#good news for pidge again! her brother now has big fluffy ears. he will let her play with them

[discordiansamba]

actually. what if Haggar first wanted to test the procedure with which she turned Shiro into a Galra in the commander and druid AU. how convenient that she has another human on hand in relatively the same age group as Shiro.

anyways what I'm saying is. Galra Matt.

[bleusarcellewrites]

Blue’s Adventure

I gota new puppy, got a lil carried away and well, here’s the result! Happy new year everyone, can’t believe this is my first story of 2018 lmao.

Waking up is comfortable. Warm fuzzy surface below her chin, gentle and loving strokes on top her head with the occasional lick that has ‘momma’ written all over it.

It’s wonderful. A constant circle of feeling safe and sound.

Opening her eyes, though? Now, that’s anticlimactic.

A plain blue wall welcomes her into the world she lives in. The fun part here is that she doesn’t even know that she isn’t supposed to recognize the color itself. Or any color.

But Blue does.

Just like she recognizes the big red ball her brother keeps slamming against too, yipping and bouncing with it not even minutes after opening his own eyes. Red looks excited, small paws never still and he better get tired soon because Blue doesn’t want him to nimble on her ear like he did earlier when they woke up the first time.

Her other brother, lying lazily next to her, yawns big and loud, and snuggles closer to the yellow blanket he’s covered in. Yellow looks comfortable enough and Blue doesn’t want to bother him. She decides to look for her last sibling.

Blue finds her sister on the far corner of their space, her dark eyes staring in awe something thin and green. Blue tilts her head to the side in curiosity when her sister starts nibbling at the thing but she just shrugs in the end, thinking that if momma hasn’t step in yet then it means it’s okay.

Talking about momma.

Blue perks up when she feels the familiar nuzzle from her momma’s hug. Momma’s fur is beautiful; black and soft. Blue’s favorite place to nap is next to her, even when Red would sometimes will kick her in his sleep.

Blue blinks when Momma pokes her head firmly and she realizes that Momma has been trying to tell her something. She tells her about change, about being strong and have faith in the future.

Momma tells her that they might separate soon but that it’s nothing se should worry about yet. Blue believes her, despite the uneasy hollow feeling in her tummy.

She holds on to Momma’s words that night and the ones that follow.

Blue stares at the white fluffy thing in front of her and pats it playfully.

It wiggles and it just encourages her to play with it more.

Shiro laughs below her but Blue doesn’t pay him that much attention. She continues to play as he slowly brings her back down and hold her against his chest.

Shiro’s taking with someone, and they sound different than Allura. Curiosity gets the best of her and it makes Blue to stop biting on Shiro’s finger to turn and meet Shiro’s friend.

It’s a boy, like Shiro but tanner and softer. He has big blue eyes and Blue’s excited to see the color again after Shiro and Allura moved them from their room to another one with more space and white walls.

His name’s Lance. He say so himself as he leans down and waves at her happily.

Blue likes Lance. She shows him so by biting into his hand.

Lance calls it home.

Her new home.

She’s unsure of this because home is with Momma and her siblings. Home is with big fluffy blankets and half eaten toys spread over the floor.

Blue is quiet during the ride. She resigns to snuggle close to the soft lilac blanket Lance brought with him to pick her up earlier. Lance sneaks a few concern glances every few minutes, both hands on the wheel except for that one time during a red light when he reached out and stroked her head gently, scratching behind her ear long enough to make her relax.

Home turns out to be a small and yet cozy. Lance gives her a tour, carrying her the first few minutes in his arms until she becomes confident enough to just follow him around, skipping a few of his steps with her excited jumps.

Her new bed is big, full of warm colorful blankets and toys. She rolls on it happily, nibbling on her toys and shaking the thin blanket off her when it blocks her sight.

Lance giggles near her and it just makes Blue more happy.

Maybe she will like this, as long as Lance’s here.

Lance names her Lady.

But it never sticks, not really. From the past few weeks she’s been living with Lance, he has called her different names: baby, beautiful, gorgeous, princess, sweetheart, star.

‘Mi amor’ and ‘preciosa’ also comes up regularly. Those are her favorites.

Blue cries.

She whines and cries out in both desperation and panic. Her paw is tangled, and the more she pulls the more it tangles up with the stray cushions strings and she can’t get away.

Blue grows louder; more desperate and she calls for her momma. She calls for her siblings.

She calls for Lance.

Strong but gentle hands pick her up carefully almost immediately, taking the entire destroyed cushion at the same time and Blue cries pitifully as she nuzzle her face against Lances chest, his steady heartbeat making her calm down.

"Hey, hey now, it’s alright, what happened?" Lance mumbles quietly, his free hand that it’s not supporting her is stroking her fur gently, "Did your paw got stuck? Hey, don’t be afraid, mi amor, I’m here! Lancey Lance will make it better, just stay still for me, ‘kay?”

Lance works quickly but carefully, humming softly to calm her down whenever the strings pull at her paw painfully but it’s soothing enough to catch her attention and focus on his voice.

In no time, Lance gets her paw out and puts the cushion away. He doesn’t even looks mad like Blue expected, after all, this is the third cushion she has bitten and destroyed  in the week but Lance looks relieved when he picks her up and kisses her head.

“There we go, beautiful! All done, now come on, I was in the middle of knitting and you’re a good model, having in mind it’s your future sweater I’m knitting.”

She falls asleep on Lance’s lap before he can finish. Lance doesn’t mind.

Someone’s biting her ear and it’s annoying enough for Blue to growl in frustration.

She blinks her eyes open, slightly grumpy that she has been woken up from her afternoon nap before its due.

It quickly disappears when the face of her brother enters her vision and then she’s all over the place. Bleu jumps on Red, heads knocking together playfully before they enroll themselves in a wrestle on the floor.

It’s a nice surprise to see one of her siblings again. She can hear Lance on the background but she hardly notices.

Red seems to be as excited as she is, because soon enough he’s telling her all over her new owner, how they have nightly competitions with each other on who gets the bed’s blanket and who is the first one to find the missing sock.

Red tells her that his owner’s name is Keith and that he came with him to Blue and Lance’s home, which is weird on its own right, especially when Lance is addressing the other boy in their home as Mullet.

After that, she gets to see the last two siblings she has been missing. Green and Yellow come together, both held in their owner’s arms before they are placed on the floor carefully and they waste no time to tackle Blue on the ground.

Yellow doesn’t stop rambling about Hunk and his food while Green tells her all about Pidge’s backyard and how it’s a jungle on its own, million of flowers and plants always around her. Green says that it used to drive Pidge crazy the first few times but then she started joining her.

Neither Red or Keith come, but Blue does hear Keith’s name every few times from Lance’s mouth. Blue finds it weird because Lance usually calls Keith by Mullet when said boy is near but when he’s not around, it’s like Lance finally remembers his name.

Lance’s weird. Green says that Pidge called him ‘pining loser’, whatever that means.

Blue sticks with ‘weird’.

Lance told her that he had a surprise for her.

The last time he said that Blue was stuck with a diaper for a week until she managed to finally destroy every single last of Lance’s ‘puppy diapers’.

This surprise though, Blue approves.

Blue barks and bounces happily near Momma’s face. She tells her all about Lance and their home, about their daily walks in the morning and the different shampoos Lance has tried on her that always makes her smell good.

Momma says she’s happy for her and proud. Blue tells her that she misses her and her siblings but that she’s not as sad as she used to be about it.

Momma tells her that it’s okay to be sad sometimes and to miss what’s in the past as long as it doesn’t blinds her of her blessing of the present.

Her words makes her turns back to see Lance, laughing freely at something Allura had said and Blue can’t help but feel relieved that she’s the one who ended up with Lance.

That night she sleeps with Lance on his bed. Lance doesn’t even questions it.

Keith and Red’s visit start being regular.

Too regular to the point that Blue’s not amused anymore when Red stumbles into her bed and takes her chew toy for himself.

She wonders if she has to have a talk with Lance.

Blue turns, determination filling her small body as she walks towards where she had last seen Lance and Keith but stops short when she finds them wrestling on the couch.

Blue opens her mouth to bark, to catch their attention but then she decides against it when Lance squeals and giggles. Blue waits before she turns and leaves them alone.

If Keith makes her Lance happy, then she guesses she can share her toys with Red.

For Lance’s sake, of course.

It’s funny, sharing a name.

It started out small. Lance usually calls her ‘mi amor’ when it’s time for lunch or when he does something particularly cute, which, come on, it’s all the time.

But then, he called her out and Blue had jumped off the couch to run towards Lance but as she had turned the corner, Keith was there.

“Yeah, babe?”

Now, that was weird.

First off, who is babe, Keith? and second of all, why did you answer, Keith?

It’s hard the first few times because Blue’s not sure when is Lance’s calling her and when is he calling for Keith, who shares the same nickname as her.

She’s grumpy about it. She’s sad and grumpy so she lets them know.

Her opportunity comes the next time Keith visits them, without Red for a reason, and when Lance calls out ‘mi amor’, Blue’s determined to be the first one to get to her owner.

Her enthusiasm and competitivity must had been obvious because both boys stare at her surprised and curious before realization dawns over their features.

“Aw, my beautiful princess was jelly?” Lance coos, rubbing his cheek against her face.

“Now that explains a few things.” Keith chuckles, shaking his head in amusement before he sits next to Lance and Blue, “It’s okay, I can give up my nickname if she wants to. It was hers first, ya know.”

“Aw, Keith, sweetheart.”

Blue tunes them out and focus her attention in Keith, feeling uneasy at the resigned sad tone in his voice. This isn’t what she wanted. Not really. Keith should be allowed to feel as loved as Lance makes her feel with just a nickname, Blue doesn’t want to take that from him.

So, she wiggles herself out of Lance’s grip and walks over Keith’s side on the couch, climbing on him quickly until she’s on his face and Keith’s hands immediately support her.

She licks his cheek, her silent blessing and both boys coo.

“Seems like it won’t be a problem.” Lance says softly, leaning down to drop a kiss on top of their heads, “Mis amores.”

Blue’s okay sharing a nickname, as long as it’s Keith. She likes Keith.

[camachameleon]

Cam’s Voltron Fic Rec 3/∞

VLD Rec Lists:  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Here’s a Fic Masterlist for my other fandoms. ( ** =  favorites )

    **Recoil/Release by Cheshyr

Word count:  22,387 (13/13)

Summary:  When Keith is bitten by an alien creature with venom that causes your dominant emotions to be amplified, the team is ready for a day of dealing with an incredibly angry paladin.

Which means they’re not ready at all for what actually happens.

Comments:  The almost stream-of-consciousness writing of Keith’s parts are really gut-wrenching because it’s as if you are experiencing it with him. (Warning for panic attacks- if you are triggered at all by that sort of thing you may want to sit this one out, it gets pretty graphic). A couple good song pairings for this fic to set the tone are Broken Crown and World Gone Mad.

    **Synergy by Kokochan & Spanch

Word count:  74,064 (10/10) 

Summary:  The vines were large, stiff, gnarly, and thick-stemmed, with blue leaves as big and round as dinner plates, but Shiro’s battle-arm was able to sever several long straggles with ease. The vines draped easily enough over the shuttle and hid it quite handily from view. “Good enough, I suppose,” Shiro said, glaring at the empty greenish-blue sky. “Come on, let’s… Hunk? What’s the matter?”

Hunk was staring at something behind him. “Shiro, don’t make any sudden moves just now, but there’s a really big lizard thing standing right behind you. Um. Two of them.”

Surprised, Shiro turned, albeit carefully. He’d never even heard them approach. That was rather impressive, considering the size of the beasts. It was as though someone had taken a pair of Arizonan horned lizards and rebuilt them more on the lines of a tiger without leaving out any of the spikes, then expanded them to about the size of an Indian elephant and added six large, intelligent blue eyes. Understandably, Shiro froze in place.

Comments: OH. MY. GOSH. OK. SO. This bad boy is Part 1 of 3, so far, with a total series word count of 241,404 at the moment. This beautiful titan of a series is named Of The Pack, and it updates with great speed, considering it has two top tier authors working on it. The several OCs in this story are so lifelike and realistic and fit so well into the universe that I forget that they aren’t actually canon and I kind of miss them when I’m reading other Voltron fics. My favorite part is the world-building it does. Everything about this fic is so dynamic and multi-dimensional, from it’s characters to the epic plot - this is the exact opposite of lazy writing. I am so here for badass Pidge, and the matriarchal Galra culture and the dragons. I👏LOVE👏THIS👏FIC👏

Also there’s magic! (with a scientific explanation, of course)

A cool song that I think goes nice with this fic is Heroes by Måns Zelmerlöw.

  The Kids Are Alright by pugglemuggle

Word count:  10,430 (3/3)

Summary:   Three Garrison Cadets Missing After Freak Satellite Crash

By Mara Garrett, News Editor | The Guardian | Monday, June 13, 2103 7:40 A.M. ET

Two seventeen-year-olds and a fifteen-year-old went missing Friday night after a rogue satellite crashed into the desert a few miles away from the Galaxy Garrison Training Facility, reports say. Garrison officials were quick to cordon off the area, claiming many of the remaining satellite fragments were dangerous and unstable. Government search parties have been sent out into the surrounding desert areas. Details are forthcoming.

—

Her brother is missing. Lance’s sister isn’t about to sit quietly while the Garrison keeps lying to the press. No—she’s going to get to the bottom of this.

(Or: The paladins’ families team up to find their kids and overthrow the corrupt Garrison regime. Told through news articles, prose, the internet, and art.)

Comments:  The format of this is very intriguing and fresh. We get to see scenes of our favorite paladins through the eyes of their friends and families, from before they disappeared and the aftermath. The open ending is still satisfying and leaves you with a sense of determination and hope for these characters that you just couldn’t help but get attached to. If you’re big on government conspiracies then this is the fic for you!

  **Patty Cake by Froldgapp

Word count:  7,829 (6/6)

Summary:  Quiet, aloof, and alone, Keith is distant from the rest of the team. Hunk begins to suspect why, and it’s only when the red paladin pushes himself too far, the Voltron gang realise he’s just as vulnerable as the rest of them.

Comments:  Aaaaahhh this fic. Something about this one has me coming back to reread it all the time even though I always cry. It is just so angsty but in a more poignant, sharp, breathless kind of way. Some of the things the characters say send painful stinging jolts into your chest and you can feel your heart cracking and then you get angry because how dare (I mean ch4 tho holy sh*t). I just want to hug Keith so much ugh. Hunk’s protectiveness of Keith gives me the strength to finish this masterpiece every time. Also, this can kind of be Sheith if you squint (or not, if you don’t).

  The Message by Shipstiel

Word count:  132,787 (45/45)

Summary:  (4:07) okay, but considr this, and hear me out here (4:08) so like, a photobooth u can do with ur pets like there’ll be lil costumes that u can dress them up in, and u can do liek, period costumes and shit with them (4:09) omg, can u imagine, u and ur cat/dog, and theyre in a lil 1800s dress and one of those lace umbrella things omg so cute

(4:15) Why the FUCK are you texting me at four in the morning with this

— 

Keith is texted by accident by some idiot one day, and honestly he’s not even sure why he responds. Or why he keeps responding. Yet somehow he finds himself drawn in, and okay, so maybe this fool is mildly entertaining after all. Who would’ve thought.

Comments:  Slowburn Klance Wrong Number AU. These two are so cute I just can’t. This is the perfect story if you are looking for something effortless and relaxing to read. Even though this contains some softcore Langst, it is still a very cute and heartwarming story about two dorks slowly falling in love. It features Lance’s mother who I fell in love with here, and the kind of supportive nosy best friends that everyone wants in real life (i.e. Hunk, Pidge, and Allura).

  **The Quiet by MilkTeaMiku

Word count:  66,700 (32/32)

Summary:  Does he not realize he’s dead?

Keith can see ghosts. As a part of his Garrison training, he’s sent to a hospital to do one year of medical clerkship - it’s there that he meets a charmingly irritating chose who definitely needs to learn what boundaries are.

Comments:  Modern Ghost AU with eventual Klance. This fic is the most suspenseful story I have ever read in my life. Idk if it’s just me, but I just have this feeling building up paragraph by paragraph of an impending… something. And it has my heart racing which is crazy because it isn’t even particularly fast-paced. There’s just a heaviness to the words that have the hairs on the back of your neck prickling. I literally have to take a breather from reading sometimes to calm down. 

A couple cool songs I think set the mood for this fic is Smother and Mirror.

  Finding Home by spacegaykogane

Word count:  26,966 (6/6)

Summary:  After the wormhole collapses, Keith finds himself stranded on a strange planet. Alone. Until Lance comes along. With their lions dead and resources limited, Keith and Lance need to put aside their differences and work together to get home. Wherever that may be, now.

Comments:  Klance. I love Stranded fics where they have to work together to survive and bond over that. So yeah this one has some whump obviously, bc you know, crash landings aren’t very fun. This one is angsty but its balanced out by the fluffiness in the end.

  Cuddle Puddle by nothingwrongwiththerain

Word count:  46,782 (6/6)

Summary:  Unexpectedly, Shiro’s hand landed on the top of his head. Apparently with Lance and Hunk taking up all the shoulder real estate, Shiro would settle for ruffling Keith’s hair.

Keith was fairly certain his soul was about to detach and abandon his shaking body on the couch. He was surrounded, in the complete and total sense of the word, by other people. Not once before, not in his whole life, had he dealt with a situation like this one.

Or, five times Keith found himself too close for comfort and one time he couldn't get close enough.

Comments:  Klance featuring ace!Keith. Don’t be fooled by the fluffy summary, this is a very angsty fic with lots of Keith whump. Basically, as stated by the author, this story is about ‘Keith struggling with physical contact and learning to accept people care about him’. I love touch-starved Keith stories, like this one. I love the scenes with Kidge bros, featuring a super supportive Pidge. 

  At the Beginning by Sakuraiai

Word count:  64,203 (12/12)

Summary:  Inspired by Anastasia

King Zarkon of the Galra empire lost his only way in to the Kingdom of Altea. In his anger, he put a curse on the royal family. The young, adopted half Galran prince Keith disappeared when the palace was overrun, never to be seen again -- or so it seemed. The only surviving princess, Allura, grieving for her child, offers a reward for Keith's safe return.

Con artists, Lance and his best friend, Hunk plan to pawn off a phony to the princess, hoping to reap the rewards. They hold auditions and choose an orphan man who has a remarkable resemblance to the missing prince -- all the way down to his fluffy Galran ears.

Comments:  Can anyone say Anastasia AU?! I waited with baited breath for each chapter to come out and I was not once disappointed. I love the integration of the different alien races in this timeless story, it all works out so well. Keith just wants to find his mommy and I just want to cry. Also Kidge bros are still my fav as always.

  out of orbit by rbillustration

Word count:  78,135 (19/19)

Summary:  Dragged apart by Haggar’s attack on the wormhole, the paladins and Alteans struggle to survive and find one another again. Luck has placed them all within the same galaxy… but their fortune ends there. Lance is stranded with a badly-injured Shiro and his relief at finding their leader still accompanying him soon turns to terror. Keith may be the only who can rectify the situation - but the Galra have him in their grasp, and they don’t want to kill him. They want him as one of their own.

Comments:  ANGST. SO MUCH ANGST. A brainwashed Galra!Keith plus a Possessed!Shiro. This is the perfect recipe for disaster if I ever saw one. If lots of blood bothers you proceed with caution. I love stranded fics.

A good song rec for this one is Darkside.

  VLD Rec Lists:  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Here’s a Fic Masterlist for my other fandoms.

[iris-writes-things]

Kids & Cats chapter 2

Read on FF.net, AO3, or under the cut!

Voltron single dad AU

Shiro has his doubts when his youngest son begs him to take home a stray cat. However, a stray cat always finds its home, leading the Shirogane family to her owner.

Chapter 2 of 2 Complete 2194 words Family, humor

Dinner that evening took much longer than usual, but it was a welcome change. As it turns out, Coran is a very good cook and Shiro was more than happy to watch the kids munch away at something infinitely better than he felt he could put together himself. It was nice, though, not having to do everything by himself for once and getting to make conversation with grownups other than the boys’ teachers.

He learned that Allura was well on her way to become a successful business woman, speaking more languages than he could count on his hand and was familiar with etiquettes from all around the world. He also learned that Allura had been living with Coran since she was very young, but the sad look on her uncle’s face stopped him from pushing any further.

“So, what’s up with your cats anyway? Why don’t you just keep them inside?” Keith asked, looking up at Allura from his seat next to her.

“Well, how would you feel if your dad kept you inside at all times in fear of you getting lost?”

“Dad did that to Lance for a week once after he wandered off at the mall.”

“Yeah, that sucked!” Lance interjected, quickly followed by a stern ‘Lance.’ from Shiro.

“Only Blackie is a real inside cat.” She said with a smile on her face, shoving her chair away from the table to reveal a large, fat, black cat lounging under the table, meowing quietly as she nudged it with her foot. “She really hates going outside. Every time we go to the vet is an absolute nightmare.”

“Wait, hold up, aside from Blue and Blackie, how many cats do you have?” Shiro asked, shocked by the sheer amount of cats could be wandering around the house at maximum.

“Well, there’s Blue and Blackie, Verde, Red and Goldilocks.”

“You’ve got five kitties?!” Pidge piped up, looking at Allura with large, sparkling eyes. Allura could only chuckle and pat her head.

“Exactly. You already know Blue, she is very friendly and likes to meet new people. Verde is very smart and she loves nature. She’s been getting into trouble with Mr. Sendak for digging up his flower beds. Goldilocks is usually the gentle giant to Red’s arrogant loose cannon and, well, that leaves Blackie. She doesn’t have to step in much, but she’s usually the unifying factor in this band of misfits. If I’m completely honest, they remind me of the five of you. One wouldn’t expect them to work so well together, but they do.”

“Like us!” Pidge giggled.

Lance’s eyes suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree. “So you have a lot of cats, right?”

“Uh, right. That’s what I was talking about just now.”

“And there’s only two here, right?” he kept asking, starting to go somewhere.

“Exactly.” Allura nodded.

“Then we should go on an adventure! We could split up in groups and go look for the big, wild lions that escaped from the mothership!” Lance narrated, making big gestures as he always did. “By the way, I call dibs on Hunk.”

“Dibs on Shiro!” Pidge shouted, grabbing his hand.

“Whoa, back up there, young man. You and Hunk are not going outside at this time without someone to look after you.” Shiro intervened. Lance always came up with these wild ideas, getting everyone excited, but in the end Shiro was only one man and he could only be in one place. He turned around when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Your son has such a wild imagination, it would be a shame to see that go to waste. I’ll go with them, then you can go outside with your little girl.” Coran said enthusiastically.

“Um, thank you, but she’s not my—”

“What about me?” Came a small voice from behind Shiro. Keith was the only one who hadn’t been picked yet.

“Oh, I have an idea!” Coran crouched down to his level. “You could go with the princess when she finishes doing the dishes.”

“Coran, it was your turn—”

“Sorry, I can’t hear you over the responsibility of guiding these young paladins on their first intergalactic mission!”

---

The park was quiet and almost empty when Shiro wandered around, firmly holding on to Pidge’s hand. It had been about an hour since they left Allura’s place. On multiple occasions Shiro had done the suggestion to go home, but on each of those occasions the little girl shot them down. She was more than determined to bring this cat home. The sky was starting to turn orange, and he was about to suggest going home again when he felt a sharp elbow nudging his thigh.

“Shiro, did you hear that?” Pidge whispered loudly and Shiro shook his head. “Listen harder!” She hissed again and Shiro closed his eyes. If he focused really hard, he could hear the sound of a meowing cat, coming from a bush only thirty feet away from them.

Shiro ran over and moved the leaves aside, revealing a small cat with a bright green collar. “She’s here!” He said, calling over his small companion. “The branches are too tightly wound together. There’s no way I can reach her.”

“That’s what you’ve got me for!” Pidge piped up and she crawled on the dirt, into the bush and safely extracted the cat.

“Your mom is going to kill us both when I drop you off.”

---

“Uh, Lance? I’m not sure breaking in to a construction site would be a good idea.” Hunk said, nervously watching his youngest brother climbing over the fence.

“Exactly! We can just wait for her to come out!” Coran added.

Lance scoffed, “Why did I pick you bunch of weenies for this... There’s nobody here! Coran, you keep watch. Hunk, come with me.”

With a deep sigh, Hunk hooked his fingers into the mesh of the fence, kicked his feet between the wires and slowly and carefully scaled the fence, whereas Lance let himself drop to the ground halfway down.

The boys wandered around the construction site for a solid ten minutes before finding goldilocks in a tight corner behind the construction workers’ break room.

They heard barking. Two large Rottweilers came sprinting at them. Lance thought quickly and pushed Hunk into the narrow space behind the break room while bolting away himself, catching the attention of the dogs and keeping them away from his big brother.

“Meet me at the fence!” the youngest shouted, outrunning the guard dogs for now.

Hunk sighed, carefully lifting the heavy materials and putting them away, making enough space for him to squeeze between and carefully pick up the fluffy cat. He quickly made his way back to the fence, keeping his eyes trained on Lance and the guard dogs. He lifted the cat up to his shoulder and scaled the fence, handing Goldilocks to Coran before sitting down on the edge of the fence more balanced and leaning down, grabbing Lance by his collar and pulling him up, helping him climb more quickly.

When their feet touched the ground on Coran’s side of the fence, the boys leaned against it, exhausted, breathing heavily. Coran would have scolded them, but from the looks on their faces he could see the boys had already learned their lesson.

---

Keith stared up at the red cat halfway up the tree in Mr. Sendak’s back yard. The cat was staring back at him, with a smug look on her face. Keith was on his own now. Everyone was still out looking for the other cats and Allura was inside, doing the dishes.

He took a few steps back and ran at the wooden fence, giving him just enough momentum to successfully climb up. He quickly found his balance, standing on the thin beams. He took a few deep breaths before jumping up, grabbing the first branch and pulling himself onto it. From there, he slowly advanced towards the cat that was still staring at him, watching intently.

“Seriously, what do you want from me?” Keith asked, finally climbing onto the branch the cat was sitting on, slowly crawling towards her. “I’m a friend of your mom’s. You could be a little nicer. Just come closer.” When he reached for the cat she quickly jumped down to another branch. “Oh come on!”

Suddenly there was a loud cracking sound behind him. He didn’t notice he had bent the branch as much as he did, it was only a matter of time until it snapped.

Everything was black for a hot minute. His nerves exploded with pain, there was a loud ringing in his ears and… licking? On his face? With a groan, Keith sat up and opened his eyes to find the red cat sitting next to him, looking up at him. Less smugly, this time. Keith pulled the cat into his chest with a smile, lying back down until Shiro and Allura came running outside.

“Good kitty.”

---

“Keith? Keith!” Allura called for him running out of the house, finding the unmoving boy lying on the lawn. She knelt down by him, unsure whether or not to move him. Shiro was hot on her heels, crouching beside her. He reached out to check him over, but Red started hissing at him and batted his hand away as soon as he so much as pointed at Keith.

The sound must have woke him up. He opened his eyes to the blurry sight of Shiro and Allura leaning over him. As his world slowly became more in focus he could see the concern in their eyes and on their faces and oh no. Those were tears in their eyes. He is in so much trouble right now.

“It’s… It’s not as bad as it looks.” Keith managed to croak. “Look, Red listened to me.”

“I don’t care!” Shiro shouted, his voice cracking as the tears spilled from his eyes, rolling down his cheeks and dripping onto Keith’s surprised face. He’d never meant to make his dad this sad. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?! You could have broken an arm, a leg, your back, every bone in your entire body! You could have--”

“What your father is trying to say,” Allura cut him off before his mind and his mouth could wander to more unpleasant scenarios. “is that what you did was very reckless and we want you to not do it again.”

“Ever. Understood?”

“Yeah.” Keith groaned, only groaning louder when Shiro gently picked him up and carried him inside.

He hissed when Coran disinfected the cuts and scratches while Allura gently placed band aids on the cleaned wounds and Shiro gently stroked his still throbbing head while they waited for the aspirin to kick in.

Red was sitting right beside him, still not liking the look of other people touching him, but she seemed to understand it was for his own good.

“Well,”Allura smiled, “at least we finally found someone Red will listen to.”

Keith couldn’t help but grin triumphantly.

---

SAllura was surprised when the man with the white hair bowed to her.

“I’m so sorry about tonight. I know the kids can be a handful, but I’m grateful you made the time to help me out with them. I promise, we won’t trouble you again.”

“Please, there’s no reason to bow, Mr. Shirogane.” Allura smiled as she gently pulled him back in an upright position. “I had a lot of fun tonight. You know… if you’d like, you could come over more often. The children could play in the yard and Coran and I could take some of the workload off your back.”

With the way she was looking at him and the offer she was making, Shiro couldn’t help but stare at her. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can—”, he started before Hunk spoke up.

“We’ll gladly take your offer on behalf of our dad. He deserves friends like you and Coran to help him.” With that, Hunk turned to his father as if to scold him. “Dad, we love you and we respect you, but we also know you’re only human. Taking care of the four of us takes a lot out of you. So please, for once in your life, don’t be stubborn about being polite all the time and turning down any offer you get and just say yes.”

Shiro looked around, all of his sons, Katie and Allura were all looking at him expectantly. He knew Hunk was right. He knew doing everything by himself was exhausting him. He knew that when something was wrong with him, Hunk was always the one to make sure everything turned out okay.

And so, for the good of his children and himself, he took a deep breath and he said “Yes. I’d love that, thank you. And please, call me Shiro.”