#she's great at hiding it most of the time but the second she's around shiro she's full on texan again

[v-tired-queer]

Not shown are their matching internal monologs of "Holy fuck holy fuck h o l y FUCK she's so cute shit shit shit--"

[ninjakitten1699]

More Oni headcanons that I wanted to add on

to @ambrosial-tea post but I forgot until now!

There are different tribes of Oni as stated in the last post. Aka Oni (Red), Ao Oni (Blue), Shiro Oni (Pale/White), and our Kuro Oni (Black/Dark).

We don’t know too much of the Dark Oni we got but we do know that Oni were originally intended to be guardians between Material Plane and Spirit World when the two began overlapping (possibly The Grasslands/Departed, and Cursed Realm before they began separating). Put a tribe of Oni on the Material Plane for a couple years and they’d splinter into subraces of Oni and become more corrupted by the years. Dark Oni became one of the tribes corrupted.

Aka Oni are the most common type of Oni with their dark red colors, large size, and toughness. They’re slightly bigger than the rest of their kin, more violent, unfocused, and pursue immediate satisfaction, disregarding long drawn out plots and schemes. They’re mostly known for strength too.

Ao Oni are known for their unnatural cunning and aptitude for magic, smaller than their red kin but larger than pale, and have different shades of dark blue. They’re the ones you’d catch calculating and meticulously pursuing lofty goals like power and knowledge.

Shiro Oni are known for their aloofness and connections to the spirit realm. They’re the smallest of the main three tribes and the fewest of members. They vary from pale white to light gray. (They may as well adopt other Oni who share their colors and hopefully teach them their ideals.) Pale Oni would rather keep things in balance between the material plane and spirit world as the ancient Oni intended. They guard their locations but will adventure for artifacts of the spirit world and mend balance. If we take that into account perhaps they are another reason why Realm travel is difficult to Oni who try to cross through the any of the realms involving afterlives.

While Oni have no concept of gender since they have both reproductive organs, they also have no concept of sexualities either. Honestly they just didn’t have a name for it when one didn’t feel the need to have sex or when another felt more attracted to the same sex aspects of their partner. (If anything, their type of relationships or way of thinking would be looked up upon because they felt closer to their spirituality and their true selves.) Again they sometimes don’t mate for reproduction but just for the vibes of their partner.

They probably didn’t have a name for having multiple partners at the time either. If one Oni wanted to be a part of what the other two had and they were content with the feel of them, then it was okay. Plus more hands to help raise the cub personally. (Essentially that’s what PolyGarm would basically be. They make Garm happy, they’re happy with him, and Lloyd would basically have more than two parents. At this point Lloyd would just have more dads and Koko is just the one good mom he deserves.)

The second Oni learn what kisses are and how they work, they find it just as addictive as they do with other acts of affection.

Oni are more closer to their family than they are to strangers because in most Oni’s belief, strangers brought suffering to the family. In turn they displayed their family’s name first before their own, showing pride in them and hoping to intimidate any strangers with ill intent towards them.

Speaking of Oni names, they don’t usually have any but when they do their names would be what positive traits the parents wish the child to take on. For example, a son could have “Akihiko”. “Aki” meaning “bright” and “hiko” meaning “boy/prince”. They could want him to be someone brighter than they ever hoped for. For a daughter, “Asuna” with “asu” meaning “tomorrow” and “na” to “greens” or “apple tree”. Maybe the parents are hoping the Oni daughter would lead them to a more plentiful day. And then there’s the family names. The most famous ones are “Hideyoshi” and “Ishikawa”. We’ve heard of these names and the history behind them, I wouldn’t want to come across any of their descendants that carry their name with honor.

Ironically “Harumi” is actually a name for a female Oni in some home brewing lore. One of her meanings is “govern/rule” and “beauty”. Goes to show how far she would take her name literally.

Shiro Oni/Pale Oni don’t have names, but it’s because they don’t want to be too close to the material plane while they guard the spirit realms. They would refer to themselves and each other as “that/this one” instead like how gargoyles in the old days would. If they come up with names, it’s for the sake of working with others on the material plane, but even then it only happens when they really trust the people around them.

Oni have a large appetite that could put the Pythor and the Anacondrai to shame. They could honestly compete against the Great Devourer and other wyrms.

An Oni’s pair of horns are a sign of honor. No pair of horns are alike, not even the closest siblings’ horns look the same. They all have their differences. Their horn length is their pride. Having them sawed off is quite literally shameful to the owner of them but they did do something to deserve it.

It’s possible that some Oni were confused at Garm’s horns not being there at first but they hear about the first time they grew out of his head he quite literally broke them off and bled for a good long while to the point of passing out. (Blood vessels actually go throughout the antlers/horns in animals which is why they aren’t busted right off easily. Why wouldn’t they to Oni horns?) Come to find out it was the FSM’s hate for Oni that made Garm hate himself and how he looked so Garm had them filed down to his scalp or small enough to hide in his hair. It honestly almost hurts the Oni’s look on the FSM even more but hey who hasn’t he hurt? It takes a couple more decades and some therapy before he finally let’s go of his internalized self hatred and trauma that he grows out his horns and finally has pride in himself like most Oni already do.

So it’s not uncommon for Oni to live among other races, whether secretly or not, due to their shapeshifting abilities, however sometimes they’re immediately shunned when their true form slips out. Unless they proved otherwise to the most accepting of inhabitants, they’re allowed to stay. By then they’d have a hybrid appearance with their horns out, either out of their kindness to ease the others’ fear of them or for their own personal benefit.

Oni that do live on their own choose to live in the wilderness or in the mountains. If living in society but still wanting some sort of solitude, they’d either be closer to the outskirts or deep in the downtown where you’d either have to ask directions to specific people to find them or already know where they are. Hence Mistaké with her small tea shop and Wu being able find her.

As stated before Oni have no problems with Half-Oni at all. They’re just welcoming another cub into the pack and it’s just the fact that they are a child of an Oni who fell in love with another humanoid. Although there are some cases of Oni being chased out by the other race with their cub in their arms and they just run until they find the closest tribe. They’d be welcomed into the tribe and the cub is basically adopted by them.

Again half Oni isn’t a problem to them, but they do have a problem with any particular wizards experimenting on Oni breeding with any other humanoids. The know it’s not the parents’ fault neither is the cub’s. If neither parent want nothing to do with them, then the half Oni cub is taken off of their hands by another Oni who was grieving at a loss of a cub (or the realization they couldn’t have any) or a pairing who wouldn’t mind another. The cub won’t have a terrible environment, the parents won’t have to unwillingly interact with the child until they resolve their own issues or they wish to visit and see them grow.

Meanwhile, those wizards will never know peace again until the day they die, even other tribes, who they could be at war with, will catch wind of what happen and help in taking them out. By the time those wizards die, even the Pale Oni who have no ties with Omega or any other tribes won’t be forgiving to them. They won’t do anything too harmful to them, but they will lead them to the terrible part of the Cursed Realm and those wizards proceed to stay there until they fade out of existence entirely.

Enough angst there and let’s go back to fluff. I bet Oni would love dice. Like not even for games but for the click-clack sound. (“Lloyd. They’re metal dice. You cannot have—.” “Shiny sparkly metal bits make pretty sounds! :D” “Garmadon please tell your son not— Not you too!” “Wha~ It does sound pretty.”)

Y’all know how like adult lions play with their babies? They pretend to be hurt and that the cub is super strong to help build up their confidence. Hear me out, Oni do that too. Big goddamn Omega really be taking hits from tiny little cubs, Mistaké be playing with little Garmadon and playing dead on him, then Garm just does the same thing for little Lloyd. (“Koko, sweetie, help. It’s the battle of the century in here. Help, save me. He’s too powerful!” “*tiny war cry*”)

Someone makes a baby Oni cry one time and boy it’s absolutely over. It’s on sight for that person. I’m telling you On Sight!

Oni can purr loud enough to the point where it rumbles in them like a motor and that’s how cubs feel their parents’ purring. Then there’s baby Oni just babbling and the adult Oni just pretend to have a whole conversation with them. Don’t get me started on them playing soft flute music to help the toddler Oni sleep.

We probably only got a few words out of Omega when they first appeared because we were hearing them through human ears. Lloyd’s Oni brain would click on and translates what he knows while Garm in full Oni form can get full sentences out of Omega.

Oni are willing to learn a different language if it helps others understand them and their intentions. Now let’s just think of Lloyd connecting to his Oni side of the family (since let’s face it, the Oni are going to be around longer than most of his friends are) through teaching them sign language.

They also try to teach him their Oni tongue but he can only grasp a few words at a time easily. When he finally learns the language, next thing you know he’s going to be cursing and only Oni will understand. Some (aka Mistaké) want to scold him and others (*cough*Garmadon*cough*) find it hilarious.

Garmadon’s Oni-Dragon hybrid brain wants him to decorate his significant others and now I think of Oni just sharing the precious items they hoard with their mate. Wait till they figure out they can make jewelry and have their significant other wear it.

[damnlance]

Number 3 for the klnace prompts please 🥺

Klangst Prompt #3:

“Can you please just.. hold me..?”

Summary: Lance has been having a hard time accepting his altean marks. Luckily, Keith arrives and is there to help him.

-

It’s been two years. two whole years since the war ended and the paladins made it back home to earth. two whole years since their lions took off in the middle of the night and never came back. and two whole years since Allura..

Since Allura died sacrificed herself to save the universe.

It would be an understatement to say that everyone came back home fine, because that was not the case. Coming back home meant bringing along nightmares that kept you up all night, unwanted, out-of-the-blue flashbacks in the middle of the day, jumping out of your skin at any sound louder than a whisper, and much more. So, so much more.

For Lance, coming back home meant he could be with his family again, but leaving Allura behind was never part of the plan.

And Lance is reminded of her every single time he looks into the mirror.

It’s a blessing and a curse. A blessing because at least he has a little part of her that he can see and touch and feel. But a curse because the part of her that he can see and touch and feel.. isn’t her.

He’s gotten used to his Altean markings since Allura gave them to him but even after two years, it’s still hard. Sometimes he goes an entire day without noticing them, forgetting they’re even there on his cheeks. But one tiny hint of emotion and boom.

They’re glowing.

Most of the time it's just a dim glow, a grayish light blue that’s only visible from his peripheral view. But on certain occasions, when he’s really up in his head and he can’t come down, they’re bright. They’re bright and buzzing and loud and blinding right there on his face for the entire world to see.

It’s rare, though.

And in the few times that it's happened, Lance always has the same feeling deep down in the trenches of his gut, with the same question burning in the back of his mind.

“Why me?”

For the longest time after the war, he shut everyone out. He hated being the center of attention, hated having all eyes on him, everyone looking at him like he was some fragile vase and if you said one thing that might trigger him, he’d break into a thousand pieces. He especially hated when his friends and family stopped looking him in the eyes when they spoke to him, their eyes glued to his markings which had them apologizing right after when he caught them, pushing him to continue with whatever he was saying.

It was too much..

He stopped going out in public or where there were people, and eventually locked himself in his room at all times. But he knew that that was a bad thing to do. Because it was just him all alone. Him and his markings. And that always made the thoughts in his mind and the feelings in the gut of his stomach come back to the surface of his health and spin him completely out of control.

Lance felt like he was on autopilot. He tried everything to cover his markings; hats, sunglasses, makeup, even stickers from his niece and nephew’s sticker books. It still did nothing to hide the fact that they were actually there.

And when times got drastic, he tried to take them off of his face. Literally.

When his family began to notice his distant behavior, they didn’t question it or push him to talk. They could never know what he went through in space, or how deeply he cared for Allura. But one family member in particular was really worried.

Veronica. She could read him like the back of her hand and when the other members of his family were too scared to confront the former Paladin, not knowing how he would react, Veronica stepped up to the plate.

She tried her best to be subtle and at first it worked. Her checking on him by helping him around the farm instead of being at work on the Atlas, tending to his every need when he asked, even guilt tripping him to going out to the store only to conveniently run into Hunk or Pidge or Shiro. And Lance knew all her little games of course, he just.. didn’t care.

So Veronica decided to call a distant friend.

That distant friend being the one person who knows Lance almost as well as she does.

The one and only Keith Kogane.

She called him in confidence and they talked a couple of times here and there. About the universe, his job with The Blade, and importantly, about Lance and his well-being. And it’s not like Veronica didn’t try to contact any of Lance’s other friends like Hunk, Pidge, or Shiro. She did. And he found out when they took him out for bowling and laser tag and he overheard them talking about it.

Yeah, let’s just say his marks were really glowing that night he confronted her about meddling in his life again.

But Keith was different. He was special. Veronica knew how strongly Lance felt about him and after a couple of different attempts to get Lance out of his room, or to talk about what was going on, she had no choice but to bring in the big guns.

Aka Keith.

It wasn’t easy, begging asking Keith to fly back to earth and take some time away from working with The Blade to comfort his sad friend who he hasn’t seen or talked to in months. But who else could get inside of Lance’s head like Keith?

So they made a plan. Keith would arrive back on Earth in two weeks on the Saturday before the McClain family dinner they have every Sunday night. And to make sure things wouldn't be too weird or staged, Veronica would also invite Hunk, Shiro and Curtis, and Pidge and Matt as well. It would be great for everyone to be together again anyway.

Saturday Evening.

The day was winding down to something calm and peaceful. Lance decided to get up and spend his day tending to the farm. He cleaned out the barn, fed the chickens, gathered some eggs, milked Kaltenecker and even gave her a nice bath. His family was gone, out for the day running errands, and the quiet wasn’t too loud or suffocating for once. It was surprisingly nice. After the chores were finished, Lance plucked some fresh juniberry flowers for the vase in his room and headed back up the hill to his home.

What he was expecting to see is maybe his family’s truck parked over by the big oak tree just outside his house.

But what he got instead, was a cruiser.

A galra cruiser.

And leaning against said galra cruiser with his arms crossed and a warm smile on his face is the one and only Keith Kogane.

Lance stops breathing as he stares at his old friend. He can’t believe Keith is even here right now, standing 50 feet away. Is this some kind of trick of the sunset? Lance rubs his eyes. Nope. It’s real. A small smile graces Lance’s lips as he takes a deep breath and makes his way over.

As he gets closer, Keith pushes himself off of the cruiser to meet Lance halfway. “Hey there, sharpshooter,” are the first words out of his mouth, his deep voice sending a chill down Lance’s spine.

“K-Keith,” Lance sputters, confusion and excitement pouring through his voice. They’re bodies meet together in a big, warm hug that has the hairs on Lance’s arms standing on end. Keith hugs him like he hasn’t seen him in a long time. And he hasn't. It’s been six and a half months since they last saw each other, or even spoke. Things with The Blade have been so busy that Keith rarely gets a chance to stop by to say hello or even stay a few nights. Of course, communication works both ways and Lance has spoken to him. He’s written Keith a letter for every other day. Yep. They’re all underneath his pillow in his room, ready to be opened and read by Keith eyes. That’s besides the point, he just can’t believe that Keith is HERE!

Lance pulls away, confusion still plastered on his face. Keith pats his shoulder and smiles that genuine, beautiful, once in a full moon smile that has Lance’s heart hammering inside his chest.

“Surprised?” Keith asks, folding his arms over his chest.

Lance reaches out and punches the half galran in his left pec, sending him stumbling back a bit. “Hell yeah I am, dude! W-what are you doing here!?”

“What,” Keith’s smile doesn’t falter as he shrugs. “Can’t a guy come back to earth to see his friends once in a while?”

Lance scoffs. “Uh, once in a while would be like every other week, not six and a half months!”

Keith’s eyes widen. “Shit, has it been that long??”

“Yeah, man.” Lance nods, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, I would know.. been subconsciously counting down the days or.. w-whatever..” A light blush decorates his cheeks and ears as Keith continues to stare at him. Then, he smiles again and weakly punches Lance’s arm. Lance takes a good look at him; tall, muscular, visible stubble decorating his chin and upper lip, dark hair pulled back into a messy ponytail that reaches his shoulder blades. He looks.. good.

“Why don’t we catch up then?” Keith asks with a softness in his voice that has Lance’s already hammering heart going haywire.

“S-sure thing.” Lance can barely meet Keith’s violet eyes as they begin their ascend up the hill to Lance’s home.

They talk on the porch swing until the sun goes down and the bright stars in the sky come up. Keith tells Lance all about how he and The Blade are doing amazing at fulfilling their mission as a humanitarian relief organization and all the planets they’ve helped. Lance listens thoroughly as Keith goes on and on, something about the way Keith’s eyes shine as he talks about his adventures up in space with his mother and Kolivan. It’s almost enough to lull Lance to sleep but he wouldn’t dare miss a second of Keith’s stories. After a while, Lance offers Keith some sandwiches and a few beers, to which he happily accepts, and they eat together in a nice comfortable silence.

“So,” Keith says after a small sip of his beer, “Enough about me. What’s been going on with you?”

Lance picks at his half eaten sandwich and shrugs. “Nothing as amazing as what you’re doing, that’s for sure.”

“Ah, come on,” Keith nudges him gently, “Tell me all about what’s been going on around here? The juniberry’s are looking nice.” He gestures to the open field and Lance exhales a small chuckle.

“Thanks.. I mean, I’ve been.. a-alright..”

Keith studies his face with a slight frown but doesn’t move to say anything as he senses Lance isn’t finished.

“But..” Lance lets out a sigh and rubs the back of his neck. A cool night breeze runs through his hair and he shivers a bit before turning his body to Keith.

“Yeah?” Keith answers, mirroring Lance’s body language.

“It’s been..” Lance stares at his sandwich, “Hard. Still.. like everywhere I look, I expect her to be there but.. she isn’t.. and I feel so..”

Keith watches as Lance sits there, looking down at his hands. He clenches them into fists and then..

He laughs.

A shaky, breathy laugh that has Keith confused as to what is funny.

Lance sniffs and then looks up to meet Keith’s eyes, shaking his head.

“I’m good, man.” He says instead. But the wavering in his voice says otherwise. Keith bites his bottom lip and tries to think of a way to say what he wants without it coming out as something that could push Lance away. Then he remembers all of the stuff Veronica told him about Lance’s health and mental state. Keith does a once over to really look at Lance this time, under the dim porch light. He looks like how Veronica says he might be feeling. Sad. Tired. Lonely. Although he does look good, the chores and things needed to be done around the farm toning up his physique, Keith finally sees the wear and tear the after effects of war has put him through. And it’s not much different than how Keith looks. Or Shiro. Or Hunk or Pidge and even Matt and Coran.

Keith ponders this for a while and then lets out a small breath. “Lance?” He says, voice soft and full of compassion.

Lance looks up and meets him, his hard gaze searching for something in Keith’s irises. Keith smiles shyly and reaches out to grab a hold of Lance’s slender hands. Lance looks down at their hands, studying their similarities and their differences. Keith’s got giant hands that are paler in comparison, but just as callous as Lance’s. They bring him a weird sense of comfort and as he looks up to meet Keith’s eyes once more, tears fill his own.

Panic rises in Keith’s features and he holds Lance’s hands tighter. “Hey, hey,” he says, “W-What's wrong??”

“Nothing, nothing,” Lance shakes his head, exhaling another laugh. “It’s just..” He sniffs, trying his hardest to blink away his tears. “You.”

“Me??” Keith shakes his head. “What did I-”

“You being here,” Lance cuts him off, looking up to stare into Keith’s eyes. “I’m really happy.. happiest I’ve been in a while.. I know that things got super busy and we have our own lives now, but I’m sorry that we kinda.. fell off. I’ve missed you. I do.. miss you.”

Keith’s pulse jumps as his ears eat Lance’s words, syllable by syllable. Those watery blue eyes are boring into Keith so hard, Keith feels like he could sink into them and would be totally okay with it. So he reaches forward and cups Lance’s cheek, moving closer to his face. He presses his forehead to Lance’s and very quietly breathes-

“I’ve missed you too, Lance,” He smiles, “So much. I think of you everyday and the one thing that keeps me going is you.”

“What, little ole’ me?” Lance says in a horrible southern accent that has the both of them giggling. Keith nods and rubs his thumb over Lance’s Altean mark.

“All of you,” Keith whispers, leaning forward to place a small, chaste kiss to Lance’s mark. It has Lance blushing like crazy and his Altean markings glowing bright between them. His emotions get the better of him and he lets his tears fall down his cheeks as he nuzzles his forehead against Keith’s, swallowing a sob threatening to pour out of his throat.

“Can you please just.. hold me..?” Lance asks, watery eyes locked with Keith’s.

And Keith damn near melts. “Of course.” He answers as Lance moves closer to his opened arms. He lays his head on Keith’s shoulder, slotting it perfectly in the junction of where Keith’s shoulder and neck meet, and sighs blissfully.

“I’m so tired.” He whispers.

“Sleep, Lance,” Keith whispers back, kissing his head. “Sleep.”

Lance nods, closing his eyes. “Guess this means you’re staying for dinner tomorrow night?”

“Don’t forget breakfast and lunch, too,” Keith says, leaning over to place a chaste kiss on Lance's temple. “If you’ll have me.”

“I would love that.” And when Lance finally drifts off to a peaceful sleep, his eyes catch sight of the light that bounces off of his cheeks. It’ll take a while but for tonight, he doesn’t mind the bright, buzzing, tingling feeling of his Altean markings. Not anymore.

-END-

(send me a klangst prompt!)

[actress4him]

Whumptober 2020 - Day 28

This one has a little bit of similarity to yesterday's, but I like it much better. Also, it's been several days since I was really mean to you guys, so...check that "ambiguous ending" warning. I mean, it really leans more toward "bad ending" than anything else, but you are free to imagine a happy one if you'd like.

Read on AO3

Read on FFN

Day 28 - Accidents

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Warnings: similarities to car/plane crash, blood, broken bones, impalement, talk of death, self-sacrifice, ambiguous ending

The first thing that Keith noticed as his awareness trickled back in was that the artificial gravity inside Red’s cockpit wasn’t working. Or at least, that’s what he assumed, since one side of his body felt curiously heavy, like he was dangling in midair.

The second thing was the silence, broken only by a consistent drip, drip, drip.

The third thing was pain.

He couldn’t really pinpoint it to one particular spot, it just hurt, all over. He also couldn’t remember anything that had happened in between the battle that they had been fighting against a Galra fleet, and waking up. Something must have happened. Probably something bad, considering the amount of pain he was in.

Prying open his eyes - well, one of his eyes, anyway, the other seemed to be stuck shut - he found himself looking at a darkened windscreen. The whole cockpit was dark, in fact. Nothing lit up on the dash, no warm red overhead light, no alarms…

Alarms. Suddenly a memory stabbed through him, of alarms wailing and sensors flashing frantically, of himself pushing multiple buttons, hoping for some kind of miracle, while simultaneously pulling back on the controls as hard as he could and watching an unknown planet come spiraling toward him at full speed…

He gasped as the dark, still cockpit came back into focus, causing a wave of pain through his torso. Right. No idea still what had happened to make him and Red lose control, but they had definitely crashed. First things first, then, he needed to check on her and see if she was responding at all.

“Red.” His voice sounded awful. Some kind of liquid had pooled in the back of his throat, and he was forced to cough it out before he could continue. Fire spread through his body as it was jolted. “Red, you there? Can you hear me at all?”

Holding still and closing his eye, he waited for her familiar warmth to brush up against his mind, reassuring him that she would be alright after a little bit of rest. But it didn’t come. Instead, he thought he might have felt the tiniest little nudge, much more like a sickly kitten than a proud lion. Just enough to say, “I’m still here,” but also enough to tell him that she was in really bad shape.

Keith opened his eye again, lifting a stiff, sore arm to wipe at the sticky substance that was still keeping the other one glued shut. It burned when he tried to blink it open, and after hissing in a breath, he ended up just keeping it closed.

Now that he was a bit more awake, he could take in just how bad Red’s state really was. The whole front of the cockpit was crumpled. He didn’t even know it was possible for the Lions to take that kind of damage.

“Oh, Red,” he breathed. “I’m sorry, girl. I’m sorry.”

There was no response that time.

Gathering his courage, Keith started the process of assessing his own situation. First of all, he was still seated in the pilot’s chair, hanging sideways like he had surmised at the beginning, which meant that Red had landed on her side - probably after initially crashing headfirst, based on the way she was crushed. The position was far from comfortable, putting strain on his neck and back.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to remedy that, because the completely obliterated dashboard was sitting on his lap, pinning him in place. The simultaneous good news and bad news was that he couldn’t feel anything from that point down. 

The stuff he had scrubbed off his eye was blood. It was also what was making that dripping noise, as it rolled down from some unknown point on his head, across his eye, down to his temple, then dropped to the wall that was now the floor with a wet plop. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to attempt to see how big the puddle down there was. As for the wound itself, his best guess was that a piece of shrapnel had managed to fly up under his partial faceplate and leave a cut. With his whole head throbbing, it was hard to tell anything for sure.

His left arm was broken. Or at least, that was the diagnosis he was going with after he attempted to move it and ended up screaming. All he could really tell from looking at it was that it was not the shape it should be, and he decided right away that he was just going to keep it right where it was, dangling awkwardly off the side of the chair or not.

He didn’t want to look at his stomach. It had been gradually establishing itself as the most intense of all the pains, and he knew it was going to be bad way before he looked at it. But he had to. He needed to know what he was dealing with, if any of this was going to be survivable or not. Steeling himself, he looked down.

It was bad. Like, even worse than he thought it was going to be bad. There was a huge piece of metal, coated in his blood, sticking out of his stomach. For an eternally long moment, Keith just stared at it, trying to wrap his brain around it. 

Okay. Right. So, he’d been impaled. That was a lot of blood. A whole lot more than was coming out of his head, that was for sure. He was pretty sure that it was going all the way through his body and pinning him to the chair, like those butterfly specimens that one of his teachers used to keep on display. He was also pretty sure that it had missed his spine, though that could definitely change if he moved around any.

It had not, however, missed vital organs. There was no way it hadn’t cut through at least a couple. That bitter tasting liquid from before bubbled up in the back of his throat again, as if to confirm it, as if to say, “Yep, Keith, you’re definitely dying!” Coughing it out jiggled the metal inside of him and made him whine.

So, yeah. He was dying. That was a thing. Even if the other Paladins could find him and get to him, they probably wouldn’t be quick enough, not with the way he was losing blood.

It didn’t really surprise him. Death had followed Keith around for most of his life, hiding in the shadows, waiting for it to be his turn to go like so many others had. Besides, now he was in the middle of a ten thousand year old war. Death happened all around him, every day. He knew it would be his turn sooner or later. And the sooner part wasn’t surprising, either, given how reckless he knew he could be. 

Like you know, jumping out in front of a zaiforge cannon to keep it from hitting Lance. He was pretty sure now that that’s what had happened.

He also had always figured that he would die alone, and that’s pretty much how he was. Though...maybe there was a chance that he didn’t have to be.

“Red. If you’re...if you’re running any kind of systems right now...any repairs you’re trying to make, or anything...divert that power to comms. I know...I know you need help. I promise, you’ll get it. The team’ll find you, and Pidge and Hunk will be able to fix you right up. I promise. You...you’ll be okay. They’ll make sure you go on to fly another day. But...for now...I really, really need this. If you can.”

He still didn’t feel anything from her, but a moment later static began crackling in his ears. Keith gave a tired smile. “Good kitty.”

It took a few seconds for the static to clear up, but he could soon hear the familiar shouts of a battle. At first he just shut his eyes and listened, letting his teammates' voices wash over him. When there was a lull, he cleared his throat. “Guys? Can you hear me?”

“Keith?”

“Keith!”

“Keith, is that you?”

“Holy quiznak, you’re alive!”

“You idiota quiznaking estúpido -!”

He winced at the volume that pierced through his aching head, but was quick to jump back into the conversation. “Hey, yeah, I’m here. It’s me.”

“Oh, thank the Ancestors, Keith, we were so afraid of what had happened to you when we saw the Red Lion go down and you failed to respond!”

“Por qué? Why did you flippin’ jump out in front of me, idiota? What were you trying to prove, huh?”

“Nothing! I wasn’t...wasn’t trying to prove anything, I just...I saw the cannon, I saw you...I didn’t really think, I just...acted.”

“Yeah, that...seems to be a thing with you,” Pidge quipped. “Hunk, on your six!”

“Keith. What happened? Where are you?”

Leave it to Shiro to finally cut to the chase. “Red and I crashed. Not sure where. She’s gone dark, I can’t see anything outside.”

“Number Four, when you say the Red Lion has ‘gone dark’...what extent of damage are we talking about here?”

Keith grimaced. “It’s bad. I can barely feel her. The only reason my comm is working is because I asked her to divert whatever power she had left to it.” Yikes, he maybe shouldn’t have admitted that part. “Her front’s all busted up. No telling what kind of hits she took everywhere else.”

“So, you can’t like, get out and look at where you are?” Lance asked.

“Pidge, you’ve got two fighters coming your way. Keith, he’s right, if we could get a location on you we can come pick you up whenever we get the chance.”

“Uh, yeah. About that, it’s, uh…” To tell the truth, or not? Now was the time to decide. “I’m kinda...pinned. When I said Red’s front was busted up, I...the dash is...yeah.”

The silence only lasted a few ticks. “That sounds bad, that’s like, really bad, isn’t it? What does that mean, anyway, you’re pinned?”

“Hunk, less worrying, more shooting!”

“How bad is it, Keith? What are your other injuries?”

Because of course Shiro would automatically assume there are other injuries. Another chance to choose whether to tell the truth.. “Well, um...it’s not...great, um…” 

“Not great? What...what does that mean?” Hunk was still apparently doing just as much worrying as shooting, the poor guy. And Keith would have attempted to answer him, but he was a little busy trying to breathe through a sudden rush of pain through his middle that made all the noises sound more like high-pitched whines for a minute.

When his hearing returned to normal and he could kind of breathe again, he was being bombarded with frantic voices all trying to get him to respond. “I’m here,” he croaked. “Sorry. I was...just…”

“Pidge, there’s absolutely no way you can get a location?”

“Not while she’s powered down. If he could get her to divert power from the comms to her tracker for a minute -”

“No!” That came out far too forcefully, and it hurt like heck, but he couldn’t lose his connection to the team, he couldn’t. If he cut the comms he might never get them back, and...and he’d die alone, in silence. “No, it’s...you don’t need to do that. I’m okay. You’re already down one Lion, you can’t afford to lose any more for a rescue right now. Just focus on your battle.”

No one spoke for a minute, other than calling out the occasional warning or fight maneuver. Keith knew they were realizing that what he said was true, and he was glad. He was already starting to get lightheaded and have a hard time breathing. If they sent someone after him, it would be for nothing, and they might lose the fight, or worse, lose another paladin.

“Talk to me, Keith. You still haven’t told me what your other injuries are.”

Closing his eyes, he drew in a stuttering breath. “Yeah, well...don’t wanna make Hunk queasy while he’s fighting.”

“Keith…”

“It’ll be okay, Shiro. Don’t worry about me. I just…” Wanted some company. “..didn’t want…” To be lonely. “...to miss out when you beat these guys.” The last victory he’d be a part of, even if he had let them down for the majority of the battle.

“Well, then maybe you shouldn’t have jumped out in front of a zaiforge cannon! Which I have now destroyed, by the way, de nada.”

Keith grunted a laugh, wincing when it pulled at his stomach wound. “Well if I hadn’t, then it’d be you down here.” And he could handle the thought of himself dying a lot better than any of them. “So de nada, yourself.”

Lance was shooting something back, as usual, always ready with a retort, but Keith’s hearing was fading in and out with his vision. A wave of dizziness came over him, and he let out a quiet groan.

“-ith?”

“Still here.” Even he could tell that his voice was much weaker than before.

“Stay with us, buddy. Try not to fall asleep.”

“M’kay. Gonna try. Kinda...losin’ some blood here, so…”

Someone who he was pretty sure was Pidge swore loudly. “We need to find him.”

“Nope. Don’t...don’t need to find me. Need to fight. Stop worrying about me.”

“You’re gonna have to get over it, we’re going to worry about you!” Pidge practically shouted. “You call us and tell us you’ve crashed your Lion and are pinned in your seat and bleeding and you keep randomly switching from talking to moaning and you think we’re not gonna worry about you?”

Guilt threaded its way into his chest. He shouldn’t have called. He was distracting them, he could get them killed. Besides the fact that he was making this way harder on them than it needed to be, making them listen to him as he struggled through his last moments.

“‘m sorry. I shouldn’t have...I’ll just go. You guys need...to focus.”

“Keith, no!”

“No! No no no, don’t go, you’re good, okay? We’re focused. You don’t worry about us, okay? You just concentrate on staying awake, and we’ll concentrate on fighting, and we’ll talk at the same time. Okay?”

Keith’s eyes slipped shut with a combination of relief and exhaustion. “Yeah. Okay. Just...just don’t lose focus. Don’t want any of you...getting hurt.”

“We’re good. I promise.” There was a pause before Shiro continued. “Can you promise me the same? That you’re gonna be okay?”

He didn’t know what to say to that. He hated lying to Shiro. Besides, his head was spinning so much now from blood loss that any words he came up with almost immediately got lost again.

“Hey, Sh’ro?” he finally managed. 

“Yeah, bud?”

“R’member when...I stole your...car?”

It seemed like it was taking Shiro a really long time to respond, but that could have just been because he was drifting in and out of consciousness. “Yeah, bud. That’s kinda hard to forget. You sure knew how to make a first impression.”

A smile played at the corners of Keith’s lips. “But you...you were my friend. Anyway. E’en though...I did that. And I was...a jerk.”

“You weren’t a jerk. Well, okay, maybe a little. But I could tell it was all a front.”

“You were...were the only one who...ever tried. I don’t know if I...ever...said thank you.”

Shiro’s voice sounded strange when he spoke again. “You don’t have to, buddy. Being your friend is my pleasure.”

The other Paladins had fallen strangely silent, not even calling out maneuvers anymore. He hoped they were still listening. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say to them, but he knew it needed to be something.

“Thank...all ‘f you. For...bein’ friends. Good...good friends. Like fam’ly.”

“Keith.” Hunk’s voice had that unmistakable wobble to it that meant he was crying or about to. “You’re killing me here, bud. You’re our family, too.”

“No, shut up, don’t encourage him!” Pidge growled. “This is stupid! You sound like you’re saying goodbye and you need to shut up, because we are coming to get you, do you hear me?”

Leave it to Pidge to think she could threaten him into living. “You...you can’t.”

“Excuse you, what the heck do you mean we can’t?”

The end of Lance’s demand was drowned out by Keith falling into a coughing fit, worse than the last two combined. He could feel the metal ripping further into him. Eventually the fit dwindled into a long whimper, one that he didn’t really want the team to hear but couldn’t help.

“...Keith?”

“You’ll be too late,” he whispered, too tired to keep up the lie any longer. “I’m...bleeding out.”

“I’m going down there right now. I don’t care if I have to search the entire planet, I am not staying up here while he’s down there dy-” She cut off abruptly.

“I’m coming, too. Lance, Hunk, you’ve got this handled.”

“Yes, they’ll be fine, and will have backup from the Castle. Go find Keith.”

They were such good people. Better people than he had deserved to have in his life. He was pretty sure he was slipping away, and pretty sure that he wouldn’t wake back up. But he was doing it with a fond smile on his face. “Love you guys,” he breathed.

.

.

“Keith?”

.

.

“KEITH!”

——————————

Now with a continuation!

[izlaria]

Someone you like (part 5)

This is the fifth chapter of my “Someone you like” inspired fic. It’s also available on AO3 in case you prefer that platform.

This and the fourth chapter are also inspired by the “Distance” and “Talk to me” animatics by @suerakocy, so please check that out and give the artist some praise. They deserve it so much, because those pieces are beautiful.

Summary: It takes Lance years to come back to the Garrison but, when he does, his friends are there for him.

We finally get Lance pining hour!

Trigger warning: Talk of PTSD and mention of blood, but no description of violence. The story really just starts right in it.

24 and 22 years old

Lance woke up to a dark, quiet room and for a moment he couldn’t move. He could barely breathe. The air felt stuck in his throat, because as soon as he inhaled the sound of his haggard breathing would break the silence and alert whatever awaited in the shadows.

But there’s nothing there, Lance told himself.

He had dreamt of the war, again. In his nightmare, there was another explosion and Lance hadn’t been quick enough to shield whoever was with him in the room. The darkness that followed was oppressing, dense enough that he’d felt like it was water flooding his lungs.

And then the water had turned into blood.

He sat up in bed, trying to control his shaking. It had taken years and a lot of therapy, but Lance had managed not to fall into panic attacks every time such memories made their way into his dreams. Still, he was glad to have built his own house on the farm grounds. His parents deserved a good night’s rest, especially after what Lance had put them through during his time with Voltron.

He reached for his cellphone with unsteady fingers. After their last battle against the Galra, Lance had learned to leave it on during his sleep, just in case he woke up like this: with adrenaline running through his veins and the vague sensation that something was terribly wrong.

He hesitated over his contact list, before finally scrolling down and pressing call. It didn’t take long for the other person to answer.

“Is anyone hurt?” was Keith’s greeting.

“No.” Lance swallowed once, trying to erase the grit from his voice. “Nightmare.”

There was a second of silence and then the rustle of sheets. “Okay.” He heard Keith exhale harshly, but Lance knew it wasn’t in annoyance. The whole team had gone through this more times than they could count. “Okay.” Keith seemed a little calmer now. “Are you all right?”

“Not really,” Lance confessed. He leaned against the headboard and pulled his knees up. It was easier to concentrate on his breathing when he wasn’t lying down. “It was Sendak’s first attack, again.”

“You’ve been thinking about that one a lot lately.” Keith’s observation made Lance grind his teeth. It was true, but he didn’t need to say it.

“Could you call her?” Lance breathed out. His voice sounded pained and he winced, thankful that only Keith was privy to it.

“Lance, we can’t keep doing this.” His friend’s tone was weighted with his own share of hurt. “If you want to know how she is, then you need to call Pidge.”

“I do call Pidge. Just not…”

“Not when you are feeling vulnerable?” Keith sighed into the phone, sounding more tired than normal.

“You weren’t sleeping, were you?” Lance latched onto this realization. He felt stupid not to have recognized it earlier, with how quickly Keith had answered the call.

“Don’t change the subject.” The reply came harshly and it only served to confirm his suspicions.

“I’m not! We made a deal to call one another if the flashbacks started again.” He lit up the lamp on his nightstand and frowned at the pictures he kept on the opposing wall, as if it could make the real Keith feel his irritation. “Would you have talked to anyone if I hadn’t called?”

“My mom is here with me,” Keith admitted after a moment. “She and Kolivan have kept me company while Xitry is away.”

Lance let relief replace his anger. “Are both Xitry and Acxa on a mission?”

“Yeah… My leg still isn’t completely healed, so I couldn’t join them. Acxa will take another phoeb to come home, but Xitry should be back in a few days.” Keith paused and there was the sound of other muffled voices. “Mom says you should call Pidge.”

“You are a traitor and a hypocrite.” Lance scowled, despite how no one could see him.

Keith scoffed and Lance could feel the mockery in his expression even so many miles away. “I have called my partners every day they’ve been gone. Can you say the same?”

“Pidge is not my partner!” he protested, feeling heat rise up his neck.

“No, she’s just the first person you think about when waking up from a nightmare and then you call me, because if you called Hunk he would just spill it to her first chance he got.” Lance did not appreciate all the sarcasm Keith was giving him.

“I just want to be sure that she’s okay!” He frowned down at his knees, picking at a piece of lint that stuck to his pajama pants.

“Then ask her yourself!” Keith, too, was being too loud for the middle of the night. His vexation almost felt like a victory to Lance. “Pidge is smart, she can tell there’s something strange about my calls.”

“How are you a spy with this kind of acting skills?” Lance chastened.

“I’m no longer a spy, remember? I’m part of a humanitarian organization!” He heard Keith take a deep breath. “This would be much easier if you just told Pidge you’re in love with her.”

The words gave him pause. Lance didn’t yet know how to describe what he felt for Pidge. She was one of his best friends, the person who had stuck around the most after the team went their separate ways. Shiro had his own family to rebuild, and Keith and Hunk had a whole universe to help stabilize.

Pidge and Lance had found their own goals, but staying on Earth allowed them to check in on each other much more often.

“She doesn’t see me like that, Keith.” Lance hadn’t meant to sound so defeated, but it came out that way.

“Yeah, well, neither did Allura, but you wore her out.”

The reminder didn’t bring the same pain it would have a few years earlier.

Lance knew that he would always love Allura, but his feelings had settled into a more comfortable kind of affection. With the privilege of hindsight, Lance was able to see that their relationship didn’t have the same base as his friendship with the other paladins. Even if she had lived, Allura would have left to be queen, too invested in the rebuilding of Altean society.

And Lance would have stayed on Earth. That had never been in question. He had put his family through enough suffering while with Voltron.

He had seen the greatness in Allura when he was only eighteen, but that also meant he would have stepped aside if he thought their relationship was putting a strain in both of them. He didn’t regret the time they’d had together, but her continuous rejections had also taught Lance to value himself.

Keith’s voice snapped Lance out of his thoughts. “I didn’t mean to bring up Allura.”

“No, it’s fine.” Lance rubbed his eyes. “I just… I don’t want Pidge to think of Allura if I ever do ask her out.”

“I can’t promise you that.” He respected Keith’s honesty, even though it did nothing to calm his worries. “But she will never see you as a romantic prospect if you don’t make things clear to her. As far as Pidge knows, you’re still in mourning.”

Again, Keith was right. Lance had been ruminating this notion for quite some time. There were times when he still felt indebted to Allura, like he was the one responsible for maintaining her legacy, but the years had given him enough maturity to understand that was a burden Allura would wish on no one.

It was difficult to take the first steps towards a new future when he’d spent so long wallowing in the darkness of the war. In the middle of it all, Pidge had been a beacon of light, a safe port for him to rest his mind. It was no wonder that he had fallen for her.

“I’m thinking of going back to the Garrison.” He swallowed thickly, the fear of this confession rising up to knot at his throat.

The line went silent for a moment. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah.” Lance chuckled. “I’ve been working with Shiro and Doctor Holt, because the quintessence Allura left in me allows me to interact with Altean technology a little better than most. And since I’ve put my pilot license to good use in my travels, Shiro said the officers are ready to reinstate me.”

“That’s amazing, Lance!” It was weird to hear Keith sound so enthusiastic.

“I think that’s why the memories are coming back again, actually.” His next exhale came out shaky and forced. “I keep thinking of the Garrison and I just – I’m afraid that I’ll get there and it will be too much.”

“The place has changed a lot since the war,” Keith assured him. “Even if something happened, though, Shiro and Pidge are there to help you through. This could be really good for you.”

Lance snickered at his directness. Keith didn’t hide his opinions, didn’t coddle him like so much of his family. “So you think it’s a good idea?”

“I think it’s the best idea you’ve ever had.” His friend’s voice was blunt, without the dramatics that Lance himself would have added to such a statement. “Which is not saying much,” Keith teased.

“Hardy har har.” But Lance felt a smile pull at his mouth. “Does that mean you will call Pidge for me?”

There was a groan from the other side of the line. “Lance, no. I’m putting my foot down.”

“What? Why?” he complained and, with his movement, one of the pillows slipped to the ground. Lance glared at it.

“Because I’m sick of watching two of my closest friends dance circles around each other.” Keith sounded increasingly exasperated. “Talk. To. Her. Pidge is a tough girl, but she has grown a lot. She won’t be mad at you for calling.”

“I know that!” Lance grumbled.

“Then do it!” Before he could disagree, Keith had already hung up the phone.

Lance stared at the screen in discontentment. The display told him it was just before 4 am in Varadero, meaning that it wasn’t even 2 am in Arizona. His talk with Keith had distracted him from the nightmare, but now that Lance was alone with his thoughts images of it had begun to flash in his mind.

Against the dimly lit wall of his bedroom, he could almost see the silhouette of Pidge’s younger self, her body contorted by the force of a blast Lance hadn’t been quick enough to protect her from.

His need to know Pidge was safe overrode his anxiety over disturbing her sleep.

The phone rang more times than it had with Keith, which was a bit nerve-wrecking, but also a relief. Lance hoped she was having a better rest than he was.

“Lance?” The breathiness of her voice made him swallow. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he replied, at a loss of what else to say.

“Nightmares?” From her low volume, Lance could tell that Pidge must have been at her parents’ house. He felt bad for disturbing them.

“You’re okay, right?” His words were jumbled together. “I didn’t mean to wake you up, but– You are safe, aren’t you?”

“I’m safe, Lance.” He closed his eyes, feeling the last of his distress leave him with the sound of her voice. “I’m glad you called, actually.”

He tilted his head back until it hit the headboard. “Were you dreaming of me, Pidgey-Pidge?”

“No,” she cut him off brusquely, “but I imagine you were dreaming of me.”

“Why would you think so?” He grimaced at how strangled his voice sounded.

“Because I know you have had Keith calling me for the past couple months.” Her no-nonsense attitude made Lance feel like a deer-in-headlights.

“I can’t believe he ratted me out!” Once again, Lance directed his glare at a photo of Keith on the wall. “I have some choice words for that half-alien tattletale!”

“Keep your words, he didn’t say anything.” Pidge heaved a sigh. “I just know you two. As soon as he mentioned the explosion Sendak caused, I knew he was acting on your behalf.”

Lance winced, but didn’t protest. He should have realized that Pidge couldn’t be tricked. Not only was she a certified genius, but her loyalty to her friends often translated into being more observant than one might like. She and Hunk had that in common: the uncanny ability to get involved in other people’s business.

“Keith dreams of Shiro or his father. When I do appear in his nightmares, it’s usually about not being able to grab me when we were in Honerva’s mindscape,” she went on. “That dude still harbors a displaced sense of responsibility towards us.” Her tone shifted into accusing. “Which we should not be exploiting.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to do that.” Lance slipped on the sheets until he was lying down again.

“What’s going on, Lance?” Pidge sounded concerned. “Why didn’t you just call me?”

There were many reasons, but none that he felt comfortable sharing. It had been a year since Lance had realized how much of an effect Pidge had on him, how happy he was to hear her voice, how warm his chest felt when she visited the farm. It wasn’t even a new development. He had loved her for as long as he could remember, so he couldn’t really define when it had gone from platonic to romantic.

Maybe the roots of it had always been there, hidden by the flashiness of other infatuations.

A part of him had resisted the urge to call Pidge because, despite how she probably knew him like the charted universe, he had hoped she would see strength in his recovery. Lance still wanted to be perceived as the hero who survived the war with a smile on his face and his psyche intact, no matter how far from the truth that might be.

“Shouldn’t it be easier?” he asked, so low that he hoped Pidge couldn’t hear him. “Shouldn’t I be over it?”

“Lance…” Even the way she sighed his name sent a shiver down his spine. “No. It shouldn’t be easy. We’ve talked about this.”

He had heard this from a number of therapists, as well as every other member of the team, but it was difficult to go against the ideals he’d created in his head.

“But you’re doing good,” Lance argued and his gaze fixed on the ceiling, without really seeing it.

“So are you, most of the time.” When Pidge said it like that, full of confidence, he could almost believe it. “When I feel like the memories are hurting me, I reach out. I come to see my parents, I stop by Shiro’s office.” She paused to take a breath. “I call you.”

Lance turned on his side, sticking the phone between his ear and the pillow. He badly wanted her to be there. They had slept side by side once, though he couldn’t remember the details of it. Even then, what had stuck out the most was the softness of her presence and the calm she provided.

He closed his eyes and focused on Pidge’s voice. “I really miss you.”

“I’m right here, Lance.” Like this, he could pretend she was in bed with him. “I’m not going anywhere.”

--

“I can’t believe you put a firewall to keep me out of your virtual diary, Pidge. It’s rude that you would think so low of me.”

Lance stopped short. It wasn’t the content of the conversation that surprised him, but the fact that it was Hunk’s voice, coming from the laboratories. His best friend had been on a diplomatic mission of two months and was supposed to contact Lance when he stopped on Arus to refuel his ship.

“I was clearly right, because you wouldn’t know of it unless you had tried to hack in.” And this was Pidge, sounding more incensed than he’d heard in quite some time. “I learned my lesson during our Garrison days, Hunk!”

“Shouldn’t you be buttering me up? You called me for help on this aircraft, young lady.” Lance almost snorted at this. He could already imagine the indignation on Pidge’s face.

“If I had known you’d be like this, I would have found a way to neutralize drag simply to negate your role here!” she spit back. From behind the glass walls, Lance observed the redness of her complexion and how her freckles disappeared into the color.

He expected Hunk to back down, but the man crossed his arms stubbornly and looked down his nose at Pidge. “You’re only saying that because I’m right.”

Lance knocked against a metallic frame on the door, which had been open.

“Team Punk is back at it?” He raised his hands in mock despair. “I knew I should have stayed home.”

“Lance!” Hunk rushed over to him, engulfing Lance in a hug. Over his shoulder, he saw Pidge hang back, but the anger had melted away from her expression. “Sorry I didn’t call you earlier, man. This little menace caught me on the way back from Firilar and she wanted me at the Garrison ASAP.”

“Yeah, I regret it now,” she retorted with a glare.

Hunk let Lance go in order to direct another exasperated look at Pidge.

“Hey there, Pidgeon.” Lance scratched the back of his neck, unsure of what to do. She didn’t move from her spot on the workbench and he approached almost without thinking. “Long time no see.”

As soon as he was within reach, Pidge pulsed on the balls of her feet and threw her arms around his neck. Lance’s arms were around her with no hesitance, holding her up against his chest.

“Hello,” she muttered into his shoulder. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the Cabul complex with Shiro and Curtis?”

Even as she talked, Pidge didn’t give up her grip on him. It made laughter bubble up Lance’s throat. He’d been all around the world, assisting the Garrison centers in completing Earth’s first fully functioning planetary defense system, so it had been months since he’d last seen Pidge in person.

“I flew over once the installation was done. They needed me to activate the shields with quintessence, but then Arizona called.” She slowly slid down back to her feet, putting some space between them. “Something about needing their star pilot to test a new jet.”

He watched as first confusion, then realization dawned on Pidge’s face. To the side, he could see that Hunk was also grinning.

“Are you back? Don’t you lie to me, McClain!” She pushed at his shoulders, but there was excitement in her eyes.

“I’m back. I got the go-ahead earlier today.” He felt awkward under the combined stares of his two best friends. “I do remember telling you I wasn’t ready to retire. Guess my vacation ran a bit long.”

“Oh, man, we’re back together! The last time it was just the three of us in the Garrison we were still cadets.” Hunk jumped in, waving his arms widely. “I still couldn’t go on a simulator without getting motion-sickness! Lance still thought Pidge was a guy!”

“Yeah, I’m not making that mistake again.” Lance gave Pidge a cheeky once-over, making her flush.

She had let her hair grow out again. It was tied back in a long braid, but some strands had already escaped and framed her face in a reddish halo. She looked pretty like this, but Lance thought she was always pretty.

It had taken her some time to find middle ground between the androgyny of her adolescence and the femininity of Katie Holt. Lance hadn’t always been the most tactful during this period, but Pidge had known he meant well and that he was supportive of however she felt like expressing herself. It was nice to see her feel good in her own skin.

Pidge socked him on the arm. “We’ve talked about this, loverboy. No flirting with me unless you want a new bruise.”

“But, Pidgeon,” he put a hand over his heart, “this is how I show my love.”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Hunk put a hand on their shoulders. “We don’t want to start a fight right next to the billion-dollar prototype.”

“Fine,” Lance drew out his vowels, making a show of it. “Honestly, though, you two look good.”

He wasn’t just saying this. Coming back to the Garrison allowed him to juxtapose the images of who Pidge and Hunk had been with their current selves.

Hunk hadn’t grown much taller and he had maintained the same robustness from their first meeting, but the anxiety that had followed him as a teenager now gave way to self-assuredness. He didn’t curl into himself anymore when going past other groups of students, nor did he cower in the face of Garrison officers.

They were all still young and maybe a little broken up after Voltron, but it had also taught them a lot about themselves and their worth. It was nice to see.

And then there was Pidge. With her long hair, her high-tech glasses, her unconventional wardrobe. She was nothing like what younger Lance had thought he wanted in a girl, but that didn’t stop her from occupying all of his thoughts.

“You do too!” Hunk exclaimed, clearly a little embarrassed. “I haven’t seen you this excited in years.”

“Yeah.” Lance chuckled, unable to stop himself. “It feels good to be back. We’ll see how things go with the other MFE pilots, but I’m not too worried.” He wiggled his brows at Hunk. “I’m pretty sure I can charm the pants out of them.”

“And if that fails, you can always count on Shiro and I to intimidate people,” Pidge cut in, a teasing smile on her face, but there was a deeper current of truth to her words. They had his back and Lance was grateful for it.

“I’m pretty intimidating myself.” Lance smirked. “We just need Keith and then the gang will be completed: the Garrison bad boys, who stole a prisoner and disappeared into the night!” He made a motion in the air, like a ship cutting through the sky.

“I take it back, I don’t want to be associated with you.” Pidge’s dry comment earned a laugh from Hunk and a pout from Lance.

“Oh, come on, Pidge!” He draped an arm around the girl to pull her closer, but Pidge didn’t react as he’d hoped. She leveled him with unimpressed eyes, making no move to acknowledge their proximity. Lance found himself as the one feeling flustered and hurried to mask his discomfort. “You could at least say you’re happy to have me around.”

“Of course I’m happy, Lance,” she conceded with little fanfare. “That doesn’t mean I feel like contributing to enlarging your already massive ego.”

Pidge was looking at him over the top of her glasses. Uncovered from the greenish tint of the lenses, the honey brown of her eyes appeared strangely expressive. There was an emotion in them that he had seen a lot through the years, when they were on video calls at night, by themselves, but that he hadn’t had the opportunity to see in person yet.

Lance felt his own expression soften as he stared down at Pidge.

Before he could figure out what to say, Hunk, who had been preoccupied with a series of beeps from his communicator, had turned towards them and snapped his fingers. “We have so much to show you, now that you have the clearance!” His smile was even more contagious in person than through a screen. “I don’t know how much Veronica has told you–”

“Told me?” Lance interrupted with a laugh, trying to seem as innocent as possible. “As if my sister would spill transnational secrets.”

Hunk’s mouth twisted disbelievingly. Pidge, too, shook her head.

“I know how it is to have a family in the Garrison, Lance,” she admonished, slipping out of his hold. “Everything is confidential until something slips out in the middle of Sunday lunch.”

“Well…” Lance squinted at the LED lights on the ceiling. “If something did slip out, like the existence of a certain wormhole-jumping craft that is supposed to make teludavs obsolete, then you couldn’t really blame Ronnie.”

“Especially since the only one with a high enough rank to know about that is Shiro.” Pidge groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “A lifetime in the military and he’s still the most trusting person I’ve ever met.”

“It’s not like he’s broadcasting it to the rest of the coalition,” Hunk pointed out good-naturedly. “It’s just Lance.”

Pidge didn’t look appeased. “I’ve seen Lance reveal all our identities because he wanted to impress an alien groupie.”

Lance grimaced at the memory. It had been a little after the war, when the Garrison was still arranging diplomatic meetings with the liberated planets. As a result of his words, he and the other paladins had been mobbed and Coran had to create a diversion to get them back in their ships.

“That was a long time ago,” Lance whined. “Besides, the so-called groupie was a child and you know I can’t resist children!”

Pidge fixed her glasses, her expression a mixture of aggravation and amusement. “If you ever have kids, you’re gonna spoil them rotten.”

Lance had to bite back his immediate response. His mind had come up with an image of what his and Pidge’s children might look like – brown haired and brown skinned and too smart for their own good – and the idea warmed him to the core. He had almost said that his kids would be fine, because of their mother’s genius.

His thoughts must have shown somehow because Lance caught Hunk looking at him with a smile that promised no-good.

Lance cleared his throat. “What were you two fighting about, anyway?”

“Hunk has been trying to access my daily annotations,” Pidge explained, moving to one of the nearby computer monitors.

Over her head, he and Hunk continued to share looks and mouthed words. He couldn’t really tell what his friend was trying to say, but Hunk pointed at Pidge, then at the computer, making exaggerated facial expressions that would have been comedic in any other circumstance.

At their apparent silence, Pidge’s fingers paused over the keyboard and she whipped around to look at them in suspicion.

“She means her diary,” Hunk interjected quickly, only to receive the brunt of her glare. “How am I supposed to know what’s going on over here if you won’t let me read it? I spend half my time out in space!”

“Can’t you just believe the things I tell you? Like, I don’t know,” this Pidge grumbled with a sour look on her face, “a normal person?”

Hunk snorted. “You want to talk to me about being normal?” He glanced at Lance, as if to ask if he had actually heard her correctly. “Pidge, we had to build you a dorm in the Mecatronics Advancement building, because you kept falling asleep in the lab.” Hunk turned back to Lance and pointed a thumb at Pidge. “She would be passed out with the new Rover just constantly knocking against her back.”

“So what?” She crossed her arms and jutted out her chin in defiance. “I like what I do. At least I’m not a busybody!”

Lance could feel a new fight brewing. Or maybe it was fairer to say that it was an old fight, one that every paladin had already had with Pidge.

“Katie.” His use of her given name made Pidge’s attention snap to Lance. “We’ve talked about this. Your therapist has talked about this.” He put a hand on her shoulder, then slid it down until their fingers intertwined. “I know you like feeling useful, but we’re not at war anymore. You can rest.”

“Exactly.” Hunk sighed, thankfully not making a big deal of Lance’s touches. He reached out to ruffle her hair. “We worry, girl.”

Pidge let go of Lance to bat Hunk’s hand away from her braid. The smile she gave them was tight-lipped but fond. “Then just say that, you idiot.”

“Why should I?” Hunk shrugged, sending her a sly look. “You only seem to believe it when it comes from Lance.”

He was saved from Pidge’s cold fury by his communicator going off. It sounded more like an alert than the normal message, filling the lab with high-pitched beeps that could have awoken even Pidge in her days of all-nighters working on the lions.

“Shoot!” Hunk frowned at the device. “I have a meeting on the other side of the complex!” He looked around with wide eyes.

Pidge picked up a folder that rested on her workbench and thrust it into Hunk’s chest.

“I hope you’re late,” she said in a deadpan, making both Lance and Hunk laugh.

“I’ll see you in the taxiway later, right?” Hunk asked, already half-out of the door.

Lance gave his friend a thumbs-up. “And we can go into town after the demonstration!”

When he turned to face Pidge, she was back at the computer, shaking her head at the screen with a smile still on her lips. He leaned against the table and simply stared at her as she worked, knowing full-well that part of her attention was still on him.

“What?” she caved after a few seconds. Lance batted his lashes at her. “Ugh, stop! If you want me to go into town, then I have to finish this calculation.”

“Eight years since we were cadets here and you’re still a stick-in-the-mud.” He watched her roll her eyes. “Please, you gotta come! I don’t know any of the cool spots anymore and Hunk has been off-planet!”

“As if that could stop Hunk from knowing the good restaurants,” Pidge muttered under her breath, frowning at something on the computer. She clicked one final key, before fixing her gaze on Lance. “Also, it’s actually been twelve years since we were cadets. Time might not have gone by for us, but things here certainly did change.”

“Quiznack, don’t even remind me of that!” Lance ran a hand across his face. “Rachel has finally shut up about how we’re the same age now.”

“Did she?” Pidge raised a brow at him, leaning her hip against the workbench in much the same way as Lance had. “Cause she still called me hermanita the last time I visited the farm.”

“Yeah, you ain’t getting rid of that nickname.” He chuckled. “It’s better than mami and pop-pop calling you Palomita, though.”

Machines whirred around them, a distant sort of sound that barely registered in Lance’s mind. His thoughts were stuck in the contentment displayed across Pidge’s features, like talking about their adventures on the farm filled her with as much warmth as it did him.

And maybe it did. The paladins and their families had grown closer during the years following the end of Voltron. They had all needed support in ways that only those who had also gone through the same grief could understand. His mother had talked to Colleen and Krolia multiple times, looking for advice on how to handle his PTSD, and Lance himself had reached out to Matt when he didn’t feel like speaking to his siblings or to the team.

It was odd to look back and remember how lonely he would feel back in Castle of Lions, when there were so many people now who he loved and who had gone to the ends of the universe for him.

“What are you thinking about?” Pidge tilted her head to the side, her eyes glinting with curiosity behind those glasses.

“About the team,” he answered, because it was partially true. “About how long we’ve known each other.”

Pidge nodded, but her gaze had shifted to the ground. Hesitance furrowed the line of her brow.

“Does being here–” She paused, then seemed to gather her courage. “Does being here remind you of Allura?”

The question caught him a little off guard. It was inevitable to think of Allura when looking back at their time as a team, but Lance hadn’t expected Pidge to focus on that. Keith’s words from a few months ago echoed in his mind, that Pidge couldn’t know he had finished mourning for Allura if Lance never told her.

“A little, I guess, but it’s not bad.” He made a humming noise, considering what to say. “It feels strange to realize we’ve been without her for longer than we ever knew her.”

She pushed away from the table, just a little, so that they were facing each other. “Time doesn’t have to limit how significant a person is to us.”

“I know, but no matter how important Allura was to me, I know now that she wasn’t the love of my life.” Lance let Pidge catch his gaze, willing her to recognize that he wasn’t lying. “Because my life goes on.”

“Which is why you’re here?” There was doubt in her tone, as well as something that Lance wished he could call hopefulness.

“Which is why I’m here,” he repeated with more certainty.

[vs-redemption]

Crime is Common. Logic is Rare. (Ch.28)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Holidays (HawksxGN!Reader)

Plot summary: As a quirk geneticist, you never really imagined yourself getting involved in hero work. Of course, you never imagined catching the eye of a pro hero either. What starts as a great career opportunity turns into a relationship built upon mutual secrets and trust.

Warnings:

⚠️This story contains spoilers from the manga.

⚠️Some events and plot points have been altered from the original manga

Tag List: @gayforkeigo @marshmallow-witch @redflannel @toyo-shiro @elsasshole @astronomyturtle @iambashfulperson @omiwashere

Chapter Guide

You had hoped the holidays would provide another much needed break from the stress of your everyday schedule, but going home for Christmas only ended up being a solid two days of downtime for you to sit and worry about everything going on in your life. Whether the Hero Commission really needed your boyfriend around for the weekend or the villains were subtly punishing you for refusing Dabi’s offer, Hawk ended up being far too busy to return to your hometown with you like you’d originally planned. So, you hopped on a train and made the journey home by yourself.

Visiting with your family was something you normally really looked forward to, but this time you found yourself in the awkward situation of dodging questions about your boyfriend that you yourself didn’t know the answers to, and giving vague replies to their inquiries about what you had been up to in the lab with Dr. Garaki. Your entire life and somehow become confidential, and you wondered if being around the people you loved had really been the smartest choice, especially given the threats Dabi had made the day you met him. The more you thought about it, the more your imagination tortured you with worst case scenarios.

Even stopping by your old lab did not provide a break from the interrogations. Instead of finding work to keep your mind off the troubles waiting for you back in Tokyo, you just ended up on the receiving end of a ton of gossip relating directly to the problems you’d been trying to avoid.

“Looks like all the top hero schools are doing an extra round of internships this year,” your boss says conversationally as you try to sort and put away the newest shipment of research journals she’d ordered. “I suppose with all the fuss about the League of Villains, not to mention the nomus, they’re trying to toughen up the next generation of heroes. It makes sense, but I’m a little surprised since UA has even required their first year students to get provisional licenses. Seems a bit much to me.”

“Yeah, I guess, but UA is known for pushing the envelope with the standards held for its students, you know?” you reply with a shrug. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth either. Hero course students around the country weren’t just training themselves to face more dangerous villains. At the moment, they were being prepped for an outright battle that they had no idea was coming. The general public knew about the League and the nomus, but they had no clue about the Liberation army or the monster quirk guy that the commission was so worried about. Apparently, the current heroes weren’t expected to be enough to handle the magnitude of the threat, so the pressure of securing a victory would fall mostly on the students in the end. It was just another reason for your distaste with the Hero Commission to intensify.

“I noticed Hawks hasn’t been working with any interns this time around though,” Your boss had clearly been keeping a close eye on her favorite hero. Under normal circumstances you wouldn’t mind, but you really didn’t want her digging for information that would put her in danger if she got too close to the truth. “Even Endeavor has been patrolling with three students over the holidays.”

“Unfortunately, his plate has been a little full recently,” you hoped she would be satisfied with that answer. Although it was only natural, it made you feel anxious that she was asking so many questions. All the secrets were piling up and now that a plan for ending all this madness was falling into place, there was even more pressure for you to tread carefully with your actions and words. Even if you weren’t being monitored as carefully as Hawks, there was every possibility that the villains were keeping an eye on you too.

“Well, just as long as you two aren’t fighting or anything,” Your boss hums, eyeing you curiously. “I felt a bit concerned when he didn’t come here with you this time.”

“No, we’re both just busy,” you assure her. Fighting wasn’t the right word, but there had been a lot more intense discussions between you and your hero boyfriend recently. The thing with Dabi had, unfortunately, only been the tip of the iceberg. With the issue of giving up information about Hawks to the league basically resolved, now you were both having disagreements about where you’d be during the massive raid that would be taking place in just a couple of months.

Thanks to Hawks, the Commission knew exactly where the League of Villains and their army were hiding out. And thanks to you, they knew exactly where the high-end nomus were being created and kept. The plan was to attack both locations simultaneously before Shigaraki’s procedure could be completed in order to reduce the amount of damage and casualties in the attack. Even with the element of surprise though, it was sure to be a literal warzone. Hawks had been trying to convince you to take a day off from the lab once the date was set, but as usual you had to deny his request, fearing that you could somehow tip them off about the raid just by calling in. For the plan to work, the villains could absolutely not suspect anything.

Of course, it wasn’t like you wanted to be there when all hell broke loose. Actually, the more you thought about, it the more terrified you were. Any number of things could go wrong, and you had no way to defend yourself if you got caught up in the conflict. It scared you even more knowing that Hawks would not be there to protect you. He would most certainly be assigned to the Villain’s location so that he could play his role with them as long as possible. You would have to rely on the team assigned to the hospital to keep you safe. The only thought giving you any sort of comfort was that, as long as the Commission was able to finalize and prepare their plans in time, both Shigaraki and the nomus should remain in their dormant state until all the fighting was already over.

Thankfully, Hawks was an incredible boyfriend and had somehow managed to arrange to be at your apartment when you finally got home after the holiday was over. You honestly could have cried in relief when you opened the door to find him waiting for you with open arms.

“I missed you,” you sigh while tucking yourself into his chest and wrapping your arms around him tightly.

“I missed you too, love.” He smiles while leaning his cheek on the top of your head. “How’s your family? Do they think I’m the worst for not being there with you?”

“Not at all,” you smile and enjoy the warmth of his embrace for a moment longer. “They’re all fine, but my boss had a few things to say about it though.” Hawks lets out a dry laugh.

“Of course she did.” He didn’t seem to want to let go of you either. You weren’t looking forward to the novel he most likely had written for you to read and catch up on everything that had happened in the few days you’d been gone. When you finally step back and look up at his face, there’s a small smirk on his lips.

“What?” You narrow your eyes suspiciously.

“I may have set a little trap,” he glances up and you follow his eyes to see mistletoe hanging above the doorway. Some of the tension finally leaves you as a laugh escapes your mouth.

“Cheesy,” You shake your head at him. “You know I would’ve kissed you anyway.”

“Maybe, but this seemed like a fun idea anyway.” His smile chased away the last of your worries for a moment and you gladly kiss him back when he presses his lips to yours. The way his hands move to grip your sides and hold you closer hinted that he hadn’t enjoyed the time apart any more than you had. The fact that you only got to see each other for minutes at a time when you both were in town didn’t mean much since there was at least some comfort in knowing you were at least together in the same city.

“Mmm, you’re right.” You say breathlessly after he pulls away. “That was a fun idea.”

“But wait, there’s more!” He says in a bad impression of a TV commercial before chuckling at himself. “I also have a Christmas gift for you.”

“I may have gotten something for you too,” you admit. He takes your hand and leads you into the house so you can sit down. You’re surprised to see he’d put up a few decorations and even bought a small little Christmas tree to put by the window. “You know you didn’t have to do all this, bird-kun.”

He smiles almost shyly while taking a wrapped box from under the tree and handing it to you. “Sure,” he shrugs, “but this is our first holiday together and I felt bad I couldn’t spend more time with you. It only took me a few minutes to set it all up with my feathers anyway. I wish I’d had time to do more.”

“This is perfect,” you pull him down to sit next to you, leaning forward to give him another lingering kiss. “How about using those feathers to get the box on the top shelf of the closet?”

“You got it,” He nods as a couple red feathers shoot from his wings towards your bedroom, coming back just a few seconds later carrying the gift you’d hidden away for him. “This the one?”

“Yeah,” you confirm before looking down at the pretty wrapped box in your lap, wondering what was inside. You were so thankful that Hawks hadn’t bombarded you with too many questions about your trip home, or jumped straight to business with updates on the league. It was nice to come home to a normal life situation and have a few sweet moments as a regular couple celebrating Christmas together. Hopefully, after enduring the next few torturous months, you could have this kind of life full time with Hawks.

[grimmjowkurosakidrake]

Hermoso

Summary: For the @soulmatebingo “Phrase in native language” 

Keith gets the word “Hermoso" tattooed on his throat. Lance, instead, gets the word “Idiot” tattooed at the back of his neck.

Length: 2347 words

Relationships: Lance (Voltron)/Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) & Shiro (Voltron)

Warnings: Implied depression, implied low self esteem issues

Also, just a quick reminder that you can commission me at @witcheswritings

Keith is thirteen on his fourth day at the Garrison when the word «Hermoso» writes itself deeply into his throat.

He doesn’t know when it happens exactly, one day he’s mark-less and then suddenly he’s seeing the bold, cursive letters, written there, glaring back at him from the mirror in the boys’ bathroom when he’s done washing his hands.

There’s no way he can hide this, it’s the first thing that comes into his mind when he sees it. Small hands tracing the words with slow, hesitant touches. 

It’s almost like his soulmate wants everyone to see these words, to know that he’s... hermoso, whatever that means. 

Keith is not so eager for the world to see these words, however.

He would have to wear high collars or scarfs for the rest of his life if he ever thought about covering this mark. But even when there’s no need for him to try and conceal it, as the school doesn’t have any rules against soulmate tattoos, he still feels the need to hide it from the everyone around him.

There’s someone out there now, his soulmate, who’s noticed him or met him for the first time and those thoughts are now tattooed into his throat.

A deep blush travels from his face to his collarbones at the idea. His soulmate is somewhere around the Garrison, and these foreign words are their first thoughts about him.

“Hermoso.” He tries to say with great difficulty, not really sure in how to roll the r in between the word. It ends up sounding awkward and he wonders if his soulmate will teach him how to say it, someday.

Will his soulmate reach out to him? 

A part of him wants them to, another part it’s almost afraid.

☰☰

Shiro smiles when he sees the mark on his throat, the older boy engulfs him in a warm hug, honestly happy for him. “My Spanish may be a little rusty.” Admits Shiro, kissing the top of Keith’s head even against the boy’s loud protests. “But I’m almost sure it means beautiful.”

The Garrison’s junior officer looks directly into his eyes as he says this.

“That can’t be” Mumbles Keith, rising the high collar of his uniform up at his chin. Beautiful is what you call flowers, butterflies, and pretty girls. It’s how his father used to talk about Keith’s mom.

“I don’t think I’m wrong.” Shiro smiles indulgently, opening the zipper of his jacket until his tattoo is clearly visible. “I think your soulmate thinks you’re beautiful and that’s fine.” He states. “That is exactly how love is supposed to be.”

“Do you have a mark?” Asks Keith, his little hands wrapping around his throat almost on instinct.

“Yes.” Answers Shiro, lifting the sleeves of his jacket, there, on his wrist the words «Cute Smile» sit comfortable like they belong. 

He does have a cute smile, it’s bright and reassuring all the same. The smile of a true leader.

Keith smiles hesitantly. “It’s true.” He admits, Shiro’s smile makes him feel right at home, safe, like there’s nothing wrong in the world even when everything clearly is.

“Then maybe you can be beautiful.” Counters the officer, tapping the top of his nose. “Your soulmate surely thinks so.”

☰☰

Lance is thirteen when he enters the academy; He’s away from his family, he’s miles away from the sea and he’s afraid that he will never make friends with anyone.

But he can feel the space at the tips of his fingers now, his dreams are closer to him now and even if he’s not the space hero protagonist he imagined he’d become as soon as he entered the academy, he knows this is a step closer to his future as pilot.

Four days into the academy, they do weapon training.

It’s a safe begginer’s practice for the most part; they start with blunt weapons as their instructor coldly tells them that there’s no way they can hurt themselves with them, that these weapons are harmless.

Lance can’t help but think that he’s lying, after all, weapons are weapons, specially under the wrong hands. 

But he stays silent.

The people at the Garrison obviously want them to get started on safe battle grounds because more than anything, they will be soldiers.

It should be easy, they give them blunt weapons of choice, ranging from brass knuckles to even one big maze that only someone like Hunk should handle at their age.

“You’ll face robots and drones alike; they wont hurt you but they will charge at you, robots are one pointers, drones...” Explains one of his teachers, pointing at the top of the high ceiling where four drones are flying high about them. “Are two pointers. Try and take them on.” He taunts them.

It’s a lot of fun, for the most part. He’s not good with any of the weapons, not even the Bō -Staff, truth is, no one is. But all of them have fun trying, building camaraderie in their failure.

Because they all fail, until Keith.

The boys destroys three big robots with the Bō -Staff just three minutes after his time starts; using its weight and material to his advantage, he’s not superhuman by any means but he’s smart.

Then, he takes the Sai swords.

Without breaking a sweat, the boy runs towards the destroyed robots to propel himself to the high ceiling of the gymnasium at the Garrison, the swords twirling between his fingers before hitting the first drone, then, he uses the momentum to fall into the second drone and hit it too, it’s ridiculous. 

The difference in between Keith and the rest of them is enormous.

Around him, all of their classmates are glaring at Keith. There’s nothing wrong if they all fail, that means they need more training.

But if one of them passes in the way Keith is passing, then it means the rest of the class is behind. They’re jealous, bitter.

But Lance can’t help but think:

Él es hermoso, la forma en que se mueve, ágil y mortal. Como una pantera acechando a su presa.

It’s the first time he thinks of the boy. But it surely won’t be the last.

Keith is larger than life, a beautiful monster, oblivious to the world around him; even Lance. 

With time, everything he does, is with Keith on his thoughts. Maybe if he gets stronger, he will be at Keith’s level, maybe they will become partners, fighting and flying shoulder to shoulder.

Reaching the stars side by side.

Keith never notices him, or so he thinks, but a week into the Garrison, Lace gets his mark. The word «Idiot» tattooed into the back of his neck, forever.

But he doesn’t notice it until Hunk points it out when they’re changing clothes after gym hours.

“Lance!” He screams exited. “You got your mark!” Probably not even thinking about what  those words say.

Hunk has always been a romantic, in love with love, never thinking about how cruel it can be.

“Really?” Asks Lance just as exited. “What does it say?”

“Oh…” Whispers Hunk, his voice audibly less chipper.

“What?” Insists Lance. “C’mon, Hunk. Don’t put me on edge, big boy.”

“Idiot.” He finally says. “It says idiot.”

“Oh…” Mimics Lance, his voice disappointed but not actually surprised.

A few days later, just at the start of summer, he sees Keith’s mark for the first time.

☰☰

When he tells his family they try to lighten the mood. “Oh, honey.” Laughs his mom through the screen when he video-chats them about it. “Pobrecita tiene que haberte visto hacer alguna tontería.”

Lance chuckles “Pobrecito, mamá.” He corrects her, “my soulmate is a boy, you know.”

At his words, his mom brightens. “Oh!” She exclaims, “You know who he is!”

“Yes.” Responds Lance with a grimace marring his face. “He’s beautiful.”

His mother is happy for him; in fact, his whole family is. But Lance can’t help but feel resentful. This is what Keith thinks of him, his first impression of Lance and he thinks he’s an idiot.

They’ve never exchanged words, never even fought. How stupid can he be if that’s the first thought a complete estranger has of him?

He doesn’t tell Keith that they’re soulmates, he won’t force the bright, beautiful future prodigy of the Garrison to stuck with a stupid cargo pilot.

Then Keith drops out of the Garrison and he doesn’t have to pretend. Without Keith there, Lance doesn’t have to pretend that he’s not in love.

☰☰

When they meet again he notices that Keith no longer hides his mark, now, instead of the high collars and tight shirts at his neck, he wears a black shirt with a deep v neck, showing off both his throat and his collarbones.

“It means beautiful.” He supplies one day, boldly tracing the words on his soulmate’s throat. They’re sitting on Lance’s bed in his room at the castle.

 Besides Shiro, Keith has only been comfortable with Lance touching him, after so many physical fights and training together maybe he no longer minds having the cuban boy near him.

Without thinking, Lace’s hand reaches out to the back of his own neck. “I thought you were beautiful, back then.” He confesses. “Beautiful and deadly, like a panther.” Clarifies the brunette, chuckling “I guess I wasn’t wrong, mister red lion.”

“What does your mark says?” Asks the red paladin, hesitant. He knows that Lance has a mark, he probably already knows the obvious, rhat Lace and him are soulmates.

“You don’t remember?” He asks, his voice small, insecure.

Keith puts his legs over Lance’s own, resting his head on his shoulder. “My dad died a year before I entered the Garrison.” He articulates as if it explained anything. “Two months later I met Shiro and he encouraged me to apply.” His is voice small, barely a whisper. “He gave me a reason to keep on going. Suddenly I had a meaning, I was good at flying and at fighting, a natural soldier, but...” He pauses. “I wasn’t happy.”

“Keith…” Tries Lance, not really knowing what to say. 

Keith is not really explaining anything but his words are having an impact on Lance anyway. No matter the words tattooed on their skin, even if they weren’t soulmates, Lance knows that he loves the other boy and he would never want him to be unhappy.

Keith interrupts him before he can even voice his thoughts. “I don’t remember when, but you got yourself caught in a rope one day. You were on the ground, just a mess of limbs and rope and I laughed.” He smiles. “I laughed so hard that I cried a little.”

“Glad to be of service.” Mutters Lance, tangling long fingers on Keith’s unruly hair.

“I thought you were an idiot, such an idiot.” Keith whispers, moving into his lap, trying to get as close to Lance as possible. “And I laughed for the first since my father died.” He pauses for a moment, looking up to Lance, trying to gauge his reaction to his words. Lance smiles down at his soulmate. “It was the first thing I thought about you but it wasn’t the last.” He rushes. “I swear.”

“Yeah?” Asks Lance with a goofy grin painted on his face as he carefully removes a rebellious lock of dark hair from Keith’s face.

“You were always around people, always happy.” Smiles Keith. “I wish your mark was different.” He confesses. “You’re funny, you’re brave, you’re tenacious.” Keith pauses for a moment, just to take Lance’s hand with his own. “You make me happy.”

“I’m suddenly fine with my mark if this s what you make of it.” Jokes Lance, even when he knows that he’s lying.

The reality it’s that he’s never going to forget the disappointment and the resentment. He has spent at least four years of his time at the Garrison thinking that his soulmate thought him nothing but an idiot and for some time, he tried to convince himself that Keith was right.

“I hope that’s not true.” Argues Keith. “I’m sorry about your mark.” He apologies. “Especially when my mark is…” He chokes, holding his throat like a lifeline. “Especially when mine is the best thing that could even happen to me.”

“It’s not fine.” Lance confesses. “I really wish it was fine, that I could feel proud of my mark like you do.”

“I’m sorry.” Apologies Keith once again, his face contorting in anguish.

“But it doesn’t mean that what I felt about you has changed. It doesn’t mean that you’re not my soulmate or that I wish you weren’t my soulmate.” He continues, holding onto Keith’s hips and drawing the other boy closer to him.

In this position they’re almost the same height, chest to chest with Keith being a head taller than him for the first time ever. Lance doesn’t mind. No with Keith’s legs straddling him like this.

“I want to make it up to you.” Whispers the red paladin over his lips like a promise.

“You don’t have to.” Answers Lance, his mouth barely touching Keith’s.

Keith doesn’t answer, instead, he closes the gap in between, his lips closing around Lance’s own lower lip with a conteted sigh.

Both boys moan together as they kiss, they’ve been waiting for this moment, building up the tension and the attraction until neither of them could take it anymore.

With a sigh, Keith wraps his arms around Lance’s neck, his fingertips caressing the words hidden at the back of his neck. “You really make me happy.” He murmurs, kissing his soulmate again, the tip of his tongue seeking entrance shyly.

Lance smirks and opens his mouth, his own tongue meeting Keith’s before closing his lips over Keith’s lips. His hands sneaking under the shorter boy’s shirt, feeling the warm skin there.

“You make me happy, too, beautiful.” He whispers, settling a warm, kiss under his soulmate’s jawbone. “Realmente me haces feliz, hermoso.”

Keith sighs, his whole body falling into Lance’s arms, content there.

Safe.

[justheretobreakthings]

Keith’s Scaly Secret

Written for @gentronlegendaryfriendships

Day Two: Wings AU | Adopting a Pet Together

Word Count: 2,933 Characters: Keith & Shiro Read on AO3 My house, my rules, my ko-fi

Story Summary:

Due to an upcoming dorm inspection at the Galaxy Garrison, Shiro learns that Keith has been hiding some unexpected contraband.

There was a lot about his time as a young cadet at the Galaxy Garrison that Shiro often found himself nostalgic for, but dorm life wasn’t one of them. There were times nowadays when he spent the afternoon studying with Keith and the library was too crowded, so it was usually easier to just hang out in his dorm than go all the way to Shiro’s apartment, but those times were also good reminders of Shiro’s distaste for the academy’s dorms. They were dim and cramped, the mattress on the bed was thin and the desk chairs were stiff and had terrible back support. And, although of course Shiro would never mention it out loud to him, over the last few weeks Keith’s dorm had started to take on a faint smell that Shiro couldn’t quite identify, but that didn’t seem to be from dirty laundry or old food the way most other smelly dorms were.

All in all, not Shiro’s preferred place to spend a Saturday afternoon, but with the amount of stress that upcoming linear algebra test was giving Keith, it was something he was more than willing to endure for the sake of helping his protégé get some studying done. It still was a bit of a relief, though, when they finally finished covering all the practice problems they could get and deemed the study session complete, and Keith announced that he was ready for dinner.

“Sounds good to me,” Shiro said, moving to stand from where he had been seated cross-legged on Keith’s bed and then stretching out his back. “You wanna go to the cafeteria, or would you be up for going out to eat tonight?”

“Either,” Keith said with a shrug. He shook out his hand, no doubt cramped from all the writing he’d been doing in the past couple of hours, and stood too as he closed his books. “I could go out.”

“Great,” Shiro said. He glanced at his watch before continuing, “We should probably be heading out soon anyway. Less awkward to not be in the dorm when they do the inspection, so it's definitely a good night to go out to eat. You know what, I’ve been craving onion rings, wanna go to that place across from - ” He paused as he noticed that Keith had frozen in place, eyes going wide. “Keith? What’s up?”

“What - what do you mean, the inspection?” Keith stammered.

Shiro frowned, taking a moment to realize what he meant, then he sucked in a breath through his teeth and stopped just short of slapping himself in the forehead. “Crap. Forgot we’re not supposed to say anything to you ahead of time. It’s nothing to worry about, they just go through and check each dorm to make sure there’s nothing dangerous, no contraband, and nothing’s been broken. They’re not going to get onto little things like laundry or bed not being made, so you’ll be fine.”

Keith, however, did not look reassured. “They can’t do that! That’s an invasion of privacy! It’s - they can’t - why didn’t they warn us?!”

Shiro’s frown deepened. “They said in the registration paperwork that living in the academy includes dorm checks. And it’s in the student handbook.”

Keith bit at his lip, eyes darting around the room as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I, um, I don’t - I don’t think I can go out to eat tonight.”

“Keith…” Shiro said slowly. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

At the best of times, Keith was an awful liar, and this time his ‘nothing’ answer was even less believable than usual. Immediately Shiro’s thoughts started casting about, trying to take a guess as to what Keith could possibly be hiding. He had that knife of his, but he’d entrusted Shiro to keep it in his apartment for him. Had he stolen it back? It wasn’t as if Keith hadn’t stolen before. After all, the very day they had met…

Shiro quickly shook that thought out of his head. Keith had grown a lot in the time Shiro had known him, he hadn’t lashed out that way in ages, and it wasn’t fair for Shiro to assume Keith had reverted to old habits like that. Still, he needed an answer. “Keith,” he said, trying his best to make his voice stern without sounding angry or threatening. “I’m not going to judge you for whatever you’ve got here. I promise. But you have to abide by the academy rules while you’re here the Garrison, and the staff is going to enforce those rules. I can’t do anything about that, but I can help you with whatever you need right now. Okay? So what’s going on, Keith?”

For several seconds more Keith chewed silently at his lip. Then, after a deep breath, he walked to his bed and lifted up the blanket that hung over the side of the mattress and down to the floor.

Shiro’s eyes widened.

The area under the bed was hollow, meant for students to use as storage space. Most cadets would fill the space with folded stacks of clothes, crates of books, extra bedding, and the like. When Shiro had helped Keith move into his dorm, he’d had very few personal possessions to speak of. Shiro was pretty sure that space beneath the bed had been left empty.

It wasn’t empty anymore.

Instead, a large, clear, rectangular tank stood below the bed, a little landscape inside, dirt and rocks and shrubs and water. A lamp, currently turned off, stood aimed into the tank past the chickenwire mesh that covered the top, its cord plugged into the outlet in the wall near the pillow.

And dozing on a rock in the middle of the tank... was a lizard. No more than half a foot long, speckled with scales in shades of brown up to the tail, where the brown stopped and turned to black and white stripes. The lizard turned to face Shiro when the blanket was lifted, fixing him with tiny beady eyes and darting out its tongue.

It took Shiro a while to find his voice. “Keith,” he finally said. “Why do you have a lizard?”

“I’m sorry!” Keith cried, and when Shiro looked back up at him, he was surprised to see the agitation on his face, and the tremor in his hands as he wrung them together. “I found her in the student garage and I took her outside and set her loose but then when I went back there again later she was back and I didn’t want to just leave her there because she might have gotten run over or one of the other students might have found her and hurt her so I took her back to my dorm and she seemed to like it here so - ”

“Hey, hey,” Shiro said, lifting his hands and making a calming gesture toward Keith. “You need to breathe, okay? I’m not mad at you, I’m not. I just - I’m - I’m a little shocked. I didn’t expect that.”

“Please don’t turn me in,” Keith said. He moved his hands to start wringing them in the fabric of his shirt. “I was just trying to help her, I wasn’t doing anything bad, I swear.”

“Her?” Shiro repeated.

Keith nodded. “Um, the, uh - for zebra-tailed lizards, the males have these black markings on the side and blue ones on their stomach. The females don’t.”

“Ah,” Shiro said. “You really did your homework for this thing, didn’t you?”

Keith nodded again, and Shiro got down on his knees to get a closer look at the tank. The lizard stuck her tongue out at him again as his face neared her, and she darted off the rock to hide among some grass instead. “Where did you get all this?”

“Just brought the dirt and plants and stuff in from outside. And I’ve been catching bugs for food.”

“What about the tank and the lamp?”

Keith didn’t answer, and Shiro squinted closely at the lamp. “Hang on, are these from the student bio lab?”

“They weren’t using them!” Keith snapped. “The tank was empty when I found it and the lamp wasn’t even working right, I had to fix it myself! It’s not like anyone even noticed the stuff was gone!”

“Did you get permission to take the tank and the lamp, Keith?”

“I - ” He hesitated, and Shiro turned back toward him to see his arms crossed again, eyes fixed firmly on the floor. “If I’d asked someone, they would have said no.”

“Well…” Shiro sighed. “Well, yeah, they definitely would have. You know you’re not allowed to keep a pet in your dorm.”

“But I - ” Keith’s chin trembled. “I was doing good, I swear. I did all the research and I’ve been feeding her well and - and I wasn’t gonna do anything to her. I wasn’t gonna hurt her or use her for a prank or anything, I swear. I promise, I was being good. I was being responsible. I promise. I just - I just wanted to help her.”

Shiro frowned as he straightened up, putting a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Keith? Hey, look at me.” It took a moment, but Keith complied, turning dewy eyes up toward Shiro. “This has nothing to do with that. Okay? I don’t think that you were going to hurt her, and I’m sure you’re a very responsible pet owner. I know you meant well, Keith, I know you did. But there are other reasons it’s not allowed. The lizard could escape the tank and get lost in the Garrison, or make a mess. Or that lamp could have overheated when you had it on and burned your bed. And you’re supposed to be focusing on your classes and your flying, not on taking care of an animal. There’s also the small matter of you taking things out of the lab without permission…”

Keith chewed at his lip silently for a long moment before he spoke. “Am I gonna get kicked out?” he asked, voice cracking on the words.

Shiro shushed him lightly, squeezing his shoulder. “Don’t worry about that. Tell you what, I can get this taken care of, okay? We can save going out to eat for tomorrow, and tonight I’ll sort out the whole, uh, lizard situation. It’s gonna be fine. But we have to get the lizard out of your dorm, and we have to get the tank and the lamp back to the lab where it belongs. You understand that, right?”

“Yeah,” Keith said quietly. “I guess.”

“Okay.” He gave Keith’s shoulder one more pat before moving to slide the tank out from under the bed. He unplugged the lamp and laid it on top, then hauled the tank into his arms and got to his feet with a grunt. “You got any extra blanket or anything in here? Something we can cover this up with?”

Keith went to his closet, pulled out an oversized towel, and helped drape it over the tank, blocking its contents from view. “Thanks,” Keith said. “I’m, um - I’m sorry. About all of this.”

“I know, it’s okay,” Shiro said, giving him a soft smile. “I’m not mad, Keith. You’re not in trouble. But no more stealing from the labs, okay? And no more secret pets. Can you promise me that?”

“Yeah,” Keith mumbled. “Promise.”

“Good. Take it easy, Keith. I’ll see you tomorrow for that dinner, okay?”

Keith nodded, and Shiro gave him one last smile before opening the door and stepping into the hall and out of sight.

True to his word, Shiro was right on time the following day to pick Keith up for their promised meal. Keith was quiet as he climbed into the passenger seat of Shiro’s car, forlorn as he stared out the window at the buildings they passed.

“Everything go okay for you last night?” Shiro asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Mm-hm,” Keith said.

“You pass your dorm inspection?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s good. You know, I still need to give that towel of yours back to you, don’t I?” Keith replied with a non-committal grunt. “Tell you what, we can swing by my apartment before we eat and I can grab it for you.”

Keith raised a brow at him. “Or you could wait until next time you’re at the dorms.”

“Eh, I’d rather do it now. Don’t want to risk forgetting it. It’s fine, it’s on the way, it’ll only take a couple of minutes.”

“... Okay,” Keith said. He frowned at Shiro for a moment longer, but when Shiro didn’t say anything else or take his eyes off the road, he slowly turned back to gazing out the window.

A few minutes later they were parked in the lot outside of Shiro’s building, and Shiro turned the car off, unbuckled, and stepped out. He didn’t close the door behind him, though, and instead peeked back into the car. “You coming?” he asked.

“You’re just getting the towel, right?” said Keith. “Why do I need to come up?”

“Well, don’t want you overheating in the car. Come on. For my peace of mind.”

Keith sighed, but he unbuckled and climbed out of the car too with no further argument, and Shiro smiled as he led them up the stairs to the apartment he and Adam shared. He unlocked the door and pulled it open, stepping in first and then standing aside so Keith could see. Halfway past the threshold, Keith froze.

“Shiro?” he said. “Is that…?”

“Yep,” Shiro said, his grin broadening as Keith stepped slowly into the apartment. The faded loveseat that used to be up against the far wall had been moved further out into the den, and in its place stood a solid black table topped by a glass terrarium, fifty gallons at least if not bigger. It had the works: a substrate heater along the bottom frame, UVB lamp at the top, ventilated windows, a full biome inside bursting with cacti and succulents and various colors of dirt and rock surrounding a crystal-clear oasis in the center.

And resting atop a decorative cow skull, poking her head up from between the fronds of a ponytail palm that was giving her shade, was a very familiar zebra-tailed lizard.

“How did you - why did you - ?” Keith stammered.

“Well, see, Adam and I have been thinking about getting a pet for a while,” Shiro said, strolling toward the terrarium as Keith trailed behind in awe. “Initially, I actually had wanted to adopt a cat, but Adam’s allergic. And he grew up with mynah birds so we thought maybe we could get one of those, but it turns out this building doesn’t allow birds since they tend to cause noise problems. A lizard, though - they don’t make any noise, they don’t have any fur to set off allergies. It just made sense.”

“When did you get all this stuff?”

“Bought it last night, finished setting it all up this morning. Then I moved the lizard into the new tank, cleaned out the one you’d been using, and dropped that off back at the bio lab before I picked you up. She likes it, I think. She seemed to be really getting into exploring.”

Keith peered down into the terrarium with wide eyes. “So - so she’s officially yours now? Yours and Adam’s?”

“And yours,” Shiro said. When Keith turned curious eyes on him, he shrugged. “Well, you were the one who started taking care of her first, right? So I’m definitely going to need your help with her, especially when I’m not around. Besides, I think she missed you.”

“Can I?” Keith asked, gesturing to the latch on the screen top.

“Go ahead,” Shiro said.

Keith opened up the latch and set his hand down into the dirt next to the cow skull decoration. The lizard took a moment to gaze at it before scampering onto his palm, and Keith grinned as he pulled his arm out and she began skittering along his arm.

“By the way,” Shiro added as he watched, “Now that we’re official pet owners, you should really come up with a name for her. Got any suggestions?”

“Lizard,” Keith answered without hesitation.

“Are… are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Keith looked away from the lizard long enough to give Shiro an exasperated glance, as if this was something obvious that Shiro had no business being confused by. “Because she’s a lizard.”

“I, uh, I guess I can’t argue with that. Okay, Lizard it is.”

For a few moments more he contented himself simply watching as Keith let Lizard clamber around him, crawling up and down his arm and at one point slipping into his shirt collar and then reemerging in the cuff of his sleeve. Finally, though, his stomach gave a little rumble of impatience, and Shiro tapped Keith’s shoulder for his attention. “We’ve still got that dinner ahead of us,” he said. “You cool with taking a break for now, coming back later?”

“All right,” Keith said. He guided Lizard back into his hand and placed her back in the terrarium, letting his hand hover inside the tank for a few seconds as though reluctant to part with her before latching it shut again and turning around.

Shiro grinned and thumped him on the back. “No worries, kiddo. She’ll be right here waiting for us when we get back.”

“I know,” Keith said with a nod. He paused a moment, then with a hastily muttered, “Thanks,” he gave Shiro a quick one-armed hug before darting out to lead the way back down to the car. Shiro followed him with a smile.

[hunterguyveriv]

Hidden Beauty

Here is my submission for Days 1(First Sunrise/Set) & 2(Late Night Adventure) of Kacxa Week I had this plan to do quick ficlets for these 2 days but no matter what I did they merged into one and Kind of ties in with “The Promise.”

This post would have been up sooner, but I kind of pepper sprayed myself. Harvested hot pepper seeds from plants I grew earlier and apparently I didn’t wash the oils off well enough xD xD xD 

Anyway, here is my submission for days 1 & 2 titled Hidden Beauty

"Let me take you somewhere in which you will feel young and take your mind away from all this..."

It was nighttime on Verolgah-VI. The two planetoid moons did their annual dance across the evening sky as shooting stars streaked the upper atmosphere. The devastated planet's temperature was chilly, but nothing like what most of the Paladins were used to, save for one.

He looked to the lions with 3 out of the 5 charged up, Red was in the final stages of charging up. He let out a sigh; some things were going to plans, but he had to remain on edge as the leader. Shit tends to hit the fan when one least expected it, and with friends still about 2 maybe 3 more days away, anything could go wrong.

Since they first landed on, well, more or less crashed when the lions collapsed from low energy, the Paladins all slept in the cave with Acxa. But tonight was different; it was cold enough to drive them to the lions that were charged. Hunk, Lance, Shiro, and Coran were sleeping in the Yellow Lion. Allura, Pidge, and Romelle were sleeping in Green, with Blue-Powered down to preserve power. Krolia and Keith's wolf were snuggled up in Black, which was somewhat comfier than the ground from the Star-whale, but nothing close to temperature.

Keith only grabbed his red & white jacket from Black's storage locker, from when he grabbed what little belongings he left on the Castle when he took a sabbatical from the Voltron-Force. Krolia was ready to get some sleep when she asked if he would turn in. His response was he had too much on his mind and was going for a walk. When his mother saw Acxa walk out of the cave, she gave him her sly "mother knows all" smirk and responded with "you kids don't stay out too late" before turning and taking his wolf with her.

Blushing and stammering at her, he turned to see Acxa wearing something similar to an Earth styled tank top in the moons' light, which her blue skin radiant. When he got within range of her, she gestured her head to follow her. He threw his jacket on which even over his Paladin Armor slightly loose. He put his belt with his Marmoran blade on and started walking with her. She took him to her favorite spot in silence. It had been three long years since she saw him last and even though she had so much to tell him, opening up was something relatively new for her. Even taking him to a spot she had grown to love in her mind was a huge gamble, that she was surprised she was doing.

It was one of the most stunning sights next to her that he had ever seen. It was a massive valley with a small creek like waterfall leading into a small shallow lake. Further behind were some of the most gorgeous mountain ranges he had ever seen with millions of stars. Even the nearby Argola nebula was just barely seen. Its blues, greens, purples, & reds intensified by the planet's atmosphere. His mouth agape, Acxa finally broke her silence. "I found this place about a year and a half after I was left here by the coalition."

Keith walked forward, taking in the beauty of the water, reflecting the moons and stars. The water droplets flying into the air reminded him of fireflies he used to catch with his father when he was a small boy, "It's beautiful." She walked up to match his location, slowly wrapping her arm around his. She sensed him tensing a little and then relax, but she knew he was much like her. Both introverted warriors, just starting to let their feelings show on the surface. "In the morning this spot reminds me of my homeworld, before it was officially... 'indoctrinated' into the Empire."

He looked to her, seeing a sorrowful look on her face. "Tell me about it?" She looked at him softly, smiling, seeing the sincerity in his eyes. She started to sit down, but he stopped her taking his jacket off, laying it on the ground gesturing for them to sit on it. She slowly sat down on his coat. She looked at him. "Won't you get cold?" He shook his head, "Nah, I grew up in the desert for the most part. I am used to brutally hot and brutally cold temps."

Acxa nodded and looked up to the stars and looked back at him. "From what I remember, it wasn't like this planet. For the better part of a deca-phoeb the planet was a relatively fridgid planet, but it was no barren froze wasteland. My mother's people were born in a region in which it was neither barely above freezing or frozen. The closer you got to the planet's polar region the darker blue their skin got, towards the equatorial sections they were either a lignt blue almost white color almost like that little girl & those two Alteans. But regardless of our skintone we all loved Aaenergola..."

Keith continued to listen to the Acxa tell him of her homeworld. The architecture, the lore, some of the history, the customs, and so much more emphatically. But when it came to the story of the Empire coming to her world, her demeanor and tone changed. Her planet had fought the best it could but ultimately was indoctrinated into the Empire.

She revealed her father was a doctor and her mother a Galra Lieutenant who he had saved from dying. Both harbored no ill will towards the other's race. When she was born, both parents wanted her yo have a decent education despite being a half-blood. But it wasn't until she got to her parents' death when she was 9 that she became bitter. When Aaenergolan Terrorists executed her parents for helping Galran citizens while Aaenergolans were starving. She trailed off as she remembered coming out of her hiding place. Finding her father brutally murdered, protecting the area she was hiding.

Keith, for the first time, saw tears streaking down her face and her lip trembling. He placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to scoot closer to him. He had asked if she wanted to stop, and she nodded her head, wiping some of her tears away, asking about his homeworld.

As she did to him, he told her of Earth and his life on the distant planet they were trying to get back to. Of the blue skies and oceans, everything that made the planet one of the most beautiful he has ever lived on. Growing up with just a father before he died fighting a fire. His life before his adopted brother Shiro came into it.

Keith told her it wasn't until he was on a Blade mission did he learn who his mother was and later on in the Quantum Abyss, the reasons why he grew up without her in his life. Just hearing his voice caused her to relax and snuggle up to him. He felt her wrap an arm around his waist, prompting him to wrap an arm around her shoulders. When he stopped talking about Earth, she was fast asleep, snoring softly on his shoulder. Not long after, he fell asleep after repositioning, so her head was on his chest armor.

Many Vargas later, Acxa sat right up as one of the suns started to rise. She was expecting to be alone, which typically happened when she let her guard down, showing a side people typically never see. But was relieved seeing Keith still sleeping next to her. She pulled her legs to her chest and started watching the suns rise.

He started to stir, feeling the warmth on his face. When he woke up, he saw Acxa sitting up, his jacket draped over her shoulders. He slowly sat up and beheld one of the most stunning sights as the twin suns started to dance across the sky. The water, especially the waterfall, looked like it was molten lava. Like the sky, the vegetation itself looked like it was ablaze, swaying in the wind with colors of reds, blues, greens, and purples.

Both half breeds talked a little while enjoying the beauty of the sunset heads perched against each other. When the bottom of the second sun was just barely over the distant mountains, they decided it was time to head back to the group. But before leaving, he took one last look at their surroundings and turned to her.

She had a nervous look on her face, "About last night..." He had a delicate look on his face and softly smiled, "I want to thank you for last night. You bringing me to this beautiful place was as if you were opening your true self to me." She closed her mouth, being a little surprised at being thanked; she started to blush purple. "It takes great courage and trust to open up to someone, and I hope I am worthy of both."

Almost 2 hours later: The group was starting to freak out that Keith was nowhere to be found, nor was Acxa. Most of the group was searching the compound, while others were searching the immediate area. Some were worried that the pirates took them, one worried that their host handed him over to the pirates, while another knew all too well where they were. She refused to answer anyone's questions about why she wasn't worried. But Coran soon put two and two together, once being a parent himself.

When the group regrouped, it wasn't until his wolf snapped his head up, ears perked that everyone put their attention elsewhere. With their leader and hostess missing, The Paladins drew their bayards ready for anything. If it were an ambush like last time, they'd be prepared to fight.

Two figures were walking towards them with the suns at their backs, nearly blinding everyone. When the wolf bolted and teleported, everyone got on edge, waiting for the inevitable attack. But it never came. Instead, they could barely make out one figure stopping greeting the wolf and the three of them walking back.

As they got close, enough everyone realized that it was Keith with Acxa wearing his jacket. But what really caught their attention was that they were both holding hands and that their demeanor was different. It was no longer of two socially awkward Galrans who tried hiding there was something there to clearly having broken the ice with each other.

[snaileer]

Chips & Salsa Chp 4

Shiro strode down the castle hallways. Repeatedly. Maybe more like paced. But hey, it was like 4 am and he deserved to be a little stressed out. Waking up and calming yourself down from a panic attack was hard work. He missed having access to coffee.

He slowed down in front of Lance’s room. Keith would tease him for being an ‘overprotective space-dad’ but Shiro was worried about Lance. He wanted to help him, but how could he help Lance if he couldn't even help himself. Shiro had tried to support Lance but all that did was make him angry at him.

He was about to keep walking when he heard a mumble from inside the room. And then a groan. It sounded like someone was breathing really harshly.

Lance.

He must be having a nightmare. Shiro immediately jumped for the door.

“Lance-!” He stared at the empty bed in confusion before lowering his eyes to the ground where Lance was.. “Are you doing push-ups?”

“Shiro! What the hell?! Why are you running in here yelling at 2 am?”

“It’s 3 am. And because I thought you were having a nightmare. I wanted to help,” Shiro watched as Lance rolled and got up from the ground.

“Well, I’m not, so… All good.” Lance smiled hesitantly and did finger guns at him. Shiro raised an eyebrow and leaned back on his hip, Shiro was probably the last person Lance wanted to see right now but-

 Lance sighed and dropped his hands as he turned his back to Shiro, “Look, if you wanted to help me you’d let me leave. Or at least spar with me.” 

“The first one I can't help you with,” Lance’s shoulders sagged a bit, “And I don't think you should be doing anything rough this soon.”

“Right, I forgot, Shiro has to follow all the rules,” 

“Lance, we just don't want you to get hurt or-”

“You guys know you don't need to pity me, right? I’m not some fragile weakling who can't handle anything.”

“I know that-”

“Then why can’t you fight me? Was I really that bad when I came out of the pod?”

“No. I promise we’re not scared of you just because you lashed out a bit.” Shiro felt he had to compromise for Lance at least a little bit. He sighed, “As long as you’re careful, I think we can probably try some light training,” Shiro smiled, “If you’re not too tired.”

Lance turned around and he smiled a bit, “Oh, you know I’m not.” Lance and Shiro walked out of the room together, heading towards the training room. “And I bet I could beat you now,”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah for sure. I picked up some badass ninja tricks in my time ‘away’ from the team” Lance did air quotes around away, “And you’re probably the only one on the team I’ll actually feel comfortable sparring with, so I’m glad your mid-morning pacing brought you to my room.”

“You heard me?”

“Of course I heard you, Shiro. I’ve learned to pay attention to whose footsteps are outside my door.” Lance threw a look at him. The implications of his words set Shiro on edge more than he would like to admit.

He tried to brush it off for another time, “And why am I the only one you want to spar with?”

“Because I need to fight but I also need to know that I’m fighting with someone that can handle me if…” Lance’s voice tapered off as he looked down.

“If?”

“If I lose control.” 

Shiro stopped in his tracks, his voice small, “What?”

Lance stopped as well and turned back to him, though he didn't look him in the eye. “Shiro, you and I both know how bad it gets in.. that place. And we know how hard it is to come out the same on the other side. I mean, you’re not fooling anybody with the ‘I wake up this early because I have self-discipline and military training.’ Plus, you were the one to snap me out of it when I got out of the pod and started throwing hands.”

“But you shouldn’t have to think about this stuff. You shouldn’t have had to go through that.”

“Neither of us deserved what happened to us. But it happened all the same and now we have to move past it.” Lance motioned down the hall, but Shiro wasn’t paying attention.

“But I should’ve protected you. I shouldn’t have let them take you, or even let them have the chance to get close to you. I was just so focused on getting out of there. Getting as far away from that ship as possible and I wasn’t paying enough attention and I shouldn’t have let you go off on your own.” Shiro stared down at his own hands, one that barely seemed like his most of the time.

“No,”

“What?”

“No.” Lance paused, “Shiro, you spent a year on that ship, I spent about three months there. Out of anyone on this team, I know what that place is, what it does to you; and there is nothing wrong with hating it. I should hate it. So it is not your fault that you wanted to leave, we all make mistakes sometimes.” 

“But-”

“Especially when we’re afraid. Shiro, just for one second, put your massive guilt complex to the side. Please. For me?” Lance pulled out the big puppy dog eyes to pout at Shiro.

Shiro gave him a shaky smile, “Yeah, Lance, for you.”

“Great, now can we please go fight?” Lance motioned forward with his hands again.

“That’s the only reason I’m here, isn’t it?”

Lance’s fists clenched and unclenched as he followed Shiro down the hall. He felt guilty about pushing Shiro to fight with him... but doing sit-ups and push-ups all night could only cure his jitteriness so much.

“Yeah, it is.”

x--x--x

“Everybody get your lazy asses over to- Hunk! No- I don't want- Fine!” Pidge’s voice bellowed over the speaker system before fading into mumbled arguments.

Hunk’s voice came on afterwards, “What she meant was: Can everybody please come to the kitchen? I made breakfast and Pidge has something to show all of us. Even though she’s being sour and won’t tell me what it is.” The last part sounded like it was spoken at someone else in the room rather than into the microphone.

“Well, I’m sorry but I don't want to repeat-” The intercom clicked out Pidge’s muffled response.

Shiro looked down from the ceiling of the training room at the same time as Lance did. They made eye contact and stared at each other for a second before bursting into laughter.

“It’s good to know Hunk is still attempting to wrangle Pidge after all this time. ” Lance struggled out past laughter.

Shiro’s laughter wound down a bit at the comment, still chuckling, “Well, it was a little hard while you were gone, but it sounds like they’re bouncing right back. I don't know if I’m happy about the return of the fighting though.”

“Don’t worry, Space Dad, you can always ground them.” Lance grinned

“Ooh, I am gonna kill Keith for telling you about that.” Shiro cursed his brother under his breath.

“Hah!” Lance inched towards the door, then smirked, “Who do you think told Keith?”

“No.” Shiro’s eyes narrowed in disbelief.

“Oh Yeah,” Lance smiled bigger.

“No…”

“Yep, and I helped Pidge photoshop your Leap Year baby photos.”

“That was you!?”

“The very one!”

Shiro gasped in mock anger and lunged for Lance, but he was already running from the room, grabbing his jacket by the door before sprinting towards the kitchen.

Lance spotted Keith walking down the hall from his room.

“Keith!!” Keith paused to look back, “Shiro found out you told me his birthday!”

“Shit.” Keith turned and ran.

“Nooo! Keith, you were supposed to help me!”

“I grew up with him, it’s your turn!” He ducked into the relative safety of the kitchen, Lance close on his heels.

“Where’s Shiro? And why are you two so out of breath?” Hunk asked from next to the oven.

“Oh, don’t worry, he should be right along in-” Shiro burst in, “Now.”

“I can’t believe you, Lance!” Shiro yelled. Hunk dropped his pan in surprise and Pidge nearly fell off her perch on the counter at the sudden clatter.

“Sorry, I saw an opportunity and it was my obligation as a younger sibling to use it.” Lance shrugged.

“Ignoring whatever is going on there,” Pidge waved her hand at Lance hiding from Shiro behind Hunk, “I’ve got some information on the tracker.” Lance’s smile shrunk immediately and the room paused to look at her.

“What?” “What’d you find?” “Can you get rid of it?”

“Whoa, everybody slow down. Let her talk.”

“So I woke up early this morning-”

Lance interrupted her, “Seriously, was I the only one in this whole castle with a normal sleep schedule? Hunk’s already made breakfast and it’s only 6 o’clock,” He threw his hands up at the second pan of space-pastries Hunk pulled out of the oven.

“Hey, you know I bake when I’m stressed. Or tired. Or worried.” 

“Believe me, it’s hard to forget when you force-fed me un pastelito every meal during finals week.” Lance moved to look at Hunk with crossed arms.

“Yeah..”

“And midterms,”

“Maybe..”

“And your history tests.”

“Hey, those are hard.”

“And your English project.”

“That was only once.”

“Okay! I think we’re getting off topic!” Pidge yelled.

“Oh, yeah. Pidge, what’d you find?” Hunk turned back to face her on the counter. Lance angrily bit into a pastry he’d snatched behind him. 

“As fun as watching Lance burn his tongue on space-jelly is, I think we have a chance at getting rid of the chip.” Lance glared at her.

“So I woke up really early this morning because of something I discussed with Keith about the chip last night,” the group looked at Keith but he just shrugged, he knew just as much as the rest of them. “There’s no strategy in putting the chip in Lance’s brain.”

“Why would you ask Keith about strategy? His only strategy is run in, stab them and ask questions later.”

“Hey!”

“Well am I wrong Mullet-!?”

“I’m not done!” Pidge yelled again.

“Fine.” Both boys begrudgingly backed off each other.

“It’s too much work for just a tracker they could put anywhere, so I looked closer at where they put it,” Pidge pulled up a hologram of Lance’s scan, “The temporal lobe.” 

“Isn't the temporal lobe in charge of smell, language and-?” Hunk joined in on the genius talk.

“Hearing. Yep, the primary purpose of the temporal lobe is auditory functions. And when I looked at the scan again, I found not one, but two signals.”

Lance’s eyes widened.

“What? What’s the second one for?”

“That’s what I was thinking. One signal is outgoing,-”

“The tracker obviously,” 

Pidge hummed in agreement, “But the second signal has an internal destination.”

“Huh?”

“Precisely. Hunk, you’re the resident expert engineer, what does the design of this chip tell you?” Pidge passed the hologram to him.

“Well, first of all, the chip is attached mostly to the right temporal lobe, but these wires also connect it to the left lobe and to the hypothalamus, but connection to both temporal lobes would only be necessary to create an equal simulation across both auditory cortexes and Oh my gosh!” 

“Okay, that was a lot of science-tech words that I did not understand.” Keith pushed off the wall to move closer to the group.

“It means that the ingoing signal from the chip is trying to broadcast a false sound directly to Lance’s auditory senses,-”

“Which are controlled within the temporal lobes,” It was almost creepy how Pidge and Hunk talked so much in sync.

“It’s trying to broadcast, but it’s failing because the chip is malfunctioning. Otherwise, Lance would be hearing a high-pitched noise most or all of the time,” 

“It’s like it’s trying to cause constant tinnitus. We don’t know why yet, but the most important thing is we can exploit this malfunction to remove it.”

“Okay!” Shiro moved towards the tech pair to break them up, “One of you, talk. The other, please don't. My neck is starting to hurt from looking back and forth between you two nerds.”

“You say that like you’re not a nerd yourself, Shiro.” Shiro glared at Pidge to silence her.

“Ugh, fine. All yours, Pidge.” Hunk handed Pidge the hologram and leaned back against the counter to grumpily eat one of his pastries off the tray.

“If the chip’s not working properly, that may mean the Druids were unable to completely evaluate the human neurological system.” She zoomed out a bit to show the whole head scan, “Since the human brain is so complicated and everything is connected to everything else, this malfunction in the chip is probably rooted in its attachment and implementation. Which also creates a higher possibility of being able to get rid of the tracker without horrible brain surgery.” 

Pidge looked at the team, “And I don't think any of us are qualified to even attempt brain surgery. Eh, maybe Coran could,” Coran smiled and posed at the attention, “So the better option would be to be able to hack into the external signal and shut it down remotely, which would limit the risk of brain damage and would-”

“It won't work.” Lance’s voice was quiet, though the small declaration quickly got everyone’s attention and they turned to him. He stood at the end of the counter, staring down at his hands.

“Yes, it will. I’ll make it work.” Pidge growled back from the other end.

“No, it won't.”

“Goddamnit Lance!” Pidge slammed her tablet on the table, “Why won't you let us help you!? That’s all we’re trying to do! You’ve barely even come out of your room, except to try to sneak out in the middle of the night! And you won't tell us anything that happened! So if the only way I can help is to get rid of this stupid chip, then I’m going to do that!”

“I won't work,” Lance paused and looked up, “because the chip isn’t malfunctioning.”

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks.

“So you’ve been hearing-”

“See my hand right now?” Lance held his hand out over the countertop.

“Lance, what the hell does that have to do with-?”

“My hand is completely steady right now. And do you want to know why?” Lance clenched his hand into a fist, “It’s steady because I goaded Shiro into fighting with me.”

“What?” The team looked at Shiro, but he only stared at Lance, who refused to meet his eyes. Lance pulled his hand back to his side.

“Why would you-” Shiro’s voice was filled with betrayal.

“Because you guys obviously wanted me to stay and doing hundreds of sit-ups in my room wasn’t working!” Lance yelled, “I do hear that ringing. I hear that ringing constantly, everyday, all the time, except-” Lance raked his hand through his hair roughly, “Except when I fight.” He looked down in.. shame? 

Pidge and Hunk made worried eye contact but kept their mouths shut.

“When I fight, my head is finally clear. And I can think. And do things and feel and be myself, and then it comes back.” He looked up at the ceiling with a pained fake-smile then glanced at the team with hard eyes “And it always comes back.”

“I’ve tried everything to get rid of it. I tried meditating, breathing techniques, exercising, ignoring it, distractions; I even tried to drown out the sound myself! Short of slamming my head against a brick wall till my skull cracks, I don't know what else to do! I can’t even sleep unless I pass out from exhaustion! So yes!” Lance’s voice suddenly dropped, “Yes, I chose to fight. I chose it then and I chose it now. I chose the one solution I’ve found that works. And it works one hundred percent of the time.”

“But why me? You know I struggle fighting one on one without flashbacks.” Shiro sounded even more hurt.

“Partially because I was angry at you. Partially because you were there. Mostly,” he paused, “because I needed to feel like myself again. I needed to be able to hear myself think. And I wasn’t lying, I needed to know you’d be able to handle me if I went off the rails,”

“But?”

“But… I also knew I was going to go off the rails on purpose.” Lance finally tried to look Shiro in the eye, “Shiro, I-”

“Don't Lance. Not right now.” Shiro pushed past them and left the room.

Lance looked at the group. Pidge and Hunk looked somewhere between shocked and upset, Coran looked disappointed and sad, Allura looked appalled and Keith looked…

“How dare you!?” Keith threw his fist at Lance. He let the punch hit him and knock him to the ground.

“Keith,” the others moved to stop him but didn’t get close.

 “You of all people should know!” Keith yelled again before leaving to go after Shiro.

“Lance…” 

“No, it’s alright. I think I probably deserved that.” Lance wiped blood away from his nose as he got up. He looked at it on his hand for a second, “Hell, I definitely deserved more than that; but, uh, I think we should finish this some other time. Yeah?” 

Lance turned his back to them and left as well. He followed down the same hallway as Keith and Shiro.

He stopped behind a corner when he heard their voices in the hallway.

“Shiro, are you okay?”

“No! What he did wasn’t okay!” Lance flinched a bit at the sound of a metal fist hitting the wall.

“I know and you have the right to be angry at him right now.”

“Damn right I do. And I know that... it’s just, yeah, I’m angry at him for lying to me like that. Especially about something like this, but I’m also angry at myself,”

“You shouldn’t be, he’s the one that pushed you even though he knew.”

“You didn’t hear him earlier, Keith.”

“In the kitchen, yeah I-”

“No, before that, when he asked me to train with him. Looking back, he sounded almost...,” Shiro paused, “Desperate.”

“What do you mean?”

He means addicted. Lance ignored his thoughts and stayed quiet against the wall.

“I mean, at first, when he asked me I said no. And then he started saying all this stuff he was worried about and I thought, if I can give him this one thing, maybe he’ll keep talking like this. Maybe he’ll end up better than I did. Maybe I can fix this. But he knew I’d give him what he wanted. He was just trying to use me Keith! How do I react to that!?”

“I don’t really think there’s any way you could have expected him to do this.”

“But that’s the thing, Keith. I should’ve. I should’ve expected it, I should’ve known. Just like when I got him captured, I wasn’t thinking about him, I was thinking about me. Again! I should’ve been able to tell this time. ”

“No, Shiro. The only way this could’ve been avoided is if he had told us about the ringing. This is on him. Not you.”

“No, it’s my responsibility-”

“Keith is right, y’know.” Lance finally turned around the corner to meet them. Keith’s face instantly went from gentle to furious again. “As much as I hate to say it, Keith is right, I should’ve told you guys.”

“I swear to God, Lance, are you looking to get punched again?”

“No the first time was enough, thank you.”

“Wait, Keith, you punched him?” Shiro glanced at his brother.

“Well, yeah, it didn’t look like you were going to. So why didn’t you tell us, Lance? I get we’re all having ‘hindsight is 20/20’ moments but something like that is kind of important.”

“I didn’t say anything because I thought it was just me.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t know it was the chip and I didn’t know why I suddenly felt the need to fight all the time. Why I was such a horrible person to be addicted to something as horrible as the Arena. I thought this was my punishment, for doing everything I did to get through the Arena. I was-,” Lance swallowed and looked away, “I was ashamed.”

Lance’s mind still told him he should be ashamed. That it was his punishment and he would never-.

“Why the hell would you be ashamed for surviving in-” Keith started out angrily, but Shiro cut him off.

“Because you felt like a monster.” 

Lance’s head snapped back up to look at Shiro in surprise before glancing back down again. 

Shiro pushed past Keith to approach Lance. “You felt like a monster because you thought you were addicted to enjoying the fights.” Shiro said it like a realization, like he was finally recognizing something.

“How do you-?”

“Like you said earlier, Lance; I have a bit of experience with guilt complexes and carrying the weight of the world on my back.” Shiro set his hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Hey!” Lance said with mock indignation, “I came here to apologize to you, not the other way around.” Lance half-heartedly pulled away from Shiro’s hand, “I am sorry by the way. I shouldn’t have done that to you. No matter the circumstances.”

“I can’t say I forgive you just yet, but at the very least, I understand.” 

“That’s all I can ask for Shiro.”

“Hey! I’m still mad at you!” Keith yelled from behind Shiro.

“I wouldn't expect anything less, Samurai!” Lance yelled back.

“Ugh. Come on Keith, I’m taking you away before you can hit him again.” Shiro was already dragging Keith down the hallway towards his room.

Lance briefly listened to the muffled arguments of ‘but he deserved it!’ and ‘that doesn’t mean you can hit our teammates for me.’ He gave a small smile.

He looked down at the slight tremble in his hands before shoving his fist roughly into the pocket of his jacket. A problem for another day.

Next Chapter: https://snaileer.tumblr.com/post/618602039029760000/chips-salsa-chp-5

First Chapter: https://snaileer.tumblr.com/post/613092735756402688/chips-and-salsa-chp-1

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.50

Lance slept solidly for the first night in a week, waking to find Keith spooned around him, he still couldn’t believe his boyfriend had shown up exactly when he needed him. Naturally, he felt bad for it. Keith was always having to support him and it’d be nice if it was on the other foot for a change. The most he’d been hoping for today was lunch with Keith, and a chance to breathe a little easier thanks to distraction. Instead Keith was actually here, in his bed, snoring his head off as he held him up against him. It’d been such a long month. There were so many things he wanted to say to Keith in person that really sucked because he couldn’t. He’d learned a little in their group chat, and in their private chat, the number of messages between them would alarm some people, but Keith... he’d always reply. Maybe not right away, but when he could and fuck if it didn’t make him feel special.

Basking in being held, he wanted things to stay this way. He wanted Keith to stay. He couldn’t push those feelings onto Keith so he’d enjoy what time they did have together. Keith hadn’t had a great childhood, but he’d already known that. When Keith told him to ask, he’d wanted to, but his boyfriend was exhausted. He knew Keith would tell him, if he asked, but he didn’t want to make him feel obligated to over share. Things like falling in love was something he didn’t think he’d ever have or deserve, no matter what everyone else said. Keith made it so damn easy to fall. He was the strong silent type, not quick to trust, just like him, so he got that Lance needed thing to go slowly between them. Now if his brain could get the same message then that’d be great. Pidge was always teasing him about how much he talked about Keith. He didn’t mean to, but word vomit seemed to happen each time he thought about his boyfriend. He couldn’t help but wonder what Keith was doing. If he was safe or if he was on some secret mission to save the day. Keith didn’t know that Lance kept up his sparring with Matt. He never wanted to put Keith in the position where he was forced to protect him.

The full moon had been absolutely crazy. All three days went out the window. Matt and Rieva had gone at it hard enough that he and Curtis had to leave the house. Both werewolves a mess of hormones and lust. Matt had made a pass at him and Rieva had then thrown him into the stairs for it. His own heat came, so he and Curtis spent the night parked up in the middle of nowhere. Lance trying to sleep and ignore how damn embarrassed he was, Curtis having let his mouth get away from him over werewolves mating, but he’d meant well. Next full moon they were going to be prepared and stay in Platt.

Letting out a snore loud enough to wake himself, Lance couldn’t help but laugh at Keith, carefully wriggling in his hold to lay on his back as his boyfriend blinked in confusion, before a dopey smile came to his lips. Lance couldn’t help but kiss him, his own smile just as wide. He’d missed this. Keith’s morning breath might rival paint stripper in potency, but that didn’t matter. Sharing several deep kisses, Lance hummed happily as he broke them, Keith still looking confused, and ridiculous with his bed head

“Mmm... what was that for?”

“For you. For being here. For being a great boyfriend”

Keith scrunched his nose up, Lance finding himself laughing again

“Oh, babe. You don’t do well in the morning”

“Nmhm... good morning”

“Good morning”

As Keith started to doze back off, Lance heard footsteps on the stairs, his bedroom door flung violently open as the pair of them were rushed by Hunk and Pidge

“I knew it! You two dirty rotten liars!”

Whatever might have been happening under the blankets didn’t stop Pidge and Hunk. Climbing under the covers, Pidge hugged him as Hunk got in behind Keith, the pair essentially sandwiching them in. Keith looked even more confused, but didn’t try to argue his way out of things

“Good morning to you too”

Pidge pressed a very wet kiss to his cheek, Lance wrinkling his nose up at her, he knew what was coming

“Why didn’t you tell me you two were dating?! And you, I know you think you’ve got immunity because you’re knew to the group, but you’ve been totally hiding this you jerk”

Keith groaned at Pidge, Lance laughing as his boyfriend closed his eyes again, hand digging just that little more into Lance’s side

“Be gentle. He doesn’t do mornings”

“Nope. You kept this from us”

“Fiiiine. You’ve sprung us. I’m dating Keith”

“No shit. How could you not tell meeeeeeeee?”

“Because it’s new. Since when are you awake this early?”

“Since I didn’t go to bed, obviously”

Hunk let out a heavy sigh

“She came and woke me up. Apparently if she’s awake, we’re awake... We thought we’d grab breakfast at Sal’s”

“Sal’s?”

Keith’s sleepiness was adorable. He’d probably never been woken up like this. It get good though. The four of them all happy in their own ways

“Where we got pizza from that time”

“Ah...”

Keith didn’t remember

“Yep. So you two losers need to get up”

“We were... we were about to get up, in more ways than one”

“Ewwww! No! Don’t do that to me! Keith how can you let him lead you astray!?”

“He’s fine...”

Lance leaned in to kiss Keith’s forehead, Pidge making a faked gagging noise

“Oh god. They’re gross. Hunk, our friends are being gross”

Hunk hummed, his chin resting on Keith’s shoulder like it was perfectly natural

“I don’t think they’re being that gross”

“That’s because you have Shay. Ugh. I totally have to get out of here before you two ruin my appetite. I expect you downstairs in 10 minutes, or Hunk’s coming back up to get you”

“Why me? No offence...”

“Because I’m too young and innocent. You two owe me the biggest explanation”

“We’ll explain... provided you get you of my bed before I have to kiss you”

Lance pursed his lips, Pidge making a show of flying back out from under the covers

“10 minutes! Hunk, let’s gooooo”

As quickly as they’d appeared, the pair had left. Keith letting out a long groan as he moved his arm up to drape it around Lance’s shoulder

“What was that?”

“That was their way of saying they missed you”

“It was so loud”

“Do you really expect anything else?”

“No... I don’t wanna move”

“I know, but I’ll treat you to breakfast”

“Nah, I’ll pay”

“Or, I could pay”

“Nope. I’m paying”

“Babe, I’m pretty sure you just did. On the plus side, we can be that disgusting couple now”

“The one where we have sex?”

Lance laughed

“Not quite. The one where we can cuddle in front of them”

“Mmm... that’s true. I like that one...”

Lance’s heart swelled with affection. Keith was just too cute

“Me too. Now up we get. Shower, teeth, clothes, coffee”

“Coffee?”

That got Keith’s attention, Lance would never be so mean to deprive Keith of his coffee

“As if I wouldn’t let you have your coffee”

“Best boyfriend like ever”

“I know”

It was decided they’d all go for breakfast at Sal’s. Shiro would come back and spend the day with the others while Keith and Lance went to Platt. Lance had already pushed his luck for that morning finding the blood bag he’d went to bed with under the bed. He hadn’t forgotten it, a vampire never forgets, but it had slipped his mind. The near disaster would have meant an explanation he wasn’t sure he had. Keith kicking himself for not putting it away, even though it wasn’t his fault. Now the evidence had been disposed of, and a fresh bag sat under the passenger seat, waiting until he’d finished his human breakfast.

Piling into Sal’s, Lance could how Pidge wanted to announce Lance was dating Keith. Only the crowd there had tourists and she was forced to keep her “enthusiasm” inwards. That didn’t mean they were off the hook though. Despite the small booth size, she squashed herself in next to Lance, who’d let Keith in so he could take the corner seat and escape having to sit next to her. Yeah. He had manners. He also didn’t want Keith having Pidge hanging off him as she started her interrogations. Hunk solved the small space problem by borrowing two chairs, for him and Shiro, as Matt, Rieva and Curtis smooshed in on the opposite bench.

Lance had to give her credit, it took her all of 10 seconds before she started

“What are you intentions with my brother?”

Matt paused as he grabbed a menu, cocking his head. Lance explaining

“She means Keith”

“Oh, that brother... as in Keith’s intentions with you”

Lance nodded, Pidge nearly internally imploding. His ear copping the yell directed at Matt

“You knew?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“Not my business”

Lance was grateful to Matt. Sure. He was a mangy mutt and a stranger, but he was so much like Pidge that Lance couldn’t dislike him. He could have castrated him for pissing on his grave soil, but that wouldn’t have been fair on Rieva, whom he also liked. Rieva appreciated a good skin care regime. She was likeable, and knew not to take anything about his drooling over her floor less skin as flirting. She was also level headed and did a great job of keeping Matt under control. He didn’t pry on her life, and she didn’t pry when he’d wake up screaming the house down. Her attitude was very much “shit happens”, and if it wasn’t happening to her than everything was all good. She also loved reading, tolerated him and Curtis blubbering over rom-coms, and was already looking at finding work in town after declining an inviting from Pidge. She was great with Pidge too, able to steer the conversation away from the possible existence of werewolves and vampires. Her biggest plus was her “fist of love” that came out when Curtis and Matt didn’t clean up after themselves.

“How could you say that? He’s my brother from another mother, which means he’s you brother too!”

Matt shrugged at Pidge

“Maybe you’re not the super sleuth you thought you were?”

“I’ll fight you. He said they weren��t”

“He is me. And we weren’t”

“Mhmm. And how long has this secret trist been going on?”

“Just over a month... about a week before Keith and Shiro left”

“Lance!”

Lance cringed. She was so damn loud.

“Keep it down, you ferals!”

Now she’d set Sal off. Hunk looking worried as he apologised, before scolding Pidge

“Sorry, Sal! You’re going to get us banned from here”

“Puh-lease. Sal loves us. And why aren’t you telling them off. They lied to us!”

Lance felt the guilt of the lie in the base of his stomach. That wasn’t the only one...

“Uh... um...”

Hunk scratched the back of his head. Groaning, Pidge slumped over the booth table

“You knew?”

“I had a feeling... We both noticed how much Lance talks about Keith”

Lance blushed. Okay. He got it. He liked his boyfriend too much. But in his defence he bragged about Pidge and Hunk all the time. Keith leaned forward, to talk past him

“We were taking it slow... can you stop yelling? I need coffee for this shit”

“I don’t want to stop yelling, I want answers. Like who asked who out? Your both awkward as fuck”

Matt snorted, Lance kicked him under the table. Supernatural eavesdropping didn’t count. Lance picked a menu, using it to smack Pidge in the face

“We talked about it and decided to see where it went. Now stop pestering him. He’s only had one coffee today”

“But Laaaaaaaance, you’re dating. You never date. I can’t remember the last time you went on a date... Let me have this”

Lance smacked Pidge in the face with the menu again

“Not until Keith has had another coffee. You’re torturing him”

“You both deserve it. How did I not know?”

“Because I didn’t want to make things hard or complicated for him. He’s barely known us for like 2 months now. He’s not used to your crazy”

Pidge snatched the menu off him, opening it despite Lance knowing she was going to order the pancakes. She almost always did

“He’s fiiiiine. Now, can we please go back to where Keith explains his intentions with you?”

“Um... to date him... and stuff?”

Lance hung his head. Keith was out of his depth with Pidge

“And?”

“And what?”

“And... I don’t know. You’re the one who’s all “date him and stuff””

“I don’t want to hurt him, if that’s what you mean”

“Good. I will hack every media device you own if you do. He’s my brother. And if hurts you, I swear I’ll kick his arse”

If the world could open up and swallow him right now, that’s be perfect. Keith was flustered, Lance didn’t know what to say. And Shiro had the nerve to be smiling at the pair of them

“Pidge, you’re embarrassing me. Look, yeah, we’re dating and we’re taking things slow as we get to know each other. Miriam likes Keith. She knows about Keith. Now you know about Keith. Can we please talk about this without making it awkward”

“It’s only awkward if you pop a boner”

Why god? Why did he love this gremlin so?

“Pidge!”

“I’m just saying”

“No more saying! Sal, can we please order before I die of embarrassment in your booth?!”

Sal yelled back at his question

“Hey, no dying. I’ve got enough to clean up in this place without hiding a body! Pancakes for everyone. I know the drill!”

“And 6 coffees with milk, one with soy, and tea!”

“Drink coffee like a normal bum, you weirdo!”

Everyone was ganging up on him. Fuck it. Letting himself flop against Keith, Keith wrapped his arm around his shoulders

“Keith, please forgive our heathen friends and don’t judge me too harshly”

“The judgment train left a long time ago”

Lance groaned

“Not you, too!”

“Sorry. Of course I won’t judge you because Matt can’t control his sister”

Lance stifled a laugh, happy Keith was alright with everything. Matt raising his hands

“Man, I tried. Some beasts come from hell itself. One Halloween she wanted to dress up as “Satan’s sweaty arsehole”. Feel free to use it against her. I told to her to dress in brown and go as the shit she is”

Pidge groaned at her brother

“Don’t talk about young Pidge. She made a lot of mistakes”

Matt raised an eyebrow

“You were 17. Mum would have grounded you for life if she could have”

That just made it funnier. Lance got the distinct feeling he’d been too much of an old man at dinner, and talked above his age. Pidge’s mum, Colleen, was incredibly learned. Hunk mentioned he was constantly cold, Colleen then giving him a suggestion in herbal medicine that’d help with his circulation. Thank God they’d survived that night... because Colleen honestly scared him. It was like she knew... and like she was compelling him to tell her more. Never again... or maybe when he didn’t have a million other things to deal with, or a frightening paranoia of turning into a bat mid soufflé.

“Keith was too cool to go Halloweening with his brother”

Keith tensed, shooting Shiro a glare

“Don’t you dare”

Pidge said the same thing Lance was going to, maybe not the same way, but now he had to know

“Ooooh! Now you’re obligated to tell”

“Well... Keith was too cool. My partner and I dressed up, ready to scare the kids. So when a group of trick-or-treaters came to the door, he gave them all an apple and told them to fuck off. Then ate the whole bowl of candy as he downed a bottle of tequila. Threw up all over my partner, stripped down to his boxers and tried to jump off the balcony because he was mothman, and mothman is very real”

Lance snorted with laughter, he attempted, poorly, to hide it, yet couldn’t help himself

“Oh, Keith. That’s like... terrible”

His boyfriend was blushing hard

“Fuck off. Like you don’t have embarrassing Halloween stories”

“He chased a cat six blocks, while dressed as a vampire because he wanted to pat the kitty, does that count?”

Now Hunk was betraying him?! Game on

“What about you? Don’t think I’ve forgotten our first year of college at that party. Yeah, you dressed up as mummy, then started trying to clean the kitchen, while drunk, and somehow managed to set your hand on fire”

Hunk worried his pointer fingers together, Pidge was laughing so hard she was crying. His ray of sunshine mumbling

“That wasn’t my fault... Who disrespects a kitchen like that?”

Keith was obviously pissed at his brother

“Yeah, well, Shiro got drunk at a work party and had sex not so quietly while dressed as werewolf, in his office. He howled... it wasn’t fun”

Shiro looked less than amused

“How did you even know about that?”

“James”

“That little fucker... I mean... fuck. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Lance was dying to ask who James was, but the way Keith said his name stopped him. His stomach doing a hard flip, like he was jealous or something

“Because I hoped the memory would fuck off and die in a corner. You brought this on yourself. Mothman for life”

Pidge reached out, the pair first bumping. Again, Lance was jealous or anything. He just didn’t have the whole mothman thing that he now knew Keith had

“Still... Fuck... I’m glad we don’t have to go back there”

“Amen to that”

Pidge wiped her eyes

“Who knew finance could be so interesting. What about you, Curtis? Any funny stories about Lance to share?”

“There was that one time we had to leave the house because people were having sex too loudly”

Matt and Rieva both blushed. Good. But kind of not. They were only doing what their egos told them... Pidge managed to bring the conversation

“What about Lance and Keith? Any embarrassing stories about those two?”

God. Yes. Them trying to work their shit out... Curtis was struggling not to say. Lance caught the change in Shiro’s body language

“Now, now. I’m sure there’s plenty of time to embarrass them”

Curtis had to say something. His stupid curse wouldn’t let him keep quite

“Last time Keith was here he’d been drinking milk. Lance was worried about him”

Pidge blew a raspberry

“That doesn’t count. He can’t help that, so that’s not cool. I bet you two are secretly gross and talk about feelings and shit”

That’s why he loved his gremlin

“Yep. Took us weeks to figure out shit out... but, he’s a good guy for a brooding emo”

When Keith dropped a kiss on top of his head, Lance swore he’d died and gone to heaven. He didn’t think Keith, and it wasn’t even a requested display of affection. This was better than lunch. This was the friends he called family being together. He couldn’t be happier... even if it wouldn’t last.

[bluedemon1995]

Most recent update!

Chapter 14

Pidge POV

Shiro takes a deep breath in and says, “When I first saw you, you looked familiar like I saw you before. But, hey, I see a lot of people in my line of work so I didn’t really think anything of it. Not going to lie, with the people you were hanging around with I just figured I’d seen you on some database of criminals. Plus the first time I saw you I was more concerned about Keith’s reaction to you than your per se. So I was pretty slow on the uptake. But between things Keith told me and what I put together on my own, well, seeing you in person in regular light…I think you need to meet our own personal tech genius, or the man in the chair.”

He opens the door and an actual guy in a wheelchair rolls in. I look into eyes that are startling like mine. I can’t think any more, rational thought is beyond me at this point, and I think I’m just staring. This…guy. He. Me. Shit. I think I must make some kind of sound, maybe even words, but I don’t even know what. It’s like I’m in a tunnel. All I can see is this guy and blackness surrounding me. I think I’m losing it but that when that I feel Keith holding tight and grabbing my hand. He pulls me close and whisper, “Katie, babe, stay with me.”

I instinctively hold on. What the hell?! He looks, a lot, like me. Scarily so.

It’s only as I register Keith’s hand that I notice the guys eyes are filled with tears as well. He’s staring at me and the room is deathly quiet. Finally, he whispers, “My God, Pidgey is that really you?”

I don’t answer. I can’t. That name, that voice, make me choke up. He looks like a younger cooler version of what I think is my… dad? Or a older, male, version of … myself. That makes. No sense. Because I’m alone, an orphan. They said I had no relatives. I blink but he’s still there. I must squeeze Keith’s hand even tighter-that he must take that as an indication that I want him to answer for me.

“Yes?” Keith queries for me.

God he’s a man of few words. I let out a huff of breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. Eyes closing I focus on his hand on mine. He’s not going to give any more information that he has to. He really does have my back. I can feel his muscles tense, ready to react to anything. And I know he’d protect me. Without a second thought. I also can see his mom at the ready too. Silent and deadly.

Unfortunately, Keith’s friends are NOT like him.

Lance yelps. “Aye Dios mio!!!! Why do you look like her??? Doesn’t he look like her?! You look like Keith’s girlfriend!! Were you adopted too? What the hell Shiro? EXPLAIN!!!”

Hunk moans, “Lance! Shut up! Um, Shiro, I hope you know what you are doing. Cuz, um Pidge here is an orphan. And um, who is this? What is going on??! I’m starting to get worried. And I’m feeling the need to make a cake. I’m feeling very stressed.”

The man in the chair gasps, “Shit, Shiro. I’m going to kill that mother fucking asshole. You can arrest me when I’m done. I don’t care!” He moves his chair forward, closer to me. OMG. What should I do. I freeze and lean away.

Shiro closes his eyes, “Well before you commit any crimes, ANY of you, how about you explain what you think you know. I think we all need to compare stories first. Okay, everyone, this is MATT, or the Rebel, the police force’s secret weapon. He can hack into anything and is a genius at engineering just about anything folks in the field could need. I met him when we were in high school. He helped me graduate and we both joined up with the police force after a stint in the Garrison. We stayed close and well, um, Matt? Can you continue?”

“Oh, um, yeah, sure. So I was in a really bad accident when I was a kid. So bad that I was told my entire family died…I was the only, sole, survivor. After I got out of the hospital, I went to a home for boys, and eventually they registered me at the local high school. I was a natural at science and computers, and it was there I met Shiro. The Garrison is basically a military type of organization that is let’s say off the books. But I made some great connections and got some needed experience. And eventually when we wanted out it wasn’t a problem. I, I never thought anyone lied to me. Because why? Why hide my family? Why say I was an orphan? I don’t understand how you are here but God dammit, you have got to be my baby sister-Pidge-Katie Holt!”

He rolled his chair even closer, looking deep into her eyes and she could see the unmistakable truth. But it was heart breaking. All she could think of was years, YEARS she missed out. On his life and visa versa. But to what end? She bit her lip and tried to control the tears that were threatening her. Family? Brother? Is it true?

Hesitatingly he reached out for her arm and she just sobbed. “Mattie, really?!?”

He reached out and pulled her into his arms, practically picking her up and onto his lap. And as he held her she felt a little part of her soul regain its hope, love, and trust. This couldn’t be bad, she just got her big brother back! Mattie?>! No this was good, she found her other half, her love and it just hit her, it had to be fate. It was meant to be.

And inadvertently, it was all due to Keith…

Keith’s POV

Keith’s mind is racing. Fuck if this is her brother, then there was a whole conspiracy to have people believe Katie was dead AND for her to think she was the sole survivor! And why?! To what end? That means that asshole being her friend, or whatever he made himself as-savior, boyfriend, fiancé, was not a coincidence nor an accident. They used her. From..the… fucking… beginning. Who does that? To a fucking kid?!

Who kills someone’s parents, their brother… and then replaces them with themselves. A child. They manipulated her and hurt her. That… no… good… dirty… bastard. He feels his hands clench and he wants to find Lotor and his father and teach them a lesson. Slowly. It’s then that his head is smacked and he looks up into his mother’s eyes.

With one head shake, she reorients him back to the present. Shit there will be time for that later. Right now he needs to support Katie. This isn’t about him. It’s about Katie and what she must be feeling. Crap he can’t even imagine.

Refocused on his girl, he waits for her to indicate she needs him or what she needs of him. He doesn’t want to pull her from her brother but at the same time wants to be ready just in case she needs him. And after a few minutes she leans back from Matt and frantically turns, breathing fast and uneven. He makes sure to move into her line of vision. Trying to reassure her, he initiates contact by grabbing her shoulder but she launches herself at him. He quickly adjusts her weight in his arms and pulls her closer. Keeping her close. His girl. His. Everything.

“You’re okay, you’re okay. I got you.” He holds her close and even with all his friends and her brother around, he kisses her. Softly, trying to get her to focus just on him. Once he feels her muscles relax, he adjusts her even closer.

Finally, she slumps against him and he finally looks up straight over to Matt. “Can you fill in some of the details. Because I know Shiro and you didn’t just guess. You both did some intensive research in a very quick turnaround of time. Dude, I know you.”

Shiro nods, “Yeah, we did. Or well Matt did. He was in the hospital when the funerals happened and he just took what they said as truth. His family was gone. But not just in death, Katie was just gone but strangely no body.”

Matt interjects, “After a while, I felt a need to know everything about everything. And the information wasn’t easily accessible which was not a big problem for me. But, oddly, nothing really made sense. So I dug. And I dug. This has been a project since, well, high school.”

Katie finally interjects, “ I didn’t go to the funerals either but I have visited your.. grave. Graves. Shit, have I ever really been where they were buried? Oh my, what the hell? What about-!”

“No! Sorry mom and dad, they are gone. But dad was working on a case, a big one. I remember him being even more absentminded and more distracted. But we were just kids and well back then I didn’t realize.”

Keith figures this was expected but not welcomed. He murmurs, “Hey it’s okay, you got brother, just focus on that! Plus you got me and mine. Your ours now, no question.”

It was then Lance, in all his exuberance, interjects, “Yes, you are ours, nuestra familia!”

Keith looks down at Katie, “You compressed? You are mine. So, what do you need?”

She stares, at him, then looks to Matt, “I…dunno. This is a lot to take in. Keith?”

He holds her, “I know, but we have TWO geniuses here, we can figure something out. Right?”

With a watery smile, she nods. “Ok, yeah, let’s come up with a plan.”

Keith smiles, “A kick ass plan.”

Matt watery grins, “A grand, kick ass, Holt plan. Honestly nothing stands a chance.”

[neko-bri]

Drabble ~ Memories of Snow ||HitsuHina||

A blanket of white covered the entire Seireitei, within inside the walls of the Soul Society in the fourth division barracks. There was someone sitting there, on the bed awake and alert. Her eyes didn’t have black lines underneath them due to her shredding tears down her face. Feeling guilty with distant memories of the past. Surrounding her mind with twisted dark memories as well, along with the good memories.

It was clear to her that these memories haunt her. The ones she remembered from her deepest part of her heart. The betrayal..the one that struck her heart through her chest. The man she thought---she could trust. He was not the one she clings to, adore so much that she worked so hard to get her position. These thoughts clouded her mind, hence her still sitting on the bed watching outside the large window. Inside the room where she would see the snowflakes falling down onto the already covered with the fluffy white snow.

How she wished to turn back time, to fix her mistakes with ever thinking her childhood best friend was the one who killed him. The man she wish to forget.. The one who hurt her so much that the other part of her memory was after the battle. Vaguely she could see someone behind her; his eyes were widen with agony and pain. Teal orbs shook with his hands shaking, holding onto her as she asked him those words. ‘Shiro-chan...why?’ That when she remembered this memory so very well.

Knowing that her wounds did heal, on her chest there was  a reminder of that. Lightlly touching her chest, the part that hurt her the most is that how weak she was. To be so easily used against everyone and even putting Shiro-chan through that... He must have been so in pain. Of course he was! Tears wouldn’t stop falling, her happiest times were before the betrayal. Speaking to Toshiro about Aizen, he always would listen sometimes question why he was so great. Still...she knew the one who cared for her the most was never far away.

He was always there...always protecting her and, caring for her. It was---so obvious to her. However, she was blinded by Aizen’s love to see it. Although knowing he always wanted to protect her. That is why she wanted to get stronger for his sake and her own. Not realizing that someone walked into her room, his demeanor was quiet with making no sounds to alert Momo.

Seeing she was staring outside the window, looking at the snowflakes fall, he wondered if she was in a daze. Knowing this his movement would quietly, ever moving softly till both feet were inches from the bed. His white front bangs hang down in front of his face, eyes narrowed a little when seeing something was falling. He could hear soft whimpers from Momo. She was crying it seemed and he felt his eyes look full of pain.

Hinamori’s skin looked pale to the Captain of tenth division, along with being her childhood friend since their younger days. Hence he was quite worried for her. Although he had a feeling that she was blaming herself for all that happened. Teal irises would look down at the vase, seeing the flowers brought to her were lilies. They were the color of purple, in his eyes they reflected the flowers. Taking in a deep breath, his chest would rise then lower before he turned his head to face Hinamori’s back. Moving his right hand, gently so his fingers would touch her back ever so slightly.

Jumping the brunette made a loud sound, causing Toshiro to look surprised in his expression. Perhaps a different approach would have been wise. Turning her body slowly, once her chocolate eyes noticed him. “S-Shiro-chan?!” Hinamori yelled, in a surprise----confused tone. Why would he be here? Of course when she was gazing out to the snow. This brought back memories when they use to play in it together as children. Along with their Grandmother watching over them as they weren’t really hers. However, she took them in without a second thought.

Toshiro’s hand would lower to his side once more, a gentle expression changed on his face after seeing she was herself. At least from the outside, inside he knew she had a lot of doubt about herself and fears. Her hands in front of her chest, eyes looking away from him, bangs of her hair falling in front of the brunette’s peach skin. Trying to cover her tears with the rubbing of her hands against her eyes. It was all a cover up----to try and focus on not what’s inside. He knew, he knew all too well what she was doing. Not worry her best friend who been there...

“Hinamori, I thought I told you..to call me Hitsugaya-Taichou. Not ‘Shiro-chan’.” He addressed her about the matter quickly. Hinamori remembered their last encounter before the war. It was just like this time except he was in the world of the living to help Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends against the arrancars. Very vividly she could remember. It was like yesterday and yet..there were things she wish to forget. Like ever pointing her blade at him, knowing he would not blame her. Never would he say ‘that is your fault, Hinamori!’ Really...

Her chocolate orbs would look into his teal eyes, staring with the thoughts in her mind and his. Knowing full well that he came here to see her, to check up on her. After the war with Aizen she has been in here recovering. It was recently that Unohana-Taichou told him that Hinamori was awake and alert with no life threatening wounds.

Thankful he decided to come see her after all his paperwork was finished. Watching Momo who would look straight at him with her chocolate tired eyes. Well---by tired he would assume crying her eyes out over all the thoughts. There was a chair next to the bed, moving to place his bottom against the chair. Teal irises would look down away from Hinamori. Trying to not make her feel uncomfortable. Knowing deep down he just wanted to see that bright smile. The smile she always gave to him. Damn you Aizen...! Even after we beat you...still your mind twisted with hers. Now she feels like her body is so weak. He thought to himself, not realizing that Momo touched his hands.

A gasp left his lips, staring at Momo who was full of worry within her chocolate eyes. “Shiro-chan! Why do you look so upset? A-Are you okay?!” Her voice was shouting; this time she got worried about him. “I am fine, Hinamori. However...how are you feeling?” He tried to change the subject so she wouldn’t press on any further.

Shaking her head the brunette noticed, tears fell down both her cheeks. Knowing all along he was still upset at himself----upset that he put his sword through her chest, feeling that anger at Aizen for what he did. Tricking them to the point if Kurosaki’s voice didn’t roar that day....she could have been dead. “Shiro-chan, please...don’t lie and tell me. W-What is bothering you? Could it be about Aizen?” Toshiro’s eyes widen, keeping his voice silent and listened. “OR! Is it...is it...that you feel guilty for....” The memories came back into her mind over hearing his voice call out her name slowly. “When your sword pierced into my chest?” She would finish the question; this would hurt Toshiro to the point he looked away from her. His other hand squeezed into a fist.

“Hinamori...its nothing for you to worry about.” He would tell her softly, Momo came closer to his face which made him back up a bit. “H-Hinamori? Don’t worry I am fine!” He yelled, a light crimson would shade on his cheeks with her getting closer. A soft giggle left her lips, then it burst into full on laughter. Seeing his reaction he may have been hiding it. Momo was no different so she would speak out to him.

“Remember those old days we use to play in the snow, Shiro-chan?” Toshiro white eyebrow would twitch, “You said it again...Hinamori I told you, its HItsugaya-Taichou!” He complained once again, ignoring it as always Hinamori would wait till he answered. Her expression completely changed from before. It is true----she still blames herself. Although the happier memories of their times together brought her joy.

Toshiro relaxes from Momo’s question before; he did have that memory with HInamori. Although it was so long ago, thinking back within his mind he could remember seeing Hinamori’s smiling face. Just like now----she was happy.

His other hand released the squeeze into a fist, feeling now Hinamori let his other hand go, in that attempt he would let her hand go as giving her the choice to grab it again. His cheeks still blushing red, Why did he remember it? Why is it that her every action...cause him to feel embarrassed around her? It is true...he did have feelings for her. Knowing Hinamori’s feelings was one sided.

Speaking again the brunette thought about the past, it was quite a fond experience. Knowing this past memory it was not the only memory. Together they would compete against one another. Who could build the fastest snowman?

Memory of the flashback started when they were little children, both were very young around the age five. Dressed in their little kimono’s, wearing pants underneath since they were short, along with gloves and boots. Momo’s kimono was a light yellow, with pink flowers on her kimono while Toshiro’s was green. He was rolling the snow into a big round shape. Next to him, Hinamori was doing the same----her ball was getting bigger by the second.

“Now...you two don’t play too long I made you some hot warm tea.” The elderly woman being the GrandMother who watched over the two of them, spoke slowly but, gently. Turning their small bodies around, they both said in unison. ‘Okay!’

“I won’t lose to you, Shiro-chan!” Momo yelled with confidence, right back at her Toshiro spoke. “I won’t either, bed-wetter, Hinamori.” He teased knowing she was embarrassed by such a title. Cheeks puffed out, rolling her snowball out of his little comment. This meant war! Momo rolling her ball, until it got big enough in moving to get another ball rolling for the middle section. Toshiro had moved at a fast pace, both of them rolling their snowballs until their speed was too fast in running into each other.

Snow went flying everywhere, the snowballs they did create caused Hinamori’s body to be covered in it. Alarmed Toshiro rushed over to Hinamori, digging her body out of the snow where he had some of the white snow in his hair and on his body. Quickly he was able to find her, seeing her body was shivering from all the cold snow. It didn’t bother him at the least----yet knowing her thin, frail body it was bothering her.

“Grandma! Hinamori...she’s..freezing!” He yelled at his Grandma, alerting her when she already prepared a hot warm bath for them both. Picking up Hinamori in his arms, he would run over to step inside the shack. Seeing there was a warm bath already for them.

“Go on ahead, Toshiro. You may join Hinamori in a bath together.” Toshiro’s Grandma spoke when Toshiro looked at Hinamori with a sigh, he would get help from his Grandma to take a bath with HInamori. Being like close friends---it did bother him that he took a bath since Hinamori was smiling in her sleep.

How did that happen? He almost lost Hinamori there...although how did she roll the snowball in the wrong direction? Did she lose focus? Well...he was glad HInamori is alright. A small smile appeared on his facial expression, looking at Hinamori who woke up with a smile on her face. “Shiro-chan, let’s do that again! I had so much fun today.” She said with a cheerful voice. “Absolutely not!!” He yelled with concern. She almost well, only a few inches of snow on her. If it was like a tall snow falling on her...there no way he could have dig her out.

“Shiro-chan, please! I promise to be careful next time..I just got carried away is all.” She mumbled softly, looking like a child who got her toy taken away. Hinamori’s cheeks would puff out, in return he felt bad for saying no. It was Hinamori’s face that made him have to say yes.

“F-Fine! If you hurt yourself again...I will have no choice but to rescue you!” His finger pointed at HInamori, seeing her smile was brightening up the room. His cheeks shade dark red, as they took the bath. It was warm, very soothing and he helped wash Hinamori’s hair. Slowly thinking about what he could do to protect her. Hoping she doesn’t have another nightmare like before.

What can he do to keep her from being scared? This made him wonder if this snowman they could do together instead of competing. Not that he minds of course. It just----he wants to do something that make her happy.

They took their bath together, Grandma found some towels so she helped dry both of their bodies off carefully before getting the two of them to have some soup she made. Knowing they couldn’t taste it---however it felt like they were a family even though they aren’t related.

After dinner the soup was so good that the two of them felt tired; after the long day of playing in the snow. Having a competetion along with taking a bath. The next day Toshiro had asked Hinamori to help him make a snowman. She accepted with no regrets. Both of them laughing; creating something together that was a perfect snowman.

“Look, Shiro-chan!! Look at it the snowman we should name it.” Hinamori cheerfully said, pointing at the snowman they both made. Toshiro rubbed the back of his head. “Why do we have to? I should just call it snowman.” He said, his usual cold tone. Shaking her head, she though to call it ‘Lil Shiro’ so she made him hair hair and his same eyes. “I shall call it Lil’ Shiro!” Momo said out loud, making Toshiro embarrassed over the fact she said that.

Watching Hinamori right now, he could feel his heart racing a bit. The bright smile she showed; her breathing normal and not crying like those nights when she wake up in the middle of the night. A nightmare---he was glad to see this smile. The smile he adored, the smile he always will want to see. Never again wanting to see her cry or in pain. Even being hurt by him or by Aizen. None of that! He will protect her and will do absolutely everything to end that pain!

The flashback memory was fading away as Momo and Toshiro remembered together. Keeping them both silent during the time, although Hinamori did bring it up.

“Why did you bring that up, Hinamori? Would it be because of the snow?” His eyes shifted up to the window, seeing the snow has not stopped falling onto the ground. Looking at the window as well, her eyes were full of warmth, seeing the snow it did bring her back to those days they played in the snow. “I...did remember it before you came in but, I just had..other thoughts.”

Turning her head slightly, looking at Toshiro in his eyes she wanted to say something. Say the words she never could when they were alone or at least----after the last time they saw each other. Knowing she had pain in her life due to someone using her as a tool. That is why she will never let that happen again. Even so, her feelings, her thoughts. The happiness she felt was with Toshiro. He was the one who gave her life and gave her meaning so she had to say it.

“Thank you, Shiro-chan! Thank you for always believing in me after all that happened. I feel like I am lucky to have you...I am sorry for everything! I am sorry for hurting you and hurting all those around me. I-I just...” Hinamori broke down in tears, flooding tears falling down her cheeks. Trying to stop it, her hands would raise to her face. “I...I...!”

Watching her break down in tears, he could not take this! Hinamori don’t you realize how much you mean to me? I never blamed you for anything...all this fault pinned on you is not what you should be thinking! Baka... Toshiro was thinking inside his head over how he felt. Knowing that everything she done isn’t wrong. That is why he cared for her so much...

Suddenly his arms would wrap around Hinamori’s body, hearing Hinamori stopped crying he would gently sit on the bed with her. His arms wrapped around her back, slowly putting his hands up against her back. His hands rubbed up and down her back, trying to calm her down from the tears from falling. Hinamori was in shock due to the embrace, not expecting it her only thought is to grab onto the back of his haori. Tears were falling down her cheeks, hearing her sobbing for so long that Toshiro just did what he could and it was minutes later she stopped crying.

“T-Thank you...Shiro-chan. I am sorry I cried like that...I don’t know what came over me.” Her words were slow, yet she was just happy that Toshiro was here to let her cry out those tears. This has happened before when they were younger. Crying her eyes out about a nightmare. He just listened and rubbed her back like before. This time he did it out of concern for her to hold everything back. This time-----he will not let her blame herself.

“Hinamori...stop blaming yourself..I never blamed you and I won’t ever blame you! Do you understand? I will not let anything bad happen to you, nor will I let someone hurt you again! I care about you so much that I will fight for you. Anything in my power---to make you smile again.” His grip on her back was tighter, pulling her small body against his chest gently. In her eyes she could see his pain, the pain of watching her own body fall apart and soul in the deepest part of her.

“Shiro-chan...” The only words she could muster, fingers gripped onto his Haori still holding on with all the strength she had. Toshiro would look her in the eyes, moving his finger gently to wipe her tears away carefully. “Don’t you dare blame yourself, Hinamori..I will not have you think that way. I know it is hard to smile but, I will be by your side. I will not leave..” His head would lightly touch her shoulder, staying there he could feel Hinamori’s heart was racing even more.

It is true she knew it to be true...he never blame her, he always has been someone she cared as Aizen’s love was not real. It was twisted and...how much she wanted to say this. It was her feelings for him that----she will say it now.

“Shiro-chan, can you look at me?” Hinamori was calming down with his words; when he lifted his head slowly. Teal eyes full of worry, seeing Hinamori’s strong-willed expression he had looked shocked. In those strong expression, seeing her cheeks blush red. “Shiro-chan...I...” Her words would pause, expression would turn to a soft-happy smile.

“Shiro-chan, I love you~ I love you so much...thank you for looking after me..I am so thankful to have you in my life. You are the one who always stayed by my side. The one I want...to be by your side as well. I will trust in you and, do not worry. I am fine now because of you.” Her words were shocking Toshiro he never thought to hear these words. His cheeks shade a darker crimson color; releasing his hold on Hinamori.

Holding her hands together with his, they both would stare into each other eyes before he gave her the best answer she could receive. His lips slowly press against her gently. Both of them shocked, Hinamori lips returned after a few seconds passed. Their lips gently pressed against each other with accepting their feelings that been held back for so long. Pulling away from Hinamori’s lips, his hands still holding onto hers in a gentle hold. Hinamori was staring at Toshiro, her cheeks full crimson and feeling her heart was at peace. Someone---actually showed her the love she did want with Aizen. But now---it was with someone who was there always.

“I love you too, Hinamori...”

He says with compassion, they remained in that room with holding hands with one another. Hinamori smile was cheerful, still holding onto his hands. Only to turn to sit on the edge of the bed while watching the snow fall. Remembering all their moments up to this point. It was a new turn, a new page. Their love----will always shine and their bond will never break. No matter what comes between them. Forever----they will be together.

[actress4him]

Whumptober 2020 - Day 15

I can’t think of anything to say about this one haha, other than it has a good ending and was an interesting change of pace for me to write.  Make sure you check the warnings, as always!

Read on AO3

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Day 15 - Magical Healing/Science Gone Wrong

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Warnings: claustrophobia, blood, broken bones, mild body horror, mild gore, mild eye trauma (super mild, because eye trauma is a personal squick)

Keith had never had to go into a pod before. He had gotten plenty of bumps and bruises during his time in space, and even a few more serious wounds, but never anything bad enough that he couldn’t patch it up himself. He had gotten pretty good at self first aid over the course of his life, especially while living in the desert. 

And he was pretty happy about that. The thought of being locked in a pod, unconscious, completely helpless and unaware of what was happening to him and around him, made his stomach roll a bit. Obviously he’d never tell anybody that he was...not scared, definitely not scared, but...nervous about using a pod. That was something he’d just keep to himself.

But now...now he had no choice. And honestly, he didn’t care. He was in so much pain, so disoriented, that he just let everybody strip off his clothes, wrestle him into a pod suit, and usher him straight to the pod without even a word of protest.

He had taken on a Galra commander by himself. He wasn’t too proud to admit that he had lost miserably. The commander was huge, and he had managed to get a hold of Keith, wrapping one of his ginormous hands around his entire waist, before slamming him into a nearby wall. Repeatedly. 

Pretty much everything on the right side of his body was broken and/or bleeding. Including his poor, cracked armor. His helmet had been knocked off, so his skull had taken plenty of damage, with blood still pouring down and sticking his eye shut even while the pod was prepped. He was pretty sure something in his face was broken, too. Maybe more than one something. It was difficult to separate one pain from another.

“Alright, lad, in you go.” 

Keith barely held in a yell as he was lifted in, managing to stifle it to a strangled groan. 

“I know bud, I know.” Shiro gave him a tight, worried smile. “You’ll just go right to sleep now, and next thing you know you’ll feel all better. Promise.” 

There was a momentary flutter in his stomach at the thought, but the idea of sleeping and no longer being in pain won out over his apprehension. As the glass slid shut, his other eye did, too.

He felt the blast of cold that filled the chamber. 

He felt his body succumb to the gas that froze him in place. 

He didn’t fall asleep.

Any second now, he kept thinking. It’ll happen soon. There’s just a little delay that no one mentioned. Maybe they didn’t remember. I probably won’t remember any of this later, either.

But the longer his body remained paralyzed and his brain aware, the more panicked he became. And then the healing began.

You’d think that would be a good thing. Healing takes away the pain, right? 

The first thing to start was his head. He hadn’t been aware that the pain there could get any more intense until it did. Bone fragments started shifting, locking themselves back into place, and he could feel every little bit of it. He could feel the broken skin beginning to knit itself together, millimeter by millimeter.

He wanted to throw up. He couldn’t. His body remained passive and completely out of his control, not responding in the least to his racing thoughts.

Why why why why why why why why why why why why why is this happening why did no one say this would happen this isn’t supposed to happen is it this doesn’t make any sense it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts make it stop please make it stop Shiro help me get me out of here make it stop make it stop

But his body remained still through it all. He couldn’t twitch a finger, couldn’t open his eyes so that the others would know he was still awake. Were they still watching? Did they have any idea that something was wrong? For all he knew, he was alone, and he wouldn’t be released from this nightmare until everything was healed.

Ribs were next. They slid slowly back into place, grinding against each other, slicing through muscle and tissue on their way. It hurt worse than anything he could have imagined. 

His arm and shoulder healed simultaneously, but still took an eternity. That was the worst part, how agonizingly slowly everything went. A doctor setting a bone worked quickly. There was pain, yes, but it was a sharp spike followed by relief. This went on for ages, healing every little crack and tear along the way as each bone was dragged back to where it belonged.

The only thing worse than that was not even being able to scream.

He hadn’t even realized anything was wrong with his knee until that got twisted and pulled straight again. The very last thing to heal was his face, starting with the bones in his cheek and around his eye, and ending with the eye itself, which was less excruciating in the pain sense and more in the fact that it felt like something was in his eye, pulling and probing and scratching, and he couldn’t even lift his hand to rub at it.

The good news about the whole process was that once something was healed, the pain did ease, leaving him with less areas hurting than before.

But rather than feeling like a mere tick had gone by, he was aware of every single tick that passed for the entire two quintants that he was in the pod.

When the glass finally, finally opened and he stumbled out into Shiro’s waiting arms, the first thing he did was open his eyes as wide as they could go, and open his mouth to suck in a lungful of fresh air. His body was his again. He could move. 

The second thing he did was slump boneless to the floor, not even Shiro able to keep him upright. He buried his face into his arms to hide the tears that spilled over without his permission, but that did nothing for the way his entire body trembled and for the gasping sobs that escaped.

“Whoa, Keith! What’s the matter? Are you still hurt?” Shiro’s hands grasped his arms gently. “Talk to me, bud, what is it?”

He tried his best to get himself under control, hating the fact that he was breaking apart in front of everybody. The others probably didn’t even think he was capable of crying before then. Lifting his head slightly, he wiped his face with the sleeve of the pod suit, then dropped his forehead back down onto his arms. 

“I-it…” He swallowed. “It was awful.”

“What do you mean?” He could hear the frown in Shiro’s voice. “What was awful?”

“The p-pod.”

A hand slid into his hair, cupping the back of his head. “I don’t understand, bud.”

“I was awake. The whole time.” 

Silence. Then, “What?”

Coran’s voice broke into the conversation. “That’s not possible. The first thing a healing pod does is to cryo-freeze its occupant. We saw it working ourselves!”

“It did freeze my body.” Keith looked up finally, but couldn’t quite bring himself to meet any of the several gazes that were on him. “Otherwise I would have been banging on the glass for someone to get me out of there. I couldn’t...I couldn’t move. But I was awake.” For a while he had wondered if it was the same for everyone, if Shiro and Lance had refrained from telling him, knowing that he wouldn’t want to go in. But eventually he had convinced himself that Shiro wouldn’t do that to him, and it seemed he was right.

“You’re telling us,” Shiro began slowly, “that you’ve been completely awake and aware for two days, unable to move, while the pod healed all of those broken bones and everything?”

“Yeah,” he whispered.

“That shouldn’t be possible!” Coran repeated. “I’ve never heard of anything like it before! I can’t imagine...unless…” He broke off into unintelligible mumbling, crossing to the pod’s data screen and poking at it.

Hunk was next to speak up. “Keith...that sounds...terrifying.”

Gritting his teeth, he tried for a small smile. “Yeah, it...it was.” His brows pulled down. “I could feel all of it. All the bones moving, the skin and muscles and whatever going back together…” He shuddered, and if he wasn’t mistaken, nearly everyone else in the room did, too. “I don’t ever want to go back in a pod again.”

Coran cleared his throat. “My boy, I’m afraid I have quite an apology to make.” Keith looked up to see the advisor facing him again, but staring down at his feet. “It’s, uh...well, we’ve never had someone of...mixed species use the healing pods before.”

Keith shut his eyes. Of course. Of course it would come back to his Galra heritage.

“The data here indicates that the pod recognized you only as human, since it appears that most of your anatomy is, in fact, human. But the failure to account for the rest of your DNA is apparently where things went wrong. It obviously caused you great distress, and probably great pain, and...I’m terribly sorry, my boy. I should have taken more time to ensure that everything was set correctly at the beginning.”

“It’s not your fault, Coran,” Pidge interrupted before Keith could open his mouth to say the same exact thing. She had shimmied her way between the advisor and the screen and was bending over it, the light reflecting off of her glasses. “This thing literally has no clue how to deal with mixed species.” Looking over her shoulder at Keith, she smiled. “We’ll work on that, starting right now.”

“Well, still.” Coran twiddled with his moustache nervously. “I should have known that already. I should have had it ready for Number Four before he needed it.”

“It’s alright. I forgive you.” Keith mustered a smile, and Coran returned it brightly.

“Thank you, lad. Well, Number Five, are you ready to get tinkering?”

Pidge immediately launched into a longwinded explanation of her thoughts for the project, and Hunk quickly joined in. Shiro wrapped an arm around Keith’s shoulders and pulled him in close. 

“I’m really sorry you had to go through that. Looks like these three will have it all fixed for you if you ever need to go in again, though.”

Keith tensed, glancing up at the still looming pod and swallowing hard. “Yeah. Well...I’m gonna...try really hard to not need it again.”

Shiro squeezed him tighter. “That’s a good idea, regardless.”

[izlaria]

Someone you like (part 4)

This is the fourth chapter of my “Someone you like” inspired fic. It’s also available on AO3 in case you prefer that platform. Please hit me up to talk about Plance!

Summary: In the days following their arrival on Earth, Pidge finds that conflicting feelings don't just disappear because there are more people around. On the contrary, with the approach of the final battle, they seem to get worse.

FYI, we’re still on Pidge pining hour.

18 and 16 years old

Life was not easy when you were a soldier fighting against an evil, intergalactic empire, but Pidge had found a sort of balance to it all. Now that they were back on Earth and she knew her family was relatively safe, much of the sorrow she’d carried had dissolved into hopefulness.

Much, but not all.

Pidge leaned her head against the wall, hugging the papers to her chest. Being on the Garrison made it easier for her to ignore her erratic heartbeats, because she could just avoid Lance most of the time, but it also sent her into overdrive when she accidentally met him in the hallways. She could usually depend on her mother to be there – Pidge was grounded, after all –, but there were times when not even Colleen could protect her.

She wanted to talk to Lance, of course. He was one of her best friends and no crush could ever change that, but it took a lot out of Pidge to hear him drone on about Allura and all the places he wanted to show her on Earth.

Maybe her evasiveness wasn’t the most mature of Pidge’s choices, but she was tired and lovesick and feeling neglected. She would have to be excused a little pettiness.

“Do you want to tell me why I just saw you ignore Lance?” Matt raised his brows at her, an expression that Pidge herself often mimicked and that was especially irritating to be the target of. He was standing off to the side of her station, gloves still on.

Pidge pushed away from the wall, feeling flustered. She hadn’t realized her brother had witnessed the scene.

“Did I ignore Lance?” Pidge opted to feign innocence. “I was so lost in thought I didn’t really see him there. Or you.” This last bit she said with a touch of hostility.

Matt crossed his arms and hummed, sounding disbelieving. “You always were the worst liar out of the two of us, Pidge.”

She shouldered past Matt with a glare. There was a lot of work to do until the Atlas was completed and the last thing she needed were distractions like her feelings for Lance or a fight with her brother.

“When did you land on Earth, anyway?” Pidge put the papers down on her table and moved to one of the computer screens, where she’d left a new code running. It was an improved version of her and Matt’s previous software for predicting Galra presence. “I could use your eyes on this.”

Matt stood at her back, looking over her shoulder at the lines that lit up the computer.

“This is interesting…” He squinted down at Pidge. “Don’t think for a second that a new challenge will make me forget what I just saw.”

She took advantage of Matt’s positioning to elbow him in the gut.

Truthfully, Pidge knew her brother wouldn’t tease her too much about her circumstances. Matt was caring and even protective when it came to her well-being, so he would never rat her out to Lance or any of the others, even if he disagreed with her actions.

Despite that, she struggled with being vulnerable around him.

Pidge didn’t want to think about it, but the years they’d spent apart had certainly affected their relationship. Before going to space, Matt was more than her brother, he had been her closest friend. But now she had Hunk, Lance, and even Keith and Allura. If she needed guidance, Coran and Shiro were only a call away.

She would always be close to Matt, but he was no longer the only person whose company she valued.

“We should finish this up before mom comes around,” Pidge said, trying to refocus. “She comes to collect me at the end of the day.” She rolled her eyes.

“That still going on?” Matt chuckled as he pulled a chair over to her station. He scanned the reports she had just brought in.

“I can’t even go out to eat with the team. We’ve had to meet in the cafeteria, of all places.”

“I’m just glad the cooking staff changed since I was a student.” Matt wrinkled his nose. “That was just nasty.”

“Except for the burgers.” And here Pidge smiled, suddenly reminded of all the times Hunk and Lance had dragged her to lunch and how they always ended up making a mess of their table.

“On Mondays, that’s right!” Matt glanced at her and Pidge couldn’t quite read the look in his eyes. “Until when are you grounded, anyway?”

“Let’s see, I was fifteen when I was whisked into space, so…” She pretended to do the calculations. “Until my twenty-first birthday, unless dad intervenes.”

Matt snorted. “Good luck with that. He doesn’t really have any weight with mom right now. She’s still upset about the whole being-pronounced-dead thing.”

Pidge groaned, burying her face into her hands. “I’ll be going to war in a month, but I still have no freedom here.” She raised her eyes to look at him. “Can’t you talk to mom?”

“And risk my newfound position as the favorite? You’re on your own, kiddo.” He continued to stare down at the papers for a moment, before turning to face her properly. “You know why she’s doing this, right? You spent three years MIA. We thought you were dead.” He exhaled forcefully. “I thought you were dead.”

Pidge didn’t really know how to respond. Since her arrival on Earth, she’d had versions of this conversation with several people, but her brother had always stood back and given her a little space. He probably knew better than most how overwhelming such a welcome could be. “I am sorry, Matt.”

He gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Turnaround is fair play, I guess.”

“Stop.” Pidge put a hand on his arm. She worked her jaw, trying to figure out what to say. “I never wanted you to find out how that felt.”

Matt nodded once, swallowing hard. Pidge could tell that he was putting his emotions back in check.

“I’m proud of what you’ve done, Katie. Mom might act like you’re still a kid, but I was out there before you came along.” It reminded Pidge that, though he hadn’t been present for her battles, Matt had seen his own share of horrors. “Voltron turned the tide, in no small part because of you.”

“Thank you.” She tried to blink away the tears. Matt smiled and brought his hands up to cup her face.

“My little sister is a badass, so I don’t want to see you hiding behind corners because of some stupid boy.” When she tried to protest, he just squished her cheeks. “Who does not deserve you, by the way.”

Pidge couldn’t help but laugh. She could always count on Matt to make her smile through her tears.

“I thought you liked Lance,” she said once Matt had let go of her face. He grimaced.

“He’s eighteen and a flirt.” Her brother didn’t even try to go back to work, he merely kicked his legs up onto a workbench and crossed his arms. “I would feel better about Keith, even.”

“You say that because Shiro would be just as bad of a protective older brother as you.” She pushed at his chair, making Matt almost lose his balance.

“You would never be alone unchaperoned, it would be great,” he confirmed, still pulling himself back into position.

“You realize that I’m technically nineteen?” She aimed a sharp look at him.

“You realize you look twelve?” Matt shot back, looking unbearably satisfied with himself. This time Pidge had no mercy for him; she sent his chair rolling down the aisle and Matt with it.

“Honestly, you have nothing to worry about.” She wrapped an arm around her middle. “Lance is so enamored with Allura that I could yell in his ear that I like him and the goofball would think I meant it platonically.”

Matt wheeled himself back to her. “Then he’s a fool.”

“You’re just saying that,” Pidge scoffed. “You were just as bad as him when meeting Allura.”

“Look, Allura is beautiful, that’s true, but it doesn’t diminish your qualities.” He put a hand on her shoulder, leaning in close so that their voices didn’t echo in the empty laboratory. “You are funny and witty and smarter than anyone in this damn complex. Don’t you dare compare yourself to Allura.”

Pidge dragged her chair until she was resting against Matt’s shoulder.

“It’s sort of inevitable. She’s the one he likes and I have to accept it.” She looked at the computer, where lines of code kept appearing and disappearing. “It’s just hard to be near him. I feel like I’ll do something and everyone will… know.”

“You spent almost a year pretending to be someone else, I think your acting skills are a little better than that.”

“Didn’t you criticize my lying just a few minutes ago?” she deadpanned.

“Well…” Matt gave her a cheeky grin. “I’ve known you your entire life, so I’m a Katie Holt expert.”

“Of course,” she drawled out, rolling her eyes.

Pidge felt her brother put an arm over her shoulder, squeezing her to his side.

“You’re perfect, okay?” he murmured into her hair. “Don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise.”

She closed her eyes and let herself fall into his embrace. It was something she had missed, even now that the team was back on Earth. Everything had changed since the Kerberos mission and, while a lot of it was good, Pidge couldn’t deny that she wished Matt would stay with them more often.

“Okay.” Her voice trembled, but Matt didn’t mention it, choosing to tighten his hold on her.

“Knock, knock! Anyone in here?” As soon as the voice sounded, Pidge scrambled to hide her face. She got up and pretended to check a different monitor, turning her back to the door. She heard Lance approach their station. “Oh, hey, guys!” Then, seeming to notice the mood of the room. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, man.” Matt was the first to recover. Pidge felt him move, probably trying to keep Lance from getting any closer. “We were just discussing some Holt secret coding.” She almost snickered at this, despite the heartbeat that still hammered in her ears. It was the sort of thing that only a non-techie would believe.

“And I thought us McClains were bad with our ropa vieja recipe.” She chanced a look over her shoulder to catch Lance’s smile. He was always at his brightest when talking about his family.

“You needed something, Lance?” Matt was being a bit more brusque than normal, but his expression was thankfully still amenable. Pidge would have hit him if he just started being a jerk to Lance.

“Not really,” the other boy responded. He looked around Matt to smile at Pidge. “I was just hoping to catch up with Pidge before your mother comes around.” He shuddered. “Let me tell you, that’s a scary lady. She could almost beat mami with that I’m-not-mad-just-disappointed face.”

“You tell me?” Matt sighed. “That’s one thing I don’t look forward to when touching down at the Garrison.”

“You wanted to talk to me?” Pidge interrupted before they could keep going. Putting two of the friendliest people she knew in the same room was only a good idea if she had the patience for a long conversation. Which she didn’t.

“Ah, are you done ignoring me, Pidgeon?” Lance cocked his hip to one side, looking too sure of himself for his own good.

“I’m working, Lance, something you should be doing as well.” She pretended to fix her glasses, if only to have something to do.

The boy waved a dismissive hand at her. “I’m done for the day and I know for a fact that you’re just working on pet projects until Colleen comes to get you.” When he tried to lean down towards her, Matt moved to stand between them. Lance hesitated, before letting the strange behavior go. “Matt can keep your mom busy if she shows up, right?”

It was difficult to say no to Lance. He was jovial and charming, in particular when he wasn’t actually trying to impress anyone.

“Can you, Matt?” Pidge found herself asking. Her brother frowned at her with uncertainty.

“If that’s what you want, Pidge,” he yielded, when she didn’t back down.

“Let’s go before you get me in trouble, McClain.” Pidge gave a long-suffering sigh and moved past the two boys, who were saying their goodbyes.

Lance caught up to her at the door, opening it with an exaggerated bow.

She walked briskly down the hallway, but Lance had the advantage of his height. For every two, quick steps Pidge took, he only had to take one long stride.

“In a rush to get away?” There was laughter in his voice.

“You’ve seen how mom gets,” she replied, peaking around corners as they moved. “If she doesn’t know where I am for more than five minutes, she seems to think I’ll jump into a ship and disappear for another four years.”

“As if I had it any better.” He gestured to a hallway Pidge knew led to the analytics department. “I’m just lucky Veronica is the only one in my family with clearance to come into the Garrison.”

Pidge snorted. “I should sic my mom on you and Hunk, to make things even.”

Though she’d spent so much of their time on Earth making up excuses not to see Lance, the conversation between them flowed naturally. He had an easy-going energy that calmed Pidge’s more tense nature. While they were in the castle-ship, he had been able to soothe the worst of her worries, until Pidge could actually have fun, despite the fears that troubled her mind.

She didn’t know what would have become of her in this war, if Lance hadn’t been there.

“On the subject of your family…” Lance sent her an anxious look. “Is everything really alright with your brother?”

Pidge could tell he was actually worried, which sent a wave of affection and pain through her chest. She struggled to keep her expression blank.

“We were just talking about the war.” She allowed apprehension to seep into her tone. “I know he has a role to perform out there, but I wish he could stay longer.”

Lance twisted his mouth to the side, an unhappy expression he often adopted when trying to look empathetic. “What has Matt said about it?”

“He misses home, but he can’t really ignore what’s going on with the rebel forces.” Pidge rubbed at her temple. “If we are actually able to end the war, then things might be different, but for now…” she trailed off.

Communications from all around the universe told them Voltron wasn’t the only force preparing for battle. There were a lot of moving parts to consider, especially with the still unknown variable of whose influence had been affecting the Altean colony.

“I know what you mean. After this is all over, I think I’ll take a long vacation to just enjoy good, old Earth.”

This surprised Pidge, startling her from her previous line of thought.

“What, is the Tailor going to retire?” She knocked Lance lightly on the arm, trying for a playful mood.

“No,” he objected. He bent at the waist to look her in the eye and winked. “You know I can’t deny the rest of the universe the beauty of my presence.”

Pidge pushed his face away. It was easy to pretend to be annoyed at Lance when he insisted on acting like this. He was most dangerous when he was genuine. “Be real, man.”

“I am!” He laughed as he stood upright. “It’s just… We’ve been off-planet for so long, I kinda want some time to spend with my family, maybe travel around. I’ve only ever been to Cuba and the US, can you believe it? I’ve seen more of space than of my own planet.”

“Yeah, me too.” Pidge frowned. She hadn’t thought about the situation in these terms before. “I’ve been to Italy and England, but that’s it.”

“We should come up with a plan, get the others in on it.” Lance shot her a smile.

They had walked all the way to the MFE taxiway and Pidge focused her attention on the aircraft that Ryan Kinkade maneuvered across from them. She didn’t want to think of Lance’s warmth so close to her, nor of the future he described.

It didn’t matter how long she avoided him, Lance always found a way back into her life and into her heart. This awareness was painful, when Pidge knew he would never look at her as more than a best friend or a younger sister.

She felt something hit her cheek and looked up at the sky. Dark clouds gathered over them and soon there was another drop.

“Oh, it’s raining,” Pidge commented offhandedly. By her side, Lance let out a laugh. He sounded so joyful that she couldn’t stop herself from staring.

Lance had opened his arms and raised his face to the rain. It reminded her of something he had said months ago, about the aspects of Earth he missed while in space. She was once again struck by how attracted she was to Lance: his cheerfulness, his stupid humor, the curve of his Adam’s apple and the way his uniform clung to him in the rain.

“I really missed this!” he exclaimed mid-laugh.

Pidge stood still, admiring his delight even as her hands closed to fists at her sides. “Yeah,” she breathed out, “me too.”

--

After they left the mall, there was still some time for Allura to kill before her date and it was decided that she, Romelle and Pidge would stop to grab something to eat. Rizavi and Ina had previous plans, but they encouraged the girls to have some fun together, leaving unsaid that it might be their last chance to do so.

“I cannot emphasize how thankful I am, Pidge.” Allura reached across the table to grab her hand. She and Romelle had insisted on going into a coffeeshop that had recently reopened; the design was minimalist but cozy, a step-up from anything else they’d seen outside downtown.

“And I’ve said it a hundred times already, princess, I don’t mind.” Pidge let her hand go slack in Allura’s, trying not to snap at her friend. While she appreciated the gratitude, the constant touching was starting to grate on her nerves.

“You do mind,” Allura contested, with the kind of serious but diplomatic tone she used when arguing with Garrison officers. “I could see your hesitance when the vendor first offered the trade. None would have denied your right to keep the item.”

Allura pulled back into herself as she spoke. It was strange to see her uncomfortable, since the princess usually kept either a tranquil or a powerful front in the face of adversity. Free from her touch, Pidge suddenly felt bad for not responding more fervently to Allura’s efforts towards a closer bond. In the castle-ship, she had pretended they were simply too different and, on Earth, too busy.

The truth was much less dignified: Allura had seemed like an unapproachable ideal, made solid only to remind Pidge of all that she could not be. She was prim and beautiful and feminine. Once upon a time, before the complexities of her multiple identities, Katie had aspired to this image, to some degree.

“You’re more important to me than a video game.” Pidge tried to be casual with the way she said this, but the knowing glint that shone in Allura’s eyes told her it was unsuccessful. “I’ll have plenty of time to find it again after the war is over.”

“Perhaps you could teach me these games once we are back.” Allura smiled at her, the picture of earnestness. “I was always curious about the time you and the other paladins dedicated to them.”

“It can be pretty frustrating,” Pidge warned, thinking of the hours she’d wasted with Hunk and Lance just to get past some particularly difficult levels.

“I have noticed that you scream a lot while playing,” the other commented thoughtfully, “but that appears to be part of the bonding experience.”

“You can say that again.” She scoffed.

“Why would I say it again?” Allura tilted her head to the side in confusion and Pidge had to disguise her laughter.

“I’m just agreeing with you.” She sometimes forgot that the Alteans weren’t completely used to Earth culture. In the Castle of Lions, the paladins were the ones to adhere to new patterns. Now, Allura and Coran had to slowly learn their customs, like with this date.

“I suppose we did have something similar in Altea,” Allura mused. “Activities like the maze we had in the Castle were quite popular among the youth.” She leaned over the table to speak in a lower voice. “The element of danger was a point of interest, though I couldn’t quite comprehend why.”

“That’s a lie and you know it!” Pidge pointed accusingly at Allura. “You’re almost as bad as Keith with throwing yourself into dangerous situations.”

“Am not!” It was always funny to rile her up like this. Allura was so calm and collected that getting her to sound immature was a reward in itself. The other shook her head and settled back into her seat, straightening her posture. “Oh, I know what you are doing.”

Pidge continued to grin at her. “What am I doing?”

The princess narrowed her eyes at Pidge, but her mouth struggled with a smile. “You and Lance have such a way of getting me to lose my cool.” She tapped a rhythm on the table. “I must admit it is endearing.”

There it was again, the shock of warmth and sadness that had troubled Pidge the entire day. She loved Allura and was even happy for her, but her heart was conflicted by the news of her new-found interest in Lance.

It just seemed so sudden, Pidge hadn’t had the opportunity to prepare herself. Or maybe those two had grown closer in the Garrison, while she tried her best not to see them, and this was simply the outcome of her bad choices.

Pidge was saved from responding by the arrival of Romelle, her arms full of napkins.

“What a bargain!” She proclaimed as the packages fell from her hands and bounced across the tabletop. “They have agreed to serve us their best delicacies in trade of Pidge’s autographs, a video of her endorsement and an appearance once every phoeb for the next five moons!” The blonde beamed down at them. “On that regard, what is an endorsement?”

Allura and Pidge shared a dismayed look over the piles of napkins.

“Surely they do not expect Pidge to autograph all of these.” Allura gave Romelle an hesitant smile, as if her politeness could change the answer they all knew was coming.

Romelle blinked at them. “The cook assured me it was an amazing deal.”

Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose, calling on any patience she could muster. She had nothing against Romelle and the Altean was nice and cheerful most of the time, but her naivete when dealing with human conventions never failed to amaze.

“Oh dear,” Allura fretted. “I should go deal with that.”

“Think you can convince them to give us food without getting me stuck here for the near future?” Pidge teased, to disguise her vexation.

Her friend slid off the booth. “I have reasoned with beings from several galaxies, I cannot fathom a Terran entrepreneur will be more stubborn than certain members of the coalition.” Allura straightened her spine and clasped her hands over her stomach, looking every bit the princess she was. The determination in her expression made Pidge smile.

“I can autograph one pile of napkins and I agree to do a video endorsement, but I’m not changing back into costume.” She turned to look at Romelle, who seemed to be accompanying the conversation with good-humored confusion. There was something almost sly about the look in her eyes. “I’m going into space tomorrow, how was I supposed to come back? Besides, I’m grounded. If mom found out we were finished shopping, she’d already be here to drag me home.”

“I might have been swayed by the delicious smells wafting from the kitchen,” the other admitted in a manner that could pass for sheepish. She eyed the napkins, before picking up a package. “I suppose these are a little excessive.”

Allura sighed. “I will be right back.”

They watched the princess move towards the front of the coffeeshop, where the human owner was talking to another set of customers. Romelle sat down where Allura had previously been.

“Alone at last.” She clapped her hands together and faced Pidge with a seriousness that contrasted with her usual vibrancy.

Pidge narrowed her eyes at Romelle. “I knew you were plotting something.”

The blonde shrugged. “I wanted to talk to you privately and I didn’t think we would get the chance in the Garrison.” She glanced back to where Allura stood waiting for the other customers to leave. “The owner was a darling, but he was a tremendous flirt, so Allura won’t be here any time soon.”

“Do I even have to sign anything?” Pidge rested her chin on her hand.

“He wants a picture with you and the princess and an autograph to hang on the wall, but that’s it.” Romelle winked at her.

“So what do you want?” Pidge tapped a finger against her cheek. She didn’t mean to sound so suspicious, but the girl’s orchestrations made the situation feel a little like a trap.

“To thank you.” The emotion in her voice sounded almost like pity. “For your sacrifice today.”

Pidge groaned. “I already told Allura that the video game wasn’t that much of a loss.”

“I am not talking about the game.” There was a moment of silence, during which Pidge kept very still. “I saw your reaction when we told you about the date. It was only then that I realized: you like pointy chin.”

“What makes you think that?” She raised a brow at Romelle, doing her best to appear natural.

“It makes sense.” Romelle looked up at the sparse decorations that adorned the coffeeshop, her expression pensive. “He’s the one you spend the most time with, after Hunk. I didn’t think you were interested in romance, given your almost complete lack of sentimentality,” and here she made a face at Pidge, “but I suppose we’re all dealing with high emotions right now.”

Pidge didn’t know how to reply. So far, Matt was the only one who had realized her crush on Lance and he’d been thankfully quiet since. The whole day left her feeling off-center, especially with what Romelle now wanted her to confess. Pidge didn’t want to talk about her feelings. She wanted to take her bayard and carve the jealousy and affection and misery right out of her chest.

Romelle took her silence as a sign to go on. “Look, I know we are not close, but you can talk to me.” The expression on her face was so eager that Pidge didn’t immediately protest. “You are… not kind. Not always, at least, but genuine.” Romelle hurried through her words. “Which is more than can be said about others I’ve met since arriving on Earth. And I can see how much you care for Allura, though you hide it beneath your sarcasm and reluctance.”

“Has anyone on Earth given you trouble?” Pidge chose to focus on the subject that was easier to approach. Romelle clearly knew what she was doing, because the blonde gave her a very annoyed look. “The team and I have tried to shield you from the politics of having non-humans around, but it’s not always possible.”

“I grew up worshipping a man who turned out to be harvesting quintessence from the bodies of my family and friends,” Romelle stated coolly. “I can handle the Terrans.”

“Well, this thing has to go both ways.” Pidge leaned back against the booth to gesture forcefully in the other’s direction. “If you want me to talk to you, then you need to talk to me.”

Romelle seemed to consider this, her eyes narrowed. “Fair enough.” She glanced quickly over her shoulder, then leaned forward. “I know we both want what’s best for Allura, but I hope you will be happy, too.”

Her eagerness brought a small smile to Pidge’s lips, even as her chest constricted with the acknowledgement of her feelings.

There were many things in the universe that she valued more than romance: her family, her intellect and ability to continue learning, and now her friends. Pidge would do anything to keep them safe and content, regardless of how she felt about Lance. She would eventually get over him, of this Pidge was sure.

She loved Lance, but she loved herself more.

“I don’t need a boy to be happy, Romelle. I just want this war to be over.”

The blonde nodded at her response. “You have already done so much for me by going against Lotor.” She sighed. “You will always have my loyalty for that.”

Pidge took a moment to study her. Romelle could be energetic and joyful, but she had also suffered more loss than Pidge could really comprehend. She had never believed Matt and her father were dead, even on the early days of the Garrison’s declaration. Hope had moved her forward, but Romelle hadn’t had that privilege.

“Have I ever told you how I became a paladin?” she asked, much to Romelle’s surprise.

“I don’t believe so, no.” The other furrowed her brows in puzzlement. “Are you changing the subject again?”

“I was just thinking that we have more in common than you know.” Pidge lowered her eyes to the tabletop, tracing a series of scratches with the tip of her fingers. “You have met my brother Matt, haven’t you?”

Allura approached as she said this, a tray of food balanced on her hand. “Oh, has Romelle heard of your search for Matt?”

Pidge stood up to help Allura place the coffee without spilling it and grinned at her friend’s enthusiasm. “I was just about to tell her.”

The princess sat down next to Romelle and put her hands to her chest in a show of sympathy. “It is a lovely story, please go on.”

With a laugh, she did.

[madeofstardust17]

Whumptober prompt 4. Human shield

Rating: G

Tw: none

Keith & pidge

Pidge was tiny. 

She was. It was just a fact. Lance was lanky, Shiro was buff and Pidge was tiny. 

But the thing was Keith never truly realized just how small she was until he was hugging her close to his chest, his whole body wrapped around her as flames erupted everywhere around them. 

The thing was, Keith wasn’t scared. Nope. He was downright annoyed.

This was supposed to be the easiest mission ever. 

Get into the abandoned galran base, figure out what had chased the galra away from this sector, and leave. 

A two person job. Pidge was supposed to hack into the servers and download the security cameras’ feed while Keith watched her back. Simple.

But then the ambush happened. 

It was so stupid. The base had been conquered by pirates weeks ago, and when they found out voltron was planning to visit, they placed boobytraps everywhere, the traps being either tiny explosives, toxic gas or shockers (Keith had stepped on one, but the armour had thankfully stopped most of the electric current). Then they hid and waited. 

It was a trap. And they had fallen right into it. 

He scolded himself for not foreseeing it as he closed the door, still hearing the pirates shouting and jeering from the other side pounding at the door. 

They had tried to contact the other the moment they realized their mistake, but something was blocking the signal.

Panting with his hands on his knees, he looked at Pidge, who was already working on the computer

“Now what?”

“I’m going to try to override every boobytrap from here, so that the gas ones all go off simultaneously”

After a few seconds she groaned in frustration 

“What?”

“Every single trap has an access code, a 20 digit password, I would need to hack every trap, one at a time, in order to set them off” a bang from the door cut her off “and we don’t have that kind of time”

Keith thought for a second

“What if you overload the system entirely?”

She frowned “that would make the traps explode. We would basically be turning the entire base into a bomb”

“Which takes care of our pirate problem. We’ll call our lions, have them wait for us and once you overload the system, we’ll get out”

Pidge frowned as she tapped at her forearm, making a 3D map of the base appear.

“We’re currently here” she pointed to a room at the east wing “the nearest exit is through here, two corridors ahead. We could, in theory, crawl through the vents, get out in this corridor and run to the hanger” she grinned at him “this could actually work”

She turned to the computer “I’ll make a timer. We have 10 ticks to get to the hanger”

“What about the video feeds we came for?”

“The pirates deleted it all, this was pointless”

“Great” he took a deep breath “okay let’s go”

Pidge set the timer, and they ran to the vent on the wall. The moment Keith started crawling, he heard the door that led to the room slammed open. Confused shouts followed by a few animalistic grunts were heard, and the aliens ran out of the room. 

Keith felt offended that they had been fooled by these idiots. 

Everything seemed to be going according to plan. 

Until it all came crashing down. 

“One dobos left!” Pidge told him as they sneaked through the second corridor. Keith sighed in relief as the hangar door appeared as they rounded the corner. But then from the corner of his eye his saw movement, and one of the pirates raised their gun. He was pointing at Pidge. He heard the sound of a blaster charging.

Keith didn’t have time to think. He lunged and tackled the girl to the ground, pushing the girl against his chest. 

For a moment, he didn’t feel anything, and he felt relief pour down his body. Pidge reacted faster than him and sat up, pointed her bayard at the pirate and a second later, the criminal was on the ground, unconscious (or dead) from the electric current of Pidge’s grappling hook 

She looked at the timer “33 ticks”

Keith sat up and immediately grunted, biting back a scream. He looked at his side and immediately wished he hadn’t. 

The blast from the gun had melted the thick undersuit and blood was steadily dripping to the floor. The few seconds he had been laying on the floor, a steady pool of blood had already former around him. 

Pidge must have noticed too, because she went pale 

“Oh shit”

But nevertheless, Keith stood up, swaying on the spot. Pidge immediately pulled his arm around her shoulders, supporting his weight. 

“Ten ticks”

“We’re not gonna make it”

She didn’t respond. They stumbled their way towards the hangar door, already opened. 20 feet… 10 feet…

The timer beeped. Keith looked behind them at the wall of fire and blast of hot air that was coming their way. 

He grabbed Pidge and hugged her close, as he had done barely a minute ago.

Please he wasn’t sure who he was praying at let Pidge be okay. 

The heat seared his skin, and his injury was agony. He couldn’t breathe, he was suffocating, his was wound screaming in pain, his arms still tight around Pidge. 

When he opened his eyes again, he was laying down on his side, surrounded by fire, and he thought of his father, about how he was going to die the same way he had.

And then Pidge was there, struggling in his arms.

“We have to go!” She shouted. He stared at her. She looked scared but determinate as she struggled to get him to sit up. 

He struggled to stand up and she ended up half dragging him to where the green lion was waiting, her golden eyes glinting as she opened her mouth.

Then he passed out. 

He came to when a hand shook his shoulder. 

“C’mon bud, wake up” he groaned

“S’ro?”

“That’s right buddy. I’m gonna pick you up now, okay?”

Keith didn’t really feel like walking, so he nodded. Strong arms surrounded his back and the back of his knees and then he was being scooped up. 

His side burned, and he buried his face in his brother’s shoulder to stifle the whine that rose from his throat.

“I know bud. Don’t fall asleep yet, okay?”

Too late. 

He didn’t exactly fall asleep. He was in and out, seeing his surroundings in flashes. 

They were on a hallway, and he was being carried by Shiro. His eyes closed 

They entered the infirmary, and sound exploded, making him flinch and hide his face in his brother’s shoulder. He noticed Shiro wasn’t wearing his armour, but he was. Why? He couldn’t remember. His eyes closed on their own before he could figure it out. 

He was sitting down on one of the cots, his head resting on Shiro’s shoulder as he helped Hunk manhandle him into one of the white suits. He didn’t even have the energy to be embarrassed. He let them maneuver him until some time later he was being scooped up in someone’s (probably Shiro’s) arms again and he was carried to the pods. His eyes rolled to the back of his head before he was placed into the cryopod.

He woke up, fully this time, when he started falling from the pod. 

He scrambled to catch himself, but it wasn’t necessary because a pair of strong arms held him up, taking his weight as his sleep-added legs fully woke up. 

“Hmmnnnggg” 

The person holding him chuckled, and the sound vibrates on Shiro’s chest, pressed to his ear. It felt nice.

“You alright, Keith?”

“I hate pods”

“He’s fine then” another voice called, sounding happy but relieved.

Keith finally managed to stand on his own two feet, but Shiro stayed beside him with an arm around his waist to support him. 

“What happened?”

“You were on a mission, remember?”

“No I-“ 

And then it all came back. 

The mission. The ambush. The timer. The fire. 

Pidge.

He suddenly stood up completely straight, his eyes searching frantically for something. Or someone 

“Pidge” he said, looking up at Shiro “where’s Pidge?”

Shiro frowned “she’s in her room, bud. We sent her to sleep off the mision”

He had to check she was okey. He had to.

He made a run for it and was close to the door when and arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him back.

“You’re gonna make yourself pass out, man”

When had Hunk arrived?

“I have to-“

“I know” he said, and Keith had a feeling he did understand 

“Just… take it easy, alright? You lost a lot of blood” he sounded kind of queasy when he said this, and Keith immediately felt guilty for worrying them. So he nodded, admitting he did feel tired, and let hunk walk him to the corridor.

They didn’t have to walk very far though.

Pidge came running from around the corner, and just sped up when he saw Hunk and Keith. 

She barreled into Keith, but he was ready for it, and he wrapped his arms around her. 

She was clinging to his neck, her legs wrapped around her waist. The added weight, made his knees buckle, and he landed on his knees, still refusing to let go. She stepped away first and Keith let her, but his hands stayed on her shoulders. He scanned her for injuries and found that she was okay, even though her eyes shone with tears.

“Never do that again” she sniffled, rubbing her right eye “You scared me half to death, you asshole”

He felt the ball of guilt tighten in his chest again 

“Sorry”

“It’s fine” she sniffled again “But next time you try shielding me from a gun or an explosion, I’m kicking you where it hurts”

He huffed out a laugh “no promises”

“HE WHAT?!”

Shiro sounded mad, worried and alarme all at the same time. Keith's eyes widened 

“You didn’t tell them?”

“Consider it revenge for getting hurt at my expense” she smiled at him.

“Thank you” she muttered a moment later “you saved my life”

“You saved mine” they smiled at each other. 

“Alright” Hunk sounded close to tears as he hauled Keith to his feet “Let’s get some food into you before Shiro kills you” 

Keith smiled as Hunk’s arm surrounded his shoulder and he was pulled close into his side. Pidge grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He squeezed back.