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aprxl-showers · 3 years

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klance x pirates of the caribbean

bc apparently when i'm upset i listen to newsies live and think up weird klance aus

in my head this could go one of two ways:

keith and lance as will and elizabeth

keith and lance as jack and will (i'll explain later)

a lot more under the cut bc i got a bit carried away...

if it follows the canon love story i picture lance as will and keith as elizabeth. (i could see it the other way around bc keith could be the orphan pirate boy but i’ve written too much to go back now).

when they were young, keith was on a ship with his father and he spots lance on a piece of driftwood. they save him ofc and keith spots a jewel necklace around lance's neck. he takes it and later has it fused in the hilt of his mother's knife that is now his.

keith hates being the governor's son with a passion. he hates the formality of it and how restrictive it is. lance is the weaponsmaster's apprentice (that's how he gets good with a gun) and he is always under appreciated! give this guy some recignition!

anyway, he has been silently pining for keith for ages. little does he know, keith kind of likes him too. a lot of mutual pining has been going on for longer than either can recall.

anyhoo, pirates invade the town and kidnap keith. he puts up a fight but in the end he's outnumbered and taken aboard the ship as leverage. he says his surname is mcclain bc it's on his mind. wink wonk. captain of the evil pirates is zarkon and when the pirates who kidnapped keith hand him the knife he realises it is the jewel that can break their spell. since keith uses lance's surname, he also thinks it is keith's blood they need to finish the ritual since lance's family are the one's who sent the jewel away with lance. but it's not. obvs.

lance, after saving a baby, watches keith get taken in horror and tries to call out but is knocked out before he can act. once he's awake he hears that there's a pirate who was caught in the dungeon. that's allura. yes, eccentric captain allura is a choice i am making.

lance manages to break her out of jail, thinking she is one of the evil pirates and he can persuade her to help him. she is not but decides to help him anyway in an attempt to retrieve her ship 'the voltron' from zarkon. the two of them go off on a quest to save keith.

meanwhile, hunk and pidge are guarding keith. they are new recruits to zarkon's crew after their other crew threw pidge out when they discovered she was a girl (silly pirate superstitions). hunk went with her. they are easily persuaded to help keith bc zarkon's a meanie and promise that they'll help him out when they make it to land.

lance and allura arrive on an island and find coran who is allura's closest friend and ally. shiro is also there. he has a peg arm (is that a thing? idk it's a weird mechanism but it does the trick). coran explains that the ship keith is on is cursed and they will be going to the mysterious isle of daibazaal to break the curse.

they get there and watch zarkon attempt to break the curse using the jewel (which he pried out of the blade) and keith's blood. nah, it don't work. they still turn into creepy looking skeletons in the moonlight. damn. he threatens keith and then all hell breaks loose bc lance shoots him. it would have definitely killed zarkon but he can't die bc... the whole undead thing, and in doing so all lance does is reveal their position. they fight a bit, as you do. keith gets hold of a sword and kills three evil pirates in about five seconds. lance falls a little bit in love with him.

in the midst of the battle, lance makes a deal with zarkon that he will stay if keith and the others can go (this now includes hunk and pidge bc they helped keith get free). lance is stripped of visible weapons and zarkon agrees to break the curse immediately. lance cuts his hand and drops the jewel into the chest.

then he grabs keith's jewel-less knife from where it lies beside the chest. zarkon, distracted, doesn't notice until the blade is buried in his gut. he dies. keith and the rest act immediately and kill any other pirates who don't surrender. keith kills an evil pirate about to shoot lance.

they return keith in exchange for allura, coran, shiro, pidge, hunk and lance's pardon. keith expresses his wish not to be governor in the future and allura invites them on 'the voltron' ship with her since she reclaimed it from zarkon. keith and lance then have a moment where they thank each other for saving each other's life. keith thanks lance for coming after him and lance confesses. it's all very sappy and they kiss for ages.

lance is still will. i stand by everything i said about him in the previous version. his parents caused the curse to endure and sent him off. but instead of keith finding him, it's allura. she's the governor's (in this case, alfor's) daughter. she takes the jewel and keeps it as a necklace. lance and allura are more like besties but they're not really allowed to see each other because of their differing classes.

keith arrives and escapes the navy. hides in weaponsmaster’s shop. lance tries to fight him but he’s not as good with a sword as he is with a gun. lots of sassy banter where lance is tryna be noble and keith doesn’t care for it.

anyway, we sort of know what happens. allura gets kidnapped and uses lance's surname bc they had a conversation beforehand. lance stresses, hears about a pirate they captured, assumes it's one of the evil ones he can persuade to help him.

but instead he gets keith who he met earlier. in the time they’ve been apart he’s got himself landed in the dungeon. and he’s notoriously one of the most stubborn, grumy pirate captains in all the seven seas.

he's overall unimpressed with lance as a person and with his plan, only agreeing when he realises he might be able to get his ship, this time called 'the red lion', back. lance decides he's going to prove himself to keith. he doesn't know why he's so offended by a pirate's opinion but he just is. hmmm...

they pick up shiro and coran, pidge and hunk promise to help allura out yada yada yada and they start making their way towards the island.

they run into lotor and his crew (acxa, ezor, zethrid etc) who are unrelated to zarkon and that whole... thing but they're your typical pirates and they want their stuff. which is annoying af bc allura is missing and they have somewhere to be thank you very much.

they put up a good fight. lance has plenty of opportunities to impress keith with his pistol skills. consider keith very impressed and mildly enamoured. but he doesn't do feelings so he stuffs them down inside him as you do. they win and move on. afterwards keith asks lance where he learned those moves and lance tells him stories of his time in the weaponsmaster's workshop. they bond.

they get to the island and find allura. they fight and keith and lance save each other's backs too many times to count. lance has a revelation (inconveniently mid battle) that he actually really likes this. this is fun. this is exciting.

then keith fucks up. he says that he'll hand lance over if zarkon gives him his ship back. lance is fucking fuming and feeling very betrayed and hurt bc he actually felt like he was getting somewhere with keith. keith gets what he deserves though bc zarkon dumps him and allura on an island and takes lance away.

while they're on the island allura knocks some sense into him regarding his life generally and lance specifically. she tells him loads of cute lance-as-a-teenager stories and keith feels awful. he helps her light a signal fire using some rum he has on his person.

they spot the ship alfor sent to find allura. they persuade them to go to where lance and the rest of the crew is. keith tries to act like he's on zarkon's side when they get back to the cave and then he takes one of the cursed jewels so he's now immortal. aha! while this is happening allura has infiltrated zarkon's ship, 'the red lion', so shiro, coran, pidge and hunk can be freed.

allura then frees lance from where they were keeping him in the hull. lance runs to where keith is. they share a look. keith cuts his hand and throws the jewel to lance who does the same and drops it into the water. the curse is broken. keith goes to grab zarkon's sword so he can kill him but zarkon grabs him by the throat. lance shoots zarkon in the side before keith can pass out. he runs to keith who has collapsed. keith apologises and thanks him and promises not to betray him again. lance laughs, says he better not and helps him up.

they return allura safely in exchange for their pardon. keith asks lance to join the crew of 'the red lion' and gives him loads of reasons that are really just disguised compliments. safe to say lance kisses him senseless and they run away together, sailing off into the sunset. bc. klance. there's got to be a sunset somewhere.

hope you liked my what-were-meant-to-be-headcanons-but-just-became-plot-summaries!! i promise i’ll post some general pirate voltron headcanons unrelated to this au at some point. i wrote a pirate au piece for klance au month on my ao3 so some might be related to that?

if you want to send asks or whatever that would be cool - even if they're just random ideas for the au or changes/additions to the plot. i also might write little snippets for this at some point (i’ll tag them under ‘kl potc au’ like this post) bc i'm suddenly crazy invested so if you have any scenes from this you want (from version 1 or 2 or any scene in the plethora of potc movies) send a message and i'll probably get around to it :))

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 4 years

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Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 194

194

Lance knew better than to turn to sex for emotional comfort, he told himself he did, and he still let himself get swept away by Keith’s overwhelming desire to confirm he was loved... and loved a lot.

Cuddled together, the emotional exhaustion had Keith falling asleep in his arms. The position uncomfortable for Lance, but he didn’t have it in his heart to move Keith. He loved him. He loved the soft puffs of breath that tickled his stomach. He loved the long dark strands of hair that had escaped Keith’s ponytail. He loved his warmth. He loved that this ego and Keith’s seemed to understand that they were crazy about each other, despite the clash in their scents. He’d never ever thought a vampire could love a werewolf. Not with the long going open hostility... but he loved Keith. Heck. His stubbornness over a proposal so soon into dating had faded. Keith could propose with a piece of used dental floss and fluff from under the bed and he’d still be over the moon.

Tolerating the pain in his hips, and his need for the bathroom, as long as he could, Lance had to move Keith off of him. His boyfriend trying to grab him as Lance moved his hand away and kissed his forehead

“Bathroom break”

Keith huffed unhappy about it. So terribly cute. Being a werewolf was wasted on his boyfriend. Not when he was an octopus when it came to cuddles

“I’ll be back in a moment”

Huffing, Keith let his arm drop, Lance escaping and grabbing his phone as he went.

Calling Shiro was a spare of the moment decision. He didn’t want to alarm him in the middle of the night, but he also wanted to give him the heads up on what they were doing. Sending a text first, he was done in the bathroom by the time his phone started ringing. Anxiety sent his stomach dropping. He hated how things were between him and Shiro. He’d said some cruel things, Shiro had said some cruel things. They both messed up, yet he seemed to be stuck on fear mode when talking to Keith’s brother. Sliding his thumb across the screen, Lance took a deep breath before moving his phone to his ear

“Lance?”

Oh god. He couldn’t go back now

“H-hey... Shiro. Sorry if you were sleeping”

“It’s the middle of the night”

Shiro sounded like he’d definitely been sleeping

“Sorry. Keith’s asleep and I wanted to give you the heads up. We’re going to visit his dad’s grave today. I thought I’d let you know in case he didn’t want to talk, or didn’t answer in chat”

“I thought you would have gone yesterday”

There was a kind of blame in Shiro’s voice... Lance didn’t blame him

“We were both tired, so we had a lazy day to let Keith build up to it”

“Okay. I see”

Well. This was awkward

“Yeah. We actually met a man who knew Keith’s dad and it rattled him. We didn’t tell him that he was talking to Keith, but this town wants to forget that fire and it’s hard on him”

“Of course it’s hard on him”

Shit. There was no reason for tears and yet his eyes were getting watery

“I’m sorry for calling. I just wanted to let you know what was going on. I’ll leave you to go back to sleep”

Shiro sighed deeply. There was no way he could know he’d upset Lance

“Is he okay. Is he eating?”

“Yeah. Yeah. He’s been eating, he hasn’t gotten angry or stormed off. He was a bit emotional tonight. Oh, can you bring some of his camera equipment? I think it’ll be a good distraction. We’re going to get a copy of the council records on the fire... so I want him to have something else to think about”

A stupid sniffle escaped. He wanted happiness for Keith...

“Lance...”

Nope. He had to hang up. He was going to start crying if he stayed on the phone

“I’m sorry, Shiro. I... have to go... I’m sorry”

Cutting the call as Shiro tried to reply, Lance left his phone in the bathroom. He didn’t want to go into the day in a down mood. Then again, he’d thought the same thing the previously and... well, ugh. He’d had fun with Keith, acting like they were children again. With Blue, having a sandpit at home wouldn’t work, but his mind was already planning a future family holiday to the beach where he’d bully Keith into making sandcastles with him. He’d have someone twin sit so he and Keith could have a proper day being dumb at the beach, then come home slightly sunburnt, and regretting things, but at the same time not because they’d had a lot of fun. Keith was his whole future. As Coran would say, they were soulmates. He really would gift Keith his whole being just to be lucky enough to call him his.

Crawling back into bed, Keith instantly drew him close for snuggling. Their positions now switched with Keith laying on his back and Lance laying half on top of him where he could fit. Yeah. He wanted to marry this guy... One day he’d marry the heck out of him, and Keith would marry the heck out of his right back.

Keith didn’t try to hide his anxious mood as they got ready for the day ahead. He knew Lance was anxious as the vampire had tried to clean the hotel room, grumping that there was no vacuum cleaner to do the floors with. Sullen over breakfast, Lance covered for him. Smiling and thanking the waitress that brought their breakfast, smoothing things over while Keith sat slouched and glared at the world.

All too soon they were headed to the cemetery, Keith not really remembering the drive despite being the driver. Parking in the parking lot, his whole body shook. He wanted to flee. They were so close and he hated how much he wanted to flee. This was his dad. He shouldn’t have been as nervous as he was, but all of this left just as shaken as he’d been to learn to Lance was pregnant. His dad knew about the creatures of the night, and now he was turning up at his grave as one of those creatures.

Lance didn’t push him. He undid his belt, but waited until Keith was so cranky at himself for his cowardice and made a move of his own, before climbing out the bronco. The cemetery wasn’t like the one in Garrison. There were more weeds than grass. Sand skirted the edges of the area, with a few very old trees in place. It felt lonely. Not a place people would want to visit... and he’d left his dad laying there for all those years... Somehow it’d been easier to say goodbye to Mami than it was to face his dad. Mami being gone hadn’t been real until he’d seen her grave. There was no denying the proof thrust onto him. Moving to take his hand, Lance squeezed softly to tell him he was there for him. Keith wanted to pull his hand away, not feeling he deserved support after leaving his dad alone. Hearing the police officer from the previous night describe how much his father loved him had shaken him. Reminded him dangerous it was to fall in love. How freak accidents happened every day and the ones you loved were stolen away unfairly.

Wandering through the cemetery, it smelt... unnerving. Lance’s death scent was the kind of scent he wanted to roll in. The scent of the cemetery should have been the same. There was so much death there, which was logical, but this was a cold death. A fine layer of goosebumps covered his skin as he tried not to read the names of the people they passed. His dad should have been buried somewhere nice. Somewhere like in Platt with its rolling green lawns, or in Garrison where there was no chance of his resting place being disturbed. When Lance came to a stop, Keith didn’t get why until his eyes met the gravestone. His heart doing a flip as he realised just who they’d finally found.

“Jeong” “Joe” Steven Kogane”

The word seemed glaring almost on his senses. His dad was right there and he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to say. Under his birthday and date of death read “A hero taken back to heaven”. No “beloved father of Keith”. No mention of him at all. Erased from his father’s grave felt as if his whole existence had been erased. He was “beloved”. He’d loved Keith and Keith loved him.

“Babe”

“I’m not there”

Lance tugged him close, Keith shaking

“Hey. Hey, it’s okay”

“I’m not there...”

“As unpleasant as it is, babe, and this is going to sound hard, but with no money to pay for the grave, I’m sure his friends put in for it. Some places charge a hundred dollars for each lead letter”

Pushing Lance away, his boyfriend stumbled but saved himself. Keith was mad Lance could reduce this to money, even if he was right

“So it’s okay for me to not be in there! I’m his son! I’m his son and they don’t even care! They forgot me! And you don’t care!”

Lance shot him a wounded look, taking a few deep breaths as he rubbed his stomach. He’d scared him. He’d scared him and he knew it. Why had he pushed him? That behaviour wasn’t okay... He was such a moron

“It’s not that I don’t care... I care. I love you and I care. You dad loved and he cared. We don’t know what they were thinking, but they were hurting too. You had your dad torn away from you. They had their friend torn away from them. I think it’s nice that they gave him a proper stone when he was laid to rest. People these days are so self centred it’s not something you’d expect to see. Anyway, you haven’t even introduced yourself to your dad, babe”

Keith flicked his gaze from Lance back to his father’s grave. He was showing his dad the wrong side of him... but he felt stupid standing there. He wanted Lance to take the initiative and introduce both of them... yet... He couldn’t keep running away

“Uh... um... Hi... dad... it’s me, Keith. I don’t know what to say. He’s not here...”

Lance moved back to his side

“You don’t have to say what you want to say out loud. Jeong... Joe... I’m Lance. I’m a vampire and I have the honour of dating your son Keith. He’s a total handful, but he’s a good man. We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’re here. I wish I could have met you. You’re going to be a grandfather to twins. Krolia’s excited about it all. Yes, she and Keith found each other again... I know you didn’t want to leave him, but I promise to love him as long as we both live. To make him happy. And to stay by his side for the rest of our lives. You fathered an amazing man...”

See. Lance was a million times better at this than him. Keith’s heart going funny as Lance sounded like he was all but proposing in front of his father

“Babe, you don’t have to be afraid of your father. He may not be here in spirit, but he’s always a part of you. You should tell him about you. And next time we come, we’ll bring flowers and tidy his grave up properly. Fuck... I was going to bring him a photo of the twins... Shit... I swore in front of your dad”

Keith mentally rolled his eyes at Lance swearing in front of his father... twice. That was more something he would do. He guessed he could try something more... He couldn’t really disappoint his father any more than he already had by pushing Lance

“Uh... yeah... Um... Lance is my boyfriend and he’s carrying my twins... and I... I’m a werewolf. Shiro... uh, he’s like my adopted brother without the paperwork, he um, had to have me turned to save my life... um... Lance... makes me really happy. I know you’d be disappointed that I... um... pushed him. I’m disappointed in myself too... I... I’m no good at this”

“Babe, you’re doing fine. You’re doing more than fine. You’re doing good. Do you want me to give you a moment?”

Keith shook his head. He couldn’t face this alone. He felt dumb and left alone would only make him storm off angry at himself

“No. Stay... please”

“Sure. You can tell him anything you want to say, but don’t... don’t feel like you have to rush into telling him everything. Your dad would be so happy to see you. He loved you and he was proud of you. That’s the important thing. And now we know where he is, we can come back and visit. We’ll bring the twins, and I’ll tell them about him. And you’ll tell them about him. Just because they’re gone, doesn’t mean we don’t love our parents any less. I miss Mami every single day. Whenever I need advice, it’s still imprinted on me to turn to her. It’s okay to not be okay about seeing your dad again, especially when life was so mean as to take him away when you were so young. But, babe. You’re not alone. I’m here. I know how much you have to say. You’ve said it all to me. It’s okay to tell him you love him and miss him”

If only it was that simple. He felt so unbelievably stupid. His dad wasn’t there. He couldn’t tell him face to face. He didn’t even know if they’d recovered a body...

“I don’t... I’m...”

“Babe, hey. You’re not stupid”

Keith ducked his head. He hadn’t realised he’d been venting out loud

“It doesn’t feel like he’s here”

“I know. I think humans starting erecting grave markers not only to show that someone was once alive, but to give you somewhere to go to talk to that person you miss. It’s like looking at picture and asking them “What do you think I should do?”. The picture can’t reply, but you think about that person when you’re looking at it. I know you have very few memories of your father. I know and it sucks. I’m hoping we can learn more by looking at the council records. I want you to know him. He wants you to know him. The time you spent together wasn’t wasted... that’s... kind of why I questioned that cop. I want you to know whatever there’s to know about your dad... and it was clear to everyone around at the time that you and your dad were tight. That he loved you. That he’d done all he could to be happy and make you safe and loved”

Keith of old wouldn’t have been convinced. He still wasn’t sure he was convinced and Lance wasn’t simply telling him what he wanted to hear. Yet, this pregnancy had changed him. He adored the twins. He already knew he’d do absolutely everything and anything for them. He never wanted them to feel the pain he’d gone through. He didn’t want them to be scared to ask for the things they wanted or needed. He didn’t want them not knowing him... Lance would tell them all about him, should something ever happen to him. He knew that. He’d spent so long angry that his father had left him. So many years were wasted with nowhere to direct that anger into anything other than destruction. But... if his father felt as he did, then he had been loved. He’d been loved and wanted. The last thing his father would have wanted was to leave him behind. Somehow he’d managed to survive, to survive long enough to meet the best man he could hope for to spend the rest of his life with. He wasn’t the same man who’d pulled a gun on Lance. The idea of it still made him feel like a total douche canoe. His father might not have approved... but maybe... maybe he didn’t need his approval... because Lance made him happy. He made him grateful to be alive in this world.

“I really love you, babe. I’m sorry I pushed you away. That was really uncool of me. You didn’t deserve it”

Lance immediately shook his head

“No. I’m okay. You’re all messed up inside and that’s understandable”

“It might be understandable, but that doesn’t make it okay. I love you. I love being with you... I... don’t want to hurt you. I want... to be the kind of boyfriend you’re proud of”

“Babe, you always make me proud. Even on the days you can’t find it in you to like, or even love yourself, I love you. I’m proud to be your boyfriend, and I’m thankful that I’m here with you, to meet your dad. I think he truly would have been proud of you. You’re hot headed and reckless, and you’re still grieving everything, but you’re so strong. You’re a good man. And the man I want to spend every day with for the rest of my life. I want to make you happy. I want to be the one who makes you laugh and smile. I want to shout out to the whole damn world that you’re mine. I wanna have kids and grow old ... older... with you. I wanna be there for the good and the bad and be your family as long as we both shall live”

Keith blushed. Lance shouldn’t be so kind and quick with his praise, his ego was lapping it all up, and he could almost feel it swelling inside of him in the literal sense of the word.

“I’ll never get used to you praising me when I’ve done nothing”

“You don’t have to do anything. You being you is all I could ever want”

Again, what Lance was saying was sounding dangerously close to a proposal. Keith knew he was overthinking things. Lance wanted to date for a while before considering making it all official on paper. He could wait. His ego might not be happy, but their love wasn’t any less without a ring on Lance’s pretty little finger. With his boyfriend’s praise, he could stand before his dad... maybe finally feeling a little less stupid about trying to talk to a grave stone than he had before. Holding Lance’s hand, he shook his head, trying to shake off his earlier stupidity

“Dad, this is Lance. He’s a vampire and I love him. We’re a family... we might not be the perfect family, especially when you think about everything, but he’s perfect to me. He... he’s... really all sorts of amazing. Mum... uh, um... Krolia... I met her again. She’s... weird. But I guess that’s okay... I... um, didn’t have the best life before, but things are better than they’ve ever been. I used to be into photography, but... um... lately I’ve been into Lance. Um... my brother, Shiro... I think you’d like him... he and his partner Curtis are going to come meet you... mum had worked. She’s still with Blade. We didn’t really get along but that’s better now... next time we come, we’ll clean up your grave... I still... can’t believe you’re right in front of me”

Lance let out a hum as Keith mentioned cleaning his dad’s grave. Keith automatically jumping to conclusions, and that conclusion was that Lance was thinking something

“What is it?”

“Huh?”

Scrunching his brow, Lance cocked his head at him

“You hummed...”

“Oh. I was thinking we should ask the council if we’re allowed to put up a little fence and make it look nice”

Where was Lance building this fence? And what did that have to do with his father’s grave?

“You want to build a fence?”

“Not a “fence” fence. But like a little border and we could put in a couple of cacti to give it some colour. I was just thinking it would be nice to show his resting place some love”

You could take the vampire out of the... something witty and to do with handyman antics, but you couldn’t take them out of the vampire

“Babe, you don’t have to do that”

“I want to. I want to make it look nice, so everyone knows he’s loved. And when the twins come, they’ll know it’s their grandfather’s grave and that he would have loved them very much”

“Wait... this is too much”

“Sorry. Sometimes I go off in my own head, which you know. I don’t mean to sound like I’m pressuring you. I mean, it is making an assumption and stuff. I just thought it’d be nice to come back to”

“You... want to come back?”

“He’s your dad. I think I’m going to make it a thing... but only if it’s okay with you”

They’d only just found his father again. This was a bit too much for him right now

“Can I think about it?”

“Of course. Sorry, I’m being overbearing. Okay. In the future I think it’d be nice to put something here, but for now we’ll pick up some nice flowers to bring back”

“Yeah. That’d be nice... I don’t even know where to start...”

Lance wanted to track down as much about his father as he could. It still felt kind of weird that Lance cared and wanted him to know about his dad... then again, Mami had filled Lance with so much love that Lance probably couldn’t help himself

“Then we’ll figure things out together. I’m sorry, I’ve got to sit for a bit. Will you be okay with having a few moments alone?”

Keith blinked. Then realised Lance wasn’t simply blushing, he was getting sunburnt...

“Yeah. I... I feel better about talking to him”

“You take your time. I’ll be waiting in the car. Please don’t rush because of me”

“I won’t... I mean, maybe a little”

Lance bumped him with his elbow

“Don’t be mean to your dad. He’s waited all this time. Make sure you have a good talk with him. I mean, how am I supposed to tell Mami I made you fuss too much? She’d kick my arse”

“Yeah. She would. I won’t be too long... because we’re coming back... right?”

“Yeah, babe. We’ll be back so many times he’ll be sick of us. I love you”

“I love you, too”

Lance left him with a kiss on the cheek. Keith needing a few moments to steady himself, before deciding maybe he could start with the easy stuff then work up to the really painful parts of his past. His dad loved him... he loved him and he had so much to tell him.

#once bitten twice stupid #oncebittentwicestupid #ashratherose

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thoughtsdying · 3 years

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For a change something about fandom, which I’m posting here bc it’s a reflexion on Voltron and we all now.... the problem there. (psss it’s the antis and purity police)

So before I even knew what Voltron was, I started seeing on AO3 that some ficwriters I liked had written?bookmarked?? fics about klance. I was ??? about the whole thing, and bit tired of seeing how it was invading the fandom lists of such ficcers so I went one day and bored at midnight am read like 2 fics? It was klance, bc seeing it everywhere (knowing nothing about the show except it was aliens and tobots) I thought it was the nearest canon solid fic.

(and i get weird with pairings and canon in ways that have to do with; is this dynamic interestic and complex within the worldbuilding and the charas and the themes? so in a new canon it’s important to me the plausability and possibility of a ship to work.)

And you know, I remember enjoying the fics? One hit particularly near my shipper heart even, with swordfights exhibitions in a foreign alien court (politics!!), friendly teasing, angst... etc. BUT THEN.

I think the third season was just being released or something? And a classmate was drawing klance and I said, connecting the dots, oh! that’s keith from voltron right? reminds me of nico di angelo, and she went, right?? the personality even, too!! And Lace is like Leo. And we talked a bit about how she was enjoying Voltron and I decided to start watching I think, bc hey, I wasn’t a big shipper of nico/leo but I thought it was an interesting concept and also, alien politics.

(Have I mentioned how much I love good worldbuilding that afects the plot? Also political conflict well done, like other people love romantic tropes.)

I WAS VERY MISGUIDED OF COURSE LOL

Children, don’t go into a show with secondhand misconceptions, before getting into it, just read a sinopsis or review and avoid wasting time xD

Well, I watched the first episode, only with like vague memories of those fics, bc like half a year had passed between then and me talking to my classmate and then watching Voltron... And I went: but but but. Shiro and Keith??? It’s obvious??? (And angsty and omg they know each other from before, what happened there, the other three are totally third wheeling except pidge, pidge is super cool???) Lance is super annoying and not in a cool way like Leo??? Keith is like, better than I thought? (I went with a good idea about him, maybe bc he really has something in common with nico and other charas of the style lmfao xD) Why do people even ship klance?, and that was I think the start of the end.

So like, I got bored with the simplistic plot around the middle of season 2 and left the fandom very baffled about the obssesion people had both with a show clearly created for kids with low plot/characterization complexity (where were my alien politics and interestellar cultural angst??? expectations mismatching reality, don’t fault the show really) and also convinced that everyone had latched onto the wrong ship bc it was the easier archetype anyways. (even though the rivality thing was just. not there, in a compelling mutual obssesion-total understanding way. just lance butthurt about keith being better than him and trying to flirt with princess-comander Allura.)

I was left with a bit of concern for those in fandom hell, and an interest in interesting meta about Voltron now I could get what they were talking about, but wow. Morbidly following Voltron discourse got me a window onto realising the existence of crazy antis and purity hell/police. What a yikes thing to be/do. It also put me completely off about reading klance even for the lols in fic.

Bc sometimes I read voltron fic, bc those could get on all that wasted potential in the kiddy show, wade profoundly on my original mistaken expectation for it, but then I couldn’t unsee that klance discourse (and also purity discourse) was bonkers and contrary to fandoms like HP where I could read almost every kind of ship no matter plausability except hard NOTPs, a lot of seemingly inocuos voltron fic was soured for me once I learnt how to see the discourse woven in it.

Also, sheith was much more interesting to me, in terms of charas, themes, worldbuilding involvement, etc xD Love at first scene lmao. It also avoided the yaoi seme/uke mischaracterization bullshit that plagged klance and its variants, and I hate ooc charas with the passino of a thousand suns. Even ooc for fics of shows I abandon or have a minor interest in, bc they drain the fic-stories of complexity and interest. It’s the same characterization for a lot of charas of different fandoms bc people (teens mostly, sadly) are lazy and want to project in everything, yikes.

(not that projecting all over fic it’s wrong but it’s not why i’m here. i think you could write your original story or search another fandom if you proyect and leave a canon you don’t vibe with alone)

Another reason I don’t like hard AU’s that aren’t variations on canon.

so like, thanks to AO3 for the exclude tag function~ And tumblr for the block one~

This was all me ranting about why I don’t understand klance and basically, ultimately all voltron fans. Thanks for the content but there’s so many other better stories out there...

#voltron #my opinion #fandom #oversharing is my second name after dying and before thoughts #not tagging the ships bc i don't want to wake up with my account murdered by antis #are they still out there? voltron has been dead by two years now i think #who knoes #not me i just read fic when i'm ultra bored lol

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sasuhinasno1fan · 4 years

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Finding answers and trust- Klance Month Week 1

So this kinda ended up being pre-klance. When I was thinking of the prompt, I thought of this Star Wars Clone Wars rewrite I’ve been reading and when they did the episode when the Chancellor sent Padame to the middle of a fight and she got captured and when she was stuck on the train, Anikin told her to trust him and jump and there was this part where she was like, she always trusted him no matter what, and I was like, I want to do something like that, but with Klance. Don’t think I fully got there, but close enough I guess. Hopefully next week will be better. Anyway, thanks to those who liked the fic, it made me feel good after the last time I did @monthlyklance prompts and didn’t get any likes or anything, which made me feel like my writing wasn’t any good. Maybe once the month is over, I’ll feel confident enough to upload to AO3. Dawn/Trust

“Lance-san? Lance-san? Lance-san?”

“Ow!” Lance jolted out of this thoughts when a sudden pain flared on his hand. He dropped the cat teasing toy from his hand and looked insulted at the Ragdoll standing in front of him looking insulted herself. “Blue, what the hell?”

“To be honest, you weren’t paying attention to her.” Lance looked up from his slightly bleeding hand to look at Romelle. He stared at her trying to figure out why she looked so odd when he realised she had pulled her flowing locks into braids, styling it in a way that she looked like the stereotypical picture of a German country girl. “Are you ok? you’ve been acting strange.”

How could he not? It seemed like ages ago he found out the guy who was essentially his boss was the same guy he’d spend nights chasing around, literally putting out his fires.

Fire Fang. His boss, Akira ‘Keith’ Kogane, was Fire Fang. Maybe. All Lance saw was a message. With the symbol of Fire Fang as the background picture. he’d been so stunned by the revelation, he was a dazed mess the whole meeting. It was amazing he was able to translate from Spanish to Japanese, which was hard enough to do into English, not to mention how he’d actually be paying attention then. He didn’t even bother asking about what he saw. He just bowed, thanked him and ran out under the pretence of writing up a report on the meeting for him.

He avoided even going near his office at the risk of him somehow knowing and deciding to roast him on the spot. Though, to be very honest, he wasn’t scared of Fire Fang. Definitely thought he needed to be caught and taken in, but he strangely knew that as much as he got fire balls lobed at him, they were never really aimed at him. It was more of to keep him away. Except for the time the office building was set on fire, Fang never really aimed for building that still had people in it. Surprising for Japan, but Lance never read anything about causalities. A few scares and injured if people were in there, but thanks to him following Fang and putting out his fires, they injuries never head to deaths.

Lance just didn’t understand how someone like Keith, who was practically the head of his department would go around setting fire to the place he worked for. It didn’t make sense.

“I’m fine, just a weird day at work.” Yeah, weird day alright. He was actually hoping Fang would attack tonight. As much as he didn’t want to be around Keith when he was at work, he felt a bit more confident about facing Fang to get answers. He hoped.

______________

Lance had begun to think Fire Fang would never show up, as it got closer and closer to when he’d call it a night when he heard the explosion. He went sprinting towards it, hoping to find Fang, but he found someone else instead.

There was a marina that was close to a field of warehouses, a good majority of them belonging to Galra Industries and Altea Corp. Being near such a large body of water should of made Lance feel safe, but not when his opponent was Prince. He’d only faced the masked opponent once when he spent the sunrise with Fang, but there was something about the guy that felt unhinged, dangerous. he’d been ready to kill Fang that night.

Altea Corp warehouses were on fire and others near it were catching on fire as well. Lance focused on the water when a yell pierced through the air.

“Where are you mangy cat?! You think you can take what belongs to me and not face the consequences I’ll destroy you, you traitor!”

Yeah, definitely unhinged. Lance watched Prince stand in the middle of a burning warehouse, screaming for Fire Fang and using his power – which seemed like telekinesis just judging from how things would move and Lance’s experience with sci-fi movies – to destroy the buildings around him, like a child having a tantrum.

“If you won’t show yourself, then maybe I ought to take care of your little dragon friend.”

Dragon? He didn’t mean….?

Lance got his answer when he felt like a vice grip took hold of his throat and lifted him into the air, cutting off his own. He struggled, scratching uselessly as his neck, the air disappearing more and more. When his vision started going dark, he saw the red of fire as the grip was released and he went falling towards the ground. Something grabbed him around his waist as they approached the ground, taking the first hit as the went rolling across the floor. Lance was more concerned with breathing again than anything, so he barely heard the questions directed to him until he was yanked from the ground and shoved between two warehouses.

He looked up at Fire Fang, who had him pressed against a wall, glancing out into the open.

“Hey-” his words were cut off by a hand over his mouth. Lance tried not to focus on how warm Fang was, even with gloves on.

“Quiet.” he ordered.

Lance narrowed his eyes. Ok, so maybe this guy was his boss, the voice sounded too familiar for it to be a coincidence, but that didn’t mean he could order him around. Not during this time.

Lance grabbed Fang’s wrist to pull it away from his mouth when his grip tightened and Fang glared his purple gold eyes down at him.

“McClain, I’m warning you.”

That gave Lance move than enough incentive to yank his hand away. “You knew?”

“Of course I knew. You don’t do much to hide your face. Of course I didn’t expect to find the guy who’s been after me since-”

“Since the fire! You almost killed me! If it wasn’t for my own powers, I would have been dead. You work for Galra Industries. Why the hell are you attacking them?” Lance yelled.

“Do you know who that guy is?” Keith snapped back.

“Someone who clearly doesn’t like you.”

“That’s Lotor Sincline! Galra Industries has been building illegal weapons and experimentation on people like us. Altea Corp has been looking for information to have the company shut down. that’s why I’m working there. Of course, his boss, aka his father, seems to think a guy who works in the Translations Department can do better than his own son, hence why he wants to rip my head off.”

“Well maybe you deserve it! Why should I believe you?”

“McClain, on the few times we’ve spoken, have I lied to you? I let you take my tablet, the one I use to talk to the people back in Altea, knowing if you saw it, you’d figure it out. If I was truly evil, you think I would of let you take it?”

Lance didn’t know. It felt like things were being thrown at him and he didn’t know how to react.

“Come here you mangy cat!” Prince – or Lotor – yelled, already using his powers to crush the warehouses near them.

Keith grabbed his hand and pulled him down the path, weaving around the different paths.

“We need to get to Altea’s main office. I know you don’t believe me but Lotor will figure out who you are. All he has to do is go over the people I’ve interacted with for the past few months and he’ll find you as easily as I did. Once we get there, you can decided if you want to help us or not.”

“What happens if I say no?” Lance asked, still trying to make sense of what was going on.

“We get you transferred to a different office or go into hiding, your choice.”

Leave Japan? Leave the place that had become his home? Lance couldn’t, not after everything he did to even get here in the first place. If Keith was telling the truth and Galra Industries was the evil company that fit into his comic book style life, didn’t that mean he had to help stop them? He wanted to, if it meant he didn’t have to stay out and chase after a fire wielding cat and have a normal sleep schedule again amongst other things he wished for himself.

Keith yanked him around a corner. “We’ve got a boat waiting for us.”

“A boat? wouldn’t that be easy pickings for this guy?”

“Not when it’s a boat made by Pidge. Trust me we’ll be fine.”

Trust. Did he trust Keith? When Lance was chasing him across the city, he did speak with him a little. he’d pointed out how Fang never attacked buildings with people in them and was given the reply that after going too far one time, he didn’t want to be considered a murder rather than a disturbance. How the people who worked at the destroyed buildings weren’t going to lose their livelihood. Lance heard rumours on how those people were then hired to work at Altea Corp not long after the attacks. Other than attacking Galra Industries buildings, Lance never saw much other than a guy with a dislike of a popular company. But was it enough that he trusted him?

The two let out screams as the ground from under them broke and took to the sky.

“If you won’t come to me, I’ll drag you here myself!” Lotor cried from wherever he was.

“Over there!” Keith pointed out down to the open water, which was much closer than Lance thought. If they hadn’t gotten caught, they would have been able to get away. “That’s the boat. We need to jump.” he said, pointing at the large shining object floating in the water.

“Jump?”

“We’ll be fine, but we need to do this now before we get any higher. Do you trust me?”

Lance squeezed Keith’s hand.

“Yes.”

When it came down to it, he did feel like he could trust Keith. The guy who sat with him on the roof so he could watch the sunset. The guy who learned from his mistakes and bettered them. The guy who was risking a lot to even save him.

He followed Keith’s lead and jumped off the rock. The sparkling thing was the roof of the circular vehicle sitting in the water and it opened, allowing the two of them to hit the almost soft floor. It still hurt, but they were safe as the roof went back over and Lance could feel the boat speeding off.

“Bring a stray with you Keith?” a feminine voice from the front asked. Lance was still trying to catalogue what really hurt.

“Just get us out of here Pidge. Hey, are you ok?”

Lance looked at Keith who had pulled of his metal mask. It was going to take some getting used to to see his boss in the clothes in what he considered to be his biggest problem for the past couple months.

“I’m trusting you because you haven’t given me any reason that I shouldn’t. I really hope you don’t plan on betraying that trust.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

Somehow, Lance knew he was telling the truth.

#monthlyklance #klance #revealed identity

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everykindofnerd13 · 4 years

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Home, Home Where You Belong.

——————————————————————————

“Oh, it means, beautiful...” Lance explained.

“What language is that?”

“Spanish, duh,” Keith blushed harder.

“Is true what they say about Spanish?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is it uh, is it a romantic language?”

“I dunno, I think so, but it’s just as easy to make sound romantic as stupid, so I guess that’s up for you to decide.”

“I think I’ll need to hear it more then.”

“Alright then, what should I say?”

“Whatever you want,”

“Tus ojos son como el océano,”

“Oh, wow, um, more, I need to hear more than one sentence.”

“Ellos son profundos, oscuros y hermosos,”

“Hm, again,” Lance began to smile.

“Me impresionas,”

“More,”

“Recuerdas el agua, salvaje, libre e indomable, extremadamente peligrosa pero aún necesaria,”

“Woah, that was long, that was, yeah, I think Spanish is a romantic language.”

“Well, that may be because of what I was saying.”

“What do you mean?”

Lance felt his confidence crumbling, but he pushed forward anyway.

“I wasn’t saying just anything that came to mind, or well, I was, but it wasn’t just an everyday sentence.”

“Well what did you say?”

“A few things...”

“Well what did you say first?”

“Um... Your eyes remind me of the ocean.”

“Oh, and then...?”

“They’re, deep, dark and beautiful.”

“Oh, thank you... next...”

“MmmmMmm, I said uh, You amaze me,”

“Wow, thanks, and after that...?”

“.... You remind me of water, wild, free, and untameable, extremely dangerous but still needed.” Keith’s blush darkened further, and so did Lance’s. He tried to keep his eyes on Keith, tried to read his expression as much as possible. He didn’t look angry, or disgusted, he didn’t look upset.

“Well um, 당신은 아름답습니다...”

“Woah!” Lance’s eyes widened in surprise and wonder.

“What?” Keith looked terrified. Lance shook his head and grabbed either side of Keith’s face with his hands.

“That was amazing! What language was that?” Lance asked, and Keith laughed.

“Oh, um, that was Korean.” Lance looked completely mesmerized.

“You know Korean?” He asked.

“Um, kind of, my dad spoke Korean sometimes, so I knew most of the language when I was a kid, but after he left, it started to slip, I didn’t need to know Korean, I lived in the US after all.” Lance looked at Keith amazed for a moment.

“Well what do you say?” He asked, and Keith giggled at his excitement.

“I said, you’re beautiful.” he explained. Lance smiled wider before his expression softened and his hands fell to cradle Keith’s jaw.

“Muy Guapo...” he muttered, his voice so adoring, Keith’s heart lurched.

“What?”

“Very Handsome...”

“Oh...” Keith knew he was blushing, but decided to ignore it, instead focused on the beautiful blue eyes trained on his face.

“It’s true y’know. You’re so handsome...” Keith finally looked away, the embarrassment outweighing his own selfish desires to see Lance’s face.

“No look at me,” Lance lifted Keith’s chin, “You are so incredibly handsome, with your inky black hair that stands stark out against your beautiful pale skin, and your violet eyes that just look like all my dreams encased into one tiny little part of a perfect human. The purple like space, after my dreams of being a pilot, the depth like the ocean, my second favorite place in the universe, and that intensity, like myself, overbearing, but different because they are strong, they are scarred, and they are still standing.” Keith get his breath hitch at Lance’s little speech, and he grabbed one of Lance’s wrists, nuzzling into his palm. He opened his eyes and stared into Lance’s bright blue ones.

“I think you’re handsome too. In fact, you’re the epitome of a handsome man in my eyes. Just listen,” Keith brought his other hand up and wrapped it around Lance’s neck, running his fingers through the little poeicesnof hair at the bottom of his hairline. “First, your skin, god Lance, your skin. It’s so dark, and tan, you have this incredible natural glow, like you’re constantly sun-kissed, it’s amazing. Then your freckles, they’re so faint, but they’re there, and when we’re in just the perfect lighting, they’re obvious, and it makes my heart flutter, cause they’re so cute. Then you’re hair, it’s so fluffy, and soft, and it’s this perfect shade of dark brown that reminds me of dark chocolate. Next your height. Lance, you are so tall. It’s incredibly hot, like seriously, how are girls not just throwing themselves at you! And last, but certainly not least, your eyes, your quiznaking eyes Lance. They’re so blue. I went to the beach once when I was little, I can’t remember it very well, all I can remember is the gorgeous color of the ocean, and oh my god, Lance, your eyes are the same color. They’ve even got the same effect as the waves. They start out dark green in the very center, like the horizon line of the ocean, then they go to the bright blue color, but you’ve also got dark blue lines in there with it, and last, the outer ring is almost white, they’re stunning, I can’t even handle it sometimes.” Lance and Keith were staring into each other’s eyes now, only inches apart, then suddenly they both leaning in until their foreheads and noses were touching, and Lance took in a breath.

“Is this okay?” He asked, and was met by a simple, but needy nod, before leaning forward and connecting his lips with Keith’s. It was soft, slow, and steady. Like nothing Keith had ever experienced. He pressed closer to Lance, trying to get closer, and when he realized, Lance helped. He grabbed Keith by the hips, lifting and pulling him into his lap. He rested his hands easily on Keith’s waist, while Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s shoulders, playing with the little hairs on the back of his neck. Eventually, they were forced to pull away for air, but they kept their foreheads rested together as they took in deep breaths.

After a while, both boys opened their eyes, and were met by the striking blue and mesmerizing purple they’d been complimenting just minutes before. Lance’s face broke out into a grin and Keith lightly smiled back.

“Hey.” Lance whispered and Keith let out a breathy laugh.

“Hey,” he answered, his smile widening.

“So,” Lance leaned back to rest his head on the wall then wrapped his arms completely around Keith’s waist, pulling him closer, “that happened.”

“Indeed it did,” Keith responded.

“Is that okay?” Lance asked

“More than okay.”

“Good.”

“Great.”

“Maravilloso.”

“Dan.”

“What?”

“That means sweet in Korean, my dad used to call candy dans.”

“Oh, well, in Spanish we call sweet, Keith.”

Keith punched Lance lightly in the chest.

“Don’t.”

“Okay,”

“What do you actually say?”

“Huh?”

“What do you say instead of sweet?”

“Oh, dulce.”

“I’ve heard that before! Don’t they use that word in a starbucks drink or something?”

Lance burst out laughing, causing Keith to blush and lightly slap him again.

“Hush! I didn’t get out much on earth!”

“I’m sorry I’m sorry, that was just, really funny, but yes, they use a lot of Spanish words at Starbucks, Italian too.”

“Hm, interesting, sounds kind of stupid.”

“It is, and their coffee isn’t even that good!”

“I thought they were famous for coffee?”

“They are! But it’s not that good!”

“Could you make better?”

“Absolutely! My sister has a cappuccino maker in the kitchen at home, and I act as an at-home barista to my entire family.” Lance sighed.

“What?”

“Nothing, I just realised that... well, Mariana and Mateo probably would have been allowed coffee by now, and they’ve probably carved their initials, and I wasn’t there for any of it...” Keith’s expression softened and he moved his hands to cup Lance’s jaw.

“Well, if you’ll let me, you can make me my first ever cup of coffee and you can be there when I carve my initials.” Lance’s eyes lit up and he wrapped his arms around Keith’s torso, tugging him in for a signature McClain hug. Keith’s eyes sparkled as he squeezed Lance back.

“I’ll definitely let you.”

“Okay.”

“Alright.”

“We sound like Hazel Grace and Augustus.”

“Who?”

“Hazel Grace and Augustus! From The Fault In Our Stars?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’ve never seen The Fault in our Stars!?”

“No...?”

“Oh my god!”

Lance went on to tell Keith basically the entire plot of the movie, before laying back on the bed and cuddling up for a while.

“I am still star struck.” Lance muttered after a few minutes. Keith chuckled into his chest.

“Me too.” He answered.

“What did you do for a whole day out here?” He asked, and Lance practically shot up, jostling Keith and extracting a small whine from the comfortable boy.

“Pidge downloaded games on my lion! You wanna play!?” He questioned excitedly and Keith chuckled, slowly standing. As he stood, he could feel the wait of his armour in his chest and wondered how he and Lance had managed to be comfortable for that hour they layed in the bed.

“Uh yeah, sure, but I’m, do you think I could run back to the castle and change?”

“Oh! Um, if you need clothes you can wear some of mine, I packed a few pairs.”

“I don’t think I’ll fit in your clothes...” Keith admitted reluctantly, and Lance practically giggled at the revelation, his clothes would fit big on Keith and he was so excited to see it.

“I brought some sweats, you can wear those since they have a draw string, and one of my sweaters or something.” He explained and Keith laughed at his enthusiasm but nodded. Lance jumped and grabbed his bag, pulling out a pair of sweats and a blue t-shirt. He tossed it to Keith then grabbed some other stuff, turning to face away from Keith, who quickly did the same.

Once changed, they sat down jumbled in a pile, content to play video games when suddenly there was a call coming through Lance’s comm. He huffed when he saw the Voltron logo colored green flashing on his screen but answered anyway, his friends were probably worried. He answered the call, the arm he had wrapped around Keith’s waist being removed and he slid to the floor to sit between Keith’s legs, looking up at the screen from the ground. The call loaded for a second while it connected, then suddenly, Pidge, Hunk and Shiro were on his lion’s screen, their worried expressions prominent.

“Lance!” Both Pidge and Hunk shouted simultaneously, and Lance and Keith both flinched at the sound.

“Well, I’m awake,” he muttered, waving up at them. They all smiled at him then their gaze fell to Keith.

“So you found him?” Hunk asked.

“Uh, yeah...”

“And you didn’t bother telling us?” Pidge retorted and Keith scoffed.

“I was kinda busy trying to make amends Pidge.” Keith short and Lance swatted his leg.

“Pidge, calm down, I’m fine, Keith’s fine, everything’s fine. Really, we’ll be back to the castle soon, just let me have this a little longer.” Lance explained leaning back and shutting his eyes. Keith spared him a soft smile and buried his hand in Lance’s hair, rubbing his scalp soothingly.

“Have what?” Hunk asked and Lance chuckled.

“The quiet buddy.” He answered and suddenly everyone was silent.

“Not this kind of quiet!” Lance exclaimed shooting up and glowering at them.

“What do you mean?” Shiro finally spoke up.

“The comfortable silence. Like when you’re camping, or in a blanket fort about to go to sleep. The content silence.” Lance explained and his eyes were shut so he didn’t see, but everyone smiled softly at him.

“Uh, not to burst this happy little bubble, but... blanket fort?” Keith asked, confused by the entire ordeal.

“Is that like, a fort that protects a community by covering it?” Keith’s questions were cut off by Laughter from the call and Lance staring up at him lovingly but amused, and incredulous.

“You’ve never built a blanket fort?” He asked, and Keith shook his head, still confused.

“Alright guys, nevermind? I’m coming home tonight, but don’t expect to see much cause I’m gonna build a blanket fort in the common room for Keith and I and we’re gonna watch weird Altean movies until we fall asleep.”

Then Lance was hanging up and he began packing all of his stuff into his bag again, put the bed back up and then returned to the chair, where Keith was still sitting, watching sweetly as Lance shuffled around then they both put their suits back on, Blue opened up, then red, and they headed back to the castle.

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born-to-lose · 5 years

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Classic Rock interview with Roger Taylor (2013)

Let's cut straight to the chase, Roger - what is the status of Queen right now?

I'm still in that band, but there's only two of us left, Brian and myself. And only one of us can walk [laughs]. We still run the brand - that's what it is these days.

So if Queen is a brand, operated by you and Brian, where does Adam Lambert fit in?

I wouldn't say he's always going to be a part of Queen. We're doing the live TV show in Vegas with Adam and a couple of other guests, in a 10,000-seater, but that's all we've got planned. There are no rules, really. We do things very much on the spur.

But do you plan to continue performing as Queen, with or without Adam Lambert?

Yeah, but it's only an occasional thing now. Last year, with Adam, we did three really big shows in Europe and three at Hammersmith Apollo, which was a lot of fun. Brian and I realised a long time ago: this is what we do, this is what we are. I'm afraid, readers, it goes on forever.

Are you happy with Adam as Queen's singer?

He works very well with us. He's an incredible singer. He's got a really magnetic stage presence. He's very sexy. And, of course, our more theatrical songs suit him perfectly. He's a diva - a male diva. And that's what he should think about being.

Before you began working with Adam, you toured and recorded an album as Queen + Paul Rodgers.

Paul is a singer that Freddie admired. He led two of rock's greatest bands: Free and Bad Company. In that sense he is the antithesis of Adam Lambert.

We actually loved playing the Free and Bad Company stuff with Paul. But strangely enough, although Paul was wonderful, with that amazing blues-soul voice, Adam is more suited to some of our bigger songs than Paul was.

Some Queen fans think you're selling the band short by having a guy from American Idol as your singer. Do you understand that?

Whatever you do, people have to take it or leave it. That's always the case.

The same applies to The Queen Extravaganza, this new 'official tribute show'. What does that mean, exactly?

Good question. It means that we, or rather I, had a hand in making it. There's an awful lot of Queen tribute bands around, some good, some bad. So I thought, why don't we try to make a really good one, with brilliant musicianship? I put the band together in America, using the internet to audition. And the singer I found, Marc Martel, is an absolute dead ringer for Freddie's voice.

What's Marc Martel's background?

He's in his 30s, from Nashville, originally from Montreal. He's been in Christian bands. He's an extraordinary singer. We also found these amazing musicians. We had a nine-piece group at the beginning and it was too unwieldy. Too much like a showband, with three singers. Now it's a six-piece.

Three singers has the whiff of musical theatre.

And that's the last thing I'd ever want. I can't stand all that over-singing. What these guys do is play our music brilliantly. They can perform the whole of Bohemian Rhapsody, because they can all sing.

How good is the drummer, Tyler Warren?

Brilliant. And he can sing higher than I can. We all know that the drummer is the most important member of the band.

And in some cases the best looking?

Yeah, that as well [laughs].

Seriously, are Classic Rock readers going to like the tribute show?

I'm a rock and roller. I'm not a balladeer. And I think rock fans will love this band. They really get me going. Everybody who sees them will be impressed, I can pretty much guarantee it.

There were rumours in 2011 of a new Queen album, based on 'lost' demos of Freddie's.

Not true. We wouldn't want to put out an album of demos anyway.

Are there any remaining Queen songs, recorded with Freddie, which might be released in the future?

Yes, there's a couple of tracks. Brian and I are going to work on them. One of them we all worked on, the other one was mainly a Brian song.

Were both songs written near the end of your time with Freddie?

Actually, no, they're quite old. I'm not bigging them up or anything, but yes, there are a couple of things that we're going to finish, and I dare say they will come out.

Are there any plans for another Queen album?

Universal want us to put together an album of the slower songs that people don't know so well, so I'm compiling that this week with Brian.

You also have a new solo album out soon.

It's been written over a five-year period, so it's very eclectic. Some gentle stuff, some rockier stuff, and some fairly political stuff.

Where did the political stuff come from?

I wrote a song called The Unblinking Eye, about disillusionment, the mess the country was in, shops on the high street closing and out politicians being such a despicable bunch.

Are you the kind of man who rants at the telly when the news is on?

I've grown out of that. The TV can't hear you.

What's the title of your new album?

My first solo effort [in 1981] was called Fun In Space. I was reading a lot of science fiction at the time. So I've called this one Fun On Earth. I've come down to earth a bit, but there's still a bit of fun in there - some smiley tracks.

Is it influenced by any modern music?

The best band I've seen in a long time is Sigur Ros. I love that atmospheric, semi-ambient thing they have. They're magnificent too. I saw them at the Academy in Brixton.

Do you still get out to gigs?

Very rarely. But I went to see that, even though I had flu at the time. Well, a nasty cold.

Also released in September is a collection of all the music you've made outside of Queen - including solo albums and your 80s side-project band The Cross.

Yes, it's called The Lot. I said: "Let's have the lot in there," so I thought let's call it that.

Is it all good stuff, or is there some rubbish in there too?

Like anything, there are some things you regret. But my last solo album, Electric Fire [1988], still sounds great.

What's the best song you wrote for Queen?

Hard to say. I like Radio Ga Ga. It was a nice fusion of synthesisers and... what can I call it... epic pop.

And the worst?

There's a few. I hate Delilah [on Innuendo]. That's just not me.

Was Modern Times Rock 'N' Roll, on the first Queen album, the first song you wrote for the band?

Yeah. Although before that we'd all written Stone Cold Crazy together. I think that was our first proper song.

As a drummer, you've cited John Bonham as your biggest influence.

For me there were three main influences: Bonzo, Keith Moon, and Mitch Mitchell, who I think was so underrated. I heard Ginger Baker saying some incredibly cruel things about Mitch Mitchell and I thought, what a cunt. Ginger Baker didn't have any of the subtlety or dexterity of Mitch Mitchell, whom he slagged the hell out of. That really got up my nose.

Who are your biggest influences as a songwriter?

Oh, Ginger Baker, definitely [laughs]. Seriously, it would be Dylan, Lennon... and Springsteen is fabulous.

Which song would you say has your best lyrics?

Heaven For Everyone [recorded first by The Cross and later by Queen] had some good stuff about love and dignity, the usual anti-war thing. These Are The Days Of Our Lives was quite nice in a reminiscing, rather old-fashioned kind of way.

And that song took on a greater meaning after Freddie's death.

It took on a resonance, yeah. I was sort of referencing us at the time I wrote it. We knew Freddie wasn't well.

Did you ever see a better frontman than Freddie?

You'll never see anyone connect as well with an audience as Freddie could.

But for all his showmanship on stage, wasn't he somewhat insecure in private?

Oh yeah. He was quite insecure about all sort of things. Strangely, he was also shy in some ways. But he could switch it on and off. He was great when he was with his close circle, but if there were people he didn't know very well, he could feel quite awkward.

Was there any part of Freddie's personality that used to get on your tits?

Almost nothing. But he used to clear his throat in a quite nauseatingly loud way. But we got on famously.

In the 2011 documentary Queen: Days Of Our Lives, when you talk about the last year of Freddie's life and the hounding he received from the tabloid press, you sound furious, even after all the years.

I still feel it today. It was The Sun. It was like an assassination in order to flog a few newspapers. How vindictive and horrible. I thought that was a bit much. I felt very protective of Fred then. And just recently when the News Of The World went down I danced a fucking jig.

Did you ever court the tabloid press?

Not really. I never believed that tabloids sold records. Or actually furthered your career. And I think you're better off trying to keep out of them. I don't think they help you. If anything, they make you look like a tit. And there's too much ammunition there. The less they know, the better. Freddie got a lot of crap printed about him, Brian had a lot, and I had a little bit but not much.

Did you believe there was a homophobic subtext to some of the media coverage of Freddie's death?

Absolutely. "This is what you get..." It was just prurient, wasn't it?

Do you ever dream that Freddie is still around?

Yeah. Brian would tell you the same - that Freddie sort of lives with us. We spent so many years together, living in each other's pockets. And we'd socialise quite a lot together. So he's someone who's not going to go away. But I don't intend to spend the rest of my life living under the shadow of Freddie Mercury. He was my best mate and he's gone, bless him, and we miss him, but you've got to get on with life.

The first Queen album is now 40 years old. What are your memories of making it?

It was all very exciting. Time in the studio seemed so expensive - 30 quid an hour, a huge amount of money back then. We would go in at four in the morning. It was hard work. And we never really got the sound that I wanted on the first album. We didn't have quite enough control, which we got on the second album.

In those early days, what were your hopes and dreams for Queen?

We wanted to get lots of work. We wanted to be recognised. We wanted to be rich and famous.

And how did that work out for you?

It worked out all right. But it's always a more gradual process than people imagine.

Looking back over Queen's career, what are you most proud of?

The way that the music has seeped into the general consciousness, the fact that we are still occasionally played on the radio, and a lot of the music is still popular. Kids know our music now, and I find that fantastic.

Any regrets?

Many regrets. Most are small ones. But I think we made a bad decision to go to South Africa [to play in Sun City in 1984, during the era of apartheid]. I think we were badly advised. Although we went there with the best intentions, I think it was the wrong decision.

But the following year Queen did the right thing and played at Live Aid. And stole the show with a performance that people still talk about today.

Live Aid was a great day. I remember Bob Geldof describing it as a global jukebox. And we got that: right, we'll ram in as many songs as we can. If you're appearing on a global stage, you know that most people watching on television won't be your fans, so we thought the most sensible thing was to play the ones they know. Or rather, play the ones that they might know. So that's what we did.

How would you describe your relationship with Brian May?

We're best mates, really. It's amazing what Brian fits into his life. He's a genuine polymath. He's an astrophysics PhD, one of the world's foremost experts on stereophotography. He does all sorts of things. A bit bonkers, some of it.

You and Brian have continued as Queen without Freddie and without the band's other founding member, bassist John Deacon, who retired from the music business in the 90s. Can you understand why Robert Plant chose not to tour again with Led Zeppelin?

Yeah. Robert's a very pure-spirited man. Also, Zeppelin is very demanding on a singer - all those vocal gymnastics. Pehaps he thinks in some way he might not deliver at the level he was delivering at. And also there's the huge respect for Bonzo, who was the motherfucker of all rock drummers. So yeah, I can see why he won't do it. And Robert has a very respected career of his own.

But if Freddie had lived and had declined to tour again with Queen, that would have been hard for you to accept.

I guess it would. But Freddie always felt his real comfort zone was when we were all together... bickering away [laughs].

Did that bickering come from having four songwriters in Queen?

Very much so. There were definitely four schools of writing going on. John and I found our strengths later than the other two. Right from the start, Freddie just went on in leaps and bounds. He just sort of invented himself. But, at the end of the day, we understood each other. And it worked very well.

In the glory days of Queen you had a reputation as a playboy. Were you?

No. I think that's overplayed. We had a good time - we had a really good time - but we didn't shout about it.

Have you slowed down over the years?

Of course. Everybody slows down. Or dies. And I don't intend dying yet.

What's next for Roger Taylor? A solo tour for your new album?

I'm thinking about getting together some mates in a really hot band and getting out on the road. And if I did, I'd have my son Rufus Tiger Taylor playing drums. He plays with Queen when we tour. He plays percussion most of the time, and when I do anything out front he plays drums. He's Brian's favourite drummer, I think.

Did you teach him too well?

Actually, he's more from the Taylor Hawkins school than mine.

Have you ever thought about stopping playing drums?

I can't imagine it. It would be horrible to think I'd never play the drums or sing again. It's like a painter, really - most painters keep painting.

But it's a bit easier to paint than to play drums.

Very true. But my style gets more economical and relaxed, without me realising it. It's not quite as wild as it was. But I still love to play. I've done a couple of shows with Jeff Beck recently, which is a delight. Jeff is just the most wonderful guitar player.

So you're not thinking of retiring?

Why would I want to stop? It's not like I have to get up at seven o'clock in the morning to go and play the drums, it's something I can pick up and put down when I choose.

All those years ago you wanted to be rich and famous. And your dreams came true. Is there a downside to all of this?

Not really. I slide around fairly unrecognised, which suits me down to the ground. Some people enjoy making an entrance and being noticed. That's not really me.

It's been a good life, hasn't it?

It has. I'm very lucky.

#i would have scanned the pages but idk how to do that #roger taylor #queen #mel talks #also sorry if there are any typos just tell me and i'll correct them #long post #interview #roger taylor interview

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tamago-hoe · 6 years

Text

UPGRADE (Part 2) - LANGST

Hi! Thank you all so much for your support on part one! <3 This one is a L O N G chapter and contains mentions of blood, but nothing explicit. Did someone order an extra large helping of Lance in pain? here ya go, (J)Hope you enjoy! :)

Once again, please tell me if I’ve missed and trigger warnings! (3360 words SORRYNOTSORRY^^)

Occasionally, Lance got some sceptical gazes from Hunk and Keith (more like ruminating glares in Keith's case), and Pidge would stare at him without saying anything, then shaking her head.

Lance was strangely chill. Like, excessively. Hunk pointed it out, worried for his friend, but Pidge simply told him to enjoy it while it lasts. They thought it was a phase. Maybe Lance was just a little off his game- or rather more on the game than he had ever been, even helping Allura and Shiro plan Galra base infiltrates. His plans always worked.

"Good job guys!" Shiro congratulated the team as they successfully executed Lance's well-thought-out plan yet again.

"Thank you guys." Lance added, a weird ritual now for him to thank the team for helping him with his plan and for completing it perfectly.

Hunk knew there was something wrong with Lance, his stretched smiles not sitting well with Hunk, his generic thanking-the-team sounding completely fake.

"You know you can talk to me about anything Lance, right?" Lance nodded. "Anything at all."

Lance rested a hand on Hunk's shoulder, instantly calming the male, "Thank you Hunk. I really appreciate it."

A smile broke out on Hunk's features. "No worries buddy! What are friends for?"

"See, I told you so."

Lance sighed, relieved that his voice didn't crack and his calm facade was enough to convince his best friend Hunk. Lance didn't even know who he was anymore, so he's glad Hunk did. Hunk clearly recognised the real Lance. But as usual, didn't say much even though Hunk knew something was up.

But then at least nothing had changed. Hunk shouldn't have to go out of his way to look after Lance.

"You're learning fast Lance. It's paying off." The voice praised. It wasn't as uplifting as he hoped it would be, but Lance was taking what he could get. He should be grateful he's getting to see Hunk and speak to him, even if it was two sentences.

"I was wondering if I could see the team again for a bit?" Lance piped, struggling in the silence that followed. "I promise I won't say anything or do anything!"

"Lance, Lance, Lance. Have we learned nothing these past few weeks?" Lance curled in on himself at the tone of his reflection. He felt like a child being scolded.

"I'm sorry, just forget about it." Lance babbled hurriedly, turning away from the screen, withdrawing to the back of his mind- the darkness very appealing to Lance right now.

"Don't worry Lance, you'll have your time soon. Just a little longer. What I've built is fragile, you are oh-so fragile at the moment. But it will soon be fixed. I will fix you Lance. I just need time." The being called out, stopping Lance for a moment. "Is that okay Lance?"

Lance turned to face the screen a final time with a forced smile. "Need you ask? Of course you can. I'll be in the back if you need me."

"Thank you Lance. It will be worth it, just you wait and see. You'll have them at your feet soon."

"Hey you guys, don't you think something's been up with Lance?" Hunk asked as he entered the kitchen after passing Lance in the corridors, who flashed him another false smile. "Like he's been really quiet."

"Just leave him be Hunk, I'm sure he'll figure it out on his own." Pidge assured, with a mouthful of green goo. "If anything, just enjoy the peace for a while."

"You said that four months ago Pidge." Hunk pointed out, said person freezing for a moment, eyes widening.

"People change I guess." They shrugged, though Hunk could see the sliver of worry behind their glasses.

"But not to the extent Lance has. He hasn't said a single pun or joke in four months. That's like Keith going without training for four months, or me without cooking for four months!"

"What about me not training?" Keith popped in, helping himself to a bowl of goo then leaning on the opposite side of the counter to Hunk.

"We were just discussing Lance's abrupt character change." Pidge informed, Keith humming thoughtfully for a second.

"I don't see a problem. If that's how he wants to be, that's how he wants to be."

"But don't you find it even the slightest bit unusual?" Hunk urged, Keith just not finding it as alarming as Hunk. "You guys haven't argued for four whole months!"

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Well, yeah, but it's not normal! It's like - It's as if it isn't Lance! Like Lance has disappeared!"

"I'm right here, what do you mean Hunk?" Everyone fell silent at the appearance of the hot topic in the doorway, finally out of training gear.

"You can ask him in person now." Keith pointed at Lance with his spoon, quietly eating his goo.

Hunk began to fiddle with the edge of his shirt, noticing the way Lance's eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly. It made Hunk feel... small? Somewhat... intimidated? "Uh... Well, I was just thinking you've changed... A lot in the past four months..."

"In what way?" Lance asked sharply with a condescending smile.

"W - Well, you haven't told any jokes, or - or flirted with Allura, or fought with Keith for like, ever."

"And why is that a problem? It's not as if you liked my jokes anyway if I remember correctly." Lance cocked a brow, Hunk's eyes widening then falling to stare guiltily at the floor.

"What the hell Lance?!" Pidge stood from their seat, slamming their hands on the table.

"What? Was it something I said?"

Now Keith was beginning to see what Hunk meant, his fists curling. "Yes, of course it was. It always was. What are you trying to achieve Lance?" Keith began to corner Lance, who held Keith's gaze steadily, not moving an inch.

"Keith!" Hunk scolded, knowing that whatever was going on with Lance, this sure as hell wasn't helping. In fact, it would probably push Lance further back, further away from reach.

"It wasn't my intention to upset or aggravate anybody." He spoke calmly, annoying Keith even more.

"Then what is?"

"To end this war then go back. Isn't that what everybody wants?"

That night Blue started to kick up a fuss in the hanger and no one knew why. Keith went straight to Lance, who was on the training deck like usual, burning the night oil.

"Hey. What's up?" Lance greeted, sweat glazing his less than coffee-coloured face.

"Blue's going haywire and no one knows why. The others are trying to get their lions to stop her before she wrecks the castle. Do something about it won't you? Or is the connection with your lion as broke as your personality?" Keith didn't know why he said that, he knew it was a mistake the moment he said it.

"Sure. I'll go see her now." Lance wiped the sweat from his face as he breezed past Keith.

'No... That wasn't what I was meant to say...'

He seemed to hear something snap- that wasn't his temper.

Keith didn't sleep well that night. He bolted up at stupid-o'clock, the adrenaline fresh from his nightmare still pumping through his blood, his heart racing, every time he blinks an image flashing in front of his eyes. Knowing he wouldn't sleep for long, Keith decided to take a walk around the castle, his room suffocating him. He ended up in the hangers, where Blue was now peaceful with Lance at her paw.

"Lance..!" Before Keith could raise his voice to call out to the paladin again, Red and Blue growled softly at him, telling him to shut up. Blue's particle barrier did not fall or even waver as Keith slumped helplessly in front of it.

Keith's nightmare consisted of Lance standing on the edge of a cliff at the crack of dawn, the sun just starting to rise, cold wind blowing his hair as the ocean crashed ferociously against the cliff-face. Lance glanced over his shoulder, smiling softly at him with a single clear thread running down his face.

"Sorry."

Keith exploded to life, chasing after Lance with his hand outstretched for the Cuban boy, crying out his name, for crying out loud why won't he turn around! Don't take a step forward! But he fell soundlessly, leaving Keith to grasp at the air where Lance once stood.

Sleeping by the Blue lion, looking blissfully ignorant to the fact the Keith watched him die before him was Lance, alive.

No one mentioned Lance's changes any more after that. If they were upset or missing him at all, they sure as hell didn't show it. And Lance did not show any signs of returning. In fact, day by day he was slowly turning to ice, to the point where no one saw him other than when they had to be together. Lance didn't make the effort to try and reach out to them, so they decided to wait patiently for him to collect himself and come back to them.

(It was more the opposite; the longer they waited, the more Lance hesitated, the more Lance inched away from them to somewhere far beyond their reach collectively. Lance had hidden so far back in his mind, the quintessence strings linking him and Blue were barely graspable. Everyone had tried many times to move a centimetre closer to understanding Lance, but their attempts were futile- it was like trying to solve a puzzle with only half the pieces.)

Technically, there was nothing wrong with Lance- he was functioning fine, as Allura pointed out kindly, it's just certain things felt wrong -said Pidge-, but they couldn't base things on feelings, they had to have concrete evidence. So until then, everyone waited. They respected Lance's privacy enough to know not to mess with his flow, as he wouldn't mess with theirs. They were so busy with Voltron, they barely realised nearly seven months had passed since Lance's reformation.

Up to this point, Lance had been faultless and simply enigmatic. He answered questions straight-forwardly, almost like he was telling the truth, but it felt false, like he was lying. A well rehearsed liar- Lance should've gone into acting.

Once again, the team set out to free another planet from Galra rule, an especially complex case with a plethora of security guarding the single jewel that allowed the Galra to rule the planet. They just had to get past the guards and return the jewel to the rightful owner-- easier said than done. With Lance's help, they managed to formulate a plan to get past the guards and infiltrate the system. Lance was the sniper and could only push forward once the team had gone ahead, Pidge would be guarded by Hunk as they made sure the electronic aspects of the security system was down while Keith and Shiro were to retrieve the jewel , going in to get the jewel. They travelled in pods with the added cloaking feature, courtesy of Pidge, so they could sneak in. By now the team got used to Lance guarding their back knowing he wouldn't miss a shot -he even said so himself, he swore it- so they needn't spare a glance back as they pushed forward. As he promised, Lance never missed his mark while the others disappeared from sight to their set places, leaving Lance on his own. It was okay, he was used to it. It went dark, Pidge and Hunk's job of turning the power off successful, blinking red lights the only thing illuminating the corridors. Lance's breaths were quiet as he listened closely for the sentries' movements and watched for shadows in the brief moment the lights were on, his aim steady in the dark as he eliminated the sentries in his area, forced to hit the warning button on his suit to signal to the others sentries might come their way- he doesn't know if he let any slip through the darkness.

"We've got it! Let's go guys!" Shiro ordered, followed by the grunts of effort from both him and Keith, guns firing and swords clashing.

"Roger! We only have 112 seconds guys!" Pidge added, the rest of the team making sounds of affirmation before each making their own way to where the pods awaited.

Everyone all ended up in the same corridor, sprinting to the pods, not daring to look back in case their were sentries behind them. They each jumped into their assigned pods, leaving with a fleet of fighters on their tail.

"They're fools thinking they've won." The being giggled maniacally. Lance had hesitantly crawled his way back to the light of the screen because something felt wrong. He may not be in charge of his physical body, but he felt something twisting in his stomach- a bad omen. "Hello again, Lance. You're just in time to witness the fall of the great Voltron, all because of you. Isn't it great?! Don't worry about death, the witch will just bring us back again and you will be highly praised."

"Death? The witch?" Lance whispered in confusion, a smirk growing on the being that had over time slowly begun to resemble him in looks. It turned to face him with a malicious grin, Lance falling back in shock. It was him, but with sharp canines -little fangs-, yellow eyes and two Galra marks on his cheeks. How didn't Lance see it before- the being only appeared after he went to the Galra base, so of course it was Galra! He was so stupid! "What the hell?! This wasn't our deal!" Lance yelled, his voice surprisingly intact considering how long it's been since he last spoke.

"Yes it was. To make you great, to make you more chill. We're so nearly there Lance, just stay chill."

"I am not chill! This is not what I wanted!-"

"I thought I taught you better about selfishness." Lance could hear a distant roar of the monster in the back of his head beginning to fight against the restraints the being used to silence it, threatening Lance, who flinched at the bone-rattling screech.

"T - To hell with selfishness! If being great means discarding others- I refuse! If forever being the loser means my friends get to live then I'm happy with that!"

"You're too late Lance." The shackles holding the monster broke at the being's order, and it immediately pounced on Lance, darkness swallowing him. "I'm sorry it turned out this way. But it has to be done."

"At least I can die trying." Lance found some strength left in him, grabbing ahold of the glowing threads of his and Blue's quintessence, pulling himself through the darkness, using the glow of the quintessence to light the way. "I will save them at any cost!" He cried out as he pushed forward towards the light with a final cry, Blue's roars encouraging him.

Light blinded his eyes and it took him a while to adjust, the sounds of his teammates struggling starting to filter in, his surroundings becoming more clear. He was in control again- but he didn't know for how long. Now wasn't the time, but Lance wanted to burst into tears of happiness hearing his friends' voices, feeling things, seeing things. Pushing aside his overflowing emotions, Lance was forced back into fighter mode, gunning down the masses of fighters alongside his team mates.

"You're too late Lance. Everyone will die at our hands." The being cackled.

Lance gritted his teeth in anguish, he wanted to be stronger and save them, but he can't. He hadn't changed at all, he was still weak. The other Lance would be so much better. But the other Lance was working for the Galra, he had been played all along. What could he do?

"You're on your own Lance. You made this decision."

Of course he's on his own. Lance has always been on his own. It isn't anything new.

'Think Lance!' They had to have had a greater plan, what did the being mean by dying and being revived? Lance knew very well that the being meant Lance was to die when carrying out the plan- but how and why? Why was it that Lance dying would be so important?

"Lance! A little cover over here please!" Keith's irritated huff pulled Lance out his thoughts.

"Right. On it." Lance sped towards the red paladin, who was sharing a pod with Shiro, of course.

"Guys, group up! We have to retreat! We can get protection at the castle and get the lions!" Shiro ordered, the others all agreeing and obeying their leader.

"Tick tock! The time is soon Lance! You're only prolonging your death! I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself if you do a good job!"

"Stick together guys!" Shiro continued to bark out to the others, a reliable calmness amongst the panic of the fight.

Then it suddenly hit Lance. Time. A bomb- Lance was a bomb. The other Lance had to be assured that they would trust him and accept him, only to blow it up from the inside, which would cause he rest of Voltron to cave in. Lance was to be the end of Voltron. And no way would he ever let that happen to his team mates.

"Why did you trust me?" Lance laughed wetly, mostly to himself.

"Did you say something Lance?" Pidge asked, Lance shaking his head, not that they could see.

"We keep going no matter what, right Shiro?" Lance checked, Shiro confirming. "Good."

"Lance?" Hunk called quietly, his voice small and afraid.

"I... I'm sorry."

Turning off his comms before the others could erupt into chaos, Lance pulled back from the team, pivoting and speeding full throttle towards the Galra fighter ships. Lance hoped that if he didn't look back, the others wouldn't either. He danced around the lasers fired his way- but he could not evade them all and as expected, he took a hefty amount of damage. Nonetheless, he kept his course forward, praying he was far enough from the others.

"No!" The being shrilled, Lance almost letting go of the controls- but he had to keep going, he had to put as much distance between him and the others as possible, as he had been doing in his mind for the past 7 months. His head felt like it was being smashed in from both sides, as if his head was about to implode, his vision swimming, his body screeching in agony and Lance was sure he was screaming too though only because his throat was burning- he could barely hear anything over the sound of Lance's pounding heart. He braced himself as the pod rattled again, another laser slamming into the side. In the swarm of Galra attackers; Lance was sure he was in the epicentre of it.

Through red vision Lance pressed the button for extra power, forcing his way to the front of the swarm, luring the ships to follow him away from the others. Like wild predators, the ships targeted the lone pod. With tremoring hands, Lance managed to unbuckle himself from the pod and staggered to the eject button. Suddenly Lance was thrown out into space, not close enough to the planet to be pulled down from gravity. Lance could only pray he wouldn't get shot, but he knows he doesn't really have the best of luck.

Lance cried out as he felt a laser scorching his shoulder, then everything went to white and Lance felt an indescribably intense pain in his head as a great force ripped his body (well that's what it felt like), his body shoved forward as the pod behind him burst to great flames. Some time later; Lance remembered falling, wind from his speed whipping all around him, his lungs feeling like they were going to burst and Lance could make out the surface of the planet and a crack in his visor that was probably why Lance couldn't get enough oxygen. How long has he been falling to be able to black out and somewhat come back around? In his dreary state, he somehow manages to briefly switch on his jet-pack, he can vaguely feel it spluttering helplessly to life on his back. He shuts his eyes and focuses on holding the button for three seconds then letting go for three seconds. Time drags on and the three seconds of free falling increases to six.

Then nine.

Lance tiredly cracks an eye open to see a vast sparkling sea of blue below him, tranquil and inviting.

He falls into the world of dreams in which all was blue, fading to black.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

54 notes · View notes

looselucy · 7 years

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June

“Liam, what the fuck? It’s seven in the morning. THE MORNING!” I groaned as he shook me awake. “I didn’t want to see any time before eleven all summer.” “But we have a plan.” He said, too chirpy for such an hour. “Who is we?” “Well, if you opened your eyes you could see.” After one more angry groan, I shot an eye open, seeing Jamie there waving coyly at me, looking just as tired as I was feeling.

I slowly opened my other eye, my brows furrowed low as I glanced between the two of them, confused, waiting for an explanation. “What are you two up to?” I grunted. “We just thought, that our mum, and Jamie’s mum, both need a bit of cheering up. So we thought we could surprise them with a day out, all expenses paid!” He grinned. Suddenly, I was a little more awake. I sat myself upright, rubbing over my eyes and getting used to the idea of having a long day on little sleep. But it would all be worth it. My mum was doing a lot better, but the same couldn’t be said for Jamie’s. Either way, they probably both really needed a day of cheering up. “Shit.” I tried to bring myself to life. “Yeah, definitely. Yeah. What’s the plan then?” “We dunno.” Jamie shrugged. “We thought maybe you’d be able to think of something.” “Yeah, we kind of came to you with half an idea.” Liam sulked. “Half an idea at seven in the morning.” “Sorry.” Liam cringed and giggled. My mind automatically ran back to the day where Niall jumped on top of me and Harry when I was staying with Ben and Kev, saying he was taking us on a day out, which just wound up being a trip to the pub. I definitely didn’t want to take Lisa and Carol to the pub, but I did think about Harry telling me of the other day trip Niall had taken the two of them on. “We should take them to the zoo.” I smiled. “I know it’s a bit of a drive but, that would be good, right?” The two of them smiled wide, seemingly happy with my idea. Or Niall’s idea. Either way, the deal was sealed. + + + Carols wig looked like it was itching. The two women chuckled about some boy they both went out with in school, since they went back years, but all I could do was stare at her fiddling and messing and trying to act casual in that wig. I had to wonder who it was for. I didn’t know if the wig was for her sake, in an attempt to feel normal. Or maybe it was to stop the staring. Maybe the wig was there just to cause an illusion that she was fit and healthy. I guess it just seemed like a facade to me, and I couldn’t stand the thought of Carol seeing her life as a production, a stage show; an illusion she was creating to force normality. I was probably thinking about it too much, really, but I just wanted her to be happy and to not do that typical motherly thing where she felt the need to hold everything and everyone together. I really didn’t want her to be wearing a semblance of a smile to cooperate with her wig. I wanted her to find joy in everything, and I knew, I just knew, she wanted to take that damn wig off. Jamie toyed with his fries as the rest of us tucked into the disgusting fast-food they had available at the zoo, because I think he had spotted the same thing, and he couldn’t really digest because of it. Liam seemed blissfully unaware, asking the two of them about this high school romance they had shared, who was apparently called Keith, which was the only thing that had made Jamie smile in what felt like a lifetime. He was miserable, which was understandable, but not entirely excusable. “So he was dating you both at the same time?” Liam bewildered, a massive smile on his face. “Yeah, that little bastard.” My mum choked through a laugh. “Your dads really just been added onto a long list.” The two older women laughed, and honestly, I had to join in, because it felt so good to hear my mother joking about it and placing herself above him and holding herself so well. Many months had slithered by since she first found out, and of course she was bound to feel better, but I hadn’t seen her like that. Honestly, it felt amazing, and I could see it did for her too. “I don’t want to lower the tone.” Carol said toward the end of her giggle, running her hand through the fake hair once more. “But I cannot believe that Jennifer did that to you.” Liam’s face dropped before mine did, because his penny dropped before mine did. Our mother glanced between our faces before kind of shrugging it off, because the truth had been kept under wraps for long enough, and it was useless carrying that on. I was still trying to figure out what they were talking about. “Yeah well... we were never that close anyway.” My mum shrugged. “I always said she was a bitch.” “Wait-” Liam almost choked on his burger. “It was Jen?” “What was Jen?” I cried. “Who dad was cheating with!” Liam turned to me, before shooting straight back to our mum. “Was it Jen?” Jennifer was a woman we had grown up with. Apparently, at school, it was Lisa, Carol, and Jennifer. Inseparable. My mum and Jen had remained close throughout their lives. Jen even worked with my mum for a while. Carol and my mum started getting closer again when me and Jamie went to college. But my mum and Jen had literally been friends since school. We called her Auntie Jen! I really didn’t want to talk about it, because I could see the pride being washed from my mother’s face, and all the sadness I’d grown accustom to returning. I wanted to keep her happy, but I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She tried to find the right thing to say, breathing and sighing and coughing over the wrong words, until she eventually answered, in the most honourable way she could. “They’re both happy,” She gulped. “And very much in love. So, it’s best to… leave them to it.” I didn’t even know what to say. I wasn’t sure I had anything to say. I was just completely dumbstruck by the whole thing. I’m glad Liam found the words. God, fuck, I was just glad he was around full-stop. “What? How can you speak like that?” He was getting worked up. “After what she’s done? How? What? Do you know how long it was going on for?” “A few years.” “A FEW YEARS?” I steadily put my hand on his knee under the table and squeezed hard, silently hope to spur a calm within him. I was hurting, and I definitely wanted to be yelling with him, but I also wanted to keep the peace, as much as possible. It was a shock to both of us, but the whole point of us being there in the first place was to have a nice day out and forget about the troubles we were going through. “She’s not even worth talking about.” I shuddered. My mum and Carol nodded along confidently, completely agreeing. Liam mumbled an apology, and began tucking back into his food as a way of soothing, placing his hand on top of mine and squeezing tightly. I think that was the first time I realised, that Liam was grateful to have me around, too. + + + The seals had been my favourite so far. There was one seal in particular, who kept spinning around in circles and bobbing its head up and down, who I really loved. I had probably been staring for a good ten minutes. Carol and my mum skipped off with their arms linked over to the reptile house, giggling and giddy with nerves, for some reason. They were only bloody reptiles, behind glass nonetheless, and they had been building up the courage to go in all day. I shook my head and went back to the seal, looking at the little sign ahead of me in the hope that I would be able to differentiate the seals and figure out the name of my favourite. I soon found out he was called Spinny. “Oh my god, yes.” I mumbled to myself. “Best name ever.” “Who’re you talking to?” Jamie appeared over my shoulder. I pointed Spinny out to him, who was still turning round and round, which made Jamie laugh enough in itself before I then pointed out the name. “Best name ever.” I said again. “That’s fucking brilliant.” He was laughing until he started looking around him, searching the area, and I knew he was going to panic before he did, so I cut in. “She’s gone to the reptile house.” I told him. “Is she okay?” “She’s fine. She’s with my mum.” His face dropped again, and he went back to being miserable, like he had been all day. I tried to be both tender and stern as I dragged him over to a bench behind us, ignoring him complaining and asking what I was doing and sitting him down, because I needed to have some calm words with him before his face became a strain on the day. I sat down next to him, and let out a deep breath. I stayed quiet for a while, and we people watched. I smiled at the sight of Liam pulling funny faces at a seal. “I’m the queen of having a face like a slapped arse.” I said from nowhere. “Huh?” “Literally, I’m great at it. There’s this guy at uni, Harry. We’re all good now, but when he first moved in I hated him, and I let it effect me all the time. I went through a stage of being miserable all the fucking time. Didn’t help when my mum told me about the divorce-” “What are you getting at?” He questioned. “A couple of months ago, I decided I needed to cheer the fuck up. To take my happiness into my own hands and sort myself out. Me and Harry are friends. Things with my family are weird, but, they’re okay. I don’t want to spend my time constantly feeling sorry for myself.” I sighed. “You can’t ever forget that your happiness, has a knock-on effect for so many other people’s happiness.” He was nodding, looking around that area rather than look at me, his eyes scanning people as they wandered by. Maybe he was just trying to figure out the message I was giving him, but Jamie had never been the best at reading in between the lines. Even so, it wasn’t that hard to miss what I was saying. It took him a while, but he finally turned to me, which is what I had been waiting for. I guess all those lectures discussing body language had gotten me somewhere, because I knew him turning to me meant he wanted me to continue my tale; he wanted me to make my point, to fully hear what I was trying to tell him. “I know you’re going through a really rough time.” I continued. “But I can’t sit here and say I know what you’re going through, because I don’t. I don’t have a clue how you feel, and I never will. Even so, I just feel like...” “Spit it out.” He smiled after a moments silence. “I can take it.” “You need to cheer up.” I said bluntly. “Be sad. Wallow in it. But come to me, okay? Come to me and cry your heart out, if you need to. But when you’re around your mum, you need to put on a brave face. Because the second you do, it’ll bounce right back onto her. She shouldn’t have to plaster on a brave face for you. She… She needs to do that for herself.” “She doesn’t wanna wear that fucking wig.” He tutted. “I know.” “You think she’s wearing it for me?” He asked. “I dunno. Maybe… Partly.” I shrugged. He nodded. I hated the thought that I had possibly taken that little chat too far or been a little too harsh, but he reacted very well, even better than I expected. He knew exactly where I was coming from, and that I had every good intention under the sun. “I love you, Pippa.” He smiled. “I really fucking do.” “I love you too.” I nudged him. “I’m gunna go find her. I’m also, gunna have a massive smile on my face when I do.” He ruffled my hair before leaping up to his feet, leaving me giggling and trying to sort out the mess on top of my head as soon as he skipped off. He was rolling his shoulders as he disappeared into the darkness of the reptile house, and I could tell he was building himself up for the whole thing. It wasn’t going to be easy for him, but he knew the possible repercussions, so it was worth it. I got to my feet, about to go over to Liam before I noticed he was completely preoccupied with pulling faces at a monkey. I wandered in the complete opposite direction, past the seals, and I was next greeted with a bunch of little penguins all pottering around. Without even giving it a second thought, I took my phone out of my bag, and sent a picture of them to Harry, adding a little message underneath. Me: Lulu and Luke made some friends. These ones aren’t stuffed though... Yet. It sent and I kept my phone in my hand, hoping to have a text back from him within the next few minutes, but Harry did better than that. The continuous vibrating in my hand proved that he had decided to call. “Hi!” I chuckled when I answered. “Are you with penguins?” He cried. “I am with penguins.” I laughed. “WHAT ARE THEY CALLED?” I moved over to the first sign, and saw a bunch of benign information about penguins that I would never remember, before I skipped over to the next, and saw a list of names. “Flip, Flap, Flop, Fish, and Gary.” “Gary?” “Seriously.” I laughed. “You’re having me on?” He gawped. “I’M NOT! Seriously, I’ll send you a picture of the sign!” “Yeah. I need picture proof of that. But don’t hang up! How are you?” The butterflies in my stomach were the most noticeable animals I had encountered all day. I could practically hear the little bastards swarming around in there. I knew the only butterfly Harry was experiencing was the one permanently tattooed to his stomach. “I’m okay. Are you?” I gulped. “I’m great yeah. I’m with Ed! He says hi! Niall says hi too!” It must have been the Ibiza reunion they had planned to do over summer. I was having a wonderful day, don’t get me wrong, but a tiny little part of me wished I was there with them. “I say hi back!” “How come you’re with penguins?” He quizzed. “We’re doing a day out. Jamie brought his mum and me and Liam brought our Lisa so... yeah. It’s supposed to cheer them up.” “Hold on. Just give me a sec.” I could tell he was moving. He was up on his feet and leaving the room, I could tell, and that insinuated to me that he was going to ask me some serious questions, not meant for the innocent ears of Niall Horan and Ed Sheeran. “You there?” I asked. “Yeah, I’m here.” He replied. “How are things?” “They’re okay.” “How’s Jamie? Still annoyingly attractive?” “What?” I giggled, confused. ”Nowt. Is he alright? Is his mum alright?” “Umm. I think so. I think they’re doing well, yeah. They’re both really brave.” “And how are you?” He asked. “You’re pretty brave yourself.” “Shut up.” I laughed to the floor. “My mum is doing loads better, and that’s all that matters.” “You matter.” He prompted. “I wanna know how you are?” I stared at the penguins ahead of me, and all I wanted to think about and concentrate on, was how normal it was for a close friend like Harry to care about me and how I was doing. But everything seemed amplified when it came to him. Every touch and every word became something I couldn’t escape, something I held onto and read into and devoured. It didn’t mean anything but I was convincing myself it did. He just cared, like a friend should. It wasn’t anything more than that. “I’m good, actually.” I rubbed my free hand over my eyes. “I’m... Yeah. I’m good.” “Good!” He laughed, unaware of my turmoil. “It’s hard to be anything but when you’re surrounded by penguins.” “Very true.” I shuddered. “Especially a penguin called Gary.” “Something I’ve yet to experience.” “Someday.” “I’ll have to visit that exact zoo, I imagine. Will you take me?” “Hmm, that depends on how well behaved you are next year.” I smiled. “So what does that mean?” I could hear his grin. “No fights? No shagging girls? No calling you Pip-Squeak?” “To name a few!” I wanted to stay on the phone forever and talk nonsense with him, because I just felt so bloody comfortable being playful with him like that, but in the distance, I saw the whole gang had gathered back together and I was the only one missing. “Hey! Pip! You know what I realised the other day?” “Harry-” “Your mum and dad are called Phillip and Lisa, right?” “I need to-” “And you are Pippa and then there’s Liam.” He carried on. “How cool is that?” “What?” “Two P’s and two L’s!” It was literally my family, and I had never even realised that before. I rolled my eyes, but I had to laugh, because of course Harry would notice something like that. “What is your obsession with names?” I cried. “Just because your family is full of hilarious names and stuff!” I could tell he was smirking. “Look, idiot, I need to go!” I laughed. “I’ll talk to you soon, alright? Have fun at your Ibiza reunion.” “Obviously. I’m already on my second beer. Speak soon, Pip-Squeak.” “Bye.” I hung up quickly, shaking my head at my phone before I tucked it back into my bag and ran over to them, trying to shake the conversation out of my brain, even though I knew that later that night, my mind would run over every single mundane word he had muttered. + + + Zayn: I have about ten million films I need to make you watch when we get back. Me: Will I understand any of them? Zayn: If you don’t then I will gladly explain. They’re no more complicated than a woman kissing and becoming a frog. Me: That’s just logic. That’s why I’ve never kissed a frog. Zayn: That’s the only reason? Me: Pretty much. I love frogs. Zayn: I miss you loads. Less than a month to go! “Are you shagging Zayn?” Katie asked me mid chuckle. “God no!” I shrieked. “You should be!” Sophia added. “Have you seen him?” “If we’re just going off looks,” Katie began again. “Then I say go back to Louis. He is absolutely... wow.” A huge part of me really wanted to tell the girls about how I felt towards Harry. How obviously he was the most attractive one of the lot, and how wonderful and great he was, but something was holding me back. It was the perfect environment for it, really. We were having a girly sleepover, with enough chocolate to feed the five thousand, and they were two girls from home, who were basically impartial to the entire drama that surrounded me and Harry. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I knew if I told them, it would become even more of a thing. Every time I saw them, or every time we text, they would ask me about it. They would bring it up and quiz me on it and just remind me of my feelings. It would make it ten times harder for me to escape the way I felt, because I would have people reminding me of it. To me, it just seemed better to keep it to myself. “I just want to stay single.” I sighed. “I spoke to some random girl in the toilets of a bar the other month, and she told me about how she got trapped in a relationship and it ruined her time at uni. I don’t want that.” Even saying it out loud, my brain was just screaming, you’re a fucking liar. All I wanted was a bloody relationship. I kept daydreaming about getting back to uni and Harry turning around to me and just saying, lets fucking do it, let’s forget everything that’s holding us back and just be together. It seemed having space from him wasn’t doing me any favours at all, it was just making my imagination run wild. “I think,” Sophia spoke, shovelling M&M’s into her mouth. “When you find the right person, it just happens. Simple as that. I don’t plan on avoiding that just because I’m at uni.” “I totally disagree.” Katie spluttered. “No great novel, was ever about a couple who got together and lived the simple life. I want a fucking novel romance. That’s what I want.” “Any novel about my life would be so boring.” I laughed. “Maybe your novel hasn’t started yet.” Katie shrugged. I didn’t want to start thinking about my life like it was a novel, because I didn’t think I was a worthy protagonist for any kind of story. I went back into my own little world so I could text Zayn back, missing him like absolute crazy, but it was the 21st of June, and that meant the festival was just around the corner, and I would be back to being surrounded by him and all the people I adored from uni. Me: Miss you too! I’m so excited for the festival. Zayn: You’re gunna love it. It’s seriously the coolest place ever. Me: You gunna drive there since you’ve passed your test? Zayn: Yeah buddy! Shall I stay at yours the night before then we can go together? Me: That would be amaaaaaazing! Yessss lets do that! Zayn: Sound. What a plan. “I think you and Zayn are so cute!” Sophia smiled, throwing an M&M at me. “I’m not shagging him!” I cried. “No, I know! I think that’s why you’re cute. He’s literally gorgeous and wonderful and he’s just like, your best mate. That’s it. I think that’s so amazing.” “Turns out he’s gunna come here on the fourteenth. You guys wanna meet him?” They both started squealing about how excited they were to meet him. Katie was basically fanning herself in anticipation. Out of nowhere, I was beaming at the whole idea of me and Zayn. People who say boys and girls can’t be “just friends” are full of absolute shit. Zayn was gorgeous, and kind, and open and beautiful both inside and out. The two of us worked together so well, but I loved him like a brother. Our friendship, was one of the strongest, realest things I had ever experienced in my life. I really loved that about us. We settled into our girly night, and Katie decided we should spend our night having a Sex and the City marathon, which made me think of Tally immediately. I was missing everyone. We powered through the first season in what felt like about ten seconds, but kind of chatting over it and giggling and flapping around over the top of Carrie Bradshaw, and before I knew it, it was midnight, and I was getting a call from Harry Styles. My throat went tight, and I was glad my phone was on vibrate, because the girls didn’t hear it and question it. I stared at his name and the picture of us, the first picture we ever got together just the two of us, in his home town. And I ignored it. Don’t even ask me why. I had spoken with him the day before when I was at the zoo and everything was fine, but seeing his name then, made my stomach flip like crazy, and I just did not feel like speaking to him. My phone vibrated again. Harry: Im guna ring ahain and ypu better answer this time. I locked my phone and glanced between the two girls, who were far too preoccupied to notice how fidgety and off I was acting. “Umm,” I began. “I need to go and speak with Liam. I’ll be back in a minute.” They shrugged off my lie as I darted out of Katie’s bedroom, scuttling downstairs and darting out of the back door. It wasn’t quite as cold as I was expecting it to be, or as cold as I wanted it to be, because at least if the temperature was low that would be a good excuse for my shaking. I didn’t understand how one day I could answer the phone to him and be totally fine, and the next I felt like I was choking on my own admiration for him. My phone started vibrating again, and I answered as quickly as possible before I could convince myself not to. “Hey.” I breathed. “I’M DRUNK AND PRETENDING I’M IN IBIZAAAAA!” I closed my eyes and laughed down to the floor, the distant sound of a familiar song playing on his end of the line, my throat just getting tighter and tighter. “You having fun?” “So much fun, Pip. But Ed just started talking about you and I was like, uh, I haven’t spoke to Pippa in ages-” “I spoke to you yesterday.” “-so I thought I should ring you! Hello!” Drunk Harry was often endearing. He was completely different to Harry on drugs, so much so I could tell automatically that alcohol was the only thing in his system when he called me that night. It was definitely what I preferred. He was cute and happy, whereas when he was on drugs, he usually got into fights, and often had an aura of anger around him. “Hi, Harry.” I giggled. “Are you drunk?” “No. I’m doing a girly night with Katie and Sophia. No wine or anything. Just chocolate and TV.” “And pillow fights and practicing kissing?” He asked hopefully. “Unfortunately not.” I smiled. “Well, that’s okay. You don’t need any practice anyway.” Why did he have to say things like that? To Harry, it was just flirting. He was just teasing, winding me up, trying to get a rise out of me. But to me it was more than that. I felt like such an idiot every single time, and to him it was just normal. “Thanks.” That was the only thing I could manage to spit out. “I have an answer for you, Pip-Squeak.” Sometimes, it just hit me, how much him calling me by that nickname now made me smile, when it used to infuriate me. It had changed. We had changed. I wish I knew the exact moment it switched. I wish I knew the very first time blood rushed to my cheeks rather than my head. “I didn’t realise I had a question.” I choked. “I’ve never let you touch me.” “What?” “Y’know, when we’ve been like… doing the things with our hands. I mean... I never let you suck me off or anything.” Harry was many things, but he certainly wasn’t eloquent. Saying giving him a blow-job would have been bad enough in itself, but saying suck him off was an all new low. I was so baffled by his way with words, it took me a while to take in what he was actually saying. “Umm,” I fumbled over myself. “No. You-you’ve always been a giver.” “Wanna know why?” “I didn’t think there was a reason.” I gulped. “Well there is.” He huffed. “It’s a power thing.” Even hearing him say that, put me down a little bit. The thought of Harry being a giver was a lot nicer than it being down to some weird power issue he had. “I… Okay...” I rambled. “I have to have power. I think... Um… I think, especially when it comes to girls, because… I grew up with a woman who I had no power around. Then, after that, I grew up with two men. I guess I wasn’t even used to women. Not really.” My head was spinning. He was quiet for a short while, maybe waiting for me to say something, or even prompt him to continue, but I didn’t have the stamina. “And then, by the time I even started paying any interest in girls… I guess I had this kinda power over them… because they were swooning over me. They wanted me! Me! I went from having no power, to actually having it and I needed it. I needed that power, and I know it’s because it’s something I didn’t have when I was really young.” I felt like I was going to be sick. I knew Harry. I knew him very well, but it was a rarity that he opened up like that. Especially when it came to the topic of his biological mother. All of a sudden, hearing that it was about power didn’t seem like such a kick in the teeth. He was being painfully honest, about something I doubted he had spoken about before. He didn’t need to tell me either, I wasn’t asking him, I wasn’t bothering him. He was choosing to open up to me. “That makes sense.” I whispered after a while. “And I know you probably think I’m talking shit, because I shag girls and stuff, but… with you it’s different. Those girls… They don’t mean anything to me. But... But you do. I feel like… if I let you be that fucking intimate with me I would... lose that power. It’s fine when I have control over you, and control over your body, but... I can’t. I want to, but I can’t.” My stomach was churning. I couldn’t even take in what he was saying to me, what it meant, but for some reason I felt guilty. “I don’t want you to feel powerless.” My bottom lip was shaking. “Fuck… I’m not even sure that’s what scares me, Pip.” He spoke. “Sometimes I think that I... I would feel… so fucking powerful if I was with you.” I think I knew what Harry meant more than he did. He would feel a loss of power. That would be giving me a piece of him. He was admitting that, between the two of us, it wouldn’t just be some careless act. That scared him; that threatened his power, which was something he had built up alongside his confidence that had grown from nothing over the years. But for the same reasons, for the fact that it wouldn’t be something so frivolous between us, would be the same thing that made him powerful. To share in that act, and actually have it mean something to him, for the first time in his life. I knew at that point, too. If me and Harry were ever going to take that step we had avoided, and sleep with one another, it would be the least casual thing. It would be intense and gut wrenching. It was a paradox. It would make him feel powerful at the same time as being powerless. “I’m sorry.” He laughed after my long silence, then sighed heavily. “I’m talking complete shit. I’m sorry, I’m so fucked, Pip-Squeak. I’m wasted. I’m sorry.” “Yeah.” I mumbled. “Um, I better go. I need to… get back. Ed just appeared in the doorway and tapped his imaginary watch. He thinks I speak about you too much. Little shit. Alright, I’ll probably text you tomorrow about how rough I am.” “Okay.” I shuddered. “Have fuuuuuun. Bye, Pippy. Bye.” I would usually reply by saying a million goodbyes myself, never really sure which goodbye should be my last, but I didn’t say a word, I just put the phone down. And for some reason, I cried.

#this is the last one for a while now #I'm busy every fucking day and don't have the time sooo #lap it up #enjoy it #talk to me about it #and thank you for reading #BB31 #1dff #Harry Styles

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artswaps · 7 years

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What do you think Keith’s favorite little things in life are?

oooh this was really fun to answer but once again I went off on a super long tangent, OOPS SORRY HAHA. Also not proofread so… be warned lmao. Under the cut:

- Nature!!! Keith is a nature boy and loves quiet, natural places. He probably feels really content in a natural settings, the kinda environments that have a stillness to them. Not silence- he hates silence- but quiet; birdsong and crickets and the wind, the sounds of wildlife etc. etc.

He likes sunsets and sunrises, likes the sound of rain and storms (even if being stuck indoors when there’s things to be done can be pretty frustrating), likes watching birds and other animals he finds doing their own thing. He can probably identify a lot of different bird species, might even have at least a vague idea about what their different calls sound like.

But there’s also the more adventurous and boyish side to Keith that would really love exploring those kinds of natural places. Hiking for sure, but also maybe stuff that’s a bit more daring, too. He has a healthy respect for nature, and has decent survival skills, so maybe he’d be a bit of a thrill seeker.

dsfjk sorry for getting a bit sidetracked but here’s a story: I had a couple of friends come down to visit me last week, and at the end of the day while we were heading home, we took a detour to look at Hopkins Falls, a waterfall close to my town.

I looked at a dry part of the cliff face that had a lot of rocky parts jutting out and said as a passing remark to my friend Matt something like, “hey, wouldn’t it be badass if someone could just straight up and climbed that wall?”

APPARENTLY he took that as a challenge because the next thing I know he was giving me a fuckING heart attack and climbed a cliff face about 5 times his height in like, 20 seconds flat. Then, realised that he couldn’t get back to the lookout path from where he was and had to climb back down, and the whole time I couldn’t help but be horribly aware of the VERY UNSAFE ROCKS AND POTENTIALLY DEEP WATER below him.

Yeah. That’s Keith. He’d scale a cliff with no safety gear just because he KNOWS he can pull it off, and he’s curious about what’s at the top, okay?

So yeah, Keith likes nature and he likes birds and he likes exploring!!

- He also seems to genuinely like training? There’s been a couple moments in canon where we’ve seen him training by himself in his downtime. Having a task set out in front of him that he can work through to reach a goal is just how Keith likes to operate; I imagine he finds a lot of satisfaction in learning new moves and knife tricks, and at being able to pull off the things he’s been practicing in battle.

Burning physical energy like that probably helps him think clearly too, so maybe he also uses training as a way to help clear his head. Keith’s very action-driven, doesn’t like staying idle for too long or sitting still when he could be doing something, so training and practicing with his Blade are good outlets for that.

- Movies!! I imagine that Keith loves goofy action movies, especially the classics. I’ve noticed that it’s a pretty popular headcanon that Keith is a bit oblivious when it comes to pop-culture, and I also personally like the idea that he just… doesn’t really keep up-to-date with more recent stuff if it doesn’t interest him. Lance might make an Avengers reference or something and Keith’s just “??? don’t get it, don’t care”.

But he’s surprisingly knowledgeable about the old classics like….. idfk, Die Hard for example (I myself am very ignorant about action movies and a lot of pop-culture in general LOL)

OH, and old Sci-Fi. He doesn’t like, watch it religiously or w/ever and has only caught a few scattered episodes, but he’s seen some classic Who before and was pretty into it. When he gets back to Earth he wants to hunt the old series down and watch it from the start. He thinks the dated effects are charming and after his time in space, the old Doctors remind him a LITTLE bit of Coran, haha.

I don’t see him being much of a Disney fan at first, because he hears about all these animated films about princesses and true love and just kinda says “pass”. He just wouldn’t be interested? But uuh there was a hc that came up when @ravensimaginaryfriends and I were talking abt Kallurance stuff a while ago where Lance introduces Keith and Allura to Disney and they end up having a whole bunch of Disney marathons and it was a VERY good convo.

Keith becomes surprisingly fond of Disney movies! Not so much the older Princess-y ones but even those he doesn’t hate. They’re simple and not showboat-y and can be kinda fun to watch with friends. But he loves the friendship/family-oriented ones like Lilo and Stitch and Fox and the Hound (because let’s be real those are the BEST ones anyway).

I also have a hc that Keith is a big fan of Miyazaki. His favourite Ghibli film is Howl’s Moving Castle, because that’s my favourite and I’m always right. (NO lmao he probably likes, uuuh… idk Mononoke, bc it has more badass fighting and cool nature-y vibes. Or Spirited away, because the dragon is cool.)

Other lil things:

- Reading!! He has to be in the right mindset for it, and he doesn’t really have time for it at all up in space, but back on Earth Keith really enjoyed reading. Even if was just perusing through old books on constellations or hoverbike magazines or whatever. He finds it relaxing, when there’s nothing else he’s pressed to be doing.

- Keith is a carnivore and he loves meat lol. He isn’t a picky eater (living in the desert like he was, and up in space with limited resources like he is now, he can’t really afford to be a picky anything.) But uuuh if you gave him the choice he’d choose a steak over a plate of veggies any day. He loves gravy on everything. Also, would probably kill for some greasy take-away food? It’s a very simple pleasure but he loves Maccas. (if he ever went to McDonalds during his time living alone then he’d buy like, 3 Happy Meals for himself, because he can be a big eater and 1 isn’t enough for him but uuh sometimes the toys are cool LOL)

- He likes classic rock music, and classic pop, as well as some occasional bluesy or jazzy stuff. He didn’t really own a phone or Ipod or whatever, and would just listen to the radio back in his shack, but he’d always have it tuned to the same station that played the classics. Eagles, The Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, etc etc. Doesn’t really have a favourite artist, just really likes the energy of music, and enjoys anything with a good beat or solid melody. Has a secret love for the Bee Gees.

#voltron #keith kogane #vld keith #vld #keith (voltron)#post #keith #asks #anon #hc #words #this is okay to rb!!!#honestly just assume all my posts are unless i say otherwise lol #woops i really gotta go work on other stuff now #i'll reply to the other asks tonight if i get time!! <3

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 4 years

Text

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid 188

188

Keith woke feeling the best he had in days. Coffee in the air and Lance had moved him to rest his head on his upper leg. He didn’t like face masks. Having his eyebrows waxed brought tears to his eyes. His nails had some kind of clear nail polish on them... but Lance had sent him into a whole other kind of bliss by playing with his hair. He’d found himself rambling, and making weird grunting kind of noises as Lance untangled his hair then started brushing it. After that he was very much a sook. Dazed and dopey, he’d been bopped on the head when he’d missed Lance asking him to help pack his go bag, his boyfriend comparing him to his coffee deprived morning zombie state, giving up asking anything from him other than his shirt to scent the things in his go bag.

Wanting Lance to feel as blissed as he did, he tried his very hardest as he massaged Lance’s back, legs and feet. He’d failed to really notice how Lance’s feet seemed swollen. His ego felt he’d let Lance down by not noticing how painful it must be for his lover. Lance only mentioned the pain in his back and hips, then his breasts as his milk came in. Oiling Lance up was not without its issues. Lance insisted on wearing a towel around his groin to cover his bits during the massage. Keith didn’t see the point. Lance had a cute arse, which he wasn’t supposed to point out. Watching his boyfriend, he wanted to touch him, yet with his belly on display he felt awful about the nursery and shooting Lance down as he had. Going for an apology blow job, Lance pushing him back with a foot to his shoulder, declaring no touching until he’d had the rest of his pampering.

His boyfriend was a shit.

Using the same face mask as Lance, it made Keith’s skin tingle. Lance explaining face masks should be a sometimes treat and all these weird things about toners being bad for skin and coconut oil being even worse. After face masks came a bubble bath, where Keith was forced between Lance’s legs and Lance played with his hair again. The whole thing felt like they were following some kind of unfun torture manual. Self care seemed too much like hard work. After that came a short break, then the wax went on... then the nails were trimmed and painted, then the wax came off and it was not fun. Keith wasn’t sure the what exactly about it brought tears to his eyes, yet he would have preferred to keep his budding monobrow and hairy toe tops. How Lance could possibly seem fine with waxing other places was weird. For a day of pampering, Keith definitely felt he’d feel better about facing a half starved vampire than he would about facing all of this again. Huffy, Lance laughed at his grumbling, rewarding him with head pats, and a braid that Matt pouted over when he came home.

Whatever his personal thoughts on the matter where, his ego had responded. He felt almost constantly cocky over looking good for their mate. He didn’t think he looked that different. Maybe a few less eyebrow hairs... Noticing he was awake, Lance moved his hand to stroke his hair

“I made you coffee”

Mmm... He was loved. Wriggling closer to Lance, he nosed at his boyfriend’s leg. Lance should have woken him up when he’d gotten up

“You hate the smell”

“Eh, I was throwing up anyway”

He could smell his coffee. It was so close. If he could reach around Lance, he’d have his coffee... but that meant giving up pats

“I thought that’d settled”

“It’s a bit better but yeah, no, this morning I went to have some toast and blargh. I decided to get a few things organised. We’re going to Platt today”

The idea of pats disappeared with the need for coffee. When Lance got in a mood, he knew better than to try and stop him. Dragging himself up to sit, Lance passed him his coffee, phone in his left hand as his thumb hovered over the screen. With the coffee cool enough to drink, he swallowed it down, grateful for the caffeine and that his boyfriend would withstand the scent for him. Passing the mug back, Lance chose to throw his phone down with a sigh where it landed next to the mug

“Should I ask?”

“I’ve been up since 5”

“What’s the time now?”

“Nearly 8”

That’s three hours of rest Lance could have been having. Keith groaned at the idea, pulling the blanket up as he curled into Lance

“You should have been resting”

“I had things to do”

No. In Keith’s world it was far too early for those things. Lance should have switched his brain off and accepted cuddles

“Sleep is better”

“Says the lazy werewolf. I’ve booked the accomodation, and talked to Coran. He said he’d see me today and if it’s all good, we can go”

Keith blinked, his eyes feeling gritty with sleep. He needed more time for the caffeine to kick in

“Babe?”

Humming, Keith couldn’t quite word what he wanted to word, since he didn’t know what he wanted to word. Too many words were coming at him

“I know. I’m terrible. I couldn’t get back to sleep, my head wouldn’t shut up”

“Ugh”

Yep. That summed up his current intelligence

“Pretty much”

On the table Lance’s phone vibrated. Lance ignoring the device though Keith felt him tense

“Babe?”

“It’s alright. You know how Matt fixed my laptop, I had him figure out how to send those photos to Veronica and now she’s trying to talk to me”

Ah. That explained why Lance couldn’t get back to sleep

“You don’t have to talk to her”

“I know. I want to get a lot done in Platt today, so you’re going to have to get up”

Lance got another coffee into him, while Keith had forced his boyfriend to drink some blood before they left for Platt. Lance not letting him drive as he’d drank from him, his boyfriend uncomfortable behind the steering wheel. Closing his eyes for the drive, car sickness was apparently not cured by turning into a werewolf. Lance asked him once or twice if he needed to pull over, Keith humming it off. His ego seemed to be like “What the heck is this?”. With Lance wanting to get things done, Keith hoped those things didn’t involve seeing people, not after how his last shopping trip had gone.

It turned out Lance had that covered. He’d been as busy as he’d said he’d been. First stop was VOLTRON... which was funnily enough Keith’s only stop. He didn’t know why Lance had brought him, only that he was mad as heck when Lance explained, after his scan, that he and Curtis were going shopping, leaving Keith with Shiro and Krolia for the time being. He knew he was useless, yet he couldn’t help feeling lied to. Lance had made it seem as if he wanted to do whatever it was together. That he wanted him around. And that getting whatever it was done, would finally result in them getting to leave Garrison . Instead, his boyfriend had gone off with his friend, leaving him to the mercy of Shiro and his mother, when all he wanted to do was sleep of his nausea.

Lance had snapped. He’d officially snapped. He’d called Coran up, crying for reasons he wasn’t exactly sure of outside of him feeling very done with being pregnant. Keith had really settled in the last two days. He’d hated being pampered, and though Lance had laughed at his grumbling, he couldn’t deny being slightly hurt that Keith had enjoyed their time together. He’d tried his best to make it enjoyable for Keith, only for Keith to hate all of it.

The worst bit was that his ego felt insulted. He wanted to get things ready for giving birth. The closer to surgery, the less he’d be able to do. He’d planned to have this done already, and now it hurt to look at the nursery each time he came up the stairs. For an old house, he’d realised how much he’d changed the floor plan, leaving certain spaces and gaps between walls for better aesthetics. If he were to knock down two of the upstairs walls, or at least move them, there’d be enough space for another small bedroom. When he’d gotten things the way he liked, and wanted, he’d become set that that was how they should stay. Now he had the urge to make a second bedroom from that lost space and maybe replan his bathroom.

Coran copped the full version of his rambling. The fae assured him that many, many people felt the need to ensure things were perfect before giving birth. Lance only crying harder as none of his friends got it and he wanted his Mami. Then Veronica had replied to the photos, asking how his life was, and he’d felt lost all over again. Right now he felt like he needed someone to hold his hand, yet Keith couldn’t do crowds and he couldn’t fight the feelings of need to get things done any longer.

Parking in front of the hardware store, Curtis let out a sigh. They’d barely talked since Coran had volunteered Curtis to go with him on his errands. Lance too preoccupied in his wallowing as he drove. Cutting the ignition and looking to Curtis, Lance let out a sigh of his own

“I know”

“He seemed pretty upset”

“Yep”

Then again, Lance had been too. He’d wished Keith was there to rub his stomach as he threw up, yet his stupid ego was all bent out of shape over their werewolf not seeming to care about how much stress he was under not having the nursery done

“Should I ask?”

Without the curse Curtis had free reign to ask as he pleased in his own words. Lance almost missed him blurting things out

“It’s ego stuff. Like I’m all panicked over the nursery and right now I need to settle my ego before I can calm down”

“Ah”

“Pretty much. I know he’s going to be pissed, but I can’t keep waiting for things to fall into line. It scares me. The idea of the nursery not being ready in time”

“I’m sorry...”

Lance shook his head. He shouldn’t have worded it that way. He didn’t blame Curtis. He blamed life

“You have nothing to apologise for. That was the demon acting out. I could have fixed it ages ago, but everything’s been so busy. I did a click and collect order, so all we have to do is the collect bit”

“Are you going to come in?”

What else was he going to do? He knew he upset Keith by leaving him with Shiro and Krolia, especially on the back of dragging his boyfriend out of bed, but today was a day for errands and Keith couldn’t handle crowds. No. He didn’t particularly want to go in, yet he didn’t have much choice if he wanted to get things done

“I know we’re close in looks, but I can handle this much”

Curtis sighed, Lance knowing he deserved it

“Should I ask why you haven’t talked to Keith about this?”

“Dude, if you want to ask me stuff, you don’t need to ask my permission first. As for Keith, it’s a bit... yeah. He’s still going through a lot, but he just doesn’t seem to get how much I need to get this done”

“I’m being a pain, aren’t I?”

Today seemed to be his day for upsetting people. He couldn’t cope with that on top of everything on his list. Better to nip it in the bud before it went further

“No. You’re not. I’m grateful you agreed to helping me out, even if I hijacked your plan. I’m just being impatient”

“I didn’t have any plans. Shiro keeps making me rest. If it’s not therapy with Coran, then it’s home at the apartment. He got upset when I dared to bring paperwork home so I’d have something to do”

Curtis had mentioned before that he wasn’t really coping. Lance could see why Shiro wouldn’t want him pushing himself, still, he knew how annoying it was to be left with your thoughts

“He had a huge scare. The whole floor was filled with energy from the demon. He’s probably trying to overcompensate seeing how long it took for you to recover from the summoning”

“It’s nothing compared to what Keith went through”

Curtis sounded hurt at the memory. Lance was going to have to drive it into his brain that he wasn’t to blame even if it killed him

“What Keith went through isn’t your fault. With how many times he’s hit his head, no one could have predicted that happening. He’s getting there. He’s been super clingy lately, you should have seen him the other day, give him head pats and everything is forgiven. I suppose Shiro would have told you he had a freak out, but even then, he was mainly scared for Hunk than for himself. I did kind of tell him we had errands, and didn’t exactly tell him I was leaving him at VOLTRON... besides, he needs to socialise. He can’t stay at home forever. VOLTRON was the safest and best option, and it gives me a bit of a breather”

Curtis arched an eyebrow, tone teasing as he replied

“So you left him at werewolf day care. Not even a parent yet and you’re sending your kids away”

Rolling his eyes at Curtis, Lance then punch him lightly on the arm

“It’s not “day care”. It’s “werewolf care”. Besides, Keith will tell you himself that he’s not a kid”

“Yes. I heard about that. Shiro was lamenting over how much Keith has grown. Don’t tell Keith, but I think Shiro misses being the cooler older brother”

Shiro was cool in his own head. Lance wasn’t about to start bagging Shiro over things, he would have preferred not to be talking about Shiro yet he’d been the one to go there

“Shiro’s still his brother, but I don’t know about the cool bit. I have a sneaking suspicion he’s just as lame as I am. And if you think about it, Keith’s going to slow down aging now he’s turned. He’s always going to be the older brother, even when he’s all old and wrinkly”

“He still misses Keith”

Well there was nothing Lance could do about that. Keith was free to go to Shiro if he wanted to. Heck, he’d even free up space for Curtis and Shiro if they needed brother time that badly

“You guys still welcome any time. I know we’re leaving before you are, but that’s because we need some us time”

“I know. It’s hard being in the middle”

“That’s like the last thing I wanted. It really is. I know Shiro is important to Keith, and I don’t want Shiro to feel like he can’t reach out to Keith. Keith just... he really thinks he’s not improving fast enough. I know everyone leapt to my side and I hate that. I’m kind of hoping the four of us can reconnect while we’re away, without the outside interference of the others”

“I’m honestly looking forward to that too. It’s been so long since I was human that even the simple things seem way more interesting than they were”

“I wish I could say I got that. All I’ve got is death. Anyway, I’ve booked your room next to ours. The towns so small they only have one hotel, so there wasn’t a whole lot of options”

Curtis nodded, finally undoing his seatbelt

“Want to make a bet about which one is going to be clingier when we get back?”

Lance wasn’t taking money that easily from a friend

“Oh, no. I already know that’s going to be Keith. You should see him. I feel like he tolerated me playing with his hair before, but now he can’t get enough of it. I caught him drooling the other day when I was playing with his hair”

“I kind of want to see that”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get the chance. Ugh. Now to go people”

“If you want me to go...”

Lance shook his head firmly

“No. It’s okay, but don’t think I’m not treating you to lunch for coming out with me”

“I’m down for that”

What Keith didn’t know, other than the fact he’d seemed to zone out while Lance was telling him about the errands, was that the vampire had ordered new clothes while he was shopping. As well as a little something he was pretty confident that Keith would like, though that surprise had nothing to do with the reason he’d left Keith behind. He’d prepared himself for most of their time alone together to be in the hotel room, and with the amount of stress he was putting himself through, he didn’t feel as sexy as Keith seemed to find him. He wanted to look good for Keith. He wanted to feel good about his body, though it was hard when he felt like a fat lump every time he’d sit down after a shower and stare down at all this extra “him” that hadn’t been there before. So aside from the hardware store, they also made two other stops, then a third unplanned stop when his ego wouldn’t shut up. At their third stop he’d tried to call Keith, only for the call to go unanswered... as did the next two calls.

Everything in the nursery was supposed to be chosen by the pair of them, but Lance couldn’t let go of wanting a chair for the nursery, as Curtis had been subjected too in the form of deep signs whenever they passed a furniture store. He couldn’t let go of the desire to have it organised. The chair was almost as important to him as the cots they’d chosen. He wanted a chair for feeding the twins, and a chair where he’d be able to sit and read bedtime stories to the pair of them. The kind of chair where they’d be able to sit on his lap, for snuggles and turning the pages of the pictures books with him. Keith might not get how much that meant to him, but as the youngest of the family, stray furniture had seemed to end up in his room. He could remember in Cuba the chair his Mami would use for the same reason, and god knew how much he wished he knew what had happened to it. So far none of the chairs they’d passed were that chair, though that might be him putting too much thought into picking one. He’d kind of been a bit vocal about the ones he didn’t like, with his tastes clashing against Curtis’s suggestions. This whole mess was why he needed Keith to see. To choose with him. That his boyfriend wouldn’t answer his calls left him with silent tears over his own stupidity.

Seeing how dejected he was that Keith hadn’t answered, Curtis took Lance’s hand in his, drawing more than a few stares over the sudden seemingly intimacy between the pair. He’d heard the sales staff sighing the moment they laid eyes on him. The weather was warm and sunny, he must have looked like some kind of addict with the way he’d bundled up. Lance had dressed with getting things done in mind. His beanie covered his short hair. The scarf around his neck his his Adam’s apple, he’d chosen a long sleeve black shirt that made his tiny tits annoyingly obvious under a heavy winter jacket that had long passed the point of being able to button, and anything he had to say he kept clipped. If he couldn’t hide being pregnant he could only go with the flow. Even if going with the flow led to very curious looks. Curtis had been by his side, but with their looks people wrongly assumed them family rather than potential lovers, now they seemed to be going off script.

“Babe, what do you think of this one?”

Asking loudly, Lance didn’t know what to make of this sudden change in his friend. Especially in the face of the absolutely hideous chair in front of them

“You can’t be serious”

“Why not?”

It was pink with gold trim, the fabric fake leather and horrendous. The shape was all wrong for cuddling in. Plus, it was a massage chair and he didn’t want something they’d have to plug in. It was absolutely not what he wanted

“It’s awful”

Placing his hand over Lance’s arm, Curtis smiled creepily at him

“Why don’t we test it out?”

“What? Okay. What are you doing?”

Curtis leaned in to whisper

“There’s two sales people of there who haven’t stopped staring at us. Keith’s not here, so why not have a little fun”

What the heck was he supposed to do with that? They were staring and now seemed almost scandalised to hear Curtis call him “babe” loudly. Neither of them seemed keen on approaching, and the signs clearly said not to sit on the chairs. Even if they were snooty, he didn’t really want to pick a fight

“I don’t know...”

“Here, come sit down”

Sitting down as he was told, Lance was sceptical over things. Curtis moving to place his hands on the top of the chair, the thing started moving beneath him, despite not being plugged in

“What the hell?!”

Curtis laughed, Lance tilting his head back to look up at him

“Are you doing this?!”

Curtis gave a wink and a shrug

“It seems the electrical thing kind of stuck. I reckon there’s at least half an hour’s worth of power in here now”

Him sitting seemed to work as a magical beacon to summon one of the workers over. Lance wasn’t particularly in a shit stirring mood, yet the scowl on their face annoyed him. They probably had to deal with the same thing over and over

“Ma’am, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you not to sit in the chairs. We have plastic slips if you’d like to try the feel of them”

His ego flared at “ma’am”. He wasn’t a “ma’am”. He didn’t look old enough for a starters and the plumbing situation was all wrong. The way she spoke...

“Oh, we’re so sorry. You see, my darling honey here is heavily pregnant with twins. I suggested it”

The worker turned their scowl to Curtis. Curtis had managed to sound apologetic enough, but there was just something in the way the woman set her lips that pissed him off

“I’m afraid I can’t bend the rules, sir. Not even for... pregnant customers. Street clothes carry many contaminants that may ruin the fabric, and there’s your condition to think of”

Lance found that instantly rude. Pregnancy wasn’t a disease to be caught. Sugar sweet he batted his eyelashes at Curtis

“Honey, we best do as the woman says”

“Are you sure? You had your heart set on getting a chair today”

“This one gives such a horrible massage. Will you please help me up”

Lance added a pout for good measure, Curtis “hurrying” around to take his hand and help him stand

“We obviously can’t buy a chair that hurts your back. You need to be careful with your body, you know what the doctor said”

Watching the pair of them, Lance schooled his face as he stared at the sales woman who was now staring at him as if he were dumb

“This particular model isn’t currently plugged in. We do have similar models if you’d...”

Letting Curtis tug him slightly sideways, the movements of the massage chair stalled the sales woman’s words. The cord neatly wound around the lever to turn the chair into a recliner, very clearly not plugged in, despite the fact the chair was currently moving. Turning his head, Lance widened his eyes in fake alarm

“It’s not plugged in!”

The sales woman had no words. Lance didn’t particularly like picking on retail staff, yet he had to bite his lip from laughing at the expression on her face. Utter disbelief

“I don’t think I can shop at a store where the staff don’t know their products. This obviously dangerous. I’m so sorry. If anything were to happen to you, I’d never be able to explain to your boyfriend”

“Oh hush, you. He never has to know.”

“I know, but we can’t allow him to get too suspicious. I shudder to think if he knew I was here with you now”

“He certain is the jealous type. Perhaps we can find a chair that’s easier to clean”

The woman’s face seemed to go through a range of expression before the colour drained. The way she twitched, she seemed ready to run to her colleagues and spill the scandal she’d been exposed to. That was until her eyes focused on the moving chair again

“Excuse me, ma’am. We’re looking for a chair suitable for a nursery. Do you happen to have something like that there”

God. The way Curtis said “ma’am” seemed to sum up all Lance’s feelings over being called “ma’am”

“Let’s go. I don’t know if I can trust haunted chairs in my house”

Plus the prices were killer. The only reason they’d come to the store was because it was across from where there’d gotten lunch. He liked his usual furniture store better

“It must be possessed by the ghost of customer service past. I guess we won’t be needing your help today. Come on, honey, we should get you home soon”

Leading Lance away, Curtis kept his hand in his, giving the staff a little wave as the woman called out for some person named “Greg”. He felt a little shitty, until he was outside and found himself laughing far so hard he was nearly peeing himself in public. He’d never thought Curtis had that in him. He’d been so down that Keith hadn’t answered, and then Curtis went and did this

“Oh my god. You’re horrible”

“I saw them looking as we walked in”

“God. How long do you think they’re going to be puzzling over this?”

“No clue. Maybe next time they won’t be so judgmental?”

“Or maybe they’re going to be even scareder of pregnant people?”

Scareder wasn’t a word, yet he couldn’t English out the right word

“I wonder if I do a drive by later tonight, if that chair’s going to be out the back by the dumpsters?”

“It deserves to be. It’s horrendous”

Curtis nodded, tugging on his arm to lead him further from the door. Inside the staff were kind of freaking out over the chair, seemingly trying to explain things by blaming it on some kind of short

“Come on, we should go before they pull out the priests and pitchforks”

“I’m terrified. Maybe we should go to church?”

“I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been in a church since having the demon summoned out. Can you imagine if we both burst into flame? We’d be posted back to our boyfriends in match boxes”

There was no reason to find that hilarious. Lance wheezing now, legs pressed together. Being with Curtis was dangerous to health of his bladder.

On the back of the fit of laughter, Lance surrendered his keys. Curtis forced to find the first fast food restaurant so he could go clean up in the bathroom. This peeing this was rough. He felt as if something as simple as swallowing saliva seemed to mean he had to pee it back out moments later. Still, he’d needed that laugh so damn badly. They’d never be able to show their faces in that store as long as they both lived, but it was kind of worth it. His ego stopped him feeling guilty for his and Curtis’s juvenile behaviour. They hadn’t actually physically harmed anyone, only given them a slight scare, a new work rumour to gossip over, and hopefully made them think twice over being so judgmental... even if it meant no chair. That thought sobering his lingering laughter completely. He... really... couldn’t chose a chair without Keith, no matter how kind Curtis was being. They’d have to go pick him up, and hope like heck they’d find something soon, or Keith would be forced to take home a very cranky vampire on top of having been forced to spend the day in “werewolf care”.

#ashratherose #once bitten twice stupid #oncebittentwicestupid

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panda-noosh · 7 years

Note

The male paladins + Lotor just won a tough battle and their s/o give them a big surprise kiss? (Like the kiss from Times Square in 1945) Sorry if that's too specific.

Here you go!I'm sorry this took so long, my inbox has been acting weird for thelongest time :(

Shiro:

okayfirst of all

yes.

thisboy is all down for this type of appreciation.

hewould never ask for this type of attention, though. it was alwayssomething he just inwardly wanted, but was always too embarrassed toask for.

sowhenever you show him this kind of love without him even needing toask, he is left completely breathless, completely toppled, completelyshook (didI use that phrase right? am I a Western teen now?)

hewould know he had done a good job. he often does know how good of ajob he does, but he keeps his self-praise to himself, hiding it witha layer of humbleness.

butthen he's walking onto the ship and suddenly you're running into hisarms at full speed, squealing with excitement and throwing yourselfinto him and it's like everybody else in the room just disappearscompletely. melts away.

everybodyelse looks away and tries to pretend like you two aren't showing PDAin the middle of the room, because that isn't something you two dooften.

butShiro doesn't even care. he drops his helmet on the floor and wrapshis arms around your waist, catching you and crushing you to him eventighter than you had even wanted, pressing his lips to yours just asvigorously as you were to him.

andto Shiro, that's all he needs. he just needs this – you.

Keith:

Keithis a very anxious man after he comes back from a mission, and I thinkwe can all agree on that.

heconcentrates on the negatives. he will find any and every way tocriticise his own abilities and his own actions, finding every littlething he can to judge himself on.

hecan never just be okaywiththe job he has just done, even though there were far more positivethan negatives.

onthis particular mission, people on his team died, and Keith wasblaming himself.

hewanted to know why he couldn't save them. he was hating on himselfbecause he couldn't do the impossible, and his demeanour throughoutthe mission (that you were listening to through your headset) pickedup on almost immediately.

theway he responded in droned out mumbles, the way he avoided lookinginto the camera because he knew everybody was staring at him throughit. the way he messed with the gear stick, or the way he waited a fewmoments before exiting Red to join the rest of the group after he hadlanded.

itall screamed guilt,andyou knew he was blaming himself.

soas soon as he walks out of his lion, he hears you call his name. it'sonly slight, you never being one for raising your voice.

“Keith.”

helooks up, and he barely has enough time to catch himself before he'sbeing forced to drop his helmet on the floor and wrap his arms aroundyour waist as you launch yourself towards him.

youbury your head in the crook of his neck, only for a moment. it was amoment where you were testing him, seeing if he was okay with it. theway he wraps his arms around you tell you he is, that he needs this,and so you take the next step, looking up and pressing your lips tohis.

PDAwas never your and his strong point, so it takes you both bysurprise.

nevertheless,he kisses you back and his emotions are coming out in waves andsuddenly he's breaking the kiss to sob into your shoulder, pressingyou even tighter against him.

Lance:

hehad been telling you about this mission for months, and hisconfidence radiated.

hewas just being his usual self about the whole thing. walking around,telling you how he was going to “kill this mission” because hehad really been training hard.

youdidn't doubt he was going to do incredible, but you would never feedhis ego like that. so you simply rolled your eyes at him, or snortedwhenever he brought the subject up.

butthen the day of the mission is rolling around and your sarcasticbanter with your boyfriend has morphed into nerves for him. youweren't allowed to go on the mission due to you being needed behindthe scenes with Coran – an extra helping hand for the tired oldman.

soyou were seeing Lance off, checking him over and over again to makesure he had everything he needs and that he didn't forget the safetyprecautions and that he knew this and he knew that.

youjust really wantedhim to be safe.

itgets to the point where Lance has to take your arms and say, “Ithink I'm okay, babe. I'll be fine.”

youlet him go, and of course, he dominates the mission.

notwithout breaking the plan, of course. he's still Lance. he stillmanages to break formation to go and throw himself off into somevoid, but he always reels it back in and succeeds in the end.

andyou're filled with so much relief. it's hard to explain just how muchrelief you're filled with whenever the Galra have gone quiet andLance is still yelling victory in your ear piece.

soas soon as he walks through the door, you kind of lose yourself. youforget about the people around you, about the other Paladins, aboutthe fact that you were drenched in sweat from hours of sitting in aboiling hot room.

yousee Lance and all of this is forgotten. it's only you and him for amoment, and suddenly you're throwing yourself towards him and pullinghim into a hug with a squeal of delight leaving your lips.

thisis the kind of hug that's big.like,your legs are wrapping around his waist and he's grabbing onto yourthighs to keep you upright, swirling you around with his own yell ofhappiness escaping him.

youryells of happiness are cut off by both Keith telling you to shut upand the way Lance suddenly smashes his lips against yours.

Hunk:

hewould have always wanted this kind of reunion but, like Shiro, hewould have never asked for it.

theidea of seeming needywheneveryou already give him everything just seemed a bit disrespectful tohim, so he never did anything about it. besides – it was justsomething he saw in movies anyway. nobody actually got thathappyto see somebody, right?

sothe day he came back from this specific mission, he wasn't expectinganything more than what you usually give to each other – a singlekiss and a smile that meant everything to him. that was all he everneeded.

butthis specific mission had bugged you a little bit whenever you werewatching him. maybe it was the way he kept coughing, or maybe it wasbecause you had just caught him doubling over in pain whenever hethought nobody was looking.

hewas clearly not in the best of shape, and he was trying to hide it.you were almost positive he wasn't going to make it back to his lionif he continued on in this shape.

so,sneakily, you change the channels on your headset so you're talkingto Pidge and Pidge only. you tell her to check up on Hunk, make himsit out for a bit, help him gain his strength back.

youkeep an eye on him throughout the entire mission until it's over. atleast, you think it's over.

he'sso close to leaving the planet he had just helped free. he was soclose tobeing home with you again, but before the lions were even off theground the Galra were attacking, angry that the Paladins were tryingto claim a planet they saw as their own.

youyell warnings into your headset, fear flaring up in your body as Hunkbegins to cough uncontrollably and even lets out a whimper of pain.

youand Pidge try to get him to sit back and let the other Paladin's takethe control, but Hunk is too stubborn to just sitout. sohe's throwing himself into the line of fire and he's helping people,even though he's clearly fighting to stay conscious at this point.

butthen the gunfire ceases, and you can still hear him coughing, andeven though it isn't a pleasant sound to hear him suffering, he'sstill alive.

younearly sob out in relief.

assoon as he comes wobbling through the doors of the ship, you throwyourself towards him, pressing your lips to his cheeks and his noseand his lips because Ithought I lost you!

Hunkwouldn't understand and he would watch you pull away from him withthis confused look on his face.

butthen he realises what you just did and he'd pull you into him,pressing his lips to yours again.

Lotor:

hehad been gone for a few weeks and had barely been in contact.

hewas a busy man and you knew that. he often went days without speakingto you, too engulfed in his world of business to even pay attentionto anything else.

butthis was the longest he had been gone, and you were beginning to misshim. it was weird. you very rarely missedhim. sure,you sometimes craved his attention whenever he was being distant, butat least you understood why he was pulling away, and you always knewhe would be back eventually.

thatwas what kept you sane during these times, but weeks had passed andhe had only called you twice.

youwanted himback in bed beside you. you wantedtohear his sarcastic remarks, or the way he oh-so-casually informed hispeople of the life-threatening plans that they would soon be throwingthemselves into.

sowhenever you got news that he was soon to be returning to the ship,you found yourself bubbling with mild excitement.

youcleaned the bedroom, cleaned his finest robes and got all of yourwork done early so that you could greet him and not be behind on thethings you had to do. even though this was a special occasion, youknew you had duties to do and you were loyal to those duties.

butthen he was there – on the ship, in front of his people, makingthis grand speech and you feel your body deflate with relief that helooks okay and his voice sounds the same and he's just himself.

heturns to you as he's making this speech in front of all of thesepeople. he didn't know you were going to be there, but as soon as hiseyes meet yours, his voice falters. his usual professional demeanouris being chipped away as he realises just how long he had been awayfrom you.

andyou see his shift in demeanour, and suddenly it seems okay tointerrupt his speech. suddenly it seems okay for you to just throwyourself at him, because the way he is looking at you know tells youthat he missed you just as much as you had missed him.

soyou do just that – you throw yourself at him.

hisspeech falls short almost immediately and he catches you in his arms,grunting as he spins you around so effortlessly that it almost makesyou laugh.

thecrowd begins to cheer and scream, delighted that you two have beenreunited, but their yells mean nothing to either of you. you'retogether again, and that's all you can concentrate on as you slamyour lips to his, cutting off his repeated words of, “I missed youso much.”

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bi-dazai · 7 years

Text

okay here’s the 3 roots to all the problems in the writing in vld s4:

hi so right from the bat i was realising all these problems with uh. everything (including the art style?? who the fuck was in charge of drawing keith?? he has the same inaccuracy as fucking clone!shiro lmao). anyway if there are problems in writing, then you can actually trace it back to its roots and address the problem there, instead of just judging the outcome of the roots.

there are also other tinier aspects of the show’s writing - like some moments of complete tonal whiplash (watch this video on star wars rebels if you’re curious about tonal whiplash) - which are just simply bad writing. but if you were wondering exactly what the fuck the vld writers’ deal is with s4, then this post will tell you.

anyway, take this as a guide in how to critique s4, and how to not make these mistakes in your own writing.

1. loss of balance as the writers divert all writing to plot writing.

so when you write a story, there’s a balance you have to find between character writing, relationship writing, and plot writing. depending on your story and your style, you’ll have more focus on one or two and less on another, but for a good story it won’t go to massive extremes and it will have a reasonable amount on each. for example, boku no hero academia is pretty much almost completely character writing, with a large focus on relationship writing from about the sports carnival arc onwards, but the plot is still really good because it isn’t forgotten about. avatar: the last airbender is character and plot-driven, but there’s still relationships built up and not forgotten about.

so what is voltron: legendary defender? across s1-3, it had a HUGE focus on plot, a focus to the point that it was uh. risky. that focus is so much that you should only approach it if you know how to maintain that balance. vld’s focus on plot was toeing the line of too much - to the point that character writing was almost completely void, and relationship writing was extremely subtle. however, with keith’s arc in s2 and 3 and the developing relationships between keith and lance and lance and allura coupling in with subtle character development which allowed these relationships to develop and fuel the plot, vld actually handled it quite well. it’s why ive been saying this whole time to stop railing on the writers so hard because they chose a balance that’s extremely hard to keep and they actually pulled it off in a pretty impressive way when you factor in that difficulty. i regard s3 as a masterpiece - in 7 episodes the pacing was perfect despite plot accelerating massively and character relationships and development proceeding at a similar fast pace.

where did s4 go wrong, then? well, the writers forgot about that balance. they had plot points in mind, and they were sidetracked by these grand plans for t h e p l o t. pidge finding her brother, the introduction of the rebel alliance, keith leaving voltron, lotor being exiled, naxzala being attacked. all these plot points are really good!! and the plot was actually really good. but what went wrong is (mainly) the writers forgetting that they need that equilibrium, that balance (other reasons to do with plot are described below). they chose a balance that is much more delicate than many other stories, and this season they dumped a ten tonne weight on it because they forgot how fucking delicate it is. (i actually have a feeling this has to do with the way lok was written and i think they got used to that, send me an ask if you want me to talk about it more).

2. too much crammed into 6 episodes = destruction of pacing.

i mentioned that the plot was good. it is. but it doesn’t feel that way, right? right. that’s because the ideas and the progression is good. but there is too much for this little screentime. lotor went from villain to “zuko” within 13 episodes, no, two episodes. that’s shit. do you remember actual zuko? that arc took years, and it began from the first episode. lotor? the redemption arc has taking uh. 40 minutes. and honestly, that is shit writing.

another thing i had massive problems with - pidge’s episode. and that was my favourite episode for this season. this episode’s first bit is pidge finding and reuniting with her brother. and it’s really good! but i was watching it and thinking, “wow this is uh. this is moving a bit fast. we’re cutting away too soon on all of the scenes and shots. everything feels kinda cramped, time-wise.” well guess why!!??!!!?! the writers want to move the goddamn plot forward again!! the best episode of the season is completely ruined because instead of taking the entire episode to really dwell on pidge’s emotions and make us properly root for pidge’s journey (a la s3e5 - “the journey”), we take half the episode so that pidge and matt can reunite in two minutes and we can come back and do. PLOT RELATED STUFF. FUCKING CHRIST!!!! this is the episode that we have literally been waiting for since the first episode. and it’s fucking cut off by OTHER PLOTS. can someone please get briyan konietzko in here and explain to lm and jds what the fucking fuck CHARACTER AND RELATIONSHIP EPISODES ARE??!!?!!! HOLY SHIT!!!

every shot in every scene in every episode of s4 isnt the full fucking thing!! listen - part of film language is how long you dwell on each shot, and how these shots are edited together. let me put this into layman’s terms - all the scenes and shots in s4 are just very vague, understandable descriptions of the actual scenes and shots. this aspect of the language of film is the difference between, “can i have water?” and “could I please get a glass of water?”/ “get me a glass of water now!”. you don’t get the emotion. you dont get the full effect. it’s just a summary of what happened. that was the entirety of how s4 was edited and put together, and it’s like that so that the writers could fit at least 13 episodes of plot into 6. with shortened, half-assed shots put together with cuts as transitions. i dont think i saw a single fade in/out/to in the entire season. all that i’ve described - it ruins pacing when it’s half-assed, and this was no-assed. the editing, the pacing - it’s close to fucking terrible b-movie standard. this is coming out of fucking dreamworks, out of tim hendrick, out of people from motherfucking legend of korra and avatar: the last airbender. the pacing of s4 is embarrassing.

3. getting too much into the current situation of the show, and forgetting about set-up.

after s1, 2, and 3, (particularly 2 and 3) people were making up theories, pulling from shot composition, pulling from hints. and guess what?! a lot of it paid off, or started to pay off! you know why? when writing s1, 2, and 3, every aspect of the writing (characters, plot, dialogue, etc) and even the film language referenced each other. voltron: legendary defender, across its first two seasons, established a subset of film language of its own. it’s because of that devotion to referencing past events and aspects of the show that things like @koganya ‘s massive klance masterposts could be made and believed. s4 is fundamentally not a vld season because it forgot its own fucking language. there’s no clever shot composition, no clever reference to past events or episodes, nothing. it’s so fucking flat. i don’t know what happened, but we got s3 - which spent the entire time pretty much worshipping its own film language to hint at stuff and then we got s4 - where the writers got tunnel vision of their own plot-related visions of grandeur that they forgot to write a season of voltron: legendary defender. this is so fucking ignorant of their own fucking show. fuck!!!

okay thanks for reading and please share!! this guide can help when critiquing the show and since there’s gonna be a lot of that then i feel it’s super important to have these posts!!

#mine #vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender #vld s4 #voltron s4 #vld s4 spoilers #vld critical

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sasuhinasno1fan · 6 years

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Apology date

So @hunkistheloveofmylife, I tried at least 3 times to write a story and hated them all so I am determined that this one will be the one. I’m so sorry this took so long. You can also blame me listening to Toddrick Hall’s High School Musical Medley for the idea. This is kinda a mix of the first date and sheith become shklance. Happy late Valentine’s Day, and I hope you enjoy.

“Wait, why am I the one asking him out? I thought we both decided we would.” Shiro asked, letting his boyfriend pull him to where a certain person was standing in a dance studio teaching kids to dance.

“I had a good portion of the summer to ask him out. You on the other hand, have not. Plus, you were kinda mean to him before.” Keith said.

Like Shiro needed to be reminded. The summer had started with him getting a summer job at the most exclusive country club while also starting his new relationship with Keith. While dealing with that, he also had to deal with Allura Altea, their school’s theatre queen still trying to get his attention, despite his short public relationship with Adam, who’d he met over the winter break before Adam came to the school which officially outed him as gay (though Shiro never really tired hiding it). Not to mention getting dragged to meetings with a college basketball team. During the whole time, he and Keith didn’t get to spend a ton of time together, so Keith spent it with Lance, Allura’s cousin and usual partner for theatre. Shiro had been a bit rude when the two were hanging out together. Adam – same guy who broke up with him because he realised that Keith was trying to get him to not do the winter musical because Keith was jealous of the time spent with Adam – pointed out that Shiro could be jealous of the two of them.

“But I’m not. I’m not gonna tell Keith who to hang out with. Lance is the calmer between him and Allura.”

“Ok, point. Well, you’re upset you can’t spend time with Keith.” Adam had gained a thoughtful look on his face. “Ok, answer this. Keith was with Lance all day and you go to pick him up. When you find them, they’re kissing. How do you feel?”

Shiro opened his mouth to say pissed off because his boyfriend was kissing another guy but he stopped. The thought should have made him angry, but it didn’t. It didn’t bother him at all.

Seeing Shiro didn’t have an answer, he asked, “You and Lance hang out and at the end, he kisses you. How do you feel?”

Shiro felt like it should bother him, but it didn’t.

“When we did the musical together, as the understudies and better knowing of how to work in a theatre in general, remember how Mr. Coran made Allura and Lance our mentors so to speak? You were with Lance all that time. Ever thought that maybe all that time spent with him maybe developed into something? And that your jealous is more based off of you thinking you could lose a chance with them both, a chance you didn’t think you had with Lance in the first place?”

Shiro stared Adam down, who had the knowing look on his face and sighed. “I hate it when your right. Gez, even when you were breaking up with me, you were right when you said I’d be with someone I wanted more.”

With a smug smirk, Adam shrugged, “I know, I’m amazing. Smartest scholastic team member still manages to trump captain of the basketball team.”

“God, but Adam. Lance probably hates me. I didn’t make his summer any easier either.”

“Blame his cousin for not giving up already. Look, if you want to give it a try with Lance, talk to Keith and see what he thinks. And then, go apologise to him again.”

So he talked to Keith.

“I know it sounds pretty sudden, but I guess it was always there.”

“Well,” Keith had said, seeming slightly embarrassed, “he kinda flirted with me at the staff baseball game. He was teasing me about how baseball and dance are kinda the same.”

“He said the same thing about basketball.” Shiro said, smiling a bit about remembering what Lance had said during a dance rehearsal where Shiro had been struggling.

“And, he kinda fell on top of me when I slid into home. Course he went falling forward so I’m sure you can imagine how that ended up.”

“I have a pretty good mental image. So, what do you want to do about this this? Should we give it a try?”

“I mean, I didn’t want to share you with Adam back then but the idea of sharing you with Lance?”

“Doesn’t bother you either huh?”

Keith shook his head. “We should plan this though. It’s Lance, who aunt practically owns this country club. We need to make this special.”

So they planned, and now they were here, where Shiro had to apologize again and see if Lance would even accept their date. No pressure. Especially since Lance had taken on the extra job of teaching the children’s dance class since the actual instructor had quit.

It was one thing to teach kids to golf, it was another to have to ask their dance teacher out in front of them.

“And jazz hands! Very good.” Lance said, glancing up and see Shiro by the door. “Ok, so we going to do ballroom now. Everyone pair up while I get my partner.”

Before Shiro could even protest, he was grabbed by Lance and pulled into the room. He recognised one or two of the kids as some of his golfing students. He let Lance use him to instruct where the kids to place their hands and pulling a remote out of his pocket, he led them in a basic dance.

“So, what are you doing here? I thought all student workers had time off to set up for the staff party?” Lance asked.

“We do. Adam and Romelle are taking care of everything.”

“Well Romelle is the only one of you Lions that’s working in the administration side of everything. No surprise she’s taking care of everything. Has my dear cousin offered her ‘help’ yet?”

Shiro sighed, remembering how Adam was complaining already. “Let’s just say we can’t wait till the party is over.”

Lance cringed slightly. “Sorry.”

“No it’s fine. we’ve learned to deal with her. But I know that she was making your summer just as hard, and I didn’t exactly help either.”

Lance shook his head, “It’s fine. Allura can be a lot to deal with, I know. Besides, I know you’re not a malice person. I guess you heard how was flirting with Keith.”

“About that,” Shiro started slowly, “turns out that Adam is way to observant about everything. When he asked me about if I was upset about you flirting with Keith, turns out I wasn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he asked me what I would do if you had kissed me if I’d be mad but I realised I wouldn’t. I think that I started to gain a crush on you when you were helping me with the musical.”

Lance gained a smile. “We did have a lot of fun then. You really made sure to take care of me. But what about Keith?”

“Well you know Adam helped me realised that Keith liked me and he helped me realised I like you too. I talked to Keith and it turns out the time he was spending with you made him gain a crush on you. We wanted to give the three of us a chance if you want, which is why if you’re willing, we wondered if you would come out with us tonight?”

“Really?” Lance asked, in slight disbelief.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Shiro quickly said.

“No it’s just, not every day that the 2 best basketball players are interested in you. God, Allura is gonna be furious when she finds out.”

“Look, don’t focus on her ok? Say yes if you want to.” Shiro said. “Besides, I also want to find a way to apologize to you for how I acted.”

Lance stopped them and turned to his class. “Everyone, we’re gonna end class a bit early. I’ve got a date to get ready for.”

While the kids giggled at that, Shiro couldn’t help but smile. “So that’s a yes?”

“I already forgave you anyway. Where should I meet you two?”

“Keith will pick you here at 7? Is that ok?”

“I’ll see you then. You should probably go so I can close class.”

Making a split decision, Shiro pressed a kiss to the back of Lance’s hand before leaving him to end his class. Keith was standing by the door looking at him, smirking at him.

“You smug asshole. And you were so scared before.”

“Shush. Come on, we still have to set up.�� Shiro said, slightly embarrassed what he did but still excited.

“Where are you going?” Allura asked, watching her cousin fix his hair.

“I have a date.” He said, making sure he looked his best.

“Who with? Is it that really cute guest? The one with the braids?”

“No, not Kinkade. Someone else.” Lance left the performance changing room. “Two someones actually.”

“Two?”

“Yep.” Lance’s phone buzzed with a text message from Keith.

Allura followed him where Keith was waiting in Shiro’s truck. “That’s Keith.”

“Yeah. Bye Allura.”

“But he’s dating Shiro.”

“Funny how you remember that now. Bye.”

“Wait a second, Lance! Are you going on a date with Keith and Shiro?”

Lance climbed into the truck and waved at his cousin as Keith drove them away.

“She’s gonna kill me later.” Lance said.

“Hopefully after the date, it’ll be worth it.” Keith said.

“I’ve got to admit, I was pretty surprised when Shiro asked me out for both of you. I’ll admit, I couldn’t help flirting with him a bit back when we were working on the musical. Though, seeing how you were jealous of the short relationship he and Adam had, I was kinda afraid you were gonna rip my head off because of it.”

Keith let out an awkward laugh. “I wasn’t really gonna hurt Adam. I just had gotten jealous that the minute Shiro decided to actually get out with a guy, it was with someone else.”

“But if it me?” Lance asked truthfully.

“The thought doesn’t bother me as much as it would of if it was Adam, no offense to him.”

“So me dating you both doesn’t bother you?”

“No, it doesn’t.”

Lance smiled. “Good. I’m interested to see what you guys have in store for me.”

“Hope you don’t mind it’s not 5 stars.”

“I think I’ll survive. Must be something big if Shiro isn’t here.”

“Let’s just say we wanted to make it special.”

The rest of the drive was pleasantly quiet. Lance realised they were going to the more residential areas.

“I hope your not getting planning on landing me in bed. I at least want dinner first.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll be returned with your innocence attached.

Keith pulled in front of his house, opening the door for Lance. he led him into the backyard where a treehouse stood in a large tree. The lights inside were dim, like it was lit only by fairylights. The trap door was open and with Keith’s insistence, Lance went up the rope ladder. A familiar person was there to help him when he got to the top.

“Welcome.” Shiro greeted, helping him safely reach the floor, helping Keith after before closing the trap door.

Lance looked around. The walls were covered in childlike posters, no doubt from Keith putting things up when he first climbed up into the treehouse. The fairylights lit the room, most of them clustered around where there was a blanket laid with food. The blanket was surrounded by flowers.

“What’s this?”

“Well, your tastes are pretty expensive, so we thought we could at least combat that with a nice home experience.” Keith said, directing Lance to the blanket.

Lance sat down taking in the sandwiches and fruit. Keith wasn’t wrong, most of his dates were at high end restaurants, something even Shiro and his basketball coach dad couldn’t achieve. The romantic in Lance had always wanted his date to cook for him at least once. Allura was lucky, the guy with the biggest crush on her was also the best cook in school. It was no crème bule but the two had obviously paid attention to his preferences of not liking crust on his sandwiches.

He took a quick glance at the fruit. “No strawberries?”

“You’re allergic.” Shiro said.

“That’s right. Last I remember, I only told you that once when you took my order at the club.”

Shiro shrugged looking slightly embarrassed.

“I know I said you didn’t need to apologize, but I think you’ve deserved it my forgiveness.”

“Thank you.”

“So what’s on the menu?”

“BLT. I can’t eat cheese so no ham and cheese you always seem to order.” Keith said.

Lance laughed. “Sounds good.”

#shklance

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umbraja · 7 years

Text

Half Baked Goods

This is a list of ideas I'm keeping partially to remind myself so I don't forget them but also to get some feedback on if anyone wants to see them developed.

If you're interested in any of these ideas being finished please let me know so I can move that up on my list of priorities. As you can see, I've got a lot of ideas all competing for attention so I'm only working on the ones that other people actually want to see.

Some of the things on this list are continuations of stuff I've already posted so I've got them linked to that.

Works in Progress

Things for the Kidge Zine - This beast is taking up almost all of my time.

Collab Artwork - This one's a drawing, might end up animated.

Monsters and Mana Fic - I HC Keith as a closet nerd so I just couldn't help myself.

D&D Module - Working with a few artists to make a 5e D&D module based off my M&M fic.

Rover Models - Prototyping 3D models with LED lighting.

Space Caterpillars - Prototyping plushies.

Kosmo - Prototyping plushies.

GoT AU - An art series that took over my life recently.

Keith (Jon) Snow - Keith looking badass with Longclaw and Kosmo as Ghost.

Pidgett (Ygritte) - Pidge in furs with a bow - not the ribbon kind.

Allurys Targaryen - Mother of Dragonmice.

Hunk (Sam) Tarly - Hunk and Sam are basically the same person - the sweet cinnamon rolls.

Lance (Oberyn) Martell - I considered Loras Tyrell but, come on, the spear.

Shiro - I need help with this.

VLD Mix Tape - A collection of songfics from various genres, set in various AUs, some canon, featuring various ships and all the feels.

Simple Man - Based on the song "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Originally this was going to be for Desert Keith Week but I didn't get it done in time. Some real good Keith and Krolia angsty sweetness.

When I Die - Based on the song "Wolves" by Down Like Silver. Pretty much Keith's thought process in that last scene of Season 4. Sad AF and super short but I'm working on illustrations to make up for it. Will post when the art is done.

Rough Ideas

Possible One Shots - These are probably going to be shorts but I never can tell and could all end up sprawling AUs given my track record with trying to write shorts.

Red Thread - Gritty Soulmates AU, future noir conspiracy plot where the government pairs people by a system that supposedly traces Red Threads to match soulmates but it’s imperfect and corrupt. Keith is a hard boiled detective, Pidge is a tech genius and daughter of a renowned scientist who is openly critical of the soulmate pairing system and hires Keith to find her father when he goes missing.

Douglas Adams Tribute (working title) - Almost Canon AU style study where I tortur- I mean, where Shiro gets thrown into the sort of absurd adventure that you would expect from the creator of the Hitchhiker's Guide, Dirk Gently, and some classic episodes of Dr Who. I want this sooo bad but it takes so long to write like that.

80s Romance (working title) - Modern AU where Keith's parents are living one of those fiery, doomed romances that make for such great stories but kind of shitty lives. Thank the-ghost-of-keith-kogane for this one. I might integrate it into my Quiet Kind AU cuz it fits.

Dancing in the Dark - Modern AU where Keith works dispatch for the university police at his school and his desk just happens to overlook the dance studios where he can't help but watch Lance practice every night.

More to Lose - Canon Divergent AU in which everything is basically the same but when the war ends and they go home the others find out that Keith had motivations to save Earth beyond just natural heroic tendencies and he actually did leave something (someone) behind.

Identity - Canon Divergent AU where Shiro is acting strange (so maybe canon?) and has a bit of a mental break that leads down an insanity spiral into Lovecraftian horror.

VLD Mix Tape - A collection of songfics from various genres, set in various AUs, some canon, featuring various ships and all the feels.

Stuff that Works - Based on the song "Stuff that Works" by Guy Clark. Basically a music video for my Quiet Kind fic. Soooft Kidge and real friendship between the Paladins.

Champion - Based on the song "Champion" by Barns Courtney. Not just about Shiro.

In the Valley - Based on the song "Through the Valley" by Shawn James. Basically a music video for the Western AU listed below.

Only Human - Based on the song "Human" by Rag 'n' Bone Man. This just screams of Shiro.

Broken - Based on the song "Broken" by DNMO & Sub Urban. Something with Lotor.

Wisdom of Officer #3 - Based on the song "Girls on Trampolines" by Ludo. Cuz even Paladins need to have fun sometimes.

Probably Series - These are probably going to be longer works, anywhere from three to infinite parts.

Trip the Light - Canon Divergent AU where Keith comes into contact with some strange alien I'll just call it a drug and, well. . . Keith without inhibitions is a beautiful and terrifying thing.

In the Valley - Western AU where the Paladins have to save a frontier town being threatened by Rail Barrons (Galra). Shiro is the sheriff, Pidge is his deputy, Matt's the sawbones, Lance manages the cat house, Hunk tends the saloon, Coran is the priest, Allura is Coran's niece and the school marm, Keith is a gunslinger.

Rabbit Hole - Almost Canon AU where Voltron has fans and they are very much like the real fandom (without the ship wars) and when Pidge stumbles across it she shows the others which kind of breaks Keith cuz he doesn't like how accurate some of the information is and thinks there could be a spy and this could be dangerous so it's tinfoil hat time!

Elsewhere - Canon Divergent AU where the Paladins stumble upon a Fey Gate into a fantasy realm where they get to meet all my OCs and participate in the insanely huge uber plot I've been running D&D groups through for decades now.

Reflections AU - A canon compliant (for the most part) series of (so far) fluffy team bonding moments that lead to introspective scenes where Keith slowly opens up to each of the others about himself. Kind of an excuse to get down some of my headcanon for Keith's past. Parts of this are already published but here's some ideas for more.

Lance (working title) - Keith opens up to Lance.

Pidge (working title) - Keith opens up to Pidge.

Allura (working title) - Keith opens up to Allura.

Hell in a Handbasket - Series of gritty, realistic vignettes showing the progression of what went wrong in Keith's past to make him the way he is. Backstory behind the fluffy parts. Waiting to see what season 6 does with Keith's mom on this.

Country Christmas - Adorable vignette of Keith's childhood in the Texas panhandle to make up for that darkness and prove it wasn't all bad. I didn't finish it in time for 2017 but I'll probably have this out for 2018.

Lone Star AU - Modern AU, Lance PoV, Klance that was going to be a much longer work but I don't have time to finish it and reader feedback suggested it would be better just to focus on the relationship dynamic between Lance and a closeted, slightly homophobic, rodeo Keith anyway. So that's what this is. Parts of this are already published but here's some ideas for more.

Au Naturale - Lance talks to Keith about skincare, or the lack thereof.

La Grange - How Lance met Keith and what started his Telecaster crush.

Bullrider - Lance observes one of Keith's hobbies.

Rattlesnake Roundup - Texas has some strange traditions and Lance can't wrap his head around this one so of course Pidge forces him to attend.

Hermanos AU - Canon Divergent AU, started as a request fill for a 5/1 where the team slowly realises that Keith and Lance are adopted brothers but I'm seriously considering expanding it into a multipart AU.

Homecoming - The Paladins return to Earth and Keith goes home with Lance. Waiting to see what season 6 does with Keith's mom on this.

New Kid - Look at the past when Keith first went to live with the McClains.

Brothers - Rewrite of the original fic but from Keith and Lance's perspective.

The Paladin Saga - Canon Divergent AU that was going to be an insanely long work where I keep mostly to canon but fill in plot holes with eldritch horrors, tie up loose ends in ancient myths, and shed light on the "legend" of Voltron to show a much darker history than Allura would like to admit while also letting humans be a little badass for once. This one was gonna be a long, sprawling epic full of Lovecraftian horror and moral ambiguity but I don't have time to finish it and reader feedback (or lack thereof) suggested I should focus on my fluffier works. Here's a list of chapters anyway, not a complete list mind you and possibly a bit out of order:

Is it Real - The Paladins refuse to believe Kolivan when he tells them Keith is dead.

Space Between - Keith wakes up in a strange place and finds something Dark there.

Fire and Darkness - The Paladins get Keith back but the Darkness has affected him.

Sins of the Father - Lotor tells the Paladins what Zarkon told him of the Darkness.

Waking Dreams - Keith struggles with the Dark, Shiro loses time, Lance gets visions.

Scorched Earth - Shiro loses control, Keith puts him down, Hunk keeps them all alive.

Things I've Seen - Lance tells others about his visions, Coran tells them about the Price.

King of Death - Zarkon returns from the dead (again) with a new weapon.

When the Arm Breaks - The Red Lion pays a heavy price to save the others.

Tides Turn - The Galra rally under Zarkon and his new power.

Devil You Know - An unlikely ally offers the Paladins help.

Fool's Errand - The Paladins make a desperate move to save Red.

The Dreamer Awakens - The Paladins find a sixth Lion and Allura gets an upgrade.

A Sword Reforged - The Paladins return with Voltron made whole and defeat the Galra.

At What Cost - The Coalition takes power but peace isn't easy and bills are due.

The War to Come - The Paladins learn of their part in an ancient prophecy.

See You on the Other Side -

#umbrajasfics

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