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[kotoriqueen]

Hey, guys! I made a new fic.  It’s Boku no Hero Academia and I jumped onto the chat fic bandwagon, but with the BakuSquad! It’s Rated M because there’s some sexual commentary and because of Bakugou’s swearing, but I think it’ll be an interesting fic to try out!! 

[kotoriqueen]

How to Confess to Your Best Friend (According to Kirishima Eijirou.)

A five plus one fic featuring: Five times that Kirishima was smooth and the one time Bakugou was smooth. 

According to Kirishima, the best way to confess is to test out smooth pick up lines to see what sort of reaction you get out of your crush, and then use different pick up lines on him to see if he gets what you mean.  ..Unfortunately, for him, things don't go as well as he had planned it. 

Also on AO3!

i. first victim: kaminari.

The five of them had been gathered in the common room, Kaminari laying on the couch, with feet propped up on Kirishima’s lap, with Bakugou on the other side of Kirishima, elbow resting on the arm rest and knuckles pressing into his cheek. Sero and Ashido took up one of the other couches, and while the television was on, no one was really paying attention to what the channel was currently playing. Instead, they were all on their phones.

“Hey, guys,” Kaminari speaks up, causing them to look up from their phones to glance over at Kaminari. “ever realize we never stop tasting our own tongues?”

Silence. Bakugou’s eyebrow twitches.

“Is your brain filled with stupid fucking questions?”

“Hey! It’s a serious question!” Kaminari defends himself, sitting up a little. “Really, Blasty, have you ever considered it? They’re like.. shower thoughts.”

“Why the fuck would you think that shit in the shower.”

“But Kaminari has a good point!” Kirishima plays along though, and Bakugou narrows his eyes into a glare. “We do never stop tasting our tongues. So how about I taste yours for a change, Kami?”

Silence.

Everyone stares at Kirishima with wide eyes, and Kaminari’s face turns fifty different shades of red, dropping his phone onto his lap in order for both hands to cover his face. Kirishima grins, teeth showing and all, and lets out a bark of laughter at Kaminari’s reaction.

“Eijiii! Why would you do that to poor Kami!” even as Ashido says this, she’s giggling at Kaminari. “You have no right being that smooth and using your smoothness of Kaminari!”

“I think you broke him, dude.” Sero says, glancing over where Kaminari still has his face covered. He snickers. He’s so cute. “You alright over there, Kami?”

“Fine..!” Kaminari responds, but his voice cracks and it sounds high pitched out of embarrassment. The rest of them let out a snort, amused.

ii. second victim; sero.

It’s not often that Sero and Kirishima get to hang out. When they do, it’s usually to make a grocery run. Kirishima usually carries all the heavy bags, while Sero takes the lightest ones, even if Sero says he could lighten Kirishima’s a load a little. Kirishima just grins wide and says he could handle it.

Today is no different, and Kirishima’s holding six plastic grocery bags in his hands, with two paper bags in his arm. Sero keeps glancing over, worrying that it’s too much for Kirishima, and finally says something about it.

“Really, Kiri, you don’t have to carry that many. I could care some of those. They’re really heavy.”

“Sero, I can do this. It’s fine. Your hand looks heavy, too, I should hold that for you while I’m at it.”

Sero stops right there on the sidewalk.

What.

Kirishima notices that Sero is no longer following and turns, and instead of looking confused as to why Sero stopped so suddenly, he sees the red across the bridge of Sero’s nose, dusting his cheeks, and on the tips of his ears. Kirishima smiles wide, proud of himself.

“Somethin’ wrong, Sero?”

“Nooope!” Sero denies it all, and starts walking once more, walking ahead of Kirishima so his reddened face can’t be seen. “Nothing’s wrong!”

And from behind him, he can hear Kirishima chuckling.

iii. third victim; ashido.

It’s lunch break, and Bakugou usually eats alone on the top of the roof, but recently, the BakuSquad ends up following him up there. It started with Kirishima, and then Kaminari joined, and after Kaminari came Sero and Ashido. Bakugou didn’t care for the company, and didn’t engage in the conversations the four of them had, and tries to finish his food first in order to leave first so he didn’t have to deal with those four and them trying to drag him into their conversations.

Ashido finishes first this time, and she lays down on the rooftop, eyes staring up at the bright blue sky with few clouds in them. She sighs, and glances over as part of her garbage is blown in the wind, although not very far before Sero picks it up and puts it in the bag he brought along for their trash.

Ashido points and goes, “that’s me.”

Kaminari glances over at where she’s pointing and raises an eyebrow, “You’re the plastic bag?”

“No. I’m trash.”

“..Yeah you fucking are.”

“Baku! You’re not supposed to agree!” Mina sits up, pouting at the blond. “You’re supposed to say--”

“You’re supposed to say,” Kirishima interrupts, smirk on his face. “as someone who cares deeply about the environment, I’m obligated to pick you up. How does seven sound?”

“Why in the ever loving fuck would I say that shit to her.” Bakugou frowns, eyebrows furrowed in. “That’s fucking--”

“--smooth as heck!” Mina slaps a hand over Bakugou’s mouth so he can’t protest the ending to his sentence, even though she knows what he was going to say anyway. Mina’s cheeks are a dark red, but she’s smiling wide. “Eiji, that’s so smooth! That’s not fair! Why do you have to play with my heart like this!”

Kirishima laughs, grinning wide, “Haha. I’m sorry! I can’t help myself!”

iv. victim four; bakugou.

They’re studying in Bakugou’s room, with Bakugou sitting on his bed, hunched over while watching Kirishima study and write down notes. With Bakugou watching him like a hawk, it makes Kirishima feel uneasy and tense. It’s even worse when Bakugou’s this close and Kirishima’s heart won’t calm down.

He’s been pining for Bakugou for weeks, and he had been hoping his smooth lines on the others would get some sort of reaction out of him, so he could see if smooth lines would be the way to go to confess to this guy. And even though the reactions he got from everyone else was great, Bakugou just seemed not to care for them at all. It disappointed Kirishima a little, but that just means he’d have to try harder to figure out a way to confess to Bakugou. Or to make him swoon at least. Even if he sees a little bit of a blush on Bakugou’s cheeks, regardless if Bakugou denies it, Kirishima will still feel accomplished.

“Shitty Hair.”

Just how would he make this possible.

“Dumb fuck.”

He’s never made Bakugou blush before. He’s just made him smile. An actual smile, too, not the murderous ones he tends to have. Cheek resting in the palm of his hand, Kirishima taps his pencil on his book lightly, lost in thought.

“Son of a-- Kirishima!”

“Huh wha--” Kirishima blinks, out of his daze, tilting his head back to see Bakugou, who didn’t look all to happy at this moment. “What? What’s the matter?”

“I just had to call you three fucking times. Are you the gears in your head finally fucking working? I don’t see steam coming out of your damn ears.”

“I was just lost in thought, man! But not about schoolwork,” Kirishima admits, setting his pencil down and leaning back, resting his head against Bakugou’s mattress. “Can we take a break? We’ve been studying forever.”

“I fucking guess. If you study anymore without a break, your brain is going to fucking fry and then you’ll end up like Drooly.” Bakugou sighs, laying back on his bed, arms behind his head. Kirishima chuckles from the floor and gets on the bed, though just sits instead of laying back like Bakugou. “The fuck were you thinking so hard about I had to call you three times for?”

“Mm.. Just thinking about that if you were words on a page, they’d be what they call fine print.” A smirk and a wink to add to the smooth line, thinking it would have some sort of affect on Bakugou.

“Wha.. what the--”

And Bakugou’s stammering. Kirishima can see the red dusting over Bakugou’s cheeks and Kirishima feels his heart flutter.

And then his vision turns black when a pillow is pushed into your face.

“Oof--!”

“What the fuck are you going saying all that shit for?!”

“Haha. They’re just smooth pick up lines, dude,” Kirishima tells him, pushing the pillow out of his face. “If you don’t like that one, how about: On a scale from one to ten, you’re a nine and I’m the one you need.”

Silence. And then Bakugou glares. Oh no.

“What the fuck do you mean, I’m a nine? I’m a fucking ten.”

Kirishima blinks then burst out with laughter. Typical Bakugou.

“Seriously, think of better fucking things than these damn pick up lines.” Bakugou grumbles, though Kirishima can spot the red dusting over Bakugou’s cheeks and to the tips of his ears.

He won’t say anything, but Kirishima’s heart is going crazy and he feels so accomplished right now.

Just.. one more.

“Hey, Bakugou?”

“What now.”

“Do your legs hurt?” Kirishima questions, and Bakugou raises an eyebrow, opening his mouth to respond, but Kirishima responds first. “They must, because you run through my mind quite a lot.”

…

“I would fucking leave you right fucking now if this wasn’t my room.”

“I’ll stop! I’ll stop!”

v. confession.

“You said what to him?!” Ashido slams her hands down on the top of Kirishima’s desk, the commotion causing the others to turn around  to wonder what it’s all about. “And what did he say?!”

“Mina, calm down, please.” Kirishima groans, hanging his head, face red that all attention is drawn to the two of them. “He didn’t say anything. He blushed a little, but it just seemed like he was more annoyed than anything from them.”

“With how blunt Bakugou is, you would think he would understand why you were being so smooth in the first place,” Kaminari says. “Maybe you’re not using the right ones? Try to make it more obvious?”

“Or you can just tell him how you feel, instead of using pick up lines,” Sero chimes in and Kirishima turns his head towards him, pouting. “What the hell, dude. It’s not that hard.”

“Really? I want you to tell your crush how you feel without panicking about how to say it.”

“M.. my crush wouldn’t blow my face off.”

“You have a crush?” Ashido and Kaminari say this in unison, and Sero tenses up. “Who who who?”

“We-- we’re not talking about my love life here!” Sero’s face glows red making Kirishima snicker. “We’re talking about Kirishima’s!”

“Talking about Kirishima’s what?”

The four freeze, hearing Bakugou’s voice, and Kirishima feels his face grow hotter. Oh no.

“Talking about his Halloween costume!” Ashido responds. “Are you going to dress up this year, Baku?”

“Fuck no. And why are you talking about Halloween this early for?”

“Ahead of the game! You could wear that wolf costume again,” Kaminari suggests. “You looked cute with the ears and a tail.”

“Nah, Bakugou should be a ghost.”

Bakugou was ready to blow Kaminari’s face off, but at Kirishima’s suggestion, he blinks, “A ghost?”

“Yeah, so you can be my boo.”

…

And there goes the blush creeping up on Bakugou’s cheeks.

“I fucking told you to stop with those lines! Use your brain for something better!”

“Heh.. sorry, man. They’re kind of stuck in my head.”

“Tch. Whatever.”

Bakugou moves away from the group to sit down in his seat, and when he does, Kirishima turns back towards the group, letting out a sigh.

“See, reasons why you need to confess to him instead of using pick up lines,” Sero tells Kirishima. “At least he blushed a little, but he was more aggravated than anything.”

“Mm.. Yeah. I guess I see your point.”

With class starting soon, the three of them pat Kirishima on the shoulder before making way to their seats. Kirishima turns his head, looking at Bakugou from across the room. How does one really confess to that guy?

---

Over the next couple of days, Kirishima still tries to use pick up lines on Bakugou.

For instance, they had a Disney movie night. And Kirishima turned towards Bakugou and went: “I could be Ariel and be part of your world.”

Bakugou’s response: “With your fucking red hair, yeah, you probably could be fucking Ariel.”

And then there was the time they were studying chemistry, and he goes: “Bakugou, you must be made of Oxygen and Neon because you’re the ONe for me.”

Bakugou called him an idiot, but yet the blush on his face made Kirishima think he was actually getting through to him.

And then he’s awake early on a Sunday morning, laying in bed until there’s a knock on his door and a folded piece of paper is slipped underneath it. He raises an eyebrow, getting out of bed and picking up the folding piece of paper, then opens his door, looking left and right to see if the person who did that was still there. And yet, there’s no one. Kirishima unfolds the piece of paper, and on it reads:

Meet me on the rooftop. -Bakugou

Oh great. Maybe Bakugou is going to throw him off the roof of the dorms. Good. Put him out of his misery from confessing to him properly. With a sigh, Kirishima slips his shoes on and moves up to the rooftop, where Bakugou stands, back facing Kirishima. He shuts the door, the metal slamming and echoing throughout the rooftop, making Kirishima flinch and Bakugou turn his head over his shoulder.

“About fucking time.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting, man.” Kirishima rubs the back of his neck, stepping forward. He’s prepared to be thrown off the roof, or prepared for Bakugou to attack him, maybe explode his face off. Although with his hardening quirk, he’ll harden before any attacks hit. “Uhm.. what did you need me up here for?”

“Kirishima..” Well, Bakugou doesn’t sound threatening. And yet Kirishima gulps, fearing the worst. “Do you have fucking feelings for me?”

Oh. Oh no. Kirishima freezes, his face growing hotter and hotter.

“I-- I-- uh--” Kirishima swallows, but nods slowly. “Y.. yeah. I-I do.”

“Then why the fuck didn’t you say that right away?!” Now he’s pissed. He doesn’t like it when Bakugou’s angry, even though that’s eighty percent of his emotions. “Instead of fucking using those shitty ass pick up lines on other people before you used that shit on me!”

“..I--”

“Makes me fucking think you weren’t actually serious when you said that shit! I fucking like you too, you asshole!”

…

“You-- wha--” Kirishima blinks, jaw dropped. He sees how red Bakugou’s face is, and holy shit, this has to be some sort of dream. “You.. like me?”

“Yeah, I fucking do! I don’t fucking lie, dipshit!”

Someone pinch him. Or maybe he should get Bakugou to punch him. This has to be a dream.

“If you fucking like me, then why didn’t say so before.”

“..I didn’t know how to say it,” Kirishima admits, staring down at the ground. “It’s not that easy, Bakugou. So I was testing pick up lines to see what kind of reaction I would get, mostly to see how you would react, but.. they didn’t exactly work, did they?”

“Oh no. They fucking worked.” Bakugou says, causing Kirishima to lift his head up, eyes wide. “I kept hearing those stupid lines echoing in my goddamn head and they fucking made my heart flutter like fucking mad. It was horrible. I couldn’t fucking sleep.”

Oh god. Kirishima should feel bad, and yet, he feels accomplished? He feels happy? Kirishima bites on his lower lip, and slowly makes his way over to Bakugou, a small smile going across his lips.

“So.. Bakugou,” Kirishima starts, now standing just a foot away from him. “do you know what my shirt is made out of?”

Bakugou takes a good look at Kirishima’s shirt, the design and colours clashing with one another.

“Who the fuck cares. It should be burnt.”

“..Mean. Why would something made out of boyfriend material be burnt?”

…

“You. Are fucking. Ridiculous.” Bakugou groans, sliding a hand down his face. “Stop with those fucking lines already! Can’t you just ask me out normally?!”

“Sorry sorry.” Kirishima’s laughing, but once he calms down, he has a sweet smile on his face and looking Kirishima straight in the eyes as he says: “Bakugou. Will you go out with me and be my boyfriend..?”

He doesn’t get a verbal response. Instead, Bakugou grabs Kirishima by his shirt and tugs him closer, and smashes their lips together. Their eyes flutter shut, and Kirishima kisses back, and when they pull away, Bakugou’s grinning.

“Fuck yeah I will.”

+i. victim: kirishima.

They’re all sitting in Bakugou’s room, with Bakugou laying on his bed while the other four are on the floor. He had already finished his homework earlier before they came over, begging and pleading for help with equations and chemistry, and Bakugou groaned, unable to really turn them down, so he let them in. However, he’s not telling them the answers, and would just point out mistakes here and there, like what equations they are doing wrong. Sero seemed to understand it better than the other three, though Bakugou still pointed out what he was doing wrong. After a while of doing it, Mina suggested they take a break, and even with Bakugou saying no to it, it was still four to one. With a sigh, Bakugou rolled over on his side, grumbling about how they can take a fifteen minute break to relax before they end up frying their brains.

“Serious question: If you had a clone, would you date them?” Ashido questions, and Bakugou glances over from his phone, narrowing his eyes. “It’s a serious question, Baku.”

“You said that, and yet it sounds fucking stupid. Why the fuck would you date your clone?”

“I wouldn’t. Dating myself would be weird.” and yet Kirishima answers the question, leaning back against Bakugou’s bed. “I don’t think I would be able to date myself.”

“..Your standards must be high then.” Bakugou tells him, with a complete straight face and still staring at his phone. The whole room goes silent, and Kirishima looks so red. Bakugou looks away from his phone, glaring at the others. “What?”

“First off, you broke Eiji,” Mina points out, and yet she’s grinning as she’s pointing at her best friend. “and secondly, his standards are pretty low if he’s dating you.”

Bakugou’s eyebrow twitches.

“Do you want to fucking die today, Raccoon Eyes.”

“I’m already dead.” Kirishima mutters, covering his red face with his hands.

Bakugou looks down at him, a smirk on his face, “Yeah. You are. You fucking died and came down from the goddamn heavens because you’re a fucking angel.”

…

“Bakugou! You can’t just say these things!” Kirishima whines, where he should be surprised that Bakugou is saying these lines with the others in the room, yet he’s too busy with his heart beating fast and hard against his chest and his face burning like the sun. “What did I do to deserve this!”

“Payback from when you used your shitty pick up lines on me.”

“What makes yours any better?” Kaminari asks.

“Because I’m the one fucking saying them.”

Kirishima’s so in love with Bakugou. He’s so in love and he hopes this guy never changes.

“Break times fucking over. Back to work.”

“It’s only been five minutes!”

“Doesn’t fucking matter. Back to your homework,” Bakugou rolls over onto his side, glancing down at Kirishima, seeing that he finally moved his hands away from his face, the blush bright and evident, the red blending into Kirishima’s hair. “You alright over there?”

“Mm-hm.” Kirishima hums, nodding his head. “Never better.”

[kotoriqueen]

me externally: I write fanfic because I enjoy it! I write for myself!

me internally: validate me. drown me in kudos. i will sell my soul for comments and fic recs

[kotoriqueen]

The Heith Zine would like to announce our charity of choice! We are donating proceeds to The Honeybee Conservancy 

Here is their mission statement:

Imagine a grey world without almonds, apples or fragrant flowers…

Sounds terrible, right?

Unfortunately, that’s the shocking future we face if we don’t work to help our most precious pollinator: bees. Far from being a niche concern, bees are at the heart of our survival. One in three bites of food we eat depends entirely on bees – and they are dying out.

The Honeybee Conservancy is a 501c3 non-profit organization that works to help the bees, while increasing access to organic, sustainable food in under-served communities.

Like you, we’re passionate about bee conservation, sustainability and local food.

All artists and writers have begun to work on their pieces! Follow us for updates on all work and progresses! Participants list can be found here 

Schedule | Participants | FAQ/Rules | Twitter

[kotoriqueen]

And here is our official participants list! We are super excited to start this project. Everyone here is bringing a wonderful piece dedicated to Hunk and Keith :D 

Please reblog and follow those who are involved. A lot of support is needed for this project~

Charity of choice: coming soon!

Schedule | FAQ | Twitter | Ask

[kotoriqueen]

April 3rd Five times Matt is impatient for Katie/Pidge to grow up, and the one time he wishes he had been patient.

Happy Birthday, Pidge! 

(Also on my AO3!)

i.

He’s so young when his grandparents take him to the hospital to see his parents and his new baby sister, and yet, despite how young, he still remembers the day she was born as if it was yesterday.

He remembers running into the hospital room, seeing his mothers weary but smiling face as he holds a pink blanket in her arms, and his father telling him to come forward. He’s lifted up and set on the bed, while his mother shows the little girl that is in the bundle of pink blankets. Her face was so chubby, and so rosy, and she was so small. He wondered if he was that small, and wonders if she’ll be afraid of him because he’s bigger than her. All the nerves are coming to him as he looks over his sleeping baby sister, not even realizing his mother asks if he wanted to hold her. It takes his father to call out to him a few times before he responds, and he ends up curling his fingers into his pants, biting his lip.

“I don’t want to hurt her,” he replies, saying to low, but loud enough for his parents to hear.

His parents exchange looks, then their smiles widen.

“What makes you think you’ll hurt her?”

“She’s so small! And what if she wakes up when she’s in my arms and she starts crying?” Now all these worries are filling poor little Matt’s head. “What if she’s scared of me? What if she hates me? What if I’m not--”

“Matthew,” his mother calls out, keeping him from babbling his worries more. “relax, sweetie. Katie’s going to love you, and you’re going to be a wonderful big brother.”

Matt blinks then his eyes light up, “Katie?”

“Kathryn Elizabeth Holt,” his mother says. “Katie, for short. It’s a great name, isn’t it?”

“..Yeah.” Matt looks at his baby sister again, then a smile goes on his face. “I wanna hold her.”

His mother laughs, “I thought so.”

His parents help him get Katie into the right position in his arms, and he’s staring down at her sleeping face while his parents and grandparents watch with wide smiles on their faces. It’s only seconds later that Katie makes noises and Matt’s ready to freak out and hand her back, but her eyes open and the two of them make eye contact for a moment and it seems like all of Matt’s worries and doubts faded away just like that.

Matt’s smile could light up the whole town, “Hey, Katie.. I’m your big brother..”

And Katie blinks then smiles and there’s baby giggling and Matt freezes.

“She smiled at me. She smiled at me!”

“See? I told you she’d love you.” his mother says.

“I’m going to be the best big brother to you,” Matt tells Katie, even though she’s only minutes old and doesn’t quite understand him yet. “I can’t wait until you grow up so I can teach you so many things.”

ii.

It’s her first birthday and Katie’s still small.

It raised concern, and they tried to feed her more, but she eats so slow and doesn’t finish her bottles. It could be because she’s still developing, and they’ve been to the doctors for annual check ups but her weight seemed normal to them. It’s just that Matt had been a chunky baby and ate a lot, but was also spoiled rotten so that explains why the Holt parents are so concerned for their second little one.

Matt had helped his mother bake a cake for Katie’s first birthday – a small cake all to herself! Vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting and piping around the edges and a big pink and white candle in the shape of a one in the middle of it. The whole family is over, and there’s presents for Katie to rip apart. They sing happy birthday and have her blow out the candles. At first she looks at the flame a little confused so Matt steps up and shows her what to do. Instead, she grabs a fistful of cake – without blowing out the candle – and shoves it in Matt’s face.

“Katie! No!”

“Share!” Katie shouts, but her smile is wide. “Share..with.. Matt!”

“You have to blow out your candle first..” Matt mumbles. “I’ll do it with you?”

Katie’s smile is wider and she nods quick. Matt grins and counts down and Katie prepares herself to blow out the candle. Except, Matt blows it out, and as soon as he does, Katie shoves him, face first, into the cake that was meant for her.

There’s gasps coming from the family, which is followed by giggles. Matt lifts his head up, wiping cake and icing off his face. He’s not pleased, and yet he’s not going to yell at Katie because she just turned one, and he knows she doesn’t know any better. But she’s clapping her hands and laughing like mad, her pale cheeks turning red from how hard she’s laughing. Matt huffs, wiping some icing off his face and spreading it on her cheek. And then the laughter stops for a moment, and Katie blinks at first, processing what happened.

..And then she goes back to laughing.

“Well.. she wanted to share with you,” his father says between laughs. He bends down with a washcloth, helping Matt wipe his face off. “Looks like she did.”

“Oh, just you wait,” Matt says, narrowing his eyes at his laughing baby sister, a smirk across his laugh. “Just you wait until you grow up. I’m going to shove your face into a cake one day.”

iii.

Katie’s five, and she’s been growing bit by bit, though she still eats like a bird – slow and doesn’t eat much. Matt came to the conclusion that Katie was part bird, and with how interested she seemed in pigeons when they went to the park, Matt decides to nickname her ‘Pidge’. Which Katie hates, and pouts and whines when he uses it, and Matt laughs each time.

She’s about to start kindergarten and she’s nervous – so so nervous that she can’t sleep. Her parents bought her new clothes, new hair ties and ribbons – new everything for her to be prepared for the biggest day of her life: Going to kindergarten. Preschool was one thing, but now she’ll be in the same building as other big kids, and they’re going to be huge compared to her. She’s all tucked into her bed, her parents out at work for another hour or so, so Matt’s been looking after her. He had left her so she could sleep, but when he walks past her bedroom – dimly lit by her nightlight – he notices her eyes still wide open. Concerned, he steps in, knocking on her bedroom door, which makes her jump at first.

“Can’t sleep?”

“No..” Katie admits, and pushes her blanket off of her. She sits up, fingers curling into her comforter.

“Do you want me to read you another story?” Matt suggests, going to her bookcase. “I could read to you about astrology and the constellations--”

“Matt,” Katie calls out, but doesn’t make eye contact with her brother. “..Is kindergarten gonna be scary?”

Matt blinks at first, but his lips curl up into a smile and makes way to Katie’s bed, where he sits on the edge, “That’s what has you awake?”

Katie nods.

“It’s not scary,” Matt tells her. “and I’m being honest here. Kindergarten is fun – with snack time and nap time, plus my teacher was great! There’s going to be sing-a-longs, and story time, and each kid has a special job to do every week. One cleans up the art supplies, one is the line leader, one is in charge of bringing snacks for that week..”

“Sounds like a lot of work...”

“It’s not,” Matt reassures. “It’s really fun and you’ll make a lot of new friends. I promise you that.”

Katie bites her lip, still unsure but she should trust her big brother. After all, he’s been through all of this so he should know what he’s talking about.

“W..will you read me another story? The star one?”

“The constellations, you mean?” Matt questions and Katie nods her head. “Of course. And when you get to kindergarten, you can impress all of them on how much you know.”

Katie grins wide, “Yeah!”

“I can’t wait until you’re a little older so you can come with dad and I when we stargaze,” Matt says as he retrieves the book and joins Katie back on the bed. “You’d love it, Pidge. You’re a smart girl, I’m sure you’d be interested in space.”

iv.

She’s done with grade school and into middle school now, and she comes home one day, running to her room in a rush and shutting her bedroom door with a slam. Matt flinches when he hears it, and he glances over at his wall in concern. It seems like everyday, Katie is coming home in a bad mood and crying her eyes out, and demands to be left alone. Matt sometimes leaves her, other times he brings her cake or cookies and tries to get her to talk but she doesn’t respond. This time, he decides that he’ll go to her room and not leave her until she talks. Besides, that’s what he signed up for when he wanted to become a big brother so badly.

“Pidge?” Matt calls out from her door. “Can I-”

“Go away!”

Matt sighs, wondering he even bothered to ask when he was just going to come in anyway. He turns the door knob slowly, pushing open her door and shutting it behind him. There Katie lies, face down on her bed, but her face buried into her pillows. She yells at Matt, though it’s muffled through her pillow, and even though she yelled, Matt shows no sign of moving anytime soon – not even if she threw something.

“I’m not leaving, Pidge,” Matt declares, leaning against her bedroom door. “You’ve been coming home really upset and I’ve had it. I want you to tell me what’s been going on at school.”

“None of your business!” she shouts. “And I told you not to call me Pidge!”

And there goes the pillow, being thrown at Matt’s head, but Matt ducks in time, where it hits the door behind him. When he looks back up, he sees the angry look on Katie’s face but there’s tears running down her face and he feels his heart break into a million pieces. Who is making his sister so upset? Who is making her cry this hard? Matt has a serious look on his face, slowly walking forward towards Katie’s bed, where she pulls her knees up to her chest and buries her face into her knees. Matt sits on her bed, but makes no more movements.

“Please talk to me, Katie,” Matt begs. “I’ve left you alone all this time, thinking you’ll come to me at some point, but you just seem to be hurting more and more with each passing day.”

Silence.

“Please. It breaks my heart seeing you like this. And I won’t tell mom and dad if you prefer it. I promise.”

Katie sniffles and looks up from her knees, “..Promise?”

“Cross my heart.” Matt says. Katie thinks about it for a moment, and she sniffles and hiccups. It’s then that Matt comes closer, hand on her back, rubbing it slowly. “Something is going on at school, isn’t it?”

“They call me a nerd,” Katie mutters. “they call me a nerd because I know too much, and participate a lot in class, and get high grades and so much praise from the teachers.”

“And being a nerd is a bad thing?” Matt questions, raising an eyebrow. “Your big brother is a nerd.”

“You’re studying to become a pilot though! And go into space! It’s different..”

“Mm.. not really,” Matt shrugs. “Katie, all I’m saying is.. being a nerd isn’t a bad thing. I know how much it must hurt – actually, I do know. I was called a nerd a lot back in middle school and it hurt. It took talking to mom and dad about my problems weeks after that started when they told me not to look into the now so much. Because.. so what if you’re a nerd? You’re learning about things you love, and what you’re passionate about. And if it makes you a nerd to learn more about space and what’s out there, then so be it! They’re just jealous because they don’t have a Holt brain.”

“..A Holt brain?”

“A Holt brain contains so much knowledge. We don’t knock anything out – instead our brains get bigger and bigger and suck up everything like a sponge,” Matt says. “How do you think I know so much?”

Katie blinks, thinking for a moment, but doesn’t come up with an answer.

“Because I’m a nerd,” Matt answers for her. “and it’s fine to be a nerd, Katie. You’re studying alongside me to get into the Galaxy Garrison one day, too. Just you wait until that happens. When you’re older, your old classmates are going to be praising you instead of picking on you! They’ll be begging to be your friend then!”

Katie smiles a little, “You really think so?”

“I know so.”

A small laugh escapes Katie and she wipes away her tears with the back of her hand, “I guess.. Thanks, Matt.”

“No problem, Pidge.” Matt pats her on the shoulder and gets up from the bed. “Now, come on. Let’s go downstairs and steal cookies before dinner.”

“I told you not to call me Pidge,” but Katie’s smile is still wide. “But I’ll let it slide, just this once.”

v.

It’s a week after her fifteenth birthday when the news flashes across the screen.

Kerberos Mission Failed due to Pilot Error. Her fathers picture, her brothers picture, and Takashi Shirogane’s picture flashes across the screen along with the caption. She remembers coming down the stairs and seeing her mom staring at the television screen completely frozen. Katie’s frozen, too, standing at the steps and listening to the news report from there.

It was just a week ago that their scheduled call goes through, and the whole crew wished Katie a happy birthday. Matt even went and sang ‘happy birthday’ to her, totally off key, which made her embarrassed but laugh so loudly that made her father, Matt, and Takashi smile wide. They apologize for not being there for her fifteenth birthday, and Katie says they’ll make it up to her next year when they’re back from their mission to Kerberos.

And now Katie feels as if she jinxed that, because she’s not even certain if her father, brother, and Takashi are going to come back home. But Takashi was an amazing pilot – there had to be something the Galaxy Garrison was hiding from everyone.

“You better come back. Or I’m coming up in space to get you.”

She still has a year before she could enroll into the Garrison, but with a little hacking she could change her birth date. She even debates changing her name, too, so none of the teachers give her sympathy about what happened to the Kerberos crew.

And after she’s kicked off the Garrison property, she decides to hack into the Garrison and change her name, birth date, and age. She even goes as far as cutting her hair short.

“I’m coming for you, Matt,” Katie tells herself in the mirror, after all her long hair is gone. It’s choppy, and messy, but with some styling, who is going to notice? “I don’t know how long it’ll take, but I’m coming.”

Meanwhile, somewhere in a Galra prison, Matt has his knees curled up to his chest, wondering how much he’s missing Katie grow up stuck there, and how much he’s going to miss, depending how long he’s stuck there.

+i.

Hunk had created something that converts Altean time and dates into Earth time, though he doesn’t think it’s exact – most likely far from it – but it’s the closest thing they have. He hasn’t really worked out the time, but the dates and year was another thing.

Matt looks it when the third of April is circled. His eyes widen. Katie’s birthday. Or well, he should say Pidge’s birthday now, since she doesn’t seem to hate that name any longer. It’s funny how his little sister grew up from hating the nickname to using it to get into the Garrison.

He searches out for Pidge, only to find out from Coran that Voltron is fighting Galra at the moment, but their fight is nearing the end so the paladins will be coming back shortly. Matt should have known – he had woken up to the alarms, but had ended up going right back to bed. And besides, his little sister is a paladin of Voltron, and she has a job to do, and just because he’s back and their father is (hopefully) back on Earth, he can’t expect her to stop everything and stop fighting the Galra. There’s still several that are rebelling against Lotor and they have to do all they can to change their minds or make sure he’s not killed on his throne.

After all, Voltron and Lotor are a team now, even though it sets some of them off. But Allura has no doubts or worries in the slightest.

Matt counts the ticks until the paladins come back, and Matt waits in the lions hangars. Specifically, he waits in Green’s, and when the lion zooms in, Matt has his arms at his side and hands balled into fists. He waits for his little sister to come out of the big mechanical lion, but she comes out slower than expected, and when she does come out--

“You’re injured..” Matt says, eyes wide and filled with worry. Heart thumping hard against his chest, he runs to Pidge, though she shows no sign of pain nor does she look like she’ll topple over any minute either. “What the hell happened?”

“Stupid sentry got me with their gun,” Pidge explains, taking her helmet off and running a hand through her hair while her other arm holds her helmet. “It’s not as bad as it looks. Besides, I’m used to it.”

Matt doesn’t know if his eyes could get any wider. She’s used to it? Matt swallows, his eyes stinging with the tears that threaten to fall. He should have known. After all, his little sister is a paladin of Voltron, and has been fighting Galra for a long time, with so many stories to tell and with her getting stronger with each passing quintant. She’s grown up so much since he’s been gone, and he’s missed so much of it. Take him back to the day where she was first born, and her first birthday where she shoved his face into the cake. Take him back to the day where his little sister would come into his room with nightmares, where she clung onto her older brother and wouldn’t let him go. Take him back to the past, where he’ll tell his younger self to be patient with her growing up, because in a blink of an eye, you might miss something.

Over the years, he’s been looking over her. He swore to himself he’d be a great big brother, and as she grows up, he’d be teaching all these things. He was impatient with her growing up, but knew he had to try to be patient, since babies are still developing and it’d take her a while to understand certain things or do certain things. But that didn’t stop him from teaching her about space and rocket ships and constellations as she was growing, and by the time she was thirteen and about to enter middle school, she knew all these things about space and impressed her teachers. (Not so much her fellow students, though.)

He remembers telling her when she was in middle school, when she was picked on for being a nerd, that she should wait until she grows up and she’ll be someone famous. And now it seems like that went by in a blink of an eye, and his little sister is a paladin of Voltron, defending the universe, and getting injured so many times that she’s used to it by now. He misses when she has sick as a kid, and he’d worry about her and wait on her hand and foot, not even wanting to go to school. Or when she injures her ankle tripping over a root in the ground when the family goes camping, and he carries her on his back the whole time.

And now she grew up, to where pain is nothing and a shot to the side is barely anything to worry about. God.. where did the time go?

“Matt?” Pidge calls out, pulling her brother from his thoughts. “You’re crying.”

“I’m crying?” Matt is in disbelief, but he raises a hand to his cheek, where he feels the tears on his cheeks. “Huh.. guess I am.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” is Matt’s response at first, but Pidge raises an eyebrow. “..You-- you’ve just grown up so much, Katie.. I’m just reminiscing. You’ve grown up so much and I feel as if I missed so much of it. I looked at the calendar Hunk made, and it’s the third of April..”

“Seriously? Time goes by fast.” Pidge comments, still messing with her hair. “..I didn’t even notice.”

“Mhm.”

“I also know I grew up a lot. I had the thought of you and dad keeping me going, never making me stop studying or searching for both of you,” Pidge continues on. “I had a great big brother to look up to as I was growing up, so I guess I was impatient with how long it takes me to grow up when I wanted to be like you.”

“Well, you copied my hairstyle and stole my glasses--”

“You gave me your glasses, thank you,” Pidge interrupts, huffing. “and I had to cut my hair. The Garrison kicked me off the property. But I mean.. I wanted to be as strong as you, and be the one to protect you at some point when you’ve done so much for me.”

“You’ve protected me, mom and dad, and thousands of others on Earth and in the galaxy because you’re a Paladin of Voltron,” Matt tells her. “So I think you’re plenty strong, and you’ve done what you wanted to do. Even though in a blink of an eye, you went from being my small baby sister, just minutes old to.. this.”

“Yeah, well.. Just because I grew up so fast, doesn’t mean I’m still not your baby sister,” Pidge notes. “Not really small anymore, but I’m still your baby sister, Matt.”

“Heh.. I guess you have a point.”

“And I could really use my big brother right now to give me a piggy back ride to the infirmary,” Pidge adds on. “My side doesn’t hurt bad, but I could still use more disinfectant and a proper bandage.”

Matt grins wide, and turns around, going down on one knee so Pidge could hop on his back, “All aboard the Matt Holt Express.”

Pidge snorts, “You’re such a nerd.”

“Takes one to know one, Katie.”

[kotoriqueen]

Hot Zumba Instructor McClaimed My Heart From @coffee-for-himchan‘s tumblr - the 101 Drabble Prompts in many different flavours!

1 - "Put a warning label on yourself, will ya? Like “hot damn” or something might just be appropriate." --- Matt gets Shiro to go to a zumba class because the cute zumba instructor. There he meets one Lance McClain.  --- All characters are 18+ in this fic.

Also on AO3!!

“You should take a zumba class,” Matt had suggested one day when he was spotting Shiro during his reps.

“Yeah?” Shiro grunts and pants as he lifts the weight, trying to keep his breathing even as he lifted. “Why is that?”

“You’re always here lifting weights, or running on the treadmill. It’d be nice to try something new,” Matt shrugs. “Plus there’s a cute boy that runs it.”

Shiro rests his weight back on the rack, moving to sit up and grabbing his towel and water bottle from where it sat next to the bench. Matt’s always trying to introduce him to his friends or cute guys he comes across to try to get him to do something other than going to the GYM and working at a bakery with his childhood friend, Allura, and her uncle, Coran. It was easy for him to gain a few pounds here and there, taste testing all the sweets Allura makes. Shiro doesn’t have a set diet, but he still wants to burn off the calories from the sweets he eats there.

But that’s besides the point. Shiro’s not looking to date anyone at this time. He knows Matt’s heart is in the right place, but--

“Trust me,” Matt says, breaking Shiro from his thoughts. “He’s cute, has hips that don’t lie, and he’s bi.”

“But that also means I don’t have a chance,” Shiro tries to explain. “If he’s cute, and his hips don’t lie, that means thousands in that class are swooning over him already.”

“Don’t be so sure. Look, all I’m saying is go to one zumba class. If you don’t like him, you don’t have to go again.”

“And will you stop trying to set me up with people?”

“Nope.”

Shiro groans.

~☆~

He signs up for the next available zumba class. Matt comes with him, too, so he could point out who he’s talking about. There’s tons of people, and most of them are giggling and smiling wide. Some ladies are wearing tank tops and yoga pants, men in muscle shirts and basketball shorts, which makes Shiro think he’s over dressed in his short sleeved shirt and sweatpants, but Matt assures him that everyone has their own fashion sense when coming to these classes.

The door opens, and Shiro watches as a tan skinned, brown haired guy walk to the front of the class. He’s wearing a white crop top with blue stripes on the chest and a pair of baggy sweatpants. Shiro admits, he’s a little thankful they have a spot up close because oh my goodness, Shiro can see how bright his blue eyes are. Matt tugs on Shiro’s sleeve, and when Shiro looks over, there’s a wide grin on his face.

“That’s him.” he whispers. “Lance McClain.”

“Alright! I see a lot of new faces here, and all of you are gorgeous, really,” this Lance says, clapping his hands together. His greeting earns a few sheepish laughs from the crowd. “For those who are new to this, I’m Lance, and I’ve been doing zumba since I was small. My mamá had introduced me to it with mommy and me zumba courses and I’ve loved it since. Usually I have two co-leaders with me, but they’re on a week long trip so I’m by lonesome. Or, not really, ‘cause I have all you guys. Anyway, enough about me-- We’re going to start off with basic stretches, get our bodies moving, and then we’ll go ahead and then work through some choreography.”

They start with stretching out their arms, their thighs and legs; doing squats to work out their buttocks and finally their  hips, doing small circular motions, as if they’re hula hooping. Shiro was never great at moving his hips, and he really doesn’t get the hang of it, but once everyone is warmed up, Lance walks them through some basic movements, taking it one step at a time. After a while, and people were confident with trying it with music, Lance puts Despacito on, and at some point during the song, Lance starts singing along to it. Shiro ends up being entranced by Lance’s body, and how he moves, right down to his hips. Like Matt said, his hips don’t lie. Shiro feels his throat getting dry and his heart racing. It’s as if Matt has a sixth sense, because he elbows Shiro in the side to get his attention, and he has the most shit eating grin on his face.

“You like?”

“Let’s just say he McClaimed my heart.”

Matt snorts and resists the urge to burst out with laughter in the middle of class, “That was awful.”

~☆~

A couple songs later, the class was able to freestyle however they pleased while Lance looks over them. The music is loud enough for everyone to listen to the beat, but low enough for people to make conversation with one other. Shiro and Matt end up taking a break during the freestyle course, where Shiro chugged down water and wiped his face off with his towel. At some point, Lance decides to watch from the sidelines, standing next to Matt and Shiro, leaning against the wall.

“You brought a friend this time, Matt,” Lance says, making conversation. “He’s good.”

“Please. Shiro can’t move his hips like you do.”

“Shiro?” Lance’s eyebrows raise, looking at Shiro up and down. “As in Keith’s big brother Shiro?”

“You know Keith?”

“He’s one of Lance’s co-instructors,” Matt explains. “Yes, your baby brother can move, Shiro.”

“Hairstyle out of date, but he can work it,” Lance comments. “As pretty as he is, he’s aro-ace, but we’re good friends!”

“I’m going to join the others,” Matt says, patting Shiro’s shoulder. “Converse with the pretty boy.”

Lance laughs and slaps Matt’s arm lightly before he leaves, and Lance inches closer to Shiro, “I can tell it was the first time for you doing zumba. Will you be coming back?”

“I don’t know, seems dangerous,” Shiro shrugs. “Especially with someone like you here. You need to put a warning label on yourself. Like hot damn or something should be appropriate.”

“I--” Lance is speechless, which is needless to say, and his face lights up the brightest shade of red. “Oh my god. Shiro, at least take me out on a date first before you check me out.”

“I mean, if you’re available..?”

“I’d say damn straight, but it’d be ironic to say since I’m bi,” Lance shrugs but smiles brightly. “Class ends in ten minutes. I’ll give you my number then and we’ll plan something.”

Shiro’s grin is wide, “Sounds like a date.”

[kotoriqueen]

College Isn’t So Bad.. Chapter Update! Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter 4.5| Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Also on AO3!

And this is the second update! I felt bad keeping you guys on edge for six months, so I wrote two chapters for you guys. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

The rest of the week goes by far too quickly, and by Saturday, Keith can’t believe Sunday is tomorrow and he and Hunk are going to go to the Five Lions together. He doesn’t know why he’s nervous honestly – Hunk’s just his friend who has been overly sweet to him. He’d made him dinner, he’s helped him with schoolwork, and Friday night, they had movie night with Lance and Pidge where both he and Hunk ended up falling asleep. When they both woke up, they were practically cuddling. They had pulled away with flushed faces and saying ‘sorry’ numerous times. Lance and Pidge had teased them for it later, where Keith nudged them both with his knee, and that escalated into a pillow fight.

That’s when Keith realized how warm and cuddly Hunk was, and that was when Hunk realized how cute Keith’s laugh was. Seriously – it was like music to his ears!

It’s Saturday afternoon, and Keith’s getting ready for work. Hunk’s not in the dorms, and hasn’t been for the whole day. He and Pidge were working on a project together, something with robotics and science, and Keith didn’t ask for more details because he knows when Pidge gets serious with science and stuff, she uses big words Keith doesn’t understand and he hates asking for a simpler explanation of what she means. And yet, sometimes he enjoys listening to her babble on, even though at the end, Pidge asks him: “You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?” In which Keith would always respond with a ‘nope’ and Pidge would groan and try to explain it better to him.

So.. it’s nice that she has a friend like Hunk that could understand her big science words and thoughts. And it’s also nice that she managed to get Hunk away from the dorms for a day because all day, Keith has been practicing on making something for Hunk. Again, his cooking skills are no where close to Hunk’s, but Keith did manage to make some sugar cookies, and with his art skills, he had made them into the shape of planets. Although the rings of Uranus didn’t turn out as well as he planned. Nevertheless, he sets them on a plate and leaves them in the kitchen, with the plate wrapped in plastic wrap and a little note left for Hunk when he gets back to the dorms.

With that, he leaves for work, and honestly, even with students running around, making the bookstore a mess, and talking loudly, Keith feels as if that won’t put a downer on his mood because of how excited he was for Sunday.

~☆~

When Keith gets back from work, he finds the cookies halfway gone and Hunk in the kitchen.

“Keith! You’re back earlier than expected,” Hunk says when he notices Keith standing in the doorway. “How was work?”

“Fine,” Keith shrugs then glances at the cookies. “..Did you--”

“If you’re going to ask if I liked them, yes, I did,” Hunk interrupts and Keith holds back a breath of relief. “Sugar cookies are really nice, man. It’s great to have something basic for a change. Pretty cool these are shaped like planets, too!”

“I’m glad you liked them,” Keith’s lips twitch up into a smile. “Uh.. what time are we leaving tomorrow?”

“We can leave early? Like say.. nine-ish?” Hunk suggests. “We can take my truck, if that’s alright with you.”

“I-- yeah. Yeah, that sounds fine.”

“Great!”

~☆~

He wakes up on Sunday way too early. He kept thinking of going to the Five Lions with Hunk, which made his mind flood with scenarios of how well, or how awful this could go. He didn’t get much sleep, but earlier that week, he had looked up the menu and Keith’s definitely getting coffee. But first things first: He needs to shower and find something nice to wear. He knows the Five Lions is basically a cafe, so he doesn’t have to wear anything fancy, but he still has to look somewhat decent. He knows this isn’t a date – it definitely isn’t a date. It’s just a friendly outing between him and Hunk, and Keith plans on paying for everything as a thank you for everything Hunk has done for him. He doesn’t know if Hunk will allow it, but Keith’s not looking to fight about it. (But he’s definitely paying for everything. No matter how much Hunk insists otherwise.)

He takes a quick shower, blow dries and brushes his hair, and then pulls it back into a low ponytail. He’s just in his a pair of black skinny jeans for the time being, walking quick to his room and shutting the door. He doesn’t have a lot of nice clothing, or ones that won’t make people look at him funny. He honestly shouldn’t care what people think, and depending how popular the Five Lions is, no one will take notice to his shirt. Another thing is, is that he doesn’t have a  huge selection of clothes to begin with, so his wardrobe is basically all black with touches of red that range from different shades of red. God, he wishes he could contact Allura and Shiro right now for their opinion on his outfit, but they knew nothing of his plans for today and he’d rather not have them assume this was going to be a date.

He lets out a breath and decides to wear a basic black t-shirt, which is a little snug on his upper body, but it still fits him and he’s not uncomfortable in it. On top of that, he throws on a red flannel, the sleeves rolled up to his sleeves. He also realizes it’s been forever since he wore the fingerless gloves Allura got him ages ago when Shiro forced him to hang out with her for a day. They ended up spending the day shopping, because Allura realized the lack of fashion sense Keith had.

He completes his outfit with his combat boots and a basic silver necklace around his neck. His wallet is in his back pocket, a chain hanging from it and attaching to one of his belt loops. He checks his phone, the time reading seven thirty-five. Keith’s been up for at least an hour and a half, at most, and he’s been in his room all this time pondering his outfit for the day.

Which, why was he worried so much? It’s not like he has to impress Hunk with the way he dresses. This wasn’t a date, and Hunk wasn’t his boyfriend, he’s just his friend and he doubts he’s going to judge him for his fashion choices.

Keith finally makes way out of his bedroom, into the kitchen where he snatches up one of the sugar cookies he made for Hunk originally and makes himself a quick cup of coffee. When he’s done, he moves to the couch in the living room of the dorm, flops down, and flips through channels. Nothing particularly interesting is on, but somehow he’s drawn to the news, even though he ends up blanking out a few times and not paying any attention to what the news reporters are saying. The weather report flickers onto the screen and it catches Keith’s attention. Sunny – it’s going to be sunny for the whole day. And the temperature is up, but not extremely hot. Doesn’t matter when and Hunk would basically be inside most of the time unless Hunk has other plans for them.

Keith takes a sip of his coffee and then he hears a door close and the sound of someone walking down the hall. Keith glances over to see Hunk; dressed and ready to go. And god, Keith feels himself staring at Hunk’s arms.

Hunk is wearing a short sleeved shirt, coloured a light yellow – almost like a pastel yellow, Keith notes mentally – and a pair of dark brown pants and a simple pair of sneakers. There’s also a bracelet around one wrist and a watch around the other, plus an orange headband tied around his forehead. His arms are out for the whole world to see on this sunny day and Keith feels his face heat up and his throat grow dry. He looks more casual than Keith does, too, and now Keith’s wondering if he should change into something more simpler.

“Did I make you wait long for me?”

That sentence, right there, makes Keith believe that this is going to be a date because isn’t that a line people normally use when they see their date waiting for them? Keith struggles for a response at first but he takes in a breath and moves his eyes from Hunk’s arms so he could make eye contact with him.

“N-no,” Keith croaks out, then clears his throat. “Sorry. No, you didn’t. I just couldn’t sleep last night and my body ended up waking me up earlier than I probably should have.”

“What kind of trouble? Like.. thoughts won’t escape you sort of trouble or just can’t get comfortable?” Hunk questions at first and then pauses. “Uh.. if you want to answer anyway? Sometimes talking about what’s bothering you helps?”

Keith knows that all too well. He knows how much Shiro urges him to talk to him when he has thoughts that won’t go away. He smiles at Hunk, “It’s fine, Hunk. It’s just thoughts that wouldn’t go away.”

“If you want to talk about them at all..?”

“Maybe later.”

Or maybe not later, because most of the thoughts he had were mostly about today and about Hunk, too. But he’s sure those thoughts would go away quickly once they get to the Five Lions.

“So,” Hunk finally says, breaking the silence. “are you ready to head out?”

As ready as he’d ever be. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

Keith gets up from the couch, sticks his coffee cup in the sink in the kitchen, and from there, he and Hunk leave and head for Hunk’s truck. Now that he thinks about it, this is the first time he’s been inside Hunk’s vehicle. He notices how clean it is, how the rear view mirror has a car air freshener, making the vehicle smell like vanilla and faintly of cinnamon. The dashboard is completely clean – everything about Hunk’s truck is clean and well kept. Keith could tell Hunk takes care of his truck, which is something they have in common except Keith takes amazing care of Red, his motorcycle. (Which he hasn’t rode Red in quite some time. He should do that soon since he feels guilty about not riding her more often.)

Hunk starts the ignition, rolls down the windows, and puts on his seat belt. Keith already clicked his belt in, and now he’s leaning back in his seat. Hunk backs out of the parking spot, and once they pull out of the college parking lot, Hunk turns on the radio. He goes through the stations until he finds something he likes. It’s not the news, and it’s not music Keith’s used to, but it’s oldies. Keith didn’t know what he had expected with Hunk’s music choices, but somehow the oldies fit him.

The drive to the Five Lions was slow.  Hunk’s a safe driver, drove the speed limit, and rarely – if ever – got road rage from other drivers. He and Keith talked a little, and when there was a song on they both knew, they’d sing along. Keith’s singing voice is quiet, but when he was with Hunk, he sung a bit more louder than normal and Hunk catches himself looking over and smiling wide. It seemed like Keith was having a good time already, and that’s all that mattered. And if Keith was having a good time, Hunk was too, and that’s evident by the huge smile on his face. When Keith looks over, he mimics that smile and then goes back to looking out the window the rest of the drive there.

~☆~

The Five Lions is a small building, built with white brick. Attached the building are fabric awnings, with scalloped edges and coloured white. ‘Five Lions’ is above, right on the building, in big, gold letters, sticking out like a sore thumb. There’s big glass windows, a big door, and a tables and chairs on the outside with umbrellas attached. After Hunk parks, the two of them get out of Hunk’s truck and go inside, where Keith freezes in the doorway and stares at the interior of the cafe, completely dazed by the design.

The walls are painted a light cream colour, with narrow, rainbow stripes going vertically around the cafe. There’s circular tables with tablecloths that have scalloped edges, the booths looking soft and luxurious for such a small, affordable cafe. Reds, greens, blues, yellows, purples, pinks, and oranges – basically, every friggin’ colour of the rainbow – gives the place life and more colour. Even the chandeliers that hang above the tables have different coloured bulbs to change the atmosphere. It’s absolutely breathtaking and Keith just wants to take several pictures of the interior and exterior of this place, for future reference when he draws at odd hours of the night. And yet, this is one of the times where he didn’t bring his camera so his phone would have to do.

“Welcome to the Five Lions!” a server says with a bright smile. She wears a white blouse, with a little bit of ruffle and heart shaped buttons coloured a pastel yellow. She wears black pants and a pastel yellow apron, tied securely around her waist. “Just the two of you? Would you like a table or a booth?”

“Just the two of us, yes, and a booth sounds fine!” Hunk tells her quickly before Keith could have a chance to react. Hunk looks at him, though, as if for a second opinion on their seating. “Right? Booth?”

“Huh?” Keith blinks, coming out of his daze and his face flushes lightly when he realizes he’s holding the poor server up. “Uh, yeah. Booth is fine.”

The server smiles brightly and leads them to their booth, where they sit across from each other. They get menus, and Keith takes a moment to look over the cover before opening it up. It’s a rainbow themed menu, with ‘Five Lions’ written in gold in a white cloud. There’s a scalloped border around it, which makes this place seem more fancy than just casual, and Keith wonders if he and Hunk under dressed for coming to a place like this. But as Keith lifts his head up from the menu, and takes a quick glance around, he realizes the other customers there are also in casual wear and there’s only one table where customers are wearing suits and ties. Most likely a business meeting, but Keith wasn’t one to get nosy into other peoples business.

When he looks back at the menu, he opens it up, where selected pictures are shown for certain dishes. The pictures are well taken, though he doubts the food will show up exactly like the picture, so he shouldn’t get his hopes up. His eyes skim the menu, but everything sounds so good, it was hard to decide on what to actually choose. Maybe he should get a recommendation from one of the waitresses or something--

“Keith?”

Keith jumps in his seat and turns, eyes widening when he realizes the person who calls out to him. Allura. Allura is standing right there, in a white blouse, black pants, and pink apron, with her hair tied back into a bun. Keith didn’t expect to see her here, and now that she’s there, working there, Keith wouldn’t be able to leave. Heck, even if he did leave, he’ll be getting messages from Allura later about why he was there and who the guy was he was with. Which, now that he’s thinking about it, she’s going to start asking him twenty questions and then she’s going to tell Shiro-- Oh god.

“Hey, Allura.”

“You should have told me you were coming! I would have made sure I was your server,” Allura says. “Not like my co-workers don’t know what you look like. They recognized you right away so they made sure to tell me to serve you.”

“How--? You know what, I don’t want to know,” Keith says, letting out a sigh. When he looks over at Hunk, he realizes the confused look on his face. “Ah, sorry. Hunk, this is Allura. She’s the partner to my best friend, Shiro. Allura, this is Hunk. My roommate.. and friend.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Hunk,” Allura tells him with a bright smile. “Now! I’ll leave you two to figuring out what you want to eat, while I have our kitchen whip something up special – on the house!”

Keith watches Allura leave, and when she enters the kitchen, he lets out a small groan and rests his head on the table. Hunk chuckles a little at this, making Keith lift his head up slowly. Why did Hunk have a nice laugh? Or rather, why was he realizing this now when he has heard Hunk laugh before? More importantly, is he laughing at him? Keith feels as if he should mind, but for some reason he doesn’t. Hunk stops his laughter as soon as he realizes Keith’s staring at him, and Keith sees the red dusting over his dark cheeks.

“Er, sorry! I don’t mean to laugh, it’s just--” Hunk rubs the back of his neck, nervous. “Do you not like her?”

“No, Allura’s fine. Her and I get along well,” Keith says, leaning back in the booth. “I just didn’t expect to see her here. And since she’s Shiro’s partner – who is practically like a brother to me – she’s going to use her break to text him about how I’m with a cute guy and Shiro’s going to end up asking me why didn’t you tell me you were on a date and I’ll end up telling him that it wasn’t a date, because it’s not a date.”

Hunk understands where Keith is coming from, but right now, he can’t get out of his mind that Keith said he was a cute guy and there’s a possibility that people are assuming this is a date. Don’t get Hunk wrong, he’d love to be on a date with Keith right now, but Keith doesn’t want it to be and that’s fine. It could just be two friends hanging out at a cafe – a very nice cafe, to be specific. Hunk picks up his menu again, eyes skimming through the selections, though his attention keeps going from the menu to Keith, who is also occupied with looking at his own menu. Hunk holds back a sigh as he continues looking, and it’s not too much longer after that, Allura comes back with two drinks on a silver tray, setting them down in front of them. One of them is a tall glass, small lion heads covering the glass and the straw having a paper yellow lion head attached to it, and the other is a shorter glass with whipped cream on top and a lion drawn on top in what looks like strawberry syrup.

“You looked like an iced tea person, Hunk,” Allura explains, lowering her tray, holding it against her body. “So, I had them prepare you an apple spice iced tea. As for Keith, it’s a cinnamon-vanilla iced latte with whipped cream and strawberry syrup for your design. It’s also made with almond milk so you’re not suffering later.”

“Allura!”

“Suffering? Are you lactose intolerant, Keith?” It wasn’t hard to put two and two together, but Hunk wanted that confirmation anyway. Keith nodded as a response. “I’ll make a mental note of that when I go shopping then. It’d be nice to make things that you could eat, too, without suffering for it.”

“Oh my god, you don’t have to do that. I have a special medication for it.” Keith mutters, his cheeks bright red. This was not the conversation he wanted to have. “Don’t worry about it, Hunk.”

“I will worry about it! What if I make something with dairy in it and it poisons you? You’ll be sick in bed, again! And this time it’ll be my fault!”

“What does he mean again? You were sick, Keith?”

“Not important!” Keith huffs, his face now an extremely bright red. “Look, can we drop this? Please. This isn’t a conversation I’d like to have.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“New topic, then. So that I’m actually doing my job instead of teasing you,” Allura says with a grin, even though Keith does not look amused. “Did you two decide what you would like?”

“I would like the Five Lions crepe special,” Hunk says, looking down at his selection. “It sounds really interesting? I’m excited to find out how they all taste.”

“That seems to be a customer favourite, so you should end up liking it! And for you, Keith?”

“Er.. let me have the strawberry raspberry almond crisp,” Keith lists it off, not entirely sure if he’s going to like it because it sounds super sweet, but he might as well give it a try. “and a side of cinnamon apples.”

“Excellent selections. I’ll take your menus and I’ll bring out your orders momentarily.”

~☆~

Keith was right about thinking how sweet his order would be – it was extremely sweet. Even the vanilla ice cream on top of it all didn’t really help. He barely got through a quarter of it before he shoved it away, eating his cinnamon apples instead, that were less tart than his main dish. As for Hunk, he ate slow, savouring every flavour of his crepe special. With this special, there were five crepes as the whole Five Lions crepe special name intended. The first one had a chocolate pancake, with blackberries and currants. Second was spiced apple cranberry, third was blueberries and crème. Fourth had been green tea crepes with matcha ricotta filling and raspberry sauce, and fifth and final was the perfect combination of peaches, oranges, and lemon zest. Although Hunk had taken a forkful of each one first, to test each flavour before diving into them one by one, and savouring every last bite. Keith actually found it quite interesting to watch Hunk’s facial expressions change with each different flavour, but he seemed rather satisfied in the end.

Though of course while Keith’s staring, Hunk could feel his stare, and in the middle of getting through his third crepe, he makes eye contact with Keith. And when they make eye contact, they’re both quiet for a moment before Keith turns his head away, picking up his cup of his second latte Allura had presented him with, sipping slowly at the drink.

“Were you just watching me eat?” Hunk questions, and when he doesn’t get a response out of Keith verbally, the silence is enough. “That can’t be interesting, man. And you barely ate yours.. is it too sweet? You can have some of mine if you want.”

“What? No. It was just interesting to watch your facial expressions change,” Keith admits, although admittedly a little embarrassed he was caught watching Hunk eat. “And yeah, mine is too sweet for me. You can have it, if you want.”

“We can just take it back with us? Also.. you barely ate it, and you only had your cinnamon apples,” Hunk points out, and uses his fork to cut off a piece of the green tea crepe, sticking his hand underneath it as he brings the fork to Keith. “Here. Eat some of this. It’s less sweet, and you might like it.”

Keith’s eyes cross in the middle as he looks at the fork coming to him – was Hunk trying to feed him? That was the most romantic thing ever someone could do on a date – not that this was a date. Though he does lean closer, parting his lips and closing around the fork, sliding back so he could clean the fork of the piece of green tea crepe. Chewing slowly, he realizes how right Hunk was. It wasn’t sweet, or at least, not as sweet as one would think. It actually tasted pretty good. Hunk smiles wide when he watches Keith’s facial expressions change and when Keith swallows, Hunk lowers his fork, cutting another piece of the same crepe.

“Want more?”

“Yeah. Why not.”

And Hunk feeds him again, and without a second thought, Keith allows himself to be fed the whole green tea crepe. Although after he finishes it off, he feels a little guilty from eating some of Hunk’s food, and even finishing off the green tea crepe that was on there. Not to mention Hunk just fed him forkful after forkful, without any complaints from either of them and in a cafe filled with strangers they didn’t know. Allura could have been watching this whole scene, but Keith hopes she had other customers to attend to rather than watching Hunk feed him. Keith leans back in the booth, picking up his drink once more.

“Sorry. I ate all of that.”

“Did you hear me complain?” Hunk questions, although rhetorical. “As long as you ate, and you enjoyed it, then I don’t mind any, Keith. I wouldn’t have continued feeding you if I minded. I’m just glad you ate something other than your cinnamon apples and having something other than coffee in your stomach. Which, it’s bad to drink that much coffee and not eat anything with it, you know.”

“I eat plenty,” Keith retorts, taking a sip of his latte. At that response, Hunk raises an eyebrow, a look of ‘really?’ plastered on his face. “I do!”

“Sure, sure. I’ll believe you this time, Keith,” Hunk tells him with a grin as he continues eating his crepes. “Is there somewhere else you wanted to go besides here? Or do you have to get to work as soon as we get back to the dorms?”

Keith glances at his phone to check the time. They left around nine, arrived around nine-fifteen, and now it’s a little after eleven. Keith doesn’t have work until two, but he should get back to change and get ready as soon as he could though. He’d like to go to other places with Hunk, spend some more time with him, but he’d hate to rush to get ready for work when they got back. He hums a little in thought, resting his elbow on the table and his cheek in the palm of his hand.

“I’d like to go other places, but yeah, unfortunately, work gets in the way of that?” Keith tells him, and he can see the look of disappointment on Hunk’s face. “We can hang out more next weekend? If you’d like to, anyway. Although I’m not sure what we would do..”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”

“So,” Allura comes over after that, gathering up their empty dishes. “how was it?”

“Very good,” Hunk says with a wide grin. “I wouldn’t mind the recipes for those crepes, if you guys don’t mind sharing.”

“I’ll see if that’s allowed. All of them, or just the green tea one that you fed Keith?”

Keith’s face lights up at this. Oh of course she saw them. He covers his face with his hands, letting out a sigh, “Allura...”

“You two seemed to be enjoying yourself! It’s not a problem if you two get romantic here,” Allura says. “After all, he is a cute guy, Keith. Perfect boyfriend material.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Keith practically shouts, but keeps his tone low since they are in a public place. “Hunk’s my roommate and my best friend. Nothing more.”

“Of course.” Allura laughs a little at that, not believing those words. “Did you two want anything else or just the check?”

“I think I’m good. Keith?”

“Check sounds great,” Keith agrees. “Also a container for the crisp I didn’t finish? It was too sweet for me.”

“No problem. I’ll be right back.”

“I’m still paying,” Keith mentions when Allura is gone once more, already digging his wallet out from his back pocket. “I said that a week ago, and I’m keeping my promise.”

“What? No! No no, Keith please no,” Hunk is practically begging him, but Allura’s already back with the check and Keith’s taking money out. “Mine probably cost the most. I’d rather--”

“Keep the change for a tip, Allura,” Keith interrupts Hunk as he hands over the money. “Thank you for the drinks, too. I’ll thank you more if you don’t mention this to Shiro.”

“Are you going to tell him yourself then?”

“Maybe.”

“Keith.” Hunk’s shoulders slump and Allura laughs before bidding the two of them well and leaving their table. “Why.”

“I told you I would,” Keith says while getting up from the booth and stretching. “Is that a problem..?”

“Well, no, but I bet mine cost the most..” Hunk gathers up the crisp into the container Allura brought with the check, and then gets up from the booth. “I just feel guilty?”

“Don’t worry about it, big man,” Keith brings hand to Hunk’s shoulder, a smile on his face. “Really. I’d rather pay. Should we head back now?”

Hunk blinks and then a small smile appears on his face, “Yeah. Thank you, Keith. Let’s head back.”

~☆~

For the whole drive, Keith and Hunk make small talk which turns into a full conversation about conspiracy theories and aliens and Area 51. Pidge never did mention Hunk was into those things, and once Keith started talking about the subject, he doesn’t know when to stop. But when he catches himself going into a ramble about conspiracies, he ends up getting flustered and apologizes, and is prepared to be shut down right away. Hunk instead laughs and says Keith could go on as much as he’d like – he likes listening to him talk. Keith almost forgot how to speak after that comment, but after a few moments of silence, he continues rambling on, with Hunk chiming in a few times to add more to Keith’s conspiracy talk.

Needless to say, Keith is smiling wide, with flushed cheeks, and undeniably happy. Hunk’s a great roommate and best friend – the best friend that can deal with the conspiracy talk and be somewhat interested with certain topics. Even with Area 51, there are very few that believe in it and the fact the government is hiding aliens from everyone, and yet.. Hunk seems to believe that aliens are there.

“I mean, you have never seen an alien, however, the government has neither confirmed nor denied it, and even if they did deny it, it’s possible they are hiding the truth of us,” was Hunk’s claim, and at his words, Keith’s eyes light up like stars in the night sky. “There’s more stories of people being abducted, and although they describe aliens differently, there could be thousands of different alien species. Heck, there could be ones that look like humans but with elf ears like in Legend of Zelda. Or there could be ones that are bat-cat hybrids or something! The stories of mermaids could actually be aliens living on an ocean planet that none of the government spacecrafts could reach because it’d take decades to reach to the end of space.”

Hunk brings up so many good points. And Keith loves every single one of them like he loves Hunk.

..Wait. What?

~☆~

“Allura told me about your date.”

“It wasn’t a date, Shiro!”

Keith’s on break, sitting outside the bookstore with a water bottle, currently on the phone with Shiro. He figures since he hasn’t spoken to him in a while outside of text messages, he figured he’d give him a call. Of course, leave it to Allura to tell Shiro anyway, even though he asked her not to. Keith sighs, messing with his hair. He opted out of wearing it in a hair tie, which that was a mistake in its own because now he can’t stop pushing his hair back. Maybe he should invest in some hair clips. Probably. Maybe not. He’ll think about it.

“She said the guy was cute and really nice? You two were arguing over who pays?”

“Doesn’t everyone though? Look, I told him I was going to pay when he and his friends and myself went there to study. Then I got sick and--”

“You got sick? Keith..”

“Not the point!” Keith huffs, hand pushing his bangs back. “I kept my promise, Shiro. I wasn’t going to let him pay. He’s done so much for me anyway, and the place is inexpensive so it’s not like it was a big deal.”

“But you also said this wasn’t a date? Then what were you two doing alone?”

“Hanging out? Ya know, that’s what friends do. People can hang out without it being a date, and just because I’m gay, doesn’t mean every guy I hang out with me is actually a date.”

“Right.. right.” Keith hears Shiro sigh on the other end of the phone. “How does Hunk make you feel, Keith?”

“I’unno. Really happy? My cheeks hurt from smiling, they get hot sometimes when I’m around him, and my heart beats fast?”

“..Uhuh. I hate to break it to you, Keith. But you may be in love with this guy and what you did today was going out on a date with him.”

“It wasn’t a date!”

“First stage is denial. Listen, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Alright. Bye, Shiro.” Keith gets off the phone with Shiro and flips through his cell for something to do. Although midway through flipping, his phone vibrates in his hand, and when he reads the caller id, his eyebrows raise in question, but picks up the call. “Hunk?”

“Hey, buddy! Sorry if I’m bothering you at work. You didn’t have to pick up if you were busy.”

“Nah. I’m on break right now. What’s up?”

“Lance, Pidge, and I are making individual pizzas and I was wondering what you would like on yours? ‘cause I’m making you one and I wanted to make sure what you like before I made it?”

“I like meat lovers, normally..” Keith says, leaning on the table he’s sitting at. “But I have a taste for pineapple.”

There’s silence on Hunk’s end at first, but then he hears muffled shouting. Keith blinks and then suddenly the yelling gets louder.

“Pineapple ruins the sanctity of the pizza, Mullet!” Ah, Lance.

“Lance, do you even know what that word means, or did you get Pidge to help you?”

“Totally had my help.” “Hey! No. I know what it means. Thank you much.”

“Uhuh. Totally believe you. Also, pineapple on pizza is just as normal as eating dry ramen out of a bag.”

“WHAT?! PLEASE DON’T TELL ME YOU DO THAT!”

“Stop shouting. And no, my friend Shiro does it. And he also happens to like pineapple on pizza.” Shiro just doesn’t care of the meat lovers because he feels sorry for Keith’s arteries.

“Leave him be, guys. I like pineapple on pizza, too.” “HUNK. MY OWN BEST FRIEND--”

“I’m going to hang up if Lance doesn’t stop shouting.”

“Sorry, Keith. I have to get to making these pizzas anyway so I’ll see ya after work?”

For some reason, a wide smile goes across Keith’s face, “Yeah. See ya later, Hunk.”

After they hang up, Keith feels his heart throb hard against his chest. He feels so happy, and his cheeks are starting to get sore from smiling so wide, not to mention how flushed he feels. He’s never felt this way before – well yeah, he’s felt happy before, it’s just that there’s other things in addition to his happiness that makes it feel so foreign to him. Such as his stomach doing flips, as if he’s going to be sick, but he doesn’t feel nauseous at all nor is his stomach cramping. He’ll pass it off as nothing for now, since he’s felt worse before, and he gets up to get back to work, about to pocket his phone when his phone buzzes once for a new text message. He glances at the recipient: Hunk. Opening the message, Keith feels his breath hitch at the message.

From: Hunk Pidge and Lance thought it’d be funny to have a flour fight. Making pizza dough from scratch was a bad idea.

The picture attached was Pidge and Lance in the background, still fighting with the flour, but the center of the image is Hunk himself, with his headband tied around his forehead and flour on his cheeks and in his hair. It’s all over his shoulders, and he looks so done and yet it looks like he’s fighting back a smile at the same time. Keith brings a hand to his mouth, whispering an ‘oh my god’. Would it be weird if he saved this image? Would Hunk mind that? It’s not as if he has to tell him, or show him his phone? He saves the picture. And before he heads back to work, he decides to send one of his own, going to take a selfie against the wall near work, though he decides against the selfie at the last minute when his wide smile is so evident and his cheeks are such a bright shade of red.

He’ll just work through this. Work should go by fast and nothing could ruin his happy mood since he’ll be seeing Hunk after this.

~☆~

Keith is done with work after another two hours. He rushes back to the dorms, and when he gets there, he hears loud laughing from the kitchen. He goes to enter the kitchen, so Hunk knows he’s back, but as soon as he gets into the doorway, flattened dough comes down on top of his head. He mutters a what the fuck, which makes the kitchen go quiet. The dough is over his eyes, and Keith lifts it, trying to get it out of his hair. He vision is back just in time to see Hunk coming towards him, and Keith freezes, his throat suddenly dry and his heart picking up the pace a little.

“Oh god, Keith, I am so sorry,” Hunk apologizes right away, carefully lifting the dough from Keith’s hair. “Pidge sometimes doesn’t know her own strength and she tossed her pizza dough in the air and it stuck the ceiling? I couldn’t find the ladder, and Lance suggested he would get on my shoulders to get it but that would have been dangerous--”

“I-it’s fine,” Keith croaks out, and then he notices the stares from Lance and Pidge, whose eyebrows raise. Keith’s cheeks are warm, and he feels as if he can’t breathe, and why does he feels so damn nervous around Hunk? He coughs, clearing his throat. “It’s fine! Really! I know Pidge’s strength, but how the hell did she get the pizza attached to the ceiling? I didn’t think it’d reach that high.”

“Fuck you, Kogane.”

Hunk laughs, which just makes things worse for Keith. He can’t stop staring at the bright smile on Hunk’s face, and the flour that’s still dusting his cheeks, white sticking out like a sore thumb on his dark skin. God, why was he so attractive? He snaps out of his daze when he hears a ding, and in a few seconds flat, Hunk went from pulling dough out of his hair to the oven with oven mitts over his hands, opening the oven door and taking the pizzas out. The whole kitchen smells so good, and a lot better than delivered pizza or even frozen pizza. His stomach is doing flips, and yet it’s growling, too. He watches Hunk use a pizza cutter to cut the pizzas, wiping it off before he uses it on another. Keith walks over, spotting his pizza.

“Okay, just wait until it cools off a little and then--” Hunk starts saying, then turns his head, to see Keith already eating a slice. “Keith! It just came out of the oven!”

“So?” Keith says, mouth full of pizza crust, cheese, and pineapple. He pulls the slice from his mouth, cheese coming with it. “Pizza’s the best to eat when it just came out of the oven.”

“Ugh, don’t talk with your mouth full, dude.” Lance groans, turning his head away. “But he does have a point, Hunk. That’s when the cheese is the best and the crust is still a little soft.”

“But it’s so hot! You’d burn your mouth!”

Keith wants to say: Oh no. Whatever shall I do. Maybe you should kiss my mouth better. But that would be weird, and too gay, and just-- yeah, let’s just not scare Hunk off. Keith’s already scaring himself with these thoughts of his.

“Please. Keith doesn’t burn his mouth. Heck, he can take a bite out of an ice cream bar and it doesn’t phase him.” Pidge goes to her own pizza, picking up a slice and setting it on a paper towel. “It’s like he’s an alien or something.”

“You made that theory before, and I honestly think it’s true considering I don’t know my mother and my dad walked out on me when I was young so one them had to be an alien,” Keith insists on this theory, and then the kitchen goes quiet and Hunk looks upset. Oh no. “Uh..”

“Dude, that’s so sad..” Hunk actually has tears in his eyes and Keith feels his heart break into tiny pieces. “Do you need a hug? Can I hug you? I’m going to hug you.”

Before Keith can even respond, Hunk’s arms are wrapped around his body and practically lifting him up the floor. Keith could feel Hunk’s arms tighten around his frame, and now Keith feels nervous about being this close because oh god, what if Hunk can hear how loud his heart is beating, or feels how fast it was going? What if he gets worried because of it? Now Keith knows he’s sweating from being nervous, and when Hunk loosens his grip and sets Keith back down on the floor, Keith’s having trouble making eye contact with him. Great.

“Shoot. Sorry, did I hug you too hard?” Hunk asks when he realizes how dazed out Keith is. “You okay?”

“He’s fine, Hunk. Just really fucking gay,” Pidge comments with a snicker and Keith’s face lights up like a stoplight. “Come on, Keith. Pretty obvious you stare at Hunk’s arms.”

“No I don’t!” He denies it at first, and then he ends up glancing at Hunk’s arms for a split second before turning away. “I-- I just-- shut up, Pidge.”

Pidge cackles and Keith runs his hand through his hair, fingers playing with the ends of his hair. He tries to get his breathing in check as his eyes dart from the floor to Hunk, where they make eye contact for a moment before they turn away from each other. Lance folds his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow as he watches the scene unfold. He’ll leave it for now, since they have pizza to eat and he’ll talk to Keith about it later on. Although he can sense the pining, and sometimes it’s bad if it’s one-sided but at least it’s mutual pining even though neither of them know about it.

“How about we take our pizza’s into the living room, and watch a movie,” Lance suggests finally to break all the awkward silence. “Mullet can choose the movie. Hopefully it’s not as bad as his haircut.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my hair!”

~☆~

After pizza and halfway through the movie, Hunk and Pidge had fallen asleep. Pidge was using Lance’s lap as a pillow, while Hunk ended up falling asleep sitting up. Keith had moved to the floor, and he had attempted to move Hunk a little to get him to lay more comfortably otherwise there would be one hell of a kink in his neck. Though his attempts failed him, and he just sat on the floor next to Lance anyway, where they finished the movie in silence. After the movie, Lance had carried Pidge to the couch, letting her use Hunk as a pillow this time around as he and Keith cleaned up.

Now in the kitchen together, Lance peeks out to make sure his girlfriend and his best friend are still fast asleep. Folding his arms over his chest, Lance leans on the nearest wall in the kitchen.

“You like Hunk.” Lance says, not beating around the bush, which makes Keith drop the pizza cutter into the sink, making a loud noise. Instead of trying to quiet Keith, Lance smirks wide. “You do. I knew it.”

“Of course I like Hunk. He’s a great friend,” Keith says, going back to the dishes from all the pizza. Of course, Lance walks over and tries to make eye contact with Keith, in which Keith looks away. “That’s all it is, Lance.”

“Suuure. I can sense the pining a mile away, Keithers,” Lance points out. “Look, you can trust me and be honest, because I won’t tell Hunk, or you could suffer by yourself.”

“I’ve dealt with worse and suffered for less.”

“..You have one hell of a dark past, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Keith sighs, turning to finally make eye contact with Lance. “Yes, Lance, I do. And maybe that’s why I don’t want to admit I like Hunk in.. that way. I’m gay as fuck for Hunk, but I’m so scared I might scare him off with my past. It’s better off if I just pass it off as nothing, and let it go away on its own. I’m more than comfortable with being friends with him, that way I don’t have to feel obligated to overshare.”

“Dude, that’s not how a relationship works,” Lance’s arms fall to his sides, a frown on his face. “There’s things I haven’t told Pidge, and there’s things she hasn’t told me. There’s some things you’d rather keep to yourself for the time being, and that’s fine. And I doubt Hunk would pressure you into telling him more about yourself, or rather, your past. Besides, even if you did? Hunk wouldn’t be scared off. Heck, I think he’d be around you more, clinging onto you than be scared off?”

“I.. I don’t know, Lance.” Keith shrugs, turning back to the dishes, setting them in the wire dish rack next to the sink. “I know Hunk’s incredibly nice, and he puts up with me here, and he has so many amazing qualities. I just-- I just think it’d be better if he and I remained friends. I’d rather not make things awkward between us if he doesn’t return my feelings.”

‘Oh but he does.’ Lance wants to tell him. ‘He does and he’s smitten for you’ And yet, he bites his lip to keep himself from saying that, because like hell was he going to throw his best friend under the bus like that.

“Well, if you want to change that..” Lance sets his hand on Keith’s shoulder, making Keith look up.”Let me know. ‘cause I can help you confess to him.”

“How can you help me confess?” Keith raises an eyebrow. “Pidge told me you practically shouted at her for your confession.”

Lance’s face goes red, “I-- I-- That’s besides the point! I had a plan to confess to her more romantically but sometimes when the time is right, unlike what you had planned, you just blurt it out!”

“Sure.” Keith rolls his eyes, and there’s a small smile on his face. “But.. thanks anyway.”

~☆~

Lance had taken Pidge home after she had woken up from her impromptu nap, and several minutes later, Hunk had woken up as well and decided to retreat his bed. Keith had finished cleaning up, and went to his room after Hunk went to his own. He shuts the door, and his fingers hover over Shiro’s name on his contact list as he’s sitting on his bed. He takes in a deep breath, presses call, and sticks the phone to his ear, listening to it ring. He ends up going into a daze that he doesn’t hear Shiro at first, but then he snaps out of his daze after Shiro shouts his name.

“Sorry, Shiro..”

“You sound upset. What’s wrong?”

“I-- I don’t know,” Keith hangs his head, fingers running through his bangs. “I admitted to myself and Hunk’s best friend Lance that I liked Hunk.. Y’know.. like-like?”

“I can sense the pining from miles away, Keith. But that’s good you finally admitted it to yourself. When are you going to tell him?”

“Never.” Keith says. “I’m never ever going to tell him, because I don’t think he likes me in that way, and god, what if he’s straight? That’d just make things more awkward between the two of us here. So I can’t do that, Shiro.”

“Mm. I see the problem. Look, Hunk seems like a good guy and I haven’t even met him. Also you just now realized you have a crush on him, so maybe wait a few days or a week or something and you might want to confess later on. I know you said never, but you’ll end up hurting yourself in the long run, Keith.”

“I.. I guess.” Keith sighs, flopping back on his bed. “I just.. You have to meet him, Shiro. He’s like a big ball of sunshine in my stormy, rainy day life.”

“That’s.. really cute, Keith. And I’d like to meet him at some point. Maybe we can all go to a restaurant at some point. Allura and myself, Hunk and you, and you can invite Pidge and this Lance guy.”

“M.. maybe.” He says maybe, but he’s really saying no. Let everyone see how much of a mess he is with Hunk at a restaurant? That’d be god awful. “I.. I’m going to go, Shiro. I just had to get that off my chest.”

“If you need any advice, Keith. Let me know.”

“You’re no expert. Allura was the one that confessed to you for fucks sake.”

“I still can give you advice though! You have a good night, Keith.”

“You, too. Bye.” And after Keith hangs up with Shiro, he lets out a groan, running his hands down his face. “Why did I have to fall for Hunk..”

[kotoriqueen]

College Isn’t So Bad.. Chapter Update!  Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter 4.5| Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Also on AO3!

Wow, six months since my last update and oh my god, I apologize. Works just been a pain in the neck and a lot of things have been going on. But! I finally updated and I hope you guys like the two chapters I’m giving you!

“I like Keith,” Hunk repeats, what seems to be like the umpteenth time since he came to that realization. “Oh no. No no no!”

He’s panicking. Hunk did not do well with crushes. There’s a reason why they were called crushes: because your feelings always seemed to be crushed like grapes in the end. Crushed like grapes when they’re being made into a fine wine. His crushes never turned out to be anything more than a crush. Back when he was around eleven or twelve, back when everyone in school thought about how dreamy a boy was and how boys thought how pretty girls were. He thought how pretty this one girl was, with long, dark brown hair, who always wore her hair in a French style braid. Her eyes brown yet still sparkled, and Hunk’s eyes sparkled, too whenever their eyes met and whenever he heard her laugh.

Back then, Hunk was one of the smartest kids in his class, and the only time this girl noticed him was when she needed help with schoolwork. At the time, he just thought she liked him back, and with how many times they hung out at his house working on schoolwork, he thought they had something special. So he confesses to her after half a month of them hanging out, and she confesses she feels nothing for him and was just using him to get better grades. (“So my parents don’t take away my cell phone,” she had explained. “And now that my grades are up? I’m going back to ignoring you.”)

It had been the worst thing that had happened to Hunk, his heart broken into a million pieces. He didn’t show up to school for a week because of that, and never wanted to confront the girl again. Nor did he want to experience having another crush ever again.

Although he doesn’t want to experience having a crush, he unfortunately doesn’t get that wish. When he’s a freshmen in high school, he ends up crushing on a junior who is a cheerleader. Hunk goes with his gut and not his heart, and decides not to confront her about his crush. To this day he couldn’t figure out if it was out of fear of getting rejected, or fear of her boyfriend, a star football player who had muscles bigger than Hunk’s head who would most likely crush his body much like his feelings if he found out about Hunk’s crush on his cheerleader girlfriend.

He’s also had a crush on Lance, but that was short lived and he had told Lance about it before back when the feeling had faded away. Lance wondered why Hunk didn’t tell him sooner, and Hunk admitted that he thought his feelings for Lance would ruin their friendship in some sort of way and would rather not risk it. And to this day, they are the very best of friends, but Hunk can’t help but wonder how they would have turned out if he ever confessed to his best friend.

And Shay. Oh sweet Shay. Hunk meets her mid-sophomore year of high school, and when his eyes locked on her, his throat went dry and his heart raced. She was beautiful and smart, and befriended Hunk easily. It could be because she entered midway through sophomore year and needed someone to guide her through classes and be her tour guide through the school, and Hunk knew the school like the back of his hand, so it seemed like a perfect match for him to help her out.

Of course where there was a beautiful girl such as Shay, there was Lance, who teased him and tried to push him in the right direction. Hunk thought him and Shay were just friends, but Lance thought differently. Lance called himself the romance expert, and knew that Hunk and Shay liked each other so much that they belonged together. Hunk tried his best to push the crush aside, and make himself think that what he and Shay said was just a simple friendship and nothing more than that.

Er, well, that was hard to push away and he keeps in contact with Shay even now and each time they talk, it seems like his crush blossoms back up at the worst times.

But, enough about his past crushes – back to Keith. He can’t have a crush on Keith. They’re roommates, and his feelings will just make things awkward between the two of them. Even if he’s not open about his feelings, Hunk just knows he’s going to make his feelings seem obvious. Keith’s smart, he’ll figure him out in no time at all! And now Hunk’s panicking more, because – well, because! There’s lots of reasons! What if Keith didn’t like guys? Or maybe Keith liked someone else? Or no one else? What if he was aromantic? Which, that would be fine, too. Hunk would accept Keith for who he was, but Hunk’s crush made Keith out himself about his sexuality, Hunk would feel so horrible. What if Keith wasn’t ready to out himself at that time? What if he was nervous about how others would react? And then it would be even more awkward because, even though Hunk would accept Keith for it, what if Keith thought that Hunk hated him because of his sexuality? There’s just so many possibilities--

“Hunk? Buddy?” comes Lance voice from the doorway, snapping Hunk out of his thoughts. “You’ve been here for a long time. Keith came out of the room and started talking to us and said you were making him soup? It shouldn’t take that long, should it?”

“Keith came out of the room? He should be resting--” Hunk ignores everything else. “He’s still sick, and – and he can infect you guys! I don’t want you guys to end up getting sick, too.”

“Pidge says I’m too stupid to catch colds.”

“Lance, man, you know that’s not true.”

“Oh, I know it’s not true. I’m really smart, and I know that, believe me. I’m just trying to prove a point.” Lance shrugs, then folds his arms over his chest. “So, tell me. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“Nothing?” Hunk responds, but that response isn’t good enough for one Lance McClain. His best friend can read him like a book. Knowing Lance won’t leave him alone otherwise, Hunk lets out a sigh of defeat. “Okay. Okay. I may be panicking a little because, well, I realized I have a crush.. on Keith..”

“Seriously?” Lance raises an eyebrow, eyes widening a little. Hunk nods, face flushed, and that reaction is making Lance smirk. “Well look at you admitting it so soon! Now if you only did that with Shay.”

“Shay was just a friend, Lance!”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway.. when are you going to tell him?”

“Uh, never?” Hunk turns back to making the soup, opening the can and pouring it into a saucepan. He could just feel the look Lance was giving him. “Look, Lance. I don’t want to make things awkward between Keith and I, okay? What if he doesn’t swing that way? I’d rather just leave my feelings trapped inside me like I’ve done all my life and I turned out fine.”

Hunk can hear Lance sigh from behind him, “No. No you didn’t. Hunk, buddy, I’m your best friend and I can tell crushes make you go crazy. Well, crushes do that to you, but you panic and decide that keeping it to yourself is the best thing to do. What happens if Keith actually likes you? You won’t ever know if you don’t confess.”

“And I won’t know he doesn’t like me if I don’t ever say it.”

“Hunk-”

“This conversation is over, Lance.”

Lance frowns at his best friend but decides not to push Hunk to confess any longer. He turns and walks out of the kitchen, but not before he stops at the doorway and turns his head over his shoulder, letting a sigh before he continues walking out. He feels for his best friend, honestly. All the times Lance has confessed to a girl or a guy and ended up getting shut down in the past really broke his heart. And all the pick up lines he has used to get giggles and smacks in return made him think that he would never find someone who was right. And then he met Pidge; the girl that is bad ass and cocky. She’s smart and yet she gets flustered over how Lance shows his love. Plus they can joke around a lot, and be comfortable around one another by being themselves when, if he ever did that with someone else, they might look at him weird. He’s pretty thankful he has Pidge in his life honestly. And when he goes back to the couch, Keith had left, leaving the couch to Pidge who laid on it, taking up the seats. That didn’t bother Lance any, as he moved towards there and got comfortable right on top of Pidge, laying on her smaller body and arms wrapped around her, his head on her chest. Needless to say Pidge looks him with a raised eyebrow and flushed cheeks.

“Lance? What are you doing?”

“Nothin’. Just snuggling with my girlfriend.” Lance mutters, shifting to get more comfortable. “I just realized how lucky I am to have you in my life.”

Pidge’s jaw drops, and strangled noises came out of her mouth. She wants to say something – anything! But she can’t find the right words. She wants to say the feeling is mutual, but the last time she said something romantic, Lance never let her go. So, instead, she looks over to the side, and moves her hand to run his fingers through Lance’s short hair, softly petting the top of his head. Lance stiffens at this before he smiles wide, then pushes himself up to instead nuzzle his face into Pidge’s neck. At this, Pidge squeaks.

“Lance! That tickles!”

“Aw, but I love you, my perfect Pidgeon.” Lance coos, planting a wet kiss on Pidge’s jawline. “And you can’t deny it, because the little head petting you just did makes me know you feel the same way!”

“How did you get that from head petting?!”

“I just know love when I see it.” And he does, considering the conversation he just had with Hunk.

~☆~

After Hunk snapped out of his thoughts, he went back to making Keith’s soup. It doesn’t take much longer, and he pours it into a bowl and grabs a bottle of water out of the fridge, carrying everything on a tray back into his own room. He walks by the couch, where Lance and Pidge are snuggling. Well, it’s more Lance snuggling Pidge, but they looked cute like that and Pidge had no complaints. He softly smiles at the two of them as he makes away to Keith, down the hall and opening the door with one hand. To his surprise, Keith’s sitting on Hunk’s bed, back up against the wall and head tilted back. He can tell Keith’s eyes are shut, and Hunk wonders if he’s sleeping sitting up – which can’t be comfortable honestly. But that theory goes right through the window after Hunk shuts the door and the noise makes Keith open his eyes and move his head to make eye contact at Hunk.

Wow. Hunk never realized how pretty Keith’s eyes were until now. His eyes are dark, yet so bright. It’s like a thousand galaxies in Keith’s eyes and they sparkle like the stars. Plus, they were kind of mysterious like space itself, which is fitting for Keith. He’s not exactly mysterious, per-say, but there’s so many things Hunk didn’t know about Keith and he’s sure Keith is the same way. He means – well, they started off as roommates and now suddenly they’re acting like the best of friends and Hunk hasn’t even unlocked level seven of Keith’s friendship level. Hunk takes a deep breath after getting mesmerized by Keith’s eyes – god damn, how did that line go? Eyes so blue, you’re lost at sea? Except for Hunk, he could get lost in space by looking into Keith’s eyes.

“Hunk?” Keith looks a little concerned, his fact soft and looking at Hunk with a confused look. “You okay?”

“I should be asking you that.” Hunk walks over to the bed, setting the tray onto it, right by Keith. Keith eyes it for a moment before sitting more comfortable, taking the tray and setting it on his lap. “I hear you spent time with Lance and Pidge. How was that?”

“Mm.. I thought I had the energy to deal with those two, but I guess not.” Keith responds with a shrug, opening the bottle of water and practically chugging down half of it. “As soon as I went out there, the loudness caused me to get a headache so I came back to relax to get rid of it.”

“Oh, sorry. I can leave, if you want?”

“No, it’s fine. After you came in, it seems like all my pain went away?”

Hunk feels heat blossom on his cheeks. Is he coming down with a fever now? He must be. He’s been around a sick Keith after all. He must have caught something from him. Hunk laughs nervously, and wonders if him being flustered is obvious. He rubs the back of his neck and watches as Keith sips the soup from the bowl instead of using a spoon. He must have been hungry, and Hunk’s a little glad Keith has enough strength to eat considering how he was before. He smiles softly and decides to pull out his desk chair to sit across the bed.

“So,” Keith finally speaks up again after wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “did I.. say anything weird when my fever was extremely high?”

“Uh? Not really? What really classifies as weird?” Hunk raises an eyebrow, leaning back in the chair as he thought. “You said something cute though. You named your hippo after me. Saying it reminds you of me because it makes you warm?”

Now it’s Keith’s turn to turn red. His face blossoms into red and he goes quiet for a moment. Did he seriously say that? Out loud?! Oh god, he made a complete fool of himself while he was sick. He should have never had gotten that bad. He swallows, covering his face with a hand, averting his eyes away from Hunk. His embarrassment is really obvious, but Hunk makes no movements or sounds whatsoever, even when Keith thought this guy would burst out laughing because of it. He takes in a deep breath, to try to calm himself down. He really can’t believe he said that!

“Uh.. how much do I have to beg you to ask you to forget about that?”

“Not much, or not at all, really? I can forget about it, if you want.” Hunk shrugs. “I won’t tell anyone, though. So it can just be kept between you and me.”

“G..good. Thanks..”

“I’ll leave you alone for now,” Hunk gets up, pushing his desk chair back. “You just eat and relax. I’ll come back to check on you, alright?”

“Yeah.” Keith is silent for a moment as he watches Hunk going to leave but Keith calls out to him, making Hunk freeze at the door. “H-hey, Hunk? I.. really appreciate how much you’re doing for me while I’m sick. I know I said I’d owe you with the Five Lions, but I just--”

“Keith, relax. I don’t expect anything in return. I just want you to get better, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

~☆~

Keith spent all Sunday in bed, and when he wakes up Monday morning to his alarm, he groans. He spent all of Sunday in bed, and now his body is sore for how much he was in bed. He reaches for his phone to shut off his alarm, and moves to get out of bed, taking a moment to realize he’s still in Hunk’s bed. He’s wondering where Hunk slept last night, and when Keith gets up out of bed and leaves the bedroom, he looks around for Hunk. He finds him on the couch, practically falling off of it because of how big of a guy Hunk was and how small the couch was. Keith frowns, and he feels guilty for getting sick and taking up Hunk’s bed. He could have moved him! Or slept in his bed! He didn’t have to take the couch.

He still feels awful. He doesn’t want to admit it, because he wants to go to class. He’s afraid that if he doesn’t go, he’ll miss something important, but he’ll just message his teachers later on through their contact information on his syllabus to ask if he missed something important. He knows messaging Slav would be the hardest, because he seems like the type of guy who would shame you for missing class even when you’re dying. But he’d never know for sure unless he messages him, but he’ll eat something first and get to that.

He glances over at Hunk on his way to the kitchen, wondering if he should wake him up and have him get into his bed, but it’s also infected with Keith’s germs, so maybe after he eats, he’ll wash Hunk’s bed set first, and then message his teachers. It can’t be comfortable for Hunk to sleep on the couch, and Keith’s assuming Hunk has classes so he’s going to wake up with back pain later and that won’t be fun to deal with.

When he gets into the kitchen, he first goes to the fridge, and before he opens the fridge door, he takes notice at the little magnets and the notepad on the freezer door. He never noticed how much Hunk decorated the place, and it’s really different than how Shiro decorated his place. And while Keith prefers not to have little things and his basic essentials, something about how Hunk decorates makes Keith’s chest feels warm and a smile tug at his lips. Another thing he notices is a note on the fridge door; it’s a white piece of paper with a colourful border which, at first glance, is just a pastel rainbow but upon closer inspection, the border is entirely made of macaroons and Keith finds it somehow cute that Hunk has paper like this. The note is held on by a simple, silver magnet, and on the note, it reads:

Keith, I had a feeling you’ll wake up to your alarm and go to class, but before you go, please eat what I made you. There’s a bowl of fruit and some pancakes – just pop the pancakes in the microwave for thirty seconds and they’ll be good! If you can’t finish everything, don’t worry about it. I just hope you eat something. -Hunk

Keith has to put a hand to his mouth, as if to muffle the ‘oh my god’ that leaves his mouth. He takes the note off the fridge and sticks it in his pocket, the opens the fridge door, seeing the food Hunk left for him. He does as Hunk says on his note and pops his pancakes in the microwave and decides to eat them without any butter or syrup. They tasted so good, and the fruit Hunk prepared was cut up apples and some grapes, plus some strawberries which had been lightly dusted with sugar. He sees the medicine Hunk left out, and makes sure he reads the bottle so he takes the daytime dose of it, and he washes the food and medicine down with orange juice before making way back to the bedroom – Hunk’s bedroom.

Keith’s really grateful for everything Hunk has done for him. He didn’t have to – hell, he didn’t even have to talk to Keith. And yet, the first day they met, he introduced himself and since then, Hunk had been nice to him and has been his friend.

..They.. were friends right? Keith’s pretty sure he and Hunk are friends. He feels like he should ask, but he doesn’t know if it would be wrong to ask something like that. Keith decides to keep that thought in the back of his head as he pulls the bed set off of Hunk’s bed and gathers it all to go wash it. The laundry room is down the hall, and he wonders who else is awake at this hour or if anyone else is washing. God, he hopes no one gives him suspicious looks if he’s washing a bed set so early in the morning.

Thankfully, when he gets there, there’s one other person and they pay no mind to Keith and his arms full of sheets. Keith shoves them in the available washing machine, puts some detergent in, and lets the machine do its work. He decides to stay there while it does its job, and after everything is dry, Keith folds everything up and carries it back to the dorm room where he finds the couch empty, the blanket folded and left on the couch, and lights on. Keith blinks, and walks to Hunk’s room, setting the bed set down on the mattress and walking back out. He hears the shower running in the bathroom, so that must be where Hunk is right now.

“Well, duh, Keith,” Keith says to himself as he goes back to his own room, to his closet so he could change. Maybe he should shower once Hunk was done. “Who else would be using the shower besides Hunk?”

Keith flops down on his computer chair, breathing a sigh of relief. It feels good to be back in his room, back at his desk. He brings his laptop closer and starts it up, and from there, he opens his e-mail, typing out messages to his teachers. They’re plain and simple, and he apologizes for missing class and promises he’d be there tomorrow because he should feel a bit more better to get through a full school day. Once his e-mails are sent, he pushes back from his desk, turning in his chair and reaching for his phone, going through his text messages. Shiro has sent him a few messages, asking him how he was, and Keith goes ahead and messages him back even though it’s been hours since Shiro got a response from him.

“Good to see you’re awake.”

Keith looks up, seeing Hunk in the doorway, dressed in cargo pants and a shirt with a three-fourths sleeve. There’s a towel around his neck, which makes Keith believe Hunk’s hair is still wet, if not a little damp.

“And you didn’t go to class today,” Hunk also points out, folding his arms over his chest and leaning against the frame of Keith’s bedroom door. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” Keith responds at first, but Hunk looks like he expects more of an answer. “I think my fever is gone? I didn’t wake up feeling like death, so..”

Hunk steps over to feel Keith’s forehead, his hand going underneath Keith’s bangs which makes Keith’s cheeks heat up this time instead of his whole body freezing at the action, “You still feel a little warm, but it’s not as concerning as before. Did you eat?”

“I.. I was told I always had a higher temperature than most people..” Keith says with a shrug. “I ate, and I took more medicine. I also went ahead and washed your bed set for you.”

“You didn’t have to do that! You’re still sick, after all. Plus, just because I took care of you, doesn’t mean you had to wash my sheets?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to make you wash sheets infected with my sick germs.”

“Okay, point taken.” Hunk says with a laugh, and Keith swears his heart just skipped a beat. “I’m about to head to class. Did you need anything before I go?”

“No. No, I’m good.”

“I’ll see you later then.”

Hunk leaves Keith’s room to finish getting ready and Keith lets out a breath. He doesn’t know what’s going on with him, honestly. He bets he’s just overly thankful for everything Hunk has done for him but doesn’t know how to come out and say it. He feels as if just thanking him over and over just makes him sound like a broken record. Maybe he should make him something, as a thank you, and give it to him next week when they go to the Five Lions. Which reminds him he should look up the place, just to have a better idea of what he’s expecting when he goes there with Hunk. He’s pretty sure it’s not a fancy place, considering that’s where they were going to be studying at before Keith went and got sick.

Which.. now he has to make that up to Lance and Pidge as well. Everything was canceled because he got sick and Hunk decided to take care of him. He should probably do something for them, as well, even though he’s sure Pidge will wave it off as nothing because her and Keith have been friends for so long and understand when plans need to be canceled.

He remembers one day, he arrived at Pidge’s house so they could go to the arcade but Pidge was having a day where she didn’t really feel like going out or have human interactions outside of her family and her closer friends so Keith and her stayed in her room and played games and ate junk food for the day. And one time, Keith felt the same way and Pidge didn’t mind, and even slapped Keith for apologizing so much for it.

But.. Lance? He doesn’t know Lance so well, so he has to make it up to him somehow. He just doesn’t know how yet. Ah, well, he’ll figure it out.

~☆~

It doesn’t take much longer for Keith to get better. He’s a hundred percent better by Wednesday morning, and by then, he has caught up with what everyone else is talking about since Monday. He even takes in an extra shift at the bookstore, where he’s working on the sales floor and stocking some merchandise, and going to ring up students when he’s needed. It goes from busy, to steady, to finally slow when he was an hour left on his shift. He raises his arms over his head, stretching a little, making sure his body is awake enough when he gets back to the dorms so he could do some of his schoolwork. He might need some coffee after this – or actually, he could go for coffee now, but he could wait another hour for it.

“Yo, Mullet!”

Keith blinks, turning his head to make eye contact with Lance, and Keith raises an eyebrow in confusion, “Are you talking to me?”

“Uh, yeah? No one else would have a haircut like yours,” Lance responds as he steps closer to Keith. “What are you up to tonight?”

“Coffee and schoolwork. Why?”

“Well, you missed our study session because you were sick, and both Pidge and Hunk are busy tonight, so I figured you and I could hang out?” Lance says with a shrug. “I have a boatload of schoolwork to do, too, so we can chill at the coffee shop on campus.”

Again, Keith blinks, and again, that same look of confusion is on his face. Lance wants to hang out with him? Usually the only time Keith hangs out with Lance is if he’s with Pidge, so he doesn’t know how well this hang out will go since Keith’s not talkative. But.. but Shiro is always telling him to make new friends if he could, or get to know people better, so maybe Keith should take his advice this time around. He thinks about it for a moment longer before nodding.

“Sure, why not.” Keith shrugs as he puts a stack of books on the shelf in front of him. “I get off in an hour, so either hang out here if you want or I’ll meet up with you at the coffee shop.”

“I’ll stick around. I have a few things I need to buy anyway.”

And with that, Lance turns away, on the search for the items he has to buy while Keith gets back to work. A couple of students come up to him asking questions, and he answers them or even shows them where items were. Before he knew it, his hour was up and he gets ready to meet up with Lance. Lance was just checking out when Keith leaves the back room, and after Lance gets items and his wallet put away, he wraps an arm around Keith, making him stiffen at the touch but Lance shows no sign of moving.

They walk like this to the coffee shop on campus, and after they ordered and sit down, Lance is going through his bag to get his schoolwork out, while Keith has his bag on his lap doing the same but he stops to think. Lance.. is Hunk’s best friend, so maybe he could answer some questions that Keith is too nervous to ask Hunk himself. He chews on his lip, and he looks up at Lance, who is still going through his bag but feels Keith’s stare so he looks up.

“What’s up, man?”

“I just..” Keith doesn’t know how to put his question in better words, so he just comes out and says it. “Why is Hunk the way he is?”

Lance raises an eyebrow, looking a little offended at the question, “What do you mean?”

“I mean-- It’s not to sound wrong, or anything, I appreciate everything he’s done for me, I just..” Keith starts to explain and Lance’s offended look fades. “He’s so nice to me? Is he like this with everyone? Or am I a special case?”

“Oh, I get what you mean,” Lance stops going through his bag and leans back in his chair. “I’ve known Hunk since like.. first grade? He was always shy and nervous around people and I was the one who asked him to be his friend. He’s the ‘treat others how you want to be treated’ type. But who isn’t?”

“R..right.”

“I wouldn’t say you’re a special case?” Lance continues further. “He’s like that with a lot of people. He likes helping others, and he looks out for his friends. That’s just how he is, Keith.”

“Alright..”

Lance leans over the table, elbow the tables surface and his cheek in the palm of his hand, “Something else is bothering you. What is it?”

“I--” Keith pauses for a moment. He doesn’t even know where to start on what’s bothering him. His whole past was complete shit, and he never really had a friend before so he didn’t know if Hunk was just nice to get something out of Keith or truly just wanted to be friends. Keith stares down at the table, his coffee in his hands. “..Nothing. Hunk.. Hunk is really my friend though.. right?”

“Uh, yeah? We all are, dude,” Lance responds with a grin, then that fades into a frown and his eyebrows raise. “Why? Do you not want to be friends with us?”

“No! No, I do. I just..” Enough with beating around the bush. Keith takes in a deep breath and looks back up at Lance. “I just never really had friends before? I like it, I really do, but more people go and spread rumours about me than to befriend me right away?”

“That’s just how people are. Hunk’s not like that and neither are we.” Though Lance won’t admit he has believed some of the rumours about Keith before, but now he’s gotten a chance to know him a little better, he’d rather defend him now than believe the rumours. “Now, enough of this depressing chit-chat. We have work to do!”

At this, Keith’s lips twitch into a faint smile, “Yeah. We do, don’t we.”

~☆~

It seemed like he and Lance were in that coffee shop for hours. But a few more cups of coffee and two pastries later for each of them, they finally finished the work. Both of them needed help in some subjects, and they took breaks to talk a little more. Keith thought it was nice to know Pidge’s boyfriend a little better, and Lance felt the same way honestly. Keith lets out a breath as he enters his and Hunk’s shared dorm room, smelling something cooking, and even though he drank so much coffee and ate two pastries, his stomach still growls at the scent. He rests a hand on his stomach and goes to his room, plopping his bag down on his desk chair. He takes his shirt off, throwing it into his mesh hamper, and goes through his closet to get a new one.

That’s when Hunk walks in, sees Keith shirtless, and his face immediately goes red.

“Oh-- sorry! Sorry, I didn’t know you were changing!” Hunk blurts out, turning his head away.

Keith snorts, “Hunk, it’s fine. We’re both guys.” He reaches for a fresh shirt and slips it on over his head in seconds. “Did you need something?”

“Uh, yeah-- well, no? Not exactly?” Hunk says, turning back once he knows it’s clear to look back at Keith. “I made dinner if you want some? Unless you got something to eat already? You’re back pretty late.”

“Lance wanted to hang out after I finished the shift I took up at the bookstore,” Keith tells him. “We went to a coffee shop, and I drank too much coffee, but I can eat.”

Can he? Can he eat again after all that coffee and the two pastries? Hunk’s food was just too good for him to pass up, and if it makes Hunk happy to know he’s eating well, Keith will do it. And when Keith looks back at Hunk, he sees that beaming smile and Keith feels his heart skip a beat. Something about Hunk’s smile makes him incredibly happy, and makes him know he could get through the day, even if something bad happens, because Hunk’s smile makes up for it. He realizes how.. sweet and romantic that sounds, but he’s pretty sure he’s not the only one who has thought that.

..Right? He can’t be the only one who has thought this.

Hunk leads him to the kitchen, where they both sit down to eat, and being in front of the food makes Keith’s stomach growl once again, and Hunk laughs at it – he fucking laughs and Keith feels his face heat up from embarrassment. Hunk sets down a plate of food in front of him, which looks like lasagna, with a side of green beans and some mashed potatoes, and everything just looks so good that Keith digs right in. Even though midway into the meal, his stomach is telling him to stop, and yet, he continues to force it down anyway, because he can’t see himself wasting the food, and if he says he doesn’t want anymore, Hunk might assume he didn’t like it and he definitely loves Hunk’s cooking.

Shiro wasn’t a great cook, so he and Keith mostly had take out or microwavable dinners or even pizza you just throw into the oven before Keith started cooking simple meals. Though he’s had his fair share of cooking disasters, and he’d rather not risk burning down a dorm by cooking himself which is why his food is normally something you just pop in the microwave.

Once Keith finishes his food, he feels so full that now he’s tired, and he should probably sleep, but it’s not best to sleep after you just eat so he’ll have to do something before his body digests his dinner.

“I can tell you liked it,” Hunk says as he picks up Keith’s plate and eating utensils and moves to the sink. “Did you want dessert? I made dessert, too.”

Say no, Keith. You don’t need this. “..Uh, sure? Just a little bit.” is Keith’s response instead of listening to his brain and he mentally smacks himself. “What did you make?”

“Just some brownies! Nothing special.”

Keith breathes a sigh of relief that it isn’t a cake or a cupcake, and Hunk brings over a brownie that has fudge icing on it. Although Hunk claimed it was nothing special, the sweetness of the brownie and the icing made Keith feel a little sick after a couple of bites, but he forced himself to eat anyhow because he will not turn down Hunk’s food. Hunk’s been so nice to Keith, and before Keith could repay him back after all the things he’s done for him, he’ll just force himself to eat everything Hunk makes even if it makes him explode. (Which.. he doesn’t think is possible, and yet, he still has that thought.)

His stomach is hating him by the time he finishes the brownie. It’s asking him why he ate so much – why he didn’t deny any of the food that was given him, and he knows he’ll be suffering from it later but he just had to. He’s going to have to learn how to cook for Hunk at some point so he could return the favor. But, as he thought about it, he will never be as good of a cook as Hunk. The least he could do is try, and even if he burned pasta before – which, he doesn’t know how it’s possible, but it happened – he could get better in time. Just.. he’d have to try it when Hunk wasn’t there, so he didn’t know Keith was cooking specifically for him.

“That was great, Hunk,” Keith finally says after he let his food settle a little bit. “Did you need help with putting any of this away?”

“Nah, I think I have it covered!” Hunk tells him, already putting the food into containers. “I’m going to send this over to Lance and Pidge – they probably haven’t eaten properly yet.”

Keith lets out a small chuckle and gives a little smile, “Alright. I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

“Alright!”

Keith takes a bottle of water with him from the fridge before he heads to his room, where he flops on his bed instead, letting out a groan. He hasn’t eaten that good in like – well, forever! He remembers Pidge’s parents spoiled him with meals whenever he went to her house, or Pidge would bring leftovers when she came to see him, but Keith never ate this much. And when he and Shiro went out or ordered out, Keith normally didn’t eat much to begin with even though Shiro said he could order more if he wanted to. And yet, even with his stomach full, and his body telling him he’s going to regret eating so much, he’s still happy for some reason. And a little tired. Probably from all the food he ate.

At least his schoolwork is done. He supposes letting his body rest for a bit would be a good idea. His eyes drift shut and he starts breathing slowly, chest rising and falling with each breath.

“Keith, I’m heading over--” Hunk starts saying, going through the door of Keith’s bedroom, only to stop midway when he sees Keith sleeping on his bed. He freezes, and there’s a faint smile on Hunk’s lips as he approaches the bed, and fixes Keith so his head is laying on his pillows the blanket is over his body. “Sleep well, Keith.”

[kotoriqueen]

The pre-orders for the @tinyadventureszine have been open since March 4th!! And with that, here is a small little preview of my piece!

For Lance McClain, he’s three and a quarter years old and he finds the rain unfair. It’s so unfair because he wanted to go outside and play with his friends but now he can’t. He sits in front of the window in the front of the house, bright blue eyes staring out into the dark outside, watching the rain fall and listening to the noises it makes. He hears cars go by, hears the water splash as the wheels hit the puddles in the streets. He sees very few people – mostly adults – carrying umbrellas and wearing raincoats of different colours. Lance’s elbows are on the windowsill, his chubby cheeks in the palms of his hands. He sighs, shoulders slacking. He’s bored and upset and he wants to play but no one is available right now.

For three and quarter years old Lance McClain, he finds the rain unfair and he feels his mood dropping at a fast rate.

For Lance’s mother, she’s standing in the doorway of the kitchen, staring at her son moping in front of the window. She’s wiping her hands off with a dry hand towel after doing dishes and she feels for her son – she feels for him because she remembers how bored she used to be at his age when the rain never seemed to let up.

“Mijo,” she calls out, getting a hum as a response. “I understand you’re bored, but perhaps you should get away from the window. The rain isn’t going to stop just by you staring at it.”

“I can hope.” Lance mumbles but takes his mothers advice, moving away from the window. He feels determined to make the rain stop. “I have nothing else to do, Mamá.”

There’s so many fantastic people that worked hard to make this zine possible! And I want to thank every single one of them! ;v; Please support this zine anyway you can - we really appreciate it!! 

Pre-orders end April 4th, so get yours when you can! 

[kotoriqueen]

I am so glad to be part of this zine!! All the people in it are lovely, especially Mods K and N, and I really enjoyed creating something so cute and adorable with my fellow artist. ;v; 

If you guys can support it by buying a copy, that’d be great~ If not, that’s fine! Just reblog it so others can see how adorable this zine is! We worked really hard on it.  ❤

 Tiny Adventures Zine: A Zine With Our Dear Paladins As Adorable Babies! 

Pre-orders will be available on the 5th of March

✨About ✨ Tiny Adventures is a zine, focusing on the paladins of Voltron as children. It is a collaborative project organized by Mods K and N and features 15 artists, 14 writers and 11 merch creators! All the profits will be donated to SOS Children’s Villages.

✨Prices and Bundles (USD) ✨

PDF Zine - $12

Printed Zine - $20

Tiny Tots Bundle - $27 includes: zine, 2 postcards and 2 sticker sheets

Binky Bundle - $37 includes: zine, 1 charm, 3 postcards, 3 sticker sheets and a mystery bookmark

Bundle of Joy - $47 includes: zine, 2 charms, 4 postcards, 4 sticker sheets, mystery bookmark and a large sticker

I’d like to thank all the people who were able to take the time to make all these wonderful pieces, they all came out amazing! Below you’ll be able to see who did what from the adorable previews above! 

Artist previews from left to write: UragiriNoTeme, FoxyJoy, Bibisarts, Looz-y, Unprince, Damnspider

Writer previews from top to bottom: HailQiqi, Kotoriqueen, MaddyMayObsesses, Eastofthemoon, Cheshire-ree

[kotoriqueen]

Hello, @twunkadelia​!! I am happy to say that I was your Heith Secret Valentine! 

It took me a while to actually write this, but I was able to finish this for Valentine’s Day! I tried to make this as fluffy as possible so I hope you enjoy this! 

1 – Candy Hearts ( High School AU)

He lets out a huge yawn as he walks down the school halls, going for his locker. Though when he stops at it, there’s a huge piece of poster board taped to it, with a bunch of little hearts making up one huge heart. Keith rubs the sleep out of his eyes to get a better look at it, realizing that the smaller hearts are those candy hearts that are stupidly popular during this time of year. Keith’s eyes wander over each candy heart, each one saying a different thing. For how big the paper is, and how big the heart is, Keith’s pretty sure the person who made this took them forever to do it. There’s basic ones like ‘XOXO’, ‘HUG ME’, and ‘BE MINE’ and then there’s ‘SEXY MOFO’, ‘I LOVE YOU’, and ‘MY BABY’ that make Keith’s face go twenty different shades of red. And while he’s looking at this whole little art project this person made, he can’t put this to a name because there’s no fucking name on it! Keith thinks he could get lucky by taking it down and look behind it, but he still gets nothing to point him to the person to do this.

His eyes narrow in frustration, and sighs, putting the candy heart picture under his arm as he opens his locker. He’s lost in thought for who could have done it, and he’s so lost in thought, he doesn’t realize someone coming up next to him.

“Hey, Keith,” and his name being spoken snaps Keith out of his thoughts, nearly jumping a few feet in the air. He glances over, where Hunk stands next to him, with an amused grin on his face. “Did I scare you?”

“I don’t get scared, Hunk,” Keith denies before turning back to his locker, switching out a few books and setting the candy heart picture inside his locker. “Just.. I was lost in thought.”

“What were you thinking about?”

“Someone left me a piece of poster board with candy hearts all over them, but there’s no name on it.” Keith says, shutting his locker with a slam. “So I was trying to figure out who it was, but what kind of person would use the candy heart ‘SEXY MOFO’ when referring to me? That’s just embarrassing.”

“Hm, there’s thousands of people in this school, with more boys than girls, so I think that narrows it down because you don’t really flaunt your gayness,” Hunk says with a shrug. “I’m sure the person will show themselves on Valentine’s Day.”

“Well, if it’s a girl, they got some disappointment coming,” Keith says. “Or even a guy – I like someone else.”

Hunk’s eyes raise up, but a tinge of disappointment goes through him, “Really?”

“Not ready to out that, though.”

“Understood, dude.”

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have made that after all,” Hunk thinks to himself. ‘I knew I was going to get hurt in the end..’

2 – Roses ( Domestic AU )

Hunk comes home late from work one night, finding the apartment he shares with Keith empty and dark and strangely a little cold, as if Keith hasn’t been there all day. Hunk pats the wall for the light switch, and turns on the lights in the house. He looks around, a concerned look on his face, and calls out for his lover and roommate, but receives no response. Hunk continues calling out for Keith on the way to their shared bedroom, but when he gets there, there’s a vase of red roses sitting in front of their floor mirror. Hunk raises an eyebrow and picks them up, plucking the card from in between.

“If you stand with this bouquet of roses in front a mirror, you’ll see thirteen of the most beautiful things in the world,” Hunk reads aloud, and after the words process, his face turns red and he lets out a small squeak. “What the hell, Keith.”

“I wanted you to know how beautiful you were,” comes a voice from the doorway and Hunk turns fast, seeing Keith in the doorway of their bedroom. “I kept waking up to you running your hands over your body, and even the past, you told me that you were worried about me accepting your feelings because ‘Look at you, and then look at me. Why would anyone like me?’”

“Keith--”

“And I think you’re beautiful,” Keith continues on, walking over to Hunk and wrapping his arms around him. “Not just think, but I know, for a fact, you are beautiful and perfect and the right guy for me.”

“Oh, Keith..”

“I love you, Hunk,” Keith says, squeezing Hunk’s sides. “All of you.”

3 – Blind Date/Set up by friends ( Modern AU )

Keith doesn’t know what he’s doing here.

Oh, well, honestly? He does know. Shiro and Matt had set him up with a guy Matt’s little sister knew, and arranged for the two of them to meet at a coffee shop. (Could you say cliché?) All Keith could think about is how dangerous blind dates could be, because, really – what does Matt know about this guy? He knows Matt is protective of his little sister, so whoever Pidge hangs out with, they’d have to get by Matt, too. But a murderer could seem nice too at first glance, but give time, and they could fuck things up.

So now Keith is sitting at a table for two at a coffee stop, index finger swirling around the brim of his glass of water as he waits for his blind date. He hears the door chime open and Keith looks up, watching as a server points the customer to where Keith’s sitting. Keith sits up straight, getting a better look at this guy. His big – big enough to bench press Keith if he wanted to. Keith swallows, suddenly his throat feeling dry.

“Hey,” the stranger greets. “Sorry if I’m late. Have you been waiting long?”

Long enough to wonder where you’ve been all my life.

“Uh, no. I haven’t. Just got here myself,” Keith says instead of what his brain tells him. “Have a seat. I’m Keith.”

“I’m Hunk,” stranger says and all Keith could think is Oh, you sure are. “Uhm, I never have been on a blind date before. My friends arranged this.”

“Same here.” Keith agrees. “But we might as well order something and get to know each other. Unless you prefer to leave.”

“I mean, I’d like to get to know you at least? Even if this doesn’t work out, we can still be friends, yeah?”

Keith blinks, then a smile forms on his face, “Yeah. I’d like that.”

4 – Chocolate ( Canon )

“Did you seriously find a planet that has a plant for you to make chocolates?” Keith asks Hunk, not able to believe it when Hunk mentions it. “If so, I call dibs on being the guinea pig this time.”

“I’ve never seen you so excited before. It’s kind of cute.” Hunk teases, making Keith’s cheeks go a little pinkish. “Yes, I did. And you’re lucky you did. Lance and Pidge would have fought over it.”

“I just haven’t had chocolate in a long time, okay? It used to be my comfort food.”

“Comfort food?” Hunk questions, a little confused at first but then he remembers of all that Keith’s been through and his face softens. “Aw, Keith – know what, hold on. Wait here.”

Keith blinks, but does as told as Hunk runs around the kitchen, opening the cabinets and going over the stove. He’s unable to watch fully on what Hunk’s doing, but the scent fills the air and it smells cocoa-y – like hot chocolate, to be more specific. Keith’s eyes light up and watches as Hunk nearly breaks the Altean glasses rushing to grab one, and within minutes, there’s a steaming cup of chocolate coloured liquid in front of him. (Well, it feels like minutes went by, but it took a lot longer than just a few minutes to make this.)

“Have this,” Hunk says and Keith takes the cup in his hands. “Careful, it’s--” And then he watches Keith take a sip with no hesitation but doesn’t yelp from the heat either. “..hot.”

“Holy crap, Hunk.”

“Is it good?”

“It’s fantastic,” Keith replies and he takes another sip, practically chugging it down. “It tastes so much like hot chocolate it’s unreal.”

“Good!” Hunk beams at this, glad he was successful in making Keith happy. “I’ll make you some small chocolates, too, and stick them in the freezer for them to chill and turn solid, so you can have your comfort food anytime.”

“Thank you, Hunk. I appreciate it.”

“No problem.”

5 – Movie Night ( Canon )

“So this is an Altean movie.” Hunk says as he sits right besides Keith on the couch. Keith hums as a response. “Wow. Do you even know what they’re saying?”

“Not in the slightest. I’ve been making my own dialogue,” Keith says. “At least in my head.”

“Really? I want to hear some.”

Keith looks over and then figures why not, so he rewinds the movie and turns it down a little. A scene with a princess and a prince appears.

“Oh, Princess, I have always longed for you. Won’t you please come with me?” Keith recites then clears his voice, trying to sound like the Princess in the movie. “Oh no I must not! Father will never allow me to go out with someone like you!”

“Like me? What’s wrong with me?” Hunk adds in with a grin and Keith looks over, his smile wide.

“You didn’t show up with flowers! Or candy! Or anything! Not even a white horse! How could I go with you?”

“Because you don’t need all those things for true love,” Hunk says. “If you come with me, I will forever love you.”

“That sounds so cheesy.” Keith says, bumping Hunk with his shoulder. “Just right out of a fairy tale.”

“Hey, I like fairy tales. Disney movies are my favourite.”

“And yet if you read the morbid ones, you’d never like them again.”

“Let’s not and say I did.”

6 – Late for a Date ( Domestic AU )

Hunk’s panicking. Hunk’s panicking and driving a crazy speed to the hospital. When he got the phone call that his boyfriend was there because of an accident at work, he dropped everything to go there. He and Keith were supposed to have a date, and ten minutes before they’re supposed to have their date, is when he gets the call.

He parks and rushes into the ER, asking right away to see Keith Kogane. It takes a moment, and a nurse comes out to guide Hunk to Keith’s emergency room, where at the door, he sees Keith fast asleep, with a bandage wrapped around his arm and scratches on his face. Hunk pales from seeing his boyfriend like this, and he rushes to his side, grabbing the bandaged arm and kissing Keith’s knuckles. From the nurses explanation, it seems like Keith was doing his job as security and tried stopping a guy because he was stealing to only slam him through a window and ended up like this. It’s not too much longer until Keith opens his eyes, grunting from the bright lights in the emergency room.

“Nn..”

“Keith.. Oh my god, Keith.” Hunk sobs, hanging his head. “I was so worried about you! How do you feel?”

“Like shit,” Keith grumbles. “I missed our date.. all because I was chasing a stupid guy.”

“You were doing your job,” Hunk tells him. “I’m not mad. I’m more glad that you’re okay.”

“But you were looking forward to this date..”

“It’s fine. It’s fine.” Hunk leans over, pressing kisses to Keith’s face. “All that matters is that you’re safe. I love you.”

“Love you, too..”

7 – Wrong Restaurant ( Domestic AU )

“What do you mean our names aren’t on the list?” Keith’s getting snappy, and Hunk’s panicking. They’re going to get kicked out of this restaurant in like five seconds. “I made this reservation, like, weeks in advance! Look for our names again!”

“I’m sorry, sir, but your names aren’t on here. I’ve looked five times now, and our tables are either full or reserved for other guests. I cannot just give you a table.”

“That’s bullshit--”

“Uh, Keith?” Hunk interrupts, his lover looking back with a glare. “..I think we’re at the wrong restaurant.”

Immediately, Keith’s face goes red from embarrassment and croaks out an ‘oh’.

“We’re so sorry for the trouble.” Hunk apologizes before grabbing Keith by the wrist and drags him out. “Oh my god. Now we won’t make it to the other restaurant in time.”

“..Maybe we can just go home and order Chinese.” Keith mutters, still embarrassed. “I’m sorry for not realizing it sooner.”

“No, Keith, if I was you, I would have gotten angry, too. It’s fine.” Hunk takes Keith’s hands and rests his forehead against the others. “We can go home. Snuggle and watch television. Date night is still a go.”

8 – Strangers Alone on Valentine’s Day ( Coffee Shop AU )

The coffee shop is dead on February fourteenth. There’s only few people there, and two people are sitting together at a table for a date. Keith’s sitting alone, laptop in front of him, staring at the couple with disgust. He figured it would be better to get work done on Valentine’s Day seeing as how he had nobody and most coffee shops would be dead with no couples, but no, he thought wrong.

The door to the coffee shop chimes open and Keith looks up, seeing a man walk in alone and go to the counter, order something, and then sit down at a table next to Keith.

“Alone on Valentine’s Day, too, huh?” the stranger says, trying to make conversation.

“Mhm. I don’t care. I’m not interested in anybody anyway.” Keith shrugs, deciding to talk to the stranger seeing as how he’s not going to get much work done if he’s too stressed to get anything done. “What about you?”

“Eh, not me either,” the stranger says with a shrug. “I’m Hunk, by the way.”

“Keith. What brings you here?”

“Wanting to get some writing done. I need coffee to wake me.”

“Same. I have a deadline in a few days and I barely started on it.”

“Story of my life.”

“Heh.” Keith laughs a little, a smile on his face. “Good luck, Hunk.”

“You, too,” Hunk says, his smile wide. “Keith.”

9 – Friends on a date ( High School AU )

“Aw, aren’t you two a cute couple.” Lance teases as he walks past Hunk and Keith having lunch together at a diner. “We have studying to do, and you two are on a date?”

“We’re not on a date, Lance.” Hunk insists. “We’re studying. And we’re not a couple--”

“I thought this was a date,” Keith interrupts, eyebrow raising. “Guess I was wrong.”

“Wait-- Keith-- you know it could be--”

Keith’s grin is wide and teasing, “I’m joking, Hunk.”

“O-oh.”

‘I’d very much like to date you,’ Keith thinks. ‘But you’re too good for me..’

10 – Rained out Picnic ( Canon )

“Well.. going to a planet that had a seventy-five percent chance of rain, may have been a bad idea.” Hunk admits, feeling down as he and Keith take shelter from the rain under a tree. “I was really thinking that twenty-five percent would come through.”

“We can have a picnic in Yellow?” Keith offers. “Would she mind?”

“I don’t think so. She’s been itching to get us out on a date, but at the cost of our picnic being soaked and us getting sick? She’ll welcome us to eat there as long as we clean up.”

“Race you to your lion, then.”

“What-- Keith! That’s not fair! I’m holding the picnic basket!”

11 – Low on money/homemade date ( Modern AU )

A date didn’t have to be going to a fancy restaurant or buying your significant other nice things. No matter where you are, and what you do, a date is still a date and still amazing when you’re with the person you love and care about. And Hunk didn’t mind it when Keith admits he doesn’t have the money for date night because bills came up. And even though Keith minds, Hunk is more than fine with sitting with Keith, playing games and eating pizza rolls. Or even snuggling and watching Netfix. Which is what they are doing now after they had eaten microwavable chicken nuggets, with Keith laying on top of Hunk and Hunk’s hand running through Keith’s hair.

“I love you,” Hunk whispers and Keith hears it, raising his head. “This date is great.”

“..I love you, too, Hunk.” Keith says with a small smile. “Next date will be better though.”

“Having a chill date is the best date I could ask for, Keith. Honest.”

“If you say so, but I’m going to spoil you rotten next time.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

12 – Surprise Date while Working Late ( Florist Hunk, Tattoo Artist Keith )

Hunk enters the tattoo shop late at night, holding a vase of flowers and asking where Keith is at. He’s told Keith’s in the back cleaning up, and Hunk walks back there, nearly startling his boyfriend in the process.

“What are you doing here, Hunk? I won’t be off for another hour or so.” Keith admits. “I have a lot of cleaning up to do.”

“I know! I know! I just.. wanted to give you these,” Hunk says and hands over the vase. “I set up the arrangement myself. Figured it would cheer you up when we can’t go out on dates because of our work schedule. But also.. I’m off tomorrow and so are you and we’re going to go out on a date once you get off.”

“Hunk.. you didn’t have to come here for this..”

“I wanted to. It was a surprise.” Hunk says with a grin and leans down, pecking Keith’s lips. “I’ll wait in the waiting area for you.”

Keith grins wide, returning the kiss, “Alright. I’ll see you soon.”

13 – Forgot to get anything ( High School AU; post-Heith )

The first thought Keith has when he walks into school on February fourteenth is god, there is so much red and pink and so many hearts and love spread around. He pushes through couples hugging in the hallways, gags at the couples kissing at their lockers and ready to make love with all the students watching them, and he feels a headache forming when he hears girls screaming with joy when they get their Valentine’s gifts. He sighs and makes way to his locker, opening it up and grabs what he needs for his first half of classes. He has a lot of time to kill, but he’ll probably go to his first class anyway to get away from all the gross, mushy, couple-y things.

“Good morning, Keith,” Hunk greets as he passes Keith on his way to his own locker, which is only a few lockers away from Keith’s. Keith groans and slams his head on the metal, making Hunk look at him with a concerned look on his face. “..Everything okay?”

“No.” Keith grits through his teeth and slams his locker shut, which makes Hunk jump and makes Keith forming headache only worse. “I hate Valentine’s Day.”

“Hate is a rather strong word--”

“Then I’ll use a stronger one: I despise it.”

“Oh.”

Keith blinks, looking up at his boyfriend, eyebrow raised. Now Hunk’s facial expression reads he’s upset about something, and Keith panics a little because fuck, he said something wrong, didn’t he?

“Uhm.. I’m sorry you feel that way. I got you something for Valentine’s Day.”

Keith’s eyes widen at this news, and the second thought that runs through his head is: Keith you jerk. You may hate, or despise Valentine’s Day or whatever, but you still should have gotten your boyfriend something! And with all the hate, you never did think about that, did you? Nope!

“..Hunk, I didn’t.. I didn’t get you anything.” Keith mutters, now feeling guilty. “I’m not-- I’m not used to having relationships like this, so I normally just try to ignore Valentine’s Day.”

“It’s fine, Keith. I know how you feel about holidays, especially ones like this.” Hunk shrugs it off, but Keith can read that something is still bothering him. Hunk digs through his book bag and pulls out a small box, handing it over to Keith. “Here.”

“No.”

“..No?”

“Not until I get you something,” Keith tells him, to make himself more clear. “It’s not fair, Hunk. Tell you what-- come over to the house after school today. I’ll make you dinner. Sure, you’re a better cook than me, but let me make you dinner. And then this weekend, we can go on a Valentine’s day date and you can spend the night. We can cuddle all night.”

“You don’t have to do all that, Keith..”

“But I can tell it bothers you!” Keith raises his voice, and he knows Hunk hates it, but he has no choice. “Let me do this. Please. I care about you, Hunk. A-and I love you. And I feel bad if I don’t at least do something. So please..”

Hunk goes silent for a moment, and slips the box back into his bag, then walks over to Keith, his arm going around Keith’s waist and leaning down to place a small kiss on the top of Keith’s head.

“Okay. I expect candles, though.”

“Of course, big man.”

14 – Babysitter Canceled/Family Date Night ( Domestic/Future AU; where Heith adopts )

They had adopted twin daughters five years into their marriage. They decided it had been a great idea now they were financially stable – at least somewhat – and had a nice house with a dog and a cat. And it seemed like the two girls did not want to be torn apart, so Hunk and Keith were fine with adopting both. And after two weeks of foster care going through their file to find out if they were able to be parents, they got the girls. They were about three years old at the time, and attached at the hip. Their names were Melody and Ruby, and they were so pretty. Hunk and Keith spoiled them rotten when they first got them, and continued doing so for many years.

The girls are now going on nine years old, their birthdays just a couple days after Valentine’s Day. Hunk and Keith made plans on February fourteenth, and arranged a babysitter, but at the last minute, the babysitter canceled on them so they decided it would be a family date night. It has been for the past years since they’ve gotten Melody and Ruby – the tradition would never change.

Besides, free dessert for the girls when they tell people ‘oh it’s their birthday’ when their birthdays are just a couple days away. But a little lie never hurt anyone.

So here they are, at a family restaurant, the restaurant covered in Valentine’s decorations. The girls are picking at their food, while Hunk and Keith are eating, but the two fathers can tell something is bothering their daughters.

“Everything okay with you two?” Hunk questions. “You barely touched your dinner.”

“..Did we mess up Valentine’s Day for you two?” Melody asks, taking after Keith and being straight forward and the ‘wild child’ of their family.

“What?” Keith’s eyebrows shoot up. “What gave you that idea?”

“Because Valentine’s Day is meant to be shared between couples!” Ruby says. “And you two always seem to give up date nights to be with us.. We feel like we messed things up.”

“No. No no no.” Hunk puts his fork down, the tears already building up in his eyes. “You didn’t ruin anything, girls! Honest! Tell them, Keith.”

“What your daddy means – before a waterfall starts spilling from his eyes -” Keith teases before turning back towards the girls. “you girls mean the world to us. You do not ruin Valentine’s Day – you make it better. Valentine’s Day is filled with love, not just for couples, but that love is for anybody. So we are more than happy to spend Valentine’s Day with you two.”

“..You mean it?” Ruby looks up, pouting, but Keith smiles wide and nods as a response. “..Okay. But when we get home, Melody and I are making you two a giant heart with lots of glitter!”

Keith chuckles at this, while Hunk is ready to start sobbing. Some things never change.

15 – Secret Admirer/Confessing ( Canon )

There are no secret admirers on the castle ship. When Keith keeps finding little cards, with ‘from your secret admirer’ written on them, there’s only a small handful of people that these could be from.

Coran’s too old; Allura doesn’t look at him in that way.

Lance doesn’t like him; Shiro and him are best friends, perhaps closer than brothers.

Pidge doesn’t like love; and Matt and him were friends at the Garrison but there’s nothing between them.

All there is left is Hunk, and Keith is pretty certain Hunk doesn’t like him, until he keeps getting notes, leading Keith to the dining area on the castle ship, finding the lights off. He tries turning them on, but they seem to be broken – or at least, that’s what he thinks. Then he hears a couple of claps, and the room lights up with candles surrounding the dining area, and flowers in the middle of the table, and two silver looking domes on the table. Keith raises an eyebrow and approaches the table, finding a card with his name written in cursive writing on it.

“What on Earth..”

“We’re not on Earth, Keith,” comes a familiar voice and Keith turns, seeing Hunk in the doorway. “..Do you like it?”

“Uh.. it’s.. nice, yeah,” Keith is at loss for words, still trying to take all this in. “Why did you make the dining area like this? And where are the others? There’s only two domes here--”

“Keith,” Hunk interrupts him, stepping forward. “I was the one who left you all those notes.”

..Oh.

“I’m your secret admirer.” Hunk says. “I know, secret admirers aren’t a thing in space, but I couldn’t find a way to show you my feelings and.. this was the only way? I’ve.. liked you for a while, even if that didn’t show for how I treated you when you told us you found out you were Galra – and I still feel bad for that! But.. honestly? I have feelings for you, and it’s supposed to be Valentine’s Day back on Earth, so this was.. the only way for me to confess to you.”

“..Wow.” Keith breathes out, eyes wide and his heart pounding. “Uhm.. I don’t know what to say? I mean-- I’ve liked you too? So the feeling is mutual? I just.. I never had these feelings for anyone before? So I never knew how to react to these feelings I’ve had.”

“Well..” Hunk approaches him slowly, until they are just a foot apart, his cheeks flushed brightly. “do you want to try it?”

Keith looks at Hunk, his own cheeks bright, and then he looks at the lovely set up Hunk prepared for today. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t scared of how Hunk may feel when he learns more about Keith and his past. Keith bites his lip, knowing Hunk wants an answer right away. He takes in a deep breath and looks back up at Hunk.

“Y-yeah..” Keith says slowly at first. “Yes. I do. I’d like to try it.”

Hunk blinks for a moment, not believing that Keith actually agreed. He beams brightly at this.

“Great! That’s great!” Hunk grabs Keith by the wrist and pulls him to a chair, pulling it back. “Good. Have a seat and we can eat and.. talk.. I suppose.”

“You’re nervous, Hunk. Your hands are sweating.” Keith points out and Hunk pulls his hands away. “It’s.. fine. I’m nervous, too. But we’ll work on this.. together.. okay?”

“Y-yeah.” Hunk smiles wide. “Together.”

[kotoriqueen]

We played the fanfiction trope version of “fuck marry kill” in which the options are “slow burn/fake date/enemies to lovers” and it’s been like 30 hours and I’m STILL losing it over the concept of fake-dating Saruman the White.

[kotoriqueen]

godmodes :

vld | easy, peasy, queasy. 

Author: carcinology Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Pairing: Heith Word count: 3118

Technically speaking, Hunk doesn’t actually know Keith. (Or: In which Lance’s account of Keith’s personality was greatly exaggerated, and becoming close to the Red Paladin is something of a learning experience.)

Hello, @kotoriqueen! I’m your @heith-secret-santa, here with some fluff (and light angst, oops) as per your request! I’m woefully late because I am apparently cursed to forever be the misplaced anime girl running with a slice of toast, but! I still hope you can enjoy it. 

May 2018 be a better year for all of us! 

AHHHH I LOVED THIS A LOT. 

Thank you so so much. ;v; Sorry it took so long to get back to you - works been a hassle. And it’s fine if you’re late, sweetie. Time gets away from us and things come up <3 I’m happy to say I’m very understanding. 

Regardless of lateness, I really loved this and I’ll be reading this over and over again <3 Thank you again. 

[kotoriqueen]

hiiii~ i was gonna gush about your heithmas fanfic in the tags but then i thought 'maybe a comment would be good?? bc why not??' and since you weren't sure about posting it on ao3 i thought an ask would also do :3 I just wanted to say that I adored reading it cause it was super sweet and christmas-y and i think you nailed autistic keith!! and they are such great boyfriends i luv everything

Oh goodness. 

UHM. I really appreciate the ask!! I’m just not good with words when it comes to comments like these. Normally I just sit here and bawl because oh my god someone likes something I wrote. But I suppose that’s all writers, too, isn’t it? Haha. 

I’m so glad you thought so! I’ll admit, I’ve done my research and I’ve asked people before I wrote it, because I’d rather not offend somebody if I wrote something wrong. I tried my best to make it as Christmas-y as possible, because I’ll also admit that corny Christmas stuff is my kind of thing! 

I might post it on AO3 when I get the time to ;v; It’s comments like these that make me keep writing so really, thank you so much.

[kotoriqueen]

Merry Christmas, @comic-book-reider!! I am excited to say that I am your Secret Santa from @heith-secret-santa!! 

I’ll be honest - I was pretty busy so I would have liked to finish this sooner, but it’s four days before Christmas and hey, I finished it now, so I might as well post it now! I’ll also be honest again: I had a little trouble writing a trans/autistic Keith but I had a little help and I’d like to apologize now if this is something you aren’t hoping for but I tried really, really hard! 

Anyway, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I loved writing it!! 

Voltron; Heith; 3200+ Words. Will post to AO3 later on (if I remember).

Keith could honestly say winter was his favourite season of all.

Others would argue; winter was filled with snow and ice, requiring a lot of work to shovel and drivers being cautious and slow. Christmas music is in the air, causing headaches, as well as Christmas shopping stress making those headaches even worse. Heating bills are going high up, kids are home from school for winter break. There’s several things that would make someone argue with Keith, but there’s many reasons why Keith loves winter.

Firstly, compared to their terribly hot summer, where Keith felt uncomfortable almost all the time, Keith had no problems getting comfortable as soon as winter started. Wearing a binder was hard in the summer time, where the fabric stuck to his skin and sometimes he found it hard to breathe properly. Taking it off in public would make him feel dysphoric, especially since he couldn’t wear many layers or risk passing out from the heat. He wouldn’t take off his binder unless he was home in his apartment, and even then he felt uncomfortable not wearing it. But at least he could breathe normal, and his boyfriend wouldn’t look at him any differently if he didn’t wear it.

With that note, Keith’s pleased to know he could wear as many layers of clothes as he wanted, and no one would know if he wore his binder that day or not. The soft sweaters he had felt nice against his skin, and earmuffs blocked out the loud honking from irritated drivers when people were going to slow. And with winter, Keith had a valid excuse to stay indoors. Sometimes he felt socializing emotionally draining, and sometimes he just wanted to be alone even if his boyfriend was home. His boyfriend, the kind soul he was, seemed to understand that perfectly and waited for Keith to come to him.

The second thing he liked about winter is that he could cuddle up against Hunk all he wanted. In the summer, he and his boyfriend couldn’t cuddle as often because it was simply to hot too. Keith loves the feeling of Hunk’s strong arms around him, with one hand stroking his back and the other going through his hair. It was the most comfortable feeling in the world, especially combined with their body temperatures.

And, sure, autumn would be the perfect weather for all of this, too, but the noise of the leaves crunching loudly beneath his and other peoples feet bothered him. He couldn’t seem to get away from the noise and it would cause him to shut himself out sometimes. Whereas, with the snow, noises are softened and the snow doesn’t crunch as bad as leaves did. Pavement and streets are covered in soft snow, so even boots don’t hit the pavement; the snow just crunches softly underneath their feet. And that doesn’t bother Keith as much as the leaves.

And thirdly.. well, ever since he started living with Shiro, Christmas seemed to mean more to him. There was a big tree in the living room, and lights hung up all around the house. It’s no different in Keith’s and Hunk’s apartment. They have a tree, too; big and covered in garland, lights, and ornaments. There’s an angel atop the tree that Keith can’t seem to stop staring at. Then there’s presents under the tree, each wrapping paper different. Their friends had agreed to have a Christmas party at their apartment this year, too, which is why tons of presents are under the tree instead of just a few between the two of them.

The Christmas party starts tonight; it’s Christmas eve after all and there’s still things they need to prepare for. Keith’s nervous, he’s not going to lie about that. He’s nervous about the loud noises; music and voices both. He knows his friends will understand if he needs to shut himself in a quiet room for a while, but he still doesn’t want to spoil the party any by leaving. Besides, he and Hunk are supposed to be hosts of this Christmas party. How could he get up and leave?

But as of right now, Keith’s still curled up underneath his and Hunk’s shared quilted comforter. He’s wearing one his own long sleeved shirts, with one of Hunk’s shirts on top of it. He’s very comfortable underneath all this warmth that he just doesn’t want to get out of bed. As comfortable as he was, he was awake. His body didn’t want him to sleep anymore! With a sigh, he tries to force himself to go back to sleep, but he hears the front door open as well as jangling of keys. Followed by the crinkle of paper bags and then footsteps across the hardwood floor. They get closer, and then the bedroom door opens and Keith peeks his head out from underneath the comforter.

“Babe?” Hunk softly calls out, and there’s a wide smile on his face to see Keith awake. He walks softly to the bed and sits down on it, leaning in to press a chaste kiss to Keith’s forehead. “Glad to see you’re awake, but won’t you get out of bed?”

“I’ll think about it,” Keith says at first, giving himself a second to think before shaking his head. “Nope. Staying here. It’s warm under here.”

“Keith.. Come on, I bought you a sweater for tonight. It’s soft, I promise you.”

“Will you make hot chocolate while I get ready?” Keith questions and Hunk nods as a response. “With--”

“No marshmallows and extra whipped cream,” Hunk interrupts. “I got it, babe. I’ll leave the bag on the bed.”

Hunk sets a plastic bag on the bed and leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. Keith takes a moment to get out of the bed, wandering to the door where his binder hung on a hook, air drying since the night before. Hunk had washed it out for him by hand so he could be comfortable and feel clean for tonight’s party. Sometimes Keith wishes he had a second one, but they were rather pricey and even with them both working – Keith helping in the kitchen of the cafe Hunk works in – he knows he should save his money for bills and things than spend it on a second binder when he has a perfectly good one right there.

Keith decides to take a quick shower first, drying himself off before slipping on his binder and a pair of festive boxers to go underneath his jeans. He knows no one will see the Christmas light boxers he had on underneath, but he thought they were festive and hilarious looking so he decided to buy them at first glance. (Plus, he needed more boxers, no matter how stupid they looked as long as they were comfortable.)

He slips on a pair of jeans, and a belt around the loops before he digs through the bag and pulls out the sweater. It’s a soft, knitted material, and it’s rather festive, too, fitting for tonight. It’s red; neither too bright or too dark. There’s white snowflake, tree, and reindeer designs on it. On the shirt, it says ‘Ho-Ho-Ho HOMO’ in white, and the two symbols for male are interlocked underneath, the pattern repeating around the back of the sweater, as well. Keith snorts at the sweater, wondering who would make such a thing, but he loves it all the same. He slips it on over his head, realizing it’s a size or two too big for him, making the sleeves go over his hands a little, fingertips poking out from under the cuffs.

He loves it. After slipping on a pair of socks, he steps out of the room to the kitchen, where Hunk is making hot chocolate and baking cookies at the same time. Hunk notices Keith coming into the kitchen and he beams when he sees Keith wearing the sweater.

“You’re wearing it!”

“Of course I am,” Keith’s smiling wide, too, and he walks over to the counter, sitting up on a stool by the little island in the kitchen. “Where did you find this thing?”

“There was a store in the mall that had it on the clearance rack,” Hunk explains as he uses Christmas cookie cutters to cut fun shapes into the cookie dough. “It was either that size or something six times too small for you. And since you like wearing my shirts a lot..”

“I love it, Hunk. Thank you.” Keith rests his head in the palms of his hands, watching his boyfriend bake. “When is everyone coming over?”

“Not until six. So we have a while to prepare.” Hunk responds, and stops his baking to take care of the hot chocolate. He drops a few marshmallows into one mug and then puts some whipped cream in that, followed by putting tons of whipped cream in another. “Here you go.”

“Thanks. Do you need help with anything?”

“Actually,” Hunk puts some festive sprinkles over the cookies before popping them into the oven, setting the timer. “can you sit out here and then come get me when there’s five minutes left on the timer? I have some more presents to wrap.”

“I thought you got everyone something?”

“I bought a few extra things. I should be done wrapping by then.”

“Okay,” Keith leans in, pecking Hunk’s cheek. “I’ll stay here.”

“Thanks, babe.”

Hunk leaves the kitchen, gathering up a few more paper bags he left on the kitchen table and moves to the bedroom. He had bought Keith a new binder a month ago that came in yesterday, and he was thankful enough to be at home when it came. Plus, at the mall, he had bought Keith a liquid motion bubbler, which was somewhat like a lava lamp but Keith could move around. With it’s slow and rhythmic motions, it’s supposed to help autistic people with sensory issues and stay focused.

Also he may have noticed that Keith bit on his pencils a lot and his nails, so he bought him a silicone brick that was around a thin cording that he could chew on instead. He honestly hopes Keith would like these things, as well as the pack of boxers he bought him and the other clothes he purchased from the men’s section. With Shiro’s help, he was able to find things that Keith would like style wise and that would make him feel comfortable in every season, not just winter.

He knows Keith’s not a huge fan of wrapping paper, so he got decorative boxes instead. They came in different sizes, so Keith could stack them or put them inside each other if he’d like to. At least wrapping was easy for Keith’s presents, and this just meant he’d be ready for when Keith came to get him about the cookies.

“I buy too much for people..” Hunk tells himself as he wraps a set of books for Pidge before setting them in a messenger bag; thick and durable to hold many books and their laptop. He starts wrapping that, as well, and once it’s wrapped, he ties ribbon around it and sets it off to the side. “Let’s see.. that should have taken care of everyone.”

There’s a soft knock on the door and Keith peeks his head inside, “Hunk? There’s five minutes on the timer.”

“Thanks, babe,” Hunk grabs the boxes and Pidge’s gift and makes way to the tree, setting them down with the other gifts. “We have to wait for the cookies to cool off though before you can have first dibs.”

“I’ve been saving some of my hot chocolate to dip the cookies in. To soften them up.” Keith says as he walks back to the kitchen with Hunk. “But will it be cold by the time the cookies are cooled off?”

“I’ll make you another mug of hot chocolate, Keith. It’ll probably take thirty minutes before they are cooled off. We can watch something in the meantime.”

“Sounds good.”

----

The Christmas party goes off without a hitch. Everyone either shows up early or on time, some too early to help Keith and Hunk with final preparations. As soon as everyone was there and accounted for, Christmas music was played and refreshments were served. There were a few times during the night that where Keith had to leave because the noise was too much for him but each time, it was either Hunk, Shiro, or the both of them that followed after just to make sure he was alright. If it was past Keith, he would have preferred to be alone, and sometimes he still does, but having Hunk and Shiro in his life seemed to help him through the years.

Close to the end of the party, gifts were passed out. Christmas music was turned off and everyone found a seat either on a chair, the sofa, or on the ground. Things were given to Hunk and Keith, as thank you’s for hosting such a lovely party. Other presents were passed out and as everyone was talking amongst themselves, Hunk gathered the things he had gotten for Keith and gestured him to their shared bedroom, where Keith follows. Once in the bedroom, Hunk places the presents on the bed and Keith shuts the door.

“What is it?”

“Your presents,” is Hunk’s response at first, but that response is too vague and makes Keith raise an eyebrow. “I figured it’d be better if you opened your gifts in here. I know it’s a while before Christmas, but everyone else opened theirs, so..”

“You want me to open mine now.” Keith says and Hunk nods as a response. Keith glances at the decorative boxes before moving towards the bed, going to sit down on the edge. “There sure is a lot of them..”

“Of course. Is that bad? I have receipts for everything you don’t like, but this is our first Christmas together in the apartment. I wanted it to be special,” Hunk tells him, sitting down right besides him and placing a hand on his shoulder. “But I have a feeling you’ll like them all.”

Keith smiles softly at Hunk and starts from smallest to biggest. Most of the items are either sensory toys or clothing – which the latter Keith did not have enough of. His clothes are either all of the same things with either black or red or hand-me-downs from Shiro when he started living with him. Keith never complained, but he found cloth shopping to take up too much of his time and very draining. Which is why he rarely goes shopping with Hunk, and Keith prefers buying things online over going into the stores.

There were shirts, and pants, and athletic wear – so many clothes Keith feels as if it’s too much. Hunk’s the best boyfriend he could ask for; accepting and stuck with him for nearly three years, and even longer before they became boyfriends. Keith gets to his last box, the biggest one of the stack. He opens it, and there’s jogging pants and a new jacket in there, and underneath those two items is a new binder. Keith freezes when his eyes land on it. He was just thinking that he needed a new binder, and Hunk went around and got him another one. He looks up at Hunk, with wide eyes and jaw dropped. Hunk has a wide smile on his face but fades into confusion when he sees Keith’s reaction.

“Do you not like it?” Hunk questions. “You’ve been wearing the same one for a long time now. It might not be worn out because you take good care of it, but you really needed a new one, Keith, so..”

“No!” the sudden response and the raise of his tone made Hunk flinch for a moment. “No, I mean.. I love it. I love everything. You seem to have read my mind since I was thinking how I needed a new binder anyway. You’re so-- you’re so thoughtful, Hunk, and I love that so much about you. And no matter how many times I tell you that I don’t deserve you, well-- to be honest, I don’t? I really don’t, especially on holidays and birthdays because you go all out and yet, it’s so hard for me to find the perfect gifts for you..”

Keith lets out a deep breath and moves from the bed to their closet, opening the door and taking out the gift bags he had for Hunk. There were three of them; two large and a medium sized one. And compared to all the gifts Hunk got for Keith, the gifts he got for Hunk couldn’t possibly own up to what Hunk got him. Keith’s nervous, but he hands the bags over anyway and sits back down on the bed, pushing his presents off to the side. That gives Hunk enough space to open them, starting with the medium sized bag. In that bag, there’s several small things. There’s a small box, that contained a watch; beautiful and silver with a black band and a buckle for a clasp. He knows how much of a fan Hunk is of Disney, as well as the Kingdom Hearts games, and with Keith being a fan of Hot Topic, it seemed easy to find Disney merchandise for the big guy.

And you can never have enough knick-knacks, which is one of the many things Keith was looking for. They had a few empty shelves in their bedroom and living room, not the mention all the space they had on the front of their fridge. Sure, there were having a few magnets, but Hot Topic was having a good deal on their Disney magnets, so Keith had picked up quite a few of them. He grabbed Belle and Chip from Beauty and the Beast and then the two Kingdom Hearts magnets of Sora and Riku. There were a few blind bags in there; one of Mickey and friends, the other having Aladdin, Abu, King Triton, Genie, and then the animals and/or mascots from other movies, and the third blind bag is of the Disney Princesses. They’re all keychains, and he knows Hunk will find some place to put them up for show. Finally, there’s a pop figure of a Heartless from Kingdom Hearts, one of Rajah from Aladdin, and one of Mulan.

In the two larger bags, one contained a new jacket; big and bulky so Hunk can layer up underneath without feeling stiff. And the other large bag had a ‘Funcle’ shirt since Keith knows how much Hunk loves his nieces and nephews, a couple long sleeved shirts, and a cookbook. He knows Hunk has several cookbooks, as well as a container filled with recipe cards, only this one is a 365 days of cookies cookbook. Hunk snorts at the name, and even though he silently agrees he has enough recipes, he and Keith could try out some of these recipes together.

“Aw, Keith..” Hunk starts, scooting over to his boyfriend. He hugs him close, pecking kisses all over his face. “How can you say that you don’t deserve me? You’re gifts are perfect, Keith, and I love every single one, just like how I love you.”

“That’s so cheesy that we’re going to have a mice infested apartment.”

“Mm, I don’t care.” Hunk continues peppering kisses over Keith’s face, making his poor boyfriend squirm from all the attention. “As long as they don’t interrupt us.”

“Huuuunk. We have to get back to the party!”

“They’ll be fine without us,” Hunk says and then he sighs, pulling back a little before resting his forehead on Keith’s. “Merry Christmas, Keith.”

Keith smiles wide, a small laugh leaving his lips, “Merry Christmas, Hunk..”

[kotoriqueen]

fanfic end of the year asks

since it’s december, i thought i’d make a little end of the year ask meme for fanfic writers and readers! reblog and ask away

favorite fic you wrote this year

least favorite fic you wrote this year

favorite line/scene you wrote this year

total number of words you wrote this year

most popular fic this year

least popular fic this year

longest completed fic you wrote this year

shortest completed fic you wrote this year

longest wip of the year

shortest wip of the year

fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this year

favorite character to write about this year

favorite writing song/artist/album of this year

a fic you didn’t expect to write

something you learned this year

fic(s) you completed this year

fics you’ll continue next year

current number of wips

any new fics to start next year

number of comments you haven’t read

most memorable comment/review

events you participated in this year

fics you wanted to write but didn’t

favorite fic you read this year

a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read

number of favorites/bookmarks you made this year

favorite fanfic author of the year

longest fic you read this year

shortest fic you read this year

favorite fandom to read fic from this year

*feel free to specify fandoms or a fic depending on the question.