us understand that Allurance will most likely not happen. 

  Going back to the quote, this line represents some powerful foreshadowing not only because of the words spoken, but also because of the situation Lance was in at the time. In S3 ep2, the paladins had just switched lions. Before officially becoming the paladin of the Red Lion, Lance mentions how he didn’t want to leave blue, however sometimes what we want isn’t what we get. Now this quote has been brought up many times during informational talks with the creators and VAs, so there's definitely a larger meaning and message behind the quote. Continuing the thought, the blue lion is canon as female, whereas the red lion is canon as male so this could possibly foreshadow Lance’s bi arc when he finally moves on from Allura and opens his eyes to see the person standing right in front of him, Keith.  

  We’ve also been given a lot of clues throughout the seasons that indicate a Klance arc. Starting off with Lance we know that him and Pidge won’t be together because of their sibling like relationship, and Pidge has shown absolutely no romantic interest throughout the show in things other than alien-technology. We know Hunk and Lance won’t get together since their friendship is the bond that keeps them together, Shiro has always been on a pedestal for Lance, and it seems Lance views him more as a role model rather than a love interest. We also know Allura is what Lance wants currently however, he won’t necessarily get who he wants, rather, who he needs. Also, it is conformed that Allura will not have a romantic endgame. So, Lance is going to have a romantic endgame will a character we’ve known since the start of the show, this leaves Keith. 

  Although S6 didn’t provide with the Klance content many people were hoping for, it was a necessary season that provided crucial information and we should all be thankful for that. We should all remember that the paladins were busy and in the heat of a war. Besides, in terms of Keith we have been assured that Sheith will not be happening since Keith and Shiro have a brotherly bond considering Shiro pretty much raised Keith. Shiro is the person Keith is the closest to, and we know from Keith’s vlog that he has trouble opening up to people. 

Through S3 Keith and Lance’s bond really developed considering Lance was his right hand man and helped Keith make decisions in heat of the battle, while Keith was there to assure Lance through his moments of doubt. They really do make a great team, and provide stability within their relationship. With this we can assume that Lance is probably the person Keith trusts the most after Shiro, so we can make the prediction that if Keith were to have any love interest, it would most likely be Lance. Not to mention the *coughbondingmomentcough* *coughIcradledyouinmyarmscough* 

  To summarize everything, there’s been a lot of foreshadowing that indicates Keith and Lance will most likely get together. Not to mention Jeremy Shada, king of the gays, has given us multiple clues and even mentioning that the parallels in the show are completely intentional. Another important thing to remember is the voltron crew and cast have never really straight up told us that klance isn’t happening the way they did with other ships. Looking at S6 Keith straight up told Shiro that they’re brothers and loves him the way someone would love family. Not to mention they also completely ended Lotor and Allura’s relationship despite the  romantic feelings they had for each other, which also ended the possibility of that ship happening. Basically, I know the fandom is a shitshow right now and everything seems to be falling apart, but I wouldn’t worry too much. 

Just remember y’all, no matter what,,,, 

Klance is canon king ,,, thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[spopz]

hm. here's some kl

hey folks now that we’ve all said fuck canon and fuck s8 i decided to compile a couple of my fav klance fics for some better vibes! i’m including some classics so that i can Stress how Good they will make you feel, and some which are ones i don’t think i’ve seen recced too often but they’re def good quality! without further ado here we go :) putting most of them under the cut for the sake of length

✫ just come to me once by laallomri

Lance’s smile widens. He leans forward, and the prickling in Keith’s chest gives way to butterflies, fluttering wildly in his stomach, and oh wow has Lance always had this many freckles, has he always had eyelashes that long, has he—

Lance pokes his cheek, right over the Galra mark. Keith blinks.

“I can’t believe you and your mom have matching face tattoos now,” he says, and it’s so fucking dumb, but it’s exactly the kind of dumb thing Keith has longed to hear, and before he knows what he’s doing he’s surging forward, almost knocking Lance back against Red’s paw, and throwing his arms around him.

In which Keith lives on a space whale, goes on a road trip, and (eventually) gets a boyfriend.

[i have no doubt that this is already a classic or at least will be considered one soon enough, but it was finished recently and i can personally vouch for the softness, sweetness, and quality of this fic and the WRITER!! it’s just such a great feel-good piece and wonderfully written. 10/10 made me cry out of pure joy]

✫ speak for the stars by speaks

All Lance has ever wanted is to prove his worth. So, maybe it’s fitting that the Black Lion picked him right when Lotor betrayed them and Shiro’s clone went rogue. Right when the team was at its lowest and closest to failing.

The desire for glory that Lance grew up with—that drove him to join the Garrison and pursue fighter class, that drove him into his one-sided rivalry with Keith, that drove him after Keith in the Sonoran Desert and into Blue’s cockpit and into space and into the war in the first place—it’s a relic of the past for him now. All he wants these days is to keep his friends alive and the Coalition afloat, and he tries his best, despite the pervasive fear that he isn’t the right person for this monumental task. Despite the growing certainty that Black picked the wrong guy.

This fear will be put to the ultimate test when the mess that ensnares the team after the clone disaster turns out to be a labyrinth more winding than any of them were prepared for. Because Lance might just be the only person equipped to lead them through this maze and into the light.

[this fic. THIS FIC. if you were rightfully disappointed by the way characters were treated, especially in the later seasons, then PLEASE read this. everyone is done so much justice and the writing is top notch. had scenes and lines that just... took my breath away. also the writer has some excellent other fics too, which if you haven’t already read then you def should!]

✫ hey, mom, i met a boy by mothpoem

“Sweetheart,” says Lance, his hair longer, his shoulders broader, the slope of his nose uneven now where it didn’t used to be, “you don’t know the half of it.”

[i wish i was kidding but just reading the description alone invokes so much emotion in me?? my throat closed up just typing this ohhh my god every time i reread this— probably three times already bc i don’t want to wear it out— i absolutely lose my shit. teary smiles, the works. i will never shut up about this fic or this author. please read it]

✫ colours and planes, laser guns and champagne by skelebro

Shiro invites Hunk and Lance to his roleplaying campaign, and it's all fun and games except for how Lance is constantly on the verge of fighting the team warrior in real life.

[okay this one is 2016 era and it’s also a lot shorter but i read it and was like woah! you know. felt good. felt organic :) simple and fun and sweet]

✫ eternity (was in our lips and eyes) by thespacenico

Lance feels like he’s on the cusp of a life-changing revelation.

“I told him not to tell you.”

And this time, Keith doesn’t seem to have trouble asking the unavoidable question: “Why?”

Lance looks at Keith, and everything falls into place.

A life-changing, mind-blowing, head-splitting, earth-shattering revelation.

[okay this fic did me in it’s just really God Damn Good. also while i’m on the topic the author is writing an INSANELY cute klancemas series featuring the whole squad and if you want those soft holiday feels i’d highly recommend that too]

✫ you are the moon that breaks the night by talking_bird

"He looks up then and stares the beast right in the eyes—right in Lance’s eyes. Because in all the terror and fleeing, Keith forgot that part, that somewhere, underneath all that fur and teeth is Lance. Lance."

The simple truth is that Keith Kogane is in love with his childhood best friend, Lance McClain. It's a simple truth he plans to keep locked away until the day he dies, but that was before Lance survived a grisly animal attack. Now, a month later, Keith is resolved to confess.

But the full moon has other plans for them...

[admittedly i haven’t read this one yet but i’ve already heard good things and the tags themselves are just... Hell Yeah... i’ll probs update this w/ my personal thoughts but i’m super excited!! EDIT: IT WAS V GOOD!!!]

✫ it’s you that’s haunting me by perfchan

Keith is a loner; his interactions with others tend toward clumsy or strained, but he has a persistent enthusiasm for the paranormal. Lance is a recent college grad; caught up in his day-to-day, he wouldn’t call himself unhappy, but suddenly feels that his life lacks direction. When Lance is introduced to Keith’s ghost hunting videos, his interest is piqued and he can’t help but want to tag along. Initially opposed, Keith soon finds himself warming to the company of the living.

A little tongue-in-cheek, a little cliché, and a little bit of a slow burn. A not-too-serious ghost hunting AU.

[okay i’m so bad w/ anything paranormal but this was SO good and cute pls read]

✫ the expiation expedition by intelligentairhead, obstinaterixatrix

Lance is well aware that miscommunications can result in horrific, preferably avoidable mishaps, which is why he tries to circumvent them whenever possible.

It just figures that the state of an entire planet's fragile political climate rests on him running straight into one.

[okokokok i don’t see this one on many lists but it SHOULD be it’s got fake dating! lesbian aliens! politics! it’s really good i have to reread it soon ALSO check out both the writers!!]