#although I feel like Keith might have had mixed feelings about this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

starglow-xx · 4 years

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checklist

heyo! i wrote and posted this on my quotev for keith’s birthday (october 23, 2020) and i finally made a tumblr for my fanfiction soo here it is!!

keith kogane x f! reader

genre: fluff and slight angst!

This was what you had planned and written out coming to the Garrison.

(y/n's) Checklist: Garrison Days

Get into the Garrison✔️ extra: best friend is here too! :)

Get a license to become a co-fighter pilot extra: we're getting there!

Make new friends!✔️ extra: pidgeon, lancelot, and sunshine :D

Graduate!

Okay, granted, it's a bit short, but nevertheless it's straightforward and guaranteed to not knock you off course.

Although, this was the list that she seemed to be following at the moment.

(y/n's) Mental Bullshit Checklist

Fall in love with your best friend✔️

Sneak out of the Garrison basically every night to meet up with said best friend who just so happened to be expelled✔️

Fall in love with your best friend✔️

Keep secrets from your other best friends✔️

oh and FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND

✔️

Can't forget that checkmark.

You sighed.

'Damn him and his pretty face.'

Sighing once more, you flopped backward against your bed holding your phone out away from your face staring at the time.

11:23 p.m.

'It's still early. I'm not meeting up with Keith for at least another half hour.'

You frowned at your phone.

'I wish time would go faster. Or better yet, just skip this.'

You put the phone down opting to stare at the ceiling instead. Frankly, you were exhausted. Keith always ends up keeping you up till the very early hours of the morning, just before daybreak, leaving you with a small amount of sleep.

'I mean we do this basically every night. It wouldn't hurt to bail on him just this once right? It's not like we end up finding any clues about Shiro or "the energy source".'

Frowning again at the thought of your lost older brother figure, you closed your eyes and placed your right forearm against your eyes, leaving your other hand against your stomach holding your phone.

'A quick nap wouldn't hurt now would it?'

You shut your eyes slowly and then you were out like a light.

You awoke to light knocking at your door.

Opening your eyes slowly, you stared up at the ceiling, and you wait until your eyes get adjusted to the dim lighting of your room.

'Wait a damn minute.'

You frantically sit upright looking for your phone before spotting it on the floor. You immediately grab it before widening your eyes in horror.

12:46 a.m.

'Shit.'

*knock knock knock*

The knocking of the metal door snapped you back into your senses, making you rush all over the room fixing your appearance while simultaneously packing a small bag.

*knock knock knock*

'There's no fucking way Keith broke into the Garrison. There's no fucking way he's outside my door. No fucking way.'

'Guess we'll just have to find out.'

Taking a big deep breath, you allow the metal door to open.

And you end up staring into the blue orbs of your flirtatious best friend Lance McClain.

A sigh of relief passes in between your breath and you smile as you lean against the frame of your door only then noticing Hunk's panicky presence behind the lanky male. Ignoring his nervousness, you wave at the soon to be yellow paladin, with him exchanging a fidgety smile and wave in return.

Taking note of your sigh and smile, Lance speaks up with a cocky, goofy grin on his face.

"Woah there pretty lady, happy to see me?~"

Rolling your eyes with an equally goofy grin on your face you respond.

"Ha! In your dreams McClain."

"But you're always in my dreams (y/n)!" he replies cheekily.

Playfully shoving the tall teen backward, you stifle a laugh. You always enjoy your time with Lance; it's always been like this, the playful banter, everything. Even since you met as kids at the Garrison.

"Okay! Okay! Jeez (n/n) so violent."

Rolling your eyes again, you take another look at the best friend duo before asking, "So, care to tell me why you're here in front of my dorm at like one in the morning?"

Lance opens his mouth only to have Hunk shove the both of you back into your room with him following and the metal door shutting behind the three of you.

Lance not liking how he was treated so roughly, started to whine, "Hunkkkk what was that forrr- MPPFH," only to get interrupted by Hunk placing a hand on both of your mouths.

"SHHH! We have to be quiet you guys," Hunk lowers his voice, "I heard a guard walking down the other hallway, I think he might turn the way next! Oh wait! I hear him shhhhh"

The three of you stood still and quiet as you hear the footsteps of the guard get closer and closer until eventually fading.

After that very close call, you all sigh in relief as you had done a few minutes prior.

Suddenly remembering the conversation from a few minutes ago also made you become more aware of the time. Taking a look at the clock on your dresser, you curse under your breath.

12:57 a.m.

Quickly taking out your phone from your satchel, you curse again seeing the missed calls and text messages from Keith.

57 missed calls & 6 unread messages

keef♡

where are you?

sent 12:03 a.m.

(y/n) answer.

sent 12:07 a.m.

(y/n) pick up the damn phone! I know you're tired and I always drag you out late but come on pick up.

sent 12:09 a.m.

Okay, okay I'm sorry. Don't be mad at me.

sent 12:10 a.m.

(y/n) damn it. Now's not the time to be mad at me or to be sleeping. I think we might actually find something this time, I can feel it.

sent 12:15 a.m.

Fine then. I'll go on my own this time.

sent 12:17 a.m.

Ah shit. The only time Keith texts you first, and it's because you were being an idiot and accidentally bailed on him. Now he thinks that you've ditched him. Knowing him, he's gonna feel way more upset than you think because of what happened with his mom, dad, and Shiro.

'Ah I fucked up this time didn't I?'

Breaking out of your thoughts, you realize that you have guests at the moment.

You whispered yelled at the two taller boys, "What are you two doing here?!"

Lance sulked, "Aw (n/n) I could've sworn you were happy to see us like five minutes ago."

"That was before you almost got me in trouble!"

And that's coming from the girl who sneaks out of the Garrison on a daily basis. But they don't need to know that.

Not yet at least.

Hunk (bless his soul) interrupts Lance once more as he opens up his mouth, "Lance here wants to do some "team bonding" so we were going to get both you and Pidge, but we saw Pidge run out of his dorm, but we still needed to get you and this is the worst team-building exercise ever."

Ahh that's right.

The four of you got scolded today after failing the simulation.

Hunk puked, Pidge removed his (you're still doubting if he is really a he, but no judgment there) safety harness, and Lance crashed the jet. You on the other received praise from Iverson after attempting to pull a safer (cough cough Lance) emergency landing, and trying to pull the team together.

Well, it's your job as the co-pilot to keep Lance in check, just like how you attempted to keep Keith in check. All your teachers and other friends warned you about sticking close to Keith. They never did understand that you two had a close bond.

You two grew up together after all.

"Seriously (l/n) stay away from Kogane. You're a bright kid, you got real skill. Don't get mixed up with that troublemaker."

You look down as Commander Iverson speaks to you.

"Well go along, break will be over soon enough. See you in class."

He walks down the hallway as Keith approaches you carefully as he enters from the other side of the nearby wall.

"You can stop you know. You always get in trouble for sticking with me. I'll understand." He says in a low voice looking down.

You, on the other hand, shoot your head up and quickly wrapping your arms around him surprising the young teen.

"Are you dumb?! I'd never leave you Keith! We'll go through thick and thin together remember?! If anything, you might be the one leaving me! You move too fast you might just leave me behind!" you exclaim while squeezing him tighter fully aware of the growing blush on your face.

He lightly laughs before wrapping his arms around your smaller frame squeezing you just as tight.

"Don't worry (y/n), I don't plan on it."

You refuse to let him go as you don't want him to see your red face, not knowing that he hasn't let go for the same reason.

As you both got older, around the disappearance of Shiro, Keith gets expelled, but the both of you still manage to keep in touch seeing as you frequently sneak out.

"Why don't you two go ahead? I was just about to get some shut-eye, so tell me how it goes tomorrow okay?"

Yes, sleep would be pretty nice, but in reality, you needed them to get out of here so you can find Keith.

Please say okay, please say okay, please say okay.

Scrunching his eyebrows, Lance denies your request, "What? No! You're part of the team, we need you there!"

'Damn it.'

Before you know it, you find yourself on the roof checking out Pidge's equipment.

"Stop touching my equipment!"

You and Hunk pouted.

Now, you find yourself and the other three spying on an alien ship on a small ledge after hearing the emergency lockdown announcement at the Garrison.

You blinked.

"Hmm hey, Lance?"

"Yes (y/n)?"

"Why the hell are we here?"

Lance stopped looking through the binoculars to look up at you.

"We need to find out what's going on! But we'll never get past those guards to take a look."

Pidge types away on his computer.

Hunk sighs, "Aww yeah, I guess there's nothing else but to get back to the barracks right?" and he gets up from his crouching position and starts to leave.

'Good idea Hunk.'

As you yourself start to head back, Pidge speaks up.

"Wait they set up a camera in there and I picked up its feed. Look."

The three of you gather around Pidge, only for your breath to hitch and for tears to start gathering in the corner of your eyes.

'Shiro?'

You think back to Keith's message.

"I think we might actually find something this time, I can feel it."

'Damn it, I hate it when he's right. I need to text Keith.'

You snap back into reality to dig through your bag only to hear Lance say, "No, what we need is a distraction."

As if on cue, a series of explosions go off in the distance.

'Oh no Keith I swear to God.'

"Ahh are those the aliens?! Are they here?! They got here so quick!"

Hunk continues to freak out, but Pidge interrupts him.

"No, those explosions were a distraction! For him. The Garrison is heading towards the blast, while he's sneaking through the other side!"

You could recognize that red hoverbike anywhere.

So, you quickly make your way down the small ledge ignoring the shouts of your friends.

"(y/n)! Wait! Oh that guy is always trying to one-up me!"

Lance quickly runs after you.

"Who is it?" Hunk asks.

"Keith!"

"What?! Are you sure?!" Hunk is quick on Lance's heels.

By now, you're way ahead of the three.

"Who?!" Pidge questions.

"(y/n)'s boyfriend!"

But not far enough to not hear that.

"I heard that Lance!"

(y/n's) Mental Bullshit Checklist

Find your lost brother figure✔️

Get chased by the Garrison✔️

Realize that your bestest friend might be mad and hurt because of you✔️

Today is just not your day.

*A few minutes prior*

"Nope, no, n-n-no no you don't. I'm saving Shiro."

As Lance makes his way over to Keith and Shiro, you find yourself locking your (e/c) eyes with Keith's purple ones.

His eyes widened, not noticing Lance taking Shiro's other arm.

'Wait. Is that a metal prosthetic?'

"(y/n)?"

Snapping back into reality, (you seem to be spacing out a lot recently) you try and wrap yourself around this delicate situation.

Keith thinks you abandoned him on something that means a lot to him.

Keith is possibly mad at you.

Keith finds Shiro only for you, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge to barge in.

Keith might be thinking you left him alone for those three.

Keith looks hurt.

Your already teary eyes soften along with your voice, "Keith I-", only to get cut off by Keith himself.

"Who are you?" he quetions looking at Lance.

'Ouch.'

'I guess I deserved that.'

"Who am I? Uhh the name's Lance?"

Lance blinks waiting for Keith to recognize him. When he doesn't he speaks again.

"Uhh we were in the same class in the Garrison."

Keith still not recognizing him asks, "Really? Were you an engineer?"

Lance tired of his confusion clarifies, "What no. I'm a pilot. We were like rivals. You know, Lance and Keith neck and neck, and with (y/n) breaking up all our fights."

You deadpan at the brown-haired boy.

'Does he mean those petty fights where Keith doesn't acknowledge him, and I end up dragging him away?'

As if suddenly remembering, Keith says, "Oh wait I remember you. You're a cargo pilot."

"Well not anymore, I'm fighter class now thanks to you washing out."

Keith being Keith sarcastically congratulates him.

"Seriously, how are you (y/n)'s bestest friend?! You don't even know anything about her other best friends? And what's with the attitude?! I swear! I always tell her to stay away! You're a bad influence on her!"

You warn the blue-eyed boy, "Lance..."

"What?! I'm just trying to look out for you!"

*Flashback end*

Now, the five of you along with an unconscious Shiro are all on Keith's red hoverbike with the Garrison hot your trail.

Keith's driving, you're behind him, behind you is Lance, the Pidge and Shiro, and finally Hunk in the back.

Hunk's panicky voice carries through the air, "Oh man, Mr. Harris just wiped out Mr. Montgomery! No no, he's fine."

Keith speaks to you without looking back, "(y/n) hold on."

You quickly wrap your arms around his masculine chest.

'At least he isn't that mad to ignore me completely.'

"Big man lean right!"

Hunk quickly listens and leans right guiding the overworked machine to the right making it jump to another rock structure. That maneuver efficiently stops one of the two Garrison vehicles chasing you.

Your heart is pounding realizing that you're all heading towards a cliff.

"Uhh guys?!" Hunk promptly points out what you've just been dreading. "Is that a cliff up ahead?!"

You hear the screaming of your teammates behind you and Keith leans forward forcing you to do the same. He grips and twists the handlebars making the bike speed up while confirming Hunk's question.

"Yup."

You don't even have to look at him to know he has that hot stupid smirk on his face.

'Damn it. My heart just skipped a beat, and it's not because we're falling off a cliff.'

Lance continues to scream at Keith.

"What are you doing?! You're gonna kill us all!!"

Not giving Keith the time to respond, you answer Lance with your own yell while squeezing your eyes shut and squeezing Keith even tighter.

"Lance just shut up and trust him!"

Smoothly maneuvering his bike, Keith "lands" back on solid ground and zooms away.

You guys were alive.

Barely.

But that's beside the point.

(y/n's) Mental Bullshit Checklist

Save Shiro✔️

Almost get caught by the Garrison✔️

Almost die falling off a cliff✔️

Feel Keith's masculine chest✔️

You, Shiro, and Keith look at the sky as the sun begins to rise.

Once again, you blank out as you try to wrap your head around what had happened in the past few hours, missing Shiro and Keith's conversation and Shiro calling out your name.

"(-/n)"

"(y/n)"

"(y/n)!"

A sudden shake of your shoulder snapped you back into reality, making you turn your head towards Shiro who was looking at you worriedly and Keith who was looking down and his feet.

'Ah.'

'He's still upset.'

"Are you feeling okay (y/n)?" Shiro asks worriedly.

You look up at him, with a smile on your face and you cheerfully answer his question.

"Ahh Shiro, you haven't changed, always acting like a dad huh? If anything I should be asking you that question!"

His face showed mild surprise but then he chuckled and ruffled your hair making you squeal.

"You haven't changed much either (y/n). I'll be heading inside, are you two okay out here or are you gonna follow?"

Once again your focus falls on the rising sun.

"Nah, I think I'll just stay here for a bit longer. I can meet you guys in there a bit later."

"Okay, just be careful. You Keith?"

"I think I'll stay here a bit longer too. You can go meet up with the others."

You inwardly flinched. The two of you were going to be alone.

"Alright, I'll head back inside."

Now, it was just the two of you.

A light breeze past by, and you shivered. It was only then you realized you didn't have a jacket.

'I guess I didn't realize it was cold with everything going on.'

Your thoughts were once more interrupted by something getting draped around your shoulders.

Your eyes widened and you look over your shoulder to see Keith looking away from you now only in his black v-neck shirt.

You bashfully look away as you hold the collar of his jacket close so it stays on your shoulders, with your left arm hugging your body to keep the warmth. You mutter a quiet thanks only to have been met with silence.

It was like that for a while, until you couldn't help but speak.

"Keith I can-"

"Why were you with them?"

With your body now turned as to get a good look at him, you frowned as you process his question and because he still wouldn't look at you.

"Keith, they're my team, even if I didn't want to, I'd still go anyway. They're my best friends Keith you have to understa-"

"Are we not a team? Are we not best friends?"

You visibly irk as you get interrupted yet again.

"I never said that."

"You were thinking it."

"Dammit Keith! Let me talk!"

The purple-eyed boy finally turns to look at you with an agitated look on his face.

"Why should I?! You'll just leave like how everyone else did! It won't matter."

Frankly, you were hurt. Did he really think that you'd just leave him after years of memories and a childhood of growing up alongside each other? But, you understood why he was so upset. He was scared.

Not wanting to lose your childhood friend and your first love, you try and defuse the situation.

"Keith, I understand why you're so agitated right now, it's okay, I understand, I know-"

"Know what (y/n)?! You know nothing! You don't know anything! You don't understand anything!"

It's a good thing the both of you were at a far enough distance away from his shack.

He slowly walks towards you waving around his hands and arms to show how agitated he really was.

"What made you think you knew anything?!"

"Our friendship! Our trust! Our bond! Our everything Keith! Did any of that even matter to you?!"

"I don't think it mattered to you! If it did, you wouldn't have abandoned me! Especially since this was important to me!"

You couldn't believe your damn ears. You scoffed before yelling back, not caring about the tears starting to fall.

"I didn't fucking abandon you Keith! And don't you dare think that this thing was only important to you! Shiro means just as much to me and much as he does to you!"

"Then why the hell did you not show up?!"

"For God's sake, I was sleeping! Call it a lame excuse I don't care! Keith, I'm tired. Every single fucking day we're out till fucking daybreak. On top of that, I have class! I have training! It's fine for you because you don't even go to school anymore! You can sleep all day then explore all night! Me? I run every single day with less than four hours of sleep. It's a fucking blessing to even get one. I understand that you're scared! Cause I am too! We grew up together Keith! Do you know how devastated and worried I was after you got expelled?! I thought that was the end for us! Here you are yapping that you have it rough, that I abandoned you, and some other bullshit while I have it just as bad!"

Your voice was raw and cracking, tears streaming down your face, eyes starting to puff up, but at this point you didn't care. You didn't care if the others could hear you, you didn't care that Keith stopped yelling, you didn't care that his eyes finally softened and weren't sharp and spiteful anymore, you didn't care.

You didn't care because you felt your heart break. You want him to know. You want him to know how much you struggle every day, but most of all you want him to know how much you cared. You want him to know how much you care for him even if he doesn't really understand right now, even if he doesn't care for you as much as you do you, or if he doesn't care for you the way you want him to. You wanted him to know that you loved him. Him and only him. Even at the risk of rejection.

"(y/n)..."

"No! I listened to you, now you listen to me Keith Kogane! I understand that I hurt you! I understand that you have trust issues and that you don't want anyone to get too close only for them to leave, I understand! You don't want me to be another repeat of the people in the past; your mom, your dad, Shiro! I understand more than you think! I care about you so much so Keith...please."

At this point, Keith looked like he was going to cry too, and Keith never cries in front of you anymore.

"(Y-y/n) I-I didn't know. I-I'm sor-"

You stop him right there.

"Keith, you have nothing to apologize for. You didn't know cause I didn't tell you, I never wanted to tell you but but oh my God fuck. Keith, it's because I love you!"

There. It's out in the open. No going back now.

"I love you more than friends, more than best friends, more than siblings, Keith I love you with all of my heart! And it hurts so much seeing you like this. I don't need you to love me back, what I need you to do is to trust me. To trust me with everything you've got because there's no way in hell I'm going to get up and walk away from your life. I will always be there for you. I'm your best friend. Through thick and remember?"

You're choking on your own words, and your voice trembled with every other word you've said but it doesn't matter now. You did it. You confessed. Maybe now, your heart can be at peace.

You look up at the boy you've grown to love and you take a good look at him. His long dark locks, his captivating purple eyes, everything.

You take a good look because you believe that this is going to be the last good one you'll have. The last one before he'll shy away from you. But that's okay. It's okay because you'll always be there for him even if he won't be there for you.

You remove his jacket from your shoulders and gently take his hands placing the jacket into them. You feel his eyes on you and you look up at him placing a gentle smile on your features. You watch as his tear-streaked face looks at yours with so many emotions. More emotions than you've ever seen on him.

Your hands never left his and with one last act of bravery, you lean up and kiss his cheek.

You gently pull your hands out of his, and turn towards his shack.

You turn around and bravely smile at him and say, "I'll be heading back inside now okay? If you need anything, you know who to find."

You turn back around and you slowly walk away with one of your hands covering your mouth to cover up your soft sobs. You just really wanted a hug, and you plan on getting four big ones.

As for Keith, Keith can't seem to move.

Don't get mixed up, no no he isn't frozen because he couldn't believe his best friend just confessed to him.

Well actually that was one of the reasons, but that's not important right now.

Your confession and love? Oh boy, he thought that was only a crazy, hopeless dream. Something that he could've never thought would happen.

Let's face it, the boy's in love with you.

Head over heels really.

How could he not be?

You were a godsend in his eyes. You were kind to basically person that you've met, you're compassionate, you're intelligent, and so much more. Your good looks were only a bonus. And one of the most important things was that you were always there.

You were there to defend him, you were there to comfort him, you there to just be with him.

You were always there. You were there when he cried over his mom, you were there when his dad died, you were there when he found out about Shiro. You were right, the two of you went through thick and thin.

Getting back to the point, he couldn't seem to move was because he hurt you.

Yes, Keith can be an ass, but he's always made sure not to accidentally hurt you in any way shape, or form, but he did.

Seeing you with Lance, Hunk, and Pidge hurt. It stung like hell, but after what just happened, he knowing what he just did hurt far worse, but it hurt just a little bit more realizing that you would've probably planned on not letting him know about your struggles and pain ever. But, something changed, something changed your mind, so you told him.

Just like you wanted, you put your feelings and inner turmoils out in the open, and now he knows.

Seeing you standing there, pouring your feelings out to him voice raw and filled with emotions tears rapidly falling down your face, your trembling body, it, it was just too much for him.

And after you said that if he needed something, anything, he could go find you; it made him realize how he truly doesn't deserve you.

Yes, he has thought of it before. He can't help it with what seems like every single person in existence telling you that he's bad news or their doubts of him, and with his own insecurities. Truth be told, their words always end up right back into his head, no matter how long it's been.

"Stay away from Kogane"

"Don't get mixed up with that troublemaker."

'You don't deserve her.'

"(y/n) is that guy really your friend? He seems like he's a cold person."

"(y/n) that guy is trouble! Why do you hang out with him?!"

'She's too good for you.'

"Seriously, how are you (y/n)'s bestest friend?!"

"I always tell her to stay away! You're a bad influence on her!"

But even with all those words meant to scare you away, you stayed. He couldn't help but remember the words you told him long ago.

"Are you dumb?! I'd never leave you Keith! We'll go through thick and thin together remember?!"

It was then when Keith made his decision.

You were almost at the front door. Surprisingly not one of the four boys three actually, but you didn't know that yet checked outside after all that yelling. Not like they heard any of it

You were lost in your thoughts. Thoughts about Keith, your past, your pain, who would give the most comforting hug right now probably Hunk when someone I wonder who it could be grabbed your wrist and tugged you back so you would be facing him.

Knowing who it was you kept your eyes shut as if you didn't, you knew you were going to cry.

But Keith was stubborn. You of all people know that better than anyone.

"(y/n) look at me."

Keith was stubborn but it didn't mean that you weren't too.

Keith's voice cracked.

"(y/n) please."

Your resolve wavered, and it seems your hesitation was obvious as Keith softly spoke, "You don't have to say anything, I just want you to hear what I have to say."

You hesitantly opened your eyes and you could already feel your eyes watering again.

Keith's entire being seemed to deflate soften at your state.

"Okay, I know I don't deserve you, much less deserve you taking your time to listen to me right now but I just want you to know that I love you."

Your eyes widened. You weren't sure what you were expecting but it certainly wasn't that.

"Keith, if you're just saying that to-"

"(n/n) I promise you that I'm not just saying it because you said it to me. I'm saying it because I truly do love you."

Your voice was stuck in your throat and you gently shake off his hold on your wrist. You opt for wrapping your arms around yourself.

Your glassy eyes showed confusion and panic.

"I-I don't understand," you shakily argued.

"(y/n) you've always been there for me and that's something I will always be grateful for, and it's one of the many reasons why I fell for you."

You didn't respond. Instead, you continued to listen to him. You listened to him because he was allowing himself to be vulnerable. Even Keith was surprised by his own actions. Yes, times and times again has this broken boy show you his vulnerability, but he always made the effort to do so in a private setting.

Not right outside his door with his brother figure and three strangers waiting for him inside.

Keith gently tilts his head, "(y/n)..."

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

You softly gasped, not expecting the purple-eyed boy to give you his thanks.

From your angle you see a small smile on the boy's face which make your eyes water even more than they already have and your tears once again fall down your face, but at a slower speed.

"I will always appreciate you, and I will always be grateful for all the things you've done for me growing up. I love you. I love you so much, but I'm so sorry that I've been hurting you all this time. I understand if you'd rather go out with Lance seeing as he looks out for you-"

You cut him off with a tight hug that is filled to the brim with love, affection, and warmth. So much warmth. Keith is remain frozen not knowing what to do.

He wants to hug you so badly, but remains from doing so because he doesn't want to hurt you again, but he hears you mumble something that gives him so much reassurance, so much that he forgets all about his insecurities involving you.

"It's okay, Keith. We're okay."

With that, Keith's eyes start to glisten and he gives in and just lets go of reality for a moment to hug you. To hug you and let his tears fall because he knows he's safe with you.

That you are his home and he is yours in return.

(y/n's) Mental Bullshit Checklist

Release and spill all your feeling onto best friend✔️

Act like a crybaby in front of your best friend✔️

Confess to your best friend✔️

Think you get rejected by best friend✔️

Find out your feelings are reciprocated ✔️

omake!! :D

"Are you two getting inside or not?! We kinda have an alien problem on our hands!!"

You and Keith jolt out of your hug not expecting to be interrupted by your team pilot at such a vulnerable bonding moment. The both of you turn your heads to see Lance sticking himself out the window shaking his fist into the air as if he was an old geezer yelling at little kids to get off his lawn.

You see Keith visibly irk and you sweat drop seeing Lance duck back inside closing the window letting out a small shriek.

"Remind me to stab him later."

You look up at the boy who's still glaring at the now closed window and softly chuckle before letting out a small "don't" but a teeny weensy small side of you secretly not minding the planned assault.

You hoped Lance knew how dodge.

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corvus--rex · 3 years

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Next in this bizarre collection of abandoned, semi-abandoned, and deeply sleeping wips is one that has more direct time travel. It's more in the deeply sleeping category as I'm still picking at it. It's also another Omegaverse, so if that's not your thing, feel free to skip it. Also, both Lance and Keith practice polytheistic religions that have been altered to fit an ABO setting

~*~*~*~*~

A few years after the war, the Paladins made the newly rebuilt Castle of Lions their home. Shiro and Adam retired from the Garrison and into diplomatic careers for the Coalition. Pidge’s parents were still with the organization, but she and Matt preferred to be more hands-on, maintaining the places on the castle and with the now-former rebellion. The still close-knit team were still recovering from the recent bonding ceremony for Hunk and Shay, who were also staying aboard the castle, although it was still uncertain as to whether or not human and Balmeran genetics were compatible; they were just waiting on genetic compatibility testing. Lance and Keith, however, were ahead of the game. They had gotten engaged while on the way back to Earth, announcing it to Lance’s family on their return. Not wanting to wait, and with no way of knowing what would happen in their war with Honerva, they’d held a small bonding ceremony the night before leaving Earth for the second time.

Keith had it the worst when it came to post-Hunk/Shay bonding recovery. He wasn’t going to miss Hunk and Shay’s bonding for anything, even if it meant dealing with Lance’s fussing. It had gotten bad enough during the reception that both Krolia and Lance’s mother Mariana told him to sit down and let his pregnant mate be. Keith could understand where Lance’s caution came from. While their little one was only one quarter Galra, and developing as a human child would, Keith’s half-Galra physiology had other ideas, his body and hormones changing like a shorter Galra pregnancy. It meant that he needed to be monitored more closely than he would if the pup’s development and his body’s lined up. It also meant that they didn’t have a concrete due date, and that it was entirely possible he could deliver a premature pup. But at sixteen weeks Earth time, there were still another two months until they needed to watch for their little one’s arrival. They had stayed behind on Earth an extra couple days after Hunk and Shay’s bonding ceremony for some of Lance’s extended family who wanted to see them both before the pup was born. Keith was exhausted from the three days of parties surrounding the ceremony and the event itself, but they were headed back to the castle after that and wouldn’t be back for another eight months, and by then the pup would be at least two months old.

Nadia and Sylvio were excited about their cousin, and had to be reminded that Keith was tired from everything going on. Right then, they wanted to see the inside of the Altean pod the matepair were taking back to the castle. Keith and Mariana burst out laughing when Lance appeared with his niece and nephew each tucked under an arm.

He “dropped” the giggling, squirming pups in front of his oldest brother. “I think you lost something.”

“Who, me? I haven’t lost anything,” Luis said, feigning ignorance.

Still laughing, Nadia and Sylvio began scaling their mountain of a father. Once they got to hip height, he grabbed them both the same way Lance had been carrying them and took off running while mock screaming, making his pups shriek with laughter. Lance just laughed to himself and shook his head at his brother and niblings.

“Like you can talk. You know damn well you're going to be just the same with ours,” Keith called.

“Yeah, probably,” Lance admitted, walking over.

“‘Probably’ nothing, mijo. I know you will,” Mariana said, “Just don’t forget to call when that little one arrives. We’ll be praying for a safe delivery.”

Lance’s parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles all practiced Santeria, and while Lance and his siblings had been raised in it and still believed, none of them actively practiced. His lack of participation didn’t lessen his appreciation of his mother’s intentions. He would have been worried when it came to telling Keith about his family’s practices if he didn’t already know about his Omega’s neo-paganism. Keith, likewise, had been relieved when Lance didn’t immediately declare him insane and instead explained about his own family.

“Thanks, Mami. So will we,” he said, hugging his mother.

“Doesn’t matter where you are in the universe, the Orisha will hear you,” she told him, then pulled Keith in, “And so will your gods, mijo.”

“I know. Thanks, Mami,” Keith answered.

The pod’s comms chirped, and Lance disentangled himself from his mate and his mother, disappearing into the small craft. Mariana wrapped an arm around Keith’s waist and he leaned into it, fully appreciating her maternal warmth. She was one of a very small number of people who had open permission to touch him. She understood that, especially after Lance had explained about Keith’s childhood in the foster care system and that he was largely touch-averse unless you were one of a select few who had earned his complete trust. She’d earned it through being the woman she was and treating Keith like one of her own children.

She reached over, resting a hand on his growing belly. “I pray for this pup every day. You two are going to be wonderful parents. And I know that you both will be safe up there – you and this little one.”

Keith breathed a laugh. “Altean technology makes humans look like we’re still playing with sticks and rocks. I mean, on an interstellar level, we kinda are. I’ve been thinking about that lately,” he admitted, “The ‘we’ part. I’m still half-Galra. Most of the time I feel like the only places on Earth I feel like I belong are out at my Dad’s place, and here.”

“Oh, mijo. It doesn’t at all matter that your wonderful mother isn’t human, or that you share her blood. What matters is what you do with it. And both of you used your heritage to do the right thing. And now she’s leading her – your – people to a new way of thinking. You both have done so much good. Never forget that. Or that you’re family. You’ll always belong here. And not just because you're carrying my grandpup.”

“We weren’t exactly planning on this.”

Mariana laughed. “Neither was I. For any of them. None of my five children were planned. We always wanted pups, but we decided to let it happen however it was going to happen. And we were blessed with five beautiful pups.” She nudged him gently. “Tell me, do you have any thoughts on what your pup might be? I knew for all of them, even when my mother was trying to tell me that I was wrong. Especially with Lance. She was convinced he was an Omega. And then he was born all Alpha.”

Keith nodded, understanding. “Yeah, that’s apparently not just a human thing. Mom said she knew I was an Omega before I was born. I think this one is too. I’m pretty sure it’s an Omega boy. Little brat keeps moving and won’t let us see, so we don’t know for certain yet, but I feel like it’s an Omega boy.”

“Oh, Veronica was the same. We didn’t know until she was an Alpha girl until she was born. And she’s still stubborn and independent.”

{What do you think, sweetheart? You an Omega boy?} she asked the unborn pup.

Her question was answered with a sharp kick.

“Is he always like that?” Mariana asked in surprise.

“Yes. Yes he is. I’ve been feeling him moving for almost two months, but it got more intense about three weeks ago. That, apparently, is a Galra thing.”

“What’s a Galra thing?” Lance asked, walking down the loading ramp.

“How hard the pup kicks,” Keith said.

“Yeah,” he agreed, “It really is that bad. I’ve woken up in the middle of the night before because of it.”

“Now imagine how I feel! Anyway, what was the comm call?”

“Oh, right. Just Allura asking when we were planning on going back up. I told her we were finishing getting the pod packed up and we’d be leaving within the hour. Varga. Whatever.”

Mariana hugged them both again. “Don’t forget. I want to know.”

Keith’s lips twisted in an amused smile. “As soon as we do,” he said.

Lance didn’t ask about it until they were settled in the pod’s cockpit and on their way to the wormhole point. “What are we telling my mother when we know it?”

“Huh? Oh, the pup’s primary and secondary sexes. I said that I feel like it’s an Omega boy, but that we haven’t been able to confirm it,” Keith explained.

“Yeah, he’s being a little brat about it,” Lance agreed, “We will find out eventually,” he added, poking the unborn pup only to be rewarded with another kick. “See? Brat.” He stood up, stretching hard enough to pop his spine. He let his arms drop and extended a hand to his mate. “Come on. Allura’s not opening a wormhole until we’re way out of system, and I want snuggles.”

When they first packed the pod to leave for Earth, Lance had shifted a few things around in the passenger compartment, making room for Keith to set up a nest. He was worried about their pup and was trying to just be a good Alpha for his Omega. Keith was particularly hormonal that day and broke down in tears when he saw the cleared space, his favorite nesting materials neatly sitting in the middle of it. Lance had been afraid he’d accidentally done something wrong until he found himself with his arms full of sobbing, pregnant Omega telling him how amazing he was through hiccupped tears. The nest was built and stayed there until they landed on Earth, where it was taken down and rebuilt in Lance’s old bedroom, right on top of his queen bed. Now it held their scents mixed with Lance’s family’s. Lance also knew about the sweater Krolia had given Keith for the express purpose of fitting it into his nest.

Keith let Lance lead them through to the rear of the pod and got settled into the nest. Leaning back against his Alpha, Keith reached into his shirt and pulled out the crystal he always wore. A clear quartz point, with a triple moon carved from rainbow moonstone woven into the silver wire wrapping the top of the crystal. He ran his fingers over the moonstone, feeling its carved lines and points, the smooth gem comforting. He was safe and comfortable in his Alpha’s arms, tucked into their temporary nest, but he still worried. He knew better than anyone that their pup could come earlier than anyone was comfortable with, especially him. He sighed, letting the quartz drop.

“What’s up?” Lance murmured sleepily into Keith’s neck.

“I’m just thinking again,” he said, the pad of his thumb following the back of his fingers in a small line on his belly.

Lance knew what he was thinking, read worrying, about, and wove their fingers together. “I know. But even worst case, even if he is three months early, he’ll be ok, and so will you. There is literally no one else like you in the entire universe, and all of this is new to everyone. Best we can do is take it one day at a time.” He grabbed the tablet from outside the nest, checking the autopilot. “We still have about an hour before we get to the wormhole point. Get some sleep. I’ll wake you when we get there.”

Keith yawned, curling up in the nest, Lance wrapping his arms around his Omega. “Nap sounds great,” he mumbled, half-asleep already.

Lance didn’t last much longer, drifting off the second Keith’s breathing evened out in sleep.

They were woken by alarms blaring throughout the pod. Keith shot up, startled and growling. Lance went for the tablet, checking the readings from the pod’s sensors. They should still have been twenty minutes out from the meeting point, but the star map showed them being in an entirely different galaxy, the familiar Milky Way nowhere in sight. He leapt from the nest, running for the cockpit. When Keith had calmed a bit and hauled himself out of his spot and to the cockpit, Lance was at the controls.

“Get yourself strapped in,” the Alpha said without looking up, “We’re headed straight for an asteroid field and there’s no time to change course.”

Lance changed the controls to manual and the front shielding changed from opaque to transparent, showing the looming ancient debris in stunning real time. Keith sat himself in the co-pilot’s seat, fastening the 4-point harness over his chest just in time for the first asteroid to go whipping past. He wanted to take the controls, but he knew that his awkward current shape made it nearly impossible for him to fly with the deftness an asteroid field required. Lance had no such problem, weaving through the asteroid field with his usual liquid grace.

When they finally broke through and into empty space, they still had no real idea of where they were. Keith brought up the galactic map. He noted several familiar planets and systems, realizing that they were on the far side of the Andromeda galaxy. As he was relaying all of that to his mate, the pod’s comm chirped with an incoming hail. It was the castle, but something was different and they couldn’t quite put their finger on it. Lance answered the hail, Allura’s face filling the screen.

“Hey, Allura. Do you have any idea what the fuck just happened? We were on our way to the rendezvous point for the wormhole and now we’re here,” Lance asked.

Allura stared at them in complete shock. “I – I don’t understand. How are you two there? You can’t be there. You’re both here on the castle.”

Lance and Keith shared a confused look. “No. We’re not,” Keith said slowly, “We just left Earth a couple hours ago and were on our way to the spot you designated for the wormhole back to the castle.”

“Earth?! What the quiznak are you talking about?! Stay there. I’m going to tow your pod into the castle and we’ll talk about whatever prank this is.” The shock was in her voice at first, before it became almost angry. She looked back at them from her projected control screen, and then looked at them both more carefully. “Lance, how in the quiznak do you have Altean marks?”

“From you?” he answered, now totally confused. Had she forgotten reviving him after he took the full damage of an energy attack meant for her? Did she not remember that he’d ended up with sky blue Altean marks as a result of the sheer amount of quintessence she poured into him?

“That’s impossible. I can’t give you our markings. And Keith, have you gained weight?” She was still confused, but turned it to the Red Paladin.

“Not in the last three days,” he said, then glanced down and back to her, “Not that way, anyway.”

They felt the pod guided into the pod bay and land softly. “Stay there, inside the pod,” Allura said, “I’ll be right there.” The screen cut out, leaving them alone again.

“What in the absolute fuck is going on?” Keith asked.

“I wish I fucking knew,” Lance answered. “Does she really think this is some kind of over-elaborate prank? She can’t. She knows us. Knows we’re mated. Knows you’re pregnant.”

“Yeah, that was weird. Asking me if I've gained weight. I mean, I know I've put on about fifteen pounds, but that’s almost completely directly related to him. I haven’t really changed anywhere else.”

Lance sighed. “Yeah. I don’t know. We’ll figure it out. But at least we’re back. We can get your nest rebuilt in our suite and take a fucking nap.”

Something told Keith to leave his nest as it was, and he told Lance as much. They also decided not to get back into it while they waited for Allura. The matepair waited in the open seating, Keith nuzzling into Lance’s scent gland. It was something they’d come to realize was a side-effect of his pregnancy. He couldn’t get enough of his Alpha’s scent and would use any and every excuse to get close and scent himself, not that Lance minded it at all. It always stroked his Alpha’s ego that their Omega was so devoted to them.

They both looked up when there was a failed attempt to open the rear door of the pod, which was followed by a polite knock. “Hang on a tick,” Lance called. He extracted himself from his snuggly koala of a mate with a soft kiss to his temple and a gentle hand on their pup.

Allura stood in the doorway, possibly even more shocked than she was on the call. He was still in the faded blue t-shirt and grey sweats he’d been wearing all day, not having been bothered to change. He was expecting an off-hand comment about not being up to his usual standard at most, but she just stood there, staring like he was a new race they’d never met before.

“Allura?” he asked.

“Lance, what the quiznak is going on here? Where’s Keith?” she asked when she found the words.

“I was going to ask you the same thing. And Keith’s right here. The kids were all over him this morning and he’s still pretty tired.”

He didn’t think it was possible for Allura to be any more confused or her eyebrows to arch higher, but she was and they did.

“What kids? Why should he be tired?”

Keith listened to the questions being fired back and forth. Something wasn’t adding up. Allura knew they’d been with Lance’s family. She’d met Nadia and Sylvio before and knew what kind of energy they had. It shouldn’t be a surprise that he was worn out after dealing with them. Keyword shouldn’t. But she was. He decided to see her for himself, or more to the point, for her to see him. He slid out from the seating area, turning the corner to where she and Lance were asking questions without answering any. He stepped up beside Lance, sliding an arm around his Alpha’s waist, his free hand resting on his pregnant belly.

Allura’s jaw dropped. He knew she could tell that he wasn’t faking, and that she somehow either didn’t know or had forgotten that he was four months pregnant, even if he looked farther along because of his body’s reaction.

“I – how?! How did this happen?! When?! What is happening?!”

“Allura,” Lance said softly, “Has anything happened in the last two or three quintants?”

“What? No. Nothing. And you two are here onboard the castle. Keith, you said you would be in the training deck for at least a few vargas, and Lance, you were helping Hunk in the kitchen. How did you two end up out there and in a pod I didn’t know had gone missing? And don’t tell me you were on Earth. That’s utterly impossible. We can’t go back without leading the Galra directly there, you both know that. And how have you been hiding not only your apparent relationship but also – Keith, you're pregnant! How do you expect to be able to fly the Red Lion in your condition?”

The feeling of something being fundamentally off continued to tickle Keith’s brain. An impossible thought hit him. “Allura, I need you to answer this question honestly. How long have we been out here with you?”

“What do you mean? It’s only been about three phoebs, but we’ve made good progress in the war effort. I really believe we’ll win. But you already knew that.”

Lance cut her off before she could voice a suspicion about them being spies. He realized as soon as Keith said it. “I think we somehow managed to go back in time. We really are who we say we are, and so are you. But you obviously don’t know anything about us as we are now. I can promise that we’re not hiding anything from you.”

“Well…I don’t know that we can really say that…” Keith said, trailing off. If the them that Allura knew had only been in space for a few months, then he and Lance were already seeing each other secretly. But then they decided that keeping it from their friends made absolutely no sense, even if it meant that Pidge lost her bet with Hunk.

“Ok, fair,” he said, then turned to Allura, “What was the last major event that happened related to the war? It’ll help us narrow down when exactly we are.”

“You two seem awfully accepting of this,” she said, a note of accusation in her voice.

“We – we’ve been through a lot,” Keith said, intentionally not elaborating. They had been through a lot – alternate reality, quantum abyss, the quintessence field, Bob, finding themselves inside Honerva’s mind – but they couldn’t tell Allura any of it.

“And if we tell you anything, we don’t know if or how it could affect anything,” Lance added.

“Hm, I suppose that’s true. The last major event? Well, we’ve only just found out about your Galra heritage, but after meeting with Kolivan and Antok, I have come to realize that your blood does not define you. You both have only just returned from separate missions. Keith, you and Hunk went to retrieve the Scaultrite from the Weblum-” Keith shuddered involuntarily at the memory “-and Lance, you, Shiro, and Pidge went to rescue Slav from Beta Traz. He’s still here on the castle with us.”

“Wait wait wait – Slav’s still here?” Lance asked. He turned to Keith. “If Slav’s still on board, then he would be able to help figure out what happened. Maybe find a way to get us back to our own time. And hopefully before…” he trailed off, giving Keith a look that the Omega understood. Before the pup comes.

Allura also understood what Lance hadn’t said. “Um, how – how far along are you, exactly?” she asked awkwardly.

“That’s a little complicated,” Keith answered. “The pup’s developing like a normal human, but because I’m half Galra, my body is changing and reacting as if I were completely Galra. Pregnancies are shorter. Six Earth months, or about four and a quarter phoebs, to a normal human ten months or just over seven phoebs.”

“So, you're saying that with how your body is reacting, your pup could be premature?”

“It’s a distinct possibility. But to actually answer your question, sixteen Earth weeks. Almost eleven and a half movements. It gives us no more than five movements to figure this out and get us back to our time.”

Allura nodded, making her decision. “All right. We’ll meet in the lounge first. Paladins and Coran only. Shiro…doesn’t exactly do well with Slav.”

Lance and Keith laughed. “That’s something we will never forget,” Lance said as they followed her out of the pod. Keith turned, locking it with their biometrics. Given the alteration to Lance’s DNA thanks to Allura’s quintessence infusion, they knew that it would stay locked. Their younger selves didn’t have a chance.

They walked in silence for a while, following Allura down lesser used corridors to the lounge entrance that was never used. “Is there anything you can tell me?” she asked, “About your time. How far into our future are you?”

“I don’t know that that’s a good idea, Princess,” Lance said, “You already know that we make it to Earth safely, and I don’t know how that might already be affecting our time. I understand that you want to know if it’s all worth it in the end, but I can’t tell you.”

Allura thought for a few seconds. “I understand. My knowing about the future could affect the present. It could change our decisions about things that will change the outcome of the war. And I take it that however the war does end, it’s the best possible outcome.”

“We think so. There’s a lot more going on than just Zarkon, but if you knew what, I don’t know – there are just too many variables.”

She paused in the doorway to the lounge. “I really do understand. There are more factors and facets to this war than I am currently aware of. Knowing about them now could upset the balance. Well,” she said, gesturing to the room, “Make yourselves comfortable. You already know where everything is.” Her smile was one of genuine affection for the Paladins in front of her.

“Thanks, Allura,” Keith said, maneuvering past her.

Once they were seated comfortably (“Comfort is a bit relative for me at the moment,” Keith told her with a laugh) she called for the Paladins and Coran, and them only, to come to the lounge.

Lance was the first to arrive, ready to drop onto the sunken sofa from the floor above, but stopped himself when he realized he was looking at something that looked like the back of his own head. He only knew what that looked like after a prank involving his siblings and every single mirror in the house. He saw Allura sitting at one end of the semicircle and slowed, turning to her.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Ah. We should wait for the others to arrive before we explain,” Allura said.

“Actually,” one of the unknown people said and Lance nearly choked at hearing his own voice. A little rougher and maybe older, but it was definitely his own voice. He realized the other owner of his voice was still speaking. “I think we should start now. I know we’ll have to repeat ourselves, but I know that you’re kinda nauseous right now,” a long, tan finger pointed in his direction, “And I really think this is the better solution.”

“If that’s what you –” Allura was cut off by the next arrival.

“Allura? Why are we meeting here?”

Pregnant Keith snorted at how young he sounded. His mate patted his head. “I know. We sound like babies.”

The younger Keith froze.

“Yes we’re real. No you're not hallucinating,” pregnant Keith said without moving. He knew what his younger self was thinking.

“Well, as long as we’re both here,” Lance said, “We should explain as much as we can.”

The younger Red and Blue Paladins walked around to the steps and froze again when they were suddenly face to face with themselves. Their older selves were snuggled together in the middle of the sofa horseshoe, not caring who saw them. There was too much for them to take in all at once, but they did notice Lance’s Altean marks and the undeniable fact that the older Keith was significantly pregnant.

“Yeah,” pregnant Keith agreed, “It’s a lot to unpack. We’ll tell you what we can.”

The younger Paladins sat together opposite Allura, not knowing what to say.

“As far as we can tell, we’re from your future. We don’t know how we got here. We were on our way back to the castle and decided to let the autopilot handle the flying while I had a nap and woke up to all the alarms going off about a half hour later. We realized that we weren’t where we should be and found the castle after clearing the asteroid field nearby.”

“And, I’m – or, you – I don’t even know how to phrase that,” the younger Keith stumbled through.

Older Keith just laughed. “We? Since we’re the same person, just at different ages. But yes, I’m pregnant. I'm due fairly soon, so we need to figure this out as quickly as possible.”

Both his mate and Allura noticed how he phrased himself, but said nothing, understanding why he had done it.

It was the younger Lance’s turn to stumble through a sentence. “So, you’re – and – is that –”

Older Lance snickered at his younger self. “Yes. Yes we are, and yes it is.”

“What?! But -”

“But nothing,” older Lance said, “Although that might have prevented this.”

“Yeah, sure. You try telling my heat brain that,” pregnant Keith said.

The younger Keith pointed at his older self. “That. But, how? I mean, I’ve always been so careful about taking it on time. Unless…”

Pregnant Keith shook his head. “No, that hasn’t changed. It failed. We weren’t planning on this. But it happened, and we wouldn’t change it for anything.”

“Ok, so I just need to know one thing. Not about the future, not that.” His hand went to his chest almost unconsciously. “Just so I know. That you’re really me.”

Without moving from his spot snuggled into Lance’s side, Keith reached into his t-shirt and pulled the quartz and moonstone pendant out, letting it fall to his chest. “It was the first thing I ever bought for myself after Dad died. He taught me the basics of the Craft and I've kept it up ever since. Helps me feel connected to him even though it represents Omegas.”

Younger Keith nodded, holding his own crystal. “Yeah. It does.”

Looking from his not-so-secret boyfriend, the younger Lance turned to his own older self. “And he knows about…”

Older Lance cracked an amused smile. “Yeah, he does. But wait, haven’t you already told him about us?”

“Oh, well, yeah. I guess that didn’t really make sense, did it?”

“No, not really. But the last thing Mami said to me when we left her last was that it doesn’t matter where in the universe we are, the Orisha will hear us.”

“That – that’s –”

“What Mami said when I left for the Garrison. Yeah, she still says it.”

Pidge was next to arrive, and stopped when she saw the two older versions of her friends.

“No, you haven’t been up long enough to hallucinate yet,” pregnant Keith said through laughing.

“Come sit down, Pigeon. We’ll explain once everyone’s here,” Lance said, waving her forward.

They were all surprised that it hadn’t been Shiro to appear first, but he and Hunk were next, walking in together. If they thought that Pidge had been surprised, it was nothing compared to the double take from the Black and Yellow Paladins. Allura had yet to say anything once her Paladins began filtering in, and she still didn’t, letting the two older Paladins take the lead.

“Hi, Shiro,” pregnant Keith said. He still hadn’t moved from his mate’s side, enjoying the warmth and safety of his Alpha’s touch.

“What in the almighty fuck is going on?” Shiro asked, stunned.

“We’re just waiting for Coran, and then we’ll explain.”

Shiro and Hunk sat down, among the other Paladins. Hunk seemed to look for some kind of comfort from the familiarity of Pidge, and Shiro sat himself between his Lance and the older Keith with an expression told them that he was trying very hard to wrap his head around the idea of Keith being pregnant. Coran came running in a few minutes later.

“Oh, my apologies, Princess. The scanners went all wiffeley for a few ticks. They’re perfectly fine now.” He noticed the two new additions for the first time. “Erm, Princess…” he started, scratching his cheek with one gloved finger.

“Yes. It’s why I’ve called you all here,” Allura said, “When I was alone on the bridge briefly, scans picked up a single Altean pod. When I hailed it, well…”

“It was us,” the older Lance finished, “We seem to be from your future.”

Everyone stopped, if only briefly, before exploding into questions and demands. Questions about what happened, how they got here from their own time, how did the war end, what’s it like now, did everyone survive…

Lance put a hand up, silencing the onslaught. “We can’t answer most of those questions. Anything we tell you could possibly alter the timeline, and I can’t risk that.”

Pidge pouted, her curiosity getting the better of her. “Well, we already know you two end up together. And if you're here, then you guys obviously made it out.”

Pregnant Keith shifted, sitting up but not leaving his Lance’s personal bubble. “Yes, we did make it out. And yes, we know what it’s like now. But is it worth it to know about our future when it could change your own?”

For maybe the first time in her life, Pidge didn’t have an immediate answer. Her natural curiosity demanded to be sated. The older versions of two of her best friends were sitting in front of her with the answers to so many questions. So much of her own personal stress could be relieved just by knowing if she ever found Matt and Sam. She could know the outcome of the war. But thinking about those things, she realized that Keith was right. If she did know, it would change what she did, how she could react to things. The butterfly effect wasn’t real, or, if it was, it didn’t quite work that way, but a change to a major event could lead to a cascade of differences. And there was no way to know if those would be good changes or bad. But she didn’t get to answer the semi-rhetorical question because Slav walked in at that exact moment.

“So we’re in this reality,” he said, seeing the future Lance and Keith. He narrowed his eyes at them. “You haven’t told anyone anything, have you?”

“Nothing that wasn’t immediately obvious,” Keith answered, settling back against his mate.

“Ah. Right. I need to confirm things about you two before I can recalculate probabilities, but we should discuss this –” His owlish eyes narrowed again as he looked around the room. “- privately.”

~*~*~*~

Links to the rest of the series:

1 | 2 | 3* | 4 | 5* | 6* | 7 | 8 | 9* | 10 | 11 | 12* | 13 | 14 | 15* | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19*

#my writing #abandoned wips #klance #omegaverse #abo #omega keith kogane #alpha lance mcclain #mpreg #vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender #keith x lance

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yuusa · 4 years

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-ˋˏ𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭 ˎˊ-

-ˋˏ 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑩𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒕 ˎˊ-

✧ 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝑬𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝟑 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕

· · · · ✦ 𝑺/𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝑯𝒖𝒈𝒐 𝑷𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕'𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇-𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝑷𝒐𝒓𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆��𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒚𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒖𝒎.

𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑯𝒖𝒈𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆.

You fumbled around the large boxes within the room, searching for the lost bracelet that you thought you placed in the girl’s cabin. You nervously bit your lips in frustration as you tried to sort through all of the nearly ripped clothing that was patched up with tape, most of which were clothes Hugo bought for you as a gift when the time came. However, the bracelet was a special case that was irreplaceable to you.

It had been given to you when you were much younger, perhaps around the age of twelve when Hugo went on a mission and found scraps around the area. He had been scrounging through different broken ruins to find pieces he could use to make a bond or “promise” bracelet as he referred to it as, something to reward you with when he got back from his mission.

He was able to find enough materials to make two black bracelets that were long enough to wrap around your wrist multiple times, they were identical in appearance but had small noticeable differences. For one, Hugo’s was a bit scratched up due to his habit of wearing it wherever he went, while yours was more intact as you left it behind at the caravan before a mission.

“Here, I made this for you to say thanks for always being by my side,” Hugo said, asking for you to extend your arm out, “it took me a couple of weeks to find the right materials but I finally did it.”

You extended your wrist towards him, allowing him to delicately wrap the bracelet around you with his smaller, childish hands. Although the armlets around his wrists were bonded to your body like handcuffs, he was still able to put yours on. Your eyes grew wider as he held up his own arm, he had placed his on the opposite side of yours and he gave you a wide, goofy smile.

Your fingers dragged across the smooth material of the bracelet, admiring the amount of effort Hugo had put into such a gift. There were smaller patches of tape lining the edges of the bracelet but it held itself quite well together. You could feel an overwhelming rush of emotion flood the edges of your eyes as you wiped them away with the back of your hand. Hugo’s eyes softened as you threw your arms around his neck, burying your face into the crook of it.

“Thank you, Hugo, I love it,” you said, his neck being tickled by the smile which touched his skin.

Now that you had lost the bracelet somewhere on the caravan, you were beginning to sort through your entire box of clothes just to find it. You sore that you had left it on your bed or table before you left, but once you came back from the mission, it wasn’t there anymore. You were beginning to doubt whether or not you had even placed it in your room, perhaps you might have accidentally left it on your arm while fighting the Aragami, it must have broken off or had been sliced and left behind to rot at the mission area.

You felt your sore shoulders and legs ache desperately, your mind drawing back to the earlier mission which left several bruises around your skin when you were dragged across the ground. You hadn’t checked in the mirror but you could feel your neck feeling funny, it was as if someone or something had bitten you the other night. In addition, some areas were simply sore, as if you had done some sort of intense work out before the start of the mission, however, you were starting to forget what exactly happened.

You tugged on the tips of your hair as you groaned. Cursing to yourself for your foolishness, you rummaged through your clothes for what seems like the fourth time already, growing increasingly desperate to find the sentimental gift. The doors slid open, Claire, Phym, and Lulu walking in together to see the floors of the girls' cabin covered in your clothes.

“What’s going on? Is everything alright?” Claire asked, coming to your side as you dropped your clothes onto the floor with a dejected sigh.

Perhaps it might be better to tell them after all, you thought, closing your eyes and sighing.

“I lost the bracelet that was important to me, I can’t find it anywhere in the cabin and I think it might be outside in the Ashlands,” you replied.

“The bracelet you wore around the caravan?” Lulu added, to which you nodded in response. She and Claire hummed while Phym ran up to you to give you a comforting hug.

“Don’t worry mommy! I’ll help you find it!” She said, “we can look around!”

You smiled and patted the top of her head, “thanks Phym.”

“We’ll help too, it might be in the lobby or the Medical Ward,” Claire said, putting a hand on your shoulder, “what does it look like?”

You looked down at your empty wrist, “well. . . It should look like Hugo’s. . .” It was hard to describe your bracelet due to how simple it was that it might get mixed up with other products on the caravan, comparing it to Hugo’s was possibly the best option as he wore his around his wrist for the entire time.

Lulu pressed her lips together as she placed her hand underneath her chin, “maybe it’s in the guy’s cabin? Hugo might have taken it by accident if they look the same.”

You scratched the back of your head, your mind still fuzzy regarding the events of last night. You were unsure about whether or not you had left it in the guy’s cabin, you vaguely remembered going there when Hugo asked you to come during dinner but couldn’t remember anything after that. Perhaps checking the guy’s cabin would be a good idea, it might even be there if you looked around but you didn’t know if it was an invasion of privacy to do so.

You released a sigh and nodded, leaving to open the doors of the cabin and stepping out with the rest of the girls following suit. You turned towards the male cabin and knocked on their door, hearing the sound of shuffling and mumbled voices as Zeke opened the door.

“Oh hey guys, what are you doing here?” He asked, letting the crew come inside the extremely messy cabin.

You scanned your surroundings, seeing a variety of playing cards left on the table and ground with records and disks scattered across the room. Some of the beds were extremely messy except for the top bunk, which you assumed was Hugo’s based on how straight-faced he could be at times, it reminded you of when Hugo would tell the other kids to make their beds properly before they left the room. It didn’t seem like his advice really aged with Zeke considering how battered and messy his bed was.

“We were looking for her bracelet, it looks like Hugo’s, have you seen it?” Claire asked. Lulu looked around the room while Phym danced around to try and find the accessory.

“Oh you mean the gift Hugo got for her? I haven’t seen it here, and if it’s here it must be buried in the sheets somewhere,” Zeke replied, putting his hands on his hips, “you could search around if you want but stay away from the laundry basket, that's pretty awkward just saying.”

“We aren’t gonna dig through your laundry,” Lulu playfully rolled her eyes and came to Phym’s side, her hands searching through the boxes for any sort of bracelet that matched the description of ‘Hugo’s bracelet’.

You nodded and began searching through the boxes, most of them consisted of playing cards or secret stashes of food, you assumed that Ricardo gave them to Zeke for him to share with Phym whenever she did a great job on her studying. Everyone searched through the boxes and eventually came to the realization that it wasn’t in the boxes at all. You began to feel even more stressed by the idea that perhaps you truly had lost the gift and it might be in the Ashlands somewhere.

“Where is Hugo anyway?” Claire asked, closing the box and setting it back on top of the shelf.

“He’s with Hilda and Keith right now, they’re talking about the Acceleration Trigger and how it could rack in some money,” Zeke replied, shuffling through a deck of cards, “maybe you could ask him about it? Better yet, let’s check his bed!”

“What? Why?” Lulu asked.

“The man sleeps on the top bunk, he must be hiding something dude! Look how clean his bed is! There is something going on there,” he said, “I swear sometimes when we adjust the bed, his bunk is a bit loose at times.”

“Huh, that sounds pretty strange,” Claire said, brushing Phym’s hair as she held onto her in a hug, “maybe he’s just planning something or writing his reports in bed, he is a pretty serious worker.”

“Maybe you should check, you’re his closest friend after all,” Zeke awkwardly coughed.

You gave Zeke a nod as you climbed the ladder to Hugo’s bunk, fumbling with the sheets until you touched something. You pulled it out from under the sheets and dropped back down to the floor, opening your hand to reveal a black bracelet that was exactly like Hugo’s.

“That's great! You found it in Hugo’s bed, I wonder how it got there in the first place,” Claire said, Phym clapping her hands in happiness.

“Mommy you found it!”

You pressed your lips together as you examined it, there were a few scratch marks on the sides and it was much bigger than you remembered it to be. You examined the bracelet closer and realized that while it looked exactly like Hugo’s, it was because it was his.

“Hold on, it’s not the same one,” you replied, keeping the bracelet in your hands whole the group raised their eyebrows in confusion.

“What do you mean? It looks just like Hugo’s doesn’t it?” Lulu asked.

You shook your head, “not to be picky or anything, but this one is a lot bigger than my wrist, and there's a few marks on it. It means it’s a bit more worn out than it should be.”

Zeke scratched the back of his neck, “oh man, I thought we actually found it but I guess it wasn’t the case.”

“Where else would it be then?” Lulu added.

The metal doors of the cabin opened up to reveal Hugo, standing there with a shocked expression, in his hand was a black bracelet and his wrist was completely bare from accessories, aside from his twin armlets.

“Woah what are you guys doing here? I was just looking for you,” Hugo quickly came to your side with a nervous smile, “I think I took yours by accident.”

“Wait so you guys swapped bracelets?” Zeke asked, Hugo nodding in response.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I’m sure you were worried about it, weren’t you?” Hugo casually brought your wrist up to help tie the bracelet together, “my bad, our’s just looked the same you know?”

Phym smiled, “mystery solved! Mommy got her bracelet back!” She ran up to you and you brought her into your arms, picking her up and bringing her closer.

Claire sighed in relief, “that’s great news, may I ask where you both got your bracelets?”

Hugo turned to you and took his bracelet back, wrapping it around his wrist, “we both got them as kids, I usually went around to salvage some abandoned parts for something to give to the other kids. I just happened to find these two.”

You knew that he dumbed down the story a bit, in reality, you knew he had spent many days looking for parts to make a sturdy bracelet that would last years. Hugo smiled at you while you gave one back to him, the rest of the group chatting amongst each other as he brought himself closer to your ear, speaking in a low voice to avoid Phym hearing.

“You left it here after last night, how are you doing? You were limping a bit at the start of the mission,” Hugo whispered, you slowly turned to him with a blank expression before turning a flush red color.

You had completely forgotten what you had done last night with Hugo but it was slowly coming back to you. He had invited you to the guy’s cabin to check over some documents but it ended up getting a bit. . . Frisky. You pressed your lips together in embarrassment while Phym tilted her head in confusion to what Hugo said.

“Haha, don’t worry about it, I thought you would remember it with. . . You know,” he tapped on the sore part of your neck, causing you to flinch and have shivers run down your spine.

“I-It’s fine,” you replied, seeing Hugo give you a familiar goofy grin while Phym held onto you tighter, “just. . . Remind me next time okay?”

“Alright, I’ll remind you more often,” he gave you a teasing wink to which you responded with an eye roll.

#god eater 3 #god eater 3 x reader #god eater 3 imagines #hugo pennywort #hugo pennywort x reader #hugo pennywort x protagonist

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frogocado · 5 years

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Tension Intervention (Shayne Topp x Reader)

anonymous asked: Could you do a Shayne x reader where maybe they’re dating or fwb and they don’t tell their friends at the office yet cause they want to keep it lowkey, and the next day after they have hook up the games crew which you’re a part of is doing a video with the squad and while setting up they notice little things about both of you separately (like reader can’t sit properly, Shayne has scratches on his back, hickies) and they all slowly put it together? Sorry if that’s too specific xxx

I’ve been having a really rough couple of weeks and here’s some good old chaos office fluff that all of you have learned to expect from me because I need it so I don’t fall apart. This is a little over 2k words and has mentions of nsfw.

“We gotta stop meeting like this,” Shayne sighed against your shoulder, your hips finally falling away. You untangled from his arms, rolling your eyes as he looked at you in the dull light of the parking garage. He looked so damn smug in the warm yellow.

“This was your idea, dummy.” He laughed at your jest and you cut him off with a kiss, much preferring other noises come out of his mouth than that insane cackle in an echoing chamber of concrete. He dissolved from giggles into teasing kisses, pulling away each time so his breath could mix with yours. He called it “the in between-er” one day at your apartment, saying that it was a way for him to feel close to you without the true physical touch. It was nearly routine now, but each time, heat fluttered from your chest and into your stomach and you wondered if he knew how much you loved him.

Your watch buzzed and you glanced at the LED screen. “Shit,” you mumbled, collecting Shayne’s hands in yours to pull them away from your ass. “My call time is in fifteen minutes.”

You saw a glint of disappointment line his features and you smiled, thumb ghosting over his jaw. “Don’t look so sad, it makes you look like a kicked puppy.”

“Maybe I feel like one.” He grinned devilishly, pushing you back against the wall again. “C’mon, five more minutes and then I’ll walk you there.”

Although there was nothing you wanted more than to let your hips melt back against his, you shook your head, biting your lip. “We have to go, Shayne,” you encouraged gently. “If we don’t want to answer any questions about this, then it needs to be business as usual at work. You’ve already pushed it enough today,” you mumbled shyly as you recalled Chef Josh’s look of amusement upon seeing the two of you this morning.

Shayne was sitting on top of the counter as he playfully berated you about not making coffee fast enough. While there was nothing sexual about the encounter, the two of you knew the grumble and breathy whine you had gave him in return was far beyond anything coworker friends would execute. He had cleared his throat and a silence fell in the room, as if someone had ripped down a curtain. You and Shayne were frozen, stiff in place, like maybe Josh wouldn’t see you if you held your breath and didn’t blink. His features were calm as he hummed, getting his own cup of coffee and a bit of creamer from the fridge. As he put things away, he looked directly at Shayne. “Mythical has an early shoot this morning. You might not have as much time as you thought.” Without waiting for a response, he left.

“You’re right, I know,” Shayne sighed in response, hands falling away from you. “But I do love to push things in you.” He attempted to sneak another devilish look before you pushed his face away, heading back towards the office.

Matt was waiting as soon as you opened the door to the lobby. “I know you have something scheduled today, but Keith came down with a stomach virus and we really need someone else for a Try Not to Laugh.”

“I think it’s okay, but let me see if there’s any writer’s meetings or anything that I’m forgetting...” You stopped walking, pausing to check your schedule. The door behind you opened and closed a second time. Matt greeted Shayne with a note of confusion in his voice. “I thought you were upstairs already?” He asked.

Your eyes glanced toward the blonde without lifting up your head. His eyes shifted from you and then back to Matt. “Yeah, I needed to uh... get my charger from my car,” Shayne said before rigidly entering the elevator.

Matt was still for a moment before he followed you to the stairwell. “He’s been so weird lately, have you noticed?” Matt asked you as the two of you took the stairs together.

“Nope,” you responded, pocketing your phone. The sooner you could get out of the conversation and play things off like normal the better. “I hadn’t noticed. My schedule is clear this afternoon, by the way.”

“Alright, good. I’ll let Ryan and Garrett know.” Matt held the door open for you and as you entered the office space, you heard him wonder to himself, “maybe Shayne’s on drugs.”

Your steps hesitated for a moment and wondered if anyone else had noticed the change before Ian called your name and you were whisked back into the working fray.

Later, you found yourself perched on top of a stool, about to participate in your first Try not to Laugh session with Noah, Courtney, Olivia, and Shayne.

You winced as you adjusted on the stool. “You okay?” Garrett asked off camera as you involuntarily spit out your water.

“Yeah, I just… sat weird,” you replied. “I’m good.” From the monitor, you could see Shayne peeking at you from around the screen.

He nodded before prompting, “Alright, are we all set now?”

“Yes!” Courtney and Noah both called from behind the screened divider.

“Shayne, you go!”

You filled your mouth with water again and tried not to wiggle your position out of comfortable territory. You could hear your friends and coworkers trying to be quiet as they got their bits ready until--

“What the hell is that?” You heard Noah first, his voice edging the way it did when he was surprised and about to shriek.

“What?” Shayne returned the question, his voice moving to a coy innocence that you knew far too well.

Then, just as quickly, Courtney was yelling. “He’s got a hickey on his tummy!”

The water burst from your mouth before you could even think of a reaction. Your eyes went wide as the chiding continued behind the screen. All of the crew was laughing and your blush began to creep across your features as Garrett spoke up. “Y/N already lost. Who’s got somethin’ ready?”

Olivia’s small hand reached out and gave a thumbs up. All of the crew reset and, feeling like you were on the edge of passing out from panic, you filled your mouth with water once again. Silently, Olivia stepped into frame. She stood next to you and made eye contact with the camera for a long minute. Then, she turned to meet your eyes. The seriousness of the moment had lured you into a trance, following all of her movements precisely. She never broke into a smile, her eyes even and her mouth a straight line. Then, she spoke.

“Okay, I just wanna know. Was that the first time Shayne’s ever made you spit?”

Your eyes went wide and you made a small noise, the water once again escaping your lips. “Olivia, no!” Shayne was shouting behind the screen.

The entire set had dissolved into uncontrollable giggles as Olivia turned back to the camera, raising her arms. “No further questions, your honor.” She gave a pose as if she were a confident lawyer and then sauntered behind the screen once again.

“All of you are so unprofessional!” You gasped, holding your burning chest. Your eyebrows were pressed so high against your forehead you were scared that the next comment would have you keeled over and dead. You weren’t sure if it was the water, your sheer panic and embarrassment, or a deadly combination.

“Okay, okay, wait, please,” Shayne’s voice was loud and airing on manic. He walked out, staggering at first as the rest of the squad pushed him out from behind the screen. His face was as red as it was the first time you had told him you thought he looked beautiful naked.

To your horror, he was still shirtless and now that his collar bones were under the fluorescents and set lights, the devilish purple marks from the day before looked especially dark against his skin. You were used to seeing him in all sorts of light, but never so exposed while so well lit. Older bruises were visible as well, smaller patches of yellow on his throat and hips. He began to open his mouth to speak when Olivia and Courtney were shrieking. Neither of you had noticed your friends now inspecting the two of you. “Your back is so scratched dude!” Noah exclaimed.

Shayne closed his mouth before opening it again. No sound came out. Noah continued, “okay, I have two theories and both are very reasonable. Either Y/N and Shayne are fucking or Shayne has a demonic attachment.”

Even though everyone on set was damn near shrieking, there was somehow a perfect breach to pause for breath, as if the room was having its own in-betweener. “Both are correct, sir,” Shayne answered. All of your coworkers and friends were now shouting and, instinctively, you turned your head away from the sound to curl against Shayne’s chest.

“I literally don’t know if I’m more upset that this entire twenty-ish minute shoot is unusable or that you just dumbly exposed both of us to all of our coworkers,” you mumbled against his skin as his arms wrapped around you.

Olivia stepped in front of everyone, pointing towards a camera, carrying on her lawyer bit once again. “The jury finds these two guilty of being the two grossest people ever!”

“Alright, alright, it’s scrapped!” Matt rumbled, his voice carrying like a thunder cloud. As if it were a classroom listening to a teacher, everyone fell into softer and quieter giggles. “We’ll do a different shoot and the writers can go brainstorm somethin’ else!”

The squad and crew began to slowly leave the set, heading in separate directions. You, Shayne, Matt, and Garrett remained. Shayne began to open his mouth to speak, but Garrett’s voice found the air first. He spoke quietly and his eyes glinted like a proud parent. “We’re glad you two are happy but we also think it’s time to tell you that the parking garage downstairs has cameras and security wrote us a report.” Matt held up three sheets of paper, waving them in your direction.

Shayne made a noise that sounded like a sob and your hand smashed over your mouth as you gasped. “Oh my god,” your boyfriend whispered as if the wind had been knocked out of him. “Isn’t this the kind of thing an HR department should handle?”

“Probably, yes, but how else were we going to have a Tension Intervention?” Matt asked.

“Excuse me?” You asked. “A what?”

Garrett and Matt were both giggling now and Shayne was wandering to behind the screen to retrieve his shirt. He was mumbling as he went. “This is it, I guess. This is how I die. I’m going to have a fucking heart attack in this office and then I’ll be stuck here as a ghost forever.”

Matt was talking over him, “That’s what the Squad started to call it. We all sort of put it together. You guys disappear for lengths of time and when Shayne returns, his hair is somehow neater than before, as if someone were fixing it to not be so suspicious. Not to mention you always eye fuck each other whenever you think no one is looking. That was the biggest thing, really. And since we don’t have access to the court house anymore, we thought this would be the best way.” He and Garrett began to collect their things as you sat in stunned silence. “We’ll give you two a minute and then we’ll meet you at HR.”

They left and you sat still on the stool, staring into the cameras as if they were remaining eyes. You turned toward the screened divider and found Shayne, lying flat on his back, his t-shirt covering his face. His hands were pressed over his features, as if he were attempting to suffocate himself. “Hey, Shayne?” You offered gently.

“Yeah.”

“I really love you, dummy. Even though you called me a demon.”

His fingers collected the fabric and pulled it down. He sat up, giving you a soft smile in return. “I know. I really love you too.”

#request #mine #fic #shayne topp imagine #shayne topp x reader #smosh fic #smosh imagine #this is #literally ridiculous #and I'm not apologizing #:)

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the-shiftshop · 4 years

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Hey Diary - Part 3

PART 1 and PART 2 of the Hey Diary Series

I tried my best to not fall asleep, scared by what may happen if I do. The whole night, I couldn’t get my head off: 1.) The possibility that reality wont change and Keith and the others might come back to their right senses while remembering whatever they did to themselves, 2.) The possibility that nothing will happen and Keith will keep those feelings for me throughout the whole year in school, and 3.) The fact that Keith gave me a blowjob.

I’ve tossed around the bed all night, remembering how Keith looked at me while he suck me off, how he kissed me and how his tongue intertwined with mine, and no, although I may be getting hard, I’m still putting a blame to myself. This isn’t supposed to happen. I know this would be against what Keith wanted. Even though he had been bullying me since the first day, I still have my morals. I shouldn’t have messed with him, and who knows what Peter and Tom did? I do remember including them in the changes.

Anyway, I still need to go to school and find out. I quickly took a short shower to get rid of my smell, wore my shirt and a jacket, grabbed my bag then proceeded to school.

Arriving at the school, right before I enter our building, someone pulled me by the arm. It was a sudden pull and it was very strong so I was just lead to wherever.

It was Keith, obviously mad as he was gripping my wrist, hard. I grunted and tried to tell him to stop, but he was ignoring me and continued pulling me to the varsity’s locker room. He pushed me against one locker with both arms blocking both directions I can use as an escape. He stared at me but I can’t figure out what kind of face is he making. He looks so mad but when I try to stare into his eyes, he would look soft and would look away. He would occasionally swallow hard but will shake his head afterwards.

“What,” Keith started. “What have you done to me, asshole?” He said, stuttering on the cuss as if he couldn’t bare to call me that anymore. I couldn’t answer so he asked me one more time. “What did you do?!” This time, it was much more of a yell.

“Did you drug me? Did you cast a spell on me? What did you fucking do?!”

Keith looked like as if he’s about to cry. He crumbled to the floor, both arms leaning on my legs as he try to hold himself why crying.

“I’m... sorry...” is my only reply. I don’t know if it’s a good idea to tell him about the Diary App. I don’t even know what he will do after he learn about the truth.

I just let Keith cry all the tears in front of me. Somehow a little satisfied to get a revenge on him, but I’m still very mad at myself for doing this to him.

“Right after that night, when I came back home, I couldn’t help myself but to think about you. I couldn’t stop thinking about how good you look, how cute you looked when you made that lewd face while I was blowing you- Fuck! I’m not fucking gay! I knew that when I woke up. I remembered everything, but everything is mixed up! I can’t even tell which is true among these memories in my head. I wanted to get mad at you, but I can’t. Instead of getting so furious, I would resort to picturing you naked, tied up on my bed, and the next thing I’ll know I’m already jacking off! What the fuck did you do to me, Felix!”

I let Kieth finish what he was saying in between sobs. Apparently, I learned a new thing about the Diary App. Reality wont change if I don’t take the picture and in Keith’s case, when he woke up, he came back to his senses, but the changes are still in effect. At this point, I have no idea what I’ll do with Keith. I just pulled Keith up and told him to stand up properly. Keith placed his arms down and he looked at me, frowning, looking so fragile as if he’s about to have another breakdown in a few seconds. Still sobbing, he suddenly hugged me.

“Please. I’m telling you now, whatever I said last night about picking on you. I really meant that. I am very sorry about what I did to you. It’s just that...” He cut himself. “You seemed to get so much attention while I do not. I’ll admit that I was so jealous of you, but please, whatever the way, please return me back. I don’t want these feelings lingering around my body. Please.”

I can feel his tears run through my clothes onto my skin. Keith has been crying so much. I took a deep breathe and pushed him off my body.

“Fine. I really am sorry too for doing this to you, but do you really promise you won’t do that anymore?” I looked at him straight in the eyes.

“Damn it. Stop looking at me like that. You’re making me hard.” Keith looked away. “I promise. I really do.”

I laughed at him and pulled out my new phone and boot up the Diary App. Curiously, Keith leaned over to look at my phone. I then clicked on the previous log I have typed in.

“What’s that?” Keith asked. “What are you doing?”

“This is a Diary App. The one I used to change you.” I replied. I then started scrolling about, looking for any clue to know how to revert him back. “To be honest, I don’t really know how to turn you back.”

“What the fuck?” He looked at me with his eyebrows furrowed, but then he quickly looked away.

“I’m sorry, okay? I just got this phone the day you stole my old one.”

“Right.” Keith then sat down in front of me.

I tried all my best to look for a guide in the app that could tell me what to do. I could tell Keith’s staring at me body, though. He would sometimes lick his lips as he do so. I tried my best to focus on my phone and find what I need.

In a few while, I saw a help button at the very bottom of the page, in very small texts. I clicked it and a popup showed up. I finally found the guide and so I scrolled down to find just what I need for the moment.

How to revert changes.

Unlike making changes, reverting people back to their former state does not require sleeping to make the changes permanent.

In order to revert people back, hold on the log you want to remove, wait about 3 seconds until another popup shows up. You will be given an option between Archive and Delete. Click Delete, then Accept, and you’re done.

The process should happen in instant.

With that, I went to my recent log, held it and pressed delete.

“Hey, Keith I think-”

I cut myself right after I saw Keith jerking off in front of me. He started moaning loud, reaching his climax, until his eyes suddenly opened wide. He stopped himself, leaving himself on the edge, then he quickly wore his boxers and pants back. His cheeks red. He then faced the other way.

“I... I didn’t mean to...” Keith said. “It was because I couldn’t help myself a few seconds ago.”

“So I guess, you’re back to yourself?” I asked.

“Yeah I guess, I’m back.” Keith replied, then he went quiet, “I’m... back...” He faced me and hugged me tight. “I’m back! Thank you so much, Felix!”

“H-Hey, hey! I can’t breathe!” I said in between laugh. Then we suddenly realized what we were doing.

Kieth quickly moved away from me and scratched his head. As for me, I tried to distract myself by looking down at my phone. Keith took a deep breath and tired to speak.

“Hey, whatever happened last night, let’s keep that to ourselves, okay? I mean, I have nothing against gay people, if you’re somehow one of them, I just can’t see myself doing that, and about that false rumor I spread, that’s just to ruin your reputation. I didn’t intend to show any homophobia.”

“Deal.” I smiled.

Keith gave me his hand and I shook it. He took a hard grip on mine and he smiled back, a hint that our war is over.

We started walking towards our classroom. After what happened, Keith suddenly became talkative to me, and as for me, I started to enjoy his company. He talked a lot about sports, thinking that I could relate because he thought I play ball too. I guess that’s because of this new life of mine. Nevertheless, I still find him fun.

“Hey, by the way.” Keith suddenly changed the topic and pointed at my phone. “Where did you get that, anyway?”

“Well... In a store... It’s very complicated to explain but I’m sure that shop is somewhat magic.” I replied.

“I would say I don’t want to believe that, but experiencing what happened to me previously, that seems possible.” He remarked.

Keith then pushed his chest out and took a long deep breath.

“Why? Do you have something in mind?” I asked.

“Well... What else can it do?”

Trying to avoid telling him about my former self, I explained him what the app can do. From age change to racial change to even the impossible. He seemed so impressed, like a kid watching those Harry Potter movies for the first time. He started to show so much interest with the app. Meanwhile, I have already placed my trust on him.

“Can you like... Turn me into something?” Keith asked, with a closed lip grin. “I mean aside from turning me gay. Can you maybe make me older, or younger.”

“What do you exactly have in mind?”

We stopped walking with Keith thinking with his finger on his head. A few seconds later, he snapped and pointed at me.

“Make me old enough to be a teacher for a day.”

We stared at each other. I gripped my phone hard. Keith then gave me a bright smile.

What exactly is he trying to do here?

#gay to straight #Hey Diary

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watching-pictures-move · 4 years

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Movie Review | The Decline of Western Civilization series (Spheeris, 1981-98)

Many years ago, before I sold out to the man, I have to admit I felt a certain attraction to punk music. No, I was never anywhere close to a full on punk (I was, and still am, extremely lame), but I have to admit the anti-establishment streak definitely resonated with me at a certain point of time. (Not that it still doesn’t, but in addition to selling out, I’ve softened with old age.) Like many people I’ve found appealing the political conscience and mix of influences of the Clash, or the boneheaded energy of the Ramones, but I also found my interest straying to hardcore punk. I remember the first time I listened to “Damaged II” by Black Flag and finding it unbelievably abrasive and foreign to my ears, yet it was something I couldn’t get out of my head, and returned to the song and the album it was from a few years later and appreciated it as one of the most forceful expressions of angst ever recorded. I remember first learning of bands like X and Fear, and seeing performance footage on YouTube and being thrilled by the rawness and danger, especially when they had to fight off their fans. This footage was from Penelope Spheeris’ cult classic documentary, The Decline of Western Civlization, which for years was not easily available but I have now finally seen in its entirety.

The movie is structured simply, moving from one band in the L.A. punk scene to another, interviewing them in their natural habitats and punctuating this with footage of their performances. Songs are presented in full so we can get the complete experience. The first band we see is Black Flag, then with frontman Ron Reyes. They are lively on stage but it’s interesting to note how different the energy was prior to the arrival of Henry Rollins, who brought a certain discipline and muscularity to their music. (One of the songs featured here, “Depression”, pops up again in Damaged, and the impact in the latter is noticeably more forceful.) The guys here come across as aimless and destitute, living in a decrepit church where they’ve turned the closets into makeshift bedrooms, seemingly losing money with every gig. But they are also quite affable (you can tell the lyrics of “TV Party” sprang from these minds) and do not have illusions about their situation, especially their difficulty in getting gags thanks to their rowdy fans. These scenes play like a moment frozen in time, right before the band’s most significant period would begin. We move next to the Germs, and these scenes play like a car accident in slow motion, with Darby Crash’s self-destructive tendencies on full display. This was a short time before his death, which occurred between completion of filming and the theatrical release (his image was featured heavily on the promotional materials), once again giving this a lost in time quality.

Next we go to the headquarters of Slash Magazine, the staff of which moonlights as a band called Catholic Discipline. The frontman complains about New Wave, claiming it doesn’t actually exist, yet they come across as downmarket New Wavers who are slumming it in the punk scene. Yet their love of music and their work is obvious and the frontman does possess a certain charisma. Much of what we see of the punk lifestyle is squalid and dismal, yet the music of X manages to poeticize this condition. Their unassuming demeanours during their interview contrast sharply with their vigour in their performances, during which they do their share of batting off overeager fans. We get a burst of political conviction when the Circle Jerks launch into the libertarian anthem “Red Tape”, but this dissipates by the time they start playing “I Just Want a Skank”. We spend some time with the Alice Bag Band and then are treated to a montage of interviews with punk fans. These are shot in monochrome with stark backgrounds and a single bulb providing the lighting, which has the effect of bringing them and their words into sharp relief. We hear similar stories again and again, of aimlessness and aggression, the subjects using the music both as an outlet for their frustrations and inspiration for violence.

Spheeris’ camera has been largely nonjudgmental, yet there’s an undeniable sadness in this sequence. But lest I make it sound that the movie makes punk seem uniformly depressing, the closing sequence provides a potent antidote. The electrifying final minutes of the film feature a performance by Fear (who are not interviewed). The atmosphere here is hostile, with the band riling up the audience with homophobic and misogynistic taunting and having to physically fight them off throughout their set list. It might be tempting to liken their shtick to cheap alt-rightish provocation, but I think that robs their music of the proper context. When almost all their peers and fans adopt an attitude of “everything sucks”, Fear’s ability to find the humour in that mentality is kind of refreshing. It also would ignore the sheer muscularity of the delivery, which almost turns the music into a form of violence. The film is undeniably a fascinating document, but while Spheeris may have had the good fortune of turning on her camera in the right place and right time (even if she had to pay to rent soundstages to film some of the performances), it’s moments like this of pure exhilaration that cement the film’s greatness.

Part II: The Metal Years takes place almost a decade later, with a drastically new context and perspective. This time the focus is on the L.A. metal scene, which was a dominant cultural force unlike hardcore punk ever was. And this time around Spheeris’ POV is less of impartial observation and more satirical condescension. Taken journalistically, the movie is obviously compromised, particularly in an interview of Ozzy Osbourne that’s misleadingly edited to make it look like he has the shakes. I wish the movie hadn’t done this, as Ozzy is a flamboyant enough presence that he’s already funny without needing to frame him into gags, something Spheeris acknowledged in an interview years after the fact. Ozzy and a few other veterans of the scene are not immune to metal culture’s innate ridiculousness (the movie’s biggest laugh for me was Spheeris’ deadpan reaction to Steven Tyler’s extended masturbation metaphor to describe the rock’n’roll lifestyle). It’s worth noting that Spheeris asked her subjects how they wanted to be filmed, leading to such choice setups as Gene Simmons in a lingerie store and Paul Stanley in a bed full of scantily clad models. (Lemmy allegedly took offense to how he was portrayed, claiming Spheeris shot him from afar to make him look stupid, but I don’t think he comes across badly. He’s low key and unassuming in a way that contrasts him from the other participants, at the very least in terms of appearance).

The structure of this entry is tighter, using snippets of different interviews to flesh out different ideas, exploring the decadence and excess of the music and the surrounding culture. We even hear from the anti-metal folks, particularly in one amusing scene where a woman describes the dangerous potential of metal fashion with the solemnity of a cop or anti-gun advocate describing illegal firearms. Performance footage is limited to brief excerpts, usually for comic relief (assless chaps and a limp attempt to set fire to a Soviet flag are highlights), although we do get an extended look at a sleazy stripping context. (The club owners featured seem as much into the metal lifestyle as some of the musicians and fans, in sharp contrast to the genial working class types featured in the first and third entries.) The most notorious segment of the film is the interview with Chris Holmes from W.A.S.P., who lounges in a pool in alcoholic self loathing, which probably went farther in deflating the excitement around the metal scene than any single moment. Yet like the first film, this one refuses to lock into too narrow view of its subject and rebounds with a Megadeth performance that goes a long way in showing that yes, this music can in fact be good. (I should say that I enjoy my share of hair metal, which Megadeth is decidedly not, but the songs earlier in the film don’t do the best job of selling the genre. Although anything would look lame with assless chaps.) This movie is more obviously flawed than the original, but I can’t help but kind of love it. The fact is that the metal musicians and fans, despite being somewhat boneheaded, are also full of good vibes and fun to hang around (more so than the self-serious punk fans in the original), and the movie is quite slick and stylish by documentary standards, which makes the film true to its subject matter in a a way. I mean, you open the movie with Motorhead and I’m half won over already, and I haven’t stopped thinking (and smiling) about it since I’ve seen it.

The good vibes don’t carry over to Part III, which follows a group of homeless gutter punks in L.A. around another decade later. Once again there’s a change in context and perspective, with Spheeris coming across as more compassionate and maternal. The musicians here offer a more sobering, grounded presence. The veterans here, Keith Morris and Rick Wilder, come across as survivors more than anything, particularly the latter with his skeletal, emaciated appearance. The music this time around is almost beside the point, although we do get the sense that it offers the main subjects one of their only sources of relief. Their stories are similar. Broken homes. Forced onto the streets. Substance abuse. The movie feels like extended versions of the Darby Crash scenes and the interviews from the original, but with the grim consequences covered in the final moments, and the film’s sense of despair is alleviated only by the compassion Spheeris brings to the material. I can’t see myself returning to this as readily as it’s more downbeat and less dynamic than the previous movies, but it is undeniably moving, and had a profound effect on Spheeris as well, who decided to become a foster parent after her experience making this movie.

#film #movie review #the decline of western civilization #the decline of western civilization part ii: the metal years #the decline of western civilization part iii #penelope spheeris

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deadcactuswalking · 3 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 08/05/2021 (Billie Eilish, DJ Khaled)

Whilst this is slightly busier than last week, I am genuinely surprised with how little is actually going on here on this week’s chart, a lot less than I expected or predicted. With that said, the top of the chart is where our biggest story comes from and that is “Body” by Russ Millions and Tion Wayne taking advantage of a weak chart with its star-studded remix and peaking at #1 for its first week, replacing Lil Nas X’s “MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)”. Not only is it the biggest hit for both of these guys and their first #1s, but it’s the first #1 for the entire UK drill genre, which kind of came out of nowhere for me since I think the song’s pretty worthless but with a TikTok challenge and streaming numbers that have even placed it in the American Spotify chart, it’s gearing up to be one of the biggest British rap songs ever. Let’s hope maybe this one doesn’t stall out as badly as “Don’t Rush” outside of the UK. With all that out of the way, let’s start REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

Our only new arrival from last week’s UK Top 75 (which is what I cover), “Come Through” by H.E.R. featuring Chris Brown, is gone on the next off of the debut. Well, at least we have more than one new song this week, as well as some interesting chart nonsense lower down, but also some notable drop-outs for “Mr. Perfectly Fine” by Taylor Swift, “Mercury” by Dave and Kamal., “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” by Drake featuring Rick Ross, “All You Ever Wanted” by Rag’n’Bone Man (which will rebound next week as that album makes its impact) as well as “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles finally making what seems to be its last exit. Our only return is in the form of “Confetti” by Little Mix getting a massive surge back at #15 after its Saweetie remix and the attached music video, though Saweetie doesn’t happen to be credited here.

We do have an interesting selection of gains and losses, as with the notable fallers – dropping five spots or more down the chart – we have “Titanium” by Dave at #23, “Wellerman” by Nathan Evans and remixed by 220 KID and Billen Ted getting ACR’d down to #29 (it had a surprisingly great run), “The Business” by Tiesto having the same happen to it at #32, “We’re Good” by Dua Lipa at #40, “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo at #43, “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd at #45, “Don’t Play” by Anne-Marie, KSI and Digital Farm Animals at #51, “Calling My Phone” by Lil Tjay and 6LACK hit hard to #54, the same with “Up” by Cardi B at #59, “You” by Regard, Troye Sivan and Tate McRae shaking off the gains #63, “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd at #60, “Heat” by Paul Woolford and Amber Mark at #66, “Solid” by Young Stoner Life, Young Thug and Gunna featuring Drake at #69, “Paradise” by MERDUZA and Dermot Kennedy at #71 and, sadly, “How Does it Feel” by London Grammar at #75.

Where it gets a bit more telling about how the charts are going to adapt into the Summer is in our climbers as we have solid gains for “Another Love” by Tom Odell making another run at #60, “Sunshine (The Light)” by Fat Joe, DJ Khaled and Amorphous inexplicably at #57 and now we get into the top 40 where we have more potential future hits. “Way Too Long” by Nathan Dawe, Anne-Marie and MoStack is at #38, “Don’t You Worry About Me” brings the Bad Boy Chiller Crew their first hit at #37 (although the song is only ever worth hearing for that chorus) and “WITHOUT YOU” by the Kid LAROI returns to the top 40 at #30 thanks to a remix with Miley Cyrus who is again not credited by the Official Charts Company. Boney M. are granted their first new top 20 hit since the 1990s, even if it is just a remix of a song that went #2 in 1978, as Majestic’s remix of “Rasputin” is at #18. Our final gain is for a song first entering the top 10 thanks to the remix with Ariana Grande finally making an impact – yet once again not given the official credit by the OCC – as “Save Your Tears” by the Weeknd makes its way up to #8, becoming his tenth top 10 hit here in Britain. That’s not the only song to first enter the top 10 this week but we’ll get to that in due time with our... odd selection of new arrivals this week.

NEW ARRIVALS

#73 – “EVERY CHANCE I GET” – DJ Khaled featuring Lil Baby and Lil Durk

Produced by DJ Khaled and Tay Keith

Two of our new entries are from DJ Khaled’s most recent album Khaled Khaled, an album much like any Khaled album I found cheap and just dull. This record especially is just mixed horribly, with a budget spent exceedingly on getting big-name features instead of any worthwhile engineers to actually mix and master this 50-minute trainwreck. The album doesn’t have many highlights at all but if I had to choose some they would be the two debuting this week, the first of which is basically a Lil Baby cut, “EVERY CHANCE I GET”, with a verse from Lil Durk. Okay, so, yes, first of all, much like the rest of the record, this mix is compressed and just weak, with bizarre bass mastering and drums that sound like garbage, before we get to Lil Baby himself sounding even froggier than ever. I do think that gives the song part of its charm, though, as with a Tay Keith beat, it’s definitely going for a hardcore, old-school Memphis rap atmosphere, and with Lil Baby’s flow switches disguising paranoid lyrics about the typical gunplay and flexing, it does effectively make a pretty intimidating listen... okay, well, it would, if DJ Khaled didn’t have to pop in to convince Lil Baby to “keep going”. We also get a single verse from Lil Durk here, mixed like he recorded his vocals in his bath to the point where it’s clipping against the bass, but delivering a King Von-esque flow that sounds pretty great, and admittedly more detail than you’d expect. I also love that silly “mmm-mmm” flow he uses at the end. I do wish a song like this, clearly supposed to be menacing, did not have the ludicrous personality void that is DJ Khaled on it, and it’s not like they need Khaled to collaborate together – or with Tay Keith for that matter – so I don’t really see why the dude doesn’t just shut up and promote his albums as compilations instead. I understand it comes from his mixtape days, but if this is going to be a studio album, treat it like one and just be quiet for once.

#72 – “Oblivion” – Royal Blood

Produced by Royal Blood

Royal Blood got the #1 album this week for Typhoons and admittedly, whilst I am interested in this band, I haven’t gotten around to listening to it, so I’ll take this album cut as a preview of what to come. If I am doing that, I hope to be surprised by whatever else that album has in store as I’m not really a fan of this. That eerie choppy guitar loop being immediately crushed by this heavily distorted riff and stiff percussion just does not sound unique or interesting, especially if Mike Kerr is going to sound this soulless. The build towards the chorus feels pretty pathetic and unwarranted, and said chorus is just not catchy, before we get to content about how he knows his fate through how arrogant he’s been and he deserves what’s coming to him. I mean, sure, but there’s nothing that makes it obvious that these guys don’t care about what’s coming to them given the pained vocal delivery and monotonous instrumental. It doesn’t feel exciting, rebellious or whatever emotion this tries and fails to capture, just stiff and staggered in its execution. This does make sense for Royal Blood but seems to me like they’re resting way too heavily on ideas ran through the soil at this point. With all that said, this isn’t bad at all, just not as great as those other singles have been from the record. I think I’d be more forgiving if it didn’t come off as a Queens of the Stone Age tribute act writing “originals” that bomb at their shows.

#56 – “love race” – Machine Gun Kelly featuring Kellin Quinn

Produced by Jeff Peters, Jared Gudstadt and Travis Barker

I guess this might actually be a rock-heavy week – not that I’m complaining about more of a rock presence on the chart but God, I wish it wasn’t coming from MGK. I’ll have some choice words to say about this guy’s last attempt at a pop-rock hit by the end of the year, probably, but at least for this song he brought on someone with some kind of legitimacy. Kellin Quinn is the frontman of post-hardcore band Sleeping with Sirens, one of the most successful bands in their genre but not one unlike others that grew out of the metalcore-infused pop rock to anything more unique or experimental. With that said, Quinn is barely here and other than Travis Barker’s typical explosive drums, MGK is the biggest presence here in his raspy but borderline unlistenable vocal tone that I just can’t stand, especially if it’s going to stretch out “run” as long and as far as he did in that longing, desperate chorus. MGK barely even lets Kellin Quinn have his own verse, registering him as backing vocals throughout the entire song, dampening his vocals that sound a lot more unique and enthused, especially when he starts screaming. That bridge did give me trancecore flashbacks – not that I’m complaining if I’m fully honest – so I’ll admit the part of me that eats up emo-pop garbage did let this grow on me a bit, but, man, without a guitar solo to distract from pretty awful lyrics (not that I’d expect much more from this artist or genre) and without really letting Quinn loose on the vocals, it’s lacking a certain grit and punch I expect from post-hardcore. The song did, however, indirectly remind me of New Found Glory, for which I am thankful for.

#53 – “I DID IT” – DJ Khaled featuring Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Baby and DaBaby

Produced by Ben Billions, Joe Zarrillo, DJ 360, Tay Keith and DJ Khaled

You wouldn’t expect an artist line-up like this to continue this trend of rock in this week’s new arrivals, but you’d be surprised, and personally I’m pretty happy with how much rock seems to be creeping up back into the public consciousness as if there’s one thing I got back in touch with the most over lockdown, it was the rock music I was raised on and it led to me even further appreciating a genre I had kind of lost touch with over the years out of just a lack of interest. With that said, this isn’t a rock song per se, but it does heavily and lazily sample a classic like much of this Khaled album, going for “Layla” by Derek and the Dominos. I’m not going to lie, either, it sets up a pretty effective back-bone for a trap banger about being awesome, especially with those squealing riffs in the chorus. Oh, yeah, and the mixing is horrible as expected, but to be honest to me it does not dampen the boasting, anthemic nature of this track, especially with Post Malone being a perfect choice to croon that infectious chorus. Megan Thee Stallion has a pretty embarrassingly by-the-numbers verse over a switch in the beat that makes it sound oddly stunted, but she does have that swinging rock charisma that people like Lil Baby do not have. With that said, I think I’m at the point where I eat anything Lil Baby says or does, because the flow switches combined with his frog-throat delivery is just impeccable. Content-wise, I think everyone here realises they’re being squashed by the clipping beat as they just go off about complete nonsense that goes in one ear and out the other apart from Lil Baby’s misguided but still pretty funny line about how he contemplated going vegan but sees no point in it because he’s got ten karats in both of his ears. Sure. At least DJ Khaled as something to do as he... harmonises, I guess, with Posty on the chorus. DaBaby is as distant as possible from the microphone to the point where I can barely hear him, not that it matters when his verse is that basic and short. This is kind of a trainwreck in all honesty, but with four choruses and a beat this heavy, it’s hard to be annoyed by it. Overwhelming maybe but these performers are all characters by themselves and throwing them in this three-minute chaos of squealing guitars and trap skitters just fascinates me if anything. Does it count as a posse cut? I don’t know. Either way, this is hilarious.

#5 – “Your Power” – Billie Eilish

Produced by FINNEAS

Decidedly not hilarious is this new single from Billie Eilish looking to be a smash from that upcoming album which now has a track listing and release date, with this functioning as I suppose the true lead single and her seventh top 10 here in the UK. It’s a brave choice too considering the lyrical content which is a pretty scathing attack on her ex-boyfriend and their abusive relationship, making several references to the gap in age and power dynamic that played into something really distressing for the both of them but especially a young, vulnerable Billie Eilish who found herself helpless in this relationship because of that “hero” quickly revealing himself as little more than his projected insecurities. The song’s detailed enough not to detach itself from Billie’s personal struggles but also works as what I suppose is a warning, as it’s retelling a story all too familiar with many girls of her age at the time who end up in these really scary situations. It does help that the song itself is great, relying on these layered acoustic guitars to form some kind of dejected groove behind Eilish’s vocals, whispery and cooing as always but in this case way too loud in the mix for my taste to the point where it kind of takes me out of the song as a whole. With a better master that blends her vocal take a lot better into the guitars, maybe going for a fuzzier, dream-pop angle, could work a lot better but with that said, I do understand the purpose of making it feel this intimate and minimal because Billie’s honest songwriting calls for a delivery like this, even if she ends up sounding shakier or even mumbling at times as a result. This is a big debut for Billie for a song not prepared to do as well as it did given its content and sound that is not exactly radio-friendly and oftentimes requires more heavy of a listen than a pop song would otherwise. I do love that final outro as her humming careens off the gentle guitars with just enough scratch but I do question how abrupt the ending is. Hopefully when the album’s out, we’ll have a bigger picture to as where this single in particular fits in.

Conclusion

With only five new arrivals and not much in the way of anything bad, I guess Worst of the Week goes to “Oblivion” by Royal Blood but giving a Dishonourable Mention would just end up as dishonest. Therefore, Best of the Week goes to Billie Eilish for “Your Power” but – and I cannot believe I am saying this for a 3/10 album with only fluke hits – but DJ Khaled – and Lil Baby for that matter – get a tied Honourable Mention for both of their songs, “EVERY CHANCE THAT I GET” with Lil Durk and “I DID IT” with Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby. Now to distract from the fact I just did that, here’s this week’s top 10:

I can’t really make any healthy predictions for next week. Maybe we’ll get some songs from Lil Tecca, Rag’n’Bone Man or Bebe Rexha? Maybe we’ll end up with some fluke Weezer smash hit, who knows? Regardless, thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week.

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thespacenico · 5 years

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haven’t posted here in a while, so here’s a short klance drabble commissioned by @helloklancee!

twitter | instagram | klancemas zine!

·:*:·ﾟ★ sweet spot ★ﾟ·:*:· - 2.1k word oneshot - getting together - college au

“Keith, I swear to god if you make me kill my boba—”

“I’m not! I’m just, moving it around a little—stop peeking!”

“I’m not!”

“Lance, I can literally see your eyeball right now.”

Lance closes his eyes and covers them fully with his hand for the second time, heaving an unnecessarily long and overly dramatic sigh. “Why can’t we just drink our bobas! Like normal people. What if I smash the side of “Then I’ll just buy you a new one,” Keith snorts, clearly amused by Lance’s antics. A moment of haphazard shuffling as he adjusts the position of Lance’s cup on the table, and then it stops. “Okay. Go.”

“This is a terrible idea,” Lance mutters, blindly lifting the straw in his other hand. He hovers uncertainly for a moment, arm fully extended over the table as he relocates it to where he hopes Keith has moved his cup, then swings downward.

There’s a loud pop! and when Lance doesn’t feel anything spilling over his hand and into his lap, he cautiously peels his hand away from his face, opening one eye to see that his straw has gone straight through the center of his cup’s lid.

“Ha!” he crows, pumping one fist in the air and laughing gleefully at the incredulous look on Keith’s face. “Nailed it! I told you, they don’t call me ‘Sharpshooter’ for nothing.”

“No way,” Keith shakes his head, crossing his hands in a time-out motion. “There’s no way—you cheated! You peeked again, didn’t you?”

Lance sputters. “Wha—no! I did that all by myself, fair and square! Can’t you just appreciate my awesomeness for once?”

Keith chooses not to respond, instead picking up his own cup and watching Lance through narrowed eyes as he takes a sip. Lance follows suit, squinting as he props his elbows against the table, takes a sip, and promptly chokes on a boba pearl.

It’s worth it to hear the way that Keith laughs, bright and unabashed throughout the quiet of the shop.

They’re in the midst of finals week, and technically they should be studying right now, but it’s always nice to get off campus and breathe every once in a while. It’s not unusual for them to go out together; in fact, it’s a pretty regular thing.

Lance is Keith’s go-to, Keith is Lance’s go-to, meaning that outside of classes and routine schoolwork, they take up almost all of each other’s time. Keith had texted Lance about needing a study break, Lance had mentioned that he’d been craving boba for the past eighteen hours, and the rest is history.

That’s often how it goes. It’s just a little bit infuriating.

Infuriating, in the sense that Lance has had a big fat crush on Keith since the first semester of their freshman year, and nearly a full year later he still can’t bring himself to make a move. It’s kind of ridiculous, because honestly, what would really change if they were to start dating?

They’re like a package deal, together nearly every moment that they’re able to be. They go the the cafeteria together, they do homework together, they let each other crash in their dorm rooms—quiznak, they even alternate paying for off-campus outings, considering that they happen so often.

“People don’t do all that with just anyone,” Hunk has told Lance, time and time and time again.

Maybe not, but Lance doesn’t take this stuff lightly. He’s not sure he wants to risk what they already have.

They spend a while at the boba shop—longer than they should have—complaining about their professors, giggling through several card games, snapping a few very unflattering pictures of each other sipping on their boba. Lance snags an extra straw from the front counter and sticks one in each nostril, and Keith laughs so hard that he nearly falls out of his chair, which only makes him laugh even harder.

The trip back to campus is no less lively. They sing their lungs out to A-ha’s “Take On Me,” as is tradition for them, and by the time that Lance is pulling into the parking lot outside Keith’s dorm, his cheeks are flushed with warmth and mouth smiling as they both climb out onto the pavement into the cold. Part of him wishes their night didn’t have to end here, but they both have a lot to do, and together they tend to distract each other, so. It’s probably for the best.

The sun set hours ago, but the moon is bright and full in the sky, the winter air crisp and inviting. Lance shoves his hands in his jacket pockets as Keith slips out of the passenger seat and walks around to the other side, shivering as he zips up his coat. “How are you not freezing? I feel cold just looking at you.”

“You’re just cold-blooded,” Lance shrugs, and yelps when Keith pokes him sharply in the side, snickering at Lance’s half-hearted pout. “Hey! No one’s keeping you here, just hurry up and go inside if you’re so cold!”

He can’t tell if he only imagines it or not, but if he didn’t know any better he’d say that Keith’s smile seems to falter slightly, as if the thought of parting with each other bothers him as much as it bothers Lance. “I… yeah,” Keith nods, and Lance finds his own smile wavering when he lowers his gaze to the ground, kicking at a pebble on the sidewalk. “I guess I should get back to studying.”

Lance mentally kicks himself, although he doesn’t even know what he’s kicking himself for. Keith sounds disappointed. Why does he sound disappointed? What has Lance done. What did he do. What was there to be done.

He opens his mouth. Closes it, as he searches for the right words. “Um, yeah. I probably should, too.”

It’s unclear if he’s made things better or worse from the expression that Keith wears when he looks up again, shifting restlessly from one foot to the other. There’s something almost shy about his posture, nervous energy radiating off him in waves as he takes a breath as if to say something, then pauses. He seems anxious, and that makes Lance anxious, because he doesn’t like the thought of being someone who makes Keith anxious.

“Hey, are you okay?” Lance pulls his hands from his pockets but they only hover uselessly at his sides, uncertain. Keith shuffles in place, silent and mostly avoiding eye contact, which is odd and rather concerning since hardly a moment ago everything seemed to be totally normal. Lance’s brow furrows. “Seriously, what’s wrong? You seem kind of—” The rest of his words die on his tongue before he has the chance to utter them, because then Keith quickly steps forward, leans in, and kisses his cheek.

Lance’s brain sputters. Chokes and fizzles out, just like the new fizzy drink on the boba menu that he had earlier considered and ultimately decided against. He stands very still, frozen to the spot as Keith pulls away just as quickly, cheeks visibly flushed despite only the moonlight and streetlamps to make it out.

He clears his throat, reaching up to brush a piece of hair behind his ear. “Just, um. Thanks for tonight. I really needed it.” Lance stares at him, speechless, face burning as Keith takes a step back, mumbling. “Good luck with studying. And I’ll—see you tomorrow, I guess.” Then just like that, he turns and starts toward the front doors of the dorm building, leaving Lance standing rigid and flabbergasted on the sidewalk wondering exactly what the heck was in his drink.

At least, he tried to. Lance doesn’t let him get very far. “What—Keith, wait.”

Keith stops in his tracks, glancing over his shoulder at where Lance’s fingers have closed around his wrist, then up at Lance. Lance blinks back at him, almost as surprised by himself as Keith seems to be, but he doesn’t back down. For a moment they’re both silent, a thick, heavy tension settling over them. The air is electric, prickling at Lance’s skin and sending a shiver down his spine that he’s barely able to suppress.

Lance’s heart is racing, beating painfully behind his ribcage as he searches Keith’s face. His gaze is more open and vulnerable than Lance has ever seen it, his expression an apprehensive mix of uncertainty and anticipation, like he’s waiting to see what happens next but is afraid of what that might be. Lance opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out, especially when Keith’s eyes widen ever so slightly, almost too hopeful for Lance’s poor heart to bear.

He makes a split second decision.

Lance pulls a willing, albeit puzzled Keith back toward him, and kisses him. It takes a rather mortifying, agonizing moment for Keith to kiss back, but when he does, Lance can’t believe they took so long to make this happen.

Once they get started, Lance can’t imagine ever wanting to stop. Keith’s hands slide up to rest on his shoulder and cup the back of his neck, eagerly pressing against him when Lance gently tugs him closer by the waist. And either Lance moves back or Keith moves forward, because hardly a second later Lance is backed against his car door and gratefully leaning against it, desperate for some kind of support considering how easily his legs have turned to jello.

Keith tastes sweet, which Lance can’t help but think is entirely fitting. It reminds him of all Keith’s favorite drinks, of the coffee he takes to class every morning with too much sugar mixed in, of the candies he always asks Lance to bring back from the store when he gets held up at dinner with his brother. Lance shifts slightly and Keith follows, voicing zero protest as Lance slowly turns them around so it’s Keith backed up against the car instead, fingers tangled in Lance’s hair.

Every time one of them pulls away the other only drags them back in, noses brushing with every tilt of their jaw, blinking butterfly kisses against each other’s cheeks from the sheer proximity. Lance practically melts at Keith’s touch, humming when he brushes a thumb over his cheekbone, wanting to be closer and closer even though they’re already as close as they can be.

If he wasn’t cold before, then he certainly isn’t cold now. At some point Keith’s arms wind around his neck, one hand pressing between his shoulder blades, and Lance feels like he’s burning but not unpleasantly.

His hands hover near Keith’s waist, slipping underneath his coat, playing with the hem of his shirt before pressing underneath that as well, settling his fingers over bare skin. And maybe it’s instinctive, or habitual, but Lance finds himself rubbing a single, gentle circle against his hips with his thumbs without thinking, causing Keith to make a small sound in the back of his throat.

He abruptly breaks apart, breath catching in his throat, and Lance immediately withdraws his hands from underneath Keith’s shirt. “Sorry, I—I’m sorry, was that—”

“It’s fine,” Keith rasps, breath hot on Lance’s mouth. He swallows, eyelids fluttering and hands gripping Lance’s shoulders tightly to steady himself. “Just… trying to—process.”

Lance relaxes, shoulders loosening as he slips back underneath his shirt and settles his fingers there. He’s quiet for a moment, eyes fixed on Keith as he tries to catch his breath, letting himself admire everything he’d tried so hard to ignore, way back when: the slope of his nose, the dip of his chin, the faded mark on his cheek from an accident when he was sixteen, even the place at the corner of his mouth where he knows a dimple would be if he were smiling.

Having Keith this close to him, eyes heavy and cheeks flushed and breathing hotly against his mouth—it hardly feels real, after all this time.

He lifts one hand to rest against Keith’s cheek without remembering when he ever told it to move. It makes Keith look up at him though, and he finds himself smiling when their eyes meet, tucking a stray piece of hair behind his ear. “You know, now that we got the hard part out of the way, I think now is a pretty good time to tell you that I have a big fat crush on you.”

Keith laughs breathlessly, gripping the collar of Lance’s jacket. “I should hope so. I have a big fat crush on you, too.”

“How long?” Lance asks, with very thinly veiled curiosity.

“God, I don’t know. First semester of freshman year?”

Lance stares at him. “We’re both idiots.”

Keith doesn’t ask why, only laughs again in agreement and leans forward to kiss him again, a gentle press of his lips against the corner of his mouth. “That’s okay with me.”

(Needless to say, Lance doesn’t get much studying done that night. And that’s just fine with him.)

#my writing #klance #keith #lance #voltron #vld #keithvoltron #lancevoltron #keithkogane #keith kogane #lancemcclain #lance mcclain

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dustedmagazine · 4 years

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Dusted Mid-Year Exchange, Part 1: Activity to Jeff Parker

Irreversible Entanglements

Six years ago, newly moved to Tumblr, we looked for a fresh take on the mid-year best-of list idea, partly to be contrary, partly because some of us had no interest in writing about the same records over and over again. After some discussion — well, a lot of discussion — we decided to turn our mid-year feature into a sort of secret Santa exchange. We’d each nominate two records and each review two records, but, here’s the kicker, they wouldn’t be the same records. We’d trade with our fellow writers, and if it meant that we had to listen to music way out of our comfort zone, so be it.

Since then we’ve had smooth exchanges and rough ones – last year’s was especially testy, but what can you do with such an opinionated bunch—but it’s become a favorite annual event. This year was no different, except that no one was truly revolted by their assignments.

Unlike some years, there was no clear dominant pick, though Six Organs, James Elkington, Makaya McCraven/Gil Scott-Heron, Cable Ties and Irreversible Entanglements all got multiple votes.

We’ll split our individual album write-ups into two posts. Today’s covers records by artists from Activity to Jeff Parker. We’ll get to the rest of the alphabet tomorrow. On the third and final day, we’ll post writers’ lists. Participants included Tobias Carroll, Tim Clarke, Justin Cober-Lake, Andrew Forell, Ray Garraty, Jennifer Kelly, Arthur Krumins, Patrick Masterson, Ian Mathers, Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw and Derek Taylor.

Activity — Unmask Whoever

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Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes, Tim said, “This music strains at the leash, held tightly in check by the motorik rhythms, while gaseous synths seek to permeate all corners of the soundscape.”

Ray Garraty’s take:

You wouldn’t know that it is a debut album, but then it’s a super band, so that doesn’t count. Vocalist Travis Johnson’s delivery reminds you a symbolist poet reciting some lines from his notebook, neither singing nor reading. Despite referring to violence in song titles and lyrics, this music is as far from violent as it can be. It’s too self-conscious to even carry symbolic violence but when on ‘Earth Angel’ the vocalist with the hook “I wanna fuck around” almost breaks into a scream, it turns into a whisper instead. It’s these small details that unmask the outfit’s postmodern disguise and show that Activity is the real deal, not a half-baked pastiche.

Decoy with Joe McPhee — AC/DC (OtoRoku)

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Who picked it? Derek Taylor.

Did we review it? Yes, Derek said, “Decoy is a working group and a heady amalgam that recalls a dream fusion of Atlantis-era Sun Ra, Keith Jarrett’s marathon electric stand with Miles at the Cellar Door, and Larry Young circa his Blue Note moonshot Contrasts, while still relentlessly retaining its own flight plan.”

Jennifer Kelly’s take:

Wow. “A/C” is impressive enough with its wild unfurlings of trumpet and sax, its woozy meditations in bowed and plucked stand-up bass, its incendiary organ bursts, all rooted in jazz, but touching on the hot, experimental outposts of rock and soul and R&B, too. But the second side, “D/C,” is even more exciting, as the tumult of sounds gets more fevered and McPhee breaks out in song. Who can blame him? You want to join in. It’s a mind-bending swirl that boils up and over the edges, heady, excessive and exhilarating. So glad I got to hear this, Derek, and it reinforces the benefits of trading favorites, i.e. finding music that is way out of your normal circuit but, even so, exactly what you need.

Sandy Ewen — You Win (Gilgongo)

You Win by Sandy Ewen

Who picked it? Bill Meyer

Did we review it? No.

Andrew Forell’s take:

Experimental guitarist Sandy Ewen appears as much concerned with space as sound. On You Win, she treats her instrument as pure object to explore the minutiae of its potential. Patterns emerge like communications from distant galaxies or the gradual shift and warp of old buildings. The 5 tracks scrape and rumble as occasionally identifiable guitar sounds — feedback hum, plucked strings — flicker from the mix. Best heard through headphones, You Win demands concentration lest one misses the nuanced denaturing and subversion of Ewen’s work, which is as fascinating as it is challenging.

Fake Laugh — Dining Alone (State 51 Conspiracy)

Fake Laugh · Ever Imagine

Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes Tim said, “These sharp, funny, warm-hearted songs are immediately endearing, yet shot through with bracingly sour ingredients.”

Andrew Forell’s take:

Dining Alone, Kamran Khan’s latest album as Fake Laugh, is a collection of pastel Day-Glo bedroom pop songs that breeze by leaving barely a hair ruffled in their wake. Khan has an ear for a melody, a wistfully pleasant voice and a talent for arrangement that make this album an enjoyable listen but there is a nagging feeling that he is holding something back. Tracks like the finely wrought “A Memory” and Supertramp update “The Empty Party” stand out but Dining Alone feels like an intermediate step on which Khan tries out ideas and seeks a way forward although there is enough here to be optimistic about what might come next.

Field Works — Ultrasonic (Temporary Residence)

Ultrasonic by Field Works

Who picked it? Justin Cober-Lake

Did we review it? Yes, in a May Dust, Tim Clarke wrote that “Stuart Hyatt’s latest compilation in the Field Works series is an absolute beauty — and timely given it’s being released during a pandemic whose origins may be linked to bats.”

Derek Taylor’s take:

Most of the listening that I do in the service of reviewing music revolves around discerning who’s, what’s and how’s. Those sorts of taxonomic identifications feel superfluous, not to mention futile when navigating the music on Ultrasonic. Sources I mistook as aquatic (“Dusk Tempi,” “Echo Affinity,” “Music for a Room with Vaulted Ceiling,” and “Indiana Blindfold”) are subterranean, specifically the echolocation emissions of bats. Harp and piano sounds dapple “Silver Secrets” and “Sodalis” as instrumental signposts, but they’re outliers in a program that feels largely electronic and beyond the scope of scrupulous inventory.

The closest, if admittedly antiquated, genre descriptors I have for these ecology-minded creations are ambient and new age. A seraphic, celestial quality suffuses most of them with sweeping washes of tonal color layering over more definable rhythms and progressions. The combination curiously reminds me of a distant temporal relic that served as childhood gateway to this sort of territory, my father’s vinyl edition of Ray Lynch’s Deep Breakfast. It’s another feeble attempt at a compass point and evidence of how difficult it can be to escape the ingrained habits that influence personal musical consumption.

The Giving Shapes — Earth Leaps Up (Elsewhere)

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Who recommended it? Arthur Krumins

Did we review it? Yes. Arthur said, “You feel like you’re being carried into a dream, familiar yet strange.”

Ian Mathers’ take:

There’s just something nice about a record where, a few minutes after putting it on, your partner suddenly remarks “you know, this is very calming”. It’s not that the work of Robyn Jacob (voice, piano) and Elisa Thorn (voice, harp) is soporific or somehow uninvolving, more that there’s a somehow centered kind of deliberateness with which they approach these songs that feels oddly reassuring. The way their voices often echo lines (or slightly altered lines) back at one another can feel vaguely Stereolab-ish, but rather than the coolly pulsing, layered grooves (and transient noise bursts) of that outfit, the simplicity of the arrangements here feels direct and clean and often comforting. But it’s the type of comfort that lets you see the difficulty you’re trying to tackle head-on, not the comfort that swaddles you away from having to deal with the world. It’s more bracing than lulling, in other words, and frequently beautiful at that.

Irreversible Entanglements — Who Sent You? (Don Giovanni/International Anthem)

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Who recommended it? Andrew Forell.

Did we review it? Yes. Andrew Forell wrote, “Who Sent You? is an extraordinary statement lyrically and musically.”

Bill Meyer’s take:

I’m inclined to agree with Andrew Forell. When I first encountered the vocal-focused free jazz of Irreversible Entanglements in 2018, I was more taken by the band’s focused exchanges of energy onstage than I was by their self-titled debut LP as a listening experience. But its successor steps up their already powerful game by easing up just a bit. They’ve let more air and variety into the surging rhythms and interweaving horn lines, opening up space for vocalist Camae Ayewa’s words to land with even more impact and staying power. Ayewa, who also records as Moor Mother, is more of a poetic declaimer than a singer or rapper, and her expressions of cultural memory and existential survival in the face of remorseless racism and economic terrorism boom over the music’s ebb and flow with inspiring authority. While her words are always applicable, this record sounds like it was made to be heard in a time of plague and revolt; when people ask in years to come what record sounds like the middle of 2020 felt, a lot of people will hold up Who Sent You?

The Jacka — Murder Weapon (The Artist / EMPIRE)

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Who recommended it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? Yes. Ray Garraty said, “this album confirms Jacka’s status among the greatest fallen soldiers of hip hop.”

Tim Clarke’s take:

Despite being a posthumous release whose title refers to the artist’s tragic death by shooting back in 2015, Murder Weapon by Bay Area rapper The Jacka is a surprisingly cohesive listening experience, largely thanks to the lush palette of old-school samples employed on many of these tracks. From the aching strings on early highlight “Walk Away” via the swinging funk of “Can’t Go Home” to the children’s choir on “We Outside,” there’s a warmth and humanity to this sad story that honors the artist’s memory.

Ka — Descendants of Cain (Iron Works)

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Who picked it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? Yes, Ray said, “Descendants of Cain, Ka’s seventh album combines the epic bleakness of the Old Testament with Brownsville’s hopelessness.”

Tobias Carroll’s take:

Shamefully, this is my first exposure to the music of MC and producer Ka; it’s his sixth album overall, and I’ve got some catching up to do. For an album with a title and cover art that could just as easily fit on a doom metal album, what surprised me was how focused this all was. The album flows beautifully, with music that fits somewhere between sinuous soul and the art-damaged Americana heard on, say, Matmos’s The West — with a handful of cinematic samples topping it off. It’s a perfect match for Ka’s voice, which manages to be textured and beatifically smooth all at once. Some albums paint a picture for the listener; this one is wholly immersive.

Matt LaJoie — Everlasting Spring

Everlasting Spring by Matt LaJoie

Who picked it? Tobias Carroll

Did we review it? No

Ray Garraty’s take:

Matt LaJoie’s technical verbosity is on the spot here, as all the man-made sounds can be mistaken for something Nature produced out of its vast resources. Everlasting Spring is like a small water spring which flows and flows but can’t eventually flow into a river, being forever condemned to be just this spring. Everlasting Spring lasts almost for an hour (if we count a bonus track), and it’s six minutes for every string LaJoie’s guitar has. Not many men can admire nature for that long. The whole album has that New Age-ish feel, when you can start listening to it from any track, and nothing will change in your views on it.

Maybe it does give a good mimesis of what spring sounds like but we still need a change of weather from time to time.

Mamaleek — Come & See (The Flenser)

Come and See by Mamaleek

Who recommended it? Jonathan Shaw

Did we review it? Yes. Jonathan said, “Their dominant textures are still harsh and confrontational, vocals are still howled and shouted. But there are riffs. There are melodic structures.”

Justin Cober-Lake's take:

As black metal, Mamaleek would hold their own, but there's a persistent work to stretch boundaries here. Come & See keeps a core mix of sludge and anger, but the group's inventiveness keeps the album consistently surprising. The group finds brighter tones than anticipated, even while moving away from metal more toward alt-rock at times, and post-rock at others, and generally finding expressions that require a hyphen. An occasional breakdown touches on jazz or finds its roots in rock 'n' roll. “Cabrini-Green” functions like a suite — track the movements and break the track into its separate pieces — even as it avoids a sort of linear sequence. “Elsewhere” (and, indeed, much of the album) turns out a demented history of hardcore. The record probably won't find much of an audience outside of the metal scene, but listening past the obvious trappings reveals a wealth of influences and a complexity that makes for intriguing listening across genre strictures.

Jeff Parker — Suite for Max Brown (International Anthem)

Suite for Max Brown by Jeff Parker

Who picked it? Arthur Krumins

Did we review it? Yes. Arthur said, “Following the looped, electronic and eclectic New Breed, Jeff Parker’s latest album expands into an even greater range of off-kilter sonic experiments.”

Tobias Carroll’s take:

Before this year, my knowledge of Jeff Parker’s music came largely from his work with Tortoise. And that’s far from a bad thing; Tortoise is a fine band. But hearing Parker push further into the realm of jazz with Suite for Max Brown is its own form of delight, where precisely-played melodies meet instrumental virtuosity. It’s an eminently listenable album, and one where I’m still noticing new moments of subtle beauty in the mix.

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echodrops · 5 years

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Hshshsnansna seeing that ask got me in a HUGE HaaH mood. Like, I went through and read a bunch of asks, and I'd probably go reread the fic itself if I had time. So!! Is there anything about HaaH you've always wanted to share but never had the chance to? Headcanons, worldbuilding, backstory, hidden details- anything at all??

Oh friend… There is so much. I have a Word document that’s like 17k of JUST headcanons and world-building for this fic kghsdkjhdkfg I’m not crazy, I swear.

It took me a while to respond because I had to comb through and find stuff that wasn’t spoilery, but tada, have some Home and a Half Hunk and Shiro (and Matt) headcanons and backstory under the cut!

Also, as for hidden details… Same as the Garrison professors in the show were named for staff members, Neuhahn and Ania are named after IRL contributors to the Voltron animated series–Chris Neuhahn was a producer and Ania O’Hare was the casting director.

And here are some Hunk, Shiro, and sorta Matt headcanons/backstory that shapes their characters in HaaH. (Please note, these headcanons ignore absolutely everything from about season 6 of the actual show and on. I stopped watching Voltron after Season 6 because I just couldn’t handle the writing anymore. T_T)

Hunk:- He’s mixed ethnically, and although his parents are from Samoa, his family tree actually spans many different countries, mostly in Polynesia, including Tonga, but even places as far away as Malaysia.- His parents were converted to the LDS church by Mormon missionaries in Samoa. A few years before Hunk was born, his parents moved to Utah to be closer to the church, so Hunk has only ever been to Samoa once, on a vacation to visit family.- His first name is actually “Hyrum,” and until he met Lance at a Garrison-sponsored summer astro-camp when they were nine, everyone just called him by his real name.- Lance actually meant to call him “Incredible Hulk” at camp, butttt to nine-year-old Lance’s utter mortification, it came out “Incredible Hunk” instead. “Hunk” stuck.- He has a little sister who is even more sensitive than he is.

- Although Hunk’s parents originally agreed on the plan to move to America, after the family arrived, they experienced difficulty fitting in with the very selective Utah culture, and Hunk’s mother grew disenchanted with the church. Employment was difficult to find in their small, rural town, and Hunk’s parents both struggled with being isolated from their extended families. Tensions over whether or not to remain in America, as well as over money, led to some miserable fights that contributed to Hunk’s aversion to conflict when he was younger.

- Hunk sometimes had to play the role of family peacekeeper, working hard to make sure that his youngest sister wouldn’t notice the strain.

- Nevertheless, despite their share of troubles, the family is extremely close-knit. Hunk values his family and their opinions more than anything in any world.

- Which is how he ended up agreeing to go to Garrison, even when he really just wanted to help his parents kickstart the restaurant they were planning to open. His mother felt that working in a family restaurant, even if Hunk is a great cook, would squander his incredible academic and engineering talent (which Hunk thought of as just a hobby), so she begged him to go and continue his schooling instead. Hunk couldn’t say no to his mother, even if the thought of being shipped off into space terrified the living daylights out of him.

- Hunk doesn’t curse and is somewhat uncomfortable with people cursing, at least in front of him. Although Lance used to have a pretty colorful repertoire, when he learned that cursing made Hunk uncomfortable, he immediately adopted all of Hunk’s weird Utah replacements instead. “Holy crow” and “let’s kick some trash” are things they actually say seriously.

- Hunk is always down to cuddle and is never embarrassed by asking for or giving cuddles to anyone. He would 200% cuddle Shiro if he thought Shiro would let him. (Shiro would, in fact, let him.) Hunk’s favorite person on the team to cuddle is actually Keith, because Keith (who was taught to comply by Garrison scientists with all unexpected/unsolicited touch) will just sit obediently for hours letting Hunk hug out all his stress. Hunk knows that something is off about Keith’s behavior, but his leading theory—that Keith allows the hugs because he’s touch-starved—is unfortunately false.

- Hunk knows the lyrics to every Disney song EVER.

- And he’s like a dog with a bone when it comes to secrets. Once he discovers that someone’s keeping something under wraps, he goes a bit crazy with curiosity and cannot stop thinking about what they might be hiding. The rules of privacy go totally out the window when he gets like this, but time and again, Hunk’s adage that it’s always better to tell the truth bears itself out.

Shiro (and Matt?):

- Shiro is the only member of his immediate family whose first language was not Japanese. His grandparents on both sides immigrated to the US from Japan due to work transfers relatively late in life, when their own children, Shiro’s parents, were already young adults. As the first family child to be born in America, Shiro’s parents strongly emphasized the need to learn English well, which unfortunately resulted in Shiro being pushed away from learning Japanese when he was young. Even though he’s a capable conversationalist now, he’s struggled his whole life with regret over not learning the language when he was young and could have picked it up easier.

- There’s a running joke in his family that he’s actually an ogre in disguise, given that he is much taller than many of his other family members. Tradition demands that the first photo of every holiday gathering is a joke group shot in which Shiro’s posed so his entire head is outside the top frame of the picture.

- Shiro was mercilessly bullied as a child because of his height. The other children frequently suggested that he didn’t belong in their grade because he was too big and that the school must held him back multiple times for being dumb. (Shiro was never held back. In fact, he had excellent grades from kindergarten to the day he graduated from Garrison—and no, not because his parents forced him to study; in fact, throughout his schooling, they often ended up having to force Shiro to go to bed already instead.)

- On top of being teased for his looks, Shiro was naturally shy. He barely spoke, even to his teachers, and would stumble miserably if he was put on the spot in class, contributing further to the rumor that he was stupid.

- Shiro loved learning, but he hated everything that happened in school and didn’t have a single real friend outside of his cousins until he went off to middle school and met Matt Holt in sixth grade.

- Barely two weeks into their first middle school year, and it was already obvious that Matt was the school’s biggest nerd; he’d been bumped up two grades because of his obvious genius and was the textbook definition of an alien conspiracy theorist (It’s not a conspiracy if they’re REAL, guys!) But the strange thing was that no one bullied Matt—he was just so quick on the sarcastic (and biochemical) comebacks that teasing him wasn’t even worth it. Instead, the school’s resident assholes took it out on targets a little less likely to corrode their homework with miniature magnesium bombs—read as, they picked on polite, well-meaning Takashi Shirogane instead.

- Out of pity more than anything else, Matt finally stood up for Shiro one day and ran off the assholes. (It was not, as Mrs. Shirogane insists, with a home-made taser. It was not.) After something like that, well… You sort of feel obligated to befriend a guy, don’tcha?

- Becoming friends with Matt Holt transformed Shiro’s life. Even if Shiro wouldn’t originally speak up for himself, he was ferociously proud and supportive of his first real friend, and learning to be bold for Matt taught Shiro the value and meaning of standing up for not only others, but also himself. Being friends with someone as off-the-cuff and tricky as Matt helped Shiro grow more spontaneous, less self-conscious, and ultimately much more confident—even if, to this day, most of that confidence is still focused on helping others, rather than on being self-assured.

- It was Shiro admiration for Matt’s father, Sam Holt, that led Shiro to take his childhood obsession with military history a step further by actually joining the military. Shiro and Matt enrolled in Garrison together, although Matt was part of the research rather than the combat division.

- Matt was the one who convinced Shiro to get his hair styled in an undercut. It was originally just a dare, but Shiro ended up loving it afterward. The “Undercut Incident,” as it has come to be known in the Shirogane family, was the official straw that broke the camel’s back and resulted in Mrs. Shirogane declaring Matt Holt a “bad influence,” the only impact of which was that Matt had to sneak in through Shiro’s bedroom window instead of coming to the front door when he wanted to hang out.

- Shiro has received two separate Medals of Honor for making dangerous supply deliveries to war-torn countries across the globe, delivering the vital food and medicine that helped save hundreds of lives. He has also been part of several missions to save stranded astronauts from failing international space stations.

- Shiro is actually a giant memelord, but his crushing sense of responsibility keeps him from indulging in quality shitposting in front of anyone he actually knows. He had a ridiculously active secret Vine account before leaving on the Kerberos mission. His snaps are legendary. Deep down, Shiro dreads the inevitable day someone connects him with his cringey social media accounts.

- Literally the worst at adulting. His mom still filled out his tax forms for him and booked his dentist appointments. He has no idea what the hell he’s doing leading Team Voltron when he can’t even remember which of his clothes are machine-washable and which aren’t.

- When they were in their third year at Garrison, Matt conned Shiro into volunteering as a camp counselor for Garrison’s summer astrocamp program, even though Shiro had minimal understanding of how to take care of children and mostly just BS’d his way through, hoping that none of his campers had anything close to a serious issue.

- He won “best camp counselor” the very first year he volunteered. Mostly because Lance cheated and voted for him 23 times, but still.

#Home and a Half #HaaHVLD #voltron headcanons #Hunk headcanons #Shiro headcanons #Matt headcanons #I guess lol #matt holt #hunk voltron #takashi shirogane #Voltron

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thesurpriserollup · 4 years

Text

Re-Drafting the 2020 WWE Draft

Note: I will only be putting the superstars who should’ve switched brands or stayed in their respective brands and why. If you don’t see your favorite superstar here it means I agree with the booking decision that was done to switch them to another brand or the decision to let them stay on the brand they were already on. I will be throwing in NXT into the mix just for fun. But it’s Raw & Smackdown superstars going to NXT via free agency.

Billie Kay

Drafted to: RAW/NXT

Okay, I’m already cheating a little bit but hear me out. Imagine Billie in “The Robert Stone Brand” that would just be the perfect match. That team with Billie and Stone, and as long as they recruit more credible talent, would be a fun angle. And if not NXT, I wanted her to stay on Raw. For two reasons. First, I just want “The IIconics” to reunite. Like it was beyond weird to see them split up for no good reason. The second one is, If we don’t get a reunion I want a heated Gentlewoman’s Match between them. Her and Peyton don’t have to have an issue. They could meet in a # 1 contender’s match or a tournament final. I just want them to face off if they’re not gonna reunite soon.

Andrade

Drafted to: NXT (Via Free Agency)

This has been speculated on social media since the draft happened. He’ll probably comeback to NXT and do a Moose-like angle reminiscent of what Impact is doing. Have him comeback with the NXT Title and claim he’s world champion out of the blue. Let me add a little something, I hope he comes back with the original NXT title design with the big “X”. that would be so cool. This booking could thrust him into the main event scene right off the bat while Finn Balor recovers for 6 weeks, at the time of writing, and Kyle O’Reilly as well.

Sasha Banks

Drafted to: RAW

I just want her and Bayley to be apart until the Rumble or ‘Mania. I’m not a big fan of this storyline, I honestly think it should’ve happened years ago so it doesn’t personally appeal to me as much. But, if we’re gonna do it right. Let Sasha win the Women’s Rumble and challenger for the Smackdown Women’s Championship and win it. It’s easy to book. But WWE decided to put her on the Blue brand. Hopefully this storyline doesn’t run out of steam at least until ‘Mania time.

Heavy Machinery

Drafted to: RAW/Smackdown

I’m gonna keep this short and sweet, that’s why I bundled Otis & Tucker together. No offense to both men, but they’re only good as a Tag Team. Otis’s win at MITB was different but realistically he’s not gonna beat whoever’s champion whether it’s McIntyre, Reigns, Orton, Etc. They should’ve stayed together on whatever brand. And Otis should cash in on a Tag Team and let them win the tag titles TOGETHER. Apart both men are gonna flounder in the lower singles card.

Big E

Drafted to: RAW

“The New Day” shouldn’t have split up it’s as easy that. And I know they wanna push Big E to the top but read my “Wave of the Future - Fantasy booking WWE” post here on Tumblr and you’ll know it could’ve been possible still without breaking them up.

Ricochet

Drafted to: NXT (Via Free Agency)

It’s time “The One and Only” comes back home. Imagine bouts with the likes of Damian Priest for the North American Title or better yet a showdown with Santos Escobar for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. I hate how they book him on the main roster. Just let him come back to where he belongs.

Matt Riddle

Drafted to: Smackdown

I just want his real life animosity with Seth Rollins to become a storyline. As we’ve seen with the Edge/Hardy feud. Real tension makes a good storyline. No other reason than that. I want a hard-hitting but professional contest between these two. They’re professionals after all, I’m sure like with Matt and Edge. They could’ve acted civil enough with each other to put on high-quality matches. And a little side note, Goldberg seems to be on Smackdown so the door is wide open for them still fight each other at a big showcase.

Rey Mysterio

Drafted to: NXT (Via Free Agency)

I just want to see Mysterio Vs. Escobar at a Takeover in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the Title. Is that too much to ask? Santos is running out of opponents, well, credible opponents. Why not inject the Cruiserweight division with probably the Greatest Cruiserweight of all-time in Rey.

Dominik Mysterio

Drafted to: Smackdown

As you might have noticed I split up the Mysterio Father-Son duo. know, I know. He was drafted to Smackdown. But with his Father. I want him to go there alone, on his own. Let him do his own thing, since Smackdown is known as the brand for work horses. Let him have spectacular matches with the likes of Sami Zayn, Shorty G, Daniel Bryan, Etc. This kid needs to pave his own way.

Keith Lee

Drafted to: Smackdown

For the full story, read my Fantasy booking piece. But TL;DR. He could have amazing matches with Sami Zayn and capture the IC title. Defend it until he’s ready to conquer Reigns at the Showcase of the Immortals. I don’t know how they’re screwing him up on Raw but it’s so easy to book “The Limitless One”.

King Corbin -

Drafted to: RAW

Corbin has done everything he can on Smackdown. Let him be a nuisance on Monday Night Raw. A change of scenery. Fresh matches and just a brand new stomping ground could remedy his already stale character.

Mickie James

Drafted to: NXT

As much as I want her to have a legacy run with either of the Blue or Red brand’s title. It’s not gonna happen. So let’s just put her in NXT. Like Rey, she could elevate young talent like Shotzi Blackhart or Dakota Kai for example. Have amazing matches for the rest of her career maybe even win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles with an up and comer from the yellow brand. Just let Mickie do her thing and end her career in a good way.

Bo Dallas

Drafted to: NXT (Via Free Agency)

I wanted to “Bo-lieve” that he was the insurgent. I really did. I loved him as NXT Champion. Well, as we know now “The Insurgent” is Ember Moon. But we can still have come back to NXT. Be a mentor to the younger guys. Maybe even be a top contender for the North American Title. Or if Andrade doesn’t want to come back as a sham delusional champion. Why not let Bo Dallas do that, with the original big “X” NXT title design of course, that would be amazing. Just let us #Bolieve again.

Carmella

Drafted to: RAW

Like Corbin, Carmella needs a change of scenery. She’s doing nothing at the moment. She’s about repackaged as like an “Emmalina” type of character. I think it’s going to work better on Raw since the Red brand is known for having outlandish characters anyway. Maybe a “Fabulous Truth” reunion is in the works too.

Humberto Carrillo

Drafted to: NXT (Via Free Agency)

Humberto had a decent start on the main roster when he first got there but I think he needs to go to NXT. He’s floating around Raw doing random matches. He was part of the Mysterio-Rollins angle but he was nothing more than a footnote. I feel he could be a major player in the Cruiserweight division in NXT. I like the kid he’s so talented. They just have to let him do what he does best and that’s wrestle actually meaningful matches.

Charlotte Flair

Drafted to : NXT (Via Free Agency)

It’s far-fetched in real life or storyline for either main roster brands to not draft Charlotte. But she’s on the shelf right now and it’s quite cool to think that she’d want to sign with NXT because she has unfinished business there. Her NXT Women’s title run was too short for my taste, although in hindsight it resulted in Io Shirai winning the title so that’s good. But I would’ve loved to see her had an extended run in NXT with the crop of talent they have there. She would put on great bouts with Storm, Kai, Lerae and of course Rhea Ripley as well as a one on one rematch with Io Shirai would most likely be in the cards. And hey, Andrade most likely will sign with NXT anyway and they’re a couple and WWE is more open to keeping couples together so that might be a huge factor as well.

Braun Strowman

Drafted to: Smackdown

Reigns needs a credible enough threat after this Jey Uso feud is over. At least until the Royal Rumble. Strowman is the main man to do that. He’s a former Universal champion who didn’t get his due diligence in terms of having the opportunity to earn a rematch to reclaim his title. It’s enough of a reason for him to stay on the blue brand. And besides I don’t want to see him face off against “The Fiend” again over on Raw. It ran it’s course far too long ago.

#wwe #wrestling #pro wrestling #sports entertainment

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