#(this is before they were 'visited' by Zarkon!)

[voltron-interstellar-uprising]

The future of online learning

[iloveboysinred]

Hiii, your keith hc where absolutely perfect, and I wanted to ask would it be able to get some fluffy hc or one-shot (whatever you prefer more) of keith kogane please ?, have a lovely day or night 💓💓

Hi anon! Thank you so much for your ask. I think i’ll make this a one shot if you dont mind, I’ve been writing lots of hcs lately and i’m already planning fluffy HCs for Keith to be posted later on this week! Hope you enjoy 💕

My home is with you[Keith Kogane]

Vld Keith x Gn reader

Synopsis: Keith has been gone for two weeks. You start to feel his absence, and the team feels it too. Soon enough, he comes back and takes you away to spend time with you in his own special way

Cw; fluffy Keith, brief and i mean briefff mention of intercourse. Sorta angst but not really? Just you being sad and missing Keith. Happy ending. Kinda lengthy i hope you dont mind. Not a lot of dialect!

Masterlist

To say you missed Keith was an understatement. Between saving conquered planets, keeping the castle stable, and even Keith’s marmora training, you had barely gotten the chance to really sit down and have a nice, quiet night with your boyfriend. Everything felt tense all the time. There was always a lingering sense of panic, never being able to fully relax while Zarkon, and now, Lotor still lurked. They were an ever present danger you never knew when they would strike next.

The one thing you missed the most about earth besides your family and friends was the sense of normalcy you once had. The routine you had set for your life. When you would come over to Keith’s house, an old, isolated and broken down shack in the desert, with creaky floors and dusty broken windows. The place needed some work, but that never mattered to you or Keith. The love that was brewing inside every single time you would pay him a visit is all you and Keith could care about. You missed the cool, quiet nights where you and Keith would sit on his roof, staring up at the very same constellations you’ve now flown by and seen up close. Talking about your dreams, sharing secrets. He would hold you close and you would kiss him, running your fingers through his dark hair, whispering soft words of affection to each other.

You loved waking up next to him after a night of passion, your body aching from the love you had made, every bite and mark on your skin fresh and still stinging. You would glance down at him, sleeping peacefully, hair a mess and adorning matching marks of his own, before getting up and fixing breakfast with whatever he had in the fridge, making a mental note to tell Shiro to take you grocery shopping for Keith later that day. While you cooked he would come up behind you, wearing an old, warn out pair of sweats, hair disheveled, eyes blinking tiredly, still low and half lidded from sleep, but he still looked as handsome as ever. You would sink into his embrace, swaying side to side as you tended to the food cooking on the stove.

Now you sat cold and alone in his room. You’d see Keith less and less as time went on, The Blade of Marmora taking up almost all his time. You understood how important this was to him, you were happy he found a group to belong to, and you know what he was doing was bigger than yourselves. But you’d also began to feel his absence, and it was taking its toll on you. You slept in his room and wore his clothes, those being the only comfort you had whenever Keith was gone for days, sometimes weeks on a mission. It was nothing compared to the feeling in your stomach when he would wrap his arms around you and bring you down to bed with him, the washed out smell of him on his clothes dulled in comparison to the lingering familiar scent of his shampoo, surrounding you every time he embraced you. Nothing could fill in for Keith, and everyone in the castle could see how much you missed him.

So when Keith came back to the castle (unbeknownst to you) Shiro sat him down to have a talk.

Shiro explained that he has known you for as long as he’s been taking care of him. He could tell you werent being yourself and he was concerned with Keith’s frequent absences. “The team needs you, Keith.” Shiro sighed, placing his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “But Y/n needs you the most. You’re the only piece of home they’ve got. Try to be here some more. If not for Voltron then do it for them.” Keith nodded to himself, looking down in shame. He missed you too, but he had been so wrapped up with the Blades that he barely had time to worry about how he felt, or even about how you felt. Guilt fell in his stomach as if he’d swallowed a stone. “I know Shiro, i’m gonna make it up to them, and you guys. I promise.”

You had been sitting in the dining hall chit chatting with Allura and Lance when he came in, you didnt notice at first, picking at your food goo and nodding here and there when Lance would try to include you in the conversation. Keith took your lack of awareness as a chance to study you. Your hair was messily tossed into a hair tie, just as he always loved it, and you were wearing one of his plain black shirts. Keith felt a swell of emotion in his chest when he’d seen your face. Uninterested and blank, missing the spark he’d always search for. He could see from here how he’s impacted you, and his heart felt like it would shatter into a million pieces.

“And then i was like what the quiznak- oh hey Keith! Youre back” Lance chirped, exchanging a knowing look with Allura. But Keith didnt respond, his eyes locked with yours as you whipped around, eyebrows almost raising into your hairline. “Keith! You’re here!” You cried as you launched yourself into his chest, wrapping your arms around him and nuzzling your face into him. Keith smiled wrapping his arms around you to steady you. “Yeah I am..sorry I was gone for so-“ you didnt let him finish, pressing your lips to his and wrapping your arms around his neck to pull him down to meet you. You kissed sweetly, melting into each other.

You barely noticed Allura and Lance snickering at you while they exited the room. Too concerned with eating your boyfriend’s face to care about the teasing you’re probably going to deal with later. After a few moments Keith pulled away, he held your wrists gently in his as he looked into your eyes with all the love he had for you, smiling softly at you. “I missed you so much. All I could think about was you. I- I brought you this.” He handed you a necklace, a small dog tag with your initials carved in the thin piece of metal, the other side had a messy shape you assumed was supposed to be a heart. “I engraved it myself. I found it while we were on a stake out mission. I hope you like it” he sounded so shy and nervous, it made your heart swell with emotion as you handed it back to him. “Can you help me put it on?” “Yeah” you turned your back towards him, beaming as he clicked the hatch for the necklace into place, pressing a soft kiss to the nape of your neck. “I love it baby, thank you” you turned back around to hold grab his hand, eagerly dragging him down the hall. “Cmon, I dont want to waste a second with you- i’m not gonna lie i’ve made a mess of your room but I hope you don’t mind!” “Actually, I want to take you out somewhere.” You stopped in your tracks and looked back at Keith. “Where?” “You’ll see it when we go. Cmon, put on a suit and meet me at the black lion’s hangar.” You nodded before walking into his room anyway, quickly getting changed and running down to meet him.

You held on to his seat as he took off, telling you to hold on tight as you flew out of the castle. You flew for about an hour, passing by vibrant planets and constellations. Pointing out meteors and stars as you passed by. Keith still wouldn’t tell you where you were going until you entered a big, green planet’s atmosphere. You looked over at him quizzically as you landed, the planet had nothing but short, green grass. You couldn’t hear the sounds of any creature or civilization. It was almost as if you were here completely alone. “Keith, where are we?” “This is planet Ogoria. Me and the blades made camp here when i was on that mission. It’s completely unhabited. & I brought you here to see something.” He explained, leading you off the black lion and into the open. “Cmon, lets find somewhere to sit.” Keith had brought with him a big blanket and two pillows, walking a few feet away from the lion before setting the blanket down on a particularly soft patch of grass. He threw the pillows on before sitting down. You followed suit, sitting down next to him, leaning into his body as he wrapped an arm around your waist.

“Look y/n, i’m really sorry i’ve been gone so much lately. The blades and I- well we’re getting close to finding something great” he muttered, glancing over at you. You looked away from him for a second, thinking over your next words. “ I know Keith. I’m not upset with you- I just miss how things used to be you know? I miss home. I miss our life together.” You sighed, gaze locked on your intertwined hands. “ I know, hun. I miss earth too. But we’re here now and we gotta try to make the best of it. This will be over sooner than we think. I feel it.” You looked up into his eyes, and he never looked so assured. You gave him a weak smile, scooting closer to him and pressing a peck to his lips. “Well, you’d better be right about that, Keith. Or i’ll drag us all back to Earth by force.” You giggled at the snort he let out, burrowing yourself deeper into his side, closing your eyes and relishing in his warmth.

“Y/n, look up at the sky”

You blinked your eyes open, having begun to nod off on Keith. When you looked up you let out a gasp. The sky was full of stars, it was as if the whole galaxy was displayed right In front of you in one place. “Keith its..its beautiful!” You whispered, unable to tear your eyes away from the scenery. “I know its nothing like the roof back home, but i figured it’s pretty close.” You tore your gaze away just to meet his, your eyes shining. “Keith I- i dont know what to say…I mean this is incredible!” you saw him smile, glancing up at the stars himself. “Lets get comfortable.” You both leaned down, lying on the pillows and drinking in the sight before you in comfortable silence. “Y/n..” you turned to look at him, his eyes were soft, full of adoration as he looked you over, burning every feature on your face into his mind. “I love you.. thank you for sticking with me.” You brought your hand up to his cheek, pressing a soft kiss to his nose. “I love you too Keith. I’ll always be with you, no matter what.” And so there you laid. Holding onto each other, catching up and telling each other dreams and secrets you harbored. It was nothing like how’d you been on Earth. But Keith made it special, and thats all that mattered to you.

Hopefully you enjoyed Anon! Thank you again for your submission. :> Notes and reblogs appreciated, asks and submissions welcome!! 💗💗

[paperpeacock]

hi can i request keith reacting to his s/o proposing with paper rings

Hi, I'm so sorry I made you wait for so long, I really appreciate your patience. thank you so much for your request and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Keith x reader - Paper Proposal

His back was pressed against the wall, with one leg outstretched across the metallic whilst the other stayed kneed against his chest. You could tell when the red paladin was focused, his raven bangs casting a dark shadow over his gaze, brows furrowed in frustration as he fiddled with the paper between his fingers. 

After Voltron had disbanded, the paladins ventured off into their separate expertise. With Keith, former black and red paladin, leaving to help rebuild the universe. Zarkon had left nothing but entropy in his wake, but with him now defeated the hurt could finally start to wrap their wounds. During this healing process, he met you, Y/N. Now, when he first set eyes upon you of course he thought you were alluring, but his stubborn heart wouldn't budge, not yet at least. 

It took some time, but he soon opened up. Opened up to your soft gaze, opened up to your tender touch, opened himself to you. Something he swore to never do, to never let his guard down. But you dismembered his armor piece by piece and together you set out to make the universe better. 

So, this is where he faced his dilemma. You two had been together for three years now, and those three years have been the happiest ones. And he wanted such happiness to continue to grow and expand. He wanted to be with you till the day his body dropped. And to do so, he could only think of one way, at least the earthly way. He wanted to propose.

"And you're gonna do it with that?" Lance gestured to the paper ring.

"I would buy a real ring but I haven't been back to earth in years" His head fell back upon the titanium wall, his umber gaze directed towards the ceiling.

"Well, why not just wait?-"

"I don't wanna wait anymore!"

The two faced each other with shocked looks as Keith blurted out his statement. The former red paladin buried his head between his arms as the former blue paladin chuckled beside him.

"I see" he smiled, peering down at his ravenette friend.

"I can't be certain I'll ever be back on earth, but I am certain that I am deeply and madly in love" he pressed his palm against his chest.

...

Lance snorted as a smile grew on Keith's face.

"Too much?"

The Cuban nodded, snickering into his hand. in their younger years, the pair would've been at each other throats, but now all grown and just a little bit more mature, they could finally find an understanding in one another.

"But I get it though, you love Y/N and you wanna show it"

Keith smiled at the thought of you, the thought of being with you forever made his heart swoon. Snapped from his lovey thoughts lance stood up.

"You should do it, man, seriously" lance outstretched his hand and hoisted him up.

"I will, thank you" keith nodded, pushing forward to go find you.

lance watched his friend leave, shadowy locks growing ever longer.

"anytime Mullet, anytime"

Keith pressed past the doors of the castle. Outside lay a garden, his eyes scanned amongst all the greenery and flowers. He last visited this place after Allura had passed away. Now her statue lay in a veil of pansies and roses, snake-like vines that hugged her dress, as did the rest of her garden.

The breeze blew gently as he paced about the winding maze, to clear his head he tied his stygian hair back into a small ponytail. you insisted he keep it long.

"Where in the world" he whispered, clenching his jaw and tapping his foot hastily.

"Keith?" A gentle voice called; and there you were, behind a wall of evergreens sat your figure upon a metallic bench. Your hair softly wafted in the breeze along with many blossoms that floated about your smile. His heart picked up the pace.

Y/N, I need to tell you something" His gaze was deep, albeit a bit intense, but deep.

"Okay" you breathed, standing up before him.

he clutched the paper ring in his pocket, heart drumming beneath his chest, fingers slightly trembling. Even after battling the universe's greatest tyrant, no fear would ever amount to what he felt right now. Staring upon the quartz floor, feeling your worried gaze upon his head. God, why was this so hard?

"Y/N"

He knelt before you, pulling the ring from out his pocket, meeting your starry eyes. He gulped down the screaming worry that tormented him and finally spoke the words.

"Y/N L/N, will you marry me?"

Every blossom that was once fluttering about now froze still as everything fell to a halt. Before you, Knelt, a man, his hair dark as night, skin pale as snow, and eyes ignited in passion. A midnight prince shrouded in shadows, presenting you with a promise. A promise to give you his heart forever.

"Yes!"

Your heart swelled beneath its seams, as you took the ring into your hand, not noticing it was even paper.

"of course, I will buy you an actual ring, this is only tempor-"

You stopped him by yanking his collar toward you, pressing your lips against his own. After realizing what was happening, Keith joined in, snaking his arm around your waist, and smiling against your lips.

If Allura could see through the eyes of her statue. She would be beaming.

[galraluver]

Zarkon x Red Paladin Fem, part 4?

I didn't think that this was going to be so popular, so here's another part 🖤

_________________________________________

Almost a deca-phoeb passed since Zarkon captured (Y/n) and she'd come to terms that she wasn't ever going to see her friends again nor was she going to regain true freedom. Living in galra central command wasn't exactly the worst thing in the universe, although she kind of had to be careful around Zarkon because he had some rather obvious anger issues; in a way, she felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Zarkon granted her free roam of central command and status in the empire, at some point she began to fall in love with him a little bit despite knowing she might have had a little Stockholm syndrome. There were times when hints of his previous self showed up in his behavior and that's when (Y/n) devised a plan to help Zarkon return to his previous self instead of continuing to be a quintessence hungry zombie. She was between a rock and a hard place by that point in time, conflicted about whether she should attempt to escape or stay put.

Zarkon wasn't too conflicted about how he felt about (Y/n); she could be a powerful ally, all he had to do was turn her against the paladins if he ran out of plans to get a hold of Voltron, otherwise he wouldn't do it because he needed her to trust him. There were times when he felt somewhat in love with her, he just wasn't good at showing it except for the times when his personality shifted to what it used to be before the incident ten thousand years prior. He didn't mind comforting her when she needed it and he certainly found her attractive, and as time went by she'd managed to earn his trust. One day in particular when Zarkon didn't have anything better to do he decided to visit (Y/n) in her habsuite where he knew she would be, she still preferred the comforts of her new little home because she still missed her freedom. He personally made a snack for (Y/n) using some of the food from his own personal kitchen, but first he made sure everything was edible for humans; he gently knocked on the door when he made it to her habsuite, patiently waiting for her to reply.

“It's unlocked.” (Y/n) called out when she heard a knock on her front door, already knowing who it was; and, as expected, Zarkon walked into her habsuite after the door slid open.

“I've brought you something to eat.” Zarkon spoke with a gentle tone as he walked over to the couch, sitting down and offering the plate to her.

“Thank you.” (Y/n) replied shyly before she took the plate from him, still feeling a little anxious.

Zarkon felt his heart flutter in his chest when (Y/n) accepted the food he gave her, it was a sensation that he hadn't felt in a very long time. He was ancient, he'd been alive for longer than Earth's existence, and yet the young human woman he'd captured made him feel slightly flustered in a good way. One of his main reasons for visiting (Y/n) was because he wanted to take her out shopping at some point, he figured that a day away from central command would do her some good. (Y/n) sat there and quietly ate, feeling a little better after she tasted how good the food was; Zarkon never starved her, she simply hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was almost lunch time. She glanced up at him for a second and saw that he was deep in thought, she couldn't help but wonder what he had on his mind.

“I would like to take you out in a few days to what used to be the largest Unilu swap moon.” Zarkon told her after a few minutes, gazing down at her with a slight smile.

“The old- You mean the space mall?” (Y/n) inquired before she put two and two together, her expression brightening up when she realized that he actually meant the mall; she loved the mall back when she went with some of the paladins, she never thought she would ever get to see it again.

“Yes, I intend to take you to the ‘space mall’ as you put it.” Zarkon answered, his tone a little more chipper than usual.

(Y/n) put the plate down so she could surge forward and hug Zarkon, thanking him for offering to take her to the space mall again. A lot of possibilities rushed through her mind about what she might find at the mall; she would obviously want to go to the Earth store to see what was in stock, she really hoped there would be some books or other things she liked in stock. She hoped that she could find her favorite snack there, the martian usually kept snacks from Earth in stock for anyone who liked them. Zarkon was a little surprised when (Y/n) hugged him out of the blue, he'd never seen her act in such a way and he liked it for some odd reason. For a moment part of his old personality showed itself for a few seconds until they stopped hugging each other.

“Why now? Why are you offering to take me out to the mall all of a sudden?” (Y/n) questioned with a nervous tone, hoping that she wasn't overstepping any boundaries.

“Can I not treat you to a day out whenever I please? I'm not expecting anything in return, if that's what you're concerned about.” Zarkon inquired, feeling slightly awkward all of a sudden, and yet he hid it well.

“I- W-well, yes, you can. I just wasn't sure why, that's all.” (Y/n) answered in embarrassment, feeling stupid for questioning him in the first place.

Zarkon assured her that it was alright; he wasn't offended by (Y/n) asking him why he was taking her out to the mall, in fact he kind of expected it. He watched as she began eating again, not missing the blush that suddenly appeared on her face. He hadn't personally been to the space mall since his time as the black paladin, he wondered exactly how much it had changed since then. Zarkon rarely left central command at all; the only times he did go somewhere was when he had to check in with certain planets, he otherwise never saw the need to go anywhere else. He genuinely felt kind of excited to go out with the former red paladin, although he would have to give her a disguise in order to prevent anyone from recognizing her, but until then he would just go on with life until the day of their trip came.

[the-kittens-of-vol-tron]

Enchanted

Chapter 1 

Posted on AO3 if you prefer! (Will also contain extra content in the future)

Background Lore:

- Post 500-year war, Zarkon was defeated and taken over by his son, Kolivan who ended the war

- Each planet has it's own language but everyone knows common as well

- There is some mistrust among some species and the Galrans (because of the war) but they are all working through it

- Earth did join the fight right around the time Kolivan took over

- Keith is high-key based off Noctis from FF15

Side Note: The ages are based off a human life span since I've never thought too much on what an average Galran / Altean life span was. Zarkon lived as long as he did (only passed 500 years in this case) because of quintessence. If you, the reader, have your own age head canon just substitute them as you read :)

Characters:

Galran's:

Kolivan and Krolia: Keith's parents

Kolivan is the son of the former empire Zarkon

Shiro: Keith's trainer and royal advisor

Altean's:

King Alfor and Alluras Mom: Rule Altea, parents to Allura

Romelle: Allura's knight (and future gf)

Adam: Altean knight, used to work with Lance

Coran: Sir (highest knight role) works alongside Alfor and trained/raised Lance

Hunk: Blacksmith, makes weapons exclusively for Altean Knights

Human's:

Pidge and Matt: Build's technology for the new universe

Word Count: 2701

-----

Keith’s POV 

“That’s all for this meeting, we will reconvene next week.” Empire Kolivan said, dismissing the group of generals, politicians, and his child. Keith moved to stand before his father spoke again, “Keith, stay a bit longer.”  

Keith nodded and sat back down. Remaining silently in his seat until the last person left the conference room. 

“We’re having another banquet tonight. I need you to be there, no sneaking off like the last couple of times.” His father kept his voice light, but stern. A tone that must come naturally to being a father. 

Keith fought back an eye roll, his parents knew how much he hated these parties. They knew how much he hated his responsibilities as the next in line to the throne. Despite his young age, he already had a reputation for disliking politics. He loathed coming up with contracts and budget spending, visiting places to “leave a good impression,” and attending all of these meetings. He despised almost everything that came with royalty. 

“I’ll be there.” 

His dad smiled at him, “thank you, son. I only request tonight since there is someone I want you to meet.” 

He wanted to smash his head into the table in front of him. Every week his parents had a new person “he just needed to meet.” They both were trying so hard for him to meet someone to settle down with. To someday rule the empire with. Just like his father did when he met his mother. 

“Son?” 

Keith pushed himself away from the table, “I’ll be there. But don’t get mad if I'm late.” He left the room before his father could say anything else. 

He made his way back to his room, taking the long way through the gardens. He liked the quiet, he liked the moments when he didn’t have to be the crown prince. He stopped, admiring the flowers that were finally in bloom. Some were dark purple, others a light blue but his favorite was a bright green. The color smelled fruity in a sense, maybe a bit sour. He wasn’t too sure, but he liked looking at it. 

He nodded his head at the gardeners, continuing his way to his room. His mind cycled around what his father said. 

Keith felt broken in a sense. He was almost twenty-one and he had never found someone he liked. Sure, he found people attractive and he had anyone he wanted at his feet but he never felt any connection to them. He hadn’t even kissed someone before. He knew deep down he was disappointing his parents. He knew he wasn't the son they needed. He wasn’t the son the empire needed. 

His life was easy, planned out. Meet a nice girl, get married, have a couple of kids, and take over the empire when his father deemed him ready. It was laid out in front of him, like clothes for a kid. But the idea of following that made his stomach turn and his skin itch. 

He hated himself for it. 

He entered the ballroom about half an hour after the party started; his parents sent him a wide smile when they saw him. He nodded back at them, immediately grabbing a drink from a passing waiter. 

He moved off to the side of the room, being stopped every couple of feet by someone else. Some politicians, some generals, but mostly girls trying to get his attention. He felt weird responding to compliments, but no one ever told him how to reply to a thousand “you look nice" comments. 

Keith hated small talk. He considered himself a boring person. He didn't have much interest outside of sword fighting with his trainer Shiro or reading old textbooks of the days before him or his father or his father. He wasn't what you would call social. He didn't want to talk about war or the military or alliances, he just wanted to read and wander around nature in silence. 

Keith stared down at his drink, circling it slightly to watch the dark liquid move. How long did he have to stay here? These parties always went late into the night, and usually towards the end were just filled with drunk people. 

“How are you doing?” His father stood by him, smiling a bit at the guest passing them. 

Keith shrugged, “fine. How much longer?” 

Kolivan chuckled slightly, “Only a bit. The guest hasn’t arrived yet.” 

Keith continued to stare at his drink, he almost forgot about this ‘special’ guest. “Well...where are they?” 

His dad placed his hand on his shoulder, “they’ll be here soon.” With a gentle squeeze, he walked away. 

Keith spent the next hour making small talk. Trying to match the blush from his guest when he kissed their hands or gave them the validation they wanted from a prince. He never could. 

"Oh my god, look at them," a hushed whisper floated by Keith. A couple more gasps filled the air, and Keith found himself looking at the entrance.

Two men had entered the ballroom, their silver armor glimmering under the lights. The metal was decked out with chains, some medals, and certain silvery colors. They stood side by side, their swords sheathed at their sides.

Keith watched them move through the room, heading straight toward his parents; only offering friendly nods at the people around them. Keith found it a bit odd, he had never seen them before but they walked so...confidently. He usually knew everyone that attended these parties, and the people he didn’t know never walked in like they owned the place. 

They both bowed at his parents, the man with orange hair, and a matching orange mustache saying something to them with a smile. The younger man with tanner skin didn’t open his mouth, but he looked happy to be there. They talked to his parents as if they already knew him. The man with orange hair laughed with him like he was an old friend. 

Keith couldn't tear his eyes away from them; specifically, the other man standing next to him. He had short brown hair, he seemed to be a bit taller than him, and a slender build. Even through his armor, he could see the strength he held in his body. How square his shoulders were and the perfect posture he had. 

Keith was staring, usually, he never stared at people but right now, he didn't want to stop. He wanted to memorize everything about that boy. Every inch of skin, which was only his head, how soft his expression looked even from this distance. What did his voice sound like? How did he laugh? Was he super serious? What was his name? 

Keith suddenly wanted to know everything about this new guest. He stared until the mysterious boy turned his head. He had never seen the ocean but if the waters he had heard about didn't resemble these eyes; he didn't want to see them.

The man gave him a soft smile, looking at Keith like he had met him before; like he already knew him. Which, he knew, was impossible since he would remember those eyes. 

He was pulled out of his mind as the man started making his way toward him, his father leading the way. "Son! This is the guest I wanted you to meet. Well, I suppose two guests."

His heart fluttered in his chest, which had never happened before. Was he dying? Having a heart attack? Should he call for a doctor? It would be his nightmare if he died at one of these parties. 

"Son, I want you to meet Sir. Smythe and his newest approved sworn knight, Knight McClain."

Now that they were standing right in front of him, he could really look at them. They both had marks under their eyes; both a soft blue. They were Altean.

The man with the orange mustache, Sir. Smythe looked a bit older; older than Keith's dad but not too much older. He also had an eyepatch covering his right eye. He had a scar extended past the eyepatch below and above it. The skin taut around the white mark. 

Knight McClain was younger, he couldn't be much older or younger than Keith. His skin looked soft and he looked at Keith with a sense of protection and comfort. 

The knight reached for Keith's hand, holding it gently in his before he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to the back of his hand. "Pleasure to meet your highness."

Keith was speechless, his lungs burned from lack of oxygen and why did it feel like his hand was on fire? The knight dropped his hand, moving to straighten his back and stand, his shoulders squared.

"Son, Knight McClain was very recently sworn in under the Altean military. He quickly proved himself to be the top of the class and surpassed everyone with high marks. King Alfor has sent him over as an alliance present to be your new bodyguard.” His father spoke, proudness rolling off his voice. “That’s if you want him, of course.” 

Keith looked at his dad with wonder and curiosity. This was a huge step for the Alteans. They were the most affected by the Galran reign, nearly being completely wiped out. King Alfor gifting one of his best knights was a step in the right direction. But why did he choose Keith? He hardly knew the King. 

He looked back at the knight. Still trying to understand why his heart was beating so fast. Why he felt enchanted.

---

“Good morning prince,” one of the cooks smiled at him as they placed a plate of food in front of him. 

He grumbled out his own greeting, everyone knew he wasn’t a morning person. 

“Morning baby,” his mother pressed a quick kiss to his head before taking her own seat. “How did you sleep?” 

He shrugged, he tried to sleep; he really did. But every time he closed his eyes all he could think about were those blue eyes. No matter what he did, he couldn’t shake it. 

His mother frowned at him, “are you feeling okay?” 

“Yeah,” he twisted his fork around, moving the food around his plate lazily. “I’ve been thinking about what dad said. About the knight, King Alfor wants to give me.” 

His mother nodded, taking a drink from her cup. 

“Is he still here?” He never really gave an answer last night, he couldn't form any words. 

“Yes, he and Sir Smythe stayed the night.” 

Keith stared at his plate, his heart borderline pounding out of his chest. He didn’t know why so he did his best to ignore it. “I want to talk to him…before I accept him.” 

Krolia smiled, “of course.” 

---

“How old are you?” Keith leaned back in his chair, propping his head up in his hand as he leaned against the armrest. He was always scolded for how relaxed he sat but he couldn’t bring himself to sit seriously all the time. 

The knight sat in front of him, after a slight argument where he insisted he didn’t need to sit but Keith said it would be weird for only him to be sitting. The knight sat stiffly, his back straight and his hands on his lap, his sword still hanging on his hip. “Just turned twenty-one.” 

“What’s your first name?” 

“Lance.” 

“Lance McClain?” 

Lance nodded, “that is correct your majesty.” 

“Were you born on Altea?” 

“Yes, and raised there.” 

Keith took a couple of moments to look at Lance; he didn’t even wiggle under his gaze. Something most people did when alone with a Galran. Their scars on the universe ran deep; there wasn't a planet or species unaffected by the Galran former terror. But Lance seemed oddly comfortable in Keith’s presence. Maybe he didn't know anyone that was directly affected by his grandfather's horror. “How long have you been a knight?” 

“I was sworn in at age eighteen, but following Altea rules, I had to do grunt work for the first three years.” 

Keith gave a slow nod, “interesting…did you like it?” 

Lance gave a lopsided grin, “it was work. That’s all I can say.” 

“What did you do?” 

“Guarded an empty room most of the time, sat in meetings, and had a path to follow around the castle. Boring guard work. But I didn’t mind it.” 

“You’ve never guarded a person before?” Keith asked, a bit skeptical. 

“Solely? No, I haven’t. But I am confident that I can do the job better than anyone else.” 

“Uh huh,” Keith began to rub his fingers together, he hated sitting still for long amounts of time. He stared at the other boy, were all Altean knights this confident? Or just him? No, Sir Smythe was also confident. Keith sighed to himself, he wasn’t used to people not being a bit frazzled around him. 

Only his parents and Shiro could care less about his status. “What languages do you know?” 

“Common, Altean, Galran, and I can fumble my way through Balmeran.” 

Well rounded, what exactly was his training like? “So you can understand what I’m saying?” Keith spoke in his mother tongue, the rough words easily rolling out. Galran wasn't a difficult language to learn if you grew up with it, but others have said that it can be a challenge. 

Lance nodded, “yes your majesty.” He responded in fluent Galran. 

Keith felt a small smile form on his face. “Tell me about your training.” 

“What do you want to know?” 

“Anything. When did you start, how long did you train, your hardest mission, things like that.” 

Lance looked down at his hands, his fingers tapping against his upper thighs lightly. “Coran, Sir Smythe, took me in when I was around seven. I didn’t start training till age nine, four years before most children start. Coran was my main teacher, I also worked with others, but Coran showed me everything I know. I was sworn in at age eighteen as I already said. Usually, knight training starts at age thirteen and I couldn't enroll in the classes until I was older. So I have an additional couple years under my belt.” Lance paused, meeting Keith’s eyes. “My hardest training was being sent to an abandoned planet at age fifteen to find a holy relic.” 

“You did that without any help?” Keith raised his eyebrow at the question. 

“Yes. Altean knights have to attend a solo search and find missions as part of their training.” 

“I see…how long did it take?” 

“A month. But I still hold the quickest time.” 

Keith tried to push down the laugh that formed in his chest. “A month to find a relic?” 

Lance nodded, clearly holding no embarrassment over the statement. “You aren’t given any weapons or supplies. You’re given some sleep medicine and placed on the planet in your training clothes. No map, no food, nothing. You aren’t even told what you’re looking for until…well you find it.” 

“Oh.” Keith took a deep breath, “tell me about your family.” 

Lance froze at the statement, Keith could see the way his body became ridged up at the sentence. But he quickly relaxed his body, placing another smile on his face; a tense smile. “There’s nothing to say about them, prince. They’re not in the picture.” 

Keith looked at Lance a bit longer before he pushed himself up. Taking a couple of steps to stand in front of the knight. He stopped in front of him, leaving enough distance that Lance could stand up if he wanted. But he remained seated, his blue eyes meeting Keith’s purple ones. 

“Are you ready for the most important questions?” 

“Yes, prince.” 

“Are you loyal?” 

“Yes.” 

“Will you do as commanded?” 

“Anything you order, your majesty.” 

“Would you die for me?” 

“Without question.” 

“Stand.” 

Lance did so, they had a slight height difference, Lance being a couple of inches taller than him. 

“I look forward to having you work for me.” 

Lance grabbed his hand, the same hand from Lance night, and pressed another kiss to it. “I look forward to serving you,” he looked up, still staying bent at the waist. “Prince.” 

Keith felt his heart jump into his throat, why was he feeling like this?

-----

I hope you liked it, this fic won't be as long as my last multi fic (Roommates) but I'm estimating 5 - 8 chapters depending

I hope you liked it!!

Thank you for reading <33333

[museaway]

for @tomatocages, who trick or treated via DM! ty for visiting! you receive this mug cake scene from an unfinished sheith WIP

untitled

VLD / sheith (referenced). scene from the sequel to the incomprehensible vastness of space. in it, Shiro & Hunk are talking in the ship's kitchen. it references Shiro's past trauma from the original fic involving fear of healing pods

There wasn’t much to do besides wait for the ship to arrive. His bayard and uniform were clean, and training before a mission would only mean going into the situation exhausted, which wasn’t productive from a physical or mental perspective. It was best to do what Lance said. Shiro headed to the kitchen hoping there might be something left over.

The prepared food, though technically nutritious, couldn’t provide the satisfaction of biting into char-grilled ribeye or a big damn bowl of guacamole. Hunk tried his best to recreate the flavors from back home, but apart from those first few meals after Keith had broken him out of Galra captivity, when anything would’ve tasted better than the crap they force-fed the fighters, the last meal Shiro had truly enjoyed had been a pizza Keith had brought over before Shiro left Earth.

Shiro took his time, walking through the corridors at a leisurely pace. He’d had plenty of time to explore when he’d first come on board, since he hadn’t been a member of the crew and it was often days that Keith was away. In the time between becoming team leader and Zarkon falling ill, all he’d done in these corridors was run.

The kitchen lights were spilling into the corridor. Someone was humming. Shiro knocked twice before he entered, poking his head through the open doorway. 

“With you in a second,” Hunk said. 

He was standing next to the ship’s equivalent of a microwave and looking at his watch. He nodded every second. After six nods, he stopped the cooking cycle and took out a container. The room filled with the scent of chocolate.

“What are you making?” Shiro said.

“Mug cake. You want one?”

“What’s a mug cake?”

“It’s a cake in a mug. For times you want cake, but not a whole cake. It’s actually more like a brownie. And these cylinders were the closest thing I could find to a mug on the ship. Want me to make you one?”

“Uh, sure.”

Hunk handed him the one he’d just taken out. “Eat that while it’s hot,” he said, turning back to the counter and beginning to prep another. “These beans taste almost like chocolate. I wonder if they could be related.”

“You should ask Matt to do a DNA test.” Shiro took his first bite, almost too hot to eat. It scalded his tongue, but the chocolate flavor was so strong and authentic, his eyes watered. 

“How is it?” Hunk asked.

“Amazing.” 

Hunk grinned and put the second cake in to cook, keeping his eyes on his watch. “Hey, Shiro...that stuff Allura was saying earlier. You know we all trust you, right?”

Shiro took another bite and rolled it around in his mouth to cool it before swallowing. “I didn’t know she felt that way about Keith. What was it like when they worked together?”

“They’ve never been especially close, but it got a lot worse when Keith found out he was half Galran. I would think that’s still the reason, except Lotor’s Galran too—and Zarkon’s son. I mean, of the two of them, I can tell you which one I don’t trust. And...done!” 

Hunk took out the steaming cake and stood next to Shiro to eat, leaning one elbow on the counter. 

“What don’t you trust about him?” Shiro said.

“I can’t put my finger on it exactly,” Hunk said through a mouthful of cake. “He’s too good of a guy, you know? Always says the right things, has connections right where we need them, plus—have you looked at him? He’s pretty handsome. If we’re being honest, he’s probably the best looking guy I’ve ever seen.”

“Are you...?” Shiro said, raising one eyebrow.

“Nah,” Hunk said, catching his meaning. “I just have eyes. Though come to think of it, Keith’s not bad looking either. Maybe I have a thing for Galra. Hey, what are you gonna do if he grows another couple feet?”

It was possible, given Krolia’s size. Keith’s dad had died years before Shiro met Keith, but he’d seen a few pictures. Tex (his firehouse nickname, according to Keith—Shiro didn’t know his real one) must’ve been around Shiro’s height. He tried to imagine what Keith would look like with a few more inches and a thicker build. Shiro had never been into guys who were bigger than he was. He’d had Adam by thirty pounds even though they were about the same height. 

“I’ve never kissed anyone taller than me,” he said. 

“Oh, oh...I just got a mental image of that.”

Shiro laughed. “So what are you planning to do once this is all over?”

“Over like... we’ve passed the torch?” Hunk thought about it for a moment. “I want to go see my family. After that, I don’t know. I really thought I wanted to be part of the Garrison, but now I’m wondering if that’s the right path for me. What about you?”

“I don’t know,” Shiro said. 

“I guess it’ll depend on what Keith’s doing, huh.”

“I think he’s going to stay with the Blade,” Shiro said.

“Wow.” Hunk took another bite. “I couldn’t believe how different he looks. He’s really changed. The old Keith would have blown up in that meeting. You think it’s his mom’s influence?”

“Maybe.” Shiro finished the last bite of cake and put the container and spoon in the dishwasher. Since he couldn’t survive on snacks, he dispensed a cup of prepared food.

“If you’re still hungry, I can make you something else,” Hunk offered.

“This is fine. Make me that cake again sometime, will you?”

“I’ll teach you. Then you can make it for Keith.” Hunk scraped the last of his from his cylinder. “I don’t want to brag, but this was really good.”

“Have you ever thought of cooking professionally?”

“I’m worried that might take the fun out of it, you know?”

Shiro had to think about that for a moment. He’d spent his early twenties obsessed with accomplishing as much as possible before his body betrayed him. Splitting his time between physical training and logging as many flight hours as allowed by regulation, he’d put aside hobbies. The only activity he could have considered stress relief with sex, and even then it hadn’t been fun by the end. 

At least that had changed with Keith, although they’d only been together a handful of times. That might explain the intensity. Shiro had yet to be in bed with Keith and want to be anywhere else. He longed for those weeks when he’d been recovering and they spent all of their time together. They’d probably never be like that again, except for long weekends if they could both manage to take one. He sighed.

“You look tired,” Hunk said. 

Shiro blinked. They’d just left Olkarion. He’d caught up on a week of sleep and had plenty of fresh air and sunlight, but all the fresh air in the universe couldn’t heal his genes.

“If you need to use a healing pod...” Hunk continued. “I know Matt goes with you. Totally cool if you’re not comfortable with me, but just putting it out there. If you want me to come with you, it’s no problem.”

It had been over a week since his last cycle. Shiro ran his hand through his hair. “I didn’t want you to have to see me like that.”

Hunk laughed. “Everyone on this team has seen me puke multiple times. I think you’re the only one I haven’t thrown up on.”

“If you really wouldn’t mind, a quick cycle’s not a bad idea.”

“Sure.” Hunk grinned. “Let me just grab a snack.”

“What was the cake?”

“Appetizer.”

Hunk ate a vegetable Shiro couldn’t pronounce as they walked to the medical bay. “Do I have to do anything while you’re in there?” he said.

“It’s pretty rare that it happens, but if it looks like I’m in distress, press the red button.”

“Claustrophobia?”

“Sort of.”

“But you’re okay in the Lions?” Hunk asked. 

Shiro really hadn’t spoken about his time in captivity with anyone but Keith. Even Matt only knew a few details.

“The healing pods are similar to ones they threw us into when I was still fighting,” he said. “They didn’t open from the inside and sometimes they forgot about you.”

“Sounds horrifying,” Hunk said.

“It’s in the past. I just wanted to be honest about what the problem is. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep it between us. Pidge is still young, and I don’t want her knowing about that.”

“I won’t say a thing,” Hunk said, and when he smiled, it was less the smile of an admiring kid and more of a friend’s. 

He settled into Matt’s pillow nest while Shiro changed. Hunk was right. In spite of the sleep and good food lately, there were shadows under his eyes when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. 

“Oh,” Hunk moaned from the other room. “This is so comfortable. Shiro, I’m coming with you every time.”

He said Shiro looked better after the cycle had completed. If Shiro dreamed, he didn’t remember it. There was still half a day before they reached their destination. Sleep it was. Hunk walked Shiro back to his room. 

“I’m fine,” Shiro assured him. “It’s only when I’m in the pod.”

“I don’t need Keith mad at me because I didn’t take good care of you.”

Hunk clapped him on the shoulder and went into his own room. 

Shiro lay in the dark for a long time, but his mind wouldn’t rest. He tapped his watch to bring up Keith’s contact information. He was out of range. Shiro opened a new message anyway, at a loss for what to say. He typed miss you but erased it. He didn’t need to make Keith feel worse than he already did being apart. 

In the end, what he sent was, Hunk’s going to teach me to bake.

[toastess-with-the-mostess]

Let's Rewind! Toast watches Voltron: Defender of The Universe (1984)

Season 1, Episode 12: Bad Birthday Party

Turns out watching cartoons for hours on end that adds to your isolation isn't good for your mental health, I'm back now though, so hopefully I can get through two episodes today

Oh a legitimate slavery episode, and it's about Zarkon's birthday I think I remember this episode a bit just from the characters I'm seeing

Apparently the prince of the planet is related to Zarkon, I guess that makes sense with Lotor also not looking anything like his dad minus the skin tone There's also a Zarkon statue which I thought was a watch tower but alright, his narcissism knows no bounds

Did they stop trying to make the doomite soldiers into robots for censorship, this one dude feels too much like a person with how he's trying to hog the credit for being a slave driver

Oh smart kid, I didn't catch his name, but he stole a ship from a nearby landing strip while the guards were busy preparing for Zarkon's visit I wonder how they know about Voltron through, maybe one of the guards was careless and told them about him

He crashed in the castle moat, still alive somehow but good for him, he made it The team found his ass floating in the water, again I'm not sure how he got out, but yea ok I'll accept that

Once again are these soldiers robots or people because this guy is acting too smart for his characterization because he's blackmailing the prince so Zarkon doesn't find out they fucked up

Too late, Zarkon already knows lol

Lance knows cultures from other planets apparently, he was spot on from where the kid was from

I think Jai is his name? Anyway the team is debating on helping him because Arus would be defenseless, but Jai limped to the control room to yell at the team for having to even think about it Which worked because now they're on their way lol

Why did Lance suddenly try to punch Keith LMAO, maybe I'll see that reused in a later episode because I swear it happened under different circumstances

Did they try a new preamble for forming Voltron, that did not sound good at all It's nice to see that they form the big guy before any robeast though, they're getting smarter lol

"[the meteor shower] is just another rock concert" Keith you nerd

I'm sorry they BURIED 100 slaves into the sand only to let some soldiers take a wack at their heads with SWORDS?? That's fucked up

The first thing the team does is break the giant statue of Zarkon, good for them

Oooh double robeasts today, their name is Twin Devil Robeasts Beyel and Zebub I laughed when I saw the name, I'm a sucker for puns lol

I forget that both the blue and yellow lions can still move around and use their jaws as support when fighting as Voltron Allura and Hunk just fucking bit the robeasts to throw them off their rhythm

The fight was fun this time around, they tagged teamed the fuck out of Voltron but were eventually taken down together from above lol

Nimon (the planet) is free now but iirc we'll see them again later, also this episode gives me more fodder to throw at Coran when we get to the episode I both hate and love the most

The closing statement from Keith makes me MAD, you'll know why but hhh

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

**Cultivating Love**55**

**Sharing the Heat between them**

“You’re being ridiculous. This is why I told you to stay in bed. You get cranky when you’re short on sleep”

“And I told you it’s fine”

“Lance, put down the quill and come to bed”

“Let me finish this”

Keith bit down sighing as he watched Lance scribbling away. Little Shiro was with Shay, Keith detecting the subtle change in Lance’s scent the previous night so had made preparations. Lance’s heat was about to come. He remembered when he did used to know Lance’s heat cycles and that his fox would get cranky and clingy, then cranky about being clingy, the morning filled with the signs of heat ahead. He’d taken little Shiro down to Shay after they’d had breakfast, asking her to please watch over their child until Lance’s heat had passed. His own body was aching for Lance’s touch, yet he was trying to be respectful to his mate, who was proving to be rather stubborn. With how much an enthusiastic welcome home Lance had given him two months ago now, Keith had hoped that Lance might be more in the mood without little Shiro there. It was hard to find moments for themselves, even proposing had to be delayed, as did their trip to visit his clan and show off his mate.

“You can finish that one, then you’re coming to bed. You need some rest before it kicks in entirety”

“That’s why I want to finish this so the masters don’t come storming in midheat demanding it done. You’ve already cleared yours”

This time Keith did sigh. All the masters met with him and Lance to discuss the demon world. Some finding it utterly unfathomable that such things existed there and some took swipes at his and Lance’s competence, not that worked out for them. Lance had spoken up for himself and made them apologise rather meekly when he was done. His work mostly consisted of co-signing with Lance, and organising aid as Lance had started a crusade to help smaller villagers. Senior students of the palace were sent to villages to assess their needs and form reports. Each report was poured over by Lance, who’d right up his recommendations, then Keith would read both. There was a lot of reading.

Walking over to Lance, Keith draped himself over him, kissing Lance’s neck before whispering

“That’s because my handsome fox is so organised that you make my part easy”

Lance swatted him, smacking him squarely in the face, Keith reeling back to rub at his nose as his mate huffed

“Two more pages”

“Or…”

“If you finish that sentence I will evict you and spend my heat alone”

“You can’t do that”

“Watch me. If you’re that horny you can go start without me”

“Maybe I will?”

“And we both know you won’t. Sit down, you’re making me more and more anxious about this instead of making me relaxed and looking forward to it”

That shut Keith right up. Sitting down, he soon found himself fidgeting with his hands. He was anxious too. He wanted this heat to be special for Lance seeing he’d let him down so badly before. Yes, he most definitely was looking forward to the sex, but what he wanted most was to hold Lance and be held in return. Aside from that it would also be his first heat shared without Shiro there to make sure he didn’t harm Lance with his enthusiasm. Throw in the fact they’d only had a handful of nights where Shay took little Shiro, and basically he was left a desperate man. Instead of sex, those nights had been mostly spent getting quality sleep undisturbed by their little boy.

He’d never thought he could be a father, let alone a father to the reborn form of his ex mate, but little Shiro was such a cute little thing. His 100 day ceremony was coming up on the back of Lance’s heat and Keith knew his mate worried that they may miss it. Keith wisely kept his comments to himself, especially seeing that the time around the royal palace had been bent during Zarkon’s attack. One night for them had been a week. Something he wasn’t sure Lance had found out about until meeting with the other masters to discuss the demon realm. Ultimately he couldn’t say for certain that his ceremony would fall on the 100th day of reincarnation.

Too busy picking at his fingers, Keith failed to notice Lance finishing those last two pages. Drawn out of his mental musings as Lance climbed into his lap. His mate’s fingers carding through his hair as Lance’s lips found his. The kiss was all it took to get Keith’s brain kicking in. Hefting Lance up, his tail was flicking back and forth like crazy. Lance was kissing him as if he was drowning and Keith was his salvation. He’d been such an idiot wolf to neglect Lance. And Lance was beyond infinitely forgiving to give him yet another chance.

Carrying Lance through to his room, Keith laid him on the bed. Lance’s face flushed and pupils dilated, splayed beneath him so perfectly. Shay would bring them up supplies and collect Lance’s papers, lecturing Keith thoroughly over not letting Lance be hurt by him ever again. Shay was unexpectedly blunt, straight up to the point her words were like daggers, but Hunk had chosen an amazing woman, a woman like that only came around once in a life time.

Not paying enough attention, Keith found himself grabbed by the collar and pulled down, Lance demanding

“Who are you thinking of?”

“You”

“Liar, you weren’t even looking at me. Am I not enough?”

Keith leaned in to kiss Lance, before shaking his head

“You are more than enough. I was thinking we both owe Shay for taking little Shiro”

“You want to talk about that right now?”

“No. I want you. You’d better be prepared”

Pushing Lance’s robe up, Keith eyed Lance’s bare erection. The fox hadn’t been wearing pants… Keith finding that erotic as hell as he buried his face between Lance’s legs, running this tongue up Lance’s inner thigh and enjoying how his muscles jumped under his touch. Lance was already leaking for him, his dick curved up, dribbling precum down to the root, completely open beneath him

“No foreplay… hurry up”

“No, not this time. I’m going to take my time”

“Keith…”

“Stop thinking and let me attend to you, Master Lance”

As far as Lance went, he was a little smaller in size than Shiro in both girth and length. Keith’s lips sliding easily down the soft silky flesh, drawing a long moan from Lance as his hips rose. Lance made the sexiest noises for him. Mating would come, yet for now Keith wanted to break Lance apart until he sobbed his name in pleasure. Bobbing his head slowly, he’d barely started and Lance was trying to kill him, Lance bucking his hips eagerly leaving Keith to hollow his cheeks. It seemed Lance wanted to take the lead unexpectedly… unlike Shiro would have pinned him down and would have already been working him open by now.

Letting Lance take the lead, Keith focused on not choking. His mate’s pace growing faster as his hands went to Keith’s hand, openly fucking his mouth at this point. Feeling Lance grow a little sloppy, Keith tried to raise his head, only to be held down as Lance came in his mouth. Realising what he’d done, Lance let him go immediately, almost looking ashamed of himself, Keith’s eyes watering as he tried to swallow what he could. With what he couldn’t swallow, Keith spat discretely into his robes as he stripped himself, also naked beneath.

When Lance went to cover his face and roll away, Keith grabbed him by both wrists, holding Lance’s hands up near his head. Starting to kiss his way down Lance’s body, he needed Lance to relax or the next part would be painful

“Feeling better?”

“I can’t believe I…”

“That you used my mouth for your own interests? Don’t worry, it was erotic to watch you want me so badly”

“You… you… Fiend…”

“Shhh… there’s no shame between lovers. Or do you think the act between us shameful?”

Lance shook his head, flushed and sweating already

“No, but I…”

“No. Exactly. You should be able to see for yourself how much I want you”

“I wanted to take it slow, yet I seem to be out of patience”

So he wasn’t the only one who’d had ideas about this heat? Keith kissing his way up Lance’s chest to his lips, using the change in position to make the most of rutting up against his mate

“You’re not the only one. I’ve been waiting all morning for you to finish”

“You know I…”

Keith kissed Lance deeply, swallowing his explanation as Lance kissed him back. His lover not shying away from his own taste on Keith’s tongue. Spreading his legs wider, Lance started to return Keith’s rutting, whining into his mouth as Keith broke the kiss. Staring down at his mate, Keith hoped that Lance knew how much he loved him. He’d done so much for him… and there he was, allowing him to spend his heat with him. Pouting, Lance huffed

“You’re thinking again”

“Only of you. Roll over for me, onto your hands and knees. I wanted to take this slowly too, but now all I want is to bury myself in your entirely over and over until you cry my name”

Lance’s answer came in a hard swallow and a nod. Keith letting him up and grabbing the vial of oil he’d set aside next to the bed. Obediently, Lance got on all fours, his tail tucked under his right knee, leaving it flicking in the middle. That wouldn’t do

“Don’t hurt your tail”

“It’ll get in the way”

“Trust me, my love, it won’t”

“You only love me for my arse”

“It is rather wonderful, just like the rest of you”

Keith cursed himself. “Wonderful”. He’d said wonderful. He could have said something sexier but he’d said wonderful

“Well me and my wonderful arse are waiting. I’m going to get impatient if you don’t hurry up”

Dribbling oil onto his fingers, Keith started to massage Lance’s taunt opening. The muscle the same shade of brown as his cute little nipples

“Don’t worry, I’m too impatient too… though I will be enjoying this meal before me. It’s amazing how soft your arse is given how lean you are”

“What’s more amazing is that I haven’t hit you yet. Why must you spout such embarrassing things at a moment like this?”

“Because I love you. Loosen up for me, I do not want to hurt you”

“The only thing about to hurt is your head when I hit you for not hurrying up”

With careful fingers Keith went to work opening Lance slowly. Several times he’d had to stop, his nails extending from his own excitement. His wolf was far too eager and he was having a hard time controlling his instinctual need to breed Lance despite the impossibility. As he slowly, finally, pushed into Lance’s tightness, a shudder ran through him, immediately trying not to come from the pleasure of Lance gripping him and drawing him in. Giving him a moment to adjust, Keith pulled back as slowly as he’d sunk in, before slapping his hips forward, drawing a long hiss from his mate

“Lance?”

“I’m fine…”

“You hissed”

“Hiss was good. Good hiss…”

Keith bit his lip to keep from laughing, he didn’t mind who was on top or on bottom, as long as the pleasure was felt by both of them. Taking Lance’s hips in his hands, he gave half a dozen slow thrust, before Lance’s arms gave out, curving his back nicely for him. Lance would have made a fortune, even in the most profitable of brothels. Beneath his cool exterior lurked a beast of raw sexuality that Keith didn’t think he’d ever tame, even with knowing all Lance’s sweet spots. Picking up his pace, Keith’s moans mingled with Lance’s. His knot already starting to form, catching and stretching Lance as Lance began to chant his name. He didn’t want to knot Lance on their first time. He wanted to take off the edge until the next wave of need came.

Barely able to control himself, he pulled out. Coming across Lance’s back, before pushing the tip of his erection back in, as he came in long pulses. As if forgetting the pain, Lance pushed back against him, whining when he wasn’t able to take his full length again thanks to his knot. His mate was too cute… though he did also feel dissatisfied that the bulk of his seed was not buried deeply in his mate. Rocking against him, Keith took Lance in his hand, jerking him off until his mate came for the second time and slumped spent beneath him. Arse still up. His wolf’s appetite had been stirred and there was no way that this would not be a heat to remember between them.

As the pulses ended, Keith pulled out again. His cum running lazily from Lance’s pretty arse. Keith using his fingertips to push it back it, causing Lance to shudder

“Rest, love. I won’t mount you again so fast”

“Water”

Right. He’d failed to ensure Lance had had something to drink or eat, instead caught up in passionate kisses and the fire in his belly.

As Lance flopped to his side, Keith took the pitcher of water, pouring a glass for his mate. Lance’s features slack, chest still heaving as he licked his lips. Pausing, it struck him that Lance also needed his medicine. He still ate the peaches daily as told, but Keith still wasn’t allowed to see his soul so could only take Lance’s words that the medicine was working. Taking the vial of tonic, he put three drops in, seeing Lance’s heat would be hard on his body after not having it since his time with Matt.

“Here, you need to drink this. You should eat something too”

Trying to offer Lance the water he wanted, Lance limply smacked his hand away

“It’s too hoooot. Why didn’t you knot me?”

Was Lance upset because he hadn’t? Did he expect Keith to knot him for the whole week? He wasn’t sure he’d be able to walk if he did. Holding the glass out again, Keith attempted patience

“Because I don’t want to rush. Now drink your water”

“I don’t want to… my belly hurts”

Keith couldn’t think why. He hadn’t put Lance in any creative positions yet

“It’ll feel better once you drink some water”

“It’s so hot… I’m cramping like crazy”

Maybe because Lance had been so anxious and loved him so deeply, his mate was struggling with the first waves of his heat? He knew what mating cramps felt like, though he and Shiro didn’t slow down for them. There was no point when conception would never occur. Lance was different. He was gentle. His stomach was cramping because he was upset that he hadn’t been knotted. Stupid heats. He wanted sexy time with Lance, not Lance in pain already

“Luckily for you, I’m ready to go again. Drink your water and I’ll make you feel better”

“Okay… but it’s still hot… maybe because you’re so hot?”

Lance seemed to be babbling, Keith flushing at the compliment

“Not as hot as you, my mate. I swear my next knot will be inside you. Or I can take yours?”

Lance tried fanning his face and smacked himself. He had zero coordination. Taking him by the upper arm, Keith pulled Lance up enough for his to sip when offered the water, his mate drinking it all down before going limp again

“Nooo, I want to feel you…”

“Alright. You don’t have to wait any longer. I’m here with you, Lance. Your mate is right here”

*

Lance’s last heat had been with Matt. Matt was wild in his own way, yet with Keith… Lance wasn’t sure how much time had passed only that he couldn’t get enough of Keith. He’d taken Keith up against the wall, on the dresser, on his desk, and Keith had paid him back in full in Lance’s room when the sheets got too messy.

Lance didn’t know how to explain it. Something inside of the both of them seemed to align, maybe because he was absorbing Keith’s energy, he seemed to feel Keith far deeper than simply sex. He felt as if their bodies and minds had become one. Pleasure layered over pleasure as he cried out in ecstasy. His toes curling as Keith drained him until he had nothing left to give and his hips became too heavy to raise. If this was how sex with a mate was supposed to feel then he wondered how his previous, rather nice, sex life compared.

They didn’t need words. Either him or Keith slotting between each other’s legs, revelling in the things that lovers did. Each trust spurring on their feelings for each other until their world was make of two in one.

Fucking him against the wall, Lance’s fingers raked down Keith’s broad shoulders. Keith’s hands holding down his hips as he hit Lance’s sweet spot over and over.

“Heavens, Lance, yes… mmm… yes… gods, yes… nmmm… going to cum again, going to fill you with my knot… my seed. Going to make sure you can’t forget who you belong with”

“Do it… fu-… Keith… Keith… Ah… mnmm… ah… ahhh…”

Coming across his stomach was no longer a worry. Keith had brought him to climax so often that his erection could only dribble out dregs. With his eyes closed, red spots danced, Keith continuing to slam into him into his knot flared and his mate bit his collarbone. Huffing through his nose, Keith gave a particularly hard thrust trying to lodge his knot deeper, Lance shuddering under the feeling of being too full. His fox had been upset that Keith hadn’t knotted him the first time, so it seemed his love had made it his mission to make up for it. Because as much as Keith lost control of himself, Lance still knew he’d stop himself before genuinely injuring him. Nuzzling into Keith’s face, Lance pressed kissed to Keith’s lips, reassure his mate. If he was called clingy, then Keith could be called just as clingy

“Let out, my wolf, let it out”

“Not done with you yet”

Clingy and very possessive. Lance finding it cute and exhausting in equal measures. To be so loved by Keith that he felt as if they shared one heart… It was addictive. Keith could be so cute and needy during his heat

“We should at least go back to the bed…”

“Don’t want to. Don’t want to bathe either”

That was right. They were supposed to be cleaning up… Their private bath not as big or as nice as the palace bath, but it did it’s job

“You can keep holding on to me, but we need to bath”

“I don’t want to. Your smell is good”

“Your smell is good too. Your personal hygiene not so”

Keith growled at him, Lance sighing. They needed a bath, still, he wasn’t sure it wouldn’t simply be them sitting in warm water with any actual cleaning happening

“Keith. Either bath or bed, no more wall, my tail is trapped”

“Bed”

“See, that wasn’t too ha-…”

Holding on for dear life as Keith suddenly moved, Lance was carried over to the bed, laid down on the edge of it, and caged by Keith, whose hips had started again. Letting his legs fall apart, his muscles were exhausted, he was exhausted, but he so loved the man between them that he wouldn’t complain. Not yet… With how clear his mind was becoming, Lance’s heat was coming to an end…

*

Waking slowly, Keith ached from head to toe. His heat had started shortly after Lance’s and it was the most intense heat of his life. Wiping the drool from his face, Keith rolled over, expecting Lance to be sleeping next to him. Only, when Keith raised his head smiling, so Lance would see him smiling as he woke, he found the spot next to him empty.

For a fox to take a wolf heat, he’d been seriously worried that Lance wouldn’t be able to take it. Not only had Lance taken it, he’d flipped Keith over and given it right back. Instead of feeling embarrassed as the memories of their heat came to mind, he felt himself smirk. It’d been wild. Lance had been wild. His hips and his arse ached as much as his limp dick. By heavens did he want to pick right up where they’d left off, but the chances were that Lance was embarrassed over being dominant. It probably wouldn’t matter that Keith would swear upon his own life that this heat had felt beyond words. This was Lance, and Lance still saw sex as something people did when in love… not simply mating because their bodies demanded it. He was so sure that Lance would be upset, that he skipped dressing. He had no secrets to hide from his fox, and maybe the proof of their love making upon his skin would make Lance feel better about it all.

Heading out into the main room of their rooms, the sun was unfairly bright, stinging at his tired eyes. The space reeked of their sex, so much so that Keith felt a stirring in his blood, that had him wanting Lance all over again.

“Lance?”

Intending to call out to his mate, his voice came out as a whisper. They’d been very vocal, and now he had no voice left. Once again, he didn’t mind. Keith’s ears twitched as he heard a nasally snore and only one person he knew snored like that.

Asleep on the low laying chair, that Keith would forever call a sofa after his trip to the demon realm, Lance was on his back in his fox form. Curved slightly, he was out of it, despite his slightly open eyes and tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, his front left paw was flicking at air. Smiling at the sight, Keith hoped Lance was having a good dream. It’d been so long since he’d seen him in his fox form, let alone in his fox form sleeping.

Washing himself up, Keith dressed loosely then returned to main room. Sitting himself beside his mate, he came armed with a brush to groom Lance’s fur. His hand pausing when he realised Lance was sleeping on one of Shiro’s old robes. He missed him. He missed almost everything about their ex mate. Other than the secrets and lying. The space seemed to have gotten much bigger without Shiro there. And Keith knew Lance missed Shiro just as deeply. The long hours of conversation between the three of them seemed to have happened a life time ago. Memories all that remained. He was trying his best to let them lie, yet sometimes he couldn’t help himself and tears would escape at the loss of his love. And more than once he and Lance had snapped at each other out of grief for their lost mate.

Grooming Lance, Lance bunted into the touch of the brush. Still sleeping, all it took was a little bit of nudging with the brush and Lance would roll in his sleep for him. Getting him onto his back again, there was just Lance’s stomach left now… which proved to be an embarrassing mistake. As he brushed the fur downwards, his hand accidentally brushed Lance’s business, before he knew what had happened, Lance had his wrist in his teeth with a growl.

At the same time Lance realised what he’d done, and changed form, before falling off the sofa completely naked, a soft double tap came at the door. Shay entering with little Shiro in her arms to find Lance kneeling before Keith, as if she’d walked in on Lance about to…

With a shriek, Shay covered little Shiro’s eyes. Lance forgetting he was naked as he went to get up, blushed hard, realised he was naked and sank back down. Keith’s apology only making it seem more like what Shay thought

“I’m sorry. He bit me and…”

“I don’t need to know. Don’t leave notes if your heat isn’t done!”

“Lance was on his knees because…”

“I don’t need to know!”

Grabbing Shiro’s robe, Keith draped it over Lance’s head, walking past him to where Shay was now facing the door and blushing as hard as Lance

“Shay…”

“Lance said your heat was over… I’ll take him… Little Shiro… me… I will take him with me”

Rather than being jealous and suspecting Shay of being a blush mess due to feelings for Lance, Keith felt smug satisfaction that someone had seen the marks he’d left all over Lance’s body. Still, poor Shay couldn’t seem to make her words work. Keith explaining again and making sure to get his words right

“Shay, Lance was sleeping and fell off the sofa when he woke up after he bit me in his sleep. You didn’t walk in on anything. We’ll take little Shiro, I think Lance will start crying if you take him away from him”

Shay finally turned to look at Keith, her blush still fierce

“I’m so sorry. Lance’s note said…”

“It’s okay. He must have written it then fallen asleep before he could tell me. Thank you for looking after little Shiro for us. I hope he wasn’t too much of a handful”

“He was, but he quietened down when he slept next to Hunk. The masters both want to see you, so I lied and said you were both still in heat”

Taking little Shiro from Shay, little Shiro’s hand grabbed his robe as Keith brought him to his shoulder. He’d wanted to talk to Lance before their son came back, yet now that he held the little boy, his wolf felt happier and more settled. His wrist protested the movement, but Lance would heal it so it wasn’t a big deal

“Thank you, Shay. We can’t thank you enough”

“You can thank me by not letting walk in on you both in the future. Lance, I’ll see you later”

Shay left, Keith walking back over to Lance who still had the robe on his head. Sitting down, he moved little Shiro to sit in his lap

“Lance, she’s gone now”

“She saw me naked… Shay saw me naked. She saw my arse… naked”

“She did. Are you okay? Why were you out here?”

“Oh… I right. I was too tired to make it back to bed… I was only going to have a nap… wait… why did I bite you? And is little Shiro okay?”

“Take the robe off your head and put it on. I don’t know why you bit me. All I was doing was grooming you, but when I started on your belly you bit”

Lance tugged the robe off his head and into his lap… then slowly put it on, leaving it open as he stared at the left sleeve. With a bigger figure than Lance, Shiro’s robes were swimming on the smaller fox. Keith had expected more excitement at the return of their son

“Lance?”

“I’m sorry… I feel like I’m about to start crying”

“About?”

“I missed my baby… I want my baby. I thought I was going to die missing him”

Keith chuckled. Only Lance could be that cute. He suspected Lance wanted to cry over both big Shiro and little Shiro

“Here, do your robe up, then you can hold him. I’m sure he missed you too”

Doing as he was told, Keith then handed over little Shiro, Lance lying back on the floor as he kissed the little boy’s head

“My baby. Daddy missed you, yes I did. I missed you so much”

Now feeling left out, Keith slid to sit on the floor, wincing as his hips and arse protested such a hard seat. Lance thankfully not noticing, so once the moment of initial pain lessened, Keith teased

“What about me? Did you miss me?”

“No. You and that dick of yours… I couldn’t miss that, even if I wanted to”

“You didn’t enjoy yourself?”

Turning his head, Lance glared at him

“I didn’t say that. I’m saying only one wolf has ever pillaged my arse like that and that’s you. Don’t put words in my mouth in front our son”

So he was better in bed than Shiro had been? Keith taking the compliment instead of asking

“As long as you know that. You look good like that, with little Shiro in your arms”

“You could come down here and cuddle us too, you know. Ah… your wrist. Show me”

“It’s fine. You were so cute and cuddly when I groomed you that it’s nearly worth it”

Lance didn’t think it fine as he grabbed Keith just above the bite, healing the wound immediately so no trace remained, then slumped back with a groan

“I can’t believe I missed it. I always groom you and you go and do that without my permission, and my whole body. I want to hit you for not waking me up but you’re in luck. My stomach feels like I’ve been fighting not mating for a week”

“Technically you were stabbed repeatedly”

“Don’t act like you weren’t either. Please tell me that was insane. You felt it too, didn’t you? Like you were inside my mind and body”

“I did. I never knew a heat could feel the way it did with you”

“Not even with Shiro?”

Not sure if he was about to upset his mate, Keith thought about denying it, yet was sure that would lead Lance to questioning him further. It was better to be honest, and stay honest. Rebuilding their lives meant being open, even with the things that might upset his mate

“It was different with Shiro. His heats were extremely strong. He’d get bossy and set my wolf off, which would only set his off further. Plus, he was bigger than you, so he was generally the one heavy handed and insatiable. Still, I did enjoy heats with him. I’m sorry if that’s not what you want to hear”

Lance sighed at him

“No. You were dating him too. You guys didn’t need my permission to be intimate. The night we had sex was slow and gentle until he really started getting into it. So I was wondering if you both felt each other the way we did, or if we did because I was absorbing your energy and passing it back to you”

“You don’t really talk about that night so I don’t know how much I should say”

“You should ask what you want to ask… Yes, I wish we’d spent a proper heat together, the three of us. I wish you two had trusted me more and not been so worried. I wish I’d done more with Shiro. I can wish all I want but that doesn’t change the past…”

“We both miss him”

“Yeah. I don’t know. Maybe I could have forgiven him properly with more time… or maybe we would have fought and I’d have left. It still feels like he should be here with us”

Lying down next to Lance, Keith looped his arm over his mate and their son

“You’re allowed to miss him. I miss him”

“I don’t even remember seeking out his robe. It still smells of him”

Keith leaned in and sniffed. Lance was right. Shiro’s scent remained on the fabric

“It does. And you must have felt safe seeing you curled up on it”

“He didn’t not make me feel safe. He just… broke my heart and I broke his. I feel kind of guilty that our heat felt so special without him”

“He’s gone now. But he wanted us to be happy more than anything. I think he’d be happy for us. Let’s take that trip next month”

Lance nodded, all teary but not crying

“Yes. We’ve only had this week to ourselves. I know you want to go see your clan”

“Yes. I’m going to introduce my fiancé, and our precious son… and maybe things will be different”

“They’re idiots if they don’t welcome you back. And who said we are to be wed?”

“Me, just now. I will give you my all and you will give me yours. Until our dying breaths and into the next life, I want you by my side”

“I do not know if I can keep such a promise. I don’t think I’m on the path to reincarnation”

“If Shiro can reincarnate into his third life, I’m sure the gods can cut us some slack. What do you say? Want to marry me?”

“Yes, Kei-…”

Pouncing on Lance and little Shiro, Keith scooped his family into his arms. He may still have issues with Krolia not being in his life as much as he might like, yet already had the warmest most loving family a wolf could dream of.

[slothgiirl]

the spy part 1(keith x reader)

8k. explicit content. while on medical leave reader meets the red paladin of voltron during the war against Zarkon.

The corridors are well lit. It’s like being in a brand new hospital, this ship in the rebel fleet. 

People hustle around, landing, taking off in smaller ships to distant planets. Your hand goes to your arm. The medic had given you a movement’s leave, so you were resting for now on this ever moving ship. 

Outside the widows, you spy an assortment of ships, each one’s origins clear from the design. So many planets, so many peoples banding together against Zarkon. You’d win the war. 

It was what you kept telling yourself. 

You would. 

It was just a matter of time.

You round the corner, stretching your arm across your chest, a simple form of physical therapy in deep space. You hadn’t seen earth since being deployed. The galaxy garrison seemed like a dream from another life. You had been on track for the chemistry department, long term missions to mars to analyze soil and dust, not this, not a war. You take a breath. 

And spot the Red Paladin. 

He’s one of the most recognizable people in the universe, and his grungy hair and distinctive outfit does him no favors. You’d never seen him before, not in the flesh. Sure. Voltron had saved your ass a handful of times. You wouldn’t have survived the assault on Arrakis if Voltron hadn’t rammed the shield. Trapped. Piloting a fighter craft that was closer to a mosquito irritating the Galra then pushing them back.

But you hardly knew him.

He’s gripping the railing tightly, trying to camouflage into the wall as an alien with crystalline blue skin and hair like saturated indigo leans into him. 

The line of his shoulders is taut, brittle. 

You don’t even think. 

“There you are,” you force yourself to be synthetically cheerful as you smile easily at the paladin, who you realize quickly you don’t know his name but you know what he is and that must be an awful feeling, being so recognizable without being known. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” you lied, elbowing the blue alien out of the way. You could never tell much from a single glance at themis species despite their largely humanoid appearance. 

You put your hand on his arm loosely, “come on, we’re late enough and you know how annoyed the others get.” Good, that seemed convincing enough. 

The red paladin’s eyes go wide, his mouth a grimace and it’s then that you notice the feverish flush to his skin. 

But he doesn’t pull away or argue. 

You ignore the alien and decide small talk was the way to go until you put some distance, “I’m kind of hurt you didn’t come visit me while I was healing,” you stick close to the truth, “but since it only took an hour? a varga? for me to heal I won’t hold it against you.” He’s too warm.

Maybe the space flu?

Was that even a thing?

You weren't sure. 

Mostly, you snuck into work camps and blew up strategic targets using whatever you could get your hands on to make a bomb. The chemistry came in handy. 

He sways as he walks, looking like your roommate at the garrison after a few too many hits after an exam. “Do I know you?”

You flush, embarrassed. “Sorry, I just,” you look back, but the alien’s been left a couple turns back, “you looked uncomfortable.” You take a step back, letting go of him. “Are you okay?” 

His expression furrows, mouth a pinched line as he goes from suspicious to annoyed, takes a u-turn back to suspicious as he studies you, before relaxing. “Yeah. yeah. . .who are you?”

You introduce yourself, taking on the meaningless garrison designation at the end, “technically second year member, though I’ve been with the runners mostly.” No designation more than a number. 

“You do look human,” he replies simply, moving to get a look at your ears, “not many of those out here.”

“And yet somehow the sentries always look the other way,” you muse, “not very bright. I’m almost convinced the Empire’s in it’s failing bureaucracy days.” 

He winces, before deadpanning, “eh, I don’t know how useful a lion is against the DMV.” 

You laugh. 

He takes slow deliberate breaths, steadying himself, “I’m Keith.”

“Seriously though, do you need to see a medic?” He looked in serious need of a tylenol. The ships were usually crisp, you wore a jacket most of the time to stave off the permanent chill. 

Keith shakes his head, chewing his lip before meeting your gaze with an intense concentration in his violet eyes, as if he was gauging how much titrant he could add before hitting the endpoint and if half a drop was worth the risk. “I’m just. . .going through something.”

“Anyone I can call for you?” You weren't about to abandon him here. Sure, he was a paladin and could probably look after himself. But you couldn’t in good conscience walk away. 

He swallows, looking down for a moment and you are startled to find how much you miss his attention boring into you with the loveliest eyes you’d ever seen. 

“No,” Keith replies mulishly as he jerks away from you. “I’m fine.”

Which was a total lie. It was obvious he wasn’t feeling well but you weren’t about to get on his case. You were sure he had people for that. He wasn’t some random soldier in arms with you that you watched out for and hoped not to have to watch die. 

You swallow the bitter thought away, crossing your arms over your chest.

Leaning back against the hall, you watch evenly as Keith stumbles, catching himself on the wall. His mouth is a drawn line of determination. 

You didn’t understand why. 

There was aid here. It wasn’t the same as crawling through cramped mining tunnels and swallowing back pain forcing yourself to work through it until the mission was accomplished. 

“Do you need help,” you ask.

“No.” He leans a hand against the wall.

You raise a brow, wondering if he would pass out for whatever weird space flu he had clearly caught and you could only hope it was nothing like the infections that ran rampant in the work camps, or if he would give in and accept your offer of help. The former seemed more likely. 

You don’t ditch him though, focusing your attention on the porthole to the stars. 

There was no rush: no reason to help him by force. People didn’t learn if you babied them you’d caught on quick back on earth during your tutoring hours. You had to let them fall and smash their face in sometimes. 

So you stay, watching the stars.

Keith makes no move to take another step. 

It still got you, looking out into the vastness of space and realizing this really was your life now, you were out here, further than you’d ever dreamed. Everywhere you looked, novel stars, distant planets teaming with life. You could have done without the war, but it was what it was. 

“And here I thought Mars would be the furthest I’d go,” you comment more to yourself than Keith. 

The red paladin makes a small sound of acknowledgement. 

“Earth’s, or was, at the beginning of our space age. People had barely begun to live on the research bases on Mars,” you watch him out of the corner of your eye in case he really does pass out, “so no Star Trek for me but now I’m here.” 

“There’s a war going on.”

You turn over to look at him, sort of annoyed because yeah you got that, spent enough time in the trenches without a fancy lion spaceship, but the bubbling annoyance dissipates when you see the upturned corners of his mouth. Keith was teasing you. 

Shifting your weight, you add, “yeah well, instead of being a footnote in a Mars base’s history I’ll be a footnote in this war instead.” Gallows humor. You needed a lot of that when regularly infiltrating camps and posing as a slave, as a prisoner, the bottom of the barrel that wouldn’t get a second glance from the Galra soldiers. 

He frowns. “I don't think anyone’s just a footnote.”

“I was joking.”

“Oh.” Keith looks away.

You feel bad. “It’s probably better not to be so cynical,” you muse, “but it’s like the vice president thing, no one remembers them unless the president gets assassinated.” God you couldn’t help how dark your humor could veer even when trying to be positive. 

He looks over at you, head tilted, considering. Despite being standoffish, Keith was easy to read unlike the slick space pirates you’d encountered. 

You meet his gaze head on. 

“I might need some help,” he allows. 

You bite the inside of your cheek, fighting the smile that pulled at the corners of your mouth. “If you’re sure,” you utter, regarding him carefully and unable to keep the teasing from your voice. You shouldn’t. You barely knew him and what little you’d learned made it clear he wouldn’t take well to your teasing. 

War made quick brothers out of everyone. 

But Keith held himself afar.

A questioning glance danced in his uniquely violet eyes as he tried to get a read on you. “I am.” 

You nod, stepping besides him and wrapping an arm around his waist. You were always caught by surprise by how heavy a grown adult could be. And depending on the alien. . .

He takes a step, still holding himself afar from you, barely resting any weight on you. His muscles were stiff under your touch, back rigid that matched the uncomfortable look on his chiselled features. 

You follow his lead. 

At Keith’s sedate pace, it would take quite a while before you dropped him off where you needed to go. Being personable was part of being a leader or it’d lead to mutiny. Not that you had ever gotten that far. The Galaxy Garrison had slapped the graduation badge on your uniform and sent you into space. 

You scrabble for familiar territory, earth and the garrison. The Black Paladin was a Garrison member returned from the grave. Rumor had it all the paladins were garrison deserters. 

Veronica McCain did share a familiar resemblance with the blue paladin. It was probably true. 

“I attended the Garrison campus at Guiana,” you offer. “I was hoping for Texas or Florida to be closer to home, but I didn’t test into pilot or engineer.” 

Keith makes a sound in the back of his throat. 

Even through the fabric of his uniform, he felt warm. How anybody could be warm in such cold halls was anybody’s guess. A permanent chill had sunk its way into your bones. You missed the humid heat of Guiana. 

“It was nice though. The jungle was pretty close and it was always hot,” you tell him. “I thought I wouldn’t miss the humidity, step outside and it was like having just showered but I do. These ships have to be at 15 C.” 

“Texas is hot too.” Keith utters quietly. 

“Isn’t the desert cold at night though,” you ask, already knowing the answer. It had been basic earth science. 

“Yeah. It is.” There’s longing in his voice. You wish he’d say more just to hear him speak. 

Warmth spreads, an embarrassing tell, through your cheeks. 

“I did miss the snow while there,” you continue, “it didn’t snow much up in Vancouver but it was never as hot as Guiana, and the rain was warm!” You had never gotten over that. The rain would spot and start throughout the day but the sun would keep on shining. 

“What were you,” Keith asks bluntly.

“Chemisist, more the physical and inorganic type,” you admit, “it was fun doing wet labs.” That had gotten you hooked back in regular school. “Then got shunted to command track after a few too many volunteering opportunities. Guess the lesson there’s to not try too hard.”

That gets a laugh out of him. 

“You,” you ask him as he shifts more of his weight onto you, finally accepting the help he asked for. Stubborn guy. 

“Pilot.”

You look over at him, his wild hair brushing against your cheek and the simple action shouldn’t excite you but it does. He was hot with sharp features offset by a certain enthralling earnestness but he could run a comb through his hair.

Keith didn’t seem the pilot type: arrogant, loud, generally strong personalities. 

“You any good,” you ask though you’ve heard about Voltron so he has to be pretty fucking good to be part of them. How did Voltron choose its pilots?

He smirks easily, close to a smile at the mere mention of piloting and you knew that moment he loved it: didn’t matter if he was good at it or not. You swallow hard as anticipation buzzes under your skin for no good reason. 

Get your head out of the gutter, you tell yourself. 

“I’m a pretty good pilot,” Keith answers, somehow managing to sound like he’s stating a fact instead of bragging. 

“Just pretty good?” You smile at him, letting him know you were only joking around as you both round another corner, finally making it to the transient quarters. People were always dropping in and out of mobile spaceports like these. 

He snorts. “Better than most.” Keith shrugs, smiling over at you. 

“Don’t be modest on my account,” you utter, looking away, not sure what to do about the growing heat in your body that had nothing to do with temperature controls. 

“It’s true,” he says simply. 

Honesty was a hard thing to come by. You were finding more and more reasons to like the red paladin as you reach his current room. No special treatment here. 

Or maybe it was politics and optics, making sure everyone knew Voltron was of the people and not aiming to replace Zarkon as rulers of the universe. 

Keith places a hand against the door, putting space between you both.

You swallow, glancing away, feeling some of the tension ease. 

“You sure you don’t want me to send a medic,” you ask him, looking over at his striking eyes. The heat under your skin is a live wire: you curl your toes in your shoes. People usually didn’t affect you this much. Even the smell of him was so distinct, drawing you in. 

It was an unprecedented reaction. 

He must feel it too. 

Keith studies you with an enraptured fascination shining in his wide eyes, mouth parted on the verge of answering. Both your bodies sway towards each other like branches in the wind: sunflowers orienting towards the sun. 

You shift your weight from one foot to another. 

It relieves enough tension for you to shift away. 

“No. No medic,” Keith finally answers. 

“Right then.” But you don’t make a move to leave. 

He says nothing. 

The silence is broken by the hum of the ship's engines under your feet. People move about and you can hear their footsteps echoing on the metal floors. 

Supposedly quintessence powered ships smelled like ozone. 

This one was powered by crystals and some Olkari engine. You wouldn't know the specifics, they were beyond you. And not your job. 

You look back at him, ready to leave. The space between you could so easily tilt to awkward and you weren’t sure what you were doing or why you found yourself so entranced by Keith. You barely knew him. You didn’t want to be one of the soldiers with a photograph in your pocket and a farflung hope that you’d-

He’s looking at you, cautious, movements slow and deliberate as if he’s caught between thinking and simply doing. 

Then Keith’s demeanour becomes determined: deciding to take the leap without looking down. He cups your cheeks in his hands and kisses you.

For a second you’re baffled, trying to figure out how you got to point B when this wasn’t a bar and you had no agenda, before you shrug and kiss him back. Keith was undeniably attractive. He was even a bit taller than you which was compelling, you were on the tall side for a girl. 

It’s not some unsolvable thought experiment, you kiss him back.

And a current of static electricity runs through your core. Heat pools after only just a kiss that steals your breath away. 

You can’t get enough, his hands warm against your skin, igniting a delicious sensation in your very core. You want more. You kiss him harder, your mouth against his, sucking on his bottom lip. 

Your hands clutch at the fabric of his shift.

Keith kisses you back, matching your frenzied energy, his mouth parting against yours and pulling you flush against his chest. 

It does nothing to dissolve the tension, the charged energy between you spikes. Like a fire fed by wood it grew. 

It was a heady feeling, his hands caressing your cheeks as Keith kissed you with a vigor you thought only existed in soapy dramas. Heat pools in your belly like a sinking stone: you liked his intensity. 

Keith pulls away, catching his breath, resting his forehead against yours. 

Some of the muddled list clears from your head, now completely in the gutter as you press Keith against the door to his room. 

Oh. . .were you really doing this?

Keith looks a fuckable mess, his eyes flickering from your lips to your eyes. Still, he hesitates. 

You can feel the question linger in the air, can feel it in the featherlight touch of his hands ghosting over your cheeks as he makes to pull away, to let you go if you want to turn back now. But you don’t.

You want to run your hands through his hair. You’re practically burning up wondering how Keith would look splayed on the bed between your thighs. . .how he would feel. 

Would he be just as intense in bed as he fucked you? 

“You feel it too,” he asks quietly.

You furrow your brows, thrown. There were a lot of intense emotions coursing through you all narrowed down to feeling horny as a teenager back on earth. Masturbation only went so far. 

You swallow, trying to rack your brain cells together and say something. Yeah. It was a bit. . .much. Space much. But that didn’t make any sense. You hadn’t taken any drinks from strangers. 

The connection was too strong to discount the possibility of space weirdness affecting both of you. 

“Yeah,” you reply, sounding more whiny than you’d like to. The apex of your thighs throbbed with want. Anticipation had built up and he was right there; Keith

s breath fanned over you, his forehead against yours like a touchpoint. 

Your fingers were still curled into the fabric of his shirt. 

In the hall. 

Where anyone could see. 

“So what now,” you ask, “medic?”

Keith snorts, “No. I just-do you want to come inside?”

You smirk. Everyone knew what that meant. There were so many variations with the same outcome. 

“Yeah. Okay.” You put a pin in any alien space nonsense and slip inside Keith’s assigned quarters for however long Voltron was here for.

The lights are off. You don’t bother to study the room when Keith crushes his mouth against yours. You stumble around in the dark, feeling emboldened now that he’d voiced an invitation, he wanted this as much as you did, and run your hands up his chest. He was lean and lithe. Keith leans into your touch, a shiver running down his spine when you run your fingers through his hair and run your tongue over his bottom lip. 

Keith moans, the sound scratchy from the back of his throat excites you. 

It was thrilling to know you could elicit such a response from someone. You liked feeling hot and sexy. And from a guy like Keith who you were vibing with. . .

He finds the jagged hem of your cut tank top, which had doubled as a bandage, and slides his hands under your shirt. His fingers are calloused, skin hot against yours and there was always something so carnal about skin on skin touch. Keith clutches at your sides and leads you backwards. 

You trust that he knows the layout.

Your mind has boiled down to simple desires. 

“Keith,” you mumble against his mouth as he guides your hips against his and you feel his cock beneath the fabric. It goes straight to your ego: straight to your pussy. 

More heat. It’s unbearable how much your body throbs and you moan against him, against his lips, your fingers tangled in his hair, pulling.

“Mhm,” he asks, just as overcome with lust as you were. Keith tilts his head up, and you kiss his jaw, kiss the side of his throat, nipping at the flesh and enjoying the breathy moans he makes as your knees hit the bed. 

You want more. 

You move your hands to his shoulders, “let's get this off,” you utter softly, pushing at his jacket. 

“Okay,” he replies, crowding you against his bed until you have no choice but to sit down. Keith discards his jacket, and pulls his shirt over his head. 

Your breath hitches in your throat. It’s dark. You can’t see him well. You still react like a charged electron. 

“Now you,” Keith states simply, not exactly a command. It was nice, the lack of mind games and subterfuge. 

You scoot up further on the bed, shrugging your bomber jacket off. 

He’s watching. 

Awkwardness creeps up on you. There was no sexy way to take off a sports bra. 

You pull your shirt over your head, tossing it aside carelessly. Then you peel off your sports bra. The elastic worked too well. 

Keith’s sitting up on his knees.

“You’re beautiful,” he states.

“Come here,” you utter, inviting him closer. 

He complies readily, cupping your cheek and kissing your mouth eagerly, closer to a lover than a random encounter. 

You grab his other hand, guiding him up to your chest, to your breast. Keith runs his thumb over your nipple, gooseflesh rises on your skin. He trails bruising kisses down your throat. 

Your breath catches in your throat. You wrap your arms around his shoulders, pulling him flush against you, savoring the feel of his chest against yours. 

“Fuck,” you groan as Keith bites down hard at the crook of your neck, harder than you’d expected. 

He stills. “I’m-I,” making to pull away.

“No,” you reach for him, tilting his head up as you move to straddle his waist, “it’s okay. I just didn’t expect it.”

“I won’t do it again,” he stammers out. 

“I didn't say I didn't like it.” You push him down against the bed, topping him. “Just warn a girl.”

Keith wraps his hands around your hips, tugging at the waistband of your trousers. “These are kind of in the way.”

Laughing, you reply, “could say the same to you.” Your hands pop the button of his jeans. 

It’s a fumble to pull your trousers down. Neither of you care, eager to get on with it. He shoves his jeans down his legs along with his boxers. 

You straddle Keith, completely naked and lean down to capture his lips against yours. His cock twitches against your thigh and your toes curl up. His tongue runs over your top lip, you part your mouth, letting him in. 

You cup his cheeks between your hands, your hips rolling against his. 

He thrusts feverishly against you. His fingers dig into your bare hips, skin against skin. 

“Come here,” Keith utters hoarsely, “I wanna fuck you.” 

“Think I’d rather ride you,” you reply back breathlessly.

“You can do that after,” he whines, a rumble emanating from his chest but your head is too fucked up to make sense of it. 

You sit up, hands on his chest. “That’s presumptuous of you.” 

Keith grins, wrapping his hands around your wrists, and rolls you over so he’s on top. “Is it,” he asks rhetorically as his hand reaches between your thighs, ghosting over the wetness of your pussy, “when you’re this wet?”

You moan, canting your hips, cashing the feel of his hand, wanting relief. It was a mounting pressure in your belly, a forest fire under your skin and you needed Keith. “Okay. yeah,” you nod, closing your eyes when Keith bent his head and licked a stripe from your nipple to your collarbone. You whimper, lost in the sensation. 

“Tell me what you want,” Keith asks. 

“Fuck me. Please fuck me,” you utter, you hands clutchinf at his shoulders, bringing him flush agaisnt you. 

Keith aquieses. 

You bend your knees, spreading your legs as he positions his cock. 

“Oh fuck,” Keith mutters as he pushes into you. 

Fuck indeed. You moan his name without thought, closing your eyes and laying your head back against the bed. His cock fills you up, sliding into your pussy with ease given how turned on you were. 

Your fingers dig into his shoulders as he stretches you out. 

“God, yes,” you utter dazed. 

Keith moves his hips. You roll your hips up to meet him. He nips at your collarbone as he thrusts into you with favour. 

As promised he fucks you.

Keith captures your mouth in a kiss that catches the moans you make as he reaches between you and runs his thumb over your clit. His pace, the way he was kissing you madly. . .the heat that had been building since you’d met him comes crashing down. 

You come. 

Leaving you boneless. 

“Keith,” you whimper.

“Sh,” he tells you, kissing the shell of your ear, “let me make you feel good.”

“You..sort of already did,” you utter completely fucked out. 

“Turn over.” Keith says even as he’s already helping you move, his arms supporting your weight. He presses his lips on the back of your neck, as he grabs a pillow and sets it under you. 

You bring up your knees, laying on your legs, “thought I was going to go next,” you tease, reaching up to card your fingers through his hair. 

He stills, “if you. . .”

“No. No,” you shrug, “I did ask you to fuck me.”

Keith runs his hands over your shoulders, sliding down your sides. He squeezes your ass with his hands. 

“Best two out of three,” you offer, half joking half serious because while you were still blissed out from having just orgasmed, you could already feel your pussy clench with anticipation. Seriously, the effect he had on you-

You can feel his smile against your skin, “If you think you can handle it.”

“I’ll hold you to it,” you reply, arching your back into him, titling your head back, and pulling his hair so you could kiss him. It was sloppy, and the angle was awkward, but none of it mattered when Keith stroked your pussy with his fingers, dipping into your wet folds. 

Already stimulated, you shudder with pleasure. 

Your tongue strokes his in an open mouthed kiss. He tastes as good as he smells, Keith filling up your senses like an incense stick wafting through a room. 

He wraps an arm around your chest, his hand caressing your breast, pulling you against his chest, both of you melding together. Keith thrusts his cock into you again. 

You squeeze your eyes shut, hand fisting the sheets of his bed, moaning into his mouth. 

It was a combination of his cock in you, his thumb rolling your nipple in his hand, that set you aflame. 

You couldn’t get enough, your hips jerking back, up to meet his. Keith fucks you against the bed. 

He palms your breast in his hand, pulling you up to him, keeping you close as he plants a kiss at the juncture of your ear and jaw, on the side of your neck whilst nipping the skin and you moan, his cock hitting just the right spot as he slams into you. 

First he grows comfortable, pulling almost entirely out before thrusting hard as he finds a pace that leaves you both a mess. 

“Right there, right there,” you utter. 

“Tell me how good I make you feel.”

He punctuates his words with a roll of his hips, his fingers draw a circle around your clit without giving you the satisfaction you desperately seek, already building up to another climax. 

You nod jerkily. “So fucking good Keith. Your cock feels so fucking good,” you manage to reply.

He speeds up, faster, deeper, at your words. The bedframe, bolted down into the floor, creaks. 

“Just like that.” You moan wantonly. “Right there.”

He responds to your words, pulling out to the head of his cock, teasing your entrance just so before slamming back in.

You shut your eyes and whimper, over sensitive to your very marrow. It was too much. Keith was trailing kisses down your spine, his breath warm, his cock twitching inside your filling every inch of your pussy up. 

With a shudder, you come, stars behind your eyelids and short circuiting. You never knew sex could be this amazing. Not in real life. 

You got what people meant about the right partner. 

The right sexual energy to match. 

You collapse, a puppet with its strings cut. Keith’s hand across your chest is the only thing keeping you from melding into the mattress like a blob. His hips thrust against your ass mindlessly, chasing his own climax.

With another couple of thrusts, his hips snapping against you, Keith moans your name and comes undone behind you. 

He comes inside you, hot and sticky.

His hand grasps the back of your neck, holding you in place as he comes inside you. It’s unexpectedly hot. You didn’t know you could like this in bed. 

You didn’t know how much you liked an obstinate expression with wide eyes until you met Keith. He had the type of soulful eyes you could drown in. 

He had drawn out something in you that you hadn’t even been aware of. 

Your thoughts center on him as he finishes inside you. 

“You take my dick so good,” he says with a surprising amount of softness for what amounts to a one night stand and a pang strikes your chest, wishing you had met him under better circumstances where there might be-

Keith gets off you, slumping next to you on the bed. 

There’s a thrum of satisfaction running through you as you look at his face in profile. The insane idea that you might just stay and cuddle plants itself. 

That was impossible.

It was time to cut and run.

Sure, he’d fucked you. But he was also still half a stranger. No matter how jumbled your thoughts were, you refused to give into the pull he had on you. 

You wanted to lay there with him. 

Keith blinks slowly, looking as blissed out as you feel, reaching out a hand towards you, but stopping himself halfway. 

You feel a little disappointed, but say nothing. It was just a one off thing you remind yourself, no matter how you felt. 

Now that you can think a little more clearly, though the sensation remains like a lump in your throat that starts there no matter how much you swallow, you glance around the dark room. Only the barest red lights on the floor illuminate enough to cast shadows. 

Keith’s own eyes reflect the light like a cat. Just a glimmer of traffic sign yellow. 

But you’re too tired to think, so you file it away in your head under the nebulous details you’ve learned about the red paladin.  

You blink, grimancing as Keith’s come runs down your thigh onto the sheets. At least they weren’t yours. 

He closes his eyes. 

“I’d say sorry about the mess,” you break the easy silence lulling you into staying there, “but it's your fault,” you tease way too familiarly. 

Keith sounds embarrassed when he utters, “sorry about that. I can get carried away.”

You smile softly, tracing over his shadowed form with your eyes but resisting the urge to reach out. That part was over. “It was good.”

“You did mention.” 

So he could joke. 

You giggle in the darkness that envelopes the room. You were good at being friendly and taking charge but you understood the hesitancy to open up to people you just met. 

Keith’s chest makes a rumbling sound akin to a cheetah purring. 

You try and hold onto the thought, sure it means something, but the sound draws you in and you lose the battle against yourself, curling up into his side. 

He takes this as the permission it is, and tangles his limbs with yours. 

A thrum of warmth surges where Keith’s skin touches you and you’re not sure if its his running warm or if it's all in your head or-

your eyes drift closed. 

He’s purring.

You know Keith would be embarrassed if you pointed it out. 

So you say nothing. 

Everything seemed so intangible anyhow. The world had been turned down a notch. The post orgasm glow remained unrivalled. 

Even a hit from a bong didn’t measure up. 

Your first time had been a real embarrassment (you hadn’t managed to get the boy’s cock in you), this was just a weird quirk of his, and it was soothing. 

You close your eyes. 

Keith’s breathing is deep and steady, you wonder if he’s fallen asleep, but don’t feel pressured to check. 

It was nice, not scurrying off, not being more than a little drunk. War was exhausting. Earth had only been in it for less than three years. No wonder some aliens were in such shit moods. 

You exhale. 

There’s no way to mark the passage of time. 

The bed shifts under you. Keith runs the back of his hand gently over your shoulder.

Your eyes flutter open.

“So would this be round two or three,” you ask lightly.

Keith smiles lightly, “you did say…”

“I did,” you laugh easily, blushing, the flush creeping from your cheeks to the tips of your ears. 

You swing a leg over his waist, straddling him, but not without feeling the start of a soreness in your legs. It doesn’t deter you. 

Keith lays back, watching you through his lashes as you sit up. He looks lovely. 

You lean down and kiss his mouth, reaching for his cock with your hands. He was already half hard when you wrap your hand around his shaft. 

His breath hitches in his throat as you move your hand. It’s been a moment since you’d jerk anyone, but it’s not rocket science. You press kisses down his throat, moving your hand firmly up and down his length until he’s completely hard. You nip at his collarbone, marking him the way he’d left bruising kiss all over you. 

His cock twitches in your hand, Keith’s hips thrusting up into you. 

Anticipation builds in your belly, but you want to set the pace, stay in charge. So you still your movements.

Keith whines under you, his hands holding your waist.

“Be a good boy for me,” you tell him. “Can you do that?”

“Mm.”

“Use your words.”

“Yeah,” he manages hoarsely, “I can be good.”

You smile, lining him up against your entrance. You shift your hips, teasing his cock against your wet folds, closing your eyes as you moan at the feeling. 

Keith thrusts up, trying to get more friction.

You still wanting to drag it out. Though your thighs ached and your pussy throbbed and you wondering if you should just-

You rub his cockhead against your pussy, “oooOH,” you moan. Your nails scratch his chest lightly, trying to steady yourself. Your heart raced, back arching down to him.

“Come here,” Keith groans, his fingers trailing up, asking for more, his hand on the small of your back. 

You give in, sinking down onto his cock. 

He moans your name, shutting his eyes. 

It’s pornographic, the way Keith rises up to meet you, hips bucking against yours, the expanse of his pale throat. 

You roll your hips slowly, fucking yourself on his cock. At this angle, the way he filled you- 

“Fuck,” Keith moans, “you feel so good.”

“I could say the same,” you reply, sliding against his hips, picking up speed. You hold yourself up, hand on his chest.

You suck in a breath as his cock thrusts into you. Static filled your head as you chased your pleasure, grinding against him. You tilt your head back, moaning his name, everything but Keith becoming background noise. 

He palms your breast.

Your breath hitches when he rolls your nipple between his thumb and finger.

“Ah,” you sigh. 

Your stomach was taunt. 

He doesn’t go further. You sort of wish he would. You trusted Keith not to hurt you. . .too badly. 

The idea excites you, as he wraps his hand around your throat. 

You match him, curling your fingers in his hair and pulling hard, “look at me,” you try and order but your voice is a whine. You’re too hot and heavy to think. 

His cock twitches inside you, filling you up and fuck it felt good to be streched out. 

Keith’s thumb strokes the side of your throat, his grip firm. “Do you like this,” he asks, his gaze heavy on you. He was entirely concentrated on you. It was like being worshipped. 

It sent a wave of pleasure coursing through your veins. 

“I wouldn’t mind if you got rougher,” you admit, finding it easy to trust him.

He looks away. 

You falter. Had you read things wrong? 

Keith bucks his hips up against you and you let the thought go, sinking onto his cock and groaning, “Keith…” 

It was easy to let go when it felt this good. His hand around your throat, fingers digging into your hips, you were sure there’d be bruises tomorrow. Not that anyone would be able to tell from over your uniform. 

A shudder runs down your spine, you squirm on his cock mindlessly, thinking about bruises in the shape of his hands, about the marks on your neck you could already feel blooming on your skin. Heat surges in your chest, something primal as your thoughts linger there. 

You nails run down his chest, leaving shallow scratches as you try and get a better hold, desperately grinding against Keith, down on the bed, his cock ramming into you. “Fuck,” you think, “fuck. . .Keith. . .”

You can’t stand it. 

The pressure in your stomach, the heat scorching your pussy, the sound of Keith’s whines and moans, your name tumbling out of his mouth like a hymn that raised your heart beat, blood pounding in your ears. 

Keith squeezes your neck, your throat bobs under his fingers and fuck-

You come. 

Your legs tremble, unable to support you any longer as you collapse, a quivering mess on Keith. His hands move down to grip your thighs, pulling you down flush against him, down to the hilt of his cock as he comes, moaning erotically. 

The thread of heat doesn’t dissipate entirely as you rest on his chest, boneless and sticky with sweat, but it relaxes and you breath the scent of him in instead of pulling away entirely. 

Keith strokes a hand down your spine, an afterthought, “that was. . .” 

“Yeah.” You’re exhausted. 

You close your eyes, listening to the inhuman rumble of Keith’s chest as it rises and falls with every breath you take. 

You end up slipping out. The halls are in the light cycle, but no one bothers you as you walk. 

Getting up the next morning is hell. 

Your legs are sore, and that’s not even mentioning how much your pussy hurts when you take a step. You take a dose of painkillers still remaining from your injury and check your messages. 

Nothing from earth. 

That was expected. 

The meager universal communications were taken up by the war effort. You still sent your family messages, even if it was just one way. It was a way to keep in touch. It felt like watching starlight and knowing it was millions of years old, a form of time travel. 

You shower. 

Keith’s come was a mess on the inside of your thighs and the thought is not as gross as it should be, your skin warming up, zapped by static. You run your fingers over your clit and fuck yourself in the shower thinking of the red paladin and his come.

You get out, brushing your hair out, not looking in the mirror at the purple hickies spread out like a constellation on your chest, and realize how weird you were being. 

Come was gross. 

You hated swallowing so you never did. The tentative relationships at the garrison had been short, you had all been teenagers, and now anything that happened was a one off thing sometimes involving aliens. 

You swallow, gripping the counter of your sink. You were horny again. 

No. 

Not going there. 

No space weirdness this morning. 

Because you’re on leave for the space equivalent of 6 or 5 days, you don’t have much to do. You get food. It had taken getting used to, and figuring out which brightly colored pastel goo thing was good, but there was a variety. You still had no clue what was plants or animals up in space. 

The more liberated planets, the more supplies trickled in. Pirates loved to take a cut. 

You eat as soldiers stop by to refuel, fill up on supplies. Despite the stress, you missed being out on the front. Being out of the action sucked. 

Sitting around on a spaceship was boring. 

It wasn’t like they had shops or movie theaters. Walking around too much ended up with you being in the way. 

You clench your jaw, feeling feverish. 

And you had just been getting better. . .

You shove the thought away. 

You end up watching space TV: reality TV shows like Galra Ninja Warrior and nature docu series on plants, some you’ve been on, before finally sliding your hand under the waistband of your trousers and rubbing your clit. 

It takes the edge off, but the heat’s still there, pressed up in the pit of your stomach, cheeks flushes and you sigh, unsatisfied as you click to something other than the marine biomes of Kmeolsuahr. For aliens larger than a schoolbus, they were peaceful creatures. Since they were filter feeders, agriculture had never developed a hold on their planet, but water generators were plentiful. 

Yet another show starring Galra. It was the most common type of show in the Empire. Hijacking communications had given this traveling spaceship TV. You were glad for it now. 

You curl up, the communicator snug around your wrist translating everything instantaneously. It was the part in the soap where there has to be a duel for honor. What a load of crap. 

The two Galra circle each other, close ups of their face like a mexican stand-off. Through TV you got to know the Glara in the empire as more than just soldiers. Spending time in the camps taught you that even Galra citizens could be arrested for treasonous statements against Zarkon. 

They make growling alien sounds, something between a jaguar and a sound not found on earth, an underlying clicking that raises the hairs on the back of your neck. 

You connect the dots. 

The glowing eyes, the purrs and rumbles, and whatever weird alien thing was going on: the red paladin was part Galra. 

Only that made no sense. 

He was from Earth. 

First contact had been what, when the paladins had disappeared? When the Kerberos mission had been abducted, and boy had that made fringe conspiracy theorists happy. . .how could he be part Galra? 

Was it even your problem?

Surely this would go away. . .

You were leaving in a little over five days. 

You curl up and watch TV until you fall asleep, determined to enjoy the rest while it lasted and your weren’t trudging through waist deep mud. 

“Read through the debrief,” a commander with a nebulous rank above you asks. In your line of work, so much was redacted. Information gathering was a fancy way of saying spy. It was why you worked so closely with the rebels. 

You don’t even blink at the slight pale easter egg yellow alien, ears that resembled hair, long and droopy like a rabbit: there were four of them. You’d met stranger. “Yeah. Long mission.”

You were not looking forward to being on a planet with an inhospitable surface. A sun close enough that set the surface on fire with it’s rays, no thanks. 

Still, it was your assignment. 

“It is vital.”

They always said that. 

It seemed to be extracting some key players. Who they were remained unknown until you had to know. It was a lot of flying blind to keep information from leaking to the wrong ears. Loose lips sink ships and all that jazz. 

“I’ll treat it that way,” you nod, pressing your tongue to the roof of your mouth. It would be fun flying a hijacked Galra fighter ship. The planet was pretty deep in Empire controlled space. 

“And,” the alien looks you up and down like a Garrison RA finding a stain on your uniform during morning inspection, “get rid of that scent.”

“What,” you ask plainly, “scent.”

The alien raises a hairless muscle over its eye. The gesture is human enough. “Voltron has docked here.” 

It was subterfuge. Both of you were in the same line of work, you could do this dance in your sleep. “As far as I know, yes.” You are careful to keep your expression neutral, feeling stupid for not having used negating get. It wasn’t even rationed, but used pretty widely. There were many aliens who relied primarily on scent, and those whose sense of smell was far sharper than yours. 

“Mm.”

You hold their gaze. 

You weren’t one to waver.

“Any further questions?”

“None.”

“Good.”

You walk blithely back to your room, intending to shower, again, and probably take care of the warmth in your gut. The heat was like an uncomfortable itch under your skin that stubbornly remained no matter how much you ignored it. 

How was it even possible that Keith was any part alien let alone Galra? You were pretty sure the entire planet would have known if the Galra arrived on the planet. 

It was intriguing. 

Your mind drew up the details you knew, trying to make them fit. It was half mental exercise, half the urge to actually get to the bottom of this. Keith didn’t look half Glara like Prince Lotor and his gang of misfits. . .quarter, one sixteenth. . .

Occam's Razor. 

The mystery occupied your mind as you made it back to your quarters. 

Keith is pacing outside your door. 

How did he even know where your quarters were?

“Did you sniff your way here,” you ask, genuinely curious. Maybe the traits might not be apparent. . .just how Galra was the red paladin. You were reminded again how little you actually knew him. 

Understanding fills his eyes; he knew you knew. Keith looks over at you for a second before ducking his head dejectedly, a straw dog expecting to be run off. 

Your heart ached. 

How a paladin of Voltron could be so self conscious despite going toe to toe with the Empire on a daily basis. . .you didn’t know. They were only flesh and blood after all. 

You take pity on him, “so is this going to be a thing,” the corners of your mouth lift into a small smile. You were still a little sore. You wouldn’t mind going another few rounds. . .

But you needed to clear some things up first. 

Just how much of this between you was space Galra funkiness? 

Keith snorts, looking up, meeting your searching gaze. His shoulders were still tense, unsure that you weren’t about to tell him to shove off. Not the loner type entirely by choice then, his innate awkwardness must have made it hard to connect. 

It wasn’t a problem you’d ever had, rushing into everything headfirst, taking charge. 

“Not like there’s a lot of humans to choose from up here,” he says self-deprecatingly. 

You bite the inside of your cheek. “I’m down for some alien funkiness,” you answer evenly, taking a step towards him. He inhales sharply, looking away again, this time in thought. 

The lines of his face increase, clearly uncomfortable, frowning. 

“I can’t usually,” Keith admits in a tense voice, “smell this well. . .though I can smell better than Shiro.”

“Shiro?”

“The black paladin,” he explains, surprised he has to explain at all. 

You answer his unvoiced question, “everyone tends to focus on the color of the lion rather than the pilot inside.”

“Oh. That’s dumb.” He looks a little relieved at the anonymity that grants. 

“Is it just me then,” you ask, getting to the bottom of things. 

He nods, meeting your gaze. “I don’t know why but I can’t stop thinking of fucking you,” he says without ceremony. 

You find yourself blushing. The connection went both ways, the very alien connection. “Don’t hate me but I think we should go to the medic.” 

Keith frowns. “Or we could just fuck.”

“That horny,” you tease, raising a brow, “or was I just that good?”

Keith cusps a hand against your cheek, his thumb running over your lips. 

Your mouth parts, the tip of your tongue grazing his thumb. 

“So you don’t want to fuck,” Keith asks, a playful smirk on his lips. 

You swallow, the urge to say yes right there as his touch on you entranced you, sending desire cascading through your body down to your toes. “This isn’t just alien weirdness is it?” You wanted it to be more. 

“No,” he shakes his head, his breath mingling with yours. “That’s-I’m not that impulsive.”

“Good,” you mutter, pressing your body against his, and opening the door to your room.

[lilflowerpot]

I know we always talk about how horrified the galra/Blade/Lotor would be when they find out about Keith's childhood and neglect for a what galra kit needs after his dad died but let's take a minute and talk about Coran and his thoughts on it. I can see him being horrified because besides Lotor he's probably the one that's been around the galra the most considering how he was always be Altor's side and being the oldest member of team Voltron. But I can also see him not being surprised considering how far away Earth is the from the empire and the obviousness in how different their culture is from what he's seen by spending time with the Paladin's. I can also see him being saddened by Keith being punished for giving into his natural born Galra instincts since a child does not know any better let alone a hybrid one that knew nothing of what they were or how to control their own strength.

I can also see Coran not being surprised when he learned Keith is a hybrid galra considering his personality and other little traits that give it away to his heritage and perphaps he may have suspected before the truth came out but never said anything. I can also see him have a bit more complicated feelings about it but at the same time he realizes that happened 10000 years ago long before Keith was even thought of and he had nothing to do with his home being destoryed. Let alone Keith having a say in his blood and the boy is so earnest and honest he did not intentally conceal the truth from them and Coran has known him for awhile and that he's truly on their side so I can see him more forgiving and willing to accept it but also perphaps sadden at time with possible anger now and then but probably angry at himself afterwards for having those feelings but grief is a funny thing and not easily dealt with or explained

It definitely did strike me that in vld canon Coran really isn't seen to react at all to the fact that Keith is galra,,, and in hindsight I think that when Keith questioned him at the beginning of s02ep04 (as highlighted in my "when did Keith first suspect his galra heritage" post) on whether or not the galra could have previously visited Earth, this might have registered with Coran as something of an odd query. I don't think he immediately jumped to the conclusion of "Keith's a hybrid" because, let's be honest, that is a large jump to make on the basis of a single question, but it was still an odd thing for Keith to have asked considering he's seen first-hand what the planets subjugated by the Empire tend to look like, which is why Coran is so quick to respond with: "Oh, I think you'd know if the galra were there."

But the end of this same episode has Keith coming to the realisation that “we’re all related. This ship, those stars, the olkari… even the galra,” and though the group as a whole laugh it off, I think that in light of Keith's earlier query, Coran might have thought twice about this after the fact; as you say, Keith's little traits would likely give the game away to someone who knew what they were looking for, and Coran - having spent so much time around galra people before the obvious came to pass - would absolutely know what to look for.

Of course, things spiraled pretty rapidly from here here on out (according to my personal plotting of events, there are less than three altean movements between the defeat of Branko's death cube, and Keith returning to the castle post-Trials of Marmora) so by the time Coran had considered the possibility, connected enough dots to be reasonably certain of his conclusion, and thought of how best to go about broaching the topic with Keith... the truth had likely already come to light. Still, I don't think Coran truly harbours any negative feelings towards Keith for being galra, because he (unlike Allura) had many more positive than negative interactions with galra people pre-Altea's destruction (whereas Allura likely only interacted on a personal level with Zarkon himself who, obviously, personally betrayed both her family and people).

[kosmo-mckogane]

speaking of Tobey Maguires Spiderman Shiro should have his backstory?? maybe not the web-out-of-wrists aspect of the thing since that's Allura's thing but like, he got it on accident? and then he grows into the character, discovers this kid he's taken in (Keith) got them somehow too? but maybe he's retired or MIA after losing his arm so he's just a mentor atm - then Keith needs help and then he just realises. he needs to do this. and then he meets Adam-deadpool... (Spiderman anon :)) )

OKAY SO shiro is keith's brother and a scientist at an oscorp-type place - let's call it altea - which allura's parents used to own before they died in an "accident". back when they were alive, when he was in high school, he used to work as an intern there.

he worked there with his friend adam who is also extremely smart and an aspiring scientist! they've always had a kinda will-they-won't-they thing going on... 👀

anyhow, shiro was a favourite of alfor, since he was seen as one of the smartest kids of his age, so he was allowed access to alfor and melenor's own special branch of research (the spider dna research). though, shiro doesn't know what exactly it is for, rather than the basic concepts they're using. mainly, he knows that they can trust him with it and could use his help, smart kid as he is.

now, it has been made abundantly clear since the beginning that info of this experimentation shouldn't under any circumstances fall into the wrong hands

surprise! it falls into the wrong hands.

alfor and melenor had decided to trust some of their closest friends, zarkon and honerva, with their latest breakthrough.

this, shockingly, is a mistake. zarkon and honerva have other visions for this power. this... conflict in interests, shall we say, eventually results in a tasm situation where alfor and melenor pack up their shit and leave on a plane in a rush, leaving their daughter allura behind with coran. before they go, they tell shiro to gather what's left of their research and dispose of it. this is when they tell shiro the infamous "with great power comes great responsibility" spiderman line.

so! honerva goes after alfor and melenor and thus the tasm-esque plane crash scene ensues where alfor and melenor die and honerva is missing, presumed dead.

meanwhile, in his frantic attempts to clear the lab, shiro ends up getting bitten by one of the spiders from the experiments. what's more, zarkon has come after him, and, with shiro's newfound powers that he struggles to control, a fight ensues wherein half the lab explodes, shiro saves dozens of people from the explosion before losing his arm, and zarkon is badly injured and later said to have died in hospital. shiro is lucky for the spider bite, or else he'd have been a goner.

now, let's back up a bit and talk a little in terms of shiro's situation. shiro was an orphan, and lived with his grandfather until he died when he was 10. after that, he was a foster kid.

shiro likes his foster home well enough, but he's been through quite a few and hasn't formed much of an attachment to any of them.

however, he does have people who he considers family. coran used to teach science at his high school as well as being a scientist at altea, and shiro was quickly taken under his wing. he's like an uncle to him!

he met keith when he was visiting a middle school as an ambassador for altea. shiro talked to him a little, and liked him immediately, but keith's teacher warned shiro that he was a troublemaker.

consequently, keith stole the car shiro had borrowed from altea, shiro took him under his wing and they've been brothers ever since.

as for allura, her parents used to bring her into the lab sometimes, so she and shiro knew each other through this.

and of course, there's adam, his best friend and crush who he's held a candle for since high school.

and thus, after the "accident", shiro is taken in by coran. he gets a prosthetic arm, and having finished high school, he gets a job at altea, courtesy of coran who now owns the place. adam starts college, and he and shiro (finally) start dating.

and so shiro does spidey stuff for a couple of years before he has some of bad experiences, and then takes the decision to quit it at 21. this decision comes from a culmination of things, not least from he and adam having conflict in their relationship and deciding to break things off.

fast forward a few years, news of new spideys in town starts to take off! shiro, naturally, is extremely shocked, does his digging, and finds out about keith and allura's identities. with this, he becomes their mentor. however, it's when lance gets his powers too, and they're all really in need of some guidance, that shiro finally realises, it's time for him to step into the suit again, and bring this team together.

leading to a reconciliation with adam as deadpool and a LOVELY exes to lovers dynamic.... but we'll leave that for another post 👀

[the-ferocious-kittyrose]

Rewriting Haggar/Honerva’s redemption arc

One of the many things that bothered me about VLD S8 is Honerva’s redemption arc. While I was never fully against the idea of Honerva getting a redemption arc, I just didn’t want VLD to do it because I knew that they would fuck it up if they tried. And low and behold, I was right!

But yeah, I wasn’t against the idea of her being redeemed. And I don’t mean “redeemed” as in “all is forgiven and she’s just a good guy now,” but more like a Darth Vader, “the things she did were inexcusable and she would never be able to right all her wrongs but she goes out on one good act to show that there was still good in her deep down and she at least had the potential to change.”

I know a lot of people don’t like the whole, “redemption=death” thing, which I understand, but I personally never had a problem with it.

Ok, so why didn’t Honerva’s redemption work? Well there are a few reasons but the one that baffles me the most is that, instead of trying to make her more sympathetic, season 8 seemed to go out of its way to show her being more evil and vile than ever.

And because I have nothing better to do, I’m gonna go through Honerva’s story in VLD and explain what I would change to make her redemption more believable.

(Keep in mind I am not a writer, this is just me ranting about my favorite character and how I personally would’ve written her.)

1. Realizing she’s Altean

I always thought it’s was weird that when Allura said “you’re...Altean!?” In the S2 finale, Haggar didn’t seem to react at all, she just kept attacking. It’s as if she didn’t care or already knew, which doesn’t make sense considering in the S3 finale and S8E2 it’s established that Haggar has no memory of who she was before she died. And in S4E3 she seems shocked by her Altean face (which also doesn’t make sense because her blue skin isn’t camouflage that’s just how she looks after the rift) so it seems like she didn’t know.

Wouldn’t it have made more sence if after Allura said “you’re...Altean!?” Honerva looked confused/shocked? If she became defensive and said Allura was lying/trying to insult her? There’s def anti-Altean propaganda in the empire so it would be considered an insult.

After that she starts questioning Zarkon. And when she looks into his mind, it’s out of genuine curiosity and desire to know the truth, not because, “the empire needs him” or whatever that meant.

And isn’t it a bit odd that she doesn’t seem betrayed at all when she finds out Zarkon has been keeping all this from her? She’s just like, “oh, you’re my husband? Cool.” Wtf???

2. Her past relationship with Zarkon

Okay, I love Zonerva, but if we’re being honest, Zarkon was not the best husband. He enabled the shit out of Honerva, even when it was obvious that the rift was doing serious damage to her physical and mental health. To me, it seems like Zarkon was so blinded by the power the rift gave him that he didn’t realize/ignored the negative effect it was having on Honerva. In the same way he downplayed the negative impact the rift had on the planet.

I think that should’ve been explored more. Maybe Honerva notices that she’s been acting differently and is worried somethings wrong (think S5 Kuron). And Honerva tries to tell Zarkon that she feels strange and Zarkon just brushes it off.

And later, when Alfor visits Diaibazaal years later. Things are pretty much the same except when we sees Honerva, she is very obviously pregnant and Alfor’s there when Honerva falls and goes into labor (instead of a random quintessence seizure). Alfor and many Galran doctors try their best to save her and the baby but she dies in childbirth.

Zarkon goes ballistic. He’s yelling, throwing doctors across the room, and Alfor turns to the doctor holding Lotor and tells them to get the baby to safely, fearing Zarkon will take his grief out on the baby.

Zarkon turns on Alfor, blaming him for Honerva’s death and accusing him of letting her die so that he could get his way and close the rift. He lunges Alfor and roars at him to leave.

He spends the rest of the night grieving at Honerva’s bedside, when Kova jumps on the bed and starts gnawing on her finger trying to wake her up. This is what gives him the idea to bring her back with quintessence.

3. Her current relationship with Zarkon

I think it’s pretty safe to say that they’re relationship didn’t get better after the war began. Zarkon hid her identity and her child from her for 10,000 years and essentially used her as a tool of war. It’s pretty fucked up.

I know it’s pretty well established that Zarkon treats Haggar with more respect than his other underlings, but I feel like it would be interesting to see that change overtime. We see that after Voltron comes back, Zarkon becomes very obsessed with Voltron/Black, and he and Haggar start disagreeing more and more.

Remember the moment where one of Haggar’s druids told Zarkon Haggar said he needed to rest and Zarkon hit them with his bayard and told them, “remember who your master is”? What if, instead of a random druid, it was Haggar who he hit?

I feel like that would be a good way to show Haggar and the audience just how much Zarkon’s obsession with Voltron is affecting him, and make the audience feel a tiny bit bad for her.

Then later in season 4, when Zarkon wakes up from his coma and finds out Haggar brought Lotor back to take his place he gets pissed. He puts a price on Lotor’s head and has Haggar arrested for treason. She steals a ship, escapes, and later on meets up with Lotor’s generals.

Her and Zarkon are officially broken up and her quest to reclaim her identity and get her son back begins.

4. Oriande

I never liked the concept of chosen/sacred Alteans. The idea that some Alteans are just born more powerful than others just feels iffy. My idea of Oriande is that it’s an Altean holly land, any Altean can enter it just depends on whether or not you can pass the White Lion’s trial. Passing the trial proves that your intentions are pure and and the White Lion will bless you with power.

I didn’t like how Honerva seemed to force her way into Oriande, I think it would be more effective if she had gone through normally because, at this point, her intentions were pure. She was going there to purge herself of the dark magic corrupting her and reclaim her memories so she could go get her son back.

I also like the idea that Oriande is a sorta link to the Altean after life, and you can speak with people you’ve lost. Allura gets to speak with Alfor, and Honerva speaks with her mother.

You could also have her be confronted by the spirits of the Alteans she helped destroy. Have the weight of her past actions bear down on her. An important part of any redemption arc is acknowledging the terrible shit you’ve done in the past, and that was severely lacking in Honerva’s arc.

Another interesting thing you could do is have Honerva talk to her younger self. The one that died 10,000 years ago. This kinda thing actually happened in 80s Voltron, young Haggar appearing in Haggar’s head trying to convince her to be good again.

5. Her relationship with Lotor

Now this is where the redemption arc really falls apart. I forget who, but one of the writers said after S5 that Haggar/Honerva was motivated purely by love for her son, but man did they do a bad job of showing that.

And it would’ve been so easy to fix that problem, just have her not be horrible to him. Have them have actual civil conversations, have her protect and defend him. Don’t have her reject him as a fucking baby!

Imagine if, after Zarkon destroys Lotor’s planet, instead of immediately deciding to

exile him, Zarkon says that this is the final straw and he’s going to have Lotor executed. But Haggar speaks up to defend Him. There’s actually a scene in DOTU where Zarkon tries to kill Lotor and Haggar gets on her knees and begs for him to be spared. (Though the scene was mostly played for laughs.)

she asks for mercy and justifies it by saying it would be unwise to kill his only heir. It’s a weak argument, Lotor’s a half breed and couldn’t realistically take the throne, but Zarkon does concede, he still loves her after all, and has Lotor exiled.

And Haggar isn’t spying on him because she doesn’t trust him, but because she’s concerned for him. When Lotor confronts Haggar about sending her cronies after him, she says she knows he’s hiding something. Lotor asks if she’s threatening him, thinking she’s going to rat him out, but she says no, she’s not threatening him, she’s just trying to warn him against doing anything stupid because, with Zarkon seemingly on his death bed, the empire needs Lotor’s leadership.

At this point in the story, Haggar is questioning her loyalty to Zarkon, so I feel like it would make sense for her to be silently supporting Lotor from the shadows.

Then at the Kral Zera in season 5, It was weird to me how she was helping Lotor through Kuron while also telling him he couldn’t be emperor and trying to put Sendak on the throne. I feel like it would’ve made more sense for Sendak to just show up on his own without Haggar.

Haggar wouldn’t even be at the Kral Zera, she would just watch through Kuron.

And then we get to S6 when she actually reveals to Lotor that she’s his mom. This scene was just so poorly done. She never actually apologizes to him, she’s just like “yeah I forgot you were my kid and I never loved you, but were cool now right?” I remember when I saw S8E2 and it shows her after Lotor rejects her and she looks like she’s about to cry, I was just thinking, “this would be very emotional and sad IF she had actually apologized and made it clear that she genuinely loved him.” But she didn’t and I don’t know why!

And then we get to season 8, and of course everything in S8 is bad but Honerva’s story is particularly bad. She’s supposed to be motivated by love for Lotor yet she doesn’t act like she actually cares about him at all.

She manipulates his corpse and when she sees his gross melted body, she doesn’t even react that much. When a mother sees her child’s mutilated corpse, how do you think she reacts? Screaming? Crying?? Hurling??? But no. She’s just like, “...”

And then when she goes to the alternate reality and meets baby Lotor and he rejects her, her reaction isn’t disappointment or sadness, it’s anger and entitlement. She immediately decides, “ok, fuck this kid. Let’s destroy this reality.”

It just doesn’t make sense! This is the season you’re trying to REDEEM her! Why are you going out of your way to make her so vile?

6. Her S7-S8 plan

(Keep in mind I haven’t watched S7/S8 since they came out and barely even watched S8 to begin with, so I don’t remember some things and I can’t be bothered to rewatch them.)

Okay, starting with S7, she’s not in this season at all but in “The Ruins” the druid dude says that her final order was to hunt and destroy the Blade of Marmora. I guess it makes a certain amount of sense because she saw that it was Keith who brought Lotor’s actions to light, but that whole plot was really pointless in my opinion. (Was anybody really hoping for a rematch between Keith and that one random druid?)

If you want us to forgive Honerva for her crimes, you really shouldn’t keep adding more unnecessary crimes. It’s established that there were a lot of Galra war lords vying for power and pirates looking for money, just have it be that Kolivan got kidnapped by one of them.

Then you have her season 8 plan and I’m gonna be real with y’all, I have no idea how to fix this mess.

I feel like the basics of her plan could work. She tries to get Lotor and Sincline out of the rift but when she gets him he’s a melted corpse so the plan then becomes to use sincline to go to another reality to find a living Lotor, but opening all these rifts causes problems and the paladins have to stop her.

But all the shit with manipulating the colony Alteans, killing the White Lion, desecrating Oriande, and destroying Olkarion and entire realities, it was all so unnecessary.

Personally I would cut the colony Alteans from the story all together, there are other ways for Lotor to betray the team. It was a lazy way of making Lotor 100% evil and having Honerva manipulate them is unnecessarily cruel, especially in the season you’re trying to redeem her.

Here’s a very basic outline of how I would do this plot.

If we’re going by season 8’s logic that she needs a sacrifice to bring back Sincline, I would’ve had the Galra she killed at the Kral Zera be the sacrifice, not the White Lion. She stands on the pyramid and talks about how the empire stole her life from her and she wants revenge as she absorbs their quintessence into herself and then uses that to bring back Sincline.

Then when she finds Lotor dead she takes Sincline and uses it to go to another reality where she can be with her family.

The danger comes when she opens rifts to the other realities and rift creatures start coming out and causing damage. The paladins fight them and follow her into the rift to stop whatever evil plan she may have. Because the paladins don’t know that Haggar is now Honerva and all this is just to get Lotor back. They think this is all some plan for multiverse domination or some shit.

Meanwhile Honerva has just been rejected by little Lotor and seeing Voltron show up pushes her over the edge and they fight.

But when they find out the real reason she’s doing all this they start trying to appeal to her and convince her to give up and close the rift peacefully. And similarly to how the paladins had to sacrifice the castle to close the rifts created by the fight with Lotor, Honerva has to sacrifice herself to close the rifts.

In the end, I feel like a Honerva redemption arc could’ve worked if the writers were actually competent and actually made an effort to have her be sympathetic, but In canon, her reasoning, “If I can’t indulge in the simple joys of life, why should anybody else?” just doesn’t cut it.

It’s disappointing. VLD had so much potential. I’m thinking of just rewriting the entire series from the beginning. Hopefully putting all my thoughts out into the universe will help me move on.

[sage-nebula]

Hmmm... "tfw ur evil mom doesnt like ur bf"

Despite the glib file name I gave it, this one is actually pretty serious.

This one takes place in my Paradigm Shift AU, which is an AU in which not only was Keith raised in space, and not only did he join Team Lotor, but he and the rest of Team Lotor (or Team Revolutionary as I call this version of them) became the Paladins of Voltron and are fighting a revolution against the Empire. More specifically, this WIP was an AU of my AU, and more specifically still it's a, "what if Haggar controlled Narti in Paradigm Shift the same way she did in canon? What if the Narti Incident still happened?" After I considered the question I couldn't get it out of my head, so I had to write it down—or at least start to write it down, before I got distracted by other things.

TL;DR: Haggar uses Narti to spy (against Narti's will), and Lotor (in a moment of trauma-induced panic) tries to kill her as in canon, only to be stopped by Keith . . . and things get worse from there. Narti does end up escaping (nothing but unrefrigerated women in my AU), but Team Revolutionary is pretty badly fractured as a result of what Haggar makes her do after Keith intervenes, how Lotor reacts to what she does, how Ezor reacts to how Lotor reacts to what she does, and all the emotional fallout that comes with it.

I actually had quite a bit written, so I'll give multiple snippets:

So one Sincline ship was necessary, absolutely, but Lotor had ordered the construction of four more with the remainder of the comet they had secured from an alternate reality. At first, Acxa hadn’t understood why. They had their Lions, and while she couldn’t speak for Zethrid, Ezor, or Narti, Acxa herself was pretty attached to Red. She didn’t want to trade for a Sincline ship. But Lotor had, when she had questioned him, pointed out the fact that they would not be able to pilot Voltron forever. Eventually, they would die or move on to other things. And when they did, and Voltron passed into other hands, it may be necessary to have a check on its power, just in case.

“At present, the Sincline ships are the only ships in the known universe with a hope of meeting Voltron in a fair fight,” he had said. “They will only be five ships, one per Lion, when completed, but that is still five more ships than the universe had before.”

“But we have them,” Ezor had said, “so aren’t we just making a check on ourselves?”

“We have them now,” Lotor had said, a little smile playing at his lips, “but we need not have them forever. Nothing is eternal, Ezor.”

With that decided, construction had progressed on the remaining four. Acxa had to say, they were impressive. While she still felt a strong attachment to Red that she wasn’t willing to break, the Sincline ships gleamed in the light of their hangar, and their cockpits had a soft scent that was comforting and welcoming at once (“New ship smell,” Keith had called it, and Acxa wasn’t so sure about that, but she also couldn’t think of anything to counter it). The third ship was about halfway complete; between the mechanics they had recruited and the droids they had built for this purpose, construction was coming along at a brisk pace, and so Lotor’s smile as the six of them watched its progress from the doorway of the hangar was (in Acxa’s opinion) completely warranted.

“At this rate, we should be able to begin testing on the third ship within the next few months,” Lotor said, his voice raised a little to be heard over the sound of the ore being soldered. “Acxa, have you checked the calibration and pilot test results from the second ship?”

“Yes,” Acxa said. “Calibration of the second ship is complete, and it passed all other tests with no errors. It’s in perfect form.”

“Excellent.”

Lotor cast one last satisfied look at the half-completed third ship before he turned and left the hangar, the rest of them turning to follow suit. Well, most of the rest of them; Keith alone lingered for just a moment more, smiling a little as he looked back at the ship, but when he turned and caught Acxa watching him, his smile fell.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Acxa said, and though she resisted the urge to roll her eyes, she couldn’t keep a little smile off her own lips as she followed after Lotor, Ezor, Narti, and Zethrid down the corridor. “Attached already, are you?”

“I like ships,” Keith said, a little defensively as he fell into step beside her. “That’s all.”

“I know,” Acxa said. But though it was childish of her, and though there was no reason to rile him over being excited at the construction of the Sincline ships, she still couldn’t stop herself from adding, “Nerd,” under her breath.

She glanced at him in time to see him roll his eyes, but he was smiling a little again as he stepped to the side to knock his shoulder against hers in a playful bump, and that made her own smile grow.

[. . .]

It had been six weeks since an agent of the Blade named Ulaz had infiltrated the castleship looking for someone named Shiro—six weeks since Keith saw a symbol on Ulaz’s weapon that he thought looked vaguely familiar, and six weeks since Ulaz had looked at Keith with an expression caught somewhere between joy and heartache, like he knew him, somehow, but couldn’t acknowledge that even to himself. Ulaz had given them the coordinates to one of the Blade of Marmora’s bases, and had urged them to go there as soon as possible. Keith wanted to; it was obvious that was what he wanted without him having to say it. But he had said it after Ulaz had left them, his jaw set and his eyes burning holes into the floor as he spoke privately to Acxa and Lotor.

“I think I . . . there was something kind of . . . familiar about him. Like I knew him, maybe. And he—there was something he said, before he died, that made it seem like maybe he knew me, too. And I don’t know how, or why, but . . . maybe if I meet with the Blade like he said, I’ll figure it out.”

The logic was sound. It made sense. And it was something, Acxa knew, that Keith was fixated on, even if he didn’t bring it up regularly. But though Ulaz had infiltrated the castle six weeks ago, they had yet to trace the coordinates he had given them to visit the Blade of Marmora’s hidden base. Their delay was justified; there was always more work to be done. But all things considered, Acxa felt there was a good chance Lotor was delaying their visit on purpose.

Acxa glanced sidelong at the frown Keith was sending Zethrid’s way before she faced forward again.

It was selfish of Lotor if that was the case, but if she was honest with herself, Acxa couldn’t say she didn’t understand.

[. . .]

By now they had reached the base of the stairs leading up to another floor (there being too many of them to all cram into the elevator), and whatever had hit the castle did so with enough force to tilt it briefly up on its side. Ezor flailed and grabbed the banister, while Acxa was thrown sideways into Keith, who stumbled and barely kept his balance as she was thrown into him. Narti spread her arms and straightened her tail to keep her balance, Kova digging his claws into her shoulder, while Zethrid grabbed the other banister and Lotor was nearly thrown back off the stairs he had just started climbing. The attack (because Acxa didn’t know what else it could be) was powerful enough to cause the castleship to tremble with aftershocks even after the blow ceased; and as they all stood up, Ezor looked at the rest of them with wide eyes.

“What was—?”

The security alarms blared to life, drowning out Ezor’s voice and causing Kova to leap off Narti’s shoulder with a startled, angry yowl. In lieu of answering Ezor, Lotor tapped the communicator on his wrist, and as soon as the hologram screen flared to life above it, snapped, “Bridge, report! What’s happening?!”

“We’re being attacked by Empire fleets!” Dune, a member of Auxiliary Team One, cried. “Two, three—at least three of them, from different ang—!”

Another attack crashed into the ship, this time from the opposite side. Acxa caught herself against the wall, and held out her other hand to brace Keith was he was nearly thrown into her. Ezor and Zethrid were gripping the stairway banisters for dear life.

“Use Keith’s console to raise the particle barrier,” Lotor ordered. “We’ll be there momentarily.”

“On it!”

Dune’s voice had already been a crackle through Lotor’s communicator, but her response was even more clipped than normal as Lotor cut the communication in a sharp snap before he turned to head up the stairs again. Acxa and the others immediately hastened to follow suit, Kova climbing up Narti’s back to cling to her shoulder again, yet even as the lot of them sprinted up the staircase, Keith took the stairs two at a time to match Lotor’s strides.

“Lions?” he asked, and before Lotor had time to answer, added, “It’d be faster if we doubled back instead of going all the way to the bridge. We can get to the Lions through the Sincline hangar.”

“No,” Lotor said, and perhaps sensing the rebuttal in Keith’s frown, explained, “If we’re being attacked by this many fleets it wouldn’t be wise to counter. We’re better served using a wormhole to relocate until we can better plan our next move.”

“But how did they find us?” Acxa demanded. “Even if we leave, if we don’t know how they found us in the first place—”

“We had to have been tracked,” Zethrid said, and though Acxa agreed, that didn’t ease the knot in her throat, or the fists her fingers instinctively curled in.

“But how?” Ezor asked, a nervous frown on her lips. “Last time we were tracked by those other reality Paladins, right? By their Lions?”

“But they left a while ago,” Keith said, “and Dune didn’t say Zarkon was here. She would have mentioned it if he was.”

“If she knows what’s good for her, anyway,” Zethrid said.

“Then how did the Empire find us now?” Ezor asked. “If it wasn’t the other reality Paladins and their Lions, then what? How were we tracked?”

Lotor hadn’t broken stride the entire time they climbed the staircase. He hadn’t offered his own input, nor had he shown any indication that he heard their conversation at all. Yet as he reached the second floor he slowed, and finally came to a full stop just as Narti made it to the top of the stairs. Ezor and Zethrid, who had managed to pull ahead of him in the mad sprint up the staircase, noticed and stopped as well, both turning to look back.

“What is it?” Acxa asked.

Lotor didn’t answer her. He gave no indication to show that he even registered that she was talking to him. She was near enough to him so that she could see his profile, and while she couldn’t say why, exactly, what she saw was enough to make ice take up root in her chest. Lotor was staring at the floor, his jaw clenched. His hand was resting on the hilt of his sword. Acxa opened her mouth to call out to him again, yet thought better of it in the next tick. She looked over to Keith instead.

But for once, Keith didn’t return her glance. Instead, he was watching Lotor. His eyes were narrowed, his lips tugged in a sharp frown. And slowly—so slowly that Acxa almost didn’t catch it—he palmed and raised the Black Bayard so it was level with his waist.

Acxa restrained the impulse to reach for her Bayard in turn.

The moment, which felt like hours even though it could have only been a few seconds, ended with the ferocity of a lightning strike. Lotor whipped around as though a bolt had gone through him, his eyes wild, bright, and locked on Narti. In the next tick he threw himself forward, his sword clearing its scabbard as he brought it up in a high arc—

And a ring of steel upon rift ore echoed in the corridor as his blade clashed against Keith’s, Keith having thrown himself between Lotor and Narti like a living shield.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Keith demanded. He pushed back, knocking Lotor’s sword up and away, yet though Lotor took a step back, the wild look in his eyes didn’t fade.

“Keith,” Lotor said through a clenched jaw, “move.”

“No. We’re supposed to be under attack from the Empire, not each other,” Keith snapped. “What’s your problem?”

Lotor was gripping his sword so hard his arm was shaking. “You don’t understand—”

“I don’t think anyone could understand why you wou—” Keith froze mid-sentence, and glanced back over his shoulder. “What—?”

Keith’s voice broke, not in a yelp, but in a gasp as his spine arched and he jerked forward.

“Keith!” Acxa said, as both Ezor and Zethrid came closer. “What—?”

Her question died in her throat.

Narti had grabbed Keith. She had grabbed his arm for support, Acxa thought—had thought. She had grabbed him to give him support through whatever spasm had suddenly seized him. But the spasm wasn’t caused by anything to do with him. Three long, claw-like blades crafted from rift ore protruded through the front of Keith’s Paladin armor, dripping with his blood. They had been driven straight through, and Acxa recognized them. They all did. They were Narti’s blades, from her Bayard, as it took the same shape it always did for her. She had run them straight through Keith’s back, pushing them through until they cut open his stomach with three, evenly spaced wounds.

The one prolonged, solitary moment in which everything seemed frozen while they all processed what happened broke. Narti pushed Keith forward, and in the same moment pulled her blades out of his back. They retracted back into her Bayard with their customary shing-click as Keith—his eyes glazed even as they fluttered shut—collapsed. Lotor lurched forward, knees bent in a crouch, to catch him; his arm looped around Keith’s waist to support him as Keith sagged, limp and unresponsive, against his chest. The Black Bayard fell from Keith’s now slack grip and hit the floor with a clatter, but Lotor did not release his own weapon even as he wrapped his other arm across Keith’s back in a secure, though gentle, embrace.

Lotor’s expression was stricken, his voice strangled as he choked out, “Keith—”

The castle gave another lurch as something rammed against—it, Acxa supposed, or against the particle barrier—and though it was sudden, disruptive, and violent enough to cause them all to stumble once again, it was also enough of a shock to break through the lock her mind had slammed down in an effort to reject what had just happened. She didn’t—she didn’t want to accept it, but there Keith was, bleeding out—bleeding out in Lotor’s arms, and—

The shock, the reminder that they were under attack—it was all Lotor needed, too.

Acxa was only awarded a glimpse of his face—one tick to see not the rage, but the hatred in his eyes—before he jumped over Keith and threw himself at Narti, bringing his sword down in a vicious arc. He missed; Narti leaped backwards and hit the center of the staircase in a back handspring that allowed her to flip the rest of the way down.

Lotor wasn’t deterred. He didn’t hesitate for a heartbeat as he tore down the staircase after her. And Ezor, her eyes wide as she realized everything that was happening—

“No . . . Lotor, no!”

—she, too, sprinted right by Keith and took off after.

Ezor was chasing Lotor, who was chasing Narti, who was trying to escape, but Acxa had no time for any of them. She didn’t register when she hit her knees by Keith’s side, or even what she was going to do as she grasped Keith’s shoulders to try to pull him up, but the moment she realized what she was doing—as the reality of the situation kicked in, and she fought against the urge to kick herself for not taking command of the situation sooner, before it reached this point—she said, “Zethrid!”

“Yup.”

Acxa stood and stumbled backward as Zethrid swept forward and easily hauled Keith up off the floor.

[galraluver]

Hello again, hope you are well as always. I've though that head cannons for Zarkon, Lotor, Sendak, and Ranveig falling for a princess/queen (your choice) of an enemy empire, would be interesting.

❤❤❤💜💜💜🖤🖤🖤✨✨

Yes, I've been doing well for the most part. I hope that you're having a good day. Yes, they would be interesting, in a good way. I hope that you like them :D

_________________________________________

~ Zarkon ~

~ Ever since Zarkon became corrupted he decided that Haggar wasn't good enough to be his wife, so he started looking around for a new Empress

~ When he came across an enemy Empire and heard about you he learned that you were their Queen and you were single

~ He immediately requested an audience with you

~ As soon as he was allowed to meet you Zarkon liked you; you were beautiful and powerful

~ For some reason you liked him and asked him for a second meeting

~ Zarkon ended up falling in love of you and you fell in love with him

~ Although, it was a little awkward for the Galra and your people

~ It wasn't long before Zarkon started courting you and your Empires were no longer enemies

~ Lotor ~

~ During his exile Lotor met you, a beautiful Princess from an enemy Empire

~ When he introduced himself to you, you felt butterflies in your stomach

~ You stuttered a lot when you introduced yourself to him

~ After the first meeting you and Lotor kept meeting in secret because it was a forbidden love

~ Lotor never imagined that he would ever actually meet a Princess and fall in love

~ Not only were you of royal blood but you were actually nice

~ After you both started dating you ran away from home so that you could be together

~ Lotor treats you like the most beautiful woman to ever live

~ He also treats you with respect

~ You have more fun living with Lotor than living with your parents

~ Sendak ~

~ While Sendak was passing through an unconquered area of space he ended up battling you when he landed on your planet

~ You were the Queen of an enemy Empire, which made you an enemy

~ You ended up winning the battle, but you let him go because you thought he was cute

~ After Sendak returned to his cruiser he couldn't get you off of his mind

~ He ended up visiting you often and fell in love with you

~ Love in the Galra Empire was considered sacred and never to be mentioned while on duty

~ You didn't know what to think at first, but eventually you fell in love with him

~ Sendak proves that he's a good choice by bringing you various courtship gifts and paying attention to your interests

~ Ranveig ~

~ You were the Queen of an Empire that was the enemy of the Galra

~ Unfortunately, your planet was at the farthest end of Ranveig's territory

~ Ranveig had been in love with you for the longest time

~ Eventually you both officially met each other; that's when Ranveig knew that he needed you as his wife

~ When you began receiving courtship gifts from him you noticed that he was paying attention to the things you were interested in

~ Ranveig didn't care that you were the Queen of an enemy Empire, he wanted you

~ Eventually, after secretly spending more time with him, you realized that he wasn't so bad

[shirophantomvox]

As you all know, I have been watching Hunter x Hunter sine last week and I have to say the show is VERY interesting. Unfortunately, Netflix has decided to only upload 4 seasons right now. Who knows when the rest will be uploaded. Anyway, I am fully digesting season 1 which is about the Hunter’s Exam.

Killua Analysis| Illumi Analysis| Chrollo Analysis

Thus far the main character has left home to pursue the same career as his father. He meets Leorio and Kurapika on a ship and stays with them through out the exam. I immediately questioned why and how a 12 year old was able to survive all of that. He had to fight people much older and stronger than him AND use his Hunter’s license correctly. I am going to ramble about some of the characters and my thoughts on them. Keep in mind I haven’t seen the rest of the seasons or the movies yet. I have to say that or else the toxins will slide into my DMs. Let’s get into it!

I’ve mentioned this character before a few times because he has caught my attention the most. Can you guess it? That’s right! I am talking about Hisoka Morrow. Ironically, I saw a screenshot of he and Illumi on my twitter page and I unintentionally said “Who are they?!”. I soon found out that they were on this show. Here is what attracted me the most to looking at this show:

Clothes

I saw a man wearing what seemed to be playing card patterned white or black crop top, a light pink shirt underneath, and fitted white pants. I will admit that this is a unique styling for anyone in an anime that I’ve seen but I like it a lot. I didn’t know why he wore that patten on his shirt(s) until later.

Shoes

When I say this man is stylish, I mean it. I noticed during season 1 he wore court jester shoes. They are black and pointed up where the toe is. To think that this man was running in a long tunnel, outside and did it flawlessly boggles my mind. How did he not twist his ankle?! I ran in Nike slides before and FUCKED my ankle up so badly. In season 2, I noticed that he switched from the jester shoes to what I call “The Casual Boots” which simply means they are still pointed but have a small heel on them. Again, how he fights in heels boggles my mind. Fun Fact about myself, yeah , I cannot walk in heels without my feet swelling! The fact that he flawlessly defeats appointments in heels is crazy and just the thought of that makes my ankles hurt more.

Face

I immediately noticed the tear drop and star on his face. One thing that I love about a character’s design is their face markings and tattoos. One character that I will always love is Clockwork from Danny Phantom. He has a thunderbolt tattoo under his eye that compliments the red in his eye. Some people view Hisoka as a clown because of his makeup and how he dresses but I got the impression of him being a court jester. I’ve made jokes about how he minded me of a human version of Haxus, a Galra solider from Voltron Legendary Defender.

Hisoka has been blessed with a chiseled jaw and a body like Adonis. I’m sure you’ve seen it. This is stuck to my brain like glue because for the longest I have tried to draw my own OC’s like this for a few years and they never come out right. Other characters like Shiro and others have caught my attention in the same way.

Hair

His hairstyle is very unique. I like to describe in the shape of a volcano that shifts between the color of red and orange. How he gets it to look like that everyday is still in question. Some fans have said that they like it down but I like the up-hairstyle. I think the down hairstyle would be appropriate for formal occasions.

Voice/enunciation

This will vary for other viewers but this is how I feel about how Hisoka speaks. I’ve noticed a trend with certain villains in anime shows. Characters like Illumi, Hisoka, Lotor, Zarkon, and many more with English Voice Actors enunciate their words more clearly and sharply for impact and effect. I’ve stated before in an ask about the Galra and their culture before the rift accident where I believe Zarkon has a mid-Atlantic accent. A mid-Atlantic accent is an cultivated accent of English blending together features of both American and British English (specifically Received Pronunciation for the latter) that were considered the most prestigious by the early 20th-century American upper class and entertainment industry. I’m sure this is done to show the characters and viewers that they are serious and they mean business. I don’t know about you but his English Voice Actor did a great job and it fits his personality.

If you’ve made it this far into the post, thank you. It means a lot.

Lastly, towards the end of the series, Hisoka went to “cast” his vote for chairman since Netero died in the Ant Arc. One thing I noticed was his golden dangling earrings. He and Illumi are on the roof of the building talking tab out Netero and that is why they’re casting their votes. He asks if Hisoka has seen the news and then answers with no. Illumi then blasts him saying “If you weren’t playing tag with Chrollo, you could have fought Netero.” I will cannot tell a lie, that was funny and more funny when Hisoka let that slip over his head. Hisoka then decides to pay the newscaster (forgot his name) a gruesome visit, but can we talk about his new attire? He still wears the fitted white pants BUT with a playing card patterned belt? Better jewels?

Better shoes?

Bad bitch mode activated.

Anyway, I am glad you took time to read this post. These are the thoughts that I have gathered about his character and I’m sure I’ll add more as I digest the rest of the show. There are somethings I still don’t understand. If you’d like me to continue these character analysis, be sure to let me know! Keep the asks coming!

[raziroo]

Chapter Four | I Take A Liking To Lilac All Of A Sudden

Pairing: Lotor x Reader (There you go)

Genre: Angst? I don't knowww

Warnings: Mentions of cancer, mild swearing

Word Count: 1,676

Author’s Note: This is kind of a filler? I can't write long shit in one sitting, so. It's important to reader and lotor's relationship, tho.

‘Good luck. Come back alive, all of you, alright?’ I asked, my eyes roving over the three people standing before me – Matt, Pidge, and Shiro. ‘It’s, like, one of the simplest things you could do. You give Lotor, you get Mr. Holt. Simple. Very simple and easily doable. Right?’ My gaze dragged over all of them once more as I picked at my nails nervously. As much as I was aware of the fact that this trade wasn’t simple and easily doable, I knew that I would legitimately have a nervous breakdown if I didn’t spew lies through my teeth.

Shiro smiled at me lightly. ‘Of course. I’ll make sure nothing goes wrong. You guys take care too.’

‘If, however, anything happens,’ Allura chided, ‘the other lions will arrive as soon as possible.’

‘Yeah,’ Pidge said with a wry smirk, ‘so try not to pass out.’

‘Okay,’ I nodded my head rapidly, ‘yeah, okay, I – I can do that.’

‘Good. Well, we’ll get going then,’ Shiro announced, and turned around, the others following him.

Hopefully, all would go well.

. . . . .

You know what? Everything actually went relatively well. Yes, my hunch turned out to be correct and Zarkon chose to go through with the ‘I was lying all along! Bwahahaha!’ route and ended up getting himself killed at the hands of his son, but overall, I’d say it was a win-win, seeing that we got Pidge’s father back (thank God, who knows what havoc she’d wreak if we ended up not getting Sam back) and the evil maniacal tyrant who’d been ruling over the universe for ten thousand years died.

The one downside was that now there needed to be a new Emperor, because following Zarkon’s death, not only the Galra empire, but simultaneously the entire universe had gone into a state of chaos too. There was no doubt that underlings and generals would try to take over smaller parts of the empire, and once that happened, Voltron being able to do anything would be a stretch.

And, according to Lotor, a ceremony to crown the new emperor, the Kral Zera, would now be taking place. Once he said that, he really didn’t need to say more – it was obvious what his implications were. A new emperor was to be crowned, and if Voltron was to achieve peace, Lotor would have to go and secure the throne. It was a sensible thought to be had, no problem. The thing was, to reach the Kral Zera, which was taking place in two days, in itself was a decision to be taken with utmost thought. The Paladins just didn’t have enough time to decide.

On the one hand, Shiro and Lotor were adamant that the latter be crowned emperor; the other Paladins, however, were justifiably hesitant. I had been standing there listening to them going back and forth, not saying a word myself, like always.

To be honest, I just wanted to go sleep. For some reason, I’d been feeling overly anxious these past few days. White was still not responding to me, I was having regular dreams about the day I woke up here. It was always that one day, that first conversation I had with Shiro. It was as if my subconsciousness too wanted me to reach out to Shiro because there was clearly something weird going on with him.

My suspicions only solidified when I heard Shiro’s voice boom through the room. My head snapped up. Lance with a look of shock and the slightest bit of fear on his face, Shiro’s visage twisted with uncharacteristic anger.

‘Shiro. I think you should just relax a little.’ The man turned to me, brows pinched.

‘I am relaxed -’

‘No, I really think you aren’t… so, like… take it easy, yeah?’ I asked, jumping my eyebrows, arms still folded in front of me, maintaining a calm yet defensive posture. I could feel the entire room’s gazes on me. After all, I almost never spoke in such discussions, or any discussions, really, and indirectly opposing Shiro, of all people, was way too brave a thing for me to do.

Shiro looked at me with slight disbelief, a glint in his eye challenging me to speak up. ‘You want me to take it easy? Take it easy? The fate of the universe depends on this, taking it easy is really not an option right now. I’ve put my foot down – as the Leader of Voltron, I’ve taken this decision. You aren’t someone befitted to oppose me.’

Ok, wow. Everyone shared the same opinion apparently, as now the silence seemed piercing. Clicking my tongue, I tilted my head. ‘Well, maybe not as a Paladin, which I’m not, or a member of the coalition. But as a friend, Shiro, you’ve been acting strange. Everyone realises this. You realise this. … Maybe, I don’t know… maybe all this reflecting on you’ve been doing, maybe the role of leader is taking a toll on you? I, heh,’ I chuckle, ‘I really am not sure. But you’re not relaxed, and you’re not acting yourself.’

‘Could you please not tell me how to be a Paladin?’

‘While you all waste time squabbling, sinister forces are conspiring to fill the Galra power void. If I don’t return to claim the throne, there’s no telling who will.’

Does being royalty instantly make you a hundred times more dramatic? Sinister forces? Deadass?

I walked out.

. . . . .

Shiro went behind our back.

Yeah.

Acting like a complete bitch, he took Lotor to the Kral Zera, where, for your information, he could’ve been blown up. By Keith.

I wanted to deck Shiro. Instead, I visited White. I had hopes she’d respond to me, since I’d been brave and spoken my mind. I prayed on all the Gods and Deities above that my expectations became reality.

Yeah, they didn’t. She didn’t budge. The whole entire two goddamned hours I sat in front of White, she ignored me. Frustrated, I ended up punching her, resulting in bleeding knuckles. Lotor saw that, by the way. He seemed to always be keeping an eye on White, regardless of me being there or not, which I admit is a little strange, but I wasn’t judging. These aliens seemed to worship the Lions.

Lotor also invited us to the Galra headquarters, and lord oh my lord, was it fancy. Allura had gone off to do research with Lotor (I’d been about to make a joke about what “research” those two were really about to do, if you catch my drift, but then I saw Lance looking at the pair glumly, and thought better of it. I’d lightly punched Lance on the shoulder, and raised my eyebrows so as to say ‘They’re gorgeous aliens who could give Bella Hadid and Harry Styles a run for their money, it can’t be helped.’ He laughed.) I accompanied Hunk, Lance and Pidge in their shenanigans for a while, but ended up wandering around the place.

Space was beautiful. Even through a window, I wanted to just stare at it for as long as I could, enjoying a show more realistic than ever before. It was really similar to all the Marvel movies I’d watched; I felt a weird sense of pride at that realization. I remembered how I’d cried at the end of Infinity War, my friends clinging to me and bawling as well; how loud I’d squealed at an absolutely steamy piece of Kakashi fanart Cory had drawn; how happy I’d been when Sasha, my neighbour and childhood friend, had come out victorious after battling cancer for years.

I hadn’t realized when the tears had started slipping down my cheeks. I wiped at them, but they wouldn’t go. Sniffling and wiping so furiously my skin would get burned when I heard footsteps, I turned to see Lotor approaching me.

‘Hey -’ shit, my voice was so thick. Clearing my throat obnoxiously loud, I greeted him again. ‘Hey, uh… what… how’s yours and Allura’s research going?’

‘The research has been going quite smoothly.’

‘Hmm. Nice.’

Lotor was staring – no, correction - scrutinising me. I could feel it, his intense as hell eyes burning into the side of my face. I wasn’t going to give up, though. I stared at the window with as much concentration as he me.

He was the first to speak up. Ha.

‘You’re not of the Paladins.’

‘Really? I didn’t know, thanks,’ I still wasn’t looking at him.

‘Deepest apologies if I offended you -’

‘You didn’t, it’s okay.’

‘…’

‘…’

‘…If you wish to answer, why do you appear… distant, compared to the other Paladins? You say they are your friends, but there’s such scarce interaction… you seem acquaintances at best.’

‘… They are my friends. I like to think so, because, well… because I don’t have anyone to go back home to.’

‘Oh. My apologies, I didn’t mean to pry.’

‘You didn’t pry, chill. It’s not that my family’s dead or anything, it’s just that… no, well, my family is dead, but… like, they’ve been dead for around three hundred or so years…?’ I turned to Lotor, brows furrowed. He looked less confused than me.

‘Sorry, no, that’s – that’s shit explanation, um… you could say… I… I’ve lived past my time. I’m alive when I’m not supposed to be.’

I didn’t explicitly mention, as you can see, that I was a time traveller, because I wasn’t really one with that fact yet. I’d accepted it, yes, but that didn’t mean I was comfortable with it. It was still a foreign truth, something I didn’t take great joy in talking or thinking about.

When I turned to Lotor, I felt like he’d understood what he needed to already.

It was bizarre. A lilac alien was the last person I would expect to understand me so easily, but it was what it was.