#i think keith only knows how to gaslight lance and maybe shiro

[klanced]

spreading out the lance answers to distribute the results, i see? lance behaviour if i’ve ever seen any/j

nahhhhhhh can we please be fr. lance does not know how to cheat and sabotage like me.

[spiftynifty]

VLD Rewatch: Season 3

For a half-of-a-half season, season 3 packs quite a bit in and sets up a lot of plot. This shouldn't be surprising; Voltron was laid out as three 26-ep seasons, with each season bringing a new big bad and new theme. Season 3 is our beginning of the Lotor arc and there's a lot of setup and... a lot to unpack here.

For those who are still in "can't do it" mode about rewatching the series (which is fair), here's a quick summary to catch you up:

Shiro has been missing for (it's kind of implied) months. Without Shiro, Voltron and the group are fractured, especially with Keith's deep grief over losing Shiro preventing the recruitment a new Paladin.

Ultimately, Keith takes up the mantle of the Black Lion, Lance moves to Red, and Allura gets Blue. The group is clumsy and outmatched by Lotor and his generals who are definitely Up to Something. Keith tries to play leader and it's a bad look when he's making decisions via grief escapism. The team gets briefly trapped on a foggy wifi-less planet, discovers a bizarro alt-reality where Alteans rule the universe and Shiro is Swedish and doesn't mind Slav, and trails after Lotor and Co who have made off with the reality-breaking comet from Svavland.

Meanwhile Shiro escapes the Galra again, catches up with Voltron, shares a couple lowlit intimate moments with Keith while also awkwardly undermining his authority and jeopardizing the safety of the team, but no one suspects a thing.

Oh and there's a flashback episode about the OG paladins that I'll be honest I skipped since it turns out literally nothing that happened in the past is relevant to the present day and our only major revelations are that we (and Haggar) learn that she was once Honerva, Zarkon her husband was once kinda adorable, and turning evil swaps out your voice actor. Oh and Honerva had a cat who may or may not be as old as Haggar and potentially still kicking around.

Let's talk about season 3.

There's good and bad to be had with this season. Originally when I began my rewatch of the show I wanted to do it as though I were watching the season for the first time. Season 1 and 2 made that astonishingly easy; of all the seasons they seem the most confident about what the show is and what it's going for. Season 1 is for the mild setup and world building, season 2 is for the character building, relationship building, lion building, and problem resolving. Season 2 is arguably the show's strongest season overall so it's a tough act to follow. Season 3... makes an effort.

The good of this season is really good. Keith's grief over losing Shiro surprised and moved me the first time I saw the season and I was impressed with how long they held onto it given the show's habit of moving on pretty quick. Keith's grief holds the team back and endangers it; his early insistence on going after Lotor felt like a way to channel his anguish and maybe get a little revenge for his loss. Keith got one of his most significant character boosts in season 2, and following it through in this season sets up a complicated Keith that we will see for seasons to come.

The other good is Lotor. Lotor is handsome and charismatic and devastatingly cunning and is a polar opposite to his Saturday-morning-cartoon-villain dad. Zarkon was threatening, but Lotor is INTERESTING and his "wait and see" approach makes us the audience want to wait and see what he's up to. His band of generals are intriguing and colorful and I love the variation of their designs and personalities.

And of course, we can't talk about the good stuff in season 3 without discussing Shiro and Keith's relationship. Season 2 gave us some really fantastic growth and moments and entire episodes between them, but Season 3 brought a new level of intimacy that definitely bumped it up a notch. From the slow-moving reunion and closeups of only Shiro and Keith's faces, to their quiet moments alone in dimly lit rooms. This season gave us "as many times as it takes", which remains one of the most beautiful little exchanges between the pair in the whole series. The jury is still out on whether or not Sheith was a hopeful intention by the creatives on this show or just an incredibly happy accident, but looking at some of the decisions made in 3x05 and 3x06 especially lean more to the former. These scenes are more bittersweet now knowing how it all ends up.

There is a lot of setup for future things in general, and this is where it becomes difficult to separate what is in s3 with what will be by the end of s6 (and beyond) because some things we just can't unknow. It was really interesting to see how things that made me very hyped after this season now take on a bit of a disappointing and even bitter flavor because some roads really don't go anywhere. Lotor's mysterious plans for instance, only seem to get more mysterious, as do his allegiances. He spends most of this season clearly toying with the Paladins, clearly prepared to destroy them or let them destroy themselves, but later he sides with them and the Paladins seem pretty quick to forgive this and assume he's a good guy now. Lotor's "side" is never clearly established since his goals never are. The Lotor in s3 is interesting by virtue of the assumption that we will eventually learn all his secrets. But we never do, and that definitely for me taints him as a character.

Speaking of some mixed character motivations, s4 reveals that Narti was either a spy for Haggar the whole time or that Kova was, or both, and yet in season 3 Haggar sends a goon off to spy on Lotor. Even in Haggar's private moments she seems unsure of what Lotor is up to so this later reveal that she was aware the whole time is an odd one and still left very vague.

Similarly, major problems arise with Shiro in s3 but only via the hindsight of s4-6. Everything about the way Shiro is brought back into the fold in season 3 is highly suspicious. From a narrative standpoint I want to say it begins with Sven as foreshadowing, an alternate-reality Shiro who looks JUST LIKE SHIRO but is NOT SHIRO. Unfortunately I think this was less of an audience wink and more of an excuse to nod to the original Sven. But Shiro's Journey opens with scientists doing tests on him, Shiro's pupils dilating to the sound of camera lens adjustments, and Shiro literally seeing a dead-eyed copy of himself on a slab. The words "Operation Kuron" are repeated at least three times as the Galra let him escape. When Shiro meets the two aliens on the ice planet and they accuse him of being a traitor, Shiro protests, "I'm not a--" and never finishes. He does pilot logs into a Galra Cruiser as he tails Voltron. And that's just in one episode.

The next episode has him repeatedly undermining Keith's newfound leadership position (a position Shiro repeatedly encouraged Keith into in s1/2 to Keith's great reluctance), to the point of talking over him and shouting at him. He dismisses the safety of the team for the sake of the mission; something that goes expressly against the team Voltron way of doing things (Kolivan details this in s4) and is completely against Shiro's nature. It felt manipulative to me the first time and it still feels off when at the end of this he privately tells Keith "I'm sorry I had to step in back there", referring to Keith's failure (which was not a failure) and then in the next breath "you're good at this." This was the topic of many a heated debate when the episode came out but from my end there is just no way to see that the man presented here is Shiro and not an insidious clone.

There's a term for this that I forget where the storyteller essentially gaslights the audience for no real reason. Ultimately we will come to know that this is Shiro. A little more short-tempered but ultimately a good boy and not the potentially fully aware evil clone that season 3 hints at. It's bad writing; and the reason that it's bad writing is that the audience is privy to very little more than the characters are when it comes to Kuron and yet the characters are not in the slightest bit suspicious about the behaviour that we the audience sees as suspect. We end up gaslighting ourselves because of bad writing, only to learn that we were right the whole time. And genuinely, speaking as someone who loves all Shiros dearly, Kuron is a whole walking writing disaster. But more on that as we get further into the season.

I don't love the episode, but the Comet episode is a surprisingly adult-oriented one and presents an interesting flip to things and an intriguing hypothesis that I wish had been explored better, or longer, or something. As I've said 100x before, Galra aren't an inherently evil race; they're the result of a 10,000 yr universe takeover. This episode suggests that Alteans are no better, and the broader implications of this are massive and should have offered a much bigger fundamental shift in the characters and the way they viewed this war. In particular Allura, who previously immediately turned against Keith the moment his heritage was revealed, despite having become good friends with him. Her learning that her own people aren't immune to "absolute power corrupts absolutely" is a moment that is not given any real weight or consequence . This is a letdown especially since this potentially weightier-themed episode was self-aware enough of that weight to be the only episode outside of the Voldemort season to show imagery maybe a little too old for its younger audience (the repeated shot of the mummified Altean scientist).

From a production standpoint I noticed a lot of little things. There were a number of hookup issues; some hilariously drawn bg characters, some compositing that worked and some that decidedly didn't. Some of the editing was a little rough in places and some of the timing of things felt very off. There were some jokes that ran long and didn't land and threw the pacing off or stole time from other things. The editing on the Comet episode was particularly off and the characters were visually difficult to track at times. Also, there is definitely a different/longer version of the "As many times as it takes" scene even if it only exists in script or maybe board form. All of the Shiros in that scene were drawn by Ryu, who was often tapped for revisions (particularly for Shiro and Lotor). But the Keith in that scene is not a Ryu Keith; and Keith's "Well--" in "If you're feeling up to it" sounds like two lines spliced together. Ryu's fingerprints are all over 3x06 in interesting places; I definitely spotted his artwork in at least one shot of the Galra post leader and I think a Zethrid. He drew a few of the short haired Shiros as well. I think this episode underwent a number of changes; I remember too that Lance exclaiming "you're looking better" was originally Keith's line. At the same time we get little nice superfluous animations like the foreground gecko. Just a lot of inconsistencies.

Overall it's still an alright season but knowing what's coming means I just don't love this season the way I used to. The little moments that rock still rock but a lot of plot pawns were pushed forward that were ultimately just discarded. I can't wait to see if finishing the next 3 seasons will retroactively bump this season back up to where it once was in my heart. 

[eledritch]

someone: do you still ship klance?

me, internally: I love the dynamic of Klance and I love writing the ship. It was my first ship in the Voltron fandom and my first Voltron Klance fic Bonding Time is still my most popular. But it’s a constant frustration, because the more Klance content I reblog, the more anti blogs and art and posts are recommended to me. Because so many Klance fans are antis, and so Klance is associated with antis, which is so sad because I don’t want to be associated with such a toxic side of a fandom and I know many other Klance shippers don’t either, or don’t see the harm in anti arguments because they support Klance, and they’re defending Klance, so it must be okay, right? I hate that so many antis who ship Klance are also Lance stans, because I love Lance but I do not appreciate the iterations of Klance which make Keith out to be little more than a prop to support and lavish love upon Lance when he needs it - forget Keith’s feelings and character development, he’s from Texas and loves knives and making terrible decisions LOL. I hate the “there can only be one” mentality among so many Klance fans, who will go out of their way to bash other ships in order to make Klance the only “safe” and “non-problematic” one. I hate that the argument “because it’s not Klance” has literally been used when one shipper was asked why she didn’t ship or like Hance, I hate that people label Pidge/Lance as problematic even though Pidge and Lance have great potential as a couple and their age difference is the same as Keith and Lance’s, and most of all I hate that antis who ship Klance (...which is most if not all of them) claim other ships that “interfere” with Klance like Sheith or Shance or Shklance are pedophilia and unhealthy, when they are neither. I hate that antis who ship Klance will go so far as to attack other shippers with slews of hate, death threats, give them labels using words they do not even understand, and worst of all invalidate the experiences and trauma of actual CSA victims in their quest to make Klance the one true pairing. I hate that Klance fans have attacked the creators and voice actors of the show in the same way, I hate that @bext-k has been treated so horribly here on tumblr and then been told she couldn’t defend herself because her bully was a minor (a minor, but not a toddler, someone who is perfectly capable of not being an asshole and whose age does not make it okay for them to say the things they said). I cannot stand the Klance meta posts that analyze the heck out of every interaction between the two of them, and at the same time ignore much more meaningful interactions between characters like Shiro and Keith and deny that there could be anything more than friendship between them. It isn’t that deep, I’m sorry, it just isn’t, and it’s embarrassing to see how far of a reach Klance fans make sometimes in order to make their ship as canon as possible. And look, to a degree, I get it. I love Klance. But I do not love the way so many Klance shippers have broken apart this fandom and created spaces so toxic that CSA victims’ voices cannot even be heard without being shut down, mocked, and insulted. I do not love the way I now I have to check every unknown blog’s description before reblogging a post from them to make sure they don’t say “shaladins get out” or “stinky anti” there. I do not love the way that adult antis claim they are protecting minors and then turn around and reblog nsfw fanart of Keith and Lance, two characters who they apparently see as minors, even going so far as to tag it with things like “yaoi” or “this is so sinful” or something equally insulting. I do not love the way antis gaslight and guilt-trip, I do not love the insidious mob mentality that leads to people feeling afraid of not thinking the way other antis do. I do not love the all too prevalent fujoshi culture found among Klance shippers - have you ever noticed that the overwhelming majority of Klance shippers are teenage to twenty-something girls? Whereas all of the queer guys I know of in this fandom are multishippers and/or ship Sheith or Shance. Why don’t we acknowledge that? Why don’t we acknowledge that queer guys, whose relationships we are writing/drawing/analyzing and fangirling about, have an opinion here, and that their opinion maybe, just MAYBE, matters more than ours? In Hypable’s Battleships poll, this was literally proven - way more guys voted for Sheith than voted for Klance. But Sheith is the toxic relationship. Uh-huh. Right. Okay. Even though they're both adults and have shown each other nothing but love, trust, and respect. This is what infuriates me about so many Klance shippers. The willful blindness to even acknowledge that other sides, other ships, may have merit. And of course this isn’t all of them, I ship Klance and I know many others who do and who don’t share this mentality that makes me so sad and upset. But there are a significant amount of Klance shippers who do. Why can’t there just be a dialogue? Why can’t antis be people who may not like Shaladin ships but understand that this is a fictional show, people are entitled to their opinions, blacklisting tags/blocking users/not looking at content you don’t like is a valid option, and words like pedophilia and “go kill yourself” should not be thrown around as lightly and frequently as they are? I wish we could. I really wish we could. And I also wish I could ship Klance as much as I want to without constantly being reminded of all the hate spread by people who call it their OTP.

me: yep haha ofc klance will always be close to my heart!

[novablossoms-blog]

okay i’ve finally settled on some feelings about season five, so get ready for some rambling.

let me start by saying i actually enjoyed the season, however i feel like dreamworks is giving too much into fan pressure regarding both the actual content of the series and the release schedule. it’s become very clear that the shorter, more frequent seasons, is not working for the plot very well. it makes a lot of things feel rushed, but the events that stick out to me from this season that seemed rushed, and by extension underwhelming or unrealistic narratologically speaking were a) zarkon’s demise, b) the introduction of krolia and c) the decision to trust lotor.

the former because you cannot spend four seasons building up zarkon as the big bad only to have him die in a supremely underwhelming fight sequence that really did not actually seem to have any major impact on the story--i know it did, logically, but it was like no character actually recognised the significance of what had just happened. 

the fact that they introduced krolia only to immediately cut away and not mention her again, or cut back to keith at all for the rest of the season was immensely frustrating. and it also leads me to believe that once again, we’ll continue the grand voltron tradition of having a huge event occur, only to time skip and avoid dealing with the very interesting aftermath of it. by the time we see krolia again, she’ll probably be living in the castle and just part of the furniture--or like sam holt, we will see her for one more episode and then never again.

and then there’s lotor. boy oh boy, do i have some things to say about lotor--which again, i don’t hate lotor, i think he’s an interesting character even if he looks like space legolas. for starters there’s the very obvious fact that he is going to double cross team voltron. there’s not a single doubt in my mind that while maybe he really does want to know more about his altean heritage and maybe he didn’t agree with his father regarding how things have been done. but any basic comprehension of plot will tell you that he’s been working with haggar this whole time to seize control of the empire, have voltron at his disposal and potentially manipulate allura into using her abilities as a full blooded altean to benefit the empire, and using shiro/kuron as an inside man to make his ideas and contributions seem credible.

which brings me to my main problem with the season: allura.

quite frankly you cannot tell me after all of the nonsense we went through after keith was revealed to be half galra, about her reservations with working with the blade of marmora, that she would just trust lotor. partially because the reason he was even let out of his cell in the first place had everything to do with trying to gaslight her. she’s being manipulated because the writers needed someone to be naive enough to fall for it--despite the fact that everything about the past seasons, about allura’s established character, says she would not fall for this ever. 

and the absolute worst part is when it’s revealed she’s been manipulated--which will happen sooner or later--both the fandom and the rest of the paladins are going to blame her for it, because the fandom is, quite frankly, inherently sexist, especially against feminine characters, and because there’s nothing this show likes more than acting like they’re going to treat allura right--dangling the potential for amazing abilities, plotlines and development in front of us--only to forget about all of it to make her look like a bad person so they can make another character look good.

that being said, here’s some quick other points:

the sentry!!! he’s the best character in this show ever!!!

hunk being the voice of reason is always important but also why everyone else get a plotline except hunk? what’s that about dreamworks?

matt & pidge are fantastic as siblings and i love them

that being said, its very frustrating that pidge--being 14-15--has the emotional maturity of a 14-15 year old, and therefore occasionally causes problems that make me wanna bang my head against the wall. is it her fault? no. but should she be taken with a grain of salt? probably.

krolia is hot tho. hot alien mum 10/10

can dreamworks stop pretending like we don’t all know shiro has been replaced with a fucking clone jesus christ y’all not slick

speaking of dreamworks not being slick, the handhold? really? you’re going in that hard, this quick? okay.....

that scene with lance and allura and the broadsword was one of the best things on this show in seasons, bless them both i want more of this good and pure friendship.

if shiro/kuron (or anyone really) tries to pull rank on allura one more time, while standing on her ship, piloting her lions, being sustained by her supplies and being a part of her coalition, i might hit something.

[dent-de-leon]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I only got gaslighting vibes from Kuron's "how many times" line at the end of S3, because it seemed to work on Keith: turning him from awkward and uncomfortable to smiling and relieved? I didn't get anything from Kuron other than knowing that's what he needed to say to relax Keith? Because even if innocent, Kuron can deal with his own feelings of something being wrong but the second Keith notices it becomes real and Kuron feels more selfish than Shiro?

Alright, the thing is, I’ve talked a bit about how Kuron’s been affected by brainwashing–and could unknowingly be gaslighting Keith. However, I don’t think this happens until much later in the episode, after their run-in with Lotor’s comet ship. I think there’s a definitive turning point in Kuron’s mindset that happens after the bedroom scene. It’s something else I’ve touched on briefly, but “thematic haircuts” are very much a thing in narratives. And in Voltron’s case, we’ve already seen this through Pidge. For her, a haircut meant assuming a false identity. Attempting to be someone else. 

Similarly, Kuron cutting his hair to look more like Shiro, wearing similar style clothes, and attempting to resume leadership–it all indicates he’s imitating Shiro. This is part of what makes Kuron feel so off and unsettling. He can’t mimic Shiro perfectly, and the uncanny resemblance yet sharp contrast is unnerving. So, that being said–if we look at at Kuron’s behavior and outward physical changes, I think we see his true self prior to the haircut. Everything up until that point, in my mind, is mostly genuine. So, let’s take a look at that bedroom scene:

Keith sees Kuron when he’s at his most vulnerable. He’s the only one that does. Keith says, “Well, if you’re feeling up to it, the rest of the team would be thrilled to see you up and moving around again.” This implies that not only has Kuron been bedridden, but he hasn’t trusted anyone else to enter his room yet. Only Keith. If he really just cared about manipulating the team, wouldn’t it be far more efficient to interact with them all as much as possible? Why just play Keith? I also don’t think Kuron was really in any state to playing mind games. He admits he might not be able to get up just yet, and it’s clear he’s been out of commission for some time–I don’t think the team would all be out on missions already otherwise. 

And I believe Keith’s demeanor is more than just “awkward.” He’s clearly very concerned for “Shiro.” There’s an implicit I need you when he says “they.” He’s also clearly crestfallen by the thought Black might have left Kuron to the mercy of the galra. Even trying to comfort him by speculating it was a misguided rescue attempt–“Could it have teleported you? Maybe it was trying to save you” “Maybe Zarkon forced it too.” He’s also had to witness the person he loves most be torn away from him by the galra again. The last time that happened, Shiro lost an arm and was clearly tortured and traumatized. Who knows what they took from him this time? Keith has every reason to be fraught with worry. 

As for what Kuron said, I think it was entirely intimate. There was a depth to it you wouldn’t find in just simple distractions. It feels to me like so much more than just a convenient line to appease Keith. The thing is, I don’t think Shiro is one to really tell people what they mean to him out loud. He shows his feelings by action–running to Keith’s defense at every turn, holding him close. Even Keith is more inclined to voice his feelings, I think. He attempts to tell Shiro how much he means–“My life would be a whole lot different without you,” only for Shiro to turn it into a morbid joke. So Shiro’s not as expressive about his feelings, and I think he’s better at concealing them than Keith. 

Which is partly why this line surprised me, I think. It seems so very forward for Shiro. But Kuron has no problem saying it. It’s a line he throws in teasingly, but there’s also a lot of gravity to it. It’s not just your standard “oh, thanks for saving me, buddy” it’s him acknowledging how Keith has rescued him time and time again. How his presence is some assured constant, how he’ll always be there for him. 

And to joke about someone’s devotion like that? Honestly, it feels somewhat flirty to me. And he’s completely unabashed in the admission, smiles knowingly rather than shying away from it. And Keith returns that sentiment in full. There’s a heart-clenching honesty in his voice when he says, “As many times as it takes,” a promise he vows with easy confidence. He’ll never abandon Shiro. For him, that’s a definite certainty. 

If you have still doubts about Kuron’s sincerity, I’d direct you back to his reunion with Keith. That sure looks like they have a meaningful connection to me. Keith is also the first of Shiro’s memories to resurface, indicating that it was perhaps the one Kuron held dearest. Given how he’d seen Keith through Shiro’s eyes, and how Keith saved him again, and also stayed at his bedside? I think Kuron has every reason to adore him. He doesn’t let himself break down in front of anyone else, doesn’t even trust the others to see him when he’s so vulnerable. To me he has a clear soft spot for Keith, and it’s what brought on the sudden confidence to say something I don’t think Shiro necessarily would. 

Also, it’s worth noting that Kuron cheered Keith up so much he tried making a little joke to lighten the mood between him and Lance later on. Lance smiles when Keith says “Leave the math to Pidge”–that’s not gaslighting. It’s just him trying to comfort a friend. Of course, you don’t get that same depth and dramatic mood from Keith’s parting words to Lance, but that’s because his dynamic with Lance is completely different from what he had with Shiro. 

[san-bika]

anti Klance fans opinion

This is not really about Tumblr users but fans who are vocal on FB, Reddit, articles etc.

There is a large portion of the Voltron audience (frequently male) who are vocally anti Klance and complain about the hints we get from producers and writers the VAs. They like to point out that all it is is hysteria manufactured by teen girls reading into things that don’t exist. They act snobby because they watched the original like they were the only ones (they’re not, I exist and watched the OG, Voltron Force and bits of vehicle team) or like fans who didn’t exist at the time are stupid for liking this version because it’s pretty (the cool Snob liking it first bit is stale guys). Importantly they claim that Keith should be with Allura and has no chemistry with Lance (have you seen any with the Princess btw? I think not.) *Edited because my thumb slipped lol*

So these antis point out how badly Lance thinks of Keith, how Keith has a similarly low opinion, they are too competitive, they argue and fight and undermine each other. Their good times are far and few between. They’re not healthy or realistic. It’s all in our heads and at best they’re learning to be friends and team mates.

But anyone who has survived elementary, middle or high school should recognize these behaviors. Most boys don’t behave like gentlemen when they’re interested. Most girls don’t behave like ladies either. We all have stories of the person who pulled our hair or pushed us or got a better grade and made fun of us only to find out later that they liked us but didn’t know what to say or do.

Teasing, being competitive, pulling pranks, arguing is how a lot of people deal with crushes without being honest about it or if they’re not ready to tell them. You get the attention of your crush without admitting you like them. And we are watching Keith and Lance grow closer each season. Keith was Shiro’s right hand man and look at how close they are. Now Lance is Keith’s right hand - If they truly hated each other or had no chemistry that wouldn’t even work.

I guess in reality these stans of OG Voltron don’t like the idea of a canon gay romance “ruining” “their” childhood favorite?

Get over it antis! This is such tired BS! Their arguments are purposely dumb. Maybe they like Kallura and want it back but stop acting like the writing is bad or that it doesn’t hint at potential Klance/Laith developments.

Voltron isn’t yours or anyone’s show. You can’t control it. You can’t gaslight fans who are excited about different relationships than you are. Cry me a river. Just watch and enjoy. And if/when Keith and Lance get together I hope you’re loyal enough to suck up your pride and keep watching.

[greenflamedwriter]

Jumanji Notes

Jumanji:

-Lance is a girl.

-Pidge is having internal struggles about being non-Binary.

-Hunk explodes by eating Cake.

-Lions have crystals and once you get them you get armour and a bayard even have dual attacks where you combine attacks together. “Holy shit- did you see that?”

“For some reason Keith and Lance’s bayards are really strong...only some are compatible...I wonder why-”

“We won’t know till we try!”

-Shiro gets irritated everytime Lance makes a quippy joke and just gets irritated with him. Then Lance gets kidnapped by Hagger and the others never realised how much they needed Lance- Hunk is stressing out Keith wants to just go in and get out and Pidge is doing whatever Shiro does get their attention to get a plan but never realised how uch they needed Lance, or even him Lance made jokes to break tension and ease moral and listened.

-Lance almost gives in to Hagger when she says he is unfit, the blue lion always goes to the odd man out- allura could pilot the lion herself if she wanted to face it- Lance feels like shit.

Shiro loses his arm in the game and both Lance and Keith are pissed. So they work together and create sword and defeat zarkon.

________________________________________________

Lance placed a hand over his chest “Oh thank fuck thats- AH!” A red bar suddenly appeared and floated in front of the others.

“The heck?”

“Thats- What?” Lance squinted “Strengths, Karate, T’ai Chi, Aikido, Danc- The fuck is dance fighting? Weakness is Venom and- Bravestone!?” Lance blinked eyes wide. That was Not there before they got sucked into the game. He could hear Hunk and Pidge snickering and scowled.

“Maybe it means Bravestone can kill me?” He tried valiantly and Pidge cleared her throat “That hippo begs to differ.”

Shiro leaned forward “What did you do?” Lance blinked “Uh I um, I placed my hand on my...chest.” He spoke slowly and the others stared. Shiro tried it himself and saw a green bar pop up.

Shiro glanced up “Strengths; Fearless, climbing, speed, boomerang, smoldering intensity. Weakness, none?”

“The fuck is smoldering intensity?” Lance grouched peeved that Shiro’s character has no weakness…

Shiro glanced down perplexed “I don’t know.” He spoke and it felt like their was drums in the distance and that-

“That’s it! Right there!”

Shiro looked up startled “What?”

“When you get all brooding like that! That’s the smolder!” Shiro glanced helplessly at Pidge who shrugged “It makes you look extra sexy for some reason.”

Shiro looked stunned then scowled “Stop teasing, what are yours?” He asked the rest of the group.

Hunk’s was yellow “Okay, weapons valet Cartography, Archaelogy, Paleontology...I don’t know any of these…” He admitted “Weakness is endurance...sounds about right....and cake? What happens if I see cake? Would I lose my mind get distracted would it kill me I don’t...huh...” Hunk seemed perplexed.

Pidge adjusted their classes. “Cartography is drawing maps, Archaeology is what is says on the tin you know the history of people, ancient architects etc, paleontology is specialising with fossil animals and plants.”

Pidge tried hers and glanced up “Strengths, zoology, speed acrobatic...weakness, ghiblits...What is a ghiblit?” Shiro pressed his lips together “I hope we don’t have to find out.”

Lance snickerd “Shiro’s the nerd here.”

“What?”

“Come on, you’ve been a total pro at this! You love video games so much that this is practically heaven. So come on captain my captain, don’t let us die in this shitty jungle.”

Shiro rolled his eyes and stomped ahead furiated.

-Lion crystals at each spot.

Olkari- Green Lion. Sendek.

Dibazel- Blue Lion And Black Lion. Zarkon.

Balmera - Yellow Lion. Prorok

Arus- Red and Blue Lion. Hagger

All are defended by the Galra.

Once they found they’re CRYSTAL it creates an armor with a weapon and make the level up the more they level up the stronger they are. Another bar. Lance complains the ones that don’t have armour will be held back and it’s not fair but Pidge says their bars are going up they are levelling up just without armour.

They find Keith after Pidge gets her Armour and see he’s in an arena fighting for his life with only one life left.

Lance “We have to help him, come on.”

Keith is in an arena and the others pause “Help him do what?”

“Yeah man, he has it covered.”

Lance deflated “Oh come on-Shiro!”

Shiro dives in and saves Keith and Lance scowls feeling jealous of both-neither of them.

“Okay back it off mullet.” He grouched “So who the heck are you supposed to be?”

Keith raised an eyebrow “Me? Who are you?”

“The names Lance.”

Keith looked unimpressed and glanced at Shiro “And you?” “Shiro- but this game calls me bravestone.”

Keith blinked “Wait- game? Bravestone.” He looked at them all in new light “You’re players? Real people?”

Hunk glanced at Pidge “Uh yeah, we got sucked into this game.”

Keith looked stunned “Holy shit, I...I thought I was trapped here forever.”

___________________

Shiro slams Lance against the wall and he grunts eyes wide “This isn’t a game, you could’ve killed everyone here! We only have limited chances and you blindly ran in! Next time you stay at the back, and don’t do anything stupid.” Shiro shoved him once and stomped away even Pidge was shaking her head at him “Lance, for once can you just play a game with others?”

Lance was dazed staring after Shiro.

“Did you see that?”

“Hhmm?”

“Did you see how close his face got to mine?” Lance asked his face looking red.

Hunk frowned “Did you hear anything Shiro said?”

“No…” Lance sighed staring after Shiro and now Keith who didn’t look that bad from behind.

Hunk gave a suffering sigh “dear lord.”

_____________

Lance and Shiro have an argument and almost has them tossing the other off the side of the cliff. “You’re a bully Lance, you like picking on people smaller than yourself it’s not so fun now is it?”

Lance stopped walking “What?” This made Shiro stop too gearing up for a fight, Lance looked shocked but his face was red, he was probably really mad.

“I- you, when in the heck-” Lance took a breath his face still pink “When the heck did I bully you?”

Shiro growled “Don’t even try to gaslight me! Always persting me, teasing me about the gym when you knew I only had one arm, asking where I was- teasing that I never go out like the rest of the kids!” Lance now looked panicked “Hunk! Did it look like I was bullying him!?” Shiro clenched his fists and he knew Hunk would back Lance up and make him believe he was crazy.

“Uh yeah you kinda do, bud. Everyone stopped talking to you because they thought you like bullying disabled kids.” Lance looked betrayed “And you didn’t say anything!?”

“I did? Thousands of times, you were too busy staring at Shiro saying,” He clasped his hands together “Oh Shiro is so pretty, his scar looks so badass ohh~”

The three could only stare at Hunk as he looked at Lance expectantly.

Hunk was the worst.

Lance took a long breath “I am so embarrassed right now.” He stomped past Hunk disappearing into the jungle.

Shiro was still confused, “I...what was that?” Hunk shrugged “He came out to me a while ago but no matter who it is Lance can’t flirt to save his life, I kept telling him you weren’t interested but it’s like talking to a wall.”

Shiro glanced back, this...wait.

“Lance likes me?”

“Yep.”

“He...was flirting with me?”

“Yes, tragic I know, you should’ve seen how he flirted with Jenny Darling, she slapped him across the face, sorry Shiro I just couldn’t say anything because he liked you but- yeah.”

Shiro could only stare ahead as Lance kept power walking away...he had a lot to process.

Keith almost dies and Lance gives him mouth to mouth at the moment and saves him, Lance tries to flirt with Keith and Shiro see’s how bad at it he is and see’s Keith get mad.

Shiro could see Lance about to have another go, no - he couldn’t deal with this “Lance,” He stopped putting a hand around his shoulder “Can I have a second?”

“Huh, Of course Shiro.” Lance followed easily with a skip in his step. Maybe Lance still had a crush on him...no forget that.

“Lance?”

“Yeah.”

“You are really bad at flirting.”

“Wah0 I resent that- I mean I….I know…” He sighed in defeat and Shiro pressed his lips together he felt really bad for him.

He then coaches him and Lance looks proud and oh no, feelings.

Shiro see;s first hand how BAD Lance’s flirting actually is. He sits down and talks to him about Keith and why Keith thinks he hates him and both of them talk. Lance says

“Shiro- I never thought you any less, you have such a big personality and you fill up the whole room, I knew I had no chance because you were so amazing! You always tried so hard at everything, grades gym I mean did you have to clib that rope one-handed? I can barely even do it with two hands did you have to flex so hard?”

“I um- I always thought since I…” he glanced at his hand, it was a strange weapon for a game to turn his disability into his strongest weapon he sighed “When I lost my hand I...I saw the looks everyone gave me, polite pity- they walked around like I was on eggshells but after a while the [word for fanfar] faded and kids y’know, so I never realised you were genuine. I don’t think Keith does either, you flirt okay with girls alright- why are you such a mess?” Lance laughed “Well it’s normal to flirt with girls, but with guys? How is it obvious it’s flirty or just bro’s being bros or just a close friend? I go over the top just to state it but I come across as a jackass.”

It was actually kinda romantic the soft glow of the sun piercing the trees like they were tucked away in this little den of the jungle.

Lance takes a breath watching as Keith runs water out of his hair, okay the mullet was growing on him.

“Keith?”

“Hmm?”

Lance swallows “I uh, I’ve been to tell you this for a while,” His heart was pounding “I uh- I know we never got along.”

Keith scoffed “Understatment.”

Lance laughed nervously “Uh yeah so I um-” He waited and now he head Keiths attention, just- just blurt it out.

“Okay- look I like you, okay?” He was sweating buckets. And when he glanced up he could hear rushing in his ears.

Keith’s face looked shocked- not good. Then it fell, oh god not good.

“I’m sorry Lance,” no.

“I don’t feel the same.”

“That’s cool-” Lance stood up abruptly and Keith flinched.

“No Lance look I’m sorry-”

“It’s fine!” Lance bit standing up abruptly “You're not responsible for my feelings, let’s just- pretend this never happened.”

Lance left him alone and Keith’s hand fell glancing away with a scowl.

Shiro waved then his face fell when he saw Lance stomp past, barely even looking at him.

Before he could even ask Hunk came up “SHiro we have a problem.”

They have to distract the guards so Keith could get his crystal.

Lance is upset because Keith doesn’t like him (because he thinks he’s a girl and thats not true)

“Hunk pass me a water bottle.”

“Easy man we can’t run out- Lance?”

Lance empties it out completely then stomps forward then it changes to a sultry walk and Shiro almost rushes forward “What is he doing!?” Hunk grabs him just as Keith appears to see Lance walking towards the guards.

“What’s going on-”

They watch from far away as Lance begins to wobble and collapses against the other guard “Help! I...I’m so thirsty…” He gasped, clinging to one of the guards the other jumped up and grabbed a water as the other helped him sit down. Both distracted.

Shiro blinked “I uh- guess we should go.”

Shit- they were going to see Shiro- fuck.

Lance grabbed the guard who flinched expecting an attack then froze as Lance kissed him.

Lance pulled back with a smirk “Sorry I can’t resist a guy i uniform.” The Galra blinked then smirked “There’s no need to resist, have at it.”

To know he could only attract video game characters was just plain sad.

There was a commotion and Lance flinched “What was that-” Crap,

He lunged wrapping his legs around the guys throat and body slammed him to the ground, the other jumped not expecting it, his gun a way away and Lance leaped dodging a hit and swung with his own, it hurt like a motherfucker, he yelped then cried out when the other guard stood up and wrapped his arm around Lance’s neck.

Lance jumped his legs kicking out and slammed into the first guard

Lances palm thrusted up towards the others face, he then grappled landing towards the gun and shot

-one-two.

Both bodies fell and Lance stood on shaky legs, that was intense- why did Pidge make it look so easy?

He glanced up and saw Shiro looking at him his mouth gaping open. Lance scowled “I’m not that incompetent y’know.” He scowled stomping towards him, SHiro shook his head “no- you, you were amazing.”

Lance faltered “huh,”

Shiro actually looked star struck it was the first time on this trip he wasn’t looking at Lance in disdain.

“You were uh, really cool.” Lance blinked then smirked “You can’t be the cool one all the time,” He shoved at Shiro and ran ahead, long hair swishing back and forth.

And Shiro gazed ahead until a bullet ricotched beside him, oh yeah- video game, only so many lives- CONCENTRATE!

-Return to the real world and Lance feel hopeless and wants nothing to do with anything, they finished the game but his heart was so tender, Shiro was so nice but he didn’t like him and Keith- Keith was...gone, he wasn’t with them.

He trudged up the stairs “Lance? Lance where are you going-”

“I...I need to be alone, I’m sick of you guys already.” He teased almost tripping up the steps as he walked out into the hall, most students had left.

Shiro found him “Lance? Are you okay?” Lance shook his head his lip wobbling “I...he’s gone SHiro, Keith isn’t here and I dont- I don’t knew where he is or if he’s okay-” Shiro drew him in and Lance collapsed against him squeezing his eyes shut taking a shuddering breath.

“Lance, he’s okay,”

“How do you know?”

“I just do. Believe me, Keith made it out with all of us.”

Lance leaned back and scrubbed at his eyes “I just- I don’t know what to do now…”

“We’ll figure it out together, one step at a time.” Here Lance glanced up “What?”

“Just because we’re not playing a video game anymore doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.” Lance mouth fell open then shut.

“I...are you sure? I mean in Jumanji we had to - but you want to hang out with us?” Shiro shrugged “Not like I have anyone else, Hunk and Pidge we bonded. For life.” Shiro said seriously with the smolder that Lance burst out laughing in surprise.

“Oh my god- is that ingrained? Are you going to do that forever?” Shiro pouted “I thought you liked my smolder?” Lance shoved him “Lay off it doesn’t affect me anymore.”

Lance eyes crinkled in mirth then his gaze snapped to something in the distance, black hair.

No way.

“Lance?”

Shiro turned to see what Lance was looking at and both froze.

Keith’s video game counterpart looked older- they all did, older and more scarred.

This Keith looked young, and adorable, and Lance thought maybe Keith didn’t know who he was. Lance swallowed and began to move away.

Until Keith met his eyes, and he physically flinched “Lance?” Eyes wide, Lance blinked “Keith?” He couldn’t hope, until Keith began to move towards him, Lance almost wanted to run away.

Until Keith grabbed him around the face and kissed him.

...huh?

Keith leaned back looking frantic “Lance- you- you know who I am, Jumanji? Right?” Now he looked panicked and Lance was too busy trying to process...that.

“I uh yeah I remember...what was that?” He tried then got sidetracked as the others appeared.

“Keith?”

“Keith!”

“Man you are tiny!” Shiro laughed and Keith growled “Take that back!”

It was surreal, keith kissed him. And no one seemed to care?

“So what happened?”

Keith sat down as the other students left school and it was just them outside as it closed.

“I was trapped in Jumanji two years ago, and when you guys saved me I woke up back where I was when I first got trapped in the game like no time had past, and at first I didn’t recognise you guys you were so different.”

“First of Lance was mean and Pidge- I mean Katie,”

“It’s fine, I’m starting to like Pidge.”

“Heh, I even spoke to Lance but...he didn’t remember me. I was crushed.” Lance’s eyes widened “What- huh when was this?”

“Two years ago- I thought...I thought you just wanted to forget, but then I found Shiro and asked about Jumanji and he had no clue- I stopped talking to you guys because I thought it was a dream, or it would affect the outcome, I almost lost hope until just there-”

“Dude what if I didn’t remember!?” Lance cried out and Keith shrugged “Then it would’ve been awkward.”

Just awkward huh?

Shiro chuckled “I could see how- the whole thing is a bit fantastic even I don’t believe it.” he laughed and Lance even paused at the others and realised...nothing would be the same.

And Keith kissed him like it was normal.

“Why did you kiss me?”

“Huh?”

“I’m saying why did you kiss me-”

“Why do you sound mad?” Keith growled looking defensive and Lance exploded “I was giving you so many hints dude! You- YOU were the one that said I don’t see you that way!? What the hell?” Lance was seething and no answer will be good enough nothing can explain it.

“No- just no- I don’t want to hear it. Forget it.”

“Lance where are you going-”

“What about what we’ve just been through!”

Lance whirled back around “unlike you guys I must’ve been in a different game because that wasn’t fun- I didn’t enjoy myself and I just- I want to be alone okay!”

He stomped away his eyes burning.

Shiro and Keith finds him “Lance...Lance can we talk?”

Lance looked away “I don’t have anything to say-”

“Well I do- I’m sorry but Lance you have to understand when I first met you, you looked like a girl.”

“Yeah and?”

“You didn’t say you weren’t a girl- I assumed and I- I’m gay at that point I thought maybe I should revise my label because you were different I actually liked you I’m just really not attracted to girls so in Jumanji if I’d known-”

Lance could only watch how Keith rambled, he was really nervous about this.

“But if you like Shiro instead that’s fine.”

“What- no- hold on I can’t just pick one of you that’s not fair!” His heart couldn’t take it.

Keith blinked “WHo said anything about picking? If you like me and you like Shiro then what’s not to get.”

Lance glanced at the two and Shiro wasn’t saying anything.

Lance was always trying to have at least one of them notice him, he thought maybe he just wasn’t likable, “I..this isn’t a video game you guys, it’s not that easy.”

“Yeah and we only have one life,” Shiro said wrapping one arm against Lance and pulling him close while Keith moved from the other side both boxing him in.

“So I don’t want to have regrets. Lance, I learned who you are, you were yourself in Jumanji and that was the real you, the one I fell in love you. I believed like everyone the persona you put on and I want to get to know more about you-without the life and death obstacles.” Lance laughed his hand latching out to grab Keiths.

“This is real, not that I’m dreaming in maths again?”

“No this is real- count your fingers.”

Lance laughed and shoved Keith “What?”

“Count your fingers, you have extra in your dreams.”

“What did you get that from teen wolf huh?”

“The fact that you know teen wolf makes you look just as bad-”

“Did you actually try it? The dream finger thing?”

“Yeah and it works!” Shiro chuckled watching as the sun set.

The next day Lance smirks as the look over the game “So want to play it again?”

That was answered when SHiro slammed the game into the school bin and Lance laughed “You could’ve just said.”

________________________________________________