#klance should be end-game

[soulreapin]

FIC! REC! FRIDAY!

hey folks you already know the name of this game: its friday and i recommend some fanfictions to you that ive read this week or some other week and you go show their authors some love!

1. i love you in the morning when the blood runs to your cheeks by lelex (15k, general audiences, klance)

FARMERS MARKET AU. keith runs a small knife sharpeners business and is roped into running a market stall by shiro, who already works there. lance works at his mother’s bakery, which also has a stall.

ive read this one like three times because its so damn cute and i love how they wrote keith. if this author has a tumblr please send them my way 😁

2. if i say jump, you just say “how high?” (i think you might love me to death) by negativefouriq/autisticlancemcclain (9k, teen&up, klance)

canonverse fic where somehow somewhere keith has it in his head him and lance are lovers. lance cannot find it in himself to say otherwise. this one shoots me in the foot everytime i read it because keith is SO attentive and knows lance down to the letter. get me a man like that.

3. never judge a book by nostalgicish (3k, teen&up, klance)

modern au where lance and hunk are library assistants at their local college. they like to kin assign people books and genres to pass the time, but when a strange, gruff looking dude walks in to pick up pride and prejudice…shit happens.

GUYS this one is so cute i beta-read it and stal is a very good friend of mine So. everyone should partake in classical romance reader keith.

4. speak for the stars by speaks (ao3 account required! 49k, teen&up, klance)

canonverse fix-it with black paladin lance! guys this is one of my absolute favorites. this is the klance bible to me. this is how voltron ended, this is canon, and no one can tell me otherwise. make an ao3 account if you dont have one and read it.

5. would you like fries with that? by deerstalkerdeathfrisbee

modern au where keith is a minimum wage employee at a burger king and lance comes in recreationally to cry and get french fries.

this one is SO cute and so silly. i too would break down in a burger king drive through if the worker asked for my order.

happy friday, yall, enjoy your reading material and tell your author friends you love them xoxo soulreapin

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 54

hello and welcome to fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

all i want for christmas by tusslee

“Listen,” Lance squeezes Keith’s fingers in his hands, “I’m as bad at this as you probably are and this is going to be really cheesy, but that’s the way I was raised and I know I act like an idiot around pretty girls, but I’m an even bigger idiot around you. Go ahead and try to guess why that is. No, actually don't do that."

this one is gonna be an xmas special!! even though im writing this before halloween lol. anyways. this was so cute!! lance being all stressed about what he should get keith bc he's all in love w him any everything. so real.

2. You're Here (Where You Should Be) by @blue-wanderer

"And if you’re worried about the cameras just take care of them.” “Take care—! Take care of them? With what, Keith?” “I don’t know?” Keith asks, busily testing his foothold in the gate and generally ignoring the rising storm cloud of ire behind him. “With a gun?” “A gun? This isn’t some sort of black ops storming an enemy base thing! This is a Christmas tree thing!” “I don’t see a difference? You’re the sharpshooter. Shoot out the cameras.” “Let me just pull a gun out of my ass, Keith!” “OK, problem solved,” Keith agrees, taking another step up the gate. “Nothing is solved you dumb country space redneck!”

Or Keith and Lance may be disasters at decorating, but Christmas still manages to work its magic on them.

i bookmarked this like a year ago and let me tell you all i needed to hear was dumb country space redneck and i was hooked 😭😭 and it lived up to the name fr. hate the canon ending? want lance to not be a farmer while still acknowledging his struggles with homesickness? want some whipped keith and meddlesome kosmo? want some cheesy xmas feels? click ahead!

3. make my wish come true by angelbolt

“A world where one has to fight for custody of one’s boyfriend is a godless one,” Lance muttered, slumping so he was leaning against Hunk. Shiro exchanged some final words with Kolivan before the screen blipped out. Ah yes, the ideal Christmas Eve: long boring talks and war meetings. Wonderful. ❆❅❆ keith comes home for christmas.

fun game idea: take a shot every time you see a klance xmas fic with a mariah carey lyric. lol. ANYWAYS yall know me and established relationship + early season dynamics!! i am obsessed!! and this fic delivers!! grumpy lance pov who just wants the rest of the world to fuck off for a couple days so he can have his bf around. he's such a voice of the people

4. i'll be home for christmas by @thespacenico

A severe bout of winter weather threatens to stop Shiro from making it home for his first Christmas with Keith. Shiro is ready to do whatever it takes to keep his promise.

okay this one is from darcy's i've got you brother, which i am obsessed with and have cried over several times, and which just recently updated! this fic is so cute and a adashi with young keith always fucking gets to me, man. they're just so. shiro being so desperately determined to keep his promise to young keith who has had so many promises broken that he doesnt even expect shiro to try. but is happy that he does. sobbing.

5. the greatest gift of all by dumpsterdiva

Keith’s mouth hung open for a few seconds before he stammered, “D-do you really mean that?” Lance looked a bit sheepish as he said, “I… It’s crazy, right? I mean, it’s way too soon. You know I was kidding.” Keith straightened up. “Well, I’m not. Marry me.” “What?!” “You heard me, you coward. Marry me.” “That’s the worst proposal ever!” “Worse than you threatening me with marriage so I would stop talking about how amazing you are?”

YOU GUYS KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT PROPOSAL FICS. i feel ksjbskdbqjdbqwlwd about them. okay. and throw in a christmas setting??? and banter?? and a MODERN AU?? i am doing my best, people. this fic had me shoving a pillow into my face and screaming.

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

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

Can I ask, if you have top favorite romantic couples (can be canon or non canon) of all time from any media? Why love them? Thx :D

... now this, took a minute to answer in some ways. There a lot of ships I like, so this was really easy and hard to answer at the same time. Some ships it was an immediate yep yep and others I had to go '... but is it a fav of all time, though?" But I think I got it narrowed down.

So here we go, fav ships of all time from any media, no particular order. I didn't get any specific no. to do so I'll just list a handful until I can't think of any others. (Anyone who comes across this that sees a ship on here you don't like and feels the need to say something about it, stay in your lane this ain't about your opinions it's about mine.)

The main FMA ships

Arakawa Hiromu, nigga, you cooked. Imma just put the FMA ships as one and leave it there because if I do it separately, we'll be here all day. But if you wanna see me diving into why I like these ships in a manic ramble, here's a post I made on that here. The romance in FMA is literally a category and a discussion all on its own that I can go about on for hours. FMA has the best romances in shounen so anyone who has consumed FMA will know what I'm talking about. Like, whenever anyone tries to use a manga being 'shounen' to justify shitty romantic writing, I point at FMA's brilliant riding. An animanga's demographic is not an excuse for terrible executions in romance. EdWin, RoyAi, LingFan, AlMei and all the side ships drank and left no molecules.

NaruSaku

Toxic shippers, again, stay in your lane, I don't feel like dealing with y'all any day. I have been shipping this shit for years, always have, always will. Ignore the fact I ship Sakura with literally everyone from the Akatsuki to Hinata to Sai to Shikamaru. (Y'all I used to look up Kisame/Sakura fics, unironically TAT). (Same for Naruto honestly, I've shipped him with Sasuke, Ino, Temari, Tenten, the list goes on and on.) The way Sakura goes from finding Naruto annoying to almost dying multiple times to keep him safe, I will never EVER be over that. Naruto's love going from puppy to something as passionately red as the thread of fate itself. The MinaKushi parallels. I have a lot (and I mean a lot) of ships in Naruto pertaining to these two, but NaruSaku is my absolute favorite. Like it was literally confirmed that Sakura got over Sasuke and then it got retconned for some bullshit. Saying it with my whole chest, argue with a wall, it should have been them. I won't dog any other ships, but yeah, it should have been them. 699 chapters of Naruto being in love with one woman, I sing the praises everyday.

SakuHina

Hinata's prince charming is literally Sakura. I have a whole ass fic I am slowly, painstakingly writing about what Naruto would have been like if Hinata had a crush on Sakura the whole time. I just think they're really cute together, have amazing chemistry and balance each other out. I didn't expect to like SakuHina as much as I did but here we are.

Kyoru

I mentioned it before in another answered ask but Fruits Basket was my first manga (if you're curious what my first anime was, it was Yu Yu Hakusho) and Kyoru was probably my first OTP. There are two characters I think upon so many rewatches and rereads that were prime game for who Kyo and Tohru could have ended up with had things been different (which, I do really ship as well. Multishipper here guys) but I'm not mad about the endgames that we got. From start to finish, Kyo and Tohru's relationship is beautiful and you can feel how strongly they feel for one another. It's like, wow, Takaya really gave us one of the best ships in shoujo and didn't even apologize for it.

Klance

Red + Blue = True. They had chemistry, supplemented for what the other lacked and we really don't need to have me diving into the bs that was VLD. That show wasn't even out long, my god, it was a mess.

NeuviFuri

Should I explain to you the romanticism of Hydro x Hydro? Oof how I love them. A Genshin ship after my own heart, truly. But if anyone is trying to against MiHoyoverse (I was here from the Mihoyo days, leave me alone) in terms of seeing who ships NeuviFuri more, we all lose. They literally paid people to do an ice dancing program in NeuviFuri cosplay, paid a guy to make a companion piece to Furina's song from Neuvillette's perspective and several other animations concerning their relationship in some way. But the Mihoyoverse shenanigans aside, it's the build up of 400+ years of working together, the care they still have for one another and yes the complementary abilities and color palettes. Not enough time in the day to talk about them, I don't think.

AriDante

Almost thought I wouldn't have a gif for them, then I remembered THEY GOT A MOVIE. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is one of my favorite books in the world. I have reread it once a year religiously since 2017 when I first discovered it. This is such a beautiful novel and relationship and if you haven't had the pleasure of reading it or the sequel, please do yourself a favor and buy it or rent it from your local library. It's just, the way Ari has been in love with Dante for so long and didn't even realize it but it's so, so clear to the reader because of just how he talks and describes him? I don't even want to go to deep into this one just in case there's someone here that hasn't read this book because it deserves to be read and experienced blind. Just, just please y'all read it.

[shsy7573]

Something

A Voltron Fanfiction by shsy7573 a langst addict

Description: As torturous as a war with the Galra is, it’s nothing compared to the constant mockery from inside Lance’s mind. When the team partakes in a training exercise designed to help them confront their insecurities, and grow closer as a team, Lance knows he’s screwed. No way they’ll want him around once they see how pathetic he really is. Will our favourite Blue Paladin be able to hide his misery, from the team, or will he break, and reveal to the team just how much he hates himself?

Info: Langst. Hurt/comfort. Original Paladins. Tbh this is probably one of my weaker fics. It’s not really descriptive. Mainly just focused on the feelings. Nonetheless, I’ve always enjoyed rereading it because of the concept.

Relationships: Klance, but it’s mild. Barely there.

Note: Tumblr kinda jacked up the formatting. I seriously need to get myself an AO3 account, but writing for that site intimidates me for whatever reason.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance scanned the battlefield, his heart pumping rapidly as the supposedly easygoing mission went off the rails. They had planned to take over a small, low activity Galra base to try and find more information on what Zarkon and his people were planning. Unfortunately, this “low activity” base ended up being extremely more well defended than they’d thought.

There were Galra ships everywhere, spread out across the sky like a giant beehive. The Paladins were swamped, and the Castle of Lions had been forced to draw back for risk of colossal damage. With all the chaos, there was no opportunity to converge and form Voltron. Each Paladin was, for the most part, on their own.

And Lance was drowning.

He veered swiftly to the left as a Galra ship charged him from behind. Kieth flew by at the exact same time, and if it had been anyone other than The Red Paladin, there would have been a collision. Kieth banked up, and Lance just had time to shoot a laser at the ship tailing him before he and his lion ran face first into the debris.

“Watch it, Lance!” Kieth spat, and Lance cringed.

“Sorry!” He yelled.

There wasn’t enough time to dwell on it though, because the ship that had been on Lance had recovered from the Blue Paladin’s change in course, and was shooting at him again.

Lance groaned, trying to dodge around the lasers, taking one or two hits to the back. He yelled, his heart jumping as another squadron of battleships came at him from the front. Reacting fast, he sent Blue into a barrel roll, hoping the Galra ships would collide.

Fortunately, they did. Unfortunately, so did he and Pidge. The Green Lion, who apparently had been chasing the Galra ships, met the Blue Lion head on, both going at full speed and sending the Paladins into a tailspin.

“Lance, what the hell?!” Pidge yelled as they both regained control.

Lance chastised himself inwardly.

“Sorry Pidge!”

His mind was screaming at him. Way to go, fuck up!

“Lance! Look out!”

He looked up to see a Galra ship as it powered up a blaster. With how close it was, he should have already seen it.

Shiro flew by in the Black Lion, slicing through the ship with his jaw blade and putting it out of commission.

“Lance! You need to pay attention!”

“Sorry!” He said for probably the 10th time since the start of the battle.

What is wrong with you? Get your head in the game! You can’t even-

His thoughts were interrupted as he was once again forced to bank out of the way of a Galra ship. Sadly, he was too slow to react, and as he swerved upwards a beam of purple light collided with Blue’s underbelly. Lance screamed as he was jostled around in his seat, trying to regain control as another beam hit him on his left.

So now you can’t even fly? What are you doing?! I thought Paladins were supposed to be expert pilots!

“Lance!” Someone yelled as he tried and failed to gain control of Blue. More and more Galra ships getting hits in on his Lion.

Useless piece of shit! They all know it!

“Lance, control yourself!”

“Someone needs to help him!”

“There’s too many of them!”

“Fall back!”

Before he knew it, Hunk and his lion had grabbed hold of Blue and were pulling Lance out of the battlefield. The others joined up with them, and Lance felt tears welling up in his eyes.

As the Galra fleet fell away from view, Lance was able to retake control of his lion. Hunk let go, and they made their way back to the castle. Mission failed.

“Lance, what was going on out there?” Kieth asked, ever the hothead. Lance didn’t reply, only lifting his gloved hand to whisk away his tears. His mind was screaming at him.

You can’t fly for shit, that’s what! You think they’re gonna want you around after that debacle? I’m surprised it took you this long royally fuck. They’re gonna see it now! You’re not fit to be a Paladin!

—

They arrived back at the Castle of Lions, and for a couple minutes all Lance could do was pull off his helmet and just… sit there. Unable to bear the looks of utter disappointment on his teammates' faces. Unable to face the resentment.

Then he heard Shiro’s voice over the coms.

“Post-mission briefing on the bridge.”

Lance sighed, and finally forced himself out of Blue’s seat. He dragged himself to the control room, trying to stay as far back and out of sight as possible.

Shiro began speaking, but Lance could hardly hear him over the scrutiny going on in his own brain.

You don’t belong here! You know it. They know it. They’d be better off without you.

“Guys, this can’t happen again. We cannot lose our heads in a time of crisis. If we’re going to win against the Galra, we need to work harder. Not just individually, but as a team. We were completely divided out there, and we kept getting in each other’s way.”

Lance looked down, mainly me. He was certain that’s what everyone was thinking. He bit his lip, trying his damndest not to cry.

“We’ve been focusing on training our bodies, but I think we’ve been neglecting to focus on the most important part of Voltron: our minds. Our connection to ourselves, our lions and to each other is what powers Voltron, farther than any of our individual skills.”

Like anyone would want to connect with you. You’re the problem, you always have been. They’ll turn on you one day, and you’ll deserve it. Maybe you should just speed up the process. Get out of their lives before they come to hate you on their own. But you won’t, you’re too weak. Too cowardly to face the reality of that decision. Too selfish to give up your friendships for the universe.

“Lance!” A voice cut through the noise. Lance looked up to see Shiro staring at him.

“Are you even listening?”

They hate you.

“I, uh- yeah.” He could feel his skin crawling at all the eyes on him.

“Then what did I say?”

“Voltron is powered by our minds, or something.” It was the last thing he remembered.

The irritated muttering around the room caused him to assume he’d guessed wrong.

“Lance, I need you to be paying attention when I’m talking.”

Lance sighed, looking back down at his feet, “sorry.”

Had he been looking up, he’d have seen the slight edge of concern in The Black Paladin’s gaze before he continued. “Anyways… what I was saying is that tomorrow afternoon we’ll meet on the training deck to go through some mental team building exercises. I’m sure Coran has a few ideas.”

Lance nodded, but kept his gaze trained on the ground.

You’ll probably fuck it up, like you do everything.

“That I do. Don’t you worry Shiro, I’ll get it sorted.”

Lance looked up just enough to see Shiro nod. “In that case, you’re all dismissed.”

Lance turned, and headed out of the control room. His mind swimming with self ridicule. He could feel the tears threatening to fill his eyes. The days’ failures replaying over and over again in his mind.

Idiot. Useless. Screw up everything.

Suddenly, he felt a hand grab him by the arm, pulling him back slightly and forcing him to stop.

“Lance, wait.”

The Blue Paladin looked up to see Shiro gazing at him curiously.

“Is… everything alright?”

No. Lance forced a grin, “of course! Why wouldn't it be?”

“I just… you seem… distracted.”

Lance shook his head, forcing his smile to become even brighter. “I’m fine. I promise. See you in training tomorrow!”

He pulled his arm free, and began to walk (a little too quickly) to his room.

As soon as the door closed, he collapsed on the ground. Tears spilled out of his eyes. What was he doing here? He was no Paladin? He had no place here. Nobody here wanted him around, he was just their only option. If they had anyone else to fly Blue, they’d take them in an instant. Anyone would be better than you!

“Fucking useless,” he whimpered to himself, burying his head in his knees.

“All I do is mess things up.”

“I’m an idiot.”

“No one wants me around.”

“I’m…”

He trailed off, his throat closing up as he voiced his darkest thoughts to the empty room. Sobs racked his body. He sat there, back pressed against the door, letting tears spill down his face. Crying at the truth of it all. That he was the problem, he was the weak link. All he brought to the team was bad jokes and annoyance.

He had no special skills.

No special purpose.

He was nothing special.

He was just nothing.

—

The next day, Lance woke up as he usually did. Early. With a skip in his step, a smile on his face, and a silent prayer that today wouldn’t be the day that the mask slipped. That today wouldn’t be the day they saw how useless he really was.

He went to breakfast with the team. Pidge was still a little irritated at him for running into her. Kieth was broody, as usual. Hunk and Coran were happy. Shiro and Allura were focused.

Lance, as usual, was cracking jokes to try and lighten the mood. To try and drown out the voice in his head. To try and fein cheerfulness.

And the others, as usual, we’re not having any of it.

“Lance, can you shut up for five minutes so that we can eat in peace?!” Pidge snapped. “I swear it’s like you’re trying to piss me off.”

Lance smiled brighter on the outside, but on the inside, his mind screamed.

“Aw, did the Pigeon wake up on the wrong side of the bed?” He teased, and she grumbled, turning away.

He saw Keith roll his eyes, and heard him muttering under his breath.

You can’t let up can you? If you’re not royally screwing up a mission, you’re annoying the shit out of everyone.

But he would rather annoy them into not paying attention than allow them to see how worthless he was.

Selfish? Probably. But, he couldn’t help it.

Besides, if Pidge was angry he’d rather she take it out on him than the rest of the team. Unlike the rest of them, he deserved it.

—

And then the afternoon rolled around. Lance headed for the training deck, something akin to apprehension churning in his gut.

Come on Lance, afraid of a training session? A Paladin should be better than that.

He steeled himself, and entered the training deck.

Everyone else was already there. Lance couldn’t help chastising himself for that. Even though he wasn’t late, he was last. He’d kept them waiting.

“Has Coran said what we’re doing yet?” He asked, banishing the thoughts aside. If today was meant to train his mind, to connect them, he had to keep his negativity as far away as possible.

They all shook their heads as he reached the group.

“No, I haven’t even seen him since this morning,” Pidge said. Lance was glad to see that she seemed less aggressive now. Maybe a bit of time to wake up had calmed her temper at his previous fuck-upery.

Not that she’d be wrong to still be pissed.

Lance smiled wider.

Just then, Coran entered the room, holding a mass of technology in his arms.

“I’m here! I’m here! Sorry, I’d hoped to have this all set up before you arrived but—“

“It’s okay, Coran. We’re not in a rush.” Shiro assured.

Hunk smiled and walked over, “need some help?”

Pidge joined her friend as Coran nodded and they began setting up, the Altean telling Pidge and Hunk how to hook everything up.

Why didn’t you offer to help? Useless.

But then his own mind fired back.

You’re too stupid to help with something like this. It’s too complicated.

Lance resisted the urge to wince, refusing to let his expressions betray his inner rebuke. So far he wasn’t doing a very great job at keeping negativity out of training.

Then again, you never could do anything right.

He was grateful as Hunk, Pidge and Coran finished setting up. It meant he’d have something else to focus on.

His dreams of distraction were crushed as Coran began to explain the exercise.

“Today's exercise will be all about overcoming your mental barriers. In combat, you need to be completely open with each other, and having blockades and hidden insecurities can distract you from working as a cohesive whole. Today, the team will be given the chance to travel into each Paladin’s mindscape. Not actually, of course, mind travel is very dangerous and can more often than not lead to disastrous consequences. That’s where all this technology comes in. This will simulate a sort of virtual landscape for you all to traverse through. It should still be accurate, but it will prevent any serious harm coming to any of you.”

Lance’s stomach somersaulted. Travelling… into his mind… to face his insecurities?!

No way they’ll want you around after this.

Lance took a deep breath. Maybe he could worm his way out of it. Maybe he could delay, and they would run out of time and not get to him. Maybe he could fake illness closer to his turn. The healing pods didn’t cure sickness so he’d just be sent back to his room to rest.

They were feeble wishes, but a boy can dream.

—

Unfortunately for Lance, they did have time for him. All day, dread had been clawing at his chest, and he’d taken every possible opportunity to have someone else go first.

But… he couldn’t put it off any longer. He had really considered faking a migraine or some shit, but if any of them found out they’d think he was being lazy. Or worse, they’d question why he wanted out so close to his turn anyways.

They’d been through Shiro’s mindscape. Forcing him to confront his fears and regrets about his time with the Galra, and helping him accept that it was all just survival. The Galran prisoner he used to be was running purely off instinct, and the Shiro they knew would never be so callous. They also helped him wrestle with the guilt and pain of leaving Adam behind.

They’d been through Pidge’s mindscape. Helping to quell her fears about not being able to find her parents. They’d sworn they would help her, and do whatever it took to get Matt and her father back.

They’d been through Hunk’s mindscape. Helping him through all the anxieties and fears that had taken hold of him over his years at the Garrison, and now in space. They’d consoled him by telling him that he was brave. That it was okay to be scared. And that he would never be alone.

They’d gone through Keith’s mindscape. Begrudgingly, he’d admitted to his feelings of lostness. How he wanted to feel a sense of self, and get to know who he was and where he came from. They’d told him they would help in whatever way they could, but that at the end of the day ‘who he was’ depended solely on him. Not who his parents were. They’d even gone as far as to say Voltron could be his family if he let it.

And now… now Lance had to go.

And he was terrified.

Coward! Afraid of what they might find? Afraid they’ll see how worthless their Blue Paladin really is?!

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he stared at the mindscape device in his hands. He looked up at Shiro, who smiled down at him.

“We’re right here with you.” He assured.

Lance smiled.

But for how long?

He pushed the voice away, pushed everything away. All his thoughts, feelings and emotions.

Then, he put on the device, and closed his eyes. The world around him melted away, and when he reopened his eyes, he found himself standing on a beach. The ground beneath him which he knew technically shouldn’t, felt soft. Having been through several mindscapes by now, he was used to the strange faux sensations they caused. Making it seem like you were actually there.

He looked around as the other Paladins faded in, and took in their surroundings.

Finally, it was Pidge who asked, “where are we?”

Lance smiled as he spotted a house on the hill, not far from the beachfront.

“My home.”

—

They made their way up the hill, Lance making absolutely certain that everything they saw was what he wanted them to see. Keeping the nasty voice that haunted his conscious locked behind the walls of this fabricated world.

Okay, fabricated wasn’t exactly the best word. This was all still very real. It was just something he was more comfortable showing the team. Something understandable. Something sweet. Something wholesome.

Something better to the alternative. Something easier.

They reached the house, and Lance grinned as he saw his little niblings playing in the front yard. Rolling around the grass, wrestling over a yellow toy truck.

They didn’t see him though, nor did they see the other Paladins. At the end of the day, they were just spectators to a virtual reality. They weren’t actually in Lance’s mind, and thus, couldn’t interact.

“Aww, they’re so cute! Who are they?” Pidge said, cooing as they drew nearer.

“Those are my niece and nephew.” He said, smiling fondly. He’d missed them so much. He’d missed them all so much.

Almost as if his mind was reflecting this, the house seemed to pull away, just slightly. Not quite letting the Paladins reach it.

Lance frowned.

“Woah… what was that?” Hunk asked, looking at Lance.

“I’m… not sure,” he admitted.

He could feel the fringes of his paradise shudder as an insult tried to break through. He didn’t let it. He couldn’t. Not with the Paladins watching.

But he could see their unease as the trembling surrounding the area scape passed.

Fortunately, his mother emerged from the house before they had time to question it.

She began spewing how she missed him, and he felt tears prick his eyes.

Each time they got close to the house it shifted away again. Pretty soon they caught on.

Homesickness. Homesickness was the barrier he was choosing to show the Paladins. The guilt for leaving his family behind. It was one he found much easier to bear. One he felt they would understand and accept.

And they did.

They comforted him, and told him it was okay to miss home.

And he thought, just for a moment he thought he’d done it.

He’d really done something right. He hadn’t fucked it up.

“Is this why you were so distracted yesterday? In the battle? You were missing your family?” Shiro asked.

Lance nodded.

And then the voice came rushing in, faster than he could stop it.

A venomous, icy echo twisted around them, filling up the atmosphere.

Liar!

He forced it back, but it was too late. The Paladins were looking around, frightened and confused.

“What was that?” Pidge exclaimed.

Shit.

“I- I don’t know…” he said, his voice dejected. But he found lying much harder in the midst of his panic.

“Lance. What aren’t you telling us?” Keith demanded.

Then it happened. A sharp sound drew Lance’s eyes to the ground, where a crack was beginning to spread beneath his feet.

“What the hell’s happening?!”

“Lance! What’s going on?!”

He couldn’t think. He couldn’t speak. He was frozen. Fear was creeping through his veins, sending a wind rushing through the mindscape.

A Paladin. Afraid of his own brain.

Pathetic!

More cracks. He closed his eyes, and tried to shove the voice away.

There was still time, still an opportunity to hide this, to get past this. He could do this.

“Lance!”

He looked up. Everyone looked scared. He was making them scared. And this was just the surface. No way he could let them see the full force of it!

Nobody would want you around then.

The voice crackled in the wind around them, sharp as a knife, but also sweet as honey. A perfect tone of intoxicating mockery. One that had haunted him for years.

Shards were beginning to fall away, revealing a world of empty blackness, and Lance was panicking.

How disappointing. Paladins aren’t supposed to panic.

“Lance, Lance it’s okay! Just breath buddy. Tell us what’s happening. We can help you!” Shiro assured.

They’ll hate you.

“We won’t!” Hunk tried to reassure, reaching out a hand.

And then the world fell away. The cracks gave way and Lance was falling. Falling. Falling. Falling. Away from the hill. Away from Cuba. Away from his little paradise.

And down

Down

Down

Into the bitter darkness.

Into the truth.

Into the nothing.

—

Lance inhaled sharply, his breath echoing all around him. All he could see was darkness. Darkness above, darkness below and darkness all around. Yet somehow, he was standing on solid ground. He tapped his feet curiously, a faint ringing echoing at the back of his mind. Like when you listen to the silence for too long.

Then he turned around, and found the other Paladins facing him.

His heart lurched. They were here… with him. Dios what has he done?!

“Lance… what- what is this?” Hunk asked, looking at his friend in deep confusion. Concern etched his expression.

“I- I don’t know…”

You never know! Came the voice. Harsher and clearer than it had on the beach house. Pounding in his head and vibrating in his skull.

He turned to see the faint outline of a person against the darkness. Inches from his face. It shoved him with a hiss, that’s the problem!

“Lance!” Keith started forward, sword in hand, but a voice interrupted him.

Are you gonna let him fight your battles?!

Another grey figure appeared in front of Keith, blocking Lance’s view of the Red Paladin.

I thought Paladins were supposed to be strong?!

Another figure appeared to the right of Lance.

But you were never much of a Paladin to begin with, were you?

Lance backed away. He closed his eyes and shook his head, begging it to stop.

Why? Why should we stop? Can’t handle the truth?

“Lance! Lance, it's okay! Look at me!” That was Shiro’s voice. It sounded so far away. Lance looked up to see the other Paladins, slowly disappearing behind a mob of grey.

They pity you.

You think any of them actually want you around.

Something latched onto his arm, digging its claws into his flesh.

After all you’ve done? After everything you’ve messed up?

Images of the earlier fight flickered all around them. Then it was all the fights before. All the times he’d done something wrong.

You’re a screw up, Lance! You don’t deserve to be a Paladin.

Lance was being dragged down. Dragged down by thousands of latching hands. Swarming and smothering him. Suffocating him in his own greatest faults. His biggest insecurities.

And he was faintly aware of the other Paladins screaming for him.

They were seeing all of this.

He hadn’t wanted them to.

Did you really think you could keep this from them? That they wouldn’t find out how weak you are?

How useless you are?

You’re stupider than I thought.

And that’s saying something.

Tears pricked his eyes as more claws dug into his flesh, ripping and tearing as he tried to fight them off.

Nobody wants you around!

I’d say go back home, but I doubt they’d want you either!

More hostile, hungry claws stretched from the crowd, latching onto his skin and screaming in his ears. Lance cried as the claws dug into his skin, but his voice was drowned out by the icy, honeysuckle tone of the never ending voice.

Pathetic

Weak

Selfish asshole

Can’t even deny it.

Lance curled in on himself, tears flowing down his cheeks and sobs racking his body. Surely they would all hate him now, after seeing all this. After seeing what a mess he really was.

Can’t even fight back?

You were never meant to be a Paladin!

You don’t belong here!

You’re just a cargo pilot!

Nothing to offer!

You’re not special!

Pain raked his body as he felt himself being torn apart. In the back of his mind he wondered how they were touching him. Coran said they wouldn’t be able to. But of course, Lance always did seem to do the impossible when it came to screwing up.

They would be better off without you and you know it!

There’s so many better options to pilot the Blue Lion.

Shame they had to settle for you.

He tried not to listen. Tried so hard.

You’re hopeless!

But they were right, weren’t they?

Stupid!

Deadweight!

And in that moment, Lance found himself lost. Succumbing to the sea of his own insecurities. They’d come on this mission to connect as a unit

But…

He had never felt more alone in his entire life.

It was just him, and the voice echoing over and over in his mind.

You’re nothing

—

Lance jolted upright, phantom claws still tearing at his skin as he looked around frantically.

He was back on the training deck. Sitting on the floor. He was fairly certain he hadn’t been on the floor when they’d gone in.

He was breathing heavily, his body shaking as tears ran freely down his cheeks. The only positive right now was that whatever wounds the figures seemed to have inflicted were gone… if they had ever really existed in the first place.

“Lance…” came an empty, uncertain voice. The Blue Paladin looked up to see the other Paladins standing a foot or so away, watching him completely break down after…

After…

Dios! They were gonna hate him. More than they did already!

“I’m sorry,” he whimpered.

If it was possible, he began quivering harder.

At that moment, nobody seemed to know what to do. They were all frozen in some sort of silent shock, mortified by what they’d just witnessed.

And then… to everyone’s surprise… Keith began walking towards Lance.

The Blue Paladin began scrambling away, trying to pull himself to his feet and failing as he stumbled backwards. He raised a feeble hand to try and hide his crying eyes.

Kieth grabbed his arm, catching him as he fell. He tried to pull away, letting out a frantic whimpering sound. But Keith held his grip and pulled Lance towards him.

And then they were hugging. Lance felt slender, firm arms wrapped around his back. He fought against them for a few seconds, but the Red Paladin didn’t let up.

So, Lance folded. Keith dropped to his knees as the boy buried his head in the Red Paladin’s shoulder, clutching the back of his shirt with trembling hands. Sobs raked his body, and Keith only seemed to hold him tighter.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Lance murmured through his sobbing. He hadn’t meant for this to happen. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. What would they think of him now?

Another pair of arms joined them, and Lance heard Hunk whisper in his ear, “It’s okay, buddy.”

Then something small weaselled its way between the hands already around Lance, and he heard Pidge murmur, “we’re right here.”

A hand fell on his shoulder, and Shiro spoke in a calm, affirming voice: “we’re not going anywhere buddy.”

And Lance cried harder. He was sure he was squeezing Keith too hard. He was sure he was making a fool of himself. He was sure they all just pitied him.

“I’m sorry.” He sobbed again wetly. Voice thick with misery. The embrace became more secure, and Lance was acutely aware of Shiro joining it fully.

Then, someone moved their hand into Lance’s hair. Working it between their fingers, and combing it gently. “Don’t—“ Keith rasped. If Lance wasn’t sure they all hated him now, if he wasn’t sure this was just pity, he’d say he heard a quiver in his voice, “don’t apologise.”

And they sat there, Lance sobbing into Keith’s shoulder as the team embraced him from every angle, smothering them in their warmth. This smothering, it wasn’t like what the figures had done. It wasn’t suffocating. In fact, with each passing second it seemed to breathe more life into Lance.

And even though he knew it wouldn’t last, even though he knew his time with the team was at its end…

He didn’t feel so alone anymore.

—

Keith was shell shocked. He couldn’t comprehend it. Lance was supposed to be the happy one. The one who cracked jokes, and… and kept everyone optimistic, and annoyed everyone with his dumb, extremely endearing pick-up lines.

He wasn’t supposed be sad. He wasn’t supposed to be the one falling apart. He wasn’t supposed to believe so little of himself that his own mind turned on him the second it got the chance.

Yet here they were. Lance in Keith’s arms as he carried the Blue Paladin to his room after he’d cried so hard he’d passed out from exhaustion.

It wasn’t right, seeing Lance so broken.

How long has he felt like this? How long had he been hiding it? How long had he been pretending?

Keith wasn’t sure he really wanted to know. Because if his instincts were correct (and they usually were): he never hadn’t been.

The Red Paladin approached Lance’s bed. He propped the boy’s body against him as he pulled back the covers. Then, cradling him gently in his arms (strange that this had happened twice now), he lifted Lance up and set him down on the mattress.

Keith couldn’t believe it. Salty tracks stained the Paladin’s face, and Keith had to fight to keep his own tears down.

Because seeing Lance like this… it hurt.

It was wrong.

It felt more wrong to him than anything had ever felt in his life.

And Keith knew why.

Because ontop of how unbelievable it was that this was how Lance really felt… Keith loved him. He loved Lance so much.

And seeing him like that, completely helpless. Completely broken…

It hurt worse than anything Keith had ever felt before.

And he swore to himself, right there and then, that he would make sure Lance never felt that way again. He wouldn’t give the Paladin room to doubt. He would make him see just how beautiful he was.

—

Lance awoke to a hand in his own - grip weak - and something pressed against his side. He looked around disoriented for a moment. He was aware of a couple things: the person beside him (obviously), the exhaustion and aching in his limbs, the dim lighting, and the stiff skin on his cheeks that came with dried tears.

So he had been crying? Why?

He moved a bit, sitting up to try and see who was with him.

Had they seen him cry? Dios he hoped not.

As he moved, he felt the hand atop his twitch, before the grip grew tighter. Lance gasped as the figure sat up, and blue eyes met black. The hint of violet in them was a dead give away as to who it was, as was the black mop of hair.

Lance would reckognise that mullet anywhere.

“Keith?” He asked.

“Lance!” And the boy in question had never seen Keith look so happy, so relieved. He wasn’t sure why, not like he was in a healing pod or anything.

“What’s goin’ on?” Lance asked, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

And then he remembered. The mindscape, and the figures, and the sobbing and the hugs… and he dropped his gaze.

“…oh.”

He knew his voice sounded small. Weak.

Pathetic.

He couldn’t hold back the wince.

Then a hand squeezed his. “Lance…” Keith tried to turn his gaze towards him, but Lance couldn’t look up. He feared he’d see scrutiny and disgust. He was certain now why Keith had waited by his bedside. He wanted to tell Lance he was off the team. Tell him he couldn’t be the Blue Paladin anymore. Tell him they didn’t want someone on the team who held them back.

And tears flooded his eyes.

“Lance, hey, it’s okay.” Keith brushed a soft hand against the boy’s cheek, brushing away stray tears.

Lance lifted his hands, pushing Keith’s out of the way as he frantically tries to wipe his own eyes. He felt guilty and embarrassed and stupid.

“I’m sorry,” he whimpered, though whether he was apologising for the tears or his very existence he wasn’t sure. He supposed it could be both.

Hands grabbed his face, grip gentle but firm. “Hey, none of that.”

And the tears came even more. Even now he was disappointing Keith with his stupid crying.

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I’m sorry. I- I tried—“

“No, Lance! Don’t apologise.” Keith reiterated.

Of course, Keith didn’t want to see him grovelling. Didn’t want to see his pathetic attempts at asking for forgiveness. He was done with him, and nothing Lance said would change that.

But… dammit a part of him begged to be allowed to stay. Allowed another chance.

He cried harder.

“I know— I know you want me off the team. I know I’m a disappointment. I know I’m just holding you back. But please. Please, I can do better. I’ll work harder. I’ll train every day. Please! Please, Keith, don’t send me away. I- I can’t— I don’t—“ his pleas died out in exchange for desperate sobs.

Look at you. You think this will make him take you back? You’re disgusting! He’s disgusted by you! He’s right to send you away.

You don’t deserve his forgiveness.

You don’t deserve Voltron.

Keith’s voice broke through the terror.

“Woah, hey, hey, hey!” Lance could hear the awkwardness in his voice. Keith never really was good with people. Good with emotions. And here Lance was making it harder by crying all over him.

Deadweight. Dumbass. Worthless.

“No one’s goin’ anywhere. Okay?”

Lance stilled. He sobbing stopped, and he felt like the ground had just been pulled out from under him.

He dared look up, dared meet Keith’s gaze, and was met with nothing but soft, gentle eyes flooded with concern. Concern and heartache.

“What?” He asked weakly.

It didn’t make any sense.

Nothing makes sense to you.

“We're not kicking you out Lance.” Keith said, pain evident in his voice.

Lance was… so confused.

“But…” he couldn’t find the words.

Keith sighed. It wasn’t exasperated, or irritated. Just… heavy. “We need to talk, Lance. You, me, and the rest of the team.”

Oh. So they weren’t kicking him off the team. They were just gonna reprimand him.

I bet it’s because they pity you.

They don’t have the heart to send you to the whims of space. They don’t have the time to drop you back on earth. So once again, they’re just stuck with you.

The deadweight.

The burden.

“Why don’t you come with me.”

And then gentle arms were wrapping around the Blue Paladin’s waste, helping him to his feet. Lance’s legs wobbled, and a new bout of shame engulfed him as he clung tightly to Keith.

Fuck!

—

Keith led him down to the lounge area, keeping a stable, comforting grip around the shaking boy’s form the whole way down. The half-Galra could tell Lance was still exhausted, and for a moment he wondered if he should have told Lance to rest before dragging him all the way down here.

But, Lance was convinced that the team didn’t want him around, and the thought of letting those feelings simmer any longer made Keith’s heart ache.

No, they needed to talk to him. Before Lance regained the ability to try and cover it up… he was rather good at that. Despite all of this, Keith found himself admiring just how good an actor Lance was. He’d managed to get past Keith’s scary accurate instincts, the Red Paladin not having thought for a second that the boy he paid attention to the most on this ship was hurting so much. Not until it all came crashing down.

Which begged the question: What else had Lance been hiding?

Hopefully nothing. But that wasn’t important right now.

What was important is that Lance got help.

—

The others were already waiting for them when they arrived. Lance refused to meet their gaze as he was led by the Red Paladin over to the sitting area, where he was lowered onto a couch. Shame churned in his blood as he stared at his shaking hands. He was pathetic, couldn’t even manage to walk himself.

The tension in the room was thick, Altean space goo thick. The longer the silence grew, the worse Lance felt.

Just berate me already! Then we can all move on with our lives! He pleaded.

Not that you’d have anything meaningful to move on to, his mind filled in kindly.

Finally, Shiro decided it was time to put the Blue Paladin out of his misery. “Lance… we need to talk about yesterday. Your mindscape-“

Lance thought he would be able to bear it. To sit through another ridiculing lecture about his incompetence. But he couldn’t, he couldn’t bear to listen to the disappointment of his team members. Couldn’t bear to withstand the disapproval. So, against his better judgement, he interrupted desperately.

“I know! Okay, I know. You don’t have to say anything. I know I fucked up! I failed the exercise and made a complete fool of myself. I know behaved in a way no true Paladin of Voltron ever would! I know I compromised Voltron’s bond and probably put you all in danger, and I know- I- I know you all think I’m stupid, and weak and unworthy now! I know I’m not good enough, I know I’m only here because you don’t have time to find another Paladin for Blue, I know none of you actually want me around! I know! I know, I-“ Tears had begun streaming down his face again, his palms pressed into his eyes as he tried desperately to hide his obvious despair.

A firm grip on his shoulders caused him to look up with a start. In an instant he regretted it as tears spilled from bloodshot, tired eyes.

Weak!

But before he could wipe them away, or hide his face again, Shiro said something he was not expecting.

“No, Lance. No… no to all of that. You didn’t mess anything up, and none of us think you’re weak, or stupid, or unworthy. We do want you here. You belong on this team Lance, and it’s okay to not be… okay sometimes.”

Lance’s tears didn’t let up, despite the obvious genuinely in Shiro’s eyes. He should be grateful… happy. They weren’t mad. But… that… that couldn’t be right.

“N-no. No you’re- you’re lying. You don’t mean that, I know! I already know! I’ve always known! You- you’re just trying to make me feel better. You just- you- you’re trying to keep Voltron together so you don’t have t- to waste time f-f-finding someone else. But you w-w-want to. You want someone better. I know I’m not-“ his choppy, shaky voice cut off at a an angry voice coming from behind Shiro.

“Do you really think that?! After everything we’ve been through! You really think none of us actually care?!” It was Pidge, small, angry, heartbroken Pidge.

“How can you fucking say that shit when we’re supposed to be your friends! How can you fucking- think that shit about yourself— you don’t- how could you not trust us to tell-“ Pidge, smart, intellectual, tactful Pidge, was at a loss for words.

And then her anger broke. Taken over by guilt, regret, and most of all, fear.

“Did we really treat you that badly?”

Lance’s heart was thumping in his chest. No. No he made Pidge upset, now everyone was gonna be mad- he couldn’t- “No- n- no -o no no no, no, no! No! No! It was- you guys never! You guys were always so great! So good! I’m the one that’s the problem here! You never- I just- it’s just the truth. That’s just how it is- I didn’t-“ he paused for a beat, staring at everyone as they watched the interaction. Then, finally, he returned his gaze to his hands, “I’m sorry.”

“Okay, everyone just… take a breath,” Shiro said, stepping away from Lance, and sitting down on a chair across from the couch he was on.

There was silence as everyone situated themselves around the area. Keith sat next to Lance on his left, and Hunk sat on his right. Pidge sat next to Shiro on a stool, while Coran and Allura shared another couch situated next to Pidge and Shiro.

Then, finally, Shiro asked something.

“How long have you been feeling like this?”

Lance was confused. Again.

Idiot.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re not good enough… for Voltron.”

Lance was glad for the final specification. That made the question a little easier to answer. Even still, he found the words tangled in his throat as he feared the reaction the answer would recieve.

“I…” his body tensed as he felt all eyes on him. His heart started racing. He was trying to answer but he couldn’t. Of course he couldn’t. He could never do anything he was supposed to! They were asking him a question and he couldn’t even find it in himself to answer!

Stupid!

Weak!

Worthless!

Deadweight!

Fingers brushed against his thigh, and he looked down to see Keith’s hand slowly inching towards him, clearly trying to comfort him. To get his attention.

“Take your time,” the Red Paladin said. “We- we’ve got nowhere else to go.”

Lance looked away. Look at him, having to be placated like a child. Still, he hated to admit that the removal of pressure helped.

“I… I guess… I guess I… always?” He said uncertainty. Shrinking in on himself as he braced for backlash. Surly now they would see how inadequate he had been from the start.

But Shiro’s voice remained calm, and the room remained quiet.

“Why?”

Lance scoffed at that, leaning back against the couch, but keeping his eyes on his lap. “Isn’t it kind of obvious?”

“Tell me anyway. It might not be as obvious to some of us.”

Lance was pretty sure that wasn’t true, but he was already on thin ice with the team as it was, he wasn’t about to disobey Shiro.

Still though, it took him several minutes to be able to say the words out loud.

“You- you guys are all so… so good at stuff. Pidge is smart and good with technology and determined. She can hack into anything and we’d be dead like 10x over without her. Hunk is gentle, and big hearted, he’s a good cook and a great engineer for Voltron. He gets along well with aliens and he’s always there when people need him. Allura and Coran are the last of their kind alive! We need Allura to run the ship, she’s got altean magic plus she’s like royalty. She’s important. And Coran keeps everything running on the ship. He knows so much about space and planets, and he’s the best doctor we have - besides the healing pods. Keith’s our best pilot and our best swordsman. He’s confident and brave and insanely talented! Without him I don’t know if we’d have survived half the battles we were in, he’s a great soldier! And Shiro is… Shiro is our leader. Shiro’s been through so much. He’s so calm and level headed and determined and we need him. Without Shiro we’d be nothing! Without any of you we’d be nothing!”

He paused, taking a moment to catch his breath, recollect his thoughts, and brace himself for what he was about to say next. For the truth he’d kept inside for so long. There was no hiding it anymore, they’d all seen it first hand and now he had to explain it.

“But me? I’m nothing special. I’m not… any of that. I’m not smart, I’m not creative, or a diplomat. I’m not brave or talented or a leader. I don’t know things! I’m not important! I’m just Lance! I’m stupid and weak and annoying and useless and I don’t contribute anything but subpar shooting skills that any of you could probably learn faster than I ever did! I’m just a fucking deadweight, I hold Voltron back, I’m a fucking joke of a pilot! I’m not even really a fighter pilot, I got in a technicality! I always fuck things up! I’m a fuck up! A stupid, weak, good for nothing, worthless fuck up who doesn’t deserve to be a Paladin! Voltron would be so much better off if I just stopped being selfish and fucked off already so you guys wouldn’t have to deal with my shit anymore! Maybe then we’d actually be making progress against the Galra!”

He hadn’t meant to say that much. Actually he’d planned on stopping after ‘I’m just Lance!’ But, once he started, he found the words just poured out of him faster than he could collect them back up. And now… now here he was. With everything he’d ever felt about himself being laid on the table. Everything his own mind ever fucking screamed at him coming out in a convoluted mess as he finally found the words put to it’s mockery.

Lance lifted his hand, trying to whisk his still very much present tears away, when a gloved hand caught it.

He looked at Keith, making eye contact. Suddenly he was stuck. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think (not that he usually could).

Because Keith, warrior, closed off, emotionless Keith… had tears in his eyes.

“That’s not true! None of that is true! You’re not stupid, or weak, or worthless, or any of that! You are Lance! Smart, skilled, funny, beautiful, amazing, wonderful Lance! Lance who always seems to know how to lighten the mood or offer up a joke! Lance who keeps everyone positive and innocent in the middle of a fucking space war! Lance, the sharpshooter, who we know always has our backs in battle. Lance who cares so much about everyone around him, and who would give his life in an instant to save any one of us! Lance who hid for so long that he was suffering because he didn’t want to make anyone else upset! Lance who thinks of everyone so highly that he thinks he isn’t good enough! But you are Lance! You are good enough! You’ve always been good enough! You’re not a deadweight, or a cargo pilot! You are so much more than that!”

Lance just stared as Keith tried to drive home a message that he just… that Lance couldn’t comprehend. This wasn’t… this couldn’t… he’d always known that he wasn’t… and now Kieth, Kieth who hated Lance’s guts was telling him…

Hunk joined up, bringing Lance into his arms as he began to speak. “We care about you man. Me especially. Whenever I’m feeling nervous or overwhelmed, you are what keeps me grounded. Keeps me from completely freaking out. You’re my best friend, and I would be devastated if you left. I couldn’t do this without you.”

Pidge nodded, staying where she was as she added her own two cents. “I know I haven’t always been the nicest towards you… especially in our early days as friends. I made you feel like you were stupid and not worth my time, and I didn’t even realise or try to apologise because I had other things going on. But I’ve always admired you Lance… the way you embrace everyone around you so easily - except maybe Keith - and the way you’re always so aware of everything going on around you. You always know exactly what to say or do to take the edge off, even if it means you end up getting yelled at or in trouble. You take care of us out here, and I never told you before but… I am extremely grateful for you.”

Lance was speechless. They were all saying such… nice things. Things he never saw as passably notable or important. Things he’d always said he had to do to make up for the fact that he was a complete fucking pile of nothing. And of course they weren’t! Not up to the standards of everyone else. None of that really helped in the fight against the Galra… did it?

“Lance,” Shiro began, “you are a valued and inconsequential member of this team. Your bond with the Blue Lion is the strongest out of all of us. Your ability to trust so deeply and so completely in others has been life changing in our diplomatic missions. There’s something about you that is just… so disarming that people want to be around you. I just wish…” he sighed, “I just wish you’d trusted us enough to tell us that you were feeling like this. You didn’t have to suffer alone Lance, none of us ever have to go through anything alone.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Pidge asked. She always wanted to know the why.

Lance, completely taken aback by everything, took a minute to register the question.

“I… didn’t think anyone would care. I thought it was just common knowledge… or that if I told you then you’d realise I was right. I didn’t want to jeopardize our objective with my stupid problems, not when it was just as easy to go about my day pretending everything was fine.”

Shiro’s eyes grew soft, “Lance, we would never ever kick you off the team for talking about your problems. I promise. You should never be afraid to talk to us. You don’t have to lie, or pretend you’re okay when you’re not. We’re a team, we’re here for each other, and nobody is going to be angry at you for telling us how you’re feeling.”

Lance’s lower lip trembled. The tears, which had subsided by the time Hunk started talking, came back. He pulled his hand out of Keith’s grasp to wipe at his eyes… again.

“I just- I- I didn’t want you guys to hate me.” Lance had given up trying to sound okay. His voice was wet, broken and oh so afraid. As if any minute they would realise that everything he was talking about was indeed true, and that they’d send him off into space. It’s what he deserved.

Hunk pulled him in again, this time it was a proper bear hug. Lance cried. It wasn’t the raw, terrified, pleading sobs that had taken over his body in the training room. These tears were drawn from a place of relief and mild fear. After all this time he’d finally let it all out, he’d finally opened up and showed them what he was - what he really was - and so far… they didn’t hate him.

They could. They may one day just decide they didn’t want him around. But right now they wanted him… all of him.

So he cried; and when Keith wrapped his arms around Lance from behind he didn’t resist; and when Pidge and Coran came over to join he didn’t fight; and when Allura and the space mice nuzzled their way in he didn’t try to run; and when Shiro finally decided to join in fully on the embrace, he stayed put.

He didn’t scream, or kick, or claw or try to get away. He embraced them, all of them. Embraced their warmth and their love, and their desire for him to be okay.

And he cried.

And though those tears would not be able to wash away the toxin of his brain. The poison that had built up after years of his life feeling like he was just some second rate cargo pilot from Cuba… they were a start.

A start to the long road to healing. A start to seeing himself as equal to his peers. A start to seeing himself deserving of Blue and his Paladin uniform.

They were a start to his long journey to feeling like he was worthy.

Like he was something.

[hamartia-grander]

20 questions for fic authors!

I was tagged by the lovely @ugetelynx and @wisecrackingeric-2 <3 so sorry it took me so long to do this hfsgjhdj

1. How many works do you have? - currently posted on ao3 I have 57 works total. However I have almost twice as many wips it's bad

2. Ao3 word count? - 395,068 ..... I've got a wip that's almost over 100k but it's also been there for years so I doubt that'll change anytime soon

3. What fandoms do you write for? - of the fics I have on ao3, I have written for detroit become human, star wars, resident evil, assassin's creed, and the last kingdom. The fandoms I've written for that are not on my ao3 include lotr/the hobbit, bbc sherlock, bbc merlin, marvel, voltron legendary defender, percy jackson universe, and whatever the Carry On by rainbow rowell fandom is called. Most of those I will never ever write for again lmao

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? - In order:

Sapphire Moonlight (Tequila Sunrise) (Serennedy)

We Look So Good (Reed900)

Hold Fast, the Suns Will Rise (Stay) (Dincobb) (also, my first fic ever posted, and still the fic I hold most dearly in my heart to this day)

We Are Home (Hank and Connor family content)

Tomato Soup (Serennedy)

5. Do you respond to comments? - every single one. I'm obsessed with comments. I have them all saved and stored so I can reread them at any time. Thank you everyone who has ever commented I love you

6. What fic did you write the angstiest ending for? - I only write angst with a happy ending. But I did write You Should Have Killed Me for a friend's dbh x hunger games simulator result and it had an angsty ending by result of being a hunger games simulator.

7. What fic did you write the happiest ending for? - I write many fics w happy endings, but I personally think my fic series Din and Grogu | the Clan of Two Trilogy has the happiest ending because it happened against all odds. It's a fic about Din and Grogu's found family (before BoBF and Mando s3 came out, so it's not canon accurate) and it ends meaningfully to me.

8. Do you get hate on fics? - I have before, but it was all bullshit that showed me the person commenting didn't actually read what I wrote but chose to get mad at something that didn't exist. So it was discarded easily. Otherwise, I've had people try to tell me how to write things, but I ignore them all

9. Do you write smut? - yes. badly.

10. Crossovers? - I wrote a dincobb fic that was set in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, with Din as Kassandra and Cobb as Anais. I also started a serennedy fic set in the detroit: become human universe but never got anywhere close to finishing it.

11. Ever had a fic stolen? - not that I know of lol.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? - I had someone ask to translate one of my fics, and I said yes, but I don't think they've done so yet, which is fine. Other than that, no. But I'd be honoured!

13. Ever co-wrote a fic before? - I started a dincobb fic with a friend years ago but we never got around to finishing it. Someday I still hope to.

14. What's your all time favourite ship? - that's genuinely impossible to pick tbh I've had so many that rewired my brain. top three are probably bagginshield, simarkus, and shadowzel, not in any particular order.

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? - ehhhhh probably the klance fic I started when I was like 15. I don't go to voltron anymore and literally couldn't care less about it. In fact I actively hate it.

16. What are your writing strengths? - I've been told that I'm good at characterisation and plot. I think I suck at plot severely. As for characterisation, I study characters really hard and take a long time to write fics so they remain in character so I'm glad people appreciate that. I also prefer writing dialogue to anything else.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? - Writing. haha I mean exposition.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language? I have before, I find it fun but also intimidating.

19. First fandom you wrote for? - The Hobbit :') my first ever fic was a bagginshield fic I started when I was 13. I still mean to finish it someday.

20. Favourite fic you've written? - *sighs* I guess I should say Another Time. It was the most fun to write, and everyone's responses have made all the difficulties of writing it endlessly worth it. It took me months but I'm so happy I finished it, and I'm working on p3 rn I PROMISE. But again the fic I hold most dearly in my heart is still Hold Fast, the Suns Will Rise (Stay)

[singtomemylove]

ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɢʟɪᴛᴛᴇʀꜱ ɪꜱ ɢᴏʟᴅ (ᴏɴʟʏ ꜱʜᴏᴏᴛɪɴɢ ꜱᴛᴀʀꜱ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏʟᴅ)

Pairing: Klance

Summary: He’d never been in Miami before. Hell, he’d never left New York before. But maybe it wasn’t all bad. Shiro seemed like a cool guy; he was friendly and welcoming and didn’t seem to mind the fact that Keith was now sharing his room with him. He was even going to introduce Keith to his friends. The thought made Keith slightly anxious. Then again, why should it? He was going right back to New York at the end of August. If it all went to shit tomorrow, at least he’d only have to spend three months with no friends. And in those three months, he wasn’t at school or any other place that required having friends to be tolerable. Yeah, maybe it wasn’t all bad. 

Warnings: cursing, let me know if there’s anything I missed.

“A whole summer.” Keith groaned over the phone. “Yes, that’s what Krolia said. Just because she thought she could waltz back into my life again does not make her my damn mother.” 

“Are you sure you’re not just being over-dramatic?” Luka, his best and only friend since the eighth grade, asks. 

“Positive.” Keith grits his teeth. “It’s a three hour flight. To Miami. From New fuckin’ York. This is bullshit.” 

“I live in Miami, dipshit.” Luka reminds. Keith feels his eyebrows furrow. He forgot about that part. 

He’d met Luka over an online game, which, okay, maybe wasn’t the most trustworthy way of getting to know people. That never stopped Keith, though. He bounced from foster home to foster home for a while, from the ages five to seventeen. Maybe internet weirdos weren’t his biggest worry. 

His Dad was a firefighter, back in Texas. His Mom, though she’d never actually been a mother, left when he was born. Until now, that is. She finally decided she wanted a kid, when Keith was seventeen. 

“When are you leaving?” Luka snapped him from his thoughts. She was good at that. 

“Tomorrow.” Keith admitted. 

“And you’re only packing now? What the fuck, Keith?” 

“I was in denial, okay?!” He tried to justify, but she was right. 

“Jesus Christ—a whole summer and you’re only packing now? Do—are—can you—what the fuck.” He could imagine her face palming right now. 

“I have most of it done!” 

“Where are you even staying?” 

“With her best friend from high school, and their family. They have a son, who’s like, twenty something. He’s also going to stay with them for the summer. Pretty sure he grew up there, or something. I don’t know, I stopped listening.” 

“Okay. That’s..rough, but manageable.”

“Easy for you to say.” 

“Hey! I’m trying to help you out here, dickhead.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Keith stuffed more clothes into a suitcase. 

“What’s the family like?” 

“I don’t know. A woman and her wife and their adopted son. The son’s the son I was talking about—“

“No, really?”

“Bitch.” 

“Dumbass.” 

They were in a comfortable silence after that as Keith packed.

“At least there’s no time difference.” Luka broke the silence.

“Yeah. I don’t have anything against the beach or anything, but I’d really prefer to deal with a ridiculous amount of sun in a way that’s not against my will, so…” He trailed off. 

“I get it. How bad can it really be, though?”

Bad. It can be really bad, and Keith should’ve known it. After the chaos that was walking through an airport, Keith was entirely sure that he’d lost his phone somewhere between leaving the house and getting to where he needed to be. He thanked God or whoever’s up there when he’d realized it was in his back pocket. 

The plane ride had been boring at best, but that was the least of Keith’s worries. 

His main worry, which could be deemed a pretty important one, was that he had no clue what Krolia’s friend looked like.

He waited anxiously at baggage claim after grabbing his luggage. He looked around, trying to spot a family of two or three looking around for an eighteen year old boy.

He didn’t find one.

Shit, he thought. What the fuck am I supposed to do?

He nearly jumped out of his own skin when he felt someone tap his shoulder. 

“Sorry!” A woman, with dyed blonde highlights on her shoulder length brown hair, apologized. “Are you Keith? Kogane?” She asked, staring up at him. She was pretty short, maybe 5’1 or 5’2. 

“Er—Yeah. I am.” 

“You’re Krolia and Texas’s kid! You look just like them.” She smiled, as if remembering something.

“Texas?” Who the hell was Texas? 

“It’s what we used to call your dad. We all went to high school together, and he had his heavy accent, so we all called him Texas.” She explained, seemingly able to understand what he was thinking. “I’m Mary. My wife’s name is Hana. She’s in the car with Shiro. You’ll like him, he’s not too far from your age.” She introduced herself. He assumed Shiro was her son. 

She lead him to their car, and he quickly put his suitcase and duffel in the trunk before getting into the backseat. 

A man, with black hair—minus a section in the front, which was pure white—was sitting there. He smiled warmly as Keith buckled his seatbelt. 

“Hiya there, Keith.” Hana said from the driver’s seat. “How’s your mom been recently?” 

“She’s fine.” He said awkwardly as he stared at his shoes. They were completely white, minus rainbow stripes on the midsoles of them. 

“Have you ever been to Miami?” She asked. 

“No.” He shook his head. He didn’t miss how Mary lightly smacked Hana’s arm, giving her a look. Hana didn’t ask anymore questions. 

It was a quiet ride, minus the soft sound of the radio playing the 2010’s pop music. 

When he got to his new home for the summer, Shiro grabbed his duffel for him. 

“Thanks.” He murmured, and Shiro replied with: “You’re welcome.” 

They walked up the porch steps and into the house. 

“You don’t mind sharing a room, do you?” Hana asked after a moment. 

He shook his head. 

“Perfect. You’ll be staying up in Shiro’s room. I know you boys will get along.” She shot him a large grin. “You’re not too far off in age. You’re eighteen, right? Shiro’s twenty-two. It’s not too far off.” 

And she was right; it wasn’t. 

He walked up the creaky stairs and followed Shiro to his room. 

It wasn’t a small room, and maybe even a bit bigger than average. There were two beds in the room, and he could tell that the room was basically divided in two. 

“Hello,” Shiro introduced himself. “I’m Shiro. You’re from New York, right?” 

He gave a small nod, feeling awkward already. 

“Nice to meet you, Keith. There’s space for your clothes in the dresser; I moved all my stuff into the closet.” He gestured towards a dresser against the wall. 

“Thanks.” Keith responded. 

“No problem. Did you eat dinner yet?” He asked. 

“Yeah. Before my flight.” Keith replied. It was true, he had eaten. 

“Great. Do you wanna go to the beach tomorrow? I’m meeting my friends there at 11:00. I think you’ll like them, they’re pretty cool.” 

Keith didn’t like the idea. He could barely handle this, how was Shiro expecting him to meet a whole group of people? 

Nevertheless, he nodded slowly. “Thanks.” 

“No problem.” Shiro smiled again. 

Keith checked the time on his phone. 8:42 PM. Not too far from nine. He normally didn’t go to sleep this early, but he didn’t know what else to do. He could unpack, but he didn’t want help from Shiro and it would be awkward to just have him watch. 

“I’m gonna head downstairs. You okay to unpack?” Shiro asked. Keith gave him a quick nod, and Shiro walked out of the room. Keith mentally thanked him. 

He surveyed the room for the first time. The walls are white, with a popcorn ceiling and a fan in the middle of the ceiling. 

The left side of the room, seemingly now Shiro’s side of the room, had a bed with a black duvet and gray pillows. Next to the bed was a dark brown wooden nightstand. There was another white door, which seemingly led to a closet.

On the right side of the room, which was now seemingly Keith’s, had an identical twin sized bed, this one with red duvets and black pillows. Keith pulls back the duvet, nodding to himself as he proves that the sheets are also black. His side of the room also had a dresser and a nightstand. Against the wall that separated the room from the hallway was a bookshelf, filled with a bunch of books. 

Keith sets his suitcase and duffel back on the bed, opening both of them. He unpacked his clothes, organizing them in the dresser. He set his toiletry bag on top of the dresser, the dark gray coloring looking not too bad against the dark wood of the dresser. 

He plugs his phone charger into the outlet in between his bed and nightstand, plugging in his phone and setting it on said nightstand. 

He kneeled on his bed, looking out of the blinds of the window that his bed was next to. 

The window faces the road, and there’s several more houses on the street. 

The sound of the door opening took all of his attention as he turned to look. But instead of Shiro or his Moms, it was two cats instead. One black cat and one cat was a deep orange. Both cats padded into the room, and he got off the bed and kneeled down. The two cats rushed to him, sniffing his fingers before letting him pet them. The orange cat looked almost red due to the setting sun shining on its’ coat. 

He vaguely remembered Krolia telling him about two cats. He looked at their collars, the tags on them reading their names. The orange-red cat was named ‘Red’. Keith chuckled at that. Even better, the black cat was named ‘Black’. 

Original, Keith thought to himself. 

He sat down fully, letting the two cats crawl into his lap. He liked them. They didn’t talk or demand any kind of social interaction from him. They wanted pets and cuddles and that was it. 

After a few minutes, they both pad out into the hallway, Red following Black. Keith crawled into bed, checking his phone one final time. Seeing no new notifications, he set his phone down on the nightstand before rolling over and falling asleep.

He’d never been in Miami before. Hell, he’d never left New York before. But maybe it wasn’t all bad. Shiro seemed like a cool guy; he was friendly and welcoming and didn’t seem to mind the fact that Keith was now sharing his room with him. He was even going to introduce Keith to his friends. The thought made Keith slightly anxious.

Then again, why should it? He was going right back to New York at the end of August. If it all went to shit tomorrow, at least he’d only have to spend three months with no friends. And in those three months, he wasn’t at school or any other place that required having friends to be tolerable. Yeah, maybe it wasn’t all bad. 

A/n: going crazy with a new series

[moondal514]

I’m in a mood so here’s a multi-fandom soft apocalypse fic rec list (note: soft apocalypse means all of these have happy endings)

Fandom: All For the Game

dreaming on fire series by poetatertot/ @poetatertot

Foxhole Court, California: home of the dreamers and the dreamless.

Andreil dream apocalypse series, gorgeous atmospheric pieces of writing with impeccable vibes

dreams of being golden by poetatertot (WIP)

The ocean is a healer. This Jeremy knows better than anyone. It’s why he came back himself, when all turned to nothing; it’s why he took the others under his roof when the shadows at their back threatened to swallow them whole.

It’s why he lets Jean in when he shows up suddenly, his pale face a soft light in the darkness. Jeremy sees him and knows he can’t subsist as he is, alone.

The ocean can’t change Jean’s past, but maybe it can wash his future into smooth, clean sand the way it did for so many others.

JereJean companion to dreaming on fire, genuinely one of my fave JereJean works in the fandom and I don’t understand why it isn’t more popular

Fandom: BBC Merlin

When Morning Comes by Starlingthefool

If life were fair, anyone who managed to survive the apocalypse would be given a fuzzy blanket, some tea, and a nice bed to hide under and weep.

Life is not fair, obviously, and there's no actual end to the end of the world. Instead, there's grief and pain and mud and death, there are minor miracles, and there's the love that gets you out of bed in the morning, despite everything. Life goes on.

The definition of the word flangst, v good Merthur long-distance pining going on here

The Sun Hasn’t Died by lady_ragnell/ @theladyragnell

You have to figure out how to survive somehow, after the world ends. Elena does it by stealing horses and roaming, at least until she finds the village of Camelot and its residents, especially its librarian.

Elena and Mithian out here having a soft horse girl x librarian romance at the literal end of the world

Fandom: Kuroko no Basuke

a friend for the end of the world by bmouse/ @bmouse

Himuro Tatsuya comes to the Tokyo Shatterdome to get a job. And maybe fill out his Miracle Encounter Bingo card while he's at it. Turns out there's a prize at the end.

A Pacific Rim fusion that should by all rights be depressing af but, thanks to Himuro’s rather unique pov, is fucking hilarious

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

how to let your planets align by tothemoon

It is the last day on earth, December 2nd, 1985, when you realize you're in love with him.

IwaOi soft impending apocalypse pining

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

The Black Wave by poetatertot

Life at the end of the world could almost be called normal, if not a little nuts. The convenience store Keith works at gets the same customers. He still walks to the taqueria every week to get hot food. He hasn't even had to speak to his adoptive sister in months.

Life could almost be called normal.. until Lance walks in one day and changes everything.

A story about dreams, destiny, and finding someone to call home when the day is done.

Dream apocalypse series: Klance soulmate edition, as you can see I really like this writer’s apocalypse fiction

[the-blaze-empress]

For the Ask Game, 1., 2., 7., 19., 21., 41., 44., and 81.,

(hug)

1. do you know how you want the story to end when you start, or are you just stumbling through the figurative wilderness hoping to find a road?

i know where i want to end up definitely, sometimes that can change in specifics a little bit but like. the main themes and shit are always pretty set. the middle can b a bit hazy but also has the main points outlined. sometimes characters just have a few more panic attacks than expected u know how it b <3

2. talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.”

PHILZA FUCKING MINECRAFT IN TAKE MY ARMS STOP FUCKING PANICKING. his reaction to quackity was WAY worse than i thought it was gonna be that it warranted an ENTIRE EXTRA CHAPTER. yeah so that happened. ALSO PHIL GETTING DISTRACTED BY THE RIBBON VENDOR. KID PLS THERES PLOT THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN I GET IT THE RIBBONS R SHINY BUT WE GOT THINGS TO ADDRESS HERE. arms!phil very much has a mind of his own

7. tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote

oh boy time to revisit the days where i didnt know what fanfic was!! i think technically my first fanfic was. sfge fic. i had a whole canon compliant story about a pair of twins, the daughters of the girl and boy from the snow queen fariytale, one had fire powers and the other water, the water one went to the school for good and the fire one went to the school for evil. they both got into the trial by tale and watched (ohgod what were their names) bane kill the good kid from woods beyond. uh yeah i had fun working out all their gifts and stuff, i had a lot of characters planned n shit i should see if i can find the word docs for that. as per usual the middle of the fic was very. hazy in the middle

19. what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most?

BUN BUNFLORAS @bunfloras!! SUCH a big influence on both what i write and how i write most notably in finally being the one to convert me from past tense to present. oh dear can you see me? for properly introducing me to whump and kidza, both of which i adore reading AND writing. fuckin. whats her name. margaret owen is such a good writer her books are so good i love how well she worldbuilds and embeds it all so well into her stories. go read the merciful crow duology you will thank me.

21. pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about.

hmmmmmm. i think bun and i could write a good book together i mean we've already cowritten tens of thousands of words sfadsgdh. looks at rune and cam. looks at their rp. looks back at this question. yeah it would be about magic and queer relationships and growth and so much fucking angst

41. what is the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.

i have no fucking clue. i have had so many story ideas i cannot keep track of them all. good lord. lemme check my google drive. OH I KNOW. that one klance fic i wrote from the perspective of a tree <3

44. any writing advice you want to share?

i feel like saying 'just fucking do it' is cliche. but its the best advice i can give really. write for yourself even if you dont publish it, read things you like and work out what you like about it and see if you can put that in ur own writing. write FOR YOURSELF. dont write for other people it will become a chore and you will regret it. people wont enjoy reading it if ur not enjoying writing it

81. if you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of writing advice specific to you, what would it be?

god so much. not everything has to be about romance. stop taking on so many projects with deadlines at once. stop tracking how many words u write each day. write what you want to write. its okay to stop enjoying smth ur writing

writing ask game

(hi roo love you <33)

[misanthropic-succulent]

Some klance atla fic idea

Okay I found myself thinking of atla and vltron crossover again, and it got me thinking a little. So everybody likes to crossover with these three tv shows (Voltron and ATLA and LOK), usually making keith a firebender and lance a waterbender. Which is understandable because of their lions. But as you know in season 3 they have to switch lions, (Keith to Black and  Lance to Red), so for some reason my brain went "Wouldn't be cool if they're bending abilites in the aus changed also" that was the part that got me thinking. So my addition to this aus is interesting (to me at least) For my rendition (for like a fic idea lol) Lance and Keith actually kind of switch places. Lance will learn fire bending and Keith growing up in the Air Nation (stick with me) As you know Keith and Shiro have a brotherly dynamic or at least Shiro was there for Keith when others weren't so you can't deny their close bond which is why I put Keith in the Air Nation.  Keith is raised in the Western Air Temple which only had women but they made an exception to Keith seeing as he needed to hide (we can't baby keef die now can we?) Since there's a war going on that's the reason why Keith's father  is there, to help the Western air nomads.  Keith's Mom is a Fire bender while his dad is a Air bender. But since the war was going on (the timing of this is completely made up , lol ) Keith's dad decided to leave Keith with his mother and go back to help defend his nation (He didn't abandon  them)   In this Keith's mom is the sister of Ozai (Which will be Zarkon) (Lotor will be Zuko or something) Zarkon now (like he ever wasn't) is trying to destroy everyone (like the air nation *nudge*) Since Keith hasn't shown any bending abilities. Zarkon wants to get rid of him (for some reason). Of course Keith's mom would never let that happen and fled to the Air nation to find her husband. She was able to make in time and explained the situation to Keith's dad. Even though the Air Nation wasn't the safest at the moment it was better than the fire nation. Knowing she would probably not be able to see her son again, she leaves him her necklace (the stone in Keith's knife in vld)  Keith is two when his mom gives him to his dad. Upon returning home Keith's mom was confronted by Zarkon, and upon learning she hid Keith, Zarkon sort of rage kills her (didn't see that coming did ya?~) Lotor happens to see this and is also filled with confusion seeing as he's only 8, and is just like wtf is happending to aunt...whatever her name is. As Lotor grows up he begins to realize the fire nation's true colors, and what really happened that night. Enraged from being tricked his whole life and full of vengeance for his little cousin and deceased aunt he vows to himself to find Keith and keep him safe. When Keith is 5 his dad and almost the whole air nation is annihilated. Keith vows to never to forgive the fire nation.  (This is still in the past) Back in the Air nation Keith is able to grow up to (let's make it 10) he's already made friends with the air benders (he doesn't know that he's fire nation yet~) He's best friends are Pidge (7), Shiro (15) and Matt (14) One day Pidge's dad, Shiro and Matt went MIA when they were scouting (?) the Fire Nation.(They were captured, the dad is dead) They find Sam's body, but that's it. Leaving Pidge and Keith to mourn more of their loses,  this only fuels Keith's hatred more. smol timeskip

Keith (still being in the air nation) gets upset easily since he just can't get air bending down, he along with some of the others think that he doesn't have any bending abilities. So Keith decides to train on something different, his combat skills. He figures out one day when the fire nation attack again (only leaving him and pidge left alive) that his necklace is dangerous (a fire bender almost chokes him with it) so he asks Pidge to help him put it (engrave?) inside of a knife (hence Keith's garla knife). Btw Rover is Appa, or more like Appa is now named Rover, (but Pidge isn't the avatar, lol). (They are 15 & 12 at this point) Keith and Pidge travel on Rover in hopes that they'll find Shiro and Matt one day. timeskip-o (Keith is 18 and Pidge is 15) One of the days they're travelling Rover gets tired and they decide to land on the closest land possible. Unfortunately for them it's all icy there. Rover is warm but you can only do so much against the wind, Keith is mostly fine but Pidge's teeth are clattering. He opts to holding pidge (very platonically). Pidge: "H-How are you s-so warm?" Keith *shrugs* "I don't know, the cold has never really bothered me."  (*belts let it go*)  Pidge looks at him for a moment before letting her thoughts roam. She knew Keith literally since she was born, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be a possibility of him being...She didn't even want to finish that thought. Shaking any thoughts that could form in her head she snuggled closer to her heater of a friend and drifted off to sleep. NOW TIME FOR LANCEY LANCE!! Lance and Allura are really close freinds who act like siblings and Coran is their crazy "uncle". Lance's family much like Allura's got destroyed by the fire nation, making them hate the fire nation. When Lance was 9, Allura 12 the fire nation came to their village killing most of the men, sparing some of the women (if they were non-benders). The water tribe decided to fight back and go fight the fire nation (Much like Sokka's dad did in atla). Allura's dad (Alfor was the head of the water tribe) had died in  combat, along with Lance's father. They mourn and they grow stronger, becoming who they need to be for their tribe. Lance and Allura can waterbend, Allura a lot better than Lance (she picked it up faster) they are two of three left in their tribe who can bend. Coran is the third. Lance is determined to surpass Allura in waterbending and practices frequently, most people see him as laid back or carefree but he cares for the people he loves and will protect them with his life and he can't do that if he doesn't become stronger. His mom, his siblings, his father all gone, because he was to weak to help them fight. So he'll practice and practice to protect the ones that are still here to protect. (*sniff*)  -- (This is where Keith and Lance see each other and the main plot kicks in...sorta)-- Lance is complaining to himself because Allura made him go patrolling by himself, which is fine he can take care of himself but it's really boring. He almost took Coran with him which honestly wasn't really saying anything since Coran was the closest thing Lance had to a friend (besides Allura) not that he minded. Lance is too caught up in thinking when he bumps into to something really soft and huge. Once he recollects himself he practically screams, wait no scratch that Lance does scream. Which alerts Keith and Pidge and within a matter of seconds he finds himself pinned against the ice, air knocked out him. He looks up at his attacker, he's beautiful (insert description of Keith, lol) and then he sees a...knife. Face blanching he quickly knocks the person off of him, and gets into a fighting stance.  He more aware of his surroundings now and notices a girl that's with his attacker, his sister? they don't look alike. His girlfriend maybe? Keith speaks up and asks Lance why he's here, which leads them into bickering with each other.  Lance: "Why wouldn't I be here, this is my territory!?" Keith: "Says who?" Lance: "ME!" Keith: "What are you two?" Lance: "Three and a half actually." Pidge is so done by this point. She had already figured out where her and Keith were, or at least assumed. The boy they have yet to get the name of clothes just confirm that assumption. They were in Water nation territory.  Keith: "You woke us up screaming and scared Rover!"   Lance: "What in the world is a Rover!?"  Pidge: "Are you two done bickering or can we talk, now that we know we won't kill each other?"  Keith & Lance: "NO!" 

(I kind of got stuck, so the rest of this is bits of parts I've planned)

Pidge internally: “These two are idiots”

Pidge finally gets them to calm down (or at least stop bickering) long enough for her to ask Lance his name and what he’s doing out here. Lance is a little skeptical to answer her, like obviously those two pieces of information are too important to just throw around. So Lance asks her question right back at them. Pidge sighs and says they’re from Western Air Temple. Lance is of course still skeptical and asks Pidge to prove it, she does by bending.

Lance looks expectantly over to Keith but he’s avoiding his gaze. Pidge explains that Keith doesn’t have any bending abilities to their knowledge. Lance kind of pities the guy, which bristles Keith a bit, but he doesn’t comment on the look Lance gives him.  Lance eventually introduces himself and tells them that’s he’s from the Southern water tribe.  

Keith mockingly asks him to prove it, to which Lance responds with slapping some (a lot) of water in Keith’s face.

Pidge laughs, Keith looks pissed, Lance looks smug. Pidge and Keith eventually end up following Lance back to the tribe.

  When they get there Lance is immediately "attacked" by Coran, who was crocodile crying into Lance’s shoulder. Saying how he thought he got kidnapped but the Fire nation and would have to come and rescue him. *cue dramatic hero pose*

This made Lance roll his eyes (playfully) he’s about to speak but gets cut off by Allura. Lance is in trouble now. Allura looked scary, he could practically see the dark aura radiating off her body.

Allura: “Where were you?”

Lance: “I was out patrolling like you told me to” he gives her this face that just screams “duh”

Allura: “I know that but why were you gone for so long?”

Lance: “I met these two” he gestures to Pidge and Keith who are standing silently (and Keith awkwardly) behind him.

Immediately Coran tries to intimidate Keith, but it doesn’t work of course.

(This is somewhere after they meet Hunk (earth-bender), and find Shiro and Matt) --In Ba Sing Se--

 Lotor (24) sees a group of people, who look nothing like firebenders, except one. The boy had his black hair tied into a high ponytail, with his bangs down, framing his face. He looks just like...and just like that Lotor finds himself running, leaving his friends confused and shouting behind him.  He found him, he exactly found him. His cousin, Keith.

Lotor: “I found you!” he says as he grips onto Keith’s hand, making Keith and the other’s startle.

Lotor: “I found you Keith.”

Now the rest of them really are on high alert, because not only did this firebender catch them, he also knows who Keith is.

Keith shifting uncomfortably: “Um, who are you?” he’s trying to act like he’s normal (he's failing).

Lotor: “Oh right! I guess you wouldn’t remember me since the last time we meet you were like two” Lotor mumbles the last part, but they hear him just fine.

Shirp steps in putting a hand on keith's shoulder: “May I ask who you are?”

Lotor senses the hostility their sending his way, but that was to be expected, he was a stranger to them after all.

Lotor: “I am Prince Lotor, Keith’s cousin”

The group is in shock and look over to Keith who is also in shock.

Keith: “B-But I don’t have any cousins, my dad never had any siblings”

Lotor’s face softens: “But your mother did, I’m sorry Keith.”

Keith stepped back from Lotor, and let the information sink in. His mom was a firebender, from the fire nation, and the sister of the firelord no less. He was a prince (would Keith be a prince?).

A fire nation prince. Keith’s face blanched, it made sense now. Why he was always warm, why he couldn’t bend air like Pidge or his father, because he that was only half of who he was. He was a firebender. Keith’s mouth was opening and closing like a fish’s. He felt like he was going to throw up.

 Suddenly a group of firebendy-soldiers found them, Lotor cursed under his breath, and started to fight them.

Lotor: “You guys leave, I’ll hold them off!”

The gang was skeptical but didn’t need to be told twice and ran for it, unfortunately the it seemed like the fire nation had some earthbenders on their side, and the gang found themselves falling into a hole.

Hunk was able to part ways in the rocks and make a passage for them. Luckily it seems the earth and firebenders didn’t follow them in and if they did then they didn’t know where they are at least.   

 *Back to Lotor who isn’t able to fend them all off and the floor collapses beneath Keith and the gang*

 Lotor: “No!” he screams as he sees Keith’s face disappear from sight. He found him and now he lost him.

Lotor to himself: “I can’t even save the person I promised to protect”

The rest of his team catches up and sees Lotor’s face, they know now that something happened and they were too late.

Keith is gone from Lotor’s sight once again.

 *They’re stuck in a cave, Hunk fell asleep because of the panic and exhaustion*

 Allura: “You’re a firebender? Not to mention a prince?!” not really a question. Allura looks betrayed and pissed.

Keith: “I swear I didn’t know” his eyes are downcasted.

Allura: “How could you not know!?”

Shiro and Matt touch Allura’s shoulder, hoping to comfort her but she shrugs them off.

Keith is silent, after all what can he say? He knew his mother left him went he was a baby, and he knew his dad was keeping something from him when he was alive. Now he finally knew his secret.

Everyone stares expectantly at Keith when he still doesn’t answer.

Keith shrinks away from everyone’s eyes it feels like he’s in a lion’s den and he’s slowly being eaten alive by their looks alone.

Keith looked at Pidge who also had to look to her, like she’d knew all along but also pitied him, and it kind of pissed him off.

Shiro and Matt both looked confused, but not angry, so that was a bonus.

Allura was straight out glaring and Lance had yet to even make eye contact with him.

It hurt.

Allura: “Did you trick us this whole time?”

Silence.

Allura: “Hoping that you could gain our trust then kill us off?”

Keith: “What?”

Allura: “Or maybe you were planning to make us your personal slaves, was that it?”

Keith: “No! I would ne-”

It didn’t matter how much Keith tried to explain he didn’t know, Allura just came back with another ludicrous accusation, and maybe it would’ve hurt less if the rest of his friends weren’t letting her do it.

Lance finally looked at him, his face was hard and devoid of emotion, but his eyes looked like he was sad, they looked like he was in pain.

Lance’s eyes had always captivated Keith, ever since the first day he meet the tan boy, but right now the pained blue orbs felt like they were piercing into him, but he can’t help to look at them. It’s like he’s drowning, he can feel his body shaking, and his breath start to quicken as he tries holding onto his consciousness. The only thing he can see is Lance’s eyes, and for a moment he thought he saw worry flash across them.   

Lance taking a step forward: “Keith are y-”

And Keith blackouts. [There should be some sort of moment where Lance sticks up for Keith when's he's unconscious] Welp, this is all I got, feel free to add more, or write it if you're interested. Just credit and link it back to me if you do ^0^/

[sasukes-sideboob]

can't believe allurance was just confirmed

[damnlance]

[klance blurb thingy 1]

{PINING}

please tell me why lance is the ‘obviously pining from far away’ type

especially when keith’s around

like okay imagine lance and keith are hanging out with all their friends right

probably at some cute, old little diner because lance is always in the mood for a milkshake and keith loves spending all his coins on the pinball machine

of course when they get there, they all cram into one booth even tho shiro and hunk have the broadest shoulders of the group and trying to spread out is a little hard but they always make it work

lance will order drinks and food for the whole table because he’s memorized everyone’s orders and his irresistible ✨charm✨ comes in handy when he goes out on a limb to ask their waiter or waitress for an extra basket of fries on the house

and yeah it works bc it’s lance and he’s so charming and loves the way it gets mixed reactions from his friends like allura giggling, hunk sighing, pidge rolling her eyes, shiro ignoring him but also being secretly happy for the free fries, coran being the proud uncle he is, and keith - blushing like a mad man and trying to hide it bc lance is an idiot

as they’re waiting for their food, lance will ask for a kids coloring page and crayons and color the various pictures with hunk and pidge (and hunk would kick lance’s ass at tic-tac-toe)

keith will wander off with allura and coran as they watch him play on the pinball machine with his pocket full of quarters ready to play for as long is it takes the food to be done

and it’s so annoying how good he is because allura and coran will cheer for him or laugh or praise him and it’ll immediately grab lance’s attention away from coloring his half of the kid’s coloring page

he’ll slowly look up, pretending to be looking out for their food or watching one of the various tv’s playing some funky music video from the 80’s but really his eyes are glued to keith

and lance won’t ever understand how something as simple and played out as a stinkin pinball machine could bring out a side of keith that lance wishes he could see all the time

keith, standing there with his gloved hands on either side of the machine, long black hair tucked behind his ear on one side as his bangs dangle over his stupidly gorgeous violet eyes, his thick eyebrows frowned up as he concentrates on the game

smirk on his face

and sometimes, when the game’s getting good, his eye will light up like lightning flashing across a dark, stormy sky, and his lip will curl into a smirk as he leans closer to the machine because he’s winning

that’s when lance just can’t bring himself to look away because keith looks so cute when he’s winning, like a little kid in a candy shop, his features usually hard and brooding are now so soft and pure and beautiful

and something inside lance will go off and make the hairs on his arms stand up and a chill go down his spine and a small smile spread across his face because keith’s smile is so pretty he should smile more why doesn’t he smile more it’s so contagious lance feels lightheaded

he can’t look away because his heart is beating so fast and if he so much as takes a breath or blinks, he’s afraid he’ll miss these little moments that no one else pays attention to because they’re all too dense to notice just how amazing keith is

how cool keith is

how cute and pretty and wonderful keith is

and lance will let out a lovestruck sigh as he slumps forward and begins to daydream about how great life would be if he and keith ever got together even though that’s literally impossible because lance is very sure keith hates his guts and doesn’t want anything to do with him 😔

but the greatest part is when keith does win! and the small smile on his face turns into something big and real and unfiltered and he balls his gloved fists and shakes them victoriously in the air as coran and allura clap and pat him on the back

and lance will silently cheer from where he sits in the booth, laughing and smiling along with keith, wishing he was over there to celebrate too

wishing he could pat keith’s back or give him a high five or a hug, anything to be near him and to see that beautiful smile up close, to feel the warmth from keith’s happy energy radiating into lance’s bones

oh, how lance wishes to be keith’s

how he wishes he could just drop all the stupid rivalry crap between them and be something more

something real

and of course the moment would be ruined when keith catches him STARING (because he’s been staring for like 5 minutes) and lance’s inner bi panic would activate and he would frown at keith for catching him and reflexively flip him the middle finger as if it was keith’s fault for catching him

keith would frown back and roll his eyes as he turns back around to play again

and lance would sit there, trying so hard to calm his erratic heart, pounding against his rib cage like it’s trying to burst out of his chest

his cheeks and ears would be so red and hot from the flush that came and rose from his neck

and he would try to play it off like it suddenly got hot in the fifteen minutes they’ve been inside

clearing his throat, lance would try to go back to coloring but would stop because he can feel eyes on him

he’d look up to see if they were keith’s but would ultimately find that they are not keith’s

but instead hunk’s, pidge’s, and shiro’s, the three of them staring and smirking at lance who’s been pining so hard from far away

and lance would clear his throat and pretend he had something on his face, wiping his cheek and grabbing his vanilla milkshake and setting it right in front of his face to cool him down

when the food comes, keith will let allura and coran slide into the booth first and sit down so he would be directly across from lance

their friends would engage in small talk as they eat, talking about how good their food is or something else that would pop into their minds

keith would eat his burger and fries in silence, only looking up if someone were to mention or call his name

and lance would do the same, too engaged in dipping his hot, salty fries into his creamy milkshake to pay attention to the conversations going on

but something would catch his attention

a feeling

he can feel eyes on him again

and he would look over to hunk and pidge and shiro, who are all talking over each other all at once

he would look to allura and coran, who are listening and stuffing their faces

and then those piercing blue eyes would look up and across from him

and find those gorgeous violet eyes on him like the skin on his bones

blood would rush to his cheeks but instead of looking away, lance would stare back

and watch keith turn into a flustered mess

lance would smirk and keith would present his signature frown in response

and lance would get a sudden rush of courage in his veins and push his free basket of fries towards keith, offering him some

keith would twist his bushy eyebrows up in confusion, asking lance if he’s sure

and lance would nod, shaking the basket of free fries

keith would relax his features

and smile softly at lance, reaching over his own food to take a couple of fries

something deep in lance would burn low, a feeling of satisfaction simmering within him, knowing that keith is eating his free fries because lance offered them and keith accepted

keith would shove the fries into his mouth and lance would stare shamelessly, drinking his milkshake and daydreaming once again about what it would be like to share every single basket of fries he would ever get in his life with keith

of course keith would pretend not to notice lance staring and ignore the sudden spike in his pulse or the butterflies dancing around in his stomach

and because he’s keith, he would [not so] accidentally brush his foot against lance’s underneath the table just to get a reaction out of the cuban boy

lance would jolt a little and meet eyes with keith in surprise

keith would have that same smirk on his face from when he was playing pinball

and lance would reciprocate the gesture, paying no mind to the voice in the back of his head giving him hope

he would simply smirk back, and quirk his eyebrow in a challenge

[END]

[jilliancares]

I’ve read all of your klance fics (😭) have you got any recommendations?

honestly read anything by @hiuythn​ (here on ao3), @noussommeslessquelettes​ (here on ao3), @melancholymango​ (here on ao3), @wittyy-name​ (here on ao3), @apvrrish​ (aknightley on ao3), @katranga​ (here on ao3), @thisgirlhastales (mytay on ao3), @speakswords (speaks on ao3), @starlightments (starlightment on ao3), 

ANYWAY here are some of my fav fics by these guys! i honestly love everything of theirs so what i recommend is just to get you hooked if you’re not already. after that, you should do yourself a favor and just go and read all their fics lmao. have fun!!

- hiuythn wrote there, nestled against his pulse and its incredible sequel, which you’ve probably already read (here and here), but if you haven’t, you’re really missing out. if you’re looking for something shorter, i highly recommend this adorable fluff: i killed sendak for this. anyway hiuythn’s writing is something i’m obsessed with just. the way they word things, and their characterization, and even the way they format their stories it’s just,,, every time they post a fic i’m like HELLO GREAT DAY

- noussommeslessquelettes wrote one of my favorite series ever. what first got me hooked on them was this series and the absolute Feels™ it gave me and just their unique writing style. it’s 55k all together and it’s a high school au and idk it just makes me feel so at home for some reason. god i fucking love this one aspect of the series where keith has to change a tire,,, YOU’LL SEE!!! they have a bunch of other fics too!! oneshots and chaptered fics! make sure you check ‘em all out they’re all incredible

- melancholymango has a BUNCH of fics. they’ve been posting a lot lately bc of commissions and their smut is *chefs kiss* i’m always a slut for any creature/monster au they write, so some of my favs to just dive into: from a dragon’s breath, where lance tries to sacrifice himself to the dragons near his village, my, what sharp teeth you have, which is a werewolf!keith/little red riding hood!lance fic, would you be so kind? asdkjf canon fwb!!, beast of burden okay. this fic. FUCK. it’s another werewolf!keith fic and,,, read the tags but Hello at that fic omg. anyway kali has fics ranging from like 8k - 100k+ so just go have fun

- wittyy wrote a lot of fics that are super popular in the fandom that i’m sure you’ll recognize!! shut up and dance with me and moth and flame and the mirror fics shadow of the future (by wittyy) / ghost of the past (by zizanni). but!!! they also have awesome fics that you might not have read yet, including from what i’ve tasted of desire (alpha/alpha shifter dragon fic) and a touch of magic which is vampire!lance witch!keith and i’m actually in love with it

- aknightley also has a bunch of big fics in the fandom. they wrote this one fic that i’ve read so many times ajsdlkf it’s fit the crown to my head. that story’s like a legit Novel i’m obsessed with it. also can you tell me is so good my guy, like,,, if you haven’t read it yet you better get to it. you’ve probably read a bunch of their fics already, idk if they have even a single fic with less than 1000 kudos, but make sure you scroll through their page and check out all their fics if you haven’t already

- katranga has it might not be that bad which i’m obsessed with ohh my god. basically keith mistakes jealousy for ~other feelings~. also audience of one and its awesome sequel. it’s where lance is captured by the galra and keith is there, having been raised with them (and the sequel where it’s keith joining voltron). SO GOOD

- mytay has this series that i’m fucking obsessed with. it’s where keith and lance end up stranded on this planet and become kickass cowboy boyfriends. it’s so fun to read and the way the story is told is nonlinear and i LOVE that. they also have a ton of other fics that you’ll want to read i don’t make the rules

- speaks also has a bunch of popular awesome fics!! if you want to start with something short, read the amnesia game. this fic just really stuck in my memory, like the premise of it is so interesting and like nothing i’ve ever seen before, i’m obsessed with it. also terminal velocity is this insane, incredible angst that inspired me to write something angsty at one point, i can’t remember which fic it was though asdkfj. basically check out all their fics lmao

- starlightment wrote read all about it where keith’s a star highschool athlete and lance is a reporter for the newspaper!!! it’s so fun aldsfjk. also something blue which eheueheu fake relationship. that’s all i need to say. and they have a bunch of other fics too which you should read obvs

TL;DW these are some awesome writers and you should honestly just click on all their profiles and read through every one of their fics. i promise you’ll be entertained and also obsessed

[autisticlancemcclain]

wip tease

i got an ask about childhood friends to lovers klance and i got SO carried away with it so here’s a piece of the fic. 

--- --- ---

Lance cries a lot. More than Keith has ever known anyone to cry. He cries every time they watch Bridge to Terabithia (which is frequently, and he also made Keith pinky swear the first time they saw it to never swing over an overflowing stream in the spring). He cries when he sees someone kill a bug (at least three times a week). He cries when Keith has to go back from his house to the group home (he won’t tell anyone, but Keith kind of likes that Lance is so sad about Keith going back. He doesn’t like that Lance is sad, of course, but he likes feeling wanted. It’s nice).

One place where Lance doesn’t cry so often anymore is the supermarket, though. Keith vividly remembers the first time he had gone with Lance and Marcela one Saturday morning — Lance had made up a whole silly song about running errands with his mom (he still hums is every time they go. Keith won’t tell Lance — he’ll get all smug about it — but he finds it kind of funny).

It had started out fine. Marcela opened up her grocery list (it was really long, Keith noticed. He imagined it unrolling to the floor and bouncing down the aisles, like in the movies), idly narrating to the boys what they needed. 

“And, if you two are good, I’ll get you a treat,” she’d promised. Lance lit right up, immediately chattering about all the different candies and chocolate bars they could get. Keith wasn’t yet sure if he should get his hopes up. 

Everything was fine for the first twenty minutes. Lance started up their space game, and they pretended every other shopper was a trickster alien pirate in a space mall, and they had to pretend to be one of them to get special parts for the castle spaceship. Marcela found their game amusing, and occasionally piped up with suggestions. Keith particularly liked her idea where they had to use ‘disguises’ consisting of silly hats and sunglasses from the clothes department. But after those twenty minutes, Marcela turned the cart into the meat aisle, and Keith saw Lance’s chin start to tremble.

Oh, boy.

You see, Lance loves all animals. All of ‘em. He likes the birds and the cats and the cows and the fish. He especially likes bugs (he even likes mosquitoes, which Keith thinks is bonkers. Lance isn’t the first person he’s met who likes bees or spiders, but he’s the first person he’s met who’d rather endure a mosquito bite than kill the stupid pest). He loves them enough that the idea of killing and eating them makes him incredibly sad. And looking at meat… never bodes well for him.

Marcela sighs quietly, having likely anticipated the tears, and Keith gets an idea.

“Mrs. Marcela,” he started politely (she won’t let him call her Mrs. Esposita-McClain, but he’s not comfortable enough to drop the title. So they compromised), “can Lance and I take a piece of the grocery list and go get them for you? And then we can meet up with you later?”

Marcela glanced over at Lance, who was staring forlornly at the beef with watery eyes, and back at Keith. A slow smile spread across her face.

“Do you have your watch on you?”

Keith nodded, holding up his wrist.

“Okay, then. Watch my purse for a sec.” 

Keith dutifully stood by the cart and her purse, reaching over to pat Lance gently on the head without looking. Marcela stepped over to the end of the aisle, grabbing one of those plastic grocery baskets, and hurried back.

“Here,” she said, handing Keith the basket. She tore off a piece of the grocery list and gave him that as well. “You boys go grab what’s on that list. Meet me at the self-checkout in 25 minutes. Don’t talk to strangers except for employees, and even then, only if you have to. Okay?”

Keith nodded, tugging Lance along to the first aisle he sees. Lance sniffled, turning to face Keith for the first time. 

“Where’re we going?”

“To get groceries.”

“What about mamá?”

“She said it’s okay. We have to meet her in 25 minutes, though.”

The independence seemed to light a fuse in Lance, tears evaporating off his face. 

“Really? We get to get the groceries?”

“Some of them,” Keith replied, smiling a little. 

Lance beamed back, and something settled in Keith’s chest. He liked it better when Lance was smiling.

“Woohoo! Let’s go!” He grabbed Keith’s hand and tugged him away, chattering about their ‘new mission’. He was so excited he forgot to say goodbye to Marcela, so Keith waved for both of them. She was laughing.

Twenty-five minutes later (on the dot), they met Marcela at the self-checkout, Lance pointing out all the things they got “…and the cheaper ones, too, we checked the prices and everything —“

Marcela smiled softly, reaching an arm out to pull Keith close with a squeeze. 

“Leandro’s little protector, huh?” she asked, ruffling his hair.

Keith scoffed, about to remind her that only one of them got into regular fistfights in the schoolyard over insults and bullying and it sure as heck wasn’t Keith, but he paused. 

Yeah, Lance was the one who went feral when some idiot at school insulted the two of them. He might be small and scrawny, but he’s certainly scrappy. Ethan was not the first or last time Lance made someone bleed (he tended to bite). Lance is the one who comes up with revenge to inflict on bullies or mean older kids. Keith’s favourite incident was the time he brought his Nana’s sewing kit and seam ripper to school, along with a container of beaten eggs. He snuck into the classroom during recess, opened the bottom of Nell’s — she was a mean girl who often made horrible comments about Keith’s eyes and Lance’s tendency to wear skirts or pink — backpack, and carefully brushed the beaten eggs all over the fabric. Just enough to cover it, but not soak it. He sewed it back up and stashed the evidence. Over the next few weeks, the eggs in Nell’s bag rotted, but she couldn’t figure out where it was coming from and reeked for days before she finally convinced her parents to get her a new backpack. But by then, the damage was done — she was Smelly Nelly to everyone who knew her. It didn’t exactly stop her teasing, but it certainly made it easier to bear.

But their friendship certainly wasn’t one-sided. Keith might not use his fists, or come up with revenge plans twisted enough to get him sent to the guidance counsellor, but he definitely helped Lance in other ways. He thinks back to every time he wrote down notes for Lance when the lights and sounds were hurting his head and he can’t pay attention. To every time he was a shoulder to cry on, or a distraction.

Maybe he is Lance’s protection, just as much as Lance is his.

“We protect each other,” Keith decided eventually. He’s a little surprised at the conviction in his voice.

Marcela laughs, brushing the mop out of his eyes and pressing a kiss to his forehead. 

“You’re absolutely right, mijo.”

—

[klance-fics]

Hmm got any recs for wrong number/texting fics?? 👀

i loooove those yes i have a bunch actually

i usually only post completed fics its like my rule but "this is so sad paladins form voltron" was discontinued. however klance happened in the fic before it got discontinued and its actually my fav so im adding it anyway

you never stood a chance

lance to hunk ♡

>i’m gonna fukin die hunk oh mygod i sent

>keith a work out selfie that i wan supposed to fcukin send to you and you know what it said

>”BET YOU WANNA LICK THESE NIPS”

>HUNK I WILL NEVE BE ABLE TO FCE HIM AGAIN I WANT TO DI E

(Or, Keith is beautiful, Lance has a crush, and there's lots of shirtless selfies)

teamwork makes the meme work

Allura creates a groupchat for the newfound members of the Gender-Sexuality Alliance club at Voltron University. Everything goes downhill from there.

Keith

Why was I never considered

Shiro

You know why.

Keith

For fuck’s sake

You shank a guy once and suddenly you’re “violent” and have “anger issues”

Pidge

keith you;re gonna make me piss my pantsnhdjkljdhjh

build a paper plane (to float to you)

“Would it make you feel better if I introduced myself to Shiro’s neighbours?”

“It would make me feel better if you had told me that you were going to be alone this winter break.” Lance grumbles lowly.

“I’m telling you now.”

Lance rubs his hand over his face, tries not to sound frustrated. “Why are you telling me now?”

Keith falters, thinks over his words. Lance bets he doesn’t know why he’s telling him now either. “Because I thought you should know.” He finally settles on. Because you can’t do anything about it.

--

In which Lance travels across 1,681 kilometers, sees the sky and the water meet for the first time, and falls in more ways than one.

voltron is a meme

Group Message to: Lance and +9 972-888-2022

Lance: shut the fuck up

+9 972-888-2022: i haven’t even said anything yet!

+9 972-888-2022: rude

Lance: PIDGE CAN’T MAKE PHONES

Lance: THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE OKAY

Pidge: say that to my face

Lance: if you can make HUNK a PHONE then you can make ME a PROPER FACE LOTION

Pidge: gdi lance lotion isn’t the same as technology

Lance: i fucking hate u

Lance: you CAN’T tell me you can build a phone out of nothing and not even make me a lotion

Pidge: i don’t even know what goes IN lotion

Pidge: i haven’t moisturized a day in my life

Lance: you Take That Back

In which Team Voltron canonically gets a group chat, Lance hates change, memes are sacred, and Keith and Lance's crushes are obvious to everyone except them.

This is So Sad Paladins Form Voltron

Princess: What is this Mario Kart?

gos: it’s a video game where you race one another in little cars

Dunce Dunce Revolution: excuSE ME

gos: not again

Dunce Dunce Revolution: did you just call mario kart a /video game/

Dunce Dunce Revolution: a mere /video game/?

Pidgeon: blocked and reported

Kogayne: never speak to me or my husband ever again

Kogayne removed gos from the chat

OR: a post season-7 chat fic because I couldn't find any

FEATURING: pining, of the klance, romellura, and adashatt varieties; wholesome family bonding; the MFes as well as our alien friends, and an unholy amount of memes.

it's actually mostly memes.

ladies and gentlemen we are rocking in space

LANCE

do u like the taste of spam, van kieu

because thats what ull get

1 glorious terabyte of def-not-garrison-approved viewing matl

every hour on d hour

KEITH

And now you’re blackmailing me. Wonderful.

Look, I’ll tell you, alright?

Not because your threat scares me, but because I’d like to cut this conversation as short as humanly possible.

LANCE

glad ur being so cooperative ;) ;)

--

Lance gets a new flight simulation partner. Lance makes a bunch of mixtapes. Lance falls in love?

Galaxy Garrison + texting au. For the Klance Zine!

Instructions Not Included

Keith glanced back toward the front door of his apartment, half hoping the cat’s owner or someone would suddenly bang on the door and give him an explanation. But the door remained silent, and Keith sighed, turning back to the cat. She was now licking her paws, seemingly completely unconcerned with her new environment.

“Don’t suppose you could explain what’s going on.”

The cat looked up at him, her gold eyes studying his, then she dipped her head and coughed up a hairball at Keith’s feet.

Keith wrinkled his nose. “Guess not.”

—

Keith ends up with an unexpected guest over the holidays.

you walked in, and i couldn't look away

Lance has a staring problem. Keith hates it and confronts him about it. Lance falls for him, literally, and then... they become sort-of friends.

Funky Lesbian changed group name “Voltrons bitches” to “Voltron is just furry propaganda”

The paladins of Voltron are on their way home. PIdge installed a texting / messaging system into their lions and now they can communicate on the way home.

Pidge did not think this through and now Lance keeps messaging about his crush on Keith.

Inspired by this tumblr post : I’m proud to identify as morosexual. I’m attracted to dumbasses and dumbasses exclusively. A guy asked me what the Spanish word for tortilla was once and now I dream of kissing him under the moonlight

hello neighbor

[8:08 PM]: you’re at work at 8 at night? where do you work?

[8:08 PM]: why would i tell you that

and don’t say because we’re number neighbors

[8:09 PM]: UGHHH

i thought we were having a moment

[8:09 PM]: over what?? i know nothing about you

[8:09 PM]: well let’s change that shall we

the name’s lance

DID YOU REALLY JUST LEAVE ME ON READ

[just-another-writing-sideblog]

Twenty Questions

Pairing: Klance (sue me) Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Word count: 1405 Requested : No(Please send me some)

"Keith, I'm sorry...he just lost a lot of blood" He could barely hear Coran over his heart thumping in his chest.Lance couldn't be gone, no,he'd promised, he'd promised that he would stay.God no please, lance couldn't leave him, please. Keith collapsed onto the chair, he couldn't breathe, he could feel allura's eyes on him but he couldn't bring himself to care anymore because Lance was dead.

"Thwack"

"Kogane, hey Keith, hey-hey look at me," His eyes shot open, he exhaled shakily, trying failing to calm himself down.

"Hey Keith, look at me buddy "Lance's gentle voice pierced through his panic, wait no Lance was dead.

"It was only a nightmare Kogane, breath shh-shhh" The latino's hands cupped his face, calming him down slightly.

"Wha-what are you doing here?" His senses were clearing, he could feel Lance's hands travel away from his face, he could see his bunker. He turned his head, he was sitting on the bed and Lance was kneeling on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I know we're not supposed to come into each other's rooms without permission but red wanted me to check on you, so I came in and you were crying in your sleep and I panick-" "Thankyou" "I'm so- Wait a second did you just thank me for slapping you?"

"...Maybe"

Lance cracked a smile, fidgeting a little he was clearly uncomfortable but too proud to ask to sit on the bed. "I don't think the floor's that comfortable, why don't you come up here?"Keith asked shyly.

"I'm fine, you need space.Really i-" "Lance, it's fine."Keith bit back a laugh at the other's surprise "Thanks" He brought a hand to his neck, climbing onto the bed.

They sat like that for a few minutes, the silence wasn't awkward but it wasn't all that comfortable either.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was it about?""Hmm?" "The nightmare, what was it about?" Keith sat very still for a few seconds,trying to figure out a way to tell him without telling him.

"It was about someone I care about. In it they, well they died." "Oh, I'm sorry those are the worst ones." "You've had them before?" Keith sat up a little straighter, and moved a little closer to the other boy. "Yeah, they're about my family dying or this one person." By the end of the sentence, Keith could see a light dusting of pink across his face.

"This person seems really important to you." It was probably Allura, he leaned forward, leaving barely any distance between him and Lance. Surprised by his own boldness, he leaned away slightly, and maybe he was just seeing things due to his utter lack of sleep but he could swear he saw a hint of disappointment cross Lance's face.

"Yeah, they are." He smiled, relaxing his head against the wall.They, he didn't say she, maybe Pidge?Keith stared at him, as though his face would reveal this person. In his pursuit for answers, he ended up noticing the way Lance's lips parted, how angular his jaw was and how his Adam's apple bobbed when he spoke and oh god he was saying something.

"Keith buddy, you listening?" "Sorry, what were you saying?" "I was saying that we should probably get some sleep."He smiled, getting off the bed.

He toed on his slippers and grabbed his robe, only when he was at the door did Keith realise that he was going to leave.

"Lance, do you want to stay?" Keith grabbed his arm, “It’s cold today and I can’t have my right hand man getting sick can I?” He let go of his arm and stepped back. “Yeah,but I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep for a little bit and I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” Lance brought a hand to the base of his neck playing with the ends of his hair.

“I don’t think I’m going to be sleeping anytime soon either.” Keith chuckled awkwardly and leant against the wall. "Well if you're not gonna sleep and I'm not gonna sleep, we could play a game!"Some of Lance's regular enthusiasm started to peek through.

"Fine, what do you want to play?"Keith smiled as Lance's eyes widened "I didn't think you would actually say yes!"

"I always love to see how much you believe in me” ''Well you're always the one who complains about the team bonding exercises!" "that's because YOU NEVER REMEMBER THEM" "It was one time keef, one fucking time"The Latino laughed.

Keith stared, he marvelled at the way Lance's eyes glittered when he laughed , it was a low musical thing that made you want to join in. Standing there in his room he realised two things. One:he was definitely in love with lance and two, his legs were falling asleep.

"But seriously we should probably sit down and play something."Lance's words were fast and excited like he couldn’t hold them in any longer. “Fine, what are we playing?” Keith stretched his hands above his head, trying to wake his body up.

“Ever played 20 questions?” Lance bit his lip, his eyes lighting up with excitement. His eyes were gorgeous, why hadn’t Keith noticed this before? It wasn’t like he didn’t stare at him all the time.

“We’re not twelve year olds at a sleepover Lance.” The red paladin rolled his eyes. “Aren’t we?” “Fine, I guess we’re playing Twenty questions now.” He sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. It totally wasn’t to stop himself from pushing a strand of hair away from Lance's eyes.

“Ok first, did you actually shave Admiral Gangler’s eyebrows?” Lance started the game. “WHAT?! SOMEBODY SHAVED OFF GANGLER’S EYEBROWS?” “Yeah, the day after you were booted, he showed up at the academy eyebrowless.” “Seriously?” Keith laughed, he tried to imagine the old scrooge without his eyebrows which only made him laugh harder.

“Oh man, I’m sorry I missed it.” “You should be, what were you thinking, getting yourself kicked out?” “Hey!One question at a time!”Keith exclaimed, surprised that his voice came out as steady as it did. The Garrison was still a sore spot for him.

“Speaking of which….” “Fine. Who is this mystery person?” He wanted to know. Bad. It had taken guts but here they were, Keith staring at Lance’s red face. “Ah-ah-ah how does the saying go again?Curiosity killed the cat?” “But satisfaction brought it back.” He bit back a smirk, it wasn’t going to help his case.

“I’m gonna pass on this question.” “I don’t think that’s how the game works, Mclain.” Shiro was right in calling him a stubborn bastard. “Hmm and where’s the rulebook?” Lance took two brave steps closer, and Keith was pretty sure he was going to spontaneously combust if he got any closer. But Lance didn’t seem to notice, and took another step. “Very inconsiderate of him” A voice in his head noted.

“Shut it.” Why hadn’t he noticed that the logical part of his brain sounded oh so much like Shiro? “You don’t have to answer the question.” He was cornered.

“Nonono, now I want to.” Mclain stepped even closer, their lips were almost touching now and a guilty spark of excitement lit up his heart. “He likes someone else, he’s just playing with you keith.” There was the shiro voice again.

Listening to it for once he stepped back, effectively pinning himself against the wall. When had it sprung up there? The excitement was quickly taken over by nervous energy, suddenly he was hyper aware of all his imperfections.

“It’s you. Always has been, always will be” Eight words, it took eight words for Lance to wash away all his doubts and make him forget his own name.

“This was stupid, I should go.” The latino stepped back and Keith immediately missed the smell of cinnamon and coffee. Lance turned around awkwardly, his robe falling a little.

“Wait lance!” Keith impulsively grabbed his hand and lo and behold, they were kissing.

He didn’t know what to do with his hands, lance’s had migrated immediately to the back of his neck, his own hung awkwardly by his side until they decided that the small of Lance’s back was a good place to rest. After a bit the need for air was too great and the two pulled away.

“We should play more often.”

[thespacenico]

day 4: athlete

a little volleyball klance au inspired by all of these genius threads 🏐❤️💙 ✩✩✩

“Do you think we can win the championship?” Lance asks. 

He’s lying flat on his back in the middle of the gym floor, squinting slightly against the fluorescent haze overhead. His head is cushioned by his hands folded behind it, elbows fanning out on either side of him, one ankle crossed over a bent knee. Keith lies directly beside him, hands resting on his stomach, legs stretched out in front of him.

They’ve been lying here in comfortable silence for almost ten minutes now, catching their breath after spending an extra hour or so after practice working on their techniques. Since Keith and Lance are arguably the league’s best setter and hitter (respectively), they often find themselves practicing with each other, even if it’s to switch roles so the other can work on their sets and hits (also respectively). With the championship game growing closer and closer, it can’t hurt to be as well-rounded as possible.

Keith doesn’t answer immediately, which is how Lance knows that he’s genuinely considering his question. After a moment he hums, quietly yet lowly enough that it vibrates in Lance’s chest. “Yeah. I think we can.”

“Me too,” Lance says agreeably, wiggling his foot in the air and then glancing sideways at Keith. “As long as you don’t forget all that I’ve taught you, that is. Can’t have you losing the game for us because you forgot how to hit.” 

Keith smacks lightly at Lance’s arm, not nearly enough to hurt, but Lance makes a big show of rubbing it anyway if only to make Keith laugh. “You wish. If anything, we can’t have you losing the game for us because you forgot how to set. Also, spikes aren’t the only way to win games, you know. Sometimes all it takes is a good tip.” 

“See? How could I possibly lose the game when you keep dropping those wisdom bombs on me like that?”

“If I could physically see the words coming out of your mouth right now, they’d be completely drenched in sarcasm. Like you had sarcasm soup for dinner or something.” 

Lance snorts, and the sound of their laughter bounces around the empty gym and echoes all the way to the ceiling and back, where it presses into Lance’s chest and seeps into his heart until his whole body feels warm, buzzing and content. He wishes they got to spend more time like this together, without the constant pressure that they have to somehow prove themselves, to live up to their reputation and to be absolutely perfect for their other teammates. He wishes they could be like this all the time.

“The gym is closing soon,” Keith says after another few quiet minutes. “We should probably go.” 

“Probably,” Lance sighs, reluctantly climbing to his feet and sticking a hand out for Keith. Keith takes it, like he always does, and smiles before stepping past him to go collect some of the balls they’ve hit onto the far side of the court. 

Lance pretends his heart doesn’t flip approximately three times in his chest.

It should only take a few minutes to clean up and put everything away, but Lance finds himself dawdling, not quite ready for the night to end. Keith is too preoccupied with, you know, actually cleaning up to notice until he tries to take the last volleyball from Lance to put into the cart, and Lance refuses to let go.

Keith gives him a deadpan look, but he doesn’t mask the amusement in his eyes. “Seriously?” 

Lance hugs the ball to his chest. “Seriously, what?” 

“Give it.”

“No.” 

“Lance.” 

“I just! I’m trying to say something!” 

Keith folds his arms over his chest and raises an eyebrow expectantly, the corner of his mouth twitching up into a smile like he’s waiting for Lance to crack a joke like he so often does. Lance shuffles awkwardly, averting his gaze and swallowing down the nerves bubbling up from his chest. “I just. Wanted to say thanks, I guess. For, you know. Practicing with me, and stuff.” 

“Oh.” Keith’s expression morphs into one of confusion. “You’re… welcome? You’ve practiced with me a lot, too. It was about time I returned the favor.” 

“I know.” Lance offers a weak smile, only making eye contact for a split second before looking away again. “I just kinda… I don’t know. Well, okay, I do know.” 

“Know what?” 

Lance scratches the back of his head, still clutching the ball to his chest with his other arm. “I wish we could spend more time together like this,” he admits, and he’s proud of the fact that his voice only cracks once. “Outside of—everything. Like. Yeah.” 

He knows how red his cheeks must be by now, which is why he continues to stare directly at the ground. That is, until Keith places a hand on top of the ball against Lance’s chest, tilts his chin up with the other, and kisses him square on the mouth. Lance is so surprised that he doesn’t even get the chance to kiss back before Keith pulls away, instead gaping at him like an absolute fool. A charming fool, apparently, considering that Keith had decided to kiss him.

His cheeks are adorably pink, which Lance might have noticed sooner if he wasn’t so busy looking anywhere other than directly at him. “Me too,” he says quietly, the ghost of a smile pulling at his mouth.

(They end up leaving the gym just a bit later than planned.)