#Pidge centric

[icypantherwrites]

Was hoping to be able to ask this on anon because I’m shy haha, but my favorite character was Pidge and I absolutely love your writing and was wondering if there was a compilation of any of your Pidge-centric works anywhere? I was super into Voltron years ago and now there are. A lot of fics to sort through 😅 no pressure or anything, just curious to know if there is something like that!!!

Sorry about the anon asks, but I had to turn them off as too many people used them to send me really awful messages (as you can see below they still do it on AO3 >>) and I just couldn't deal with that any more.

To your query though, I actually used to try to keep an updated archive of all my works sorted by character on Tumblr and embarrassingly I cannot find it (but it hasn't been updated since at least 2021 so it's super outdated), so I've done my best to remember all of my Pidge-centric works (most she's the whumpee, but some she's just heavily involved in the story/Pidge emotional angst or character-centric or Pidge&another character relationship moment) but I hope this might help. There's a few unmentioned type "snippet fics" from my Patreon that exist but are not listed as no summary for them. If you check any of them out and have a moment would love to hear from you in the comments on the fic what you thought ♥

In no particular order:

Human Nature -- this is a series of the following three works:

What it Means to be Human: Pidge had always taken pride in the fact she’d been told her mind was like a machine. She just… Never expected to find out that it actually was. Or; Alternate Universe Fic where Pidge discovers she’s an android and begins a journey to find what being human really means.

Interlude: What Makes Us Different (But Also Human): Where Pidge and Keith discuss what about their heritages of android and Galran are the same, different, and discover how truly human they actually are.

Made With Love Pidge has come to terms with the fact she is an android, but she still has questions. And the only people that can answer them are the ones who have known her for her entire life. It’s time to find both Matt and her dad and learn the truth about what happened to her.

"I Am a Fighter"

Summary: The Galra capture Pidge and present her with a choice. Either she makes the weapon they want… or someone dies. Pidge prides herself on her genius, on her logic. But this? This is not a choice. This is torture. She’s being forced to decide if the universe’s fate outweighs the lives of a few individuals and no one, no one, should be allowed to make that call. She has to though. Again and again.

But when a familiar face is dragged before her she can feel her resolve crumbling. Because Keith is not a nameless prisoner. He is her friend, her family. And yet his blood is already dripping from her hands.

A Broken Arm For a Broken Soul 

Summary: Shiro is breaking. Pidge can see it: the exhaustion, the pain, and the growing, splintering cracks. And while Pidge doesn’t know how to fix broken people she does know how to fix broken things. And Shiro’s prosthetic arm the Galra forced upon him is a broken thing. She doesn’t know how much it will help, but… but maybe, if she can fix that then Shiro won’t be quite so broken anymore.

A Needed Distraction

Summary: Mini fic of Lance giving gifts to each team member, Pidge's chapter :)

Koala Hugs (Patreon Exclusive)

Summary: They’d been told that the guest houses were supposed to keep them safe from the deadly low temperatures of the planet. And while for Pidge that is indeed the case, she learns it’s not so for Lance as she’s awoken by a projection of pure terror from the Blue Lion, who can sense her Paladin dying. And now as Pidge hurries to Lance’s guest house and finds him so so cold and still, she can only hope she’s not too late.

Battle Scar

Summary: Scars can cut deep and not just physically into the skin. Pidge finds herself forced to confront a memory when Lance catches sight of a scar she had previously kept hidden. But maybe… maybe this is for the best.

Always 

Summary: Pidge and Lance are on an undercover mission to retrieve supplies they desperately need for their journey back to Earth. Despite the odds everything seems to be going in their favor; Lance is charming the local gang and Pidge is hidden away as backup and they are this close to calling it a success.

And then everything goes wrong.

Not only are the gang members now hunting them, Lance has been poisoned and its affecting his memory. Pidge somehow has to keep them both alive until rescue comes, a feat made more difficult by the minute as Lance forgets first short term details, then the mission, and now... now he’s forgotten her. But no matter what happens Pidge knows she’ll protect Lance and he will protect her. Always.

Pidge + Stitches (Patreon Exclusive)

Summary: “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

The question came out shriller than Pidge wanted but she wasn’t able to ask it any other way as Keith lit a fucking huge metal needle on fucking fire that he planned to put through her skin next to her.

Stardust:  In You and In Me (Patreon Exclusive)

Summary: Pidge is so tired. She can’t sleep though, not until she finds something. Her family is out there, but no matter how hard she tries, no matter how hard she searches, she can’t find them. The universe is just too big. Coran gently disagrees.

Crash and Burn 

Summary: Lance and Pidge crash the supply pod following a freak asteroid storm. And Lance... Lance is hurt. Badly. He's bleeding out and there's no time to wait for rescue. Pidge has to save him. And the emergency flare... Well, it's the only thing she's got.

Red Where it Belongs (Patreon Exclusive)

Summary: How much blood, Pidge faintly wondered, had she lost now? What percentage? The human body couldn’t lose more than forty percent of its blood before death occurred and hypovolemic shock symptoms started around fifteen percent.   She stared at her blood covered hands, at the puddle growing around her, feeling the way everything was going numb and made her guess.   At least twenty percent.   Twenty percent more to go.

Ready to Be a Dragon - (Patreon Exclusive)

Summary:  Lance is a Shifter. He’s familiar with many forms, has his favorites, but there’s one that stands above the rest: a dragon. And with Pidge’s magic that dream has now come true. But what should have been a perfect day of soaring through the skies with Pidge to celebrate his new form comes to a screeching halt when a band of soldiers spots them and wants the glory of slaying a dragon. And even though Lance isn’t technically a dragon… they aren’t going to take no for an answer.

Birthday Wishes

Summary: Pidge blinked. She blinked again. The date remained the same. Today… today Matt would be twenty-five. Her eyes widened with horror. Was, she frantically corrected herself. Matt was twenty-five today. Because he was alive. He had to be.

A Day at the Beach 

Summary: A day at the beach takes a terrifying turn when Pidge falls victim to a deadly allergic reaction. Now the only question that remains is what will kill her first: anaphylaxis or the ocean?

Break It 

Summary: Don’t be scared, Pidge told herself. That was the most important thing. The constant clanking and tugging and crying all around her was very detrimental to that plan. So too were the shackles digging into her ankles and wrists, linking her to every other person on the chain of slaves, that sent her constantly stumbling as they abruptly stopped and started.

Chase Away the Nightmares

Summary: Pidge is hurt. She’s hurt bad. And yet there’s nothing much Lance and Hunk can do. They’re stranded in the middle of a warzone on a hostile planet and help isn’t coming for a long while. No matter what though they will protect Pidge. They’ll keep her from further harm; from the aliens, from injury and even from her own nightmares as her head wound blurs reality and fiction. And maybe, hopefully, soon the nightmare will be over for them all.

Plummet 

Summary: They’re dangling off of a cliff where falling means certain death. And while Shiro’s grip is strong on Pidge’s hand the cliff face is weak. And now time has finally run out.

Scavenger Hunt

Summary: The team has returned to the Space Mall but shopping isn’t what’s on Lance and Pidge’s minds. They’ve got something better planned: a scavenger hunt. It’s a battle of the stealthiest and Lance is the cool ninja sharpshooter so he’s got this in the bag. Right…?

As the World Falls Down Around Us 

Summary: Ever since Pidge revealed she was a girl her team seems to have become a bunch of overprotective, overbearing idiot males and it’s pissing her off. She’s still the same person and more than capable of taking care of herself. But in her determination to prove herself independent she winds up injured. Badly. She can handle it on her own though. She doesn’t need their help.

But hiding her injury has dire consequences and now it’s not just her freedom at stake but her life.

And Lance’s.

The world is falling down literally and figuratively around them and Pidge realizes she can’t save him alone. She needs help. Lance’s help. And as dire as the situation is there’s almost something optimistic about being trapped at the bottom: the only place to go is up.

Now if they can only reach it before time runs out.

Finding the Light (series of following two fics, TW for rape)

Sit Beside You: "I'm fine," Pidge repeated, as though trying to convince both herself and Lance. "I am. Nothing's wrong. I'm okay. I…" Her hands were trembling and she tucked them beneath her arms in the most pathetic looking hug Lance had ever seen. "I'm fine. It's over. I'm fine. Not a mark. So nothing happened. I'm fine." / Pidge is not fine. None of them are. But hopefully, eventually, they will be.

Right, Wrong and the Normal In Between: Pidge didn’t want to think about it. She knew better now than to deny that it had happened or that she was fine but all she wants is for things to be normal again. But normal is a concept that keeps getting further away. Pidge realizes just how far out of reach it is when she freezes in battle and memories distort reality. Everything is wrong. Nothing is right. But Allura doesn’t think it’s so black and white. There are a lot of steps in between and she’s going to help Pidge walk that path and find her way once more.

Rivers Stain the Ocean - (Patreon Exclusive)

Summary: When Lance messes with Pidge’s color coding system the only thing to do is retaliate in kind.   So she dyes him completely blue.   It’s harmless though, will wear off in a few days, and the experience will teach Lance to never touch her stuff again. A win-win if Pidge does say so herself.   Except for the part where the planet they visit the following day to form an alliance has this whole thing about a prophecy and being cursed and deceived by a being of blue. And in order to save both their planet and Voltron...   They’re going to kill Lance.

What Makes a Team

Summary: Lance has been feeling a little lonely of late. Allura’s off with Lotor, Shiro’s been keeping busy on his own and Hunk and Pidge are wrapped up in this whole “Team Punk” concept that has them holed up for hours in the lab. So when he’s invited to accompany the two geniuses on a resource gathering mission he couldn’t be happier and plans to make the best of it.

And then everything goes wrong.

They’re trapped, injured, and if blood loss doesn’t get Lance first then suffocation definitely will. They need a plan but Hunk is down for the count and Lance knows he’s no good for coming up with something of that caliber. But his team needs him and he’s got to think of something. Otherwise… this cave is about to become a tomb.

Inches From Death

Summary: Being captured by the Galra is a lot less frightening than Pidge thought it would be. It’s boring, really. Well, until Lance slowly starts suffocating to death inches from her and she can do nothing to save him. Now… Now it’s terrifying.

A Squeak in the Code 

Summary: Despite the late hour Pidge has no plans to sleep until she finishes running her current algorithm. Four determined little space mice have a very different plan in mind.

Crimson Shock 

Summary: What should have been a routine mission takes a terrifying turn when Pidge is injured. She’s trying not to be scared because it’ll make Hunk more so and she needs him not to be but it hurts so much and the world is growing dark and she is so so scared.

Give Me a Sign

Summary: Matt isn’t sure why he was targeted for a ransom request. He wasn’t a nobody in the Rebels but he wasn’t a somebody either. What did these aliens think the Coalition would offer for him? But as the transmission turned on Matt got his answer. Because those weren’t Rebels on the screen. It was Katie.

Heavy is the Toll of War (series of following two fics)

The Cost of Winning: "The Blue and Green Paladins serve no purpose to the Empire," the Galran commander smirked at his bound captives. "And as such you have no use except as arena fodder." He chuckled. "Give us a good show before you die." / Lance is determined to protect Pidge and save her from the arena. She will not die here. Over his dead body. Hopefully it's not quite that literal of a promise.

The Price of Peace: They may have escaped the arena but things back home are far from all right. Keith is struggling. Shiro is hiding. Lance is suffering violent flashbacks and she's having nightmares too. It's wrong. It's all wrong. Pidge hates it. She wants her space family back. Not this broken version of them. It looks like she's just going to have to fix it. And Lance is going to help.

Over the Edge (my very first VLD fanfic ever :))

Summary: It was supposed to be a simple nature hike. What it turned into was anything but. And now Pidge and Lance are just hoping they can make it back alive.

"Pidge!" came a scream. And before she could even process that she was falling, that she was going to die, a dark hand shot over the edge and wrapped bruisingly about her wrist, but she had never been so grateful to be in pain. Lance's panicked face met hers, although there was a steely glint of determination that so, so many overlooked. "I've got you," he panted, throwing his other arm forward and grabbing even more of her arm. "It's going to be okay."

A Sister In (My) Arms

Summary: Pidge is fevered, fatigued, and yet somehow here she is climbing almost a thousand stairs for the good of the Coalition. But she isn’t doing this stupid ceremony for the stupid Coalition. She’s doing it for Allura. And Allura will be there to catch her when she finally falls.

Trick or Treat 

Summary: Pidge (gently drags) Keith with her to go trick or treating at the Garrison sponsored Halloween event. But what is supposed to be all in good fun takes a dark turn when they realize that someone is following them…

Burnt French Toast

Summary: Every Mother’s Day per tradition Pidge and Matt make their mom practically inedible French toast and are then saved by the local bakery. But there’s no bakery this time. Just burnt French toast. And after three years of missed Mother’s Days, of leaving without answers and causing their mom even more pain, Pidge is horrified that this was all they could do.

Stabbing Pain 

Summary: Where Shiro jumps in front of a spear to save Pidge, gets impaled, and insists he is all right as he’s very painfully bleeding out.

Follow You Home 

Summary: Voltron is heading home. Except, for Keith, the destination of Earth isn’t his home, not really. There’s no one waiting for him there. And, he tries to tell himself, that it’s not like the space family he'd made up here with Voltron would abandon him as they go seek out their own loved ones on Earth. But he’s so used to being left behind, forgotten, why should this time be any different? Fortunately, Pidge is right there to remind Keith just how much he belongs with all of them.

[soadscrawl]

doodles that have accumulated over the past few days (click 4 quality)

[voltron-interstellar-uprising]

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Breakfast in the Castle of Lions

[marinsawakening]

I saw a post that reminded me of this which is why I'm talking about this out of the blue but whenever I see the 'do canonically male characters you headcanon as trans girls count as female characters' debate pops up I remember this one event from the Voltron fandom where an f/f ship week banned genderbending and people lost their SHIT about it, SPECIFICALLY because the mods were like 'we want people to actually focus on the female characters and not submit already popular m/m ships but genderbent'.

This was years ago obviously so standard 'my memory may be fuzzy' disclaimer, but while I believe part of the reasons the mods banned genderbending was bc they believed it to be transphobic (which you could actually argue against and is a stance I don't agree with), and ppl were using that as leverage to argue, but that's not what ppl were actually angry about. Also, I believe the event was run by antis, who had a 'no age gap ships' rule in place, and people were mad about that, but like. The only f/f ships at the time with even kind of an age gap were ones involving Pidge, (which, again, for the record, I never personally gave much of a shit about), and yeah I do believe those were banned and ppl were pissy about that, but most of the ppl arguing with the ship restrictions were doing so in combination with the genderbending restriction, bc what they were mad about wasn't actually about a major female character being banned from the f/f ship week for Ship Discourse Reasons.

What they were angry about was specifically being told their genderbent m/m ships didn't count because they did not, in fact, contain female characters. Arguments were made that, because it was genderbent, it was now f/f and should be allowed in the f/f ship week. The mods went no, those are still canon male characters and popular m/m ships, and we're trying to run a week about the female characters and f/f ships because they don't get enough attention. The mods were fending accusatory and argumentative asks for ages and told people to create their own f/f ship week if they didn't like how theirs was run, which. People did.

A counter f/f ship week was organized but with less restrictions, specifically the restriction on genderbending was lifted. Now, I never followed Ship Week B, because I don't care about shipping and I was there to see more attention given to the female characters, which allowing genderbent m/m content seemed pretty anathema to. But I did check in on it out of curiosity, and to no-one's surprise, Ship Week B contained very large amounts of mostly genderbent sheith, with some shiro/lance and lance/keith thrown in. Like, I'm sure there was also actual f/f content (I remember there being some Pidge/Allura specifically), but I remember very little of it.

And as I alluded to in the large Nuance Disclaimer paragraph: yes this was the Voltron fandom, yes the Disk Horse was involved and made everything far more explosive than it probably would've been otherwise, and also, if the mods hadn't explicitly put the genderbending restriction in the rules list they probably would've gotten maybe a few genderbent m/m submissions tops. It's pretty obvious that a large motivation for Ship Week B was spite, and as someone whose username is literally spitecentral on AO3, I can confirm there is no stronger motivation for fan content than spite. I don't actually think that genderbent m/m is such a major problem in f/f spaces that it needs to be explicitly banned to avoid having it overrun ship weeks.

But even taking all that into account, this whole thing was completely fucking bonkers. Regardless of your opinions on the mods' opinions on genderbending and the Disk Horse, asking ppl not to submit genderbent m/m content on account of it not containing canon female characters is completely reasonable, and the fact that people got mad enough about it to create a whole seperate f/f ship week SPECIFICALLY to allow genderbent m/m content is insane. All the f/f ship week asked was for people to pay attention to female characters for once, and people threw a fucking tantrum about it and not only point-blank refused, but created more content for the male characters out of spite.

So yeah that was kind of a formative fandom experience to me that taught me:

People will take any excuse possible to avoid paying attention to female characters.

People will make literally anything, up to and including female character-centric fandom events, about men.

And that's what I think about any time I see people get offended when others point out that headcanoning a canon male character as a trans girl isn't the same as engaging with female characters.

[danceylancey]

I like the idea of Lance not knowing Pidge was a girl and was just a man comfortable being feminine. This inadvertently gave him the confidence to be more feminine himself. Pidge being unbiased and never really thinking of gender much themself, is fine when Lance asks to paint nails with them and do their hair. They don’t blink when he shaved his legs and joins him purely because of sensory issues around having hairy legs. When Lance had a breakdown because his conservative mother found out he wore lip balm, Pidge buys him a pack of fifteen different flavours and tells him they don’t care. Lance is hurt when he realises that he’s still alone and Pidge isn’t a feminine man but a girl, only for Pidge to shut all of those thoughts down. They tell him their non-binary and like to dress masculine but do feminine body and face care. They tell him he’s allowed to be beautiful and feel handsome, that they get it as someone who wants both and neither at the same time.

Lance finds gender peace with Pidge’s help.

[thatstuckietherian]

🐈hey hi hello!!! this is my silly little therian/alterhuman/otherkin sideblog for posting rambles and such! been wantign to interact with the community more sooo here we are

🐆you can call me stuckie or moth, but feel free to make up nicknames for me based off of my kintypes (like pidge, silver, blue, etc.)

🐺info abt kintypes and abt me under da cut

🦊theriotypes: melanistic grey wolf, silver fox, feline suntherian + ambitherian (specifically domestic cat and snow leopard), seawing (from wof)

🦉hearttypes: crow, melanistic barn owl

🐍linktypes: moths, ball python

🐛fiction kintypes: pidge gunderson (voltron: legendary defender), pidge (voltron: force), sylvester ashling (epithet erased)

i have lots of fiction hearttypes/linktypes btu i wont list them all as i want this to be a more therian-centric blog

🌠kinsidering: spacekin, machinekin, consolekin (specifically nintendo consoles), maned wolf, cross fox, marble fox, werewolf/werecreature, amphithere, peryton, reshiram, xurkitree, rayquaza, palkia, kaiju, botw/totk link, enderman, nightwing, icewing, winged human (? idk how to describe it)

🐉as for info abt me, im an autistic guy whos special interests are stuffed animals, speedrunning, and pokemon (i will assign pkmn to any1 who asks) currently hyperfixated on homestuck unfortunately (/j), but im also interested in drawing, writing, making ocs, most 2010's era cringe stuff, smo, botw/totk, hollow knight, voltron, sonic prime, warrior cats, creepypasta, old tech/consoles, taxidermy/vulture culture, biology, reptiles, and bugs!!

🐾if u ask me abt any of these things i will be very happy, i love yapping to anyone who'll listen :] anyway i hope u enjoy ur stay at my silly little internet corner

help how do i center thhis gif

[soulreapin]

changing hands

Chapters: 1/1

Rating: Teen&Up

Archive Warnings: none 😁

WC: 1544

Tags: canon compliant, card games, keith knows every card game in the universe, pre-voltron lion swap, orphan keith, wow thats a real tag, keith-centric, socially awkward keith, because he has AUTISM, autistic keith

Summary:

“I’m sorry you’re bad at Go Fish,” Keith offers blandly as he picks up the cards and begins to shuffle, not sounding at all like he’s remotely sorry, “But I’m not, and you just have to live with it.”

Hunk frowns at him.

“Are we sure his cards aren’t rigged?” Lance comments, leaning towards Pidge for support.

Keith’s nose wrinkles, “How am I gonna rig a fucking deck of cards, genius? I can barely shuffle them without the corners ripping clean off.”

“I–I don’t know, maybe you carved symbols and shit into them!”

or, that time Keith tells the paladins why he’s so good at cards.

[differentdancesfandom]

I want to interact with so much cool Voltron stuff on Tumblr, but the more I do, the more Klance appears in my feeds, and as much as I love my M/M ships, I never shipped any the guys together on VLD. If I squint I get why Klance and Sheith exist, but I never really found my M/M VLD OTP. (Closest I got was some musings on Alfor/Coran, or Alfor/Zarkon as brothers-in-arms sex friends. I shipped Ulaz/Shiro for the one episode Ulaz was alive o(TヘTo).)

Keith/Lotor could be fun based on their parallel shared heritage, but I can't write Lotor/Pidge AND Keith/Lotor at the same time, my brain can only fixate on one pairing per character when I'm in a creative mood.

And Lotidge has my heart more, so...plus, Lotidge has scarcely over 100 fics on Ao3, Keith/Lotor has 900; I tend to go where I can add something new.

Hell, there isn't really an MM VLD ship I actively read.

The closest I've got for a VLD MM ship is a Thace-centric side story to Lack of Scientific Consensus Concerns Me (I haven't abandoned this series entirely, folks), and the ship I have in mind was inspired by a comment someone left on LoSCCM; the relationship tag on Ao3 says it's even more of a rarepair hell than Lotidge, because of course my brain won't let me write ships people actually want to read.

[boyprinzessin]

Bonding Moments

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hunk & Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt Characters: Keith (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Additional Tags: Sleepovers, Team Bonding, Developing Friendships, Gender Identity, Butch Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron)-centric, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Assumed Relationship, Trans Keith (Voltron) Series: Part 2 of Butch Keith AU Summary:

When Allura decides she and Pidge should have a girl's night, Hunk and Lance decide they should have a boy's night with Keith too. This causes absolutely 0 panic or complicated feelings for the two least social paladins (complete and utter lie).

---

Surprise, this is actually second in a series I had on anonymous! But now I'm putting my name on it because I need to talk to people about it soooo bad so please consider giving it a read!

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 12

welcome the the tenth fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

1. Hands Held Higher by @glassaliceart /orphan_account

For most of his life Lance has dealt with a confusing and hard to pronounce name. It all started in Elementary school with a mix up and now he can't seem to shake the name McClain no matter how hard he tries.

this fic is so underrated fr. yall know how much i love a good hunk & lance fic, and this one especially was so awesome. AND its hunk pov and hunk-centric, which is truly a treat. it’s also the source of my acronym-name lance headcanon!

2. Courting Your Pants Off by @bleusarcelle

The Prince takes a bite of the pastry and melts under the taste, eyes closed in pleasure as he chews. Being childhood friends with the town’s baker is not bizarre, if Keith has a say on it, especially when he gets these kinds of bonuses.

“Amazing, right?” Lance says, his grin turning into a soft happy smile, eyes softening as they stare right at Keith and Keith might choke on his favorite pastry if Lance doesn’t look away the next two seconds.

Being in love with the town’s baker, though? Now, that’s tricky in Keith’s opinion.

[Or the one where Prince Keith's finally gathers up the courage to start a courtship with the person he has known since he was five years old and prays that his feelings are returned from said baker best friend.]

friends to lovers my beloved. prince keith my beloved. bleusarcelle my beloved. all of this fic is truly my beloved like everything about it is so sweet and fun and flirty i just UGH i love it so much. i also love it when everyone knows keith and lance are in love except for lance its so so funny

3. beautiful and blue by spartana (faveour)

Allura frowns, her brow furrowing. “Shiro wasn’t the first person I brought back to life.” Everyone in the rooms turns silent, watching the Queen of Altea. “Did...did you not know this?”

Lance feels his throat go dry.

Pidge is the one to break the silence, their curiosity finally getting the better of them. “So...who was?”

The Altean blinks. “Lance.”

omega shield fics. yall know im obsessed with them like!! i will never ever understand why that was brushed over!! it is an unbelievably important scene. this fic does such a good job of addressing it honestly

4. His Prince In Chains by @bangbangbeefkeef [EXPLICIT]

Prince Lance's secret rendezvous with his bodyguard mean everything to him. Tonight, he wants to make a deeper connection, in more ways that one.

i will never get over galtean klance w prince lance and bodyguard keith like i am so obsessed with them. genuinely a peak dynamic. i love how smushy this one is and the royal speak and the devotion it just gets to me

5. Patience Yields Pleasure by @sleepea [EXPLICIT]

Lance looks Keith over, appraises the sight of him with a pleased smirk. Then, he presses the pad of his thumb into the soft skin of Keith’s lip, draws it down. Keith parts his lips in response, opening his mouth just so.

“Tell me what you want, baby,” Lance breathes, punctuates it with a roll of his hips. Keith moans, low and rough and desperate. “And you can have it.”

i LOVE bossy lance. seriously hes so everything to me. i love bossy and cocksure lance and soft whipped flustered keith. its everything to me honestly 

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!  

[icypantherwrites]

New Fic: Interlude: What Makes Us Different (But Also Human) 

Part of the Human Nature series.

Summary: Where Pidge and Keith discuss what about their heritages of android and Galran are the same, different, and discover how truly human they actually are.

Story snippet:

“Are you tired?” she asked quieter. 

She could only imagine. He’d had the trials with the Blade of Marmora that morning that had been both physically and emotionally draining, then the whole thing with Allura in the hallway, the cryo-pod and yeah, she’d be exhausted too.

He gave a short nod. “Can’t sleep,” he said quietly and his hands — sans gloves, one of the few times she could recall seeing him without them — tightened to white-knuckles around his mug. 

“Come watch a movie with me,” Pidge said, the suggestion out of her mouth before she could think it through but that was perfect actually. “If you can’t sleep, you can at least focus on something else other than,” she tapped her head, “everything else. And maybe the nice, dark room with ambient sound and comfy, squishy couch pillows and blankets will make you oh so sleepy.”

Keith’s lips quirked up the barest bit. “Hercules?” 

“Duh,” Pidge grinned back at him. “Plus the young Hercules sort of sounds like Shiro, don’t you think? And it’ll be like he’s singing us a bedtime lullaby.”

Keith did let out a laugh then — a real one that crinkled his eyes — even as he shook his head and Pidge’s grin widened. 

[pidges-lost-robot]

Right okay no because episode 4 season 2 of Voltron has been pissing me off since I rewatched it omfg so I’m going to rant about the episode, what parts I found to be be especially egregious and why and then maybe some of the changes I would’ve made.

Right so Greening The Cube pisses me off for one big glaring reason: Pidge’s character development

I will start with the Olkari to really get into why everything about this very Pidge centric episode pisses me off.

So the Olkari are described by Coran as a proud class of engineers, builders of vast cities that could change the shape at the whim of their creators and (unfortunately cause Voltron does this with too many alien species they introduce) ‘a seemingly magical ability to manipulate solid metal and with the wave of their hands build a computer inside a block of steel’. This is a species that is known specifically and immediately for their ability to ENGINEER (this is important) and their technological prowess.

(on a side note though, can someone tell me why the writers and producers decide as frequently as they do to make alien species just kinda ‘have hand wavy magic’ as like their main thing they do, like do this even with the Olkari a little even though their whole deal is like technological and engineering prowess??)

Now we find this out when the team have that spore fight at the beginning of the episode when we learn this is a specifically Pidge centered episode with her classically knocking Lance down a peg by noting that ‘a billion sunsets happen everyday, some genius engineer actually built this’. This line right, this exchange is what the episode tells us it’s built on - it’s not actually.

Much like everything in this show especially in the first two seasons, it has good concepts and terrible execution, no desire to actually develop the characters and so little time in a given episode that they always use so inefficiently so this is an ambitious thing to episode to attempt to tackle in 23 mins, and the fact that this exchange is had with the character that I’m pretty sure the voltron writers process for writing his lines was picking bits of paper out of a hat with the options being ‘flirt’ ‘bad joke’ and ‘dumb’ written on them isn’t helping it’s case.

But in a better show that cared about their characters, this exchange is important at establishing this as a viewpoint Pidge has and opposing viewpoint for her to grapple with throughout the course of the episode. Pidge is arrogantly smart and there’s good reason for that - she’s never wrong. Because she is so often right (often because the writers just say she is), it creates the illusion that she is avid and open learner, but this one line kinda suggests otherwise. Lance is ignorant to dismiss the specific mathematics and engineering that had to go into building the castleship, but it’s interesting character wise how equally quick Pidge was to dismiss the idea of sunset being beautiful because it’s just a natural process that happens every day. Pidge doesn’t really get or seem to consider the ways in which natural or everyday processes in of themselves can be beautiful and valuable.

So we get to the spores and Pidge hears about this planet of technological advancements and engineering and is super excited but do you know who in this episode I don’t see getting super excited despite ENGINEERING being a huge part of his character and who he is, and who would likely be an interesting foil to Pidge as despite his own tendency towards being suspicious and worried about new things tends to be a lot more open to learning new things?! HUNK ‘IOSEFA’ GARRETT!!!

Hunk is the fucking engineer of this team! And you know how we establish that this is how Hunk could be the foil? Because when Pidge points out that the spores or pulsing in a programmed manner rather than a strictly natural one, it is HUNK that points out that he thinks it may be a code and jumps to wondering who the code could be from, not willing to dismiss the idea that this spore is coded. Pidge doesn’t quite outright dismiss it, but she says she doesn’t know because it makes no sense. She makes a definitive statement “You can’t program a spore”

Now Pidge and Hunk should be both be excited for this, but in the actual episode, we see this excitement immediately deplete when Pidge is informed they will not be going to the tech haven, but the forest. Once again, this can build off the point of the episode because it establishes another related thing about Pidge’s character. Not only does Pidge struggle to appreciate the beauty of something like a sunset, almost dismissing it, but she also can be quick to presume that unless something is within her specific wheelhouse of knowledge, that it will not be of interest to her. I believe that if we keep Hunk excited here, this would immediately boost the characterisation already present in the episode. Hunk is not deterred by going to the forest, but Pidge presumes theres nothing that will be of interest to her and therefore is going to bore her. Because the point of this episode should be Pidge can be quick to dismiss things she sees as simplistic, boring, everyday and natural things and that by dismissing them as being beneath her, she limits her own knowledge by doing so.

Which brings me to the team testing out the Olkari tech, and Ryner, the Olkari engineer they interact with the most, remarking that the commands using the headset should be in binary code. It is some of the few actual science in the worldbuilding for this place but I think it messes with the characterisation for Pidge. This is tech that has had to be thrown together using the surrounding forest and resources and having it be specifically be operated in a manner that Pidge out of everyone is an expert in rewards her in a way that it shouldn’t. Pidge has already dismissed that this will have any interest to her (she literally once again reinforced just before this arc when Ryner states that natures designs are superior to any they could devise and Pidge remarks that she will take her computer over a tree any day)

Pidge should not be rewarded in this moment by having an immediate aptitude for this tech. I believe for this part, Hunk should be the most likely to be able to work these things, and that Keith and Lance are shortly after, when they show a willingness to defer to a more knowledgeable party when they’re struggling to get it. But Pidge should have the most trouble. She doesn’t get why she is able to pick it up, and is insistent that she does it alone. Shiro maybe asks why she won’t go and just ask Hunk for help.

Because ultimately, Pidge has built up an identity of being self sufficient and being gifted. She may have gotten picked on, kids may have excluded her, but she understood things they never would. They may have been stronger and bigger, but she was right. And nothing would change that. Well, until she can’t get the hang of this tech.

I think with the way that the cube is used in this should incapacitate the lions for now. They need this tech to infiltrate the main city and regain their leader. Pidge has to stay behind in the forest with Shiro while Hunk, Lance and Keith take the lead on that mission because she isn’t able to work it. The leader is supposed to be the genius leader that is the only one capable of designing the cube who is being threatened but I like that he turns out to be safe and was working with the galra. And I think he should reflect something about Pidge. Lubos is a genius, and he knows that the Galra need him, cause they can’t build this without him. But he believes that this value he has to them means that he has the upperhand, they can’t pull one over on him because he’s the one with all the cards. But he’s thrown his own people under the bus in the name of a plan he turns out to not have the upper hand in because he fails to consider that there was value and purpose in the simpler things, his people didn’t need their value to come from being a part of building something advanced for some one else, they could derive joy and purpose from the everyday things too, and has to actually be rescued by Lance, Keith and Hunk when this all backfires on him.

Now what happens in the episode is that Pidge is told she must have a deep connection with nature which she denies but then has an aptitude for this tech and has the best lion for the plan and saves them all from the galra soldiers. Lubos is revealed as a liar and they all get in their lions and find their weapons don’t work. Now of course, cause in Voltron canon, Pidge is the only one who notices things in her episodes and points out that the cube they use their lions to attack is absorbing their attacks and gets to have an i told you so moment as it gets fired back at them and somehow no other person realises this. Its echoing like Coran’s cube. They try physical hits but it does not work and Pidge is soon shot down in Green. Ryner uses telepathy now to tell Pidge she must bond with her lion more as the Olkari heal her lion and she kinda just sits and thinks about how circuits and codes are like tree roots and that seems to be enough.

She then shoots at the cube, and despite it never having worked, it works now and a tree root grows out the cube destroying it.

Once again, Pidge is just kinda being told she can do things and then she does them or just suddenly comprehends and this all suddenly works out and means so much of the initial set up is fucking pointless. Cause what does Pidge learn here that she didn’t already learn ten minutes ago after being shown to be reluctant to accept new information and then immediately changing her mind cause the plot required it? And on top of this, she saves the day doing the same thing the others did, shooting at it with her lions gun and it simply works cause this episode is Pidge centric?

I think the lions stay down for now, they need to use this Olkari tech to shut the thing down before Pidge uses her lion to destroy it with her lions gun. Because I believe that Pidge should not only not have an immediate affinity for this tech, but that as a result of this, should be able to by the end of the episode, which will prompt the bonding with the Lion later to gain access to that ability, the ability to not just appreciate the way that nature can relate to technological advancement but be able to appreciate the value in it. Pidge in the time the others are getting Lubos begins to explain to Shiro that she hates needing to ask for help. Shiro reminds her that she’s part of a team, and her skills are important, but there are things the team can offer perspective on too.

She tells him she knows but and she doesn’t quite finish it, because maybe a little part of her was still valuing her worth to others based on the superior knowledge and programming she could provide and that this in turn made the other side of the coin that she was on some level undervaluing her teammates for not having those same skills. Hunk took to this tech well, he’s not just an engineer but he works a little more intuitively than she does, and Keith while stubborn about fighting and the things he’s good at, is more than comfortable asking advice from those for things he’s not well versed in, and while yes, similarly, Lance can be quick to dismiss the beauty of engineering, he was quick to recognise when this viewpoint did not serve him or the people he was trying to help, and swallowed his pride and adapted to achieve the goal. And more importantly in their comparison from the offset of the episode, Lance can be insecure, but he’s not afraid to be wrong, in fact he expects it.

The core of this episode should be Pidge values intelligence, because to her, if she’s not right, if she’s got it wrong then what value can she have to anyone. And that this belief is limiting her.

Pidge defers to Hunk’s expertise, willing to stay back when the plan to deactivate the cube goes ahead to make she can understand this tech better and maybe get word to the others once she gets it. She can’t help until she can work their tech.

The fights begins to not go well, the cube reflects back at them so Pidge figures out deactivating it will require using attacks not against it, but to isolate it from stimuli it can use against them, but the cube is beginning to mess with the coms and she needs to get out there to them to let them know. She’s scared but if she’s wrong, she’s just gotta keep trying, because being afraid to be wrong will only keep her from getting to them. Ryner encourages her to think of the way nature can be like technology, evolution in a way was a series of refining and improving on a design in response to new conditions, a sunset can only be enjoyed the way it is because a series of variables came to together by chance and refined to allow the experience to be had. Pidge thinks on this, the way that this tech is the same way, and the tech begins to work. She’s still a litlte shaky but she’s beginning to get the hang of it.

She gets the info to them, and they able to lure the cube somewhere that keep it isolated from things it can weaponise, and the Olkari are able to power the cube down. There is the worry that the cube could be activated if the Galra come out to find it, but Pidge feels her lion nudging her mind, able to reach her now the cube has been deactivated. She runs to her lion and rather than thinking of her lion as tech first, sentient second, she recognises that Green has an idea and this is when the ability to use Green’s ray to create spontaneous organic tree growth is used on the cube to split apart the design from the inside. Normally she’d be sad that a design like this is destroyed but in a weird way she can appreciate that is actually looks kind of neat. The other’s remark also that they think it looks cool, Lance even taking a photo of it and sending it to Pidge.

As they head off, Ryner thanks Voltron for their help and plans to join the coalition and gifts Pidge with a small simply engineered model that looks like the machines they had to utilise. Its one of the initial design models they made for the machines and Pidge thanks Ryner for it. As they arrive back at the castle, the little model takes pride of place in Pidge’s work station.

Ultimately the point of this post is that the original episode as it stands frustrates me as it’s an episode that clearly wants to get into Pidge’s character and explore it a little but spends most of the run time being too afraid to allow some of Pidge’s flaws to take any sort of precedence in the episode or allow any of the other team members to offer her any sort of perspective on these flaws. Its too afraid to let Pidge grow and learn things and be wrong. Allowing other characters to interact with these traits of hers, contradict them, and act as foils to them isn’t taking attention away from Pidge, it’s an opportunity to highlight something about her as a person. You can use other characters and how to respond to the main character focus to learn about them through the ways they differ.

[lilflowerpot]

Hi! I was wondering what other vld ships you like/ship? If you don’t mind me asking

Though it's been a hot minute since I've really indulged in vld outside of working on LB, I'm one of those multishippers who can be persuaded on mostly anything so long as the narrative is compelling enough (particularly so far as Keith is involved)! My staples tend to be keitor (obviously) & sheith, but I have a fondness for fics that explore keith/kuron, keith/james, keith/regris, keith/allura, keith/matt in an interesting manner, and I've even read a few solid pieces featuring keith/lance, keith/kolivan, and (most surprisingly of all) keith/zarkon.

So far as non-keith-centric ships are concerned, I'm far choosier, but lotura is always a heartbreaker, ezor/zethird is cute but seldom written (bonus points if axca is their fwb third), shiro/ulaz lends itself to a tender sort of angst, and zarkon/honerva is just outright sad.

I can also go for all the above in a non-romantic sense, of course, but my major platonic dynamics are Pidge & mostly everyone, Keith & the entire BoM, and Lotor & the galra girl squad.

Less so than the ships themselves, it's actually the manner in which any given dynamic is written that sees me become particular: the portrayal of the characters, their mannerisms, their interactions with one another, the circumstances in which they've come together, etc etc... but if you have any fics that you would absolutely swear by—whether they feature a ship listed here or not—then by all means send them my way!

[danceylancey]

Edit: I ended up just writing it out ^^^

Werewolf Lance who needs meat in order to survive. When their first given the green goop he eats it up only because his Mama told him to never refuse food. But it taste like nothing in his mouth and feels like he’s reverse vomiting when he swallows, but he says nothing. People know werewolves exist, but that doesn’t mean their excepted. He’d rather hold off and wait to see how people react when wolves are bought up in conversation. Hunk is the only one who knows and is constantly sending him worried looks but Lance has long learnt how to give a assuring smile to his anxious friend. It’s a week into their time in space that Lance realises that there is no meat at all. The Alteans seemed to be a vegetarian species or at least not hold much value in meats. That night he sneaks out and finds a weird looking creature that walks on all fours and growls a shrilly sounds. He rips into it with teeth and nails, blue-ish blood getting on his clothes but he couldn’t care less. The meat is tangy sure, but it’s meat. He continues to go out twice a week to get his fix, being careful not to be seen by the other inhabitants of the planet so they won’t tattle on him. If Hunk figures out what he’s doing, he says nothing. It’s when they go to the market that Lance almost moans at the sight of a fresh, full and feed cow. He nearly starts eating it right then and there, which he would of if not for Pidge distracting him in time. When he gets back, Cow in hand, he’s planning a way to make her ‘disappear’ or have some kind of accident so he can have real, proper meat. He’s getting sick of the left over food he hid in his room, Jerky is only good for so long. Then Hunk, beautiful and thoughtful Hunk, reveals he bought almost a whole crate of Meat with Corans help. Lance cuddles up to Hunk the whole night, subtly scenting him and avoiding the urge to break into tears. But of course, one problem being solved only leaves room for more to show up. It’s a big misconception that Werewolves are forced to shift on a full moon, but that is really a suggestion more than anything. Wolves should shift at least once a month in order to keep a balance between their human instinct and their more supernatural one. Lance hasn’t shifted since the Castle turned into a spaceship. The four months were damn near painful for him, not just because he had to avoid growling and whimpering like a weirdo, but because it physically hurt. His whole body was begging to shift, bones aching and skin itching like crazy. He eventually shifts one night in his sleep and it’s pure damn luck that Hunk is the one to find him and to help but him a hour or two so he can shift back. It normally would only take a few minutes but he’s reluctant and wants to keep his second form for a little longer. It all comes to light when Pidge is hurt. Their on a dry planet with little glowing bugs when Pidge is shot in the arm. Even with some shifting at night in his room, Lance’s instinct is still the main thing directing him through day to day. So, when someone in his “Pack” is hurt and all can hear is their screams? Lance shifts so fast he rips apart his gear and uniform. He’s at least four feet taller when he shifts and his bones and joint all pop and stretch, muscle tightening and skin burning as a thin layer of fur sprouts all over him. Normally he’d be bothered by the itching in his face as it grows and his teeth become sharp and stab into his gums, but this time he’s too busy crunching down on a Galra Soldiers head to care. He rips through droids and flesh as he charges across half the planet to reach Pidge. He’s using his nose to find her, eyes blurring as he takes apart an entire army with one goal in mind. When he reaches Pidge, Hunk is already there and standing over them with his weapon drawn. Lance takes out the dozen or so soldiers in the room and pushes past Hunk to get to Pidge, sniffing all over them as he checks their wound. Pidge is staring in fear until Hunk says something to him, calling him by his name but Lance can’t hear him.

[numerous-bees-in-a-skin-suit]

some of the ideas for my Voltron (Klance centric because You Know What I Am) Dragon Prince AU!

there might be some changes to designs later, but I’m trying to bled stuff when possible and still make it read as what i want them to be, so yeah.

when assigning characters for this, I’m having a bit of a rough time because I have so many ideas that could work for different things but a lot of them have issues.

I could make Allura take Ezran’s role (she wouldn’t be him, a lot would be changed) OR i could make her take claudia’s role. I think both would be fun but I’m leaning more towards Allura in Ezran’s place for a couple of reasons that i can’t quite articulate, and also because I really REALLY want to have Lotor.

If I have Lotor, I think he would be really good in claudia’s role, not her because they are different characters but I think he would be a good fit for that role too. But then who would I make Viren? Should it be Haggar (viren has dark magic, she has her whole thing with quintessence)? And would I have a Soren or would I put Lotor’s generals instead? And who wouod Aavaros be?

And then come the other paladins: who would they be and how would they fit?

I already know that I absolutely NEED to have the other paladins in here to some extent because while this is a Klance centric AU, I want this to be like an actual AU and not just shoving Klance into some roles and calling it a day.

I could make Hunk that baker guy, but should I make his role bigger than it is in TDP? I have a few ideas on what I could do, but I am not a writer for a reason

And Pidge is someone I have a hard time placing. I have no idea where to put her in this. I could make up a role for her in this universe that has no parallel to anyone in TDP, but I’m not too sure.

And as for Shiro, I do want him to be important here. At least in the sense of the plot (that i have not figured out yet). Maybe he would be turned into a coin? And then the team would have to find him and free him somehow? I think that could work but again, I am NOT a writer for a reason.

Anyways, those are some of my 1:30 am ramblings over this AU that came to me in a dream a while ago, I am open to suggestions and ideas!!!

[hippielittlemetalhead]

Inevitable

Slightly updated version of a one-shot found in my Spot-centric anthology thing I have going on AO3. The little one-shots like this will be posted separate from the actual Sparah fic I'm working on as they are technically from different universes. Some notable changes for the sake of plot and story things.

Feel free to leave constructive criticism or to just share in the brainrot of these characters with me.

Hope ya enjoy!

Pidge is a term of endearment of the time period usually used between close friends or sweethearts. Rós is pronounced (ro-ous) or alternatively (ro-ou-sh) Roíse is pronounced (ro-sha)

He figured there wasn't much he could do when she started talking about the boy who sold near the shop she worked at. He figured there wasn't anything he could really say that wouldn't give him away when she asked if he knew the boy with the cowboy hat and red bandana. But he figured he could stretch the truth a little, she knew he wasn't Manhattan, she knew he wasn't supposed to be seen on this side of the Bridge. That he broke the few rules the Newsies could all agree on just to see her. He figured he could get away with a little white lie.

"His name's Jack Kelly. Us newsies calls him Cowboy."

"Do your nicknames really follow you to every borough?"

"Some of us they'se the only names we'se gots. Most of us don't keep the names our parents gives us."

"Is Rós your real name then, or just one you've given yourself?"

"Is real enough I suppose."

"I don't think I like that answer."

"That's life, pidge."

He knows his days are numbered when she shows up to their usual spot with bright eyes and a smile he's never seen before lighting up her face. He knows this is probably the last time he'll be able to see her like this once Jackie and his boys make good on their promise of a strike. He knows it's probably time he told her the truth.

"And he's taller than I expected. I thought he wasn't much older than you, Rós."

"I'se always been kinda short fer me age. And most of us don't keep much track o' age past when we'se can't swing it in a lodge no more."

"How old are you then?"

"Maybe sixteen? I was real little when I wound up at the lodge. Lots o' times it all jus' blurs together."

"Are there no records of you coming to the lodge?"

"I suppose, under a diff'rent name pro'lly. The one Blue gave me afore he aged out fer good."

"And when he aged out, Spot Conlon took over?"

"You'se don't gots to say 'is full name. None of us do."

"I've only heard the boys around here say his full name, and even then they're real quiet like it'll make him appear."

"Well you knows what they says about speakin' o' devil's."

"Oh you're terrible."

"So'se I'se heard."

There's no getting out of it now as he makes his way through Lower Manhattan. There's a roiling in his gut as he walks head held high and cane gripped tight in his fist as some of his boys tail him. There's newsies from every Borough and working kids alike openly watching him and plenty of adults being a little more subtle about it. There's maybe half of the older Manhattan newsies watching from the shadows as he makes his way through the midday crowd like he belongs here. There's not a sign of Cowboy or The Mouth as he settles down next to an already sitting Sarah. She hands him half a light buttery pastry and he bites back the comment that their usual spot on the fire escape in the alley behind them had better shade.

"So, from what Jack says, Spot Conlon has done a world of good for the working kids of Brooklyn. And newsies through the boroughs."

"I suppose so."

"I wouldn't mind formally meeting him. Davey said he reminded him of an avenging angel."

"Your brudda said what?"

"Oh he made some long-winded comparisons between the boy who earned the loyalty of an entire Borough -and then some- and came to the rescue of the Manhattan newsies and the angels in the Bible. Beautiful to look at and fierce to behold. Warriors of God meant to protect Heaven and Man."

"Your brudda thinks Conlon is an angel o' da Lord?"

"With everything people say about him, is it so hard to believe?"

"You Jacobs are crazy."

"Why thank you."

"Sarah, I-"

"I get why you did it. Once Jack and Davey found out about Rós it was rough. Davey had concerns for my virtue. I'm sure you can guess how Jack felt about his girl spending time with another fella."

"Jacky boy never was good at sharing."

"Then the picture came out. Jack was larger than life before but now, now he was practically walking legend. And Davey was right up there with him. Davey, Les, Racetrack, Blink and Boots and- and all those boys, they were all part of somethin bigger now. But you, you were somethin' else, Spot."

"Roíse."

"What?"

"Me name, me real one, not a nickname or somethin' I chose to make a new life, it's Roíse."

"Huh, I think I like that."

"Figures you would, pidge."

"This changes everything doesn't it?"

"A bit. I'se Spot Conlon and you'se Jack Kelly's girl. We've got a Strike ta run and I think there's more than just a factory or tha docks waitin for us when we'se age out now."

"You boys are changing the world."

"We're gonna try at least."

Francis Sullivan. Spot knew most of the newsies had fake surnames or used nicknames instead of their Christian ones but he could see why Cowboy had changed everything about his. He had been the one to break the news to Sarah when she met them outside of the courthouse sans her beau. He was glad to see she had managed to make it out safe and unharmed, glad that both 'hattan and Brooklyn had listened when he barked out the order to get her to safety above all else.

She doesn't cry when he tells her about Francis Sullivan and his real folks and his sentence to the Refuge. She doesn't cry when he tells her the cause that Cowboy had gotten himself what might as well be a life sentence to kids like them for was practically ground to a halt since Denton couldn't -wouldn't- publish another article about their strike. She doesn't cry when he finds her not two days later and tells her that the one person he had thought he could stand losing a girl like her to Legendary Strike Leader, Jack Kelly had shown up in a fancy new suit and a whole stack of crisp newspapers, denouncing the very war he started. She doesn't cry when she reaches out to pull him in close and rest her head on his shoulder while they both catch their breath like they used to on that fire escape down the block from her family's apartment but he takes a small step back, more a shifting of his weight to his back foot really, enough to keep the space between them. She doesn't cry when he takes his hat off and calls her Miss Jacobs, wishing her a good day with a bow like those fancy gents give the fancy ladies they will never be.

He doesn't say anything when he hears word that Jack 'Cowboy' Kelly is back with a plan. He doesn't say anything when he hears that Mouth is sporting a shiner from one of the Delanceys, that he got it defending his sister's honour. He doesn't say anything when he and his boys make sure Denton makes it to Roosevelt without any of Pulitzer's goons getting to him. He doesn't say a word when he sees Jack Kelly standing tall and proud and bigger than life in front of thousands of young kids who had never had a voice before now, a Jacobs on each side. He holds Les close between him and Racetrack so he doesn't get swept away in the crowd.

He doesn't look for her when Jack Kelly rides away in Teddy Roosevelt's fancy carriage. He bites his tongue when the damned fool comes back, sweeping up his girl and kissing her for all the world to see. He shrugs Racetrack off when the other boy asks him if he's okay. He pretends not to see the way the other 'hattan teenagers watch him, daring him to give them a reason. He turns away when he sees her searching for him in the crowd.

They had won the day, now he had a borough to run.