#pidge if you see this i will get to yours soon i just have work at early o'clock tomorrow

[piedoesnotequalpi]

“For to love is to burn” for the title?

Hello hello sorry this took approximately ten years. I was surprisingly busy/tired post-finishing finals! But! We are here for angsty fic titles! And Sprace!

Okay I had an idea and then had another, hopefully better idea so I scrapped the first idea and now here we are. TW for unhealthy/abusive relationships and my first ever attempt at canon era speech patterns

Before he left his parents, Race watched them have a terrible relationship. They fought, and Race's dad was always far too prepared to go out and fight other people because of his mom - they looked at her wrong, or they (in his opinion) mistreated her, so he'd go out and lose a fight in an attempt to "defend her honor" regardless of what his mom said. Basically, Race's father did not express love in particularly productive ways, and so he fled to the lodging house by the time he turned eight.

This was Race's only example of a romantic relationship, so he thinks that's what love is supposed to be: angry and violent and miserable (his parents were always miserable). It doesn't really matter when you're eight, but he decides he doesn't want to get married ever, or even be in a relationship. He keeps himself a little distant from the other newsies, too - he's part of the group, but he deflects anything that could reveal his past or his actual feelings about anything with a joke. And as he gets older, he starts to realize he likes boys a lot more than he should, so he decides his promise to himself (and the wall he decided to put up) was a pretty good idea.

The problem is, Race starts selling at Sheepshead as a teenager, where he meets Spot Conlon. Spot is very intimidating, and tries to get him to stop, but Race is stubborn and argues his way into staying. Spot sometimes stops by to check in, and Race gradually starts to realize two things: one, that he is far more honest with her than he is with any of the Manhattan newsies; and two, he likes girls a little more than he thought. He definitely has a preference for men, but somehow this tall girl who keeps the Brooklyn newsies more organized than the Manhattan newsies ever will be has managed to be the exception to the rule.

The other problem is, now that Race and Spot are something approaching friends, Race notices people talking about her more than he used to, and what he hears is not positive. And even though he's been with the newsies for years, and seen the more mundane, nonviolent ways they show that they care about each other, he's also seen them (physically) fight for each other. Whenever he hears someone talking trash about Spot, he fights them, but of course word gets back to Spot about this pretty quickly, and when she shows up to Sheepshead after she finds out, she's not happy, to put it mildly.

"What the hell, Race?!" Spot screams. "I can fight for myself! Now folks are gonna think I can't, and if they're thinkin' that way then that puts my girls in danger!"

"Y'ain't there!" Race says, knowing full well that he messed up in several ways. "And you - we's s'posed to - "

From there, the story of how he grew up comes out, how he thought part of showing you cared about people was fighting on their behalf. Spot punches him for being an idiot (he never quite picked up the nuances of why what his father did made his mother upset vs. why the newsies were okay with fighting for each other, which is what got him into this in the first place), but they stay on speaking terms, and Race stops fighting her battles when she's not around.

Of course, when Spot hears the Delanceys saying rude things about Race during the strike, she full-on decks them (she was going to anyway, but the insults were the final straw) and Race nearly proposes marriage on the spot.

[the-californicationist]

Guile & Guilt (Ch. 10 --- Ending)

THURSDAY — 10:24PM: 18 hours until the wedding

As Johnny popped open the door to the distillery’s main hall, his grip on your hand tightened. It felt as if he was holding onto you in a strong current, working as hard as he could to keep you from slipping away. Yet, wave after wave of anxiety and fear crashed between you, trying its best to pull you apart. He was having none of it, and as you wilted, seeing everyone’s faces staring at you in the hall, he strengthened, all but carrying you along with him, ready to face whatever music was behind that black, wooden portal. 

He walked in front of you, shielding you from whatever terror waited for you just around the corner of the short corridor. Then, as he rounded it, confronting the crowd, you heard a raucous, jeering applause. The guests at the rehearsal dinner were whooping and clapping, carrying on about the most important (and embarrassing) moment of your life, smiling and laughing at you and your protector. 

But, you didn’t care about the crowd. You were scanning it for Pidge. Your eyes moved along the wall of faces, frantically searching for her. Then, pushing between Price and Gaz, there she was, coming towards you with Hamish not far behind. 

The rest of the guests turned back to their business, still sharing laughs and comments to each other about your impromptu display of affection, but no one followed Pidge into the hallway to spy on you further. 

When she saw your face, hers changed. It had been blank, emotionless, and cold. But, now, it was something as far from that as could be. You watched bright, fat tears fill the bottom lashes in her eyes, and her hand went to cover the grimace on her mouth. 

Johnny shoved you behind him, blocking you from his sister’s supposed wrath, but you spoke around him,

“I’m so sorry, Pidge. I…” you sniffled as you looked up at her, fighting back your own sobs and trying to speak, “I tried so hard to stay away. Please, believe me.”

“Aye,” Johnny interrupted, straightening himself up pridefully, “She did, Pigeon. It was my fault.”

Pidge’s face twisted into an angry snarl, and she spun around as if to walk away, then she turned back to him. You thought she might slap him right across his mouth, and you weren’t positive, but you thought you could feel Johnny tensing up in front of you, bracing for it as he protected you. 

Her face was displaying every emotion. It was pure chaos, and your heart ached to know that you had been the catalyst for it. But, as soon as she realized what she wanted to feel, she committed to reaching out for him, and she wrapped him in her arms, crying into his chest. He held her, letting her tears soak into his shirt. 

“I kent so, you wee fuckin’ weapon,” she told him, her voice ragged and muffled by his body. You could barely understand her, “I spent all these years kennin’ she was the one who’d change your daft mind. I kent you’d love her, Johnny-boy, but I didnae want you to.”

His voice was strained as he asked her,

“Why, Pidge? Didnae you want me to be happy?”

“I wanted you to be yourself. The old you. The one who wanted to be home with us, with your family. You let me think you hated to be with me! You would leave and then, you’d go off with…” Her eyes darted to you as if to apologize for what she was about to say, “Whatever hen was the bloody closest. I didnae ken what to think.”

It took Johnny a moment to answer her. You were standing off to the side now, and he looked straight at you as he spoke, as if he was using you for fortification,

“I wasnae well, Brigette. It’s been right hard on me sometimes. I’d come back, and I’d get angry, just like da used to. I remember holding you at night when he’d get in that way, and you tried to hide your keenin’ but I heard you… and I didnae want that man back in your bloody house. So, I’d crash on couches ‘til I could come ‘round.”

Johnny sighed, listening to Pidge’s cries subside as she heard his words, and he went on,

“It was easier to spend a night here or a night there, enough time to be able to excuse away the bad dreams and the anger, but not enough to overstay my welcome. But, I missed out on a lot of time with you, and I ken I’ll never get it back. I dinnae want to miss any more of it.”

“Why the lassies, then? If all you needed was a safe space to be, you could’ve —”

Johnny smiled, shrugging,

“Any time of night, they’d always say yes. Even if I just crashed on the sofa. I may or may not’ve enjoyed the reputation a wee bit more than I should’ve done.”

Johnny’s soft grin turned on you, and he brought your hand up to his mouth to kiss your knuckles as if to apologize to you. 

“And he didn’t sleep with Cherise,” you interjected. 

Pidge looked at you and then back to her brother as if waiting for him to confirm. He shrugged, dragging a tired hand down his face. Johnny laughed,

“Just a wee bit o’ flirtin’, to be honest.”

She smacked him on his chest, hard. He winced and laughed some more. 

“Why didnae you tell me?” Her question was directed at both of you, and you could tell she expected a truthful answer. So, you plucked up the courage and told her, 

“I couldn’t lose you, Pidge. You’re the only real family I have, and I couldn’t bear it if you hated me for breaking your rules about dating your brother.”

You waited for her response, and it seemed like she was trying to find the words. She dug deep within herself to choose them, and every moment that went by, you prayed that they would at least be kind, that you would at least have a chance. 

While she was locked in thought, Johnny’s hand gripped yours, sealing your palms together, and pulled you into him, clutching you to his side in the cramped quarters of the hallway. Both of you were staring at his sister, two prisoners awaiting judgment. 

Hamish stood beside her, his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him and let out a ragged breath, grabbing your free hand in hers,

“I didnae want you to end up like our ma. When she got sick…”

You squeezed her hand to help her hold back her tears,

“Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Pidge.”

“When she got sick, he wasnae there. He didnae watch her layin’ there in pain. While he was bleedin’ to death in bloody Sarajevo, she was on her second round of the chemo. And I never forgave him. Still havnae forgave him. And so, when Johnny-boy comes to me and tells me he’s joined the SAS? I just… in my mind, he just took da’s place. I know tha’s not fair. He’s his own man. 

But, then I watched you takin’ care of me after all tha’ mess. You were there for me, babe. And I couldnae bear it if he let you down in the way that da did our mam,” she laughed then, wiping old tears away, “And I tried so hard to keep him away. I’d cancel plans with you when he was home. I knew you were his. You were everything that my old Johnny loved. 

I thought he’d changed. I thought he’d lost himself to the desert. I thought he’d leave you, and then I’d lose you. And I couldnae lose you.”

“I’m so sorry, Pidge,” you told her. 

She pulled you away from Johnny and wrapped you in a long hug, 

“I’m sorry, too.”

“She is,” Johnny said, rubbing your back as Pidge hugged you. 

She pulled away to look up at him, waiting for him to elaborate. He cupped your chin in his huge hands, warming your neck with his soft grip. He stared into your eyes, looking at you as if there was nothing else to see, 

“She is everything that I love. She’s everything, Pidge.”

SATURDAY — 4:15AM: 1 hour after the wedding  

You could barely get your keys into the lock, as weak as he was making you with his kisses on your neck. Johnny had groped you in the car, he’d kissed you until you’d moaned in the elevator, and he’d all but chased you down the hallway, laughing and grinning like a fiend. 

“Johnny!” You gasped. 

“Hurry, lass. I cannae wait much longer,” he nuzzled your jaw.

You giggled again, pushing the door open and tumbling through it. He shut and locked it behind him, tossing your bag and jacket on the futon. Marlowe made herself scarce, still not used to seeing him in your house. 

He pushed you into the kitchen, kissing you up against the countertop, holding your face in his hands. 

“Are you my woman, thief? Tell me.”

“I am, Johnny. All yours. I’ll show you.”

You knelt on your kitchen floor, the glitter of your dress crinkling on the concrete. You smiled up at him, enjoying the concerned look on his face, and lifted the hem of his great kilt, tossing it over your head. He tried to stop you at first, 

"No, thief... you dinnae need to… oh, fuck.” 

You found his cock with your lips, kissing his shaft. He was twitching, already hardening, swelling against your mouth, fully uncovered beneath his sporran. The large fur pouch tapped you against the back of your head as you kissed him, but you didn’t care. You set your tongue on him like you were starving, licking him from base to tip, using your hands to massage his length and his balls. Your efforts seemed to change his mind because, now, he was begging you in a deep voice, 

“Don't... don't stop… please, mèirleach. God, your mouth…" 

Johnny was coming apart above you in a literal sense. You felt the sporran fall away from your head and watched it fall to the ground next to his feet with a loud clunk. The soft wool of his great kilt swished against the small of your back, bare as it was in your gown. It tickled you on his behalf, petting you as you bobbed your head, trying desperately to swallow his challenging length. 

He was tugging off his shirt now, and you watched the white cotton tail disappear up and out of his waistband as he yanked it from the belt. You lifted one of your hands and pushed it through the bottom of the pleated fabric, popping out of his belt, rubbing his abs from below as you sucked him. 

Johnny grabbed your exploring fingers in his, gripping you tight, panting in heavy gasps above you,

“Fuckin’ hell, thief. I’m gonna come like this.”

Then, through the fabric of the tartan, you felt his hand on the back of your head, cradling you, shaking like a leaf. You took a deep breath and tried to fit him in your throat. He gagged you, too thick for your throat to handle him, but you fought through it, relaxing into him, trying your best to shock him, to make him crest over his waves of pleasure. 

Johnny’s hand became heavy against your skull, and you knew you had him. You swallowed into his salty head, over and over, coaxing him to come, licking and sucking him like you were trying to get to his warm, melting core. 

“Please, mèirleach! I’m gonna… I cannae… please, please, please…”

He was crying out above you, shamelessly thrusting himself into your throat, unable to keep himself under control. You were drooling from your lips, and you felt it coating your chin. You let it happen, unwilling to be embarrassed, protected by the darkness of his kilt. You held onto his hand above his belt, and you let your other rub beneath his balls, teasing that forbidden space in between. 

As soon as you did, he let out a dark whine, ending it in a sharp shout, releasing his load into your mouth. You tasted him, felt his salty cream slide into your belly, sucking him clean as he finished. 

The cool air of the room hit your wet mouth and neck as he pulled his kilt over you, staring down at you with a ferocious, hungry look, mixed with the warmth of his pleasure and a bit of curious disbelief. He moved his hand back to your head, holding you in place by your hair, gentle enough but sure. Then, he gathered his tartan up in his other hand and used it to wipe your mouth for you, praising you as he did.

“Mo mèirleach, so good for me. So fuckin’ good.”

You stared up at him, admiring his body. The cape of his great kilt had fallen from his shoulder, and his shirt was gone, leaving him bare. All of his muscles were straining with his ragged breathing, working hard to hold him together, dancing under his flushed skin. You rose, kissing his hairy belly, licking over his navel, finding a nipple to suckle against, nipping at it with your teeth as gently as you could, watching him writhe. 

He was studying you now, as if he was seeing you for the first time, and he slipped one of his fingers beneath the strap of your dress, pulling it down your shoulder. It hung there, limply, and all that was left was its twin. He found that one next and tugged it down, watching as the dress cascaded away, revealing the nothing you’d worn underneath. 

Johnny shuddered, gasping in a short breath, staring at your body in the low light. His eyes burned into yours, and he commanded you in a new tone, one you’d not heard before,

“Get to the bed, lass. Now.”

He watched you back up the few steps that it took to reach your mattress, swaying your hips as you did, running your hands over your breasts, teasing yourself and him at the same time. 

Johnny was undressing as he followed you, lifting his shins to untie his ghillie brogues, ripping down the socks and letting his flashings fall out of them. Finally, he pulled out his sharp dagger, the sgian dubh, and let it fall to the counter with a loud bang. Lastly, he popped the boar-shaped buckle of his belt and the heavy kilt fell away, revealing his naked form to you. 

He looked like he weighed as much as a bull. His body was immense, and his hands covered too much of you when he wrapped them around your waist. He could reach, pinky to thumb, across the span of your belly, and he warmed you with his palms, molding you to him like smooth clay. 

Johnny lifted you, taking you by surprise, tossing you onto the bed so you landed on your back. You giggled, and then he shushed you, looming over you, kissing you, tasting himself there, sucking at your tongue and lips hungrily. His hands were kneading your breasts, plucking at your nipples and encouraging them to stiffen beneath his touch. Your giggles turned into soft whimpers, and you felt your pussy throbbing for him, soaking itself, eager for its missing piece.  

Between his kisses, he was whispering to you, chanting his mantra, the same one he’d said before, 

“You’re mine, mèirleach. You’re my woman. Say it.”

“I’m yours, mo chridhe…” You whined, feeling his thick fingers find your clit and discovering how wet you were. 

“Mine, mine, mine,” Johnny growled, sucking the delicate skin along your neck and collarbone, kissing you over and over, leaving a trail of them leading down to a strong latch on your nipple. He was using one of his fingers to press into your wetness, and when he felt the fire within you, he sighed involuntarily, shaking a bit from the sensation. 

“You’re soaked… Oh, fuck. You feel so warm.”

“Don’t stop, Johnny, please…” You cried to him, feeling your whole body tense, ready to come. 

He sat back on his heels, keeping your legs wrapped around his hips, using both hands to play you like a fiddle. And he made you sing for him, twisting his hand and curling his fingertips, stroking you in long, deep movements, pressing down into your hole to give you the sense of girth you’d soon be feeling for real. 

“Are you ready for my cock, mèirleach? Hard again for you already,” he pulled himself up and let his heavy rod rest on top of your clit, sliding himself back and forth through your wet folds. 

“Please… Fuck me, baby, please…” 

“Shh, shh, shh. I’ve got you, thief. I’ve got you. Give me those eyes. There… there you are. Oh, perfect girl. So damn perfect for me. This pussy was made for me; I’m sure of it. Do you ken how I’m sure?”

You didn’t say anything. You just stared at his body as he thrust his cock against your pussy lips, passing through them, making his cockhead glisten with your come. Then, he angled it down into you, and he let his head tease your hole, rubbing it in small circles, letting you feel every bit of his skin as it invaded your body. 

“Here’s how I ken…” He smiled down at you and thrust himself into you as slowly as he could. 

Inch after staggering inch was fed into your heat, stoking the furnace within your belly, warming him up from the inside out. He was holding his breath the entire way in, his face locked in a tight, furious agony. Then, when you felt his base stretch you further, he smiled, tossing his head back in bright, easy joy. 

Johnny looked back down at where you were joined and placed his hand on your belly, feeling himself inside of you, petting your soft skin. His eyes darted up to yours, watching you suffer from the pleasure he’d made,

“Perfect fit, mo mèirleach. Every bit of you. Your lips, your cheeks, your breasts… the way you read your poems to me. The way you love me. You’re everything to me, lass. I love you.”

You felt like you were having an out of body experience. You couldn’t stop your walls from pushing and pulling against his heavy rod, as hard as iron and smooth like velvet. He’d filled you tight, like a cork in champagne, and you were very nearly ready to burst, not yet recovered from your previous orgasm. 

“I love you, too, Johnny,” you begged him with your hips, grinding into him like you were riding him.

He played with your clit again, rubbing his thumb up and down its swollen length, feeling your lips as they stretched around him, making you cry out in all sorts of noises. Then, you watched as a burning mischief lit up his eyes, and that commander’s voice was back, 

“Spread your legs for me. Wide, just like that. Spread ‘em apart, lass. Let me see you. I wanna see that pink hole as it takes me like that. So fuckin’ good. Didnae ken it could be so bonnie…” 

Johnny started to thrust himself into you, good on his word, watching as he disappeared into your body. His head was rubbing against your most sensitive spot on the way out and tormenting your deepest parts on the way in. You were so full, you felt like you could burst. He tucked his hands into the crook of your knees and spread you just that much wider, making all of your nerves light up as he stretched your skin. 

“Johnny! Fuck…” You were fluttering around him, clenching against his dick, trying to control your body and failing. 

His voice was deep, and it resonated in the hollow of your chest, 

“Come on, thief. Come for me. Come. Come… fuck. That feels so good, bonnie girl.” 

The pale, fading moonlight morphed and changed as your orgasm flooded your mind. He was still talking at you, chanting sweet and savory nothings, praising you for nothing and everything, 

“I can feel your heart, mèirleach. It’s beatin’ against me.”

“Johnny…” You gasped, coming down from your high only to feel him slamming himself into you like a relentless piston. 

“Takin’ me so well, mo ghràdh. Perfect for me. Takin’ this cock like it was made for you.”

“Please, baby… I need you, mo chridhe. I need…” You weren’t sure what you need, but you prayed to him like a god, and you hoped he would know.

He fell over you, closing you into him, fitting you right to his chest, never breaking his incredible rhythm. He was kissing your mouth, letting the softest whimpers out of his throat as he did, whining for you. 

“Is that it, thief? Is that what you need? Is that… fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…”

Each curse was a cry, and his voice was in pieces from it, broken and pleading. He was begging you, and every time he fucked his length into your belly, he would grunt like a beast, overcome with want. 

You returned with your own mantra, finding his ear with your lips and whispering a thousand yeses into it, locking your heels around his thick waist, feeling his muscles working hard for you against your inner thighs. 

“Tell me… tell me to come, mo ghràdh. Tell me when you…”

He was suffering inside of you, and you felt his whole body trembling with desire, ready to fill you at your command. 

You ran your hands through his mohawk, holding it at the base of his skull, and you whispered, releasing him,

“Come in me, baby. Come in me. Come in… oh, my God! Come…”

You held him close to you as he spent himself deep within your belly, filling you for the second time, screaming for you. Johnny clutched at you like you were a lifeline, holding you tight to him, even as he slowed, teasing his head inside of you, slipping through his own come as it mixed with yours. As he finally slid out of you, he was kissing you again, his lips loose and swollen, his tongue tasting you gently. 

“I love you,” you whispered between kisses. 

He looked like you had just sunk your knife between his ribs, aiming right for his heart, and all the air left his lungs, no longer needed. Johnny died and was reborn in your arms within half-seconds, little moments that only you could see. His smile was the most beautiful thing you’d ever seen as he answered you, 

“I love you, thief.”

He left you for a moment to reach below the bed. Johnny came back up with his kilt in his hand, and he wrapped you in it, swirling his long tartan around your body, folding you in MacTavish dress blue. He pulled you into his lap as he leaned against your headboard, panting and trying to come back to reality. 

You played with his tags around your neck, basking in the warmth of his woolen cloak, letting your head rest against his neck, and your mind started to imagine how your name might look with MacTavish behind it. 

JULY

Johnny held your hand as the plane touched down, waking you up slowly. There was a soft ding and the captain’s voice came on overhead,

“Welcome to Iceland. If you want to adjust your watch, it is 1705. The weather in Keflavík is a bit overcast, and the temperature is 20 degrees Celsius. We wish you a pleasant stay, and we hope to see you again very soon. On behalf of all our crew, thank you for choosing British Airways as your airline today.”

Pidge leaned over you to talk to her brother, tightening her grip on Hamish’s hand as he sat to her right,

“I swear to Jesus and Mary, I thought I was gonna die! Did you book these tickets, Johnny-boy? I’m feelin’ faint.”

“It’s okay, darling,” Hamish soothed her, “We made it. It’s over.”

“Holy shite. I’m shakin’ like a wee leaf!” She gasped, fanning herself.

You made it out of the airport with only a little drama, and by the time you pulled into the hotel, you were starving. Johnny tipped the cabbie and guided you inside, wrapping his arm around you tightly. 

“So, thief,” he suggested, “Did you wanna grab a bite in the hot spring? They’ve got the swim-up bar.”

“Eager to see me in that bathing suit you bought for me, hm?” You answered knowingly. 

He blushed, grinning sinfully, 

“Aye…”

“As long as I get to eat, I’ll wear whatever you want, mo chridhe.”

He whistled low and even, shaking his head, 

“Dinnae make promises you cannae keep, woman.”

“Hey! MacTavish!”

A voice was shouting at you from across the lobby. Toting bags and already dressed in their summer gear, Price, Gaz, and Ghost headed over toward you.

“Hey! There you are,” Johnny greeted them, and there were warm hugs all around. 

“Well, c’mon,” Price grabbed you by the arm, “Lemme see it.”

You smiled at him, holding up your left hand, letting him get a long look at the huge amethyst that sat as the flower on the end of a circular, golden thistle-shaped ring. 

“Gorgeous,” Price smiled, shaking Johnny’s hand again, “We can’t wait for the wedding. If it’s anything like the last one, I know it’ll be a good time.”

You laughed with him, feeling Johnny’s soft lips in your hair as he leaned down to kiss you. He smiled at you, speaking to his captain, 

“Aye, I cannae hardly wait.”

Thank you so much to everyone who read, liked, commented, and reblogged this story! I truly hope you enjoyed it. If you did, you might consider checking out my Price/Reader 100k story, "Gunslinger", available on AO3.

If you need more Soap, be on the lookout for Chapter 2 of PornStar!Johnny, which is threatening to turn itself into a full fic if I don't watch out.

Thanks so much to my betas and to all my mutuals for your support and ideas!! I love hearing from y'all, so message me anytime.

UPDATE: Epilogue (Ch. 11)

[veryace-ficrecs]

looking for voltron (legendary defenders) found family or klance, i love some good banter. i’m also always up for some good angst but no pressure there

I can sure do that for you!

Voltron Fic Recs

This Is The Part Of Me (That You're Never Gonna Ever Take Away) by negativefouriq - Rated T

Lance finishes reading the file, then turns to face Shiro. Shiro braces himself for an onslaught of questions, and readies himself to message Coran — “Is this your way of quietly kicking me off Voltron?” — and freezes. Huh? “Pardon?” Lance swallows roughly, eyes trained on his fidgety hands. “Um, I asked if this is your way of kicking me off the team,” Lance repeats. Shiro has never felt more like his brain was completely empty, because he has no fucking clue what to say. --- OR: Shiro and Lance have a misunderstanding. But Shiro wants nothing except for his kids to be happy, so he clears things up as quickly as possible.

Singularity by this_book_has_been_loved - Rated T

AU where instead of landing in the trash nebula, Pidge finds herself on the same planet as a certain Galra prison camp

The Lost Paladin by dinosuns - Rated T

If he doesn’t leave, all of him will be reduced to cinders. But if he leaves, all of him will be undone. A course that he will choose to chart, no matter how it breaks his heart. It’s a battle that cannot be won. - Their names burn inside him, seared onto his soul. Black coal sits in the centre of his chest, fuelling a fire that was soon to be smothered by the very people that set it ablaze.

Bad Diagnosis by ElfGrove - Rated T

Pidge has been having bad headaches for nearly a week straight, so she decides to see if the infirmary has some sort of Altean Advil. The actual news is not so great.

Tag in, tag out by Rangergirl3 - Rated T

When a teammate is in danger, Keith doesn't stand by when there is something he can do to help - even if it might cost him his life.

Family Can Be 2 Aliens and 5 Ex-Paladins by Lilacs_and_the_sea - Rated G

The war is over, and everyone's back home with their family. Everyone except Keith.

i'm family? by seph_bites - Rated T

“You were right when you said I shouldn’t be leader. All of you were right and Shiro was wrong. I can’t be what you guys need,” he said quietly. “No,” Hunk said defiantly. “You’re the one who’s wrong. Because you’ve been there for us. You didn’t want to be the leader of Voltron but you did it anyway. For us.” “And I almost got all of you killed in the process! Look, once Shiro can pilot Black again, what would I stay for?” “Us! You’re supposed to say us, you asshole!”

A Family By Any Other Name by Calacious - Rated T

Lance and Keith discover a lone survivor on a planet whose inhabitants have been wiped out by a virus brought to them by a visitor from another universe.

the perfect pair by polypinneaple - Rated T

“Don’t– you know it’s not different Shiro, Pidge and I work just as much if not more and what, they can just skip practice today because they’re homesick, or what, tired? This is a war!” “If they can’t pull their weight then maybe they shouldn’t be here. No! I don’t want to hear it, I’m going to go train.” ••• Hunk wasn’t an angry guy, he wasn’t short tempered or easily poked. But something about the way Keith spoke about Lance made him furious, he didn’t care what these people thought about him, but his Lance? Hunk would go to war and die fighting if it meant Lance was happy. AKA Lance and Hunk deal with feeling like outsiders to Team Voltron during their first few weeks in, it doesn't go well.

It's Okay by TerrificTea - Not Rated

It was supposed to be a simple intel mission. In and out. Simple right? But this is Voltron, and now Lance and Pidge are trapped after an explosion, leaving Pidge concussed, confused and with a rapidly growing concern for her teammate.

Voltron Means Family, And Family Means No One Gets Left Behind by Spazzcat - Rated G

Five times the merchant vessel Castle of Lions gained a new crew member, and one time they all refused to leave.

Family, Then and Now by NightPurity - Rated G

Hunk likes to bake, but sometimes, his thoughts get a tight hook into him and start to pull him down. Coran, he happens to stumble upon a hurting Hunk. Sometimes, it hurts thinking about those you've lost, but also, it helps to talk about it. Of course, hope can help keep you afloat.

[girlboypersonthingy]

hiii I saw the fluff alphabet for Keith and I was wondering if you could write one for pidge as well? ^_^

ABSOLUTELY I LOVE PIDGE SO MUCH. 💚💚💚sorry for the long wait, but here it finally is! ENJOY~ 😉

Pidge- Fluff Alphabet 💌

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Pidge is affectionate when she wants to be. Sometimes she’s a bit shy about it and prefers to show you affection in private. Pidge is simple and sweet, she enjoys soft quick kisses and linking pinkies and winking at each other from across the table during breakfast when the rest of the team isn’t paying attention (except for that one time Lance noticed YOU wink at Pidge and she blushed super red and Lance wouldn’t leave her alone about it for the next week).

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Honestly, I think Pidge would be a good best friend besides being a bit blunt and totally honest. Some might find the green Paladin a little intimidating and condescending but she doesn’t mean to be, she’s just really freaking smart and she’s not afraid to speak her truth. She’s so smart that it makes most people feel really stupid even talking to her. But with you…she goes slow and tries her best to be patient and teach you along the way. Idk there’s just something about you ✨

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Yesssss she really likes cuddles when she’s upset or frustrated or crying. She likes cuddles after a bad dream or after a really risky mission. BUT as soon as she drifts off fully into sleep, gorl starts doing martial arts in bed. Fully expect to be kicked, slapped, punched and fully laid on by Pidge. She’s a bit wild but she’s easy to wake. When she is cuddling, she likes to be the little spoon or be face to face with your foreheads resting about each other’s.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

I’d imagine Pidge has no intention of settling down with anyone until she truly feels deep in her heart that she’s met ‘the one’. She’ll try dating but she won’t commit until she knows you well enough and has time to decide how she feels and time to imagine her future with that person. Also, girl is the opposite of wifey material- can’t cook, messy asf, grumpy in the mornings but it’s all worth it. She has her moments~

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

I think Pidge would be very straight forward about it but also try her best to be kind and gentle. She wouldn’t want to do it over the phone, she’d have the guts to sit you down and tell you to your face how she feels.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Sorta the same answer as ‘Domestic’ ⬆️, she wouldn’t be careless and rush into anything with someone she isn’t sure about. She could see herself getting married one day but doesn’t really consider it a top priority, ya feel me?

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

I mean…she’s a tiny Aries who knows she’s smarter than everyone in the room at all times…she’s kind of a lot sometimes. She can be emotionally chaotic sometimes, she often grabs attention from others without even meaning to and it can feel a bit overwhelming at first but the more you get to know her, the more you come to adore her intelligence and it warms your heart when she shares her knowledge with others and her bravery every time she speaks up for herself in a crowd and her stubbornness really starts to grow on you. She’s physically about the same lmaoooooo like…with most people she’s very out there, extroverted and loud and she doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty or getting in to trouble in order to get a job done. She works hard AND plays hard, she’s a goofball. But with her s/o, she’s much softer and calmer and speaks quieter and moves just a bit slower and with more caution. She just really loves you 💚

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

NEVER hugs you in front of others unless like one of you almost died on a mission or you’ll be apart for a long time. Most hugs are done late at night while you’re falling asleep and Pidge is working way past bedtime, also mid day when the rest of the team is dispersed throughout the castle and doing their own thing, knowing that she has a low risk of being caught at this time she’ll come find you and give you a long, snuggly hug without saying a word and then run off back to her work.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

It’ll take a long while tbh…Pidge is pretty shy and inexperienced with relationships and lovey dovey feelings. She’ll probably wait until you say it first. Once you say it her tho, it comes out of her in a sigh of relief. It gets easier for her after the first time but she’s still getting used to it.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

I don’t think Pidge is really the jealous type. Even if someone was actively flirting with you, she wouldn’t be so much jealous as she would be concerned…like she could care less if someone is just genuinely flirting with you but what if they have some devilish motive and they’re working for the galra and they’re gonna kidnap you and hold you hostage and- she needs to come intervene before she starts fully panicking. She’ll just come join you in a silent and nonchalant way like coming up and holding your hand. She’s not trying to butt in and be nosy, she just wants to make sure you’re safe and also make you feel safe, protected and supported. She’s not jealous, she just cares very deeply for you.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Her kisses are awkward, sweet, sometimes silly and interrupted by soft giggles. She likes to kiss your lips but she LOVES kissing your cheeks and nose, she thinks you’re just soooo cute and she likes the look on your face after she kisses you there. She likes forehead kisses most bc they make her feel warm and relaxed and content. Forehead kisses really make her want to cry (in a good way)

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Mmmm she tries her best to be energetic with kids but she’s honestly so awkward. Regardless, kids ADORE HERRRRRR. Pidge has so much cool shit to say, she mesmerizes kids so easily with her science and space rambles.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Pidge stays up working and coding until like 3 am every night and then sleeps in until at least 10am if you let her, so most mornings are spent trying to drag Pidge out of bed as she groans in protest. It’s okay tho, her bed head is so cute and she won’t even open her eyes yet but you can’t stop smiling bc she’s cute even when she’s sleepy and grumpy. Once she’s got her eyes open and is sitting up, she’ll always mumble a raspy “morning” to you.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Unless you’re a night owl as well, you’ll probably be asleep before Pidge. She’ll always welcome your company while she’s working and will let you slump against her or lay your head in her lap and sleep. Most of the time, she gently wakes you and you sleepily walk to your room together but sometimes, she falls asleep right beside her work and cuddled up to you and someone ends up finding y’all in the morning like 🥹💖🥰

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

I think she would open up rather quickly. I think Pidge has a pretty good sense of who she can trust and if she trusts you enough to be your s/o, she trusts you a lot. She would confide in you often along with Shiro I’m sure.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

It depends…certain things tick Pidge off a bit but she can shrug it off. Other certain things make her want to explode. Lance makes a short joke, annoying but whatever. She accidentally codes something wrong and has to start all over, watch out, she’s seconds away from throwing something across the room as hard as she can.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Pidge forgets NOTHING!!! This girl has a spectacular memory, she remembers everything you tell her and is very considerate with that info. She’s the type to remember your fears and try her best to shield you from that, she’ll remember hits favorite color and get you everything that color, she’ll remember your birthday no matter what. And she loves learning new things about you too.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

Probably your first physical embrace. You weren’t officially dating yet but you could both feel the pining going on between you. She had been roughed up and tossed around by some galra on a mission one time and when she got back to the castle, you were the first one to greet her with a gentle hug and a worried expression on your face. She’ll never forget how soft your hands felt as they caressed her dirty face. That was the first time you’d ever shown her any kind of true intimacy and she got a glimpse of your feelings for her.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

She is extremely protective but she tries to give you space. She worries about you constantly but it’s not that she doesn’t trust you or doesn’t believe in you, she just knows first hand how brutal this war can be and she doesn’t want to lose you. Of course, she always insists you two stick together on any and all missions you attend bc she knows you have her back and she always has yours.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

She tries her best! She’s not great at surprises tho, she always tells you what the gift is or what the date is bc she has to make sure you want that first, she can’t just do it and risk you having a bad time. She does listen to you and takes every little detail into consideration. She often does simple things like complimenting you and offering you small bits of physical affection. For special occasions like an anniversary, she likes to ask you what you would want/ want to do and then she’ll try to make it exceed your expectations.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Bites her nails and just flicks her nails all over the place 🙄 also mess asf in general

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

She’s really not concerned at all about her appearance. Sure for a special occasion she’ll dress up and try to look nice but on the day to day, Pidge just wants to be comfy and feel like she’s dressing for her, not for anyone else.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Yeeesssssss 🥹 Pidge would become so used to your everyday presence in her life, so if you ever left or disappeared or got taken, she’d feel like there was a void constantly haunting her. She’d miss your smell, your laugh, your voice, your touch, your company so much she’d lose sleep over it for sure.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

TALKS IN HER SLEEP AND SAYS SOME WEIRD, OFF THE WALL SHIT ITS HILARIOUS.

Examples:

“Hey, who’s that duck? He’s new here.”

“When are you going to the carnival? I want to go.”

“Turtles and birds are both dinosaurs, that’s wiiiilllddddd.”

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Pidge wouldn’t like someone who’s really conceited and selfish. She likes people who aren’t afraid to look silly or foolish or messy. She likes people who worry about things other than appearances and possessions.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

Cannot stay still for the life of her. She tosses and turns so bad, good luck getting a good nights rest with how much she moves. She’ll low key beat you up throughout the night, she’s a crazy sleeper.

[mistkisbiggestfan]

Pidge x reader | White Lion - Part I |

A/N: Okay so this has parts of dialogue of "Dangerously Yours", it'll have a part 2, and btw my requests are open! Word count: 2k

You were not ready for failure of any kind. As a white paladin of Voltron your soul mission was to protect other paladins and people around you. A medic was what you were, a brute by nature and a pacifist by force, all you could do was save, even if you tried to charge into battle you were quickly pushed off – back to the sidelines. “Y/N! Get out of here! It’s not a place for a medic!” They yelled. Voltron was fine by itself, no medic was required, you were a so-called “Plan B”, you were useless, healing pods were more handy than a medic. Everyone neglected you, not as a friend of course, but as a valuable fighter and defender of the universe. 

The only one treating you fairly was your love, Pidge. She actually appreciated any kind of help she got from you during and out of battle, that was, to your dismay, cut short. As war with Galra raged on, everyone forgot about any other struggles disregarding the threat across the universe. Soon, Pidge began to share the view about you with other paladins, bit by bit. – You should be more careful! – She said, but quickly, those words turned into. – Just stay out of this Y/N! We don’t have time to waste!

Waste? You thought. Waste? Is that what they see my effort as? A waste..? And like that, the overthinking pursued. No one even noticed you staying out of conversations, blindly following orders, no one noticed because it was making everything easier – Who would have thought that disregarding your feelings would be so convenient? Nobody, that’s why no one realized something was wrong. 

And there you were, in the middle of the ashes of a once proud planet, now left dying and naked of its natural beauty and resources. While the other paladins were fighting a Galra ship, basically above, you were left to seek refugees and help them. People shied away, some openly running out of your sight. You left your weapons hidden, leaving only a red, cross marking on your armor standing out. You looked forward, a camp stood out of the dead surrounding, a medical camp. You quickened your pace, rushing into the tent. 

– Hello? – Everyone sulking in silence suddenly looked up at you in horror, some closing their eyes, as if you were there to collect their soul and send it away from this world. – I saw the crosses on the tent, do you need help? I’m a medic and—-- You were cut off by a few people gasping at your confession. An old, wise looking alien granny rushed over to your side and guided you inside. – We’re glad you came here, indeed we are, but there’s no time! We need to act quick, please, help us. – She looked at you with hope in her eyes, the medical staff, consisting of three other aliens, gazed at you. You just nodded in agreement. 

– Y/N? What’s happening there? – You heard the confused voice of Pidge on your intercom, you muted your mic and popped off your helmet, pushing it into the corner of the medical camp. – Alright, let’s get to work. – You said quietly, no one said a word, they just led you into the other part of the tent. 

In the next hour you operated on at least four people, crushed, stabbed, or just dying in general. You sighed and washed off the sweat from your forehead, you turned to another patient but before that, a middle-aged woman grabbed you by your shoulders. – Please, god, save her. I can’t do it without her, please, you kind people are the only hope we have left. Not even Voltron is here to guard us. – She said breaking down in front of you. – Where were they when we were dying? – She asked, and like that she fell to her knees as one of the other people inside took her away from the place you were operating in. You looked at the girl in front of you, her life was in your hands now. She turned to you and whispered – Don’t blame yourself if I don’t make it, if I- I actually won’t wake up tomorrow, tell that girl that I will watch above her… – She closed her eyes as you ran to save her. 

The battle outside died down, you were sitting under a dimly lit light with a cup of strange coffee in front of you. And like that your mind wandered off. Your helmet beeping obnoxiously. 

Beep. Voltron just missed this place? While they were fighting in the sky, innocent people were dying on land. We could have stopped this, they could have stopped this. Beep. What kind of heroes are we if we can’t even save the people we’re fighting for? Beep. What’s the point in this? Today, I helped more people than I ever did in Voltron… Did they even notice I was gone? Beep. Lord, all of those people had families, lovers, children, lifes to come back to after the war. Beep. You looked up, the beeping seemed to be more frequent then before, you sighed annoyed and turned your intercoms on. You heard a few familiar voices echoing through the mic, your tired and beaten down gaze softened. 

– Y/N? Y/N? Are you there? – You heard the soft voice of Pidge, you smiled for a second at the thought of her. – Ugh, Pidge, come for your food! – Lance shouted in the background. 

– Um, sure, just let me make this one message and—--

– Pidge! Come on, you know how the Mx. Lone Medic Wolf acts like, they’ll be back, please, what’s the worst that could’ve happened? They were on land, no battles you know. 

– I- I guess you’re right, I’m just a bit worried.

– Have you forgotten? They’re not a fighter, it’s not like they could be hurt doing a pointless check up on land.

– Yeah… It doesn’t sit right with me though, the whole “creating a pointless task to get Y/N out of battle” thing, you know?

The rest of the conversation was muffled, you couldn’t keep up with the words leaving their mouths, the sentence left you numb to your surroundings. You heard Pidge shuffle around, presumably standing up and getting out of her room to get food. You stood there frozen, shocked, sitting still and aimlessly staring at the dark abyss in front of you. You felt tears flowing down your face, but you made no noise. Everything was too loud and too quiet at once. You silently took off your helmet and put it in front of you, sitting in the dimly lit room, with cold coffee as your company. Is that what they think about me? You thought. 

Suddenly, someone walked in, their feet shuffling on the floor, you didn’t move, still staring numbly forward. – A- am I interrupting something? – You heard the person say, it was one of the medical staff you worked with today. You stiffened and spoke up. – No, not at all, but I must ask, why are you here? – You grabbed your mug and relaxed into your chair, the person walked in and sat slightly on the table in the small room. 

– I just wanted to thank you for today, many great people were saved because of you. – The seemingly way older woman told you. Your head dropped to the table as you hid your face with your palms. She looked at you, worried.

– But too many were lost, tell me, what was this effort for? What did I change? – You said, your voice cracking. She walked over to you and put her hand on your shoulder. 

– You saved lifes. – She said.

– Did I? How sure can I be that they’re going to make it to see the daylight? 

– You can’t be sure, all you can do is wait. – That left you speechless, not out of rudeness, just purely out of things to say. It seemed like all the words you could muster out were said, but then, she spoke up again.

– I’m sorry but I came here to ask you something… – She said quietly, you nodded for her to go on. – Are you, by any chance, part of team Voltron?

– I- I’m, yeah, yeah I’m part of Voltron… – You said, almost ashamed. But why? You thought. 

– I saw your reaction to that young lady breaking down in front of you, and I wanted to tell you that you shouldn’t go hard on yourself. – She said, almost like an older sister giving you great advice. 

– What are you trying to tell me..? – You almost cried out, looking at her with your bloodshot eyes, gazing at her through the gaps between your fingers. 

– There’s really no way of winning this, you know. You can't fight woth yourself forever. – She said, taking her hand off your shoulder, bitterly smiling at you, with such sympathy you haven’t seen in a while. – Take your time, kid. 

The door shut behind you, the ear-splitting silence was killing you, your breathing stopped for a second when you heard Pidge’s voice on the intercom. I didn’t turn off my mic. 

– Y/N..? – You heard heartbroken Pidge on the other side of the mic. – Y/N please… I know you’re there. 

– Have you heard everything? – You asked, feeling drops of sweat rolling down your back, awaiting for an answer. 

– I- I did, and did you..? – She asked with hope that you didn’t, your answer crushed the little hope she had left.

– Yes, I did. 

– Look, Y/N, I’m sorry, please just listen, I- can explain—-

– No! I can read you like a book now, you're not so wise after all.

– You don’t know what you’re saying Y/N! 

– You never loved me did you? You knew that I loved you and you used that!

– Y/N please, just listen to me!

– No! I'm done, you saw me as an useless waste of space, didn't you? – The silence after your sentence was deafening. You sighed tiredly into the intercom. – You want my heart to constrict with agony?  My hands to shake? You want me to plead for my place in Voltron, you want to hear me beg for a chance to be useless trash laying around again? You want that so you can make a generous gesture and spare me..? – Your tone shifted drastically. – Sorry Pidge, I don’t seem to be in a mood for prayers tonight. – You bitterly smiled to yourself. 

– I used to think that I was a Paladin just like you all, but now, the mere thought of it makes me ashamed. I should wish you good luck, shouldn't I, huh? I guess, this is a goodbye, isn't it Pidge..? – You said sadly, sighing once again. You brought your hand up and rested it on the mute button. – I- No, I don't have anything else to say. Don't look for me, Voltron won't be us welcomed here as you wish it to be.

– Y/N just please, wait! —- The conversation ended. You took a sip of your cold coffee and closed your eyes to recollect yourself. You rested your head on your hands and cried quietly, sobbing stopped only after you passed out from exhaustion that finally caught up to you.

[xflippinfrogx]

Tickletober Day 5~ “I’m not ticklish”

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~ FANDOM: Voltron

LEE: Keith

LER: Lance ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~ 💙WARNING~ THIS IS A SFW TICKLE FIC, NSFW DNI!!💙

“LAHAHAHANCE STAHAHAP IHIHIT!!!!” Pidge squealed, batting at her attackers hands. Lance was in a very playful mood today and he was on a mission to make all of his friends smile. They’d been up in space for a good few months at this point and we’re all much closer with one another than when they started. The biggest relationship development onboard the ship was between him and Keith, their resident emo as Lance like to call him. It was still new to them both but there was something between them that they couldn’t ignore but neither had mentioned it just yet. Of course days like these definitely pushed them a bit further in their closeness.. as you’ll see.

Soon enough Pidge got a good kick to Lance’s stomach and escaped the clutches of the teams newly established tickle monster. He had already gotten Hunk this morning and Coran very briefly that afternoon but he decided he wasn’t even going to try Allura because she might eject him off the ship. Shiro was busy working on something so he’d leave him be as well.

Only person left was Keith and lucky for Lance he had just entered the room. Lance wondered if he had witnessed his attack on poor Pidge. “Damn she’s got some kick in her for someone so short huh?” Keith commented lightly chuckling to himself. “Or maybe you’re just extremely weak?” He was smirking as he spoke and Lance took this as his opportunity to see if perhaps his cru- friend was ticklish aswell. “You better reign in the attitude Mullet or you’ll be next~” A sly smile made its way to his face as he teased Keith. “Well sucks for you because I’m not ticklish.” He said it so confidently that Lance almost believed him, but he knew Keith too well now to miss the signs of slight panic in his eyes. “Hmm I think you’re lying Keith.” He leaned forward from his chair towards Keith who had sat in front of him on the ground for some reason??

“I promise you I’m definitely not!!” He was getting defensive and Lance could tell. He was going to have some fun with this..

“Alright, well if you’re ‘not ticklish’ then I guess you won’t mind if I do this?” He had moved from the chair to reach his new target. He experimented by prodding Keiths sides, but he kept a straight face. Lance walked his fingers up his ribs and began pinching lightly and Keith looked as if he was close to breaking but the boy was stubborn. It was going to take a little more than this to get him laughing Lance thought.

He didn’t have to search too far because Keith made the dumb decision of practically marking out his worst spot. His arms had automatically hugged around his stomach protecting it from Lance.

“Okay Keith last chance to admit that you’re actually ticklish or else I’m gonna have to do this the hard way..” Lance was really enjoying this, whilst he spoke he grabbed both of his FRIENDS hands and pinned them either side of his head. “Lance really, this is dumb, I mean c’mon i haven’t laughed yet so you’re obviously wasting your time here.” Keith seemed.. nervous as he spoke. ”Well there goes your last chance pretty boy, remember you asked for this.” Lance internally cringed at the nickname but soon forgot about it as he was too preoccupied trying to make Keith laugh. He started by scribbling his fingers over the taught muscles of Keith’s midsection and he could now see him visibly struggling to hold in his laughter. It wasn’t until Lance reached his lower stomach that Keith finally cracked. “Aha I found it!!” Lance cried out with excitement. “LAHAHANCE NOHOHO THIHIHIS ISNT FAHAHAIR!!!” Keith began to twist and buck his torso in attempt to get away from Lance’s very tickly fingers. That was a big mistake because not only was he no further away from his attacker but his stupid shirt had ridden up exposing him even more.

Lance didn’t waste a second and absolutely took advantage of the vulnerable area. He spidered his fingers all along Keith’s waistline relishing in his loud cackles. It was nice to see the usually brooding teen so carefree for once and god his laugh was just amazing. Lance could listen to it forever, but he didn’t put Keith through more than maybe seven minutes of torture. “Not ticklish you said?? Well I think I proved that wrong don’t you Keith?” Lance smiled down at him noticing how content he looked. Lance would give anything to stay in this moment all day. A tiny blush spread across Keith’s cheeks as he smiled shyly up at Lance. His arms were still pinned but neither of them seemed to notice. Then Keith did something he never thought he would..

He leaned up and slowly placed his lips against Lance’s. He quickly pulled away for fear of rejection but Lance immediately let go of his arms and pulled him back into their first kiss. It didn’t last long but to them it was the most perfect kiss either had ever had. Lance smirked his signature smile and spoke up. “Who knew you lying about being ticklish would’ve made this happen..”

“Oh shut up you dork.” Keith chuckled and wrapped his arms around Lance. That’s how Hunk walked in on the two cuddled up on the ground asleep an hour later. He couldn’t have been happier for them.. and himself because Pidge owes him ten bucks.

[the-kittens-of-vol-tron]

The most recent post you reblogged about Keith knowing Spanish would be so cool to see in writing if you are willing 💛

Ofc <3

Post found here! All credits go to @vldsideblog

A/N

I didn't write Spanish since I don't feel confident in my own Spanish skills to translate things properly. If anyone who knows Spanish better is interested in helping me translate I will edit this work/add more to it!

-----

Keith froze, ignoring how fast his heart was beating. How badly his lungs demanded air. He must have misheard Lance. There was no way he just said what he thought he said.

Lance stopped walking, turning slightly to look at where Keith was glued to. They were leaving the training deck, all of them at the point of exhaustion. "You good, Mullet?"

Keith met his eyes, finally allowing himself to take a strained breath. "What did you say?" He wheezed out.

Lance blinked at himself before sending him a mischievous smile. Repeating the words with confidence. The words fell off his tongue with ease. He walked out of the room, that smile still on his face.

Keith ran his hands through his sweat-damped hair. He wouldn't call himself fluent in Spanish. He could hold something that resembled a conversation when needed. He knew enough. Enough to get by. Enough to have basic conversations. Enough to understand what Lance said to him.

---

"Shiro." Keith entered the older man's room. Not even bother to knock.

Shiro's upper torse was propped up on his pillows as he read a book Pidge managed to translate into English. "Oh, sure you can come in Keith." Shiro's voice was neutral as he flipped to the next page. His energy was relaxed, winding down for the night.

Keith ignored Shiro's response and locked the door as soon as it closed. "Lance called me pretty."

Shiro's face remained staring at the pages, but his eyes were no longer reading the words. "...okay." His head tilted up some. "Just randomly?"

Keith nodded, his eyes looking everywhere but Shiro. "I don't think he wanted me to hear it."

"What makes you say that?" Shiro had resumed reading. Keith felt a sense of comfort over the informal side of Shiro. When he lived with Shiro and Adam, Shiro would always read before bed. Even if you were talking with him, he would remain reading. Listening but reading, as long as the topic wasn't serious.

"He said it in Spanish."

Shiro paused, his face scrunched up a bit in thought. He remained like that for half a minute before he leaned over and grabbed a small piece of paper from his desk. Marking his place in the book before sitting up. The topic was silently deemed serious, and Shiro patted the spot next to him on the bed.

Keith took the invitation and sat down next to him, waiting for Shiro's response.

"You're sure he called you pretty?"

Keith nodded his eyes on the floor by his shoes. "I had him repeat it just to make sure."

"And he said it in Spanish?"

Keith nodded again.

Shiro chuckled slightly, "so he assuming you don't know Spanish?"

"I guess so."

Shiro asked him a couple more questions. How he said it, the smile he wore on his face, anything to help determine if this was just a one-time thing or if the Blue Paladin was actually flirting with him.

Keith exited Shiro's room an hour later. They had determined an off-handed comment isn't enough to try and guess Lance's intentions. But Keith was going to keep listening for more.

---

He didn't have to wait long. The next day, as he and Lance headed back from the pool he caught the other boy staring at him. "What are you looking at?" Keith's hands instantly went up to touch his own face. Assuming something was on his face.

Lance rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he looked at something else. He mumbled something in Spanish under his breath. His voice held a snarky tone. But it was void of any true malice or mockery.

Keith rolled his eyes, trying to keep his breathing and composure under control. The words replayed in his mind the entire walk to his room. Your hair looks soft.

---

These comments became a daily occurrence. Always said as a "negative" thing or Lance trying to "poke the bear" as Hunk called it. Maybe if Keith had no understanding of Spanish he would be upset. His mind would be cycling over what Lance would be saying. He would be driving himself up a wall, unable to figure it out.

But Keith knew, growing up in Texas gave him the basics. Plus, Adam would use Spanish around the house, especially when he was talking to himself out loud through a problem or project. So Lance's "subtle" flirting wasn't having the effect he thought it was.

Keith had memorized every sentence. Every compliment, every word, he tattooed them onto his brain. Lance's voice was a constant echo in his mind.

You're so pretty.

Your hair looks soft.

What I wouldn't give to kiss you.

You have my heart.

You actually make a mullet look good.

I want you to be mine.

He never seemed to run out of compliments. It made sense why he stared at him more now. It wasn't because of the rivalry. It was never because of that.

Keith sighed, the only frustrating thing about this was neither of them seemed willing to make a move. Lance seemed content with keeping his advances and flirtatious remarks quiet. Reserved for himself. But if Keith ever responded or made an indication that he understood, how would Lance react? Would he be mad? Embarrassed?

Keith was already embarrassed. He missed his chance to clear the air the first couple of compliments. But that was weeks ago. If Keith said anything now- He shook his head. There was nothing he could do about it now.

Dinner went well, they were stopped on a planet for the alliance. Lance still made his comments, keeping up the façade of "rivalry" but Keith believed everyone could see through it.

"You all are welcome to join us and watch the sunset! It sets once every six months and it is truly spectacular." Their host said, their voice heightened with excitement. The paladins began to make their way to the viewing area, Keith and Lance sitting next to each other.

It was a spectacular sight, three suns began to set at once. These colors mix together. Sending a purplish haze over the planet. Keith was in awe over the sight, he nearly missed the words Lance mumbled next to him. Almost as pretty as you.

He took a deep breath, every fiber of his being begging him to react. Say something, do something. He was always content waiting but right now? He couldn't. He glanced at Lance who quickly pretended he was watching the sunset the entire time. Keith forced his voice out, Lance was never going to confess himself. Keith had to break the ice. "You're the pretty one." He was hardly above a whisper. Maybe he was scared. Maybe he didn't want to ruin the energy around them. Maybe he wanted the words to just be between them.

Lance looked at him, his eyes filled with anxiety and worry. He released an uncomfortable laugh as his brain slowly slid the pieces together. "You feeling okay there, Mullet?" He swallowed hard, sweat beading around his hairline.

Keith smiled, more to himself than the boy next to him having a crisis. "I thought you liked my mullet?"

Lance continued to stare at him, unmoving. Keith was concerned he stopped breathing for a moment before Lance laughed. His laughter echoed off the space around them, unaware of everyone's eyes on him. "You've been understanding me this entire time?!" He leaned forward some, placing his hands on Keith's shoulders.

"Yeah," Keith could feel his skin burn. Lance's hands felt cool against him, a perfect contrast to what he was feeling.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Lance cocked his head to the side in a puzzling manner.

Keith shrugged, "I didn't know what to say."

Lance groaned in frustration. "So you have just been letting me flirt with you for weeks? And didn't think to say anything?"

Keith nodded, his throat tightening a bit.

"Why?"

"I was...shy?"

Lance chuckled, a sound Keith was in love with. "You're kind of stupid, you know that?"

Keith scoffed, "I'm not stupid."

Lance smiled, "you're not. I apologize." His eyes fell to Keith's lips before shifting back up to his eyes. "I meant everything I said."

"I hoped you did. Since you were unaware I could understand you."

Lance chuckled again, "I shouldn't have assumed." The suns finally went down, casting night over them. Leaving the two of them in their own world, each of them leaning a bit closer.

-----

They def kissed lololol

I hope you liked it <33333

[the-demons-within]

Trigger warning:

Suicide, death, hints at drugs and/or alcohol

"Lance, you don't you don't understand!" Keith argued, "nothing has been working!"

"Keith, you can't just do this, please. If not for me, then for shiro? Or Pidge, Hunk, Coran, Allura?"

"Allura," Keith spat. "You expect me to do anything for her when she stole everything from me!?"

"What has she ever stolen from you?!" Plance claimed. Keith looked at Lance, his expression un readable but silent none the less.

"You.." Keith whispered.

"What?"

" I said You! Okay? She stole you from me." He cried, his voice began to crack. "She stole my everything," he whispered. Lance stood stunned at Keith's declaration. Every beat of silence became loud, lance had said nothing, not even a sound. He just stood there as if the idea of Keith liking him in that way was unheard of, like it was impossible. Every second, the large drop that was in front of Keith became more tempting. Every second, his urge to jump, to get rid of the pain of all these years, was getting larger. Everything he tried, the drugs, alcohol, any of it lead to only momentary numbness. Happiness for only a short time. Death, though? That was a different story. Everything would be gone. Finally, he would have control. It was like this was the only thing in life he could control, and Lance was taking that away from him. Keith heard footsteps shuffling frantically up the stairs to the roof. "What did you do?!" Keith demanded."No, no, you are NOT taking this away from me!" Keith's tears began to fall down his face. A dreaded sense of betrayal looming over him. Lance wanted him to be happy. Right? So why would he take that away?! The footsteps got closer. "Probably shiro, pidge, Hunk and coran, of course not Allura though she hates my guts," Keith thought. A worry filled Lance's eyes. And yet, Keith didn't care...

One step...

Keith lowered his head, "Lance, I love you, I really do." he looked up, seeing the broken and dishevelled Lance one last time, and he jumped.

"NO!" Lance cried, leaping forward, his hand just slipping past Keith and failing to grab on to him. "I love you too..." he said, voice cracking and eyes filling with tears.

"You can join him." Somone said from behind Lance. He turned around quickly.

"Wha-" He began, but no one was there.

"Over here," the voice said, pulling Lance over to the edge, his stomach slamming against the railing borderline winding him. "Tempting, isn't it?" The voice giggled. "Do it, I know you want to. Follow him." The voice tempted in his ear. The ground became soothing, like it was calling him. Lance couldn't believe he was being persuaded to actually do this. And by the air at that. "Oh, I'm not "Air. " I'm the other voice. The one inside your head. The one with the "bad thoughts." But really, is this one "bad?" The voice questioned. "Go on... be with him. Join us."

"I-" Lance began

"They are almost here. Choose now. I think you know what you want..."

"Keith"

"Go on, do it."

" I'll see him? Yes?"

"Yes," the voice responded. Lance looked to the stars. He decided.

"I'll he there soon Keith... I love you, " he breathed into the night. Slowly, yet hastily, he crawled over the railing in front of him...

"I'm coming, my love..." he whispered. Still looking at the stars, he submitted himself to the ground. Giving in at last.

[callmelyc]

Written for Twitter julance:

#2023JuLance

Week 1: Sharpshooter, Part 1- The Birth of a Name

If anyone on this planet had looked up they'd think lance was a shooting star. Blue lighting up the night as she hurled down to the planets surface to crash-land like a meteor in the night

And now here lance was hiding in the desert rock formations watching galra swarm the wreckage. It's just his luck to not only be separated from the others but to also have fallen smack dab into the center of a galra invaded planet.

"Shit-" lance curses watching them poke and prod at his baby blue from a safe distance but he knew he wasn't in any shape to fight right now and he sure as hell didn't want to be a prisoner. He'd barely spotted them to begin with with his head injury and all making his vision spin.

Just when he thinks the soldiers might turn to come his direction lance feels a small hand touch his own. It takes everything in him to not full body flinch and risk blowing his cover so he holds his breath.

He glances down slowly.

And is surprised to come face to face with a small....gecko?...looking closer lance thinks they remind him a lot of the Geico mascot but large enough to be a small child. They're about three feet tall, pastel yet colored like an oil spil when the sunlight bounces off their scales. It's honestly pretty mesmerizing to look at he could admit, if only his head wasn't swimming and everything hurt-

Stop it lance ur getting off track!

"Uh...hello?" Lance whispers warily only earning a smile from the little creature.

"Hello! I am selkie!" They say brightly "please follow me"

"W-wait I don't even kno-" but his protest fall quiet as his hand is taken in a surprisingly strong grip and he's pulled through tunnels that exist through the cliff sides. Selkie stays quiet throughout their trek and though lance had the second thought to fight the alien off he felt it was safer to trust this geico mascot over the galra anyday.

So here he is in a tightly fitted cave following behind someone smaller than pidge noting that every change in lighting causes selkies skin to shift both in pattern and color. It's....very distracting and it's not until they come to a stop that lance realized he didn't watch their path here.

"You are safe here!" Selkie says proudly looking up at lance with the cutest smile drawing him out of his own head and back to attention.

He glances up to take survey of the location only to find them still inside the cave system it's just a dead end "where are we?"

"The caverns" a new voice announces causing lance to finally be more on edge yet turns to see another small gecko alien of the same height as selkie "it is the only place the galra cannot navigate. Their large stature causes them to get stuck in the tunnel systems."

Oh. Well that makes sense lance thinks "and you are...?"

"I am Lorix, I am the leader of the Gekkota people." Lorix squints at lance taking in his stature "are you of the crashed vessel?"

"Oh you mean Blue? Yeah a mission gone wrong I was separated from my team and crashed here" lance watches how Lorix reacts to this for a moment deeming him a little trustworthy "My name is Lance, I'm the Blue Paladin of Voltron"

Lorixs eyes widen just a fraction "Voltron is real?"

"Yep! And it's our job to help where we can so-" lance kneels down to be eye level with the two "why don't ya tell me a bit about your galra problem."

As it turns out the skin shift wasn't just for show nor their small stature. The Gekkota people are known to be able blend into their surroundings through color reflection off their scales. That paired with their ability to fit into small tight spaces meant they could be practically invisible intruders and the galra wanted them for forced spy work.

"When they overtook the planet most fled into these caverns to hide-" selkie added before turning somber "they have started to flush us out through poisons, we fear they may result to other means soon"

As he watched these two share their story lance had already known hed help them but looking at them now only solidified his resolve.

"Hey-" he says into the silence gaining both their attention "how far up do these tunnels go?"

~*~

Lance finds himself learning the cave tunnels over the next day and a half because if his plan was gonna work he needed all the pieces in place perfectly. As it turns out the tunnel systems go all the way to the top and deep into the ground below the base surface level. It reminded him a lot of how ant farms or burrow systems might look: tight passageways, circular dead ends, and hundreds of interconnected pathways.

The point is it's easy to get lost and he doesn't wanna die down here especially if he's aiming to help these people by fending off the galra as they come.

So he's memorized the paths he needs, he knows the positions he'll switch between like the back of his hand. The galra won't ever spot him and they'll be falling before they get the chance. It's more ruthless than he's used to being, but lance was alone here and he had an entire planet of innocent people to help. you can bet your ass he was gonna do it by any means necessary.

Lance sit here now waiting for his moment to act. There's specific times the galra will send out people to do the rounds in an attempt to capture more of the people here and with blue close by they might even be looking for him. Little do they know lance won't let them get that far.

He's crouching in his first position atop the left cliffside just out of sight, Bayard drawn and formed into a sniper rifle. When the first galra patrol comes into view he lets them get a little too close just to make sure they don't catch on too quickly.

A deep breath

In and out

Three shots fired in quick succession followed by three bodies hitting the ground. The bombs they'd had in their hands go off but this time no one in the caverns is fighting the poison.

Score 1 for Lance and 0 for the Galra.

This continues over the course of the next three days, galra appear each group growing larger than the previous and lance strikes them down one by one from altering positions so they never spot him.

He rotates the choices, ya know to spice things up a bit, really lay on the confusion and he knows he's winning because they've grown increasingly more frustrated.

The galra attacks grow more violent too, they've gone from smoke bowms filled with poison to flat out trying to crumble the caves themselves. Eventually they switch it up from simple small patrol groups to full on fleets of galra and sentry combined, both more heavily equipped.

So he switches his tactics too, lance doesn't let any get close if he can help it. He's shooting from further away now, further than he thought himself capable of hitting his mark, but with every shot fired he never fails to hit it like a bullseye. The moment he sees them in the distance, the moment he can tell it's an enemy and not an innocent bystander he lines his rifle and takes his shot.

His cover provided Selkie and Lorix with the time and safety to gather more of their people into the same tunnels as well as gather more needed provisions. It also allowed for Intel gathering.

"They have grown weary of you Paladin Lance" Lorix says one day during a down period "you have taken so much of their forces here they had to request for backup"

Lances alien sandwich falls from his hand "backup?"

"Yes! They seem to have contacted a secondary fleet in a neighboring galaxy-" he says between chews "we are a dead zone, the only life in this galaxy exist here so they did not think to send more aid until you arrived."

"Yes yes!" Selkie adds "there is much radio chatter about the missing blue paladin. They do not have the equipment to move your crashed vessel but with the backup they seem hopeful in gathering it"

Lance let's that information sinks in while continuing to eat his previously dropped sandwich-dont judge him!- before his mind zeros in on one part "did you say there was radio chatter about me?"

"That is correct, from various sources it seems" Lorix confirms with a nod "some galra some otherwise-"

Lance grips lorixs tiny shoulders "otherwise?? Did you happen to catch any names or descriptions? Do you know what they were saying?"

"Ah- well," he says seeming to think it over "there was a mention of a coalition? And a princess Allura looking for a blue paladin"

"Oh thank god-" he sighs "that's my team, if they can get a signal they can give us backup."

Selkie and Lorix exchange glances before frowning "how will we do that?"

Lance looks back at them pausing to think it over for a minute and smirks "actually....I have an idea"

~*~

It's nightfall when they choose to act, lance knows for a fact they've stationed a heavily armed set of guards around Blue and he also knows she has her particle varried up and loaded. So all he needs to do is get in just close enough to phase through it, run in, set off her emergency signal for his team and hightail it out of there.

First things first though, the guards.....

There's surprisingly only three sentries but for some reason this really sets lance on edge. Something doesn't feel right about this but he can't back out now. He takes his stance, sends a small hang signal to Lorix and Selkie who are on standby and runs out into the open guns ablaze.

It's the first sentry getting shot down that tells lance what's wrong. They were decoys, once shot they send off a visual signal while simultaneously blowing up, which lance found out the fun way.

Aka getting thrown back a few hundred feet and gaining yet another head injury.

Fighting to get back up he knows he has to work fast, that signal couldn't have been anything good, so lance runs. He runs as fast as he can dodging the best he can when the remaining sentries charge towards him because if he can just get to blue she'll let him in.

He feels her weak energy reach out to him and smiles.

He can do this.

Throwing himself into a clean slide he slips right under the final sentry and luckily right through blues partial barrier that flies back up the moment lance is safely inside.

"that's my girl!" Lance cheers climbing back into the safety of her hull.

"I know your hurt baby girl but don't worry-" he pats her side gently while sifting through things to get to the emergency panel "I'll get the team right on it"

Lance works the fastest he can through the dizziness, sets off the SOS signal and does a repeat of his initial fight only this time to leave. It's a narrow escape made possible only by the help of Selkie who manages to trip a sentry into another just long enough for them to get back into the underground.

They move quickly for a bit only deeming themselves safe once back to the center "what do we do now paladin?" Lorix ask worried "the beacon the sentry sent us worrisome-"

"I know" lance sighs "the only thing we can do now is wait. I'll take watch, hold em off as long as I can and hope my team catches the distress signal fast enough..."

Selkie puts a reassuring hand on his arm "you are not alone in this fight paladin lance, we can do what we are best at-" she smiles at him and it clicks "if you are a ghost to them, then so shall we be"

The battle that ensues is a tough one, lance positioned at the highest possible point sniping down enemy after enemy while the Gekkoas work from the ground camouflaging themselves so quickly it confuses the galra enough to be taken down by them. Together they make a deadly team, moving in silence and to the galra invisible the waves that hit them go down like rain.

By the time daylight has arrived on the final day, Voltron arrives and gives a helping hand. They're quick to pickup on lances strategy and in less than an hour they've finally freed the planet Euble and all it's people.

And with their victory lance can finally rest.

~*~

"Sir, we have a report" a large galran says to his commander.

The commander turns, his frown a permanent fixture yet he doesn't glance up from his small device "What is it Vox?"

"It's about Euble, the ghost won sir. They have been freed with the aid of Voltron."

The device in the commanders hand snaps in his crushing grip, the frown turning into a snarl "What?!"

Silence hangs heavy before the commander turns to hit his fist angrily on the nearest wall "we have to report this to the main fleet-"

A com system appears, a video transmission going through before a higher ranking officer picks up the call "what is it Commander Krox?"

"Euble has fallen, The Ghost Rite won"

An angry tsk can be heard through the screen "and who is this Ghost Rite that took down all your men?"

"The sniper of Voltron..... The Blue paladin"

[aspenmissing]

𝚁𝚎𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚕𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚜 (𝙿𝚝 𝟷)

"Great job training today, guys. We're really getting the hang of Voltron" Shiro says. The Paladins, minus Pidge, enter the dinning hall.

"Seriously, how far do you think my lion kicked that broken alien ship? Must have been like a mile!" Lance brags, stopping. Keith also stops.

Yeah, that'll come in handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match." Keith says, sarcastically.

"Hey, I did something cool and you can't handle it. I get it." 

"Your kick ruined our balance. We fell" 

"Well that falling part was Hunk's fault." Lance said.

"Hey!" Hunk complains, sitting down. He takes of his helmet.

"All right, save your energy for fighting Zarkon" Shiro takes off his helmet and leans back. 

"Stop acting like children" Y/N says, standing besides Hunk. She takes off her helmet. Keith and Lance walk over to them. Coran enters the dinning hall, carrying a bowl, with Soul sat on his shoulder. 

"Hello, guys! How was the Voltron workout?" Coran asks, walking over to the table. Soul jumps off his shoulder onto Y/N's.

"We're getting there. Are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet? I feel like we're sitting ducks here on Arus" Shiro replies.

"Just about. In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats you're worried about, I made you guys an authentic ancient paladin lunch!" Coran says, lifting of the lid to reveal an abomination he cooked up. Everyone looks at it disgust. 

"Coran, you just got me hooked on that goo and now you're switching it up?" Hunk says.

"This is packed with nutrients." Coran said. Y/N leans over and sniffs it. Coran also sniffs it.

"Oh, it smells disgusting!" She says.

"I know! That's how you know it's healthy!" Hunk holds an alien plant in his hand, standing up.

"Coran, we're on a planet now with fresh herbs, spices, and whatever this thing is. A tuber? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back to the kitchen and spice things up" Hunk leaves to the kitchen. Lance and Keith sit at the other end of the table to wait, Y/N sits in Hunk's chair.

"Where's Pidge" Shiro asks. Coran eats the strange food and speaks with a mouthful.

"--He's probably checking on those prisoners we rescued from Zarkon. They'll all be waking soon in the infirmary" Shiro stands to leave; Coran offers him a spork fill of yellow nastiness.

"Open the hatch. Food lion coming in!" Coran makes jet sounds, moving the spork closer to Shiro.

"No. Just... no" Shiro says, moving around the chair and leaving. Y/N laughs.

"You don't know what you're missing!" Coran shouts. He turns around to see Soul, picking up a bit of the yellow nastiness and eating it, instantly going for more "At least one of you like my cooking" 

==

Shiro enters the Sleep Chamber; Pidge is impatiently waiting, tapping a leg on the floor.

"You're as anxious as me"  Pidge turns to look at the aliens.

"These aliens we saved know something about my family. They have to!" He says.

"I hope so" Pidge looks up at Shiro.

"They recognized you, didn't they? They called you "Champion." What does that even mean?" Pidge asks.

"I don't know. I can't remember very much from that time. But the way those guys looked at me when we freed them... I don't know if I want to find out." I said. The pod containing the XI, who recognised Shiro, opens.

==

In the dinning hall, Hunk brings Keith, Lance and Y/N visibly appealing and tastier food. The three Paladins wolf down the food while Coran watches, he looks down to see Soul still eating the food he made and smiles. Allura enters.

 "They like the paladin lunch!" Coran becomes offended, looking away.

"I don't want to talk about it"

"I just got the final nebulon booster working" Coran turns to face her "We should be able to leave Planet Arus tomorrow and take the fight to Zarkon." Allura said. The Castleship alarms blare. Keith, Lance, Y/N and Soul stop eating and they stand. 

 "Huh?" Hunk says, as Lance slurps up some noodles. Allura brings up a screen showing Klaizap approaching the Castle.

"What is that?" Keith asks. 

"I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a local Arusian. He's approaching the Castle" Klaizap yells as he comes closer and hides behind rocks.

 "Aw!" Hunk says

"It's so cute" Y/N says. Soul makes a sound, sounding offended. Y/N smiles at her "Every creature is cute, even you" Soul makes a sound of happiness.

"Doesn't look too dangerous." Lance said. 

"Your never know" Keith says, summoning his Bayard.

"Keith!" Y/N says.

"No. Alteans believe in peace first. Let's go welcome them." Allura leaves with Coran.

"That's adorable." Hunk says, running after them.

 "Hey, maybe we can knit him a little sweater!" Lance says, Y/N looks at Lance.

"Maybe little shoes to!" She and Lance nods and they run after the three, Soul jumping onto Y/N's shoulder.

"I'm not taking any chances. " Keith says and follows them.

-----

The doors of the Castle opens. Klaizap flees into a bush and hides as everyone exits the Castle. They approach where he is hiding.

"Greetings. We know you're there. No harm will come to you." Allura says, bending down to Klaizap. Klaizap jumps out and brandishes his sword.

"Aw!" Hunk and Y/N say. Keith stands between Klaizap and Allura with his Bayard ready.

"Wait! He could be dangerous. Drop your weapon!" Keith said standing in front of us his bayard ready. 

"No one takes Klaizap's weapon!" The creature said, pointing his sword at Keith. "

Keith, put that away!" Keith relents. Allura looks at Klaizap "Please, kind sir, accept my most humble apologies" Klaizap becomes calm.

"I am Klaizap, bravest of our warriors. Our village is over Gazrel Hill. I come seeking answers as to why the Lion Goddess is angered with her followers." Klaizap said.

 "Followers?" Coran asks.

 "Lion Goddess?" Hunk asks.

 "The one the ancients spoke of" Klaizap says, gesturing to a carving of a Lion-headed deity being worshiped by Arusians.

 "What makes you think she's angered?" Y/N asks.

"Destruction is everywhere. In the past few suns, fire has rained from the heavens and a giant has danced in the sky." Klaizap explains. Hunk whispers loudly to Lance.

"I think he's talking about Voltron"

"Yeah, I got that" 

 "You have not angered the Lion Goddess" 

"How can you be certain?"

"Because I am Allura and this is my Castle" Allura said. 

"Huh?! Lion Goddess!" Klaizap bows.

"Please, bravest warrior, take us to your village so that we may meet our neighbours" Allura asks.

"What about our mission to get off this planet and fight Zarkon?" Keith says.

"Part of the paladins' mission is to spread peace and diplomacy. Arus has been our host for 10,000 years. These people deserve our thanks." Allura says. Soul jumps of Y/N's shoulder and goes over to Klaizap, who looks at her in wonder. Soul stands on her hind legs, reaching up to Klaizap's waist, and sniffs. Klaizap smiles and strokes her head, making her purr.

==

Shiro and Pidge tend to the awakening prisoners in the Castle's Sleep Chamber.

"So, how long were you held captive by Zarkon?" Pidge asks the XI.

"Some for years. Decades, maybe. It's hard to tell. Time becomes a blur" He replies, taking a sip of his drink.

"Then you must have been there when my dad and brother arrived. Sam and Matt Holt?" 

"I never knew their names, but I certainly remember the other two Earthlings that arrived with Champion." The Xl says, looking to Shiro.

"Champion."  Why do you keep calling me that?" Shiro said.

"You really don't remember? Unbelievable! You were a legendary gladiator, undefeated in the ring. You defeated an infamous Galra gladiator known as Myzax. That was the day you earned the name "Champion." I was there, as was the young Earthling" Xl recounts his memories of the Arena.

==Flashback (Present XI talking)==

Shiro and Matt were lined up with other prisoners ready to fight Myzak.

"We were all prisoners, forced to fight for the entertainment of Zarkon. That day, we were set to fight Myzax, a vile beast many thought could never be defeated. Slaughter awaited us all. This "Matt" was the first of us sent to fight. But fate had other plans"

A Galra Sentry offered Matt a blade; Shiro then steals the blade

"You were so thirsty for blood, you injured your fellow Earthling"

Shiro then attacks Matt.

==Flashback End==

"You attacked my brother?" Pidge looks at Shiro, enraged "Why?!" 

"No...it can't be true"

"I was there. We all were"

 "After my brother was injured, where was he taken?" 

"I know not." The alien said.

"I don't believe it. There's got to be more to the story. I-I couldn't have hurt my friend. Wait. That ship we were held captive on crash-landed on this planet. They'll have logs of prisoners, some... information." Shiro says, walking away.

 "I'm coming with you" Pidge runs after them.

==

The Purple, Blue, Red and Yellow Lion are sat upon a hill. The Paladins, including Coran, Allura, Soul and Klaizap, are in the Arusian village. Hunk hands out some sphere things. Coran hugs one. Allura, Keith, Lance are surrounded by them. Y/N is kneeled down while two Arusians pet Soul.

"Oh, Lion Goddess, I, King of the Arusians, formally beg your forgiveness. Please have mercy on us and accept our traditional Dance of Apology as atonement for our wrongdoings." Y/N stands, Soul on her shoulder. The Arusian King claps to summon Moontow to dance.

"Commence Dance of Apology! Hoorah!" The Arusians begin to play music as Moontow dances to it.

 "Aww" Y/N cooed. Iris was sitting on her head to get a better look. 

"Please, there's no need for this." Allura says.

Moontow, halt!" Moontow freezes on one foot "The Goddess has refused the apology. Start the sacrificial fire" The Arusians light an enormous pyre "We must throw ourselves in" Y/N's jaw drops.

"No! No sacrifices!" Allura shouted.

"So, we may proceed with the dance?" 

"That's a better alternative." Moontow begins dancing again then she bows, followed by the other Arusians.

"Oh, my! Please, please, rise. Thank you for that, but I am not a great being worthy of your worship. I accidentally put you all in danger" Allura says and the Arusians gasp "It is I who should be apologizing to you. I am Princess Allura and these are the Voltron Paladins. Although we originally came from different worlds... and have very, very, very different traditions, we wish to live alongside you as friends" Allura continued. 

"But the mighty robotic angel... has it not come to destroy us because of our immoral ways?" The king asks,

 "Voltron? No. In fact, that mighty robot is here to protect you. Let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe!" Allura says. The Arusians cheer and celebrate by hugging the team. Keith tries to leave but an Arusian clings to him.

 "I don't... usually hug strangers, but, uh... Man, you are cuddly" Keith says, stroking the Arusian's head.

"Thank you." The Arusian says in a contrastingly deep voice. Keith stands in shock.

==

Shiro and Pidge investigate Sendak's fallen warship.

"This looks like the master control board, but there's no power" 

"All you need is power?" Shiro asks.

"Yeah, but one that's compatible with Galra tech" Shiro activates his prosthetic arm and powers up the computer by touching it.

"Whoa... I can't believe you got this to work." Pidge says. He starts downloading the data.

"My dad's and Matt's whereabouts must be logged in here somewhere. Once I download this information, I'll find some way to decode it back at the Castle." Pidge says.

"What?" I said and looked up, there was a space ship making its way right to us. Shiro hears a rumbling.

"Wha-?" He says. The ship carrying Galactic Gladiator appears in the sky "Oh, no" 

"What is it?" Pidge says, still looking at the screens.

"Something just entered the atmosphere. I'm not sure what it is, but it's big, it's Galra, and it's coming right for us. We gotta go!" Shiro tries to leave, lifting his hand. Pidge slams it down.

"Shiro, don't move! I'm only 15 percent done. I'm not going anywhere" Shiro eyes the incoming spacecraft and cannot wait for the download to finish.

"Pidge, I'm sorry!"

"No!" Shiro grabs Pidge and uses his jetpack to escape.

"Team, come in! We need backup! Hello?"

==

Allura stands talking with the Arusians with Y/N and Keith. Shiro's voice replays over her communication earrings.

"Hello?"

"Shiro?" 

"Where is everyone?" 

"What's going on?" Y/N asks. The incoming spacecraft causes rumbling across the surface of Arus. Keith, Y/N and Allura finally see the threat.

"Oh, no. We gotta get to our lions!" The Arusians start running to hide.

"Everyone get inside and stay down!" Allura shouts.

"I'm on it!" Hunk says, fleeing with the Arusians.

"Huh?" 

"Not you!" Keith says as he and Y/N drags Hunk back towards the Lions.

==

Shiro and Pidge are still by the fallen warship.

"No! Shiro, let me go! My father! Huh?" Pidge says, trying to get out of Shiro's grasp.

"Huh?" Shiro sees the Galra spacecraft is on a collision course with the warship "Run!" Shiro and Pidge use their jetpacks to escape the collision; The Green and Black Lion suddenly appear to protect them from the blast. The two Lions move away to reveal their Paladins are safe "Our lions just saved us"

"I didn't know they could do that. Huh? Um. Shiro?" Pidge points to the Galra spacecraft. The Galactic Gladiator starts up and notices Shiro.

"Get in your lion"

[bluedemon1995]

October 7: Fireflies-I’m not entirely happy with this one but, here ya go!

Keith needed to go on a Blade mission and despite him trying to get someone else to take it on, he had no luck. He was loathe to leave Pidge at this juncture of their … relationship. Mostly because he was not sure what they were yet. He had gotten back to Earth about a month ago. There were many intergalactic talks and he found himself gravitating towards Pidge, as usual. At first, he was just trying not to get annoyed by all the diplomats around him. But quickly he found himself actively seeking her out. He’d look for her at the mess hall, time it so he walked past her house when she should be leaving for work. He also managed to get Cosmo to help. Let’s just say…Best Wing Man ever. He’d just pop in to wherever Pidge happened to be and bring her to him. Cosmo was definitely getting extra snacks!

So when he was pressured into leaving he ended up asking Pidge to come with. While she may have misunderstood his intentions and thought he just needed her expertise, he was not going to be the one to point that out. Instead he ignored his friends teasing and stoically figured he’d find the right time to lay it all out for her.

About a week later, Keith was feeling thwarted! The universe truly hated him. In frustration he decided to go out for a run to burn off some useless energy. After that he showered and consigned himself for bed. Maybe he should just take Lance’s advice and throw her against the wall and kiss her!

Knock, knock.

“Keith! C’mere!!! You gotta see this!”

Keith quickly sat up and moved to the door, swinging it open quickly. “You okay?” He looked her over, relaxing as he took in her unhurt figure.

“You gotta follow me! Let’s go?”

Keith smiles, “Yeah okay, let me grab some shoes…even though I’m supposed to be the boss.”

Pidge grins, “Yeah, yeah, let’s go! You’re going to thank me very soon. I guarantee it!”

Keith shoulder bumps her, “Well, if you’re wrong I’ll make you cook dinner for the rest of the trip!”

At that point Pidge doubled over, “Yeah I think that’s more of a punishment for you!”

Pidge murmurs, “Ta da!!!”, as she pushed the door open to leave the ship.

Keith blinks and turns slowly in wonder. “Are these fireflies?”

Pidge sighs, “No clue. I guess the space equivalent. Isn’t it great?”

Keith nods, “Yeah, it really is.”

They both walk a little further from the ship. As they look up in wonder, Keith wraps his arm around her and he relaxes as she leans into him. After some time, he looks down, “Katie?”

“Mmmmm.”

“Will you go out with me? Like on a date?”

He freezes feeling like his life is on the line, when he hears, “‘Bout time.”

Laughing he turns her slightly and leans down for their first kiss. Gods, he can’t get enough of this girl.

October 8: Fan Convention

“What…do… you… mean? Do you WANT to explain to me, how a hotel has no rooms when I have a RESERVATION!?” She knew her voice was getting louder by the second but what the hell???

“Miss, do you want to get your mom out here?”

Gritting her teeth, she growled, “No, unfortunately that’s not an option because I’m the damn adult in this fucked up situation. In fact, I paid for the reservation on StayANite.com and have the receipt as proof. What. Is. The. Problem.”

“Oh, well, those third party sites are not guaranteed. You must really read the fine print, so I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

Pidge knew she was going to lose it. Her eye was twitching and she felt like her vision had tunneled to the woman standing in front of her. She wanted to hit her very very badly. She looked her over and figured she could easily take her.

That’s when the schmuck next to her muttered, “Chill, you can stay with me.”

“Oh, excuse me do YOU have a room? Cuz the Bigfoot convention apparently got food poisoning so things aren’t going so well here.”

Keith grinned, “No, I’m pretty sure my room is trash as well. But, I just so happen to travel with my phone and while you were trying to get arrested by cussing out the poor hotel work here, I looked up a few things. There’s a campground not too far away. We could hit a Walmart and expense the shit out of tonight. Let’s live dangerously.”

Pidge sighs, “Keith, “

“Katie. Our presentation is over. There’s no rush or prize to get back. Let’s take the untraveled road….you know you want to. And, crazy enough, I want to. With you.”

Fuck. Looks like she’s camping tonight.

[imjustheretoseetheprivateblogs]

you could write about anything take your pick, Lance or Princess Allura; an AU of your choice :)

Here's a bit from a Crossover AU fic that's all but abandoned

Pain. A searing pain that Allura had thought would only exist in her nightmares of Altea's destruction coursed through her veins.

It was odd, though, because the only thing she could feel right now other than pain was floating, like she was in water. Maybe she was dreaming. After all in nowhere but a dream would Voltron's paladins or Coran do something so nail-bitingly stupid as bring Voltron to Emperor Zarkon's doorstep just to rescue her. The safety of the universe was far more important. Not that she wasn't grateful. Or impressed for that matter. Between her rescue and five rookie paladins who less than a month ago had never even heard of the Galra empire or Altea she would have expected someone to die before making it through the wormhole.

Maybe someone had died, she thought, maybe she was dead. Something had happened to the castle's wormhole and the last thing she could recall was the paladins screaming in fear. She'd bet a month’s worth of tesfer that witch she'd seen at Zarkon's side had something to do with that. Now she was floating in a weightless darkness, a cacophonous ringing between her ears. Wait, that wasn't ringing, that was someone calling her name.

"Allura!"

With agonizing slowness, Allura opened her eyes. White heat flashed in her vision and faded into the familiar blue tinted lighting of the castle of lions' bridge. Looking to her right a surge of relief shot through her when she saw Coran's worried face.

"Coran!"

Allura had never been so happy to see her father's friend and advisor in her whole life. Coran must have shared the sentiment because he embraced her as soon as she had awoken.

"What happened?” Allura asked when Coran pulled away, “I remember something being wrong with the wormhole and--"

Dread crawled up Allura's back and spread over her face.

"The paladins! Voltron!"

"It's alright princess. The paladins made it through okay."

If her paladins weren’t here with her right now, then that wasn’t good enough. Allura shakily rose to her feet.

“Allura...”

“I need to see them, Coran!”

When Coran gave no further argument, Allura rushed to her console, bringing the castle’s main view screen to life to show four robot lions of four different colors floating limply through space. Allura swallowed. There were supposed to be five lions. The green one was missing.

"Is everyone alright!"

When no response came, Allura feared that their first fatality would come all too soon. In the mayhem to get to the wormhole, Allura hadn’t checked just who was in front of or behind her.

"Paladins, are you there? Shiro? Keith? Someone, come in!"

It could just be that their communications were down, she told herself.

“Coran, scan for the Green Lion’s signal.”

Coran hopped over to the main terminal of the bridge.

“Yes, Princess.”

If Pidge was just separated from them, then it was possible her radio was working.

“Pidge? Pidge are you in range?”

The green paladin could take care of herself. Allura knew this, everyone knew this. But she always looked so delicate to Allura, like a bird’s bone.

Even when she picked her ear and smelled it when no-one was looking.

She knew it sounded stupid to think of the person who took on Sendak to rescue the castle of lions like that, but she couldn’t help it. Pidge was one of her paladins, she had a right to worry about them.

Like how she was worried right now, when she received no response from the green lion or any of the lions.

Allura paused and took a deep breath.

During her attempted rescue, Zarkon had done something to make the black lion go crazy. Maybe he could affect all the lions like he could the black one. They’d found the red lion on a Galra ship and who knows what was done to it in the last ten thousand years. The very idea of Zarkon’s talons sinking into the lions like they were her paladin’s necks made her skin crawl. She remembered when she and Hunk had found Shiro in the grip of Zarkon’s witch, wounded, and her resolve strengthened.

"Coran, open all frequencies."

"Just a tick."

Soon, all the castle’s screens were lit up.

“This is Princess Allura of Altea,” Allura’s voice echoed through the castle’s halls from the intercoms, and out through space. Anyone with a working radio would hear them. If she was in her right mind, she would be scolding herself for painting a sonic target on them for any nearby Galra, but she wasn’t in her right mind, dammit! Her paladins could be dying!

“Paladins,” she all but shouted, “report in.”

Again, there was no response, only feedback on the comms from her shouting.

"Lance, Hunk? Is there anyone out there?"

Allura's heart dropped as nothing but static filled the monitor. She looked to Coran. He shook his head, and she could tell from the way his shoulders slumped that he was thinking the same thing she was. Even his mustache seemed to droop and dull in color. They would have to assume the worst.

“Coran,” said Allura, biting down her tears, “close all channels and prepare to retrieve the lions.”

Coran turned back to the main terminal.

“Yes princess…”

His voice was so strange when it lacked the verve she’d come to know him for. Then out of the silence, Coran’s finger a hair’s length above the button…

“--Lura is that you?”

A small communications window, grainy and cutting out once, flickered into existence on the castle ship’s main view screen. Allura’s heart soared and she was almost certain she heard Coran release a joyous sob.

“Shiro! Thank the ancients you're alright!”

“Alright is relative,” he said, grimacing, “but I’m alive. We’ve been trying to reach you since we got out of the wormhole.”

We. He had used the word we. The rest of them were alive. Her paladins were alive! She hadn’t failed them!

“Something must have scrambled our communications.”

That was Hunk. The yellow lion’s video feed came in after the audio, revealing the yellow paladin’s face. His chin shone with perspiration and his voice was rough and Allura didn’t doubt that he had been panicking. But that didn’t matter. As long as Hunk was still here, he could panic all he wanted.

“I couldn’t tell you what, though,” Hunk said, “Pidge has more experience in that area. I tried to contact her, but Lance and Keith were the only ones who I could reach.”

Another window formed next to Hunk’s, this one severely out of reception, but the voice was undoubtedly the blue lion’s paladin, Lance. And Allura doubted anyone wouldn’t recognize that knife-like chin, good reception or bad.

“I haven’t heard from her,” Lance said, the static of the feed putting a lisp into his voice, “Has anyone heard from Pidge?”

Another grainy transmission appeared on the castle’s main screen. The color was out on this one but…

“Keith, is that you?”

“Allura?”

The transmission cut out, but the voice was Keith’s. Soon, all four screens disappeared.

“Coran! Redirect all non-essential power to communications!”

“In a jiffy, princess!”

With renewed energy, Coran began pressing buttons and pulling levers, screens popping up all over the view screen, the feed from the lions winking on and off. Allura could catch snippets of conversation in the discord.

“Allura—re—u—the—?”

 “—ink I saw Pi—”

“—Fall out of the wormhole earl—”

The main lights of the ship switched off.

“Coran?”

“One moment.”

In less than a heartbeat, the main monitor lit up with four screens, the feed from the Voltron lions. Finally, all four of the five paladins of Voltron that were still with her appeared.

[autisticlancemcclain]

“C’mon, Keith, let me in.”

“Go away, Lance, I’m fine,” Keith calls for what feels like the four billionth time in three minutes. He grabs a pillow and shoves it over his face, letting out a scream.

After several minutes of screaming, he takes the pillow away from his face and takes a deep breath, trying to find some peace in the silence.

Wait. Silence? Did Lance finally leave?

As soon as he has the thoughts, there’s a heavy sigh from behind the door. Despite himself, Keith’s lips quirk up. As much as he’s pretty sure he wants to be alone right now, Lance’s persistence is sweet.

“I guess I’ll just sleep in the hall tonight, I guess,” Lance says morosely.

Keith raises an eyebrow, even though no one but him can see it. “You have your own bed, you know.”

“Oh, there’s some sort of hugely poisonous Altean mold in my room, so Coran says I can’t go in until he deals with it. Not that I would, anyway, because that’s fucking disgusting and I will be throwing out or thoroughly cleaning everything in that damn room, ew.”

Keith sits straight up, looking worriedly at the door.

“Is there seriously deadly mold in your room?”

Another desolate sigh. “Yeah. Sucks, I can’t even use my blankets from in there. I’ll have to steal some of Pidge’s.”

Keith gets to his feet, looking around for something to cover his head. He can’t very well leave Lance to sleep in the goddamn hallway, but he doesn’t want Lance to see it either.

Finally, his eyes zero in on Lance’s jacket, which he must have left behind before they ran out to that distress call this morning. Perfect.

He shrugs on the jacket, a little small on him around the shoulders and a little short overall, but the hood is nice and big. He tugs it over his head and cinches it closed, so you can barely even see his face. He looks ridiculous, but it’s better than the alternative.

He opens the door, not too widely. Before he can even blink, Lance ducks under his arm and rushes into the room, planting himself stubbornly beside the bed.

Oh, that fucker.

Keith glares at him. “There’s no mold in your room, is there.”

“Nope.”

“That’s manipulative, you know.”

“Mhm. Super effective, too.”

Keith glares harder at Lance. The asshole doesn’t even look remotely apologetic. He looks satisfied with himself, actually.

“And I know you’re not fine because it worked,” he continues. “You’re smarter than that. If you were fine then you’d know I’d just go sleep with Hunk in that situation.”

Lance steps forward, and keeps stepping forward, until he’s right in front of Keith. Keith doesn’t move, rooted in place.

“Tell me why you’re hiding, baby,” Lance murmurs, wrapping his arms around Keith’s neck. “Talk to me.”

“Is this why you were so insistent on coming inside?” Keith asks weakly. “Using your physical charms and wiles to get your way?”

Lance laughs softly, briefly resting his head on Keith’s chest.

Oh, this fucker! He knows exactly what he’s doing.

“So you think I’m charming.”

“You know damn well that you’re charming, you wretch. Don’t give me that.”

Lance chuckles again, getting up on his tiptoes to press a kiss to Keith’s nose, one of the only parts of his face visible through his cinched hoodie. “Talk to me,” he breathes out. “Please tell me what’s wrong. I want to help.”

Keith deflates, letting himself collapse into Lance arms. Lance doesn’t hesitate to hug him tightly. Why is he being so resistant? This is Lance. Lance, who was the first to reassure Keith when he first found out about his heritage, and the first to smack some sense into the rest of the team about it, too. (Hunk told him that Lance had gone into full lecture mode, angry hands on his hips and everything. Keith is kind of sad to have missed it.) Lance, who has been there to comfort Keith after every nightmare. Lance who loves him.

“…You know how there was that stupid anti-Galra disguise force field on that planet from this morning’s mission?”

“Mhm.”

“And you know how I’m half-Galra?”

Lance snorts. “I do know that, yes.”

“Well. There was —“ Keith hesitates. Maybe it’ll be best to just show him. “You promise not to freak out?”

Lance pulls back a little to look Keith in the — well, in the hoodie. “You’re freaking me out a bit now, I’ll be honest. Just show me, cielo.”

Keith hesitates. Fuck. Fuck! He steels himself, and then shoves off the hood in one go.

Well, he tries to, but he forgot he fucking tightened the strings and tied them together, so the hoodie gets stuck.

Lance bursts out laughing.

“S — sorry,” he wheezes, “I know this is a serious moment, but holy shit, that was funny.”

Keith huffs out a laugh as well, because it really was kinda funny.

Eventually, though, the laughter fades, and Keith gets his hoodie down with no further incidents. As the fabric falls off his head, Lance gasps.

On top of Keith’s head, among the shaggy mass of black hair, are two giant and purple Galran ears.

Lance reaches up immediately, running gentle fingertips on the edges of the ears. He grins widely, eyes scrunching up.

“Now you really are my Keithy-kat,” he teases, and something settles in Keith’s chest.

He huffs, but the corners of his mouth twitch up. Of course Lance is happy with him, still. Why did he ever doubt?

“I’m not a cat, you dork.”

“Your fluffy ears say otherwise!” Lance exclaims gleefully. He has yet to stop petting them. “Oh, the rest of the team is gonna love this —“

Keith freezes, smile dropping. Lance notices immediately.

“Oh, Keith.” He drops his hands from Keith’s ears down to his cheeks, cupping his face gently. “Baby. They’re going to be fine, promise. Hunk might poke at you a bit, because he’s inherently the nosiest person in any situation, but everything will be fine. Promise.”

“But what about —“

Lance squishes his cheeks, glaring at him sternly. “Promise,” he reiterates firmly.

“Wha’about ‘Lura?” Keith protests, voice muffled around Lance’s hands.

Lance softens immediately. “She’ll be fine. She’s had lots of time to come to terms with everything. She loves you, Keith, as much as everyone, except maybe me. Besides —“ Lance grins widely again — “I think she might find these ears heaps nicer than ‘the most hideous ears she has ever seen’.”

Keith laughs, and Lance finally releases his face, arms dropping to slide around Keith’s waist. He leans up again and presses a kiss to Keith’s cheek, making a loud ‘mwah’ noise as he does it, making Keith smile more.

“There’s that laugh. The most beautiful sound in the world, music to my ears.”

Keith rolls his eyes, face flushing. His ears twitch, too, making Lance gasp in delight.

“Keithy-kat!! You are so cute! Oh, you’re —“

Keith rolls his eyes again, leaning down to press his lips to Lance’s, shutting him up. He pulls back after a moment, pressing a kiss to Lance’s hair before resting his chin on Lance’s head, pulling him in close. Lance sighs happily, snuggling in closer.

“I love you,” Keith whispers.

“I love you too, precioso. I love you too.”

[kiwibirbs-library]

Nightmares

a/n: so like.. uhh... how’s your day? Cause mine said work and think of this babe the whole time. Oh you too? Cool cool.

YALL THIS IS AFTER I WROTE THIS ITS SO LONG OMG OK I NEED TO GO READ THROUGH WOW

Pairing: Keith kogane x reader

Warning: uhh nightmares ya ya that. That’s it

Summary: you get nightmares, fairly bad done at that. And one night you just can’t do it anymore and go to the nearest occupied room. And suddenly it becomes a tradition.

You were rescued from a prison break. The only thing that made you special was that your entire planet was massacred and you had absolutely nowhere to go.

That was almost 6 months ago.

That’s how you ended up where you are now. In a near empty room of the castle, trying to fall back asleep. This was the fifth time you had a nightmare this week. This was the fifth time you had had to relive the vivid torture. The fifth time you’ve been curled up in a ball, tears streaming, trying to just breath through it.

After about 10 minutes you sat up. You couldn’t keep doing this. You couldn’t keep going off of two hours of sleep. You really couldn’t keep hearing Shiros ‘you ok?’ Every morning when you showed up looking like the living dead.

You grabbed your blanket and wrapped it around yourself before waking to the door. The faded walking lights were enough to keep you from hitting anything as you stopped at the nearest door. Hopefully it was someone who could help you. Just to talk to if you could. In other words— as much as you enjoy him— not Lance. You gulped as you knocked on the door. You weren’t expecting it to open as soon as it did.

Keith stood in the open door way, rubbing an eyes slightly as his vision adjusted to see you clearly.

“Y/n?” His voice was raspy from not talking for a while.

“Um hi,” your voice broke in the middle. His brows furrowed as he noticed your stained cheeks and red nose.

“Are you ok?” He squinted at you a bit, still not completely able to see you.

“Uh actually could I um... stay here for a bit.... please,” it all came out whimpery and cracked. You felt kind of pathetic. You half expected him to tell you where Shiro was and go back to sleep with how long he took to respond. But no. He backed up a bit and gave you room to come in. You smiled a little up to him and shuffled in. He sat on his bed and watched you slightly as you made your way down to the floor.

He didn’t exactly know why but he didn’t like the idea of you laying there. It was clean sure, and he definitely would have let anyone else sleep there, but he couldn’t in good conscious just leave you there. Especially with how red and wet your face was when you passed him. He cleared his throat a bit and you looked up at him from your spot. He patted the mattress beside him and you got the idea, getting up and sitting next to him.

“So... what’s wrong?” He looked at your hands as they twisted into each other. You bit your lip.

“Um well, lately I’ve been having these.. um... nightmares. There of the time in the prison. And the um... things that happened,” you gulped. There was a slight pause.

“You don’t have to force yourself to talk if you can’t,” Keith sighed a bit. You looked over to him to find a surprising look of worry on his face. You were taken aback by how understanding he looked. From what you knew of him he was that loner of the group, the one that didn’t talk much and did his own thing, only worrying about himself (and Shiro as you observed). But sitting next to you wasn’t someone that didn’t know feelings of others. It was more like someone who could understand what was happening with you.

“I get nightmares too you know. Of course I’ve never been tortured like you or Shiro were, but they still get to me pretty bad,” he said bluntly, leaning back on his hands. You sighed and brought you knees to your chest, a tired look in your eyes. “You can go to sleep if you want, it would be good for you,” he said without looking at you.

“Thank you,” you smiled a little. “You know, your a lot nicer than I thought you would be one on one,” you laid down slowly.

“I’ll take that as a complement?” His words had the slightest sound of amusement with them. It brought a calming blanket down on you.

In no time your were completely knocked out, Keith leaning up against the wall, also falling asleep as he made sure you didn’t wake up.

~~~~

There was a vibrating from under your head, waking you up. You weren’t fully awake as you felt the air on your skin without opening your eyes. You felt something come underneath the pillow and stop the movement before leaving. Your brows furrowed slightly as you moved even closer to wherever the thing had come from. Without moving much you hit something, immediately running a hand down the back of it before falling back to sleep.

Keith was also awakened by a vibrating. More than you obviously as this was his alarm every morning. So when he turned it off to keep you to sleep and you moved closer he very much noticed. And then your hand ran down his back and made him shiver. He was a blushing mess. He couldn’t even say anything as you stuffed your face into his chest and stayed asleep. Without even knowing it he was smiling at you, moving some hair from your face before he thought about it. You pushed yourself forward a little more, turning him onto his back as you used him as a body pillow. For the first time in a while he had to hold back a laugh at the movement.

You both stayed like that for almost an hour before you groggily got up finally. When you saw the position you immediately started apologizing for what happened. He waved you off, his normal stern face back as he sat up and met you in the middle of the room.

“Calm down its fine, I don’t really care. Anyways we should leave, we’re about to have the morning meeting,” as if the castle could hear him the intercom turned on with a loud beep and Alluras voice came on.

“Meeting time! Hunk made food as well,” and she was gone. You smiled at the idea of Hunks cooking.

“Oh shoot I need to change,” you looked down to your pajamas.

“Meh Lance Never does don’t worry about it,” in truth Keith was just stalling to continue seeing you in them. He really didn’t understand why but he liked the sight. You both left his room before walking the halls to kitchen. Mostly everyone was there, the only one not was Lance unsurprisingly. You waved a bit as you took a seat next to Pidge, Keith to you. They looked at you both with a smile before going back into their talk about something technical.

You tried to listen as you ate but your thoughts drifted to the night before and this morning. A light pink hit your face at the thought. You smiled a little as you put the spoon to you mouth.

~~~~

These sleepovers quickly became something usual. In some instances you wouldn’t even go back to your room, just straight to his with him. At one point he told you to bring some clothes over to change so now you had your little pile in the corner of dresses and shirts. The most awkward part of it would have to when you both began cuddling consciously. You felt hot as Keith put a very hesitant arm on you, his constant ‘is this ok?’s making you laugh a bit.

You didn’t know when but at some point you started taking the sessions in for more. You would always smile at the thought of Keith. Your eyes would always wonder the room in search of him. If the found his you would gaze for a moment before looking away.

Keith knew exactly when he took after hours for more. He knew exactly what he was doing when went to his room at the end of the night, waiting impatiently for you to show up. He knew exactly what he wanted when he asked you to bring some clothes over, his idea for you to spend more time there working amazingly.

The day you got found out though was the most embarrassing moment of your life. Even worse than Pidge calling you out for staring at the boy. For one thing you were more tired than usual that morning due to training the previous day. So while reaching for a pair of leggings you missed and grabbed Keith’s spare sweatpants. Honestly you didn’t even think about how big they were as you threw on your jacket and left. Keith had left before you to meet with Shiro so you were alone and the first in the breakfast hall. By the time you stood up everyone was there as well. Keith’s hand flew to his face to hide the bright red that flushed his face when he noticed. He wasn’t going to say anything, he didn’t really want to. He would have to resist the urge to hide your normal pjs in favor of you wearing his for the next week.

“Aren’t those a little big on you?” Pidge commented.

“Huh?” You looked down and blushed a bit at the clothing. “O-oh ya, haha. Um i saw them at the mall we went to the other day and picked them up,” you coughed.

“Wow really those look like what Keith was wea—“ Lances mouth was covered and his head was dragged down by Keith’s arms. Everyone looked between you two with skeptical look before you slip out the door with a ‘well then’.

That was the catalyst of Lance following Keith to his room and hour later. He was droning on about something when Keith stopped in front of his door. He never had time to clean up this morning. Your clothes were probably still scattered in different areas. He cleared his throat.

“What?” He looked to Lance you was waiting patiently for the door to open.

“Oh I wanted to see what your room looked like. I’m bored and have nothing to do today,” he gave a dramatic sigh. Keith blocked the door.

“No.”

“Whaaat?? Why nooooott? How long have we known each other? Shouldn’t we have more trust????” Lance whined. “Besides whaaat Y/n in here the other day?”

“No,” Keith stayed. Then you came down the hall. You had went to your room in search of a pair of pants before realizing they were still sitting on the edge of Keith’s dresser. Maybe your other jacket was still on his bed if you were lucky. When you saw Lance you made a turn to leave the way you came too late.

“Y/n?” Lance called. You stopped and turned back to him.

“Hey Lance, what’s up?” You smiled a bit and walked a little closer. Keith was happy to hear your voice but also bit his lip at the predicament. You were probably looking for your favorite leggings. The ones you left here the other night. Bad timing.

“Oh I was wanting to see inside Keith’s room! What about you?” You continued talking to Lance, at one point giving Keith a side glance to say to go in. He quickly slipped into his room and started picking up your things and hastily putting it places, most went under his bed. In all honesty he didn’t mind too much about everyone finding out about your sleepovers. He did mind however about the teasing that would come with it.

The door clicked and slid open, Lance walked in with a nervous you glancing around after him.

“Wow it’s so boring in here,” Lance sighed, draping himself over on top of you. “There’s nothing in here how do you live like thi—“ he stopped when he looked over the floor. He saw something light blue poking out from under the bed. Keith tensed when lance moved it out with his foot. The jacket dragged out a few more clothes with it, all definitely not Keith’s and very obviously yours.

“Y/n did you know your clothes are— OH MY GOD NO WAY!!” He jumped away from you and looked between you and the mullet boy. “YOU TWO ARE A THINGGG??”

“No no we’re not!” You held up your hands and tried to explain. You missed Keith’s small and inaudible ’yet’.

“Then why are your clothes here? Are there more?!” Lance asked, gesturing to the small pile on the floor.

“Um well, sleepovers?” You rubbed your hands together. Lance turned to Keith.

“What does that mean?”

“Well what do you think a sleepover means? Honestly,” he crossed his arms. Lance turned back to you.

“How many times??”

“Ah ha ha um... multiple?” You looked over to Keith to find he was already watching you. You whipped back to Lance. As if the universe told you you weren’t getting out of this easy, Pidge and Hunk passed by the open door. They peered in a you heard a little laugh.

“He finally figured it out? Hah we knew weeks ago,” the small girl laughed a little, pushing her glasses up.

“You two knew?!!!” Lance whined as he left the room to join those two in the hall. Keith, quicker than you would have thought, moved and pressed a button to close and lock the door. You heard a muffled ‘hey’ before footsteps that eventually faded away. He sighed. You gave a little laugh.

“That your first choice in hiding?” You giggled.

“Shut up,” he gave you a smile and a glance before flopping down on his bed with a groan. “This is why no one comes in here.”

“Aww I feel so special,” you giggled again as you climbed on top of him. You laid you head down as he dragged you completely on top of him. “By the way, about what Lance said.” Keith looked down to you. “What are we anyway?”

“Well, I’d prefer the privileges of boyfriend all the time. But if you wouldn’t then I don’t mind waiting,” you put yourself up on your arms at his directness.

“What?”

“What?” He repeated.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the closed off feelings guy? What was that?” You look at him bewildered.

“I will not hesitate to leave you here alone,” he gave you a playful glare. “Answer my sentence though.”

“What?”

“Do I get privileges?”

“I wouldn’t mind,” you looked away before sitting up fully. “You get to tell everyone though,” you smiled a bit.

“Ugh why,” he groaned and put his head to the side. His hands naturally rested on your hips. You both had been doing this so long you never even took it as something weird with the way you straddled him. You laughed a bit at him when he pinched your sides a bit.

“Deal?”

“Deal,” he smiled before pulling you a little closer and finally doing what he had been wanting to for the past month, finally kissing you.

[messy-voltron]

Hcs for some little moments that made the paladins realize how much they love their s/o and want to live with them for the rest of their lives? (they go like, "OMG... I'm so in love with them...") you know, some cute moments xD

OMG this make me so soft!! Alright let’s get it lads (also thank you for your submission!)

I do swear a little bit in this one just as a warning

Shiro

Let’s be real folks Shiro is a very simple home body, but it’s hard to open himself to someone else to share that home with

So it’s no surprise that he realizes his love at home, you curled up in his bed, safe in his arms in the early morning where the world is still asleep

The soldier himself hardly gets sleep, and he tries not to do it too much, but he can’t help himself and watch you when his mind is too restless and oh my stars you just look so peaceful curled up in his arms

The love rises to crescendo in his heart, hits him like a train, and leaves him painless and warm because he loves you so much he never imagined love could be like this yet it fits so perfectly Shiro loves you So. Much.

He won’t say it yet. He shows it in his home later

In the way he remembers how you like your tea or coffee, making sure you’re favorite mug is within reach, remembering which blankets and hoodies you like and what movies you like to watch on what days

It’s no surprise when he tells you of this love, much later, in the safety that is this home and he can’t wait to share it with you side by side for the rest of his life

Keith

To start off I would like to add in my own personal headcanon: Keith is not good at parties

Sure he can be civil, he has to attend a lot of them because being a paladin of voltron also kinda makes you a nice little star at a political event and you gotta keep up formalities if you want them to know you’re on their side and you’re willing to protect yadda yadda

And so Keith goes to them, but there just gets a point where there’s so many people he doesn’t know, so man people who want to talk to him, it’s just so overwhelming

He tries to hide it as best he can, not wanting to make a scene, but he just can’t help it

As his s/o, you notice. He knows you notice. Keith doesn’t want to get in the way of you having a good time, but you stay right by his side. Giving him space when he needs it, asking coded questions to see if he needs to leave, offering support when he wants it. You do it without question because it’s so clear that you care

It’s so hard for Keith to open up to people and ask for help, but it’s in a moment like this that it really smacks him in the face of how much he appreciates you and how it’s so obvious you love him the same way

He catches himself. Love. He thought love. But as he looks at you in your formal attire, giving him a gentle reassuring smile, how beautiful you look in the evening lights, he can’t help but feel how right that word fits with you. He truly is in love with you and you best bet that he will never leave you

Lance

Since this man is so dramatic, it only seems right that his declaration of love would also have a bit of theatrics to it

To set the scene: you and Lance were set out on a small rescue mission to scope out a distress signal on a nearby planet. Coran assured you two that it was a small planet inhabited by some very friendly aliens so it shouldn’t be a big deal. It became a big deal real fast. You guys were very much not informed that that planet had been taken over by the Galra and sensing that Voltron as near, set this up to be a trap to catch at least one of the lions to use as bait

Wasting no time, you and Lance have to fight your way through Galra troops to safely get back to his lion but god there’s just so many of them they’re coming in from left to right oh god why did you have to be the one to get caught in the cross fire-

The two of you manage to find a safe clearing and just as he’s about to catch his breath, you grab him suddenly and pull him to the ground as your blaster goes off. Once he gets together his bearings, you’re on top of him with a galra droid now blown to bits and you have the most badass look on your face

He doesn’t mean to say I love you, it just sorta tumbles out of his mouth. Maybe it’s the adrenaline, maybe it’s because you look really nice, but regardless he has felt this way for a while, he just never thought he’d be saying it like this

Because it’s true there’s no one else in this entire galaxy he wants by his side through thick and thin he knows you have his back and he just thinks he’s the luckiest person in the world

You, however, have a shit eating grin on your face and in a classic Han Solo style, just tell him, “I know,” which translates to I love you too and you and Lance will be able to be mushy and lovey once your lives aren’t at stake

Hunk

Hunk is a very lovable person to begin with, he loves people platonically so hard and so fast, so when he realizes his romantic love for you, he almost stumbles into it on accident

It’s classic; you’re tasting a recipe he’s been working on and he’s so nervous to hear your opinion on what you have to say. He watches every movement, every facial feature just praying that you like this

And you do. You give him praise where he excelled, gave a pointer or two on where he struggled, but ended it with a smile and a thank you for sharing because you know how much cooking means to him

And it makes him so happy that you care and understand him and that’s why he loves you and-

He has to stop himself. He brushes it aside, continues on with the evening, but when you two part he can’t help himself but to think about those events over and over again because maybe he was just getting in over his head sure he cares about you but love? Is it too soon? Is he being too emotional?

In the end Hunk comes to the conclusion he’s known since the beginning. He does love you, he wants you in his life for as long as you’ll have him, and he admits this to you the next day as gracefully as he can

For the record, it wasn’t that graceful, but that’s what makes him so perfect

Pidge

Pidges would be perfectly mundane where it’s so simple yet it just fits perfectly into their heart

The two of you are just...talking. That’s it. You guys are spitballing ideas and future projects and being reminded of old memories that make you smile

These conversations go on late into the night, both of you equally admitting that it’s getting late and it’s time to turn in to bed, but then one of you says something and it gets delayed by at least 15 minutes

Pidge has never been the most social person, it often makes them more stressed out than anything, but they can’t help but notice the way their heart settles so calmly and full of love when they’re with you

They won’t admit it yet, but they know they’re in love with you this kid is such a simp but it’ll take them a while before they actually say it (that and you might have to say it first but that’s just cause Pidge is so nervous)

[the-kittens-of-vol-tron]

It’s Just Pretend

Chapter 3: Fake It Till You Make It

AO3!

Chapter 2

First Chapter!

Word Count: 1,843

-----

Two Months Later 

“So how’s the fiance?” Hunk wiggled his eyebrows as he sipped on his beer. Shay gives him a light shove with her elbow. 

 “Teddy bear, that’s not funny,” Shay said in a hushed whisper. Trying to hide her own smile behind her hand. 

 Lance rolled his eyes at his friends. “It wasn’t supposed to go on this long. I just…I don’t know.” 

 “You didn’t expect your neighbors to be so friendly and attentive?” Adam said as he polished a glass. They were the only ones in the bar. Mondays were always slow. 

 Lance groaned and rested his forehead on the counter. “Exactly.” 

 “Is it really that bad?” Shay asked a bit tentatively. 

 Lance sighed. It really wasn’t. It could be worse. “It’s not. He could be a worse roommate. I’m just ruining my chances to get a real partner. So I can, I don’t know, get actually engaged.” 

 Hunk gave him a pat on the back. “It’s good you two are compatible together. The only thing we know about him is he had good grades and he isn’t much of a people person.” 

 Adam chuckled. "Sounds like someone I know.” 

 “Yeah,” Lance lifted his head up, “sorry it’s been impossible for you all to meet him. He’s nowhere near a social butterfly.” 

 “How did you two meet again?” Shay meekly asked. 

 “Same major, same class, I sat next to him on the first day.”

 “And then you abandoned me to room with him.” Hunk wiped a fake tear from his eye. 

 “You wanted to move in with Shay! And he needed a roommate and it wasn’t the worst option.” Lance said in his defense. 

 Hunk laughed, the sound echoing off the walls of the bar. “You two are best friends, so it all worked out.” 

 “And just like us, you’re engaged now!” 

 “SHAY!”

—

“When’s the party?” Pidge asked, their eyes never leaving the TV screen in front of them. Her thumbs moved quickly over the controller. 

 “What party?” Keith questioned with an exasperated sigh. 

 “The engagement party of course.” 

 Keith groaned as his character fell off the cliff he was balanced on. “As I’ve explained, we’re not actually together.” 

 “Might as well be, how long have you two been pretending?’ Matt asked as he shoved another slice of pizza into his mouth. “Three weeks or something?” 

 “Two months,” Pidge paused the game, leaning their head back to look at their brother. “When did you get home?” 

 “And why are you eating my pizza?” Keith questioned, his voice free from anger. 

 “It was on the counter, I didn’t see your name on it.” Matt wiped his hands on his pants and made his way toward the counter. “Move over,” he sat between them, taking Keith’s controller from him. Jumping right into the game as soon as Pidge resumed it. 

 “Neither of us expected this to go on as long as it has.” Keith crossed his arms over his chest and focused his attention on the screen. 

 “Why does it even need to keep going? Do you live next to your landlord or something?” Pidge asked, their eyebrows cocked up in confusion. 

 “No, at least not that I know of.” 

 “Then what’s the deal?” Matt questioned. 

 Keith signed, fighting the urge to slide onto the floor in hopes they would stop questioning him. “Our neighbors are…older. Well most of them are.” 

 Both the Holt siblings nodded. Their eyes were glued to the screen. 

 “And all of them have introduced themselves to us.” 

 “Okay,” they both said in creepy unison. 

 “So…they invite us over and drop by to bring us food and such. And…” Keith trailed off, suddenly feeling bashful. 

 “You two need to still keep the act up?” Pidge finished his thought. 

 “Yeah.” 

 Silence. 

 Both the Holt siblings began to laugh, clutching their stomachs with laughter. Keith could feel the tips of his ears get hot and he buried his head into his hands. “It’s not that funny.” 

 “You’re right, you’re right,” Matt replied through broken laughter. Taking a couple of deep breaths before speaking again. “It’s hilarious.” 

 “It’s not!” 

 “It is!” Pidge replied, removing their glasses to wipe the tears from their eyes. 

 “At least Shiro and Adam don’t laugh at me,” Keith mumbled against his hands. 

 Matt wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulders. Pulling him against his side. “Maybe not to your face. But they find humor in it. Trust me.” 

 Keith groaned, was he ever going to escape this? 

—

 “Fix your tie,” Lance whispered as they waited for their neighbor to open the door. 

 “My tie is fine,” Keith whispered back. 

 “It’s crooked,” Lance said, an easy smile on his face. He held the covered tray of food they were bringing out to Keith. “Hold this.” 

 “Why?” Keith eyed the tray cautiously. 

 “Mullet, just take the stupid tray.” Lance pressed it close to him. Letting go as soon Keith wrapped his fingers around the metal. He lifted his hands, beginning to adjust the piece of fabric as the door swung open. Soft music filled the air, along with laughter from the guests already present. 

 “Oh! Keith and Lance! I’m so happy you could make it.”  The middle-aged man smiled, sending them both a toothy grin. 

 “Hey Jeffery,” Lance quickly finished adjusting the tie. Taking a moment to pat his hands down Keith’s chest before taking the tray. Seeming unaware of how red Keith’s face became as the motion. “Sorry, we’re a little late.” Lance put a smile on his face, taking a tiny step away from his fake fiance. 

 Jeffery waved him off. “You still got here. Come on in! The party has already started.” The two boys entered the room, taking a moment to slip off their shoes. 

 “Remember, Mullet. If you get overwhelmed just give me a clue and we will leave. No questions asked.” Lance whispered to Keith before kissing his cheek. Something he had started to get more comfortable with. 

 “Thank you, Lance,” Keith mumbled back, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly in relief. 

 Lance sent him another warm smile and headed towards the kitchen with the tray of food; leaving Keith in the doorway. 

 The party went smoothly, drinks were had, and conversation flowed. It was a pleasant night. Up until the questions started. Now Keith didn’t mind questions. He and Lance have laid a loose foundation for their relationship to follow. 

  They met freshman year of college and were roommates 

Lance got feelings first and their first date was to an aquarium 

Keith popped the question after graduation 

 It was soundproof for daily conversations. Keyword; daily. Not a borderline grilling session. How did he even get here? Keith focused on his drink, the words around him blurring together. He knew he was still at the party. He was surrounded by his neighbors. People he knew. So why did it feel like he was swimming in a mixed drink of confusion and guilt? 

 “How are you liking the engagement life?” Someone placed their hand on his shoulder. Giving him a friendly shake. 

 Keith kept his eyes trained on his cup. He opened his mouth and forced out the first coherent words he could manage. He hated talking as a concept but small talk was his personal hell. “It’s…good.” 

 “Is it everything you imaged?” Another voice sounded to his right. He couldn’t read the tone well, but the person chuckled like they made a joke. 

 Keith brought his cup to his lips. Focusing on the liquid, where was Lance? “I mean, it’s not like things have really changed.” 

 The people around him made some sounds of agreement. “Just wait until you really start planning the wedding. That will kill your bank account.” 

 Keith pushed out a small chuckle. “Not like either of us have money.” 

 “Oh right, you two are new graduates, right? I wish my life was that put together when I was your age.” Someone else said. 

 Keith forced another laugh. His skin suddenly felt too tight. “Yeah…money is tight.” He cleared his throat. Praying that no one could see how sweaty his palms were or how his hands shook. “It’s late. I think it’s time for Lan-my love and I to go home.” 

 Everyone made sounds of agreement and bid him farewell. He prayed he didn’t stumble from the room. He needed to find Lance. 

 He hated when he felt like this. When the air in the room was suddenly sucked out. The walls slowly collapsed in on him. And for what? People talking to him like he was a person? People acknowledging his existence? 

 He forced his body to suck in the air. His lungs and ribs ached at the slight stretch. Where was Lance? 

 The room was spinning on him, he suddenly felt as if he downed four bottles of wine. His fingernails dug into his palms, trying to ground himself through the pinch. In and out, just find Lance. That’s all we need to do. He repeated the words in his head. Managing to hold on to the edge as he moved through the space. 

 Someone laughed next to him. A positive gesture. Something that meant happiness. Joy. But right now, that sound made Keith nearly tear up. Why was it so loud? Why was it always so loud around others? 

 A hand touched his arm. Firm, but gentle. A grasp that was familiar. Safe. He was pulled sideways slightly. His body pressed against someone else's. He nearly sobbed in relief when the familiar smell of the ocean filled his nose. 

 “Whoa, easy there Red. Someone had one drink too many.” Lance’s voice was light, filled with amusement. Not mocking. Weirdly comforting. Keith would never understand how he mastered that tone. 

 Keith tried to open his mouth to say something. Anything, instead he let his head fall on Lance’s shoulder. Focusing on the way Lance tightened his hold to support more of his weight. He knew he was talking, probably telling the others they needed to leave for the night. Keith couldn’t hear through the waterfall that was roaring in his ears. 

 Lance took a step sideways, helping Keith turn with him as they made their way toward the door. He could vaguely make out the ‘goodbyes’ and ‘thanks yous’ as they stepped into the hallway. Silence finally consumed them as the door clicked closed. 

 Lance didn’t lose his hold and they made their way back to their apartment. Their footsteps filled the hallway with a beat sound. Neither of them spoke, Keith couldn't even if he wanted to. 

 Lance quickly unlocked the door, locking it just as quickly once they were inside. Before Keith could take a breath, the other boy wrapped his arms around him. Holding him tightly. His face tucked into his neck. “You’re okay. It’s just us now.” 

 His voice was soft. Smooth. Reserved for moments like this. When he had to comfort someone through a crisis. Lance made be a loud mouth goofball but he could tone it down when someone needed him to. 

 Keith fell into the hug. Believing Lance’s words. 

-----

The question is, did Adam figure it our or is he really that dense?

Thank you for reading <33333