#keithtober2022

[allurcat]

keith genuinely has bad eye sight but he refused to go to the ophthalmologist back in earth and he makes its seem that it isn’t that bad (spoiler: it’s bad).

the team (except shiro he already knew) found out he had bad eye sight when they were in a mission and they were reading off a sign that was in the distance and keith was SQUINTING them eyes hard bcs he couldn’t read shit.

hunk and pidge then move away n that’s when keith turns to lance and asks him wth does the sign says.

lance was baffled bcs the sign had quite big letters and he still couldn’t read it.

L - “dude how the hell can’t you read what it says it’s so clear”

K - “it’s literally blurry-”

L - “ITS NOT?”

that day the team realized he has myopia

[vldlance]

keithtober week four: halloween or conspiracy theory

happy halloween klancers! hope you have a spooky day 🎃👻

[klance-daydreams]

werewolf lance and vampire keith!!

[vldkeith]

keithtober 2022!! 💢🚀🔪

it’s keithtober again! like my boyfriend @vldlance​ did for julance, i’ve decided to do a weekly choice for my prompts this year! join me with writing, art, edits, cosplay, or anything else this october to celebrate our worstie keith kogane <3

use tag #keithtober2022 on your works so we can see and share them!

written out prompt list is under the cut! 🌟👽

week 1 (october 3-9): japan OR texas week 2 (october 10-16): star pilot OR loner  week 3 (october 17-23): birthday OR gay week 4 (october 24-30): halloween OR conspiracy theory

⚠️SHALADINS DNI⚠️

here’s my kofi btw ☕️

[sharklancestan]

Combo prompt for days 20 & 21 of #Keithtober2022 with the prompts "Zombie" & "Disaster" from my personal prompt list. Went with a Zombie apocalypse scenario with badass hunter Keith.

Inspired by @maireep & @somethingmorecreative1 Klance TWD fic "More than Alive"

[quintessenceofdust73]

From “Defenders of the Multiverse” chapter 17 (Prompt: Tex). This fic is finally complete! 😃

When Keith arrived at the end of the tunnel, he found himself in a long, wide hallway with many closed doors. The brilliant colors and exotic furnishings surrounding him were strange and yet somehow familiar. They reminded him of Earth even though he was certain that there was nothing on his home planet quite like them. There was only one door that was open along the palatial corridor. He peered inside.

The room reminded him of the little house in the desert where he had lived with his father when he was a boy, but everything he saw here was new and clean, not as shabby as he remembered. There was a tall man standing in the room, gazing out of the window at a landscape that Keith could not see.

“Dad? Is it really you?” Keith asked. The tall man’s face was not visible until he turned around. Only then was Keith certain. “Dad!”

“Keith!” his father beamed at him and embraced him warmly. “Son, I have been waiting for you.” He looked at him. “You’ve grown so tall.”

“Is this...where you live now?” Keith asked. “It’s not exactly the house I remember. This place is fit for a king!”

His father chuckled. “In this place there are many mansions. There’s a place for you here if you want it, son. You can stay here with me, or you can go back.”

“Go back?”

“To the life you were living...the war, the devastated worlds, the refugees...”

“There are so many people who need my help. I want to help them, but I can’t do that if I’m here.”

“There’s no suffering here, son. No more death, only peace and happiness.”

“But my friends...they need me. I’m their leader, Dad. I have to go back to them.”

“Your friends are here too, if they choose to be, or they can go back.” Keith’s father touched his shoulder. “Every man and woman has to follow their own path.”

“Then, you don’t know what they will decide? You can’t tell me what they will choose, can you?”

“I’m afraid not.”

If the others went back, Keith could choose to stay, but that would mean abandoning the team, abandoning Voltron. He had done that once before when he left them for the Blades of Marmora. He remembered how upset Lance was, how Pidge and Hunk had cried, and how angry Allura had been when he left...

Allura.

He closed his eyes, recalling her beautiful face. He loved her. He could admit that to himself now, and even though sometimes it seemed like a pleasant dream or a fantasy, somehow she loved him in return. He couldn’t abandon her again, especially now that they were in a different sort of relationship than before.

“I have to go back, Dad. So many people are counting on me.”

“Your friends...your princess...you love them, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do. And I reckon they love me too. I hope you understand why I can’t stay.”

“It’s your choice, son. I’ll still be here when your time to cross over comes again.”

Keith’s eyes watered. “I’m glad. You know, I found Mom when I went to space. Maybe someday we’ll all be together again, the way a family should be.”

“I hope so. I still miss her.” His father’s eyes were as watery as his own.

“She misses you too, Dad.”

“Then tell her that I love her,” his father said. “Loving her and then bringing you into the world were the greatest things that ever happened to me in life, son. I just wish we would have had more time together.”

“We will, Dad. Someday.”

“But not today,” his father said.

“No. Not today.” Keith embraced his father. “I love you, Dad.” He closed his eyes as the tears flowed freely. “I’ll always love you.”

Keith did not open his eyes again for a long time after that.

—From “Defenders of the Multiverse” Chapter 17, a now complete multi-chapter adventure.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31663769/chapters/96198364

[vldlance]

keithtober week one: texas or japan

the boys went on a shopping spree and keith is enamored by his maneki neko ❤️😸

[klance-daydreams]

keithtober week one: texas or japan

[klance-daydreams]

happy birthday mr. red lion!!

[vldlance]

keithtober week three: birthday or and gay

happy birthday to my love, my light, my favorite boy in the universe, keith kogane ❤️🤩🎉

[klance-daydreams]

keithtober week 2: loner or star pilot

(wolf shirt bc he's a lone wolf)

[vldkeith]

keithtober🔪🎃💢 week two: star pilot🌟🚀 or loner

keith is so annoying, thinking he's all that. lance confronts him about it. (garrison!au)

ko-fi☕️ | 🔗read on ao3 - leave a kudos even if u read on here please!

--

If Lance had a penny for every time the instructors made Keith do a demonstration for the fourth year class, he swears he’d be a billionaire by the end of the month.

It’s trite to the point of being comical by now, though Lance isn’t laughing at all. He wants to say that every time Keith sighs and steps up into the sim-rig at the request of a teacher, he resolutely looks away, not deigning to watch the too-cool-for-everything student excel again and again seemingly without even trying, but that’s not true. More often, Lance watches with rapt attention, trying to catalogue in his mind every technique Keith uses, every twist and turn he takes, every time he swan-dives and manages to pull out of it at the last second to the shock of everyone present.

It’s amazing. Lance kind of hates him for it.

Once Keith has finished, received the praise from the teacher (with a few sly comments about his behavioral issues, Lance notes with relish), and slipped back into the shadows of the crowd, Lance turns to Hunk, who’d been standing next to him the entire time. The second Lance opens his mouth, Hunk groans.

“What?” Lance says, taken aback.

“Please do not talk to me about Keith right now,” Hunk sighs, scrubbing tiredly at his eyes. “I didn’t sleep well last night. Give me a break.”

Lance glares. “You act like I spend every second of every day talking about Keith. I don’t.”

“When it’s demonstration day? You kind of do,” Hunk replies grimly, his face a straight line. Lance folds his arms against his chest and sulks just a little bit.

He doesn’t even manage to keep quiet for the duration it takes Hunk to complete a single stretch and yawn.

“I just think it’s not fair that they always choose him to do the demos,” he says, staring with narrowed eyes at the teacher, Singletary, as she resets the sim gear for the next group of students. He’d known she was going to choose Keith, since she’s always talking about things he’s done right, but it was still a disappointment to have to cross another teacher off his dwindling list of non-Keith-worshippers at the Garrison.

Lance himself isn’t even on that list. If that gives an idea of how fucking short it is.

Hunk shakes his head, grabbing Lance by the shoulders and forcibly turning him away from the teacher. “How many times do we have to go through this, Lance? You know why they do this, and you know my answer. Come on, buddy.”

“That doesn’t make it fair!” Lance bursts out, shrugging Hunk off and stalking away from the classroom and into the bland, beige hallways of the Garrison. They start the deceptively lengthy walk back to their dorm room. “Like, is this not against every teacher’s code in the world? You’re not supposed to play favorites. Picking Keith to do every sim run is, like, the definition of playing favorites.”

“You think the Garrison cares about that?” Hunk scoffs. “Dude, they don’t care if they’re being unfair as long as we know what needs to be done. We’re in the military.”

“Still,” Lance mutters sullenly, stuffing his hands in his pockets. It’s so unfair. It’s unfair that Keith always gets chosen to do the demo simulations, and it’s unfair that every group, even lowly cargo pilots like Lance, has to leave class to watch it every month, again and again. It’s bullshit, and they all know it, so why don’t they stop it already?

They round a corner, Lance still lost in annoyed thought and Hunk darting exasperated, concerned looks at him every once in a while, when all of a sudden Lance draws up short and stops walking altogether. Hunk nearly slams into him but catches himself at the last minute and, still wobbling, turns to tell Lance to stop playing games like that, when he glances toward where Lance is looking and sees Keith Kogane himself leaning against the wall, staring down at the Garrison-issued tablet in his hands.

All coherent, reasonable thought flies from Lance’s mind, and he actually rolls his sleeves up as he begins marching toward that annoying mullet head bent slightly to stare at the screen. Hunk makes an aborted grab to stop Lance from going, but his heart’s not in it, and Lance easily escapes his grasp.

As Lance approaches Keith, he sees that his screen is filled with black-and-white panels of characters drawn with thick lines and big eyes. If Veronica had taught Lance anything, it’s how to spot a manga, so Lance unfortunately recognizes that imagery immediately. Somehow, that makes him both angrier and more softened at the same time.

“Hey, Kogane,” Lance says a little too loudly, stopping just short of violating Keith’s personal space. Immediately, Keith looks up, confused.

“How do you know my name?” he asks after a beat of silence. Lance blinks, caught off guard for a moment, and then recognizes it for the cruel joke it is.

“Very funny,” he all but snarls, crossing his arms with a glare. “Ha, ha. As if anyone in this place wouldn’t know who you are.”

Keith gives him a confused look, but Lance is not going to fall for his faux innocence again, no siree!

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, you know,” Lance continues, “being all the teachers’ favorite but acting like you’re above this whole thing. You don’t know how good you have it!”

The confused look Keith had been wearing turns sharper, and he clicks his tablet off and tucks it under his arm, giving Lance his full attention. Lance feels his skin warm in response. “I don’t even know you. Why are you mad at me?”

“I’m not mad!” Lance says, mad. “I just think someone should tell you you’re not all that!”

Keith’s lips curl into a sneer. “I’ve got the message, then. Can you fuck off now?”

Lance puffs up at that, spurred by adrenaline and the need to prove that he isn’t a loser, but before he can do or say anything, Keith is pushing past him with rather alarming strength, nearly whirling him back into the wall.

“Hey!” Lance shouts, recovering quickly and jumping forward. Several students turn to stare at him. “Get back here! We’re not done!”

Keith doesn’t respond, and Lance doesn’t give chase. Soon enough, he’s disappeared down another hallway, and Lance turns his attention beyond the ringing in his ears enough to realize that everyone has gone still and quiet around him. He plasters on a decidedly fake smile and rubs the back of his neck, shrugging. Hunk’s palm connects to his forehead.

Sensing that the interesting part is over, the students turn back to their individual activities quickly enough, allowing Lance to slink back over to Hunk’s side and partially hide behind him.

“Wait a minute,” Hunk says, dodging Lance’s attempts to crouch near his back, “I don’t even know if I want to be associated with you anymore, Jesus Christ, Lance. What the fuck.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Lance argues weakly, but even he can admit that it was a rather...lame attempt at a confrontation. One that left Lance looking like an antagonizing idiot and not Keith. God. Fuck. He fucked up. Is Keith going to hate him now? Doesn’t he want Keith to hate him?

This is only the second time they’ve ever talked, and the first time left Lance looking stupid, too. He’d just been trying to make friends, but Keith had completely shirked his (platonic) advances, choosing instead to isolate himself in a corner at orientation and leave early with none other than Professor Shirogane. It had been...embarrassing, but not quite as embarrassing as this time, wherein Lance had been actively hostile.

“I’m going to go hide in my bed,” Lance murmurs, all of this running through his mind in a blur. Hunk sighs, long and deep.

“When are you going to admit that this crush is out of control?” he says under his breath, but Lance is so preoccupied with his own misery that he doesn’t hear him or pay attention.

“What was that?” he asks, finally turning to face Hunk.

Hunk puts an arm around him, despite his earlier denial of sympathy. “Nothing, man. Nothing. Let’s get your idiot ass back to the room, then I’ll go and get you some ice cream from the kitchens.”

“Strawberry cheesecake, please,” Lance mumbles, allowing Hunk to lead him along.

This is what he gets for targeting the Galaxy Garrison’s star pilot: a big ol’ embarrassing memory to haunt him in the middle of the night for probably years to come.

Awesome.

☆ ☆ ☆

[vldkeith]

keithtober🔪🎃💢 week four: conspiracy theory or halloween🎃

team voltron takes a trip to notoriously high-quality halloween superstore, spirit halloween. keith is emotional about it.

ko-fi | read on ao3 (leave a kudos there if you enjoyed, please!)

a/n: HAPPY HALLOWEEN & KEITHTOBER!! had lots of fun. hope y'all enjoyed <3

--

When Shiro finally manages to pull into a parking spot after having spent ten minutes driving around just to find one that wouldn’t force him to attempt parallel parking, everyone spills out with cheers of excitement and relief. Keith gets swept along, hurrying out after Lance (who turns around and smoothly offers him a hand to help, which Keith takes with a roll of his eyes) with Pidge pointedly nudging closer and closer to him every second he waits. Hunk is already catching up to Allura, enthusiastically explaining once more the function of a Spirit Halloween—a one-stop spot for Halloween costumes and decorations. 

“And it’s cheap,” he overhears Hunk warn for perhaps the twentieth time, “so, you know, don’t expect too much.” 

Allura’s response to that is to, again, ask what Halloween is, and that’s when Keith tunes out, because they’ve all tried to varying degrees of success to answer that question for the past 45 minutes of traffic and he’s kind of over it. 

“Everybody stick together,” Shiro calls out, and then pauses, confused. It probably has something to do with the fact that he just implied some kind of danger in the Spirit Halloween parking lot. He shakes his head and turns to Keith, exasperated. “I can’t turn it off sometimes.” 

Keith gives Shiro a consoling pat on the arm and then promptly strides ahead of him, tapping lightly on Lance’s shoulder and then shirking to the side when Lance turns to look, avoiding him. 

“Hey,” he says, grinning when Lance starts a little, clearly not expecting Keith to be on his left instead of right side. 

“Weirdo,” Lance says fondly once his gaze has caught on Keith’s face, twirling around and enveloping Keith in his arms to give him a quick, squeezing hug and small kiss on the cheek. “You’re cute, though.” 

Their disgusting couple behavior is met with various groans and sounds of retching from the surrounding group, to which Keith flips them all off and Lance sticks out his tongue, tugging Keith closer to him and resting his hand on his hip, only slightly possessive. Keith fits himself snugly under Lance’s arm, ignoring the plethora of rolling eyes around him. 

“Have I mention that I’m never letting you make fun of Adam and I ever again?” Shiro comments pointedly. 

The group makes their way across the dismal, cracked parking lot toward the looming yet unassuming square concrete building, with its hung orange sign sporting the words “Spirit Halloween” the only indication that the whole place isn’t abandoned. As they draw closer, Keith can see the rows of costumes vaguely through the windows, and feels his excitement mounting despite himself. It’s his first year back on Earth, the first time he’s been able to even entertain the notion of doing silly recreational activities like this, let alone actually engage in them. It feels special, somehow, even if all they’re doing is going to a cheap Halloween superstore. 

One look at the faces of his teammates—well, nowadays friends might actually be a better word—tells Keith that he’s not the only one feeling this way. There’s an air of buzzing excitement, like they’re kids again, experiencing the simple joy of going out for some Halloween tricks and treats and atmosphere. No defending of the universe necessary. 

Keith and his dad used to visit these stores every Halloween season, searching up each that popped up near them and going there to check out the decorations and animatronics. The memory is nostalgic and only a little painful, now; as they step through the threshold and are met with a cave-like tunnel built out of shoddy construction material, Keith thinks maybe this experience will act as a balm to soothe the associations he otherwise has with this store. 

“This isn’t scary at all,” Pidge sniffs, poking at the wall clearly made out of cardboard and paper. “You’d think a multi-million-dollar corporation could spring for some better structures, but—” 

She cuts himself off with a scream as, seemingly out of nowhere, a black and red spider leaps toward her, shrieking wildly. Pidge jumps back squarely into Shiro, who catches him and reflexively swoops him out of harm’s way in a single, severe motion. The rest of the group, frozen solid from the suddenness of it all, takes a moment to locate the soft, flat switch on the ground with a cord trailing behind it, connecting it to the spider. Pidge, emerging from hiding behind Shiro, must notice it too, because her eyes widen and she groans, slapping his forehead against Shiro’s back. 

Everyone else bursts into laughter. 

“Nice job, Pidge,” Lance chortles, shaking his head and stuffing his hands into his pockets before striding confidently further into the store, leaving Keith behind him. He walks straight onto the switch for a second spider, and screams louder than Pidge did as he jumps away. 

“Nice job, Lance!” Pidge intones mockingly. He ducks past Lance, sticking out his tongue, and wanders over to a different animatronic, walking carefully this time. 

“Yeah, that was a loss for me,” Lance admits, his tone still breathy from fear. He shrugs at the rest of the group, smiling sheepishly. 

“Oh, my!” Allura’s voice sounds excitedly from somewhere to Keith’s left, and he turns to see her standing in front of a large figure of a woman in a nurse’s outfit, her eyes wide with wonder. “Who is she? Is she real?”

Keith nearly chokes on his own laughter. Shiro replies kindly, “Um, no, she’s not. She’s just a…well, something like a puppet.” 

“How did we come into a Spirit Halloween and not explain animatronics to her?” Hunk whisper-groans, shaking his head.

Allura frowns. “Is she based on anyone real?”

Lance and Hunk exchange looks. “I sure hope not,” Hunk says. 

“Don’t be rude!” Allura rounds on them, her face so open and genuine that Keith immediately knows she isn’t playing a joke. “She is lovely! Just look at the wonderful accessory she has around her eyes, it’s so innovative!” 

Keith cranes his neck around her to examine the animatronic who, indeed, has a “bloodied” bandage wrapped around the top of her face, two sunken circles of red outlined where the eyes should be. Aside from that, she has orange, veiny skin, sunken cheeks, gnarled fingers stretched out toward the nearest bystander, and a snarling open mouth. 

It seems Allura is very taken with her. Keith doesn’t have the heart to tell her that the animatronic is meant to be horrifying, not attractive. 

“She does have shiny skin,” he volunteers, and hears Lance snort beside him. Allura gives him the biggest grin, though, and Keith feels the Sims relationship increase icon pop above both of their heads. 

“She does, doesn’t she?” Allura responds, turning happily back to the animatronic. 

“We’ll leave you two lovebirds alone,” Hunk says, voice only betraying a hint of amused sarcasm. 

Keith, Lance, Hunk, and Shiro plunge forward into the tunnel, gawking at the three or four other animatronics present. There’s a Cerberus animatronic Keith is particularly fond of, and he purposefully sets it off snarling and barking three times until Shiro pulls him away, complaining of a headache from the loud noise. The moment they emerge from the tunnel, Lance grabs Keith’s hand and drags him over to the comparatively empty costume section—Keith’s least favorite part of the store. 

“This area is boring,” Keith complains even as he lets Lance tug him further in. “Is there a reason we’re going this way?” 

Lance hums a little bit. “Not really. Mostly wanted to go somewhere less crowded so I could do this.” He comes to a halt in a corner, sandwiched between ghostly masks and gore-covered saw and sword props, and leans forward to give Keith a slow, lengthy kiss, right there in the store. Keith lets out a muffled noise of surprise at first, but almost embarrassingly quickly allows his eyes to slide shut and reciprocates the kiss. 

It lasts probably longer than it should’ve, considering they are in a not-empty store, but it’s still over quickly enough. When Lance releases him, Keith feels slightly dizzy, and wants more. 

“You’re cute when you’re interested in things,” Lance says quietly by way of explanation, giving Keith another quick kiss on the cheek. “You make it so hard to not kiss you.” 

“When I’m interested in things? You’re embarrassing,” Keith says, though he’s very obviously pleased. “We can’t just make out in this Spirit Halloween. Come on.” 

“Aw, can’t we?” 

Keith ignores Lance’s cheeky question and busies himself with examining the swords and knives, most of which are entirely impractical for actual murdering, but still cool enough to look at. He picks one up and swings it experimentally—yeah, definitely just light, boring plastic. It fills Keith with joy to not be holding a real weapon for once. 

“Keith!” Hunk shouts excitedly from a few aisles away from him, and he and Lance both start guiltily, hoping he hadn’t seen anything. Apparently oblivious, Hunk’s next words are, “I found a perfect costume for you.” 

“Oh, really.” Keith’s tone is already unimpressed. “Let me guess, it’s…” 

Keith approaches where Hunk is standing, examining the rectangular package he’s clutching in his hands. 

Yep. “...an alien.” And a stereotypical green-skinned, bug-eyed one at that. Keith shakes his head. “You ever gonna find a new joke, big guy?” 

Hunk shrugs, Keith’s criticism rolling off of him glamorously. “There’s never gonna be a funnier joke than Galra Keith. Sorry, Galra Keith.” 

On cue, Pidge pops up from behind Hunk, startling Keith, who hadn’t even realized she was anywhere near them in the store. She waggles her eyebrows and, brandishing a costume package of her own, quips, “How about Cowboy Keith?”

“Yeehaw,” Keith drones tonelessly, taking the teasing in stride. Suddenly, Hunk’s expression brightens, and he waves someone over.

“Shiro! Thoughts on cowboy alien Keith?”

Shiro wanders over, hands tucked casually into his pockets, and gives the costumes a once over. He huffs out a laugh. “Either of you ever watched Cowboy Bebop?”

“Oh, booo, Spike’s too cool for Keith,” Pidge answers immediately, shaking his head in an almost offensively resolute way, at least to Keith. “We mean, like, literally a green alien with a cowboy hat on. That’s the image Keith gives off.”

“I’ve literally dressed up as Spike before, but okay,” Keith says, rolling his eyes. Shiro nods sagely.

“It’s true. I was the corgi.”

Keith escapes the mocking quickly after that, heading back to the animatronics he was rudely ushered away from earlier. There’s a giant figure just slightly to the side of the tunnel-cave he’d passed through to enter the store, with a long black cloak and a beak made of bone. Keith presses the square switch on the ground with his foot, and the figure’s eyes light up red, his head craning forward and backward unnaturally as he says in a gravelly, booming voice, “I knew you would be here soon; you could say I have eyes all over! Remember, wherever you run, my crows and I will find you!"

“Nice,” Keith says out loud, noting the title of the animatronic is “Lord Raven.” Pretty fucking metal if you ask him. Especially the bone face.

He wanders, then, around the rest of the animatronics, noticing that Allura has finally left her star-crossed love and is enthusiastically browsing shirts with Lance at her side, who is trying to explain the jokes on them and apparently not doing very well at it. It’s strange to keep running into his friends wherever he goes; Keith isn’t used to even having enough friends to see multiple of them at different parts of a store. The thought that he isn’t as isolated and alone as he used to be warms him, and he approaches Lance and Allura quietly, hoping not to interrupt or disturb their conversation.

“—Easy Bake Oven, which is, like, a toy from the…’90s? 2000s? Sometime around there, that was meant for children, and—”

“Children?” Allura’s tone is scandalized. She looks back at the shirt in question, which features three little girls dancing in a graveyard around a floating pink oven. “They’ve made the children’s toy…evil?”

Lance rubs the back of his neck. “Well, yeah, it’s…Halloween.”

“They could also use their powers from it for good,” Keith cuts in, making them both turn, surprised, to look at him. “Kind of like you did.” Something about today is making Keith want to win points in Allura’s book, it seems.

Allura nods thoughtfully. “I see, I see…So the oven’s power comes with great responsibility of choice.” When she looks straight at Keith, her eyes are shining. “Thank you, Keith! I feel like I understand this article of clothing much better now. I’m going to buy it.”

The thought of Allura sporting the “Easy-Bake Coven” tshirt feels akin to spotting a frog on a lily pad, so he voices emphatic support for her decision. Lance just shakes his head, amused.

“Romelle’ll like it,” Keith says, making Allura smile even wider.

He and Lance split up from Allura again, promising that they’ll meet up with her later at the cash register to help her figure out how to purchase something. “Though mullet here has a record of purposefully not purchasing things, so who knows if he actually even knows how,” Lance had said to this, earning himself an elbow in the gut from Keith.

They find themselves idling in the décor section near the middle of the store, holding hands and pointing out fun/funny trinkets intermittently. Lance says that he’ll buy Keith a small skeleton-cat figure at one point after he catches Keith patting its head, and Keith responds with a hug so tight and enthusiastic that Lance gets thrown off a bit.

“Woah, hey, it’s not that expensive…” He still wraps his arms around Keith, though, hugging just as tightly as Keith is. Keith falls in love a little bit more.

“It’s not just that,” he says truthfully. “I’m just—Like, I’ve never had this before. Well, not since my dad died, anyway. And having you, and the team, here with me is just…” Keith trails off, unable to find the right words to express how much this means to him, how Lance’s simple, seemingly thoughtless act of kindness had tipped him over the edge, but he doesn’t have to.

Lance squeezes him once more. “I get it,” he murmurs, and then dips his head down to place a feather-light kiss on Keith’s neck. Goosebumps erupt from the spot all the way down his spine—a lovely sensation.

When Lance finally leans away, his dimples are showing with his smile. “Well, hopefully this is just the first of many good things that’ll happen this Halloween!” he declares. “I’m going to make this, like, the best holiday of your life, because you’re too cute when you’re happy.” He tugs Keith closer by his hips again and adds, “And I love you. Or something.”

Keith laughs, light and airy. “Or something,” he agrees, and meets Lance’s lips with his.

It’s great to have family again.

☆ ☆ ☆

[vldkeith]

keithtober🔪🎃💢 week three: birthday🎉 or gay

keith decides that the best way to spend his birthday is driving around town and getting free food from restaurants. lance is perplexed, but supportive.

ko-fi | read on ao3

--

The moment Keith wakes up, he reaches over to his bedside table, turns off his alarm, and grabs the piece of paper he’d written up last night.

It’s do or die. Today is the only day he can accomplish this. The list of restaurants stares back at him, promising hours of commuting and awkward conversation.

Keith turns over and nudges Lance awake—not unkindly. Lance stirs a little bit, murmuring under his breath, and then opens his eyes blearily.

“What...Why are you awake? It’s early, it’s your—” Lance starts, cuts himself off, and then sits up in a sudden burst of wakefulness and energy. He’d gone to bed without his shirt on last night, and Keith allows himself a single moment of distraction, drinking in the always-pleasing sight of Lance’s smooth brown skin and chest. “It’s your birthday!” Lance finishes in a high-pitched, slightly panicked tone.

He turns to Keith, then, a broad smile stretching across his face, the sleepiness from before vanishing.

“Happy birthday, Keith!” he says, pulling Keith close for an unexpectedly strong hug, given he’s just woken up. Keith laughs, amused that Lance had worked himself up into excitement without him even having to do or say anything. It’s endearing, and sweet.

“Thanks,” Keith says, voice muffled from where his cheek is pressed into Lance’s shoulder. Lance squeezes him once more, and then lets go, giving him a sly smile.

Keith’s breath catches as Lance lays a hand low on his hip, tightening ever so slightly. “Want one of your gifts now? Since you woke us up so early…”

Lance starts sliding his hand down Keith’s body, and Keith swallows, momentarily torn. He shakes himself off, though; he’s got no time for this! He has a mission, and god damn him if he isn’t going to complete it this time.

Gently clasping his hands around Lance’s wandering one, Keith removes it from his person and shakes his head forlornly.

“I’d love to,” he begins emphatically, leaning forward to quickly kiss Lance’s cheek as he registers his confused expression, “but I got things to do today. And I’m hoping you’ll help me with them?”

Lance blinks and arches an eyebrow. “What kind of things?” he asks suspiciously.

In response, Keith brandishes his list of restaurants, grinning. “I made this list a few months ago. It’s every restaurant within a 20-mile radius of us that offers free food on peoples’ birthdays.”

Realization dawns on Lance’s face. “Wait,” he begins, disbelief etching itself into his tone, “you’re not seriously planning to—”

“Go to every one of these restaurants today and get my free shit?” Keith grins and folds the list up, slipping it into his pajama pocket. “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m planning.”

There’s a light thump as Lance’s head lands back onto his pillow. “Oh my god,” he says with feeling. “You’re insane. Who wants to spend their birthday running around to a bunch of chain restaurants?”

“That feeling is exactly what they’re banking on!” Keith fully orients himself toward Lance, sitting cross-legged on the bed, eyes bright with conviction and determination. “These places reason that you’ll probably only go to one restaurant on your birthday, not all of them. So they don’t consider it an industry risk to offer this kind of thing in the first place.”

“I don’t think it really hurts any of these places to give you one free meal one day a year,” Lance points out skeptically. Keith huffs.

“Maybe not individually. But I’m still kind of getting one over on the restaurant chain industry as a whole, you know? These meals’ll last me days after today.”

Lance sighs and mutters, “If they don’t go bad first...”

Ignoring Lance’s silly concerns, Keith swings his legs over the edge of the bed, planting his feet firmly on the floor. “Well, I’m getting dressed,” he declares, standing up. His words are met with a loud, resounding groan from Lance. “I want you to come with me, but it’s your choice. Like, I’ll be mad if you don’t come, but it’s your choice.”

Keith suspects that the only reason Lance doesn’t throw a pillow at him as he makes his way to their shared closet is because it’s his birthday, if Lance’s murderous glare is anything to go by.

Within the next hour, however, Lance and Keith are climbing into Keith’s small, blazing red car. Keith’s always been convincing like that. Lance is still yawning sleepily in the passenger seat, though, and to be fair to him, it’s barely 9AM and Lance rarely gets up before 10 on his days off.

“Our first stop,” Keith declares, backing out of the parking lot, “is Starbucks. Think that’ll help you stop being so sleepy?”

Immediately, Lance lights up, and Keith can just hear him running through which Frappuccino he’s going to get in his head. He raises his eyebrows at Keith playfully first, though. “Really? You’re willing to go to Starbucks? Isn’t that a bit corporate for you?”

“I’m not actually giving them money,” Keith points out, and maybe because it’s a good argument or maybe because it’s Keith’s birthday, Lance doesn’t bother to respond. He merely rolls his eyes and takes out his phone, scrolling through the Starbucks app (one that Keith had recently downloaded, so yes, it actually exists somehow) and talking out loud about the pros and cons of Pumpkin Spice versus Caramel Frappuccino.

If Keith is being honest, he has no idea what to get at Starbucks. It’s not somewhere he goes regularly, mostly based on principle, but also just because their closest Starbucks is never on Keith’s way to anything. He could ask Lance, but their tastes in coffee are rather...different. Meaning, Lance does not have taste in coffee and instead has taste in vanilla syrup and milk with a little coffee added, while Keith actually does have taste in coffee because he drinks real coffee. Simple.

They pull up to the carbon-copy Starbucks building with its boxy stature and brown bricks and make their way inside, rubbing their hands together against the chill of the air. When they approach the counter, the barista smiles at them.

“Hi, what can I get started for you?” he says, and Keith takes a moment to appreciate the artful fall of his curly black hair across his forehead. He looks extremely fashionable.

Keith swallows. Is he about to look like a fucking idiot?

Thankfully, Lance steps in to order first. “Can I get a Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino, please?” he says, meeting the barista’s sleepy smile with a flashier one of his own. The barista gives him a weird look, huffs out a laugh, and then nods, inputting the item.

“Sure can. Anything for you?” He turns to Keith.

“Actually, uh...” Keith fumbles with his phone and opens up the Starbucks app, navigating to the “Rewards” section like he’s practiced. He turns the screen to the barista, who peers at it. “It’s my birthday? I get a free drink, I think.”

“Oh!” The barista nods quickly. “Happy birthday. In that case, let me finish up his transaction, then we can do yours.”

“Thanks.”

Lance gives Keith an encouraging smile before handing over his money, and Keith takes these last few seconds to anxiously stare at the menu, trying to decide what to order.

Finally, once Lance has gotten out of the way and Keith steps forward, he thinks he knows what to get.

“Can I get a Caramel Macchiato with...less sugar?”

The barista gives Keith a funny look. “Less sugar?”

Fuck. Keith falters, “Um, yeah...Do you not put sugar in your drinks?”

“We do, but—” The barista cuts himself off with a laugh, shaking his head. “You don’t come here often, do you?”

“How’d you guess?” Keith responds flatly, making the barista smile more. He clears his throat.

“I think I know what to get you. What size? Small, medium, large?”

“Large.”

The transaction goes smoothly after that, and Keith won’t deny the rush of satisfaction he gets when he doesn’t even have to take out his card or cash. Their drinks get to them in what seems to Keith to be record time, and he watches with only a slightly sick stomach as Lance excitedly sucks on his cold, milkshake-like drink.

“That’s not even coffee anymore,” he says, only a little judgmental. Lance snorts.

“It’s worse than you think. This is the cream version. There literally isn’t coffee in here at all.” Keith’s mouth falls open, and Lance cackles, swinging an arm around Keith and giving him a smacking kiss on the cheek.

“You’re disgusting,” Keith mutters, scrubbing at his face.

He takes a sip of his coffee, and is pleasantly surprised—it’s not overly sweet at all! In fact, it’s actually pretty good. He tells Lance this, and Lance arches an eyebrow, unconvinced, and takes Keith’s cup to try it himself.

His face screws up in something akin to pain immediately after, and he lurches away from the cup as if it’s hurt him.

“What the fuck,” he says, turning the cup around with hateful eyes. “What did they—oh my god.” Lance shoves the cup in Keith’s face and points at the label. Keith only gets as far as his name before Lance is exclaiming, “There’s literally no vanilla in this, Keith.”

Keith has no idea what that means, but Lance’s horrified face tells him plainly that it’s not good or normal. He shrugs—if it tastes good, does it really matter?

The rest of the day goes much like that first trip to Starbucks. They hit up several different restaurants even before noon—Red Robin, Applebees, Chili’s, Chipotle, Noodles & Company, Qdoba, Steak N’ Shake, and Waffle House, to name a few. It’s a road trip of American staples, and as Keith looks through the mirror at his backseat, nearly overflowing with food already, he’s stricken with nerves and hesitantly asks Lance if he’s making a mistake.

“Oh,” Lance replies, waving a hand vaguely around and talking through a mouthful of (free) fries, “probably.”

Their next stop is Baskin Robins, wherein Lance somehow isn’t sugared-out enough from the Frappuccino to abstain from getting himself a birthday cake ice cream along with Keith’s—Keith decides to eat his that moment as well, so it won’t melt. The treat gives them both silly blue lips, and they both giggle and kiss in the car until the color is gone. Krispy Kreme, Longhorn Steakhouse (“Not as good as Texas Roadhouse,” Keith sniffs upon entry), and Jack in the Box are next, filling Keith’s car up even more. The smell of food begins to permeate the air to the point that Keith feels nauseous the second he sits back down at the wheel. Even Lance, who doesn’t let food-related illness bother him too much, looks a little green by the end of it.

Keith looks helplessly down at his crumpled list. They’re just barely over halfway through. He feels ill. His car is overflowing with food—free food, yes, but in the end just...food. Keith wonders if his appetite will ever return. The longer he spends doing this, the more he’s convinced it won’t.

“Hey, Keith...” Lance ventures as they’re driving to the next destination, Denny’s. “I know you wanted to do this, but...”

Keith groans. He knew this was coming. “It feels like losing to give up now, though...” he all but whines, sadly flipping on his turn signal. They’re only five minutes from Denny’s right now.

He hears rather than sees Lance shuffle in his seat. “What if I told you that I...have something we need to get to soon? So we should go home and get ready?”

Keith raises his eyebrows. “What is it?”

Lance sighs. “Oh, you know...” he begins, his voice doing that high-pitched thing it always does when he’s trying to avoid saying something, “just a, uh...reservation?”

Keith’s answering silence is brought by confusion, whereas Lance’s is coated with dread. It goes on long enough that Lance huffs out an “oh my god” and continues,

“Like…at a restaurant?”

Keith actually sits back further in his seat, though he manages to keep his eyes steadfastly on the road. “You...made us dinner reservations?” he asks calmly.

Lance nods. “At Sugiyama.”

Sugiyama. The best Japanese restaurant in town, the one he’d only been able to go to once before because Shiro had brought him and was willing to pay. It’s expensive, and delicious, and perfect for his birthday.

Damn Lance.

“Why the fuck would you let me do this if you had reservations for us at Sugiyama?”

“Well!” Lance’s hands fly out in front of him, and Keith can see him waving them around from the corner of his eye. “I just! You seemed really determined! I didn’t want to ruin that. Plus, it’s still free food!”

“Jesus Christ.” If Keith could, he’d slam his head into the steering wheel. As it is, though, he just turns into the nearest parking lot—a random church, go figure—puts the car in park, and finally turns to face Lance. “You are so annoying,” he says, and then pulls Lance in for a deep, indulgent kiss. “Thank you.”

When he’s released, Lance looks a little out of it, and he blinks several times before coming back to himself. Once he does, Keith sees his cheeks and ears begin to hue scarlet.

He rubs at the back of his neck. “No problem. I was just saying because, you know, the reservation’s for five, and it’s three thirty now, so we should probably try to go home and get ready—”

Keith exhales a laugh, shaking his head. “Yeah. We should. You’re still gonna help me put all this food away, right?”

“Of course!” Lance seems to be bouncing back, judging by the crinkles near his eyes and the smile on his (slightly red, oops) lips. “I still think this was worth it. You have so much free food now!”

“It’s worth it for my, like, mental satisfaction,” Keith replies airily, putting the car into reverse. “Don’t know if any of this food is actually good though.”

“We’re avoiding the only place I was really worried about. I don’t trust Denny’s,” Lance says, wrinkling his nose. “Reminds me of food goo too much.”

“As if.”

At least if Keith’s going to go through the ordeal of experiencing numerous fast food American cuisines today—even free ones—he’ll be able to end it off with something actually good.

☆ ☆ ☆

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEITH!!

[vldkeith]

keithtober🔪🎃💢 week one: texas or japan🇯🇵

shiro wonders if keith might like to reconnect with family someday.

☕️ko-fi | 🔗read on ao3 - please leave a kudos on ao3 if u read this story (even if it's on tumblr!)

--

For the past hour, Keith’s been doing his monthly knife maintenance in the Castleship kitchen—sharpening it, polishing it, that sort of thing. Despite the tediousness, it’s actually a pretty serene exercise, and Keith has discovered throughout the years that he enjoys this time of working methodically almost as much as he enjoys actually using his knife. It clears his mind, resets him a little; that’s why he always does it at the end of the month, so he can get a fresh start going next month.

That might’ve fallen by the wayside at this point, though. Keith estimates based on the knife’s dullness that it’s been a month since he last cleaned it, but he has no idea if it’s actually the end of the month on Earth in any way that matters. He’s been gone too long to keep track of things like that, and there’s no way he’s asking Lance, the only one who is actually keeping track of things like that.

He swipes once more, appreciating the shhhing! sound the action produces, and manages not to stab himself when someone appears suddenly right in front of him and he jumps about a mile high.

“Holy shit,” Keith curses, scrambling to get a hand around the handle of his knife, which just clattered onto the kitchen counter. He looks up quickly, sees a tuft of white hair, large muscles, and skin-tight clothes, and blows a strand of hair out of his face, annoyed. “Don’t sneak up on me when I’m doing this. I’ve told you that, like, a thousand times.”

“Sorry,” Shiro says, not sounding very sorry at all. He cranes his neck forward, examining Keith’s progress on the knife, and nods approvingly. “Glad to see you’re keeping up with this even now, though.”

“I’m not that incapable of routine,” Keith grumbles, though the response lacks bite. Shiro can be an annoying brother-dad, for sure, but an annoying brother-dad is leagues better than no brother-dad, and Keith had gotten too close to the latter to ever truly wish for Shiro’s absence again. Even now, his sudden appearance comforts Keith.

They both stand there for a moment in amicable silence, Shiro’s eyes flitting absently from the tip of Keith’s blade to the handle, before Keith grows tired of not saying anything. Shiro must’ve come for a reason, after all.

“So…?” he prompts, grasping his knife and swinging it deftly back into its sheath at his belt. He looks at Shiro expectantly.

Shiro lets out a half-laugh, amused. “So what?”

“I know you didn’t just come to grade my knife maintenance skills,” Keith responds drily, raising an eyebrow. “So, what is it? Did I fuck something up again? Leave the training robots on?”

A brief expression of sadness falls over Shiro’s face, like he’s actually hurt by the insinuation that he only shows up to berate Keith, and Keith hurries to correct himself.

“It was a joke,” he mutters, casting his eyes down. “Sorry.”

Shiro’s face lights up again, and he chuckles, reaching over to shove Keith lightly on the shoulder. The action still sends Keith stumbling about 5 inches back, though, because Shiro will never know his strength. “It’s okay. Should’ve known you were just being crabby.”

Keith mouths crabby to himself, half-mocking and half-amused, but Shiro breezes past the subject quickly before he has a chance to properly respond.

“You were right, though. I did come here for a reason.”

Immediately, Keith’s guard is up, years of disciplinary action from people who weren’t even Shiro flashing before his eyes and constructing a shield of bricks around him. He trusts Shiro more than that, though, and makes an effort not to let them pile up too high.

He stays silent, waiting for Shiro to get to the point. Eventually, Shiro sighs, raising his human hand to rub the back of his neck. “I’ve just been thinking, recently, and I wanted to know your thoughts on a certain…proposition.”

It’s not like Shiro to be this evasive—he’s not direct in the way someone like Keith is, but he doesn’t tend to waste time on hesitancy and nervousness. Keith regards Shiro suspiciously, his anxiety mounting with every passing second that Shiro doesn’t tell him what he’s getting at. Is everyone okay? Is he going to leave again? Keith’s stomach clenches painfully. He wouldn’t…

“I was wondering what you’d think about going to Japan with me someday.”

The words stop Keith in his tracks, and he’s at a complete, utter loss for a moment. The connection is clear as day—he’s Japanese, Shiro is Japanese, so why not make a joint trip at some point? But the implication of family, of genuine connection, makes Keith feel warm and nauseated at the same time.

“For—For what?” Keith croaks, and curses himself for allowing his voice to sound so vulnerable.

Shiro shrugs, but the motion is cautious, with an eye always trained on Keith for his reaction. “I have family there,” he says, talking slow like he’s choosing his words carefully, “that I’ve been meaning to visit for a while. I’d like you to meet them. And…if you have family there, too, then I’d like to meet them as well. If you’re comfortable with that.”

The mere thought of interacting with his extended family overwhelms Keith so fiercely that he has to stare at his shoes for a moment to get himself back in order, to get the room to stop being wavy and out of focus. He’s not going to think about that right now. “Where is your family in Japan?” he asks instead, forcing the subject away from his own direct relation.

Shiro hums a little, considering the question calmly. “I have some cousins and aunts and uncles in Miyagi, but my grandparents moved to Okinawa when my parents were young.”

“That’s where dad said his family was from,” Keith replies without thinking, so struck by the realization that Shiro has a relationship with the same place Keith’s dad did that he forgets how much he doesn’t want to talk about his own blood family. “Okinawa, I mean. His parents moved there when he was a teenager.”

“Really?” Shiro’s smile is broad, if a little exasperated. He shakes his head. “Well, it makes sense, I guess. With the American military base being there.”

Keith nods, remembering the sardonic, bitter comments his dad would make about the Okinawa military base. He was no nationalist by any means, but Keith had always gotten the impression that he resented the American government for having such a permanent, all-encompassing presence in Japan, of making Okinawa a military base first and a city second in the minds of the rest of the world. Keith, anti-imperialist as he always was, shared the sentiment.

By the knowing look Shiro is giving him, Keith suspects that maybe he feels the same way, too. Bold move from two guys ostensibly still in the U.S. military.

“I would love if we could go back together,” Shiro continues, his face open and earnest in the way only Shiro can be. Keith tries his best not to look away from such a blatant display of familial affection; he’s out of practice with this sort of thing, and it’s not like he was even very good at it before Shiro disappeared, anyway. But having two father figures abruptly taken from him has taught Keith that it does nobody any good to reject others’ attempts to be genuine like this, least of all himself.

He swallows hard. Perhaps he should extend that philosophy to Shiro’s offer, rather than just maintaining eye contact. “I…” he begins, but he’s not sure what to say, doesn’t know how to go about discussing this without shutting down or running away. Maybe he should just express that? “I don’t—I don’t really know what to say. It’s—like, a little scary, thinking about going there. I’ve never had contact with any of my family there. I kind of got the impression maybe they didn’t like dad or approve of him.”

Shiro frowns. “You think? Did he do anything?”

“Besides getting an alien girlfriend?” Keith asks wryly, half-smiling. “Not sure. But it would make sense that he would kind of…pull back from family after dealing with what happened with Krolia.” Keith lets his gaze drop, just this once. “I mean, would you want to bring your half-alien kid who might freak out and go alien berserk at any minute to meet your family?”

“Well, that is kind of what I’m offering to do right now, Keith,” Shiro says pointedly, making Keith turn scarlet.

“Okay,” Keith stammers, looking anywhere but at Shiro, “but that’s—that’s different?”

Shiro gives him a doubtful, amused look, and Keith huffs, folding his arms over his chest protectively.

“…Are you sure you want me meeting your family?” he asks quietly after a moment. Shiro sighs and reaches across the counter to lay a comforting hand on Keith’s shoulder.

“They already know about you, you know,” he starts, voice soft but firm, “and they’ve been asking to meet you for a while. They’re thrilled that you’re Japanese, because that’s common ground, but they also understand that you’re important to me. That you’re like my little brother. For that reason alone, they want to know you. Mostly so they can send you otoshidama お年玉.”

A chuckle breezes past Keith’s lips at that, and he finally meets Shiro’s eyes again, allowing the smile to stay on his face. This might be the first time Shiro has told Keith that he sees him as family too, he realizes. Warmth flows through his body, the kind he hasn’t been able to feel in years. “I…guess I’d like that. Mostly for the money.” He mirrors Shiro’s language back at him with a smirk, and Shiro laughs, squeezing his shoulder slightly before letting go.

“Excellent.” Shiro claps his hands together. “First thing we’ll do when we get out of this space hell is buy some tickets to Japan, then. If you and Lance aren’t too busy planning the wedding, of course,” he adds cheekily.

Keith honest-to-god squeaks a noise of surprise, sputtering, “What—What are you talking about, we aren’t even dating, he hates me, you’re fucking insane—” until Shiro silences him with a wave of his hand and a chortle.

“For now,” he says with a knowing smile, before straightening up and stretching out his back. “Anyway, I’m off to get Hunk and Pidge away from the training robots. I think they’re trying to program them to be waiters, and we really don’t need the castle’s bandwidth dealing with something like that.”

He turns to go, and Keith opens his mouth to say goodbye, but he’s cut off when Shiro suddenly pauses right in front of the door and glances back over his shoulder.

“As far as your family goes,” he begins, looking at Keith seriously, “we’ll do that when you’re ready. I won’t push you. But, think about it. It might be good for you.”

Keith takes a deep breath, and nods weakly. “Yeah. I will.”

“Thank you.” Shiro looks satisfied. He presses the button to activate the doors, and they open with a whoosh! “Wish me luck!”

“Good luck,” Keith calls as Shiro leaves, settling his head in his hands and tapping the handle of his knife idly.

It’s weird to have family again. It’ll be even weirder to have extended family, something he’s never experienced before. But it’s worth a try.

And who knows? Maybe someday Keith can build himself a life with a primary characteristic that isn’t isolation. His thoughts wander, only a little lovesick, to Lance, and then to Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Coran, Adam…

It’s possible he’s built that life for himself already. If he gives it a chance.

Now that is something that is totally going to wreck his loner brand image.

☆ ☆ ☆

[klance-dreams]

#KEITHTOBER2022

i've been so busy this month, i haven't had time to share this

i might stretch my keithtober entries into Nov 🥺